pileofcrapola

Some apps do one thing, and they do it well. Others have a host of clever, hidden uses that you might have never thought of on your own. Here are our favorite clever uses for popular apps.

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Oven grease is difficult to get rid of and needs a lot of effort. But keeping a pot of hot water and a bowl of ammonia overnight will loosen it and make cleaning easier, according to the One Good Thing By Jillee blog.

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We've already tried and tested beer cans to figure out how to stop them from fizzing over when shaken, but what about large soda bottles? According to the King of Random (Grant Thompson), a ninja swipe is all you need.

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Great discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!

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Technology gets a bad reputation for disconnecting us from each other and making human interaction less personal. Those complaints are reasonable in some ways, as you gain a certain amount of anonymity online even if you're not actually anonymous. You can show a picture of yourself, give your full name, and say whatever you want, but still have the benefit of taking your time to think about those words and knowing people can't see your reaction. This can be greatly beneficial to people with social anxiety. Are you one of them? If so, tell us how technology has helped you.

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You often worry family or friends might not approve of something, people are talking about you behind your back, or you might offend someone. If this sounds like you, it's time to break free and stop giving a f*ck.

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Reading books on a device like a tablet or dedicated e-reader has some advantages. You can carry your whole library around with you, download new books instantly, and more. Still, many people prefer the experience of a good, old-fashioned paper book. How do you prefer to read?

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Dear Lifehacker,
With winter setting in, I've been tempted to use frozen veggies and fruits in my meals. Are these less nutritious than fresh produce?

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- From aardvarks to zebras, the residents of London Zoo are coming forth to be counted.

2013 is gone, a collection of memories never to be dealt with again.  Next week, the 113th Congress returns for its second session, ideally to enact legislation throughout 2014, some of which could help consumers if they were to become law.

But for all the legislation introduced in the House and Senate every year, only a tiny fraction of bills make it much farther than a press release.  On average, 11% of bills make it through committee to be considered by the larger legislative body and only around 3% are enacted, according to GovTrack.

Here are four key areas — mostly proposed laws, and one policy — to keep an eye on throughout the new year. If you want to see any of these bills become law, make sure you let your representatives and senators know.

Antibiotic Resistance and Superbugs

There have been warnings about bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics since Alexander Fleming first made useful penicillin in the 1920s.  As we approach the century mark of that discovery, rampant overuse of antibiotics has made the indications more urgent and more dire.

Millions of Americans already get sick from antibiotic-resistant bugs every year, and that number is only projected to increase.  It’s genuinely scary stuff and left unchecked, could be the biggest setback in modern medicine.  If antibiotics become useless, then anything from a cat scratch to a c-section could become routinely fatal–a terrible state of affairs all around.

Although antibiotic drugs are overprescribed in people, the biggest contributor to antibiotic resistance is the overuse of antibiotics in industrial farming of livestock. 80% of the antibiotics sold in this country go to farmers and ranchers, where the meds are administered both to prevent infection due to overcrowded and unclean conditions, and also to promote physical growth in animals.  (More bacon from fewer pigs equals more profit!)

Cutting out the overuse of antibiotics in agriculture could at least mitigate the damage being done to the drugs’ efficacy.  In December, the FDA asked farmers and pharmaceutical companies to stop voluntarily.  Because giant corporations of course always love cutting off huge revenue streams when they don’t have to, both sides seem disinclined to acquiesce to the FDA’s request.

For change to happen, the law may have to intervene.  There are proposed bills in both the House and the Senate that would do just that.

The Senate version, the Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 (S. 1256), was introduced in June by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).  The House bill, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2013 (HR 1150), was introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) in March.

The bills would amend the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in order to phase out the use of “medically important antimicrobial” drugs in “nontheraputic use”–that is, for anything except actually treating existent disease or infection, as opposed to the rampant preventative and growth-promoting use antibiotics see today.

Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights

Student loans are a huge business–and for borrowers who spend the prime years of their adult lives saddled with debt, they can be a huge problem.  It’s one thing to owe piles of money, but it’s another when bad business practices make repayment and money management more onerous than they should be.

In October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report highlighting many of the key problems with the student loan industry.  In particular, the report looks at how challenging it can be to pay one’s loan off early when lenders apply payments haphazardly or mix accounts.  In December, the CFPB added oversight of the largest third-party, non-bank student loan lenders.

