Quoted: When Richard Posner writes (which he does a bit more often than most federal appellate judges), people tend to sit up and listen. Which is why a recent post he did on the Becker-Posner Blog sent shudders down the Law Blog's spine.

Quoted: Expanding copyright law to bar online access to copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, or to bar linking to or paraphrasing copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent, might be necessary to keep free riding on content financed by online newspapers from so impairing the incentive to create costly news-gathering operations that news services like Reuters and the Associated Press would become the only professional, nongovernmental sources of news and opinion.

This article is about much more than rare sloops, and a lot of fun to read. You're going to want to learn about that goat on the wall.

Quoted: “There were only 27 Crescents ever built,” Hume says, noting that 24 are here at the club. He is clearly a dedicated admirer. “The Crescent is the most valuable object in the universe!” he says with glee.

Deadliest Catch + wealthy mystery woman + maritime tragedy + a very wide variety of lawyers and laws = interesting read.

That equation worked for me. If you like any of those things, you may enjoy this article.

Quoted: A shipwreck, a mysterious owner and a 158-year-old maritime law. There are a thousand ways to die on the Bering Sea, and it seemed like all 1,000 hurtled toward the Alaska Ranger at 2 a.m. that Easter morning. Massive waves—skyscraper-size and Bible black—smashed the Ranger. Snow squalls blasted the deck. A storm gripped the 203-foot mackerel boat 120 miles off the Alaskan coast. Waves flooded the rudder room, rushing past watertight compartment doors. “Catastrophic hull failure!” an officer shouted. The electricity cut off. Suddenly, the engine locked into reverse. As the crew scrambled into neoprene survival suits, they peered into the wheelhouse where Capt. Peter Jacobsen called maydays into the radio. The fishmaster­—a mysterious officer from Japan who directed them toward fertile fishing grounds—sat in the wheelhouse smoking a cigarette, staring straight ahead. His survival suit hung unzipped off his shoulders.…

My friends in the puppeteering community were thrilled by this. I like it too. That's a shipping container he's sitting on.

Quoted: The remarkable French marionette street theatre Royal de Lux unveiled their latest creations this past weekend. As the highlight of the Estuary 2009 Arts Festival in Nantes, the theater drew a gigantic crowd to view a gigantic fairytale.

Had a hard time finding a good quote to sum this story up. It's a fun read about an aging Manhattanite and his love of Red Ruffing and red shoes.

Quoted: Thirteen days a year: that would be the limit, he decided. These would be called “my watermelon days.”

Old news, but I didn't find out until today. I wouldn't have been very worried about the Sox even if they got him, but it's nice to keep Peavy out of the AL Central.

Quoted: Rosenthal has doubts about the White Sox's ability to compete in the future, and he says that this may have been on Peavy's mind when he rejected the trade.

I had assumed that Chef Symon didn't spend a lot of time here, but apparently that's not the case (or it is, but he hides it well). Nice interview.

Quoted: I think it was one of those things that in the '50s and '60s it was very sophisticated to get a cocktail and a nibble. And then it kind of turned a little bit into … I don't want to say a train wreck of a happy hour kind of thing, but you know "eat a 40 buckets of wings and 25 cent beers." Which was fun when I was in college, but I think it just happened that fine dining moved away from it a little bit.

Put Al Gore on the Supreme Court says Hendrik Hertzberg. As he admits, it isn't going to happen. But after reading this I have to think that Jennifer Granholm is a strong candidate. She's lacking in some departments, but she's barely 50 and she's not a judge.

Quoted: The heart of a Justice’s job is interpreting and applying the Constitution, and for that things like a knowledge of history (including Constitutional history), a feel for the workings of government, a strong moral sense, an ability to think and write clearly, and a temperamental affinity for the long view—all of which Gore has in spades—are much more important than a professional familiarity with the details of contract or case law.

I think Ba's latest dot deserves a follow-up.

Quoted: She ran out to the sidewalk to greet all her guests...."Hi! Thanks for coming to my party....GO INSIDE & SEE MY CAKE!!!!"