Spoilers in the comments.

Sometimes I am too deadpan for my own good. The joke seemed pretty obvious to me, especially since Lat said where he was freaking going for the weekend in the previous post.

Separately, I see kuro5hin sells "YHBT. YHL. HAND." t-shirts, which weirds me out even more than those old Tau Epsilon Delta t-shirts do, though I guess that's technically a Kibo Echeverri production, so I wouldn't get royalties anyway.

I'm guest-blogging at David Lat's Above the Law today.

Slim sends me this Boing Boing post:

Here's a flickr set of pictures documenting the zombie rights march to Austin's City Hall last Friday. The zombies' signs in the march included badly spelled slogans such as "Mairage = 1 Zombie + 1 Zombie", "More Binifits for Zombie Vets in Our Necronomoconomy", "Brains...The Other White Meat", "We're here, we're dead, get used to it!" and "Zombies Was People Too."

Are there really people eating at Applebee's because they're "afraid of being thought to be snobs"? I may be a food snob, but I still love my Del Taco "Del Meat" Burrito, am not above eating at Bertucci's in a pinch, yet I've managed to avoid Applebee's my whole life.

I get really angry at bad Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in DC, but that's just because of the opportunity cost: how dare this place stay in business and trick people into eating such pap when there are so many better options?

Speaking of which: Ruan Thai (Wheaton). This place is highly recommended by Tyler Cowen. It's very good for (1) Wheaton and (2) its price point, which, for dinner if not lunch, is lower than, say, the secret Thai restaurant. What was good: the yum pla korb, the whole fish (though "market price" takes this place out of its budget-range advantage), the baked seafood in yellow sauce. The tom kha kai was special, not being overwhelmed by coconut the way it is at most restaurants or when I make it, and the restaurant has the nice touch of allowing one to order a large bowl and share amongst smaller bowls. Meh: the duck with basil and chili. What surprised me was the claim by every reviewer that this place was unusually spicy; I didn't find this at all. Perhaps we ordered wrong (though everything except the fish had a chili symbol), but the overwhelming taste was sweet, rather than savory; I never felt the fire of the secret Thai restaurant. I'd thus rank Ruan Thai behind the latter, and perhaps even Duangrat's; too, Wheaton is even a bigger travel hassle than Herndon for me, so it's unlikely I'll be back often.

Pork chops, Kobe steaks, vinyl nail caps for cats, and new furniture to celebrate financial stability.

The frightening thing about this list is that six or so are already in my regular repertoire. ("Aaron had loved The Simpsons since he was little. He found so much joy in the show. He had nearly every episode memorized word-for-word. You'd think there'd be no reason for someone like him to take his own life.")

I'm in the top ten most-downloaded for all "Torts & Products Liability Law" papers announced in the last sixty days, but you'll see that, of the papers ahead of me, none were actually announced (as opposed to updated) in the last sixty days. (Note how three of the top ten suspiciously updated shortly before their sixty-day window expired.) I believe this qualifies me for a BCS bowl so long as I don't lose six regular season games. There's also a difficulty-of-schedule issue, since the paper is also available on the AEI website, and those downloads don't count in my total.

My friend Glenn writes me:

Checking Lexis, I see that yours is indeed the only included law review paper with Count Chocula in the footnotes.

However, there are two for Froot Loops:

Winter, 2006, 73 U. Chi. L. Rev. 87, 9885 words, SYMPOSIUM: HOMO ECONOMICUS, HOMO MYOPICUS, AND THE LAW AND ECONOMICS OF CONSUMER CHOICE: Wanting, Liking, and Learning: Neuroscience and Paternalism, Colin F. Camerer.

May, 2006, 39 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 13, 9415 words, Symposium: BEYOND COMMERCIALS: HOW FOOD MARKETERS TARGET CHILDREN, Susan Linn, Ed.D and Josh Golin, M.A.

Two for Cocoa Puffs:

May, 2006, 39 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 169, 31832 words, Symposium: CAN FOOD COMPANIES BE TRUSTED TO SELF-REGULATE? AN ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE LOBBYING AND DECEPTION TO UNDERMINE CHILDREN'S HEALTH, Michele Simon, JD, MPH

May, 2006, 39 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 93, 17730 words, Symposium: ASSESSING EFFECTIVENESS OF SELF-REGULATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE CHILDREN'S ADVERTISING REVIEW UNIT, Ellen J. Fried

And no fewer than four for Cap'n Crunch:

May, 2006, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 1974, 31268 words, ARTICLE: THE GENERATIVE INTERNET, Jonathan L. Zittrain

June, 2006, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 2442, 10327 words, NOTE: IMMUNIZING THE INTERNET, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE WORM

May, 2006, 39 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 237, 15880 words, Symposium: THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA'S APPRAISAL OF THE 1980 BAN ON ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN IN QUeBEC: IMPLICATIONS FOR "MISLEADING" ADVERTISING ELSEWHERE, Bill Jeffery

May, 2006, 39 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 507, 37285 words, Symposium: RESISTING DEEP CAPTURE: THE COMMERCIAL SPEECH DOCTRINE AND JUNK-FOOD ADVERTISING TO CHILDREN, David G. Yosifon

It would seem that there is a burgeoning "cereal legal studies" movement begging for a leader, Ted. Can you be that leader?

(For the record, I strongly suspect that at least two of those Cap'n Crunch papers are about hacking, rather than cereal.)

