A Cold December 7 Pearl Harbor Day In Texas

It is the morning of the first Tuesday of the last month of 2010.

In a few hours, 69 years ago, on December 7, Japan did a very dumb thing which eventually brought utter destruction to Japan, occupation by America, democracy and baseball.

When Franklin Roosevelt made his war declaration address to Congress he opined that December 7 was a day that would live in infamy.

The infamy seems to have faded. Although there was mention made of Pearl Harbor veterans in the various online newspapers I looked at this morning.

Pearl Harbor day dawned barely above freezing in Texas this morning. It looks cold out there, looking out the window.

I'm ready to go to Hawaii for some tropical delights, like warm water and air. And mangoes. And a visit to Pearl Harbor.

Two for Tattuesday Saturday: Wanderful Love Under the Cherry Blossoms

In honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) , we're sharing this tattoo, which I spotted back in September:

This belongs to Rich, a musician and rap artist. He's a big Harry Potter fan, as exemplified by the magic wand. The snake at the base of the wand not only symbolizes infinity, it is a nod to Severus Snape, a character associated with the House of Slytherin, of which the serpent is the mascot.

The concept of the tattoo is exemplified by the music coming out of the wand, illustrating that sounds can be magical and that Rich is under music's spell.

The piece was inked by Chris at Lady Luck Tattoo Studio in Montville, Connecticut.

When I met Rich, he was sitting with his girlfriend in Penn Station. She introduced herself as Kytti, and asked if I wanted to see her tattoo.

But of course!

She actually has two tattoos, but lifted up her shirt to show me this beautiful design:

Kytti explained that this represents her and Rich together in Japan. They've been together for over a year and they'd both love to go there together and experience the culture. The tree is filled with cherry blossoms, a flower often associated with Japan.

Chris at Lady Luck also was the artist behind this tattoo.

Thanks to Rich and Kytti for sharing their magical and romantic tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Asian applications- an analysis

APAA, the Asian Patent Attorneys Association, held their Design Committee meeting in Jeju, Korea on 17th October under the joint chairmanship of Minako Mizuno and Peter Heathcote.  The meeting concentrated on practical issues of what can be filed as a design, and included whether:

• designs are available for separate component parts of products,
• designs are available for integral parts of products,
• designs are available for icons,
• multiple designs are available,
• sets are available,
• dashed lines can be used,
• statements of novelty are required.

 You can find the extremely detailed sets of responses from the official groups of Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam on APAA's 2010 website here.