Got a blog tip? Contact us

NYC's new 311 plan

On WNYC today, I heard about a new Bloomberg plan to create teams of "SCOUT Inspectors," who will drive across every city street once a month and report on quality-of-life matters: overflowing trashcans, street potholes, and the like. This struck me as strange: Isn't this what 311 is for? Are there not enough problems reported to 311 that the City needs to hire investigators to drum up more work? Is there something I'm missing here or is this some lame PR move?

If Bloomberg is serious about fixing public streets and spaces, there's got to be better way of going about it. Here's one thought: why not try crowdsourcing and utilize the cheap labor of motivated residents? A website that allowed people to submit photos of 311 conditions (potholes, overflowing garbage, SUVs blocking sidewalks), along with the locations, would be neat. If substantial numbers of people participated, the City wouldn't need to invest so much in SCOUTs and would be better equipped to prioritize what needs tending to.

City officials would never go for it, but if such a photo pool was public, it'd be a neat tool for keeping tabs on the city's progress... not unlike Uncivil Servants. On my block, several bricks in the street are missing, making it dangerous for bikers; and there's a dead (or dying) street tree. Photos of this kind of think would, if collected in large numbers, be helpful to city agencies, whether they realize it or not.

I'm tempted to try launching a flickr pool and seeing if other people are up for documenting city decay. It'd also be fun to solicit and include photos of things that the city doesn't normally count as a quality-of-life violations: illegal street advertising, for instance.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on the above, please be sure to comment.

Death Made Delicious

This bakery in Oakland, Calf., was recently shut down:

The Black Muslim Bakery: Now more hereafter than ever!

Thanks, Frank!

Dog Days for Nike

While we're on the subject of animal abuse, Nike made a big deal of suspending Falcons quarterback Michael Vick after his indictment for an interstate dog fighting operation. It is hard to accept Nike's moral indignation on this point, however, because Nike has previously used dogfighting to give street cred to their brand. You can see Nike's commercial on YouTube here.

Live by the street, die by the street, Nike. It must be tougher in Beaverton than I realized.

On a related note: thanks to the inventor of the Michael Vick chew toy, dogs can now metaphorically avenge their fallen brothers. Even if the charitable intentions of the manufacturers are shady, the fact that the toy has Vick's lawyers in a lather is good enough for me.

(Via Adfreak and Unconfirmed Sources)

Dodge caters to dog-burning SUV market

I'll be the first to admit that, on occasion, violence against animals is hilarious. Loony Tunes, cat juggling, twirl-a-squirrel, maimed rats: funny. Commercials where pets are mutilated to sell products: not funny.

It's hard to imagine a commercial less funny than this Dodge SUV spot, which is so brazenly sadistic you can't believe it got made. In it, a family dog pees on an SUV tire; in retribution, the car brutally electrocutes the pup until all that's left of him is a charred corpse. (No doubt this kind of thing appeals to prospective SUV buyers, but still...)

Alone similar lines, Adfreak points to this 2004 ad (see also Snopes), in which a cat gets its head cut off by the sun roof of a Ford Spotka, billed as "The Ka's Evil Twin." Why? I have no idea. Maybe pet-mutilating is "in" now. Reminds me of George Saunder's take on "mean TV."

(Via Adfreak)

The new Apple Potato®

My New Favorite Thing: Walkscore

Location, location, location may be the mantra of real estate agents but you seldom hear walkability cited as key in making places great. Cheers are in order, then, for Walkscore, a handy website for assessing the walk factor of neighborhoods in the United States, Canada, and the UK. You just type in an address and it gives you a score from 100 (walkers' paradise) to 0 (the Mariana Trench).

I must say it is mysteriously accurate. My block in Prospect Lefferts, Brooklyn, rates 86, below my old place on the northwest side of Park Slope, 97. Mother-in-law HQ in suburban Queens rates a 63; my old house in Carrboro, North Carolina (where I biked everywhere), 58; and my childhood home in car-addicted Clearwater, Florida, 34.

Too bad we're not moving again anytime soon 'cos this site would come in handy.

Co-op Bar Comedy Night - Thurs. in NYC 8pm - free

Co-blogger Charles Star and I have organized a Comedy Night at the Co-op Bar, an underground bar/art piece I have installed at Eyebeam. Admission is free, the drinks are cheap, and all the profits go towards no-bureaucracy, mini-grants for artists. Charles has put together some great comics and it should be a lot of fun. Bring your friends!

