US Police Beat Shopper Unconscious

Courtesy Daily Mail. “The man body slammed to the ground at a Walmart outside Phoenix, Arizona, was trying to save his 8-year-old grandson from a being trampled after the boy was knocked down during an uncontrollable stampede at a video game display.

Police slammed Jerald Allen Newman, 54, face-first into the concrete floor when a security guard reported that he stuffed two video games in his pants. Mr Newman's wife says he was just trying to free his hands to help his grandson.”

Apparently the cop kicked Mr. Newman’s legs out from under him and slammed him so hard into the concrete floor that the man was bloodied and knocked unconscious.

Does anybody else believe that since Mr. Newman had not left the store he had not technically stolen anything yet?

Mr. Newman said he was trying to protect his 8-year old grandson, who was also treated in hospital for injuries sustained by the crowds and had intended to pay for the videos when he left the store.

Why would a thief stand for hours in line to steal a 50% off video game? Obviously he intended to purchase this and was trying to protect his grandson. The police acted too soon and too aggressively.

Read more here.

Happy Thanksgiving to our Usian friends

Eldest Boy is Driving - Scary!

Eldest boy is 16. Yesterday after school he passed his written driving test for a G1 licence. This is the first step towards a full licence.

In Ontario we have a graduated driver licence system. The first step to a full Ontario driver licence is a G1 licence. You must pass a written test and be at least 16 years old. You must hold a G1 licence for a minimum of 12 months before you can take the road test (or 8 months if you take a Ministry approved driver education course). You must have a fully licenced driver (usually a parent) in the front seat whenever you are driving.

The next step is the G2 driver licence. The G2 road test is taken 12 months after the G1 road test. For the first 6 months a G2 driver can only have 1 teenager 19 or under in the car. After 6 months you may not have more than 3 passengers, 19 and under, in the car between midnight and 5 am.

Since it's inception the Graduated Licensing System has reduced death and injury among teenaged drivers.

Hubby is taking eldest boy out to drive. Just a little scary.

A French Canadian what?

I decided to replace my laptop. Found one I liked at our local Staples, got it home, and noticed that the keyboard was very different to the one I was used to in the US.

In Canada we are told it is mandatory to sell the French Canadian keyboard. In order to get the extra French keys in, the manufacturers have made the two keys one uses the most very small. You can see that the enter and shift keys are half the size. I tried typing, but could not reach those keys on the new keyboard.

I’ve returned my laptop to Staples, and will go to Walmart in Buffalo to get an English keyboard. I think it would have been better all around if the politically correct people had allowed us a choice between a French keyboard and an English keyboard, rather than making everyone suffer (both French and English) with tiny keys that one has to use frequently.

Just my two cents.