The current term of the United States Supreme Court is drawing to a close, so the Atlantic's website ran a list of the best dissent that each justice has filed.
In case a little "Supreme Court for Dummies" is helpful: Since there are nine judges on the court, at least five of them must agree to rule for or against. Then they write an opinion. One opinion explains the majority's decision; the dissenters write another; and sometimes a justice disagrees with minor points of the colleagues' opinions enough to write his or her own. Each remaining judge joins the opinion which best fits his or her understanding of the case.
A long time ago I read former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor's Majesty of the Law. She explains that Chief Justices have historically had very different views about achieving a decision; one or two were obsessed with forging a consensus, which extorted uneasy compromises, and others couldn't care much less about whether the decision was 5-4 or 8-1 as long as there was a decision. This term, around 48% of the rulings were unanimous, 28% were 5-4.
During the past three or so months I haunted the Court's website and scrolled through a couple rulings; the dissent I remember is Sonia Sotomayor's challenge to the majority ruling in United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation. American constitutional law and the circumstances of this particular case are beyond the scope of my amateur legal erudition; so the following may be a complete mischaracterization of the case:
From a human rather than judicial perspective I thought that Sotomayor was right. The issue basically seemed to be that the U.S. government exercises a kind of statutory guardianship over Native Americans. But wards in the traditional sense have much freer access to details of how their legal representation is being run. So the government's lack of transparency and accountability to others is getting in the way of properly pursuing it in the courts where there is reason to believe that it has abused its role. I don't know if the system is really that claustrophobic and defined by Catch-22s, but then I see no foundation for optimism. But Sotomayor's taking up the gauntlet was rather heartwarming.
"I Dissent: A Different Kind of Supreme Court Term Review" [Atlantic], by Andrew Cohen (June 28, 2011)
O'Connor, Sandra Day, The Majesty of the Law (Random House, 2003)
United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation [Supreme Court], decided June 13, 2011 [PDF format; Justice Sotomayor's dissent from p. 31]
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Counting Pence and the Prince of Wales
The Prince of Wales's annual review has been published and with it his finances up to March 31, 2011. It is a jumble of costs pertaining not only to Charles but also to the Duchess of Cornwall and the Princes Harry and William.
In an article by Stephen Bates, the Guardian does not hold this fiscal annum entirely in good odour, on account for instance of this rise in travelling expenses, which are partially disbursed by the taxpayer:
The obvious, amateur question is whether there is not a good reason for the rise in expenses, or whether these expenses were incurred by (an)other member(s) of the household. Overseas travel tends to be undertaken at the behest of the government, for example the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
His income from the Duchy lands rose, too, apparently on a strong bond portfolio. Since about the only industry that is doing well (though food prices are also rising, and with a little rampant exploitation there are riches to be garnered here too) is the oil industry, investment in which would not correspond to his environmental convictions, I wonder at and rather admire his ability to find anything else that is remotely profitable.
Sir Michael Peat, who is the Duke's secretary, evidently admires it too; but when he observes that it is a 'fall in real terms', I assume based on my solitary catastrophic Macroeconomics course that, though impressive-looking, these figures would have had greater solid worth a couple of years ago. If I'm interpreting the chart correctly, using 2005 as a baseline of 100, the consumer price index shows an inflation of 14.5% in the past 5 years excluding 2011; it means that if you had 100 pounds in your wallet in December 2010, it was really only worth what 85.5 pounds were worth in 2005, so you might have to go to H&M (the horror!) for a pullover instead of Topshop. So if you're dealing with over £10 million, the decrease in purchasing power will be proportionately worrisome, and of course there are other economic factors likewise at play.
Altogether there are 132.8 persons in the household (up from 124) who contribute to official work; the income from the Duchy comprised almost £17.8 million and the taxes with value-added tax (VAT*), national insurance contributions for his employees, and council tax payments** £4.9 million. From taxpayers he received, through various avenues, £1.96 million. Contributions to charity and ecological measures, among them solar panels, have both been raised. I haven't read the whole review, but even in these general terms it's interesting and well-presented nuts-and-bolts stuff.
What has not been divulged was the cost to the Prince of Wales's household from the wedding of his eldest son in April (which was likewise paid for by the bride's family and the taxpayer), on the royal principle that the mechanics of weddings are best decently shrouded in privacy.
