• Woot: Energy C-100 Bookshelf Speaker (Pair) for $109.99
• Amazon: Victorinox Swiss Army Pocket Knife for $19.99
• T-Mobile: Nokia 1208 Prepaid phone with Free $25 Refill Card $19.99
Highlights From Dealnews
• Ann Taylor: Ann Taylor Women's Stretch Wool Double-Breasted Coat for $60 + $6 s&h, more
• Buy.com: Motorola Cable Signal Booster for $38 + free shipping
• Expedia.com: Last minute travel deals from Expedia: Cruises from $99, more
Highlights From Buxr
• Start Sampling: Free Colgate Total Advance Toothpaste Sample
• Hot Topic: 50% Off On Halloween costumes
• NewEgg: OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Desktop Memory for $11.99 after $25 rebate w/ Free shipping
Highlights From Dealhack
• Buy.com: Linksys EG005W Gigabit 5 Port Switch $32 Shipped
• Amazon: Save $10 off Power, Balance, Odwalla, & Other Bars
• Mwave: KDS 22-inch Widescreen Dual Input LCD Display $170

Taiwan banned all dairy products from mainland China today, while Marudai Food Co. in Japan and Nestle SA in Hong Kong announced product recalls. The scandal has claimed the lives of four infants and revived concerns about the effectiveness of China's food safety controls after scares last year over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet food.

``That shows that they're serious,'' said Jim Rice, greater China country manager for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., who has worked with China's food regulator. ``Now this means a new guy with new ideas and maybe a new quality assurance system. It could be a healthy shakeup.''

Reuters says:

Melamine, used in making plastics, has also been found in cartons of milk and some dairy exports, but no illnesses from those sources have been reported.

Medical experts said on Monday that, as well as causing kidney stones, melamine could potentially cause far more serious complications by crystallizing and then blocking tiny tubes in the kidneys.

Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan have all banned Chinese dairy products.

China Quality Watchdog Chief Quits in Wake of Scandal (Update1) [Bloomberg]
Nearly 13,000 in hospital as China milk scandal grows [Reuters]

[It is] definitely on the table. That is something we’re looking at . . . in the future for us. We’re looking at doing some experiments. Obviously one way [is that] you can start selling things for $1.05, $1.09, $1.15 and other ways. You could have more of a break between your 99 cents price point and the next price point."

Of course, breaking their 99-cent promise—the core of their branding—would be risky, not to mention expensive (think of all the signage they'd have to change). But the economy still sucks, the company has been in the red for two quarters, and shareholders are getting restless. You'd better buy all of your off-brand toothpaste now while it's still cheap(er).

"'Mostly 99 Cents Only'? Chain rethinks its pricing scheme" [LA Times] (Thanks to Anthony)
(Photo: heyjoewhereyougoinwiththatguninyourhand)

10 Things You Might Not Know About Your Credit Card
"As you might imagine, we get a lot of questions about using credit cards. Based on those piles of emails we've put together a list of 10 things a lot of people don't know about credit cards."

"I don't think that any bank that goes to the extent that UBS has gone through to avoid doing what their agreements with the United States require them to do, should be allowed to continue to do business unless they clean up their act," Levin said.

The Senator also revealed a list of "sneaky tricks" that the bank was using to skirt U.S. laws and provide services that it was not licensed to offer. Here's the list:

Tax Haven Bank Secrecy Tricks

• Code Names for Clients
• Pay Phones, not Business Phones
• Foreign Area Codes
• Undeclared Accounts
• Encrypted Computers
• Transfer Companies to Cover Tracks
• Foreign Shell Companies
• Fake Charitable Trusts
• Straw Man Settlors
• Captive Trustees
• Anonymous Wire Transfers
• Disguised Business Trips
• Counter-Surveillance Training
• Foreign Credit Cards
• Hold Mail
• Shred Files

Prepared by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, July 2008.

One UBS banker has already plead guilty and admitted to (among other things) smuggling diamonds purchased using a US client's Swiss bank account into the country by hiding them inside tubes of toothpaste. Classy!

