Very interesting news emerging from the national aircraft safety watchdog this week with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) recommending that Australia’s pilots wear crash helmets when flying around the country.
The call comes after a Queensland crop duster walked away from his plane after it crashed, due mainly to the helmet he was wearing at the time.
In putting its case, the ATSB chose to get ‘personal’ with the pilots – or was it ‘personnel’ with them.
“The pilot was wearing his personal flight helmet during the flight,” the Bureau pointed out without the italics.
Then in the next sentence: “The ATSB found that the pilot’s personnel flight helmet struck the internals of the cockpit….”
Personal or personnel, the question is whether the nation’s hard-headed fly-boys and girls will heed the call.
Erroneous zone
It may be only a few short weeks into the New Year but that’s plenty of time for the ever perceptive, penetrative and perspicacious PS-sssst! to gleefully point out the failings of its mothership PS News as part of its juvenile campaign of scoring points against its big sibling.
Singling out a headline that incorrectly named the Federal Minister for women, Kerry O’Dwyer instead of Kelly O’Dwyer (pictured), the column also noticed the error was magically changed after the first swathe of readers responded.
One could choose to be sanctimonious by defending the error and leaving it in place but the internet is nothing if it isn’t flexible, hence the hurried correction.
So to all the vigilant readers who noticed and were kind enough to share their views by alerting us to the error, thanks.
To PS-sssst! which apparently takes pleasure in chewing at the hand that feeds it: Watch out!
One little column, however cheeky, would be wise to bear in mind where the power lies in the PS News dynasty.
Driving force
Back to actual news now with a report that the ACT’s Transport Canberra agency has launched a recruitment drive for bus drivers.
While this is not necessarily a shattering Page One news scoop (other than in the ACT’s transport media) it does raise a jingle in the eardrums of PS-sssst! and its homonymically alert readership, creating a fascinating play on words about whether one should conduct a recruitment ‘drive’ for people who ‘drive’ for a living.
Is our language so short of words that we need to saddle some with clearly unrelated meanings?
To labour the point – and with it the chance to win some fabulous PS News book prizes –
PS-sssst! has launched a search for other words similarly overloaded with disconnected, and presumably uninvited, meanings?
Examples:
Can a horse be hoarse? Can cows cower? Are dogs ever dogged?
Prizes for the most entertaining examples – and they don’t have to be about animals.
Send your entertaining discoveries to [email protected].
We’ll share what we fin d out next week!
Giveaway lives again
To the very first of Rama Gaind’s incredibly popular weekly giveaways now with 2019’s fantastic freebies lining up for new homes.
In her opening offering for the year, Rama has chosen two copies of the DVD triptych of movies based on Kate Collins novels the Flower Shop Mysteries Collection, starring former child star Brooke Shields as florist- come-crime-solver, Abby Knight.
To join Rama’s winners’ circle all you needed to do was name one other film the now grown-up Ms Shields starred in.
In a great start to Rama’s giveaway season, a huge number of entrants were able to name Blue Lagoon, Endless Love and Suddenly Susan as their favourite answers with the first winners to emerge from PS News’s 2019 version of its Barrel of Booty being Melanie M from the Department of Home Affairs and Eve C from the national Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities.
Congratulations to Melanie and Eve, your DVDs will be winging their way in your direction very soon and thanks to the many readers who joined in the excitement.
For another chance to win with Rama, simply visit this week’s giveaway and take your chances. You can access it here. It’s free to play and someone has to be the winner.
Acronymically speaking
And finally, a quick visit to the editor’s desk which was crossed this week by one interesting acronym that says it all and another that just misses out.
The first is from a Government school in Canberra that won a prize in the Territory’s award scheme for preventing violence to girls and women with its special program challenging male students to be leaders.
The program is brilliantly named DARE – Developing Adolescent Resilience and Enterprise – so there’s no wonder it’s scooping up awards, in fact it also achieved the highly cherished PS-sssst!’s nomination of acronym of the week, appallingly acronymised as the AWE award.
The second acronym that came so close but just fell short is an equally successful award-winning program for protecting youngsters on the internet entitled ‘ThinkUKnow”.
This program is national and turns 10 years old this year and the oh-so apt acronym it just misses out on is TYKE.
It’s already got the TYK – Think You Know – and just needs an ‘E’ to pull it off.
Fabulous book prizes for the best suggestions. Ideas to [email protected].
Till next week…..
