j.random hermeneut

re: lawyers

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:56:23 +0100

http://twitter.com/johnhalton/statuses/941765234

Right so this software patent attorney is out to lunch with these two intellectual property lawyers. During the course of conversation he makes them an offer. “I can set up a sweet deal for you,” he says. “It will increase your earnings tremendously — your partners will love you, your clients will respect you — opportunity of a lifetime! All I need from you in return is that you sell your soul to the devil, the evil one from the pit, to rot for eternity — you and your wife’s soul, and your childrens’ souls, and their children as well.”

The lawyers talk it over for a moment, then ask, “So… what’s the catch?”

Culture Shock

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:35:00 +0100

We made a move a couple of years ago, North to South, and something of a culture shock — which is partly accounted for with this clever tool:

BEFORE:

http://www.publicprofiler.org/publicprofiles/redirect.php?postcode=Sr2+7sj&submit=Submit

AFTER:

http://www.publicprofiler.org/publicprofiles/redirect.php?postcode=cb3+0ls&submit=Submit

BEFORE was, as a neighbourhood, quite a pleasant place, and was also, of course located shoulder-to-shoulder with some areas of real deprivation, like HERE:

http://www.publicprofiler.org/publicprofiles/redirect.php?postcode=SR1+2LR&submit=Submit

The transition to AFTER was therefore, in a word, surreal.

This is why, my immediate thoughts upon hearing “this” proposal:

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2008-08-13-Think-tank-Forget-regenerating-the-north-only-build-homes-in-the-south

…was along the lines of “Someone needs to kick these people in their respective groins”.

That wouldn’t solve anything though, at least not in the long-term. What strikes me as sheer stupidity is that somebody, somewhere (is it us) is paying this “think-tank” to do something it’s incapable of doing, “thinking”. It cannot think about this problem because it has no data, no experience, no grasp of reality. This is not a matter re-aligning the legos in a toy-box. These are communities, the sort of places these think-tank members have probably never had the fortune of living in, or, if they did, were too stupid or self-absorbed to notice. What needs relocation is the think-tank, back onto the map of reality.

What people in the North need today are opportunities, which does not simply mean cash, and certainly not forced evacuation. That there still are communities in the North is the North’s greatest treasure. (I mean real communities — with shared experiences, empathy for one’s neighbour, etc. etc., not merely postcode blocks of individuals who simply happen to keep their respective stuff in close proximity to each other). And this is genuinely what I miss about the North every day.

“Community” — The “real” culture shock was the discovery of how scarce this commodity really is in the South.

Funny little thing over lunch...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:13:00 +0100

The middle daughter, having come to some sort of realisation that she’s suffering some form of injustice because her older daughter has a “savings account” for her allowance and she doesn’t, began to protest:

“Why don’t I have a savings account? When can I get one?” etc. etc.

Given recent world events I thought I’d have a bit of fun.

Me: “Well, why do you want a savings account? Do you know what a savings account is for?”

R: “It’s where I can put my money. So that it is safe. And anyhow, C has one, so I should have one, etc, etc”

Me: “So you want to keep it safe. How do you know it will be ‘safe’ in a savings account? What if the bank goes out of business and you lose all your money? Why don’t you keep it where you keep it now, or hide it under your mattress or something?”

R: “I don’t keep it in my room. Mummy keeps all my money for me.”

Me: “Well that sounds pretty safe to me.”

R: “No, because she’s gone and spent it and now she owes it to me, but yesterday when I asked her for some, she said she didn’t have any money and so she couldn’t give it to me.”

Funny little world, this.

omniorthogonal...

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:04:54 +0100

Long-term cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion.
Long-term cost of the government’s bailout of the financial industry: $2 trillion. (today’s figure is 1T, doubling that is probably being conservative).
A president you can have a beer with: priceless

http://omniorthogonal.blogspot.com/2008/09/trillion-here-trillion-there-soon-youre.html

They were certainly celebrating on Wall-Street today…

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:46:48 +0100

They were certainly celebrating on Wall-Street today…

Ann Pettifor: "How orthodox economists bluster and fluster..."