Sen. Levin: Shut Down Giant Swiss Bank UBS
Investigation Reveals Secrecy Tricks Allegedly Used by Swiss Bankers [ABC News]

Logan writes:

I bought some toothpaste last night as my wife an I had been surviving on tiny, dentist-issued travel tubes for the past couple weeks. We're lazy, so to save ourselves the trip after the next big tube was gone, I decided to buy a double pack of toothpaste. Thinking that the marginal savings of bundled toothpaste was the way to go, I grabbed a healthy sounding combo and was one may way. When I got home though, I was in for a big surprise. When I pulled the "Bonus" tube out of its box, it was actually in another, smaller box. Whaaaaat? Why the double boxing? Was it for packaging reasons? Or was it to hide the widespread reach and effectiveness of the the product shrink ray?

This isn't the feared Grocery Shrink Ray. This is deception, pure and simple. The weasels running Colgate's marketing team stuck to the law by printing the net weight on both boxes, but they clearly want consumers to assume that the boxes are the same size.

Way to waste an extra box, Colgate!

Expired items are lurking on store shelves. A Fox5 investigation followed around the Nassau County's Office of Consumer Affairs and found evaporated skim milk and diabetic medicine on the shelf that expired over a year ago. At a dollar store, they found the manager was cutting the expiration dates off boxes of expired toothpaste and still selling them. The Stop and Shop was fined $1450 for selling expired goods, the dollar store, $13,225 for 529 items. Don't forget to check the expiration date, the store, or the Consumer Affairs Office, isn't always going to do it for you.

Expired Items [FOX5]

Caption: "I hate WalMart."

(Photo: big-film)

Caption: "out of 11 good/decent shots of the lightning storm I piled them on top of each other"
Comment: "evil descends upon the taco bell"

(Photo: .nutter)

(Photo: Crawfishpie)

Title: gas line sunset 2

(Photo: ennailuj)

Caption: "I had read about this toothpaste in the August issue of National Geographic, and wanted to try it. I thought it'd be easy to find, but after checking out about 10 places that sold toothpaste, I gave up. My aunt called National Geographic in Seoul to track it down and found the toothpaste at a place called Orga Whole Foods about 30 minutes away from metropolitan Seoul in Bundang (?). Bundang!

Charcoal has cleaning and odor-removing properties. That part's great. The toothpaste left my mouth squeaky clean! Good stuff...until charcoal's moisture sucking properties kick in. About five minutes after I brushed my teeth, my mouth was as dry as a desert and my lips were starting to chap. "

(Photo: La Mariposa)

Add your shots to The Consumerist Flickr pool, and perhaps they'll get featured in a future story, or even highlighted in a Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds post.

The TSA is a complete joke...and not a funny one [thank gilligan it's safe for work] (Thanks to Chris!)

From the Washington Post:

The companies are liable for distributing the tainted product even if they had no direct knowledge of the risk because they were negligent in not ensuring the toothpaste was safe, Supervising Deputy City Attorney Jerry Baik said.

Ghermezi said he had not seen the charges but was shocked by the filing. All the adulterated toothpaste was voluntarily pulled from shelves and from his Vernon, Calif., company's inventory eight months ago and destroyed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month, he said.

"Everything we had was destroyed by the FDA," Ghermezi said. "I thought the file had been closed."

Ghermezi said he supplied the toothpaste to Vernon Sales, also based in Vernon. He said his company never knowingly sold adulterated toothpaste and thought the product had FDA approval.

"We didn't know of the ingredients of the toothpaste," he said. "We don't [have] any intention of hurting people."

(Thanks to dsavlin!)

"Charges filed against LA importers over toxic Chinese toothpaste" [Chicago Tribune]
"Criminal Charges Filed Over Poisonous Toothpaste" [Washington Post]
"Los Angeles City's Chief Prosecutor, Along With FDA, Files Criminal Charges Against Two Local Companies For Toxic Toothpaste Import " [RTT News]

RELATED
"Man Who Discovered Tainted Toothpaste Located, Interviewed"
The saga of the tainted toothpaste on Consumerist
(Photo: Janmi_)

Watch what you're buying on eBay and at the "dollar store!"

Real or fake? [Consumer Reports]

He bought a tube, and the next Monday he took a vacation day to bring it to a Health Ministry office. They directed him to a second office, naturally. They told him to take the toothpaste to a third office, and when he balked, they had him fill out a complaint form and leave the tube. Three days later, the story exploded when the country's top health official reported that a "shopper in Panama" had discovered the tainted product.

A year ago, those words would have meant nothing to him. "Nobody had ever heard of this stuff," Mr. Arias said. But a steady drumbeat of news about poison cough syrup had engraved the words in his mind.

"It was inconceivable to me that a known toxic substance that killed all these people could be openly on sale and that people would go on about their business calmly, selling and buying this stuff."

