pileofcrapola

When you think of kitchen appliances that are stylish as well as functional, toasters probably aren't the first to come to mind. Think again. The Michael Graves Design Toaster KT-3390 ($89) is one of the most unique toasters on the market, and it's one our favorite products. 

Why we like it: In tests at our labs, the toaster did a good job of a good job of churning out evenly browned toast, time after time. No burner marks here! It's also super-easy to use, with large, legible controls for toasting defrosting, and reheating. It's temperature-setting knob is large and easy to adjust, and a cute little toast-shaped monitor light will let you know exactly how long until it's toast time. And the shiny shell, shaped by a modernist loaf of bread, will jazz up any kitchen counter.

What we don't like: Like many stainless-steel appliances, the Michael Graves toaster can be a challenge to keep clean, especially if you've got kids who love to put jammy, buttery fingers over everything. Also, it didn't do as well at single-slice toasting as other toasters we have tested. 

Who is Michael Graves? He's a New York-based architect, who has been designing buildings for more than 50 years. Among his better known projects: Team Disney (aka the Walt Disney Company headquarters) in Burbank, Calif., the central library in Denver, and the scaffolding that surrounded the Washington Monument during its renovation at the turn of the century.

Graves has been designing consumer products since the 1980s, starting with the high-end Alessi teapot. But it wasn't until 1999, when he began creating products for Target (such as this funky toaster), that he brought his designer flair to the masses. Today, he is designing products for JCPenney.

It's March, and retailers are thinking spring. That means you can find some great bargains and sales on some products, as stores close out old merchandise and manufacturers introduce new models. As with any closeout sale, availability is limited and you'll have to dig to find the best deals. And while you can find some bargains online, you're more likely to find one-of-a-kind steals by going into the stores.

TVs: Spring is the time of year when manufacturers trot out their newest models, meaning you can find some great prices on TVs that are being discontinued. The Samsung PN51F5500 51-inch plasma TV, for example, really impressed our testers with its excellent picture quality, very good 3D, and a nice complement of features, including Samsung's smart TV platform with access to lots of content. It's selling for about $800 at retailers such as TigerDirect.com, P.C. Richard and Son, and Fry's. 

Winter sports gear: This is a no-brainer. Already in regions where winter sports are popular, such as Colorado, you can find clearance prices at many sporting goods and outdoors stores on skis, snowboards, boots, clothing and more. At Sports Authority, for example, you can find ski and snowboard boots by big names like Salomon, K2 and Burton for up to 50 percent off (more, in some cases, plus free shipping!), while REI has smiliar deals. 

Humidifiers: In winter, when our heaters are running full blast, the air in our homes tends to dry out quickly. That makes humidifiers a big seller. But by March, humidifiers are well past their seasonal sales peak, and some retailers will be clearing them out. One of our favorite humidifiers, the Crane Adorables, does an excellent job of humidifying rooms of up to 500 square feet, and they come in a range of cute animal shapes that kids and adults alike love. 

- Scotland's leader took his call for independence to the heart of opposition territory in London on Tuesday, arguing that a separate Scotland would not be a foreign country to England.

As of today, Target’s chief information officer has resigned. Beth Jacob had been on the job since 2008, and is leaving before the company reorganizes its information security leadership and staff after the massive holiday season breach that hit a mind-boggling number of accounts and still has day-to-day consequences for customers.

According to the Associated Press, Jacob didn’t mention the chain’s recent data breach in her letter at all, which is interesting because no one outside of the company has able to talk about Target for months now without mentioning the breach.

The reorganization will add two new positions to Target’s leadership: a chief compliance officer and a chief information security officer. The duties that would go to an information security officer had been split between different members of the leadership, while taking charge of assurance risk and compliance were a single job. In the future, those will be separate positions, and Target will seek candidates from outside the company.

Target Tech Chief Resigns as It Overhauls Security [AP]

If you spend the money to put in an alarm system on your home or business, make sure you check with your local police and fire departments to make sure there isn’t some sort of fee and/or permit required. Otherwise, you could be like the Kansas City car dealer who watched a break-in attempt live on his phone while police ignored the alarm.

The used-car dealer had already been a robbery victim once this year, losing more than $50,000 in cars and tools to thieves. So he recently spent $2,200 to had ADT install an alarm system.

Problem is, he claims no one ever told him about the city ordinance that requires the payment of a $45 permit in order to have police respond to the alarm.

