Courtesy of The Telegraph, a tour de force in evocative writing. I reprint only the opening salvo.

Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years.

…

Here’s the original (now replaced) cover to the latest issue of MaxPlanckForschung, the flagship journal of the Max Planck Institute:

 As MPF later explained,

The cover of the most recent German-language edition of MaxPlanckForschung (3/2008) depicts a Chinese text which had been chosen by our editorial office in order to symbolically illustrate the magazine’s focus on "China". …

Prior to publication, the editorial office had consulted a German sinologist for a translation of the relevant text. The sinologist concluded that the text in question depicted classical Chinese characters in a non-controversial context. To our sincere regret, however, it has now emerged that the text contains deeper levels of meaning, which are not immediately accessible to a non-native speaker.

Contracts are a lot like a foreign language. There’s a whole body of interpretation — i.e. case law — of which non-lawyers are generally unaware. There are also numerous known unknowns and unknown unknowns with regard to the interpretation of a specific contract in a given factual scenario. That is, there are times when an MBA who has done a lot of contracts will, like a German sinologist, not suffice.

Language Log has a long explanation of the deeper meaning here. I’ve posted their rough translation below the fold.Continue Reading Why Should Companies Have Lawyers Review Contracts? An Example from the Max Planck Institute

A Billboard company.

Oy.

Via Neatorama.

More than a dozen reasons, at science fiction site io9. An example:

Making History by Stephen Fry: A history student and a physics professor manage to send a permanent male contraceptive pill back in time where Hitler’s father will consume it, ensuring Hitler will never be born. But without Hitler, the Nazi party is

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Is this really something he wants to admit?

Last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) squared off in a debate with Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford. But on Lunsford’s podium a GOP operative had placed a small voice recorder, presumably to pick up some off-mic comments Lunsford might make — apparently a violation of the debate…

Citypaper has a bunch of pictures inside Butcher & Singer, where Striped Bass used to be.

"megan" in the comments there writes:

nice tablecloths. way to take the most beautiful restaurant space in the city and turn it into a low end capital grille.

Indeed. What’s with the dogs-at-a-bar backdrop?

BS opens the Monday after