Anyway, if you have an interest in obesity litigation, and haven't downloaded my paper yet, now's your chance to push me higher in the rankings.

"The burger, which was debuted at the Grizzlies' December 10th sale, consists of a thick and juicy burger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon. The burger is then placed in between each side of a Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnut." (via Easterbrook)

Alternative post title: "But where's the rich creamery butter?"

It was in Northern California, and I had other commitments September 9, so I wouldn't have gone, but this elaborate 36-hour Hogwarts simulation puzzle game sounds like it would have been fun. Here's a blogged account and some pictures and other links including details about the (working!) spell-casting wands used in the game.

Ken Jennings on his Colbert Show pre-interview prep.

Synecdoche, New York. But Spike Jonze isn't directing.

Slim's in Japan for a couple of weeks, but I know she loves her slash, so one must provide this well-made Kirk/Spock video (NSFW for NIN use of f-word) (and via Defamer) for her perusal upon her return. But it's not as good as this Monty Python/Star Trek mash-up.

Q: Are you "alert reader T.F."?

A: Why, yes, yes I am.

Slim and I are all caught up on Veronica Mars after a marathon today. Open thread to discuss Season 2; spoilers okay.

I visited a new Indian mom-and-pop in Clarendon; it was still getting the kinks out of service, and the food was bland and uninteresting. Very disappointing, but I don't want to bad-mouth it, because you get the sense that this is the owner's life savings at issue. Maybe it will improve.

I don't have any problem bad-mouthing its nearby Clarendon chain neighbor, Tandoori Nights, which also lacks spice, and doesn't do enough to segregate its non-smoking section from the smoking section. Like most restaurants in Clarendon, the food seems to be served to rationalize being able to serve alcohol.

Slim and I had much more luck going out to Fairfax for Jaipur, buried in the side of a condo tower. I wasn't thrilled with the naan, but we had two unusual chicken dishes, and I look forward to delving further into their menu or having a chance to try the lunch buffet.

Thumbs up also to Abiti (U Street Metro), which may well be the best Ethiopian restaurant I've ever been to; Slim and I ordered three entrees, and each was spectacular. The derek tibs was the best I ever had with a crispness that I don't usually associate with Ethiopian, the berbere in the awaze tibs was very good. Tyler Cowen raves about the shiro, and it's definitely very good, though waterier than I'm used to. They take their time serving, and it's one of those places with baskets instead of tables, but we're definitely going back (still haven't tried the kitfo); it's likely kicked Meskerem out of my rotation permanently.

"What do you want for lunch today?" I asked Slim today, as we decided we were hungry on the way to Trader Joe's. "Chinese," she replied. Don't ask me how we ended up at Mirage Kabob and Sweets (Bailey's Crossroads), but I'm glad we did; excellent hummus and garlic yogurt, and the kebabs were very good, the chicken and ground-beef better than the beef.

(Price of three peppers at Harris Teeter: $8.97. Price at Trader Joe's: $3.59. Worth the extra seven miles of driving.)

...you get excited about a 1:30 panel because it has Heather Mac Donald and John Yoo talking about security issues, and don't notice until later that the "Law and Order" title is an oblique reference to the moderator, Fred Thompson.

If my TiVo was hooked up to broadband and I still played fantasy sports, this would be a nice feature.

"Let them eat cake."[fn111]

[FN111]. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy 647 (3d ed. 2002) (defining the meaning of "Let them eat cake" as a saying that shows insensitivity to or incomprehension of the realities of life for the unfortunate).

Elsewhere, Will Baude, on a Ted-Frank-linking frenzy, discusses footnotes.

If you look quickly before they change their minds, the front page of today's Washington Post Opinion section reads "David Broder, George Will, Ted Frank."

I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago for the BBC World's Analysis program that was broadcast today, with the clip available on-line for another week. I'm shortly after the 4:30 mark.

And, hey, another National Review Online op-ed.

Slim and I love that "Veronica Mars" is willing to make obscure references without explaining them. We've torn through the first twelve episodes of the Season 2 DVD in a desperate race to be up to speed a few weeks into Season 3. (Our one overly googly habit is to screech the Dandy Warhols' theme-song in falsetto at each other.)

But this season isn't as good as Season 1. About two thirds of the way through Episode 11, "Donut Run," we looked at each other and said "Shark jump!" Everyone is out of character, the scheme makes no sense (and requires placing a lot of trust in two characters who have never given any indication that they could be trusted for that sort of thing), and the show isn't being honest with viewers, a bad habit repeated in the next episode where the twist is that everyone was pulling off a sophisticated sting without the viewer knowing. (And, meanwhile, the FBI and police seem to have forgotten all about Veronica, who they were threatening with serious jail time the episode before.) I suppose the first season had a lot of arcs, also, but they all seemed related to the main arc; this one has four or so and none of them seem as urgent or interrelated.

Of course, if the show doesn't beat its 2.3 rating from last season, this will all be moot.

I'm glad they found "The Scream" (there were rumors it was destroyed as police came close to the trail of the thieves), but the real story here is that there exist dark chocolate M&M's and no one told me.

	August 2006	2006 YTD	Last 12 months	Annualized rate, life of portfolio
Ted Portfolio	3.8%	-0.7%	-7.3%	8.8%
S&P 500	2.4%	5.8%	8.9%	10.7%
Mortgage (cost of capital)	0.4%	3.5%	5.25%

New investments: Discovery Card (DISCA).