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The Tasty Lies Behind Your Favorite Convenience Foods
By Laura Northrup on December 29, 2011 9:30 AM
45 Comments
There are a number of criticisms you can make about frozen meals and chain takeout: poor nutrition, factory farming, and wasteful packaging. Most Americans don't care about that, though. What they want to know is: does this meal look anything like the photo on the package? Does it taste like beef-flavored cardboard? Is the portion big enough to keep me from running to the break room vending machine by 3:00? For them, the convenience food blog Tasty Lies exists. More »
(Éamonn)
4 Plants For Lazy People
By Ben Popken on November 2, 2011 1:00 PM
82 Comments
It's nice to have plants around the house to recycle the air and brighten up the room. But what if you're a lazypants and know you're likely to forget to take care of them? Don't worry, there are still plants for you. More »
How To Beat HDTV "Customer Service"
By Ben Popken on October 27, 2011 12:00 PM
36 Comments
If your HDTV set is malfunctioning you follow the advice most HDTV manufacturers put on their website, you can actually end up screwing yourself. Surprise, surprise. Here's what you should do instead. More »
Vegas Dismisses $896 Ticket They Gave Car Parked In New York
By Ben Popken on October 26, 2011 2:00 PM
51 Comments
Sometimes it just takes a little followup. That's what got a $896 ticket vaporized that the city of Las Vegas had erroneously slapped on Charlotte's car while it was 2,000 miles away in New York state. More »
The Most Shoplifted Food In The World? That's Right, "Cheese."
By Ben Popken on October 26, 2011 12:00 PM
99 Comments
The First WorldWide Shrinkage Survey is not about taking a scientific approach to a Seinfeld plot line. Instead, it measures shoplifting around the globe. "Shrinkage," in retail parlance, is when people take things from stores without paying for them. And according to their study, the most shoplifted item in the world in 2011 was cheese. More »
Car Racks Up $896.80 Vegas Parking Ticket While Sitting In New York
By Ben Popken on October 25, 2011 3:00 PM
90 Comments
Charlotte is bewildered as to how her Camry somehow got a for $896.80 ticket for parking in a handicapped spot in Las Vegas while it was sitting happily in New York State. Had her car been secretly running out of town to go galavant around Sin City behind her back? More »
93,000 PSN Accounts Suspended After Latest Attack
By Ben Popken on October 13, 2011 1:00 PM
41 Comments
PlayStation announced they've suspended 93,000 PSN accounts after the latest attack against their network. More »
Non-Credit Union Alternatives To Banks With Monthly Debit Card Fees
By Ben Popken on October 12, 2011 3:00 PM
51 Comments
While often the default response online to people looking for something other than a big retail bank to stash their cash is to shout, "Credit union! Credit union!", they're not the only game in town. More »
How "Social Media Customer Service" Is Often Either A Failure Or A Lie
By Ben Popken on October 12, 2011 11:00 AM
63 Comments
Frank Eliason is a legend for pioneering @ComcastCares and being the guy who would hunt down Comcast customers who were complaining online and try to solve their problems. So why is the guy who helped invent large-scale social media customer service writing a post titled, "Social Media Customer Service is a Failure"? Well, Frank says that most companies are just slapping a new Twitter account on old broken systems, and are more interested in using social media to get customers to shut up. More »
(OiMax)
Japan Proposes Offering 10,000 Free Round-Trip Tickets To Boost Tourism
By Ben Popken on October 11, 2011 5:00 PM
77 Comments
In order to boost flagging tourism after the nuclear disaster, earthquakes and tsunami, the Japan Tourism Agency has proposed a bold plan. They're going to give away 10,000 free round-trip tickets. More »
With Neighb's 'Net Down, Super Holds TWC Node Hostage. Ransom: Free Cable
By Ben Popken on October 7, 2011 12:00 PM
66 Comments
