Spanish Woman Claims Ownership of the Sun

Well, I've heard some downright stupid things in my time but my time obviously isn't up as this takes the cake. A Spanish woman has claimed ownership of the sun. Apparently she wants to charge for usage of the sun and pay 50% of the proceedings to the Spanish Government, 20% to the national pension fund, 10% to research, another 10% to fighting world hunger and keep a measly 10% for herself.

And you thought that it could happen only in America. Not so. Just what does she think she is going to charge for? Sunlight? Waves (generated by the sun, actually), heat, promotion of plant growth, etc?

We have laws in this country whereby fruit from a neighbour's tree that is in your property becomes your property. Doesn't that also mean that sunlight in my backyard belongs to me? Anything that is freely available and invades my personal space surely doesn't belong to anyone else. How can you charge for something that you have no control over? Sunlight falling on a solar collector that I own belongs to no-one else, does it?

Gee, would I even give her two years before the lawsuits start? People will sue for premature aging due to the sun, skin cancer, sunstroke, faded curtains, dried up dams, depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, damage to the Antartic ice shelf, melting of glaciers, damage to roads, bending of railway lines and subsequent train derailments, people burning feet on roadways, purchase of sunscreen, fires caused by sunlight on broken glass, cracks in render... I could go on. Has she really though this through? I don't think much of her claim, "I am not stupid, I know the law," as I really don't think that she has seen how much trouble she could be asking for. And how many jurisdictions would she have to defend herself in? What do the communist states think of this?

What sort of money raising taxes has she imagined? Is she going to charge a commission from every state/country that uses daylight savings? Will we have to pay a commission of the solar energy collected on our roofs? What about those countries that are in the Artic and Antarctic circles and experience 24 hours of sunlight - will they pay more but get a rebate in winter? Will the charges be in Euros? What about countries that are not able to access foreign currency?

I think that it will be some time before a more stupid idea is brought to life. Maybe she had a siesta in the sun for a little too long. Or received a great dose of sunstroke herself.

Best Story Of The Year?

Brain injury turns binge-drinking lout into perfect man. Yes, that's what the article's headline states.

To sum up - a man suffers a brain injury, loses 70% of his memory and can then cross-stitch, sew and cook. Has he turned into the perfect man or just become a woman?

Is this the best story of the year?

Jobs For The Boys, Er Girls

Australia's latest prime minister is the leader of the Australian Labor Party. As such, he has a fair amount of backing from the unions. Parliament has always been a place whereby, if you do your best to uphold the party line, you'll be rewarded with a plum job later. This usually involves a role representing Australia overseas, high pay and plenty more networking opportunities. It's also known as "jobs for the boys." He's becoming quite good at pushing women into the spotlight too - a sort of affirmative action for women.

The position of Governor-General of Australia is the ultimate rubber-stamping job in the country. Basically the G-G is the Queen's representative for our sunburnt country. There is a bit of power involved, i.e. the Government can be sacked (and has happened once!), but it is usually just to approve laws passed. Nothing special.

Kevin Rudd appears to favour his home state of Queensland and his fellow Queenslanders. Now the plum role has been awarded to a fellow Queenslander and I guess that's it not too much of a surprise. The big surprise is that the new G-G is a woman. A woman with a man's name no less - Quentin Bryce. Quentin, a most unusual name for a woman, IMHO, is known for her appearance and not having a hair out of place. So what's happening with the PM's hair? How can the G-G appointee be seen in public with him? This country is moving into the future at a rapid pace.

Quentin Bryce - the G-G appointee. But what's up with PM Kevin's hair?