pileofcrapola

Communicating with someone who speaks and writes in another language isn't the easiest task, but this Google Sheet incorporates Google Translate so you can have a real-time chat conversation with anybody in the world.

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Homemade pizza is the best pizza. This variation on "bar-style" pizza from Serious Eats uses a tortilla for the crust instead of dough—making this one of the simplest and quickest ways to make your own pizza.

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Apologizing doesn't have to be admittance of guilt, or regret. If you've done something that hurt someone you care about, you can apologize just to let them know you care.

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There are a lot of great apps out there, but not every great app can be a looker. While the fan favorites are great, here are some alternatives to the apps that have the steepest learning curves.

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It's frustrating when your pup constantly digs in your otherwise pristine yard. Pet Adviser has a solution: put their poop in the holes they dig before you refill it, which will deter them from coming back to it.

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Hey, have you guys ever heard of pumpkins? They're a really obscure fruit that the world magically rediscovers every Fall. They also make for some great soup. No pot required.

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If you tend to make pungent meals—or just forgot about one in the fridge—you probably have to deal with smelly containers. Adding a pinch of salt to your container after washing it can help keep the leftover odors at bay.

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The Vitamix 5200 blended all the right features and price to take 28% of your vote and secure the best blender title. Add in the votes from 750 model and the Vitamix brand took 46%.

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Boiling a bunch of eggs at once is risky business. To keep the eggs from bumping into each other and cracking prematurely, all you need is a towel.

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The sound of a door slamming can be alarming, to say the least. Quiet them with some simple felt pads from your local home store.

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No matter how clean a house you keep, your computers and gadgets are bound to get a little dirty here and there. Here's what you need to clean them, and how to do it without hurting them.

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If you're like me, bugs creeping and crawling all over your home is a big no thank you. With some preventative procedures and DIY methods you can keep them out of your house without using any harsh chemicals.

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When you want to get your digital photos printed for framing, gifting, or any other reason, what's the best service to use? That's the question the New York Times put to the test.

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Web/iOS/Android: Plane Finder delivers next-level flight tracking in real time, showing you exactly where the plane you're tarcking is and when it will land.

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There's something about ketchup that comes out of a glass bottle that just makes it taste better, but getting it out is a war of attrition. This is the science behind the conundrum, and how you can get it flowing.

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Old counters can make a kitchen feel out-of-date, but replacing them with new, expensive materials isn't always an option. Here are a few less expensive ways to update old counters.

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Each day thousands of delivery drivers get behind the wheel of FedEx Ground trucks and set out for a long day of work. While those workers must follow the company’s rules and regulations about delivery times and working hours, FedEx contends they aren’t actual employees, but independent contractors. That distinction is at the core of a series of class action lawsuits filed against the company in which former workers are seeking compensation for unpaid overtime and paycheck deductions.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that hundreds of former drivers are awaiting court decisions regarding a slew of lawsuits levied against the company.

The workers contend they regularly lost nearly half their yearly wages to deductions and truck expenses because the company unfairly labeled them as independent contractors.

In one case a plaintiff says that for 10 years he worked 10-hour shifts delivering packages in San Diego for FedEx Ground. During that time he was never paid overtime and didn’t receive contributions to his Social Security benefits.

The man tells Businessweek that he made about $90,000 per year from the company, but between 40% and 60% was lost to deductions and truck expenses the company wouldn’t cover because he was just an independent contractor.

FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx, has long employed independent contractors, a practice officials with the company say differentiates it from competition.

“The entrepreneurs who run these small businesses have a flexibility and drive not often found in a traditional workforce,” the company said in a statement to Businessweek

Former contractors, however, say that the motivating difference for the company was its bottom line.

According to the National Employment Law Project, a workers’ rights group, employing independent contractors can save companies up to 30% of payroll costs by not including unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and state taxes.

Additionally, because independent contractors aren’t covered by wage and hour rules, companies aren’t obligated to pay overtime or cover the costs for uniforms.

In early October, a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court bolstered the workers’ claims that FedEx uses the independent contractor label to save money.

“As FedEx’s counsel acknowledged at oral argument,” the Kansas court said in its decision, “the company carefully structured its drivers’ operating agreements so that it could label the drivers as independent contractors to gain a competitive advantage, i.e., to avoid the additional costs associated with employees.”

The ruling was a drastic change from previous court decisions that sided with FedEx Ground.

Businessweek reports that back in 2009 the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the company. The same outcome happened in 2010 when a federal district court in Indiana ruled in favor of the company, throwing out other state claims.

The lawsuits against FedEx Ground are perhaps the biggest indicator of a shift in the workforce.

Back in 2006, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that independent contractors and temp workers made up 31% of the country’s workforce. Two years later, Maryland Labor officials found that one in five employees were wrongly labeled as independent contractors.

Perhaps in light of the lawsuits, FedEx tells Businessweek that it’s changed business practices and now contracts drivers through other companies.

Still, former drivers suing the company say that’s not entirely truthful.

The owner of one such business says FedEx still tells his drivers when they’re leaving and how to drive, much like an actual employer might do.

While it remains to be seen what while happen with the many lawsuits facing FedEx Ground, the company insists the law is on its side.

“We are committed to protecting our way of doing business and the rights of thousands of independent business owners to continue owning and operating their own businesses,” it tells Businessweek.

As for the former independent contractors, they continue to feel taken advantage off.

The former San Diego driver says that while he once thought working for FedEx Ground would be like owning a “piece of the dream,” it’s not that way anymore.

