Black Shoes with White Socks

Manslaughter Charges in Italy for What Turned Out to Be an Inaccurate Statement About an Earthquake

2011-09-27T03:00:00.000-04:00

This story:
http://n.pr/p156H7
on NPR is worth a read, about Italian scientists who thought that an earthquake wouldn't occur, said so, and are now on trial for manslaughter, which, in Italy, can attract a twelve year prison sentence.

On Fixing Your Privacy Settings so Randoms Can't See Your Posts

2011-09-25T22:12:00.002-04:00

This link:
http://bit.ly/qeZ8de
is a useful article on changing your Facebook privacy settings so random people on the Internet who happen to be friends of one of your friends can't see posts on *your* profile.
Strangely, I think this ticker is very similar to the news feed that people got very upset about a couple of years ago. I think that our feelings about privacy may have evolved. My friend Jen posted this first.

2011-09-12T20:26:00.001-04:00

There's a good NPR piece on Bill Monroe -- the Father of Bluegrass -- see:
http://n.pr/rkurYz

Song about No Lawyers in Heaven

2011-09-03T05:00:00.000-04:00

Last night I heard a cute song on the radio, entitled "No Lawyers in Heaven" by You'll need iTunes to hear the song. If you don't, Amazon can play you a shorter clip.

CDC Has a Sense of Humor

2011-07-23T17:34:00.000-04:00

I was going through draft blog posts and discovered this missing one from awhile back -- so I'm going to post it.

Someone at the CDC had a sense of humor and decided to do a blog post about surviving a zombie attack -- the tips are also applicable if there is a natural disaster. (Thanks to Rene for the link)
See:
http://bit.ly/jTGqGi
Among the tips:
Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance! This is also helpful when natural disasters strike and you have to take shelter fast.
Also, did you know that you can kill zombies by shooting them in the head? There's a song to drive the point home.
http://bit.ly/lpvIjL

University of Texas at Austin's Reading List and a Recommendation of My Own

2011-07-17T19:27:00.001-04:00

I've made a tradition of, every year, posting a link to the University of Texas at Austin's summer reading list for ideas for reading material over the summer. I'll add one of my own: North Star Over My Shoulder, by Bob Buck. It's a good autobiography by Bob Buck, who flew for TWA for many years. It's well written, and he explains the technical items to you, so you don't have to know all the technical terms. It explains how they navigated in the days before LORAN and GPS -- they did it by the stars. Imagine trying to land at Midway Island, flying from Alaska, just using the stars to navigate. Quite tricky, I think.

Sailing Can Be Fatal

2011-06-25T18:36:00.002-04:00

I came across a blurb about this in the Post, but this article has more details (the Annapolis press is following it more closely). Essentially, a teenager was out over the side of the boat in a rope "trapeze" to counter the weight/wind's effect on the boat as she was sailing. The boat capsized, and she apparently became entangled in the trapeze and drowned because she was stuck below the surface. Awful.

I used to sail when I was younger and one time was in a trapeze in this type of boat. It never occurred to me that I could become entangled in the trapeze and die. Scary stuff.

NPR is Not Boring

2011-06-20T22:37:00.000-04:00

For those of you who think NPR is boring:
There have recently been pieces on:
The meaning of Bohemian Rhapsody.
and how Lazy Sunday (recall: seeing Chronicles of Narnia on the Upper West Side, and the debate about which Internet mapping system is the best) rose to fame.

Choral Reunions

2011-05-19T18:46:00.000-04:00

There was an article in the Times about a group of former choral students from PS 86 who had a ten-year-reunion. It got me thinking about my choral/band days.

Whenever a song I sang in chorus comes up on the radio (or on my iTunes playlist), I think back to singing it back in the day. Of particular note, I remember singing Billy Joel's "And So It Goes" in the wing between Mr. R's office and the main high school hallway. Ms. K. thought the acoustics were better there. It's hard to believe that this was over ten years ago.

See:
http://nyti.ms/lcqraJ
for the article.

Free Legal Research Tool For iOS

2011-04-18T17:00:00.001-04:00

Fastcase, whom I had not heard of before, has a free legal research app available if you use an iOS device. The download is free, and you can do whatever research you'd like it. It would be handy for doing research on the fly, if, like me, you do not have access to Westlaw/LexisNexis.

