pileofcrapola

If you check more than a bag or two when you fly, the costs can add up quickly. Erica Ho at Map Happy looked at which airlines cost the least—and the most—in terms of baggage fees.

Read more...

You've probably heard the old saying "forgive and forget". Well, a recent study suggests that there may actually be some truth to that.

Read more...

Dear Lifehacker,
I've got this setting called "HDR" on my phone's camera, but I'm still not sure what it does. It's supposed to make my pictures look better, but sometimes my pictures just come out blurry or washed out! Am I doing something wrong?

Read more...

Moseying around a supermarket is a surefire way to spend more money than you planned to. Set yourself a time limit to make sure you get in and out of the store with only what you need.

Read more...

Rental companies will offer you "free" upgrades to bigger, fancier cars, but it can end up costing you more in fuel costs.

Read more...

Asking your boss for more money is probably up there with doing your taxes and cleaning the gutters on your list of favorite things to do. But salary freezes continue to thaw, and this may be your year to finally go for it.

Read more...

I've worked a fast food drive-thru, waited tables, baked bread, slogged it out in corporate copyediting, worked at an alt-weekly, juggled freelance, and this one time I worked at a Ponderosa for three days. Looking back, only two of those jobs offered adult-like working conditions: Produce results, and we won't hassle you.

Read more...

Earlier today, General Motors was hit with a $35 million penalty for its decade-plus delay in recalling millions of vehicles with defective ignition switches that could be inadvertently turned off, leaving the car without power steering and braking and deactivating the air bags. GM has repeatedly stated that these cars are safe to drive because an accidentally turned-off vehicle could still be steered to safety. But is that true?

For an upcoming story on the GM recall, CNBC reporter Phil LeBeau ventured up to not-exactly-top-secret test track run by our colleagues at Consumer Reports to get the hands-on experience of what it would be like to try to control one of these defective cars.

For the above video, LeBeau drove while CR’s Director of Auto Testing Jake Fisher hangs out in the passenger seat of a 2007 Chevy Cobalt, one of the more than 2 million recalled GM cars.

With just a light yank on the keychain, the Cobalt’s engine shuts off but the car continues to move. LeBeau, after some intentional swerving to see how the car handles without its power steering, then attempts to navigate some traffic cones; it doesn’t end well for the little orange guys.

Keep in mind that LeBeau knew his car was going to turn off and was (we hope) mentally prepared for the change in drivability. Most people on the road are working under the assumption that their car won’t crap out unexpectedly because of a tug on the keychain. And most people don’t have the luxury of only having to worry about a few traffic cones on a private test track.

The entire report, Failure to Recall: Investigating GM, will air Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNBC.

A common consumer complaint about flower deliveries is that the arrangements that show up on our loved ones’ doorsteps isn’t as tall or full as the pictures we saw of the arrangement online. A former florist wrote to Consumerist to explain why this is. The photos from FTD, Teleflora, and other Big Flower companies are staged to look nice for the camera, but real-life is three-dimensional.

A former florist wrote to us to explain how this perspective shift works. “Something you said in your story earlier [this week] really hit the nail on the head, though maybe not in the way you think,” reader S. explains. In our post on Wednesday, reader Jason wrote to us to complain that the flowers he had sent to his mother didn’t measure up, even though he had paid extra for a large arrangement. Here are they are side by side:

According to S., yeah, the arrangement was problematic because the flowers were wrong. He ordered roses, and those should have been roses. When it comes to the arrangement’s size, Jason wasn’t ripped off in the way that he thought he was. “This arrangement does measure up…if you somehow pointed all 15 blooms at the camera,” she explains. Real life is three-dimensional, and so are real flower arrangements.

S. continues:

That point is exactly why no one should order from Teleflora, FTD, etc – all of those pretty pictures you see on their websites are arranged in a 2-dimensional layout, with all blooms tilted toward the camera.

It’s deceptive – the photo arrangements are done in a way that implies a “round” arrangement (like a ball sitting on top of a vase) – it’s implied that there are additional flowers that you can’t see.

Once your mom’s local florist sits down to make the arrangement out of the book for, say, Teleflora, he or she isn’t going to make the exact same thing that you saw in the website photo. It will have the same amount of the same type of flowers, but they’ll be arranged in a three-dimensional shape. The photos that florists use to guide them in making the arrangements are not the same ones that the customer sees.

