I want the drinking age lowered, but this is a bit much:
A toddler who was served a margarita at a restaurant earlier this week is doing well, and investigators say the incident appears to have been an accident. Police say 2-year-old Julian Mayorga ordered apple juice but instead received an alcoholic beverage in a covered, plastic sippy cup on Monday night at an Applebee's franchise in Antioch, between San Francisco and Sacramento.
__________
Short opinion piece at WSJ yesterday about alumni at colleges and university saying "enough!" Encouraging stuff.
Consider the recent unrest at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. When the school's tour guides were informed in an email last winter that a century-old cross was to be expelled from the school's chapel, alumni and students mounted a "Save the Wren Cross" campaign. Press releases, a Web site, and a petition that collected 18,000 signatures led to a restoration.
__________
It's good to see the King of Rock-n-Roll gettin' respect: A prescription pill bottle belonging to Presley sold for $2,640 at Julien's Summer Auction. The pill bottle is lame, but this is pretty cool:
__________
I was reading a WSJ op-ed today about the abusive dry cleaning lawsuit in Washington DC. The writer makes a lot of good points, but then he says this:
Phrases like "Do you realize I'm a lawyer?" uttered in the course of routine disputes with storekeepers, neighbors, school principals, etc., probably account for more of the legal profession's aggregate unpopularity than any number of scandals in the actual representation of clients.
Really? Any numbers or even strong anecdotal evidence to back that up? I've been practicing 16 years, and though I've threatened lawsuits on my own behalf about five times (all against folks who deserved to be sued) and on behalf of family members many times, they were all done in the context of my office, through letters written to conform to good ethics practice (polite but firm, etc.). I've never uttered the words "Do you know I'm a lawyer" or some such thing spontaneously in the heat of a battle, and I'd be shocked if any of my fifty-or-so colleagues in my county would do such a thing (well, maybe one or two of them).
I suspect the writer's observation is taken from the movies more than real life experiences. But if you've had a different experience, or actually seen a lawyer do such a thing, put it in the comments. I get about 350 visitors a day. If this kind of lawyer abuse is common, the combox oughtta fill up quickly.
