Quote:Comments A brash Cathay Pacific pilot has been sacked after an unauthorised wheels-up, low-level flypast in a new Boeing 777-300ER. Well, he did get permission from the air traffic control tower, but the sacking was based on the fact that he didn't get it from his employers. You lot had a good old argy-bargy over whether it was fair, and whether it was stupid:

    Bit harsh on the Ray Middleton, the co-pilot, being suspended for 6 months despite:

    a) not having a lot of choice in the matter

    b) not knowing it wasn't authorised

    c) not able to stop it even if he wanted to - "oi, no, I'll take them controls thank you very much, oi, give em here, <struggle> <crash>"

    Tim Spence
    Just in case any airline pilots are thinking about doing that with me on board, they'd better make sure they do crash the fudgeing thing good and proper.

    Because if they don't, and wee both survive, I'm coming looking for the bastard. In fact I'll be *so* miffed, I might even come back as a zombie.

    "Boring" and "uneventful" - that's what I'm looking for in an airliner, thanks.

    Evil Graham
    Totally irresponsible, unnecessary, dangerous, immature and reprehensible. In other words brilliant! Well done that man.

    Proof that their is a difference between man and machine still. Wee have an unexplainable streak of unpredictable risk taking, devil may care mentality still within us that is part of the reason that the species has survived so far.

    tardigrade
    I reckon he maybe got a bit pissed-off with being patronised by the management, bossed about, given conflicting ordered and made to log everything for marketting statistics and had generally had enough of his job anyway.

    What better way to leave than to do so by scaring the living spoon out of your tormentors and protagonists by casually showing them how proficient you are at what you do?

    Gordon
    All Cathay Pacific have done is turn some good publicity into bad.

    I used to watch them doing this as a kid with the Concord (before it got an "e") at the airfield outside Oxford ... basic touch and go except in this case he wasn't planning to touch so he didn't put the wheels down. It's a lot harder to put a plane that size into the ground than you might think.

    I've done this with the wheels down in Atlanta when the plane landing before us didn't get of the runway fast enough, and years before that in Charlotte when the pilot decided that he REALLY didn't like the weather coming in at the end of the runway (the round, funnel sort of weather)... did a half roll that time too.

    If you don't trust the pilot then don't get on the plane - if you get on the plane then quit complaining.

    Edmund Cramp

Quote:Those of you seeking a new position in IT need look no further than Fortytwo's ad for a 'Senior Blowjob assistant'. Dealing, no doubt, with thrusting executives and maintaining a tip-top service. Head down. Nose to the, uh, grindstone and all that.

    Is this an entry position or is hands-on experience required?

    OK, alright, mine's the rubber one with the diving mask.

    Morten Ranulf Clausen
    Probably not a career by choice, just someyhing you get sucked into.

    Dave
    Could be a job for these guys...

    http://www.bjchampion.co.uk/

    I see their trucks on the motorway regularly. The drivers always look somewhat disgruntled.

    Tom Richardson
    I think that free lunch is something of a given.

    Rob Holmes
    As far as I know, you only need one person to give, or one person to receive, if they need an assistant they're doing something seriously wrong!

    Mine's the latex one with the air pocket at the top.

    Anonymous Coward

Quote:Florida police called out to deal with a naked 65-year-old man wandering around a Sarasota neighbourhood, but had to resort to their tasers after he took to his bare heels. The game old bugger resisted attempts to apprehend him, requiring an application of pepper spray and, when that didn't work, the aforementioned tasering.

    "Kirk was charged with "prowling and resisting arrest with violence", and released on Sunday from Manatee County Jail after coughing $1,200 bail."

    I like to think I'm law-abiding but I think if I was going to be 'arrested with violence' I'd be tempted to resist.

    - I'll take the electrically-grounded coat please.

    Pat
    I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to handle a naked 65 year old geezer.

    Bill Fresher
    Some police departments classify a taser as a deadly weapon. Also the The ACLU and PERF recommend limits on Taser use on at-risk individuals. i.e. pregnant women and the elderly. According to Amnesty International since 2001 290 people in the US have died due to being tasered. Elderly, children and pregnant women are considered especially susceptible to dangerous side effects/death from tasers. Some police departments have in their "Taser Safety Handbooks" rules that for at-risk individuals tasers should only be used if there is a danger of physical damage, and specifically exclude their use on a fleeing suspect.

    Tests show tasers are safe? So they tested tasers on the elderly and pregnant women? I don't think so. They tested them on healthy individuals, and yet there are more cases every year of police tasering elderly and pregnant people. Tasers are considered very dangerous for those with cardiac or neurological problems. An elderly man running round naked looks like he'd fit one or both of these categories.

    In 2005 Policie Agencies brought a class action lawsuit against Taser International because they felt they had been misled about the safety of the devices. I don't think tasers should be taken away, I think the police should be retrained in their use and dangers. A police officer who is fully informed is going (I hope) to make better decisions than one who has been told this is a safe easy way of bringing down someone.

    Melissa Ter

Quote:An employee of Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in Iowa was canned after requesting the hotel provide him with a prostitute. He had been provided with a room gratis for one night as a reward for staying in the job for a whole year. This kicked off an interesting debate over just what kind of establishment would deem it necessary to provide such an establishment.

    What if he wasn't staff, would they have found him a prossie then? Lets face it, a concierge at a Casino/hotel will have seen everything...

    Dan
    ONE YEAR? What kind of place gives ANY kind of award for ONE YEAR of service?

    My company starts acknowledging you at five years, and then you get, like a box of chocolates.

    Anonymous Coward
    Maybe after 5 years they get you a prostitute?

    One-armed Freddy
    You get a box of chocolates?

    I've been here for about 8 years and I'm lucky to get the tools needed to do my job.

    Anonymous Coward
    My colleague has just completed 10 years of service and our benevolent employers sent him an e-certificate to print out in order to mark this momentous occasion.

    He was also given special permission to use the colour printer so I guess they do value him very much.

    Andy ORourke

Here at El Reg if you last three hours without skiving off down the pub you're rewarded with a trip to the local. ®