See:
http://bit.ly/eTh5VH

On Whipping Out the Mobile Phone When Someone Else Is Talking To You

2011-04-17T21:33:00.002-04:00

I was talking with someone the other day about how people tend to whip out their mobile phones in the middle of meetings and start texting/checking email/doing something other than paying attention to the meeting. I think this is pretty rude, but it seems to be a way of life for some people.
This article in the Times discusses it.
http://nyti.ms/f47V3K

iPods/iPads/iPhones Not Good About Playing Nicely on Wireless Networks

2011-03-27T12:30:00.000-04:00

Princeton University has a nice article on their Network Systems website that, in plain language, explains why an iPod does not play nicely on their network (or other networks too). I'm disappointed that Apple has not fixed this, because it really is not good behavior.
In the process, they also explain how a typical wireless network (and often a wired network) works. It's good reading, and helps to explain why one sometimes encounters wireless networks that just don't seem to work properly. Often, I'm suspicious it is because the wireless network has run out of "leases" (connections) for new users.
Besides explaining this, it is useful for anyone with a wireless network to understand the principles of how it works for troubleshooting.
See:
http://bit.ly/ejy0hw

Hiking with a Random Dog

2011-03-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

Random dog that followed us hiking.

Right now I am TDY* to Huntsville and have been for about a month. Sunday, after the torrential rains we had Saturday, I decided to go on a hike with a colleague at Monte Sano State Park. The park was really nice, it has a lot of buildings built by the Civilian Conservation Corps back before World War II. The neatest thing was how a dog decided that my colleague and I made for more interesting hiking companions than its owners, and took off with us for about three quarters of a mile as we started to hike around the mile. Eventually, its owner came over and retrieved it, but I was beginning to wonder what would happen if the owner was not there when we got back to the car, and whether I was going to have to figure out how to smuggle a dog into the University of Alabama in Huntsville's housing. It was a nice hike, though, even if it was a bit muddy and cut short because of time.
* TDY, for non-Army readers of this blog, means temporary duty (or, in normal English, a business trip). It is sometimes used like a verb.

Danu (Irish Music Group) to Perform at GMU

2011-03-05T16:44:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite Irish music groups, Danu, is going to be performing at George Mason University on 18 March. I'm not sure if I'm going to go, but the video that they have up is really good. Right about 1:16 is where they get awesome.
See the link below:
http://bit.ly/hhSDwb

A Female Recipient of the Silver Star

2011-02-22T22:37:00.000-05:00

This morning, while running around UAH's campus, I heard a pretty powerful story on Leigh Ann Hester, who earned a Silver Star for her actions in Iraq.

See:

http://n.pr/gw8tL7

Senior Citizens Checking up On College Student Athlete Attendance

2011-02-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Thomas sent me an article on senior citizens that check up on student athlete attendance at the University of Kansas. See:

http://on.wsj.com/hQLx8d

Judge Posner and the Bluebook (and How He Does Not Use It)

2011-01-27T21:27:00.001-05:00

Judge Posner recently published an article in the Yale Law Journal on the Bluebook (a legal citation manual) and how he does not use use it for his citation. He explains why he does not and makes some valid points about it. For those of you who had to deal with this in law school (or still deal with it), you might appreciate this article.
See:
http://bit.ly/fbXqaO

A Hawk Inside the Library of Congress

2011-01-22T09:54:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday, there was a hawk inside the Library of Congress' Main Reading Room.
See:
http://bit.ly/gUYidX
The post is pretty funny; the author obviously has a sense of humor. Thanks to Jesse for finding this.

For in the Inner Geographer or Geologist in Us All

2011-01-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Observatory has come out with a really neat app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad called EarthObserver. It's currently free. It can display rock formation information, USGS (United States Geologic Survey) maps, and tons of other information which I have not even scratched the surface of.
See:
http://www.earth-observer.org/ for more on this excellent app.

Powerful Story on Flooding in Australia

2011-01-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

Weekend Edition Saturday had a very powerful story on the flooding in Australia.

See:

http://n.pr/dJKRTt

There is a transcript as well.

