Of the Things that Are and Have Been

Virginia presidential primary

2011-12-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

So with only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul (absent a legal decision otherwise) having qualified for the Virginia Republican primary for president, does this mean that Paul has a decent chance at winning the Commonwealth just to keep the delegates out of Romney's hands if the race for convention delegates is looking close at that point?

(I suppose it depends to some extent on the degree to which the party establishment can GOTV with moderates, compared with Paul's ability to convince those supporting other candidates that this is the only way to keep Romney off the ballot in November.)

EDIT: See discussion of legal options here and here

Tell us what you really think, Ken

2011-12-09T14:05:00.002-05:00

Cuccinelli on Dulles Rail:

After mishandling Phase I of the Dulles Metrorail/Silver Line extension, allowing Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority to oversee Phase II is like “buying your 16-year-old a new sports car, they go out, get drunk, crash into a tree, and you go out and buy them another one. And then buy them a six-pack.”

(And this despite the finding of MWAA, when pressured by Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, that they could actually probably complete the construction of Phase II for a billion bucks less than they said. A billion is about $1,000 per resident of Fairfax County.)

Federal Case of the Week

2011-11-10T17:20:00.002-05:00

Doran v. 7-Eleven, Inc., 524 F.3d1034 (9th Cir. 2008) - District Court erred in dismissing wheelchair-bound plaintiff's Americans with Disabilities Act case for lack of standing.

(So is that irony or just a bad pun?)

Until Next Season...

2011-10-30T12:41:00.000-04:00

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."

--Rogers Hornsby (St. Louis Cardinals from 1915-1926, 1933)

Math and engineers

2011-10-21T16:38:00.002-04:00

A logician, a physicist, a statistician, and an engineer enter a mathematics contest, the first task of which is to prove that all odd integers are prime.

The logician argues: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime. Therefore, by induction, all odd numbers are prime."

It's the physicist's turn: "3 is a prime, 5 is a prime, 7 is a prime, 9 is not a prime, 11 is a prime, 13 is a prime. Within experimental error, all odd numbers are prime."

The statistician states: "Let's try several randomly chosen numbers: 17 is a prime, 23 is a prime, 11 is a prime... our sample shows that all odd numbers are prime."

The engineer responds: "We just need to run a test, starting with the largest odd number and working backwards..."

(A lawyer puts forward that it is impossible to determine whether 1 is a prime or not, therefore we need not reach a result on 3, 5, 7, or 9)

Yes, oops.

2011-10-11T19:08:00.000-04:00

"The Internet has brought many new things into our lives, including the opportunity to display poor judgment on a global basis in nano-seconds."

--Loudoun Sheriff candidate Ron Speakman, regarding his forwarding a definitively male picture to a campaign volunteer.

Random statute of the day

2011-08-10T17:51:00.002-04:00

In Virginia, if livestock breaks into property enclosed by a fence which meets certain specifications (the specifications are geared toward strength and effectiveness, e.g., minimum height, how many strands of barbed wire), the owner of the animals is liable for the damages. Upon a second occurrence by the same animal, punitive damages of up to $40.00 are authorized. Va. Code § 55-306.

No, the statute hasn't been updated in a few decades.

Debt picture

2011-07-25T18:13:00.000-04:00

I know there are plenty of descriptions of the U.S. debt going around, but I'll add to the discussion:

The C-130 Hercules military transport plane has a maximum payload, in the C-130H iteration, of 45,000 lb. I will assume that interior space is not an issue, mostly because that is a lot of calculating to do.
A $100 bill weighs 1 gram (1/454 lb.).

454 bills / lb. x $100 / bill = $45,400 / lb.
$45,400 /lb. x 45,000 lb. / payload = $2,043,000,000 / payload

The Boehner plan would have $2.5 trillion available by early next year. Again for time reasons, I will assume that that means by 4/1/2012, or 250 days away.
Thus, starting today,

$2.5x10^12 / $2x10^9 / load = 1,250 loads
1,250 loads / 250 days = 5 loads / day

or one C-130 stuffed to the gills with $100 bills every 4 hours and 48 minutes.

With a cruising speed of 292 knots or 336 mph, that means if the C-130s had to fly the cash from San Antonio to New York, a great circle distance of about 1,600 miles, there would always be a plane in the air to keep up this schedule. Just to cover those costs of the United States government greater than revenue, without paying down a cent toward debt reduction.

Telling the Truth

2011-06-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

Lawyers enjoy a little mystery, you know. Why, if everybody came forward and told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth straight out, we should all retire to the workhouse.

Sir Impey Biggs
Clouds of Witness
Dorothy L. Sayers

Hurray for theoretical physics

2011-06-16T16:33:00.000-04:00

(Reprint of picture believed to be public domain. Please submit any copyright issue to the gmail (.com) address which begins with gbacopyright)

Problem Projects

2011-05-30T19:05:00.006-04:00

"At my age, if you have a problem with one of your projects, you probably just don't have enough clamps."

~BEK - while working on a troublesome picture frame -
Age 80

Obligatory Levitical Legalism

2011-05-24T15:59:00.004-04:00

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (ESV)

20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, ... that same prophet shall die. 21 And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'-- 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

Gaming the system

2011-05-18T13:11:00.003-04:00

The interesting case law for today could also be known as the Tale of the Collections Attorney Who Was Too Clever By Half:

J. I. Case Co. v. United Virginia Bank, 232 Va. 210 (1986) - Plaintiff filed an action in detinue (requesting return of specific personal property rather than just its value) seeking the recovery of unsold heavy equipment in the possession of its debtor's bank, who had seized the equipment from the debtor's inventory under a UCC lien. It sought and obtained a prejudgment attachment of the property, and posted a bond which was "void unless the right of possession ultimately was judged against" the Plaintiff. The sheriff went out, collected the equipment, and handed it over to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff then removed the equipment from Virginia, and ultimately distributed the equipment across the country for retail sale. Thinking it had accomplished everything it had set out to do by getting the equipment away from the bank, an (allegedly) secured creditor with an inferior claim to the equipment, the Plaintiff filed a nonsuit of right under Virginia Code § 8.01-380, dismissing the action before the bank and the debtor had an opportunity to present their full defense to the Plaintiff's claim or obtain the judgment needed to collect on the bond.

HELD: without completing a final judgment on the detinue action, the plaintiff had no adjudicated right to the property, and the defendants had a right to its return without any further proceedings. Because the equipment had been disposed of by the Plaintiff, judgment was entered for the value of the equipment against the Plaintiff.