According to Treehugger, traditional laundry detergent is full of water and foaming agents that make it seem more effective than it is, wasting water and plastic for no good reason. "Collateral damage to be avoided by the new super concentrated and much greener detergents: wasted water, wasted shipping space, excess packaging; added petrochemical consumption and C02 emissions," says Treehugger.

Why does Walmart care? Apparently concentrated detergents are cheaper because they are less wasteful. Not that you'd know that if you just listened to Walmart:

"People expect businesses to step up and work together to help solve the big challenges facing the world," Scott told the crowd of approximately one thousand people gathered in New York City. "What we have done is work with suppliers to take water — one of our most precious natural resources — out of the liquid laundry detergent on our shelves. We simply don't want our customers to have to choose between a product they can afford and an environmentally friendly product."

Wal-Mart to Sell Only Concentrated Products in Liquid Laundry Detergent Category by May 2008 [PR Newswire]
P&G Joins Unilever NV In Concentrated Detergent Offerings [Treehugger]

PREVIOUSLY: Walmart Tries To Make DVDs, Toothpaste, Soap, Milk, Beer, Vacuum Cleaners, and Soda Eco-Friendly

Seven categories will be the focus of Walmart's attention: "DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners, and soda."

From BusinessWeek:

The retailing giant announced the initiative Sept. 24 in partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a nonprofit group supported by institutional shareholders that focuses on climate change and carbon emissions. Wal-Mart says it plans to use the Carbon Disclosure Project's expertise to help set up the new program with its suppliers.

"We are working together to measure our global supply chain footprint and to encourage our suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said John Fleming, executive vice-president and chief merchandising officer at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart: Measuring Just How Green [BusinessWeek]
(Photo:Getty)

[Updated to reflect correct location of incident—our bad; we misread the article dateline as the location of the incident and incorrectly wrote "Beijing" the first time around.]

Highlights From Dealhack

Highlights From Bargainist

Most at risk for China's severe punishments are the people at Lee Der Industrial Company, the manufacturer fingered by Mattel yesterday as being responsible for the 967,000 toy recall.

Officials to 'severely' punish vendors in tainted toy recall [thestar.com]

In total, 2 state prisons received 846,288 tubes, 5 cuckoo clocks got 14,544 tubes, and 4 juvis received 3600 tubes. This reminds us of a Johnny Cash tune...

I hear the Chinese poison train a comin'
It's rollin' 'round the bend...
And I ain't seen the FDA,
Since, I don't know when,
I'm stuck in Georgian Prison,
And time keeps draggin' on,
But that Chinese poison train keeps a-rollin',
On down to San Antone...

When I was just a baby,
My Mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy,
Don't ever play with Magstix,"
But I fed a man antifreeze toothpaste in Atlanta,
Just to watch him die,
When I hear that whistle blowin',
I hang my head and cry.

Tainted Toothpaste Found in US Prisons [Guardian Unlimited]
(Photo: imorgan73)

From the NYT:

Inspectors from the state's Department of Consumer Protection said they seized 430 tubes of a counterfeit Colgate toothpaste reportedly made in South Africa and 275 tubes of Chinese-made Dentakleen and the strawberry and blueberry flavors of Dentakleen Junior from stores in Hartford, West Hartford, Waterbury, Derby and North Branford. The varieties of the counterfeit Colgate brand, including maximum cavity protection, gel and triple action, are listed as tainted.

State officials said inspections would continue this week.

Last month, about 900,000 tubes of tainted toothpaste turned up in prisons and other state institutions, mostly in Georgia and North Carolina, and at some hospitals in South Carolina and Florida. The investigation in Connecticut was prompted by a call from a consumer who reported that the toothpaste was still on the shelves of some stores, despite the recall order.

For pictures of the poison toothpaste, head to the CT Department of Consumer Affairs where they have pictures as well as the names of stores that were caught still stocking the toothpaste.

700 Tubes of Toothpaste Are Seized in Connecticut [NYT]

Held hostage in a toy factory? Really?

I shouldn't have been surprised by the reception. The last time I arrived at a factory under suspicion for selling contaminated goods (toothpaste), they quickly locked the gate and ran. A month earlier, I walked into the headquarters of a company that sold tainted pet food to the United States, and the receptionist insisted the owner was not in. When my translator called the owner, we heard his cellphone ring in the adjoining room. I peeked in and saw the boss scamper out the backdoor.