I'll add that Scott Simon and the interviewee, Richard Glover, a reporter for ABC need to stop meeting like they do (the last time they spoke was about the wildfires in Australia). (And ABC is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the United States' network)

Very Depressing Article in the Times on the Legal Job Market

2011-01-09T21:59:00.001-05:00

There was an article in the Times yesterday on law schools, debt, and the awful state of the legal job market. It's something anyone considering attending law school should read. Very carefully.
See:
http://bit.ly/g3taZO

Good A Capella Arrangement of Let It Snow

2010-12-03T17:00:00.004-05:00

I was listening to the radio recently and heard an a capella arrangement of Let It Snow by Ricochet. They have a music video here. Ricochet is a country music group, but you shouldn't write them off because of that. The arrangement is a capella and is quite good (and there really isn't much country in it). I'm surprised it hasn't attracted my attention before, since it's a relatively old song (from 1996).

Article About Hanukkah

2010-12-02T21:09:00.000-05:00

There was a good article that talks about Hanukkah in the Times recently.

Items You Mark as "Private" on Facebook Could be Discoverable if Someone Sues You

2010-11-29T19:13:00.024-05:00

The Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board discussed Facebook/MySpace and how two trial courts -- in New York and Pennsylvania -- have issued orders compelling parties to turn over their Facebook/MySpace passwords.
Here are links to the New York and Pennsylvania cases.
In these cases, I'll concede that the parties foolishly posted information relevant to their cases on the social networking site. Nonetheless, I am not sure I agree with the two judge's decisions. Just because the privacy policies of both these sites say that the information can be disclosed pursuant to a court order does not give a court carte blanche to grant someone access to someone's Facebook or MySpace profile. While people can choose to make information public on social network sites, they also might store personal information as well. In some ways, these sites are similar to any email provider. Gmail's privacy policy says something quite similar about disclosure.
The moral of this story, though, is that people should be very careful with what they post on MySpace or Facebook.

Scrabble-esque Game

2010-11-23T21:34:00.000-05:00

If you're bored over Thanksgiving, there's a Scrabble-esque game to keep you busy.
See:
http://wordsquared.com/
Mozilla (the company that runs Firefox) runs the website, I think.

On Men in the Army

2010-11-22T21:44:00.001-05:00

The New York Times had an article about what men in the Army (no women mentioned in the article) do in their spare time. It sounds slightly cliche, but I admire what they do. See: http://nyti.ms/gQmbiX.

Neat Song by Sara Bareilles

2010-11-08T23:17:00.001-05:00

Thomas pointed me to this song (King of Anything) by Sara Bareilles.
The tune is catchy, the lyrics are creative, and the video is well done.
See:
http://bit.ly/cvRxBo

Vampire Killing Under Federal Contract

2010-10-31T00:01:00.006-04:00

I wonder if this company (which I saw through Ryan's Facebook) is listed in the Central Contractor Registry. And if it is, could I do a sole source justification under Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1? There can't be that many companies that do vampire killing

A Unique Motion for a Continuance

2010-10-30T08:00:00.002-04:00

My brother passed me this motion for a continuance, which, in part, states:

Since 1972, when Darrell was but a lad of thirteen, he has been a fan of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club (hereinafter referred to as "Rangers").

You should read the whole thing as well as the footnotes, which are also very funny.

Here's a link.

http://scr.bi/bknjDF

Story on NPR About Maglites and How They Are Still Made in the USA

2010-09-29T05:27:00.001-04:00

There was a story on NPR this morning about Maglites and how they are still made in the United States.
Besides the fact that they are virtually indestructible, it's also nice that I can support American industry when I buy flashlights.
See:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130197557

On Not Lobstering on Yom Kippur

2010-09-19T09:00:00.006-04:00

There was an article in yesterday's New York Times, here:
http://nyti.ms/bmWrSy
about a Jewish lobsterman and how he fits in with the culture of Deer Isle, Maine. As you might guess, Deer Isle does not have many Jewish people. He talks about that, but also talks about how lobstering, in it's own way, fits into the Jewish tradition.