(* Proper pronunciation: each letter separately. Value-added tax is paid on goods and services at the grocery store, pub, etc., like Canada's Goods and Services Tax or like Germany's Mehrwertsteuer.)
(** The council tax is paid to local authorities and is known elsewhere as a municipal tax; it is unpopular and the Conservative government has been pushing councils to lower the rates.)
***
Table taken from the Annual Review:
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
And, since His Royal Highness is a greenie:
SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNT
***
Prince Charles's income up by £1m [Guardian], by Stephen Bates (June 28, 2011)
"Annual Review 2011" [Prince of Wales]
In an article by Stephen Bates, the Guardian does not hold this fiscal annum entirely in good odour, on account for instance of this rise in travelling expenses, which are partially disbursed by the taxpayer:
although the review indicates the prince travelled 34,000* miles on royal duties in the past year, to the end of this March – 9,000 fewer than the previous year – and halved the amount of foreign travel he undertook, the cost rose by £388,000, to £1,080,000.*Officially 34, 287 miles.
The obvious, amateur question is whether there is not a good reason for the rise in expenses, or whether these expenses were incurred by (an)other member(s) of the household. Overseas travel tends to be undertaken at the behest of the government, for example the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
His income from the Duchy lands rose, too, apparently on a strong bond portfolio. Since about the only industry that is doing well (though food prices are also rising, and with a little rampant exploitation there are riches to be garnered here too) is the oil industry, investment in which would not correspond to his environmental convictions, I wonder at and rather admire his ability to find anything else that is remotely profitable.
Sir Michael Peat, who is the Duke's secretary, evidently admires it too; but when he observes that it is a 'fall in real terms', I assume based on my solitary catastrophic Macroeconomics course that, though impressive-looking, these figures would have had greater solid worth a couple of years ago. If I'm interpreting the chart correctly, using 2005 as a baseline of 100, the consumer price index shows an inflation of 14.5% in the past 5 years excluding 2011; it means that if you had 100 pounds in your wallet in December 2010, it was really only worth what 85.5 pounds were worth in 2005, so you might have to go to H&M (the horror!) for a pullover instead of Topshop. So if you're dealing with over £10 million, the decrease in purchasing power will be proportionately worrisome, and of course there are other economic factors likewise at play.
Altogether there are 132.8 persons in the household (up from 124) who contribute to official work; the income from the Duchy comprised almost £17.8 million and the taxes with value-added tax (VAT*), national insurance contributions for his employees, and council tax payments** £4.9 million. From taxpayers he received, through various avenues, £1.96 million. Contributions to charity and ecological measures, among them solar panels, have both been raised. I haven't read the whole review, but even in these general terms it's interesting and well-presented nuts-and-bolts stuff.
What has not been divulged was the cost to the Prince of Wales's household from the wedding of his eldest son in April (which was likewise paid for by the bride's family and the taxpayer), on the royal principle that the mechanics of weddings are best decently shrouded in privacy.
(* Proper pronunciation: each letter separately. Value-added tax is paid on goods and services at the grocery store, pub, etc., like Canada's Goods and Services Tax or like Germany's Mehrwertsteuer.)
(** The council tax is paid to local authorities and is known elsewhere as a municipal tax; it is unpopular and the Conservative government has been pushing councils to lower the rates.)
***
Table taken from the Annual Review:
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
| Year to 31st March | 2011 | 2010 |
| £000s | £000s | |
| Income from Duchy of Cornwall | 17,796 | 17,161 |
| Funding from Grants-in-Aid and Government Departments | 1,962 | 1,664 |
| Total income and funding | 19,758 | 18,825 |
| Official expenditure | 11,406 | 10,723 |
| Surplus after official costs | 8,352 | 8,102 |
| Taxation | 4,398 | 3,484 |
| Non-official expenditure | 2,539 | 1,694 |
| Capital expenditure (less depreciation), loan repayments and transfers to reserves | 1,184 | 2,695 |
| Net cash surplus | 231 | 229 |
And, since His Royal Highness is a greenie:
SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNT
| Year to 31st March | 2011 | 2010 |
| Tonnes | Tonnes | |
| CO2 equivalent emissions | ||
| Household: sources under the Household’s control | 1,523 | 1,581 |
| Household: official overseas travel | 438 | 1,479 |
| The Home Farm | 2,025 | 2,060 |
***
Prince Charles's income up by £1m [Guardian], by Stephen Bates (June 28, 2011)
"Annual Review 2011" [Prince of Wales]
Monday 27 June 2011
Fashion as Sadism: Men's Fashion Weeks
IN THIS SLIDESHOW, the Daily Telegraph picks out the runway looks that best incarnated the French saying, "Il faut souffrir pour être belle." — "To be beautiful one must suffer.":
"Bizarre trends from men's fashion week, spring/summer 2012" [Daily Telegraph], Photos from various agencies (June 24, 2011)
It seems far too early for Spring/Summer 2012 fashion weeks; in fact these are only for men's apparel. The outfits here — some of which are fairly conventional for the extreme aesthetic of the catwalk and some of which, like the giant green egg in the first slide, verge on the extraterrestrial — appeared in the Paris and Milan showings.
