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The Greatest Rivalry Commences

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If you are a fan of college hoops, you have to watch this one…

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My first prediction of 2012 (less one day) — #3 Kentucky beats #4 Louisville in the Rivalry Game, but does not cover the 12.5 pt spread.

More relevant stuff tomorrow.   Thanks for indulging me…

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Geaux, Geaux Drew Breesieaux!

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And  a Swingin’ Kermit Ruffins N’awlins Christmas to You!

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Fughedabout Aaron Rogers.  You can keep your San Francisco ‘Niner defense.  Does anyone really care what fatboy Rex Ryans is saying this week?

No, this week the only NFL story worth discussing is that of the incredible young man from Austin, Tejas, who plays for the Cajun Fried Steak Flavoured N’Awlins Saints, Drew Breezey-Brees-ieaux.  Tonight, in somewhat karma-challenging fashion, he broke Dan Marino’s single season passing yardage record of 5,084 yards by three yards by repeatedly ramming the ball down the throats of an overmatched Atlanta Falcons defense.

Even though they were ahead by almost 30 points, Brees kept throwing and kept trying to stay out on the field. For the record, I think this was an incredibly poor showing on the part of head coach Sean Payton (former Giant offensive coordinator, I should mention).  After all, the Saints will have to play the Falcons twice a year from now until the league changes the makeup of the conferences.  Does he think his team is going to be this dominant forever?

I don’t blame Brees, of course, as he wanted that record at home where he could share it with the fans who’ve waited the for the near end of forever for a moment like this… for a player like this.  But Payton should have shown some maturity here.  I think that kind of scoreboard abuse reflects poorly on his judgment and on the organization.  It’s the kind of thing I’d expect from a Rex Ryan, but not from someone who came out of the Giant organization.

Whatever, it’s done and the Saints will have to deal with that issue next year, or possibly in the playoffs if they see Atlanta again.   Tonight is Brees’s night, and he deserves a golden football, dipped in chocolate and plated in silver.  Good for him and for the good (and loyal) people of N’Awlins.

Tomorrow… my “best pick” for 2012.   A golden lollipop dipped in chocolate and swaddled in caramel for the reader that guesses correuctly.

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Not So Bleak Midwinter

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I don’t know about you guys, but we’re on our third bottle of wine ovah heah, while we put together the last implements of Christmas with the extended families. It’s gotten me into a reminiscing mood…

Since even before I was married and before I had all these great kids, I’ve been spending Christmas with the Kentucky side of the family. For more than a decade and a half of that time, our Christmas was spent in the remote mountains of Eastern Kentucky, where my father in law was “King” and as was his due, he lived in a large house on top of a mountain surrounded by trees and rivers and vast quiet. It was sublime, as the house was big enough to accommodate all of his daughters, their husbands, and children at Christmastime. What’s more, even filled with people like that, one could always find a quiet room with a fireplace to devour a book that had been pushed aside by the exigencies of city life.

I would usually take the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s off, and even if I was busy at work and had some end of year fire drills to march through, I would find that the stillness would soothe my soul, and ready me for the new year ahead. I think the atmosphere of that environment took all we temporary residents back a step. No one thought of putting on the TV, but there was music playing in the background all week long. Even with all of their cousins present, it seemed that the kids were better behaved in that place. We were at peace.  I miss it terribly.

In more recent years, my in-laws retired and moved back to the city to be near their grandchildren, and now live in a lovely double-townhouse in the Victorian section of town. We still all come for Christmas and the music is still here, but as you may imagine it’s a vastly different experience from the frost-rimed woods and the ash-colored mountains of those earlier Yuletides.

Still, the joy of family is the same, and if anything, the bonds have become stronger as a result. We, who have evolved from strangers, have become cohorts in building this next generation present among us. This Christmas, and Christmases forward, we can begin to take pleasure in unwrapping the presents we’ve wrought for ourselves. They are mighty.

I wish a blessed Christmas season to you all, my friends, and much joy in the New Year.

 

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You’re Doing It Wrong

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Sublime Christmas Beauty

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Mid-month Christmas ruminations…

I’ve always been a big fan of the Christmas season*, even if that appreciation has morphed from that typical childhood manic Santa-Greed, to that middling “purchasing for others” egotistic patronage phase, and finally now onto the “enjoying the little ones’ joy” segment.  For what it’s worth, this last bit has been the best.  You wish they could stay small forever, but even into their teens, the kids are a treat on Christmas morning and throughout the holiday season.

But as I’ve gotten older I’ve also realized that Christmas is about more than rejoicing with my immediate family and friends, it’s about attending to one’s community as well.  I like to think of the season as a kernel to build upon for the new year — and as a reminder of what the heck we’re doing here in the first place.

