Wednesday, December 16, 2009

He who reads the inside of the top of the box

"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

Friday, December 11, 2009

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Cause of Action of the Week

"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.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Bear kills militants in Kashmir

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.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Idea for a TV Show

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~

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Rise of the Fallen


(The Brain would have posted this,
but he is busy being smart somewhere else and I am free to have fun!)

Friday, October 09, 2009

Bloody-Mindedness

"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

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

To the Israeli Ambassador

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

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

Friday, May 29, 2009

DDO$ and a little culture

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.