Tile, the lost item tracker that you can attach to purses, keys, luggage, bikes or anything else that tends to go missing at times, is today rolling out a new feature designed to make it easier for people to get help finding their items. In an update to the company’s iOS and Android applications, users will now be able to share their Tiles with others, including friends, family,… Read More
Dunkin’ Donuts is unveiling a new spring menu this April and it’s definitely going to affect your summer beach body. That’s because the company wants you to up your morning dessert game and try cheesecake for breakfast. Specifically, Dunkin’ Donuts’ new Oreo and Raspberry Cheesecake Squares — because donuts alone weren’t unhealthy enough.
Behold, the Squares in all their sugary glory:
Available in April only, Dunkin’ says these gluttonous stuffed donut squares are “filled with smooth and creamy cheesecake filling, frosted with white icing and finished with raspberry flavored candy or crumbled Oreo cookies.”
The rest of Dunkin’s new spring menu is surprisingly more savory than it is sweet. Possibly based on the company’s success with its Tomato Mozzarella Supreme Bagel (or pizza bagel, as we like to call it), Dunkin’ is trying out a Southwest Supreme Bagel. Described as “a plain bagel topped with melted Colby Jack cheese, corn, black beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions and spices,” you can see it pictured below:
Other notable additions to the menu include a Snack ‘N Go Steak Wrap and a Pretzel Roll Chicken Sandwich. The Pretzel Roll is breaded chicken with bacon, white cheddar cheese and honey mustard on a pretzel roll and seems like it could either be really good or really gross.
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Elizabeth Warren wants America to hear Hillary Clinton out.
Appearing on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday to promote her new book, the Massachusetts senator said that the former Secretary of State deserves an opportunity to demonstrate how she plans to help the middle class if she decides to run for president.
“I think we need to give her a chance to decide if she’s going to run and to lay out what she wants to run on,” Warren said. “I think that’s her opportunity to do that.”
Warren also reaffirmed that she won’t challenge Clinton in 2016, despite calls from liberals and a few conservativesfor her to do so.
“I’m not running and I’m not going to run,” Warren said. “I’m in Washington and I’ve got this great job and a chance to try and make a difference on things that really matter.”
Many on the far left have urged Warren to run for president, citing Clinton’s relatively hawkish foreign policy stances and cozy relationship with Wall Street.
Over the past several years, Warren has been measured in her comments about Clinton. In an interview with People Magazine in November, Warren said that while her relationship with Clinton is cordial, they aren’t particularly close.
“We have talked. It’s not much more than that. Not much more,” Warren said.
Wednesday is April Fools’ Day, and Google’s already released its first “prank.” Well, it’s less of a prank and more of a treat. Starting on Tuesday, you can play the classic arcade game “Pac-Man” on Google Maps.
Here’s how to play: Go to Google Maps, and on the bottom left of the map you’ll see a little box with a screengrab from “Pac-Man” in it. It looks like this:
So far, we’re only seeing this on desktop versions of Google Maps, not on the mobile app.
To play, click on the “Pac-Man” square, and Google Maps will zoom into your map and transform it into a game. (It works best if you use an area with lots of streets.) You can use your arrow keys to move the Pac-Man around the streets, eating up the little pellets and fruits while avoiding the ghosts.
It’s not clear how long this game will last, so get some playtime in while you can!
Throughout our lives, we all need something and someone to believe in. We also need someone who believes in us. That was the role my mother played in my life.
I was once told that when you lose your parents you lose your fan club, and this is exactly the way I felt when my mom passed away six years ago. I can no longer pick up the phone and hear Mom’s enthusiastic, “Good morning, Sunshine!” Nor can I call her for advice or tell her about my latest speaking engagement or TV appearance.
No one will ever care about my success quite the way my mother did. And with each passing day I see myself becoming more like her as I try to keep her legacy alive through my words and actions.
Whenever I do something nice for someone else, I think of all the kind deeds my mother did for others — making soup for a sick neighbor, cutting and styling a friend’s hair and making tray favors for hospital patients.
She loved practicing random acts of kindness long before that phrase was coined, and every day she looked for and welcomed opportunities to pass her generous gestures to others. My mother was grace in action.
In light of what my mother taught me, here are five simple ways to show gratitude every day.
Write in an abundance journal. Purchase a small notebook and keep it in your briefcase, purse or bedside table. Take a few minutes at the end of each day to jot down one or two positive experiences, or, alternatively, write down what you’re grateful for at the end of each week.