On Dreams

2010-09-09T09:30:00.003-04:00

There was an article in the Science section of the New York Times about how dreams appear two ways. First, they might appear as the result of a day's emotional events. Second, though, there is almost a "rerun" effect. They'll "play," if that's the right word, a week or so later. Here's a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/07really.html?ref=science

Technology in the National Parks Leads People into Trouble

2010-08-24T21:56:00.000-04:00

There was an article in the Times a few days ago about how people rely on technology too much in National Parks and get themselves into trouble. Part of it, I think, is that when people use the technology, they discard common sense.
When I hike, even in a park with some mobile phone service (Shenandoah), I don't rely on it to get me out of trouble. I don't hike alone and I expect that I should be prepared to not be able to get help immediately via cell phone if there is an accident. Someone who hikes in a park out west and expects to have mobile phone service is asking for trouble. Someone who decides to record himself as he gets close to a bison is asking for even more trouble.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/science/earth/22parks.html is the link.

Useful iPod Touch/iPhone App to Find Out When Trains are Coming

2010-08-21T10:00:00.002-04:00

I've played around with an iPod Touch/iPhone App which lets you know when the next D.C. Metro train is coming. It's free at:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dc-rider/id382298536?mt=8

Spinach and Parmesan Cheese Omelette

2010-08-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

I've cooked an omelet using this recipe from the Times a couple of times over the past few week and it's come out well. It's easy to make, and doesn't require ingredients that I don't already have in the kitchen. I cheat and use frozen spinach. I'll bet fresh spinach would taste better.

Dave Matthews Band on NPR

2010-08-14T10:21:00.000-04:00

I was surprised this morning to hear Ants Marching on Weekend Edition. Turns out, DMB recently came out with a new album. You can see the story and listen to audio from it here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129182690

Law School Transfer Admissions - Sometimes an Applicant's Current School Holds the Applicant Hostage

2010-07-12T01:00:00.012-04:00

This blog post talks about some subtle and not-so-subtle ways that law schools try to prevent students from transferring. An example of a subtle way: the dean writing the no-disciplinary letter might delay performing the task. An example of a less-subtle way: the dean tries to dissuade the student from transferring. An even less-subtle way: students requesting to transfer are asked to waive their right to participate on law review to get information released. And, if it's true, a pretty outrageous method: a school will not release a student's transcript until the student pays the next semester's tuition bill. I wonder if the last two methods are even legal under FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which provides a right of access to records.
There are other techniques in the blog entry which I do not post here.
I have a tag for Penn State Dickinson which I sometimes use on my blog entries, but I'm not going to here. I hope they don't engage in any of these practices

Two Articles on the Census -- One Serious, One Funny

2010-07-10T10:10:00.000-04:00

The police in Hawaii arrested a census worker for trespassing on someone's property to give a census form. Admittedly, when asked to leave, he did not, but I think that he could remain on the property for at least a short while to explain about the Census. He had the right -- under federal law -- to be there. Now, the Assistant United States Attorney is defending him -- as they should.

The other article is funny, it talks about a reporter who did the follow-up survey with people who did not return their forms for the Census and talked about some of the responses he got.

I liked reading both these articles. In some ways, both people's experiences were not unlike my time working for the Census (well, except the getting arrested for trespassing part). But what I like the most about working for the Census last year is that whenever I go running/walking around Silver Spring, practically no matter which direction I leave my apartment, I know that I helped to count the people that live around me. And that, I think, is pretty cool.

Summer Reading from the University of Texas at Austin

2010-07-01T21:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a list of suggested summer reading from the University of Texas at Austin.

A Loss for Oyster Bay/East Norwich - Severely Curtailed Summer Community Band Concerts

2010-06-26T16:14:00.002-04:00

People who will understand this post the most are people who grew up with me in Oyster Bay/East Norwich, but for those of you who didn't, my school district has a tradition of over fifty years of having a community band. This provided students (including my brother and me) with the opportunity to play music at free summer evening concerts over the summer. It allowed students to play a variety of music, and to perform with other musicians from around Long Island. While the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District School Board sponsored the concerts in the past, although they increased the budget this year, this article says they were unable to find the money to sponsor the concerts. This is a disappointment and a true loss to Oyster Bay/East Norwich.

Artificially Raising Law School Grades

2010-06-23T22:04:00.000-04:00

I read this article in the New York Times about how Loyola Law School Los Angeles has decided to add .333 points to each student's GPA to make each student more competitive on the job market. This will be done retroactively. While, to some extent, I sympathize with the law school and the students (the legal job market is not good right now), I do not think that this is the right way to go about doing it. First, a grade is a measure of performance, and if one artificially raises it, that measure of performance is severely damaged if not destroyed. Second, for Loyola Law School Los Angeles, after this New York Times article, I do not think that anyone will respect their students' transcripts ever again.
I hope Dickinson doesn't do this. The grade earned should be the one on the transcript.

