pileofcrapola

Pizza is the king of foods for many reasons, but the fact that leftovers are almost guaranteed is one of the best. For retaining optimum quality—and taking up as little space as possible—use this method.

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When you spot a great accommodations rate, you may be tempted to jump on it. Airfare Watchdog warns to watch out for taxes and fees that can inflate that rate.

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5000 votes and counting, and the Oral-B Professional Care SmartSeries 4000 has secured its place in your mouth. However, this race was painfully close to the gum line.

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Not knowing what you're putting in your body can be scary. Free web service Iodine tells you everything you need to know about your prescriptions.

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There are some things you just don't skimp on , but other luxuries just aren't worth the price tag. From stemware to TVs, there are some luxury goods that don't live up to the hype—or can be had cheaper by buying generic. Let's run down a few of them.

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If you're looking to score great deals on used video games for all platforms, or specific consoles, you have tons of great choices. Last week we asked for your favorites, then looked at the five best places for used games and consoles. Now we're back to highlight your favorite.

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Leather jackets are a beast unto themselves in terms of outer wear. Leather has its own unique heat retention, cleaning, and style considerations. Before winter arrives, it's worth covering the basics.

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Every retailer has its own specialty when it comes to holiday mashup decorations. At Hobby Lobby, it’s beautifully decorated evergreen trees with a fall theme. Target has settled on a holiday specialty, and that is “Nightmare Before Christmas” displays that combine elements of the two holidays. We’re pretty sure that it’s accidental, but maybe it’s not. We have to admit, though, when you see these displays in the wild at Target, they sort of work.

Reader Paula spotted this mashup at a Target store in Arizona, and submitted it to the Consumerist Flickr pool.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas,” of course, refers to the 1993 Tim Burton stop-motion animation film about the mysterious beings in charge of our holidays, and what happened when the residents of Halloweentown kidnapped Santa Claus and put themselves in charge of Christmas, therefore guaranteeing that goth-leaning young adults would buy piles of Disney-licensed Christmas merchandise for decades to come. It’s available on Netflix streaming, and you should watch it.

Or you could skip that and just check out the live-action version at your local Target store.

PREVIOUSLY:
Target’s Accidental Nightmare Before Christmas Looks Kind Of Cool

In the Recall Roundup for September, smoke alarms fail to go off, kids’ sunglasses are decorated with Disney characters rendered in lead paint, and a cooking thermometer adds a little something extra that you didn’t want to your food.

Home
Kidde Smoke and Combination Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Alarms – may fail to go off when it detects smoke or excess carbon monoxide after a power outage. Recall applies to hard-wired alarms.
American Honda Recalls Gas-Powered Generators – rear support may fail
Ultrasonic Clean Mist Humidifiers (Sold only by QVC) – may short-circuit and catch fire
iDevices Temperature Probes – plastic coating may melt off and into food
American Woodcrafters Bunk Beds (Havertys) – side rails may break
Amana, Century, Comfort-Aire, Goodman and York International air conditioner/heat pump units – may overheat, fire hazard
Cree LED Light Fixtures – glass lens may break
Metal Bistro Chairs (Ross) – seat may detach from frame
Hearth & Home Gas fireplaces, gas stoves, gas inserts and log sets – may have gas leak, fire hazard
Siemens SBGA-34 Audible Fire Alarm – alarm may fail to sound

Electronics
Hewlett-Packard LS-15 AC power cords for notebook computers – fire and melting hazard
JVC 42 inch flat panel televisions – stand may crack, causing television to topple

Babies & Kids
Livie & Luca Children’s Shoes – metal thread may work its way loose and poke tiny feet
Disney, Marvel and Sears/Kmart brand children’s sunglasses – contain lead paint
Tray Vous stroller snack and activity trays – may entrap child’s head in stroller
Little Marc Jacobs Girls’ Hooded Swim Cover-Ups – illegal drawstrings

Toys
IKEA GUNGGUNG child’s swing – suspension fittings may break, causing child to fall

Sports & Outdoors
Sevylor (Coleman) brand inflatable rubber tube (only sold at Walmart) – skin irritation hazard
Cabrinha Kiteboarding 1X and Overdrive 1X Control Systems – control mechanism may fail
Avant Bicycles – front fork may crack
Multi-Purpose Outdoor Shelters (sold at BJ’s) – does not meet flammability standard
NRS water sports helmets – chin strap may fail

Vehicles
Yamaha snowmobiles – fuel leakage
Country Clipper Riding Lawn Mowers – ignition may fail, causing overheating
Bad Boy Buggies Off-Road Vehicles – parking brake may damage vehicle’s brakes
Arctic Cat Wildcat Trail and Wildcat Trail XT Side by Side – possible oil leak

There is one good thing that we can say about TruMoo’s holiday-themed flavored milks, and that is that they don’t have any high fructose corn syrup. Also, while the orange milk is orange-colored and Halloween-themed, it is not pumpkin spice flavored. After that, we’re pretty much out of nice things to say about it.

