pileofcrapola

If you don't have a grill lifter, you can build a much simpler (and cheaper) grill-lifting solution with a couple nuts and bolts.

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Most of us could use more storage space in our bathrooms, and this DIY project hides lots of storage space behind a full-length mirror in an attractive wooden frame.

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Don't let dust or dirt ruin your favorite paintings. Even with years of grime accumulated on vintage oil paintings, doughy white bread will make them look like new.

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You don't need a green thumb to grow a bounty of fresh vegetables right in your backyard or balcony. Whether you're a gardening novice or just want to start a vegetable garden with the least amount of time and effort, here are the top almost foolproof vegetables to grow.

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Google Calendar is a wonderful tool. While many people may know that you can import pre-made calendars with lists of various holidays in them, there's a ton more cool stuff you can do with the service that's either baked right in, or possible with simple scripts and IFTTT recipes.

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If you want a yummy muffin but don't want to put in the effort of measuring and combining several ingredients, just grab a pint of vanilla ice cream and some self-rising flour.

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For many of us, cars are imperative to the functioning of our daily lives, and when they breakdown, our normal routines can be completely derailed. The stress of repairing your car only makes it worse. Here's how to prepare for unexpected car trouble so you can more easily rebound when life throws you a wrench.

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Negotiations are tough, but even if the idea of negotiating scares you a bit, you don't have to be a pro to get what you want. Scientific American points to three simple, research backed tips that can help you get what you want.

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Conventional cooking wisdom tells us to soak grains like barley or steel-cut oats overnight to make them cook more quickly and possibly produce better results. Serious Eats' tests, however, suggest you can just skip that step and cook them straight from dry.

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As proven time and time again after you leave those bananas on the counter for too long, the grasping meathooks we call hands are basically ineffective when faced with the ever elusive fruit fly. But don’t feel bad, it’s not just your giant, clumsy hamfists, it’s that fruit flies are basically mini fighter jets. And they’re all named Maverick or Goose, obviously.

While I can’t speak to actual fruit fly naming conventions, scientists are behind this new idea that says fruit flies are so damnably missable because they’re evading swats by banking the same way fighter jets do, reports the Los Angeles Times.

According to findings published in the journal Science, when researchers put the bugs through their paces by firing lasers at them, the fruit flies would make incredibly sharp turns to avoid getting hit. The flies would turn at a speed faster than five times their normal speed when trying to avoid a threat, said researchers.

But instead of just going right or left, the flies execute superfast banked turns by rolling and pitching their bodies at the same time. The little buggers can do one of those within less than one hundredth of a second after registering a threat — 50 times faster than the blink of an eye, say scientists.

And those sweet moves could shine light into the inner life of fruit flies (Do they binge watch TV like us? What’s the most attractive rotting fruit?).

“The insects turn because they have some internal control circuitry, just like a pilot [who's] turning a plane,” said one physicist who wasn’t involved in the research. “And by looking how the insects turn, we might be able to say what the ‘pilot’ is thinking.”

Rest easy, my sausage-fingered friends. And just make sure you toss that banana before the entire cast of Top Gun shows up.

Fruit flies make blazing fast turns like fighter jets, study says [Los Angeles Times]

You can follow MBQ on Twitter where she may ask for other ways to describe fat fingers and is always grateful for your helpful responses (you know who you are): @marybethquirk

First of all, before we get into money talk, color me flabbergasted by the fact that there’s a park where apparently you can find free gems, take them home at your leisure and then sell them. Crater of Diamonds State Park exists, and it’s made one 14-year-old girl way richer than most kids her age.

The Arkansas park is the only diamond-producing site open to the public in the U.S., bringing in gem hunters from all over trying to find the next big thing.

That big thing for the Oklahoma teen in this case was a canary yellow 3.85-carat diamond that she found while rooting around in the dirt at the park for two hours last October with her family, which she just sold for $20,000, reports the Associated Press.

She told KWTV at the time that she would probably sell the diamond to pay for college if she decided not to turn it into jewelry.

“I thought it was a piece of paper or foil from a candy wrapper,” she said of the discovery. “Then, when I touched it, I thought it was a marble.” She adds that she believes God told her to slow down and take a look, which is when she realized it was a diamond.

