pileofcrapola

Flash-sale sites are merchants that offer items for a deeply discounted price, for a limited time and in limited quantities. (Woot is an example that most of our readers might be familiar with.) They became very popular during the most recent recession when high-end retailers had piles of merchandise that nobody wanted, but most of these sites have faded…except for Zulily. Why is that?

“Daily deals for moms, babies, and kids” is the site’s tagline: they offer clothes and accessories for children and for women, and have recently expanded into decorative items, home goods, and even some food items. What’s distinctive about the company is its fulfillment model. They don’t have items on hand when they sell them, but instead wait until an item has sold out. Then the vendor ships it over.

Some online sellers (Groupon Goods early on is one example) use drop shipping, where the supplier ships items directly to the customer, without merchandise ever entering the retailer’s possession. Zulily doesn’t use this model: they ship items out of their own warehouses once it shows up from suppliers.

Customers have to wait several weeks to receive their purchases, and they’re okay with that. Even when they experienced a massive backlog earlier this year that required hiring extra staff, we didn’t receive any complaints about it here at Consumerist.

The company announced its quarterly results today, and they showed that this model may not be working so well. The Wall Street Journal called the company’s shipping practices a “weakness” in their business model. The shipping clog hasn’t hurt loyalty: most purchases are by repeat customers. “[W]e’re seeing no problem getting new customers, or existing customers to spend more money,” noted the company’s CEO.

Zulily Shares Fall Amid Order Backlogs, Deeper First-Quarter Loss [Wall Street Journal]

We hear that the newest version of Google’s Nexus smartphone, the Nexus 5, is a fine device. Reader Michael has heard that, too. He wouldn’t know: The phone that he ordered a few weeks ago didn’t work right out of the box. He was stuck. He had ordered the $350 Nexus because his previous phone broke, but couldn’t afford put the total on hold on a credit or debit card so Google could ship him a new phone right away.

He had two choices, according to Google: send back the broken phone and wait for the exchange to complete, or put a hold for the full amount of the phone on a payment card while Google did the swap. He didn’t have the money, and also didn’t want to be without a way to make phone calls, as a person who has ALS. When he told customer service that neither of these options worked for him, they escalated his call to a higher level of customer service…where he was given the same options again.

“I know I could buy an inexpensive phone and wait on the reorder, but I thought Google was a company that took care of its customers. I just want what I paid for,” Michael wrote to Consumerist. “Why should anyone that receives a defective product have to let a company put another 350 charge on [their] account?”

This is a common policy to prevent return fraud, and in most cases isn’t a huge inconvenience to customers. For Michael and anyone whose only phone is in need of repair, this is a large inconvenience.

We passed his story on to Google, and their Nexus team got back to us. They’ve granted an exception for him. “Our help support team has reached out to Michael directly and is sending him a new phone,” a spokesperson wrote to us. “On behalf of the team, I’m sorry this issue was not resolved more quickly.”

The best way to ensure your complaints won’t be taken seriously? Leaving an angry, anonymous letter detailing why you’re ticked off. Just such an unsigned missive from someone claiming to be a realtor has one elderly New Jersey couple pledging to keep parking on their own darn lawn if they want to.

“I’m trying to sell million dollar homes in the neighborhood,” the person wrote in a letter that had no return address or signature, according to NBC News 10 in Philadelphia. “I drive my clients around and they see your car parked sideways on the front lawn! You have a driveway — use it!”

But the couple — both of whom are in their late 70s — take exception to this bit of unsolicited advice. The man explains that it’s often easier for him to park on the grass, which is closer to the door, when he’s bringing in the groceries, because he has a bad leg.

“It’s like a sneak attack,” he said. “No name. They didn’t say who they were.”

The couple’s grandchildren posted the letter to Facebook (because that is how rage is expressed nowadays), and it’s since been shared more than 700 times.

“I was very angry,” said one of the grandchildren. “They shouldn’t have gotten this letter.”

One local real estate agent admits that while it’s not great for curb appeal if homeowners are parking on the lawn, a snippy unsigned note isn’t the way to ask for that to change.

“The letter itself is a little disturbing,” he said. “I think the realtor who wrote that is probably regretting that he did. I think it’s a very negative vibe for us.”

Meanwhile, the anonymous letter writer will have to stew in his or her own wrath for the foreseeable future.

“I can do whatever I want to do,” the woman says. “I’m not moving the car. I don’t know of any million dollar homes in this neighborhood.”

