pileofcrapola

The next time you get the bill at the end of a meal, just Google it. A new tip calculator can instantly tell you how much you should leave behind, and even lets you split the bill between friends.

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We haven't crunched the numbers, but it sometimes feels like there are more diets out there than there are people to follow them. Some diets spring from medical necessity, some from philosophical belief, and some for just trying to shed some weight or achieving other health goals. Do you follow a specific one?

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It’s a simple thing to tell everyone that the reason an airport had to be evacuated is because burnt toast set off a fire alarm. But that still leaves us with so many questions about the alleged bread whose toasting shut down the Burlington International Airport in Vermont this morning.

The toast situation began in the wee hours of Friday morning, before the breakfast rush because of course, there isn’t as much toast being made later in the day.

Airport officials tell WCAX.com that the fire alarm went off when someone, somewhere in the airport burned toast, prompting them to evacuate the airport briefly.

After about a half hour delay, things got back underway and passengers were able to make it back through security and all systems were a go.

All’s well that ends well, right? But we have so many more questions that have yet to be answered by the local news: What kind of bread was being toasted (because I feel like rye might smoke more than others, or even raisin swirl if a raisin falls into the heating apparatus)? Was it multiple smoky slices that had the power to trigger the fire alarm, or a lone piece of overly cooked bread? What kind of toaster setting allows for such a powerful burning? Was no one around to fan the smoke away from the detector with a large sheet or tray of some sort? Who discovered that the toast was to blame, and how silly did the whole situation seem at that point?

We might never know the answers, but we had to air the important questions in case we face a situation like this in the future.

Burnt toast forces airport evacuation [WCAX.com]

While one might hope that a cruise ship — or any other vessel nearby — would help people stranded at sea, that’s not always the case. Which makes it altogether refreshing and heart-warming that the captain of a luxury cruise ship listened to his passengers when they reported hearing cries for help in the water.

One couple aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Jewel of the Seas tells CBS Boston that they were awoken in the middle of the night on the way from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Martin by what sounded like cries for help.

“We started to go back to sleep, and right after that, we started to hear voices out in the water. We heard, ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey,’” said the man. “We sat and thought about it for a minute and then we said, ‘Somebody’s out there and we better make a call.’”

Two others on the ship also reported hearing cries for help, and told the ship’s captain. He turned the ship around and turned the flood lights on to search for the source.

After an hour, a white spot showed up in the ocean.

“When it finally hit on something that was clearly sticking out of the water a little bit, that was a rush,” said the passenger. “As the ship got closer, we saw the guy there waving. That’s when we really got goose bumps.”

The captain sent out a rescue crew in a smaller boat, and it came back with three Americans from St. Croix whose speedboat had capsized 10 hours earlier.

“I really just took away from it that there’s a lot of nice and really good people in the world,” the boat’s owner said of the ordeal, which had him trapped in the cabin under water.

As for that passenger who called the captain instead of going back to sleep, he says he and his wife are relieved they picked up the phone that night.

“We still get goosebumps,” he says.

Amesbury Couple On Cruise Ship Helps Rescue Men Stranded At Sea [CBS Boston]

Everyone in the news business knows that people love stories about animals. Is it the opportunity to gaze at photos of furry faces? A sign of the ultimate decline of American civilization? Probably a little of both. Larry the Italian Greyhound was flying from San Francisco to its new home in Canada when a well-meaning worker let the dog out for a walk. He ran away, and was last seen in a parking lot.

Larry’s owner had died, and a friend promised to find good homes for all of her pets. The friend took necessary precautions while sending the dog by plane, zip-tying his crate closed and warning airline personnel not to open the container, since dogs in transit tend to be skittish, and greyhounds (even toy ones) are very fast.

The airline released a statement that they had a team searching for the dog, but a local CBS affiliate wanted more information. They wrote to the airline asking what went wrong specifically in this case, and how the airline would prevent the same thing happening to other pets.

That’s when an Air Canada spokesman made the mistake that we’ve all made at least once: he hit “reply” instead of “forward” and sent this message to the CBS station:

I think I would just ignore, it is local news doing a story on a lost dog. Their entire government is shut down and about to default and this is how the US media spends its time.

“I guess I’m the poster child now for Be Careful With Email,” the spokesman told the Toronto Star after this story blew up.

Think of it this way: our entire government is shut down and our economy remains crappy, but a lost dog at an airport is a problem that we have some chance of solving. Heck, one of Air Canada’s own employees found a cat that a different airline lost in the Vancouver airport.

Larry the dog remains lost. There’s currently a rumor that he may have been hit by a car near the airport, and the driver picked him up and drove off. Was he killed? Stunned? Adopted? Taken to a vet? We’ll update you when we find out. There’s currently a $2,500 reward for the greyhound.

