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Black Licorice Overdose: How Much Is Too Much & What Happens to Your Body? Introduction Black licorice is a popular candy, especially during Halloween, but many people don’t realize it can have real health risks. While it tastes harmless, eating too much black licorice may affect your blood pressure, potassium levels, and even your heart. So the big question is: How much black licorice is dangerous, and can you actually overdose on it? The answer is not as simple as one bite being dangerous. Instead, it depends on how much you eat over time and how your body reacts to a compound called glycyrrhizin . What Makes Black Licorice Risky? Real black licorice is made from licorice root, which contains glycyrrhizin. This natural compound is responsible for its sweet and strong flavor. However, glycyrrhizin can also: Lower potassium levels in the body Increase blood pressure Affect fluid balance Put stress on the heart This is why health experts often warn about black licorice side effects ...

Smoke in the cabin of a passenger airplane is a scary prospect. That’s why a plane heading from Munich, Germany to Washington Dulles International Airport made an emergency landing at Boston’s Logan Airport instead: There was smoke pouring from the plane’s galley… which may or may not have actually been caused by a fire. The plane was diverted to land at Logan , where emergency crews arrived to look for the source of the smoke. What they didn’t do was deplane passengers, who waited until after airport firefighters had checked out the galley before departing the plane. Boston’s fire department reported to the scene, but their services weren’t needed, and firefighters were “turned back.” A spokesman for United Airlines told NBC4 Washington that no passengers were injured, but the airline wasn’t sure at that time whether the smoke was caused by an actual fire in the galley. An FAA spokeswoman told the Boston Globe that the problem was a “possible fire.” Passengers on the ground made...

In January, federal regulators announced they had put a stop to an apartment rental scam in which homes (that may not exist) are listed online with the sole purpose of tricking prospective renters into paying for “credit checks” that will never be done. Now, the operators of the scheme must pay $762,000 to put an end to the Federal Trade Commission’s allegations.  The FTC announced today that it received a court order [ PDF ] against Danny Pierce and Andrew Lloyd for their part in operating an alleged scheme run by Credit Bureau Center LLC that targeted consumers looking to rent property. The Alleged Scheme According to the Commission’s complaint [ PDF ], since Jan. 2014 Credit Bureau Center — previously known as MyScore LLC, and doing business as eFreeScore.com, CreditUpdates.com, and FreeCreditNation.com — deceptively advertised, marketed, promoted, and sold credit monitoring services to consumers. When prospective customers responded to the ads, the companies would alleged...

When you think of the ideal cheeseburger, where is the cheese in the sandwich equation — is it beneath the patty, or on top of it? That is the question Google’s CEO has now promised to address, after someone questioned the company’s cheese placement in its cheeseburger emoji. Media consultant Thomas Baekdal pointed out on Twitter over the weekend that while Apple’s hamburger/cheeseburger emoji has cheese resting atop a beef patty, Google’s version sticks the slice underneath the meat. I think we need to have a discussion about how Google's burger emoji is placing the cheese underneath the burger, while Apple puts it on top http://pic.twitter.com/PgXmCkY3Yc — Thomas Baekdal (@baekdal) October 28, 2017 RELATED: 5 Tips From A Pro Fro Cooking Up An Awesome Hamburger Of course, Twitter users immediately started taking sides: Obviously, cheese must be on top of meat. But lettuce must be insulated by the tomato – so both are in the wrong. — Tero Kuittinen (@teroterotero) Oc...

Sure, saving $1,000 on a car that may cost you far in excess of $70,000 might seem like a minor victory, but it’s still better than nothing. But now that Tesla is becoming more of a household name and hoping to reach a more mass-market car-buying audience, it’s getting rid of even this relatively small savings program. Tesla recently announced it will end its referral credit program that provided prospective buyers with a $1,000 toward their purchase Tuesday evening. Through the program, current Tesla owners could provide five friends with a $1,000 credit to be used on any new Model S or Model X vehicle. These new customers would also receive free unlimited supercharging for their vehicles. Individuals who don’t make their purchase by end-of-the-day Tuesday won’t exactly be left empty-handed. Instead, the carmaker notes that purchases made after Oct. 31 will still receive free, unlimited supercharging. If you’ve got a friend with a Tesla, they might just be hounding you over ...