Angry Letter Criticizes ‘Curb Appeal’ of Elderly Couple [NBC 10 News]

While many of us rely on coffee to keep our eyes from shutting when we’re getting tired, a new study out of Cornell University says drinking coffee can have another effect on the ol’ peepers: It could help prevent eyesight from deteriorating, say researchers. All the better to see that cup of joe so desperately needed in the morning.

Coffee contains 7% to 9% chlorogenic acid (known as CLA), an antioxidant that prevents retinal degeneration in mice, says the study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The retina is a thin layer of tissue on the back wall of the eyeball that contains light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells in charge of receiving and sorting the information you’re seeing. It needs a lot of oxygen to work well and avoid tissue damage, which, combined with free radicals, leads to loss of sight. This can happen due to glaucoma, aging and diabetes, the study explains.

In the study, some mice received nitric oxide treatment to create oxidative stress and free radicals (the things antioxidants fight). Mice treated with CLA didn’t develop any retinal damage, while those that didn’t had signs of retinal degeneration.

Don’t go guzzling away just yet — because CLA is absorbed during the digestive process, researchers are now going to look into whether or not drinking coffee will allow the CLA to cross directly through what’s known as the blood-retinal barrier and into the retina. Or perhaps in the future, synthetic compounds with the magic ingredient could be dropped directly into the eye.

This research is “important in understanding functional foods, that is, natural foods that provide beneficial health effects,” the study’s senior author says in a press release about the work. “Coffee is the most popular drink in the world, and we are understanding what benefit we can get from that.”

Currently, shipping companies like FedEx and UPS only take a package’s size into account when it passes certain dimensional thresholds, but it looks like FedEx will soon start using package size and weight to determine shipping rates for all packages.

The Wall Street Journal reports that shippers are now being notified of this change, which is slated to go into effect in Jan. 2015.

So those shippers who have been packing their heavy items efficiently with minimal packaging probably won’t be terribly affected, but people sending large but lightweight items — diapers, clothing, shoes, toilet paper, tennis rackets — will see prices increase.

This could have a massive impact on the bottom line of e-commerce biggies like Amazon and its subsidiaries, most specifically shoe-seller Zappos and Diapers.com.

If e-tailers suddenly need to worry about sending a light-but-large package, it may result in packaging changes; why send a shoebox inside of a larger box when you can just wrap the shoes in bubble wrap and pack them in a small box?

Of course, Amazon has a long and storied history of sending tiny things in huge boxes, so this may be an end to nearly a decade of Stupid Shipping Gang posts.

According to the Journal, the cost for shipping a five-pound, 30-pack of toilet paper up to 150 miles would increase 42% once the box’s size is factored in. It’s hard to imagine how this price increase doesn’t get passed along in some form to the consumer. Since high shipping costs are a huge turn-off to many shoppers, the price hike will probably need to go into the price charged by the e-tailer.

Granted, FedEx is only one shipping company and it’s not the predominant company used by Amazon. That would be UPS. However, FedEx and UPS have a long history of following each other’s lead on price hikes, so it seems likely that UPS would also begin charging based on parcel dimensions.

“We continually evaluate our policies to remain competitive in the industry,” is the non-statement on the matter from UPS. “Our focus is on being fairly compensated for the value we provide to our customers.”

In an effort to cut down on delivery delays and shipping costs, Amazon has recently begun testing of its own delivery service in San Francisco and other parts of the country.

Ernest likes to eat pistachios. He’s also a good consumer, checking unit prices and choosing the store brand of his favorite snack. When he picked up a bag at his local Walmart recently, he noticed that something was missing. About four ounces of pistachios, in fact.

The nuts sell for $6.98 per pound in the generic variety, sold in one-pound bags. Simple enough. The price was still $6.98, and the shelf still posted the unit price as 43.6¢ per pound, but Ernest knew this couldn’t be accurate. The new bag only had 12 ounces.

He did what we would recommend in this situation: took the bag over to an employee and asked for the bag to be scanned. The price for the new, shrunken bag? $6.98. The price per ounce is then 58¢.

“This is more expensive that the national brand, which is sold for about 55 cents an ounce,” Ernest wrote to Consumerist. “Maybe they hoped no one would notice.” Maybe. They might not, as long as someone fixes that incorrect shelf tag: good idea to let someone at the store about it. If the wrong sign is still there next time, flag down a manager, or contact your attorney general’s consumer protection office.

