jikOwner Finds His Rental Home Has Been Rigged To Explode At The Flip Of A Switchde

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(Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie)

Talk about nightmares: The owner of a house that he’d been renting out had a close call recently when an inspection revealed that the place had been rigged to blow up when a light switch was flipped. Because that kind of intricate wiring isn’t a mistake, police are now investigating.

Police in Massachusetts are now looking for the people who were renting the house, reports NBC News.

The homeowner was conducing a pre-sale inspection on the home with his attorney and an electrical inspector, when the electrician discovered the rigged light switch, Milton Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr. said Tuesday.

The chief said the mechanism was an intricate set-up — it took police bomb specialists working for several hours in the house before it was declared disarmed and safe.

“It took some work to put it in there,” Wells said, noting that the explosive substance was “secreted inside the house” and connected to a particular light switch through an intricate network of wires snaking through several rooms.

“We believe the intention was that if someone had flipped the light switch on where it ended, the device would have exploded,” he said.

Police were called to the house last week on a vandalism complaint, while it was occupied by renters. At that time, officers found the house’s drains plugged with cement.

Both the Boston and Milton police are now looking for the renters as persons of interest in the investigation.

“I have never seen anything like this,” said Wells, adding that whoever rigged this wasn’t trying to provide a fun fireworks show for the enjoyment of all involved. Instead, those behind the bomb “definitely had malicious intent in what they did.”

Renters Sought After Massachusetts House Rigged to Explode [NBC News]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jikPhiladelphia Uber Driver Accused Of Rapede

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A woman in Philadelphia has accused a driver for ridesharing service Uber of raping her and holding her captive for hours in his car after the alleged assault.

According to Philadelphia Magazine, the woman was picked up by an UberX driver in the city’s Old City neighborhood on Feb. 6.

She told police that the driver held her down, ripped her pants, and raped her, then kept her in his car for two additional hours as he drove around.

Police confirmed the investigation to Philadelphia Magazine, but Uber claims that it had not been told about the allegation until yesterday, even though the passenger went to the police the same day she was allegedly assaulted.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with our rider,” a rep for Uber tells PhillyMag. “Upon learning of the incident, we immediately reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department to assist in their investigation and support their efforts in any way we can. As the investigation continues, the driver’s access to the Uber platform has been suspended.”

While many have championed services like Uber for offering competition to traditional taxi services, the company has been criticized for not doing enough to ensure the safety of its passengers.

Female passengers have reported being harassed and groped, held hostage, and physically assaulted by drivers.

And it’s not just women. In Chicago, a driver has been accused of sexually assaulting and choking a male passenger. Following multiple incidents of driver malfeasance in that city, Chicago Uber users will soon have access to a “panic button” feature in their mobile app.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

jikElephants Help Rescue 18-Wheeler Truck Stuck In Louisianade

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(Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office)

Forget calling for a tow truck — there’s another road rescue team in place and they probably work for peanuts. But seriously, while it might sound like a joke to have a couple of elephants helping out a stuck semi-truck on the side of the road, it’s all too delightfully true.

A pair of pachyderms was put to work assisting the 18-wheeler trailer they were traveling in when it got stuck on the side of the highway in Nachitoches Parish, LA, reports WTVR.com. They’re seen in photos of the incident leaning against the truck, guided by their handler, as the vehicle appears to be on the verge of tipping over.

Sheriff’s deputies arriving on the scene were surprised to find animals heaving and ho-ing instead of say, a guy with a tow truck. Because again, elephants!

“When deputies arrived on scene, they were astounded to find two elephants keeping the 18-wheeler from overturning,” a sheriff’s department spokesman wrote. “The truck became stuck after the driver pulled off the edge of the soft shoulder. Recent rains caused the ground off of the shoulder to be soft.”

To take the weight off the animals, a local wrecker service was called in to help remove the truck, the sheriff’s office adds.

The truck now owes the elephants a solid, you know. And it better deliver, because these guys do not forget.

Sheriff’s deputies shocked to find elephants holding up tipped 18-wheeler [WTVR.com]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jikOrganic Spinach From Meijer, Target, Wild Harvest, And Cadia Recalled For Possible Listeriade

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It’s not always fun when our predictions come true, especially when that prediction is about how contaminated food from a single vendor is about to trigger recalls in a variety of places across the food supply. On Monday, we predicted more organic spinach recalls to come, and we were right. Packages of frozen organic spinach from four additional brands have now been recalled due to possible contamination with Listeria bacteria.