Since the park opened in 1906, 75,000 diamonds have been discovered there, along with other gems like amethyst, garnet, peridot, jasper, agate, calcite, barite, and quartz.

Girl Gets $20K for Diamond Found in Arkansas Park [Associated Press]

In a massive program like Social Security, sometimes people get overpayments ranging from a few bucks to a few thousand bucks. It used to be that if whatever government entity overpaid a family didn’t catch up with them and recoup the money, the statute of limitations on the debt would run out after ten years. A teeny section of the 2008 farm bill changed that, and now the government is snatching up taxpayers’ refunds to cover their dead parents’ decades-old debts.

The relevant sentence looks like impenetrable legalese:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, regulation, or
administrative limitation, no limitation on the period within which an
offset may be initiated or taken pursuant to this section shall be
effective.

What it means to ordinary citizens is “if you’ve ever received money from the government that you weren’t supposed to, we’ll catch up with you, and we can take your tax refund.” The Washington Post looked into this phenomenon and profiled people who have had their refunds taken: of course, since it’s Washington, D.C., many of the people profiled are government employees. That adds an extra level of irony.

The Treasury department reports that it has recovered $424 million in “offsets” owed to various parts of the federal government. While keeping the Social Security trust fund running is important and all, pursuing taxpayers for their long-dead parents’ Social Security payments looks very bad.

Take one person profiled by the Post: his father died 45 years ago, and his mother received Social Security survivors’ benefits. She died 12 years later. Now, 33 years after her death, the government finally caught up with her son to take his tax refund. Some taxpayers appeal, but only about 10% of them are successful.

The amount of my federal payment (e.g., income tax refund) has been reduced (“offset”). Why? [Treasury Department]
Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts [Washington Post] (Thanks, Max!)

Isn’t it awesome when a smartphone manufacturer comes up with a really interesting feature, only to have it crippled by your wireless provider? That’s what has happened to the Samsung Galaxy S5′s “download booster” functionality that simultaneously pairs available WiFi and LTE service for more rapid downloads. It’s an interesting feature, but one to which AT&T, Verizon and Sprint customers won’t have access, at least at launch.

The latest in the wildly popular Galaxy line of devices comes out today, but earlier this week Android Police noticed that the download boost feature was missing from display versions of the phone, and Fierce Wireless has confirmed with both Verizon and Sprint that the S5s they sell to customers will not include access to the boost functionality.

So far, none of these providers have offered a specific explanation about why they are blocking access to download booster, though AT&T did tell Fierce that “We are evaluating Samsung’s download booster feature. We thoroughly test new software, features and functionality to ensure that it meets our standards for a quality user experience.”

Thus, it seems possible that this feature could be enabled in later software updates.

T-Mobile appears to be the only of the four major carriers to allow this feature on the S5. We’ve reached out to T-Mo to confirm that it will indeed not be disabling download boost on the phones it sells; if/when we hear back, we’ll update here.

UPDATE: A T-Mobile spokesperson confirmed to Consumerist that it will indeed be including the download booster feature on the S5s it sells to customers.

[via DSLreports]

Back in February, Subway pledged to stop using Azodicarbonamide, a controversial chemical that it uses to improve elasticity in its bread but that also shows up in things like yoga mats. You won’t be doing any downward dogging (that’s how yoga people talk, right?) on Subway’s bread soon, as the company says it’s almost done phasing out the chemical.

The ingredient is approved for use in food by the Food and Drug Administration, but its use in products from everything to the aforementioned mats to dough prompted a food blogger to launch a campaign against it recently.

Subway’s chief marketing officer, Tony Pace, tells the Associated Press that the phaseout should be complete within a week.

“You see the social media traffic, and people are happy that we’re taking it out, but they want to know when we’re taking it out,” Pace said. “If there are people who have that hesitation, that hesitation is going to be removed.”

And if you’ve turned away from Subway during this time of yoga mat unrest, he adds that the company is “happy to invite consumers back in who might’ve had hesitation.”

At the time of the blogger’s petition in February, Subway said it’d already started to test “Azo-free bread” in four markets and was in the process of removing it from all breads.

“We’re always trying to improve stuff,” Pace said.

Look at that — companies, they’re just like us! I’m always trying to improve my stuff, because having the best stuff possible is ideal.