When a kid hears the first hint of the delicate strains of “Pop! Goes The Weasel” it means one thing — the ice cream truck is a’coming down the street. And you can bet your popsicle sticks that most youngsters are shooting out the door without Mom or Dad in tow.

Because of the unsupervised nature of many ice cream truck transactions, Los Angeles County is considering requiring background checks for those vendors and any others who deal with kids on their own.

The county’s Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a plan for staffers to look into possible new regulations that would require vendors to subject to a screening process for criminal records before they can interact with children, reports the L.A. Times/a>. The Live-Screen process would check for criminal records that include molestation, sex offenses, pornography or abuse.

Beyond ice cream trucks, the supervisor behind the idea said the policy could also apply to other businesses who deal mainly with solo kids.

“As the ultimate safety net for our most vulnerable residents, we have a responsibility to protect our young children,” he said, especially because ice cream trucks and their ilk tend to linger near parks, schools and other places where kids might be unsupervised.

“We could be unknowingly permitting dangerous individuals to come into contact with innocent children,” he said.

The L.A. County Treasurer and Tax Collector’s offices will report back within 60 days with a list of businesses that fall under that unsupervised children-as-customers category, as well as whether such a screening requirement can be imposed on businesses that engage with kids on a regular basis, before they’re allowed to get a business license.

L.A. County considering background checks on ice cream truck vendors [L.A. Times]

In a congratulatory gesture to celebrate Comcast’s Worst Company In America win, an antenna company took it upon itself to deliver a cake to the victor’s Philadelphia headquarters. One, because cake is delicious (clearly) and also to thank the cable company for sending it cord-cutting customers who have a sudden need to buy an antenna.

Antennas Direct chronicled the cake delivery in a video, from pick-up at the baker to its destination at Comcast’s Philly home. Along the way the company also sprinkles in some interviews with Comcast customers, asking how they feel about their service.

Addressed to CEO Brian Roberts, the cake reads: “Congratulations Comcast/Thanks for all the business/Stay the course. XOXO Antennas Direct.”

We’re posting the video because we find it amusing (and also, because once again, cake is tasty), and it’s not to be construed in any way as an endorsement of any company.

Let’s roll the footage:

Meanwhile, the head of Comcast’s cable division Neil Smit admitted during the recent TechCrunch Disrupt New York conference that the company needs to work on serving customers better.

“I think if there’s one thing to disrupt in our business, it’s customer service,” Smit said in response to TechCrunch mentioning Comcast’s WCIA win. “It’s my top priority,” he added, noting that it’d be great if customers know exactly when a technician is going to show up, among other things.

What Happens When You Congratulate the Worst Company in America [Antennas Direct]
Comcast CEO Neil Smit Says Improving Customer Service Is His Top Priority [TechCrunch]

Do you find the Doritos Locos Taco intriguing, but don’t care for beef (or Taco Bell’s version of beef)? Great news for you: tomorrow, the chain introduces a new member of the DLT family: Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch tacos. It’s exactly what it sounds like, and the “spice” in the name comes from a spicy ranch sauce. Spicy ranch?

Your reaction to this is probably either horror and disgust or “I want to go to there.” The flavor fits in with current food trends, though: Americans currently can’t get enough sriracha chili sauce, and other spicy foods are popular right now. Apparently, Taco Bell is currently considering a Doritos Locos variety that includes habanero peppers. They’re also considering bacon flavoring, though we don’t know whether the bacon would be blasted on the Doritos shell or inside the taco.

Taco Bell sent a sample to the office of Bloomberg Businessweek’s Venessa Wong earlier this week, even though the rest of us won’t be able to cram the new offering into our mouths until tomorrow. Her verdict? The taco is “indeed spicy, as promised,” and the spicy ranch sauce does make the whole thing taste different from what it would taste like if you just crammed chicken in a standard ranch DLT. She doesn’t say whether this is good or bad, but again: your reaction is probably either horror or enthusiasm, without many shades in between.

Taco Bell Won’t Stop Tinkering With the Doritos Locos Juggernaut [Bloomberg Businessweek]

If you’re one of those TV viewers who knows exactly where on their vast channel list to find the few stations you watch regularly, or who frustratedly skims past screen after screen of channels you not only don’t watch but don’t even know the names of, you’re not alone. In fact, a new report confirms that the average TV watcher only looks at fewer than 1-in-10 of the channels that come into their homes.

According to new numbers from Nielsen — a company you’d hope would know a thing or two about TV viewing habits — the average household TV receives 189 channels, but only tunes in to 17 or 18 of them.

