Mid-week Links

Most people don’t understand sarcasm.  At Psychcentral,
via Andrew
Sullivan:

the
majority of people — 55 percent — who responded to this survey thought they
were giving an example of a sarcastic remark they made, when in fact what they
gave was a non-sarcastic remark!

Also via Andrew
Sullivan, a “Dark ‘n’ Stormy” is made from:

two
ounces of Gosling’s Black Seal rum and a fizzy hit of ginger beer.

And,
by law, nothing but.

That’s
according to two trademark certificates on file with the United States Patent
and Trademark Office, which — in an exceptionally rare instance in the cocktail
world — dictate the precise ingredients and amounts required to call a Dark ‘n’
Stormy, well, a Dark ‘n’ Stormy.

“We
defend that trademark vigorously, which is a very time-consuming and expensive
thing,” said E. Malcolm Gosling Jr., whose family has owned Gosling’s since its
founding in Bermuda in 1806. “That’s a valuable asset that we need to protect.”

But this runs counter to the current bartending trend of
putting creative individual spins on traditional drinks.  See this discussion at
Liquidity Preference.

Real insurance for fantasy league owners. From the Wall
Street Journal (HT: Tyler
Cowen):

[T]wo
Long Island insurance brokers have developed a way for the fantasy owner to
experience the bittersweet taste of an insurance payout when their superstar
goes down with a season-ending injury. . . . Now owners of fake teams can now
protect themselves against the injuries of real players with actual insurance
policies.

Lessig.org/blog
goes
on sabbatical. Related: The
Life Expectancy of A Legal Blog at Drug and Device Law Blog:

Even the academics can't do it! The
professors can't feed their blogs; it's too much work.

And those guys spend their lives
wearing tweed jackets, smoking pipes, and thinking great thoughts!

Via Paul
Caron, Arizona State is hosting the Aspiring
Law Professors Conference on October 17, 2009, designed for Visiting
Assistant Professors and Fellows who plan to go on the academic teaching
market.

Via the Washington
Post, ethical debates on tourism to areas where women are expected to wear
traditional costume, which is often uncomfortable, painful, or
disfiguring. 

Henry at Crooked Timber on The
Market For Predictions.

Via the New
York Times, using sentiment analysis to gauge feelings, opinions, and
predict future events.

Tom Bell at MoneyLaw on How
Top-Ranked Law Schools Got That Way, Pt. 2.

Via Property
Law Prof, Yale University Press has just released Lee Anne Fennell’s book The
Unbounded Home.