So when his alarm went off on Monday evening, he was able to watch a live video feed from his business on his smartphone, but no police officers came to check on the disturbance.

“Nobody told me I was supposed to have a permit for an alarm,” he tells KCTV 5. “It’s an alarm, that’s it. They installed it and that was it, I thought I was done. Nobody sent me anything, the alarm company did not tell me anything and I was not told by anybody that I need an additional form for them to show up.”

Kansas City (the Missouri one) police confirmed to KCTV that cops will not respond to an alarm unless the permit is on file, and that it is up to the alarm system provider to let the customer know about this.

The lesson here is that many local authorities require permits/fees for alarm systems, often to mitigate their liability and the costs of responding to every false alert caused by people who punched in the wrong code.

So if you get a system installed, be sure to contact your local police to make sure that all the red tape has been cut so that you’re not paying for an expensive system that just makes a lot of noise.

Those on the left and right coasts might quibble over who has it better — 75 degrees and sunny all the time or not freaking out when it rains? — but there’s at least one thing Los Angeles and New York City have in common: You won’t be able to suck on an electronic cigarette in public in either place very soon.

L.A.’s City Council voted yesterday to ban the use of e-cigarettes, or “vaping” in public places like restaurants, bars, nightclubs and elsewhere, after mulling over the idea since last year. NYC passed a similar measure in December. E-cigs are also restricted in Chicago and Boston.

It’s now up to Mayor Eric Garcetti to sign the measure into law, which a spokesman confirmed to Reuters that he would do in the next few days.

Critics of e-cigs point to their popularity among teens and adults, saying it could be a gateway to regular smoking. As a result of that concern, Florida is currently mulling banning minors from buying e-cigs in the state.

Others say we don’t know enough about the effects from the chemicals in the cartridges, pointing to the second-hand vapor from e-cigs as potentially harmful to others.

“We have an obligation to protect the workforce from the effects of secondhand aerosol exhaled by people who choose to ‘vape’ on e-cigarettes,” said City Council member Mitch O’Farrell, who co-sponsored the proposal.

“We also have a responsibility to protect our youth and everyone else in public places from the carcinogens found in the ultra-fine particles in e-cigarette aerosol,” he said.

Makers of e-cigarettes opposed the ban, saying it’s safer than smoking regular cigarettes and that there’s no evidence that second-hand vapors are harmful.

“Although we believe the final decision was made in the absence of credible science, it was a more reasonable and sensible approach than the original proposal,” NJOY, the largest independent maker of e-cigarettes, said in a written statement.

“NJOY remains concerned, however, that banning e-cigarette use in public places could deter current tobacco smokers from using the products and thus disserves public health,” the company said.

One difference in L.A.’s ban is that it does allow vaping in lounges, e-cigarette stores and when filming or for theatrical purposes. And no, being dramatic to make a point doesn’t count, so don’t try that.

You can follow MBQ on Twitter where she might profess a deeper love for Steven Dorff than you’ve imagined: @marybethquirk

Los Angeles moves to ban e-cigarettes, joining NY, others [Reuters]

Although he's acclimated to life at the shelter and gets lots of attention from staff and volunteers, Meyer would much rather have a real home.

March came in like a lion at the Smithsonian National Zoo, which welcomed four African lion cubs earlier this week.

Spring is on its way, and a lot of Spring recreation items are going on sale. Here are some of the best things to buy this month.

Read more...

Scoring points is a good thing, unless it's on your driving record. Still, if you know how your state's point system works, you'll have a better game plan for keeping your license —and your auto insurance rates low.

Read more...

Dingy yellow pillows are sad to look at and, frankly, disgusting. Don't throw a pillow out if it's not time yet . A quick wash will get it back to its pure white, original state.

Read more...

Today is the day we celebrate pancakes . Whether you like traditional American style pancakes (thick and fluffy) or the thin European kind (a.k.a., crepes), the video above from Dave Hax shows us how to make better pancakes at home.

Read more...

When you're sticking to a budget, it's important to make time once in a while to review your spending habits. Sometimes, we can spot patterns of spending that are easier to reduce if we make the act of spending a little more difficult.

Read more...

For a brief stint last year, you could type "set timer for X minutes" into Google and it'd automatically create a simple timer for you. Right after the trick was discovered, it was removed, but now it's back.

