Thursday, March 20, 2008

Spanking and "The Belt" Get Reinstated In 17 More States - Lincoln, Nebraska, November 19 2015

Six months after Texas reinstated spanking and giving children "The Belt" as disciplinary tools, 17 states have followed suit, including larger states like California and Virginia. The newly legalized forms of these ways of corporal punishment are very strictly defined in the “Spanking Bill” that has been passed by the Texas legislature early this year and has been adopted without amendments by the other states. Parents and teachers are required to take a 4 hour course to become certified to make use of these correctional educational methods. Only with this certification is it allowed to apply these ways of disciplining for:

  • Parents - only with their own children.

  • Teachers - only with their own students.

Anything outside these limitations or not following the strict guidelines set by the Spanking Bill will make people subject to the "Sally Lieber Law", as it has become known as, a federal law that got accepted in 2009 and evolved from fining people who were practicing spanking to an minimum sentence of 2 years in prison after amendments in 2010. States have been looking for ways to opt out of this law, especially after studies in 2011 showed that households were being disrupted by this law, with sometimes one, sometimes both parents having to spend time in jail resulting in a spiraling down effect for families towards poverty and in many cases "other" forms of crime. The certification course is fully booked in Texas for the coming two years and the state is looking for expansion of their program into many locations statewide to try and keep up with demand.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Antique, intact IKEA "Billy" bookcase sells for 10 billion dollar – London, England, April 5th 2123

Sotheby's in London was pleased to see an item change hands for 10 billion dollars. An anonymous bidder from China called in the final bid. He purchased a "faux wood" IKEA Billy bookcase in mint condition and still in its original boxes for the astonishing amount of a 1 with 10 zeros. In 2008, the same Billy would have sold for $ 59.99. The IKEA "Billy" line of bookcases was one of the best selling items when IKEA was the number one retailer in the world in the late 1990's and early part of the 21st Century. An estimated one in four households worldwide in 2031 was said to have one of these now extremely rare pieces of furniture. IKEA spiraled downwards in the second half of the 21st Century after trying to make the transition to all-plastic products after the UN All-plastic Resolution of 2143 forbade any company to make use of trees and plants in their products. Companies like PlastoFurn and SynthoDesign that were already geared towards all-plastic drove IKEA out of the market with amazing speed to its bankruptcy in 2087. In the early 2100's people started collecting IKEA furniture and products and collectors have been driving prices up dramatically to the insane level that was reached today.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Caffeinated Burger Turns Out To Be Bestseller - Brussels, Belgium, September 18 2011

Quick, the Belgian fast food chain, started in the 1980's to counter the exponential growth of US based franchise fast food restaurants in Belgium, announced today that their recently introduced 'Wake Up Giant', is their best selling breakfast item and their second best overall item after the classic Giant. A local owner of one of the no. 1 franchise restaurants in France and Belgium in downtown Lyon, said it was amazing to see sales levels this high so short after the introduction. People's first reactions to the new 'Slap in the Face Burger' as it has been marketed, was 'Gross!', 'Revolting!' and to the French 'American!' (an insult in itself in France). People rejected the seemingly impossible combination right out, afraid that it would taste horribly. Jean Dupuis, the Novelties Product Manager at the Quick Burger Gourmet Institute in Lyon, explained that the caffeine cannot be tasted in the burgers. He made clear the caffeine is encapsulated by fat beads in the burger through a patented method and could not reveal any of the chemical and technical details. 'Once the fat beads get dissolved by enzymes in the stomach, the caffeine is released and the "slap in the face effect" will kick in', according to Dupuis. The burgers contain triple the amount of a Starbucks regular medium coffee. In a response to the fact that this item seems to be replacing the "French as French can be" breakfast classic the croissant more and more, Dupuis stated: 'Hey, at least it is a European invention.' McDonald's has announced it will launch new breakfast items next month, insiders in the fast food industry think it will be an answer to Quick's new best seller.

Watch The Video