In the middle of reports of widespread Time Warner Cable outages in New York's East Village late this week, one building supervisor has decided to hold a local cable node hostage. This node controls cable and internet not just for his building, but several others on the block. His price for access? Free cable. More »
(Hank)
330 lb Man Donates $5 To Fight Childhood Obesity For Every Pound He Loses
By Ben Popken on October 7, 2011 11:00 AM
32 Comments
Some people want to look good for the beach. Others want to be able to enjoy their favorite sport again. Hank, who started his journey at 335 pounds, is motivating his weight loss goal by donating $5 for every pound he loses to a local non-profit that fights childhood obesity. More »
TSA Gives Breast Cancer Survivor Invasive Patdown After She Goes Through Scan
By Ben Popken on October 3, 2011 1:00 PM
68 Comments
A breast cancer survivor says she was forced to go through a patdown where TSA agents touched her breasts, even though she had already gone through the backscatter body scanner and had an ID card explaining the tissue expanders in her chest. More »
Water-Filled Plastic Bottles In Roof Can Replace Light Bulbs During Day
By Ben Popken on September 13, 2011 12:00 PM
73 Comments
Here's a cheap way to bring light into a dark shed during the day while cutting down on your electricity costs. Fill a plastic bottle with water and two cap-fulls of bleach and stick it through the roof. The bottle refracts the sunlight into the space and generates as many lumens as a 50 watt bulb. It's free light! More »
Pizza Flyer Stuck In Door 5 Inches Above "No Soliciting" Sticker
By Ben Popken on September 1, 2011 10:00 AM
237 Comments
SJ has been battling door-to-door salesmen and flyer stuffers in his neighborhood for years. After getting fed up, the block held a powwow and everyone decided to get "No Soliciting" stickers to put on the doors. Yet the flyers still keep cropping up. Here is a recent picture SJ took of his door, with a flyer for "Shiraz Pizza" stuffed in it, right above the "No Soliciting" sticker. He diagrammed and labeled it to make it easier to understand, and sent it to the pizza parlor along with a complaint letter. More »
Getting Through The Post-Irene Insurance Claim Process
By Ben Popken on August 30, 2011 10:00 AM
30 Comments
The first floor of a friend's house in Vermont was completely flooded by Hurricane Irene, forcing the family with two kids to evacuate to a nearby church. But braving the storm may look like blowing bubbles in the park after they start the insurance claims process. Here's some tips they, and you, can use to make it easier. More »
Morton's Delivers Man Steak At Airport After He Jokingly Asks For One In A Tweet
By Ben Popken on August 18, 2011 11:00 AM
57 Comments
Before boarding his plane from Tampa to Newark, Peter Shankman jokingly asked Morton's Steakhouse over Twitter if they could meet him with a porterhouse steak when he landed. Lo and behold, they did. More »
Squirrels Do 17% Of The Damage To Fiber Optic Networks
By Ben Popken on August 10, 2011 10:00 AM
59 Comments
Turns out the common squirrel has an uncommon propensity for nibbling through the nation's fiber optic cables. Level 3 Communications, which operates much of the cables that provide the internet's backbone in the US, say that 17% of the damage to its network comes from squirrels chewing on the lines. No one is quite sure why they like fiber optic cable so much. More »
Man Uses 3D Printer To Make Repair Part For $25, Instead Of Paying $250
By Ben Popken on August 4, 2011 10:00 AM
137 Comments
A man had a part break on his Bugaboo, a really nice and pricey stroller. The official repair center said it would cost $250 to replace the part. So the man said, forget that, and used a 3D printing service, which creates three-dimensional objects by laying down successive layers of material, to get it fabricated in stainless steel for $25 instead. Schweet! More »
Walmart.com Has Slowest Shipping, Costco.com Has Fastest
By Ben Popken on August 3, 2011 5:00 PM
74 Comments
Two days before school starts and you need those pencils and TI-89 calculators, stat? If online shopping is the route you're going, Costco will get it to you faster than Walmart, says a new survey. More »
