A couple of weeks ago I did a brief post regarding a US administrative court judge Roy Pearson who sued his dry cleaners for $64 million because they lost a pair of his pants.
Well, not surprisingly, he lost the case. But if anyone thinks that justice prevailed, consider that the migrant family running the dry cleaning business have spent 2 years and some $100,000 in legal fees defending the case. In Australia, if you lose a court case, you will normally have to pay the other side's legal costs (or a portion of them), but in US the same rules don't apply.
Of course, the saga may not be over, Pearson may appeal and spend a few more years and hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing what is clearly a frivolous and vexatious case. Only in America…
June 26th, 2007
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What in the weird? |
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I noticed an unusually high number of visitors coming from Tim Blair's blog. Surprised, I thought I'd try and find out what gives. Well, apparently a person by the "name" of CB posted a comment suggesting that I am actually Dr Nina Philadelphoff-Puren from Monash Uni. CB's actual name is Charles Woodscolt - he emailed me earlier asking if I am Nina.
While I'm very flattered to be mistaken for a respected academic, even if it is by someone who is apparently a dedicated right-wing extremist, Dr Philadelphoff-Puren may not be similarly thrilled. With a bit of luck Charles will realise that he got his wired crossed and will stop spreading the silly rumour, so I will not have to email Dr Philadelphoff-Puren, who I have never even met (which is a pity, her profile is quite impressive), and let her know that there is someone saying that I'm her.
In the meantime, I can delight in the fact that we apparently have very "similar styles" of writing! (there's also something about my avatar resembling her - I must admit there's a superficial resemblance there, but it is much more flattering to think that the mistaken identity is due to similar writing styles rather than a function of avatar generation software)
June 17th, 2007
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I can't decide whether this is offensive or funny.
Apparently, in 1994 the US military considered making a "gay bomb", containing powerful aphrodisiacs, which was supposed to turn enemy soldiers homosexual. This was supposed to somehow make them worse soldiers (they'd prefer to make love rather than war, maybe? But then shouldn't it have been called a hippie bomb?).
The concept was abandoned (wonder if that was due to concerns that the chemical would become a popular substitute for the traditional chocolates and champaign). But is a love bomb such a bad idea? Just imagine, instead of carpet bombing each other the warring sides could just get a bit of love and go home happy hand in hand (kiss and make up?) Actually, if this wonder chemical would make people less likely to want to make war or commit violence, perhaps we should all get a "hit". For emergencies only, of course…
Thanks for reading 
June 15th, 2007
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Gays and Lesbians, What in the weird? |
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The ABC reports that a Washington DC administrative court judge sued his local dry cleaner for $64 million dollars because - wait for it - they lost a pair of his pants. There was nothing special about these pants, but as the ABC report (and TV news item) reveal he expects the family of Korean migrants who run the dry cleaners to pay damages of over $3,000 per day that the pants were missing, multiplied by the three defendants, plus over $17,000 for car hire for the next ten years (to get to a different dry cleaner) and half a million for emotional distress.
It would be funny, if it wasn't for the poor family who are at the receiving end of the joke. Anyway, wonder if he's so bothered because he left his marbles in his pants.
June 13th, 2007
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What in the weird? |
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