Read more...

And it's a surprisingly talented opponent, at that. Father-of-the-year, anyone?

Read more...

A man in Washington state who had planned to spend his birthday this year at Disneyland instead got to spend it planning a funeral. What a crappy exchange. He had to cancel a planned trip to Disneyland because his wife suddenly became ill and died around Christmas. Allegiant Air should have no problem refunding round-trip tickets when one of the passengers died before the flight, right? Nope. 

“They told me well, no we don’t do refunds. Our policy is no refunds under any condition,” he told TV station KING. They could reschedule the trip, but he’d rather have the money back to pay the inevitable bills left behind when someone is seriously ill. Also, paying for the funeral and headstone.

In a statement to the consumer reporter at the TV station, all Allegiant had to offer was a helpful sales pitch for their travel insurance product. They told the station:

All of our itineraries are nonrefundable (as stated in the terms and conditions), however, we do offer a TripFlex product that customers may purchase at time of booking. TripFlex allows customers to make unexpected changes to their itinerary with no additional fee.

I don’t know, Allegiant: I think that if this customer had a time machine, he’d find a much better use for it than going back and changing his reservation to include travel insurance. Wait, his wife made the reservation–he’d probably tell her how to prevent her impending illness before warning her about Allegiant’s policies. Policies that lack any compassionate exclusions.

Airline refuses refund after unexpected death [KING] (Thanks, Jon!)

There are many different video-streaming services available to consumers now, but it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out which one is right for you. It all depends on what your favorite shows are, since different streaming services have their own agreements with content providers, and produce their own exclusive content as well. Which one is best? Well, what’s your favorite show?

Over at Lifehacker, they performed an analysis of the top 250 shows as tallied by IMDB, figuring out how many seasons or partial seasons each service has available from each show.

Over the whole data set, different services had their own strengths. What do you want to watch?

Missed an episode? Hulu Plus is strongest in current content, with the current season or last few episodes available for 52 of the top 250 shows.

Want sheer quantity? Netflix has twice as many different programs as Amazon Prime, total. It had about half of the top 250 shows available, which is impressive.

Want to watch “Alphas” instead of “House of Cards”? Then your only choice is Amazon Prime. It offers advantages other than streaming video, that’s true, like unlimited free 2-day shipping, but will the service be worth it with the looming price hike?

Don’t want to lose access to the show you’re watching? In that case, you’re better off buying whole seasons from Amazon, Google Play, or iTunes. However, buying access is no guarantee that you’ll be able to keep a show forever in your streaming account. Maybe download a copy just in case.

TV Streaming Head-to-Head: Netflix vs Hulu vs Amazon Prime [Lifehacker]

No one wants to make a trip to the emergency room, but it happens. And when it does occur, doctors might have a good idea of the reason thanks to new data that shows what ailments patients in each U.S. region typically suffer from.

The most common trips to the ER for those in the U.S. occur for one of four things: a sprain or strain, a stomachache, a severe cold, or a superficial injury, The Atlantic reports.

In 2011, the same four ailments sent Americans to the ER in each region of the U.S., just in a different order data provided by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows.

After an average wait of 28 minutes, patients in the South will most likely be seen for a sprain or a strain, while those in the Midwest will be seen for respiratory infections. Patients in the West are most often seen for abdominal pain, while those in the Northeast make at rip to the ER for an injury that may or may not be a broken bone, but usually turns out to be a contusion.

The most common ailments sending Americans to the ER aren’t exactly surprising, and neither are the least-common conditions if you’re looking from a regional standpoint.

ERs near the coast are more likely to see water-related injuries or illnesses, while those in colder climates are likely to see frost bite.

The AHRQ data reinforces findings from 2010 that suggest more patients are seeking immediate medical attention in ERs rather than from their primary doctor.

The reason for more people stopping by the ER is partly due to primary care doctors being busier and are unlikely to offer weekend, evening, or same-day appointments. In the U.S. only 40% of primary care doctors manage patients after hours without referring them to the ER.

What Brings Americans to the ER? [The Atlantic]

We really, really hope that the national trend of crimes against Girl Scouts selling cookies is one of those things that we’re noticing only because we are looking for the stories. Otherwise, these crimes are especially appalling since they’re against children raising money for a fun and wholesome organization. Last week in California, we heard of two additional crimes against Scouts.

