June 13, 2006
I am not a leper ::
weird, personal — tagged bar study and weird
2:37 pm
I had no idea that, in the world of defamation, a plaintiff had an automatic right to damages if the she is able to show the defendant (inaccurately) asserted to a third party that the plaintiff suffered from a legally recognized “loathsome disease.” Here, by loathsome disease, I mean a disease that would cause people to generally think less of the plaintiff. What’s particularly weird about this is that there are two such recognized diseases: one is “venereal disease” and the other? You guessed it: leprosy.
I write this just to let you know that I am not a leper. [Update: oh, and you shouldn’t infer that I have a venereal disease, either. Because I don’t.]
February 28, 2006
Med students + lawyer + King Kong remake = ha! ::
weird — tagged king kong, laboratorium, movies and weird
10:53 am
Dude:
[W]atching a movie such as this with a bunch of medical students is an interesting experience. The anatomy chatter was almost nonstop, especially for a movie with this many skulls. Also, falling from the top of the Empire State Building should have splattered any living creature that large, Ann Darrow must have no pain or temperature nerve fibers, and one of our company thought that she saw testicles on the dinosaurs. For my part, I noted that after Kong’s rampage, Carl Denham is going to be facing some pretty serious tort liabilty.
The funniest parts are bolded for easy reference.
February 10, 2006
The Cost of Maggie ::
weird, photos — No Tags
1:36 pm
$847.63 (Henry asked)
Originally uploaded by Mike Monteiro.
I never thought the register said “NRA4EVER,” as was insisted in the 138 Episode Spectacular. But what’s the meaning of 847.63? Well, the best answer I’ve seen:
No. It says 847.63, the price of raising a baby for a month. Anyone who tells you that it’s NRA4EVER fell for the prank in 138th Episode Spectacular, where it was said to be the latter.
Update: As Matt Haughey points out, $847.63 is the amount it cost to raise a baby many years ago, likely sometime around 1989-90, since that’s when the Simpsons began. It’s very probably much more expensive these days.
February 4, 2006
Contra- ::
weird, personal, music, vermont — No Tags
9:42 am
Jessamyn and I went contra dancing last night. For those of you who know me, you’re probably thinking what the hell? Greg contra dancing? (And for those who don’t know me, maybe checking out my Last.fm stats will give you some idea of how outside-the-range-of-normal going doing such a thing as this might be.) Well, the whole reason we went was because back in 2003 (I think), I promised Jessamyn [update: for her birthday!] that we would go contra dancing at some point in the future. Now, two and a half years later, after failed attempts and last-minute changings-of-mind, we went last night, and over all it wasn’t too bad at all. I’d even call it fun. Now this morning I seem to have contra dancing on the mind. I found this useful Wikipedia page on contra dancing (we probably should have read it before we went, so maybe we would have an inkling of an understanding of what, say, a sashay is), and this excellent page on the mathematics of the contra dance. So even if you’re like me and a totally bad dancer, you’ll be reigned in my the unforgiving mathematical rules that govern the whole experience. (Best description: “you’re dancing like a fool, but it’s totally controlled!”) And it’s the mathematical nature of the dance, incidentally, that I think I found so appealing.
So, like all new discoveries, I’m now wondering how I could have gone this long not knowing that these dances existed. But if these listings of contra dancing organizations is any indication, it is a deeply rooted part of American culture, hiding in plain sight.
February 2, 2006
Bringing it ::
weird — No Tags
7:27 pm
I’m having a hard time keeping mind from wandering today. But the most interesting stuff I’ve seen in the last, oh half hour or so, has been these photos with the bringiton tag over at Flickr. One of the better photos found is this one depicting a battle between a legless Jesus figurine and a plastic chicken.
Also, I’ll not here how I came about finding this. David seems to be locked in some death match with Jason Kottke involving this game, and he is posting the images.
January 30, 2006
What, exactly, is going on in Washington anyway? ::
weird, politics, tech — No Tags
9:52 pm
By way of MetaFilter (Jessamyn’s comment) comes this excellent Wikipedia RFC on whether IP addresses from the United States Congress should be banned for violating a whole host of site policies. Apparently, the whole conflict arose out of one Representative changing Wikipedia’s version of his biography to one officially sanction by his office. As is the general rule at Wikipedia, such a change is not acceptable, so the Wikipedia staff changed the biography back. A reversion war ensued. Details are a little fuzzy after that (for me anyway) but it sounds like the activity spread to other members of Congress shortly afterward. And according to the RFC,
The editors from these IP ranges are rude and abrasive, immature, and show no understanding of Wikipedia policy. The editors also frequently try to whitewash the actions of certain politicians. They treat Wikipedia articles about politicians as though they own the articles, replacing community articles with their own sanctioned biographies and engaging in revert wars when other users dispute this sudden change. They also violate Wikipedia:Verifiability, by deleting verified reports, while adding flattering things about members of Congress that are unverified.
More MetaFilter discussion on this second thread.
January 27, 2006
Law photo of the day: Al Franken ::
weird, politics, legal photos — No Tags
1:08 pm
Dinner at Chipotle
Originally uploaded by maphu.
Because you never know what searching for the law on Flickr might bring: Al Franken, ordering at Chipotle the Twin Cities, in conjuction with an ACS event there.
