Daily Archives: October 29, 2014

Red Bull Will Not Give You Wings

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Red Bull is the biggest selling brand of energy drink in the world. It is sold in nearly every country on Earth. The company’s slogan is ‘Red Bull gives you wings’, and they have been using that slogan for over 20 years.

In a class action lawsuit, Red Bull was sued by a group of U.S. consumers on the grounds that they thought that by consuming Red Bull, they would grow actual ​wings or be able to fly as seen in Red Bull’s animated television commercials and print ads. They won their lawsuit.

In October, 2014; Red Bull announced that they will send refund checks to anyone who bought Red Bull in the belief that by consuming their energy drink, they would grow wings or be able to fly​. Red Bull agreed to pay out $13 million. That does not include the millions that the company spent in legal fees.

The company also agreed to stop using the slogan ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ and will stop showing people with wings in their ads. See: http://www.businessinsider.com/red-bull-settles-false-advertising-lawsuit-for-13-million-2014-10

I think this story illustrates very well what is wrong with this country’s litigation system. We used to have a legal concept in America called the ‘reasonable man’. It asked the question ‘What would a reasonable man think or do in this​ situation?’ Today, plaintiffs in lawsuits can win their cases no matter how unreasonable or irrational they are acting, and what kind of society can operate on a basis like that?

It is easy to laugh at stories about absurd lawsuits like this one, but there is a very unfunny side to this story. We are all paying for this kind​ of nonsense, and we are paying a lot. The cost of frivolous, silly lawsuits and liability insurance is built into the price of everything you buy, including rent.

​All landlords buy liability insurance, including me. Landlords are sometimes sued for the most ridiculous reasons, and even though few people win these lawsuits, we still have to defend ourselves, and landlord lawyers are very expensive. I know mine is.

My Opinion. Take a look at the Red Bull ad below. It shows a man with wings. He is flying among the skyscrapers of some big city. It seems to me that the wings on the back of this man are far too short to support his weight. I would guess this guy’s weight at around 170 pounds, plus of course the weight of his clothes. I don’t believe that this man could really fly with wings that small. I also think it would probably very uncomfortable for him to sleep on his back. What do you think?

redbullTHE WORLD’S WORST APPLICANT.

That’s Discrimination! I once received an application for an apartment from a college student named Andre. He told me that he was living at his mother’s house in Richmond, CA. Andre desperately wanted to move out of his mother’s house and get his own place. I understood exactly​ how he felt. When I was Andre’s age, I was living in my step-mother’s house, and I was very, very anxious to get out​. Andre was a full-time college student with a part-time job. After reviewing Andre’s application, I said: “Andre, as you know, the rent on this apartment is $900 a month, but according to your application form, your income is only $600 a month. If I rented this apartment to you, how would you pay the rent?” Andre looked at the floor, thought about it for a while, and said: “I don’t know.” I said: “Do you have any other financial resources that you could use to pay the rent?” Andre said: “No, I don’t.” I said: “Well, I don’t rent apartments to people who can’t pay the rent.” Andre looked shocked with his mouth open. Then he said: “That’s discrimination! You’re refusing to rent this apartment to me just because I’m poor. You can’t do that!” I said: “Well, actually​ I can.” Andre was angry. He threatened to sue me on the grounds of discrimination, but that​ didn’t happen. I knew that Andre didn’t have any​ money to hire a lawyer, and I thought it was unlikely that he would be able to find a lawyer who would take a case like this on a contingency basis. Even with a good lawyer, Andre would have lost. A landlord has a legal right, even in Berkeley, to refuse to rent an apartment to someone who lacks the ability to pay the rent. – and says so.

 

How To Make Cheese Sauce.

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This recipe is fast and foolproof!
My first job here in Berkeley was managing the Mel’s Drive-In restaurant downtown. Mel’s Drive-In restaurants are long gone, but the name may sound familiar. A Mels’ Drive-In was featured in the movie American Graffiti, which launched the careers of many famous actors. After Mel’s went bankrupt, another company bought the name and now has Mel’s restaurants in several Bay Area cities, including Berkeley. I learned how to make cheese sauce when I was managing another restaurant in Berkeley, The Station.
Cheese sauce is used in a lot of popular dishes: macaroni & cheese, nachos, potatoes au gratin, etc.; however, most people never make cheese sauce because they don’t think they are up to it. Most cheese sauce recipes start off by making you make a roux, and making roux is tricky. If you don’t cook the flour in your roux long enough, your sauce will be lumpy and pasty. It you cook your roux too long, it will burn, and roux burns very easily. This recipe contains no roux.
The secret to foolproof cheese sauce without roux is Wondra flour. Wondra flour is sold at all supermarkets in the baking section. Wondra looks like regular wheat flour, but it is different. Wondra is precooked flour. That means that when you use Wondra in a sauce, you don’t have to make a roux. You just put everything in the pot and heat it up. To make a professional, restaurant quality cheese sauce, put all the following ingredients in a small pot:
1 cup cold whole milk
2 tablespoons Wondra flour
2 tablespoons butter
dash of salt and pepper
Heat the mixture to a boil over a medium flame, stirring constantly. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Turn off the heat and add:
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Stir it up. The residual heat in the mixture will melt the cheese. When the cheese is melted, you’re done! That’s all there is too it.

You might be surprised at how many spiffy, expensive restaurants use Wondra to make their fancy sauces. And No – I am not going to name names. My lawyer would yell at me if I did that, and he reads my tenant newsletter. But I know its true. I have seen containers of Wondra flour in the kitchens of some very famous restaurants.

Calling Me On The Telephone.

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When calling me on the telephone, please remember that before I answer my phone, I always check the Caller I.D. screen first. If my Caller I.D. screen does not identify the caller, or if it tells me that the call is from ‘Private Caller’, ‘Out of Area’, ‘Unknown Name’, ‘Toll Free Caller’, ‘Name Not Found,’ ‘Blocked’, ‘Unavailable’, etc.; I will not answer the call. If you are calling me from a telephone that does not identify you as the caller or you have caller I.D. blocking, just leave a message on my voice mail. Do not hang up without leaving a message or call back later. That won’t do you any good. I check my messages frequently, and I will reply to legitimate voice mail messages. I am sorry if this seems rude, but I get a lot of robocalls and calls from crooks and scammers, and this is the only way I can control this problem.

You should do the same thing I do about this. When you answer a telephone call from a robocaller, you are informing the computer that called you that your phone ​number is live and active and that you answer your phone when calls come in from robocallers. Doing that gets your name put on the robocaller’s sucker list, and they sell their sucker lists to other robocallers.