Category: General

Temporal Limitations?

| 3 Comments
| General, Restitution

NPR logo, via their website.The aim of the Statute of Limitations, 1957 (also here) is to achieve a degree of certainty and finality in litigation by ensuring that unlitigated cases get barred from coming to court by the passage of too much time. Periods range from 3 and 6 years to 12 and 20 years. But no claim is allowed persist indefinitely. However, via National Public Radio‘s wonderful All Things Considered program, I’ve just heard and read about a case concerning a (restitution!) claim that may be more than 700 years old:

A group of people claiming to be the heirs of the legendary Knights Templar are suing Pope Benedict XVI, seeking more than $150 billion for assets seized by the Catholic Church seven centuries ago.

Isn’t barring cases like that what Statutes of Limitations are for? The claim has been taken in Spain, but it too has limitation (called prescription – prescripción – in good Civilian style) provisions; and I am sure that they will apply to bar the claim. It sheer audacity is breath-taking, but it would take a miracle for it to succeed.…

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A public service announcement

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| advertising, General

Guardian logo, via the Guardian website.From today’s Guardian:


What does a heart attack feel like?

… The “Hollywood heart attack” is dangerously misleading and because of it, many of us ignore the real symptoms until it is too late. … The Hollywood heart attack … involves dramatic chest clutching and collapse. But in reality, symptoms vary. They can be woolly, ambiguous and easy to ignore. It is very common to have a central chest pain that can spread to the arms, neck and jaw. You may feel sweaty, light-headed, sick or short of breath. You may simply feel a dull ache, mild discomfort or heavy sensation in your chest that makes you feel ill. Or there may be a chest pain that spreads to your back or stomach. Some people say the pain was like bad indigestion. …

Read more here.

Update The British Heart Foundation‘s 2 minute film Watch Your Own Heart Attack shows just what it’s like to have a heart attack first hand.…

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So farewell then, Norman French (again)

| 2 Comments
| General, Law

Law Books, from the UK's Ministry of Justice website.I have blogged already (here and here) about the Statute Law Revision Act, 2007. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then the Oireachtas should feel very flattered indeed.

Earlier this year, the Law Commissions of England and Wales and of Scotland published their 18th report in a series of proposed statute law repeals (pdf) (hat tip: Slaw). The Statute Law (Repeals) Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on Wednesday 27 February 2008 by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. On the day that NPR reports that State Representative Byron Rushing (Dem) is mounting an effort to repeal out-of-date laws in Massachusetts comes news that the UK’s Bill received its second reading today in the House of Lords. …

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Isn’t it funny, how a bear likes honey?

| 4 Comments
| Cinema, television and theatre, General

Winnie the Pooh, via flickr

As every fan of a certain bear knows:

Isn’t it funny
How a bear likes honey?
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
I wonder why he does?

AA Milne, Winnie The Pooh (1926)

As if to prove this, the BBC is reporting that the taste of honey was just too tempting for a bear in Macedonia, which repeatedly raided a beekeeper’s hives, and has now been found guilty of theft and criminal damage (see also Daily Mail | Hearld Sun | News.com.au | NPR | NYT | Reuters | RTÉ | The Telegraph | UPI). My favourite headline from the coverage is the Syndey Morning Hearld‘s Guilty as a bear can bee.

Athough most of the commentary focuses upon the obvious comic elements of the tale, there is actually a rather serious point. …

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I wish I’d said that

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| General

Cover of book by Ned Sherrin, via Amazon.Departing from my usual fare of long original content, here are three links to things I wish I’d said, but someone better got there first:

First, Bernie Goldbach (aka Inside View, formerly Irish Eyes) Please Steal My Wifi

… I do not require passwords. I run no encryption protocols. Anyone with wireless capability who can see my network can use it to access the internet. That includes two neighbours and the occasional car that parks across the road from my bay window to suck on my service. …

I agree with this philosophical position …

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Cue fanfare

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| General

Cover of … The sweetest moment comes at last – the waiting’s over,
In shock they stare and cue fanfare.
When Bobby Fischer‘s plane – plane plane – touches the ground –
Plane plane – he’ll take those Russian boys and play them out of town,
Playing for blood as grandmasters should. …


Prefab Sprout “Cue Fanfare” from Swoon (1984)
…

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Samaritans 24/7

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| General

Samaritans 24/7 logo, via their website.At Saramitans, someone is there 24/7 – twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, since 1953 – to help anyone who needs emotional support. So it’s fitting that they should choose today, the twenty-fourth of July, as their fundraising and awareness day (hat tip: RTÉ news; see also their press release).

Samaritans rainbow, via their site.Samaritans provides confidential non-judgmental support, 24 hours a day for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.

The Dublin branch, founded in 1970 and now at 112 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, are hoping that residents of Dublin and the greater Dublin area will lend a hand in 24/7 promotion and fundraising.

Their other main contact details are

mail: jo@samaritans.org
call: 1850 60 90 90 (Ireland)
call: 01 8727700 (Dublin branch)

…

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