Every weekend we gather our best guides and posts on a specific subject. These were our best top 10s of 2015.

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Memorizing your presentation will help make it go smoothly (and you feel less nervous), right? Probably not, according to Toastmasters International experts on public speaking.

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Sometimes, data has to be shared to be useful. For example, a school district needs information on the students in it, in order to function. When are they absent? What are their grades? How are things going with scheduling? So it wouldn’t come as a surprise to most parents that “school officials” are on the list of entities who are allowed to access data, even sometimes sensitive data, about their kids. But it would shock most parents to find out that Google — yes, that Google — is one of those “school officials.”

That’s what the Washington Post points out is going on in schools around the country right this minute. Google’s tools are ubiquitous, cheap, and more-or-less user-friendly, leading them to be adopted by educators nationwide.

That’s not the problem, on its own. This is: although federal law requires most entities to receive written permission to access students’ confidential data, there’s an exception for “school officials,” who have unfettered access… and the amount, and type, of available data has simply exploded in the 21st century.

That loophole has allowed Google, and others, access to more data than could have been imagined when the law was first enacted int he 1970s. At that time, “school officials” actually meant employees of the district. But education has changed, and hundreds of functions — from cafeterias to testing — are outsourced to third parties.

In 2008, then, the exemption was extended to cover any contractor that works for the district as well. To qualify for that exemption, a business working with the school must do something that the school would otherwise do itself, and those businesses that do qualify are held to the same general rules on handling student data as any other actual school official.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told the WaPo, “Student safety – including privacy – is a top priority for the Department. That’s why we continue to put out guidance and resources so that district leaders, schools, educators and students can use cutting-edge learning tools in the classroom while also safeguarding student privacy.”

The kind of data Google can collect while students are using its educational tools includes everything from email and chat records to metadata — routing, length of connection, location history — that educators don’t even know exist.

The EFF filed a complaint with the FTC about Google’s monitoring of student data about a month ago. At the time, the EFF said that even if the aggregation and anonymization always worked flawlessly, “Google’s use of students’ browsing history for its own benefit and without authorization from the student or parent, runs contrary to the letter and spirit of the Student Privacy Pledge. Aggregating and anonymizing students’ browsing history does not change the intensely private nature of the data – nor the fact that at the time of collection, it was tied to identifiable student accounts – such that Google should be free to use it, despite having promised not to do so without authorization from the student or parent.”

Google, a ‘school official?’ This regulatory quirk can leave parents in the dark. [Washington Post]

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A friend of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre that killed 14 people was indicted Wednesday on charges that include conspiring in a pair of previous planned attacks and making false statements when he bought the guns used in this month’s shootings, authorities said.

The indictment by a federal grand jury avoids the need for a probable cause hearing before a judge to determine whether Enrique Marquez Jr., 24, should stand trial on the five counts that could send him to prison for 50 years if he’s convicted.

The counts include conspiring with shooter Syed Farook to carry out attacks in 2011 and 2012. Prosecutors said in court documents that Marquez and Farook planned to use pipe bombs and guns to kill people at the college they attended and to gun down others stuck in rush-hour traffic on a California freeway. The plots fizzled, and they never acted.

Two more counts allege that Marquez said in paperwork that two assault rifles he later gave to Farook were only for himself or his immediate family.

“Mr. Marquez is charged for his role in a conspiracy several years ago to target innocent civilians in our own backyard with cold-blooded terror attacks, and with providing weapons to an individual whose endgame was murder,” David Bowdich, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.

Two other counts accuse Marquez of immigration fraud for a sham marriage with a Russian woman who was the sister -in-law of Farook’s older brother.

Marquez had already been charged with the crimes in a criminal complaint filed Dec. 17 before the charges were taken to the grand jury. He has not entered a plea but is expected to do so in an arraignment Jan. 6. He was being held without bail.

A phone message left Wednesday seeking comment from Marquez’s attorney, Young Kim, was not immediately returned.

In a bail hearing Dec. 21 for Marquez, Kim argued that Marquez should be credited for spending 10 days voluntarily talking to the FBI and pointed out that he is not charged with plotting the San Bernardino attacks, only with aborted attacks.

Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire on a conference room full of his co-workers at a social services center Dec. 2, killing 14 people and injuring 22 others. The couple was killed in a gunbattle with authorities hours later.

___

This story has been corrected to show the criminal complaint was filed Dec. 17, instead of Dec. 21.

The post Friend of California shooter indicted on gun, terror charges appeared first on WTOP.

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix firefighters rescued a 13-year-old boy who got stuck in a chimney while playing with his friends on a roof.

The boy’s friends called 911 and their parents after he fell into the chimney Wednesday night, Capt. Ardell Deliz said. The boy tumbled about 5 feet into the opening, and the parents had no luck pulling him out.

Shortly afterward, the fire department arrived, and crews lowered a rope to him and got him to wrap it around his arms, Deliz said.

The boy had minor scrapes and bruises from the fall but no serious injuries, she said.

“He was just happy to be out of there,” Deliz said.

It marks the third time this year that the fire department has had to pull people out of chimneys, Deliz said. The other two occasions involved adults locked out of their homes who tried to get in through the chimney, she said.

People need to be careful around chimneys or holes in the ground, she said.

“We want to emphasize that this is not a place to play around in,” Deliz said.

The post Phoenix firefighters rescue boy who got stuck in chimney appeared first on WTOP.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a military veteran who sought to defy local law and keep pet ducks that he says help relieve his post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Darin Welker told the Coshocton Tribune (http://ohne.ws/1R0u76K ) that he’s considering suing his village, West Lafayette, following the high court’s decision on Wednesday. But, he plans to talk with his attorney before deciding.

Welker was convicted of a minor misdemeanor for violating a ban on keeping most farm animals in West Lafayette, about 80 miles east of Columbus. A state appeals court upheld his conviction in June.

Welker has argued that the half-dozen ducks have been therapeutic for him after he served in Iraq with the Army and was medically discharged from the Ohio National Guard.

