This $100 flat-screen TV this random dude is selling out of his car in a Walmart parking lot is a steal! Specifically, he is stealing your money by substituting a sticker-covered oven door for a TV.
Government Policy
Kraft Frozen Pizzas Recalled in 17 States
By 8.19.09
Time to check the freezer. Kraft, Jack’s Original, Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza, Made with Pork, Chicken & Beef is being recalled because it might contain “a soy protein allergen.” In other words, Kraft needs to warn carnivores that they may be eating soy.
Best Buy Employees Fired For Attempting To Stop Knife-Wielding Shoplifters
By 8.18.09
If you work at Best Buy, don’t tackle any knife-wielding shoplifters or you’ll be fired. That’s what happened to two Best Buy employees who chased a couple shoplifters who were fleeing with armloads of merchandise towards a waiting car.
Marriott Drops "It's Your Fault" Claim In Rape Case
By 8.17.09
After it broke last week that Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa was claiming it was the fault of the victim and her two toddlers that she was raped in their parking garage, the hotel has decided to withdraw the claim. They also apologized for the rape in a general sort of way—but not for subpoenaing her friends and professional acquaintances who otherwise would not have known about the crime.
Verizon Sued After Tech Punches Customer In The Face
By 8.17.09
According to a lawsuit filed by a Verizon customer in Queens, NY — the tech the company sent out wasn’t quite as affable as the ones in the commercials. Instead of fixing the customer’s problem — the tech allegedly punched him in the face.
IRS Making Life Easier For Investment Fraud Victims
By 8.17.09
Responding to all the high-profile Ponzi schemes, particularly the Madoff heist, the IRS is easing rules for fraud victims, making it easier to claim losses on taxes, Investment News reports.
Marriott Says Woman Is Responsible For Her Rape
By 8.14.09
[Update: Marriott has dropped the appeal.] If you want to live dangerously, why not try an unrelaxing visit to the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa? It features a game room, a BBQ/picnic area, $10 a day Internet access, and the occasional mentally unhealthy transient wandering for days around the parking garage waiting to attack you. Best of all, if you are attacked Marriott will let you take all the credit for it, and then subpoena your friends and professional contacts, thereby permanently ruining any anonymity you hoped to maintain. Because at Stamford Marriott, if you’re raped in our parking garage by a guy our security should have noticed and kicked out, don’t come crying to us!
One-Armed Abercrombie & Fitch Worker Wins Wrongful Dismissal Case
By 8.14.09
A former UK Abercrombie & Fitch employee whose prosthetic arm didn’t comport with the store’s “look policy” has won a case against the clothier for wrongful dismissal and emotional trauma.
Recall Roundup – Wash Your Clothes With Flames Edition
By 8.13.09
Psyclone Essentials Wii 4-Dock Battery Recharge Stations – Overheats; risk of fire and burn hazards
Judge Tells Microsoft It Can't Sell Word In U.S.
By 8.12.09
Thanks to a Texas judge’s ruling earlier this week, Microsoft has been prohibited from selling or supporting any more copies of Word that can edit XML-based documents. A Toronto-based company, i4i, sued Microsoft in 2007 over its XML editing patent, and the judge ruled in i4i’s favor. The ruling kicks in 60 days from now, unless Microsoft decides to appeal. We have a feeling it will.
Bring Out Your Pig, The Mobile Slaughterhouse Is Here!
By 8.12.09
A group of farmers in the Seattle area are testing out a new $300,000 “Mobile Meat Processing Unit”—a 45-foot stainless steel trailer that comes with its own USDA inspector and a butcher—in an attempt to see whether they can make a profit selling their meat locally instead of shipping livestock off to a feedlot “hundreds of miles away.”
Yes, This Is Clearly The Best Shirt To Wear When Robbing A Bank
By 8.12.09
The FBI is currently searching for this man, a bank robber with a keen eye for t-shirts. He robbed the Commerce Bank at 8050 Big Bend in Webster Groves, Missouri by handing the teller a note which read, “I have a gun. I will kill you. Give me your $100’s and $50’s.”
Another Month, Another Beef Recall
By 8.10.09
The summer of beef recalls continues, with the creatively named Beef Packers recalling 826,000 pounds of ground beef linked to salmonella illnesses in the western U.S.
Top 10 Recalled Children's Products To Avoid Buying Secondhand
By 8.7.09
It’s garage sale season, so our esteemed sister publication, Consumer Reports, has put together a list of 10 recalled children’s products to avoid buying secondhand. This one, in particular, has a defect that should become obvious upon glancing at the accompanying photo.
Chicago "In-N-Out" Settles Trademark Infringement Lawsuit
By 8.6.09
Don’t think you can call your place “Nicky’s In-N-Out” and include a certain familiar-looking big yellow arrow in your logo and get away with it. In-N-Out — the beloved California burger chain — has settled a trademark lawsuit against a Chicagoland copycat gyro joint.
UPS Driver Charged With Stuffing About $30,000 Worth Of Jewelry In His Shoes
By 8.4.09
An end of shift security check of a San Antonio, TX UPS driver led to the discovery of items intended for delivery to a jewelry store. According to the AP, the driver had apparently been stuffing the jewelry into his shoes instead of delivering it.
Hackers Discover Data-Stealing ATM At Convention
By 8.4.09
Nobody knows yet whether it was planted by an attendee, or if the ATM had been there for some period of time before the event, but hackers at last week’s DefCon conference in Las Vegas discovered a rogue unit that was designed to capture customers’ credit card data with each use.
Trade Walgreens Hippie Cold/Flu Remedy For Actual Flu Shot
By 8.4.09
First, there was Airborne. Then there was Rite-Aid’s house brand version of Airborne. Now, the Walgreens brand of homeopathic cold and flu remedy was also the subject of a class action lawsuit, and the settlement is at hand.
