Since the Rio Olympics opened, calorie-seeking athletes have been gorging themselves on free food from McDonald’s, but there’s only so much gratis grub the Golden Arches is willing to give away.
Business Insider reports that McDonald’s has had to change its chaotic giveaway of free food to athletes and coaches at the Olympic Village, and is now restricting folks to only 20 items each.
But that popularity quickly turned into a bit of chaos for the restaurant, which has now implemented a 20-item limit for athletes and coaches seeing sustenance.
Customers can order more than 20 items, but if they do, the order will fall in priority, the Washington Post reports, estimating that the average line is about 50 people deep.
Athletes have posted photos of the seemingly endless lines on social media, as well as pictures capturing their coveted fare.
The sought-after nature of the Olympic Village McDonald’s occurred because the restaurant is the only fast food chain on the premises, and other food options are limited to a cafeteria.
Back in early June we brought you a first look at the Whopperrito from Burger King. The internet went crazy enough to fast forward the test market schedule all the way to a national release which we’ll be seeing on Monday, August 15th. The Whopperrito is a burger-burrito hybrid which features flame-grilled 100% beef which is seasoned with a special blend of spices to get a Tex-Mex flavor. Also included in the Whopperrito are cut tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles and a creamy queso sauce wrapped in a flour tortilla. The suggested price for the Whopperrito is $2.99 and as part of a combo meal for $4.99.
We’ve covered in the past Uber’s problems with the ride-hailing service’s disabled passengers, which range from ride snubs to service dogs forced to ride in the trunk. It’s worth keeping that in mind when you learn about Uber’s latest change to their driver app to accommodate a different community of people with disabilities: the service is testing changes to its system that make driving for the service possible for people who are deaf.
Many of the changes to the app could, in theory, be helpful to all drivers. The set of features are being tested in four cities right now, One feature for deaf and hard of hearing drivers is that the passenger is prompted to type in their destination address, which is much easier for a driver who can’t hear, but would also make life easier for a hearing driver too. Another is flashing a light to alert the driver that there’s a nearby passenger hailing instead of using a sound cue, and blocking voice phone calls, limiting communication from passengers to text messages only.
People with disabilities have a hard time finding employment, and while difficulties finding jobs, and while employing people to do piecework in the on-demand economy isn’t ideal, the app changes make things easier for people who do choose to drive for a living. “The NAD applauds the efforts of Uber to promote increased work opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers,” the CEO of the National Organization for the Deaf said in a statement for Uber’s announcement post. “Moreover, we commend Uber for enhancing their mobile app to improve communications between drivers and passengers, regardless of whether they are hearing or deaf.” Better communication between people hurtling around in a small metal box at 70 miles per hour so is something that we should always work toward.
For Uber, though, this update comes at an interesting time, as the company is being sued by the National Federation for the Blind, and defends itself by saying that as a company that provides a mobile app and platform, they don’t need to follow federal and local laws regulating transportation for disabled people. That’s up to their drivers, who aren’t even required to take any Uber-mandated training. While that lawsuit is pending, Uber added features to attract a new population of drivers from a community who have historically been under-employed.
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The cause of Tuesday night’s Amtrak passenger train derailment in north Philadelphia is still unknown. Dozens were injured and six killed among the 243 passengers and crew who were on board Northeast Regional Train 188, which was traveling from Washington, D.C. to New York City.
NTSB officials arrived at the scene this morning. Hundreds of police and firefighters were at the crash site late last night along with dozens of F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security officials, according to the New York Times.
Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia is suspended today. Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter says it’s likely service will remain suspended the rest of the week. Having just returned from the crash site, the mayor told reporters late last night, “[i]t is an absolute disastrous mess. I have never seen anything like this in my life.”