One member of the Supreme Court, Justice Sharon Kennedy, disagreed with the court’s decision and said she would have accepted the review on the issue of medical necessity as a viable affirmative defense.

Welker’s attorney, Robert Weir, didn’t respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday.

Retiring Mayor Jack Patterson told the newspaper he’s glad about the court’s decision but acknowledged that might not be the end of legal action in the case.

Patterson, who also leads the Coshocton County Veterans Service Commission, noted that the village had modified its ban in a way that might allow Welker to keep a couple of ducks, and it didn’t enforce the measure during the appeals process, despite Welker remaining noncompliant.

A former village councilman takes over as mayor on Friday.

The post Ohio high court won’t hear appeal over veteran’s pet ducks appeared first on WTOP.

ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) — Authorities say a father used a vehicle’s GPS to find the body of his daughter three days after she was involved in a fatal wreck.

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis tells local media outlets that 44-year-old Janet Lynn Cason took her father’s car early Sunday morning in Anderson County.

Addis says Cason was driving toward North Carolina when the vehicle went off the road, down an embankment and overturned.

Cason’s father used the vehicle’s GPS to track it down. Mountain Rest Fire Department crews found it on Wednesday afternoon.

Addis says Cason was not wearing a seatbelt and died from blunt-force trauma. The coroner’s office and Highway Patrol are investigating.

The post Father uses GPS to find daughter days after her fatal wreck appeared first on WTOP.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The mother of a 1-year-old Maryland boy found dead inside a backpack in a central Ohio creek is no longer trying to withdraw her guilty plea.

Dainesha Stevens pleaded guilty in March to involuntary manslaughter and evidence-tampering in her son’s 2014 death. Her attorney said then that Stevens wanted to take responsibility for not taking action when her friend beat the child, Cameron Beckford.

Without notifying her attorney, Stevens, 25, later filed twice to withdraw her plea. In her second filing, earlier this month, she said domestic violence she suffered in Maryland wasn’t properly investigated before she pleaded guilty.

But in an affidavit filed Tuesday, Stevens now says she’s changed her mind about withdrawing her plea after talking with her attorney and learning more about waiting for sentencing until a co-defendant’s case is resolved.

A Franklin County judge accepted her decision Wednesday.

Kurt Flood, 25, of Columbus, the man accused of hurting the child, has pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, evidence tampering and corpse abuse. His trial has been delayed until Jan. 28 while he undergoes court-ordered competency hearings.

Prosecutors and Stevens’ attorney say Flood thought Cameron had demons and beat him to get rid of them.

Flood was charged after Cameron’s mother pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and agreed to cooperate. She had stayed with Flood at a home near where Cameron’s body was found in a creek on New Year’s Eve.

After Stevens was arrested, a police charging document said she failed to protect her son “by allowing an individual to violently spank him numerous times on several occasions.”

The post Mom isn’t dropping guilty plea in death of boy found in bag appeared first on WTOP.

Hawaii may have been the fiftieth state to join the U.S., but when the calendar flips over to 2016 after midnight tonight, it will become the first state to raise the legal smoking age to 21.

Back in April, Consumerist reported that Hawaii was poised to become the first state to raise the minimum age for smoking to 21 after a bill changing the age requirements passed the Hawaii Legislature. Governor David Ige then signed the bill, which bars people under the age of 21 from smoking, buying, or possessing both traditional and electronic cigarettes.

Anyone caught in violation of the law would be fined $10 for the first offense, with subsequent incidents prompting a $50 fine or mandatory community service.

Businesses that are caught selling tobacco products to people under the age of 21 will be fined $500 for their first violation and up to $2,000 for subsequent offenses, Buzzfeed News reports.

While Hawaii is the first state to raise the legal smoking age to 21, a number of municipalities, including Hawaii County and New York City, have done so on a local level. Washington state, Utah, and Colorado have also considered boosting the legal minimum age.

Proponents of such laws say raising the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21 would result in fewer smokers. In Hawaii, the state’s Department of Health says 5,600 kids try smoking every year, with 90% of daily smokers starting the habit before they turn 19.

[via BuzzFeed News]

The end of the year is a time to reflect on the good times, bad times, and those that just made you scratch your head in disbelief. While there were plenty of really great – and not so great – things that happened in 2015, we’re here to remind you of some of the most baffling, embarrassing, and gaffe-worthy business and consumer stories that graced the pages of Consumerist in the last 12 months. 

Like most other years, 2015 was rife stories that left us wondering just who has control of companies’ social media platforms and how many times companies have to make insensitive products or ads before they get the idea that it’s just not okay.

From derogatory, mean-spirited receipt descriptions to ads that suggested “no doesn’t really mean no,” there was no shortage of fails, gaffes, and just plain stupid comments, social media posts, and apologies made in 2015.

So without further adieu, here is Consumerist’s list of stories that make us go “What, The What?”

Every year, without fail, a number of companies do something that warrants a great big “we’re sorry.” While these apologies are generally warranted, the reasons why they’re needed in the first place can often be perplexing.

1. Plastic Cups Are The New Urinal: In April, the Chicago Cubs issued a truly astonishing apology after wait times for the restroom on opening day became excessive (about 45 minutes), leading some baseball fans to take matters into their own hands: seeking out remote corners of the stadium to pee into plastic cups or just sprinkle on the ground instead of waiting in the long lines.

2. The New Legal Drinking Age Is 2: That is if you happen to be a Texas Roadhouse location in North Carolina. The restaurant issued an apology in March after serving a 2-year-old Sangria, instead of cranberry juice.

3. What Tweet?: Sometimes it’s hard for a company to admit when it was wrong, that appeared to be the case for Bud Light after the company tried to discreetly delete a Tweet suggesting people randomly walk around pinching others who didn’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.

4. The Food Illness Apology Train: Chipotle CEO Steve Ells has been on a mea culpa parade in recent months, asking for forgiveness for a string of food safety issues that left hundreds of customers ill after eating at the fast casual restaurant.

