Whenever I have seen a ship being launched in the past, it has always slid into the water stern first and it is usually pretty smooth and graceful. In this video, the ship was launched sideways and went into the water like a diver’s belly flop, splashing water over a vast area that not only soaked spectators who tried to run away but sent debris flying dangerously toward them. It is a wonder no one was hurt. For a moment I thought that the ship had actually capsized. [Read more…]

This is a dog that has clearly been carefully observing how the people in the house accompany themselves on the piano. I have no idea if Baxter the Wonder Dog does something similar when I am out of the house. In that case, it would mean sitting in my favorite chair and reading the books on the side table.

Jonathan Turley has been rightly ranting for some time about judges who come up with novel sentences meant to humiliate the convicted. This risks making the judiciary a laughing stock. Recently he heighted this disgraceful display by a judge in the Cleveland Municipal Court system. [Read more…]

As regular readers know, I blog on a fairly predictable schedule, each day consisting of a fairly longish think piece first thing, followed by two or three shorter items. I choose to do it this way because I like having a routine and these self-imposed demands help me maintain a writing discipline, while enabling me to also do my job and live the rest of my life. [Read more…]

I am a conscientious reader of Miss Manners, the weekly column on etiquette by Judith Martin. What I like about her is that although she can tell you all the arcane rules, she is by no means a prig emphasizing rules for their own sake. Her main emphasis is on the role that manners play in being gracious and kind and considerate of others, and how it can smooth the rough edges that can arise in social interactions. She is sharp and funny and can be quite acerbic, especially when asked for advice about what to do with nosy or rude people. This recent column illustrates all these qualities. [Read more…]

I will be traveling for the next few days to attend my daughter’s graduation. Internet access will be spotty so blogging will be sporadic.

Due to various reasons, I became a member of various social networking groups such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, even though I do absolutely nothing with any of them unless I am forced to. I joined the last one because I was invited to a few of its so-called hangouts to discuss some issues. Of course, all these groups keep sending me messages about what other people are doing and people whom they think I would like to connect to. I completely ignore these messages and often delete them without reading. [Read more…]

Via Mark Frauenfelder, here is civil rights and criminal defense attorney Harvey Silverglate explaining why you should never talk to the FBI without a lawyer present AND a tape recorder running.

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Although everything I know about it is based on information that I read in the media and have no special insight, I feel obliged to comment on the latest bizarre case that has emerged in Cleveland, since I live here.

Three unrelated women separately disappeared in 2002, 2003, and 2004 when they were aged 19, 16, and 14 respectively. (You can read profiles of the three women here.) There were intense searches for the two younger women, less so for the oldest who some thought had run away on her own. When the searches failed, hope that they were alive also faded. [Read more…]

Sometimes people like me focus too much on what is wrong with the world. It is done with the best of intentions of trying to improve things but it can leave one depressed, with the sense that everyone and everything is in bad shape. I needed something to cheer me up and I found it. [Read more…]