Lorenzo picked us up at noon and we loaded our luggage. We wove through the Rome traffic to the autostrada and headed for the Amalfi coast. Traffic wasn’t heavy and we were at Naples in a couple of hours. Once we exited the highway for the local roads they because narrow two lane roads. At each small town we would find cars parked bumper to bumper against the stone walls on the side of the road which reduced the width…
In logic there is a "black swan" concept. In its simplest terms it refers to the fact a proposition is scientific only if it can be proved false. That idea was made popular by Karl Popper. For example if we see a white swan we know there is at least one white swan, but it is conjecture to conclude all swans are white. The fact is that finding one black swan would falsify the conclusion all swans are white means it is capable…
Somehow in my narrative report I managed to overlook the fact that we didn't go directly from the airport to the hotel in rome. Instead we spent the first night at the wonderful La Posta Veccecia located on the ocean some thirty minutes from Rome. It is one of our favorite hotels. Previously the vacation home of J.Paul Getty, this wonderful small hotel has beautiful landscaping around it and is right at the water. We were only able to spend one…
Greeting from Rome, Italy. Today is Wednesday in Rome. Our flight from Seattle to London Sunday was without problems We arrived Monday morning and caught another flight from London to Rome. We were met by Lorrenzo who had been our driver several years before on a trip to Italy. He drove us to the Vatican where we met Marco our guide. The trip through Rome was an experience. Too many cars all jammed together ;playing who will blink first. It takes hours…
We are going to Rome on Sunday (Iceland’s volcano permitting) for a three day legal meeting and then on to Amalfi for a week with our return overnight in London before returning home. We’ve been to Rome often. Big cities, including Rome, are not my favorite places. The exceptions are London and Paris. We’ve done our touring of Rome previously and plan only a visit to the Vatican & the Sistine Chapel during our three days in the city. The…
A book I'm reading says that Poncho Villa’s last words before dying were: "Don’t let it end like this. Tell them I said something." I found that very amusing. He knew he was dying, but had nothing significant to say as his last words so he asked that they make up something instead. That made me curious about "last words" so I did some checking. Here’s some information I found interesting. There was Luther Burbank’s last words, that turned out to…
Bill Gates Sr is advocating a state income tax and it will probably be on the ballot. What makes this attractive to most people is that it is being promoted on the basis that it is a tax only on the wealthy. Everyone else gets off scot free, they claim. This inome tax wouldn't impact the great majority of people the proponents say. However, we all know that there are only two things you can't avoid and taxes is one of them. Once…
Frank Rich wrote a column in the New York Times a week ago entitled "No one is to Blame for Anything." Boy, is he right about that. When the Washington ferry system wasted millions of dollars a few years ago, no heads rolled. When the Port of Seattle was exposed by the Seattle Times for it's waste of money and incompetence, nothing really happened. When corporate heads are exposed for their stupid and expensive errors they are given a golden parachute with…
I 'd like to be immodest and tell you that my wife Lita and I just returned from Las Vegas where I was inducted into the 2010 American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. What made it such an honor for me personally were the other members. Last year Bobby Lee Cook, Morris Dees, Fred Levin, stanley Preiser and Gerry Spence were inducted. Non living members include Melvin Belli,Clarence Darrow, William Kunstler and Johnnie Cochran. This year Phillip Corboy, Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, Russ Herman,…
Anyone reading this blog could conclude that I have a chip on my shoulder about my Catholic Church. They would be entirely right when we are talking about Vatican politics and the politics of Church authorities. What brings me to write a second posting involving the Church is an opinion piece in the Sunday New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof "A church Mary can love." I laughed at his opening paragraph dealing with the joke about the pious Catholic who…
