Inside Chris’s Head

So you are a bank teller and someone comes in to rob the bank wearing a hood and a scarf to hide his features. How do you identify the criminal? You might just try asking him to take off his disguise.

Police said Brian Waltermyer, 33, walked into the Integrity Bank in York on Thursday evening. He was wearing a hood. As he approached the teller, carrying a note demanding money, the teller asked him to remove the hood. He did, giving the bank surveillance cameras a crystal-clear view of his face.

Officers who watched the tape recognized Waltermyer and tellers were able to identify him from a photo lineup, police said.

You have to like compliant criminals.

Popularity: 27% [?]

SciFi.com’s Dvice blog had news about a new railgun the navy has. I find myself discourage that we continue to find more ways to kill each other and yet I must admit that the guy in me also has the reaction of “13,000 miles per hour, 10 megajoules, cool”! Sue me, it’s the testosterone.

Just take a look at the image above! It shows the first demonstration of this crazy magnetic railgun, which fired a shell at 5,600 miles per hour using 10 megajoules of energy. And that’s just the beginning. When this thing is done, it’ll be firing shots at over 13,000 miles per hour. Oh, and it’ll be accurate enough to hit a 5 meter target from 200 nautical miles away while shooting at 10 shots per minute. Even though it won’t be ready until 2020 to 2025, I’m going to start getting on the Navy’s good side now.

Popularity: 26% [?]

I found this speech by Barak Obama to support my impression that he is an interesting candidate. I continue to see him as someone who sounds reasonable. I wish that were not such a rare quality in a polititian. In this speech he talks somewhat about his personal faith but more about the role of faith in politics. He charts a course in between the left and the right extremes.

I am a swing voter (registered Republican) and generally find politics distasteful… ok, let’s say “slimy”. My podcast about faith (The Bible Study Podcast) is particularly labeled as free of politics. So for me to even take the time to listen to a political speech is rare, let alone one almost 40 minutes long.

In particular I share Obama’s view that the value of the separation of church and state is not just for the state. “Folks tend to forget that during our founding it wasn’t the athiests and the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the first ammendment”.

Do I agree with all of Obama’s politics? I doubt it. Do I think having someone who seems intelligent and reasonable in the oval office would be a nice change. I do.

Popularity: 34% [?]

When I showed my co-workers the video from CES of Bill Gates last day one of them was reminded of a similar short video from Bill Clinton’s last days in office.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I am sure someone somewhere in the Whole Foods management chain thinks this was a good idea but this story originally reported in mlive.com (I saw it on the Church of the Customer Blog) just has me scratching my head.

John Schultz says he lost his job at Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor after he tried to stop a shoplifter from making a getaway. But the company says he went too far and violated a policy that prohibits employees from physically touching a customer - even if that person is carrying a bag of stolen goods.

Schultz says he had just punched out for a break at 7 p.m. on Sunday when he heard a commotion at the front door of the store, 3135 Washtenaw Ave. He said he came to the aid of the manager who yelled for help in stopping a shoplifter. Schultz, the manager and another employee cornered the shoplifter between two cars in the parking lot.

Schultz said he told the shoplifter he was making a citizens arrest and to wait for the police to arrive, but the shoplifter broke away from the group and ran across Washtenaw Avenue and toward a gas station at the corner of Huron Parkway.

Before the man could cross Huron Parkway, Schultz caught up and grabbed the man’s jacket and put his leg behind the man’s legs. When the manager arrived at the intersection, Schultz said, the manager told him to release the shoplifter, and he complied, and the shoplifter got away.

Schultz said he was called to the store’s office the next day, on Christmas Eve, and was fired because he violated a company policy prohibiting employees from having any physical contact with a customer.

I think it is good for a company to have rules. I think not manhandling customers is not a bad rule. But I think a company should also not be stupid. This was stupid.

Popularity: 6% [?]