Include small acts of kindness: a stranger who paid for your coffee, someone who held the door for you, a phone call or note of appreciation from a friend, client or colleague.
If you don’t write down these small moments of happiness, they will be easily forgotten. When you keep a journal, you can look back and remember how much you have to be thankful for during the times when life doesn’t seem to be going your way.
Express your gratitude in person. When a friend, colleague or client goes above and beyond, be sure to verbalize your appreciation. Go to their office or treat them to lunch or a quick cup of coffee.
When you make time for those who are important to your business, the lasting impression can be endlessly rewarding.
Show respect for those around you. Treat others with the same level of courtesy you expect to receive: smile, show kindness, exhibit patience and listen. For instance, the next time you make a coffee run in the morning, offer to bring back coffee for someone else in the office, too. Wash your coffee mug in the office kitchen rather than letting your dirty dish sit in the sink. If you see someone running toward the elevator, hold the door.
You know how nice it feels when someone takes a few moments to show kindness. Be that person to someone else.
Don’t complain. When something terrible happens, it’s natural to want to complain about it. You may become impatient with someone in line who takes too long to pay or moan to an employee about a difficult client. You may even complain to yourself when a driver cuts you off in traffic.
Every time you complain, you reinforce a negative state of mind without offering a solution to the problem at hand. Instead, next time you feel frustrated, take a few breaths and try focusing on something positive.
Volunteer in your community. There’s a well-known secret among long-time volunteers: an act of kindness does more good for you than those you’re serving.
Once a month, I take my therapy dog, Cooper, to the local library where the children read stories to him. After all, dogs are non-judgmental and they make great listeners.
If you’re short on time, choose a volunteer opportunity that requires only an hour or two each month. Volunteering gives you something positive to focus on and is a great way to give back to the community at large.
For more gratitude tips, visit Jacqueline Whitmore’s blog, www.JacquelineWhitmore.com, or “like” her Facebook page.
Whether you’re heading to the romantic cobblestone towns of Europe, the bustling cityscapes of Asia, the wild backcountry of Africa or somewhere else entirely, this breakdown of the most important points to remember when booking international flights from the United States is a must read. It’s been put together using Hopper‘s unique research methodology, which collates millions of pieces of data related to flights departing out of American airports, to identify things like the cheapest departure dates, booking times, return days and plenty, plenty more. So read on if you’d like to learn the cheapest times to book an international flight.
The Cheapest Day to Buy an International Flight is on a Thursday
Believe it or not, the day on which you search for and book your international flight has a direct effect on the overall price of the ticket. By crunching huge amounts of data related to flight searches made for departures from airports within the United States, we’ve discovered that Thursdays are actually the cheapest time to seek out your seats — which is great news for those people who find themselves too busy to go scouring the internet for bargains over the weekend!
The Cheapest Day to Fly Internationally is on a Tuesday or Wednesday
This one’s great news for anyone eager to excuse themselves from the second half of the week in the office for a jaunt through the sands of the Caribbean, the jungles of Latin America or whatever other action-packed international destinations come to mind. Indeed, our statistics have shown that fliers who departed from the United States on a Tuesday or a Wednesday tended to pay less on average for their flight tickets than travelers leaving home on any other day of the week.
The Cheapest Day to Return from your International Trip is on a Wednesday
And when it comes to returns, the midweek continues to reign supreme, with Wednesday flights back into the United States coming in as the cheapest option overall for international travelers. Granted that may not be the best news for package holidaymakers or families looking to make the most of Saturday-to-Saturday changeovers, but it does mean avoiding the biggest crowds at the airport and allows for plenty of creativity when it comes to trip planning.
The Cheapest Time to Book an International Flight is at Least 25 Days in Advance
Booking early is among the most ubiquitous pieces of advice any airline expert can give and budget-conscious travelers would do well to take heed too, because we’ve discovered than by bagging a seat at least 25 days prior to takeoff, passengers can knock as much as $250 off from the total price of their ticket. That said, it’s always worth checking booking stats for your specific route, because prime buying times can vary greatly, with some flights ebbing to a low as much as 100 days before departure!
The Cheapest Time to Fly Internationally is from February-March
Granted this one’s a bit of a misnomer, because yearly price trends on international flights are typically dictated primarily by the high and low seasons of the destination abroad. However, it’s interesting to note that the cheapest international flights for travelers in the United States fall outside of school vacation periods and major national holiday times, with the lowest fares coming in February and March and summertime seat prices swelling to a whopping average of $1,023!
