pileofcrapola

Summer may be getting long in the tooth, but sun burns are a year-round problem. You've probably heard all kinds of household remedies for making that toasted skin feel a little better, but how about a potato?

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Perhaps you grease pans for baking with butter or oil, or perhaps you've discovered the joy of specialty baking sprays with a little bit of flour built into the mix. This homemade baker's goop works even better, it's cheaper, and it couldn't be simpler to make.

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If you're anything like me and dread shopping for groceries and household items, Instacart is for you. Working with Whole Foods, Costco, and other stores, you can order everything you need online and have it at your door in less time than it'd take you to drag yourself to the store and back.

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Our brains can only handle so much during a day. The Globe and Mail recommends using a junk drawer to easily categorize the miscellaneous.

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Cucumbers are a healthy snack, but they often have a bitter taste. You can get rid of this bitterness by thinly slicing off both ends and rubbing one piece against the cucumber.

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If you have a potent stench coming from your sink, it could be your poor, abused sponge. You can keep two of them around and rotate use so your sponges won't develop a mildew smell ever again.

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You probably know that you don't really eat eight spiders every year in your sleep, but did you know that there are several other sleep fallacies floating around that could be affecting your slumber?

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When you're out, dressed well and meeting someone you want to impress, Murphy's Law is never too far away. Something with your wardrobe can go wrong, and you might not have a sewing kit or the right tools on you to fix it. Here's how to make the best of a bad situation.

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Bumper stickers are a great way to show your affinity for anything you want the person driving behind you to know about, but when you want to remove them, it's often a pain. Apartment Therapy suggests putting down a bit of wax before you stick that sticker on.

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Blasphemy, you're thinking, right? We've all Many of us have heard to never, ever store tomatoes inside the fridge . Serious Eats tests, however, suggest that there are times you will want to break this rule.

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When you’ve got somewhere to go, it’s awfully convenient to have a car arrive to take you there. But the National Federation of the Blind says not everyone is enjoying the right to get where they’re going with Uber, claiming in a federal civil rights lawsuit that the company’s drivers have refused to pick up blind customers, and in one case, allegedly put a service dog in the car’s trunk.

The advocacy group claims that there have been cases where drivers would arrive to pick up their customer, and upon realizing that customer was blind because they’d be standing with a service dog, would sometimes abandon those riders.

This allegedly happened sometimes in extreme weather, and often the drivers would charge cancellation fees afterward, according to the complaint reported by the Washington Post.

Then there was the time when a California UberX driver allegedly put a service dog in the trunk. The complaint accuses the driver of refusing to pull over and get the dog out of the trunk when the blind passenger would realize what was going on.

The group says another passenger tried to explain the idea of a service dog — a working animal, not a pet — when the driver allegedly swore at him and put the pedal to the metal, almost hurting a dog and hitting the passenger’s blind friend with an open car door.

All told, the group says there have been more than 30 times it knows of where blind passengers were turned down by Uber drivers, which is against the law under the American with Disabilities Act and California state law.

And when those passengers can’t get where they need to be on time, they “face the degrading experience of being denied a basic service that is available to all other paying customers,” the complaint said.

The group now wants Uber to train its drivers and instruct them on disability rights, as well as take action against violators by starting a system that would allow disabled passengers to register complaints immediately upon being refused because of service dogs.

Uber says in a statement that it does fire drivers who won’t take service animals.

“The Uber app is built to expand access to transportation options for all, including users with visual impairments and other disabilities,” the statement said.

But the group says Uber told some passengers they’re on their own when it comes down to individual drivers’ actions, because they’re independent contractors. It filed the complaint after Uber allegedly refused to negotiate a solution to the problem.

Uber sued for allegedly refusing rides to the blind and putting a dog in the trunk [Washington Post]

Animal rights groups are calling for the resignations of Italy's environment minister and other officials after a mamma bear died during a capture operation ordered after the animal purportedly scuffled with a forager as its cubs slept nearby.

It's the stuff of nightmares. It's 9 feet longer than the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex, it weighs 6 tons and it has curved, blade-like claws.

Attorneys for a Baltimore police officer accused of cutting a dog's throat are asking a judge to dismiss the animal cruelty charge against him.

Some household smells can stink up the whole place and leave you gagging. Whether it's vomit, urine or spilt soured milk, good old dryer sheets and coffee beans can take care of that.

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A weighing scale is the best way to measure perfectly equal batter in two cake pans. But if you want an easier way to be approximately equal, use a toothpick, says dessert chef Alice Medrich.