Unsaid in the opinion is that by trying to pull a fast one like this, it sounds like the Plaintiff disposed of the only property in which it had a security interest, which demoted it to an unsecured creditor fighting for whatever scraps might be left over after the bank and other secured creditors took out their portions. Also unresolved (but left for the trial court) was whether the bond was satisfied by such a judgment.

Good Wife Points

2011-05-11T18:35:00.003-04:00

I have so many "Good Wife Points" built up just now. I am going to have to figure out something good to spend them on soon.

Legal Food Frenzy

2011-04-19T16:29:00.003-04:00

THE NEED

A recent study by Feeding America found that over 1,000,000 Virginians are considered “food insecure.” This represents nearly a forty percent increase since 2006. A large number of these individuals are children, senior citizens, disabled adults, and the new face of hunger—individuals who have lost their jobs and are having problems making ends meet. In fact, Virginia’s food banks are currently experiencing record demand for services.

THE RESPONSE

In response to this urgent need, the Office of the Attorney General, The Virginia Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks joined efforts in 2007 to create the Statewide Legal Food Frenzy—a food and fund drive competition among all Virginia law firms and organizations. In this friendly competition, the law firm or organization that raises the most food (based on a per person average—attorneys and staff) will be awarded the prestigious and highly coveted “Attorney General’s Cup.” In addition, Attorney General C------- will be awarding winners of the sole practitioner, small, medium, and large size firm categories. The top law school will be awarded the prized “Mini Attorney General’s Cup” and a special award will be given to the top government/public interest office.

Over the past four years, law firms, legal organizations, and law schools who participated in the Statewide Legal Food Frenzy have raised the equivalent of more than 5,400,000 pounds of food.

This year, we hope is to raise the equivalent of at least 1,600,000 pounds of food, so that we can meet our five year goal of raising the equivalent of 7,000,000 pounds of food for Virginians in need. To reach our goal, we need each and every law firm, legal department, law office, law school, and court in Virginia to participate.

The Brain and his firm, being lovers of food, participated with gusto. They amassed about 2250 pounds of supplies to donate to the cause. They are hoping to win the competition so that they can go to Richmond and meet the AG... oh wait... They are hoping to win the competition because it would be a tangible way to benefit the community, raise awareness of an under addressed situation, and demonstrate the importance of generosity. And they like to win.

The picture is all the water that was loaded into Warwick today. Hurray for strong trucks!

Very Judicious

2011-04-15T17:05:00.000-04:00

Defense Counsel: I need at least 25 pages to summarize all my legal arguments, your honor.

Judge: You can write 25 pages, counselor, so long as you tell me which 15 pages I should read.

Defense Counsel: Should I put that in the Order?

Judge: No.

(via On the Record in Cook County.)

Page limits are usually a good thing for a profession headed by a group which can publish hundred page opinions on whether a person had a proper opportunity to be heard. The 15 pages in Illinois sounds a little generous in fact - Virginia usually limits briefs to 5 pages. Makes you think about what is important.

Legal term of the Day: Writ of venditioni exponas

2011-03-04T17:36:00.000-05:00

Though this term is a bit of a mouthful, and probably makes some of you think of something that Hermione Granger would have found in an obscure volume, this is a helpful common law tool in collections work.

In essence, the writ commands a sheriff who has levied on property (to satisfy an unpaid judgment) to attempt a second time to sell the property even though there were no bidders at the first sale without having to repeat the levy process.

In Virginia, the writ has been expanded by statute (Va. Code § 8.01-211) to allow the Commonwealth, in cases where persons owe the government money, to use the writ to transport the property (magically, we might say, to keep up the J. K. Rowling theme) from the county where the levy took place to an adjoining county where, if all goes well, the other sheriff will be able to find a bidder in the new pool of buyers.

2011-03-02T13:08:00.000-05:00

In sympathy with husbands of pregnant wives everywhere:

Newest climate research - guess what they concluded?

2011-02-16T18:08:00.000-05:00

Nature has reportedly published a pair of new studies of rainfall which came to a number of unsurprising conclusions via a number of unsurprising steps.
1) Using a perception of changed conditions based at least in significant part on observations subject to changing measurement protocols (e.g., river flow data since 1766),
2) they built a computer model which, based on the assumptions they engineered into it, predicted a difference in likely outcome based on whether we pump tons of carbon into the air, and then
3) blame specific modern events on these gas emissions.

3 for 3 from the grave, Mr. Crichton.

*Yawn*, Nature.

PM David Cameron - Finally someone takes a stand

2011-02-05T17:22:00.003-05:00

BBC News
5 February 2011

State multiculturalism has failed, says David Cameron

David Cameron said Britain had encouraged different cultures to live separate lives

David Cameron has criticised "state multiculturalism" in his first speech as prime minister on radicalisation and the causes of terrorism.

At a security conference in Munich, he argued the UK needed a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to all kinds of extremism.

He also signalled a tougher stance on groups promoting Islamist extremism.

The speech angered some Muslim groups, while others queried its timing amid an English Defence League rally in the UK.

As Mr Cameron outlined his vision, he suggested there would be greater scrutiny of some Muslim groups which get public money but do little to tackle extremism.

Ministers should refuse to share platforms or engage with such groups, which should be denied access to public funds and barred from spreading their message in universities and prisons, he argued.

"Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," the prime minister said.

Human rights
"Let's properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights - including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism?

"These are the sorts of questions we need to ask. Fail these tests and the presumption should be not to engage with organisations," he added.

The Labour MP for Luton South, Gavin Shuker, asked if it was wise for Mr Cameron to make the speech on the same day the English Defence League staged a major protest in his constituency.

There was further criticism from Labour's Sadiq Khan whose comments made in a Daily Mirror article sparked a row.

The shadow justice secretary was reported as saying Mr Cameron was "writing propaganda material for the EDL".

Conservative Party chairman Baroness Warsi hit back, saying that "to smear the prime minister as a right wing extremist is outrageous and irresponsible". She called on Labour leader Ed Miliband to disown the remarks.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Britain's assistant secretary general, Dr Faisal Hanjra, described Mr Cameron's speech as "disappointing".

He told Radio 4's Today programme: "We were hoping that with a new government, with a new coalition that there'd be a change in emphasis in terms of counter-terrorism and dealing with the problem at hand.

"In terms of the approach to tackling terrorism though it doesn't seem to be particularly new.

"Again it just seems the Muslim community is very much in the spotlight, being treated as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution."

