Posts tagged theft
Thank you whoever broke into my car last night
I’ve been meaning to clean the coins out of my cup-holder. Too bad for you that most of them were cemented in place by pop residue.
There wasn’t much else of interest in my car, luckily enough. And all of the windows are intact (my car has a habit of not locking on occasion). Someone else in my building was less fortunate (lost some cash, and they tossed the car).
Just an FYI for anybody in the SE University area.
Dear Bike Thief,
Remember me? Of course you don’t. But you probably remember my bike. You know, the yellow Schwinn you stole from 516 University Avenue last August 5th while I lay sound asleep three floors above.
I think about you all the time. You are probably riding my bike as I write. After all, it is spring time in the nation’s most bicycle-friendly city. Maybe you’re riding across the Stone Arch Bridge with St. Anthony Falls misting in your face, or perhaps you’re gazing at geese as you coast through Loring Park.
I bet you never think about me - about how much I loved that bike. It was a gift from my dad. My mom bought me a cute wicker basket for my accessories. I loved that bike so much that my boyfriend commissioned an Adam Turman piece featuring me and my bike (see above) for my 23rd birthday.
Obviously, I’m not over it. I’m looking for you. I scan every bike rack I see and scrutinize every yellow cruiser that catches my eye. I will find you and when I do, you will get what’s coming to you - a healthy dose of twenty-something white girl.
Maybe you sold my bike to some unsuspecting suburbanite. In that case I’ll just have to track you down. Regardless, it’s spring time in Minneapolis, I’m still mad, and I’m on the hunt.
Sweet dreams, Bike Thief!
(Cash reward still on the table. More info at Minneapolis Bike Love.)
Home Depot called arrogant, ordered to pay ex-Boca Raton inventor millions more
WEST PALM BEACH — When a Home Depot executive was told inventor Michael Powell might have a claim against the hardware giant for stealing an invention that keeps store employees safe, his reaction was swift and vulgar.
“(Expletive) Michael Powell,” the executive said. “Let him sue us.”
The crass response typifies the company’s attitude toward Powell, who crafted an simple, yet ingenious, way to keep Home Depot employees from slicing off their fingers while they’re cutting wood for customers, a federal judge said Monday.
“Home Depot knew exactly what it was doing,” U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley said. “They simply pushed Mr. Powell away and they did it totally and completely for their own economic benefit.”
Calling the company callous and arrogant, he ordered it to pay the former Boca Raton man $3 million in punitive damages. That’s on top of the $15 million a jury in March said the company should pay him for stealing his so-called “Safe Hands” gadget that is now affixed to radial saws at nearly 2,000 Home Depots nationwide.
The damages for Home Depot don’t end there. Hurley also ordered the firm to pay Powell’s attorneys the $2.8 million they say they are owed, and to pay Powell an estimated $1 million in interest annually on the judgment. The interest began building in 2006 and will continuing accruing until Home Depot pays up.
The roughly $25 million judgment could have been avoided had the company agreed in 2004 to pay Powell the $2,000 he offered to charge for each device. That bill would have come to $4 million.
Instead, Hurley said, the firm dispatched workers to duplicate the saw guards Powell allowed them to test in eight stores in Georgia and California.
“It’s sad to say, but Home Depot literally organized a theft of the Powell invention,” he said.
Ridiculous. This makes me embarassed that I ever worked there. I do find it hilarious that the judgement is 6 times what they would have paid the inventor if they would have just been honest.
