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Izzie has spent another boring morning with Professor Bill "Binns" and is now doing a spot of one finger typing while using the other hand to hold her radio to her ear. Tonight John Dean, one of the Nixon nasties will be on to explain why King George makes old Dick look like the essence of human decency. Sounds like all the lessons taught at the School of the Dark Arts have come back to haunt them.
Oh dearie me. What a nest of sneaking secretive venomous vipers...oops - make that death adders. Iz did not mean to defame those dearest serpents. But they are too sneaky, clever and cunning to be monkeys in spite of looking rather like them but not wise enough at all to be serpents. Iz thinks that if Donald Rumsfield ever gets the sack, he could always get another day job as a most wickedly wonderful Dementor. He has certainly apppeared in enough cartoons with that black hood on his head.
But back to Binnsie. He was the very very first teacher Izzie had in Goblin school and was just as boring then as he is now. The very first week this term, loads of memories came back to Iz. His tacky twee powerpoint slides with utterly irritating side effects remain the same. But back then we had a different tutor who was - well unbelievably quirky, cool and utterly crazy. He looks sort of like Robin Williams but not so dorky but had a very evil Izzie sense of humour.
All those preconceptions about boring law turned out to be so utterly wrong. Iz was absolutely fascinated by it all - so much so that I ended up getting 93% as a final grade but got pipped at the post. Turned out to be the second highest grade from about 400 or more students.
You see, Iz just loves stories and case law has just got oodles and oodles of them. Used to love guessing based on the facts of the cases what a judgement would be and for what reason and had a pretty good knack of getting it right most of the time.
So when several weeks ago Professor Binns briefly mentioned the case from way back in 1932 concerning Donoghue and Stevenson with just the passing remark that the judge concluded that a manufacturer is liable for their product - Iz thinks - oh big deal. It's a bit like describing LOTR as a story about a bit of jewellry.
He left out the big juicy bits but Iz won't.
Mrs Donoghue went out to a cafe (In Edinburgh, Scotland if Iz remembers rightly) with a friend who ordered a bottle of Ginger beer for her. So far so good. After a few gulps - it was time for a top up and what plops into the glass but a very dead and pretty pickled snail. Needless to say that Mrs D felt more than a bit queasy. But what made the case so different was the fact that she had not bought the ginger beer herself but the friend had gotten it for her so there was no contract between her and the shop owner. (or more importantly - the manufacturer)
The big deal was that the court decided it didn't matter. Sounds like common sense but apparently it was a very big deal at the time. And it was from these events that the ever so seemingly innocent phrase 'duty of care' entered the law books and now we have silly buggers spilling their McCafe's in their laps and suing McDonalds for neglecting their duty of care by making the coffee too hot and not putting warning labels on the cups that it might burn you if you spill it or that you might get fat from eating too many FRENCH fries. Not to forget the parents with crazy kids suing obstreticians 10 years on since some one must be to blame. Yessss... that slimy snail has a lot to answer for.
Next week our topic will be cybercrime. You really do have to make a special effort to make a subject like that boring beyond belief but Iz expects that he will exceed expectations yet again.
Iz would just hate to be a lawyer but there is something so utterly intriguing and fascinating about reading court cases. I guess you get to see human nature in all its' petty glory. That's where all the sneaks and the cheats end up and some of them are just devious beyond belief. The eternal battle between the letter and the spirit of the law is just so interesting.
Looks like it will be another day before Iz gets around to mentioning her various adventures on May 19 from times past - particularly the fact that even being on holidays - am now exactly 9 years at St Salazar's Sanatorium for Superannuated Sorcerers. Nine years in one job is a record for Iz. The other 19 May had to do with those Pruffie questionses from the five questionses meme way back in July. That was fun. Iz did not answer one of them (or maybe it was two)I wonder how he is enjoying his nostalgic trip down memory lane over in England. Iz wonders if he will manage to slink over to Dublin for Bloomsday on Wednesday 16 June. Dearie me - all the pompous prats in hats and pricks with sticks will be parading the streets of Dublin on that day. What a wonderful opportunity for amateur anthropologists. Iz must get a report from her spy over there.
Never did read that book and don't think I ever will. Sounds sort of like "The emperor has no clothes" sort of stuff to Iz. Mind you - from what I have heard - Joyce is meant to be listened to out loud rather than read in silence to have even half a chance to get what he was up to.
