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Lawyers Ordered to Play RPS to Settle Dispute
Rent-to-Pwn writes "After the lawyers involved couldn't settle even the most basic disputes without court intervention, a federal judge ordered the two lawyers to play one (1) game of rock, paper, scissors to settle the dispute. Being a federal case, in theory, it could become precedent for similar, unimportant decisions. Of course, there's no mention of what the two lawyers are supposed to do in case of a tie ..."
Since there seems to be a great deal of chance in any legal proceeding, it makes just as much sense, if not more.
This is news for NERDS, not news for techies. There's more to being a nerd than just liking technology. Another common characteristic is an antiauthoritarian sense of humor where "silly" things are put into ordinarily serious situations. For instance, said comedic device was very popular on Monty Python, a nerd standby.
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
That's a pretty good summary. Some analysis is in order, though: it seems to me that the purpose of this ruling is not so much to settle the argument as to publically censure the two opposing counsel for failure to achieve adulthood.
He did the right thing. It wasn't about the case itself, it was about a minor, completely unimportant issue that was simply an immature dick-waving contest between the lawyers, not much different from the usual schoolyard "I want to be right!" bickering.
His solution was quite appropriate to the situation presented. And it just might have shown the lawyers how silly the dispute was.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I recall this happened in two seats in this year's local elections (where the number of electors is small and the turnout is even smaller).
One of the losers was interviewed on the radio and seemed quite cool about it - "fair enough", he said.
rt
By telling them straight out, he'd have given them a chance to argue back, and he might have ended up embroiled in their childish arguments as well. Instead, he's told them to go make fools of themselves in front of everybody, and not even show up again until they've decided to start making sense--thus cleverly robbing them of any chance to talk back. I think it's perfect, and I wish I could be there to see it.
Unfair or not, it is important that people express themselves clearly, and spelling is an integral part of written communication. When I read through a document and find mistakes such as "then" instead of "than," I find my opinion of the author's communication skills to be lessened. I also tend to think a person who doesn't know the difference is less knowledgable than someone who does. I have more patience for people who use English as a second, or greater, language, as I would barbarize another language in both speech and writing.
Basically, if a person does not know the difference when writing a word, why would they know the difference when reading it? That affects their comprehension of the material, and their communication of it.