In the speech, Mr Cameron drew a clear distinction between Islam the religion and what he described as "Islamist extremism" - a political ideology he said attracted people who feel "rootless" within their own countries.

"We need to be clear: Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing," he said.

The government is currently reviewing its policy to prevent violent extremism, known as Prevent, which is a key part of its wider counter-terrorism strategy.

A genuinely liberal country "believes in certain values and actively promotes them", Mr Cameron said.

"Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Democracy. The rule of law. Equal rights, regardless of race, sex or sexuality.

"It says to its citizens: This is what defines us as a society. To belong here is to believe these things."

He said under the "doctrine of state multiculturalism", different cultures have been encouraged to live separate lives.

'I am a Londoner too'
"We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values."

Building a stronger sense of national and local identity holds "the key to achieving true cohesion" by allowing people to say "I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner... too", he said.

Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said when Mr Cameron expressed his opposition to extremism, he meant all forms, not just Islamist extremism.

"There's a widespread feeling in the country that we're less united behind values than we need to be," she told Today.

"There are things the government can do to give a lead and encourage participation in society, including all minorities."

But the Islamic Society of Britain's Ajmal Masroor said the prime minister did not appreciate the nature of the problem.

"I think he's confusing a couple of issues: national identity and multiculturalism along with extremism are not connected. Extremism comes about as a result of several other factors," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

Former home secretary David Blunkett said while it was right the government promoted national identity, it had undermined its own policy by threatening to withdraw citizenship lessons from schools.

He accused Education Secretary Michael Gove of threatening to remove the subject from the national curriculum of secondary schools in England at a time "we've never needed it more".

"It's time the right hand knew what the far-right hand is doing," he said.

"In fact, it's time that the government were able to articulate one policy without immediately undermining it with another."

BBC © MMXI

Every boy needs a duplo truck

2011-01-01T01:29:00.000-05:00

"Oooohhh, a hay baler!!!!"

Everything we know is wrong?

2010-12-02T17:09:00.001-05:00

[Article here - "Second Genesis on Earth?"]

Scientists locate arsenic-tolerating bacteria, demonstrate that the bacteria are using the arsenic in place of phosphorus. So what? This means that the bacteria have cracked the traditionally held carbo-oxy-hydro-nitro-sulph-phos cell structure that was assumed to be the essential building blocks of life. We may be a long way from Star Trek's silicon-based life (in lieu of carbon), but it appears substitution can happen even here on earth.

Rally to Restore Sanity - Great Sign

2010-11-01T18:54:00.000-04:00

Text: GOD HATES FIGS. MARK 11:12-14

"...[Jesus] was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon, and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever..."
(King James Version for copyright simplicity reasons)

Memory

2010-10-20T22:03:00.000-04:00

"If I had a nickel for everything I'd forgotten, I'd really and truly have no idea how much money I'd have."
The Brain

Deficit spending

2010-10-19T18:30:00.003-04:00

With thanks to Nicholas B. for bringing the topic up, since graphs are so much fun, here is the data from Treasury Department statistics on deficit spending for the Bush43 and Obama (so far) administrations. (Sorry if the numbers aren't so readable - click the photo to enlarge; the chart starts in January 2000 and the spiky blue and pink lines change to smooth in April 2005.)

The higher pitch of the line after January 2009 indicates increased rate of deficit spending. And that bump around September 2008? That represents $ 400 billion in new deficit spending in two weeks. Almost half a trillion dollars. Or pretty close to the total GDP (or twice the US wages) for that time period.

Do not attempt to beat this girl's father

2010-10-19T18:25:00.000-04:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/6244076/Farmers-daughter-disarms-terrorist-and-shoots-him-dead-with-AK47.html
Never tell yourself you are a victim. Take control. No other commentary needed.

[Published a year later than intended, because it was left in my drafts folder, which I rarely check --ED.]

Popular Among Athiests

2010-10-18T16:25:00.002-04:00

"Christianity is the belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree."

Legal word of the Day: Mayhem

2010-09-29T13:11:00.000-04:00

Mayhem ['mae-'hem] (n)

willful and permanent crippling, mutilation, or disfigurement of any part of another's body; also, the crime of engaging in mayhem

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law ©1996

This term falls under the fun category of words which have a specific technical meaning but are applied metaphorically in common usage. These are the words that mess with someone's head if they get used to the technical usage and then hear people throw them around where they don't really apply, e.g.,
"The rowdy youths did all kinds of mayhem."
"But I thought you said they only spray painted some mailboxes and broke a few windows."

It was only a matter of time

2010-09-23T01:27:00.000-04:00

The L.A. Times reports that the first health insurance companies to begin trimming back their offerings after the reform bill are now doing so. [Article here.] It should probably come as no surprise that when you take away someone's incentive to provide a service, they cease to provide it.

I found particularly funny the (in his mind) rhetorical question posed by the reform pundit in the article: "Insurers need to decide if they are in the business of providing care or denying coverage." Actually, neither. They are not in the business of providing care, but risk management. Requiring them to do something else sounds like an invitation for them to go on strike to me.

Legal word of the day: Champerty

2010-09-09T18:16:00.000-04:00

Champerty (n.) ['cham-per-te]; Champertous (adj.) ['cham-per-tes]

An unenforceable agreement to fund litigation for another in exchange for a portion of the proceeds of the suit.

Näkemiin?

2010-08-20T18:06:00.000-04:00

Rumors are that Kimi Raikkonen may not go back to Formula 1, but stick around with rally racing. Best of luck to the Finn either way, but we'll miss him in F1.

Wolverine

2010-08-11T12:26:00.004-04:00

"Essentially, this movie is about Hugh Jackman, the hottest actor ever, with the most un-attractive haircut ever. But, somehow it works."

~EKL

Luxury car worth £1.2m clamped outside Harrods

2010-07-30T09:20:00.007-04:00

Click title for the story!

I seriously need some of these!

2010-07-19T11:05:00.001-04:00

Lone Ranger

2010-05-27T18:43:00.001-04:00

What many people don't realize is that when the Lone Ranger's parents died, they had not passed their property on directly to the Lone Ranger, but instead had created a fund for his maintenance, which was administered by Tonto. This is why Tonto is always referred to as The Trustee Sidekick.

Prison yard auto repair

2010-04-12T13:23:00.001-04:00

If you ever find yourself needing to put a water pump belt back on its pulleys in a car with less than two inches of clearance, there is nothing like a homemade tool for pulling off the job. Not shown is the 1x4 which went through the loops to provide a foot pedal/pull bar. Also thanks to a kind contractor who provided the third hand needed for finishing.