Instead of shrinking in fear from the rising green tide of legal marijuana, the parent company behind booze brands like Corona, Svedka, and Robert Mondavi is jumping right in with a big investment in the legal marijuana business. Constellation Brands Inc. is shelling out $191 million for a 9.9% stake in Canopy Growth Corp, a Canadian company — known as WEED on the Toronto Stock Exchange — that sells medicinal cannabis products in that country and other markets where it’s legal. Constellation doesn’t have plans to start selling weed products in the U.S. — or anywhere else, for that matter — until it’s legal “at all government levels.” In the mean time, Constellation can get a jumpstart on figuring out what will the next big thing in legal marijuana, which is “predicted to become a significant consumer category in the future.” “Our company’s success is the result of our focus on identifying early stage consumer trends, and this is another step in that direction,” Constellation CEO R...

Your state’s department of motor vehicles already knows what make and model of car you own, and sends you registration documents every few years that you have to open. Safety advocates have suggested including information about important vehicle recalls in vehicle registrations to make sure more people know about recalls and comply. In an experimental program, Maryland will start sending these notices to vehicle owners. Recalls can endanger the lives of drivers and passengers, like the notable recent recalls of shrapnel-spewing Takata airbags , or the General Motors ignition lock defect. Yet only around 70% of recalled vehicles get repaired, a figure that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to improve. While the Repairing Every Car to Avoid Lost Lives (RECALL) Act , a U.S. Senate bill with an excellent name, would have required every state to implement such a program, that specific bill was not passed. Instead, funding for a pilot program for up to six states ...

Despite repeated Congressional and Executive branch efforts, the full Affordable Care Act is still in place . That means insurance-shopping season is nearly upon us: Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1 (and ends Dec. 15 ). But there’s less money being spent on advertising and outreach this year, which means even the basics can be hard to get solid information about. So here’s our when-and-where of getting yourself covered for 2018. When does Open Enrollment start? You can begin enrolling in plans for 2018 on November 1, 2017 . When does Open Enrollment end? If you’re using the federal exchange at healthcare.gov , the deadline to get enrolled in a plan is December 15, 2017 . This is several weeks earlier than in previous years, when the open enrollment period ran to the end of January, so anyone planning to shop for coverage should plan to move quickly. You have 45 days, tops. Deadlines in the dozen or so states that have their own state exchanges vary, however, and some carry through...

If anything is true of 2017, it is this: Confusion reigns. And nowhere do we see that more than in healthcare, where failed repeal attempts , executive orders , sudden, out-of-the-blue policy changes , and general unpredictable chaos have dominated the news. But the fact remains that Americans still need access to medical care, and for those who don’t have insurance through their employer or the government, the 2018 Open Enrollment period for individual insurance plans officially begins on Nov. 1. So what are the things everyone should know, but which may have been overlooked amid the maelstrom? We chatted with a half-dozen advocates, policy experts, industry professionals, and navigators about this year’s open enrollment period. Some spoke with us on the condition of anonymity, and some were happy to talk on the record, but all of them agreed overwhelmingly on a huge point: There’s massive confusion in the marketplace this year that they desperately want cleared up. With budge...

In what sounds like the lovechild of a Blockbuster video store and Netflix’s DVD rental service, GameStop is launching a new video game rental program called PowerPass that gives customers unlimited access to used games. PowerPass launches Nov. 19 and will cost $60 for six months of access to game rentals, GameStop confirmed to Consumerist. Customers can chose from any pre-owned title in the store’s catalog, with no limits on how often they can swap games. After six months, they can choose one game to keep. It’s unclear whether the program will end entirely after six months or if will continue on; we’ve asked GameStop and will update this post if we receive an answer. Whether you give PowerPass as a gift or buy it for yourself, whoever uses the service has to be a member of GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards program, which will be used to keep records of the games they check in and out. You can sign up for either a free or paid membership by creating an account on the retailer’s website. ...

