Here’s Where Veterans And Active Servicemembers Can Eat Free Or Get Special Deals Today

(Hammerin Man)

Today is the day when America takes the day to pause and honor the veterans who have served our country. As part of that show of gratitude, many retailers are offering up freebies or deals for veterans as thanks.

We’ve combed the Internet to come up with a list of businesses offering thanks to veterans today, but you’ll want to call ahead and make sure the location nearest you is participating. If you’ve spotted a great deal, let us know at tips@consumerist.com and we’ll add it to the list.

Applebee’s: Service members get a free “Thank You” meal when dining in. Guests should expect to provide proof of their service.

Baskin Robbins: The chain is honoring Veterans Day with a First Class Camouflage Ice Cream all month (chocolate, salty caramel and cake flavored ice creams). Baskin Robbins is also donating $0.10 from ice cream scoops sold at all U.S. locations to the United Service Organizations.

California Pizza Kitchen: All active and retired members of the U.S. military can get a complimentary entrée from a special Veterans Day Menu at all participating restaurants in the U.S. today.

Chili’s: Veterans can choose from seven choices of a free meal during dinner or any lunch combo during lunch at participating Chili’s. Beverages and gratuity not included.

Chick-fil-A: All veterans and active service members are eligible for a free meal, ID required. Call ahead to make sure your location is participating.

Chuck E. Cheese: The entertainment venue is giving vets and active-duty military 20 free tokens through Saturday.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store: Veterans get a free Double Chocolate Fudge Coca-Cola Cake dessert today. Cracker Barrel is also donating 10% of proceeds from others who buy the dessert and other retail items to the USO.

Denny’s: Build Your Own Grand Slam is free from 5am – noon for all active, inactive and retired military personnel. Participating locations only.

Einstein Bros Bagels: Vets and active members can snag a free coffee at participating locations with ID or proof of service.

Famous Dave’s: Participating locations are offering veterans, active service members a free meal (one meat, one side and a corn muffin) today.

Friendly’s: Free breakfast, lunch or dinner for veterans and active military today.

Golden Corral: Free dinner buffets including beverages from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday Nov. 17 in all restaurants for vets and active military. The chain always observes Veterans Day on a Monday.

Great Clips: Veterans and active duty service members can get a free haircut today, or a card for free cut good through Dec. 31, 2014. Other customers who come in for a cut today will also get a free haircut card to give to a veteran.

Hooters: Active and retired military members will get a free entree with a military ID or proof of service today.

IHOP: Free Red, White and Blue pancakes for veterans and active service members until 7 p.m. today.

Krispy Kreme: The chain is handing out a free doughnut and small coffee today to those who have served or are serving in the military currently.

Little Caesars Pizza: Current and former military service men and women can get a free Crazy Bread with proof of service at participating stores.

LongHorn Steakhouse: Get a Texas onion and non-alcoholic beverage on the house with proof of past or current military service.

Macy’s: Take an extra 20 percent off during the Veterans Day sale. Check the website for details and exclusions.

Olive Garden: Vets and active duty service members will get a free entree from a select menu today, including as always, free breadsticks and a choice of soup or salad.

Outback Steakhouse: Today’s the day veterans and active military personnel get a free Bloomin’ Onion and a beverage with valid military ID.

Publix: Members of the military get a 10 percent discount on Veterans Day with a proper military ID.

Red Lobster: Starting Nov. 19 and running through Thursday, Nov. 13, Red Lobster is giving out free select appetizers to veterans and active service members.

Red Robin: Veterans and active-duty service members can get a free Red’s Tavern Double Burger and Bottomless Fries, dine-in only, with proof of service or by wearing your uniform today.

Red Roof Inn: Veterans, active duty military and their families get 15% at over 360 properties nationwide in November. Use VP+/Promo Code 618669 when making your reservation. A valid military ID is required at check-in.

Ruby Tuesday’s: Free appetizer at participating locations for past and present members of the U.S. military, proof of service required.

Shoney’s: The All-American Burger is free to vets and current service members all day today.

Sleep Number: Current and past military personnel get $700 off a Sleep Number m7 bed plus 24-month financing and free standard shipping through Nov. 16.