“In every case, that menu states an identical number of stems as are visible in the picture, nothing more (and the cost allotted to the florist reflects this),” S. explains. “Florists know that no one in their right mind wants a 2-dimensional arrangement, so they’ll generally create a smaller 3-dimensional arrangement and hope that the recipient didn’t see the Teleflora picture, so they won’t be disappointed.”

Here’s a great example of what S. is talking about. A disappointed boyfriend ordered flowers from FTD, and sent this picture to us shortly before Valentine’s Day in 2013.

The one on the right looks terrible, mostly because of the shaggy greenery. Count the roses, though. Both arrangements have twelve. It’s just that all twelve are facing the camera on the left, implying a much larger and fuller arrangement.

Once you realize that’s how florist website photos work, you can’t un-see it. We posted this disappointing Mothers’ Day bouquet earlier this week, too.

The colors are wrong, which made the sender unhappy, but the size of the arrangement is correct. It would look exactly like the photo if you bunched all of the flowers together and pointed them in one direction.

Before digital photography and especially before camera phones, the sender would probably never see what flower arrangement a faraway loved one really received. That’s good for keeping florists accountable, but when consumers start with deceptively-arranged photos, we’re holding them accountable to the wrong image.

“When I was working as a florist, we ended up taking a loss on most Teleflora arrangements – we often included more product than Teleflora reimbursed for, just to make things look presentable,” S. explains.

The solution? The ironic thing is that most florists’ sites are based on a template and designs from the big wire services. If you order directly from their site (and not from a fake local florist), the florist gets a bigger share of your money.

Better yet, look for a “Designer’s choice” or “deal of the day” option on the Web ordering form, or call them on the phone. Give them color parameters and the flower types that the recipient likes or doesn’t like, and let the shop work their floral magic.

Of course, there are cases when florists deliver total crap. Misleading website photos are no excuse for late, missing, or terrible arrangements. It’s just great to hear from an insider about how this really works, and why real-life flowers make so many of our readers sad.

RELATED:
Florists Hate FTD And Teleflora Even More Than Disappointed Girlfriends Do

There’s nothing like a warm, fragrant cinnamon roll, fresh and hot out of the kitchen. But police say for one Burger King customer in South Carolina, receiving a lackluster Cinnabon was so disappointing, she threatened to shoot everyone in the restaurant over it.

Here’s how it went down, according to video from WCBD News: Witnesses say three women came into the Burger King and ordered food, and shortly after got into an argument with an employee about her Cinnabon not being fresh.

A manager got involved and the fight escalated, until the three women left the restaurant. A few minutes later, witnesses say one woman came back inside with her hand in her purse and said she was going to “shoot everyone,” and then added “I”m going to shoot down the place.”

Employees called the police and the suspects fled.

The store’s owner didn’t speak on camera but told the station, “I know it’s a good product, but I’m not sure it’s that good.”

And as for the scene inside, one witness didn’t sound like she was too scared either that anything would actually happen because of the subject matter.

“It was all kind of dumb because it was over a cinnamon bun,” she told the news station. “It’s like, it’s Burger King, it’s a fast food place, it’s a cinnamon bun.”

All jokes aside, police are taking the threat seriously, and will likely be leveling charges of aggravated assault if they apprehend the suspect.

Fast food freakout [WCBD News]

Yet again, Amazon and Nissan have teamed up to bring the world a mystery involving an enormous Amazon-branded container out in public. Last time, the massive Amazon box on a flatbed truck contained a Nissan Versa, which was a great cross-promotion. What could be inside the mysterious giant Amazon locker in San Francisco? Maybe the Nissan logo on one side provides a clue.

The locker landed in a pedestrian plaza in downtown San Francisco yesterday. Its purpose wasn’t clear, though its size provided a clue. Last night, a crew of Nissan promotion peeps added the hashtag and the Nissan logo, and it all made sense.