Thursday Night - 8pm
Eyebeam
540 W. 21st St between 10th and 11th.
email Steve Lambert for info - slambert at eyebeam dot org

* Becky Donohue | Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and Tough Crowd
* Moody McCarthy | Last Comic Standing and Jimmy Kimmel Show
* Mike Dobbins | Magnet Theater
* Adam Wade | 2006 GrandSLAM Champion at The Moth
* Rachael Parenta | NYC Underground Comedy Festival
* and your host, Charles Star | Stay Free Daily, Onion Network News

How (not) to advertise baby videos

One thing you'll never see on the website for a baby video company? A picture of a baby watching a video. Instead, you'll see kids petting farm animals, playing in the sun, and reading books—everything but sitting glassy-eyed in front of the tube.

I realized this when I went to look for an image for my earlier post. Figures. In the same way that cigarette ads portray active, healthy people out sailing and riding horses; and SUV ads show thriving green mountains and forests, advertising is most effective when it conceals the true nature of the product.

Fortunately, there's always flickr.

Study: Baby Vids make you dumber

We blogged a while back about how the makers of Baby Einstein and their ilk make ridiculous claims about the educational value of their products.

BabyFirstTV "Encourages children to develop language through introduction to words, signs, and languages from around the world."

Baby Einstein "foster(s) the development of your toddler's speech and language skills."

Finally, someone has formally studied the effects of baby vids on language development and, as we suspected, the results aren't pretty. The study, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, infants ages 8 to 16 months who watched baby vids were found to have significantly reduced vocabularies; and the more they watched, the less they knew. For every hour per day spent in front of the tube, the infants scores on a language text dropped precipitously. (Download a pdf proof of the study here.)

The study, based on a survey of 1,008 parents, didn't measure causal relationships. So it's possible that parents who allow their infants to watch videos are less involved and less communicative than those who don't. No connection between videos and vocabularies was found among an older group, kids 17 months to 24 months.

Still, the drop in language skills was so strong among infants that the study should give pause to those who think propping up little Sophie in front of the tube is going to come without costs. Considering the cost of education these days, a real live babysitter may be cheaper than they think.

(Via Campaign for a Commercialfree Childhood)

My New Favorite Thing: Ubuntu Linux

If you know what linux is, you also probably know a super geek who can't help but extol how much better it is than Mac OS X and Windows.  And you probably can't remember what else they said because you stopped listening.  At the risk of becoming one of those super geeks, just hear me out.

Linux has been around since the early '90s and is the most prominent example of free software and open source development, just above OpenOffice.  While OpenOffice functions as a free alternative to purchasing popular and expensive licensed software like Microsoft's Office Suite ($150 for students, to $650 for a "full version"), Linux is more than a computer program, it's the operating system.  Windows and OS X are operating systems.

While operating systems are usually hidden in the cost of a computer, your OS actually costs money when you need an upgrade.  The recent Windows Vista upgrade could cost $100-$250.  An OS X Tiger upgrade is $129. These are recurring costs that can come up every few years. Linux, however, is free. And all the other programs for linux that you may want are also free. 

But there are plenty of reasons to consider open-source software beyond cost. Many people see more stability, security, faster start up times, less need to restart, less maintenance and other performance benefits. And, there's the other kind of free - like freedom from using proprietary software from the company owned by the richest person on the planet.

I must admit, I had no inclination to use Linux until a few weeks ago when I discovered Unbuntu Linux. A mail program, web browser, and office software are included. The "exposé" tricks I've become dependent on in OS X are available (and more). It will work with an iPod. The installation is simple, and the interface looks clean and polished.  The OS can be run from a CD if you want to try it out.  You can dual-boot and switch back and forth from one OS to another (on intel macs too) so you don't have to commit completely.

One of the best features is the "Synaptic Package Manager."  Say you want to install VLC, a video player that seems to be able to handle any file one can throw at it.  Open the Synaptic Package Manager and search for VLC.  It finds the files, downloads them for you, installs the program, and tells you when it's done. No searching the web for the right version.  Looking for something like Illustrator or Dreamweaver, but don't know the Linux version? Go to osalt.com and find open source versions. Search for it in Synaptic Package Manager, and it will install it for you.  Say you don't want to install Ubuntu?  Dell has begun shipping new computers with Ubuntu pre-installed.