Starbucks: The coffee chain is thanking vets with a free, tall brewed coffee today, an offer which is open to active duty service members and their spouses as well.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Not Even Stephen Colbert Can Keep A Straight Face Discussing Dorito-Flavored Mountain Dew

We recently told you about Dewitos, the nightmarish concoction the combines Mountain Dew and Doritos into a beverage that is more of a dare than a drink. Last night, the hard-hitting Colbert Report took on this story and not even stone-faced host Stephen Colbert could keep from laughing.

“I sit here as eyewitness to history, privileged to say the following words,” began Colbert, “Mountain Dew now tastes like Doritos.”

After telling the stoners of the world that they were indeed correct that “Frito-Lay can hear your thoughts,” Colbert explained how this meeting of the snacks represented a scientific breakthrough.

“With Dewitos now a reality, mankind is approaching the long-predicted ’snack singularity’ — the ‘snackularity’ if you will — in which food scientists achieve a unity of all flavors; drinks that taste like chips, chips that taste like dips,” he said. “We are all flavornauts, exploring the outer reaches of the Milky Way, which is now available as a nasal spray.”

This far into the segment, Colbert has managed to mostly remain in character, but that facade shattered like so many brittle corn chips when reading this too-true statement:

“Until now, to get this flavor combo you’d have to consume Mountain Dew and Doritos separately… then throw up in your mouth a little bit.”

Recovering from his case of the giggle, Colbert then suggests a great slogan for the drink:

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Quiz Results: Most People Confused How To Write Walmart, Popeyes, Lowe’s Names

Last week, we quizzed readers on the correct way to write the names of several retail businesses that abuse or play with punctuation. An awful lot of you gave it a shot and some of you did very well, but the results show that there is a lot of confusion out there for some of the country’s biggest retail brands.

The median score for the quiz was only around 40%, meaning that most quiz-takers were confused by a majority of the brand names.

In fact, only three brand names were identified by more than 50% of those taking the quiz: Walgreens (65%); Wegmans (64%); and hotel chain Loews (56%).

The positive result for Loews might explain the overwhelmingly poor results for home-improvement chain Lowe’s, which only 30% of people chose. More than twice as many people (62%) incorrectly selected the apostrophe-free “Lowes.”

Walmart’s many attempts to tweak its name — combined with the hyphenated corporate version of the name that the financial press insists on using — resulted in widespread confusion among quiz-takers:

While the correct “Walmart” did end up being the most frequently selected answer, it still only represented 36% of all responses to this question, making it the second-lowest score in the entire quiz. And the asterisked “Wal*Mart” was only a percentage point behind at 35%, followed very closely by “Wal-Mart,” which the company still uses for corporate dealings but which it no longer uses in its marketing or advertising.

Also scoring only 36% was the non-possessive “Tim Hortons,” which lost out to the incorrect (but more logical) “Tim Horton’s” (53%). This can be partly chalked up to the fact that the donut and coffee chain is primarily a Canadian operation, and partly to the fact that it just doesn’t make much sense.

Likewise, only 42% of people know that Popeyes lacks an apostrophe, which makes us wonder why the fried chicken chain just doesn’t add one.

Other results:

• 43% of readers correctly selected “JCPenney,” the remaining 57% was split almost equally between “J.C. Penney” and “JC Penney.”

• 45% of readers correctly selected “Kohl’s,” but the same percentage of people also believe that it’s “Kohls.”

• Only 36% of readers correctly identified “Ralphs” for the L.A.-based supermarket chain, while 53% selected “Ralph’s.” This may be due to the regional nature of Ralphs, but then why did so many more people correctly know the name of Wegmans, another regional supermarket?

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Guy Ends Up With 99 iPhones Worth Of Rejection After Girlfriend Turns Down Elaborate Marriage Proposal

(Weibo.com)

At this point, we must acknowledge that everyone would like to allude to Jay Z’s song about having 99 problems but a difficult, cranky woman isn’t one of them. That’s because some guy in China bought not one iPhone 6, not two, but exactly 99 iPhones as part of an elaborate, public proposal of marriage. Spoiler alert: He’ll only have those phones to curl up with at night from now on.

Just in time for the country’s Singles’ Day, a man in China has found himself flying solo after his lady friend put the kibosh on his offer of marriage, reports The Nanfang Insider (h/t to Yahoo Tech).

The computer programmer rustled up 99 iPhone 6 phones (redundant, but what if an iPhone 6s comes out someday?) and stacked them into the shape of a heart on the ground. He reportedly spent about two years’ salary on the setup, about $82,000.

