An exhortation, a WHAT?, and some good news

First of all, a New York EMT has been suspended without pay for attempting to clear the airway of a choking girl without a call being issued.  Shame on Assist Ambulance for this moronic decision, kudos to Qwasi Reid for recognizing where company policy's authority ended and basic humanity began.  Condolences as well to the family of the girl he tried to help, who is on life support and apparently brain dead.

And for crying out loud, if you haven't already, learn how to recognize choking and perform the Heimlich maneuver.  It's a dismal shame that nobody at that elementary school appears to have even tried.  (don't they require first aid training for a lot of teachers and such?  I really don't get that part)

In other news, a group lead by Bombardier is claiming that they'll have a "scram-jet" ready to fly people from London to New York in half an hour--remembering my high school physics, I'm calculating an average acceleration/deceleration of over half a g--19.55'/s^2, to be precise.  For comparison's sake, imagine 15 minutes of hard acceleration  (akin to that of a Corvette) followed by 15 minutes of equally hard deceleration (akin to hard braking in a car).  Hint; if you ride, eat light and avoid spices and fat.  I think I'll be happy to ride something more sedate, personally.

Finally, some good news; a man threatening to sing Justin Bieber songs to kids has been rightly arrested.  The sad news, of course, is that it wasn't Bieber himself.

(seriously, it appears that drugs and perhaps mental illness were involved--pray for the man to find the help he needs)