For people who use their computer for email, the web, instant messaging, word processing or spreadsheets, and to manage their music and digital photos, Unbuntu is a perfectly viable option. Of course, Linux is not without a learning curve, but every OS has a learning curve. So why not go with the free one?

 

The War on Emoticons

The International Herald Tribune had a great article yesterday about the insidious creep of emoticons into emails between "adults." It starts light:

There are many ways to console someone when a multimillion-dollar business deal falls through.... [Alexis Feldman] was working on a major deal when, "at the 23rd hour," she received "an e-mail from the broker saying: 'Sorry, my client is not interested in the space, too bad we couldn't make the big bucks' " And then there was a frown face emoticon.

Oddly enough, the article gets deadly serious:

Christopher Michel, the founder and chairman of Military.com, a military and veteran affairs Web site, said that usage of emoticons had grown "hyper-pervasive" in his communiqués even with admirals at the Pentagon, where they provide a certain cover for high-ranking leaders to comment on sensitive matters.  "A wink says quite a lot," said Michel, a former lieutenant commander in the navy. "An admiral could say a wink means a thousand different things - but I know what it means. It's a kind of code."

How the hell did these little slugs, designed to clear up ambiguity and appropriate only for IM's between half-literate teenagers, morph into the military's solution to 'plausible deniabilty'?

I almost can't wait for Alberto Gonzales's next attempt to justify his lies about the domestic surveillance program. "The cameras weren't on me when I was answering your question, Senator, but as I'm sure you recall, I was sticking my tongue out of the left side of my mouth. I have asked the stenographer to add that to the record of my testimony."

Miss Manners Goes Modern

Etiquette experts are scrambling to keep up with the technological advances that create new challenges to our pre-existing system of manners. Last night, for example, I received my first wrong-number text message. What was the proper thing to do? Ignore it? Write back and politely inform the sender of the error? I am only allotted a certain number of text messages per month; does this factor into my decision? If I pay for each message received, am I entitled to compensation?

I read the mystery message again. "Wanna do dodgeball Saturday nite?"

I carefully considered all the options, and sent my reply: "Nah, I think it's time we both grow up a little."

Negativland in NYC this Thursday

Stay Free! pals Negativland are going to be doing a rare live appearance this Thursday, at the Highline Ballroom here in New York, and you won't want to miss it. The show is modeled after the group's live radio program and has something to do with God. You can find out more about it here and in this excellent Time Out article. Steinsky, who you may remember (or not) from our Illegal Art Exhibit compilation CD, will be opening.

For those of you outside of New York, the group also has dates in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, and Charlottesville. Here be the details.

No Fare Hike? Thank Mickey Mouse.

One MTA board member suggested a new way to avoid a fare hike last week -- plaster the Times Square subway station with Mickey Mouse and friends. The Times' Cityroom quotes the boardmember, a Mr. Norman Seabrook:

I would rather try to sell 42nd Street’s subway system underground to Disney for $60 million a year and have them paint it any way that they want to paint it. They spend $100 million for one minute to be on the Super Bowl on a Sunday. I think that they would spend X amount of dollars in rent for that terminal. I think 34th Street would do it. I think other businesses around the state and the city would do it. That would lessen the burden on the public.

I already nearly close my eyes for the two-minute shuttle ride from Grand Central to Times Square when the interior of the cars are completely coated in ads for Delta Air or HBO. I suppose I'd grin and bear it if that meant my daily rides stayed $2 each. But the MTA needs billions, not millions, to accomplish its huge capital improvements -- 2nd Avenue subway anyone? And I don't think even Disney could bail the city out of that one...

An SUV experiment

For those of you in New York, WNYC's Brian Lehrer show is looking for people to participate in a crowdsourcing experiment, By Thursday, they want you to count the SUVs on your block and to report back to them with your findings. In order to use your info, they'll need the following:

1. Your neighborhood
2. Your block (street and cross streets)
3. The number of SUVs parked 
4. The total number of cars parked.

I plan on participating myself, though I'm not quite sure what the point is. According to the website:

We’re trying to find out just how much gas-guzzling SUV use there is throughout the New York area, with all the talk of environmental sustainability in the city.