Before the tipping wars break out again, we’ll point out that the stolen “tip” jar was actually a donation jar for Operation Thin Mint, which sends boxes of cookies to deployed members of the armed services. That makes it even worse.

Scouts selling cookies in front of a grocery store in Escondido, Calif. had collected about $40 in their jar for Operation Thin Mint when a man grabbed and drove off with the jar. Fortunately, one of the leaders wrote down his license plate number, and the alleged thief has been arrested.

“Don’t mess with Girl Scouts and don’t mess with soldiers,” one of the girls told a reporter. Yep.

Elsewhere in California, some customers used counterfeit cash to buy cookies. As we’ve described before, counterfeit money operates on the “hot potato” principle: whoever is caught holding the money eats the loss. That means that these Girl Scouts take the $100 hit, having given the people passing fake bills change. The same pair of crooks allegedly hit a different troop at a Vons grocery store.

The girls, however, learned an invaluable lesson in identifying counterfeit bills, which will serve them well if Americans are even still using cash by the time they’re old enough to hold money-handling jobs.

Man accused of swiping Girl Scouts tip jar dubbed ‘Cookie Monster’ [Los Angeles Times]
Crooks Pay For Girl Scout Cookies With Counterfeit Cash In Rancho Cucamonga [CBS Los Angeles]

When I was a kid, it didn’t matter if my mom had packed the most well-balanced, complete and nutritious lunch. If I could get my hands on those processed slices of cheddar and ham in a Lunchables, I would gleefully eschew a sandwich and granola bar for it. Heck, I’d engage in a cafeteria coup for the pizza version. So I see what you really are, Oscar Meyer P3 Protein Packs.

You’re Lunchables for adults, aren’t you?

I’m not the only one who thinks these pre-packaged sets of cheese, nuts and meats are a throwback to the Lunchables of my youth — The Verge points out that while those lunch packs were criticized for being somewhat unhealthy for kids, this latest packaged offering from the company is aimed at the health-conscious.

“It’s just 13 grams of protein from food, proven effective by thousands of years of human existence,” P3′s pitch explains.

While the “We Know Kids Like These Kinds Of Irreverent Commercials” campaign poking fun at people who take exercise too seriously might provoke some giggles, why not just cash in on the guaranteed nostalgia points and just call them Adult Lunchables?

Having healthier menu options for kids is one thing, but convincing them that they want to eat apple slices or carrot sticks instead of fries? That’s an uphill battle for parents, says the girl whose first two words were “French fries.” As another option, Burger King is adding its healthier Satisfries option for kids’ meals. [via BurgerBusiness.com]

Recently, Johnson & Johnson reformulated their classic yellow baby shampoo after a consumer outcry over a scary-sounding formaldehyde-based preservative in the product. If it’s not absolutely necessary, there’s no good reason to go slathering a product that contains unnecessary substances on infants. The important question is: should we be worried about formaldehyde in personal-care products at all?

Science writer Tara Haelle examined this question for Slate, approaching it from a global point of view. See, formaldehyde is everywhere: it’s in the air you’re breathing right now, and our own bodies produce it through some metabolic processes. Like most substances, the difference between an average Tuesday and a lethal dose is in the amount you’re exposed to.

You can’t keep your child safe from formaldehyd entirely, at least on this planet. “Unless people calling for removal of quaternium-15 are also keeping their children from eating apples and french fries,” an American University chemist tells Haelle, “I think their activism might be misplaced.”

Factory workers and embalmers come in contact with more formaldehyde than most of us, and they have a higher corresponding risk of certain cancers. The amount of formaldehyde in baby shampoo and the amount of time that a baby ever spends in the bath don’t really add up. One researcher calculated that it would take 40 million baby shampoo baths every day for one baby to reach a level where super-stringent California law Proposition 65 would need to put a “may cause cancer” warning label on it. No baby likes to play with floaty toys that much.

Johnson & Johnson has promised to remove “chemicals of concern” from baby and adult products by next year. That’s good: why keep extra preservatives in a product if they aren’t needed? The public outcry may have been a bit misplaced, though.

No More Formaldehyde Baby Shampoo [Slate]

While broadcasters have been grumbling over and fighting against Dish Network’s ad-skipping DVR in court, at least one company is getting awfully cozy with Dish. Walt Disney Co. signed a long-term deal with Dish to curtail the use of Hopper for ABC shows, the two companies confirmed last night.

