People routinely cut or snap pills in half to change their dose or save money by taking half of a larger dose. Generally, they don’t expect to find anything inside when they do so. One woman in Denver was dividing her medicine, a generic version of the antianxiety drug Buspar, and noticed a metal shard. Just what anyone needs: more things to be anxious about.
The drug’s manufacturer, Teva Pharmaceuticals, told TV station KDVR that they can’t comment on the patient’s allegations until they’ve investigated the situation. However, she went to the media, concerned that she or any other patient might have already taken a pill with a similar shard embedded inside.
A medical expert who the station consulted notes that it’s unlikely that such a fine piece of metal would cause any harm as it goes through the digestive system, but it might cause issues if it has any poisonous substances on or in it, such as mercury.
If something similar happens to you, you should probably dial up your pharmacy and the Food and Drug Administration before the local media.
The 2014 Worst Company In America competition got off to a big start today with readers turning out in droves to vote on the tournament’s first three match-ups that saw a former Golden Poo champ flexing its muscle, a tournament mainstay making its case for the WCIA title, and the year’s first upset.
COMCAST VS. YAHOO!
Things got off to a huge start with Comcast’s bloody trouncing of Yahoo. In spite of the fact that Yahoo has many more users than Comcast has cable subscribers, or that even Yahoo employees refuse to use its glitchy e-mail system, the public’s image of Comcast as an all-devouring, cable/Internet/broadcasting behemoth was apparently enough to propel it to a nearly 90% of the vote. Comcast won the whole enchilada back in 2010 when it acquired NBC. Could its greedy attempt to merge with fellow competitor Time Warner lead to another title for Kabletown? Next up for Comcast will be the victor of the first-round showdown between Facebook and DirecTV.
ABERCROMBIE & FITCH VS. DELTA AIR LINES
When we peeked into the WCIA crystal ball, we did not see this one coming. Even though Abercrombie & Fitch has irritated people with its rude CEO, alleged mistreatment of disabled customers, questionable treatment of employees, and other complaints, we didn’t think the retailer had enough detractors to beat a huge, established airline like Delta. And yet, A&F walked away with nearly two-thirds of the vote.
Looking ahead, Abercrombie is destined to test its mettle against another, larger retailer — either Walmart or CVS Caremark.
CHASE VS. GM
This just goes to show you how much people apparently still dislike big banks. Even though GM is currently going through a PR nightmare –recalling oodles of cars with a defect that the carmaker acknowledges resulted in at least a dozen deaths, but which could be a lot more, all while investigators continue to turn up evidence that the car company knew about the problem for a decade — it still wasn’t enough to beat out JPMorgan Chase, which managed to earn 61% of the vote in today’s closest battle.
In the next round, Chase will go up against one of two companies, each of which is currently the center of controversy — either the massively hacked Target or wage-war-waging McDonald’s.
Voting continues tomorrow with another three matches coming your way.
The WCIA bracket has been updated to reflect today’s results:
This is not the burger in question, though it is very tall. (Jackie Alpers)
As anyone who’s ever tried to bite into a stacked tower of toppings balanced atop a simple burger patty can attest, sometimes it seems like our fascination with novelty is just… too much. That is, until a $250 Kobe beef burger with black traffles, pancetta, caviar and foie gras comes along and it’s like, oh that sounds SO GOOD. To some diners, at least. But at one point do the toppings overpower the humble yet worthy hamburger?
The best burger I’ve ever had included four components: Bun, patty, cheese, and onions. The way those simple ingredients were sourced, cooked, seasoned and put together makes all the difference.
So when faced with ingredient list in the aforementioned $250 burger, which is set to debut at a NYC restaurant, Rachel Tepper of Yahoo! Food writes that one can’t help but wonder if all those fancy ingredients amount to overkill.
She spoke with the founder of a foie gras and truffle purveyor to get her take on the combination of all those flavors and whether or not they could possibly work together in harmony, or just ruin a good hunk of meat.
For example, the thought of foie gras might be right up your alley, but you might not want to clog your arteries all in one go: “If you are going to put foie gras on a burger, maybe you want to consider the [fat content] of the meat you use. Fat on fat, it’s going to be overkill.”
Add pancetta to the party and it’s just getting crazy, the expert adds, as it’s very salty and “assertive” in its flavor. “
“Foie gras and pancetta in the same sentence? I’m afraid of that.”
And those magical, highly sought after truffles? You’d need a whole lot more than a few shavings to actually taste them with all the rest of that stuff going on.
“Being unique and creative just for the sake of stunning people, it’s going to work in the short term, and then it’s the emperor’s clothes,” the pro explains about our tendency toward over-the-top burgers. “People are going to see through that very fast.”
OR ARE WE???
You can follow MBQ on Twitter and she might just tell you where that best burger of all time is from: @marybethquirk
We’ve already introduced you to the smartphone-enabled piggy bank and smartphone-enabled egg tray. What new wonders will the wizards of gadgetry bring us next? How would you like to control your air conditioner from your smartphone? Wait a minute…that one might actually be useful.
Wink is the app that makes complete nonsense smarthome products like the aforementioned egg tray work. GE, the company behind the air conditioner itself, claims that the appliance will work with other smarthome systems, and not just small novelty items.
This first product, the Aros, is more expensive than your average room-sized air conditioner, costing about $300. That’s because its smart features will supposedly help you save electricity, analyzing your schedule and power usage to draw up an ideal temperature pattern for itself, and to predict its own future usage and how much owning it will cost you. This could be useful or fill you with dread depending on where you live and what the long-term weather patterns are.