Liked this article? Here are some more tips about when to buy and fly from Hopper!
This article originally appeared on Hopper.com.
PlayStation fanboys, you will most probably be looking forward to the last installment of Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham series, which would be Batman: Arkham Knight. Well, if it pleases you to know that there is yet another collectible to look forward to, then the announcement of a new limited edition bundle that boasts of custom artwork which pays homage to the epic series will certainly make your day – and I am referring to the Limited Edition Batman: Arkham Knight PS4 Bundle.
This unique bundle will cost $449.99 a pop, where it will then come with a limited edition Steel Grey PS4 system chassis with a custom Batman: Arkham Knight faceplate, a matching DualShock 4 wireless controller in Steel Grey as well as the explosive finale to the award-winning Arkham trilogy, Batman: Arkham Knight.
For those who are on a slightly tighter budget, there is the Batman: Arkham Knight PS4 Bundle that will retail for $399.99, where it comprises of a PS4 system and DualShock 4 controller in Jet Black and Batman: Arkham Knight. Regardless of which bundle you would like to pick up, either one would be the perfect opportunity to upgrade to PS4. In fact, all owners of Batman: Arkham Knight for PlayStation 4 will also be able to gain access to bonus content way ahead of anyone else, now how about that for a sweet touch? [Press Release]
Limited Edition Batman: Arkham Knight PS4 Bundle Announced
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Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) and state Republican leaders have been playing damage control this week, claiming that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not a law that enables anti-LGBT discrimination.
Games, especially video games, do come in a variety of genres that will let you indulge in just about any environment. Of course, there are some titles out there which will not be suitable for minors as well as younger children simply because of the maturity rating, and that mechanism is in place for a good thing, of course. The thing is, some games are downright weird and far more violent than the rest. Take the indie sandbox game Yandere Simulator for instance.
Yandere happens to be a Japanese character type who is willing to go to great lengths for the one whom she loves, and this would include crimes such as kidnapping, or on an even more heinous note – murdering. This is certainly a character archetypes that is not too common, but I suppose there is a place or market for such a character, otherwise a title like Yandere Simulator would definitely not have been made.
Yandere Simulator happens to be a brainchild of a programmer who goes by the moniker YandereDev, who used to work at a game company before, tinkering with console and mobile titles. Definitely a work in progress at the moment, it remains to be seen whether Yandere Simulator will make it big when it arrives – it certainly has an air of sensationalism for sure.
Yandere Simulator Is One Creepy Game
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I’ve got two quotations I’d like you to consider, one from someone you know, and one from someone you probably don’t. The first is from Ronald Reagan:
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’
The second remark is from Trudy Robideau. It describes her experience with so-called payday loans, i.e., short term, high interest loans designed to help people with a financial emergency who are between paychecks. Ms. Robideau needed to repair her car and borrowed $800. When it came due, she paid a fee to extend the due date. Eventually, she ended up taking out a new loan to pay back the old one, beginning a vicious cycle similar to the one that has ruined countless lives while this industry has almost quadrupled in size (not counting for inflation) since 2001. Here’s Ms. Robideau:
Ka-ching. You’re hooked. You can feel the hook right in your mouth. And you don’t know it at the time, but it gets deeper and deeper.
The remark from President Reagan perfectly encapsulates contemporary Republicanism, both in form and content. It’s simplistic, ideological, and emotional. One other thing: it’s completely divorced from the reality of any specific person’s life. A person like Trudy Robideau.
The new proposed rules–the first draft of what will hopefully become regulation–from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cover traditional payday loans and loans in which people put their car up as collateral for a short-term loan, as well as some kinds of installment loans whose term runs more than 45 days. The proposals would mandate that lenders actually look at the obligations and incomes of would-be borrowers similar to the way they do with mortgages and other kinds of loans, so that people who are unlikely to be able to repay their debts don’t end up in a situation like Trudy Robideau. The CFPB looked at 15 million short-term loans and reported that fewer than one in five were paid off on time. Clearly, this is an industry where taking advantage of financially vulnerable people is standard practice.
Here’s another doozy: when a borrower doesn’t pay on time, lenders can currently just take what they are owed right out of the person’s bank account, often leading to bounced checks and additional charges that leave the borrower even worse off. No more, if these proposals are adopted, as lenders would have to notify the borrower three days before taking funds out of an account. As for these loans being used to cover one-time expenses–which is how the industry pitches their product–almost seven in 10 borrowers used the money to cover recurring bills while only one in six borrowed for true, one-time emergencies, according to the Pew Charitable Trust.