Education Secretary and champion of for-profit colleges Betsy DeVos is once again siding with this controversial industry and against students who were defrauded by schools that tricked them into paying top dollar for a bottom-dollar education. Amid the collapse of scandalized for-profit school chains like Corinthian Colleges and ITT , the Education Department had sought to simplify the process of allowing defrauded students to get their federal loans refunded. But that was before DeVos became our nation’s top education regulator. Now, the Associated Press reports that the Secretary is considering a measure that would provide defrauded students with only half of a refund of their student loans. Sources note that under DeVos’ plan refunds provided to students would be dependent on the average earnings of students in similar programs and schools. Consumerist has reached out to the Dept. of Education for additional information on the possible change. We’ll update this post when we h...

Back in 2005, you needed a standalone GPS device if you wanted a disembodied voice to yell at you when you made a wrong turn. Before smartphones existed, a pocket-size GPS device that was small enough to be convenient for motorcycle and bike use was novel and useful. However, such a device available on the shelf at Walmart in 2017 isn’t so impressive. It’s also not much of a deal. Reader Patrick is one of the Raiders of the Lost Walmart , a brave team of retail archaeologists who comb through the electronics sections of big-box stores to find gadgets that aren’t just obsolete or just plain old, but are also comically overpriced. Reader Patrick noticed the Garmin Quest 2, a device first released in 2005, for sale at Walmart. He looked back at the price stickers, noting the rich history. It had been marked $578.76 in May 2009 and in July 2016, and finally discounted a little bit to $350.00 in June of 2017, a few days before he unearthed this artifact. If you don’t mind having a used...

Dunkin’ Donuts, faced with slipping sales, has undergone a bit of a revamp in recent months, such as dropping the “Donuts” portion of its name at a California store to paring down its menu . Now, the company is focusing on deals, as in, giving customers more of them. The chain announced its third quarter financials Thursday, noting that for the sixth straight quarter traffic to locations had fallen. In all, traffic at U.S.-based restaurants declined 2% for the third quarter. While same store sales increased by 0.6%, overall income for Dunkin’ Brands — which also counts Baskin Robins in its portfolio — fell slightly by about $500,000. In the face of falling sales, and fewer customers walking through the doors, Dunkin’ CEO Nigel Travis tells Reuters the chain will increase the number of promotions it runs. “Our franchisees are now seeing the value of value and you will see a lot more in the future,” said Travis. The company plans to focus the deals on its mobile app, providing l...

This month is the first in which student loan borrowers enrolled in the Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program were expecting to see their student loan tab cleared. But that’s not happening for some borrowers after learning they were never actually enrolled in the programs, despite assurances from the companies servicing their debts.  The situation is a culmination of problems within the servicing industry and the complicated forgiveness program. It also further bolsters recent findings from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that highlighted borrower complaints about student loan servicers mishandling the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. For those unfamiliar, in 2007 the government began offering a public service loan-forgiveness program that will forgive certain federal student loans for borrowers who work for government organizations and non-profit groups for 10 years and make 120 on-time monthly payments on their loans. An Unwelcom...

After giving employees more than six months to recover from this spring’s Unicorn Frappuccino , Starbucks has another limited-time novelty beverage that’s made more for Instagram than for human consumption. Yet the good news (perhaps?) for many of the chain’s employees is that supplies for the drink have already run out in many locations. Darn . The zombeverage consists of a caramel-apple sweet blended base with mocha “blood,” topped with whipped cream that’s supposed to look like brains. Like the Unicorn frap, the drink is designed more for looks than for flavor, and many employees report that the beverages are going straight in the trash after one sip. Or, at least, after customers snap a photo. “I think the drink tastes pretty bad so I get it,” one worker observed on Reddit . “But not a single empty zombie frapp at my store yet, figure someone would suck it down.” What Starbucks wisely did this time, though, was make sure that the drink is only in circulation for as long as supp...