Subway: ‘Yoga mat’ chemical almost out of bread [Associated Press]

You can follow MBQ on Twitter if you also like to talk about improving stuff, or heck, just stuff in general: @marybethquirk

Where will all of the women in the world shop for quality clothes at good prices? Fine, there are plenty of other clothiers, but that doesn’t make the demise of Coldwater Creek any less sad. The stores aren’t closing just yet, but that will be the next step after the retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

After spending several months evaluating its options, officials with the company say declining financial resources, tough retail conditions and the inability to find other viable options led to Friday’s filing, the Associated Press reports.

The company had hoped to find a buyer or a source of capital to fund a turnaround.

While Coldwater Creek stores and its website are still making sales, officials have plans for a going out of business sale in the next several months.

In the past, the Idaho-based company cut costs and closed stores in attempts to keep the business running.

Coldwater Creek files for bankruptcy protection [Associated Press]

Hey, you rebels out there, thinking you’re just too good for the laws the rest of us live by and decide to park in front of a hydrant. You might want to reconsider because not only could you end up with a destroyed vehicle, but you’re potentially risking lives if firefighters need access to that hydrant.

The driver of a BMW coupe is facing some repair work after leaving it parked in front of a fire hydrant — a very inconvenient location for firefighters battling an eight-alarm fire in East Boston last night, reports the Boston Globe.

Firefighters couldn’t waste time in getting water to their colleagues despite such a big obstacle, so they simply punched out the cars windows to run a firehose through and access the hydrant.

But even that wasn’t enough — the way the hose had to snake through the car’s windows created a kink that slowed down the water heading toward the raging blaze. Firefighters then had to lift the car slightly and move it.

While you might be nodding or even chuckling, thinking the car’s owner deserves it, there’s nothing funny about getting in the way of emergency services, a Boston Fire Department spokesman says.

“The general reaction is that some people find humor in it,” the spokesman noted. “But it’s really a serious situation. That water supply is the lifeblood of the engine company. The engine carries 750 gallons – and that could be gone in just two minutes. With that number of alarms, every hydrant is important,” adding, “There really is nothing funny about it.”

He says firefighters don’t want to damage private property, but they will if they have to to protect lives. So no matter if you think you won’t be in the way, just don’t park there.

“People always think it will never happen to me. But fire is so unpredictable, you just never know when that hydrant is needed,” the spokesman says.

For BMW at East Boston fire scene, blocking hydrant proves costly [Boston Globe]

So you’ve already ignored the rule about not buying dangerous, exotic animals like a crocodile and keeping it as a pet. There’s another rule, and it’s all about not leaving said pet at a strip mall. Both of those rules were recently ignored by one bad consumer, leaving a crocodile wandering around by the TJ Maxx at a strip mall, ostensibly looking for an affordable vegan leather purse or something.

Shoppers spotted a four-foot crocodile that had apparently been dropped off outside a reptile business at a California strip mall yesterday morning and sprung himself from his container. Witnesses called the cops while the croc wandered over to TJ Maxx to hang out, reports KCRA.com.

It’s unclear who left the crocodile, but police say he came with a note that said “call rescue,” and identified the animal as a Nile crocodile. He was lassoed by an animal control expert and coerced back into his cage.

“It was most likely a crocodile that was illegally brought into the country or illegally captured elsewhere in the county,” said a police rep.

To be clear, this is not some harmless animal — it’s illegal to own a crocodile for a reason, notes a California Fish and Wildlife official.

“This one is a really nasty crocodile,” said Patrick Foy, a game warden. “It’s got a really bad attitude. This animal genuinely is a very dangerous animal. Leaving it in a parking lot absolutely (puts) the public at risk, especially kids who might think that they can go and touch (it) — people who just don’t know how dangerous these crocodiles really are.”

The reptile store serves as a safe surrender site for animals that are no longer wanted by their owners. But a store employee says the usual pets are bearded dragons, pythons and like, and that getting a croc is “unusual.”

He’s now in the hands of California wildlife officials and will probably end up in a zoo, where there are no discount stores for name brand goods or even a pretzel stand.

