12 Oct 2010

WHEN NOT TO SMILE.

Once again a weekly round up of the newspapers starting with:-

Thursday.

What are the odds of this happening?

A chef has lost all of her possessions after her flatmate loaded them into the wrong car, which was then driven off.
Faye Pounder, 25, was moving house when her flatmate offered to carry her bags downstairs and load them into her car. But he mistakenly opened the boot of an identical car parked outside their flat which had been left unlocked. - The Daily Telegraph.

And so onto Saturday and the Sun.

Nothing like service with a smile.

Workers have been banned from ...... smiling at customers with parking complaints - in case it 'winds them up'.
Staff  dismissed the order imposed on them as laughable (with a) union representative adding "Smiling's the best way of defusing a conflict situation."

You couldn't make these next two stories up but they are true - honest!

A dinner plate that can flavour food to your taste has been unveiled by scientists.
Diners can programme a microchip in the dish using smartphone apps. Invisible channels in it then carry tiny droplets of flavour to the food.

Sick of noisy popcorn eaters at the cinema? Then this could well be the answer ..... then again perhaps not.

A biodegradable crisp packet has been abandoned because consumers said it was too noisy.
Frito-Lay, the American snack maker, will switch back to plastic packaging for five of its six SunChips flavours after receiving complaints that the new bags, which are made from plants, were too stiff and too loud.
The new packaging spawned FaceBook groups such as 'I wanted SunChips but my room-mate was sleeping' and 'Nothing is louder than a SunChips bag.'

And in Sunday's Sunday Telegraph .....

We all know that today's youngsters are maturing a lot quicker but I hadn't thought about the affect it could have on ....... choirboys.

For centuries, the great choral works have been sung by boy choristers, spellbinding congregations in Britain's ancient cathedrals.
But now choirs say they face a growing and seemingly unstoppable threat - their choristers' voices are breaking earlier. Growing numbers of boy singers, known as trebles, are having to leave prematurely because they can no longer sing the high notes. Instead of singing until the age of 15 or 16, many now stop at 13 or even younger.
Experts believe the trend is caused by changes in modern diets, which have caused an earlier onset of puberty. - Jasper Copping and Graham Mole. (FULL ARTICLE)

They may be too old to be a choirboy but are they too old to want to have this years must-have Christmas gift?

Yes, it's that time of year again. The schools have only been back a matter of weeks after the summer break, we are yet to celebrate Halloween let alone Bon Fire Night and already the shops are full of Christmas gifts with this years must-have toy being ....... Dave. (click HERE for video presentation.)

It is not the most sophisticated toy on anyone's Christmas gift list.
But a robotic monkey that can wave, laugh and burp is poised to be this year's festive sell-out toy, hunted on the high street by anxious parents.
Dave the Funky Shoulder monkey, remote-controlled with a repertoire of rude gestures, has been tipped as a Christmas favourite by several toy shops.
Its creators, an independent British toymaking firm, have warned that they cannot supply enough of the toy to satisfy demand. the £25 gadget could follow the likes of Buzz Lightyear and Go-go Hamsters in becoming the annual toy which every parent wants but no parent can buy. - Alaister Jamieson.

21 comments:

chitra said...

I would love to have a dinner plate than can flavour food. It would solve lot of cooking problems :)

susan s. said...

Re choir boys who mature faster. . . This is yet another opportunity for girls in the CofE! I'm sure there will be a kerfuffle about it. There is sure to be another group who will need find a female free place to worship. ;-)

Christina Lee said...

These are great! The laughing one is like "no laughing in church." Once told not to, how can you stop?

serendipity_viv said...

I always thought boy's voices broke around 13 anyway. I never realised it was later.

Anonymous said...

Very amusing post. Thanks.

All the best, Boonie

Melissa Gill said...

I always love these news items. I'm bummed that the biodegradable Sun Chips bags didn't work out, but seriously, they weren't just loud, they were menacing. My cats hid under the bed for a week when I brought one home, and I had to transfer all the chips to quite plastic bags just to eat them without scaring them to death.

awitchtrying said...

How bizarre! I can't believe people would sacrifice a biodegradable bag for one that is quieter. C'mon people, get some priorities!!

Kelly said...

Lot's of good stuff here!!!

I saw that about the sunchip bags on our news here. I guess I've never heard one. Don't guess I will, either, since they've switched from them now.

That would be such a desperate feeling to know all your stuff had left in some stranger's car!!

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Ah, yes, the robotic monkey. A classic toy.

It's getting crazy with Christmas over here too-already they're selling trees and ornaments! Rather than a month of Christmas, everyone seems to have the please of three. :)

Misha said...

Your posts never fail to amuse me! Thanks for sharing !

Alyce said...

That flavor plate just sounds a bit too odd for me. I haven't been to any of the bigger stores lately, but I'm sure they're stocking Christmas items here too. They started selling Halloween candy in August which I thought was just ridiculous.

SG said...

Very interesting news item. I would be interested in the dinner plate with food flavor.

Patti said...

That's crazy about the sun chip bags. Just get a pair of scissors. What is this world coming to?

Manav said...

Ha hA Ha...

Misty said...

Just stopping by to say hi because I've gotten in a really bad habit of reading people's posts in Google Reader and not commenting...did you always have a velveteen rabbit quote in your header? That's my favorite childhood book!

Betty Manousos said...

Loved this post! So interesting as usual.
It's hard to believe that scientists have unveiled a dinner plate that can flavour food to our taste.
Very interesting!

Warm hugs to you!
B xx

Your wonderful comments on my blog are always highly appreciated, Tracy. Thank you!

Gina said...

Good grief! A robotic remote controlled apparantly rude monkey? *shakes head* I suppose there is something for everyone these days (though it's doubtful that would end up on my list...even if I was in the intended age range). LOL on the "stop smiling" bit...and really...the wrong car? Something tells me someone wasn't paying much attention ...at all....
Thanks for the smiles!

Deepali said...

Funny roundup! :) Amusing to read about the smiling ban!

Heather said...

I have heard about the noisy sunchips bag. If that's the worst thing in a person's life then they are doing exceptionally well.

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

This is worse than Tickle Me Elmo.

purplume said...

Interesting stuff. I hate it when I do things to help and end up messing up, like putting the bags in the wrong car. yikes.
I want a monkey that picks up and puts things away.