What’s more, while the total number of available channels has increased by more than 50 in the last five years, the number of channels the average viewer watches has remained flat the entire time.

“This data is significant in that it substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption,” writes Nielsen. “And that means quality is imperative — for both content creators and advertisers. So the best way to reach consumers in a world with myriad options is to be the best option.”

What the report doesn’t get into is whether TV viewers have remained loyal to the same channels during that five year period or if they have switched allegiances over the years but still maintained that same total number of channels they watch. Given how quickly tastes change — and how rapidly basic cable pumps and dumps reality stars — we wouldn’t be surprised to see that many viewers have dumped one channel for another at various points during these years.

Additionally, the Nielsen news doesn’t say how varied that pool of 17 channels is. Is it four core channels that everyone watches and then the rest represent a wide range of more niche programming options, or do most of us watch the same dozen or so channels and fill in the blanks with a couple more particular options?

If it’s the former, then the broadcasters who force multichannel bundles down cable companies’ throats (You will take ESPN Claymation Xtreme 3 auf Deutsch, and you will love it!) can continue to justify this practice by saying that viewers want varied programming that caters to their peculiar tastes. If it’s the latter, it supports the argument for cutting the cord and paying for a la carte services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. You might not have immediate access to Real Housewives of Pacoima, but you’re also not paying for hundreds of stations you’ll never watch either.

Mother’s Day, one of our nation’s major flower-sending holidays, is coming soon. We don’t want to shame the industry over a whole new bouquet of crappy flower deliveries, but it’s inevitable every year. This May, we’re kicking off the festivities early with 1800Flowers, which is seemingly unable to send Lucy’s mom any tulips that aren’t dead.

It’s actually Lucy’s daughter who sent the flowers: she lives in a different state, but Lucy and her mother live in the same city. The grandmother, who is in her eighties, recently was hit by a car and sustained only minor injuries. (Yay!) Her granddaughter decided to send a pretty plant to cheer her up. Instead, what 1800Flowers sent was a reminder that death stalks us at every turn.

Here’s what was supposed to arrive:

Now, the plant isn’t supposed to arrive in bloom: it blooms in a few weeks. “Don’t think this baby is going to bloom,” Lucy observes. Nope.

Maybe it was going to sprout after delivery, and these tulips were just a little slow? Well…here’s that original plant a week after delivery:

Naturally, the granddaughter was horrified when she saw a picture of the flowers that showed up. 1800Flowers sent a coupon and promised to re-deliver a live plant. Here’s what she got:

Lucy describes it as octopus-like, “yellow with shriveled buds.” In relative terms, it is more alive than the original plant. It has leaves and buds! Dead-looking ones, but it’s an improvement.

Now, the granddaughter awaits her refund from 1800Flowers, and her grandmother has two new pots that look like mini fancy wastebaskets. Maybe she can put a living plant in them.

What’s a thirsty population to do when years of severe drought have almost exhausted the drinking water supply? One Texas town has taken a look around and realized there’s wastewater, wastewater everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Or hang on a second — there is plenty of perfectly good toilet water going to, well, waste. Ding, ding, ding.

In Wichita Falls, Texas, three years of severe drought have led to city leaders considering a plan that would mean half of the town’s drinking water would come directly from wastewater — after it’s been properly purified and recycled, of course, reports NPR News.

Times are tough, and residents already have to obey rules about when they can use potable water, the mayor explains.

“No outside irrigation whatsoever with potable water,” he says. “Car washes are closed, for instance, one day a week. If you drain your pool to do maintenance, you’re not allowed to fill it.”

Even with those measures, water supplies are expected to run dry in two years, prompting the city to build a 13-mile pipeline connecting its wastewater plant directly to the one that purifies water for drinking. So when it goes down the toilet, it’ll end up coming right back through the tap.

And of course, not everyone is excited about the potty plan.

“I think it’s gross,” one resident told NPR. “I mean, it’s recycled wastewater that we could possibly be drinking.”

That is exactly what’s happening, although it’ll be clean by the time anyone would drink it. But heck, you can always buy bottled water, which some residents are planning on doing.

“The thought of it definitely grosses me out,” one such resident admitted. “I’m sure that they would clean it and filter it up to standards, but I think just the idea would be — it’s sort of a mindset kind of thing, you know what I’m talking about?”

Yes, yes I do. But a person’s gotta hydrate somehow. And besides, adds the city official overseeing the plan, it’s not all toilet water.