Goodbye to Law & Order

2010-05-21T16:35:00.000-04:00

My brother passed me this article, and I thought I'd post it to my blog. It's nice that Law & Order was such a lifeblood to actors who otherwise might not have been able to make ends meet. What the article doesn't mention, is that it also gave law students an excuse to watch television. I used to rationalize watching Law & Order by saying it was "educational."

What Baseball Is

2010-05-04T21:36:00.003-04:00

Thomas pointed me to this blog entry which quotes a speech given by Ernie Harwell, who died today.
Update: NPR also did a story on him.

Hitting Your Client with a Baseball Bat? Probably an Ethical Violation

2010-04-24T10:00:00.002-04:00

See this blog entry, in which the author analyzes many of the applicable ethical rules that an attorney who tried to smite his client with a baseball bat violated. I think this may be the first blog entry in which I used the word "smite."

Miners in West Virginia

2010-04-16T08:24:00.000-04:00

There is a good interview on NPR with an attorney about the miners in West Virginia. There is a StoryCorps recording as well, which was good.

E-Acceptances for Colleges

2010-03-31T22:21:00.000-04:00

There was a piece on NPR on how e-acceptances (or rejections) are now in vogue. This is good, so long as schools don't mess up and display the wrong decision online (as Cornell did). They've definitely come a long way from when I was applying to school, when they (gasp) sent out letters.

Getting the Precise Time

2010-03-14T15:33:00.000-04:00

With daylight savings time coming into effect this weekend, I thought I would post two websites about getting the exact time. This website will give you the precise time in every U.S. time zone. This website, on the other hand, will give you a more visually attractive clock, but won't show you the time in the U.S. It will show you Coordinated Universal Time (a/k/a Greenwich Mean Time), which is either five or four hours ahead of Eastern Time in the U.S., depending on whether you are on standard or daylight savings time.
Of course, if your computer is running Windows XP or above, or Mac OS X.4.x (Tiger) (and maybe even an earlier version of OS X, I'm not sure) or above, your computer is synced with a time server as well, so you can use your computer to set the exact time.

Washington Monument and Why the Color Changes

2010-03-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

At this link, there is a detailed explanation of why the Washington Monument's color changes. The story doesn't start out talking about that, but if you search on obelisk, you'll see where it starts talking about the Washington Monument.

NBC Spends More Time on Commercials Than On Actual Sports Action

2010-02-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

See this article from the Wall Street Journal.

Abbey Road Studio is Up For Sale

2010-02-17T21:37:00.000-05:00

According to this article, the Abbey Road studio is up for sale, but people are trying to save it. Maybe they can turn it into a museum?
I do sympathize with drivers who complain about it, though. Tourists posing in the crosswalk must be annoying.

On What Constitutes Fair Use

2010-02-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the intellectual property theme, I heard this discussion of fair use on NPR yesterday.

Olympics and Trademarks

2010-02-13T16:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (but not today), Google had the Olympic rings on its home page. Unfortunately for Google, the Olympic rings are protected by law. The law provides that no one but the United States Olympic Committee has the right to use the Olympic rings for "for the purpose of trade [or] to induce the sale of any goods or services..." Even if Google is not selling anything, I think that they are definitely using it for the purpose of trade. If you put aside the commercialization of the Olympics, keep in mind that corporations like Visa probably pay lots of money to use the Olympic rings in their logos. It's not right for Google to use the Olympic rings on its page without paying.
As an aside, I like the logos that Google is using, because of all the blue and the nice artistic syling. It's different from what they did for Beijing and Torino.

Snowed In? You can watch National Parks: America's Best Idea

2010-02-11T10:26:00.001-05:00

If you're snowed in, PBS' The National Parks: America's Best Idea are posted online. Some have full episodes available.

Blizzard in Washington, D.C.

