Since it's Friday, and in the spirit of goring any and all available
sacred cows, and because I'm home sick and therefore am not entirely
in a legal state of mind, and in the further spirit of ecologically
sound post recycling (it's dejanews all over again), and because the
list has already been hit by one aviation related spam today, and
gernerally because I can, I offer up the following Santa Joke(tm)
(my favorite) which was posted here a year ago by John Hornberger...

G.

   Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal
 Aviation Administration, and the FAA examiner arrived last week for
 the pre-Christmas flight check.

   In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the
 reindeer.  Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his paperwork
 was in order.  He knew they would examine all his equipment and truly
 put Santa's flying skills to the test...

   The examiner walked slowly around the sled.  He checked the reindeer
 harnesses, the landing gear, and Rudolf's nose.  He painstakingly
 reviewed Santa's weight and balance calculations for sled's enormous
 payload.

   Finally, they were ready for the checkride.  Santa got in and
 fastened his seatbelt and shoulder harness and checked the compass.
 Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to Santa's surprise, a shotgun.

   "What's that for?!?" asked Santa incredulously.

   The examiner winked and said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this
 ahead of time," as he leaned over to whisper in Santa's ear, "but
 you're gonna lose an engine on takeoff."