As the saying goes, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. However, if life locks you in the beer cooler, don’t crack open a few cold ones — tempting though that may be — or you may find yourself charged with retail theft. According to Marshfield, WI, police, a 38-year-old man entered a walk-in beer cooler at a Kwik Trip convenience store before midnight on Tuesday night, reports WAOW.com . Although the store is open 24/7, the beer cooler automatically locks at 12. a.m. Thus, at the stroke of midnight, the man was stuck… and it sounds like he was fine with that situation. “The subject found himself locked in the beer cooler, knew that Kwik Trip would not sell him any beer, so he decided to remain in the beer cooler,” the chief of police told the news station, adding that there were actions he could’ve taken to let someone know he was in there. Instead, he allegedly drank an 18-ounce bottle of Icehouse Beer and three cans of Four Loko (which yes, still exists ), and tumbled over...

Are Amazon’s bookstores headed for the same future as struggling chains like Barnes & Noble? It’s possible, according to the company’s latest financials, which suggest the company’s physical bookstores aren’t doing so hot.  Amazon announced its third-quarter earnings   on Thursday . For the first time, it also broke out performance for its physical stores, noting that these entities accounted for $1.276 billion during the quarter. Physical stores — which Amazon helpfully describes as places where a customer “can physically select items in a store” — include both Amazon’s bookstores and its newly acquired Whole Foods grocery chain. While $1.276 billion in sales is pretty impressive for a company just jumping into the physical retail world, Amazon notes that a majority of those sales are from Whole Foods. In fact, the company estimates that net sales from Whole Foods — since it was acquired in August — totaled $1.3 billion, which likely includes online sales of the brand...

Would you consider an in-air concert on your next flight an amenity, or something that would make you switch airlines? Southwest Airlines is continuing its series of concerts for captive audiences, partnering with Warner Music to have the label’s artists perform mini-concerts for Southwest’s passengers. You may not be familiar with the series, but Southwest calls its in-air concerts “Live at 35,” as in 35,000 feet of altitude. They’ve been happening since 2011, and Southwest and Warner Music Nashville recently made a deal to make their midair concert series official. A recent show on a flight from Nashville to Philadelphia, for example, featured country artist Devin Dawson. Billboard referred to the concert as having a “capacity crowd,” which one could also frame as a “fully booked flight of people forced to attend a concert.” The audience mostly seems happy about the surprise, if a bit confused at first. You can watch a longer clip on Southwest’s site . I checked the “Sing ALL ...

It’s been nearly two years since customers have been able to shop at an FAO Schwarz store . That’s about to change… kind of: Department store chain Bon-Ton will open nearly 200 FAO Schwarz toy departments at stores this holiday season. Bon-Ton announced Thursday that it will begin selling FAO Schwarz toys online and in newly developed toy departments at 186 of its department stores on Nov. 4. The new toy department will open in each of Bon-Ton’s department stores, including Bon-Ton, Boston Store, Bergner’s, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, and Younkers locations in 24 states. “This cherished brand has been enjoyed by children and families for 155 years and we are delighted to carry this unique toy collection in our stores,” Chad Stauffer, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer for The Bon-Ton Stores, said in a statement. The FAO Schwarz toy departments, which will be open year-round, will feature several classic toys from the brand, including the Piano Mat, ...

We hate to break it to the pumpkin purists out there, but that canned orange stuff you so lovingly scoop into pie shells every Thanksgiving is probably some other kind of squash dressed up as its gourd cousin. “But the can says ‘100% pumpkin’ right on it!” you may be exclaiming in outrage. It does, and it’s totally allowed to, as MarketPlace pointed out in an August segment that’s been making the rounds recently: The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t make distinctions between pumpkins and its squash relatives, so food companies can slap whatever they want on the label. “They’re all in the same botanical family, and it’s just a game of semantics,” Serious Eats senior editor Stella Parks told MarketPlace. Indeed, the the FDA says canned “pumpkin” has been packed from either field pumpkin — Cucurbita pepo — or “certain varieties of firm-shelled, golden-fleshed, sweet squash ( Cucurbita maxima ), or mixtures of these. Pumpkin and squash are sometimes mixed intentionally to obtain ...