What should you look for in your freezer? Here are the potentially-listeria-contaminated products that have been recalled:

Simply Balanced Organic Chopped Spinach (sold at Target): These are a 10-ounce steam-in-bag package. Bring them back to the store where they were purchased, and call 866-672-0811 with any questions.

Cadia Organic Cut Spinach (Only in California): 16-ounce frozen spinach package.

Meijer Organics Chopped Spinach: 16-ounce frozen spinach package; distributed to warehouses in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Check your spinach against the UPC in the recall notice.

Wild Harvest Organic Cut Leaf Spinach: 16-ounce frozen spinach packages. Check sell by dates by state on the recall notice.

For all of the brands except Simply Organic sold at Target, call (804) 385-3772 with any questions.

According to this latest recall notice, the original source of the spinach was Green Vegetable Company in Oxnard, California.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

jikNew Homeowner Has To Sell House Because Of Comcast’s Incompetence, Lack Of Competitionde

jikHJ Heinz Buying Kraft In Deal That Will Create One Huge Food Giantde

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(JeepersMedia)

Usually when two parties walk down that aisle and say “I do” in front of everyone, there are a few whispers from those assembled wondering when the twosome will settle down and start making children. In the case of Heinz and Kraft, everyone already knows what their union will produce — a giant food company baby.

If you’ve been putting ketchup on your macaroni and cheese (without shards of metal, let’s hope), you probably saw this merger coming a long way off: H.J. Heinz Co. is buying Kraft Foods Group, which will create what the companies say is going to be the third-largest food and beverage company in North America, reports the Chicago Tribune, with annual revenue of about $28 million.

It’ll be a split living arrangement, with Kraft Heinz keeping headquarters in both Pittsburgh, where Heinz hails from, and also in the Chicago area, home to Kraft, notes the Associated Press.

The two companies have become household names in the more than 100 years that both have existed, with brands like Oscar Mayer, Ore-Ida, Jell-O and of course Kraft and Heinz included in the roster of familiar names that will now all be part of the same family.

Kraft shareholders will get stock in the new company and a special cash dividend of about $10 billion, or about $16.50. Each share of Kraft will turn into one share of Kraft Heinz.

Heinz shareholders will own 51% of the new company, with Kraft shareholders hanging onto the other 49% stake.

“This is my kind of transaction,” said Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the engineers of the union (his company and investment firm 3G capital bought Heinz two years ago). “Uniting two world-class organizations and delivering shareholder value. I’m excited by the opportunities for what this new combined organization will achieve.”

The union still needs a final blessing from federal regulators as well as shareholders of Kraft Foods Group, but both companies’ boards have already given the go-ahead unanimously.

HJ Heinz buying Kraft in deal to create food giant [Chicago Tribune]

Heinz buying Northfield-based Kraft and building a $28 billion food giant [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jikRemembering Reusable Grocery Bags Makes Us Buy More Junk Foodde

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(Christopher.V)

Reusable shopping bags: they’re environmentally friendly, earn you a discount, and let you express your loyalty to your favorite grocery store when there isn’t a Wegmans available within a two-hour drive. Yet here’s an interesting question: do they have an effect on our behavior? Are there any major differences between shoppers who bring their own bags and those who don’t?

Most people would assume that reusable bag users buy healthier food than people who don’t bring their own bags. That is, as it turns out…not really true. An analysis of store loyalty card data showed that people who bring their own bags do buy more organic products, out of what is most likely a combination of health and environmental concerns. However, when compared to other shoppers, they’re buying a lot more junk food.

“They weren’t replacing other items with junk food, as they did with organic food,” researcher Uma Karmarkar explained to the Harvard Business Review. “They were just adding it to their carts.” Customers who bought, say, organic baby carrots would buy those instead of conventionally grown carrots. Yet the shoppers with reusable bags were buying a lot more cookies and ice cream overall, and those purchases weren’t replacing anything.

Here’s the best part: the researchers were even able to sort out shopping trips by the same household where they did or did not bring the bags along. The same people were more likely to buy junk food when they remembered to bring the bags. One exception: households who were also buying baby items. They didn’t buy extra treats when using reusable bags.

Why is this? The researchers believe that we’re all rewarding ourselves, unconsciously, for the virtuous behavior of remembering to bring along that reusable bag. It’s not a conscious decision, of course: maybe even reading this article will inoculate you from the behavior.

Reusable Bags Make People Buy Organic—and Junk [Harvard Business Review]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist