The Yin Blog

Moving to Canada to escape the Republicans?

This is a pretty funny "Canadian commercial" for people who say they're going to leave the United States if a Republican wins the White House.

Lt. Sulu on Tim Hardaway

Regarding NBA player Tim Hardaway's totally obnoxious and disgusting diatribe against homosexuals, this response by George Takei (formerly Lt./Capt. Sulu on "Star Trek") is hilarious.  Not totally work-safe, I suppose.

If I bore my students in class, it's for their own good

According to Associated Press:

New research on napping provides the perfect excuse for office slackers, finding that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men.

In the largest study to date on the health effects of napping, researchers tracked 23,681 healthy Greek adults for an average of about six years. Those who napped at least three times weekly for about half an hour had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from heart attacks or other heart problems than those who did not nap.

The Donald v. Rosie -- who do you root for (against)?

I'm late to blogging about the Donald Trump-Rosie O'Donnell spat, but it continues to be in the news.  When I first heard that the two were trading public insults, my initial reaction was to want to take Trump's side.  Sure, he's a blowhard, but I do enjoy "The Apprentice" and, as the Martha Stewart version demonstrated, you can't just stick any famous businessperson in that role and make it work.  Moreover, I was still annoyed by Rosie O'Donnell's insensitive mockery of Asians.

But Trump really is making it impossible to take his side.  First of all, this is not what I consider to be logical or coherent argument:

Look at Rosie's moral compass, you tell me about a moral compass.  You take a look at Rosie's moral compass. I mean, this woman is a disgrace.

If I recall correctly, the full interview contained additional comments about how ugly O'Donnell is and how Trump could probably steal O'Donnell's lover.

And then, there's this purported letter from Trump to O'Donnell, where Trump brings Barbara Walters into the mess, claiming that Walters lied to both of them.

It's all entertaining stuff, but given how much Trump promotes the Wharton School (from which he obtained his MBA), you have to wonder: is Wharton proud to have Trump as an alum, or embarrassed?

US Navy Reference Letter Guidelines

I'm filling out a reference for a student for the U.S. Navy.  The Navy's "Reference Letter Guidelines" states, among other things:

Ensure that your recommendation is neat and presents a professional appearance.  If you have access to business or professional letterhead stationary [sic], by all means use it.  Try to give the person you are recommending a product that you would be proud to receive.

(emphasis added)  Apart from incorrect use of "stationary" (rather than "stationery"), the letter goes on to ask for a description of "Industry and Self-Disciplin" . . . .

(Yes, I know I'm pedantic.  On a recent cruise, I couldn't help but correct an embarrassing number of grammatical errors on the daily information sheets and on the self-guided bridge tour put out by the cruise line; I turned my corrections in to the ship's front desk.)

Wonder what Saddam Hussein has to say about this

Somebody spammed my blog earlier with a link to the Saddam Dump, a blog-excerpt from a forthcoming book.  I wonder what the real Saddam Hussein blogger has to say about this.

Caltech stories

The L.A. Times has a story about a prank played on a Caltech dorm by MIT students, although this is one is pretty low-tech.  Caltech dorm Fleming has a big cannon in front of it that stands as its symbol.  One day, MIT students showed up with a fake work order for security guards and trucked off with it.  Caltech students schemed to get it back, eventually succeeding.

Of course, the newspaper article paints this as another Caltech-MIT prank-off, but my (generally unpleasant) memory of Caltech dating back to the mid- to late-80s was that Fleming was pretty much the USC of Caltech-dorms: people who were members of Fleming (Flems. . . .) loved it, but everyone else hated it.  If the Fleming cannon had been stolen during the time I was there, I would've thought it hilarious, and an assault on Fleming, not Caltech.

Speaking of Caltech, it's scary how the alumni association has found me again.  I stopped updating my address about 14 moves and close to 20 years ago, but recently I started getting regular mail from that place!  Does the alum association Google its lost members?!?

A once in a lifetime event -- twice in a week!

Woo hoo!  Now I'm really going to retire!!!:

SPONSORS LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL

THE DESK OF THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT
REF NO: TLOT/56424560/005
BATCH NO:51551/AIS7632/Bac
RE: AWARD NOTIFICATION/ FINAL NOTICE

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the GLOBAL SOFTWARE GROUP
SPONSORED LOTTERY which was held on the 17th Of November 2005. Your name
attached to a ticket number 025-146492-750 with serial number 25956-05 drew
the lucky numbers 5-24-28-30-39-41 which consequently won the lottery in the
1st category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of
US$500,000.00(Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) in cash credited to the file
reference number: TLOT/333724560/005. This is from a total cash prize of
US$14.000,000.00 (Fourteen Million US Dollars) shared among Twenty Eight
(28) international winners in this grand category.
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your funds is now deposited in a suspense account with
our paying Bank insured to your name waiting remittance into your bank
account.
Due to the privacy policy guiding this lottery promotional programme, we
advice that you keep your award from public notice until your claims has
been processed and your money remitted to your nominated bank account as
this is this is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or
unwarranted abuse of this program by the general public.
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from
25,000 names and E-mail addresses from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe
and North America as part of our international lottery program which we
conduct twice every year. We hope that with part of your prize, you will
part-take next year in our high stakes US$1.3billion International Lottery.
To claim your Prize, please contact your claims agent
******************************

****************************
MR.Phil Owens.
TEL: 0031-621-548-520.
E-mail: xxxxxx
Alternative Email: xxxxxx
Foreign Services Manager, Payment Process and Release Order Department,
**********************************************************
for processing and remittance of your prize funds into your designated bank
account.
Note that all prize funds must be claimed not later than 30th November,
2005. After this date all funds will be returned as unclaimed for the next
sweepstake.
In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please endeavor to
quote your reference and batch numbers in every correspondence with us or
your claims agent.
Furthermore, should there be any change in your address, do inform your
claims agent as soon as possible. Congratulations once again from all
members of our staff and thanks for being part of our promotional program.
Regards,
Mrs. Patricia Walker.
(Lottery Co-ordinator)

Pretty amazing that my wife and I both won lotteries in the same week -- without even remembering that we'd entered them!

I'm retiring!!!

That's it, I'm retiring as a law professor, blogger, etc.!!!  My wife got the following e-mail this morning:

From: "Sweepstakes Online Lottery"
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 14:18:08 +0000

 

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM                  
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68/ALX
Batch: 074/05/ZY369/ALX
Fax: +448701312413
Tel: +447031946186

                                         WINNING NOTIFICATION:

 

We happily announce to you the draw (#1013) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on Wed. September24th 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545188/ALX with Serial number 5368/02/ALX drew the lucky numbers: 01-05-07-41-43-49(bonus no.), which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.

 

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £59,636 ( Fifty nine thousand, six hundred and thirty six  pounds sterling) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03/ALX. This is from a  total cash prize of £894,540.00  shared amongst the first fifteen (15) lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus. All participants for the online version were selected randomly from  World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.

 

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £59,636.00 ( Fifty nine thousand, six hundred and thirty six  pounds sterling) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in Europe.

Our European agents will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact them. For security reasons, you are advised to keep yourwinning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.Please be  warned.

 

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:

 

Mrs Jessica Morris.
Email: xxxxxxx

 

1, Winning E-mail address
2, Batch Number
3, Refference Number
4, Ticket Number
5, Serial Number

 

For further clarification/verification of your claims, Please call on any of our official numbers as stated in notification e-mail.
You can go to our online result site to confirm the value of your  winnings and also get a prize breakdown:-http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results
/results.do

 

Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.

 

Yours faithfully,
Richard K. Lloyd.
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program

Okay, that's it.  Look for me on the sandy beaches of San Diego. . . .

Althouse on televising S Ct arguments

Prof. Althouse takes on Justice Scalia's opposition to televising Supreme Court arguments:

I suspect that what Scalia is concerned about is not some much those "real people" with legal problems, but the image of the justices. If we could see them pushing with questions and interrupting decent lawyers, maybe regular people would find them narcissistic, pompous, rude, or just plain strange. They'd be ridiculed.

As I suggested a year ago, though, televising appellate arguments should move more toward the direction of entertainment:

[A]n oral argument lasting 20 minutes to an hour would make a perfect "sporting" event. (Hey, if ESPN televises the World Series of Poker, why not?) You have the competitors -- the fearsome appellate litigators, about whom we can film those mini-featurettes that NBC deluged us with during the Olympics. Even better if they have a history of arguing against each other. [Cue cheesy Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" music. . . .]

You could have law professors, appellate litigators, law clerks, or even A3G herself offering color commentary. For example, when an advocate devotes too much time on a loser argument instead of conceding and moving on to a stronger point, the color person could chime in with something along the lines of, "When you're being paid $450 an hour, you can't make rookie mistakes like that! Punt and move on!"