2010-02-10T19:30:00.003-05:00

Today I went out in the blizzard in Silver Spring, Maryland. I could see, by going outside, how pioneers on the prairies could get lost in the blizzard and not be able to find the town. Without roads and buildings to frame my reference, I could have gotten disoriented, because I could not see more than a block (and a short block at that). I had a warm building to retreat to, and didn't have to try to pitch a tent in this weather, or try to start a campfire (which would have probably been impossible).
National Public Radio apparently had the same idea I did. NPR read some quotes from literature, including one by Laura Ingalls Wilder (best known for Little House on the Prairie/Little House in the Big Woods) from her book The Long Winter.
In searching NPR, I also came across this article which talks about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her life after the events portrayed in the Little House books. If you read her books, it is an interesting read.

Helmets at Ski Resorts

2010-01-30T17:12:00.000-05:00

Saw this article in the Times about how helmets are becoming more widespread at ski resorts. When I was starting to ski in the boy scouts in the mid 1990s, no one even thought to wear a helmet. Even when I went skiing a few years ago, I don't remember seeing that many people wearing helmets. Now, I wonder how people think about helmets with skiing, and whether they are going to become more widespread.
At the same time, though, as one person in the article points out, if you're speeding down a ski slope and crash into a tree, the helmet is not going to do much good.

Poor Choice of Hold Music

2009-12-21T12:16:00.000-05:00

Someone my brother knows was on hold with Delta trying to reschedule her flight this past weekend. Her original flight was canceled because of the snow. Delta's choice for hold music? "Let it Snow."

Free Christmas Album on iTunes

2009-12-13T17:08:00.000-05:00

iTunes has a free Christmas album available. See this link. The song that I like the best is Auld Lange Syne by The Lonesome Traveler Band. It's a bluegrass version, but I think it is well done. I'm not sure whether the link will expire on Tuesday, as sometimes Apple only posts free songs for one week.

If I Were Westlaw/LexisNexis, I would be very afraid

2009-11-17T21:54:00.001-05:00

Google Scholar now has searchable legal opinions. They're not that comprehensive right now, but they have a primitive equivalent of Keyciting/Shephardizing.

Update:
Here's a link to Google's blog entry.

Free Admission to National Parks on Veterans Day

2009-11-07T08:33:00.001-05:00

There is free admission to National Parks (and National Forests) on Veterans Day. See:
http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=8379

Cross Country Uniforms

2009-11-01T21:31:00.000-05:00

As a former high school cross country runner (and I remember we were only allowed to wear white T-shirts in addition to our uniforms), I can relate to this article. Someone in my high school wore a different colored hair band and was disqualified. While on the one hand, rules are rules, I'm not entirely sure what the point of the rule is. I mean, so long as one team isn't trying to disguise itself as another team, I don't see why there can't be a slight variation in uniforms.

A Hunch May Be Worth Listening To

2009-10-12T21:29:00.000-04:00

According to this piece from the University of Florida, a hunch is worth listening to. One of my professors at law school said that if you were talking to a client and something seemed off, it probably was.

Google Document Viewer

2009-09-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

If you're on the Internet and don't want to wait to power up Acrobat reader, try Google Document Viewer on for size.
It can also create links for blogs. For example, IRS Publication 17.

Sons of Bill: A Generous Band

2009-09-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

Sons of Bill, whom I have mentioned before, is an incredibly generous band. They posted a whole show of songs on their website to download. Free. This is aside from the fact that they are also good musically.

Time Dollar Youth Court

2009-09-20T09:58:00.000-04:00

Here is a good video on Time Dollar Youth Court, which one of my friends works at. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqp8MzJzm4M

End of Reading Rainbow

2009-08-29T09:00:00.002-04:00

I heard on NPR yesterday that Reading Rainbow is going off the air because no one wants to fund it. That's unfortunate. There's also an article on the Wall Street Journal's website.

Skyline Drive History

2009-08-25T18:56:00.001-04:00

For anyone in the Maryland Outdoor Club reading this (or anyone else for that matter!), here's a link to a historical site on Skyline Drive. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, that's the road that traverses Shenandoah National Park. There's a picture on the National Park Service's website of what looks like the same overlook that I stopped at last fall and took pictures at. I'm looking forward to the fall.

Paying Attention on the Taconic Parkway

2009-08-19T19:00:00.003-04:00

I read an article in the Times on the Taconic Parkway the other day and agreed with many of the points made. The Taconic definitely requires attention when driving it. The lanes are thin, and there is not much space between the shoulder and the center guard rail. It's kind of like the section of the George Washington Memorial Parkway between I-395 and where it starts to climb up away from the Potomac.