The contents aren’t all that mysterious. At 6 PM Pacific time today, Nissan will open up the locker and give away its contents. There’s a Nissan Rogue SUV inside. According to Automotive News, the winner will be one of the people who tweets their photo using the hashtag #giantlocker. (It’s not clear whether the winner has to be in San Francisco in the plaza taking a picture in front of the actual locker, or just post a tweet about the locker.)

#Giantlocker http://t.co/OLU3FaCpIc—
Kayla (@kaaytothelaaa) May 16, 2014

That's one big locker! #GiantLocker #Amazon http://t.co/gAjSGA0wRK—
Adam Erhard (@adrockmedia) May 16, 2014

Last December, after decades of ignoring the issue of the non-medical use antibiotics in farm animals, the FDA finally released industry-friendly guidance on the topic, politely asking drug companies to stop selling their antibiotics to farmers for anything other than disease treatment and prevention. And yet the folks at Swiss drug giant Novartis continue to push one of their antibiotics as a way for pig farmers to make bigger pigs.

For those still unfamiliar with the backstory, here’s a short version: About 80% of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. go to farmers, who then put these drugs in animal feed, primarily because they have the happy side effect of promoting growth. Alas, decades of research shows that this over-use of antibiotics is aiding in the development of drug-resistant pathogens.

The FDA guidance was intended to curb the medically unnecessary use of these drugs by asking the antibiotics makers to only sell the drugs for disease treatment or prevention. However, since most of the drugs marketed for growth promotion are also still approved for medical use, this is really just asking the drug companies to pay lip service to the idea of reducing antibiotics use by simply requiring farmers to change the stated reason for buying the drugs.

But on its website for Denagard, an antibiotic approved for controlling dysentery and treating diseases like pneumonia in pigs, Novartis continues to market the feed additive’s properties as a growth promoter.

“Denagard plus CTC-medicated pigs showed significantly higher daily gain and achieved a significantly higher body weight at the end of the trial period than OTC pigs (+3.9 lbs.) and nonmedicated pigs (+5.7 lbs.),” reads a statement on the Denagard site.

Novartis also touts the efficiency of Denagard in putting on weight, touting a 1.89 Feed-to-Gain ratio (meaning that adding the Denagard/CTC mixture to feed resulted in 1 pound of weight gain for every 1.89 pounds of feed).

And finally, there’s this gem: “Denagard plus CTC provided a 4:1 return on investment.”

Granted, we’re not livestock farmers, but none of the above statements sound like they have anything to do with disease prevention or treatment.

So the folks at Keep Antibiotics Working have written to Mike Taylor, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, to point out just how ineffective the FDA’s guidance has been in reversing the drug companies’ marketing of antibiotics for livestock.

In the wake of the FDA guidance, representatives for both the livestock and drug industries shrugged off the new not-quite-rules, with antibiotics makers stating that they didn’t believe the changes would have any impact on their bottom lines.

“Companies intent on avoiding reductions in sales that are likely to result from the withdrawal of growth promotion claims have several avenues open to them,” reads the letter (Full text below). “The most obvious is to market drugs with approved label claims for disease prevention and control, which FDA is not restricting, as growth promoters. Many of the drugs approved for production uses like growth promotion also have approvals for disease prevention and control and can be administered in essentially the same manner as for growth promotion (i.e. no requirement for diagnosis, herd or flock wide use, and unlimited duration). Companies that persuade animal producers of the production benefits of the use of these drugs can expect more use over longer periods of time in greater numbers of animals — in short, higher sales.”

The letter points to other efforts being taken by drug companies to continue selling antibiotics for non-medical use.

“For example, drug maker Phibro has stated that it is seeking a change in the status of its product virginiamycin so that it is no longer considered medically important and therefore not covered by Guidance #213, and further that it will seek new indications for products that currently only have production claims,” explains KAW in the letter, which calls on the FDA to ask Novartis to stop marketing the growth-promotion aspects of Denagard and send a general notice to all drug manufacturers “that it will not tolerate the claims of production benefits in advertising associated with any medically important animal antibiotics.”

The one hiccup here is that Novartis and other drug makers don’t necessarily need to market the growth-promotion tendencies of their drugs. Livestock farmers are well aware of these side-effects and will continue to use the antibiotics, though they will likely claim the use is solely prophylactic.