In response to the CFPB’s report, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced a bill called the Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights.  As the senators explained in their press release, the bill would cover six main areas:

• The right to have options such as alternative payment plans to avoid default.
• The right to be informed about key terms and conditions of the loan and any repayment options to ensure changing plans won’t cost more.
• The right to know your loan’s servicer and who to reach out to when there is a problem.
• The right to consistency when it comes to how monthly payments are applied. Lenders and servicers should also honor promotions and promises that are advertised or offered.
• The right to fairness, like grace periods when loans are transferred or debt cancellation when the borrower dies or becomes disabled.
• The right to accountability, including timely resolution of errors and certification of private loans.

Arbitration Fairness

Mandatory binding arbitration: it’s that thing where companies can bury a clause in their terms of use that takes away your right to sue them if they screw up.

And it’s not just individual lawsuits; thanks to a Supreme Court decision in 2011, companies can prevent their customers from forming class-action lawsuits against them as well.

Arbitration can, theoretically, be a fair process to both the consumer and the business.  Ideally, it’s mediated by a disinterested third party.  In reality, arbitration is hugely likely to favor a big business over its customer.

Of course, the court is also theoretically a disinterested third party, but since 2011 courts have effectively been barred from intervening in cases where arbitration is at play–even when the so-called resolution is pretty much useless for a wronged consumer.

In light of the 2011 Supreme Court finding and resulting screwing-over of many consumers, in May 2013 Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed the Arbitration Fairness Act, now with 22 co-sponsors.  (Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia introduced the companion bill in the House.)

As explained in the press release announcing the bill, the Arbitration Fairness Act:

• Restores the original intent of the FAA [Federal Arbitration Act] by clarifying the scope of its application.
• Amends the FAA by adding a new chapter invalidating agreements that require the arbitration of employment, consumer, civil rights, or antitrust disputes made before the dispute arises.
• Restores the rights of workers, consumers, and small businesses trying to compete to seek justice in our courts
• Ensures transparency in civil litigation.
• Protects the integrity of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, among others.

At a hearing in December related to the bill, Sen. Franken had some strong words for a pro-arbitration witness who tried to hide and downplay just how many Americans are affected by the current law.  Because really?  It’s pretty much everyone who uses any business or service anywhere.  Kind of a lot of folks.

Wireless Network Outage Transparency

There are times when you really, really want your mobile phone to work.  Like when, say, a large storm has dropped a tree on your house, or a tornado has just removed half the building you were in, or when your street is suddenly under three feet of water.

There are also a lot of times when your cell service might completely crap out and leave your phone unable to work.  Like, when, say, a large storm has dropped a tree on your house, or a tornado has just removed half the building you were in, or when your street is suddenly under three feet of water.

Close to 40% of American households no longer have traditional land-lines, according to our siblings at Consumer Reports.  That means millions of people are turning to their cell phones in an emergency.  But is the mobile provider likely to be up and running when everything else goes down?

Until now, there has been no data available to consumers on the performance of wireless providers in emergencies.  The FCC has proposed to change that.  If a mobile carrier goes down in your area when a hurricane comes through, or if it manages to stay up when the power’s out all over, the FCC wants you to have that information available before you go signing two-year contracts.

The proposed rule change would work like this: whenever a major event, like a blizzard or a hurricane, causes a big wireless network outage, wireless companies would have to report in.  Each carrier in an affected county would be required to give the FCC a daily status update on its cell towers in the area.  The FCC would then publish the information, making it easily available to consumers.

Emergency reliability may not be the top priority for every customer when they choose which carrier to go with, but it’s helpful to know in advance if you can count on your cell phone to call for help in a disaster.

Need a new shovel, or an additional one? You can save a lot of time, effort, and pain by choosing the one that’s right for you. Our colleagues over at Consumer Reports did the heavy lifting, evaluating different types of shovels and what kinds of people and snow they’re most appropriate for.

Things to keep in mind when shovel-shopping: materials, blade width, handle size, handle length, ergonomics. Different kinds of shovels are best suited to different tasks. Are there just a few inches of powder on your sidewalk? A shovel with a wide, shallow, plastic blade will do the trick. Did the town plow dump several feet of slush-infested wet snow at the foot of your driveway? You’re going to need a bigger, more solid shovel.

Ergonomic shovels may not be all that we imagine: in particular, the ones with a dramatic dogleg curve in the handle actually force you into holding the shovel in a particular way, which may not be the best grip for you.

