More Odds and Ends

Omigod this is too, too, too funny. Scroll down to the second page to see what he really meant to say. This is why you never, never, never trust the spellchecker. It's even better that it actually got filed. I'm sure he's never going to hear the end of it - I'm still cleaning the coffee off my keyboard.

That Louisiana attitude.

The "what's your sign" defense.

They may have found the tomb of Odysseus in Poros on the island of Kefalonia in Greece. One goosebump-inspiring bit of evidence:

In Book XIX of the “Odyssey,” the just-returned and still disguised Odysseus tells his wife (who may or may not realize who she’s talking to; Homer is deliberately ambivalent) that he encountered Odysseus many years earlier on the island of Crete. He describes in detail a gold brooch the king wore on that occasion.

A gold brooch meeting that precise description lies now in the archeological museum at Argostoli, the main city on Kefalonia, 30 miles across the island from Poros. Other gold jewelry and seals carved in precious stones excavated from the tomb offer further proof the grave outside Poros was used to bury kings.

via Michelle's Mental Clutter.

That Lawyer Dude has a nice piece on defending murderers. Think about it: you got into the law to uphold people's rights, a valuable and meritorious career that frankly pays crap. You have to deal with less-than-desirable people on a daily basis, some of whom deserve what they're getting and others who really don't. Burn out is rampant, but you keep yourself going through those moments when you succeed in protecting someone who's really being screwed by the system, and essentially give them their life back. It's a good feeling. Then you get assigned to defend the BTK killer. How do you cope? An excerpt:

A big case is life and death. The adrenaline overflows and the work is all but consuming. Each waking hour contains snippits of time when you are thinking about the case and its ramifications. Though usually in jail, it is like your client is following you all over, asking you as you do other things, "Shouldn't you be working on my case? I am going to spend the rest of my life in here, is that haircut your getting worth more than my life?" As you study the facts the pictures and the other evidence, you think about the victims. What were they thinking at or near the end? How did they wind up there? Why did this happen to them, why did this happen to your client? . . .

The PD that defended the BTK killer, was a person. A neighbor, a customer at her local stores. But first she is a Lawyer, A Trial Lawyer. That means that she is about to undergo a decompression, a disappointment, even despair. She has stood where no other dared to stand. Next to a serial murderer, in protection of his rights under the Constitution of the United States of America. Believe me when I say that you may revile the BTK murderer, but pray for his lawyer...

Aaaand to completely change the subject: cats in sinks.

Random blurts from real-life college faculty as overheard by the Phantom Professor. My favorites:

I have two football players in that class. Surprise: I think they can read.
I got through menopause and all I could think was, "I have to buy a motorcycle."

Check out the rest.

Find a Human: A desperately needed public service. Tells you how to cut through the labyrinthian hell of automated answering systems at some major companies.

"What should I read next?"

How to cut and shuffle a deck of cards one-handed.

Russian hand-painted computer mice that look like those elaborate easter eggs. via Boing Boing.