Category Archives: All the news that fits

fast food offerings to counteract post-Holiday slump

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Since January typically brings a post-Holiday slump to fast-food eateries, many of them are being proactive in offering promotions designed to lure you in:

• Through Jan. 29, Burger King is giving away a free small cup of coffee with the purchase of a breakfast sandwich.

• At Pizza Hut, any medium or large pizza ordered online is 50% off through Jan. 10 — its best-ever online deal, says Carrie Walsh, chief marketing officer.

Papa John’s is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a 30¢ pizza deal through Jan. 26. Folks who order any large pizza online at the regular menu price get a large one-topping pizza for 30¢.

• IHOP, through Feb. 9, is bringing back “All You Can Eat” pancakes. Customers who order combos with eggs, hash browns and sausage, bacon or ham can keep requesting pancakes. “As long as you can keep eating them, we’ll keep serving them,” says Natalia Franco, senior vice president of marketing.

• All regular foot-long subs are $5 at Subway in January.

• Wendy’s is selling two of its spicy sandwiches for 99¢: Spicy Chipotle Crispy Chicken and Spicy Chipotle Jr. Cheeseburger.

• Most Taco Bell locations, beginning Jan. 23, will offer all Loaded Grillers for $1 all day for a limited time, and two new flavors, Chipotle Ranch Chicken and Chili Cheese Fries, will be added.  ooooh, chili cheese fries

• Lunch at Dairy Queen, a cheeseburger, fries, soft drink and sundae go for $5.

• Participating Carl’s Jr. restaurants are re-introducing Jumbo Chili Dogs at two for $3.

• January 16-19, Starbucks baristas will sample new Via Lattes and offer $1 off a handcrafted beverage.

Target security breach up to 70 million – now includes emails & phones

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NEW YORK (AP) — Target says that personal information — including phone numbers and email and mailing addresses — was stolen from as many as 70 million customers in its pre-Christmas data breach.  That was substantially more customers than Target had previously said were affected. The chain also cut its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings forecast and outlook for a key sales barometer.Target had announced in December that about 40 million credit and debit cards may have been affected by a data breach that happened between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15 — just as the holiday shopping season was getting into gear.  The retailer said Friday that the personal information stolen is not a new breach, but was discovered during its ongoing investigation.

Target Corp.’s stock fell in Friday premarket trading.

Onion: Study Finds 90% Of Adopted Children’s Biological Parents Own Mansions

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700ANN ARBOR, MI—A study released Thursday by sociologists at the University of Michigan has found that 90 percent of the biological parents of adopted children ages 6 to 12 are millionaires who own sprawling mansions with huge backyards. “According to our data, nearly all parents who once put their children up for adoption now own luxurious estates with vast grounds that include an Olympic-sized pool, a stable for ponies, and big tree houses that have all the latest video game consoles hooked up to giant TV screens,” said head researcher Joren Offerman, adding that a vast majority of the biological parents were professional basketball players, astronauts, or royalty.  Read the rest here.

new report: 90% of Americans throw out food before it goes bad

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Here’s a bit from the National Restaurant Association site about food insecurity, hunger and date codes:

…restaurant chains and supermarkets including Wegman’s, Publix, Kroger and Safeway are working on programs to cut waste and get surplus food to those in need, and a report issued last year by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic may help make it a bit easier.

The report found that more than 90% of Americans throw out food before it goes bad, largely because of confusion over “best by,” “sell by” and “use by” labels. The labels vary from state to state, store to store and brand to brand, with most designed to denote peak freshness and not food safety — food kept at proper temperatures can remain safe and nutritious far past those dates, while food not stored properly can go bad well before the date on the package, the report points out. Meanwhile, many if not most consumers see the dates as a deadline, after which the food must be tossed.

The authors call for a standardized system that makes “sell by” dates invisible to the consumer and clearly differentiates between dates meant to denote peak freshness and those meant to ensure food safety. Resources like FMI’s Foodkeeper Guide and USDA’s Kitchen Companion Safe Food Handbook consumers solid information on looking past the dates to determine whether food is safe to eat.

Isaac Asimov’s predictions for 2014

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Here’s a bit from HuffPost on predictions made 50 years ago – very accurate for the most part!  Make sure to watch the little YouTube video from Corning called A Day Made of Glass ’cause the products shown are unbelievably cool!

Fifty years ago, American scientist and author Isaac Asimov published a story in The New York Times that listed his predictions for what the world would be like in 2014.

Asimov wrote more than 500 books in his lifetime, including science fiction novels and nonfiction scientific books, so he was well-versed in thinking about the future.

In his article, called “Visit to the World’s Fair of 2014,” Asimov got a whole bunch of his guesses right — and his other predictions are making us a little envious of his imagined future.  Read the entire article here.

OVERANALYZING: the shame & guilt issue

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This mockup of the “average women’s magazine cover,” created in 2010 by writer and illustrator Brendan McGinley, resurfaced this week when TechnicallyRon tweeted it on Dec. 30.  I saw it this time around on HuffPost.

McGinley’s parody cover features all-caps bold headlines like “Overanalyzing” and “The Shame & Guilt Issue,” taking a not-so-subtle swipe at “trashy” women’s magazines focused on sex and relationships.

Quick – what’s the first magazine that comes to mind?

More Target troubles: Holiday gift cards not properly activated

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Holiday Shopping

NEW YORK — Target is getting hit with another lump of coal this holiday season.

The nation’s second-largest discount retailer said Tuesday that an unidentified number of gift cards sold over the holidays were not properly activated. The Minneapolis chain says the number of cards affected was less than 0.1 percent of the total sold and that it will honor the affected cards.

Holders of Target gift cards can check the balance by following instructions on the back of the card. Customers can bring faulty cards to any Target service desk or call (800) 544-2943 for help.

“We are aware that some Target gift cards were not fully activated and apologize for the inconvenience,” company spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.  Read entire article here.