Mugger Finds Victim On Facebook 35 Years After Stealing His Bus Pass, Apologizes

(Van in LA)

The world can feel so tiny sometimes, especially now that social media’s tentacles are thoroughly suctioned on to every aspect of life. That shrinking universe is what led a former mugger to his victim of 35 years ago, when he stole a guy’s bus pass as part of a gang initiation. Facebook reunited them recently in an altogether heartwarming way.

‘Tis the season for cheer and all of that, which makes this story a bright spot in the midst of so many other bummers in the news. A simple Facebook post about a local New York City bagel shop closing down started it all.

The former mugger tells the The New York Post he boosted the pass from a man sitting on the steps of the American Natural History Museum in the late 1970s to impress a friend who didn’t believe he was in a graffiti gang.

“I went up to [him] and said, ‘Where’s your bus pass?’ The cops immediately pulled out badges and arrested me,” the man remembers. “I told this story throughout my life. I felt so bad about it.”

Cut to last week, when the former mugger happened to be perusing the Facebook post about a bagel shop closing, and recognized a name among the comments: It was the man who’s bus pass he’d taken as a teenager.

“You may not remember this … but a long, long time ago I walked up the steps of [the museum] one afternoon, trying to look like a tough guy,” he posted. “I have never forgotten the incident or your name … then here I am … reading about my favorite bagel store in the world closing down, and [whose] name do I see but yours. Finally I can say — I’M VERY SORRY that you had to go through that crap that day long ago.”

The former victim remembered the man and as these warm, fuzzy things go, accepted his apology.

“Clearly you’re a ‘bigger man’ today,” he replied in the comments section. “Memory is a funny thing. I recognize your name now as well…. Any man who draws a line for himself [and says] ‘Today I step forward for myself, my family, and humanity’ is a hero to me,” he added. “So let us now, jointly, put this in its proper place, behind us.”

The mugger says he’s spent his life trying to make up for doing bad things by thwarting other crimes around the city, and says former Mayor David Dinkins gave him a thank you note for saving a woman from an attack near a building where he worked as a doorman. But this takes the cake.

“A very large weight has been lifted off my shoulder,” he said of the apology. “I feel peace and dare I say joy. I’m even happier this is bringing joy to other people.”

‘I’m very sorry’: Mugger’s Facebook apology to victim — 35 years later [New York Post]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Comcast Wants To Insert New Ads Into The Old Shows On Your DVR

(knight725)

I enjoy the regular watching of many TV shows, but I tend to let episodes of these shows build up on my DVR until they reach a critical mass that demands I spend an entire Saturday in the Morran Cave (patent pending) binge-watching while skipping over all those old ads for movies/sales/TV premieres that have already come and gone. But if Comcast has its way, I’ll soon be skipping over completely new, more relevant ads.

See, since DVR use became commonplace, broadcasters have been basing ad rates based not just on the Nielsen rating of a particular airing, but also according to how many people watch that same airing on their DVRs or on-demand within three days. According to Comcast, which isn’t just the nation’s largest cable provider but also one of its largest broadcasters, only about 40% of TV viewing happens within these three days.

Since millions of people watch shows after that 72-hour window has closed, the broadcasters don’t get the credit because the advertisers aren’t paying to have old commercials shown to consumers.

Thus Comcast has come up with a novel idea to reap oodles of new ad money — replacing those old ads with new ones. So when you go to see who Red Reddington drolly killed on that episode of The Blacklist you recorded in October, your outdated recording would now contain current commercials.

The Wrap reports that Comcast has already completed a test of the technology with its own NBC network shows and some on ABC. The goal isn’t just to open up recorded and on-demand programming to more relevant ads. There is also a mountain of cash to be mined from all the episodes that are not being made available on-demand to consumers.

Most previously aired episodes of a show are not available on-demand from the network because the network rarely owns the full rights to the show and advertisers have not exactly gone gaga for paying to advertise on old shows. But Comcast figures if it can insert the same ads running on this week’s Blacklist into previous episodes of the show, then advertisers can reach the millions of people who are catching up on old programming. And if advertisers are willing to pay, then the networks will pay for the on-demand rights for full seasons of shows.

The biggest hurdle may be the issue of diminishing returns. Yes, this technology would attract a lot of additional eyeballs to advertisers’ commercials, but will the increased audience be large enough to justify a rate increase? And just because you’re putting more relevant ads on an old episode, doesn’t mean viewers won’t fast-forward or go take a bathroom break during the commercials.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Walmart Sold 2.8 Million Towels This Weekend

(SA_Steve)

Sure, we in the media like to focus on the people who punch each other over televisions at Walmart stores during the weekend after Thanksgiving. While the mega-retailer sold millions of TV sets this weekend, that wasn’t their top seller. What item did they move the most of over the long weekend? Towels.

Well, okay, to be fair, the frenzies over towels have become a tradition too. That’s because they cost only $1.74, and a 29-cent washcloth was also a huge hit on Black Friday. At that price, you could just buy washcloths and throw them away instead of washing them.

Here’s a towel frenzy from last year:

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Restaurant Manager Fired For Making Food While Barefoot In Plain View Of Customers

(Facebook)

Everywhere you turn it seems there’s a cell phone waiting to capture your every move, whether it’s your roommate chronicling the epic blob of food on your face or a savvy customer catching a restaurant worker in the act of doing something that’s just plain gross. To wit: A cellphone pic of a taco restaurant manager in Iowa preparing food while barefoot is causing quite the stir.

According to the Des Moines Register , the 31-year-old team leader at the restaurant mowed the grass outside the franchise on Aug. 8, and then walked into the food-preparation area which is visible to any customer at the counter. She then started making food for herself and friends, says the report.

And a customer did see her — and snapped a photo of the barefoot woman and posted it to the company’s Facebook with the caption noting the location and adding:

“This woman was preparing food with bare feet, no uniform, her bra and chest hanging out all over the place, she was pouring sweat, wiping it off with her hands and not washing them. I asked for the manager — she WAS the manager!! She was extremely rude because I was upset with her appearance and behavior.”

That’s all it took for the photo to spread to the restaurant’s Facebook page, prompting the franchise owner to look at the security footage of the incident. The owner then fired the employee for her behavior, which included failing to pay for the food she’d made for herself and friends, which violated company policy as well as state health regulations.

This is all leading to a bad spate of business for the restaurant, as the owner testified at a public hearing that business has gone down 25% to 33% since the photo went viral. The parent company might also decide to revoke her franchise agreement.

Meanwhile, the fired worker filed a request for unemployment benefits after she was fired, but the owner contested that claim. A judge denied the request, citing health code violations and that the theft of food “had a negative impact” on the restaurant.”

Keep your shoes on at work and pay for food, people. You never know who’ll be watching, and they probably have a cell phone with a camera.

Photo of manager leads to her firing [Des Moines Register]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Global Law Enforcement Crack Down On 690 Web Sites Selling Fake Stuff

(Breslow)

While plenty of web sites peddling everything from spangled pet collars to high-end fancy watches will see a rush of online traffic today, there are 690 sites that won’t be getting a chunk of the Cyber Monday pie. American and European authorities have taken over 690 sites that were selling counterfeit merchandise, saying in a statement that “counterfeiters take advantage of the holiday spirit of shoppers around the world and sell cheap fakes to unsuspecting consumers everywhere.” [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

5 Things You’ll Pay Less For If You Wait Until After The Holidays

(bluwmongoose)

Everyone knows, or at least should know, that the best time to buy a huge honkin’ TV set isn’t during the holidays, but in the weeks immediately following the Super Bowl, and that post-Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to get some jewelry at rock-bottom prices. But they’re not the only items on a lot of holiday shopping lists that would be cheaper to buy at some point after Dec. 25.

Kiplinger has a lovely slide show of a dozen items — including the aforementioned TVs and bling — that you should avoid buying during the holiday shopping season. Here are the ones we considered the most interesting on the list, in order of how soon after the holiday you can get a good deal.