Evidence of the effort as seen on Chinese social media site Weibo shows the couple in the middle of the heart, with either onlookers or friends and family ringed around the outside.

Look at it this way — now you’ve got 99 Siris to talk to about your heartache.

EVEN 99 IPHONES NOT ENOUGH TO WIN ONE WOMAN’S HEART [The Nanfang Insider]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Today Is The Biggest Online Shopping Day Of The Year… In China

This shopper is in Chicago, not China, but existential angst is universal. (Erin Nekervis)

While today might be Veterans Day or Remembrance Day in countries that took part in World War I, retailers in China want us to celebrate it as something else. There, November 11 is Singles Day, which started as an anti-Valentine’s Day of sorts, and has somehow evolved into the biggest online shopping day in the world.

See, November 11 is Singles Day because when you write out the date, it’s just a row of ones. They’re solitary numerals, standing in a row. It’s not clear how the celebration of singlehood became a shopping frenzy in China, unless the idea is for the uncoupled to attempt to fill the gaping hole in our souls with stuff. It doesn’t matter in the end, because online retailers simply use the holiday as an excuse to have massive discounts. Why not? It makes as much sense as Cyber Monday now does in a world where most people who shop online don’t have to wait until they get to work.

Last year, shoppers spent $5.7 billion on November 11, which was a record. Think of it as something like Cyber Monday, the supposed kickoff to the online Christmas shopping season. The Singles’ Day shopping frenzy is mostly promoted by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, also known as “that place where I buy headphones for 75¢.”

Singles Day probably won’t catch on as a shopping holiday here. It might take a few more decades before Americans are comfortable with the idea of turning a holiday honoring military veterans into an e-commerce frenzy. One expert told Bloomberg Businessweek that the date falls at the wrong point in the business calendar in this country: it’s too close to the back-to-school shopping season on one end, and too close to Black Friday on the other. Besides, retailers have already started black friday.

Why China’s Singles Day Won’t Become a American Shopping Holiday [Bloomberg Businesssweek]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Woman Faces Felony Charges After Allegedly Faking Hot Coffee Burn Photos In Lawsuit Against McDonald’s

(frankieleon)

Over the years there have been a number of lawsuits from consumers over hot beverage burns. But one recent suit has taken a dramatic turn, after the woman who filed the complaint has been accused of using photos from the internet to bolster her hot coffee case against McDonald’s.

CBS Los Angeles reports that the 38-year-old woman faces nearly two dozen felony counts of insurance and workers’ compensation fraud for using internet images in her lawsuit against McDonald’s for second-degree burns she says were a result of spilled coffee.

The woman was taken into custody on 21 felony counts in all, including submitting a fraudulent insurance claim, false statements and false evidence associated with an alleged fraudulent claim, according to California Department of Insurance officials.

Originally the woman had filed a suit against McDonald’s claiming that in January 2013 hot coffee spilled on her right hand when she was handed a cup with an unsecured lid in the drive-thru.

Authorities say the woman’s complaint included photos of a hand with second-degree burns and counterfeit documentation of treatment she claims to have received from a hospital.

According to state insurance officials, detectives say they later discovered that some of the photos had been copied from a hospital website.

“By copying legitimate burn photos from the Internet, [she] attempted to make a profit from another person’s pain and suffering and for this she will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said.

The woman was released on her own recognizance and is due in court next week.

McDonald’s Customer Arrested In ‘Bogus’ Coffee Burn Photos [CBS Local]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Don’t Use That Stolen Debit Card In Front Of Woman You Stole It From

(Alyssa)

We’ve heard numerous stories over the years of someone having their debit card stolen and then watching online in horror as their account was drained while waiting for someone at the bank to pick up the phone. But here’s a story of a woman who was able to nab the thief of her debit card — because he tried to buy $200 worth of toys with it right in front of her.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the woman had noticed her debit card was missing while shopping at the supermarket.

She initially figured she must have dropped it by accident earlier in the day, but a few minutes later while buying some headache medicine at Family Dollar, she spotted a man, woman and their child “shopping like it was Christmas…I looked at them grabbing toys and thought, ‘Someone hit the lottery.'”

Sensing something suspicious, she got behind the man in line at the cashier and watched as he tried to pay for the $200 in toys with her custom-designed Wells Fargo debit card.

“I said, ‘Dude, that’s my card. Give me my card please,’” she tells the AJC. “He says, ‘This is my wife’s card.’ I said, ‘No the hell it isn’t. Not with a picture of me, my daughter and puppy on the front. Give me my card.’”

