From the "I am not making this up" file...

I haven't blogged in a week, due partly to my state of transience, and partly to an internet problem at the place I'm housesitting, and partly to... well, in Italian I would say, Sono stato molto impegnato; roughly, "I have been kept very busy." I hope no one stopped reading :-)

A couple of amusing quotes I read in today's newspapers. First, from the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera:

We know that Follini is a man of bad character, but better Follini than one who has no character. [Sappiamo che Follini ha un cattivo carattere, ma meglio Follini di chi non ha carattere.]

Marco Follini is secretary of UCD, one of the remnants of the former party Christian Democracy. Ironically, the party fell apart about a decade ago over allegations of corruption (and indictments, and sentences, and...). We're talking the sort of corruption that includes Mafia ties, not the general sort of corruption that some Italians say counts for civil service in Italy. (Knowing at least one civil servant, I don't think that's entirely accurate.)

The second quote is from today's News and Observer, and as God is my witness I am not making this up: police thought that a man arrested on charges of stealing jewels had swallowed one of the, ah, "goods", and

Fayetteville police wanted the jailers to continue the search and look through Hall's body waste. The jailers said that was not in their job description.

Somehow, I think this verbal exchange was a lot less subdued than one might gather from the story. :-)