bean town man hole covers

code-brown doctor and ironwoman, veronica snapped these photos of manhole covers in boston.

i wonder if this is what the standard boston covers look like. if so, they are pretty sharp.

just think, paul revere, benjamin franklin, or wade boggs might have walked over this manhole cover.

thanks veronica. i love getting manhole photos from around the nation and world. keep 'em coming.

the highest court hears bilski

you may or may not be surprised to learn that the u.s. supreme court very rarely hears patent-related cases. yesterday, was one of those rare occasions. the case is bilski v. kappos, and it involves the question of whether or not you can patent a method of doing something, if it isn't either somehow related to a machine or thing, or to a material transformation. in the specific case of bilski, the question was whether a business method could be patented. the court of appeals for the federal circuit had previously upheld the patent office's policy that without being tied to a machine or material transformation, a process is not patentable subject matter.

whatever your opinions of the individual justices, supreme court oral arguments are always quite entertaining.



justice breyer: you know, i have a great, wonderful, really original method of teaching antitrust law, and it kept 80 percent of the students awake. ... and i could probably have reduced it to a set of steps and other teachers could have followed it. that you are going to say is patentable, too?

justice scalia: let's take training horses. don't you think that -- that some people, horse whisperers or others, had some, you know, some insights into the best way to train horses? and that should have been patentable on your theory.

justice sotomayor: so how do we limit it to something that is reasonable? meaning, if we don't limit it to inventions or to technology...then why not patent the method of speed dating?






chief justice roberts: i thought i understood your argument up until the very last footnote in your brief... the method isn't patentable because it doesn't involve a machine. but then you say but it might be if you use a computer to identify the parties that you are setting a price between and if you used a microprocessor to calculate the price. that's like saying if you use a typewriter to type out the the process, then it is patentable. . . . that takes away everything that you spent 53 pages establishing. . . . if you look at your footnote, that involves the most tangential and insignificant use of a machine. and yet you say that might be enough to take something from patentability to not patentable.

looking for something to do?

this weekend, the nelson institute for environmental studies is holding the 2nd, semi-annual, tales from planet earth film festival, right here in sunny madison.


there are 50 films at the festival, playing at 5 different venues, including the wisconsin union theatre and mmoca. all the films are free and open to the public.

we will be seeing academy award nominee for best documentary, trouble the water



and the cove



we may see more depending on how the weekend unfolds. if you're in madison, hopefully you'll have to chance to see one or more of the films. if you're not in madison, hopefully you've got something else good planned.

happy birthday sesame street

google tipped me off that sesame street turns 40 years old today. here are some pretty great sesame street clips.

nick's restaurant and house of art

our friend dave (of smoothdavehamm.com blog fame) had a birthday this weekend, and we celebrated with dinner and drinks at nick's restaurant. dave was awarded with a piece of pie and a candle for another year of life well lived.

nick's has long been one of our favorite hot spots on state street. they serve a good dinner, and the menu features wisconsin supper club favorites (friday fish fry! prime rib sandwich!), excellent greek offerings (gyro! greek soups and potatoes!), and fresh pie (displayed in a counter-top glass case, obviously). they also make a tasty cocktail, including the ice cream variety. but, menu aside, there are other reasons to love nick's. namely, the decor.

this mural is a repeating pattern featuring an antebellum river tableau, complete with spanish-moss draped willows, a huge paddle boat, and working people standing about on docks.


i think this ship is painted on a canvas of black velvet, hung on 50 year old wood paneling. maybe this one is on actual canvas, but there are most definitely paintings on black velvet in the restaurant.

happy halloween

happy halloween from the staples, who are ready and waiting for trick-or-treaters!
meow.

mcdonald's

it has been a busy week in real life, so it hasn't been such a busy one on the blog. sorry about that. here's a little tidbit to chew on as we enter this halloween weekend. according to food industry blogger katherine glover, when you are at a mcdonald's in the continental u.s., you are no more than 107 miles (145 miles driving) from the next mcdonald's. that's a lot of golden arches.

that's also what i'd call scary. happy halloween.

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correction: when in the continental u.s., you are no more than 107 miles (145 by car) from a mcdonald's.