Archive 8. September 2005

Beware the Monster Chick!

That dinosaurs were feathered - they were only tarred during the asteroid impact (ok, sorry, bad joke) - has been under discussion for a long time, especially since there are appropriate findings. But this was new to me:

“The way these creatures are depicted can no longer be considered scientifically accurate,” he said. “All the evidence is that they looked more like birds than reptiles. Tyrannosaurs might have resembled giant chicks.”

Chicks? More like chickens, right? Unless the chicks in the writer's hometown are overly impressed by feathers.

Quality Journalism

It was still correct in the WDR morning magazine, but the Tagesschau is not too stupid to repeat the silly joke again:

We should thank the Strasbourg deputies, we have escaped again on this sunny September day: The EU directive "for protection against optical radiation at the workplace" has been overturned and thus remains, hopefully forever, disappeared in the darkness of the archive cabinets.

Dear journalists: the regulation was primarily about artificial optical stress, not about the sun. It was in no way about covering anyone who carries beer mugs - it was about employers being obliged to actively point out to employees the strain caused by UV radiation and to inform them about it. The hint here: >Bare upper bodies on the construction site, deep décolletés in the beer garden, lifeguards without covering.

is therefore complete nonsense.

One may wonder if such a regulation makes sense - but this silly fuss about something that was not the aim of the regulation is actually only embarrassing and ridiculous. More embarrassing and ridiculous than any EU regulation could ever be ...