Tool not recommended to establishing turf or maintaining dominance in maximum security pen.

Intentional Naughtiness

2010-04-11T21:54:00.005-04:00

We found out that Warwick blew a head gasket, and will be in the shop for a week. Soon after hearing this Helmy decided that he was not getting enough attention. On our way home from a weekend away, just before we crossed back into Virginia, his temperature spiked and after we looked him over we found he had split the belt that drives the water pump. Since we will not put up with intentional naughtiness we left him north of Lucketts for the night, just to see if he would start behaving. We will be bringing him back home tomorrow, and we got him a new belt. We are not rewarding him, but the old belt is totally useless since he pitched his little fit.

AAA

2010-04-06T20:01:00.001-04:00

Once again we are thankful for AAA. We are not quite sure what is wrong with Warwick, but we are glad we did not have to leave him on the side of the LCP.

Blast!

2010-03-29T18:20:00.000-04:00

In Virginia, the use of non-mining explosives (e.g., for road construction) requires the user to have a blaster's license from the State Fire Marshall, pursuant to Virginia Code § 27-97.2. Once granted, the license is good for three years and can be renewed at three year intervals. However, each time a set of fingerprint cards must be submitted with the application.

Which leads me to wonder, in addition to running background checks, do they keep track of how many fingers each blaster still has?

Pesky Puritans

2010-03-24T13:08:00.002-04:00

Reuben was determined to stay on track. "[The United States] can have riots, but not sustained [civil] wars, because the sides are too geographically mixed and the resources are too one-sided."

[Dr.] Torrent shook his head. "The seeds of civil war are always there, in every country. England in the 1600s--nobody would have believed that those pesky Puritans could provoke a Royalist versus Puritan civil war, and yet they did."

--Orson Scott Card, Empire

Don't mess with old guys

2010-03-23T18:42:00.000-04:00

Four German pensioners, in their 60s through 80s, found guilty of kidnapping their financial adviser after he lost over $3 million of their money. The quartet not only managed to bind him with tape and gag him, they got him into a box and shifted him into the trunk of a car before driving him across Germany and stashing him in a basement. Oh, and they beat him badly enough to break several of his ribs.

Full story here.

Matchless

2010-03-08T16:45:00.003-05:00

Brit army bike, Dutch made, all original still and in working order, it is 1 of 300 of its kind.

The owner thought it was flattering that I wanted to take its picture.

Boys, stop drooling.

(And I really like that German car next to it.)

Oscars: Best Picture

2010-02-26T17:23:00.000-05:00

If Avatar wins, the Oscars are bought.
If Up in the Air wins, the Oscars are stuck in a rut.
If Inglourious Basterds wins, the Oscars just go to whatever the most outrageous idea is.
If Precious wins, the Oscars are liberal heartthrobs.
If The Blind Side wins, the Oscars are conservative heartthrobs. (Ha!)
If An Education wins, the Oscars are perverts.

I guess that leaves The Hurt Locker (since District 9 has sci-fi-itis, and anyway shouldn't be permitted to win if Invictis can't)?

Biathlon rifle facts

2010-02-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

Nice short piece on equipment for one of the hardest-core Olympic events. (Spoiler - most biathletes use the Anschutz Model 1827 Fortner rifle.)

Article Here, courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

Neither of these is going to pass with TSA

2010-02-08T15:06:00.002-05:00

Thanks Adam!!

A moment of explanation

2010-02-01T15:05:00.003-05:00

:::Breaking News:::

Washington, DC - The White House today released information from a recent medical exam of the President indicating the existence of minor nerve degeneration in the chief executive. The symptoms are limited to a loss of inner ear equilibrium when bilateral pressure is applied to the President's right hand, giving purely medical episodes the appearance of bowing during a handshake.

Some things should not be published

2010-01-08T12:12:00.000-05:00

Others should be published so you can judge for yourself whether or not they should be published. As an example, I provide the following comic strip annotation (on a strip poking fun at Aragorn for trusting the oath of an oath-breaking ghost army), authored by David Morgan-Mar of Irregular Webcomic fame:

Swearing of oaths used to actually count for something. It used to be that people really respected sworn oaths, and would take you at your word, pretty much without question.

Nowadays we're much too cynical a society to really put anywhere near as much credence on to an oath. I mean, if the director of a huge company swore on his mother's grave to stop polluting the rivers near his chemical factories, would anyone really believe him?

It would be nice if we could revive faith in oaths, so that you really could believe someone if they swore to stop dumping toxic chemicals into the waterways. Lend such things more credence.

It would be a credence clear-water revival.

Nintendo 1, President 0

2010-01-07T11:48:00.002-05:00

Change Chomp Ball t-shirt at Split Reason.

He who reads the inside of the top of the box

2009-12-16T08:30:00.001-05:00

"To me, a lawyer is basically the person who knows the rules of the country. We're all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem, the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box."
~Jerry Seinfeld

Finally, a correct version of the U.S. Military Services Language Chart!!!

2009-12-11T13:27:00.005-05:00

MILITARY LANGUAGE

CONVERSION CHART

(You may need to click on the chart to enlarge it.)

That is why traffic is so bad around here!

2009-12-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

Hindsight is 20/20 Once The Mind Trick Wears Off

2009-11-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

Cause of Action of the Week

2009-11-18T12:47:00.003-05:00

"Action in Trespass for ravishment of ward" (See Stanley v. Rasnick, 137 Va. 415, 420 (1923).)

Under the Norman-introduced Law of Primogeniture, the oldest son (or daughter if there were no sons) would inherit the entire estate, and distribute gifts to his siblings at his discretion. As he was the only heir apparent, this put a bit of pressure on his marriage choice, both because his ancestors were likely to be loath to pass on to him everything they owned if he had a rotten wife and because this made him a target for the patient golddigger. To protect against this, the above trespass could be sued upon by the ancestor of the heir. If proven that the heir apparent had been taken (without consent) and married, a writ of ravishment would be issued, and as best I can tell, this would prevent the estate from passing to the golddigger or her family. The action became disused when primogeniture was abandoned; it was abolished in Virginia in 1787.

Bear kills militants in Kashmir

2009-11-03T10:36:00.002-05:00

By Altaf Hussain BBC News, Srinagar
A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

The militants were armed with AK-46s but were taken by surprise - police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked. It is thought to be the first such incident since Muslim separatists took up arms against Indian rule in 1989.