She said the man, whose pre-teen son looked on in confusion, placed his thumb over the incriminating photo on the card while the card’s rightful owner called 9-1-1.

The woman says the man took his son and exited the store, saying “Come on and run” to the youngster and the woman waiting outside the store.

They fled on foot but the man was eventually apprehended by police. The victim’s debit card was still in his possession.

The man claimed that he’d found the card on the ground outside the grocery store. He also admitted to having used it and asked police if he could just repay the woman for the purchases he’d made, which included a case of beer from a nearby gas station.

According to the AJC, the man also had another person’s debit card on him at the time he was caught.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Most RadioShack Stores Will Be Open Thanksgiving Day At 8 A.M. Because That’s The World We Live In Now

(cmorran123)

You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do, and in the fiercely competitive world of retail that apparently means eschewing the whole Thanksgiving thing and opening like it’s just any other day. In an attempt to boost sales, RadioShack has joined the ranks of the un-Thanksgiving, and will be open from 8 a.m. to midnight that day.

What once was a day of food, family, football and naps has been appropriated by many stores as a way to extend the Black Friday discountapalooza, as stores like Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, Macy’s, Staples, JCPenney and more will fling their doors wide open to customers on Nov. 27.

Most RadioShack stores, more than 3,000 locations, will be open that day, a spokeswoman told Bloomberg News. Times used to be, only a limited number of RadioShack stores did business on the holiday. And it’s all because of us shoppers, the company says.

“The company saw a consumer demand for more flexible shopping,” a spokeswoman explained.

RadioShack could use the customers — it posted 10 straight quarters of losses, Bloomberg notes.

RadioShack Resorts to Thanksgiving Openings to Boost Sales [Bloomberg News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Takata, Honda Subjects Of Class-Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Secret Airbag Tests, Destroyed Documents

(Listener42)

It was only a matter of time before Takata, the company responsible for the deadly airbag defect that resulted in nearly 16 million vehicles being recalled, faced a lawsuit regarding the company’s allegedly hidden tests of defective airbags and the years-long coverup that ensued.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that eight consumers filed a complaint seeking class-action status against Takata claiming the company discovered the defect in tests back in 2004 – four years before the first recall – and then destroyed those records.

Takata’s largest customer, Honda, which accounts for about 6 million of the recalled vehicles, was named as a co-defendant in the suit. So far, the car company has been linked to at least three of the four deaths related to the airbags.

The latest lawsuit, filed by consumers who each bought a new or used Honda-made vehicle, seeks to sue on behalf of anyone in the U.S. who purchased or leased a vehicles with Takata airbags, as well as unspecified money damages and other relief.

The suit cites a report released last week by The New York Times that details Takata’s secret testing and alleged coverup of defect findings.

According to the Times report, Takata began secret tests of its airbags back in 2004 after receiving a report that one of its devices had ruptured, shooting metal fragments at an Alabama Honda driver.

“The testing revealed that the steel canisters used to house the air bag’s rapid inflation system contained cracks that compromised its structural integrity,” according to the complaint, which included the Times’ report. “Upon learning that information, Takata ordered its technicians to destroy all evidence of the test results, including video footage and computer backup files.”

Two airbags that had shown issues were discounted by officials at the company because they were retrieved from cars with cracks in the windshields. The employees say executives, including Takata vice president of engineering Al Bernat, considered the airbags “corrupted by weather.”

And so, the issue went unreported to U.S. regulators until the first recall was initiated in 2008.

Representatives for Takata and Honda were unable to provide comment to Businessweek about the new suit.

Since the first class-action seeking lawsuit was filed against Takata in late October, about a dozen more have been submitted for consideration.

Businessweek reports that a panel of federal judges is weighing a request to consolidate the cases in a U.S. court in Miami.

Takata Accused in Suit of Burying Bad Air Bag Test Result [Bloomberg Businessweek]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

10 datos interesantes sobre Alfredo Vela en Social Media #infografia #socialmedia

Hola:

Una infografía con 10 datos interesantes sobre Alfredo Vela en Social Media. Infografía realizada con Piktochart.

Un saludo

Alfredo Vela en Social Media

Archivado en: Infografía, Redes Sociales, Sociedad de la información Tagged: Infografía, internet, redes sociales, tic, Web 2.0.



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via Alfredo Vela Posteado por www.bscformacion.com