Air Canada Loses Woman’s Dog, Spokesman Dismisses Inquiries In Accidental Email [CBS Sacramento]

No, this is not another joke secret menu item. With at least nine different layers incorporating multiple types of meat, greens, cheeses, and an egg, this monstrosity from Japanese fast food chain Lotteria truly lives up to its name.

According to Kotaku, it will run you about $11 bucks to try to shove this thing in your mouth, which is actually a pretty good deal considering it’s got a beef patty, a shrimp patty, a rib patty, a cheeseburger (which we assume is a beef patty with cheese already melted on it), what appears to be something bacon or ham-like, another slice of cheese, a fried egg, lettuce, cabbage, ketchup, mayo and teriyaki sauce.

But while the diagram put together by Lotteria seems to make sense of the mess, the real thing is not as photogenic:

Back when Facebook introduced its Graph Search functionality, it took away the old “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” setting for people who weren’t using it, but kept it on for users who still wanted to avoid showing up in search results. Now, that grandfathered option is going away for everyone.

Facebook announced last night that it’s pulling the plug on this setting, which it claims fewer than 1% of users were taking advantage of.

The company says that the old setting was inadequate as “it didn’t prevent people from navigating to your Timeline by clicking your name in a story in News Feed, or from a mutual friend’s Timeline.”

Users with this old setting still turned on will eventually receive a notification like the one seen above. After that, the old setting is turned off and the user will need to review his or her current settings to see if they are still relatively hidden (inasmuch as one can be hidden on a site intended for public sharing).

ReadWrite’s Selena Larson details the various tweaks one can make to their Facebook settings, but here are the basics:
PRIVACY SETTINGS
Here you can select how public your posts are, who can contact you, and whether you show up in search results both on and off of Facebook.

ACTIVITY LOG
This can be accessed in a few ways, including through the Privacy Settings page. It allows you to select the audience (if any) for individual items on your Timeline. So if you made an embarrassing comment several years ago, here’s your opportunity to hide it.

TIMELINE AND TAG SETTINGS
This is where you determine which users can actually post things on your Timeline and gives you some control over tagging of posts and photos.

[via Ars Technica]

If you’re a Google user, be prepared to possibly have your name, photos, and any comments you might have made using that account used in ads that Google will make money from. The company quietly announced a change to its Terms of Service this morning, giving itself the ability to exploits user profiles in “Shared Endorsements.”

The changes, which kick in on Nov. 11, won’t be taking your face and putting them on an ad for McDonald’s or anything like that. Instead, just like Facebook’s controversial “Sponsored stories,” Google’s Shared Endorsements will take content — such as reviews you’ve written about a product, title, or service, and ads you might have shared on Google+ — and slap your name on it so that all your friends can see that you really, really enjoy a particular brand of denture adhesive.

“Feedback from people you know can save you time and improve results for you and your friends across all Google services, including Search, Maps, Play and in advertising,” explains the company, trying really hard to make this not sound overly invasive and downright creepy. “For example, your friends might see that you rated an album 4 stars on the band’s Google Play page. And the +1 you gave your favorite local bakery could be included in an ad that the bakery runs through Google.”

Users can control whether their info appears in these ads via the Shared Endorsement settings page, which is different than the Google Ad Settings page, though we don’t see why the two aren’t combined.

Google to Sell User Profiles and Photos in Ads [Digits]

Get haunted Inside NoVA Prince William County knows it has ghosts in its midst. Throughout October, many “haunted” locations are inviting visitors to come experience a good, old-fashioned fright. Join Historic Dumfries for a “Spirited” Ghost Walk in October or maybe an ...

- A 6-year-old boy drowned in one of the pools aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship while at sea, the company said in a statement Monday.

Ceremonies marking the arrival of fallen soldiers' remains are being called "phony" and the Pentagon is being forced to make a change in how it honors some of the troops.

- Police announced Saturday that, after an investigation lasting more than two decades, they had arrested the killer of a child who was nicknamed Baby Hope by detectives after her body was discovered inside a picnic cooler beside a Manhattan highway in 1991.

One study suggests dogs can feel positive emotions, like love, for their owners. The other suggests that cats get stressed when you pet them.

We've seen flash mobs, skydives, and proposals at sporting events. One Arizona man still found a way to be original

Instead of giving the gift of gold, one husband chose a more creative way to shower his wife with love.

Boy was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in a fifth-grade plot that targeted a female classmate.

Death blamed on 41-year-old female elephant named Patience.

Montia Parker was sentenced Friday. She will spend at least two years behind bars before she's eligible for release.

Here's some inspiration to help you decide what might be a good look for your pooch.

Xerox says its EBT is up and running again in the 17 states where food stamp recipients use debit-style cards to access their accounts.

Rhinoplasty is becoming more popular as a way to improve breathing.

The rest of the month we're focusing on women who have started their own thriving small businesses.

Here's some inspiration to help you decide what might be a good look for your pooch.