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.

Update to Saudi rape case

Article here

The king of Saudi Arabia has reportedly pardoned the gang rape victim who has been in the news of late (or at least the female rape victim) amidst complaints by Saudi conservatives that he is compromising religious stances and giving in to western pressure.

My original post here

Wine Review: Strauss Gelber Muskateller 2005 (Austria)

This bottle brought itself to our attention on the shelf primarily because of the light, translucent color of the wine/bottle, accented by the classic styling of the label and coat of arms. Strauss has several light white offerings, but we chose the Gelber Muskateller because we had not tried that varietal, and if we ever become serious about the Century Club (those people who can prove they have tried the wines of a hundred different grape varietals), this relatively specialized one could come in handy. We were almost dissuaded by the screwtop, which was surprising to see on a $14 bottle of wine, but decided to see if the expense would be worth it, probably mostly because once something strikes my fancy I have a hard time letting it go.

On opening the bottle after chilling lightly, the wine presents surprisingly intense flavors of apricots, almonds, walnuts, and a shade of lemon. While certainly a dry wine, it has enough fruit to almost make you forget that fact. It has a medium weight for a white, and a slightly buttery texture that melts on the tongue. Altogether, it makes a good pairing for food with sea oils and cheese with some pungency (such as the shrimp and pasta, with a rather good Romano we had it with).

The one down note is that the wine has a rather monochromatic acid to it. When I had a glass without any food, it was a bit forceful, and I did not really taste the other complexities until the initial impact of the acid on my taste buds diminished. Slow sipping helped, but this wine seems to need light but slightly sharp food to help it find its place. Perhaps a few more years of aging would also help mellow the tone, although I don't know how much I would trust the screwtop packaging to allow that.

Felony Fun

I love Virginia law. If a criminal defendant is charged with "larceny of a dog" (or certain other animals), you don't have to prove the value of the animal. However, in order to convict someone of the crime of "larceny of poultry", you must specifically prove that the poultry taken was worth between 5 and 200 dollars. See Va. Code § 18.2-97.

The significance is that larceny of poultry is a felony, while under normal larceny rules, stealing something worth less than $200 is a misdemeanor, with significantly lower penalties and no loss of civil rights such as voting and gun ownership.

So conceivably, if a particularly scrawny chicken was stolen, you could have an expert witness battle involving whether the chicken was worth less than $5 or not. Welcome to Old Dominion.

Somehow this is not as surprising as it should be

Matthew Murray's ATI past

There seems to be a lot of talk regarding whether the curriculum itself was to blame, or the parents, or just "sometimes you get a bad apple." For my two cents, you have to be careful about thinking that you have "the answer" for how to educate. Children have different needs, and when you fail to account for the individual challenges of each child, you fail to show the love they need to feel a part of the "community" of their family. That and you probably lack the humility to recognize that others (who may not believe exactly the way you do!) may know better or be better equipped to meet these needs.

The Ones That Didn't Make It

In the course of researching today, I came across a link I thought rather interesting - the texts and histories of the constitutional amendments not ratified. There are only six of them, but several of them can still be ratified (including a child labor amendment which only lacks 10 states, but appears to be largely superfluous now that Commerce Clause power is so broadly interpreted). So, for a quick look at the ones that didn't make it, click here.

Virginia to suspend licenses of 5% of drivers?

Article Here

The Virginia General Assembly State Auditor has just released a report stating that nonpayment of the "abuser fees," civil penalties automatically accruing to Virginia drivers upon conviction of reckless driving, drunk driving, and other traffic misdemeanors and felonies, is prevalent. As the fees range from $250 - $1,050 per year for three years, the idea that people simply don't have the money to pay the fees and accordingly don't is believable. Nonetheless, only 13% of the fees assessed for misdemeanors are paid, and only 5% for felonies.

(As a side note, I am not actually sure why the law included the felonies, as it's hard to pay your fines if you are sitting in prison and the extent of your economic activities is trading cigarettes for protection.)

The Auditor's conclusion is that the DMV may have to suspend 300,000 Virginia licenses in the coming year, or more than 5% of the total number of current drivers' licenses. I don't recommend disobedience, but it does appear in this case that if nobody pays it, what are they going to do?

There are several legislative proposals in the hopper for this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens. For a possible judicial solution to the matter, see the model brief (which is not necessarily in the form as I would present it, but to each his own, and I haven't written my own) available here.