The militants had made their hideout in a cave which was actually the bear's den, said police officer Farooq Ahmed.

The dead have been identified as Mohammad Amin alias Qaiser, and Bashir Ahmed alias Saifullah.

News of the attack emerged when their injured comrade went to a nearby village for treatment.

"Word spread in the village that Qaiser had been killed by the bear," another police officer said.

A joint party of the police and army personnel went into the forest and collected the bodies of the two militants.

Police say they also recovered two AK-46 rifles and some ammunition from the hideout. Animal attacks

Wildlife experts say the conflict in Kashmir has actually resulted in an increase in the population of bears and leopards.

Following the outbreak of the insurgency people had to hand in their weapons to police - which put a halt to poaching.

As a result, there has been a greater incidence of man-animal conflict, say experts. There have been many reports of bears and leopards killing or mauling humans in different parts of the Kashmir valley in recent years.

Three years ago, residents of Mandora village near the southern town of Tral, beat a black bear to death which had strayed into the village.

Idea for a TV Show

2009-11-02T23:32:00.003-05:00

Desperate Entwives: but no one needs to be hasty and worry about content, it would be slower than Middlemarch.

~This idea brought to you by The Brain~

Rise of the Fallen

2009-10-27T09:40:00.001-04:00

(The Brain would have posted this,

but he is busy being smart somewhere else and I am free to have fun!)

Bloody-Mindedness

2009-10-09T16:13:00.003-04:00

"It would have been better if I had called him out and shot him a year ago," said Sir James, not from bloody-mindedness, but because he needed something strong to say.

~Sir James Chettam
Middlemarch, by George Eliot

Cleaning

2009-10-04T22:04:00.001-04:00

(Thanks to TJ for sharing the fun!!)

To the Israeli Ambassador

2009-09-15T22:04:00.000-04:00

"Press releases aren't given under oath."
~Jim Hacker

Yes, Prime Minister, Episode Six - A Victory for Democracy

For T

2009-07-17T12:54:00.002-04:00

Something we can belive in, finally!

2009-07-15T16:44:00.003-04:00

DDO$ and a little culture

2009-05-29T17:49:00.000-04:00

Today I give you two items:

1) What to do when you get hit with a $3.75m court judgment? One defendant's strategy is to pay it off pennies at a time (or in their case, Swedish Krona at a time) to drive up the processing costs. Which might just fly under legal tender laws. Since the matter appeared in an internet-related case, the defendant has dubbed the strategy "Distributed Denial of Dollars," or DDO$.

2) Though subject to much dispute, one fan with a good deal of time on their hands has created a compilation of the purportedly 100 best movie lines. Once you watch, of course, you will have absorbed ninety years of culture, and have a great excuse to avoid watching anything for the next few years.

2009-04-30T12:01:00.002-04:00

In honor of The Heart and her Arabic studies (and for the benefit of anyone who has seen Denzel Washington's larger than life role as Malcolm X), I present this bit taken from an opinion in a case with a pro se plaintiff who essentially filed the same claims twice.

Though Plaintiff proceeded in the Prior Action under his given name, Tyrone Troy McRae, he concedes that Pharo Naji Akhenaten is the same person as the plaintiff in the Prior Action. (Pl.'s Local R. 56.1 Statement of Material Facts ("Pl.'s Facts") PP 1-3.) Plaintiff explains that while "his biological mother named him 'Tyrone Troy McRae,'" Pharo Naji Akhenaten "is his rightful, national, [**10] indigenous, righteous name from Father Allah, in the Hieroglyphic language preserved in Qur'aanic and Hebrew Text. Plaintiff is a Qariat-ul Qur'aan-il Kaariym fi- lisaan Sidqin-il 'Alliyaa [A reciter of the Confirmations of the Noble Qur'aan, in Classical Arabic] and a descendant of Allah by Blood; a Muslim by Nature, not by religion and he is not a mere juristic person [TYRONE TROY MCRAE] or 'straw man' based upon the Black Code but an indigenous aborigine; a natural person under the Divine Protection of Allah, the God of Horus, Isis, Osiris, Ra; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob et al., The Most Honorable W.D. Fard, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan." (Id. P 1) (emphasis in original).

Akhenaten v. Najee, LLC, 544 F.Supp.2d 320, 325 n.6 (S.D.N.Y. 2008)

Accounting Joke

2009-04-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

Would it be funny if your outside auditing firm's vendor number in your system was 990?

Do Dogs Go to Heaven?

2009-04-16T11:36:00.003-04:00

Two churches in Hartford, KY are finally settling the issue for us all by having it out on their signs.

Click the to see the outcome for Fido!

(While it is all fun and games, the Cumberland Presbyterian Magazine reports that is, in fact, an internet hoax, and can be reproduced here.)

Legal Humor

2009-03-20T10:46:00.003-04:00

Stasi files emerge through software

2009-03-20T10:42:00.001-04:00

This story is a few months old, but it is really cool, so we thought we would share it with you all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The contents of files of the former East German secret police, the Stasi - which were destroyed after the fall of the Berlin Wall - are slowly emerging after being pieced back together through new software developed in Berlin.

The fragments are scanned and then matched up to form a complete image. The researches stress they do not read the files, only reconstruct them.

The E-Puzzler system, developed at the capital's Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology, works by scanning the fragments of the documents into a computer image file.

Then, by treating each scrap as if part of a jigsaw, the information gathered by the notorious agency is being restored.

"It is the biggest puzzle in the world," Bertram Nicolai, head of the Security and Testing department at the Fraunhofer Institute, told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme.

"The goal of the pilot project is the automatic, virtual reconstruction of 400 bags. It is very important for German history."

Reconstruction process

Almost as soon as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 - signalling the end of Communism - Stasi agents set about trying to destroy their files, first with shredders, and then with their hands.

Within weeks, they had filled 16,000 sacks with 600 million fragments.

Two years later, following reunification, German officials started trying to recreate the files by hand - but it became clear it was going to take too long.

Then researchers came up with the E-Puzzler, and managed to get a government grant.

The system analyses shape, colour, texture and thickness of the paper, so that it is eventually possible to rebuild an electronic image of the original document.

"It will be a long job - but that's the interesting part," said the Fraunhofer's Jan Schneider.

"First we have to digitise all the pieces from the bags. This is done by a special high-speed scanning device.

"The next step is to segment the image itself from the raw scan - we need the outline of the pieces, pixel-wise, to perform the reconstruction process after that.