For American journalists, there's a tradition of showing up at a crime scene, or visiting a place that has made news. But in China, where press freedoms are weak, such visits can be dangerous.

Last year, a young man working for a Chinese newspaper was beaten to death after he tried to meet the owners of an illegal coal mine. Local officials later insisted he was trying to extort money.

My colleagues at The Times have been detained several times. And one of our Chinese research assistants is now serving a three-year prison term for fraud. He originally had been accused of passing state secrets to The Times, a charge this paper has denied.

My Time as a Hostage, and I'm a Business Reporter [NYT]

The counterfeit toothpaste can be easily recognized because it is labeled as "Manufactured in South Africa." Colgate does not import toothpaste into the United States from South Africa. In addition, the counterfeit packages examined so far have several misspellings including: "isclinically" "SOUTH AFRLCA" "South African Dental Assoxiation".

As with all recalls, you shouldn't assume that just because the product is still on store shelves that it's "OK."

When a clerk at a dollar store that was still selling the toothpaste was questioned by the Herald News, she claimed to have heard about the recall, then stated: "They said it was from China or something," she said, referring to news reports. "But when I checked, they weren't from China."—MEGHANN MARCO

Tainted toothpaste still in local stores [Herald News]
(Photo: tuppaware_01)

The F.D.A.'s efforts to investigate the Haiti poisonings, documented in internal F.D.A. memorandums obtained by The New York Times, demonstrate not only the intransigence of Chinese officials, but also the same regulatory failings that allowed a virtually identical poisoning to occur 10 years later. The cases further illustrate what happens when nations fail to police the global pipeline of pharmaceutical ingredients.

(Photo: harryalverson)

After months of trying, the U.S. embassy successfully badgered the Chinese into releasing a phone number for the supplier, the Tianhong Fine Chemicals Factory. The FDA tried to call, but the Chinese factory, employing the tactics of a fifth grader dodging a call to his parents from the school principal, kept saying that the factory manager was unavailable. When finally reached for comment, the manager would only say that "there had been no cases in China of poisoning resulting from the ingestion." Last year, 18 Chinese citizens died after consuming medicine tainted with diethylene glycol.

The FDA went back to Sinochem and had the following discussion:
Sinochem: We have two certificates showing that the barrels were safe.
FDA: May we see them?
Sinochem: No.
FDA: Please?
Sinochem: This conversation is over.

The FDA clearly understood the threat posed by diethylene glycol. FDA Deputy Commissioner Mary Pendergast presciently warned back in 1997: "The U.S. imports a lot of Chinese glycerin and it is used in ingested products such as toothpaste."

The Chinese Poison Train is still out there, lurking on a container ship headed our way. Nobody knows when it will strike again. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

F.D.A. Tracked Tainted Drugs, but Trail Went Cold in China [NYT]

The corn price increases flow like gravy down the food chain, to grocery stores and menus. The cost of rounded cubed steak at local Harris Teeters is up from $4.59 last year to $5.29 this year, according to TheGroceryGame.com, which tracks prices. The Palm restaurant chain recently raised prices as much as $2 for a New York strip. And so on.

(Photo: Eduardo Mueses)

Corn is in the coffee whitener and Cheez Whiz, the frozen yogurt and TV dinner, the canned fruit and ketchup and candies, the soups and snacks and cake mixes, the frosting and gravy and frozen waffles, the syrups and hot sauces, the mayonnaise and mustard, the hot dogs and the bologna, the margarine and shortening, the salad dressings and the relishes and even the vitamins. (Yes, it's in the Twinkie, too.) There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn.This goes for the nonfood items as well: Everything from the toothpaste and cosmetics to the disposable diapers, trash bags, cleansers, charcoal briquettes, matches, and batteries, right down to the shine on he cover of the magazine that catches your eye by the checkout: corn. Even in Produce on a day when there's ostensibly no corn for sale you'll nevertheless find plenty of corn: in the vegetable wax that gives the cucumbers their sheen, in the pesticide responsible for the produce's perfection, even in the coating on the cardboard it was shipped in. Indeed, the supermarket itself—the wallboard and joint compound, the linoleum and fiberglass and adhesives out of which the building itself has been built—is in no small measure a manifestation of corn.