Iz thinks she will stick to W B Yeats. Infinitely more intriguing and certainly more spooky.
Oh dearie me. What a nest of sneaking secretive venomous vipers...oops - make that death adders. Iz did not mean to defame those dearest serpents. But they are too sneaky, clever and cunning to be monkeys in spite of looking rather like them but not wise enough at all to be serpents. Iz thinks that if Donald Rumsfield ever gets the sack, he could always get another day job as a most wickedly wonderful Dementor. He has certainly apppeared in enough cartoons with that black hood on his head.
But back to Binnsie. He was the very very first teacher Izzie had in Goblin school and was just as boring then as he is now. The very first week this term, loads of memories came back to Iz. His tacky twee powerpoint slides with utterly irritating side effects remain the same. But back then we had a different tutor who was - well unbelievably quirky, cool and utterly crazy. He looks sort of like Robin Williams but not so dorky but had a very evil Izzie sense of humour.
All those preconceptions about boring law turned out to be so utterly wrong. Iz was absolutely fascinated by it all - so much so that I ended up getting 93% as a final grade but got pipped at the post. Turned out to be the second highest grade from about 400 or more students.
You see, Iz just loves stories and case law has just got oodles and oodles of them. Used to love guessing based on the facts of the cases what a judgement would be and for what reason and had a pretty good knack of getting it right most of the time.
So when several weeks ago Professor Binns briefly mentioned the case from way back in 1932 concerning Donoghue and Stevenson with just the passing remark that the judge concluded that a manufacturer is liable for their product - Iz thinks - oh big deal. It's a bit like describing LOTR as a story about a bit of jewellry.
He left out the big juicy bits but Iz won't.
Mrs Donoghue went out to a cafe (In Edinburgh, Scotland if Iz remembers rightly) with a friend who ordered a bottle of Ginger beer for her. So far so good. After a few gulps - it was time for a top up and what plops into the glass but a very dead and pretty pickled snail. Needless to say that Mrs D felt more than a bit queasy. But what made the case so different was the fact that she had not bought the ginger beer herself but the friend had gotten it for her so there was no contract between her and the shop owner. (or more importantly - the manufacturer)
The big deal was that the court decided it didn't matter. Sounds like common sense but apparently it was a very big deal at the time. And it was from these events that the ever so seemingly innocent phrase 'duty of care' entered the law books and now we have silly buggers spilling their McCafe's in their laps and suing McDonalds for neglecting their duty of care by making the coffee too hot and not putting warning labels on the cups that it might burn you if you spill it or that you might get fat from eating too many FRENCH fries. Not to forget the parents with crazy kids suing obstreticians 10 years on since some one must be to blame. Yessss... that slimy snail has a lot to answer for.
Next week our topic will be cybercrime. You really do have to make a special effort to make a subject like that boring beyond belief but Iz expects that he will exceed expectations yet again.
Iz would just hate to be a lawyer but there is something so utterly intriguing and fascinating about reading court cases. I guess you get to see human nature in all its' petty glory. That's where all the sneaks and the cheats end up and some of them are just devious beyond belief. The eternal battle between the letter and the spirit of the law is just so interesting.
Looks like it will be another day before Iz gets around to mentioning her various adventures on May 19 from times past - particularly the fact that even being on holidays - am now exactly 9 years at St Salazar's Sanatorium for Superannuated Sorcerers. Nine years in one job is a record for Iz. The other 19 May had to do with those Pruffie questionses from the five questionses meme way back in July. That was fun. Iz did not answer one of them (or maybe it was two)I wonder how he is enjoying his nostalgic trip down memory lane over in England. Iz wonders if he will manage to slink over to Dublin for Bloomsday on Wednesday 16 June. Dearie me - all the pompous prats in hats and pricks with sticks will be parading the streets of Dublin on that day. What a wonderful opportunity for amateur anthropologists. Iz must get a report from her spy over there.
Never did read that book and don't think I ever will. Sounds sort of like "The emperor has no clothes" sort of stuff to Iz. Mind you - from what I have heard - Joyce is meant to be listened to out loud rather than read in silence to have even half a chance to get what he was up to.
Iz thinks she will stick to W B Yeats. Infinitely more intriguing and certainly more spooky.
