…Best & Worst WiFi Hotels, Wrath of the (Toy) Claw, Mohawk Distraction, Fully Working Inflatable Pub and more.

Former Disco Cop Charged By Real Cops
You may not know him by name, but surely you are familiar with his former alter ego: the policeman from the Village People. And now he’s on the other side of “the law.”

On Tuesday, Victor Willis, the original policeman in the 1970s disco band, pleaded not guilty to drug possession and giving false identification to a real police officer, reports the Associated Press.

His most recent arrest ended a five-month search for the former YMCAer. Willis — who already was the subject of a bench warrant after failing to appear at his sentencing hearing on drug and weapons charges in October — was pulled over by a South San Fran cop for a routine traffic stop but was arrested after cocaine and drug paraphernalia were found in his car. Willis and his female companion (also wanted for a parole violation) initially gave false names to the officer. Willis was later identified through fingerprints.

Saves ‘Ya a Trip to Court
First we learned people eat in their sleep. Then we learned people have sex in their sleep. Now we learn people apparently can legally terminate their marriages in their sleep.

Village elders have ordered a Muslim man in eastern India to leave his wife of 11 years after he accidentally divorced her in his sleep, a news report said Tuesday.

The man uttered the Urdu word for divorce, “talaq,” three times in his sleep. Muslim leaders in the couple’s village found out and decreed that the husband’s unconscious utterances constituted a divorce.

Under Islamic law, a husband need only say “I divorce you” three times to secure a permanent dissolution to his marriage.

The sleeptalker says he had no intention of leaving his wife. Unfortunately, should the couple wish to remarry, they must be apart for at least 100 days, and the wife would also have to spend a night with another man and then be divorced by him, say the religious leaders.

Lefties Have Adversarial Advantage
Apparently, being a leftie promotes attack survival…well, at least in the world of snails and crabs, according to a report by researchers at Yale and Cornell in the Biology Letters of the Royal Society, UK.

While rare in nature, many organisms — including humans — have some, but few, members that are lefties. Author Gregory P. Dietl, post-doctoral fellow in geology and geophysics at Yale, studied the survival dis- or advantages of being a “leftie” by working with snails and their predatory crabs. One conclusion drawn from the interaction between crabs and these snails is that in the adversarial mode, “lefties have a competitive advantage as long as they remain rare,” says Dietl.

This conclusion draws parallels in some social interactions in human cultures, such as sporting competitions in which left-handed players enjoy an advantage over their right-handed opponents.

Persistence of handedness in snails is most often associated with a mating advantage. In this case, snails mate most effectively with snails whose shells coil in the same direction.

(via BBC)

The Health Spa…for MEN
Hey, fellas, does the idea of going to a health spa — with baths, massages, wraps and cosmetics — to unwind make you feel, um, less than manly?

What if — consider this now — the spa offered you beer baths, beer massages, beer wraps and beer cosmetics?

Uh-huh, feeling your machismo slowly fading now, aren’t ‘ya?

A family brewery in the Czech Republic has opened the world’s first beer health center in its cellar. The Chodovar Family brewery offers all of the above booze-infused spa treatments. The cellar has seven huge Victorian style baths where visitors can swim in beer while enjoying a pint poured at a bathside bar — all of this to “appeal to men who are put off by ‘posh’ traditional spas.”

“We believe in the healing properties of beer and we offer the full range of treatments. We are a fully-fledged beer spa,” says owner Jiri Plevka.

I don’t know. I mean, I’m a guy and all, but this sounds kind of like…heaven.

(via Zee News)

Speaking of booze … (why does that feel like such a constant transition in Light Friday posts?) …

Energy Drink Mixers: I’m Not As Think As You Drunk I Am
A new study warns that mixing alcohol with energy drinks such as Red Bull can “give revelers the illusion they are more sober than they really are,” reports New Scientist.

Sugar- and caffeine-filled energy drinks have become popular in recent years, particularly among young adults, while they (energy drinks) have also become popular as mixers to go with spirits such as vodka to avoid feeling the soporific effects of alcohol.

