A Little Light Weirdness – 9

Technology
First up, apologies if this post contains more typos than usual, I'm sending it from my new ultra-small netbook and I'm still getting used to its itty-bitty keyboard. Which brings me nicely to my first story. That according to a survey for satellite channel SKY-HD, British consumers waste £52 billion a year on hi-tech features they don't use. For example, half of the people polled did not know their high definition television also required a hi-def signal source such as a blu-ray player or HD satellite receiver – like the ones sold by SKY-HD perhaps (Telegraph).

And it's not just the the British, military officials in Russia recently discovered 100 front-line battletanks parked and forgotten by the side of the road near Yekaterinburg in the Urals. Locals say the tanks, which were unguarded and unlocked, have been there for several months and lack only ammunition and the all important starter keys (Reuters).

Someone who might have had a use for those tanks were guests at a wedding in New Delhi in India recently. The Hindu ceremony was somewhat marred when an elephant hired for the event went on a rampage after becoming aroused by the smell of a nearby female in heat. The amorous pachyderm then proceeded to crush 20 limousines, smash through a nearby mall and mount a truck before it could be tranquilised (Orange).

Also losing it this week was the man on the RyanAir flight who found he had won 10,000 euros on a scratchcard he bought on the budget flight from Poland to the UK. Furious that the airline had not seen fit to equip all their planes with the requisite amount of cash onboard, hence he could not be given his prize there and then as he demanded, the unnamed passenger ate the winning card rather than wait to claim it at his destination (BBC News).

An altogether more expensive tantrum was thrown by the Croatian theology student who, without any inkling of irony, took exception to a thorn bush that had pricked him and set fire to it. The burning bush went on to cause £30 million of damage, devastate 500 acres of protected land, and land the hapless student in jail (Orange).

Perhaps he should count himself fortunate not to be charged with copyright theft, Columbia Pictures was not so lucky. The recent disaster movie 2012 includes a shot of the famous statue of Jesus at Rio de Janeiro collapsing under the onslaught of a worldwide disaster, unfortunately for Columbia the work's creator only died in 1961, meaning the work is still in copyright and its current owner, the Brazilian Catholic Church, is not happy (AltAssets.com).

Meanwhile an ocean away the French Catholic Church is similarly up in arms after a group of the faithful set up a “confession hotline” to allow the more devout among them to admit their sins 24x7 for a piddling tithe of just 0.34 euros per minute (the prophets profits go to charity). I can't help wondering if calls are recorded for training perposes (Metro).

(Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
     Posted By: Dumbfounded - Sun Mar 07, 2010
     Category: Armageddon and Apocalypses | Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Ceremonies | Weddings | Destruction | Disasters | Government | Law | Lawsuits | Military | Motor Vehicles | Technology | Goofs and Screw-ups





Comments
Strange that a theology student should be unaware of Exodus 22:6.

"If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution."
Posted by Dumbfounded on 03/08/10 at 06:47 AM
hi tech- not suprising. it's not like needing a hi def signal is stressed when they try to sell people the tvs. it's all about making money.

tanks- better off forgotten. they do less damage that way.

horny elephant wrecks wedding- i just like that as a headline. :lol:

scratch ticket- wow, i didn't know airplane food was getting that bad! seriously what was the idiot going to spend the money on before the plane landed?

student- prick causes bush to burn (headline!)

2012- ha ha caught in their own web for once!

confession- sounds like a turf war to me.

great post sweetie! :coolsmile:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/08/10 at 07:54 AM
Ryan Air - An airline that charges for "extras" like checking in baggage, both on-line & in-person check-in, drinking water, restrooms, and is thinking about charging extra to have a seat, should expect that passengers may need to get their money immediately.
Posted by Freddie Freelance on 03/08/10 at 09:50 AM
Well they could have given him his 10,000 euros there and then, but he objected to the 9995 euro handling charge.
Posted by Dumbfounded on 03/08/10 at 09:54 AM
Just looked into flights to one of the islands on the local discount carrier. 19Euros going, 33Euros coming back, 8Euros for the privilege of buying a ticket, and 49Euros tax for a total of 109Euros.

So.... 19 + 33 + 8 + 49 = 109

Oh... did I mention that they just bumped our sales tax (VAT) up to 21%???
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/08/10 at 11:24 AM
wow! 21% that sucks man. got a row boat? 😜
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/08/10 at 02:23 PM
This is why VAT is included in the price, not added at the register. If Europeans realized how much money the VAT actually costs them, there'd be strikes, riots and civil commotion.

BTW, €1 is about US$1.36, so the church's 900 number, at about 45 cents a minute, is really raking in the Mammon.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 03/08/10 at 06:15 PM
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