It’s like a single-room smart thermostat that stalks you, cooling down rooms before you get home and wrapping you in its cool digital embrace.
Oprah made a specialty tea just for Starbucks and Teavana. (Starbucks)
Has there been a void in your life since Oprah Winfrey ended her talk show three years ago? Well, Starbucks aims to fill that hole with a new product – Teavana Oprah Chai Tea. Yes, that’s right, Oprah is once again sharing one of her favorite things with the entire country…in tea form.
Starbucks announced Wednesday that it partnered with the media mogul and one-time talk show host to develop a new drink to “elevate the tea experience”.
Beginning on April 29, Teavana Oprah Chai will be sold in Starbucks and Teavana stores across the United States and Canada. For each product sold Starbucks will make a donation to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation to benefit educational opportunities for youth, Starbucks says in a news release.
Winfrey personally developed the tea, which features a blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves, with Teavana’s leading teaologist (that’s a real career, just like a Chocolate Futurist).
For her part, Winfrey seems overjoyed with the new venture.
“I looove tea,” Winfrey says in the Starbucks news release. “My daily tea ritual is a vital part of my morning. Savory and spicy chai, with its deep flavor, has long been a favorite of mine. When Howard Schultz offered to have me come into the Starbucks tasting room and create my very own tea blend, I thought that sounded like such a unique opportunity and fun to the tenth power. To share one of my favorite things with the rest of the world and support youth education at the same time is truly the perfect blend.”
The partnership could be a match made in (profitability) heaven for Starbucks.
Here’s an important lesson in why you should never let your credit card leave your hand when paying for a cab ride: A 20-year-old college student’s parents realized their daughter had been charged almost $800 for a two-mile cab ride in Chicago, unbeknownst to her, all because the driver claimed his machine wasn’t working.
According to Yahoo! News (link has video that autoplays), the student hopped in a cab after getting off the Metra train to meet some friends at a restaurant that was not even two miles from the transportation station.
As her mother tells MyFoxNewsChicago.com, the driver was very friendly and chatty, which may have been a distraction tactic.
“At the end of the trip he gave her a price and she thinks it was under ten dollars, and so she asked can I use a credit card, and he said my swiper isn’t working, here give it to me and I’ll do it on my Square,” her mother explained.
And by that she means the mobile payments device that can be attached to a smartphone to run credit card transactions — which is a totally separate thing from the taxi’s meter.
By the time the $787.33 showed on her parents’ statement, the credit card company said it was too late for a refund, because the daughter had signed for the transaction — ostensibly, not realizing it was so costly. If she’d had a screen with the amount on it in front of her, that kind of thing can’t slip through.
Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection got involved to try to help, reminding passengers in the city not to use payment systems that aren’t approved for cabs.
“The problem here is that Square is not an approved device. We want to urge people to use the front and back mounted credit card device payment systems in our cabs and that’s it,” a rep from the department explained, adding that your card should never leave your hand inside a cab.
“Our department has suspended his public chauffeur license pending this investigation… The cab driver is out of the country, he did cooperate but he’s not in the country so we still have a few unresolved issues pertaining to this case,” she added.
Square agreed to issue a refund for that hefty cab bill while the family waits to hear what the cab driver has to say.
*Thanks to the very resourceful Jenny for the link!
Over at KFC Australia, they seem to be a little confused about how nachos work. Not that Americans have any special claim to snack food logic, but at least our fast food outlets haven’t done anything completely wacky like throwing popcorn chicken on nachos, or tortilla chips on a sandwich.
I mean, what is this nonsense?
More importantly, why is the cheese not melted? Sigh, it’s like they’re barely even nachos.
The good news is that the Nacho Burger, which has tortilla chips as a topping, defies the laws of gravity.
Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, McDonald’s is experimenting with unprecedented levels of spiciness with their “McPepper” and “Mega McPepper” sandwiches, and chili-coated McWings.
What $25 worth of corn dog looks like. (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Long gone are the simple hot dogs, soft pretzels and other stadium fare — now if you want to drown your sorrows in food when your team isn’t doing so well, sporting venues across the country have upped their culinary game. Enter the new $25 D-Bat Dog: An 18-inch corn dog stuffed with cheddar cheese, jalapenos and bacon, on the menu at the Arizona Diamondback’s Chase Field this season.
That $25 also includes a nice little bed of French fries, you know, in case you’re still hungry after all that other stuff, reports ESPN.com.
“This is really about providing our fans with new options each year, and in the case of some of our larger items, it’s really about sharing with the family,” team president and CEO Derrick Hall said. “We don’t have any expectations for the D-Bat, but we’ll look forward to seeing if it becomes popular with our fans.”
We can only hope this trend toward fancy hot dogs continues into the kind of all-out corn dog design war that’s currently running rampant in competitive Bloody Mary brunch circles. Because everyone knows that once someone pushes the limits, someone else inevitably comes along to create something even more ridiculous.
You can follow MBQ on Twitter, where discussions of anything involving cheese are always welcome. Like, always: @marybethquirk
We’ve already introduced you to the smartphone-enabled piggy bank and smartphone-enabled egg tray. What new wonders will the wizards of gadgetry bring us next? How would you like to control your air conditioner from your smartphone? Wait a minute…that one might actually be useful. 