If they think people are hypocritical about driving SUVs while professing a love of the environment, they would do well to read James Surowiecki's column in a recent New Yorker.

As Surowiecki points out, Americans overwhelming support fuel-economy standards, even though they continue to buy gas-guzzling SUVs. But what looks like a contradiction makes sense when you realize that Americans associate big cars with safety (erroneously, but with reason). So while they'd prefer that gas-guzzling tanks not be on the road, they don't want to be dwarfed by these vehicles if they are.

Surowiecki compares the situation to the National Hockey League in the 70s, when hockey players voted for the league to require helmets, even though most players personally chose not to wear them. Helmets protected players from head injuries, but gave them a competitive disadvantage: it was harder to see in them, for example. As long as some players wore helmets and others didn't, the players who didn't had an advantage. But if rules required everyone to wear the helmets (which they eventually did), everyone benefited from greater safety and a level playing field.

So, while owning an SUV in the city may seem to make no sense whatsoever, a healthy percentage of SUV drivers would probably welcome SUVs eradication. (The rest, we can presume, are self-centered, delusional pricks.)

(Via Streetsblog)

Very Proffessional

23rd & 8th, NYC

Maybe not the best choice for a playset. Even with the planes.

My friend Chris lives in Chicago, and this past weekend he visited a little expo of Lego sculptures. Among the very impressive Lego landscapes, dinosaurs, and whatnot was this familiar tableau:

Now, there's no arguing that this is very well realized, especially when one considers how hard it must be to make convincing fireballs and billowing smoke with little plastic blocks. But one can't help but wonder why this was built.

I'm not offended or anything, I'm just puzzled. And confused. Because it's kind of funny, too. So maybe there's a touch of shame in there as well. Regardless, you've got to hand it to someone for making something out of Legos that provides so much conflicted thinking, right?

Right?

The Internet Makes Us Dumberer

The Pew Institute issued yet another study about how stupid Americans are, and how we are getting stupider. (Query: At what point do the scientists decide Americans are as dumb as possible and stop studying this? Check back in November 2008, I guess.) Wired's take on the story is "despite the Internet, we are less informed."

Despite the internet? Through that lens, this study is no surprise at all: Let's foist the most distracting blink-box in history on a nation of idiots begging to be distracted and see if they linger on the boring parts.

The Official Whiny Blog Post of New York

I heard a radio commercial this morning that concluded with, "That's why, in our opinion, Subaru is the official car of New York." Corporations routinely pay huge sums to be recognized as the official so-and-so of whatever. A very quick Web search of the New York Yankees finds they have an official airline; an official athletic apparel and footwear company; an official printer, copier, and SLR camera provider; an official amino-acid sports supplement drink; and the list goes on and on. But apparently Subaru believes if you toss in an IMHO, you can circumvent those pesky contracts and fees.

Now, you might be thinking, "Jack, lighten up, you take commercials too seriously and as a result seem humorless." Hey, I'd let it slide if it was totally innocuous like "the official super-fun vacation getaway of summer!" But New York City actually has a rapidly growing number of official designations, from an official flag and an official journal, to more modern products. So I just think Subaru should keep their eyes on their rearview mirror—New York City's legal eagles may soon be after you. As for me, I'm still working on the paperwork to become the official so-and-so of whatever.

Supersize Returns to McDonald's

Speaking of McDonald's, the New York Times recently reported that Supersize drinks are back — only now the 42 oz. behemoth is known as the "Hugo." McDonald's you may recall, abandoned its Supersize menu right around the time Morgan Spurlock's movie Supersize Me came out.

That was three years ago, though, and so now enough time has passed that the criticism ignited by the movie is moot. That's the problem with criticism as a counter to corporate greed: its power is only short-term.

Continue reading "Supersize Returns to McDonald's"

McDonald's Sends Condolences

I live in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, the Brooklyn neighborhood where Officer Timoshenko was killed.

Timoshenko's death is a tragedy and people respond to tragedy in different ways. For instance, a number of people on a neighborhood listserv collected cards and brought them to the 71st Precinct.

The local McDonald's flew it's its flag at half-mast. It's Its McDonald's flag.

At the risk of seeming insensitive, it looks like Mayor McCheese died.

