Learned Hand(writing)
 

Penmanship: A Dying Art?

AP - SAN MATEO, Calif., June 9, 2003.
. . .
Handwriting experts fear that the wild popularity of e-mail, instant messages and other electronic communication, particularly among kids, could erase cursive within a few decades.
. . .

Read the entire article at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in557572.shtml



It's a shame that penmanship is becoming obsolete. Cursive is the way to go if you want to rip apart^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H provide constructive comments on someone's draft with flair -- there's no substitute for bright-red, flowing chicken scratch seared into a page.

Learned Hand(writing)
 

Despite proper training, badgering, and pleading from my teachers in grade school, I never use cursive. Never have, never will. I can write in cursive if I have to, but I've gotten this far without, so it's not something I'm looking to pick up anytime soon.

-TL

An etymological interlude of astronomic proportions . . .
 

. . . presented by Prof. Volokh, in which he posits, inter alia, that "homosexuals are apparently from Uranus": http://volokh.blogspot.com/2003_05_0...html#200258254

Like a Virgin
 

Surprisingly, the top 100 words found in Madonna's lyrics are devoid of any overt references to the prurient interests -- rather, they bear a close resemblance to the 100 words most frequently used by children in their writing.

Repurposeable, Value-Added Knowledge Capital?
 

I hear their next project is an Atticus translator . . .

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...fe_language_dc

(Spree: BS-removing software)

Like a Virgin
 

Who would have guessed there'd be 69 references to "Jimmy" in the Madonna concordance?

An occasion for irrational exuberance.
 

Greenspan has an 'enlarged prostitute'.[spree: no pics, unfortunately.]

Weird Al has competition
 

As set forth in footnote 8 of Amgen, Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel, Inc., 126 F. Supp. 2d 69, 82 (D. Mass. 2001):

[W]ell known strategies for claim construction have, in fact, reached the point of ridicule in the patent subculture as this inciteful poem (to be sung to the tune of "Camelot") exemplifies:

A law was made 200 years ago here
Grant patents, help promote inventive thought
Today the system's thriving and our credo
Is claim-a-lot

We push the envelope,
expand the boundaries
Create a circle from a tiny dot
Our product's forged with words
and not in foundries
We claim a lot

(Bum bum, etc.)

Claim-a-lot (claim-a-lot)
I know it sounds a bit bizarre
Lord, we claim-a-lot (oh yes, we claim-a-lot)
Stretch out those claims so far

Though prior art may set some limitations
Restricts our flights of fancy, clever thought
Our efforts, not for naught
Results, so boldly wrought
Construct our patent juggernauts
By claiming quite a lot.

Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Claim-a-Lot, in Pamphlet for N.Y. Intellectual Property Law Association 78th Annual Dinner (Mar. 24, 2000).

p(One of these days, I should attend the annual NYIPLA Judge's Dinner -- I'm missing out on quality entertainment, apparently)c

The Truth About Plagiarism (As told by Richard Posner)
 

Subtitled: It's usually a minor offense and can have social value

[Spree: Not suitable for instilling prophylactic terror on the subject of plagiarism.]

Pet peeve
 

Does anyone else hate the word "herein" with a passion?

"Defendant filed the motion herein on June 10, 2003..."

Blech!

Pet peeve
 

Yes, but only when it is used in a sentence in which it appears gratuitously therein.

Pet peeve
 

Hehe... yes, that one gives me the shivers too. I can't think of more useless words in the English language than "herein" and "therein."

Always a good order from His Honor
 

"Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, in a few short weeks it will be spring. The snows of winter will flee away. The ice will vanish. And the air will become soft and balmy. In short, Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, the annual miracle of the years will awaken and come to pass, but you won't be there."

" The rivulet will run its soaring course to the sea. The timid desert flowers will put forth their tender shoots. The glorious valleys of this imperial domain will blossom as the rose. Still, you won't be here to see."

"From every tree top some wild woods songster will carol his mating song. Butterflies will sport in the sunshine. The busy bee will hum happy as it pursues its accustomed vocation. The gentle breeze will tease the tissels of the wild grasses, and all nature, Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, will be glad but you. You won't be here to enjoy it because I command the sheriff or some other officers of the county to lead you out to some remote spot, swing you by the neck from a knotting bough of some sturdy oak, and let you hang until you are dead."

"And then, Jose Manuel Miguel Xaviar Gonzales, I further command that such officer or officers retire quickly from your dangling corpse, that the vultures may descend from the heavens upon your filthy body until nothing shall remain but bare, bleached bones of a cold-blooded, copper-colored, blood-thirsty, throat-cutting, chili-eating, sheep-herding, murdering son-of-a-bitch."

ISSAC PARKER
District Judge
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, New Mexico Territory
1883