Christmas is a gentle ego aide —  that helps me remember we are not here to build wealth or careers or even organizations — or at least we are not here to strive for those goals for their own sake.  We are here to serve one another, to serve the least and even the greatest if that is the call.

I was therefore dismayed to hear an older gentlemen (50’s) the other day say he “was just about Christmas’ed out,” (this was December 10th).  I first thought to myself, “how cynical,” but then upon further reflection I realized this was probably an indication of seasonal depression, most likely caused by a prematurely arrested Concept of Christmas.   If one saw each Christmas as a wholly commercial exercise, bracketed by obligatory holiday parties and regimented relational visits, I could see that getting rather tiresome as one approached a half century on this planet.

But instead, if one could see Christmas as a challenge… or even as an annual quest to find the right person, group or community to serve for the season, and perhaps even for the new year, then Christmas becomes something else, something even more wonderful than the joyous mornings of our wrapping paper youth.   And I’m not just talking about the quotidian forms of charity, although those are certainly important and necessary.  I’m talking about reaching out to that Bob Cratchit in your life if  you are a boss, or that Ebenezer Scrooge if you are an employee.

Someone needs you, right now.   What better time to take that excuse to reach out, and to offer a hand — even anonymously– to those in need of a friend or a patron? Take this Season and make it special, and carry that extra joy with you into the new year and onto the next.    I promise you will never be “Christmased out” again.

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*(Please be assured that when I mention “Christmas” as the season, I recognize that the December Holiday Period is a time of joy and familial reflection for many cultures and faiths, just as the New Year is a time for renewal for us all.  I believe the prescription mentioned above is a fitting one for all men and women of good will, not matter their affiliation, or lack thereof. )

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As of this writing, the dollar is rallying again, and flirting with that $79-$80 range that has been been our “top” since last January.   All I can do is wait and see if Santa is going to be good to the little PM trader girls and boys.  If we breach our late November highs, then I will be shaving down to more cash, but until then, I will be eating samiches (sic), and thinking about bell ringing.

My best to you all.

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Celebrate

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Celebrate a great life, never mourn it.

A life valued, oddly perhaps at first, but valued.

A child welcomed, an adventure claimed, a pathway blazed.

All because a young mother made a choice.  A great one, that– it turns out– has benefited all humanity.

Almost ironic how a man like this can talk about “connecting the dots,” and “destiny” and “karma.”

A boy adopted.

Like Larry Ellison, John Lennon, Charles Dickens, Nelson Mandela… and many others...

56 years of precious, valuable and shared life.

Celebrate.

R.I.P. — and thanks, Steve Jobs.

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UPDATE:  I bot QLD (large), early yesterday and GDX and GDXJ (medium) right before the close last night.

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Rashomon Part II: Eye Witness

Rashomon

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Finally, the conclusion of my friend,Lawyer A’s “Rashomon” Slip & Fall Case. Thanks for your patience!

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EYEWITNESSES: RASHOMON

As some of you might know–“Rashomon” is a classic Kurosawa film that recounts the events of a rape through the eyes of various witnesses. Each witness, however, recounts a different story–a different observation. There’s an old saw among police detectives: “When you have a homicide you want ONE EYEWITNESS AND ONE ONLY.”

This seems counter-intuitive to us all–as we’ve been raised on notions of “two head are better than one…” and so forth. But in a court of law where burden of proof is the standard…this notion breaks down completely b/c of the Rashomon factor. No matter how much you may believe in the Platonic absolute of “truth,” different people see the same event, or instance or object differently. This Rashomon effect can be especially exasperating in a criminal case–hence the Detectives’ mantra about “One Eyewitness.”

To illustrate…imagine if one eyewitness sees a homicide. He identifies the accused and confirms that he was a medium weight white male wearing Levis and a white tee shirt. But imagine if 5 other witnesses come forward one insisting he was wearing chinos, and another saying he was a black man…and another saying he had a collared blue shirt on…………Can you say “reasonable doubt?”

Nevertheless this variety of witnesses makes investigation exciting and satisfying to the curious mind—it also it can lead to a way of finding one true thread in a case…and no case is won or lost or solved until on or both of the parties fixes to one true thread.


WITNESSES AND THEIR THREADS

First Witness: E.L.

My first witness interview was with E.L… he was the branch manager on May 21, 2009 when JH fell on the XYZ steps. E.L. began by telling me he remembered nothing of the incident. But, because I knew the identity of everybody involved I mentioned to him: “Well you were meeting with Steph and Janice that day….do you remember now?”