5. A Long Time Comin’: When taking over a company, you also agree to take over that company’s problems – even those with former customers. Such was the case for Oscar Munoz, the new CEO of United Airlines. The first action on Munoz’s to-do list: apologize for five years of merger-related problems.

6. “Get An Interpreter” Is Not An Acceptable Thing To Tell A Deaf Person: The U.S. Postal Service issued an apology to a Florida woman after workers at her local post office refused to accommodate her by providing service through writing, instead they allegedly mocked her and made her feel humiliated.

7. Passive-Aggressive Apology: In an attempt to bring awareness to excessive hotel fees that it doesn’t charge (or misses out on, we’re not sure which), Airbnb plastered several passive-aggressive ads around San Francisco. They were not greeted warmly by employees, and the company eventually acknowledged that workers were right to be “embarrassed and deeply disappointed” in their employer.

8. Things You Don’t Want To Find In Your Seat-Back: Vomit. You don’t want to find a full barf bag of, well, barf waiting for you after boarding a flight. United Airlines issued an apology for just this after a couple found a full barf bag in a blanket in the seat-back pocket in front of them. To make matters worse, while handing over the bag to a flight attendant, it spilled on both her and her husband.

9. People Will Buy Anything…: …Except for asparagus water that cost $6. Whole Foods apologized for accidentally selling bottles of water with several stalks of asparagus floating around.

10. Fishy, Fishy, Fishy: PetSmart issued its regrets in July after a video posted on Facebook showed live goldfish swimming in a bag that had been chucked in a store’s garbage bin. The pet store said the whole thing was a misunderstanding, an employee apparently didn’t realize some of the fish in the bag were still alive.

Companies continue to astonish us by knowingly or unwittingly using symbols or images that evoked memories of horrific events in our past, or belittle cultural figures. Nothing changed in 2015:

11. Gandhi Should Never Be A Robot: New England Brewing Company kicked off the year with a bit of controversy after plastering their India Pale Ale with a label depicting Gandhi as a robot. As one might expect, the “Gandhi-Bot” brew did not go over well with a lot of people, and the company eventually changed the beverage’s name.

12. We Shouldn’t Be Surprised By Urban Outfitter’s Tapestry That Looks Like A Concentration Camp Uniform: Last year it was the infamous Kent State sweatshirt, this year it was a grey-and-white-striped tapestry with pink triangles that looked “eerily reminiscent” of uniforms gay male prisoners wore in Nazi concentration camps.

13. Fanta’s History Is An Entire Peoples’ Tragedy: Sure it’s great to celebrate important milestones in business, but when Coca-Cola decided to look back on the birth of Fanta, it failed to account for the fact that people can do math and would figure out that the Coca-Cola syrup scarcity 75 years ago in Germany (where Fanta was created) had a little something to do with the Nazis. So, maybe it wasn’t such a great time, after all.

14. The Case Of The Upside-Down Flag T-Shirt: PacSun removed a T-shirt that featured an upside-down flag from its stores and online in May after receiving backlash from customers, who viewed the item as disrespectful and called for a boycott of the chain.

15. Comparisons Between The Iwo Jima Flag Raising And Dudes Playing Basketball Is Not Okay…: Under Armour pulled a “band of ballers” T-shirt in May after the company was criticized for basing the imagery on a famous photograph taken of soldiers raising a U.S. flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II.

16. … And Neither Is Including Concentration Camps In A Video Game: Google subsidiary Niantic Labs apologized in July when a German newspaper found that so-called “portals” within a mobile role-playing game were located within concentration camps like Dachau, Sachsenhausen and a slew of others.

17. Hypodermic Needles Aren’t Writing Tools: Pens come in all shapes and sizes, but novelty pens that look like hypodermic needles? Target felt the ire of drug abuse prevention advocates when life-like, needle-shaped pens popped up in stores around Halloween.

18. “Chai Maintenance” Issues: A Hanukkah-themed sweater sold at high-end retailer Nordstrom failed to get people in the holiday mood in November. Instead, the company received backlash from people claiming the sweater, emblazoned with a menorah and the phrase, “Chai Maintenance” across the chest, was an unfair stereotype of Jewish women. Chai is the Hebrew word for life, and sounds somewhat like “high” when pronounced.

When in doubt it seems that companies adhere to the idea that “sex sells.” But for a few companies 2015 proved to be a cautionary tale of how not to mix suggestive behavior and advertising.

19. That’s Not What We Meant, Promise: Being spontaneous can be great, but Budweiser learned last spring that maybe it should not have suggested that being “up for whatever” means turning a woman’s “no” into a “yes.” The company’s marketing campaign proposed that it was the “perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” The company later apologized for the apparent gaffe, saying it never intended to condone disrespectful or irresponsible behavior.

20. Don’t Secretly Get People Drunk: It might be cute in movies when some wacky friend at a party pours some liquor into the punch bowl, but it’s not that charming in real life. That’s why Bloomingdale’s apologized in November for an ad that appeared to encourage a well-dressed young man to spike the drink of a well-dressed young lady looking away from him, with the caption: “Spike your best friend’s egg nog when they’re not looking.”

21. Hardcore Heinz Porn: An expired web domain sent Heinz Ketchup lovers who scanned a QR code looking to create their own bottle label somewhere much more adult: a hardcore porn website.

22. Not A PG-Rated Movie Preview: A Florida movie theater came under fire in April when a mother said it showed a suggestive make-up ad featuring people putting on lipstick and kissing each other before a showing of the PG-rated animated kid’s film Home.

23. Kid-Friendly Social Media And (Kinda) NSFW Pics Don’t Mix: Crayola started off the year cleaning up a social media mess after a hacker allegedly took over the company’s Facebook page, plastering it with juvenile but decidedly not kid-friendly updates.

24. Pee Humor: Google took the blame in April when someone used the editing tool in its Map Maker to create an Android figure urinating on an Apple logo somewhere near Pakistan. The company took down the image and temporarily suspended the editing tool for a time.

