April 16, 2009

• engrish

  From the New York Times, quoting the English version of China's Xinhua paper:

  "The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China’s fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China’s.

  The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness befor the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while."

  I, too, lament my littleness, but don't we all?

  [Edit: the NYT then said "Xinhua does not suggest that the cetacean force may have been part of a classified military program, but given that we know that the United States military has at least tried to train dolphins to work for the government, The Lede is not yet willing to rule out the possibility." Seriously?? The NYT are not willing to rule out the possibility of a thousands-strong secret Chinese anti-pirate dolphin army?]

  • 1:40 pm
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