It has been reported that Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died at the age of 80. There had been speculations as to his retiring on account of thyroid cancer.
Hearings are about to start for Judge John Roberts, nominated by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O’Connor.

See Jurist, Wikipedia

But why was he called William Hubbs Rehnquist when he was born William Donald Rehnquist? Here is a partial answer:

bq. On the bench one day, the chief justice also divulged a long-kept secret. During an oral argument, a question arose about someone’s middle name. Chief Justice Rehnquist scribbled a note to his colleagues and passed it along. He was not born William Hubbs Rehnquist, the name the world knows him by.
“I was once William D. (Donald) until I changed my middle name in high school to H (Hubbs — my grandmother’s maiden name,” he wrote.

(Handakte WebLAWg)

I was tempted last year by the Pocket Opera Company doing Purcell and Bussotti in the abandoned Fürth waste incineration plant (operational for only 4 weeks, with one serious incident). I think the audience have to do some climbing and moving around too, though. But it’s ‘Germany’s largest opera house’, and you mustn’t wear full evening attire.

LTU says hallo (in Stern):

CSU says goodbye:

The Germans call Happy Families Quartett.

Here is a German legal Happy Families game (Spiegel, maker).

The Germans also have a game they invented called Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht. This seems to be a variation of ludo.

At the moment the concern is for saving the living, which includes 6,000 prisoners from 2 prisons, some of whom we saw on the news, herded together. The courts have suffered losses too, with evidence including computer records lost (via the German American Law Journal blog, where St. [sic] Meyer wonders why no precautions were taken, if this is true). Via GALJ, ProfessorBainbridge.com reports:

bq. Our state bar offices are under water. Our state disciplinary offices are under water – again with evidence ruined. Our state disciplinary offices are located on Veteran’s Blvd. in Metairie. Those of you who have been watching the news, they continue to show Veteran’s Blvd. It’s the shot with the destroyed Target store and shopping center under water and that looks like a long canal. Our Committee on Bar Admissions is located there and would have been housing the bar exams which have been turned in from the recent July bar exam (this is one time I’ll pray the examiners were late in turning them in – we were set to meet in 2 weeks to go over the results). Will all of those new graduates have to retake the bar exam?

Sitemeter has started showing world maps, and also continents, for (traceable) visitors to this site:

Europe 67.5%
North America 25.9%
Asia 3.4%
Australia 1.3%
South America 1%
Other 0.7%
Africa 0.2%

I know these things aren’t absolutely accurate, but what is Other?
NZ? – or is that part of Australia?