Sugary holiday dairy beverages are nothing new, of course: this past spring, we brought you the terrifying vision of Easter Egg Nog and jellybean milk from Hiland. Maybe the real horror of this orange-colored and orange-flavored TruMoo isn’t that it exists, or that it looks like a half-gallon of orange juice in the clear plastic jug, but that this isn’t the product’s first year on the market. Nope: Brand Eating, the site that alerted us to this horror, says that it was around last year, too.

The milk is called Orange Scream, because of course it is. It’s orange vanilla flavored: sort of a melted Creamsicle in a bottle, except not really.

News: TruMoo – New Limited Edition Orange Scream Milk for Halloween [Brand Eating]

Remember the super cute beagle we told you about yesterday? You know, the one that runs around the Amsterdam Airport Schipol returning lost items to Royal Dutch Airline Passengers. Well I am utterly heartbroken (although I should have seen this coming) to report that he’s a fraud. Of course, he’s a living breathing dog, but he won’t be returning your misplaced items anytime soon. Sherlock was used as an illustration of how KLM’s Lost & Found team works to reunite passengers with their belongings. [Factually]

An official with the advertising team behind the video confirmed that Sherlock isn’t a permanent part of the Lost & Found team.

“To launch the team, we decided to give them a helpful mascotte, Sherlock the search dog. With the video we wanted to show that KLM goes above and beyond to return lost items to their owners,” the official with DDB & Tribal said.

We can’t believe we didn’t see the inevitability of this when Oreo introduced its Target-exclusive Caramel Apple-flavored cookies back in August, but someone has realized the obvious opportunity to combine the cookie and its inspiration into one ugly-ass snack.

Nick over at Dude Foods recently ventured out to Target — actually, it required visits to three different Target stores just to find the new Oreos — and picked himself up some Caramel Apple-flavored cookies.

Beyond that, it was apparently just a matter of crushing up the cookies, making some real caramel apples and utilizing the caramel’s inherent glue-like qualities to adhere the Oreo chunks to the apple.

The end result is less than appetizing; it looks like you found that caramel apple that your young nephew dropped under a car seat months earlier. The strange green color used for part of the cookie’s filling also reminds us a little too much of wasabi (or rather, the green-colored horseradish that many restaurants pretend is wasabi). We’re guessing that a more uniform and appealing outcome could have been achieved by running the Oreos through a food processor for a few seconds, but that may have only made the bizarre green/brown cream mixture turn a vomit-like hue.

Things you can put into the microwave and turn it on: Food, microwave safe dishes, objects that will not melt. Things you cannot put into a microwave and turn it on: Metal, plastic, and any kind of electrical object you could think of, including cell phones, smartphones and tablets. So no, there is no update with iOS 8 that allows iPhone users to recharge their batteries by microwaving their phones. Sigh.

A hoax ad circulating the Internet right now and causing most people to shake their heads and exhale with the ridiculousness of it all touts a new feature of iOS 8 called Wave, that is supposed to allow users to grant their phones the magical ability to defy the laws of nature by nuking it for a minute and a half.

The hoax looks kind of convincing, to be honest, until you start reading:

Various reports, including a thread on Reddit, indicate that the hoax stems from 4chan.

The Los Angeles Police Department is one of many law enforcement organizationss around the country spreading the word, otherwise they’ll be the ones who have to show up to put the darn thing out:

Again. Do not, we repeat, DO NOT attempt to microwave your iPhone. Or anything else that shouldn’t be microwaved. Because here is what will actually happen to that iPhone:

*Thanks for the tip, Katsy!

Things could have gone terribly wrong for the business prospects of Carnival Cruise Lines since the public-relations disaster and actual disaster that was the sailing of the Triumph. They’ve made it through okay, offering rock-bottom cruise prices and even offering to fly unhappy cruisers home. How did Carnival manage to earn more than Wall Street experts thought they would? Pricey umbrella drinks, mostly.

We mean that literally. In its latest financial report, Carnival reports that cruisers are spending more on board than in the past. Spending is up 10% compared to this time last year.

Last year, in the post-Poop Cruise haze, Carnival was charging less per night to vacation on one of their ships than you would pay at the average Motel 6. Once passengers are on board, after all, they might be inclined to pay more for souvenirs, more fun entertainment options, snacks, higher-end food, and other upsells.

Carnival’s Recovery: Selling Lots of Drinks and More Cheap Cruises [Businessweek]

Have you ever stepped off a plane only to realize that you left something behind? That shock of panic you typically feel may be a little less jarring if you’re flying Royal Dutch Airlines to Amsterdam Airport Schipol, thanks in part to the airlines new lost and found service that employs a friendly, furry, four-legged secret weapon.