"Bizarre trends from men's fashion week, spring/summer 2012" [Daily Telegraph], Photos from various agencies (June 24, 2011)
It seems far too early for Spring/Summer 2012 fashion weeks; in fact these are only for men's apparel. The outfits here — some of which are fairly conventional for the extreme aesthetic of the catwalk and some of which, like the giant green egg in the first slide, verge on the extraterrestrial — appeared in the Paris and Milan showings.
Mythdusters: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus
IN HONOUR of Seven Sleepers' Day, observed today here in Germany: The day itself is founded on the old Catholic myth of the sleepers at Ephesus and like a religious Groundhog Day it is traditionally considered as a harbinger of the weather for the following seven weeks:
Cave of the Seven Sleepers, Turkey (1987)
by user Kpisimon, via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 3 Unported License)
TO BE honest, I'm fond of the tale in a secular way because I'm very fond of sleeping, especially at epic lengths if there are no particular responsibilities to fulfill and therefore relaxing is in order.
Cave of the Seven Sleepers, Turkey (1987)
by user Kpisimon, via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 3 Unported License)
TO BE honest, I'm fond of the tale in a secular way because I'm very fond of sleeping, especially at epic lengths if there are no particular responsibilities to fulfill and therefore relaxing is in order.
Friday 24 June 2011
A New Ascetic: Peter Zumthor
In anticipation of his turn at the Serpentine Gallery in London's Hyde Park, the Guardian's website has published an article and slideshow of the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
The last and first time I read about him was in an exhaustive article in the New York Times, which did not strike me much then but must be good to adhere in my memory: "The Ascension of Peter Zumthor" (Mar. 11, 2011) by Michael Kimmelman.
He is 68 years old and an inhabitant of a Swiss village, with his office in Chur. His father was a cabinetmaker and put him under considerable pressure to take over; instead Mr. Zumthor went off to study art, industrial and interior design, and ended up informally in the architectural field. Eventually he was officially designated as an architect by the Swiss government, waiving the formal qualifications. In 2009 he won the Pritzker Prize.
Rowan Moore's Observer article has good descriptions of his architectural style. His famous projects have so far included a baths (Therme Vals, 1996), field chapels, and a construction in Cologne where he had to work with the ruins beneath. More recently he completed a commission from philosopher Alain de Botton, building a low hilltop house in South Devon, England, as one of five holiday homes within the "Living Architecture" project. (The houses, which can be rented, pursue de Botton's aim to endear the best and brightest in modern architecture to hoi polloi.) These works are very individual and his architectural team is little; he neither seems to sprawl internationally nor expel a worldly urban flair like Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry. (Sir Norman Foster, for instance, cooperates with around 600 people. Zumthor is also unusually prone to picking and choosing what he wants to do, which enables admirable creative independence.)
Two years ago, Jonathan Glancey captured something of the high regard in which Mr. Zumthor is held as he wrote, for the Guardian's website,
In his Serpentine Gallery pavilion, the projected image shows a big, slant-edged rectangular roof aperture in a tombesque room of slate grey, which opens a flower garden to be arranged by Piet Oudolf to the air. Glancey elucidates that the walls will be made out of timber and finished with "scrim and black paste made with sand." Previous pavilions, ten in all, were designed among others by Hadid, Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind.