25. Target, Home Of Heavy Breathing: Shoppers at a California Target store got more than was on their list when the intercom system began playing porn for everyone to hear. The noises reportedly went on for about five minutes, while the store’s workers generally freaked out. Target later said that it believes the sounds of professional coitus originated from an outside source.

Some companies just never learn (cough, Comcast, cough), but customer service should be a top priority. After all, if you don’t have customers, you don’t have revenue.

26. To Be Fair, Most Comcast Customers Are Angry: After years of dealing with customer complaints, Comcast, in October, appeared to just give up and assume everyone contacting it on Twitter feed was angry.

27. Comcast Changes Customer’s First Name To “A**hole”…: Comcast started the year on the outs with at least one customer, after someone at the company renamed her account “A**hole Brown.” At first, reps for Comcast didn’t appear to take the issue seriously, but once the media found out, Kabletown higher-ups took a bit more of an urgent stance.

28-30. … and “Whore,” “Dummy,” “Super B*tch,” and “C*nt”: Comcast employees apparently didn’t get that bestowing decidedly unfriendly names on customer accounts wasn’t a good look for the company. Following “A**hole Brown” in January, a slew of individuals came forward claiming reps for the cable company changed the names on their accounts out of spite. The company, of course, apologized and promised to take action against those responsible.

31. When Reps And Prank Callers Sound The Same: Comcast’s customer service image didn’t get any help in February when pranksters made some bizarre and profane calls to customers who Tweeted their service issues to the @comcastcares Twitter account. There was some confusion at first on whether or not the callers were actual reps for the cable company, because, you know, it is Comcast.

32. Can’t See Your Team Here: Time Warner Cable told subscribers in the Los Angeles area that if they wanted to watch the Dodgers, they should switch to a company that provides SportsNet L.A. The only problem? TWC was the only cable company in the region offering the channel (which it co-owns).

33. Comcast CEO Try His Goodest To Explain Why Data Cap So Much Important: CEO Brian Roberts, whose daddy just also happened to start Comcast, attempted to ease his customers’ minds about data caps earlier this month, explaining that those who use the most should pay the most, while failing to apply that same caveman logic to those customers who use the least.

34. American Airlines’ Delays Customer Call Six Hours: We’ve all been subject to a long hold time while calling a major U.S. company, but six hours is a little excessive. That’s exactly what an American Airlines customer endured back in March. The would-be traveler didn’t actually get the problem handled in that chunk of time, they simply hung up after realizing it was a line to nowhere.

35. Rent, Cable Bill It’s All The Same For Comcast: As if Comcast doesn’t charge customers enough for their services, the company also apparently has no problem taking more money, even when it’s clear the rent check they received was sent by accident.

36. But There’s Nothing To Return: In October, a Dish rep less-than-sensitively demanded a couple — who had just lost their home in a California wildfire — return their equipment despite knowing the devices had been destroyed in said fire.

37. Sorry Isn’t Good Enough For Sephora Customers: Beauty store Sephora hosted an “Epic Rewards” special event, promising customers amazing deals like a trip to Paris if they accumulated enough points by, you guessed it, buying products. But when it came down to the event, most customers left empty-handed. At first the company chalked it up to “snooze-or-lose,” and people were not too happy about that.

38. No Apology Here, You “Beast”: The owner of a Portland, Maine, diner refused to offer an apology to a family after calling a crying child a “monster” and “beast” on Facebook. The post, which was in response to the child’s mother’s own post, was not met kindly by the Internet (though some gave the owner virtual high-fives for calling out parents with loud kids).

Here at Consumerist we support the right of parents to feed their infants however and wherever they choose. Also, it’s the law. Unfortunately, not everyone feels that way, making 2015 yet another year rife with examples of companies trying to shame nursing mothers.

39. A Pet And A Baby Are Two Different Things: United Airlines received an Internet butt-kicking in October after an employee for the airline suggested a mom pump her breast milk in the Dulles Airport pet relief area. The airport doesn’t have a designated breastfeeding area, but officials there say they’re working on it.

40. There’s No Shame In Feeding Your Child: A woman claimed in March that a United Airlines (again) flight attendant publicly shamed her — and tossed a blanket to her husband — in an attempt to get her to cover up while feeding her baby during a flight.

41. You Gotta Check The Breast Pump: A nursing mother received an apology from Delta Air Lines in January after the airline forced her to check the bag containing her breast pump, despite a policy that says medical devices don’t count against carry-on bag limits.

42. Dressing Rooms Aren’t For Breastfeeding: That is according to a Marshall’s employee in Oregon, who refused to let a mother nurse her child in one of the rooms. The company later issued an apology, noting that policy “instructs associates to allow customers to breastfeed as they choose within stores.”

43. Cover Up Or Leave: That’s what one Illinois woman says a local restaurant told her to do while dining out with her family. The woman shared her story on Facebook, and the owners of the restaurant says he received violent threats.

Calling people names is not okay. Using racial slurs and other derogatory descriptions is even worse. Yet, several businesses — or their employees — did just that this year.

44. Comcast Isn’t The Only Company To Nickname Customers: A Georgia woman received an unfriendly salutation on a receipt after visiting a local car wash in September. Unsurprisingly, the note, which read “B*tch is crazy,” was not met kindly by the patron.

45. Not For The Customer’s Eyes: A Denver restaurant owner apologized in August after a supposed joke between the front-of-house staff and kitchen staff made its way onto a customer’s printed receipt. The offensive statement: “You F*ing Mexicans.”

46. A Merging Of Racial Discrimination: A Pizza Hut customer in Arkansas got more than their ordered pie in May, opening up their pizza box and finding that “KKK” and a swastika had been scribbled on the inside of the lid in marker. Underneath the pizza, someone had written a racial slur. The three employees deemed responsible were fired.

47. More Racist Receipts: A New Orleans restaurant fired a server after he supposedly wrote “N– 100% DISLIKE” on a woman’s receipt.

Last year, LEGO received widespread backlash when it seemingly overlooked the fact that women could be scientists, and Mattel drew an equal amount of ire after portraying Barbie as being incompetent when it comes to computers and coding. Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly get better in 2015. In fact, some toy companies even toyed the line of discrimination for disabilities, too.