Similarly, there is nothing to prevent researchers from “independently” releasing studies showing growth-promotion effects of these drugs. And if a livestock farmer just happens to see such research, then the drug company’s marketing has been done for them.

So until the FDA actually puts stricter limits on the uses of antibiotics in farm animals, the concerns about over-use and drug-resistant pathogens will not go away.

We’ve reached out to Novartis for comment but have yet to receive a response. If we hear anything, we will update this story.

UPDATE: Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, who has been a vocal critic of the over-use of antibiotics in livestock and has introduced legislation aimed at curbing this abuse, points to the Denagard marketing as evidence that the FDA’s guidance must be strengthened.

“This latest effort to undermine regulations on antibiotic use in agriculture proves that the FDA’s voluntary guidance is riddled with loopholes and completely inadequate to halt the growing antibiotic resistance crisis in this country,” explained Rep. Slaughter in a statement. “When a company is offered the choice to comply with a regulation or work around it, it’s not surprising when the company chooses the most financially attractive option – more often than not, that option is noncompliance. We need mandatory limits on antibiotic use if we have any hope of avoiding the World Health Organization’s grave prediction of a ‘post-antibiotic era’ where routine infections like strep throat become fatal and life-saving surgeries like heart transplants that require antibiotics become obsolete.”

—–
Here is the full text of the letter from KAW to the FDA:

Dear Deputy Commissioner Taylor,

Keep Antibiotics Working is writing to alert FDA to corporate efforts to undermine the public health impact of its animal antibiotic resistance policy.

Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW) is a coalition of health, consumer, agricultural, environmental, humane, and other advocacy groups members dedicated to eliminating a major cause of antibiotic resistance: the inappropriate use of antibiotics in food animals.

Animal drug companies have consistently stated that FDA’s Guidance for Industry #213 and proposed changes to the Veterinary Feed Directive regulations will not significantly reduce animal antibiotics sales and KAW agrees with them.

Companies intent on avoiding reductions in sales that are likely to result from the withdrawal of growth promotion claims have several avenues open to them. The most obvious is to market drugs with approved label claims for disease prevention and control, which FDA is not restricting, as growth promoters. Many of the drugs approved for production uses like growth promotion also have approvals for disease prevention and control and can be administered in essentially the same manner as for growth promotion (i.e. no requirement for diagnosis, herd or flock wide use, and unlimited duration). Companies that persuade animal producers of the production benefits of the use of these drugs can expect more use over longer periods of time in greater numbers of animals — in short, higher sales.

To illustrate this tactic, we have attached promotional materials downloaded from the website of drug maker Novartis. The materials can also be viewed online at this web address:
http://www.us.denagard.com/product-information/grow-finish.htm. Novartis’ product, a feed additive containing tiamulin hydrogen fumarate in combination with chlortetracycline hydrochloride, is approved in swine to control dysentery and to treat pneumonia and enteric disease, yet the marketing materials emphasize its benefits for production. The materials tout benefits to performance in terms of daily gain, body weight achieved, feed to gain ration, and return on investment, all indicators of productivity not animal health. This product was never approved for growth promotion, but is included in the list of products affected by Guidance for Industry #213.

KAW fears that promotions of this type will become increasingly common as companies withdraw growth promotion claims. Antibiotic use engenders resistance. To the extent that companies succeed in blunting downward pressure on use, they will have rendered ineffective the public health impact of FDA’s policy.

In addition to promoting the production benefits of drugs approved for control and prevention, drug makers are publicly announcing other steps to avoid downward effects on antibiotic sales from the FDA plan. For example, drug maker Phibro has stated that it is seeking a change in the status of its product virginiamycin so that it is no longer considered medically important and therefore not covered by Guidance #213, and further that it will seek new indications for products that currently only have production claims.

We ask that FDA immediately contact Novartis and require the company to stop promoting the production benefits of its tiamulin-chlortetracycline drug approved for disease prevention and control. The Agency should also send a general notice to all drug manufacturers that it will not tolerate the claims of production benefits in advertising associated with any medically important animal antibiotics.

We also ask that FDA either withdraw, or require drug makers to modify, approvals for prevention and control indications that do not meet current safety standards for medically important antimicrobials established under Guidance #152 and #213. Those standards would limit the use of medically important antibiotics to select groups of animals for a defined duration after a veterinarian has determined that the group to receive antimicrobials is at risk for the disease to be controlled.

