Talk about...

...a sense of entitlement.

A JUMBO tantrum over first-class pyjamas has held up a Qantas flight to Melbourne.

Of course, you're still paying a huge amount of money for the flight, so I guess it should include proper sized jumbo pyjamas. The funny part is that these passengers demanded that the crew announce the reason for the delay. As if everyone would sympathize. Heh.

The lawsuit is on the way, I'm sure...

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A very good question

if you think about it from the perspective of a Communist leader who has been cut off, at least physically, from the closest 'democratic' neighbour for all these years.

Fidel Castro to Pope Benedict: “What does a pope do?”

In fact, I think a lot of Catholics would be able to pose the very same question, as illiterate of Church teachings and structure as they are...

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Are there subtle tweaks going on there?

The Unlikely Event

You have to think that, as artists, they knew what they were doing when they did the illustrations, so I wonder how much of the 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink' was going on in the agency offices at the time, or if it was all done innocently, with no idea of how it may someday be interpreted. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...

My suspicious mind always makes me wonder these things, even though I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Usually. Great article though.

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Today is

the anniversary of a tragedy made famous by the songwriter/singer Gordon Lightfoot:

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
 

(As far as the music goes, who hasn't played the famous song on their guitar? Ching-chinga-ching, ching-chinga-ching - believe me, the rhythm part is really boring...) 

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This is interesting

Never before, never after...

Rider on the Storm

This is many years ago now, but it doesn't make it any less fantastic.

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I'm trying to be charitable

Resolute jet crash survivor shares her story

This is a horrible tragedy, and a miracle that even this small number of people survived. The one young woman who survived is very well-spoken and articulate. I guess what I'm struggling with is the media again. Having to impose on someone who has just gone through a horrific event in order to get their 'story'. What kind of story can they have? I listened to it on CBC while I was driving to work yesterday. It happened so quickly and they were found so quickly that there wasn't much to tell, and none of the three survivors can shed and light on the cause of the crash or anything else. Just more 'catastrophe media' as I've started calling it. And CBC is getting to be as bad as any of them.

Keep all those affected by this crash in your prayers, though, if you will. Such a terrible, terrible tragedy...

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Boo!

New Orleans Walking Tours: Ghosts, vampires, and history

These sorts of tours are wonderful ways to learn some of the history of the place you're visiting, while doing so in a group and in relative safety, particularly in a city like New Orleans, which has very often proven a hazardous and dangerous place for unsuspecting tourists.

SWMBO and I went on a similar tour of St. John's, Newfoundland one time, and while I prefer my history with a little less dramatics, it was still very interesting, and the evening was very worthwhile. It's a dream to be able to do the same thing in New Orleans...

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Please

Russian plane crash puts Canadiens, hockey world in shock

Take a moment and say a prayer for these players and their families and friends.

(I have only two criticisms - while a horrible tragedy, how is this more of a tragedy than the innocent people who are killed every day in Afghanistan, Uganda and all those other hotspots in the world, or the poor people starving in the Horn of Africa?

Secondly, I listened to a sportscaster being interviewed yesterday who said two controversial things. One that Sidney Crosby should have picked a different day for his press conference about not coming back to hockey until he had recovered 100% from his head injuries and calling for a ban on head shots in hockey. What better time could there be? The sports commentator also commented on the plane tragedy to say that it wouldn't happen here, that kind of thing could only happen in Russia. As if we never have air tragedies?

What a fool!)

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A nice article

about a wonderful place!

Quirky Newfoundland's Viking trail

Newfoundland. If you get a chance, go there!

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A really good story

(Though I wonder why the 'f' word is becoming so commonplace. It seems to be used without even any thought. It seems out of place with the rest of the article's tone and language...)



Officer, I Can Explain

I love this quotation (anyone who has taken any sort of antidepressant can relate to this):

"This drug (Effexor) did nothing short of wrapping my soul in plastic."

What a perfect description!

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It's going to keep going up

with or without government intervention (and government intervention isn't something that Canadians should ever expect anyway).

Paying way more for gas sounds out of this world

Sometimes the most radical ideas are the best solutions. If people were to pay way more for gas we might look for ways to spend less...

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He wants to be a pilgrim

as I would like to.

Pilgrimage to Santiago: Spiritual walk across Europe

I suspect Joe Kissell has a far greater chance of making the pilgrimage than I do. I have met a number of pilgrims who have made the journey and have their Compostela. Every one of them has reported what a wonderful experience it was. That's why people go back sometimes, and why some of us just want to go even once...

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He can't even take a boat ride

in peace.

Pope's gondola ride kicks up unholy row

He should try to go incognito. Maybe a pair of those glasses with the large nose and Groucho Marx moustaches on it?

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A wonderful 'how to' article...

The Ugly American

Please note that this was written by an American. And I mean no insult to those are cannot, in any way, be classified as an 'ugly American'...

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Avast! Ye...



whatever, whatever, and so on and so forth (I can't do pirate very well)...

188-yr-old shipwrecked whaler linked to 'Moby-Dick' discovered

Moby Dick is a good read. So is Melville's 'Billy Budd'. They're probably not too popular today, though. The sentences are too long.


Archaeology is cool...

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I would love to take a ride with this cabbie!



A Cabbie Made Anxious by Churches

He appears to be the type of person that you would just love to drive with. Only in New York...

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Good grief!

Airlines lose $1.7 billion, ash blame game begins

I guess what they really want is the ability to decide themselves if they want to take a chance on killing all their passengers or not...

Capitalists. You just gotta love their crazy disconnects...

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Air travel

costs are getting way out of hand!

Airline considers fee for lavatory use

For any reader who doesn't understand the terminology (though the context of the article makes it clear) here's the dictionary meaning of the word lavatory...

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Perhaps

it was simply tired?


Cleveland pilot unhurt after mid-air collision with vulture during Super Bowl

It needed a ride, and not having thumbs, well, it did the best it could...

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This is a charming story


South African owners of camera found in sea traced

"A couple who lost their camera when it fell overboard from a cruise ship have been traced after a trawlerman hauled the device from the Atlantic seabed."

The first article on the Beeb that I considered posting was the finding of the camera. Now the owners have been found. How absolutely wonderful!

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