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Instead of using a cutting board—and having to later clean it—try this simple yet clever trick from Serious Eats: Use a (very versatile ) pizza cutter for in-the-bowl chopping.

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Coupons can help you save a whole lot of money on groceries, and the more you can get, the better. This master list of companies will send you coupons for your groceries, and all you need to do is ask.

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Once upon a time, a book store sold books and a toy store sold toys. That is not the way things work now, though. And Barnes & Noble is a prime example of companies selling items outside of their traditional products in an attempt to lift their bottom-line – and it’s working. 

Bloomberg reports that in recent years Barnes & Noble has increasingly taken on the role of toy store in the face of rather slow book sales.

In fact, Barnes & Noble’s toy sales rose almost 20% in the last quarter alone. Officials with the company said on a sales call this week that promoting the store as a place to purchase games, dolls and LEGOs has helped draw more customers to its locations.

The company has capitalized on the dwindling presence of actual toy stores; Toys “R” Us has scaled back stores, while other stores like KB Toys have shut their doors altogether.

The foray into toy store territory is part of CEO Michael Huseby’s plan to squeeze more revenue from gifts and cafe purchases at the retailer, Bloomberg reports.

Officials with the company say consumers are beginning to realize that Barnes & Noble offers items that can’t be found elsewhere – even traditional toy stores.

Additionally, Barnes & Noble claims to provide an environment in which families can spend time together.

Matt Klipper, head of the Barnes & Noble’s retail group, says families can play together inside the store creating a type of hangout that other retailers can’t replicate.

“You sit on the floor, you curl up with a good book with your child,” he tells Bloomberg. “You don’t see anybody going to Bed, Bath & Beyond curling up with a blender.”

Barnes & Noble Fights Book Decline by Selling More Toys [Bloomberg]

Having the “birds and the bees” talk with your kids is an important moment, I imagine, so it’s no wonder parents in New Zealand don’t want that conversation to arrive sooner than it should because of a surprise found in packages of candy aimed at the younger set. A candy company is now apologizing after penis-shaped gummy candies ended up mixed in with their less phallic brethren in products kids could easily get their hands on.

The confectionary company tells Stuff that it imported five pallets of mixed gummy packs from a Chinese manufacturer about six weeks ago, and had no idea that there were penises tossed into that mix.

A few weeks later, the complaints started rolling in when parents sent in bags with proof of the offending “lollies.”

“When first someone told us we thought they were joking, it can’t be right,” the managing director of sales explained. But the proof was in the bags — one out of every 20 or 30 had one or two gummy penises included, he said.

The company has dumped all remaining bags with the penis gummies and is now apologizing, and offering free lollipops to customers as compensation.

“We’ve done everything that could possibly have been done … these things happen,” he explained.

Exactly. When a mommy gummy loves a daddy gummy, they get together and… well, I don’t need to explain this to you, do I?

Penis-shaped gummies shock NZ lolly lovers [Stuff]

In our years of posting about the retail menace that is Christmas Creep, we have developed a list of situations that are not eligible to be declared Christmas Creep. For example, craft stores know that you’re starting your Christmas crochet projects in mid-August, and Hallmark always introduces its Christmas ornaments in July. Yet Hallmark has taken its ornament collection to CVS, and reader Victoria is not pleased.

“I think it’s way too early for Christmas displays,” she writes. Victoria should probably avoid Hallmark stores, then. “At least they haven’t finished filling it in,” she added. Yes, we suppose so.

Between receiving Victoria’s e-mail and writing this post, I noticed Christmas ornaments on display already in my favorite independent gift shop, so I give up.

Last year, we brought you the exciting news that there was a new line of fashion dolls with fashion pets available for kids who like that kind of thing. We were concerned and amused that the toy portrays pet ownership in a very inaccurate way: namely, that rabbits eat and poop glitter, and unicorns not only exist but also poop rainbows. Exciting news: there are more Poopsy Pets.

With this round, the animals’ defecation habits are simultaneously more realistic and more horrifying. Maybe because instead of glitter eggs and rainbows, these critters eat foods that are real foods. Kind of.

The current crop of Poopsy Pets consist of an elephant, a tiger, and a panda. Those are all very large animals which are somehow the size of a large house cat, but we can accept that.

It’s also kind of weird that now the box portrays the actual toy instead of a pooping cartoon.

Where things get weird are with the tiger. It would be very educational for the critters to both eat and poop shredded pieces of gazelle flesh, but maybe that wouldn’t look so cute in toy form. Pandas really eat bamboo and elephants really do like peanuts, but tigers do not subsist on a diet of striped eggs.

