Drews Sign It Pty Ltd - Food For Thought

While on the surface we probably smile and think it would be great to be stuck in a holiday destination for an extended break, in actuality, it must have been a nightmare. Compensation for the extra expense of living in a strange land is not guaranteed, so that is an added stress for those in that situation. Of course, you have to have the money available to fund the extended stay too. No one knew for how long either so those employers that had staff away would have been disadvantaged, and those self employed ones would have lost business. The repercussions would have been significant.

I've heard many horror stories of people who were on prepaid holidays, and found themselves stuck in a holiday city without accommodation or enough money for car hire and meals, for an indefinite stay.

I'm told that some travel insurance has been declared void as the insurers are claiming an 'act of God'. To my mind however, travel insurance is against flights being cancelled, missed or prevented due to an unforeseen event. If a volcano erupting and stopping flights isn't a valid reason to make a claim, what is? Or is that just me?

We've had our own dramas locally too. In Queensland, you may have read about our dedicated medical people who have been the victim of our state governments serious mismanagement and error in judgement at implementing a new payroll system. Some have not been paid, or have been underpaid for a few weeks now. We are talking about 75,000 plus employees here.

Anyone that has missed a pay packet for one week knows how difficult that can be, but when it goes on for many weeks and into months, that would be horrendous.

My wife knows first hand, as a payroll officer for several hundred staff, the aggravation that comes with being late with the pays due to a computer glitch. I can't imagine what the payroll staff at Queensland Health are experiencing with this debacle. They have employed security officers to protect staff though, so that may be an indication as to the seriousness of the situation.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who sent best wishes for my recent recovery. It was very much appreciated.

Stupidity 101

or how to make bad decisions really easy....

25 year old Peter

Source: Cairns Post.

Grigg of Cairns in North Queensland was not going to let a HIGHLY VENOMOUS snake bite stop him watching the premiere of Australian crime drama Underbelly - The Golden Mile.

Bitten on the ankle by a 1m eastern small-eyed snake in his yard, Mr Grigg, fearing he'd miss his favourite TV show if he called for help, decided to do nothing.

Despite battling cramps as a result of the bite, he stupidly then went to bed when the show had finished.

"My leg started cramping up real bad along with my chest, but I just went to bed and didn't get much sleep," he said.

"When I went to work the next day, everybody said I didn't look well.
"I finally called David Walton from Cairns Snake Removals who said I should definitely go to the hospital."

Mr Grigg was placed on a drip and Doctors monitored his health.

If being bitten by a snake but deciding TV was more important wasn't bad enough, his comment to reporters is breathtaking.

"If I had died that night it wouldn't have been worth it," he said. "... it's one of my favourite shows."

As one commentator said, "If all the village idiots in the world got to together and made their own village, this guy would be idiot of that village."

Couldn't have said it better myself. Someone should explain to him the concept of a VCR

(source: cairns.com.au)

You're Kidding, right?

Is social media controlling your life?

The Retrevo Gadgetology Report examined data from 1,000 Facebook and Twitter users to see 'when, where, and how much time they spend on their social media accounts.

The study found that almost half of users under the age of 25 - and 27 percent of those over 25 - allow social media updates to interrupt meals, and that 11 percent admit to checking updates during intimacy (6 percent of users over 25 do the same).

Twenty-four percent of users under 25 and 12 percent of users over 25 allow "electronic message" to interrupt them while they're in the bathroom.

48% check their social media accounts during the night, or as soon as they wake up. 18% of people under 25 check their social networks before they get out of bed.

12% of all facebook users check their accounts every couple of hours, and Iphone users are easily the most prolific users of social media.

The report is rather sad reading actually. Makes you seriously wonder if technology is actually a good thing or a bad thing. Gone, it seems, are the days of taking a personal interest in others. One on one contact will be a thing of the past in future generations.... and that can't be a good thing.

Social media, in the guise of being a useful tool to connect to more people, is actually teaching us to be rather singular in our outlook. We don't have to answer anyone if we are not in the mood, we can ignore others if it suits us. Social media is actually teaching us to be anti social.