LuLaRoe is a multilevel-marketing company that has brought brightly colored leggings and dresses to communities across the country since its debut five years ago. Yet the company’s sales representatives say that the company is really peddling false hope and intense stress alongside leggings and the dream of being an independent businessperson, and two new class action lawsuits against the company accuse it of exactly that. Specifically, class actions filed this week [ PDF ] and two weeks ago [ PDF ] both accuse the company of running what California law calls an “endless chain scheme,” an even better term than “pyramid scheme.” That’s a term for a marketing scheme where selling actual merchandise to new participants isn’t the point, but recruiting new participants is . LEARN MORE: John Oliver Wants To Sell You On Why Multi-Level Marketing Stinks The plaintiffs also allege that LuLaRoe changed the rules and rates after implementing a recent refund program . “Once consultants signed ...

There are a lot of things you’d rather not have happen when driving your car. “Steering wheel falling off and into your lap” likely ranks pretty high on that list. For that reason, federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into more than 841,000 Ford Fusion vehicles.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigations opened an investigation [ PDF ] into model year 2014 to 2016 Ford Fusion vehicles after receiving three reports that the steering wheel either became loose or completely detached from the vehicles. This obviously poses a serious problem: If the steering wheel is no longer attached to the vehicle, the driver can’t control the car. This, NHTSA says, can increase the risk of a crash. According to documents [ PDF ] from the regulator, the three reports submitted by Fusion owners involve one vehicle in each of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 model years. In a complaint submitted in June 2016, the owner of a 2014 Fusion tells NHT...

If you’re a fan of Haribo gummy candies, you may want to put that bag down for just a second: New reports about the candy company claim it’s sourcing ingredients that are made by workers living in deplorable conditions, as well as others that come from animals that are mistreated. The A.V. Club points to a documentary from ARD , a German public broadcaster, that found that the workers harvesting carnauba wax — which gives gummies’ tummies that shine and prevents stickage — “are forced to sleep outside or in trucks, have no access to toilets and have to drink unfiltered water straight from nearby rivers.” Many of these workers are reportedly underage. Authorities have attempted to raid the plantations to liberate workers from conditions that one Brazilian Labor Ministry official said “could be described as slavery.” “The workers are treated as objects, worse than animals,” he said . That’s not all, folks: The documentary also reports on footage circulated by animal-rights groups sh...

Could Equifax have suffered a second data breach following the massive hack exposing the personal information of more than 145.5 million consumers ? It’s possible, according to a security researcher who claims to have found a second, separate security vulnerability within the company. Motherboard reports that in late 2016, a security researcher tipped off Equifax to a security flaw after finding a webpage that could have allowed anyone to access the personal information of consumers. According to the researcher, just a few hours after he began looking at Equifax’s servers and websites he found an access point to consumers’ Social Security numbers, full names, birthdates, and city and state of residence. A webpage on Equifax’s system appeared to be a portal for employees, but was actually available to anyone on the internet, Motherboard reports. The researcher said the page included a number of search boxes that anyone could force to display the personal data of Equifax customers. ...

About a year after Lyft started allowing riders to request multiple stops on their trips , Uber is joining its rival in offering the option for extra destinations. Perhaps you’d like to pick up a few friends for a night on the town — or carpool home with your pals later. Either way, Uber passengers can have up to three stops on every trip. Here’s how it works : 1 . Press “Where to?” and then “+” 2 . Add any addresses you’d like to travel to. 3 . Request your ride. 4 . Take that trip. If you need to make changes during the trip you can add and remove stops as you go. by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Here are five of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness. Want to see your pictures on our site? Our Flickr pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here , and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool. by Laura Northrup via Consumerist