1. Cars (Between Christmas and New Year’s)

Sure, it looks a bit romantic in the commercial when the impossible attractive couple with the camera-ready home give each other luxury cars with big red bows on top, but Kiplinger says you’d do better to wait until after Christmas and take advantage of year-end clearance sales at dealerships looking to make room for the next model year. And besides, you know that everyone on the block really hates that adorable couple, and their new cars will be covered in egg and toilet paper by week’s end.

2. Furniture (January)

If you can live with that ratty sofa for a few more weeks, or duct tape that fractured chair leg a couple more times, Kiplinger says you can score some clearance deals on new furniture in January when stores are preparing to bring in next year’s models.

3. Perfume (post Valentine’s Day)

What’s more alluring than some nose-tickling new scent on the neck of your loved one? Knowing you saved up to 50% by waiting until after the Christmas and Valentine’s buying frenzy.

4. Luggage (March)

Okay, so maybe this isn’t as sexy as some of the other items in the round-up, but people do spend a lot of money on luggage and may not know that they can get the best deal in March, as retailers look to keep merchandise moving between the holiday and summer travel seasons.

5. Bicycles (September)

Unless you have a time machine, this is one you’ll have to mark on the calendar for next autumn, when retailers discount current models about 25% to make room for the new two-wheelers. And if you do have a time machine, we’d hope you would use it for more interesting purposes than going back in time a few months to score a discount on a bike.

Again, you can check out the whole list at Kiplinger.com.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

I Don’t Want To Live In A World Where You’re Punished For Making It Snow Money At The Mall

When you see dollar bills floating toward your clutching hands from the sky, like some a question directed upward that is now answered with cash, what’s your first feeling? Joy, unremitting and excited, “I can’t believe this is happening!” joy? Yes, well, at the Mall of America in Minnesota, the person responsible for making it rain money recently was cited by cops instead of hugged.

It sounds like the perfect set-up, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune: Singers caroling happily away to the strains of “Let It Snow” while a 29-year-old man flung $1,000 in dollar bills over the third-floor railing of the Mall of America, in an apparent attempt to spread cheer.

But then the Cheer Police showed up in the form of the local cops, who cited the man with a disorderly conduct ticket. According to officials, the man just wanted to stage a publicity stunt to persuade his girlfriend to come back to him.

The man admitted to throwing the money, say the police, which was stamped with his YouTube address (where he uploaded the video of his efforts later) so people would visit his page.

In the video, the man admits he’s had a tough year but decided to chuck his “last $1,000 … to spread some holiday cheer … to make it snow money” while the singers performed. They apparently weren’t part of the stunt.

He argues that no one was hurt so he’s unsure why he was cited.

“I don’t see how holiday cheer is disorderly conduct,” he said.

A Mall of America spokeswoman said it’s the first time anyone has ever done something like that in the mall, but added that the man disrupted the singers’ performance and could’ve caused a serious situation.

Man cited after tossing $1,000 in dollar bills into Mall of America rotunda [Star Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Visit The Magical Factory Where Frozen Pizzas Come From

Americans eat a lot of packaged foods, but do you ever wonder what kind of magical land these boxes of convenient tastiness come from? There’s no army of dough-tossing elves trapped inside a pizza factory: the reality is much cooler.

In this clip from the Science Channel’s “How It’s Made,” we watch the birth of frozen pizzas from the mixing of the dough to the final packaging in a cardboard box. Pizzas are never tainted by human hands: pizzas pass under cascades of sauce, cheese, meat, and vegetables that are carefully regulated so that each pizza receives the precise correct amount of toppings. In theory.

Wait: what happens to the sauce and toppings that fall between the pizzas, which are round? They go back into reservoirs to be thrown over more pizzas that roll down the line.

