Friday Newsletter: April 6, 2012

It is April. Can you believe it is April?

I am enjoying this year so far…I just wish it was not rolling around quite so quickly.

This week we have a scary haircut, a rather mean airline and a ‘remorseful’ computer thief who was not quite as sorry as he said he was.

So that’s what they mean by a military buzz cut these days?

The idea of getting your head shaved for charity is hardly new.

But allowing a military robot which was designed to deal with explosives to do the cutting takes some nerve.

The volunteer called Tim certainly looked more than a little  nervous as he allowed the Multi-Arm UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) get to work on his head to raise funds for a children’s cancer charity.

The robot was fitted out with multiple electric hair clippers and controlled by an operator using a laptop and a mouse.

The UGV is a hi-tech military robot that the U.S Army uses to make bombs safe but I don’t think it will be in much demand for haircuts.

Video: YouTube/IAIvideos

What happened when the computer thief went to his victim’s home to apologize.

Thief Ivan Barker, 21, felt ashamed that he had stolen a laptop from the home of wheelchair user Jacque Mathley.

The police – these days part law enforcement and part social workers – suggested it would be a good idea if he went back to Mr Mathley to apologize.

Barker agreed and knocked on the victim’s door to try to make amends for his crime.

He was invited inside and while there he told of his remorse…and then when his victim’s back was turned, he stole the new laptop which had been purchased to replace the first one he had previously stolen.

Barker was arrested and hauled before his local magistrates’ court where a defense lawyer said his client hadn’t intended to steal the new computer when he went round to say sorry.

The lawyer said: “This was an opportunistic offense. The defendant had been drinking to excess and taking cocaine before he went to the address.”

Barker was jailed for 16 weeks.

Council worker could lose his job for lowering town hall flag in tribute to soldiers killed fighting in Afghanistan

Recently six British soldiers were killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan.

As a mark of respect an ex-serviceman working for Bassetlaw District Council in Nottinghamshire, lowered the town hall flag to half mast.

It would appear that he took it upon himself to do so and did not seek official sanction.

Good on him I say.

Except his bosses don’t see it that way.

According to reports in a British paper he will now face disciplinary action on a charge of  gross misconduct.

Amazingly it would appear that one of the offenses being investigated is that he didn’t carry out a thorough health and safety assessment before lowering the flag.

I am not sure which is more worthy of my contempt, the fact that he is being disciplined in the first place for honoring the dead or the fact that we need a full health and safety assessment to lower a flag.

Cat lover opens fire on woman after mistaking her red mohawk for a bird

Derrill Rockwell was angry that birds had been bothering his pet cats.

So when he saw the bird’s distinctive red plumage on a hill near his home in Grand Junction, Colorado he grabbed his .22 caliber rifle and opened fire.

He thought he had hit his target but when he went to investigate, he found that he had shot a 23-year-old woman with a cherry-colored mohawk hairdo instead.

The woman survived the shooting and Rockwell was ordered to pay more than $10,000 in restitution and was given five years probation.

“Treat your wife with kindness and love…but you can beat her by hand or by stick.”

It is hard for me to reconcile the two disparate elements of the headline above.

It is hard to imagine how there could be any kindness or love involved when a husband is busy beating his wife with a stick.

But both elements are taken from a 160-page book called “A Gift For Muslim Couple” (sic) which has been written by a prominent Islamic scholar.

The book’s promotional material says it deals with:

“…the various pitfalls of marriage [and] causes of breakdown… [using] fine examples of real life incidents, different aspects of family life and explained how to run the institution of marriage successfully”

So far so good.

However the book has caused outrage for some of its advice to husbands.

Here is some of it:

“It might be necessary to restrain [your wife] with strength or even to threaten her.”

“The husband should treat his wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”

The book came to light after going on sale in a Canadian book store but it is also widely available from Islamic online book stores.

Just what on earth is this driver actually trying to do?

It has been suggested that this is the worst attempt to park a car in the history of parking cars.

In fact the standard of driving is so utterly dreadful that it not even certain that the woman behind the wheel is actually trying to park the vehicle.

I have watched it twice now and I have no real idea what she is attempting to achieve.

All I do know is that she probably didn’t want to do what she actually did.

Video: YouTube/PezStone

No, no and thrice no.

The other day I received a marketing email which started like this…

“Do You Say NO To These Things…When You Build Your Business?

“NO Selling

“NO Telling

“NO Convincing

“NO Explaining

“NO Inventory

“NO Employees

“NO Employers

“NO Shipping

“NO Receiving

“NO Hotel Meetings

“NO Chasing Family

“NO Losing Friends

“NO Technical Skills

“NO Accounts Receivable

“NO Accounts Payable

“NO Investment Required

“NO Experience Necessary.”

I just added one more category to this long list…

NO thank you!

Irish airline Ryanair branded ‘mean-spirited’ over its exit row seating policy.

Like many airlines, Ryanair charge passengers extra if they want to enjoy the extra legroom of the emergency row seats.

But many cost-conscious travelers won’t pay the extra so the exit row seats are left empty on hundreds of flights.

And if the seats have not been purchased by time the plane is ready for boarding then cabin crew won’t let anyone sit on them.

So far so good you might say.

But now passengers are complaining that they are being asked ensure that they understand how to open the emergency exit doors if they are sitting closest to the exit rows.

One passenger complained that could not even see the door he was supposed to help open because he was sitting in the row in front of the over-wing exit.

The passenger on a flight from Bratislava to London told the crew member:

‘I suggested it would be a lot easier for the people expected to man the doors if they were allowed to sit in the same row as the doors.

‘She said those seats could only be used by people who had paid extra.’

Mean spirited? I should say so but then again I would expect nothing less from this particular airline.

If you want passengers to help open the emergency exits then at least let them sit in the exit seats.

And finally…

I have discovered a problem with my extra sensitive toothpaste…I find it doesn’t like it when I use other toothpaste.

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Have a good weekend and God bless.x

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