Another thing to pay attention to on the Taconic Parkway is your speed. The New York State Police love that road.

Still More on United Breaks Guitars

2009-08-16T15:00:00.002-04:00

Here is an update to my two posts on United Breaking Guitars. According to this blog post, the musician packed his guitar for transit in a soft case. Also, to protect themselves against future mishaps, United now makes you sign a waiver before you ship your guitar with them. While I agree it would have been nicer if they had been more careful with the guitar, Dave Carroll (the musician) did not help matters when he packed his guitar in a soft case.

Dickinson Law Library History

2009-08-15T08:40:00.002-04:00

For those of you DSLers out there reading, Penn State's libraries posted an article by Mark Podvia about the history of Dickinson's library. I liked, especially, the discussion of the tobacco chewers trying to aim for a hole in the floor.

A Drive-In Movie Theatre Near Carlisle That I Missed

2009-08-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

There was a story on NPR about the Cumberland Drive-In in Newville. I never made it there during law school. There's also an MP3 download of the story available.

The Recording Industry and Its Future

2009-08-08T16:58:00.000-04:00

There was an article in the Times (thanks Matt) about the future of the recording industry. The statement by the article about the amount of music that people are streaming instead of listening to online surprised me. I guess, with Myspace, and how it allows people to stream music, I should not find this that surprising. But, on the other hand, you can't listen to streamed music on an iPod.

What did not surprise me as much was how people hardly bought CDs anymore. I've bought a few CDs this year, but then, I think only from bands that I saw perform in person. I did this partially to support the band, because I figured I was cutting out middle men.

There are very few CDs that I've purchased (even from bands) where I've liked a lot of the songs on them. The two that I can think of right now are a promotional CD that was put out by a Newfoundland supermarket chain to celebrate the 500th anniversary of John Cabot discovering Newfoundland and Heroes by Paul Overstreet.

Update on United Breaking Guitars

2009-07-25T09:46:00.001-04:00

United donated $3,000 to the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz on behalf of David Carroll, who said they broke his instrument in transit. This article has more details, and also talks about the power of the Internet in getting a response from a company.

Summer Reading Ideas

2009-07-22T22:07:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to some summer reading ideas from the University of Texas at Austin.

An MTV Style Video about United Breaking Guitars

2009-07-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

A musician produced this video after he tried and failed to get United to reimburse him for a broken guitar.

Metro and its Train Problems

2009-07-03T21:45:00.005-04:00

As details continue to come out about Metro and its train problems, it's becoming clear to me that Metro is not careful enough with passenger safety.

This article says that Metro believes that the defect in the train circuitry would have been "impossible" to detect. I beg to differ. While perhaps someone staring at the screen might not notice something, one of the advantages of having a computer monitoring things is that you can use the computer to stare at the screen (or watch for strange things happening). What the computer should have been programmed to notice is a train suddenly disappearing. Even on Metro, trains don't mysteriously disappear. They move into the next signal block further down the line. If a train disappears without moving into the next signal block down the line, then that, to me, signifies a Problem. The computer should have been programmed to notice disappearing trains and report them.

BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) had the same problem. Rene posted to Twitter about this.

MLB.com Article by Thomas

2009-06-27T11:45:00.001-04:00

My brother did an article on the Yankees for MLB.com

Chicken and Corn Fried Rice with Lemon Spinach

2009-05-25T19:27:00.000-04:00

I saw this recipe awhile ago on NPR's website. I've cooked it twice and it's tasted pretty good. I've altered the recipe a bit, though. I used lemon juice from a bottle, used frozen spinach, used garlic powder instead of minced garlic and omitted the ginger -- ginger is expensive.

Cracking Down on Downloading Music Illegally In France

2009-05-16T17:00:00.000-04:00

I heard this piece on Marketplace the other day on downloading music illegally in France. While I think it's important that artists' rights are protected, I'm not entirely sure that I agree with the method that France is using. Summarily disconnecting someone from the Internet, without a court order, strikes me as a little bit draconian. The idea of monitoring someone's Internet use without a court order also strikes me as a little bit creepy. Comments?

