From the Anarchist Book Fair to a Federal courtroom in two days
-- what a contrast! I went down to San Jose on Monday morning
to see a pre-trial hearing in United States v. Elcomsoft.
It was my first time in Federal court. (I've been in a state
court before.) One lawyer said: "If you're ever bored, go down
to the nearest Federal court and sit in the gallery. There's
always something going on."
So, actually, there's a sort of a chain connecting these days one to
another:
Saturday: I buy three books at a book fair.
Sunday: I buy three books at a flea market, including Der Prozeß
Monday: I see a criminal trial.
Aside from the Elcomsoft argument, there was a guilty plea in an
immigration case. I'd like to write more about that at some point.
I haven't written here in a few days, so let me give a quick summary.
On Sunday, I saw Sumana and Leonard, and in the evening had my
traditional Western Easter Dinner with Nick (walking from Sumana's
place over to the Elmwood/Rockridge neighborhood), and Nick filled
me in on some BBC stuff. Sumana and Leonard and I also went to
the Ashby Flea Market, where I got Kafka's Der Prozeß in
German, Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties, and a book
by Stanislaw Lem.
Peter Christopher
came to town and stayed with me.
We went to SVLUG with Marc and
Biella to hear Larry Wall speak about Perl 6.
A high school student got CSS decryption code published in his
yearbook, but I'm not allowed to tell you where to find a picture of it.
I had an acupuncture appointment, something I haven't done
since August.
An article about
the Alien Tort Claims Act and a list of cases, mainly international
human rights cases, brought under it.
There seems to be
a
growing consensus that patents are necessary to the development
of new drugs. Is this consensus like the consensus that objects
fall when dropped, or like the consensus that
Coca-Cola is the Real Thing?
I finished God and Golem, Inc., by Norbert Wiener, the
sixth book on my reading list.
