A Simple Trick to Open Frozen Car Doors

Dashing out into the chilly winter cold to start your car is unpleasant enough, but it’s even worse when you get there and find that your car door is frozen. A car door is made up of several components, including the door frame, rubber weather stripping and body panels. Melting ice, snow and moisture can seep into these areas and refreeze, preventing the door from opening. There are plenty of wrong ways to open a frozen car door, as shown below: 

• • Yanking on the handle over and over puts a lot of stress on a door’s seals, joints and other components, which can be expensive to fix. 
• • Using hot water is an absolute no-no. Glass, metal and rubber don’t handle rapid heat well, and the sudden change in temperature can accelerate wear, not to mention the fact that hot water just refreezes, making the problem worse. 
• • Never, ever try to pry a frozen door open with tools like a screwdriver, crowbar, tire iron, etc. Those can easily damage the door frame and cause your door to not close properly. 
• • Putting your weight behind it and body-slamming a frozen door could leave you and the car worse for wear, jostling mechanisms within the door and causing misalignment. 
• • Using an open flame not only damages the paint and plastic trim, but it puts you at risk of burning yourself. 
• • Finally, forcing the key by twisting it into a frozen block can do more harm that good. Aside from the fact that you could snap the key in half, you can also break the very delicate lock cylinders inside.

So what’s the right way to open a frozen car door? The quickest and easiest way to is by using a commercial deicer containing alcohol. These sprays work because alcohol lowers the freezing point of water, even if the water has already frozen to ice. Spraying the deicer along the door frame, weather stripping and handle should unfreeze the door and allow it to open. You can also spray the deicer directly into the lock. What if you have no deicer? Just combine two parts rubbing alcohol with one part water to make your own deicer. Put the mixture in a spray bottle and you’re ready to go.

 

Continue Reading...

Cheez-It Releases Its First-Ever Gluten-Free Flavor

Fans of Cheez-It have clamored for a gluten-free variety for years, and now the wait is finally over. For the first time ever, Cheez-It Original Gluten Free crackers have arrived. The company says they took the time to get it right, working carefully on the recipe and process to ensure gluten-free snackers can enjoy the same cheesy flavor and satisfying crunch without compromise. More than 25 million Americans who live with celiac disease can now experience one of the most popular cheese-flavored snacks around. The new variety comes in a 9-ounce box for $4.49 and is available at retailers nationwide. The company is also releasing a new lineup of snacks later this year, which include Cheez-It Ultimate Snack Mix (a mix of Cheez-It Original, Cheez-It White Cheddar, Cheez-It Snap’d® Double Cheese and Cheez-It Grooves® Sharp White Cheddar); Cheez-It Crunch (extra crunch in Kick’n Nacho Cheese, Zesty Jalapeno Cheddar and Sharp White Cheddar); Cheez-It Snap’d Honey BBQ (a sweet and smoky blend of honey, tomato, hickory and cheddar cheese); and Cheez-It Grooves Loaded Nachos (a combination of toasted corn tortilla, savory taco seasonings, beefy flavor and cheddar cheese).

Continue Reading...

Raising Cane’s in Boston is Suing Its Landlord After Being Threatened With Eviction Over Chicken Smells

A Raising Cane’s restaurant in Boston is taking its landlord to court over alleged fowl play, claiming its Back Bay location faced wrongful eviction threats over the “smell of chicken fingers” in what the restaurant says is really a larger lease dispute. In the complaint, Raising Cane’s alleges that the eviction threat is part of an extortion scheme, using complaints about chicken smells to pressure the restaurant into giving up its exclusive operating rights. The Louisiana‑based restaurant says landlord 755 Boylston LLC served a notice of termination and notice to quit in January, claiming the restaurant’s cooking odors — particularly the scent of its signature chicken fingers — constituted “offensive and/or nuisance odors.” Raising Cane’s argues that the smell was never defined as a lease violation and that it has worked extensively to mitigate odors. The lease, signed in 2021 and later amended, allows Raising Cane’s to prepare and sell its fried chicken meals, but requires reasonable efforts to minimize smells. The restaurant says it has spent more than $200,000 on exhaust system inspections, charcoal odor‑control filters and sealing vents in an effort to comply. A consultant found that odors were exacerbated by negative air pressure drawing air into an office space above the restaurant and that the landlord's own build-out of the second-floor office space was poorly executed. 

Continue Reading...

No "Geezers" Allowed at Japanese Pub

A chain pub in Tokyo called Tori Yaro has drawn a line in the sand: No geezers are welcome at their location. The posted sign reads: "Pub for under-40 only.” The rule of thumb is, as long as one person in the group is 39 or under, others will be admitted with them. “With older customers, they tend to make a lot of complaints about the restaurant being too noisy and such, so we decided to limit who’s coming in,” said Tori Yaro PR spokesman Toshihiro Nagano. The truth of the matter is that management will allow over-40 people in if they’re okay with the noise level and “have the spirit of a 20-something.” Apparently, the sign is to ward off any true geezers.

Continue Reading...