CHICAGO – Dave Tiderman wondered if the decimal point was in the wrong place when he opened his $35,000 company bonus. Jose Rojas saw his $10,000 check and thought, “That can’t be right.”

Valentin Dima watched co-workers breaking down in tears over their bonus checks and didn’t trust his emotions. He drove home first, then opened his envelope: $33,000. Year-end bonuses are rare these days. Rarer still is what the Spungen family, owners of a ball bearings company in Waukegan, Ill., about 40 miles north of Chicago, did as they sold the business. They gave out whopping thank-you bonuses.

A total of $6.6 million is being shared by just 230 employees of Waukegan-based Peer Bearing Co., with facilities in England and the United States. Amounts varied and were based on years of service.
“They treated us like extended family,” said Maria Dima, who works at Peer Bearing along with her husband, Valentin, and received a somewhat smaller check than he did. “We won the lottery.”

With $100 million in sales last year, Peer recently was acquired by a Swedish company for an undisclosed amount. Danny Spungen, whose grandfather founded the company in 1941, said it was a unanimous family decision to thank employees with the bonuses. The new owners intend to operate Peer as a wholly owned subsidiary. Workers have been told that most will keep their jobs, and life at the company hasn’t changed much since the party in mid-September when the bonuses were distributed.

Sometimes loyalty works both ways.

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Toronto Sun – Saturday, November 29, 2008

OTTAWA – Researchers say they have located the world’s oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China.

The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly “cultivated for psychoactive purposes,” rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.

The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.

Before I arrived in Lisbon a couple of weeks ago, Uncle Dave — who was supposed to be taking pictures — told me that they should rename the Lisbon airport “The George Clooney Airport.” He told me I’ll understand when I get there. So as you leave customs and go down the ramp, this is what you see!

I couldn’t find a picture of Chief Greg Schwarber, but here’s a video of him being sworn in as chief.

Associated Press – November 28, 2008:

Police in southwestern Ohio say a police chief mistakenly shot himself in the thigh after giving his daughter a gun safety lesson.

A police report says 54-year-old Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber was preparing to clean his Glock .45-caliber pistol on Friday and didn’t realize the gun was still loaded.

The report written by officers from neighboring Monroe says the bullet entered Schwarber’s leg just above the knee.

When officers arrived, they found the chief lying on the floor with a towel covering his leg. Schwarber was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Of course there’s the infamous video of the DEA agent shooting himself in the foot.

It used to be companies discriminated against gays. But not these days. Now it discrimination against straights. I just came from a Thanksgiving leftovers dinner and found out something amazing. HP will pay for the health care of same sex domestic partners but at the end of this year will discontinue medical coverage for the families of heterosexual domestic partners.

We had 26 family and friends for Thanksgiving. People brought a dish, dessert, bottle of wine — you name it. As we were throwing out garbage today, we ran across this example of fake killer food:

Not only does it contain no cheese, but they did include artery-clogging partially hydrogenated oils and blubber-enhancing high-fructose corn syrup. AND a list of chemicals and faux-foods that would do my college organic chemistry lab credit. Oh yes, if you look carefully (click on photo for larger image) you will see “cheese culture” right after the killer fats and under the section for “2% or less”

That ain’t cheese folks. It’s a crime to call this beaker-load of chemicals and processed crap “cheesecake.”

The fact that I didn’t eat any is one more thing to be thankful for!

A woman is restrained at a Toys ‘R’ Us store in Palm Desert, Calif., where two men were killed Friday in a gun fight.

Associated Press – November 28, 2008:

Authorities say two people have been killed inside a Toys “R” Us store in Southern California.

Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez says Palm Desert police got a call saying shots had been fired inside the store Friday.

He says two people are dead inside, but further details were not immediately available.

Update – Here’s a full description of the event from the Associated Press – November 29, 2008:

The shooting occurred in a crowded toy store on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, but authorities say it wasn’t related to the bargain-hunting frenzy. Instead, two men pulled guns and killed each other after the women with them erupted into a bloody brawl, witnesses said.

Authorities released few details about the mayhem that broke out at the Toys “R” Us store around 11:30 a.m. Friday, sending scared shoppers fleeing. Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the fight was not over a toy and that handguns were found by the men’s bodies. He refused to say whether the shooting was gang-related.