Pronoun Abuse

If you lease a car for two years from any car company, you would still say it's "my" car. You wouldn't go around telling people "no that's not my car, it actually belongs to X company, I'm just leasing it." Of course you wouldn't, that would be ridiculous! But apparently the FAA has a very different set of rules. Case in point, the US Department of Transportation recently fined a non-profit air ambulance company (Mercy Flights of Medford, Oregon) $30,000 for saying that the helicopter they are leasing is "ours". You can read the details here. Thank goodness our government has the time and money to keep such blatant violations under control!

The Vatican, Without Sin, Casts The First Stone

The year is 1482. The Vatican has just released a statement that reads, "ordaining women into the priesthood was a sin on par with pedophilia." Nobody blinks and life goes on... oh, gosh, I'm sorry! It wasn't 1482 after all. That statement was issued this year. Just a few days ago, in fact. You can see how I might have gotten the dates wrong, though, since that kind of misogynous declaration couldn't possibly hold true today. Unfortunately, they really said it. But why? Author Tim Padgett, in Time magazine, explains it "When any institution is as convinced of its own moral infallibility as the Catholic Church is, it tends to lash out at criticism - especially charges as serious as the priestly rape of children - with Dostoyevskian paranoia. And the church then fortifies its less popular stances, like an all-male priesthood or the condemnation of gays, in the process becoming even more uncompromising." And don't start thinking that Mr. Padgett is against the Church, or Christianity, in any way. He was sitting in mass, watching his daughter serve as an altar girl, on Sunday, when he got the idea for his article. Can’t Possibly Be True (II): Shoulda set it on vibrate
It says here in the Jamaica Star that Mr. Tesha Miller, reputed leader of the Clansmen gang, was arrested for violating conditions of his bail and that after Miller was searched and the cops ready to move on, they heard a phone ring. Yes, a phone (and charger) were recovered from a non-sunshiny place. Jamaica Star [via Rotten.com] Can’t Possibly Be True (I): The Cow-Fart Collection Device
It was in the newspaper, so it must be true: Researchers at Argentina’s Nat’l Institute of Agricultural Technology, alarmed that methane from cattle produces one-third of the nation’s greenhouse gases, decided that they need to study the actual composition of cow farts. Hence, this plastic tank, strapped on cows’ backs (which is, I suppose, is better than trailing behind cows all day with baggies). Daily Telegraph (London)

All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.