Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL The Consumerist

Shared by AdamFort
YAY!

A chain of events over the last month does not bode well for the continued existence of the no-credit-check, allegedly scammy computer purveyor BlueHippo. When the FTC found the company in contempt of its agreement to stop scamming people, Bluehippo's payment processor froze the company's funds with little notice. The company was unable to pay its bills and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now, the company has changed to a Chapter 7 filing (liquidation) and will most likely go out of business.

BlueHippo had sought bankruptcy reorganization protection last month when its payment processor's bank unexpectedly blocked its funds, leaving the company unable to pay creditors. BlueHippo petitioned a Delaware bankruptcy court judge to allow the funds to be released to the company, but its request was denied on Dec. 2, according to court records.

Without access to the funds held by Checkgateway LLC, BlueHippo "will not be able to satisfy administrative expenses that will continue to accrue if these cases are maintained in Chapter 11 [reorganization]," according to the filing. The company has a bankruptcy court hearing on its Chapter 7 motion on Dec. 23.

Note the conspicuous lack of crying consumer advocates. Let's hope that this is one brand that doesn't rise back up as a zombie hippo.

BlueHippo files Chapter 7 bankruptcy [Baltimore Sun] (Thanks, Steve!)

PREVIOUSLY:
BlueHippo Files Chapter 11 After Bank Accounts Frozen
FTC Files Contempt Charge Against BlueHippo For Continuing To Rip Off Customers
Scammy Computer Seller BlueHippo Settles With FTC For $5 Million

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL Fancy Fast Food (a food humor blog)

Bubbe Wendy’s Hanukkah Latkes (Fancy Wendy’s Hash Browns)
by Erik of Fancy Fast Food, with assistance from Lilit Marcus of Jewcy and Save The Assistants

Hey everybody, it’s Hanukkah! It’s Chanuka! No matter how you spell it, it’s time for the Jewish festival of lights — eight crazy nights of dreidels gone wild, a time when latkes are as abundant as old yentas around a mahjongg table. But you don’t need to be Jewish to partake in Hanukkah traditions, particularly the gastronomic treat of latkes (or lattkes). No matter how you spell it, “latkes” is Yiddish for fried pancakes, typically of the potato variety — making it oddly similar to McDonald’s hash browns. However, Bubbe Wendy has guilted us into using her Fancy Fast Food recipe (“If you just want to use McDonald’s hash browns, then I guess that’s fine by me…”), so here goes. Oy…

Ingredients (from Wendy’s):

• 8 orders of hash browns (for the eight nights of Hannukah)
• 2 baked potatoes (with packets of sour cream and “Buttery-Best Spread”)
• 2 orders of mandarin oranges
• 1 small soft drink
• 1 bottle of water
• packets of Sweet & Sour Sauce
• packets of sugar
• packets of salt and pepper
• a pinch of Jewish guilt (may be substituted with Catholic guilt)
• organic chives (for garnish and a touch of irony)

Latkes are traditionally served with apple sauce or sour cream. We already have the latter, so we’re going to have to make the apple sauce. Unfortunately, Wendy’s sells no apple products whatsoever, so we’ll have to get creative.

What are apples? They are a kind of fruit that are sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, and so naturally we will start with Sweet & Sour Sauce. To add a fruity pulp to it, we’ll add the mandarin oranges — but that’s fine; Bubbe Wendy moved down to Boca.

Put the manadrin oranges in a food processor and purée them, then strain out the extraneous juice. Mix this pulp in a bowl with the Sweet & Sour Sauce. The color is a bit intense to look like real apple sauce, so scoop out some baked potato (minus any chives) and mix it in — the French call potatoes “pommes de terre” (apples of earth) so we’ll go with it. Mush and whisk it all until it sort of looks like apple sauce; add sugar until it’s as sweet.

Next, the latkes themselves. Take all the mini hash brown nuggets and mush them with your hands. Touching them, you’ll realize they are all too greasy for things to stick together, so we’ll need to make a batter to work as a binding agent.

Put one baked potato, minus the skin, into a food processor and add about a quarter cup of water. Hit purée and voilà: batter! Add this potato batter to your pile of hash browns and mix thoroughly in a bowl. Add salt and pepper as desired.

In a large non-stick skillet, melt a few packets of Wendy’s “Buttery-Best Spread;” there’s enough oil in it for a fry-up. Slice the top of your beverage’s paper cup and use it as a guide when forming the batter into pancakes in the skillet. Fry each evenly on both sides until it becomes crispy and golden brown. Argue with Bubbe Wendy that they do in fact, resemble McDonald’s hash browns now — but let her win the argument; she’ll try and make you feel guilty for never calling her anyway.

You are ready to serve the Hannukah latkes, but wait! You can use your fancy kitchen tools in continued preparation for the holiday: use a fondue fork to clean out the old waxy build-up in your menorah; use a kitchen torch to light the new candles.

Garnish the latkes with organic chives (for that extra touch of irony), and then have a Happy Hannukah, courtesy of Bubbe Wendy and Fancy Fast Food! Now spin those dreidels until we figure out what we’re going to do for Christmas…

If you are viewing this recipe in an aggregator (like tumblr’s Dashboard), or as a reblogged post, please check out the real website at FancyFastFood.com.

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL mental_floss Blog

Ever wonder who decides how many Gummy Bears = 1 serving? (18) Or that one cup of Wheaties = 1 serving? Well, nationwide food consumption surveys do, but also the NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute). So if you’re wondering why a serving of ice cream is usually only a ½-cup (on their Web site the NHLBI says no more than the size of half a baseball), it’s because that’s what they’ve determined is the right amount to stay healthy. Meanwhile, we all know how many baseballs Baskin Robbins scoops into their hot fudge sundaes–enough to fill a small bathtub, right?