“The vast majority of water that enters a wastewater plant did not come from a toilet,” he says. “They come from sinks, and bathtubs, and washing machines and dishwashers.”

And once the plan is approved by the state, the mayor says he’s planning on being the first one to take a sip of recycled water.

Drought-Stricken Texas Town Turns To Toilets For Water [NPR]

Last week, “Daily Show” alumnus John Oliver launched his new weekly comedy news show on HBO. Normally, this wouldn’t be something that we would care about, but the premiere show included a segment on dubious food advertising, starring POM Wonderful. The company responded to the segment with a lovely gift for the show’s staff.

That segment skewered questionable health claims made about products like mayonnaise, Pop-Tarts, sugary cereals, and pomegranate juice. Oliver and his writers did not in any way encourage viewers to deface product packages with the stickers that they posted online. These stickers boasted about products’ rat urine content, spread the message that each bottle of POM contains four Pomeranians, and declared Frosted Mini-Wheats to be “Arguably preferable to hunger.” (You can watch that segment here, if you missed it.) Some viewers went ahead and did that thing they were specifically not instructed to do, even bending the message a bit.

POM Wonderful decided to congratulate the newborn show on its debut with a gift. The company sent over a mini-fridge, a few cases of their juice, and a letter.

After a few passive-aggressive remarks on the show and how the company can totally take a joke, the lovely people at POM insist that they didn’t really mean customers can cheat death by drinking their juice, and that the company believes its point of view will prevail in the Supreme Court. Fine. As for the show’s suggestion that women give the men they care about enemas of pomegranate juice, well, the company will “take it under advisement.”

In closing, the company told Oliver and his staff, “What you do with the cooler of POM is your business.”

For the benefit of any subtext-challenged viewers, he translated POM’s message: “I simply cannot think of a more elegant way to say, ‘Here’s a crate of our product. Go ahead and shove it up your arse.’”

Free fridge, though.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Letter of the Week — POM Wonderful (Web Exclusive) [YouTube]

Now that marijuana is legal in Colorado for recreational use, that doesn’t mean necessarily that everyone is sitting around toking on pipes and joints, despite what your imagination has led you to believe. And because a whole lot of people, including pot tourists, like to eat their reefer, state officials are taking on the task of regulating those edible offerings.

As funny as it might be to imagine someone giggling over a batch of brownies, consumers ingesting too much marijuana is a serious problem for health officials and regulators. And of course, those who could come to harm by doing so.

To tackle the issue of how to curb such a problem, a task force is meeting today to start refining Colorado’s rules on edibles, meaning, edible marijuana products, reports the Associated Press.

“Basically, we are trying to figure out how to come up with a reasonable THC concentration or amount in edibles in proportion to product safety size,” said one pediatrician who has treated kids who have eaten marijuana and gotten sick.

Eating too much pot can have serious consequences, and not just in children — one Denver man reportedly jumped to his death from a hotel balcony after eating six times the recommended dosage of a marijuana-infused cookie.

It’s especially important because many people eschew smoking marijuana for the edible forms, including tourists to the state who can’t smoke in public or at a hotel. And because it’s a new industry, many consumers just don’t know how much to eat.

The state already limits how much THC can be in edibles to 10mg per serving, with a max of 10 servings in a package. But it’s hard to nail down that potency because of the wide varieties of marijuana available.

State lawmakers are also working on legislation that would require edibles themselves to be marked as containing pot, and not just the containers and wrappers they come in. Another bill would reduce limits on how much concentrated marijuana you can have, like the oils used to make cakes and cookies.

“All of us want to make sure people are safe,” said Meg Collins, executive director of the Denver-based Cannabis Business Alliance and a member of the task force. “The industry is stepping up and is looking at the best ways to educate and communicate to its customers safe ways to recreate with marijuana.”

Colorado works on new rules for edible marijuana [Associated Press]

As expected, Comcast and Time Warner Cable confirmed this morning that, through a combination of customer swaps and spin-off, shed themselves of around 4 million customers who will land, at least in part, in the lap of Charter Communications.

There are three aspects to the deal:

1. Charter gets 1.4 million TWC customers.
Charter will pay TWC approximately $7.3 billion for around 1.4 million of TWC’s current pay-TV customers. These customers will primarily be in Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Alabama.

2. Charter and TWC trade 1.6 million customers.
TWC and Charter will each shuffle around 1.6 million customers. The result will be a zero net gain of users for the parties, but will lead to more geographically contiguous service, with Charter shedding itself of business in California, New England, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia. The map at the bottom of this post shows what Charter’s new footprint would look like.