Remember to watch for signs of fatigue and dehydration, pace yourself, and use good technique when shoveling.

Find the best snow shovel [Consumer Reports]

On the one hand, if you love large, furry, costumed characters, you’ll probably be tickled pink if Goofy waltzed up to you at Disneyland with your name on his lip’s as a greeting. But if you’re terrified of talking animals well then a Goofy who says “Hello, [Your Name]!” is the epitome of all your worst nightmares combined. Thus is the reality of Disney’s new trackable guest bands.

Here’s how the “Magic Bands” work: Guests who opt to use the waterproof wristbands, which are embedded with computer chips, then use those as their park entry tickets, FastPass, hotel room keys and a credit card as well, according to Disney. Photographers can also use the system to link photos with the family account in order to buy and print out any photos the group, should they choose to do so.

Sounds efficient, eh? It would seem so, but one travel writer over on HuffPo says there is a bit of a downside to using the bands on hotel room doors and as credit cards: The way the bands must align with each system results in the user doing a twisty-turny dance to get it juuust so.

“When you use the Magic Bands with the contactless key doors, you have to contort your arm to make them work,” he writes. “The placement (just above the door handle) works fine when you use contactless key cards, but when you’re trying to align the top of your wrist with it, it’s not that comfortable.”

As for the payment systems:

“The various Magic Band payment systems look similar to credit card readers only they have a subtle mouse icon on the front,” he explains. “In order to make the Mickey icon on your Magic Band line up just right with that machine, you have to maneuver your arm into an unnatural position. Often the sales person has to hold your arm and help you line everything up.”

Sounds awkward.

Then there’s that personalized greeting from park characters: Parents can opt in to a special setting in the bands’ “vacation management system” that lets park characters can tap into where your family is located in the park and come over to give a personal hello. Again, either awesome or creepy. Goofy as the new National Security Association, perhaps?

Another potential worry critics have? That the bands could be hacked and thus allow evildoers to gain access to your credit card and hotel room, notes Time.com.

Let us know if you’ve tried the Magic Bands and had any issues with them. And in the meantime, let us know what you think in the poll below.

Take Our Poll

What Disney Got Wrong With Its Magic Bands [Huffington Post]
Now Disney Can Track Your Every Move with NSA-Style Wristbands [Time.com]

- Susan G. Komen for the Cure saw a 22 percent drop in contributions in the year following the controversy over its decision, quickly reversed, to stop giving grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings.

- Sometime this year, Florida will surpass New York in population, becoming the nation's third-most populous state, and sun-seeking seniors are not driving the growth.

Virginia has deactivated nearly 4,000 state-issued electronic benefits cards due to the recent security breach at Target Corp. stores.

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office says an 18-year-old Myersville man set a fire that destroyed a $250,000 home because he wasn't paid for a half-ounce of marijuana.

Original Cheerios made from non-GMO ingredients will soon appear on store shelves. Food expert Mary Beth Albright explains what all the fuss is about.

Prince William County and Stafford County home sales Washington Post Prince William County. These were among sales data provided to The Washington Post by Lender Processing Services. To find sale and assessment records for homes elsewhere in the Washington area, visit www.washingtonpost.com/homesales. BRISTOW ... and more »

We won't be getting a break from the cold for a few days. Beginning next week we'll be bracing for bone-chilling temperatures. 

It wasn't immediately clear why the plane landed on the highway.

Crews are on the scene of a major water leak in Maryland.

A 3-year-old girl who suffered massive brain damage after undergoing dental procedures on multiple teeth last month has died, an attorney for her family said Saturday.

Your options for cold weather clothing are plentiful, more functional and warmer than ever.

EPPICards used at Target during the period between November 27 and December 15 have been affected, according to the Virginia Department of Social Services.

It would be the absolute worst night to have the power go out in these frigid temperatures, but it could happen. Here's some tips on how to survive when the power goes out.

Police say that a 12-year-old boy was stabbed shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday on the 6200 block of Seven Corner Center.

General Mills says it will stop using genetically modified ingredients to make its original Cheerios cereal.

Campbell Soup is recalling approximately 300 cases of 24-ounce jars of Prego Traditional Italian sauce because of a risk of spoilage.

Have you weatherproofed your home for winter yet?

A furry coat doesn't mean your pet has all it needs this winter.