FedEx Ground Says Its Drivers Aren’t Employees. The Courts Will Decide [Bloomberg Businessweek]

When a debt collector calls you, there’s a good chance that he or she might be an ex-convict calling you from a strip mall in Buffalo, New York. Buying and collecting debt is a lucrative business, and some people who had a rough upbringing have a real gift for it. Learn about the “Buffalo Talk-Off” and the Excel Spreadsheets of Doom. [NPR] [Planet Money]

If you’ve ever looked a lawn that needed trimming and said to yourself, “I’ll get around to it. What are they gonna do, arrest me?” this story of a woman in Tennessee might have you dusting off the mower and hedge clippers.

WVLT-TV in Knoxville reports on a local woman who was told she had to spend a five-day term behind bars for failing to keep up with her yard work.

She initially received a citation from the city during the summer because her property required some grooming.

“With my husband going to school and working full time, me with my job, with one vehicle, we were trying our best,” she explains. “[The bushes and trees] were overgrown. But that’s certainly not a criminal offense.”

But following a second citation and a recent court hearing, the mother of two was looking at five days in the clink.

The woman says she was steamrolled by the process; that she was never told of her legal rights or that she could have a lawyer represent her at court.

“It’s not right,” she claims. “Why would you put me in jail with child molesters, and people who’ve done real crimes, because I haven’t maintained my yard.”

Earlier this week, the judge acknowledged that this was not a criminal case and reduced the sentence to only six hours of jail time. She offered to do five days of community service instead, but the judge insisted on some time behind bars.

She served her time on Tuesday evening, but the judge could give her additional jail time if he’s not happy with her lawn-maintenance efforts when they review her progress at a November check-in hearing.

For comparison’s sake, semi-celebrity Nicole Richie only spent 82 minutes in jail for an incident in which she drove the wrong way on a highway while admittedly being under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and Vicodin.

[Thanks to Steve for the tip!]

Police are searching for a dog that was stolen during a break-in at a Prince George's County apartment Wednesday.

"My car was stolen and the insurance company won't pay me." This is a phone call I get too often – considering I do not advertise that I handle insurance claim denials. People only call me because they heard I handle "car cases." Close enough.

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Want to bake a perfect-looking pizza—with uniform, golden brown cheese—with a unique flavor kick? Leave it to scientists to detail pizza's "cheese functionality" and how to get good browning.

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Most people enjoy an open floor plan these days, but it's impossible to achieve that look in older homes without taking down a few walls. Since some of those walls might be keeping the rest of the house standing, it's important to understand how load-bearing walls work and be able to identify them.

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Things get dirty in the kitchen, so you have a long line-up of cleaning tools under the sink. But you don't need them all, says The Kitchn. There are eight items you need and you can probably throw the rest out.

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You have a lot of options for cooking oils. Some are better at certain temperatures, others are best with certain types of food. The folks over at MyFitnessPal have created a chart that helps you pick which oils are best for what kind of cooking you want to do.

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Gluing boards together is one of the simplest forms of joinery, and while it may seem almost too easy for explanation, once the glue is set, there's no turning back. Since the glue-up can make or break a project, here are some things to keep in mind.

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Sure, the urge to talk to your loved ones after they’ve passed away is natural. But when one family start ed getting replies to texts sent to the mother and grandmother who died three years ago at age 58, they weren’t so happy to be hearing from beyond the grave.

The family had buried her with her mobile phone because she’d loved texting her family with nice messages, reports the Daily Mirror. Her son said he called up the phone company, O2, and asked that her number be canceled end never used again. He says the company agreed, and the family continued to text her when they felt like being close to her again.

But then her granddaughter got a reply: “I’m watching over you, and it’s all going to get better. Just push through.”

Shocked, as one would be, to hear from her dead grandmother, she worried that the worst had happened.

“Then I started getting horrible visions that someone might have dug up her grave and taken her phone, my mind was full of all sorts of really unpleasant possibilities,” she said.

As it turns out, O2 had given the number to a new customer, who’d been using it for a few weeks. He thought his friends were joking with him at first, so he replied, until he realized maybe that wasn’t the nicest thing to do, either.

The family says they called him up and he was apologetic about the situation, but now things can never be the same.

“We are a big family of texters, if we ever fell out or had something to say, we’d always just send a message, that’s why we buried her with her phone,” her son explained. “So to think someone else now has our mam’s number is just awful, we can’t believe 02 has done this.”

In the meantime, they’re trying to get the number deleted for good, but O2 says it sold it off to another phone company, complicating things.

A spokeswoman from 02 said: “We’ve been in touch with [the other company] and they have left their customer messages on e-mail. At the moment it’s a waiting game until he gets back in touch. Meanwhile we have spoken to [the woman's son]. He understands what’s happening and is appreciative that we’re trying to get the number back.”

Family who sent texts to mobile buried with late gran get replies ‘from beyond grave’ [Daily Mirror]

A dog mauled a dog sitter on Thursday in a small home with 11 total dogs. By the end it, the victim had severe injuries all over her body, and the attacking pet lay dead from a police gunshot.

Madame Rosa appears at the circus apartment doorway in sparkling diamonds, red lipstick and a walking frame -- and sits down beside her leopard skin rug.

ased Wildlife Conservation Society would receive 10 bison for zoos in the Bronx, Queens and Ohio. The animals would be used to establish nucleus herds to promote future conservation.