3. Comcast to spin off customers into new company partially owned by Charter.
Comcast will spin off 2.5 million customers into a company — dubbed SpinCo for the moment — in which Charter will have a 33% stake. SpinCo (or whatever it ends up being called) would serve customers in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Alabama, Eastern Tennessee, Kentucky, and Wisconsin. Between this and the TWC divestitures, Charter would then control a sizable chunk of the Midwest cable market.

Comcast and TWC are hoping that this plan will satisfy regulators reviewing the massive merger that would make the nation’s largest pay-TV and Internet provider even larger. It would also remove the second-largest cable TV provider from the market, leaving a huge gap between Comcast, which would have around 30 million customers, and Charter, which would become the #2 terrestrial provider with around 5.7 million full customers, plus the 33% stake in the 2.5 million SpinCo subscribers.

Today’s announcement is unlikely to quiet voices of opposition to the merger as it does nothing to increase competition in the cable marketplace — if anything, the swap of 1.6 million customers would only give both a merged Comcast/TWC and Charter a higher level of concentration in the markets they serve.

Below is a map, from the Comcast announcement, showing how Charter’s coverage would be clustered in the Great Lakes and Midwestern region of the country:

Washington Post

Fairfax County adopt a pet Washington Post Annie, left, an 11-year-old spayed Parson Russell terrier mix, is available from the Fairfax County Animal Shelter. Blackjack, center, a friendly cat, is available from the Humane Society of Fairfax County. Chunk, a male guinea pig, is available from ... and more »

Manassas gymnastics instructor charged with sexually assaulting child in 1980s Inside NoVA Police have charged the owner of GMS Institute Gymnastics outside Manassas with sexually assaulting a young girl between 1987 and 1988. The investigation began in November, after a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted “one more than one ... and more »

Prince William County news in brief Washington Post VDOT discusses I-66 widening project. A public meeting on the widening of Interstate 66 beginsat 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Haymarket Town Hall, 15000 Washington St. An image of late General Vo Nguyen Giap, the mastermind of Viet Minh force for ...

NBC4 Washington

Some in Fairfax, Loudoun Counties May Have Been Exposed to Measles NBC4 Washington People who have spent time in Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia recently may have been exposed to measles, health officials are warning. News4's Jackie Bensen reports. Some in Fairfax, Loudoun Counties May Have... Link; Embed; Email. Copy. Person with confirmed case of measles may have exposed people in Loudoun ...WJLA Officials Warn of Measles Exposure for Chantilly, South RidingThe Centreville Independent all 51 news articles »

Surgery can be a real bear. Even for a bear.

If a New Hampshire man thinks cops lie, he's free to say so on his license plate, the state's highest court ruled Wednesday.

A Dinwiddie County woman whose newborn's body was found in a toilet has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Staunton police are investigating the deaths of two dogs that were found hanging by their leashes in a kennel.

The federal Highway Trust Fund is going broke and Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Lane is urging Congress to pump it up.

File this one under Newest Scary Thing Youngins Are Doing To Freak Adults Out: A Wendy’s employee says a two kids approached her at work with a video camera, only to smack her in the face and run away laughing. Cue news outlets blasting “SMACK CAM THREAT HITTING YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?” all over the evening news.

Let the disapproving head shakes begin: A 16-year-old behind the counter at a Wendy’s in Austin said two kids came into the restaurant and acted like they were there for the usual exchange, money for food. But instead, they got physical.

“Two young kids came in. They pretended like they were going to order. The first kid, he went out and came back. And I couldn’t hear what he was saying so I leaned in and the next thing I know, I got hit,” she tells MyFox Austin (warning: link has video ad that autoplays).

Being the teen that she is, she’d heard of this “Smack Cam” situation but still doesn’t find it funny, obviously, because she was hit in the face and then laughed at.

“I was embarrassed, I was sad, I was angry, just all types of emotions overcame me,” she said.

She told her manager and he called the cops. She says it’s even worse because the getaway car appeared to be driven by adults.

“We want names to be revealed. We need help so that these kids know that it’s not right to do that to anyone. And the driver, they should be punished as well…because they’re helping these little kids do something like that,” the employee said.

It shouldn’t be too difficult — the video was reportedly posted online with identifying details of the suspects, outlining what they’re about to do before they do it. But I’m not going to link to it because it’s just mean and awful. If you need to see it, you can find the link in this story about the incident.

