To those of you who have just returned from the Thanksgiving holiday, hoping that a venti coffee with an extra shot of espresso will bring you out of your food coma: Welcome Back. We hope you had a delightful holiday.
The sight (or mere thought) of turkey probably makes you nauseous at this point. But if that’s not the case, here is a picture of the Thanksgiving turkey that our mother prepared this year:
Maybe you weren’t at your computer on Black Friday, choosing instead to fuel the economy with your consumption. But we were, diligently churning out posts for a non-existent audience. If a blog post is published and nobody is around to read it, does it make a sound? (Scroll down the page to see what you missed.)
Like you, right now we’re engaged in some post-holiday catch-up (with news, email, etc.). If you have any funny, law-related Thanksgiving stories — yeah, we know, a tall order — please share them with us.
Hey, What Are You Doing Here? [ATL]
Thanksgiving turkey, white background [stock.xchng]
Holidays and Seasons
Why are you in front of your computer? To quote our big brother:
The rest of America is either sleeping off their Thanksgiving hangovers or pushing their way into a mall to grab those holiday shopping discounts. But you’re rubbing the sleep out of your eyes while staring at a glowing screen. Well, you’re not alone. We’re here with you too today. And we’ll do our best to keep you entertained, and maybe even informed.
Yup, that’s right. For all of your poor saps who are at your computers working away, we’re here to keep you company (even if other usually industrious bloggers, like Howard Bashman and Peter Lattman, have cruelly abandoned you).
In the comments to this post, feel free to start up an open thread explaining why you’re in the office today (and bitching about it). Also, here are a few random Thanksgiving posts to be grateful for:
– What Tax Profs Are Thankful For [TaxProf Blog]
– Looking back on the Thanksgiving squirrel [Althouse]
– Thanksgiving, Thursday(s), and… Gettysburg? [PrawfsBlawg]
– Thanksgiving for Law Reviews? [PrawfsBlawg]
(Feel free to email us with more Thanksgiving-related links, and we’ll add them to this list when we update it later today.)
Last week we asked you for funny Halloween-related stories, including descriptions of wacky costumes or festivities. We were disappointed by your responses.
So we had to turn to our neighbor to the north. These days, Canada is ascendant. Canadians are beating out Americans for jobs at top U.S. law firms. They have Supreme Court justices cool enough to take nude cruises.
And now they’re winning the Halloween costume arms race. Check out this photo:
Who are these people? Why, they’re none other than the costumed clerks of the Tax Court of Canada. An explanation of their attire, from TaxProf Blog:
Back Row (from left to right): Captain Income Splitting, Canada Revenue Agency Collections Agent, the Proposed Tax Credit for Child Fitness, Scientific Research Deduction, and Farmer Gunn (of Gunn v. R., 2006 FCA 281).
Front Row (left to right): Valuation Day 1971, Tax on Royalties, and the Competent Authority for the Canada-Barbados Tax Treaty.
Canada: Even their tax lawyers are cooler than our tax lawyers.
Halloween and Taxes, Part II [TaxProf Blog]
Earlier: Prior Above the Law coverage of Canada (scroll down)
- 5th Circuit, Confirmations, Craigslist, Crime, Federal Judges, Holidays and Seasons, Kids, Romance and Dating
A Quick Post-Halloween Linkwrap
By David LatWe hope that you’ve recovered from any Halloween festivities you attended last night. For those of you who took your children trick-or-treating, we hope the kids have come down from their sugar highs.
We didn’t receive much in response to our request for funny, law-related Halloween stories. But we can offer you a few random links (some Halloween-related, and some not):
* Check out Denise Howell’s frighteningly witty, delightfully seasonal Blawg Review. [Bag and Baggage, via Blawg Review]
*A little bit of Halloween “issue spotting.” Yes, T-Ping your neighbor’s mailbox could get you in trouble. [WSJ Law Blog]
* More Halloween “issue spotting” — with some not-so-veiled lawyer advertising thrown in. [Animal New York]
* Costumes: they’re not just for kids anymore. In this case, the government has filed a motion for its witnesses to wear “light disguises.” [Southern District of Florida Blog]
* Something sure to strike fear in the hearts of the Elect: You can clerk on the Supreme Court, build a career as a successful litigator, make partner at a top law firm in your state, and STILL be declared “unqualified” for the federal bench. BOO!!! [Mississippi Sun-Herald via How Appealing]
* Something sure to strike fear in the hearts of conservatives: A new law review for the legal left. [Harvard Law & Policy Review]
* Not explicitly Halloween-themed, but scary. [Craigslist]
* Very scary: the childlike font the Fifth Circuit employs for its captions. It makes you want to ask the Clerk of Court if he was happy with last night’s candy haul. Oh, and the opinion is interesting too. [Fifth Circuit (PDF) via How Appealing]
Earlier: A Happy Halloween from ATL
* If your workplace is all about face-time, then use sparingly. [Call In Sick]
* Let’s clean up our cities. First the pigeons, then the homeless. [Newsweek]
* Wild, wild horses…we’ll ride them someday — a celebrity cause waiting to happen. [Vanity Fair]
* Whatever happened to the good old fashioned kegger? Stick to the toga, and nobody (including the Greeks) gets hurt. [Yahoo! News]
* Sometimes, as I learned this weekend, even a lazy, motion-sick girl sometimes has to bill a few hours en route. Next time, I’ll be prepared with the necessary accoutrements. [JD Bliss]
* And because I can’t ignore that it’s Halloween, I’m going to download this Lindsay Lohan mask, complete with what appear to be collagen-filled lips. [Forbes]
A friendly reminder from ATL: Today is Halloween. If this slipped your mind, be sure to stop by your local CVS / Duane Reade / RiteAid on the way home, and pick up a bag of miniature chocolates for the trick-or-treaters.
Some lawyers, judges, and law professors get into the Halloween spirit. For example, back in 2004, Judge Walter K. Stapleton of the Third Circuit dressed up as Homer Simpson for Halloween. The Ninth Circuit holds a Halloween party.
We’d love to hear interesting stories about how lawyers are observing Halloween. If you have an amusing anecdote, please post it in the comments, or email us. Thanks.
Judicial SIGHT-ations: Halloween Special Issue [UTR]
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