Food is the Key to Integration Through the Stomach - or - The World is Other than it Seems : Döner Kebabs Surpass the Hamburger in Germany

The German Missions in the United States publish a Newsleter "The Week in Germany" [TWIG], which is also available online and contains some remarkable facts about "the real world" which suggest, as a recent TWIG article titles one of its paragraphs, that "Integration Through the Stomach" is the key solution to the world's political problems - after all, you are what you eat:

"Integration Through the Stomach

The döner kebab is one of the most popular fast foods in Germany.

(© picture-alliance/ ZB )

The döner kebab is one of the most popular fast foods in Germany, and is often available at Turkish-style eateries in cities across the country well into the wee hours of the morning.

"They have even set a record. Last year, more kebabs were sold than hamburgers," actor Adnan Maral, who presents Turkish and Bavarian cuisine on the regional TV station Bayerischer Rundfunk, said in a recent interview published by the Goethe-Institut and at Germany.info.

According to gourmets like Maral, the way to integration is through the stomach."

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court Strikes Again, Enabling a New Patent Scam : Patent Marking Trolls

Lexology - Watch out for the patent marking trolls, March 1, 2010, by Mayer Brown informs us:

"Under Section 292(a) of the Patent Act, marking an unpatented article with intent to deceive the public mandates a fine of “not more than $500 for every such offense.” In The Forest Group, Inc. v. Bon Tool Co., No. 2009-1044 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 28, 2009), the court construed that provision to require imposition of the fine on a per-article basis (as opposed to a per-decision basis). Thus, a false patent marking on one million individual articles could generate an award of up to $500 million. Any persons can serve as plaintiffs in this “qui tam” cause of action, whether or not they have an interest in a patent or suffer any personal injury.

The Federal Circuit recognized that its ruling would encourage “a new cottage industry” of false marking litigation by plaintiffs who have not suffered any direct harm, but it concluded that such a consequence is imposed by the plain language of the statute."

Read the whole thing here.

Our comment: can't they get some judges into the Federal Circuit who have even a minimal understanding of THE LAW - "the law", folks, which consists not merely of statutes but of the sensible application of same.

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Head of BCS snipes at senators but will answer letter - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com

Head of BCS snipes at senators but will answer letter - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com - March 10, 2010:

"BCS executive director Bill Hancock said Wednesday he will respond to a question-filled letter sent to him by two U.S. Senators.

'I'm looking forward to taking a longer look at the letter. I sure do think that Congress has more important things to do, with all the issues facing our country,' Hancock said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. 'The BCS is fair. Access is fair. Revenue is distributed fairly. And frankly, we welcome the opportunity to tell our story every chance we get.'"

Your word in God's ear, Bill.

What Hancock does not understand is that the BCS is not fair, access is not fair, revenue is not distributed fairly and the BCS thinks it is above it all. In fact, it is a monopoly, and we have laws against that. Just ask the players at Boise State and their fans last year if they think the BCS system is fair. Bill, you are living in a dream world of your own creation which has no relation to sports reality at all. Money is your world. Money, not sports.

Does the Senate have better things to do than investigating the BCS? Very few. The BCS sucks. It is the antithesis of the American dream. It is the world the American founders wanted to get away from. It is the world of perks and politics, connections and favoritism, backroom dealings and citizen connings. It is about as far removed from purity in sports as all the drug-laced athletes that monopolize the sports pages of the tabloids. Cheaters. Con artists. Bamboozlers.

The BCS stands for all of what is wrong with America at the moment, Bill - and that is a lot. The country has degenerated to such a degree that national champions in sports are no longer determined by performance but by politics. When that is straightened out, Bill, then maybe we can get sensible laws about health care and similar things desperately in need of reform in a country now sunk so far below its potential, that it is pathetic.