A police officer confirmed a report was filed for “Assault by Contact,” which is when a victim isn’t actually injured. But again, no one likes getting smacked in the face unexpectedly.

She says “Smack Cam” could turn into an even worse situation.

“Who’s to say this victim wouldn’t fight back? You know if they do it again, who’s to say the other person isn’t going to fight back and cause injury or death to them? And it can escalate,” the police rep explained.

Police are now looking for the suspects, who could be charged with a Class C Misdemeanor that comes with a fine up to $500.

Wendy’s employee becomes victim of ‘smack cam game’ [MyFox Austin]

Do you like peas? Soon, you might be gobbling them daily without even realizing it. Manufacturers are adding powdered pea protein to a surprising variety of foods. Crackers? Pasta? Chicken nuggets? They’ve all been made with powdered pulses: legumes like peas, lentils, and chickpeas. You might start seeing pulse powders in even more baked goods in coming years.

One pulse-infused product has already hit mainstream store shelves: some varieties of
Triscuit’s new rice-based crackers use red beans to increase the snacks’ protein and fiber, and to polish its health halo a little bit. Most Americans are at least a little health-conscious, but not so conscious that we’re going to do anything crazy like not eat Triscuits.

Or pasta. Americans just can’t eat enough protein, but if we can get it in the form of chickpea-infused spaghetti, that’s what we’re going to do. Barilla has put these on mainstream store shelves, too: the Barilla Plus line contains a blend of pulse flours meant to add more protein.

The powders can make a logical substitute for wheat flour and even eggs in food products. General Mills is using yellow pea protein in a variety of Larabar, and the

The biggest issue in using these products is texture and freshness. Using pulses reduces the shelf life on some products, and also can make them, well, kind of dry.

You Will Eat Your Peas Now as Big Food Binges on Protein [Bloomberg News]

Recently installed FCC Chair Tom Wheeler apparently has no interest in actual net neutrality, as the new rules he’s proposing this week allow for Internet service providers to create so-called “fast lanes” for content companies willing to pay extra to more reliably deliver their data to the end-user.

The original neutrality rules — which were gutted by a federal appeals court earlier this year, not because they were bad but because of a nitpicky classification oversight made by an FCC in the ages of dial-ip — prevented ISPs from either crippling or prioritizing users’ access to content. These companies were to simply be conduits that carried data back and forth as quickly and efficiently as they could without regard to its source.

That’s why it was called “net neutrality.”

But according to multiple news reports, Chairman Wheeler’s new proposal won’t simply correct the classification error that allowed Verizon to successfully challenge the old Open Internet rules. The draft he’ll be passing around the FCC office on Thursday reportedly keeps the “no crippling” aspect of the former guidelines, but does away with the “no prioritization” part, meaning Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Charter, AT&T, Charter, etc. can all decide that companies wanting quality access will have to pay for it.

[It's worth noting that Comcast will presumably not be able to partake in this money-minting new development, as it is legally bound to abide by the old neutrality rules through 2018 (though honestly, we wouldn't be surprised at this point if Wheeler gave Kabletown a pass).]

So why is this fast lane news such a bad deal?

Here are three reasons that quickly come to mind:

1. No Incentive To Improve Service
Right now, ISPs are racing to keep up with the growing popularity of bandwidth-heavy content, not just from Netflix, but from every pay-TV operator, Amazon, Google, Apple, countless smaller streaming services, online gaming, video teleconferencing, audio streaming, and more. But adding a fast lane takes away much of the incentive to make future innovations available to consumers at large.

The idea of net neutrality meant that ISPs are motivated to provide the best service for as many customers and content providers as possible. But if there is big money to be made off of deep-pocketed media companies trying to outperform each other online, that’s where the focus will go.

If fast lanes are approved, those content companies unwilling or unable to pay extra for improved delivery will be stuck with the status quo, while those who can part with the cash will see the benefits that everyone would have enjoyed had true neutrality been established.

2. The Fight Is Fixed
Compared to many other industries, the cost for entry into the various online markets is relatively affordable — and that level-ish playing field has resulted in numerous risky and visionary online ventures that have offered consumers choice and value.

But fast lanes will now allow ISPs to determine the price startups must pay if they want to reach consumers. It turns ISPs from the providers of neutral pipelines to the arbiters who which companies succeed and which go under.

“The FCC is inviting ISPs to pick winners and losers online,” writes Michael Weinberg of Public Knowledge. “This is not net neutrality. This standard allows ISPs to impose a new price of entry for innovation on the Internet.”

