Captain Obvious & The Pope

I just read AFP's story on the emergency landing of a Qantas Boeing 747 that happened earlier today in Manila.

The first seven sentences, and the title of the article, have six descriptions of the three metres in diameter hole made in the plane's fuselage through passenger accounts. So the "gaping hole" that collapsed the cabin floor, through which luggage is clearly visible from within and without, is common knowledge.

The Eighth sentence is this statement from the company;

Qantas chief executive officer Geoff Dixon said initial inspections showed the aircraft had sustained a hole in its fuselage, and it was being inspected by engineers.

Thank you Captain Obvious! You can practically see an inspector looking intently up at the fuselage before pulling out his cell phone to call the CEO, "Mr. Dixon, it looks like, and this is just my initial report, there might be a hole in the plane. I don't think the passengers noticed though."

But what's really strange is the out of place remark that closes the article;

[Qantas] said the 747-400 involved in the scare was not the one used to fly Pope Benedict XVI out of Australia earlier this month after his visit to Sydney.

How is this relevant? So that those who revere the Pope won't think he might have been in possible danger in the past? Or is it so that non-Pope worshipers can say that he caused the plane to deteriorate?

Rare Today

A rare archaeological find in Winnipeg at the dig site of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights: an 800 year old footprint!

Raising hopes for the survival of the species, a rare critically endangered species of lemur, the greater bamboo lemur, was discovered in the Torotorofotsy wetlands of Madagascar some 400 kilometres North of where they traditionally live.

"Finding the extremely rare Prolemur simus in a place where nobody expected it was probably more exciting than discovering a new lemur species," said Edward Louis, a U.S. conservation geneticist who coordinated the joint research, in a statement.

Old Man Lobster

On July 10th, a 10 kilogram (22 pound) lobster was caught off the cost of New Brunswick and has been held in a fish store tank since. The current owner of the the lobster dubbed Big Dee-Dee, (how East coast is that name?), has decided to give it to the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St. Andrews where it will be placed in an aquarium and monitored. If Dee-Dee can't adjust to life in captivity he may be released back to the Bay of Fundy.

So what?

Well, first of all I find it hilarious that "Federal fisheries officials say it can't be returned to the ocean without a permit." A permit? I don't need to spell out the ludicrousness of that.

Second, I read two articles on this story. Regarding the age of the lobster, the CBC says that "experts now believe [it] to be 30 years old" while Canwest News claims that "'Big Dee-Dee' is believed to be 100 years old". Not even close...so who do you trust? I need a lobster biologist on deck!

Magnetic Poetry #7

Worthy Canadians

This Canada Day, Dr. Henry Morgentaler was appointed to the Order of Canada - our highest civilian honour. In 1969 Dr. Morgentaler single-handedly forced the issue of abortion in this country into the national spotlight and as a result, over the next two decades, abortions became legal. I give props to Dr. Morgentaler (who is also a Holocaust survivor) but of course, religious groups are calling for a reversal of the decision because they just can't help themselves when it comes to being loud and annoying.

"The Order of Canada was created in 1967 to honour those who have "enriched the lives of others and made a difference to this country.""

Given this criteria, I'd hope that all groups, religious or not, would more vigorously appose the appointment of other recipients such as Buzz Hargrove or, for crying out loud, Paul Shaffer.