Back from the Berkshires
We’ve just returned from a trip to Connecticut and western Massachusetts, enjoying the beauty of the Berkshires, a small range within the Appalachian Mountains.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/information/geography/mountains/appalachian.htm
We visited attractions such as Berkshire Museum http://www.berkshiremuseum.org/
Norman Rockwell Museum http://www.nrm.org/
Hancock Shaker Village http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/accounts/28/homepage/
We toured former homes of:
Joseph Choate, Naumkeag http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/335_naumkeag.cfm
Edith Wharton, The Mount http://www.edithwharton.org/
Herman Melville, Arrowhead http://www.mobydick.org/
Daniel Chester French, Chesterwood http://www.chesterwood.org/

Trivia:
We all carry with us something from the Berkshires—security paper for U.S. currency is manufactured by Crane & Company in Dalton, Massachusetts.
http://www.crane.com/navContentProduct.aspx?NavName=AboutUs&DeptName=CurrencyPaper

Many colonial era homes are still in good condition because termites can not survive in the cold of upper Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Recommended restaurants in Lenox, Massachusetts:
Trattoria il Vesuvio http://www.trattoria-vesuvio.com/
Baroods http://www.baroods.com/home.html

E-Discovery Update: Precision, Accuracy, and Relevance Conrad J. Jacoby discusses the challenges and ramifications inherent in an environment where litigants have increasingly come to rely on computerized search queries rather than free-form document review to identify potentially relevant documents. June 30, 2008

Retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor does a bit of guest judging from time to time.
Back in 2006, she made a star-turn at the Second Circuit where, among other issues, she passed judgment on an attorney’s fee issue and a bankruptcy case. Now the justice-turned-part-time-appellate-judge is in Boston. Recently, as part of a First Circuit panel, she heard an evidentiary appeal in the three-year old federal money-laundering case against Lawrence P. Novak. She went on to write the opinion as well.
WSJ Law Blog July 10, 2008

Splenda, the nation’s best-selling sugar substitute, has won an injunction that bars Heartland Sweeteners, the maker of a generic version of Splenda, from continuing to distribute store-brand products that mimic Splenda’s packaging. Here’s the story from the Legal Intelligencer.
Heartland’s lawyer, Abbe F. Fletman of Flaster Greenberg, reportedly tried to argue that Splenda’s trade dress was no more than a combination and refinement of common elements already found in the packaging of other sweetener products. He said that McNeil Nutritionals, the company that makes Splenda, chose yellow for Splenda’s packaging to capitalize on consumers’ association of yellow with sugar, and that the images of coffee, iced tea, fruit and baked goods on Splenda’s packaging simply followed an established custom in the sweetener market.
But District Judge John R. Padova, in a 27-page opinion, rejected the argument that Splenda’s trade dress uses elements so common in the sweetener market that it cannot be inherently distinctive.
WSJ Law Blog July 9, 2008

Business travelers lose more than 12,000 laptops per week in U.S. airports
Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops - Key Findings Prepared by Larry Ponemon, sponsored by Dell, June 30, 2008
Executive Summary: "Everyday business travelers are putting the sensitive and confidential data of their organizations at risk when they travel through airports."

EPA Debuts New Campaign to Help Drivers Save Fuel, Money and Protect the Environment
News release: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching the SmartWay Leaf Campaign to encourage consumers to purchase SmartWay-certified cars and trucks. SmartWay is an innovative partnership among government, businesses, and consumers designed to protect the environment, cut fuel consumption, and improve air quality while reducing greenhouse gases. The national campaign features broadcast, radio, and print public service announcements that will help consumers recognize the SmartWay leaf as a symbol of cleaner and more fuel efficient transportation choices."
information about SmartWay
visit EPA’s green Vehicle Guide
Drive $marter Challenge

July 12 is the birthday of Henry David Thoreau, (books by this author) born David Henry Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts (1817). He's the author of Walden; or, Life in the Woods(1854) and the essay "Civil Disobedience" (1849). He went off to Harvard when he was just 16. He was 27 when he built a small cabin on the edge of Walden Pond, a small lake near Concord, and wrote about his time there. Thoreau said, "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
July 12 is the birthday of poet and politician Pablo Neruda, (books by this author) born in Parral, Chile (1904). He won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1971. In his Nobel lecture he said, "All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are."
July 12 is the birthday of (Gaius) Julius Caesar, born in Rome around 100 B.C. He was the great military leader who managed to capture most of what became France and Great Britain for the Roman Empire.
July 14 is the birthday of playwright and librettist Arthur Laurents, (books by this author)born in New York City (1918). He is best known for writing the lyrics of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957).
July 14 is the birthday of the singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie, born in Okemah, Oklahoma (1913). Guthrie never finished high school, but he spent his spare time reading books at the local public library. He took occasional jobs as a sign painter and started playing music on a guitar he found in the street.
The Writer’s Almanac