48. LEGO, Little Girls Don’t Need Beauty Tips: LEGO’s Club magazine offended some parents when a spread about the company’s Friends salon play set offered advice about the best hairstyles for their faces. The advice was seen to be promoting beauty standards to youngsters. The magazine is targeted toward children as young as five.

49. Lollipop, Ice Cream… Anything But “Window Licker”: Things didn’t get any better for LEGO three months later, when it was chastised for describing a toy named “Turg” as “part frog, part chicken, part back-of-the-bus window-licker, this Mixel has the longest tongue of them all.” People quickly called the company out for its used of a term they deemed offensive to those with disabilities.

50. Unisex Doesn’t Mean Costume Should Be Labeled “Boy”: Disney found itself in a bit of a gendered controversy around Halloween when a Disney store was selling a costume of Captain Phasma (of The Force Awakens fame) with a “BOY” label, when the online store sold it as unisex.

When you live in an occasionally snowy urban area and own a car, snow emergencies are an inevitable occasional annoyance. They impose different alternate-side parking rules so plow crews can clear heavy snow accumulation from the sides of roads, towing vehicles that remain in the way. One woman in St. Paul, Minnesota tried to rescue her car, then learned that you can’t actually drive a car hooked to a tow truck.

Yes, that’s how snow emergencies work: the plow crews need the street to be clear of vehicles so they can clean up, and police will helpfully move motorists’ cars out of the way for them if they fail to do so. They move them to an impound lot after trying to contact the car’s owner, but one St. Paul, Minnesota resident tried to solve the problem herself.

Specifically, she allegedly tried to drive off while her car was partway up the truck’s bed. Police officers say that when they found out and arrived on the scene, the woman ran away and went back into her house.

“She could be hurt, the tow driver could be hurt, tow truck could be damaged and even her vehicle could be damaged,” a police officer observed. “Nobody wants any of that to happen.”

It would have cost a $75 fee for the tow truck driver to simply release her car, but she didn’t have that money on hand. Instead, she owes a higher fee to have her car released from the impound lot, and a $56 citation for remaining parked on the street during the snow emergency. In addition to that, one of her tires deflated during the tow truck ruckus, so that will need to be fixed before she can drive the vehicle home… or to a different safe location.

She claims that she had no idea about the snow emergency.

St. Paul Woman Tries to Drive Away While Connected To Tow Truck [CBS Minnesota]

The following is a true story: One day, two Consumerist staffers were chatting about the work day. One said, “I can’t believe I’m writing about the legal ramifications of butt-dialing.” The other replied, “We should probably remember this conversation for a year-end story about things we didn’t expect to ever write in 2015.” A calendar alert was made, and our future selves were duly reminded.

From the aforementioned rear-end action to the news that U.S. citizens would be traveling to Cuba as tourists, we gathered some of the stories we covered this year that frankly, our past selves could never have predicted happening in the near future, if ever.

1. The Time Warner/Comcast merger actually failed: Sure, we thought it could possibly get the kibosh from federal government, but in 2014, it still seemed likely it had a fighting chance. In fact, 50% of our readers predicted in 2014 that the two companies would tie the knot and ride off into the sunset. It was not to be.

2. After all that, Comcast’s Executive Vice President managed to keep his job — and then some: After the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger failed miserably, we wouldn’t have been shocked to write that the public face of the deal, Comcast Exec VP David Cohen, was moving on to another job. But not only did Cohen keep his job, he got a boost to his annual bonus. We’re in the wrong business.

3. Costco and American Express tell everyone they’re breaking up: It’s over for the former long-term steadies come 2016. In February, the chain announced that its exclusive deal with AmEx would be going kaput, opening the door to other forms of credit card payment.

4. In which we all learn a lesson about the intersection of butts, technology, and the law: Yes, Virginia, there can be legal repercussions when your rump calls someone it shouldn’t be calling. A federal court ruled in July that if you accidentally dial someone using any part of your anatomy, don’t expect anything you say during the call you don’t know you’re making to stay private.

5. That time McDonald’s got to report a boost in sales for once: The desperation of the Golden Arches finally paid off (cough, *all-day breakfast*, cough). The chain announced in October that it had finally managed to see in an improvement in its U.S. stores for the first time in two years. We are genuinely surprised.

6. Americans heading to Cuba — for fun: After more than 50 years of being kept out of Cuba, U.S. tourists can finally visit the island to the south, whether by cruise ship, ferry, or airplane.

7. The largest collapse in U.S. higher education finally occurred: It took almost a year, but in 2015 we saw the end of for-profit education chain Corinthian Colleges Inc., with the closure of its 13 remaining Everest and WyoTech campuses in California, Everest College Phoenix and Everest Online Tempe in Arizona, the Everest Institute in New York, as well as 10 locations of Heald College in California, one in Hawaii and one in Oregon.

8. We pondered whether a non-human primate has the right to its own photography: We’ve been covering the monkey selfie story since 2014, but the mystery of “Who owns the right to this self-portrait of a grinning macaque?” reached its peak in September when PETA filed a lawsuit on behalf of the monkey, claiming that not only should it be granted the copyright, but that it deserves royalty payments.

9. We get hoverboards (sort of) at last, and they immediately set themselves on fire: We got one step closer to a Jetsons reality, except these hoverboards don’t actually hover. And they’re also hard to ride when they’re aflame.

10. Marijuana, marijuana, everywhere: It’s not just those hippies out there in California with prescriptions for wacky tobaccy anymore. In 2015, the topic of legal pot became rather ordinary. Mary Jane made her way into dispensaries and stores, conversations, ballots and the country’s common conscious. Heck, even my grandmother is fine talking about the stuff now.

11. There are no limits to what companies will try to pull to keep customers from speaking ill of them: After years of covering inane “non-disparagement” clauses that seek (often illegally) to prevent customers from writing honest-but-negative online reviews, we hit the bottom of the barrel, ethically speaking, with this contract from an Orlando wedding contractor.

