Thinking About Home Schooling Your Kid?

It might not be worth all the possible accolades.

Melville on Property Law

Moby Dick, or, the Whale
by Herman Melville
Excerpt
Chapter 89 “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish”

It frequently happens that when several ships are cruising in company, a whale may be struck by one vessel, then escape, and be finally killed and captured by another vessel; and herein are indirectly comprised many minor contingencies, all partaking of this one grand feature. For example,- after a weary and perilous chase and capture of a whale, the body may get loose from the ship by reason of a violent storm; and drifting far away to leeward, be retaken by a second whaler, who, in a calm, snugly tows it alongside, without risk of life or line. Thus the most vexatious and violent disputes would often arise between the fishermen, were there not some written or unwritten, universal, undisputed law applicable to all cases.

Perhaps the only formal whaling code authorized by legislative enactment, was that of Holland. It was decreed by the States-General in A.D. 1695. But though no other nation has ever had any written whaling law, yet the American fishermen have been their own legislators and lawyers in this matter. They have provided a system which for terse comprehensiveness surpasses Justinian's Pandects and the By-laws of the Chinese Society for the Suppression of Meddling with other People's Business. Yes; these laws might be engraven on a Queen Anne's forthing, or the barb of a harpoon, and worn round the neck, so small are they.

I. A Fast-Fish belongs to the party fast to it.
II. A Loose-Fish is fair game for anybody who can soonest catch it.

But what plays the mischief with this masterly code is the admirable brevity of it, which necessitates a vast volume of commentaries to expound it.
. . .

Some fifty years ago there was a curious case of whale-trover litigated in England, wherein the plaintiffs set forth that after a hard chase of a whale in the Northern seas; and when indeed they (the plaintiffs) had succeeded in harpooning the fish; they were at last, through peril of their lives, obliged to forsake not only their lines, but their boat itself. Ultimately the defendants (the crew of another ship) came up with the whale, struck, killed, seized, and finally appropriated it before the very eyes of the plaintiffs. And when those defendants were remonstrated with, their captain snapped his fingers in the plaintiffs' teeth, and assured them that by way of doxology to the deed he had done, he would now retain their line, harpoons, and boat, which had remained attached to the whale at the time of the seizure. Wherefore the plaintiffs now sued for the recovery of the value of their whale, line, harpoons, and boat.

Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defendants; Lord Ellenborough was the judge. In the course of the defence, the witty Erskine went on to illustrate his position, by alluding to a recent crim. con. case, wherein a gentleman, after in vain trying to bridle his wife's viciousness, had at last abandoned her upon the seas of life; but in the course of years, repenting of that step, he instituted an action to recover possession of her. Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying, that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that she became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman re-harpooned her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman's property, along with whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in her.

Now in the present case Erskine contended that the examples of the whale and the lady were reciprocally illustrative to each other.

These pleadings, and the counter pleadings, being duly heard, the very learned Judge in set terms decided, to wit,—That as for the boat, he awarded it to the plaintiffs, because they had merely abandoned it to save their lives; but that with regard to the controverted whale, harpoons, and line, they belonged to the defendants; the whale, because it was a Loose-Fish at the time of the final capture; and the harpoons and line because when the fish made off with them, it (the fish) acquired a property in those articles; and hence anybody who afterwards took the fish had a right to them. Now the defendants afterwards took the fish; ergo, the aforesaid articles were theirs.

A common man looking at this decision of the very learned Judge, might possibly object to it. But ploughed up to the primary rock of the matter, the two great principles laid down in the twin whaling laws previously quoted, and applied and elucidated by Lord Ellenborough in the above cited case; these two laws touching Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, I say, will on reflection, be found the fundamentals of all human jurisprudence; for notwithstanding its complicated tracery of sculpture, the Temple of the Law, like the Temple of the Philistines, has but two props to stand on.

Is it not a saying in every one's mouth, Possession is half of the law: that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow's last mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain's marble mansion with a doorplate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish? What is the ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from the poor Woebegone, the bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone's family from starvation; what is that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the Archbishop of Savesoul's income of £100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven without any of Savesoul's help) what is that globular 100,000 but a Fast-Fish. What are the Duke of Dunder's hereditary towns and hamlets but Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of the law?

But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is internationally and universally applicable.

What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the Spanish standard by way of wailing it for his royal master and mistress? What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish.

