everyday dicta

December 15th, 2011

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npr:

pbsthisdayinhistory: DECEMBER 15: THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS RATIFIED (1791)

On this day in 1791, Virginia ratified the Bill of Rights, allowing the United States Congress to add ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights guaranteed for the first time individual rights. Among them are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.
The above image is part of the site for the PBS program “Liberty!” in which newspaper chronicles let you experience first-hand the excitement and uncertainty of the American Revolution as it happened.
Test your knowledge on the American Revolution, and see if you can navigate your way to independence with the Road to Revolution game.

pbsthisdayinhistory: DECEMBER 15: THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS RATIFIED (1791)

On this day in 1791, Virginia ratified the Bill of Rights, allowing the United States Congress to add ten amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights guaranteed for the first time individual rights. Among them are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.

The above image is part of the site for the PBS program “Liberty!” in which newspaper chronicles let you experience first-hand the excitement and uncertainty of the American Revolution as it happened.

Test your knowledge on the American Revolution, and see if you can navigate your way to independence with the Road to Revolution game.

Reblogged from NPR

November 26th, 2011

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musingsinfemininity:

paperomance:

Lady Mary, Edith & Sybil - Vogue UK August 2011.

Celebrating the return of Downton Abbey season 2, Vogue UK featured actresses Michelle Dockery, Jessica Brown-Findlay and Laura Carmichael in the August 2011 issue, photographed by Jason Bell and styled by Fiona Golfar.

© Vogue US

Reblogged from musings in femininity.

November 25th, 2011

Whether it is better never to have been born at all than to have been born with even gross deficiencies is a mystery more properly to be left to the philosophers and the theologians. Surely the law can assert no competence to resolve the issue, particularly in view of the very nearly uniform high value which the law and mankind has placed on human life, rather than its absence.

(Becker v. Schwartz)

November 17th, 2011

Chief Judge Barnes was a dynamic not-so-benevolent tyrant who ruled the district court in Chicago with an iron fist, sometimes but not always covered with a velvet glove. He was sometimes called “Old Iron Pants,” which was not always a term of endearment.

(Latino v. Kaizer)

November 15th, 2011

OWS Drama

I’m finding the Occupy Wall Street drama from today kind of intolerable. The park was dirty, the protesters were disruptive to nearby residents, and local businesses were beginning to suffer. As Mayor Bloomberg said, ”No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out - but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others - nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law. There is no ambiguity in the law here - the First Amendment protects speech - it does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space. Protestors have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags. Now they will have to occupy the space with the power of their arguments.”

Hear, hear!

November 13th, 2011

It’s been a busy weekend, during which I spent way too much time stuck in traffic. New York City would almost be a paradise if the streets were as void of cars as pictured above.

(Source: semaev)

Reblogged from concrete jungle where dreams are made of

November 8th, 2011

The wider world that perceives fashion as a frivolity that should be done away with in the face of social upheavals and problems that are enormous, the point is, in fact, that fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life. I don’t think you could do away with it. It would be like doing away with civilization.

(Bill Cunningham) I really loved this movie

(Source: movies.netflix.com)

Reblogged from musings in femininity.

November 6th, 2011

Law has an open texture, and its openness is not a defect.

(H.L.A. Hart)

November 5th, 2011

City photos never get old.

Reblogged from concrete jungle where dreams are made of

November 5th, 2011

(photo by {kind of turquoise) This reminds me of The Secret Garden, Pride and Prejudice, and fancy English picnics. Feeling a little whimsical today; feeling like being lost in a good story.

(photo by {kind of turquoise) This reminds me of The Secret Garden, Pride and Prejudice, and fancy English picnics. Feeling a little whimsical today; feeling like being lost in a good story.

Reblogged from Under The Same Sofa

November 3rd, 2011

The impression made on the refined ears of musical experts… are utterly immaterial on the issue of misappropriation; for the views of such persons are caviar to the general- and plaintiff’s and defendant’s compositions are not caviar…

(Arnstein v. Porter, 1946)

November 3rd, 2011

Science is the act of exploration.
Science is the greatest of adventure stories.

Tomorrow’s guest, Brian Greene, during his appearance on The Colbert Report (via leagueofwhimsy)

(Source: colbertnation.com)

Reblogged from NPR

November 3rd, 2011

The query always is whether the putative wrongdoer has advanced to such a point as to have launched a force or instrument of harm, or has stopped where inaction is at most a refusal to become an instrument for good.

(Cardozo in H.R. Moch Co. v. Rensselaer Water Co.) Applies to much more than the law

November 3rd, 2011

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Had dinner at The Four Seasons Restaurant last night and loved every bite. In addition, two excellent journalists were awarded the “Bastiat Prize” for journalism. I was one of the screeners/judges for the contest, and was very happy with the outcome. Well-deserved.