For the privilege of having Dish disable the “Auto Hop” ad-skipping feature for ABC shows for three days after the shows air, Disney forked over online video rights to Dish for some of its flagship TV channels. That will allow Dish to launch an Internet-based TV service, which it’s been looking into lately, reports the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement from the two companies, Dish and Disney call it “a groundbreaking, long-term, wide-ranging distribution agreement that will provide DISH customers with access to Disney’s robust line-up of top quality sports, news and entertainment content across televisions, computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and connected devices.”

Disney pretty much wins here, because those three days after a show airs are the measure for how advertisers pay for TV audiences, so if Dish viewers are stuck watching those ads, that’ll beef up those numbers.

But Dish wins, too — ABC has agreed to drop litigation against the company over the Auto Hop feature, something it’s joined other networks in fighting since it was introduced in 2012. Its customers will also have access to Disney channels’ mobile apps like WatchESPN, and Dish will now carry Fusion and the SEC Network, which launches later this year and will broadcast Southeastern Conference games.

Could this potentially mean other broadcasters might be wooed into similar deals? It’s unclear, but whenever you’ve got something someone else wants, wheeling and dealing can be a lot more attractive than legal battles.

Dish to Curtail Ad Skipping on Hopper Devices for ABC Shows [Wall Street Journal]

Sure we’re all sick of winter. The crazy Polar Vortex has been wreaking havoc across the country and we’re ready for it to retire. But even with all the negatives the cold front has brought, including billions of dollars lost to canceled flights, it could be saving the government billions of dollars when it comes to containing invasive insects.

The unceasing cold weather has been decimating the populations of destructive insects that cause more than $2.1 billion in economic losses for the U.S. annually, Quartz reports.

Invasive insects such as the gypsy moth, hemlock woolly adelgid, and emerald ash borer have been dying thanks to the frigid temperatures this winter.

The adelgid population, which feeds off of hemlock forests lining the east coast, has all but disappeared in some parts of North Carolina and about 80% of the population in Massachusetts has died, officials say.

Gypsy moths and the emerald ash borer, which have killed millions of trees over the past decade, have also been dying in large numbers.

The colder than normal temperatures may also have an adverse affect on steps forest officials have made to combat invasive insects. Predator insects that are released to take out the invasive species are also dying off. Parasitoid wasps that are used to control emerald ash borers in Michigan and other states are more vulnerable than their prey.

While this year’s harsh winter may be helping keep costs of destruction down, it’s not likely to last long.

Officials say the extreme weather that’s bringing about the Polar Vortex maybe also be making winters warmer on average. And warmer winters mean the U.S. is becoming more hospitable to invasive species.

Stop hating the polar vortex: It’s killing some of the nastiest invasive insects around [Quartz]

The world of finance and economics is pretty complicated as-is, and now there’s “digital money” in the mix making it even worse. Bitcoin is everywhere in the news lately, from hacks to hearings and everything in between. But there are a lot of questions about Bitcoin — starting with, what the heck is all this, anyway? And so, here is everything you wanted to know about Bitcoin, but didn’t actually want to ask your tech-loving, early-adopter friend.

What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. It was introduced in 2009, and is the longest-standing, best-known, and most widely-traded cryptocurrency.

Generally, Bitcoin with a capital B means the software and the system; bitcoin with a lowercase b means the actual money.

A what?
A cryptocurrency is digital money. It’s a virtual medium of exchange, not issued by, backed by, or tied to any particular nation or government.

It’s the biggest… but there are others?
Yup. The software that runs Bitcoin is open-source, and there are lots of other folks running with it, too. The Guardian covered nine of the biggest in late November. And of course, the internet being what it is, there are novelty versions, like the actually-popular dogecoin or the defunct Coinye West.

If it’s not issued by a government, where does it come from and who keeps track of it?
The acts of generating new bitcoins and of tracking Bitcoin transactions go hand in hand, and both are accomplished through a process known as “mining.” This is where it starts to get a little complicated.

Basically, mining occurs when a computer or a network of computers runs Bitcoin software. That software creates new entries in Bitcoin’s public record of transactions, called block chains. The math is complicated and hard to forge, so the block chain stays accurate. Because anyone can download and install the Bitcoin software for free, the payment processing and record-keeping for Bitcoin is done in a widely distributed way, rather than on one particular server.

