This quick video shows how the research by a 19th century German telephone engineer gave us the best checkout line system. As popularized by banks and Whole Foods, that’s the one where one line feeds all the checkout counters instead of people queuing for individual registers. It also goes into why the other lane always seems to be moving faster. It’s not just your perception; in a strange paradox, it is just mathematically more likely that the line you are in is more likely to be moving slower than the others. [More]
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Doritos Bag Contains Only Three Chips
By 12.21.10
Reader D said that he opened up a small bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese chips to find only three chips and one “chiplete” inside. [More]
Where Did All The OB Tampons Go?
By 12.21.10
If you’re a fan of OB Tampons, better start your hoarding. They have been taken off the shelves and won’t return until 2011, due to an unspecified “manufacturing update.” UPDATE: O.B. Tampons Are Back [More]
Pick The Right HDMI Cables Without Getting Ripped Off
By 12.21.10
Savvy Consumerist reader know that you don’t need to shell out big bucks for the monstrously expensive HDMI cables some blue-shirted guy is pushing on you in order to get a good hi-def video signal. In fact, as long as you need less than 50 ft, cheap cables you can get at places like Monoprice, Newegg, PCH Cables, or Blue Jeans Cable will do the job just great. But for those friends and loved ones who don’t quite get it, you might want to show this them clip done in cheezy instructional video style to help drive the message home. [More]
King Soopers Defends Easter Creep
By 12.21.10
End displays of Cadbury eggs cropping up in supermarkets in December have had our readers doing double-takes. First there’s Christmas creep, then we had Halloween and Thanksgiving creep, but Easter creep? Yes, because you demanded it to be so, says King Soopers. [More]
Stanford U Investigates A Dozen Docs For Taking Pharma Payola
By 12.21.10
Twelve doctors at Stanford University Medical School are under investigation by the school’s disciplinary board after their names cropped up in a database of docs getting paid big bucks by pharmaceutical companies for speaking gigs, a violation of school policy. [More]
TRON Preview Screening Marred By Line-Jumpers, Mean Staff
By 12.15.10
Tavie shares her first-person experience of waiting for hours in 20 degree weather to see the new TRON screening, and her run-ins with the professional line-jumpers and surly event staff. [More]
EECB Gets HP To Replace Laptop They Tried To Pass Off As Water-Damaged
By 12.15.10
Charlie sent in his HP Mini for repair after the keyboard and mouse stopped working. They denied his warranty repair by saying that a loose tape was caused by water damage, which, while not only unlikely on the face of it, seemed impossible to Charlie as he babies his computers like they were Fabergé eggs. So he launched his campaign on HP upper management… [More]
Sunny Seat Is A Suction Cup Cat Seat That Sticks To Windows
By 12.15.10
The Sunny Seat is a cat seat that sticks to windows with suction cups so you can create a horizontal raised surface for your feline without even having to know how to use a power drill. [More]
$568 To Change A US Airways Flight? Complain And Get Transferred To Little Caesar's Pizza
By 12.14.10
Kyle was annoyed that when he had to change his US Airways tickets, he not only was charged a ticket change fee, he also didn’t get any refund, even though the new tickets were cheaper than his old ones. When he complained and asked for a supervisor, he found himself transferred instead to a purveyor of doughy circular objects, covered in cheese, and ruled over by a diminutive dictator. [More]
Bride Sues Runaway Groom For $100,000 Wedding
By 12.14.10
A jilted bride is suing her ex-beau who dumped her days before the wedding, leaving her standing at the altar holding a bill for nearly $100,000 in wedding expenses. [More]
Gold Pills Makes You Poop Gold
By 12.14.10
Now you can make your own Golden Poo trophies at home with the line of Gold Pills by Citizen:Citizen. For just $425, these 24k gold leaf filled capsules will “turn your innermost parts into chambers of wealth.” [More]
Costco Replaces Scotch Bottle, Saves Christmas
By 12.13.10
Travis has a rich tradition of an annual bottle of scotch at Christmas, a tradition that was nearly shattered along with his bottle when it slipped from its box. Luckily Costco has an even longer and richer tradition of being really cool about refunds. [More]
Whittle Down Your Wardrobe Without Stress
By 12.13.10
Reader Chad shares his gradual way of cleaning out his closet. What he does his shove everything to the left side and places hangers in the middle. Then he goes through and picks out his outfits like normal. When laundry happens, all the clean clothes go on the right, but he forces himself to only wear clothes from the left. [More]
Man Throws Dead Squirrel Through Drive-In
By 12.13.10
A 26-year old Illinois man faces a misdemeanor charge for disorderly conduct after chucking a dead squirrel through a drive-through window in a macabre prank this weekend. [More]
Flame Retardants Found In Butter
By 12.9.10
I can’t believe it’s not butter! Well, it’s not. It’s flame retardant, and food researchers found it inside butter they bought from the supermarket. [More]
Dell Incapable Of Selling Man TV
By 12.7.10
On Black Friday, Rich attempted to give money to Dell to purchase a TV. He failed in this endeavor and Dell doesn’t seem to care, despite sending him 5 order acknowledgement emails. [More]
Woman Saves Prime Black Friday Parking Space By Sitting In It
By 12.7.10
Last week one woman took staking out an early Black Friday claim even further by sitting down in a prime parking space right at the front sidewalk. [More]
