We never need an excuse to quote George Bernard Shaw, but his birthday (b. July 26, 1856) is always a good reminder to share a few of Shaw’s gems (see, e.g., “o politics, o pshaw“; and click for many more). Our favorites include:
- “The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”
- “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”
- “He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.”
- “Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few.”
- “We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. [Candida (1898) act 1]
- “Martyrdom… is the only way in which a man can become famous without ability.” [ The Devil’s Disciple (1901) act 3]
If you like your humor law-related, take another look at Robert Ambrogi‘s article from three years ago today “Web Watch: Laughing at Lawyers and the Law” (Law Technology News, 07-26-2004), which we featured that day in a post “blame bob“.
I think G.B. Shaw would have been bemused by Bob’s post earlier this week at LegalBlogWatch, explaining why he is sticking to his conclusion that Overlawyered.com was the first legal weblog. It seems that two veteran cyber persona, Bruce W. Marcus and Sabrina Pacifici, want to claim the title for their own early e-newsletters, by bending the definition of weblog. After due consideration, Bob won’t budge. We concur.
Meanwhile, if you want easy access to news and developments in law and lawyering, check out the recently-unveiled ABA Journal Law News Now website. Ambrogi covers it here, as does Larry Bodine, who sees the site as a competitor for Law.com. The site is now free and fully-accessible to the public. Its staff cover and accumulate legal news on a broad array of topics, while monitoring 1000 law weblogs. You will also find several years’ worth of ABA Journal articles, and you can now comment on all of them, as well as items produced for Law News Now.
The f/k/a Gang definitely needs no excuse to feature the poetry of Pamela Miller Ness. We did so on July 27, 2005, and present those poems again today, along with a few more summer-themed haiku that have caught our fancy over the years:
sultry morning
the child’s rag doll
slumped on the veranda
the longest day
slowly the cat
licks each paw
midsummer sun
facing the mountain
I’ll never climb
……………………….. Pamela Miller Ness from The Heron’s Nest 
“sultry morning” (Sept. 2003); “the longest day” (Aug. 2003)
“midsummer sun“ (Valentine’s Issue, Special Mention, Feb. 2005)
morningmoon
plays hide-and-seek
my sleepfilled eyes
first love
in the summer gazebo . . .
little brother won’t leave
midsummer evening
mother’s two-syllable whistle
ends our play
August hurricane
our candlelit teaparty
for three
“morningmoon” – from pink light, sleeping (Small Poetry Press, 1998)
“first love” & “midsummer evening” & “August hurricane” – driveway from childhood (small poetry press, 1997)