While most airlines will do all they can to return lost items to consumers, Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) has taken things a step further by creating a dedicated Lost & Found Team – complete with a beagle named Sherlock, the airline says in a video posted on its website.

“Our main goal is to return lost times as fast as possible,” an airline official says in the video. “I really like that now we are getting some help with that.”

The airline introduced Sherlock to the world this week and quickly showed that leaving your phone or stuffed animal on an airplane doesn’t have to be cause for a minor meltdown.

“When we see the reaction from customers, that is really amazing,” one of Sherlock’s handlers says.

Following a quick introduction, the video cuts to Sherlock running aboard a plane where a flight attendant has found a left cellphone. After Sherlock gets a good whiff of the phone, the attendant stashes it in his blue harness for safe keeping. Sherlock then takes off through an Amsterdam Airport Schipol terminal in search of his target. Once he approaches a passenger, Sherlock’s handler retrieves the cellphone, to the woman’s joy.

“Personally I think he’s an asset to the company and he can really do something no one else can,” a KLM employee says in the video.

KLM launches Lost & Found service [KLM]

It appears that Walmart is taking consumers’ willingness to do their banking outside of traditional banks to heart. The mega-retailer unveiled plans today that would put low-cost checking accounts into the hands of just about any consumer across the country.

The New York Times reports that Walmart teamed up with Green Dot, a company known for issuing prepaid credit cards, to provide checking accounts to anyone over the age of 18 who can pass an ID check.

The new GoBank service, which is expected to be available by the end of October, is intended to be a low-cost alternative to traditional bank checking accounts.

While the accounts will cost $8.95 per month for consumers who have direct deposits totaling less than $500 a month, they are missing the most costly elements of typical checking accounts. In fact, that accounts won’t have fees for overdrafts or bounced checks, and no minimum account balance is required.

Not charging fees is a stark contrast from the bank branches currently operating inside Walmart’s retail stores. A study earlier this year found that while the average U.S. bank only gets about 0.7% of its revenue from fees charged to customers, banks inside Walmart stores average anywhere from 11.3% to 20% of their revenue from fees.

Additionally, typical checking accounts cost consumers on average $225 a year in overdraft fees, a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found last year.

Of course this isn’t Walmart’s first foray into the financial services industry.

Back in April the company announced Walmart-2-Walmart, a money transfer program that allows customers to send funds to and from nearly 4,000 stores nationwide.

Before that, in 2012, Walmart partnered with American Express to offer consumers a prepaid debit card alternative called Bluebird. While the card came with few fees, it could only be used at stores that accepted American Express.

Walmart Prepares to Offer Low-Cost Checking Accounts [The New York Times]

Inventory Up, Stable Prices: An Overview of the 2014 Real Estate Market The Centreville Independent I've had the distinct honor to represent 19 Sellers this year and my coaching and advice for them has changed in response to the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market's shifting environment. As we entered into the new year, January greeted sellers who ... and more »

Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post The following incident was reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. No ventilation: Kingstowne Blvd., 5800 block, 12:41 p.m. Sept. 2. Officers found a golden retriever inside a ... and more »

Napoleon is now back with his Antosia.

A defense lawyer says he'll fight a finding that a Las Vegas woman is fit for trial on charges alleging she threw her 7-month-old son and 1½-year-old daughter out a second-story window before jumping out herself.

All flights in and out of Chicago's two airports were halted Friday morning because of a fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control facility. The ground stop threatened to send delays and cancellations rippling throughout the nation's air travel network, as more than 500 flights had already been canceled in Chicago and more were expected.

For nearly three months this summer, the Obama administration carefully avoided answering questions about what happened to tens of thousands of immigrant families caught illegally crossing the Mexican border and released into the United States with instructions to report back to immigration authorities.

A powerful earthquake shook a large swath of Alaska on Thursday morning, knocking things off shelves and causing people to take cover but bringing no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.

Good interview skills and a powerful resume can help you land a job -- but a study shows the color you wear to a job interview can have a huge impact, too.

The private foundation responsible for Allegany County animal control is acknowledging it failed to respond to calls about abandoned pets in a home were nine dogs died.

Fairfax County planning staff is recommending approval for Clifton resident Jeff Waters' plan to open the jurisdiction's first paintball facility.

Police have confirmed that a body found in a Prince George's County park is that of former District of Columbia treasurer Lasana Mack.

The remains of an Army soldier from Manassas missing since World War II have been recovered and are being returned to Virginia.

Maryland Natural Resources Police say they're investigating the bow-and-arrow killing of an albino white-tailed deer in a Hagerstown cemetery.

A cheetah cub born at the Metro Richmond Zoo has been euthanized.