12. Learning there is such a thing as fromagicide: A crime against cheese that has an official name? No one could’ve predicted that, because no one should be considering hurting cheese. And yet in August, the Russian government destroyed literal tons of premium cheese.

13. A TV pitchman going to trial after refusing to admit he kicked an owl while paragliding: We really thought there might be a story about a TV pitchman refusing to admit he punched an eagle while hang-gliding, but this one really blew us out of the water.

14. Someone can go to jail for “nut rage” on an airplane: And not just anyone — a top airline executive who’d become enraged in 2014 for improperly served macadamia nuts. The former vice president at Korean Air was convicted in February of violating aviation safety law and received a one-year prison sentence.

15. A major telecommunications company would rather tell fans to switch cable companies than give customers the channel they want: It’s not news that Time Warner Cable hates its customers, and that the company specifically hates L.A. Dodgers fans, many of whom couldn’t see their favorite team because of the minimal available access to TWC-owned SportsNet L.A. Then, in March the company rubbed dirt in the wound by telling angry customers that if they wanted access to the cable channel, they should just switch to a provider that offers it… without mentioning that no other provider in the area had SportsNet at the time. That sort of customer disservice takes (base)balls.

16. Verizon bought the smoldering remains of AOL: It’s not often you hear about a shotgun wedding between two tech companies, but that’s what happened for Verizon and AOL, with a $4.4 billion acquisition in June. This, only a month after the bride and groom (or bride and bride, or groom and groom) announced the proposed merger.

17. Sears is still in business: We know, we’re just as shocked as you are that this company is still kicking around. Heck, it even reported its first profit since 2012! Though it wasn’t because it actually sold a lot of stuff or finally convinced customers to return en masse.

18. You don’t have to be hot to work at Abercrombie & Fitch anymore: Put away that self tanner and step away from that exercise machine — normal, uncool kids are now acceptable employees at A&F, as of April.

19. No more on-demand porn in your hotel room: Times, they are a’changin — Hyatt gave over-priced blue movies the boot. Now what are you going to lie to the front desk about on your bill?

20. Someone in the world sued over not achieving a footgasm: Woman sees commercial with women who are very pleased with their stockings, wants what they’re having. When her feet don’t achieve the same level of ah, comfort, as she hoped, she sued.

21. Major companies turn their logos rainbow in honor of a landmark ruling: Many of America’s biggest names came out to show support for same-sex marriage, which was then deemed a constitutional right by SCOTUS.

22. T-Mobile makes us ask a very important question — what about Andorra?: The wireless carrier claims $0.20 per minute coverage in “all” of Europe… but one country is left out. Did we ever think we’d be asking about Andorra? No, we did not.

23. Dating in the 20th century involves comparison to livestock: In which we wonder if we just heard the guy in the FarmersOnly.com ad correctly.

24. The death and subsequent rebirth of SkyMall: As long as we can remember flying, there’s always been SkyMall, welcoming us with ridiculous, yet wholly necessary, things like inflatable movie screens and jumping hot dogs. So when the company filed for bankruptcy in January, at first we were all like, “RIP SkyMall, how could this happen?!?” And then by December, it was more like, “Hey, welcome back, SkyMall.”

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So-called “hoverboards,” which don’t actually hover, are illegal to use on the streets of New York City. Two lawmakers are trying to change that, but their timing couldn’t be worse, as one of the self-balancing scooters caught fire in a Brooklyn apartment Tuesday. 

DNAinfo New York reports that a hoverboard started smoking and burst into flames as it was being charged on Tuesday evening.

Fire officials say the owner of the device was able to quickly move it to the apartment building’s hallway before it burst into flames. Firefighters put the fire out a short time later.

While no one was hurt in the incident, the New York Fire Department Tweeted a photo of the incinerated scooter.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro issued a warning Wednesday, telling New Yorkers that he’d personally steer clear of the popular scooters.

“We could have had a tragedy,” Nigro told reporters. “I wouldn’t plug one in in my home.”

The official’s concern about the devices comes at the same time that two New York lawmakers have started a push to legalize hoverboards.

CNN reports that state senator Jose Peralta and assemblyman David Weprin are working to reclassify the devices in NYC, where the police department and Dept. of Motor Vehicles deem the scooters illegal.

Hoverboards are considered to be in line with Segways, and other “personal transporters” that are prohibited under New York State law, the NYPD tells CNN.

“There is no evidence to suggest that an all-out ban on hoverboards is in the public interest,” reads a statement from the lawmakers.

Let These Charred Hoverboard Remains Serve as a Warning to You, FDNY Says [DNAinfo New York]
New York lawmakers want to legalize hoverboards [CNN]

Improving your finances doesn’t always require a big investment. Sometimes a single phone call or a small tweak are all you need to improve your financial future or present. Looking for some ideas as you change to your new “366 Kitten Photos” desk calendar? Here are some ideas from our financial friends down the hall at Consumer Reports to get you started.

• Claim Your Unclaimed Funds. Even if you’ve done this in the last few years, check again. Abandoned bank accounts, checks sent to an address you’ve long since left, or in my case an entire week’s paycheck might be waiting for you. Start at the website of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, checking any state where you’ve lived. If you’re in a hurry, just search the multi-state MissingMoney.com, but I’ve found that isn’t updated as often.
• Change your tax withholding. While it might feel like you’re getting free money when your tax refund arrives, you are not. That’s your money, which could have been in your paycheck all year. If you use a tax preparer, discuss your withholding with him or her, or calculate how much tax you should be paying in the coming year and adjust how much you have taken out every pay period accordingly.
• Contribute more to your retirement plan. If your employer offers a retirement plan with matching as a benefit, make sure you’re contributing the full amount that’s matched. That actually is free money. Otherwise, remember that contributing to some retirement funds lowers your tax liability and is a gift to your future self.
• Check your car insurance coverage. Staying loyal to an insurance company usually doesn’t pay, so you can even check other insurers to see whether they’ll save you money.
• Correct errors in your credit report. This won’t immediately save you money, but could save you money in the future when applying for credit or a loan. If any information is incorrect, fix it before the already stressful time of buying a new house or car.