Children who expect their own pets to eat small, brown, hard pieces of kibble and have the same thing come out the other end will be sorely disappointed…well, unless their pet has digestive problems, which is another issue entirely.

Thanks to Colleen, who spotted this new, strange model of pet ownership.

Everyone has their “party story” — you know, the one you tell to a group in a social setting to make the whole gathering less awkward and relate to those around you, priming everyone to bond and grow closer. But one German man has earned himself maybe one of the most unique cocktail tale by carrying 27 mugs brimming with beer at one time, setting the world record for beer-carrying in the process.

And lest you think you could possibly pull off the same feat, let’s be clear about the size of those 27 brewskis: Each 1-liter mug is the equal of about two pints, not to mention the glass those mugs are made of, reports The Daily Mirror.

Then after hoisting all those drink, the waiter carried them 40 meters, about 43 yards.

He’s not just your average waiter, however — he’s been training for months to figure out his strategy of stacking the glasses in two tiers, not to mention the practice he gets at his job serving brews at a beer festival in Bavaria.

A world record AND he never has to think of another icebreaker story for the rest of his life. Lucky. All I’ve got is the story about the wheel of cheese, the fire extinguisher and Bill Murray.

Waiter smashes world beer-carrying record by hauling nearly 30 large glasses of ale in one go [The Daily Mirror]

In Indiana, also known to Midwesterners (or just me) as The Really Long State That Takes Forever To Drive Through On Road Trips, if an establishment wants to serve booze by the drink, it also has to offer a certain amount of food at all times, ostensibly to soak up all that alcohol. In compliance with that law, one brewhouse has taken a different tack with its ah, cuisine.

The Bank Street Brewhouse is all about the letter of the law, yes siree — wherein “food” is defined as hot sandwiches, soups, milk and coffee, among other things — but if you’re thinking of some fine dining to go along with a selection of beers, well, this might not be the place for that.

However! If you are a fan of the hot dog sandwich (guilty as charged), this is the perfect place for you. As seen on Reddit, “Bank Street Brewhouse’s Indiana Statuatory Compliance Restaurant Menu” makes liberal use of the microwave and canned products to comply with Indiana’s laws:

Fingers crossed for chicken and stars, am I right?

Need something inedible and fall-flavored to chew on while you mourn the non-existence of pumpkin spice flavored condoms? There’s more than one pumpkin spice gum on the market. This Trident variety was spotted at Target, which is America’s Pumpkin Spice Central. A reader of The Impulsive Buy spotted it in the wild, One of their readers declares it to be acceptable: the flavor lasts 15-20 minutes if he chews two pieces. Assuming that what you want is for the flavor to last. Some people are into that kind of thing. [The Impulsive Buy]

If you’re considering buying a home warranty, a service contract that covers all of your home appliances and many other routine home repairs, you may be better off taking the money that you would have spent and sticking it in a savings account instead. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs says that one home warranty company in that state collected fees, but wasn’t keen to pay for any actual repairs.

Home warranties seem like a good idea on the surface: instead of dealing with the unpredictable costs of home and appliance repair when they crop up, you simply pay a set amount for your contract, then sit back and wait for the repair technicians to ring your doorbell. However, New Jersey alleges that one company, Choice Home Warranty, collected payments for the contracts it sold, but was less keen on the idea of paying customers’ repair bills.

According to the state’s complaint, CHW had an approach of threefold terribleness:

1. Require meticulous maintenance on every appliance. In one case, they asked for twelve years’ worth of records. If the company decided that a customer hadn’t properly maintained an item, they wouldn’t pay. Hint: customers’ maintenance was rarely up to the company’s exacting standards.

2. Offer cash instead of repairs or replacements. Your dryer will cost $600 to repair? How about a $180 cash payment instead? Customers were not pleased with these offers.

3. Don’t pay the bills. When they finally did dispatch someone to repair a customer’s appliance or house, the company allegedly just sat on the bills. The state knows of outstanding invoices to different repair companies totaling $21,690.92.

Why you should avoid home warranties [Consumer Reports]

Graham Joyce, one of Britain's best known fantasy writers, has died from complications of lymphoma cancer, an ilness he had blogged about extensively. He was 59.

There is more to Stonehenge than meets a visitor's eye.

An extreme solar flare is blasting its way to Earth and could mess up some power grids, satellites and radio transmissions, scientists say.

In some ways, Rebecca Wright doesn't understand all the fuss over her 96-year-old mother's recent marriage. After all, she says, "Anybody who wants to get married must have a little dementia."