"Zumthor Rising" [New York Times], slideshow by Hendrik Kerstens, and Julian Faulhaber for the Times (March 13, 2003)
"Peter Zumthor - in pictures" [Observer] by various photographers (June 19, 2011)
"Peter Zumthor: In pursuit of perfection" [Observer] by Rowan Moore (June 19, 2011)
"Swiss architect untouched by fad or fashion wins prized Pritzker award" [Guardian], by Ed Pilkington (April 14, 2009)
"Jonathan Glancey on architect Charles Holden" [Guardian], by Jonathan Glancey (Nov. 5, 2009)
"Alain de Botton commissions holiday homes to promote modernist architecture" [Guardian], by Robert Booth (May 9, 2010)
"Peter Zumthor unveils secret garden for Serpentine pavilion" [Guardian] by Jonathan Glancey (April 4, 2011)
The last and first time I read about him was in an exhaustive article in the New York Times, which did not strike me much then but must be good to adhere in my memory: "The Ascension of Peter Zumthor" (Mar. 11, 2011) by Michael Kimmelman.
He is 68 years old and an inhabitant of a Swiss village, with his office in Chur. His father was a cabinetmaker and put him under considerable pressure to take over; instead Mr. Zumthor went off to study art, industrial and interior design, and ended up informally in the architectural field. Eventually he was officially designated as an architect by the Swiss government, waiving the formal qualifications. In 2009 he won the Pritzker Prize.
Rowan Moore's Observer article has good descriptions of his architectural style. His famous projects have so far included a baths (Therme Vals, 1996), field chapels, and a construction in Cologne where he had to work with the ruins beneath. More recently he completed a commission from philosopher Alain de Botton, building a low hilltop house in South Devon, England, as one of five holiday homes within the "Living Architecture" project. (The houses, which can be rented, pursue de Botton's aim to endear the best and brightest in modern architecture to hoi polloi.) These works are very individual and his architectural team is little; he neither seems to sprawl internationally nor expel a worldly urban flair like Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry. (Sir Norman Foster, for instance, cooperates with around 600 people. Zumthor is also unusually prone to picking and choosing what he wants to do, which enables admirable creative independence.)
Two years ago, Jonathan Glancey captured something of the high regard in which Mr. Zumthor is held as he wrote, for the Guardian's website,
I find it thrilling when I come across something – be it a school, a factory, a place of worship, a Tube station – that could be a lasting memorial for our own age and endeavours. I see this in the work of contemporary architects such as Peter Zumthor, Caruso St John, Tadao Ando, Oscar Niemeyer and Alvaro Siza.Zumthor's work is generally sombre (it is tempting to take Glancey's "memorial" literally, as "funerary"), though he would probably not appreciate such a reduction, and has a Scandinavian spareness and severity of line that echo the sterner alpine geology and historical religious strains in Switzerland. It also counteracts the idiosyncratic (for instance) Austrian tendency to seek brightness in its art, trim houses with geraniums and petunias and folk crafts, and turn to neatness and colour and transalpine Mediterranean warmth in its architecture. In his Bruder Klaus chapel, for instance, the inverse-ribbed walls are dark and though a circle and shaft of light emanates from the top the joy of religion seems too contemplative to be very present.
In his Serpentine Gallery pavilion, the projected image shows a big, slant-edged rectangular roof aperture in a tombesque room of slate grey, which opens a flower garden to be arranged by Piet Oudolf to the air. Glancey elucidates that the walls will be made out of timber and finished with "scrim and black paste made with sand." Previous pavilions, ten in all, were designed among others by Hadid, Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind.
"Zumthor Rising" [New York Times], slideshow by Hendrik Kerstens, and Julian Faulhaber for the Times (March 13, 2003)
"Peter Zumthor - in pictures" [Observer] by various photographers (June 19, 2011)
"Peter Zumthor: In pursuit of perfection" [Observer] by Rowan Moore (June 19, 2011)
"Swiss architect untouched by fad or fashion wins prized Pritzker award" [Guardian], by Ed Pilkington (April 14, 2009)
"Jonathan Glancey on architect Charles Holden" [Guardian], by Jonathan Glancey (Nov. 5, 2009)
"Alain de Botton commissions holiday homes to promote modernist architecture" [Guardian], by Robert Booth (May 9, 2010)
"Peter Zumthor unveils secret garden for Serpentine pavilion" [Guardian] by Jonathan Glancey (April 4, 2011)
Wednesday 22 June 2011
National Geographic: Chilean Ash, an Unburial in Heuneburg, and the Solstice
Photos of the volcanic ash around Chile, where the Puyehue volcano erupted on June 4, smothering cars and roofs and rivers, exacerbating drought, and disturbing air travel in Australia and Brazil as well as its immediate neighbours:
"Pictures: Volcano Ash Smothers Lake, Buildings, Sheep" [National Geographic] Text by unknown, with photos from agencies (June 21, 2011)
***
Celebrating the summer solstice (2008). And the obligatory slideshow of Stonehenge.