January 22, 2006
A3G update ::
weird, meta, legal — No Tags
4:54 pm
I used to read Article III Groupie when it was up and running, but when it was taken down shortly after the author’s alter ego David Lat met with Jeffrey Toobin for a New Yorker piece in November of last year, I (for obvious reasons) stopped reading. Based on the irreverent tone of the site, not to mention some of the dirty gossip its author many times engaged in, I could only imagine what sort of hell David Lat was going through at his job during the fallout after his revelation.
Now David Lat has reemerged in a NY Times profile. What’s particularly interesting is (a) how the U.S. Attorney handled Lat after the revelation (he didn’t fire him, but at one point suggested that if Lat had an opportunity to continue blogging, he might consider taking it), and (b) U.S. Appeals Court judge Alex Kozinski figured out who David Lat was long before Lat talked to the New Yorker. Regarding the second point, the article doesn’t go into any detail on how Kozinski figured out Lat’s identity—I would love to hear that story.
Anyway, Lat will apparently be a co-editor over at Wonkette for a month, where I’m sure he’ll fit right in.
January 19, 2006
Google and the Justice Department ::
weird, tech, legal — No Tags
5:18 pm
There’s also some interesting reports of the Justice Department’s subpeonaing Google’s search records in its effort to study online porn. The FT article is pretty spare and I haven’t had a chance to read the Government’s supporting motion (PDF), so I’m not clear on what, if anything, the search records are going to provide the government. Google’s general counsel is doing a good job of protecting its client, though:
“Google is not a party to this lawsuit and their demand for information overreaches,” Nicole Wong, Google’s associate general counsel, said in a statement. “We had lengthy discussions with them to try to resolve this, but were not able to and we intend to resist their motion vigorously.”
The Mercury News also has this report, found by way of How Appealing.
July 12, 2005
Related? ::
weird, politics — No Tags
8:33 pm
I can’t be the first one to notice the eerie similarity between Arlen Specter and Mark Felt.
June 24, 2005
And the final word ::
weird — tagged autoracing and weird
12:18 am
The final word in favor of mindless male domination of automotive racing goes to Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One racing, who was able to get the following throw-away line into an interview with Sports Illustrated:
He told Autosport racing magazine in 2000 that women could not compete in Formula One, but if one did, “she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. ... What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”
Mind you, this was after he reiterated his contention that “[w]omen should be all dressed in white like all other domestic appliances” to Danica Patrick, the first superstar of Indy racing in who knows how long. Could it be that Danica Patrick’s success has fundamentally changed the gender dynamic of automotive racing? Judging by what seems to be the media’s newfound discovery that Ecclestone is certifiably insane, I certainly think so.
May 31, 2005
Dissonance ::
weird, politics — No Tags
10:26 pm
So, one thing you have to say about our President, he definitely is sure of himself. Check out this article, covering his press conference from today. In it, find a choice bit of quintessential Bush:
“I don’t worry about anything here in Washington, D.C.,” Bush said…in the White House’s Rose Garden. “I feel comfortable in my role as the president, and my role…is to push for reform.” With Democrats and Republicans alike questioning the clout of a president whose approval ratings have sunk to new lows, Bush said it is Congress that must prove it is “capable of getting anything done.”
Of course! I should have known that Congress was behind all of this gridlock. I’m really glad he was able to set everyone straight. After all, Bush has done everything he could to work with Congress to develop a body of policies that help all Americans. And in return, Congress has done nothing but whine, complain, and drag its collective feet.
But wait? What’s that other story I see on the same website? What does it say?
In recent meetings, House Republicans have discussed putting more pressure on the White House to move beyond Social Security and talk up different issues, such as health care and tax reform, according to Republican officials who asked not to be named to avoid angering Bush’s team.
Wow! If fear of anger and punishment is the only thing keeping Congressional Republicans from straying off message, then maybe Bush isn’t being honest with himself over the amount of political sway he currently maintains. Oddly, even though the White House is just up the street from Captiol Hill, it seems to occupy a different world. At least Bush’s assertion that he doesn’t “worry about anything here in Washington, D.C.” is consistent with the description of the sentiment on the hill.
But the most unfortunate aspect of these two stories is that the world of the President and the world of Congress are completely different from the one the rest of us occupy. How disappointing.
January 17, 2005
Lovermont ::
weird, politics — No Tags
9:21 pm
It’s at times like this that I love living in Vermont. Our governor, Jim Douglas, says that a certain teddy bear is in “poor taste” and makes light of the serious issue of mental health.
I have to say that if an issue such as this is gaining the scorn of our state’s top executive, then we’re in pretty good shape. Here’s a picture of the offending animal, in case you’re interested.
January 6, 2005
A Different Type of Stephen Breyer ::
weird, supreme court, legal — No Tags
10:23 am
Accoding to Law.com, Justice Stephen Breyer showed up for jury duty in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Although Breyer should be commended for fulfilling his democratic duty, I have to wonder what it would be like for the attorneys who had to argue the case before him. I think it would be hard to think of him as anyhing other than one of the most intelligent, accomplished jurists in this country.
But then again, I don’t think Breyer has had much trial experience (he was a judge on the First Circuit Court of Appeals before being appointed to the Supreme Court). So maybe there wasn’t really all that much difference betweeen him and the other jurors.