Twenty-six male volunteers in their 20s were recruited and divided into two groups: 12 received the equivalent of 2.5 alcoholic beverages each; the others consumed the equivalent of four alcoholic drinks each. In one session, the volunteers consumed this amount of alcohol alone; in another, they drank it mixed with Red Bull. In a third session, the subjects consumed the energy drink without any alcohol.

The study found that volunteers who had alcohol mixed with Red Bull performed as badly on coordination and visual tests as those drinking alcohol alone. The difference: those drinking Red Bull and alcohol thought their skills were unimpaired.

No doubt, a fun conclusion to reach.

Seven-Year-Old Punk…Haircut
Meanwhile, school officials in a Texas town sent a 7-year-old boy home from his school for wearing a Mohawk, AP reports.

Reports say all Dallas Saenz “wants to do is express his personality” with the spiky cut, but school officials in Tula deemed Saenz’s Mohawk hairdo as disruptive and thus sent the boy home on March 10, the day before spring break.

When classes resumed March 20, Saenz had tamed the Mohawk by combing it down.

The next day his parents allowed him to go to school with the spiked styling, but again he was ordered home. Tulia Superintendent Ken Miller said the boy could return to school when his hairdo is acceptable.

The prepubescent punker’s parents said they’ve gotten two citations, each with a $300 fine, for “disrupting classes.” Their son could face truancy charges, and he could be held back a grade if he misses more than 21 days, they said.

(Mr. T says: “Mohawks and learnin’ can go hand-in-hand…fool!”)

Best & Worst WiFi Hotels
HotelChatter.com’s newly released 2006 list of Best WiFi Hotels:

• Kimpton Hotels
• Omni Hotels
• André Balazs properties (group of boutique hotels located only in New York, L.A. and Miami)
• Holiday Inn Express:/Marriott Residence Inn
• Holiday Inn Express
• Marriott Residence Inn
• Klein properties: Sunset Tower in L.A. and City Club in New York

HotelChatter.com’s 2006 list of Worst WiFi Hotels:

• Marriott Flagship
• Kor Hotel Group (group of 15 boutique hotels)
• W Hotels
• Four Seasons
• Morgans Hotel Group aka Ian Schrager properties

Details at HotelChatter.com’s Best and Worst lists.

(via Gizmodo)

‘I’m Trapped!!! But I Kinda Like It…’
Earlier this week the Associated Press reported the harrowing-sounding case of Devin Haskin: three-year-old boy, from Austin, Minn., trapped in a claw machine.

The “claw machine” isn’t as sinister as it sounds. The boy was trapped literally inside of a toy machine, of the ilk that the player tries to grasp stuffed animals and other toys behind the glass by manipulating overhead claws.

Devin crawled through the 7 in. x 9 in. discharge chute of a Toy Chest claw machine at a pizzeria in his hometown, and he ended up on the other side of the glass surrounded by stuffed animals.

AP noted that rescuers had to pry the door open to get Devin out, though “the boy was in no hurry to leave.”

“When we got it open, he didn’t want to come out,” Fire Chief Dan Wilson said Tuesday. “One of my firefighters had to reach inside and get him. He was happy in there.”

(via the Associated Press)

Better Than Your Average Beer Tent?
Finally, here via an observant IMT blog reader is the World’s First Inflatable Pub.

With two small blowers, the pub can be set up in 10 minutes to stand at 40 ft. long, 19 ft. wide and 22 ft. high. (Of course, installing a system to serve beer adds to set up time.) It is for use as a fully working pub, with room for a bar and 30 customers, further allowing for smoking and even dart playing. While the inflatable pub can be customized, an internal aluminum frame can be used to support additional lighting and sound systems and also to double as a safety barrier.

This amazing item was designed and built by Airquee Ltd. It is the latest development from the guy who also created the world’s first Inflatable Church.

Don’t forget to check out what other readers are saying on Industrial Market Trends at this week’s Overheard on IMT.

Cheers.