FDA should require drug makers to make these changes in parallel and under the same timeline as the changes recommended under Guidance #213.
The allowance of routine preventive use of antibiotics in food animals is the major loophole in FDA’s resistance policy. The materials we have enclosed demonstrate that drug companies intend to run circles around FDA through that loophole.

Once again, KAW urge the Agency not to let this happen.

Sincerely,

Steven Roach
Food Safety Program Director
Food Animal Concerns Trust
Keep Antibiotics Working Member Organization

Do you use detergent pods, the single-serve laundry sensation that small children can’t stop cramming in their mouths? If so, our freshly-laundered colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports would like some feedback from you on the products, especially if you have small children living with you. Click here to take their brief questionnaire on the subject.

Everyone knows amusement parks are a drain on your wallet — all those snacks to buy, the T-shirt in the gift shop your kid’s just gotta have or she will explode, not to mention the admission price. But police say some visitors to SeaWorld in Orlando saw their money walk away in a less fun manner, alleging that a worker was pilfering visitors’ belongings.

A SeaWorld guest complained that her purse had been stolen, leading to park security to tighten things up and keep a watchful eye out, reports WESH.com.

Police say that one worker was spotted going through guests’ bags, purses and strollers sitting outside Shamu Stadium, and was then arrested on grand theft charges.

One guest wasn’t surprised that the area would be targeted, flush as it is with strollers.

“Just in general, there are a lot of strollers in the parking area. It wouldn’t be uncommon to see 30 or more lined up,” she explained. “We would park ours there but we were always cautious to make sure we took our valuables with us.”

Police are staying tight-lipped about most of the details of the alleged crimes, noting only that SeaWorld had surveillance video showing her using stolen credit cards at a local restaurant.

“We’re working closely with investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office,” said a SeaWorld spokesman. “Because this [is an] ongoing law enforcement investigation, I’m unable to give any more details.”

SeaWorld employee accused of stealing cash, credit cards from guests [WESH.com]

As was foretold back in December, Darden Restaurants is chucking its catch back into the sea, and getting a nice chunk of change for it: The company announced that it’s selling seafood chain Red Lobster off to investment firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash.

Red Lobster’s former parent company, which also owns Olive Garden, had said last year that it was going to try to either spin off its 705 U.S. and Canada Red Lobster locations or just sell them off outright. It seems it decided to go with the latter.

The issue lies with slow business at its chains, as they leak customers to other chains like Chipotle, which customers like for the better-than-fast-food food without having to sit down and order from a menu.

Red Lobster first opened in 1968, notes the Associated Press, and was on the forefront of the seafood cuisine movement for many Americans, who might not have dined on the cuisine otherwise. But as things started to go south, Darden tried adding non-seafood items to the menu, which didn’t really help much.

For now, it seems Darden will have enough on its plate just trying to fix Olive Garden through a so-called “brand renaissance.”

Prepare to bid Red Lobster goodbye soon enough — Darden says it expects to close the deal in its first fiscal quarter of 2015.

Darden Announces Sale of Red Lobster for $2.1B [Associated Press]

You might react to this concept with either horror or curiosity: McDonald’s is testing guacamole as a condiment and dipping sauce at its restaurants in southern California, and they’re testing a fancy new Guacamole Burger in Denver. For 89 cents, they’ll put guacamole on anything. Anything?

The Guac Burger isn’t available in southern California, but the McGuac is available as one of the toppings you can get in a “build your own burger” concept that the chain is testing there. Customers get to choose the ingredients for their self-designed burger, which is a variation on a Quarter Pounder, on an iPad.

We don’t know for sure, but would guess that McDonald’s isn’t making up fresh batches of guacamole all day long in the restaurant: it will probably be some variation of jarred guacamole, which can be pretty good but generally isn’t the most delicious choice around. These pricier burgers and the guac and fries are meant to compete with fast-casual chains like Chipotle or Smashburger: is that enough to compete, or is the fast-casual experience about something other than pricier burger toppings?