"Pictures: Volcano Ash Smothers Lake, Buildings, Sheep" [National Geographic] Text by unknown, with photos from agencies (June 21, 2011)
***
Celebrating the summer solstice (2008). And the obligatory slideshow of Stonehenge.
Monday 20 June 2011
In Brief: Series of Internet Tubes Apparently Embiggens
In the laziest blog post since Ascension Day, here is a link to Boing Boing's article "ICANN votes to roll out 400-800 new generic top-level domains", by Cory Doctorow, from today.
It seems important but I wouldn't know how to explain it. :)
It seems important but I wouldn't know how to explain it. :)
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Blog: Joy the Baker
Introducing various blogs:
***
Today it's the turn of Joy the Baker, a Wordpress-based food blog which is written and illustrated with bright photographs by a resident of Los Angeles, in her late twenties.
Her baking and occasional cooking is American with a contemporary concentration: garlic knots, a cinnamon sugar loaf that is baked in slices ("pull-apart bread") and a pineapple upside-down cake minus the pineapple and with strawberries, and time-honoured, classic-sounding recipes for roasted new potatoes with mustard and strawberry cupcakes.
***
Today it's the turn of Joy the Baker, a Wordpress-based food blog which is written and illustrated with bright photographs by a resident of Los Angeles, in her late twenties.
Her baking and occasional cooking is American with a contemporary concentration: garlic knots, a cinnamon sugar loaf that is baked in slices ("pull-apart bread") and a pineapple upside-down cake minus the pineapple and with strawberries, and time-honoured, classic-sounding recipes for roasted new potatoes with mustard and strawberry cupcakes.
Habeas the 796th Anniversary of the Magna Carta
Disclaimer before hundreds of wroth barristers descend on me in a twitchy-eyed swarm: Please take the following skeptically since I am not a legal expert.
Monday 6 June 2011
Paul Revere's Ride (Against the Commie Invaders in Alaska)
Never mind the geography and rhyming and rhythm, etc. . . .
Listen my children and you shall hear:
Of the Palin ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Barely any Joe sixpack is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his buddy, "If the Commies march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the lighthouse dome
Of the seaside village as a signal light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Alaskan village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
Listen my children and you shall hear:
Of the Palin ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Barely any Joe sixpack is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his buddy, "If the Commies march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the lighthouse dome
Of the seaside village as a signal light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Alaskan village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
Friday 3 June 2011
Italian Vogue and the Three Plump Graces
It can be done after all: editor Franca Sozzani has honoured plus-sized women with the cover story and photo of Vogue Italia, June 2011.
On the front of the magazine the three models — Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine and Robyn Lawley — are posed in lingerie around a restaurant table, in black and white, against a blurry white and silver backdrop of a waitress and other figures, walls and natural light.
It is a part of the editor's campaign against pro-anorexia websites and the fixation on slenderness which European and American society pursue.
On the front of the magazine the three models — Tara Lynn, Candice Huffine and Robyn Lawley — are posed in lingerie around a restaurant table, in black and white, against a blurry white and silver backdrop of a waitress and other figures, walls and natural light.
It is a part of the editor's campaign against pro-anorexia websites and the fixation on slenderness which European and American society pursue.
Thursday 2 June 2011
N.B.: Ascension
Today the bookshop is closed for the Ascension, which is "Christi Himmelfahrt" in German.
As the r.W.a. explains, it comes forty days after Easter, and in the Christian faith celebrates Jesus's rise into heaven.
Edicula on Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
Photo by Adriatikus [via Wikimedia Commons]
Ascension of Jesus [Wikipedia] Read June 2, 2011
Ascension of Christ [Wikimedia Commons]
As the r.W.a. explains, it comes forty days after Easter, and in the Christian faith celebrates Jesus's rise into heaven.
Edicula on Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
Photo by Adriatikus [via Wikimedia Commons]
Ascension of Jesus [Wikipedia] Read June 2, 2011
Ascension of Christ [Wikimedia Commons]
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