Free Money Moves to Make in 2016 [Consumer Reports]

Earlier this week, we shared a reader’s photo of the new and larger scoop in her box of Tide detergent. Normally, we’d be happy when a company offers something bigger, but in this case it appeared that Tide-maker Procter & Gamble was trying to make customers use more detergent and finish off their boxes faster. Someone from the company’s “Fabric Care Communications” team reached out to explain why they made this change.

The team explains:

Washing machines (on average) today (in 2015) vs. just 5 years ago are up to 4x the size! This means that machines are washing more clothes (and more soils) than they did in the past- and in order to effectively clean soils from these larger loads, there must be sufficient detergent to address the cleaning and anti-redeposition of soils in the load.

Washing machines are getting bigger: high efficiency washers have grown in the last few years, and high-efficiency washers are available on the market that take loads that are up to four times bigger. While it’s important not to over-detergent your HE load, under-dosing on detergent is bad, too.

Tide sent over this helpful infographic for our readers that explains how all this works:

The problem is that the change depends on consumers re-reading the directions every time they buy a new box, or actually reading the box the first time they buy a new detergent. They must have more faith in the laundry-doing public than I do.

With only hours to go before we bid adieu to 2015, it’s time to look back and see how much you can recall about the year that was. Take Our Survey

McDonald’s lost its biggest restaurant in the world last night. Which sounds like a sad thing, to folks who value size and fried potato shapes, probably, but don’t fret — an even larger location is in the works.

The famous French fry-box-shaped McDonalds in Orange County, FL shut its doors permanently at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

It’s reportedly the biggest McDonald’s known to man (aliens have yet to weigh in) and has fed millions of hungry mouths since it opened in 1976. And it wasn’t all cheeseburgers and neon green pickles that you swore you asked not to receive at this location, either: bowling, slides, and video games were also said to be popular activities at this Golden Arches outpost.

Lest your tears overwhelm you, you should know that a so-called state-of-the-art and apparently larger replacement is in the works nearby, with an expected debut of February.

In the meantime, if you work at the world’s smallest McDonald’s, we’d love to hear from you.

World’s largest McDonald’s closes as replacement nears opening [Associated Press]

How-Tos and explainers may be our bread and butter at Lifehacker, but occasionally we just have to share a rant, personal story, or exposé. Here were our best features and essays in 2015.

Read more...

Your dream job just got posted, and you’re super excited. There’s just one problem: You literally have zero relevant work experience. Whether you’re a career changer or a new grad with no internships under your belt, what can you actually put on your resume that makes you look as qualified as possible?

Read more...

It’s been in the offing for some time, but AT&T has officially declared that after Jan. 8, 2016, the company will no longer be offering 2-year contracts to most customers.

For the last couple of years, AT&T has been nudging customers away from traditional 2-year contracts (and their affordable, subsidized phone prices) and toward AT&T Next plans, where the customer pays full price for their device but pays less each month for data.

In May of this year, it made it a lot more difficult for retail customers to get a 2-year deal by taking away that option from service resellers like Walmart and Best Buy. Then in June, AT&T stopped selling 2-year contracts to iPhone buyers through Apple’s online store.

A rep for AT&T confirmed the news — first reported by Engadget — to Consumerist.

“With $0 down for well-qualified customers, the ability to upgrade early and down payment options available with even lower monthly installments, our customers are overwhelmingly choosing AT&T Next,” reads an AT&T statement. “Starting January 8, AT&T Next will be the primary way to get a new smartphone at AT&T. This does not apply to business customers under a qualified wireless service agreement.”

What does all this mean? If you’re currently on a contract with AT&T (it applies to all phones; not just smartphones), when it ends you’ll have to pick from the following:

• Keep your device and pay the “no-commitment” rate. At some point, you’ll probably want to get a new phone, which means you have to go out of pocket and pay for it in full, or…

• Switch to an AT&T Next plan and purchase a new phone at full price, paying in monthly installments. This has largely the same effect as a contract, in that you can’t leave without having to pay off the balance on the device.

• Switch to a new provider. Of course, both T-Mobile and Verizon have already done away with contracts and phone subsidies. So you’re not going to get a subsidized phone/contract from either of them.

If you live in the New York City area and didn’t receive as many gifts and holiday cards this year, there could be a reason for that beyond the usual U.S. Postal Service mistakes: according to a criminal complaint filed in Queens, one mailman was under so much seasonal pressure that he just dumped about 1,000 pieces of mail in the trash.

The New York Post reports that the 25-year-old carrier was so “overwhelmed” by his heavy December mail load that he purchased three white garbage bags on Dec. 2 — his first day on a new route — to dispose of the stuff he didn’t want to deliver.

Federal court documents allege that he then threw those bags full of holiday mail in a residential garbage can, where they were discovered two days later.

He reportedly admitted to “ripping open” some of the mail “to see what it contained,” according to the criminal complaint. He’s been arraigned on charges of unlawfully delaying and destroying the mail, and is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

‘Overwhelmed’ mailman accused of throwing away Christmas gifts [New York Post]

DALLASTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A volunteer fire chief is being lauded for saving a man from a burning car in central Pennsylvania.

Dash cam video caught Chief Nate Tracey, of Goodwill Fire Company, jumping into action when he arrived on a crash in York Township on Monday morning.

Tracey was the first responder on the scene and soon realized the driver was still inside the burning car. The video shows Tracey reach into the car and drag the driver across the road to safety.

There were initially reports that the driver was trapped in the car, but Tracey says the man wasn’t entangled in the wreck.

He says firefighters extinguished the blaze minutes later.

The crash is under investigation.

The post Dash cam video shows fire chief pull man from burning car appeared first on WTOP.