When block chains are created, so are new bitcoins — but there’s a hard limit to how many will ever exist. The system was designed to create more bitcoins at first, then to dwindle exponentially over time. The first set of block chains each created 50 bitcoins. The next set each created 25 bitcoins, and so on. New block chains are created roughly every 10 minutes no matter what; when more computers are actively mining, the program they’re running gets harder (and therefore slower) to compensate. The bitcoin FAQ estimates that the final bitcoin will be mined in the year 2140, bringing the permanent circulation to just under 21 million. (Currently, there are roughly 12.4 million bitcoins in the world.)

How much is it worth?
As of this writing, 1 bitcoin = approximately USD $693. However, the bitcoin exchange rate is intentionally highly flexible.

What can you actually buy with bitcoins?
Swanky cocktails in Manhattan, a Tesla car, tickets and concessions for the Sacramento Kings, and anything you want from Overstock.com.

Also, stolen credit card numbers, drugs, guns, and pretty much anything else of questionable legality bought and sold online. It’s great for money laundering too, according to the FBI.

How do you store and spend your bitcoins? Is there any actual physical money?
Even though there are a handful of bitcoin ATMs in the world, bitcoin is not a physical currency. Spending takes place from one user’s virtual wallet to another user’s virtual wallet, via an exchange of public and private security keys.

Physical bitcoins — which can look like coins or bills, or can be any other item — are storage devices for private keys. In one way, storing private keys in physical media is extremely secure; hackers can’t access the box under your bed via a virtual back door. On the other hand, storing private keys in physical media is as insecure as keeping cash on hand; thieves can access the box under your bed via a literal back door. Or you could end up losing the external hard drive with your $5 million on it.

Is this risky? It sounds kind of risky.
There certainly is a lot of volatility in the bitcoin market. The exchange rate has shifted by over $90 this week alone.

The government backing a standard currency — like, say, the US dollar — works hard to keep its money stable. We have the Federal Reserve issuing monetary policy and acting as a central bank to keep the value of a dollar from flying up and down like the stock market does.

For the first three to four years of its life, bitcoin was actually fairly stable, as historical charts show. The price increased very gradually from roughly $0.05 per bitcoin to more like $5 per bitcoin, which is indeed a good rate of return for early investors. And that concept of “investors” is key. Bitcoin is a market full of speculators, and because it’s not tied to anyone’s monetary policy or oversight, it’s prone to boom and bust. Since the beginning of 2013, the value of bitcoin has jumped as high as $1116 and dropped to $539.

Investment losses or devaluation are only one of the two big ways bitcoin users can be left high and dry. The other is good old-fashioned theft. While the US money you keep at a standard bank is insured against disaster by the FDIC, there is no such backstop for bitcoin wallets. If the virtual place your virtual money is stored loses it all, you’re screwed.

Speaking of losing money, what’s all this about Mt. Gox?
Mt. Gox is — or rather, was — one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, a site where people bought and sold their virtual money to each other. As Wired reports in detail, it was apparently a poorly-run, mismanaged venture, and hackers were able to gain access and siphon off bitcoins. Lots of them. About $460 million worth, on top of a 2011 hack that cost $8.75 million, and another $27 million “missing from its bank accounts.” All told, in three years Mt. Gox has somehow lost or had stolen nearly a half-billion actual dollars’ worth of alternative money.

And if you’re curious why it’s called Mt. Gox, it’s because it originally stood for “Magic: the Gathering Online Exchange” before becoming a bitcoin trading site in 2010.

So is all this “alternative money” legal? Do the feds care?
Yes, and sort of. It’s not illegal, at any rate.

The Senate Banking Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee held hearings on Bitcoin back in November. The outcomes were largely positive for Bitcoin, with the Obama administration and Senate willing to leave Bitcoin alone for the moment.

However, the complete collapse of Mt. Gox has returned federal attention to the world of cryptocurrency. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has called for a ban on bitcoins, and the Senate Banking Committee brought in Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to testify about the potential for regulating Bitcoin. The thing is, there is no such potential, Yellen said, at least not now. She testified that Bitcoin is “a payment innovation that’s taking place outside the banking industry,” and added:

To the best of my knowledge there’s no intersection at all, in any way, between Bitcoin and banks that the Federal Reserve has the ability to supervise and regulate. So the Fed doesn’t have authority to supervise or regulate Bitcoin in any way.”