ROFL! @ Joe's Pub, This Friday

This Friday night, I will be representing Stay Free! at ROFL!, a web video "competiton" that pits some of the coolest websites against each other to show the funniest stuff online. Last month's show was great, and there is a great roster of competitors this month, so I hope you can come out and join us.

Host: Dave Hill
Musical Guest: Curtis Eller
Featuring: Me, Jason Kottke (Kottke.org), Cintra Wilson (Salon), Peggy Wang (Buzzfeed), Marisa Olson (Rhizome), Brett O'Connor (Negatendo), John Michael Boling and Javier Morales (53 O's) and Earl Dax (Scenedowntown).

Friday, July 27 @ 11:30PM
Joe's Pub
425 Lafayette St. (just South of Astor Place)
$15

ROFL! is presented by The Onion and Paper Thin Walls. Tickets are $15 and you can get them online here, by calling 212-967-7555 or at the door.

Image via I Can Has Cheezburger?

Ritalin Side Effects: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!

Is your child acting up? Would it be easier for you if that child were, say, smaller? Then we have the drug for you: Ritalin!

After three years on the ADHD drug Ritalin, kids are about an inch shorter and 4.4 pounds lighter than their peers, a major U.S. study shows.... children who had been taking ADHD drugs before the study began were smaller than kids who had not yet started treatment. Those who first began treatment at the start of the study were normal in size, but grew more slowly than normal kids as the study went on.

In addition to being smaller, kids on Ritalin are less creative, less interesting and less trouble.

Ritalin, for the reduction of everything.

Via American Iatrogenic Association

My New Favorite Thing: Shredding Scissors

I'm almost embarrassed at the level of excitement a $15 pair of scissors brought our household, but these shredding scissors have fascinated my wife and I since we bought a pair (quintuplet?) in December. (My wife is kind of a nut for cutting things up and reassembling them.) These 5-bladed scissors come from Japan, are relatively inexpensive, human powered, and... I swear, will cause you to open and close them repeatedly while marveling at the movement of the blades, like you were Jeff Bridges in Starman. (See also: 9-bladed!) 

Anus Burgers OK'd

I don't see any ads for Carl's Jr. or Jack in the Box in Brooklyn, except on the internet, so it was on the internet that I found out that Jack in the Box is making fun of Carl's Jr.'s "Angus burgers" by using camera angles to make the word "angus" show up as "anus". Carl's Jr. wasn't happy and sued to stop the ads. And lost!

The best thing about this for me is that Carl's Jr. is being pwned - about the quality of its meat - by Jack in the Box, a fast food restaurant best known for literally poisoning its customers.

The capitalist response to Sicko

Google started taking its first steps into evil when it allowed China to begin filtering content. It took its first big local step when it encouraged HMO's to buy GoogleAds using Sicko as a keyword to counter the message of the movie. (This is yet another reason why Stay Free! is an Ad-Free Blog - it is hard enough to rouse ourselves to provide content for the blog; we'd hate to be undone by our own sidebar.)

The Google founders do seem like good guys, and the motto "Do No Evil" is a noble sentiment. Alas, this is another bit of proof that incorporating one's company is a lot like getting bit by a vampire - no matter how good a person you were before the bite, and no matter how hard you want to still be that person, you are eventually going to start drinking human blood.

In any event, we are big fans of Sicko and you really should watch the movie (it's free!).

(Movie link via Liam)

Merck's Wonderdrug?

The other day, I returned from the pharmacy aghast and stunned at the price of Gardasil, the vaccine my doctor prescribed to protect me against HPV, the cervical cancer-causing virus. My insurance covers only .5 ml of the miracle-drug (or so pharmaceutical giant Merck would call it), and it turns out I need 5 ml, which comes with it a $900 price tag.

Fuming, I turned to the Internet to see just what I was getting myself into. The shot protects patients from contracting four of the most prolific strains of HPV, two of which cause 70% of cervical cancer cases.

But according to a recent analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, groups may be too quick to call for mandatory dispensation of the vaccine. Aside from pointing out Merck's less-than-spotless record — Vioxx anyone? — and noting reports of the FDA's "woefully inadequate" review of that medication, PRwatch.org also interviewed Dr. Diane Harper with the Dartmouth Medical School, who critiqued the federal government's recommendation to require all middle-school aged girls to get the vaccine.

