In the city of Hermosa Beach, California and other upscale oceanfront communities, tattooing is effectively banned for what city officials say is a risk to the public's health, safety and welfare. Johnny Anderson 's request to open a parlor there was denied on grounds that zoning laws don't allow tattooing anywhere in the city. He sued in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging suppression of his 1st Amendment right to impart artistic expression on customers' bodies. The tattoo artist lost the first round of his legal challenge in 2008, when a federal judge deemed tattooing "not sufficiently imbued with elements of communication" to qualify as constitutionally protected speech. Anderson took his case to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this month, and some constitutional law scholars predict the outcome could be different in what would be the firs—and potentially precedent-setting—federal appellate decision on whether the tattoo artist is engaged in 1st Amendment-protected activity when designing and applying custom tattoos. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tattoo-speech-20100524,0,2921523.story

The False Claims Act, originally passed during the Civil War, was amended in 1986 to give prosecutors and plaintiffs a powerful tool to punish those who defraud the U.S.—and to recover money illicitly taken from the government. To a large degree, the incentives have worked: plaintiffs who help the government recover money typically recover a big percentage of the recovery. In recent years, the government has gotten much of its money back—and many plaintiffs have gotten rich. But has the process worked too well? That’s the question asked in a lengthy American Lawyer article by Amy Kolz http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202457711736&pLitigation_Spring_p__The_Professional&hbxlogin=1 The article focuses largely on a New Jersey physician named Joseph Piacentile. Over the last 15 years, Piacentile has been a whistle-blower in suits that have returned more than $1 billion to the U.S. Treasury. Among the notches on Piacentile’s qui tam belt are a $155 million settlement with Medco Health Solutions, Inc., in 2006; a $515 million settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in 2007; and a $425 million settlement with Cephalon, Inc., in 2008. “Dr. Joe,” as he is known in the qui tam plaintiffs bar, has earned at least $17 million in whistle-blower awards, according to public records and an estimate of his share of the $46.5 million relator’s award in Cephalon. There is a darker perspective on Joseph Piacentile. Unlike most qui tam relators, he doesn’t blow the whistle as an employee or business partner of the companies he has sued. Instead he relies on secondhand information collected through his own investigations. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/05/25/does-the-false-claims-act-work-a-little-too-well/?mod=djemlawblog_h

In Greek mythology, the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirēn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirēnes) were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren

THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE Cooking equipment I can't live without
Whenever I cook in a pan, I have a wooden spatula in my hand. The wide flat bottom is infinitely more efficient that the little tip of a spoon. I can't count how many pan sauces I've saved from burning because that wide base keeps ingredients moving and boiling down at the same time. At about $6.00, I can replace those spatulas as needed. My big stainless steel colander is constantly in the sink. With its 14-inch diameter, I can rinse pounds of produce and toss the water away from generous helpings of pasta and greens. Restaurant supply stores are great places to find bargains in colanders. All-Clad's 12-inch sauté pan is where I pan-grill, stew, flash-cook pasta sauces and roast everything, since the handle is heat proof so the pan goes into the oven without a concern. It saved me from investing in a roasting pan for years. The Splendid Table May 26, 2010

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard;
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2.7
http://classiclit.about.com/od/asyoulikeit/a/aa_asyoulikequ.htm