Author: Stephen Sachs (Page 3 of 25)

The Advances of Science: Straight from the Internet Journal of Medical Toxicology:

“Although other causes of symptoms could not be rigorously excluded, we conclude that cooked tarantula is a potentially irritating food.”

(Warning: link contains icky pictures of tarantulas.)

Back in New Haven: And fresh from a Torts exam, with a complex issue-spotter invoving hazardous chemicals, allegedly defective car seats, and the exposure of chimpanzees to Barry Manilow. (No joke.)

In other news, I came back from vacation to find the following on my answering machine. Disturbing, no?

“You have two messages:

“Message One:

“‘Hi, this is, uh, [name inaudible]. I’m having a little trouble again, Doctor. [cough] The tooth came out again, while I was eating. That was back on Friday, but I was awfully sorry about what I heard about your father — didn’t want to bother ya then. Get back to me as soon as you can, please? Thank you.’

“Monday, 2:42 p.m.

“Message Two:

“‘If you would like to discontinue this automated recording, press 1.

“‘An inmate from DONALD W. WYATT DETENTION FACILITY, DONALD W. WYATT DETENTION FACILITY, has attempted to place a call to this phone number.

“‘The call wasn’t able to complete, due to a collect call block with your local telephone company. If you would like to receive calls from DONALD W. WYATT DETENTION FACILITY in the future, please have this block removed, by calling your local telephone provider. Thank you. To repeat this message, press 3.’

“Monday, 7:07 p.m.

“End of Messages.”

Happy New Year! As recent events offer a sobering reminder of how tenuous life can be, best wishes for a safe, happy, healthy year to all.

This has been both a busy and relaxing break — in between studying for classes and thesis revision, I was able to spend some time at home with family, as well as to attend the wedding of two friends in Rockford, Ill. I’ve got exams as soon as I get back, so posting may be a little light in January.

One highlight: on my last day at home, I went to see Painted Prayers, an exhibition of medieval books of hours at the St. Louis Art Museum. As you probably know, I’m partial to medieval and renaissance art, especially books of hours, and these works were absolutely terrific. If any of you are in St. Louis before Jan. 9, you must go see the exhibition.

These books of hours were designed for personal use in a private home, where readers would return to them several times a day for the ‘hours’ of prayer. As a result, the manuscripts offered intricate designs and complex imagery to hold the reader’s attention in repeated readings. The books themselves were small and easy to hold; the museum wisely provided magnifying glasses in the exhibition, so that visitors could see the extraordinary level of detail in the painted miniatures. Unfortunately, some of the most memorable works aren’t available online, but some are in the Morgan Library’s digital collection — such as a simple but beautiful Nativity, a penitent Jerome in the desert, and an allegorical representation of Lust. (Note the checkered pavimento pattern in the latter, displaying an attempt at artistic perspective.)

The exhibit was very informative, explaining the unusual medieval system of marking time — complete with lunar-based “Golden Numbers,” Roman ‘kalends’ and Christian saints’ days — in the following calendar page for February:

The audiotour was also helpful — and as it turned out, I recognized some of the background music. To accompany an Annunciation scene, you could certainly do worse than Dufay’s Ave Maris Stella (buy it here or here). (Best line from the audiotour, concerning an “Annunciation to the Shepherds” by the Master of the Échevinage de Rouen: “At the bottom of the page, there’s a monkey, playing the bagpipes.” Haven’t you always wanted one of those?)

The promotional book is sold out, for good reason, and the exhibition will only be traveling to one more city. But if you’re within range of the Getty Museum when the exhibition reaches L.A. on October 18, 2005, make sure to check it out.

P.S.: I’ve been linking to Ross Douthat and The American Scene since way back, but I’m very pleased to see their recent resurgence (and guestblogging role!) with a new co-conspirator. Go read their stuff.

P.P.S.: Confidential to CLM — thank you for your interest in my writings on Missouri statutes concerning pornography and prostitution. Even were I inclined to assist you with Volume 2 of your DVD series, however, I have not yet passed the Missouri bar, and thus am not qualified to offer legal advice.

Leak of the Day: From the Washington Post:

IAEA Leader’s Phone Tapped

U.S. Pores Over Transcripts to Try to Oust Nuclear Chief

By Dafna Linzer

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, December 12, 2004; Page A01

The Bush administration has dozens of intercepts of Mohamed ElBaradei’s phone calls with Iranian diplomats and is scrutinizing them in search of ammunition to oust him as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to three U.S. government officials.

But the diplomatic offensive will not be easy. The administration has failed to come up with a candidate willing to oppose ElBaradei, who has run the agency since 1997, and there is disagreement among some senior officials over how hard to push for his removal, and what the diplomatic costs of a public campaign against him could be.

Although eavesdropping, even on allies, is considered a well-worn tool of national security and diplomacy, the efforts against ElBaradei demonstrate the lengths some within the administration are willing to go to replace a top international diplomat who questioned U.S. intelligence on Iraq and is now taking a cautious approach on Iran.