The initial response from the payday loan industry was just what you’d expect, criticizing the proposals for limiting the “choices” and “options” of consumers. I know most of you cherish preserving your option to be ripped off, and I’m sure corporations love having the option to do so. It really is about liberty, after all. Consumer advocates, on the other hand, are rightfully pushing for the CFPB proposals to be made tougher. Nevertheless, we know the industry’s lobbyists will work the refs and try and weaken the proposals. But as the net neutrality debate showed, the public can also have an influence on regulators if people speak up.
Reining in the payday loan industry has been in the works over at the CFPB for a while now, and it’s not a moment too soon. John Oliver offered a brilliant critique of the industry last summer, and I had something to say on it as well after prosecutors finally caught up with some lenders who had been violating New York State law.
Until now, 32 states had little to no effective cap on the interest rate a lender could charge. In other words, they allowed usury. It’s worth noting that the political system in many of these states is dominated by Christian conservatives, despite the biblical prohibition of usury. National regulations should do more to curb abuses, although legislation would make these consumer protections even more secure.
Why isn’t there national regulation? Because of the same people who loved Obamacare until it was proposed by Barack Obama. In other words: Republicans. According to them, government supposedly is the problem. They say things like that because it sounds a lot better for them than the reality. The reality is that Republicans oppose regulations because they seek to stop the corporations and wealthy interests that bankroll Republican campaigns from lying to Americans by selling something different from or inferior to what they advertise, or by distorting the market to drive out competitors (which not only hurts honest businesspeople who can’t compete but also cheats consumers out of the benefits of having more choices when they shop), or by damaging the environment, or any number of other things that those without scruples will do to maximize profits.
From Barry Goldwater to Ronald Reagan to Mitt Romney, conservatives have tried to convince the American people that government is bad because a vibrant, effective government is the enemy of those who cheat and exploit. Liberals welcome a healthy, substantive debate over whether a given problem can be solved through regulation, and which measures might work better than others. Such a debate serves the public good by coming up with sound ideas that can be tested, evaluated, changed and even abandoned if that’s what the evidence demonstrates makes the most sense.
Republicans, however, want to poison the debate by claiming that regulations kill jobs, or diminish freedom, or, I don’t know, make rainbow unicorns smile less brightly. Oh, and when their predictions prove false, do they change course? Do they admit they may have been wrong? Was that really Ronald Reagan’s natural hair color?
Of course government can make mistakes. But so can private industry. Do you know why? Because both consist of human beings. We aren’t perfect. What’s also clear about us humans, about human nature, is that we are competitive. We want to win. Some of us–not many, I’d argue, but enough to potentially ruin things for everyone else–want to win so badly that they will do just about anything they can get away with in their pursuit of victory. For such people, it’s not really about providing for their family, it’s about crushing their enemies–and anyone who gets hurt along the way is but collateral damage.
The payday loan proposals we are discussing come out of an agency established by the Dodd-Frank law that sought to regulate the financial industry after the crisis of 2008. Republicans have hated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and Dodd-Frank in general) since it was born. They sought to prevent it from ever even functioning, and, as Elizabeth Warren noted, their current budget makes clear they still want to defang it, “to make sure the watchdogs are tame.” Imagine that. Republicans don’t want to protect consumers against interest rates that can go, according to current law in many states, north of 400 percent. They say it’s about freedom and personal responsibility, and complain that government should just get out of the way. They have to say that, because that’s what’s in the interests of the elites who back them. Liberals have a different message.
As President Obama said Thursday in regard to these new CFPB proposals:
“As Americans, we don’t mind seeing folks make a profit….But if you’re making that profit by trapping hardworking Americans into a vicious cycle of debt, you got to find a new business model. You got to find a new way of doing business.”
Liberals recognize reality, the reality that good people sometimes find themselves in a desperate situation, and that desperate people sometimes make bad choices. Liberals believe it is immoral to take advantage of another person’s desperation to excessively line one’s own pockets.
Although some people are willing to do so, liberals believe that our country cannot permit such behavior. Those are the beliefs and the values that underlay the regulations liberals support and against which Republicans rail by talking about faceless bureaucrats. We liberals have to fight back by highlighting the faces and stories of real people like Trudy Robideau.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