Video: See How Frozen Pizza is Made [Slice] (via Foodbeast)

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

The Total Cost Of Doing The 12 Days Of Christmas? $114K

(Great Beyond)

Since nothing says Christmas like a home full of hundreds of random birds, musicians, and overactive landed gentry, it’s time to once again consider the actual cost of giving your true love every item listed in “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

Yup, PNC Financial has once again tallied up what is calls the Christmas Price Index (NOTE: turn your speakers off if you go to the site) the individual costs of each item on the list:

One Partridge in a Pear Tree: $199.99

Two Turtle Doves: $125.00

Three French Hens: $165.00

Four Calling Birds: $599.96

Five Golden Rings: $750.00

Six Geese-a-Laying: $210.00

Seven Swans-a-Swimming: $7000.00

Eight Maids-a-Milking: $58.00

Nine Ladies Dancing: $7552.84

Ten Lords-a-Leaping: $5,243.37

Eleven Pipers Piping: $2,635.20

Twelve Drummers Drumming: $2,854.50

So to just buy each item once will cost you a total of $27,393.17, a 7.7% increase from last year’s total of $25,431.18.

But if you actually repeat each of these items according to the seemingly interminable song, PNC says it will run you $114,651.18, more than a $7,000 uptick from the 2012 grand total of $107,300.84.

Prices remained flat year-over-year for six items on the list — the turtle doves, hens, golden rings, geese, the milking maids, and swans, — and the cost of the partridge/pear tree bundle actually dropped 2.4% since 2012. According to PNC, this decrease was due to a drop in the price of pear trees during the year.

But three gifts experienced double-digit price increases. Those lords-a-leaping jumped up a percentage point for each of the 10 men in the group, the apparent huge demand for calling birds sent their price skyrocketing by 15.4%, and the dancing ladies raised their fees by a whopping 20%.

Interestingly enough — and perhaps fitting with the song’s old-timey groove — PNC says it would actually cost you more to order many of these items online because of the shipping costs involved. Just buying all the listed items once will cost you $39,762.61, about $12K more than if you’d just gone out to your local milkmaid/bird/gentry/musician/tree shop.

And of course, what story about the 12 Days of Christmas would be complete without a visit from Bob & Doug McKenzie?

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

NYC Park Banning Hot Dog Vendors But Of Course, Mario Batali’s Gelato Cart Can Stay

Not the vendor in question. (MichelleRick)

Ah, the humble New York City hot dog cart. There it stands, its water tanks full of hot dogs sloshing around, staying warm until the moment some hungry passerby is in need of $2 sustenance. But those street meat carts are an eyesore to one park’s conservancy group it seems, which is pushing two hot dog vendors out while allowing other more upscale offerings to stay.

According to the New York Post , the hot dog vendors have until the end of December to leave their spots in Washington Square Park, which often has floods of New York University students searching for cheap, fast food.

But Mario Batali’s Otto Enoteca Pizzeria Gelato Cart? That gets to stay, along with a vendor selling Indian crepes and a new deal with a fancy ice cream sandwich vendor. Batali, it turns out, is on the board of a private conservancy which is working with the Parks Department.

“I will miss this spot,” said the 35 year-old immigrant from Bangladesh who currently mans his hot dog cart in the park. “If I move outside the park, I’ll make hundreds less [a week]. It affects my business.”

One memo reportedly shows the celebrities on the Parks Department to move the hot dog carts last year from one side to the other, which was a sign to some that eventually the dogs would go forever.

The conservancy then asked the park administrator to “follow up on moving the hot-dog guy away from the Arch view corridor” and to push for “new and different food vendors.”

That administrator also serves as the conservancy’s executive director, and it appears she doesn’t like hot dogs because the carts are getting the boot.

“We got some word from our neighbors that [the hot-dog vendors] were unsightly,” said the conservancy’s president. “We suggested moving them based on what other people were telling us. The fact that it was done was Parks’ decision.”

A spokesman added that the agency is allowing contracts with the hot-dog stands to expire to “ensure clear views of the fountain and arch and . . . to bring in a more diverse selection of food options.”

Washington Square Park banning hot-dog vendors [New York Post]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist