Every now and then Brendan Spaar comes across a news story that is very outrageous.  This is one of those stories.  Kevin Chenais, a 22 year old French man, flew over to the United States aboard British Airways to have treatment at the Mayo Clinic.  The treatment?  A hormone disorder that caused Kevin to weigh over 500 pounds.  Once his treatment was finished, Chenais was denied a return flight aboard British Airways and no other airline agreed to send him home.  Now it appears that Mr. Chenais is going to have to board a boat and travel by sea back to Europe.  It is amazing that he was allowed to fly to the United States but not back to Europe.  It is almost as if Europe was trying to get rid of him and hoped he would never come back. 

Source:  http://news.yahoo.com/too-fat-fly-french-family-stranded-us-195147803.html

Many people in the Gen-X and Gen-Y workforce have been wondering what it will take to move on to the next big thing at their current company.  Brendan Spaar has noticed that most managers in power are older and have been there for some time.  It is more than likely that your promotion will be handed to you by someone 10 to 20 years older than you.  This article explains things that you must do to impress these people so that you stand out when it is time to hand out promotions.  Some examples would be to make sure you are calling them on the phone, being polite, and not using text shorthand in emails.  If you communicate on their level, it will make you appear more professional and may improve your chances at winning that big promotion in the future.

Source:  http://www.itworld.com/career/371148/hey-gen-y-er-want-promotion-communicate-old-guy

First there was the car, then the van, then the caravan.  Now there's the Caravisio.  What exactly is this you may ask?  Well Brendan Spaar believes that this is the high tech camper of the future!  The camper features a HD projector in the ceiling, a finger scan security system that renders keys obsolete and a rear veranda.  This may be a little too much for the refined tastes of Honey Boo Boo but if she had this, she'd be the prize of the trailer park!  Click on the source to see a video tour of this futuristic travel trailer.  Unfortunately there are no plans to actually bring it to market.

Source:  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/high-tech-trailer-dreams-155748256.html

Many people, including Brendan Spaar, did not know that twerking originated from New Orleans Louisiana.  Long before Miley took the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), rappers in Louisiana were encouraging girls to twerk it.  Apparently a press release went out earlier this week claiming to be from the city of DeQuincy, Louisiana.  The announcement said that the city was banning twerking, which was described as a "defiant act against Jesus and his teachings" and anyone caught doing the dance would be subject to arrest.  How would that look if you found a girlfriend's mugshot on the internet for the offense of twerking?  The whole thing turned out to be a prank according to DeQuincy mayor, Lawrence Henagan.  This isn't the first time that Henagan's ciry was attacked by a fake press release.  In the past, DeQuincy has had dispell rumors that it was banning Korean residents and that it was giving guns to all students in the city.  The prankster turned out to be Paul Horner, a 34-year-old humorist from Phoenix, Arizona.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/18/louisiana-twerking-ban-revealed-as-hoax/#ixzz2fN6aMf1G



Source:  http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/09/18/louisiana-twerking-ban-revealed-as-hoax/

The Brendan Spaar blog international coverage takes flight to Helsinki.  What is so special about flying to Helsinki you ask?  Well if you are taking off from Copenhagen, you might be flying aboard an Airbus A320 with flight number AY666.  The three letter designation for Helsinki's airport is HEL.  That would mean you are boarding Flight 666 in Copenhagen bound for HEL.  To make things even weirder, if you boarded the plane today for a one way trip, you could tell friends that you have a one way ticket to HEL aboard Flight 666 on Friday the 13th!  Isn't that crazy?

Source:  http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireStory/board-flight-666-hel-20244972

Continuing our international coverage, Brendan Spaar leaves England and moves over to Dublin Ireland where a man has accused a local shop owner, Lee Reilly, of selling drugs.  The shop owner responds by calling the customer a pedophile.  Tensions rise and the customer grabs a chocolate bar and throws it at the shop owner.  Police were called and arrested the customer, 60 year old Philip Carroll .  The police are still investigating the incident but this customer now has a mugshot and an arrest for unlawful use of a candy bar.  It is rather amazing that a story like this has made the local Ireland newspaper.

Source:  http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/he-accused-me-of-selling-drugs-i-called-him-a-paedophile-then-i-was-attacked-with-a-chocolate-bar-29573753.html

It is something that every school child knows.  The sun's rays are very harmful if concentrated through reflection.  Residents near one tower in London are being reminded of this very hot lesson.  There's a skyscraper in London called Walkie Talkie Tower which is made up of a lot of glass windows.  The sun is being reflected off of the windows and onto the sidewalk and street below.  Cars are being melted and you can even fry an egg using the rays!  Brendan Spaar would not recommend getting a suntan under the Walkie Talkie Tower.  Apparently there was a hotel in Las Vegas Nevada that had the same problem in 2008.



Source: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/03/london-walkie-talkie-tower-melts-car_n_3859283.html

A lot goes into determining someone's credit worthyness.  Think of the days before computers and credit scores.  If you wanted to lend money to someone, you took a look at their reputation.  Who did they hang around with?  Well Brendan Spaar is here to tell you that the old days may be here again.  At least one lender, Lenddo, is assessing your Facebook and social media connections before it approves your loan.  This is nothing new, however.  A German lender says that it uses 8,000 data points when deciding whether or not it will approve a loan.  If you are looking to get a non traditional loan, you may want to invest some time or money into cleaning up your online reputation, especially if you were arrested or charged.

Source:  http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/26/technology/social/facebook-credit-score/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

It came as a surprise this week when Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, announced his retirement.  Ballmer started at Microsoft before Brendan Spaar was even born, becoming one of its first 30 employees.  He owns one of the largest pieces of the Microsoft stock pie so its no wonder that he is looking to enjoy some down time.  According to a statement, Microsoft has disclosed that it does not pay any kind of retirement plan for its executives.  They are already handsomely rewarded with stock options and seven figure salaries.  Hopefully Ballmer didn't go crazy with his spending over the years but even if he did, he's one of the world's richest men so he can enjoy a little extravagence.  No one has been selected yet to replace Steve at the helm of Microsoft.  Some may even wonder if Microsoft is still relevent in the age of Apple and HP gaining ground in the software and hardware markets.  One thing is for sure, Steve Ballmer is going to enjoy his retirement without a compensation a lot more than his employees t

It seems that spying and monitoring of civilians is very popular these days with Edward Snowden revealing such programs being in use by the NSA in the United States.  Brendan Spaar warns if you thought the survellence was limited to use by the government then you are in for a big surprise.  Josh Marti, the CEO of customer-tracking company PointInside, has gone on the record saying some companies are using WiFi tracking to tell when you are in a particular department within their store.  Other tracking companies include ByteLight, IndoorAtlas, and Swirl who all use either LEDs or Bluetooth transmitters to track patrons.  The tin foil conspiracy nuts out there will warn people to stay off of the internet but now it appears that even shopping at the local retail outlet will expose you to tracking and monitoring.  Welcome to The Minority Report. 

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/07/26/retail-stores-plan-elaborate-ways-to-track/#ixzz2ci4AUHPX