Consumerist
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fail
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
CBS 5 exposed a "gaping hole" in the code of California's state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users' resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL. More » -
Bank Failures
100 Bank Failures And Counting!
"More banks have failed in 2009 than the rest of the decade combined," writes Ariel Nelson at CNBC. Today, Partners Bank in Naples, Florida closed its doors, making it the 100th bank to fail this year. Click the link to see a map of where bank failures have happened the most over the past 10 months.
"100th Bank Failure of the Year" [CNBC]
(Photo: naught_facility) -
bad ideas
Honegar And 29 Other Dumb Inventions From The Mid-1900s
LIFE magazine has published a list of 30 dumb inventions from the middle of the 20th century. There are some profoundly stupid ideas on display here (baby cage, anyone?). More » -
nothing to see here
UPS Has Strange Concept Of "Out Of Sight"
Chris sent us this picture of a package that UPS delivered to his apartment. Instead of leaving it at the complex's office, the delivery person left the box in a "secure, out of sight" location.
Can you spot the package?
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dumb ideas
Scammer Picks Wrong Sympathy Handicap
Any good grifter knows that a classic shortcut to sympathy is to fake a handicap. This guy, however, should have thought about the distancing effect of using a telephone relay service, which is designed for people who are hearing impaired. More » -
mysteries
New Subway Gamepieces Exist Outside Of Normal Time
Justin sent us this gamepiece he scraped like a wet scab off the side of his moist Subway beverage cup. (I do not like gamepieces affixed to fast food drinks.) We're in awe at its nearly kōan-like phrasing. How is an instant win not an instant winner? How do you peel the gamepiece that has already been peeled? Feel free to use these in your meditations.
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fail
Ladies & Gentlemen, Your 81st Bank Failure Of The Year
Normally we wouldn't rely on the phrase "third largest bank failure of the year" to impress upon you the seriousness of a situation, but since we're at our 81st bank failure of 2009, we're going to go with it. Meet Guaranty Bank of Texas. It has now failed. More » -
stupid shipping gang
HP Throws In Free Wooden Pallet With Every Power Cord Purchase
We know not all of our readers agree on our stupid shipping gang posts, but here's one we can all get behind: you probably don't need to deliver a ten-foot power cord in a large box on a wooden pallet.
More »
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fail
New York State Provides Car Inspection Stickers That Lack One Important Feature
Stickers need to stick to things. That's why they call them stickers. Someone should have explained this to the State of New York. More » -
play them off keyboard cat
Studio Turns High School Graduation Into Marketing Stunt, Nobody Cares
The Wall Street Journal looks at how an unfortunately named marketing agency called the Intelligence Group tried to promote recent bomb "I Love You, Beth Cooper" with a viral video on YouTube. (Can we just once and for all ban anyone who works in advertising from accessing YouTube?) They paid the valedictorian of a Los Angeles high school $1,800 to "spontaneously" blurt out a secret crush during her speech, and they hired someone to film the speech in a faux-homemade style to post online. More » -
teeth whitening
Strips Are Best Teeth Whiteners, Consumer Reports Finds
A Consumer Reports Insights story in the Washington Post evaluates the DIY teeth-whitening racket, finding strips work better than trays, which don't always fit in your mouth so well, the products may mess with your sensitive teeth, and that yellow teeth whiten easier than gray, brown or blue. More » -
target is crazy
Target Still Doing Business In A Reality Vortex
Loyal Consumerist readers may have noticed that we haven't made any recent posts in our widely acclaimed series of posts about how discount retailer Target is insane. Has Target sought help and found its way back to reality? No. We were just saving up material. More » -
revocations
Better Business Bureau Kicks Out Four Businesses
What can you do if you're too small to have a shot in our Worst Company In America contest, but too awful to not earn some sort of notoriety? Well, you can get your BBB membership revoked and earn a big fat F ranking. It's no golden poo, but it's a start. More » -
recession watch
New York Mayor Says Luxury Homeless Shelter Residents Shouldn't Get Too Cozy
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Daily News that the residents of the swanky failed-condo-turned-homeless-shelter shouldn't get too comfortable. They'll need to move on. More » -
imaginary savings
Target Saves You Money In Ways You Can Only Imagine
Target continues its rebranding as the Duchamp of retail stores, with this receipt that indicates savings where no savings ever existed. Or perhaps multi-dimensional savings; we can't pretend to know what Target sees when it stares into the void. Mark notes, "The cookies were on sale, as indicated. The cascade, I had a coupon for it to be free. Total savings should be $4.23. The receipt says $7.37. Maybe it's a conspiracy since it is the Love Field (near the airport) in Dallas where Southwest flies only 737s." That's as good an explanation as any, Mark. Maybe you should work for Target? More » -
twitter
If You Use Twitter This Month, You Probably Won't Be Back Next Month
Oprah has given the world many discoveries: Dr. Phil, books and on April 17, when she devoted an entire show to it, Twitter. More » -
tv
CBS Is Counting On Leno To Fail In Prime Time
You know how much it sucks to lose a $5 bill, right? Well, times that by 11 million and you get an idea of how CBS president and CEO Les Moonves felt during the first quarter of the year, when his company lost $55.3 million. More » -
funny
This Blockbuster Has Pretty Much Given Up
We guess when you're hurting as much as they are, you pick your battles.
(Thanks to Jess!)
fail
New York, 5:48 PM
Tue Nov 10
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