Yellen also added, “It’s not so easy to regulate Bitcoin because there’s no central issuer or network operator,” calling Bitcoin a decentralized, global entity.

To Bitcoin developers and users, that global reach and lack of central authority is a core feature, not a bug. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have sent subpoenas to Mt. Gox, which on Friday declared bankruptcy.

At today’s exchange rate, there’s an equivalent to $8.5 billion out there in the world in bitcoins. It seems likely that regulators and governments will want to keep an eye on where it goes in the future.

Finders keepers, right? Maybe not in the case of a California couple who found $10 million in gold coins while hiking with their dog. A newly found century-old news item has shed light on where the huge treasure may have originated.

Last year, while walking on their property the couple noticed a rusted, half-buried can. Taking a closer look they found the can housed mint-condition gold coins. In all, the couple found six cans containing 1,427 gold coins valued at $10 million.

But, now, new information about the treasure’s origins may put a damper on the couple’s plan to sell the coins, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A Northern California historian claims to have found a connection between the coins and the unsolved 1900 gold heist at the San Francisco Mint. If the coins are indeed those stolen from the Mint, the couple may be entitled to a finder’s fee but they likely won’t be able to keep the haul.

The coins’ face value of $27,000 and the fact that the coins are mostly in chronological order, meaning they were never circulated, match what is known about the heist.

Additionally, the coins’ unearthing adds credibility that the heist was likely an inside job at the Mint.

One of the coins included in the find, an 1866 Liberty $20 gold piece, does not include the words “In God We Trust” leading historians to believe the coin was from someone’s private collection.

“This was someone’s private coin, created by the mint manager or someone with access to the inner workings of the Old Granite Lady (San Francisco Mint),” the historian tell the Chronicle. “It was likely created in revenge for the assassination of Lincoln the previous year (April 14, 1865). I don’t believe that coin ever left The Mint until the robbery. For it to show up as part of the treasure find links it directly to that inside job at the turn of the century at the San Francisco Mint.”

SF heist at turn of century may explain buried gold [San Francisco Chronicle]

I stopped by Walmart over the weekend, and there was a large sign at the entrance to the seasonal department: “NO ICE MELT.” That’s the case all over the country this winter, which means that if you do find some ice melt, you might be limited to what some gal down the street is hoarding in her garage.

When you do have a choice, though, which type you pick can have important consequences for your concrete, your pets, your landscaping, and how effective the stuff is at keeping your front walk from turning into an ice rink. Oh, and your wallet.

Our sure-footed colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports have science on their side, and produced a handy chart that shows the advantages and disadvantages of various chemicals used to melt ice. They even have a handy PDF download version of the chart for you to pin to the wall of your garage. For next year. When you can actually buy ice melt.

To make the best use of the ice melt that you do have, here are a few important tips to keep in mind for maximum meltage and minimum damage.

Remove the snow first. Remove as much as you can. This is probably obvious, but some people are very lazy, take the “de-icing” concept literally, or both.

Spread it evenly. Consider investing in a spreader if you have a lot of territory to de-ice: otherwise, don’t just toss out a few clumps and decide that you’ve got it covered.

Follow the packaging directions. Only use the amount directed, don’t use it on surfaces that the package contraindicates.

Keep it away from plants. Because they’re plants.

Keep the stuff out of small kids’ and pets’ mouths. Call poison control if your kid (or pet) consumes ice melt. Don’t induce vomiting immediately. Also, clean animals’ paws when they come inside: you might choose only the most pet-safe products on the market, but you can’t guarantee that your neighbors do the same.

Best ice melts review: Top products for your driveway, walkways, and steps [Consumer Reports]

Prince William County news in brief Washington Post Meeting to discuss fire plan for Manassas battlefield. The National Park Service has scheduled a public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Manassas National Battlefield Park Visitor Center, 6511 Sudley Rd., Manassas, to discuss the proposed Fire ... and more »

- One human wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race each year, but it's the smaller, furry athletes that do the heroes' share of the work crossing nearly 1,000 miles of merciless terrain to reach the finish line on Alaska's wind-battered coast.

- Despite the long, snowy winter in the Mid-Atlantic region, Washington's famous cherry blossom trees are expected to bring the first sure sign of spring between April 8-12, when they're predicted to reach peak bloom, the National Park Service said Tuesday.