Russians from Tomsk visited the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds (near-ish Boston) to see how it’s done, reports the Daily News Transcript.

bq. Yelena Boltanova, a Tomsk State University law professor who was on the visit to Dedham, said her region didn’t open a land court until 1998.
Speaking to a reporter through a translator, she said the visit will help her professionally, so she can describe what she learned of the American system to her students. She said the visit will also help her region improve its still young land court system.
“This will help our experts in real estate draft new laws,” she said.

They spotted some weaknesses in the system at once:

bq. In explaining the local system, Norfolk County Land Court attorney Glen Buscher said in many of the older records, a property border was detailed by a scrivener, listing what bordered the property from each direction, such as a line of trees to the west or another property to the east.
“What happens if you cut down the trees?” asked one of the Russian visitors.

Here’s an article with some excellent illustrations explaining why digitizing the Index Map in the UK does not mean creating a cadastre. (Kataster in German Wikipedia)

CommonLII joins AUSTLII, BAILII et al.

(Via Delia Venables)

If you thought the election news in Germany was bad, just listen to Deutsche Welle’s Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten (full text available to print out).

bq. Jeden Tag finden Sie hier die 10-Uhr-Nachrichten aus dem deutschen Radioprogramm – langsam und verständlich gesprochen. Neben der Audio-Datei zum Herunterladen (MP3) finden Sie auch den vollen Text zum Ausdrucken.

I think they have someone speaking slowly and clearly, but they have slowed it down marginally, in a sort of reverse Chipmunks move. It sounds really funereal.

In this way you can learn to understand spoken German and finish up wishing you’d never started.

(Via Desbladet)

Robin Stocks links to a new translator’s weblog. Narasimhan Raghavan has started Musings of a Translator. He also has a Tamil blog, for those who can read that kind of thing. And he links to a list of English-language Tamil blogs, if I expressed that correctly. Here is Aravind:

bq. For some vague reason, the act of playing Snooker has been associated with bad-guys in tamil cinema. I just cannot recall any tam movie where the hero/good guys are shown playing snooker and I can recite off-hand at least 10 movie names where the villains are shown playing snooker and plotting a frightful death for the hero or some such thing. I wonder if there is some strong subconscious cultural thing that’s influencing this factor.

Richard Meyrick, a classical pianist who had to interrupt his career for illness, offers piano lessons to relieve tension. Up to 70% of his clients (pupils?) are lawyers. The Times Online reports:

bq. Many of Meyrick’s clients will, during their working day, inhabit a world that is as far removed from Horowitz and Rachmaninov as possible. All, though, are unstinting in their praise for him. “He has a real gift for teaching, and the experience of practising with him is incredibly uplifting,” Harry Anderson, the former head of litigation at Herbert Smith and now a consultant for the firm, says. “It’s great to be able to escape the office and switch off from the law.”

A competitor is Jonathan Phillips. Perhaps piano-playing is the new city gym:

bq. Jonathan runs a successful Piano studio in the Cotswolds, where his clients learn on his own Steinway concert grand piano, and he will be opening a studio in Mayfair, London in March 2005, and at Canary Wharf later this year. The London studio is aimed at giving professional adults (who perhaps learned when they were younger and would like to rekindle their enthusiasm) the opportunity to work with a professional concert pianist, in a relaxed environment within a reasonable distance of their places of work in central London.

I heard this when I was coming up the escalator at the underground today. Two middle-aged, short Franconian men who didn’t look like masters of industry:

A (with pauses) Merkel – Merkel – Merkel.

B Ja, ja!

A. Aber Merkel.

B. Aber der Schröder bleibt.

A. Der Schröder bleibt. Die Schrotkugel bleibt.

B. Ja, ja!

A. Aber die Merkel aa! (= auch)

Of course, this may have been the end of a longer conversation.