Then you have the time it wastes... but lets not go there today.

(source: news.com.au)

Good news for air travel...

..unless you fly economy

It was reported recently that the Australian Airline, the Virgin Blue Group, have finalised a contract with Boeing for up to 105 of their 737 aircraft, a deal that is the biggest in the Australian company's 10-year history and the largest Boeing has landed in 18 months.

The agreement includes 50 firm 737-800s with options to convert orders to either the -700 or -900, plus 25 options and 30 purchase rights.

Virgin will maintain the youngest aircraft fleet.

Deliveries are scheduled to run from June 2011 through 2017.

Virgin Blue said that a "significant percentage" of the aircraft are intended for replacement of its existing narrowbody fleet, which numbers approximately 52 737s, while the remainder will be deployed on new routes and to boost frequency where demand dictates.

CEO Brett Godfrey noted that "securing this agreement now places Virgin Blue in a strong position to prepare for steady future growth as domestic and short-haul markets recover. It will also ensure a turnover of aircraft to maintain the youngest fleet of modern aircraft which is crucial for maintaining our commitment to ontime performance and the lowest cost base possible."

He added that the company "was fortunate to see the opportunity, and be in a position to take advantage of the downturn in the market as we did back in 2001, to secure a long-term future supply of aircraft on attractive commercial terms."

Virgin Blue expects to finalize funding arrangements for these aircraft shortly.

The 737s will be delivered with Boeing's new Sky interior and a three-class economy layout featuring premium economy, standard economy and economy "lite" .

(Source: Geoffrey Thomas and Christine Boynton of ATWOnline )

I am courious what the economy 'lite' is? Perhaps seatbelts and cushions are optional?

Did you know?

Who invented the light bulb?........

No, it wasn't Thomas Edison. Light bulbs - in particular Starr's electric lamp - were in use 50 years before Edison applied for the patent in 1879. In addition, British inventor Joseph Swan was awarded a light bulb patent the previous year. Edison went on to make big buck from the light bulb but Swan sued Edison for infringement and won. As part of the settlement, Edison was forced to take Swan in as a partner but later bought him out in the company that was to become General Electric.

In 1883, the US Patent Office ruled that Edison's patent on the light bulb might have been based on that of William Sawyer and were invalid. It is not that Edison stole the idea: there are many examples of different people thinking up the same concept at more-or-less the same time.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 - 1931) certainly was not a lazy guy. He filed 1,093 patents, including those for electric railways and the movie camera. When he died in 1931, he held 34 patents for the telephone, 141 for batteries, 150 for the telegraph and 389 patents for electric light and power. Unlike Leonardo da Vinci who never built the inventions he designed, Edison was not just a great theorist. He coined the phrase: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." He also said: "There are no rules here. We're trying to get work done."

and finally, weinterupt.com reports that a suicidal man was left feeling so angry that he lost the will to kill himself after the priest he had called at the suicide helpline fell asleep.

The 44-year-old man called emergency services at 2am one Friday morning, feeling "psychologically unstable".

His call was forwarded to the Church of Sweden pastor who was on call at the time.

According to the man, five minutes into the call, things became a little strange. He said that it was as if he was talking to himself.

The caller said "I thought maybe he was taking notes, so I asked: 'Are you taking notes?' I could hear his heavy breathing before he woke up."

The man reported hanging up the phone after the pastor woke up and fell asleep again. It was then that the caller reported that his suicidal thoughts had been replaced with anger for the sleepy pastor.

He vented his frustration to the local newspaper:

"It's not acceptable for a priest to fall asleep in the middle of a call; this should not happen when you call up in search of help" he said. " I felt bad and wanted to kill myself, but I pulled myself together and made the call. I am very disappointed."

Monica Eckerdal Kjellstroem, head of Church of Sweden duty pastors explained "This sort of thing should really not occur, but it does sometimes happen that people call and report that the pastors have fallen asleep."

In future, she said, sleeping pastors will be fired.

I hope this edition gave you more food for thought anyway.

Until next month, take care,

Sincerely,

Shane Drew