Handakte WebLAWg (whose header is now depopulated) reports a new Irish law weblog, Irish Legal Fiction.

A legal fiction (Rechtsfiktion) is slightly more fictional than the rest of the law.

It has links to numerous other blogs and Irish law sources and looks promising. It has also created an Irish Law Blogs Webring.

The Observer says: Bath is Baden-Baden, fish and chips is Currywurst, Alton Towers is the Europa Park, Mackintosh in Glasgow is the Bauhaus in Dessau.

They don’t mention Nuremberg. Glasgow minus some of the culture, including Rennie Mackintosh?

I had the misfortune to miss Harald Schmidt’s take-off of the German equivalent of Antiques Road Show, but a few bits can be seen in an online videoclip.

I don’t know the American version, presumably the original. The BBC version website shows 5000 of the pieces discussed to date. The German site looks useful too, and has a glossary (German) – but it seems to have confused a winter landscape with ice skaters with something like Raphael and Tobias.

The Wiltshire coroner comments:

bq. A man died days after he was scratched by his family’s playful pet cat, an inquest has heard….Recording a verdict of natural causes, Wiltshire Coroner David Masters said laying full blame on the cat would be unduly harsh.

This was pointed out to me as typically British, by a reader who recently passed the test for would-be British citizens in nine minutes (I think it took me longer to become a British citizen, but it’s too late to ask my mother).

bq. Speaking after the hearing, a friend of the Maas family said: “The family cat is still going strong and the family do not hold any grudges. It’s just one of those things.”

However, it isn’t a new story. Driffield Today reports:

bq. 100 years ago
March 24, 1906
CAT SCRATCH DEATH – An inquest was held on Saturday as to the death of Miss Mary Anne Marris. From the evidence it appeared that deceased was scratched on the leg about a month ago by one of her cats. She did nothing to the wound, and told no one about it till the Friday previous to her death. Deceased, being a strong anti vivisectionist, and having a horror of doctors, refused to have medical attendance. A friend washed and dressed the wound. It, however, gradually got worse, and on Wednesday morning her solicitor insisted on calling in a medical man. The leg, which was then absolutely dangerous was properly dressed, but deceased succumbed on Wednesday evening.

I note that anti-vivisectionism has taken quite other routes in Britain recently, such as grave robbing.

These things are dreadful when they’re too weak.

Here is part of a wrist under the effect of the drier:

I wonder how much energy I wasted taking that photograph?

Further to the May 7 entry, I note that the question in English is ‘Cheese or turkey?’, but in German ‘Käse oder Schinken?’ Is there an explanation for this?

Here is the cheese (click to enlarge):