The Rising Tide of Corn [Washington Post]

After all, it is mostly discount stores where these "SOUTH AFRLACAN"-based tubes can be found, and so far only New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania stores have turned up the cursed Colgate. —BRIAN FAIRBANKS

Colgate says low risk from recalled toothpaste [MSNBC]
(Photo: Getty Images)

The 5 oz of poison can be identified by these tell-tale package misspellings:

isclinically
South AfrLca
South African Dental Assoxiation

— BEN POPKEN

Imported Toothpaste Recalled in 4 States [Good Morning America]

ReputationDefender also sent a takedown request to Consumerist, a Gawker Media blog that had written about a man who was briefly jailed for harassment after repeatedly calling online travel agent Priceline.com Inc. for a refund. The letter asked the blog to remove or alter the archived post, saying it was "outdated and disturbing" to its client. Consumerist editor Ben Popken blasted the request with a profanely titled entry, calling it an attempt at censorship. "It's not like we're spreading libel," he said. "They were trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube."

ReputationDefender's Mr. Fertik said the company is no longer sending letters to irreverent blogs like Consumerist, which may be more likely to mock the company's efforts. "We are no longer taking those kinds of risks with those kinds of outlets," he said.

Firms Tidy Up Clients' Bad Online Reputations [WSJ]

PREVIOUSLY:
Ronnie Segev & ReputationDefender Can Eat A Dick
Priceline Has Customer Arrested for Diligent Refund Attempt

So far we have not received any report of death resulting from using the toothpaste. The U.S. handling (of this case) is neither scientific nor responsible.

China says U.S. warning on toothpaste irresponsible [Reuters]
PREVIOUSLY: Today's Helpful Tip From The FDA: Throw Out Poisonous Chinese Toothpaste
NEXT WEEK: Head Of Chinese General Administration Of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Sentenced To Death For Inane Declarations Taking Bribes

The FDA is now warning that there is a "low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury" to people who use the following brands of discount toothpaste: Cooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint, Cooldent ICE, Dr. Cool, Superdent, Clean Rite, Oralmax Extreme, Oral Bright, Bright Max, and ShiR Fresh Mint.

The tainted toothpaste has been spotted at bargain stores in Los Angeles, Miami, and Puerto Rico. The FDA has devised a simple test to evaluate the safety of your toothpaste: if it says "Made in China," throw it out. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

FDA: Some Toothpaste Sold at Bargain Stores Dangerous [AP]
PREVIOUSLY: FDA To Test All Chinese Toothpaste
Chinese Poison Train Rolls On: Next Stop, Panamanian Toothpaste

• Debt Collectors Punch Mom In Face While 5 Year-Old Watches
"Afraid she was being carjacked, she drove herself and her 5 year-old daughter to the police station with the debt collector still clinging to the hood of the Ford Focus."

• 4 Signs Your Customers Hate You
"Do you have rules that you want customers to break because doing so generates profits?"

• Want To Drive In The HOV Lane Without Passengers? The EPA Has A Rule For You
"The EPA has proposed a rule that would allow drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles to use the high occupancy vehicle lanes without bringing along those pesky carpoolers."

• 10 Confessions Of A Progressive Insurance Rep
"A former Progressive car insurance customer service rep has stepped forward into the light to give us the low-down on how his ex-employer works..."

There's no evidence that any of the brands, Excel, Mr. Cool, and Mr. Cool Junior, were sold in the United States. Still, the FDA decided to err on the side of caution. — BEN POPKEN

F.D.A. to Test Toothpaste Sent to U.S. From China [NYT]

PREVIOUSLY: Chinese Poison Train Rolls On: Next Stop, Panamanian Toothpaste
(Photo: Getty Images)

Rejected items often reappear at U.S. ports several times; importers gamble that the FDA, which only inspects 1% of regulated imports, won't catch them in the act. Their slip-ups are detailed in stomach-wrenching refusal reports filed by the FDA.

Our puny food safety laws are no match for the wiles of Chinese importers. Federal law only allows the import of meat from foreign factories that have been certified to match domestic safety standards. Since no Chinese factories are currently certified, crafty Chinese meat smugglers simply send us their meat labeled as something else.

Some were shipped in crates labeled "dried lily flower," "prune slices" and "vegetables," according to news reports. It is unclear how much of the illegal meat slipped in undetected.

(Photo: darinmarshall)

That rule is just the first step towards China's true aspiration: to grow, kill, and ship homegrown Chinese chickens to the U.S. If we don't open our gullets wide to their poultry, they won't lift their four-year-old ban on U.S. beef. More frightening:

...permission for China to sell poultry to the United States is moving ahead because recent USDA audits found China's poultry slaughterhouses to be equivalent to those here.

