Here's something that gave me great joy about 25 years ago. I was a Trademark attorney in the USPTO and was assigned to review this two inch thick file that dated back to the middle of the Reagan administration. Turns out it was a Trademark application for the trademark "The Beatles," owned by Apple Corps. Ltd. Apparently, prosecution of the application had been suspended pending the McCartney vs. JohnGeorgeRingo litigation that went on for most of the '70's and 80's. But it was over at last, and Apple Corps. could finally have their Trademark to sell "Beatles" branded clocks, Christmas tree ornaments, whatever. The picture above is the resulting US Trademark Registration that is still in effect. Check out the name at the bottom of the Registration. I'm pretty sure you'd all agree that this means that I am, in fact, an official Beatle. Right? I mean, I don't see any other way to read it.
Category: The Jerk Store Called
Crawlin’ From the Wreckage
Last Saturday, November 26, 2011, this site was hacked by Kurds. That's right, Kurds. Now I've always been what you might call agnostic about the Kurds, but after this, well, you can just imagine.
Brenda and I were at the Newseum in D.C. with the Rathes and Leslie when Erin called to say that Sussmans.com was flying the Kurdish flag. When we got home I contacted my web host to report the hack. They checked the site and said that the whole thing was radioactive with viruses and malware. All they could do was wipe the server's hard drive and give me a new, empty website. It's going to take many weeks to get things back, but that only makes sense since I've been annoying folks with this website since 1996. Problem is that all of your beautiful posts and comments are now lost...like tears...in the rain...[Blade Runner reference]
UPDATE: Hey! I found a backup of part of the site. I think I can restore most of the posts and comments!
