Infant food alergies overstated

I don't mean to come across as insensitive to allergies which actually do exist and are serious, but...

Mothers who fear their babies suffer from food allergies are largely wrong.

Wine Review: Barefoot Merlot (2006?)

We had a bottle of Barefoot Merlot (California) recently. The first problem was when I picked up the bottle, started thinking about what I might say about it, and looked in vain for the vintage. There was a "Copyright 2003" label on the bottle, but that doesn't mean anything regarding when the grapes were picked.

The flavor was cranberry and earth, the weight a medium heavy, and there was no complexity to the finish. Overall, it was good but monochromatic. We had it with a hearty but not spicy beef meal, and it held up; it seems it would be a good picnic wine to accompany a moderately heavy meat meal where you want a solid but not exotic wine.

How To Succeed in the Practice of Law, part II

From the movie Amistad, regarding the 1839 incident where the "human cargo" took over a slave ship and the subsequent court cases, culminating in the 1841 Supreme Court decision in the matter, the following (irreverent) exchange gets to the heart of things, namely, doing what you can to meet your client's goals, and getting paid to do it.

Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) : If the court awards them to Spain, they'll be taken to Cuba and executed. If the two lieutenants prevail, they're most likely to sell them to Spain. . . And they'll be executed. If Montes and Ruiz are successful in their campaign ---

Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) : I'm a little confused. What are they worth to you?

Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgård) : We're discussing the case, not its expense.

Baldwin : Oh, of course. Well, the case is much simpler than you think, Mr. Tappan. It's like anything, land, livestock, heirlooms, what have you.

Tappan : Livestock.

Baldwin : Yes. Consider: the only way one may sell or purchase slaves is if they are born slaves, as on the plantation. I'm right, aren't I?

Joadson : Yes.

Baldwin : So, are they?

Tappan : Are they?

Baldwin : Yes. Born slaves, as on a plantation.

Joadson : No, we're not certain, but we very much doubt it.

Baldwin : Let's say they are, and if they are, then they are possessions, and no more deserving of a criminal trial than a bookcase or a plow.

Then we can all go home, can't we? On the other hand, let's say they aren't slaves. If they aren't slaves, then they were illegally acquired, weren't they? Forget mutiny, piracy, murder and all the rest. Those are subsequent, irrelevant occurrences.

Ignore everything but the preeminent issue at hand. The wrongful transfer of stolen goods. Either way, we win.

Tappan : Sir, this war must be waged on the battlefield of righteousness.

Baldwin : The what ?

Tappan : It would be against everything I stand for to let this deteriorate. . . Into an exercise in the vagaries of legal minutia.

Baldwin : Well, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm talking about the heart of the matter.

Tappan : As am I. It is our destiny. . . as abolitionists and as Christians to save these people. These are people, Mr. Baldwin. Not livestock. Did Christ hire a lawyer to get him off on technicalities? He went to the cross nobly. You know why? To make a statement. To make a statement, as must we.

Baldwin : But Christ lost. You, I think----

Tappan : No, sir,he did not.

Baldwin : Or, at least you, Mr. Joadson, want to win, don't you?

Joadson : Yes.

Baldwin : I certainly do. Hell, sometimes I don't get paid unless I do. Which brings us back to the earlier question of worth. In order to do a better job than the attorney who represented the son of God, I'll require two and a half dollars a day.

For the Celtophiles

"English Literature, Scottish Author" classification dropped by U.S. Library of Congress in favor of "Scottish Literature" after international uproar.

End of a Friday

You know you have been working too long at a stretch when you have a moment of panic because you can't figure out how to save a document you have been working on, then realize that the document is a physical piece of paper, so of course there isn't a "save" button or feature.

I'm going home now.

Standards of Care, Virginia style

"Due care in a lumber camp might be gross negligence at Johns Hopkins. "

--Fox v. Mason, 139 Va. 667, 671 (1924) (Holt, J.).

Advice for relativistic travellers

If you ever find yourself in a situation where there are intertwined versions of the time-space continuum, and you need to straighten out the fabric of the universe, this simple test should help you figure out which version you want:

Find out which version there is a TV show about, and stick with that one.

(Seriously, how many times have you seen time-space breaches in a sci-fi show, and "our" crew convinces the "alternate" crew to "restore" "our" reality, even though "their" version is just as real to them as "ours" is to us. On the other hand, I suppose if a show needed to make a quick staffing change, say the Captain decided to pull a Natasha Yar, and the producers wanted to change the flavor of the show mid-season they could use such a device. Once the writer strike is resolved, of course...)

Emperor Palpatine on how to succeed in the practice of law

"I am compensated for my services, else I would not render them."

--Ian McDiarmid as Jaggers, Great Expectations (Masterpiece Theater)

Networking link

For the introvert in us all, those wanting to improve their working-the-room skills, or otherwise those that want a leg up on getting to know people en masse, see http://www.effectivenetworking.com/WILL.html.