"Then all digitised pieces of paper are stored in the database. After that we reconstruct a lot of the descriptive features of the pieces."

However, at the former Stasi prison Hohenschonhausen, the main place political prisoners were held and subjected to torture, there are criticisms that the process has already taken too long.

"I think it comes a little bit late," said Hubertus Knabe, director of the memorial at the site, which is also a museum.

"Nearly 20 years after the fall of the Wall we start to reconstruct these Stasi files, which are really important: the most important files were the ones they destroyed.

"I am happy that now it is going forward, but it is late."

Story from BBC NEWS

Not sure if we should be scared or not....

2009-03-11T13:04:00.004-04:00

Overall, very intimidating, but those tan lines just make me crack up everytime I see him!!

Laundry Win

2009-03-10T15:05:00.003-04:00

The Heart actually thought this was funny. I offer, from Failblog, the man's laundry tag.

The SUV Song

2009-02-28T22:24:00.001-05:00

I played this for The Brain the other day, and as a Durango Driver he very much appreciated the song. If you click the title of this post you can listen to the song. If it does not work then google the following: Veggie Tales SUV song.

Larry- I like your car
Girl- I like Yours too
Larry- Is It a Jeep?
Girl- A Subaru
Larry- I like your tires
Girl- You've got nice chrome
Larry- A trailer Hitch ?
Girl- Left Mine at Home
Larry- Oh your suspension it suspends me over heights I've never known
Girl- And your roll bar is to die for by the way I like your chrome
Larry-You already said that
Girl- did I ?
Larry-yeah
Girl- oh
Both: Oh you and me in our sport utility vehicles crusin to 7-11 for a bag of frito laysOh you and me in our sport Utility Vehicles we'll slam into 4 wheel and pick up a dozen eggs and if there ever was a snow
Girl- A really really deep snow
Larry: And if everyone was stuck but us
Girl- We'd be the ones not stuck
Larry: then we could be the heroes
Girl- We could be the heroes
Both- we could be the herooooooos
Girl- We would push them and pull them
Larry: push them and pull them
Both- Push them and pull them right out of the snow

Girl- I like your car
Larry- I like yours too
Girl- Periwinkle?
Larry- its baby blue
Girl- hows it handle?
Larry- Like a dream
Girl- How 'bout coffee
Larry- and then Ice cream!
Both- o you and me in out sport utility vehicles crusin to Dunkin Donuts for a cup of steaming Joe oh you and me in our sport utility vehicles we'll slam into 4-wheel drive for a scoop of rocky road
Girl- and if we ever go campin,.. you know
Larry- haven't been but one day.. I'll go
Girl- And we find a ranger stuck in a ditch
Both- a nice ranger in a deep ditch
Larry- we could be the heroes
Girl- we could be the heroes
Both- we could be the heroes
Girl- we would push him and pull him
Larry- push him and pull him
Both- Push him and pull him right out of that ditch

Larry- I like your car
Girl- I like yours too
Larry- Is it a Jeep?
Both- Its my sport Utility Vehicle

Quote of the Week

2009-02-23T10:32:00.002-05:00

"Action movies have car chases, and explosions, and budgets, and, um, what's the word I'm looking for here, ... yeah, FANS."

--Will Smith, on the category that gets ripped off every year (this year included) at the Oscars.

Stimulus plan?

2009-02-06T15:58:00.002-05:00

Our new president has been circulating a plan to offer $850 billion dollars as a stimulus for the economy. How much money is that? Well, after a friend offered one version of what could be done with that much money, I decided to check on whether it was accurate. Following please find my rough calculations:

23 karat gold leaf is approximately $35 per square foot.

An interstate highway lane is 12 feet wide, with a ten foot shoulder on the right and four feet on the left, or 38 feet per direction. Averaging in cities where there are more lanes, we'll call it 40 feet per direction, or 80 feet of pavement.

A mile is 5280 feet, so 5280 * 80 = 422,400 square feet per highway mile. At $35 / square foot, this is $14,784,000 to gild a mile of highway in both directions. In order to preserve the number of significant digits we have at the beginning, we need to round this to $15 million.

According to wikipedia, there are 46,837 miles of interstate highways in the United States. At the unrounded rate, this is $692,438,208,000, at an even $15M/mi it comes out to $702.555 billion, but again, because of the significant digits, we need to call it $700 billion. Out of a stimulus package of $850 billion, this leaves $150 billion for labor to gild the entire U.S. Interstate Highway System, shoulder to shoulder on both sides.*

So should we go forward with the stimulus plan? For my two cents worth, a shiny gold highway system would look way cooler from space, making this choice easy. Heck, it would probably create more jobs than the stimulus plan, anyway.

*This equation, of course, leaves out the effect trying to buy up that much gold leaf would have on the market price of said leaf, and accordingly, the increases in price for this project before it can be completed. And probably lots of other stuff that is important to coming up with a realistic scenario. But I'm not putting out a bid on this...

Never bring a bow to a gun fight

2009-01-22T17:02:00.002-05:00

At least, under normal circumstances.

Running into two CCW permit holders should be considered normal circumstances. Not much else about the situation was normal, though.

Woman wounded by civilians, police officer after shooting father's coworker with an arrow.

'Carbon cost' of Google revealed -BBC

2009-01-12T10:25:00.003-05:00

2 google searches = 1 kettle of boiling water

I think I may need to cut down my tea intake so that I can keep my research up...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two search requests on the internet website Google produce "as much carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle", according to a Harvard University academic. US physicist Alex Wissner-Gross claims that a typical Google search on a desktop computer produces about 7g CO2.

However, these figures were disputed by Google, who say a typical search produced only 0.2g of carbon dioxide.

A recent study by American research firm Gartner suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions.

Dr Wissner-Gross's study claims that two Google searches on a desktop computer produces 14g of CO2, which is the roughly the equivalent of boiling an electric kettle.

Carbon emissions

The Harvard academic argues that these carbon emissions stem from the electricity used by the computer terminal and by the power consumed by the large data centres operated by Google around the world.

Although the American search engine is renowned for returning fast results, Dr Wissner-Gross says it can only do so because it uses several data banks at the same time.

Speaking to the BBC, he said a combination of clients, networks, servers and people's home computers all added up to a lot of energy usage.

"Google isn't any worse than any other data centre operator. If you want to supply really great and fast result, then that's going to take extra energy to do so," he said.

Dr Wissner-Gross said he was working on a website called co2stats.com which helps companies identify "energy inefficient" aspects of their websites.

