## Those interesting moments

I suppose being a judge is not entirely dull if you get to write sentences like this:

Among the terms or epithets that have been held (all in the cases we’ve cited) to be incapable of defaming because they are mere hyperbole rather than falsifiable assertions of discreditable fact are “scab,” “traitor,” “amoral,” “scam,” “fake,” “phony,” “a snake-oil job,” “he’s dealing with half a deck,” and “lazy, stupid, crap-shooting, chicken-stealing idiot.”

That’s from a judgment against a crank — in Wisconsin anyway — who sued Underwood Dudley for calling him that. Oh, and as a hint — Dudley’s books about eccentric mathematics are good reads; abominably expensive, but good reads. Consult your local university library.

Then again, doctors have interesting moments in the lives, too:

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to describe 17 cases of colorectal foreign bodies introduced during sexual activity, gathered by the authors over the past twenty years (1980-2000), and to establish diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for these situations.

And mathematics-people? Well, this very week I came across a mention of a neat little test for divisibility by seven that I hadn’t heard before, so there. (Namely, the $n$-digit number $a_na_{n-1}\cdots a_1a_0$ is divisible by seven if and only if the difference $a_na_{n-1}\cdots a_1 - 2a_0$ is a number divisible by seven.)

Oh, NaNoWriMo at 8465/50 000 after 3/30 days. Not bad.