Abandoned crocodile lassoed in Roseville strip mall [KCRA.com]

I have a hard time justifying paying $3.50 to my corner deli for a grilled cheese sandwich when I’ve got all the makings of the comfort food classic in my fridge. So I’m having some difficulty imagining what it would take to get me to fork over $100 (plus tax and tip, etc.) for any sandwich, let alone a grilled cheese.

But I’m obviously not the target customer for deca Restaurant + Bar at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago, which is celebrating National Grilled Cheese Month (Wait — donuts and bacon only get a day, but grilled cheese merits an entire month? The puppet-masters behind this nation’s arbitrary holiday observances have their priorities out of whack.) with something called a Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese.

Since there is not yet a zillion dollar note, nor consensus on exactly how many dollars constitute one zillion, the restaurant is generously selling the sandwich for the low, low price of $100.

So what on Earth is in it?

According to deca, it’s “enveloped” — not merely wrapped, or more accurately, sandwiched — in “artisan country sourdough bread, and cooked until golden brown in Laudemio Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi EVOO.”

Considering I can get an entire, righteous loaf of artisan sourdough from the local bakery for a few bucks, and even though this particular oil goes for something like $60/bottle it can’t take more than a tablespoon or two to make a grilled cheese (though some people prefer using mayo), we’re not seeing the cost justification yet.

Then there’s “thinly sliced black Iberico ham, sourced from pigs living primarily in the south of Spain, allowed to roam free in the pasture eating acorns until they are of proper size.”

Okay, so it’s getting a little more expensive, but it’s also roaming — much like that acorn-chomping pig — outside the realm of a grilled cheese.

Speaking of which, we’re several ingredients in and no mention of what is providing the melty goodness.

For that, deca uses “40-year aged Wisconsin cheddar infused with 24K gold flakes.”

And there you go. The cheese and the gaudy bling factor in one ingredient. I’ll never understand this fascination that some people with disposable income have for eating gold. It only results in some very pricey poop.

But deca’s not done yet, throwing on some heirloom tomatoes and 100-year-old aged balsamic vinegar, and a bit of white truffle aioli to ratchet up the fancy and the price.

Still not enough? Why not toss some froie gras on top… and a duck egg?

And just in case you felt shortchanged, it comes with a side of lobster mac and cheese.

If it helps, think about this as a $70 sandwich with a $30 side dish.

$100 Gold-Plated Grilled Cheese Offered at Ritz-Carlton’s Deca Restaurant (DNAinfo Chicago via Eater)

Perhaps you were having a nice walk down memory lane exchanging Facebook messages with one of your high school friends who you haven’t seen in real life in over 14 years but hey, it’s Facebook. In the future if you want to take that conversation to your phone or tablet, you’ll have to download a separate messaging app.

Instead of going through the existing Facebook app that does everything else Facebookian — upload photos, post statuses, “like” your aunt’s repost of an inspirational quote — the social media company is forcing chat users to download the stand-alone Messenger app to get at messages on the go.

“Today we are starting to notify people that messages are moving out of the Facebook app and over to the Messenger app,” Facebook told the AFP. “To continue sending messages on mobile, people will need to install the Messenger app.”

The change will first show up in updates to iPhone and Android apps in “a handful” of European countries before spreading to the U.S.

However, users with Windows Phone and tablets won’t see any change and can still use the normal Facebook app for messages. Anyone with a lower-end Android device with memory constraints is also exempt, reports The Verge, as well as inside Paper, Facebook’s news app. For now.

In related news, from now on if anyone wants to comment on my Facebook page using their mobile devices I would appreciate it if you would first download an app that turns all words into kittens. Thanks.

Facebook smartphone chats pushed to Messenger app [AFP]
Facebook will turn off messaging in its mobile app, forcing you to download Messenger [The Verge]

In an effort to discourage some ethically questionable visitors who had been hiring disabled “tour guides” (or who pretended to be disabled themselves) in order to skip long lines at Disney park attractions, the company instituted a policy change last October. Rather than moving directly to the front of the line, these guests are given tickets that tells them when to come back so they don’t have to endure a wait in line. But some parents of autistic children have sued Disney over the policy, saying it goes too far and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to the Orange County Register, 16 families with autistic kids recently filed suit in Los Angeles against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, alleging that the new policy is too narrow and doesn’t allow individualized exceptions for some guests, based on the severity of their disabilities.