He thought about it and said:

“You know now I remember that a lady did fall on the steps b/c I remember Janice saying: ‘HOLY SHIT, THAT LADY JUST FELL!!!”

I said to him: “She said ‘HOLY SHIT’?”

He replied: “Yeah, she did—you gotta know Janice that’s the way she speaks.”

After that E.L. couldn’t’ tell me much more..(but he had told me enough).

Second Witness: Janice.

Even before speaking with E.L., I had identified (from documents) that Janice was THE eyewitness to this event. And I set up an interview time with her. Our first interview time was postponed b/c she was giving birth to her daughter. I worked around this schedule and set up an interview for 5:45pm on September 15. Janice’s husband would be home and would take care of the infant while I talked to her on the phone.

What Janice told me about the incident is eyewitness gold…… This is basically how it went:

“I saw Ms. J.H. walking up the walkway to the bank and she was going toward the steps on the left. And she went to those steps and started walking up them on the left side. She was holding the railing on the left side. While walking up the steps she took her hand bag in her right hand and tried swinging the loop onto her right shoulder….. And she swung the loop up there but she let go of the hand bag–which looked heavy–and it went down and swung her too…and she lost her balance for a moment, and then stumbled down the steps back to the walkway… and she still was there standing but then suddenly she went down.”

“How far up the steps was she when this happened?” I asked.

“Halfway up,” Janice replied.

“Now when you saw this, what did you do?”

“I, said….’my god’ that woman fell down'”

“Now, Janice, I talked to E.L about this and he said to me that you said: ‘HOLY SHIT THAT LADY JUST FELL.’

Upon hearing this Janice burst out laughing and said:

“OH MY GOD—THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID.”

I continued: “I want to know exactly what you said b/c opposing counsel will expose every inconsistency in our witnesses to suggest that our memory of events may be questionable.”

She assured me: “NO, NO…That’s what I said.”

At the time, I didn’t know this—-I was in Rashomon mode…..I had two witnesses..one (E.L) who remembered nothing but an utterance..and another, Janice, who remembered everything but her exact utterance.

But what happened next was the convergence of all loose ends. And I think I found truth.

Third Witness: Steph

I spoke with Steph at noon, September 16 in my office.

“Steph do you remember a woman falling on the steps at the bank on May 21, 2009?”

“No.”

“Do you remember any woman falling while you worked there?”

“No.”

“Do you remember meeting in E.L’s office with Janice on May 21, 2009?”

“No…I’m sorry–I don’t remember any of this.”

“Do you remember Janice saying: “HOLY SHIT, THAT LADY JUST FELL!”

“YES!…YES!!! SHE SAID THIS, OH MY GOD, I REMEMBER!”

And then she went on to recount various details about the day.

What I discovered from this exercise is that memory is fleeting and subjective..memory is as beautiful or ugly as you make it……But that’s the poetic side of memory. The working, practical and honest side of memory is more physiological…it proceeds from the five senses…sight, sound, smell, touch, and speech…and these physiological “docking stations” are less prone to mull it over–they just observe and recount…they don’t rehash or consider–they react, instinctively. And it is that unconsidered and uncontrived instinct that is the litmus test of truth when it comes to witnesses.

The trigger of “Holy Shit….” triggered Steph’s memory. The fact that it did convinced me that that was exactly what was said.

RASHOMON REDUX: THE ESSENCE OF TRUTH

But what was “said” is only one piece. Nevertheless it is the essential and trumping piece here b/c it is triangulated and confirmed by three witnesses w/o any other piece so confirmed and triangulated.

It’s this one piece that can make or break the case if it goes to the jury. This is because nobody will ever know exactly what happened. We can only interpret based on recounts from witnesses. And if as jurors we endeavor to find the truth we endeavor to find the recount or recounts that are most consistent. All consistency must reside on common links and overlapping observations.

The only overlapping and consistent observation in this case is the utterance “HOLY SHIT THAT LADY JUST FELL!”

Once the jury is convinced that that is what was said—I win the case because the utterance is attributed to Janice as truthful and by association everything that Janice says she observed is considered truthful….

CONCLUSION

Taking witness statements in cases like this is all the great fun of the law. It mixes lawyers and layperson’s skills. The layperson in me recognizes the sincerity and truth in a statement beginning “Holy Shit….” We all hear that every day–that’s how people speak–it’s real–and therefore credible. The lawyer in me loves the part of orchestrating all the interviews and “chessing” this out to show to opposing counsel bringing down his demand from mid -six figures to mid five figures…and ending the whole affair.

It’s these moments when I love the law…I do pity the fact that these moments, however, make up about 3% of my practice…

Cheers.

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