Tony Corbo, a lobbyist for Food and Water Watch, a Washington advocacy group, said that finding — which is not subject to outside review — is unbelievable, given repeated findings of unsanitary conditions at China's chicken slaughterhouses. Corbo said he has seen some of those audits. "Everyone who has seen them was grossed out," he said.

China controls 80 percent of the world's production of ascorbic acid, for example, a valuable preservative that is ubiquitous in processed and other foods. Only one producer remains in the United States, Hubbard said.

"That's true of a lot of ingredients," he said, including the wheat gluten that was initially thought to be the cause of the pet deaths. Virtually none of it is made in the United States, because the Chinese sell it for less than it would cost U.S. manufacturers to make it.

Tainted Chinese Imports Common [Washington Post]
Refusal Actions by FDA as Recorded in Operational and Administrative System for Import Support for China (Mainland) [FDA]

Diethylene glycol is the same agent that killed 100 Panamanians after the state-owned Chinese company Taixing Glycerin sold the sweet tasting poison as pharmaceutical-grade glycerine. The mislabeled glycerin was used to make cough syrup.

According to Panama's Health Ministry, the tainted toothpaste, sold under the brands Excel and Mr. Cool, poses less of a threat than the tainted cough syrup because people spit out toothpaste after brushing.

The poison was discovered when "a consumer notified the pharmacy and drugs section of the Health Ministry after seeing that diethylene glycol was listed as an ingredient in toothpaste at a store."

The FDA is watching the situation closely and has found "no evidence" that the tainted toothpaste poses a threat to America's pearly-whites. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Poisoned Toothpaste in Panama Is Believed to Be From China [NYT] (Thanks to Matt!)
PREVIOUSLY: Counterfeit Cough Medicine Traced To Chinese Factory
(Photo: Jonas B)

The employees and their manager spent most the time spraying each other with air hoses and windshield fluid. 3 hours later, after seeing other folks come and go, we were told our vehicles were ready. We paid and left quickly, trying to avoid any other confrontation that would delay us even more. Flash forward to last week, my wife told me that her check engine light came on while going to work and the same on the way home.

Walmart's website claims that the most basic oil change package costs $18.88. For that price Walmart's technicians will:

•Add up to five quarts of oil
• Install new oil filter
• Lubricate chassis (when applicable)

I'm no mechanic by any sense of the word, so I was pretty clueless as to what was wrong. I called the local mechanic and made an appointment for today. I get a call from my wife, said that she spoke with the mechanic, fearing the worst, I braced myself for a huge repair bill. The mechanic said that when the oil was changed, oil was spilled all over the engine compartment, after the tech at Wal-Mart realized their mistake they washed the compartment with water, allowing water to seep into the engine where the spark plugs are housed, thus causing the engine sputtering. Our bill ended up being $80.00, not too bad I guess. Should've been nothing. Damn you Wal-Mart!

Jason writes:

My wife and I made our first mistake by going to our local Wal-Mart (Kansas City, Missouri) convieniently located among the sprawl near our apartment. We needed to have the oil changed on our cars. I would've done it myself, but our lease prevents us from doing any kind of car maintenance in the parking lot. So one fine Saturday afternoon a week or two ago we drove to the automotive side of the building, parked our cars, and went inside. Once inside, we decided on what oil change "package" we wanted. Trying to save a little money, we went with the basic package. I inquired about the wait time and was told about a half hour. While I was sitting in the waiting room I had a good view of the garage bay. The place was a dirty, messy, clusterfuck. The employees and their manager spent most the time spraying each other with air hoses and windshield fluid. 3 hours later, after seeing other folks come and go, we were told our vehicles were ready. We paid and left quickly, trying to avoid any other confrontation that would delay us even more. Flash forward to last week, my wife told me that her check engine light came on while going to work and the same on the way home. She said that it sputtered while accelerating. I'm no mechanic by any sense of the word, so I was pretty clueless as to what was wrong. I called the local mechanic and made an appointment for today. I get a call from my wife, said that she spoke with the mechanic, fearing the worst, I braced myself for a huge repair bill. The mechanic said that when the oil was changed, oil was spilled all over the engine compartment, after the tech at Wal-Mart realized their mistake they washed the compartment with water, allowing water to seep into the engine where the spark plugs are housed, thus causing the engine sputtering. Our bill ended up being $80.00, not too bad I guess. Should've been nothing. Damn you Wal-Mart!