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:30:30 +0100

Ann Pettifor: "How orthodox economists bluster and fluster..."

Ann Pettifor: "Lehman Brothers and the US as a share-cropper society"

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:57:55 +0100

Ann Pettifor: "Lehman Brothers and the US as a share-cropper society"

I am a Twit!

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:48:18 +0100

It’s official:

http://twitter.com/jrhermeneut

A couple of excellent sermon illustrations which demonstate what is wrong with American Religion today.

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:50:56 +0100

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5S2xyDafOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axd_Y-DLXus

You know, you just don’t learn that sort of thing in Seminary.

RNC - Untelevised Version: "terrorism" rebranded

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:20:54 +0100

RNC - Untelevised Version: "terrorism" rebranded :

“What difference is there between the crowds of flag-waving Republicans and the apparatchiks I covered as a reporter in the old East German Communist Party? These Republican delegates, like the fat and compromised party functionaries in East Berlin, all fawned on cue over an inept and corrupt party hierarchy. They all purported to champion workers’ rights and freedom while they systematically fleeced, disempowered and impoverished the workers they lauded. They all celebrated the virtue of a state that was morally bankrupt. And while they played this con game, one that gave them special privileges, power and wealth, they unleashed their goons and thugs on all who dared to challenge them.” …

” Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald and Max Spector could get up to seven and a half years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge, which allows for a 50 percent increase in the maximum penalty. This is the first time criminal charges have been filed under the 2002 Minnesota version of the federal Patriot Act. “

Why true scientists have little doubt that the Hadron Collider is unlikely to initiate a catastrophe.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:37:55 +0100

Why true scientists have little doubt that the Hadron Collider is unlikely to initiate a catastrophe.:

Meanwhile, the LSE server crash is due to the remarkable stupidity of the market and market forces: http://blogs.computerworld.com/london_stock_exchange_suffers_net_crash

Yes that’s right, our financial infrastructure has been entrusted to Microsoft SQL Server, of all things. Now THAT is something to fear!

Palin Preaching

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:06:33 +0100

Palin Preaching: Iraq war is God’s will, etc, etc… Manifest Destiny is alive and, frighteningly, all too well in the Republican Party.

Palin's Environmental Record

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:57:21 +0100

Palin's Environmental Record

"Socialism for the Rich" - aptly sums up the U.S. take-over of Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:06:14 +0100

"Socialism for the Rich" - aptly sums up the U.S. take-over of Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae

Large Hardon Collider? Who'd want to destroy the universe with that?

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:43:39 +0100

Large Hardon Collider? Who'd want to destroy the universe with that?

Happy Insurrection Day, citoyens!

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:59:11 +0100

Here’s a little Kipling to get you all in the festive spirit:

‘Twas not while England’s sword unsheathed
Put half a world to flight,
Nor while their new-built cities breathed
Secure behind her might;
Not while she poured from Pole to Line
Treasure and ships and men—
These worshippers at Freedoms shrine
They did not quit her then!

Not till their foes were driven forth
By England o’er the main—
Not till the Frenchman from the North
Had gone with shattered Spain;
Not till the clean-swept oceans showed
No hostile flag unrolled,
Did they remember that they owed
To Freedom—and were bold!

Have fun kids, drink responsibly, try not to start any careless wars in your celebratory exuberance, and please play safe with those firecrackers.

Oh, and be sure to sing a round of America The ‘Why Aye She’s A Canny Lass’ for me.

Jeff Bradetich is one of the best bass players on the planet....

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:35:43 +0100

Jeff Bradetich is one of the best bass players on the planet. Just wanted to make that known.

The Mets, and how to recover from that Rick-Roll

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:17:38 +0100

The Mets, and how to recover from that Rick-Roll

Video

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:17:12 +0100

Video

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:16:40 +0100