The World: It Is Weird

[bloodyrosemccoy]

I got coerced into watching The News Hour tonight because there was chocolate fondue in honor of Mom’s birthday.

I suck at watching real news, because the reporters are always straightfaced about this totally bonkers stuff happening in the world. Some things are so loony it’s hard to believe them, and today was like a highlight reel. Three of the topics focused on were:

-Pirates. Unfortunately, these are neither the fun swaggering grog-swilling pirates of story nor the kind that don’t have to watch five minutes of unskippable FBI guilt trips at the beginnings of legit DVDs telling you that you’re a scummy thief, because the pirates have pirated copies.* These are the kind of pirates who steal actual money and have now vowed they will engage in more murder and mayhem because a few of them got killed. Turns out holding a gun to a hostage’s head is not the best way to keep snipers off of you.

- Redshirts. Apparently, law enforcement officers in Thailand are called “redshirts.” Thai officials keep sending in more redshirts to try to keep the peace during some riots. And, yes, they go the way of all redshirts. I may have cried out, “My god, it’s TRUE!” at some point.

-Footage of Obama during the White House Easter Egg Roll. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a POTUS frolic before. I didn’t even know that was a verb you could actually do, but dude was all, “WHEE! Easter eggs!”


*This always seemed a little strange to me. I know they can’t very well stick these warnings on the bootlegs, but as far as I’m concerned five minutes of shame-on-you PSAs are a deterrent to buying legit items, since you get punished for it. You can get right to the movie with a bootleg.

Comments

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Up until recently the Somali pirates were fairly civil, they'd bring home cooked meals out to the ships they captured. This is not a good sign.

Honestly, I don't really blame them for taking to piracy. The area was once a decent fishery, but without a strong government to enforce territorial claims dredge fishing operations from Asia ( from what I understand, Thailand was a big operator there ) came through and literaly swept the place clean. Joining a Somali warband, starving, or turning to piracy seemed to be the local options.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? It's all good fun till someone loses a life. (I their rationale for the outrage is, "It's not like we'd have actually killed the hostage!", which is not a convincing one at all.)

In the world of Somali career choices, pirate seems, if not excusable, then at least understandable. Surreal, but understandable.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

C'mon, I can't meta everything you write!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I'm in the ZONE, baby!

[zimwifepgk.livejournal.com]

I really dug how Obama specifically invited a crowd of same-sex couples and their children to the Easter event. I liked that, and the genuine-ness of his frolicking. XD At times like this he seems like a pretty cool guy.

[sofish-sasha.livejournal.com]

Got a link to the frolicking? I've only seen a clip with microphone!fail, and that was quite adorable too. ^^

It's funny... A year ago I'd never thought I'd be fangirling over an American president, but voilà, here I am.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I wish. I couldn't find it after the News Hour. My sister and I did make Dad rewind it twice, though ...

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

wow-- I hate watching the news, but this sounds like fun!