PotomacLocal.com

Habitat for Humanity Restore set to open in Manassas PotomacLocal.com Habitat for Humanity Prince William is on a mission to restock the shelves of its restore for the grand opening of its newer, larger location in Manassas. The non-profit is seeking donations of gently used furniture, appliances, books, cabinetry ... and more »

 

This week’s Pet of the Week is Gus, a Boxer-Bassett mix rescue dog who is now living the good life at Reston Town Center. Here is what his owner, Keith, has to say about him:

Augustus, or Gus as he is known, may be one of the most talked-about dogs in the Reston Town Center.

Since I adopted him a couple of months ago from the Lost Dog and Cat Society of Arlington, he has many people asking questions of “just what type of dog is he? or “Look, it’s the Oompa Loompa of Boxers.”

No, he is not part wiener dog. He has floppy ears like a basset and a strong chest like a boxer. He loves our daily walks around the Reston Town Center circle and seeing all the people. He also loves playing with friends, including his doggie roommate Gus (yes there are two Gus’ in one condo).

Gus is a HUGE fan of snuggling during the winter, and at night you can find him stealing both the blankets (plus half the bed) so that his owner is left freezing.

Gus is the reason why everyone should consider rescuing a dog. I cannot believe Gus was actually in a high-kill shelter before he was rescued by the Lost Dog and Cat Society. Gus has been a great companion, and adjust to life of living in Reston. I am lucky to have him!

Gus and Keith (and the other Gus) will receive $100 in Becky’s Bucks, as well as some treats, from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care.

Want your pet to be considered for the Reston Pet of the Week?

Email news@Restonnow.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.

Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Reston and Northern Virginia.

 

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Ravens receiver Steve Smith is having second thoughts about retirement.

Smith announced Wednesday on Twitter that his plans for next year include, “Making a comeback, returning to the Baltimore Ravens ready to play football in 2016.”

The 15-year veteran said in August that this would be his final year in the NFL.

“I’m going to retire after this, go home and be a dad and look back and enjoy things,” Smith said. “I feel like it’s time.”

Well, maybe not. Smith’s season ended Nov. 1 when he tore his right Achilles tendon. At the time, the 36-year-old had 46 catches for 670 yards and three touchdowns.

Until Wednesday, Smith insisted his retirement plans had not changed. But now, according to his tweet, Smith intends to “defy the odds, restoring my body to optimal condition.”

“I’m not surprised at all. He’s not the type of guy to go out like that,” Ravens left tackle Kelechi Osemele said. “Obviously, we can’t wait to have him back. I know he’s going to come back in the best shape of his life and he’s going to dominate, because that’s the type of person he is.”

Smith needs 39 receptions to reach 1,000 for his career. He ranks 11th on the career yards list with 13,932 and has scored 84 touchdowns.

He has one season left on a three-year contract with Baltimore in March 2014. Before coming to the Ravens, the five-time Pro Bowler spent 13 years with Carolina.

Although his announcement caught many by surprise, few of the Ravens expected Smith to limp into retirement after playing half a season.

“I knew as soon as he got injured he was going to be back,” Osemele said. “That’s just Steve. He didn’t come here to go out like that.”

Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith flashed a wry smile when asked about Steve Smith’s reversal of plans.

“I kind of already knew he was coming back,” Jimmy Smith said. “He’s a great, tremendous leader for us and obviously we know what type of player he is. That can only help us.”

Linebacker Elvis Dumervil figures the Ravens (5-10) will be a better team in 2016 with Steve Smith on offense.

“That’s my guy, man,” Dumervil said. “Obviously, anybody who bleeds black and purple is excited. Emotional, good leader. Great teammate, great player.”

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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ODENTON, Md. (AP) — An Anne Arundel County judge has sentenced an Odenton man to two years in prison for his role in a cockfighting operation.

The Capital reports (http://bit.ly/1ksGg6c) that 36-year-old Ethan Harmon pleaded guilty to five cockfighting-related charges Monday and was sentenced to two years with credit for time served. He was also ordered to pay more than $1,100 in restitution to county animal control.

State’s Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Heather Epkins says Harmon was also sentenced to six months for violating probation by failing to register as a sex offender.

Police seized about 270 birds from Harmon’s home in June. Dozens were maimed in preparation for fighting and those that survived were euthanized. Charging documents state that Harmon told police he sent some birds to the Philippines to fight.

___

Information from: The Capital, http://www.capitalgazette.com/

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WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has warned more than 30 drone and model aircraft clubs in the Washington, D.C. area they need to stop flying, or risk criminal and civil enforcement.

The FAA, which this month announced drone owners must register their devices with a name and home address by Feb. 19, 2016, has been concerned about the proliferation of model drones, which were top-selling holiday gifts.

Owners of model aircraft weighing up to 55 pounds have to register it with the FAA, or face civil penalties up to $27,500 and criminal penalties up to $250,000 and three years in prison.

In September 2015, as the popularity of drones continued to grow, the FAA extended a 15-mile no-fly zone surrounding Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to 30 miles. Since Sept. 11, 2001 the FAA has cited national security issues as the reason.

In the past, operations of drones outside the Capital Beltway was considered OK — now the no fly zone extends past Dulles International Airport, as the crow flies.

Despite the expansion of the “no drone zone,” approximately three dozen drone and model aircraft clubs surrounding the nation’s capital have operated in large fields, providing a place for hobbyists to safely fly.

Last week the FAA sent an email to the Academy of Model Aircraft, asking the group to shut down all clubs that operate within a 30-mile radius of Reagan National Airport.

“We are hearing reports that some individuals may be flying … even though they know it is in violation of the current airspace restrictions,” Brian Throop, manager of the FAA’s special operations security group, wrote to the AMA and several flying clubs in the region.

“We are asking for your help in spreading the word to the National Capital Region model aircraft community that such activity is subject to enforcement action.”

Several clubs have posted notices at their facilities, and on their websites and social media sites that the FAA has requested all flying operations be discontinued.

According to Motherboard,  the AMA told clubs it expected the FAA to reopen the local clubs sometime in mid-January, and said it is working with the agency to get special permission to continue operations.

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