The plaintiffs say that for some autistic children, being made to wait for an attraction — whether it’s in line or while continuing to move around the park — can result in a difficult scenario for parents.

“Because of their autism spectrum disorder, they’re not capable of waiting without melting down,” a lawyer for the parents tells the Register. He believes that the policy violates the ADA by failing to “provide an individualized assessment” in the way the previous policies did.

Before the change, disabled visitors to Disney were allowed to move to the front of the line. Because not all disabilities are visible, and because park employees are not allowed to ask for proof of disability, an increasing number of impatient visitors without any medical need to skip the line were gaming the system by lying.

The notion behind the new policy was to effectively expand the parks’ FastPass system to include disabled visitors. Without the ability to immediately skip the line, unethical guests would not be as likely to lie about being disabled. At the same time, disabled visitors do not have to wait in the queue but are free to see other parts of the park before returning at their appointed times.

A rep for Disney says the lawsuit is without merit and claims that, contrary to the allegations in the complaint, the new policy does allow employees to make evaluations based on individual guests’ needs.

“Our Disability Access Service is designed for guests who, due to certain disabilities, cannot tolerate extended wait times at attractions,” the company told the Register in a statement. “In circumstances where the service might not meet guests’ needs, we work individually with guests to ensure we are able to accommodate them.”

[via Cleveland.com]

Once upon a time, dollar stores were living the high life, enjoying increased revenue and making plans for expansion. Okay, that was just a year ago, but still, a lot can change in a year. And that’s definitely the case for Family Dollar, whose recent revenue drop has executives taking some pretty serious action.

Following a poor financial performance so far this year, Family Dollar announced that it will close 370 stores, reduce staff, and lower the prices on more than 1,000 items, Forbes reports.

The news is in stark contrast to the company’s previous plans to expand its foothold on bargain retail in the United States.

Last year, Family Dollar management announced it planned to triple the number of retail spaces for a total of 23,000 stores. At the same time, the stores added more brand name items and put in additional refrigerated displays for groceries to increase their appeal to consumers.

Now, officials with the company say they plan to slow their expansion pace to just 350 to 400 new stores. The chain opened 500 new stores in 2013 and planned to do the same in 2014.

Perhaps Family Dollar took their growth and the misguided belief that consumers could always find the best prices at their stores a little too seriously.

Thursday’s announcement seems to fall in line with the idea that dollar stores continued to expand at their own peril; a notion Consumerist reported last year.

Local dollar stores experienced a period of high patronage during the recession when consumers traded in shopping trips to big box retailers for those at discount joints. Companies, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, took their popularity as a sign that consumers needed more stores, and a dollar store bubble was born.

The big question during the period of rapid discount retailer growth was whether or not there would be a demand for these stores once they’re all opened?

Unfortunately, Family Dollars’ move to cut stores, staff and prices might just give us our answer.

Family Dollar Closing 370 Stores And Lowering Prices After Revenue Falls 6% [Forbes]

Church to Drop 5000 Eggs from Helicopter for Egg Hunt Patch.com On Sunday it's going to rain… eggs! At 10 a.m. on Northern Virginia Community College's Manassas campus, Impact Church is hosting it's second Annual Helicopter Egg Drop. The Centreville church will drop 5,000 plastic, candy-filled eggs from a ... and more »

- A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a regulatory safety finding against SeaWorld in the drowning of a trainer who was pulled under by a killer whale at the theme park.

- Hauling a truckload of logs to a Southern Oregon mill last fall, Chris Hill noticed a sheriff's deputy behind him and flashed his lights to warn a UPS driver coming the other way.

- The timeless Disney tune "It's a Small World" that wafts through our memories from past theme park vacations turns 50 this year, and on Thursday, Disney parks worldwide hosted a global sing-along.

Off-leash dog parks offer great opportunities for people and pets to socialize. But it doesn't take much to spoil the fun.

Five children, representing each branch of the military, were honored in D.C. Thursday for their efforts to support the children of service members.

Don't worry. He's not out on patrol.

Mike McGrath tells the truth about the bees in your lawn, and answers every corn gluten meal question you can throw at him.

- A D.C. Council committee is considering a plan to improve the city's overtaxed emergency medical system.