Walmart Lube,.Oil & Tire
(Photo: Brave New FIlms)

Sources told 9NEWS the Red Team was able to sneak about 90 percent of simulated weapons past checkpoint screeners in Denver. In the baggage area, screeners caught one explosive device that was packed in a suitcase. However later, screeners in the baggage area missed a book bomb, according to sources.

"There's very little substance to security," said former Red Team leader Bogdan Dzakovic. "It literally is all window dressing that we're doing. It's big theater on TV and when you go to the airport. It's just security theater."

Undercover agents slip bombs past DIA screeners [9News via BoingBoing]
(Photo: agahran)

You may naively think if stores stopped offering rebates, they will lower prices for everyone. That is not necessarily case, particularly because of the economics of rebates. Since only 40% of consumers follow through with rebates, stores and manufacturers could never afford to pass on the equivalent in savings to all buyers.

... but will anything comparable replace them? Probably not.

Basically you would need something that attracts increased purchases by promising delayed discounts, and hen uses confusing rules and regulations to prevent customers from receiving that money.

Only a mind of greatest acuity would be up to the task. — BEN POPKEN

When Rebates Disappear, Prices Don't Fall [Consumer World Blog]
(Comic: Toothpaste For Dinner)

Hard-to-remove decals
Spray the decals and the surrounding areas with WD-40, lifting the edges to get underneath, if possible. Let sit, then gently scrape away the decal with the edge of a credit card. Degrease the area with liquid dishwashing soap

Stuck sliding windows
Solution: A little silicone spray lubricant (sold at hardware stores) will grease the skids. Spray it onto a rag, then wipe along the tracks, whether they're metal, wood, or plastic.

Scuffed linoleum
Rub the spot with white toothpaste and a dry cloth or with an eraser. Or spray WD-40 on a towel and rub lightly, making sure to degrease the area afterward with liquid dishwashing soap and water.

Clear Nail Polish as Eyeglasses Fix
Keep a loose eyeglass screw in line. After tightening, dab polish across the top for a longer-lasting fix.

— BEN POPKEN

12 Quick Home Repairs [Real Simple via Frugal For Life]

Still, if you think that's dry, try plunging yourself into an orifice up to the hilt at 20,000 feet. But if you don't do it in a cramped, sticky airplane toilet at least once, how will you ever join the Mile High Club?

We got an email from John, who had just such aspirations. He knew about airplane dehydration, so — a wily strategist — he intended to bring some K-Y on board with him on a recent flight. He even checked the TSA website, which assured him K-Y Jelly was not presently categorized as a terrorist weapon.

Of course, the prudes at airport security confiscated it anyway. Our only consolation is that, indeed, joining the Mile High Club isn't nearly as cool as it sounds. With visible smell waves oscillating from the toilet and the door handle jammed into the small of your back, the moment of copulation usually ends with a few lame thrusts and then the simultaneous admission that this really just pretty much sucks.

John's email, after the jump.

I was traveling to a convention and decided to bring along some personal lubricant in case anybody wanted a happy ending after eating rubber chicken for three days. As some bloggers have noted, toothpaste and shampoo are forbidden in carry-ons, but a little KY Jelly is A-OK: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm#1.

I stuffed the bottle (under the allowed 4 ounces) into my carry-on and headed to the airport. An alert X-ray machine person pulled me over, and my luggage got inspected. The friendly TSA lady swabbed my shirts and underthings with one of those pads that detects bomb-making detritus, noted that my bottle of contacts lens solution was legal, and failed to notice the lube that I'd not-so-sneakily hidden in one of the bag's front pouches.

This is a hassle, I said. Try putting your liquids in the little bowl for coins and keys next time, she said.

Next time came a few days later, and I did as she suggested, sending the lube bottle through the X-ray machine. And another TSA lady pulled me aside.

TSA lady: "What's this?"

Me: "Umm.. it's legal. I checked. It's in the regulations."

TSA lady: "Well, is it for your eyes?"

Me: "Not exactly."

TSA lady: "You're only supposed to take on things you'll need on the plane."

Me: "But I might need that on the plane."

TSA lady: "What for?"

Me: "Um, never mind."

And away went the lube, and my dreams of joining the Mile-High Club. Well, at least without some major chafing.