Things I have made, part 6

Everyone needs an ampersand on their bookshelf. It suggests a world of unlimited possibilites and wonderful ideas and beautiful things. But mostly it just looks cool.

The bench, assembled. Mostly.

Here are a couple of images of the bench made from the door. As you can see, I have a lot of work to do still. But I am pleased with how it is coming along. It is sturdy as can be and it looks pretty good in the living room, even without the trim and finish and upholstery.

Things I have made, part 5: a Nativity puzzle.

I made this a couple years back as a Christmas present for my brother and his family. It is made of regular pine. I designed it in a flurry of inspiration, with suggestions from my wife, one Sunday afternoon.

Things I have made, part 4

My kids wanted their initials. J and H wanted them in dragon shapes. E and H weren't quite so picky. Creating the dragon patterns took a bit of thought and a lot of sketches. I cut them out with my scroll saw out of select pine.

Why don't more judges write like this?

The Ninth Circuit just issued an opinion discussing whether a jail was a detention facility within the meaning of a certain federal statute. The majority took about 7 pages to say that it was not. Chief Judge Kozinski disagreed in about 8 pages. But the first paragraph of his dissent is just wonderful writing:

Freud is reported to have said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And a facility used for holding prisoners prior to trial is a pretrial detention facility. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) covers prisoners held in certain kinds of institutions—defined to include both correctional facilities (such as prisons and jails) and pretrial detention facilities. Souhair Khatib was held in a facility where prisoners are routinely detained awaiting trial and other court appearances. She was therefore held in a facility covered by RLUIPA and is entitled to its protections. This pretty much sums up the case for me. Everything below is unnecessary and you could easily skip it.

I wish more judges wrote like that.