Sure. They're illegal in Los Angeles, and for good reason. You don't mess around with brushfires in LA.

*And* that she doesn't have any useful skills to speak of; she's the sort of person who'll end up sitting in front of a computer reading and sending useless memos all day.

I'd bet a nickel that she ends up working for the government.

Merriwhether said her son knew why he was being arrested, but didn't know that what he was doing was against the law.

Translation: "Merriwhether said that her son was a *@#$%&# idiot."

During an initial court appearance Monday, Judge Morton Denlow set Carter's bond at $4,500 and put him under the supervision of his mother. He was instructed to not use any broadcasting devices.

Interesting. So he can't use wifi? I wonder what the judge's order actually said.

This isn't exactly Pump Up the Volume, frankly. Interfering with transit operations is a pretty dumb and dangerous thing to do (though I might be a bit paranoid given that I'm a Boston resident). Glad they got the guy.

Nah. One can be clever without being smart; consider a person who possesses a superficial wit, an aptitude for puns, and a tendency to pull clumsy yet effective pranks. Alternatively, consider a person who always manages to land on his feet, can bafflegab his way out of any situation, and who manages to survive no matter what gaffes he commits. Such people may not be terribly bright, but they *are* clever.

Feynman was clever and smart. Noam Chomsky is smart (just going by his work on linguistics and leaving politics aside) but not particularly clever. Lots of politicians are clever but not smart--I'd put both W Bush and Sarah Palin in this category. (No doubt there are Democrats too, but I can't think of any at the moment. Biden, maybe, but I don't think he's particularly clever. Barney Frank?)

What purpose does electronic submission serve?

Several.

First off, electronic submission provides an automatic backup. You can't destroy an electronically-submitted manuscript by spilling tea or wine on it, nor can your cats attack it, nor can you misplace it. If it's on the website, you can always print off another copy.

Second, an electronic submission system can be set up to provide timestamps. Almost every semester, I get late papers from students who swear up and down that they/their friend/their significant other dropped off their paper before the deadline, and it must simply have been lost/misfiled/stolen/whatever, and it's not their fault. Doesn't matter if you insist in the syllabus (and in class) that late papers are late papers and no excuses will be entertained; you'll still have to deal with the whining. Timestamping eliminates all that. Sure, they can still claim that the website was down or some such thing, but this is usually independently verifiable (and anyway you can always have students email the paper to you).

Third, electronic editing is not all that cumbersome. I can type a lot faster than I can handwrite, so I can get through the papers faster. Moreover, I often have to make essentially the same comment on multiple papers, and it's tedious to write it out over and over again.

Finally, electronic submission (and editing, to a degree) are becoming standard, at least in the world of academic publishing. They might as well get used to it.

I use this strategy on a regular basis, and it *usually* works. A few companies (Publishers' Clearing House, some singles company) simply will not give up, and it's very hard to get rid of mail addressed to "Resident." The Mail Preference Service also helps reduce the flow of junk.