3. You’ll Pay The Price
The most commonly heard refrain from supporters of fast lanes is that bandwidth-heavy content companies should be the ones who foot the bill. That’s like a supermarket telling the maker of a popular brand of potato chips that it needs to help pay the store’s employees because they’re always having to re-stock the shelves.

The fast lanes attempt to put lipstick on this pig by saying “We’re not forcing anyone to do this… These companies are voluntarily paying for the improved content delivery.”

Sadly, there are numerous analogs to this notion in supermarkets and almost every other retail operation. A food company will pay for prime placement on the shelves, or for an end-cap placement to stand out from the rest of the stuff in the crowded aisles. That’s one of the reasons these products cost more, because that additional cost just gets added to the price you pay at the cash register.

But while consumers have options if they want potato chips but don’t want to pay for the expensive brands, that’s not the case with online services.

Most consumers have little to no say in who the get their wired broadband service from, so that’s one choice that’s out the window. And though there are a growing number of streaming video services, only those willing to pay for fast lane service will be able to survive, meaning even fewer choices.

And even if your ISP doesn’t charge for fast lane service, if a large ISP begins demanding more money from content providers, those companies will then pass on that extra cost to all cost.

So say Amazon begins paying Verizon more money to get in the fast lane, but doesn’t make a deal with Comcast. If Amazon has to raise its prices (or cut its selection) to afford this additional cost, Comcast customers would be negatively impacted even though their ISP didn’t charge fast lane rates.

It’s important to note that Wheeler’s proposal is just the beginning of the process. Even if the full FCC gives if the thumbs-up, there will still be a public comment period, during which you can be sure we’ll remind you to make your voices heard.

FCC to Propose New ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules [WSJ]
In Policy Shift, F.C.C. Will Allow A Web Fast Lane [NY Times]

While medical marijuana is legal in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C., and legalized for recreational use in two states, pot-based businesses that operate out in the open and pay taxes are still having difficulty finding banks that will take their money, in spite of recent federal guidance intended to help them out.

In February, the Justice and Treasury departments issued new guidelines that were supposed to provide banks a way to accept deposits from legitimate marijuana operations without worrying too much about later being spanked by the feds because the U.S. government has yet to legalize the product.

But the Wall Street Journal reports that many banks looked at this guidance the way many of us would when a friend with a scary-looking snake in his hands promises “Don’t worry… he won’t bite.”

“Most banks are trying to avoid this and mitigate it if they inadvertently find a customer with a marijuana-related business,” explains the president of North Valley Bank in Colorado.

And it’s not just the regional banks that won’t touch the stuff, with Bank of America and Chase both saying no to pot money.

This is causing a problem that is only going to get worse. With marijuana sales legalized in Washington and Colorado, legitimate entrepreneurs are stuck having to deal with large amounts of cash they can’t deposit. And while it might be amusing to imagine sleeping on a bed stuffed with cash, the reality is very different.

There’s the obvious safety issue faced by all cash-heavy businesses — where and how to store it; how to transport it without being robbed.

One Denver-based businessman tells the Journal he’s had to hire a private security firm to transport his cash to a non-bank storage location.

Former law-enforcement and military officers at Blue Line Protection in Denver are seeing green because of the current situation, as they now specialize in transporting cash and marijuana for local businesses.

“For many of us who were in law enforcement, it’s very surreal now that it’s legal,” says the company’s vice president of marketing.

Without access to bank accounts, businesses are not only paying their large tax and licensing bills in cash, they have to pay their vendors and contractors with paper money.

One business owner tells the Journal he spent had a $1 million warehouse constructed for his operation and had to pay the contractor in cash.

And of course, with all this cash flying around, it’s hard for the states — who legalized marijuana in no small part to reap the tax revenue — to know if businesses are being honest about their sales.

“We’re incredibly concerned,” Colorado’s director of marijuana coordination admits to the Journal. “As long as it is a cash industry, we can’t sufficiently regulate their money.”

Meanwhile, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network says things are going just fine.

“From our perspective, the guidance is having the intended effect,” said the FinCEN director recently. “It is facilitating access to financial services for marijuana-related businesses, while ensuring that their activity is transparent.”

An Amherst County woman faces more than two dozen animal cruelty charges following the removal of 19 animals from her property.

Preliminary hearings have been conducted or set for three Kentucky residents and two Virginians charged with conducting cockfights.