The intercepted calls have not produced any evidence of nefarious conduct by ElBaradei, according to three officials who have read them. But some within the administration believe they show ElBaradei lacks impartiality because he tried to help Iran navigate a diplomatic crisis over its nuclear programs. Others argue the transcripts demonstrate nothing more than standard telephone diplomacy.

“Some people think he sounds way too soft on the Iranians, but that’s about it,” said one official with access to the intercepts.

I’m sure this sort of thing goes on all the time. In fact, if the U.S. didn’t tap ElBaradei’s phone, I think it would be almost criminal negligence on the part of our diplomatic services. But it can’t look good for our international image when we wiretap the IAEA, or spy on the Security Council.

So how did this get on the front page of the Post? The article makes it pretty clear that those in favor of keeping ElBaradei leaked the information, not to stop an unethical practice (cf. the Pentagon Papers), but rather to embarrass the other side in an intragovernmental policy debate. And that seems inexcusable to me. You can’t run a State Department with every piece of information you collect on the front page of the Post the next morning. The organization claims to have blown it off (“‘We’ve always assumed that this kind of thing goes on,’ IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said”), but foreign publics aren’t likely to react the same way — and the Post doesn’t put many non-stories on A1.

If the transcripts are really that inconclusive, could the benefits from the leak possibly have outweighed the danger that we’d push for a replacement? Whoever leaked to the Post ought to be fired, and quickly. We’ve got enough to worry about in stopping Iran’s nuclear programs without our own officials sabotaging our intelligence.

In the Immortal Words of Stan Marsh: Dude, what the %$&*! is wrong with German people?

UPDATE (12/13): I rest my case.

Thought for the Day: From Federico Fellini:

I wonder what . . . kind of evil spell could have fallen upon our generation, to explain how we started, all of a sudden, to look at the young as the messengers of who knows what absolute truth. The young, the young, the young . . . you would have thought that they had just arrived from outer space. . . . Only some form of collective madness could have made us consider children of fifteen . . . the master guardians of all truths.

(Quoted in Jed Rubenfeld, Freedom and Time 34.)

Spiderman to the Rescue: Ever wonder what insightful political analysis the bloggers are keeping to themselves? Here’s this morning’s instant-message discussion with Josh Chafetz:

S: http://nytimes.com/2004/12/08/

opinion/08simmons.html

S: Spiderman will save the Dems!

J: “the first competitive contest for party leader since 1988,” ???

S: has the DNC been contested much?

J: oh, by “party leader”, he means DNC chair?

S: yeah — that’s the election coming up

J: that’s kinda absurd

S: true

J: someone should tell that guy that spiderman’s a republican

J: I mean, why else would he keep wrapping himself in the flag

S: and wear a RED suit

J: with a spider on it! everyone knows all the voracious insects are republicans!

S: and basilisks vote democrat

J: exactly

S: only democrats speak parseltongue

J: actually, only wes clark speaks parseltongue

S: yesssssss…

S: wait — but aren’t fundamentalist snake handlers republicans?

J: exactly — they *handle* the snakes

J: beat them

J: abuse them

J: don’t identify with them

J: blue snakes

J: red snake handlers

S: what about the swing snakes?

J: the dangerous, but — for obvious reasons — endangered purple grass snake

Updating “The Jumbler”: Following the kind suggestion of a YLS classmate (to wit: “your word jumbler is junk and needs work”), I’ve decided to update the text-jumbling GAWK script to a new version. (Read about the program here.) Although the new code is slightly less elegant than the old, it now makes sure that the randomly jumbled word always differs from the original word, with a minor exception for repeated strings like “aaaa”. I usually prioritize elegance over functionality, but as they say, the customer is always king…

Two Years On: Well, after a prolonged absence, I’ve returned to posting, to note this blog’s birthday (and mine). I think it’s been a good two years thus far. The blog has risen far from its humble beginnings; it’s been alternately described as a “blog to add,” “utterly childish,” in “plain error,” etc. And these are somewhat happier times than last year, when I spent my birthday sick as a dog.

Unfortunately, I’ve found the blog much more difficult to maintain now that I’m out of Oxford and in law school, where we have actual work to do. Hopefully, though, I’ll find time to post more often. I’ll be using the holiday to stock up on food, reading, and much-needed sleep. Back on Monday.

Letter to the Editor: Just published in Harvard Magazine:

To the Editor:

I am astounded that [Professor Lisa L.] Martin can write an article on unilateralism and fail to mention Kosovo [“Self-Binding,” September-October, p. 33]. Unlike the United States-led invasion of Iraq, which could plausibly claim to enforce past UN resolutions, the NATO campaign against Serbia lacked even the shadow of UN authorization. I, for one, thought the Kosovo campaign was just and necessary, and that it illustrated the occasional need to step beyond multilateral bonds in protecting peace and security. Yet Martin’s failure to mention it, even as she accuses the current administration of merely “go[ing] through the motions” of seeking UN support, makes me wonder whether her “multilateralism” is simply another word for the approval of France and Germany.

Stephen E. Sachs ’02

New Haven, Conn.