Looks like the Grocery Shrink Ray took a working vacation down under this summer. Reader Meg tells us that her redesigned Aussie Sprunch hairspray shriveled from 12 ounces to 10.2 ounces. Gone too is an adorable yellow kangaroo, mercilessly consumed, we presume, by the insatiable Grocery Shrink Ray.
international
How To Get A Passport Fast
By 7.1.08
What do you do if you need a passport in less than three weeks? Don’t shell out for one of those passport expediters, call your Member of Congress. They have these things called constituent liaisons, whose whole reason for existence is prodding other executive agencies. This is the number one way to get a passport quickly. Call the district office for your Congress Critter, which is the number that doesn’t start with 202. A list of Members of Congress can be found here. Another thing to try is paying the extra $60 at the USPS for expedited passport service. The best thing to do is, of course, apply early, but if for some reason that hasn’t happened, getting a hold of a constituent liaison is the way to go.
Air New Zealand Takes Fumigating Its Passengers Seriously
By 3.30.08
THE QUOTE: “It’s not like we don’t take this seriously, which is why we had the [Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry] people come on board.”
American Airlines Doesn't Care If You Were Rushed To The ER With Appendicitis. You Are A No Show, And Will Receive No Refund.
By 1.6.08
“What is ya’lls experience with dealing with AA when the passenger has a case of appendicitis? My sister is going under the knife in London right now, and was admitted to the ER 6hrs before her scheduled flight back to Seattle. We’ve called AA and they say no chance of getting any sort of re-booking, rebate, coupon, or whatever because she was listed as a “No Show” for the flight. We called the airline before the flight to inform them of the situation.”
The Truth About Chinese-U.S. Trade
By 12.13.07
With all the hoopla in the media about all things Chinese—exports, Chinese investors in the United States, the U.S. trade deficit with China, and so on—we thought this myth-exploding article was worth the read. It’s aimed at investors, but relevant to anyone interested in the U.S. economy and how our relationship with China really works. For example, the U.S.’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in China so far this decade is only a third of what we’ve put into Ireland and Germany.
Woman Forced Off Flight For Refusing To Move A Huge Stuffed Crocodile
By 11.29.07
Attention air travelers: If your 3′ long stuffed crocodile is blocking the emergency exit, you are going to need to move it. If you refuse, you’re going to get kicked off the plane.
Cellular Abroad Charges Tax On Security Deposit, Calls It A "Sale"
By 11.9.07
Joanna writes, “Here’s my tip for using Cellular Abroad: don’t. They totally charged me tax on a ‘security deposit’ and then refused to refund my tax on the returned portion of the deposit.” When she wrote to Cellular Abroad to dispute the tax, she was told that technically it wasn’t a security deposit but a purchase, and that when they refunded her the difference after she returned the phone, that wasn’t a refund—they were buying it back from her, and because they have a reseller’s license they don’t have to pay taxes on their “re-purchase.” Whaaa?
Valve "Deactivating" Customers Who Bought "Orange Box" Internationally
By 10.24.07
According to reader Todd, there are quite a few customers are finding their “Orange Box” games have been deactivated by Valve because they bought them from a seller that wasn’t authorized to do business with US customers.
Cubic Telecom Lied About Its "Cheap International Calling" SIM Card
By 10.5.07
Last Friday, we published a post about Cubic Telecom, an Irish start-up that sells a SIM card that’s supposed to enable international calling for “50-90%” less than standard carrier rates. The post was in reference to columnist David Pogue’s review of the product, and he was quoting rates that were provided to him directly by Cubic’s CEO. Turns out the CEO was “misleading” him—he provided numbers that were substantially lower than the actual rates, and has been stringing Pogue along with assurances that they’d “update the site” ever since. As of Thursday, October 4th, they still hadn’t.
8 Great Places To Travel On A Weak Dollar
By 10.2.07
The dollar has hit new lows, but fear not, thrifty globetrotters, there’s still countries with weaker currencies than ours. What they lack in fiscal might, they make up for in natural beauty and exotic locales.
New $40 SIM Lets You Call From Anywhere For Cheap
By 9.28.07
[UPDATE: The numbers quoted in this post are B.S. Skip it and go directly to the follow-up a week later, where we find out that the company’s CEO grossly misrepresented the savings on this card.]
When Travelling Internationally, Pop Out The iPhone SIM Card To Check Email Without Huge Roaming Charges
By 9.10.07
A handy tip that could’ve saved a couple people a few thousand dollars *cough* And This Is Your $4190.76 iPhone Bill *cough* iPhone/AT&T $3,000 International Roaming Bill Serves As Cruel Warning…or you can always just get a prepaid local SIM card, providing you’ve already unlocked your iPhone, of course.
Apple Customer Becomes Victim Of "It Just Works" Complacency
By 9.10.07
We hate to say this, but in the interest of fairness we must: sometimes it really is the customer’s fault. A man took his three iPhones out of the country, and now he’s got a $4800 roaming bill because he didn’t turn them off and they kept checking for email. Well, he didn’t turn them off off. You know, there’s standby off and off off. Or maybe you didn’t know? It’s all in the Apple iPhone User Guide—we just looked at it online and it’s right there on page 14: how to put your phone in standby (which just turns off the screen) and how to shut it off completely.
Verizon's Cancels Service Because You Called South Korea
By 8.29.07
Verizon gets skittish if you call South Korea or Arabic countries, and if the “High Toll” department doesn’t correctly report that they were able to get in contact with you to verify you intentionally made the call, you could find your service disconnected.
Avoid US Airways' Trans-Atlantic Flights
By 8.27.07
Even your ever-skeptical columnist was shocked at what I found: a near-collapse of the day-to-day operations of US Airways’ Philadelphia-based trans-Atlantic service. Even by this summer’s reduced standards, the operation that US Airways runs between Philadelphia and Europe is shocking.
By 8.24.07
../../../..//2007/08/24/in-an-attempt-to-mitigate/
In an attempt to mitigate the negative PR fallout from having one of its planes explode on the tarmac seconds after the last of its passengers scrambled off it, China Airlines painted over the ruined plane’s logo. [MSN]
Boy Catches Fire After Wearing Pajamas With 500 Times The Safe Level Of Formaldehyde
By 8.21.07
A New Zealand boy suffered third-degree burns after his Chinese-made pajamas, a brand recalled for containing 500-900 times the safe levels of formaldehyde, caught fire after he sat near a gas heater.
And This Is Your $4190.76 iPhone Bill
By 8.18.07
Like others, Pierre had found out the hard way just how extremely expensive international data transfer rates are…