The NHLBI has studied portion explosion over the last 20 years and has done a lot of groundbreaking research. The good folks over at DivineCaroline.com used that research, re-purposed some NHLBI photos from a fun portion explosion quiz, and tell us that “in the 1970s, around 47 percent of Americans were overweight or obese; now 66 percent of us are. In addition, the number of just obese people has doubled, from 15 percent of our population to 30 percent.”

Scary stuff, right?

This all starts to make a lot of sense when you look at the following images, culled from the NHLBI site and DivineCaroline.com. Clearly the majority of us are eating more than 18 Gummy Bears.

1. Two Slices of Pizza

You’d have to play golf (walking and carrying your clubs) for an hour to burn the extra 350 calories.

2. Bagel

You would have to rake leaves for 50 minutes to burn the extra 210 calories added over the last 20 years to the average bagel.

3. Movie Popcorn

You’d have to do water aerobics for 1 hour and 15 minutes to burn the extra 360 calories.

4. Cheeseburger

You’d have to lift weights for1 hour and 30 minutes to burn off the 257 calories.

5. Chicken Caesar Salad

Yes, even “healthy” food has exploded in size over the last 20 years. You’d have to walk your dog for 1 hour and 20 minutes to burn the 400 calories. (If you don’t have a dog, you’d have to buy one first.)

6. Cup of Coffee

You’d have to walk 1 hour and 20 minutes to burn the extra 305 calories.

7. Soda

In the early ’70s, 6.5 ouncers were popular. Today it’s 20 ounces, or more (Super Big Gulp = 44 oz = 700 calories!) You’d have to work in the garden for 35 minutes to burn the extra 165 calories.

8. Turkey Sandwich

You’d need to ride a bike for 1 hour and 25 minutes to burn the extra 500 calories.

9. French Fries

You’d need to walk leisurely for1 hour and 10 minutes to burn the extra 400 calories.

10. Spaghetti and Meatballs

You’d need to houseclean for 2 hours and 35 minutes to burn off the extra 525 calories.

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL The Consumerist

After Best Buy blew two delivery dates on the washer/dryer he paid $1,600 for at Best Buy on Black Friday to arrive, a man decided to take his dirty laundry to the store. He had unhooked his washer/dryer at home in anticipation of the new appliances and wanted to know which washer of theirs they wanted him to wash his clothes in while he waited for his. His buddies videotaped the adventure. This plan didn't go ever so hot with Best Buy management. Let's roll the clip:

The manager appears at about the 3:20 mark. She calls the cops, accuses them of being drunk, and kicks them out. She doesn't even seem to be interested in finding out why they're there. The man had paid $1600 for his washer/dryer and Best Buy was more concerned that he was bothering their associates by asking for them to fulfill their legal obligation to deliver the goods. They certainly had no problem, however, with advertising these washer and dryers for Black Friday, selling more of them then they had in stock, and promising a delivery date they couldn't live up to.

His video getting popular on Reddit seemed to help, though, as yesterday he uploaded this clip, of his new washer and dryer getting delivered, with free delivery:










"Best Buy really came through and made up on this one. I appreciate this customer support I received after a bit of turmoil," he says.

So, in the end, maybe he was a bit of a dick, but it's what got the job done.

(Thanks to Josh!)

Google Reader Shared Post - Source URL mental_floss Blog

I knew a family once that had several mounted deer heads on their walls. At Christmas time, they would put a red clown nose on one of the trophies, which I though was rather clever. My kids didn’t like it at all. Unfortunately, they moved away and I couldn’t find any pictures of the idea on the internet. But I found plenty of other strange and wonderful holiday decorations that may tickle your funny bone.

I’ve written before about how people in my neck of the woods make do with what they have. In this case, they had the reindeer, but no sleigh. However, they had a Volkswagen that did just fine.

On the other hand, this homeowner had the sleigh, but no reindeer. I am aware that Santa’s sleigh pulled by flamingos is a popular decoration in Florida and other tropical states, but this one is covered with snow!

Sue Salah of Royal Oak, Michigan made quite a stir with a decoration that told a story of how dangerous it is to hang lights on a house.

A more recent version of the hanging-lights-accident comes to your inbox with a story attached, but Snopes has thus far labeled its veracity as “undetermined”.

Lighted deer frames dot the subdivisions this time of year. A few pranksters move them into what we should delicately call “compromising positions” if they were human. This decoration was altered to depict another seasonal theme, hunting season. Since it appeared on the internet a few years ago, others have tried to copy or improve on it.

With more or less success, depending on the reaction you are looking for.

Making do with what you have goes for Christmas trees as well. Anything that can be stacked in an evergreen tree shape and lit can be called a Christmas tree. Beer bottles make a nice tree, especially from a distance. At least the color is right! Mountain Dew cans are also the right color.

Beer kegs, on the other hand, require some suspension of disbelief.

A traditional Advent calendar has 24 days. A case of beer has 24 cans. Coincidence? You decide.

In this rooftop scene, Santa Claus is taking a rest stop during his rounds.

The lights on this house may look like a general tangle at first, but look closer. They’ve strung lights in the shape the the Flying Spaghetti Monster! The FSM has also shown up in smaller light displays and even tree ornaments.

When you get right down to it, simpler is better. Your neighbors may spent days trying to out-decorate Clark Griswold, but what’s important is that you make your good wishes for a Merry Christmas known to all who visit.