What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? What all men's minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? What is the principle of religious belief in them but a Loose-Fish? What to the ostentatious smuggling verbalists are the thoughts of thinkers but Loose-Fish? What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?

The One Joy of Having 3-Month-Old Quadruplets

Okay. I've seen this video about a bazillion times and I still tear up from smiling so much (if that's even possible). Motherhood has changed me. I probably couldn't make a layup right now and I'd most likely cry about that too.

Personal Ad Found in Moscow Tribune

Single white aggresive,



Spiritual,



And tempting female



Seeks handsome male.



Enjoys being snuggled in the cool weather



Only to have romantic evenings by the fire later.



Doesn't mind being strung along.



Also likes to have a little fun and commit an occasional misdemeanor.

Lamentation 1:1

I used to be so clever at writing, brimming with ideas. See, for example, blog post on this blog of Thursday, December 11, 2008. Hilary has told me that my blogging's dull; I just tell her, once again, "you're not the bossa me!" but I know she's right.

Law school has crushed clever writing and now all I can think about is jurisdiction, conjunctive or disjunctive elements in statutes and prima facie cases, and per stirpes with representation inheritance. Those are real things, not like "axio ab delicioso," which phrase I might try on a final now that I am a carefree 3rd year student.

If you knew what I was talking about then you might be a lawyer, and I feel sorry for you (not that you're a lawyer, but because you got weird birth marks on your face)

Which reminds me of my favorite poem I read in a coffee shop in Pocatello, back when I read chapbooks resting on cofee shop tables and not the MRPC.

When I see people with birth marks and funny moles
on their faces and stuff like that,
I laugh at them

And then they see
I don't got no teeth.

At least I'm not studying rocket science.




There's also a good blonde joke waiting to be inspired by this video.
I'm talkin to you, dad, lawyer who does have some cleverness left in him on at least 1/3 of his jokes. .333 is a great batting average.

Love Andy

I'm voting for Keith Allred

I'm voting for Keith Allred, and I encourage you to do the same.
I met him while he was campaigning up here in Moscow, and he seems like a very nice, down to earth, and bright guy. He has a PhD in conflict resolution, he's a former bishop, he supports education and economic growth in Idaho, and he's tall and handsome (which I can totally relate to).

Hilary also is voting for him, of her own accord, even though she's usually a republican kind of girl.

Here's his website.

Any dentist friends and family of ours should check out the recent story about the surprise and harsh medicare cuts for dental coverage by Otter's administration.

Any teachers, prospective teachers, or college students should also compare Otter's education-cutting policy to Allred's support of education.

Feel free to post any disagreeing comments. It won't hurt my feelings.

http://www.allredforidaho.com/home.aspx

Norah's Favorite Movie Star is Norah

A boring (but cute to us) video of Norah.



Norah watching said boring video.



Does this mean our 8 month is a narcissist?

Not Necessarily the Top Three Reasons, but Three Resons Nonetheless of Why We Love Moscow

3. These guys playing on the sidewalk just down the street from the Farmers' Market in front of the tye-dye shop (yeah, a lot of tree-huggers live here).



2. Being surrounded by rolling wheat fields 50 miles in every direction (except in the direction of those mountains apparently).



1. And it's almost in northern Idaho--one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Is it 1942 Germany?

For those of us who thought the Aryan Nation movement in northern Idaho died with the closure of their compound, we stand corrected. Small, innocent, one-horse-town St. Maries, Idaho isn't as innocent as it appears.



This is only one of dozens of Nazi knives sold at the family friendly Paul Bunyan Festival (it's a logging town).

And here's a picture of Norah and Andy just for kicks, not because they're Nazi sympathizers or anything.

Norah's Time-Out Chair

Our apologies to the wheat farmer whose field we slightly trampled.

I Thought Pocatello was a Hick Town

Picture this. Me, standing over the stove, cooking eggs and hash browns, singing this song with all the inflection of my tone-deaf voice and throwing in an occasional hip swivel for added effect when Andy says, "What song are you singing?"

Either I really am the worst singer in the world or Andy needs to be introduced to a little country culture.

Answer? Most likely both, but he's probably never even heard of Garth Brooks either.

You Wouldn't Understand

You know when you tell someone about something funny that happened to you and another friend they haven't ever met and it's not as funny to that someone as it was to you and your friend at the time that it happened?

Meet my family.

Probably not as funny to you as it is to us.