Insurance companies are saying that VFC program is required by law to purchase this. But the problem is that the states don't have enough money allocated by VFC to purchase enough to cover their whole state's population. So if you make a mandate that your child can't enter sixth grade as a twelve-year old without having the shots, and your state only has enough to give it to 10% of the twelve-year olds, and you're the next kid in line and your family doesn't have $500, then you can’t go to school. And that is wrong.

PR Watch also cites a Bloomberg News article that even before the FDA approved Gardasil, Merck had spent $841,000 to publicize it on the Internet in the first quarter of 2006.

I'm still going to get the shot, but I'll be on my guard against Gardasil.

The libertarian response to Sicko

I'm on an email list devoted on iatrogensis—medical problems created by medical treatments—that has a strong libertarian contingent, so I've had a chance to read several right-wing critiques of Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko.

I agree with one popular criticism: Moore should have acknowledged that Cuba is a hell hole. But I've yet to find any serious argument debunking the main point: that American health care is seriously screwed. In fact, the critiques all follow pretty much the same formula. Most cite inconsequential anecdotes of bad health care experiences in Canada, England, and the other countries Moore visited. The more substantial criticisms point out that people in, say, Canada and England may face long waits for medical care, that hospital infection rates are high, and that some people may be denied care if that care is deemed "experimental."

...and so?  I'm still waiting for a problem that's not also common in America. Canada has long waits in emergency rooms? Been to an American E.R. lately? England has high rates of hospital-induced infections? America's private market hasn't solved that problem yet either. (The iatrogensis email list was created to respond to the problem of hospital-borne disease in the US!) Experimental treatments are explicitly excluded from all American health care plans—and the insurers get to decide what counts as "experimental," even if a treatment plan has evidence of past success.

The one thing Canada, England, and the other countries don't have in common with the US is 47 million people who are uninsured. That feat is America's alone. For many of those people, that means no medical care at all. Somehow America has managed to have the worst of both worlds—we have all of the disadvantages of the other healthcare systems without the advantages: 47 million uninsured, relatively low life expectancy, high infant mortality, and low overall health compared to other industrialized nations. (See This New Yorker story.)

The only complaint that makes sense applies only to those Canadians, Europeans, and Cubans who have so much money that they can afford whatever health care they want, when they want it. Okay, you win: if you're super rich, America is the place to be. But Sicko wasn't created for the super rich; it was created for the rest of us.

ROFL! @ Joe's Pub

While I generally refrain from plugging my personal comedy schedule here, I am representing Stay Free! in a "best of the web" competition at Joe's Pub in NYC on July 27 at 11:30PM.

ROFL! is a bracket-style competition, where representatives of different blogs pit their favorite video clips or other web ephemera against one another. The winner gets $150 in singles. Which I guess can be used to finance a trip to see the live version of the actual best (by profitability) of the web.

Among the other presenters will be Jason Kottke and representatives from Buzzfeed, Rhizome, Negatendo, 53 O's and Weimar New York.

ROFL! is presented by The Onion and Paper Thin Walls. Tickets are $15 and you can get them here, by calling 212-967-7555 or at the door (425 Lafayette St.)

Land Rover: A Legend in its Marketing

According to Brandweek, Land Rover's new marketing strategy is to show the car as a "hero" by rushing cars to the sites of natural disasters:

When a natural disaster strikes, [Director Scott Duncan] and his crew go on location to capture footage. For example, when floods hit Levasy, Mo., last month, Duncan's crew swooped in like a SWAT team to film the LR3 in action. Turpin said the first spot, breaking next week, would show the LR3 using its hydraulic lift and sealed undercarriage to navigate flooded streets strewn with disabled cars. ...

To ensure that the brand isn't seen as exploiting disaster, Land Rover will offer the use of its vehicles to emergency personnel or, alternatively, make donations to relief organizations.

So Land Rover doesn't want to be seen as exploiting natural disasters and have concluded that throwing money around won't seem explotaitive at all.

Alas, this is the essence of corporate charity: the giving isn't to help, it is for the purpose of saying that you gave, like when Philip Morris well spent over $1,000,000 to brag that it donated $125,000 worth of macaroni and cheese. Remember, its the thought that counts - and that thought is "this will pay off in the end, right?"

(Via Consumerist)