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Dog owners who value their fingers might want to give up their retractable leashes in favor of the more traditional, less amputation-prone fixed-length leash. [Consumer Reports] (Photo: me and the sysop)
Philips Avent, the nation’s largest seller of baby bottles, announced today that it will voluntarily stop selling bottles containing the controversial chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Attorneys general from Connecticut and New Jersey had written a letter to several bottle makers asking them to stop, and the Washington Post says the six largest baby bottle manufacturers in the country have voluntarily complied.
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Animal lovers out there can rejoice, US Airways says that no pets were lost in flight 1549 — either in the cabin or in the cargo hold, as US Airways does not accept pets as cargo. [Newsday]
CNN is reporting that two days before US Airways flight 1549 splashed into the Hudson, passengers on the same airplane say that they heard loud noises coming from the engines and that they were told there might have to be an emergency landing.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act—which requires filtration systems to have special safety covers—was named after a 7-year-old who was killed in 2002 when she was trapped at the bottom of a hot tub by “hundreds of pounds of suction force.” It’s not the sort of accident that happens frequently, but when it does it’s a grisly and horrific event. Unfortunately, despite the law being in effect since the middle of last month, and the fact that pool operators have known about it for over a year, CNN reports that many pools still haven’t been brought into compliance.
For the first time in the history of jet airliners, US airlines have gone two years without any passengers dying. This is all the more amazing considering the last two years have seen a number of incidents where passengers were stuck onboard on the tarmac for hours without food, water, and in some cases, with a river of human refuse leaking down the aisle. Said an MIT professor who studies aviation safety, in a remark both whimsical and macabre, “If you see a child in the airport today or tomorrow…that child has a greater chance of growing up to be president than failing to reach his or her destination safely.”
In this letter (PDF) sent to CPSC chair Nancy Nord, and released to the public, Consumers Union and a bunch of other consumer interest groups ask the CPSC to please do its part to clear up all the confusion over the coming Toy Testing Apocalypse. Don’t want to read the whole thing? Here’s a much shorter summary:
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Chairwoman of Chinese dairy company pleads guilty in melamine case, may face death penalty. [Reuters]
BoingBoing’s Joel Johnson recently interviewed departing Homeland Security boss Michael Chertoff — and we all know how much you love “security theater”…
An 11-year-old girl from Providence, R.I. recently died after falling into or jumping on a glass table. She suffered a severe puncture wound and died of uncontrollable bleeding.
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In which Consumer Reports employees harm themselves or their real estate with consumer products, part 2. In this episode, a CR staffer’s son uses the stove’s self-cleaning feature without removing a plastic cutting board from inside the oven. Yes, the fire department was involved. They had to pull the range out of the kitchen and leave it to cool in the driveway. Awkward. [Consumer Reports]
Nobody is perfect, it seems, not even the folks at safety-conscious Consumer Reports. They’ve put together a group of stories from employees who managed to injure themselves with various products.
We like you, so in the interest of getting you and your family to Thanksgiving with all of your fingers attached, we’d like to direct your attention to some pumpkin carving “how to” info.
This whole “drunks on a plane” thing is getting out of control. First it was the passengers, then the flight attendants… now it’s the pilots.
The global economy is crashing, credit markets are playing ice age, and you consumers have a simple choice: buy things now or prepare to be stabbed next year.
We talk a lot on this blog about personal data and privacy, but not so much about how to secure that data on your own computer. That’s because a.) we’re not Lifehacker and b.) the solutions frequently bloat into crazy, jargon-filled recipes that scare away the non-IT crowd. Not this time! For all you novices, here is a single idea you should consider that will help keep your personal data personal, and make your identity that much harder to steal.
Confusion about what those color coded bracelets mean can cause deadly medical mistakes, but if the bracelets are standardized — is everyone going to know your business?
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