In a statement on its official blog, Google said that Dr Wissner-Gross' figures were "many times too high."

The firm said that a typical search returned a result in less than 0.2 seconds and that the search itself only used its servers for a few thousandths of a second. This, said Google, amounted to 0.0003 kWh of energy per search - equivalent to 0.2g of CO2.

"We've made great strides to reduce the energy used by our data centres, but we still want clean and affordable sources of electricity for the power that we do use," said Google in its statement.

"In 2007, we co-founded the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. This non-profit consortium is committed to cutting the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 and so reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year. That's a lot of kettles."

On Strange Case Names, Part II

2009-01-07T16:04:00.002-05:00

This just seen:

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 735 F.2d 895 (5th Cir.1984).

(Part I here)

Fed Cuts Interest Rate Below 0%

2008-12-16T12:20:00.002-05:00

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," says Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

WASHINGTON - After the meeting of the Federal Reserve Board this afternoon, the Fed has announced that it is cutting its funds rate to -0.5% for the first time in history. "Given the current economy's sluggishness, we thought it would be a good idea to literally pay people to take our money," commented Bernanke at a press conference to announce the decision, "Hopefully, this will restart consumer spending without consumers having to worry about where they will get the money to pay off the loan, not that they really ever worry about that anyway. Instead, the consumer can focus on making purchases, secure in the knowledge that the loan will actually get smaller over time." When asked about the danger of consumers making no maintenance payments on the loan, but letting the loan simply dissipate over time, Bernanke dismissed the idea. "Negative interest just doesn't work that way. We have a whole new paradigm to work with. It's an actual example of the cricket that always jumps half the distance and can never get to his target." After letting his eyes glaze over while doing some quick math in his head, the Fed chief finished by stating, "besides, at a mere negative half point, even after fifty years, less than a third of the debt will have paid itself off; at that point, you're applying barely over 30 cents on the thousand dollars. It would be several hundred years before you would even start to have significant rounding errors."

Alternative Medicine

2008-12-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

The Heart: Have you ever been to the chiropractor?

The Brain: No. Well, yes, but only for a deposition.

The Heart: That is not exactly what I meant.

The Brain: I know, that is why I said "no" first.

Abstract Thoughts

2008-12-03T13:21:00.001-05:00

"If I had a hundred dollars for every time I wanted a hundred dollars, I would have spent all my hundred dollarses, and would have nothing."

(The Brain while pondering Christmas presents for the family)

Lost Church

2008-11-14T10:49:00.001-05:00

Russian church 'taken by thieves'

A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say.

The building had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809.

It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said.

Local prosecutors had been informed and an investigation was under way, a spokesman for the local Russian Orthodox Church said.

The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection, some 300 km (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, was not immediately noticed.

It was in an out-of-the-way area and was not being used, although Church officials were considering resuming services there.

Now all that remained of the two-storey building - a school before it was turned over to the Church - were its foundations and some sections of wall, the Church said.

Thieves often target churches in rural Russia. Religious icons can be sold and church structures sold off for building materials.

Story from BBC NEWS

Compare:

2008-11-11T17:46:00.004-05:00

Ours may be leaner and have slightly more pronounced pects, but theirs has more solid abs and thicker arms.

We're doomed.

Seriously...

2008-11-06T11:19:00.002-05:00

Seriously, who builds a space-time fluctuation sensor? And how would anyone know that it's important to build one, anyway, at least in their own timeline, since anyone who gets sucked away in a space-time fluctuation should just disappear in a way that is not otherwise detectable. (So I suppose the sensor could be developed just out of a sense of paranoia...)

Bumper Sticker of the Day

2008-10-30T11:19:00.001-04:00

Virginia Makes Wine

Napa Makes Auto Parts

Quote of the Week

2008-10-28T16:53:00.002-04:00

Kosovo edition:

"Whatever the reason for the coalition victory, everybody was perfectly willing to take credit for it. The Air Force took credit for achieving the first "pure air power victory" in the history of armed conflict. The Navy took credit for the first maritime victory ever won without a single naval engagement. The Army took credit for the greatest air and naval victory ever commanded by an Army general. The White House took credit for the greatest military victory achieved under a Democratic administration since Franklin Roosevelt's.

"No good guys got killed in combat. Not all that many bad guys died either. In all... Kosovo was a perfect little war to end the twentieth century with."

--Jeff Huber, Bathtub Admirals

X-Rays & Shoes - from the VA Code

2008-10-22T13:02:00.001-04:00

§ 18.2-321. Using X ray, fluoroscope, etc., in the fitting of footwear.

It shall be unlawful for any person to use any X ray, fluoroscope, or other equipment or apparatus employing roentgen rays, in the fitting of shoes or other footwear. This section shall not apply to any licensed physician or surgeon in the practice of his profession. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-416; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)

The Brain: I'm sure radiation is dangerous and all, but banning the use of x-rays for sales of shoes only? They could at least also include hat sales...

The Heart: Why not make it purses, scarves, and umbrellas too?

Hail to the Chief

2008-10-15T13:49:00.004-04:00

Language like this is what keeps legal opinions from getting too dry. Nice to see it from the Supreme Court, not just the lower courts. Enjoy Detective Noir, a la the Chief Justice:

North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a threedollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He'd made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.

Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn't buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy's pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office.

Cert denial of Pennsylvania v. Dunlap (U.S. 2008) (Roberts, C.J., dissenting)

Mother Always Told Me Not To Drop My H-s

2008-10-08T13:33:00.005-04:00

Israelis digest Kouchner 'H-bomb'

Some Israelis may have choked on their breakfast when a newspaper headline quoted France's foreign minister saying Israel might devour its arch foe, Iran.

Hebrew daily Haaretz splashed across its front page that Bernard Kouchner said Israel might "eat" the Islamic Republic before it got nuclear arms.

The following day Haaretz apologised, saying Mr Kouchner, speaking in English, had actually said "hit".

Mr Kouchner also offered a diplomatic apology for the "phonetic confusion".

When Mr Kouchner was asked about the possibility of Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, the Hebrew and English editions of Haaretz newspaper quoted him saying:

"I honestly don't believe that it will give any immunity to Iran.

First, because you [Israelis] will eat them before."

He went on to say: "And this is the danger. Israel has always said it will not wait for the bomb to be ready. I think that [the Iranians] know. Everyone knows."

The comments were published on Sunday, as Mr Kouchner ended a two-day visit to the region, under the headline in Hebrew saying "You will eat Iran before it achieves an atomic bomb".