Take Our Poll

McDonald’s Tests Guacamole as Topping, Side Dish [Burger Business]

“What on earth is a jerky blaster?” you may be asking. It’s a product sold by outdoor outfitter Cabela’s that lets you make your own jerky sticks at home, and it functions sort of like a caulk gun for meat. It’s been recalled because its charger might overheat, and so have a lot of other things.

On with the Recall Roundup!

Babies
J. Crew Baby Coveralls – Snaps are a choking risk if they detach

Kids
Nantucket Distributing Felt Easter Baskets (Christmas Tree Shops) – bunny eyes are choking hazard
H&M Girls’ Leggings – metal part on belt is choking hazard
RMP Athletic Locker Boys’ Hooded Jackets (Sports Chalet) – strangulation hazard

Home
StyleCraft Recalls Upholstered Benches (HomeGoods) – bench may break
Cabela’s Electronic Jerky Blaster – battery charger may overheat
Misty Mate Hand-Held Personal Misters – may shatter during use
Avon Ergonomic Eyelash Curler – may stab user in eye with metal pin
Classic Concepts Aman Trunks (Cost Plus World Market) – lead paint
Marlboro Promotional Flashlight/Match Holder – matches may ignite inside flashlight
White-Rodgers Home Heating and Cooling Thermostats – batteries may leak

Lawn & Garden
Exmark Quest ZRT Riding Mowers – steering assembly may break, causing rider to lose control
Fairview 7-Piece Patio Woven Dining Set – chair legs may bend or break

Toys
Discount School Supply Magnetic Sorting Boards – excessive lead levels and highly edible magnets if toy cracks open
Horizon Hobby Blade 700 X Pro Series Helicopter Kits – blades may fly off helicopter in flight

Sports & Outdoors
BMC Alpenchallenge, Masschallenge and Urbanchallenge Bicycles – forks may break
2014 Cannondale Tandem Bicycles – forks may break
Coleman Northstar Liquid Fuel Lanterns – fire hazard

Electronics
Legrand Wiremold Under-Cabinet Power Strips – fire hazard
Vibe USB Mobile Power Bar (Five Below) – overheating and fire hazard

Manassas pushes back high school start times by 50 minutes Washington Post High school students in Manassas will get an extra 50 minutes of sleep next year thanks to a decision last week to move their school starting time later than that of fifth- through eighth-graders. Studies have shown that even modest adjustments to make ... and more »

Manassas Crime Watch: Shots Fired Near School PotomacLocal.com At approximately 9:30AM on May 13, 2014 Manassas City Police responded to the 8700 block of Richmond Ave for a report of shots being fired, which witnesses confirmed when officers arrived on-scene. Investigators were able to determine that one of the ... and more »

German authorities say they've arrested a 44-year-old Mexican man after finding his suitcase full of snakes, turtles and lizards, including endangered species.

A cat comes to the rescue of a little boy when a neighbor's dog bites the child.

Jurors in the murder trial of a mother who fatally shot her two teenage children had to decide between two scenarios: the prosecution's argument that Julie Schenecker knew what she was doing when she aimed a .38-caliber handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets at her children's heads; or the defense's explanation that the former military linguist was legally insane at the time.

About 4.5 million Americans were bitten by dogs in the United States last year, including over 2 million children and 5,581 U.S. Postal Service workers, authorities announced Thursday in an effort to promote dog-bite prevention. Houston ranked worst in the nation for dog attacks on letter carriers, pushing Los Angeles, last year's leader, to second place. Here are additional numbers and ways to prevent or avoid dog attacks.

Swimming pools are a much greater danger to black children and teens than they are to other kids, a new government study shows.

A filmed underwater confrontation between an environmentalist who wants to shut down the aquarium-fish industry in Hawaii and a collector who gathers the fish and sells them for a living has put a spotlight on a long-running conflict over the business.

Four people have been charged in the gang-related slaying of a reserve Virginia police officer, according to an indictment released Friday.

The Social Security Administration is out with lists of the most popular baby names by state.

Organizers of a planned dig in Hampton say they hope to shed light on a little-known chapter in Civil War history.

WTOP Ticketbuster has found several instances in which D.C. has not checked ticket photos to catch errors.

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is considering whether to continue exhibiting dolphins.