Little things...

At work I'm currently doing a rather tedious and repetitive task for the Librarian, seeing as there is nothing to index during dissolution. This involves going through the Consolidated Lists of Government Publications for certain years and marking the House of Lords paper numbers for bills debated that Parliament. This would be boring, except certain titles keep making me giggle or be very intrigued, especially since I have very little to indicate the subject of the bill... Examples:

1928

• Rag Flock Act (1911) Amendment Bill


• Protection of Lapwings Bill


• Rabbits Bill


• Child Destruction Bill (actually about infanticide, but I get 'Honey I Blew Up The Kid' images in my head when I read it!)


• Liquor (Disinterested Ownership and Management) Bill


• Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act (1921) Amendment


• Easter Bill (I actually know about this one. It was passed and regulates the date of Easter Day, it is in force now, it just never has had a Statutory Instrument to make it law!)


• Betting (Juvenile Messengers) (Scotland) Bill


• Mr Speaker's Retirement Bill (Sounds ominously expensive!)


• Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Bill

I'll probably put up more as I continue. *pint* to anyone who comes up with the best description of what any of the acts/bills are on about! *grin*

More bills

1927

• Rabbits and Rooks Bill


• Aliens Restriction Bill


• Moneylenders' Bill (A type of fake note?)


• Feltwell Fuel Allotmemt Bill

1926

• Execution of Diligence (Scotland) Bill

What Makes A Woman A Woman?

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2005/04/24/what-makes-a-woman-a-woman/
http://www.bigbrassblog.com/2005/04/what-makes-woman.html

"From Big Brass Blog:

According to the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005 (Senate Bill 51 and House Bill 356, if you’re curious), it’s the ova and the uterus and nothing else. The Act, which has been criticized for its possible effects on abortion law, has been referred to committee in both the House and the Senate. It contains this excellent definition:

WOMAN- The term `woman’ means a female human being who is capable of becoming pregnant, whether or not she has reached the age of majority.

This definition of ‘woman’ was considered appropriate by both House and Senate. There are several interesting implications to this:

A. A female human being who is not capable of becoming pregnant does not qualify as a woman under this definition.

B. This definition implies that a woman is not, as any dictionary will tell you, an ‘adult female human.’ A thirteen-year-old female child is a woman if she has reached puberty. Fertility is the sole measure of womanhood, not maturity and the capacity to make one’s own decisions.

C. This definition could be used in other laws if this bill is passed and signed.

All of this reminds me of the definition of ‘woman’ in Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, wherein infertile women were considered Unwomen.

This is so unbelievably reductive it’s scary. And infuriating."

Some interesting comments there too...