News and Views
Apr. 22nd, 2009 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxkloreTonight is catchup time and catching up on writing here is one way I am procrastinating on other things.
First, I really liked this item from The Onion. The following paragraph is truly brilliant:
According to NASA officials, the epic postponement will occur in three progressively longer stages. The first, predicted to last anywhere from three to five years and cost an estimated $13.8 billion, is tentatively scheduled to begin in late 2012. The second stage—which will ultimately be broken up into 14 smaller stages—will comprise a series of advanced timetable adjustments that, if successful, could delay human beings from exploring the outmost reaches of the known galaxy for decades to come.
The third stage is largely theoretical at this point.
Moving on to more serious matters, I have to wonder about the Washington Post's headline writers. I got snookered into reading an article about "Suspicious Package Rocks Embassy" only to find out that a band named Suspicious Package had performed at the Embassy of Italy.
I think they did a better job with a piece about Susan Boyle, which they titled, "The Scot Heard Round the World." Unfortunately, they also let fashion reporter Robin Gihvan write about Ms. Boyle. Gihvan wrote, essentially, that Boyle should feel obliged to have a makeover because that's part of the Cinderella mythos and then, in her on-line chat, ignored that she had used the word "should" about 50 times in her essay when people called her on her bigotry. (Fashion reporters are, of course, clueless in general. Another example was a spread in the Sunday paper which reminded me that they have no idea of what is appropriate for adults to wear to work. And the fashion chat responded to a question about where to find affordable plus size garments with a mention of a store that sells sizes 0-18. Yeah, it's possible that the person asking the question could wear a 16 or 18, but that's a big assumption.)
My final news note has to do with the death of Venezuelan polo horses in Florida, possibly by poisoning. I have to admit my immediate reaction was to wonder how Dick Francis would use that in one of his mysteries.
First, I really liked this item from The Onion. The following paragraph is truly brilliant:
According to NASA officials, the epic postponement will occur in three progressively longer stages. The first, predicted to last anywhere from three to five years and cost an estimated $13.8 billion, is tentatively scheduled to begin in late 2012. The second stage—which will ultimately be broken up into 14 smaller stages—will comprise a series of advanced timetable adjustments that, if successful, could delay human beings from exploring the outmost reaches of the known galaxy for decades to come.
The third stage is largely theoretical at this point.
Moving on to more serious matters, I have to wonder about the Washington Post's headline writers. I got snookered into reading an article about "Suspicious Package Rocks Embassy" only to find out that a band named Suspicious Package had performed at the Embassy of Italy.
I think they did a better job with a piece about Susan Boyle, which they titled, "The Scot Heard Round the World." Unfortunately, they also let fashion reporter Robin Gihvan write about Ms. Boyle. Gihvan wrote, essentially, that Boyle should feel obliged to have a makeover because that's part of the Cinderella mythos and then, in her on-line chat, ignored that she had used the word "should" about 50 times in her essay when people called her on her bigotry. (Fashion reporters are, of course, clueless in general. Another example was a spread in the Sunday paper which reminded me that they have no idea of what is appropriate for adults to wear to work. And the fashion chat responded to a question about where to find affordable plus size garments with a mention of a store that sells sizes 0-18. Yeah, it's possible that the person asking the question could wear a 16 or 18, but that's a big assumption.)
My final news note has to do with the death of Venezuelan polo horses in Florida, possibly by poisoning. I have to admit my immediate reaction was to wonder how Dick Francis would use that in one of his mysteries.
