Scene:   Snappy dozes at her laptop. Across the table, Bitey sips from a LavAzza cup. Slurps, really. Yet it doesn't wake Snappy. So Bitey clears his throat. Snappy straightens. She yawns.

Snappy:    Curse you. Can't you see. Can't you see my slumber. Your crudeness has chased it. Caught it. Made it depart. Dang. And why

Do you think of Chicago as an oil and gas town? Dallas, yes; Houston, for sure; New Orleans, uh-huh; maybe Bismarck, North Dakota (for the shale gas); and perhaps even New York (because of trading oil futures on the NYMEX).

Chicago? Meh.

But wait up. Today Judge Richard Posner wrote about oil and gas leases.

Blawgletter adores cases that involve energy — oil, gas, wind, sun, nuclear, electric, tidal, you name it. We tried one last May in Texas and another last month in Louisiana — and look forward to trying a Great Many others, within Texas and without.

Which made us smile today at Judge Posner's opinion yesterday in