On Monday, the paper published a correction and apologised for the "misunderstanding", but it also said the transcription had been cleared with Mr Kouchner's office prior to publication.

The paper did not explain how the mistake had occurred, but dropping the "h" is widely seen as a feature of English spoken with a French accent.

Haaretz's current English online version of the story - with "hit" rather than "eat" - makes no mention of the earlier confusion.

It could be said any levity about the misquote belies the seriousness of the issue it relates to. The US, Israel and their western allies say they believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran strongly denies.

Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has raised the possibility it might launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran to prevent it from becoming nuclear-armed.

~BBC News

How would you celebrate a worldwide flood?

2008-10-08T10:43:00.002-04:00

Quote of the Week

2008-10-03T12:55:00.002-04:00

"You can't have your cake and choke on it, too"

--Mel Gibson, describing the lesson of Hamlet

How much is a kid worth these days?

2008-10-02T11:06:00.002-04:00

Bassinet Sales Halted

Under new Consumer Protection powers barely two weeks old, the federal CPSC has issued a "pull off the shelves and refund existing models" order for 900,000 multiuse baby bassinets. The move was prompted because a baby apparently managed to strangle itself on a metal bar. Additionally, the agency noted that there had been another infant death a year ago, but is reported to have declined to discuss that matter because it is an "ongoing investigation."

A quick Froogle search reveals that these particular bassinets run about $100 each.

Traffic cameras

2008-09-27T15:32:00.000-04:00

Here is an article illustrating one of the downsides of traffic cameras - lack of instant feedback. Traditional "in person" traffic enforcement leaves you remembering the encounter, and, often, chiding yourself and promising to do better. Additionally, everybody else sees that someone is pulled over, and they remember that it could be them.

Cameras, however, catch everyone who breaks the law (leaving aside the actually very significant issue of whether assuming that a license plate number identifies the individual driving)... and they don't even know it. And if, as in the article, you aren't receiving the summonses in the mail, you would never have any feedback. Until the day you actually get pulled over - the old fashioned way - and get arrested because (first you heard of it) you owe nearly two million dollars for running red lights and pushing your speed.

Which of course, raises the revenue questions (if this one guy owed two mil, what did everyone else's payments amount to?!) and why cities might have incentive to use cameras rather than enforcement methods which provide direct and immediate disincentives for continued violations... another thought for another day.

I grant that perhaps the guy became aware or should have become aware that, when he never seemed to get caught by the cams, there was in fact something wrong with the notice system, and perhaps he decided to take advantage of this seeming immunity. He was, after all, running up, on average, a citation every two and a half days for seven years.

Drool Factor

2008-09-26T18:41:00.000-04:00

Very sweet rocket wing - sort of a motorcycle in the sky. Yes, the picture is real.

Article and video here.

Quote of the week

2008-09-19T12:32:00.002-04:00

"I can see Russia from my house."

'nuff said.

For the Music Lovers Out There

2008-09-16T09:40:00.002-04:00

(Many thanks to Kari who passed this on to us!)

Ireland to get a medal

2008-08-19T16:11:00.003-04:00

In what? Boxing, of course :-)

Since Drinking and Shillelagh Thumping aren't Olympic sports.

"Belfast boxer Paddy Barnes claimed the Irish team's first medal at the Beijing Olympics after a quarter-final win over Poland's Lukasz Maszczyk on Tuesday. "

(Written by The Brain, but Posted byt the Heart, because he is funny, and I think you all should know.)

Overheard

2008-08-18T12:37:00.002-04:00

County sheriff from a rural part of Virginia, speaking to a women's defense gathering.

Question: "What kind of gun do you carry?"

Sheriff: "I carry a .45 on duty and off."

Question: "That's a really big bullet. Why do you carry a forty-five?"

Sheriff: "Because they don't make a forty-six."

Olympics

2008-08-08T16:44:00.002-04:00

You would think that with all their sand, Saudi Arabia could put together a first rate womens beach volleyball team.

Irish view on our election!!

2008-08-01T16:33:00.002-04:00

We, in Ireland, can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can't keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run.

Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name appropriately starts with "Mc", married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in the Lord's name is hard about this decision??

(Thanks to GNT for passing this on to us!)

Or maybe...

2008-07-31T19:42:00.000-04:00

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/07/30/connecticut-latest-to-go-after-rating-agencies/

Connecticut AG files against bond ratings companies for "unfairly" lowering municipal bond ratings for Connecticut public entities.

Perhaps my perspective just comes from my being in a county with a terrific bond rating, but maybe the problem is crappy fiscal policy and depreciating assessment bases in Connecticut that makes bond traders nervous about the towns and cities of Connecticut?

Reporters hurt at gun press conference

2008-07-18T13:08:00.001-04:00

Three journalists were hurt when a gun went off at a press conference called by Chinese police to highlight the success of a gun-control campaign.

The press conference in Nanchong in Sichuan province was to publicise the results of a campaign by the city's police to seize illegal weapons, the Beijing News reported.

According to Zheng Chongjun, deputy head of the political division of Nanchong police, some of the reporters asked to take photos of the guns seized, the newspaper reported.
One of the police officials mishandled a homemade weapon, releasing the trigger and dropping it.

It was unclear from the report whether the gun contained bullets or shotgun pellets but it said one journalist needed surgery after being hit in the ankle, crotch, and chest.

~The Austrialian, Monday, July 18, 2008

(Many thanks to The Brain for finding this for me!)

Setting up for DC Guns, Part II

2008-07-14T17:15:00.002-04:00

The DC mayor's office has released their proposed legislation in response to the Heller decision. The proposal is notable for how narrowly they attempt to limit the effects of that decision. For instance, handguns are (essentially) permitted only in a home and going to and from the many places you need to take the gun to get it properly registered. Licensure of persons (including proof of good vision) and firearms is required, you have to leave the gun with the police until they run full analyses on it, and no time limits on the city or police at any step. And amazingly, handguns must always be unloaded and disassembled (or trigger locked? the grammar isn't very clear to me) except when actually being used for self-defense ("while it is being used against reasonably perceived threat [sic] of immediate harm to a person within a registered gun owner’s home"). Fortunately, you will be happy to know, you do not need a separate carry license for carrying the handgun in the home while engaged in actual self-defense. There also appears to be an "amnesty" provision to allow registration of previously owned revolvers, but not semi-autos.

Apparently, DC really wants to pay Alan Gura more attorneys' fees for round two...