human interest
News Ltd Just Can’t Get Enough Of That Sweet, Sweet Untruth
2:37PM Clem Bastow | We were reading this story this afternoon, about a transgender man who reportedly kept his female sex organs and is now pregnant, and really marvelling at the wonderful fluidity of modern gender roles and relationships.
That was, until we got to the end of the piece and the “staff writers” had to go and stuff it all up with this clanger in the closing paragraph:
Mr Beatie doesn’t appear to be the first “pregnant” male. See the story of Mr Lee Mingwei who is apparently the first born male to give birth to a baby from his body.
“Apparently”! That’s a word those Walkley judges are really on the lookout for, isn’t it?
The thing is, if the News Ltd clowns had bothered to take the time to head over to urban legend and online hoax database Snopes, they would have found that Mr Lee Mingwei is to male pregnancy as “free c1al1s!” is to the hopes and dreams of flaccid systems engineers everywhere.
Go team! Keep on kicking them journalistic goals! More » 
Understated Captioning Effort Of The Day
10:24AM Clem Bastow | We read with more than a little amusement this tale of a man taking a car for a “test drive” that lasted for 6200km; there’s nothing we like more than to start the day with a shot of true blue Aussie idiocy.
However, we laughed even harder when we saw the News.com.au efforts to sum up the tale with one witty caption on their front page:
That has to be the most cutting use of the word “unsurprisingly” we’ve seen in some time. But then, what do you expect – turns out the dude nicked the car before the dealer could ride shotgun for the test drive, then took it home, packed himself some clothes and toiletries in a relaxed manner, and then toodled off for Tennant Creek.
Clearly a frontrunner for the next Australian of The Year! More » 
Tennis Meanies Make Little Grunting Girls Cry
9:19AM Clem Bastow | You know we’re a sucker for a human interest story, and today’s winner is a touching tale of a little tennis-loving girl whose on-court noises evidently gave onlookers and opponents harrowing flashbacks to the glory days of Monica Seles and, apparently fearing a repeat of Seles’ grunting-induced stabbing (note: may not actually be real reason), have banned the little tacker from playing.
Look at that little face! Would you tell her she couldn’t pursue her dream just because of an unfortunate vocal tic? It seems such moral questions did not cross the minds of Mt Carmel Tennis Club when they advised Lauryn Edwards’ parents that she needed to shut up or ship out.
Mr Edwards said the club had asked him for an assurance Lauryn would remain silent on the court.
“They told me to guarantee she won’t grunt or she can’t play,” he said.
“How can I guarantee that? She’s been doing it since she was really little. She’s her own person.
“What do they want me to do? Put Band-Aids over her mouth? They made her cry on the court when they told her.
“She was in such a state that I had to bring her home mid-match.”
Lauryn, who has attention deficit disorder, has been playing tennis since the age of four, after it was recommended by her school psychologist at Sunbury Primary to burn energy and keep her focused.
If the admin at Mt Carmel Tennis Club were hoping for anything nice this Christmas, it’s safe to say that – at least in the eyes of the Edwards family and a few million readers of News Ltd papers and websites – they can expect a great big lump of coal now.
Not since the saga of Wild Child Acting And Dance Studios have we been so completely engrossed in this sort of small-town stage/sports parenting drama! More » 