Bank of America and the Ransom

2009-05-10T21:42:00.001-04:00

I got a brochure from Bank of America about their pricing changes, and I learned that if you want to transfer an IRA to another financial institution, they will charge you $50 (!) to do so. They shouldn't hold someone's retirement savings for ransom. Here's a link (to a PDF) for it. You should probably transfer the funds out of a Bank of America IRA before 5 June, when the pricing changes go into effect.

Hiking Across Maryland

2009-05-07T22:23:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I hiked forty-one miles across Maryland in the Hike Across Maryland. We started at 5:20 a.m., when a school bus disgorged us at the start of the trail. After a rock scramble at 6:30 a.m., I was at the second checkpoint (and had hiked 5 miles) by 6:57 a.m. According to the statistics, of the people that finished this hike, I placed in the first quarter. I was hoping to finish faster than I did (11 hours and 49 minutes), but I'm still pleased.
I've posted pictures to Flickr. It's definitely an experience I won't forget.

Trademarks and March Madness

2009-04-07T18:40:00.000-04:00

Although it is after March Madness, I wanted to post about this story on NPR the other day about how aggressively the NCAA and its attorneys pursue trademark infringement relating to March Madness. Unfortunately, it looks like you'll have to listen to the audio to get the whole thing. From my conversations with someone who knows a lot more about trademark law than I do, I can understand why they are so aggressive about it.

An April Fool's Joke on an Ant

2009-04-02T22:24:00.000-04:00

This NPR story is funny, although I feel slightly bad for the ant.

A Public Service Announcement About Tornadoes

2009-03-29T19:45:00.000-04:00

I was talking to a friend who was near a tornado, and when I advised him to get underneath an overpass, he told me that the radio had told him not to. He was right, although the misperception is pretty widespread. This website from NOAA has a lot of information on why an overpass is not the place to be in a tornado.

On User Notifications in Browsers

2009-03-24T22:20:00.000-04:00

One of the designers of Firefox did an interesting post on just how well-designed software should interact with the user. It's interesting to see how things that I really don't give much thought to in Firefox or Internet Explorer have quite a bit of thought put into them. It helps explain why Clippy was not the success that Microsoft wanted him (it?) to be. The discussion of their prototype for a new tab page is neat. It's pretty neat to see how far Internet browsers have come in the last few years.

Harmonious Blacksmith

2009-03-16T21:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I went to the National Gallery of Art's free concert series to see a performance by Harmonious Blacksmith, who played renaissance and baroque music. They were quite good. Afterwards, I discovered that they had free mp3s on their website.

Black Bean Soup

2009-03-15T21:07:00.000-04:00

I made black bean soup following this recipe from the Times, and it came out quite well (even though I omitted the salt). Cilantro was the only ingredient I was not familiar with, and it was found alongside the parsley and lettuce in the vegetable section. It was $.99 for a bunch, so relatively inexpensive. Just be careful not to let the beans scorch, you have to stir it somewhat often.

Funny Trial Techniques Article in the ABA Magazine

2009-03-12T17:59:00.006-04:00

There's a funny article in this month's ABA magazine about trial techniques, and how an attorney has won cases by using some unorthodox methods. There is not much legalese in it, so it should be funny even for a non-lawyer. Be forwarned, the article does contain profanity. Here is a link.

Quieting Title to a Copy of the Declaration of Independence

2009-03-10T19:45:00.006-04:00

There was an interesting post on Boston 1775 (a blog I read) about a Virginia Supreme Court case that involved a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was stored in the attic of a house in Maine. It looks like Maine's attorney, by not preserving issues for appeal, lost out on arguing a number of things before the Virginia Supreme Court.

Zealous Representation: What Does It Mean?

2009-03-05T19:30:00.001-05:00

There was an interesting article in the Times today about a Manhattan assistant district attorney who intentionally lost a case where he did not believe in the conviction. According to the Times article, the responsible court agency (which I presume is the First Department Disciplinary Committee) chose not to purse a case against Mr. Bibb. The case raised the question of what zealous representation means when one is a district attorney.

Country Music Song About the Economy

2009-03-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

A country music singer, John Rich, who, according to Wikipedia, used to play in the country music band Lonestar, has come up with a song about the current economic situation. While I don't think it's ever going to gain the same historical traction as some of Woody Guthrie's songs, I do think the song is pretty good. His website has a streaming version of it.

Another country music song that discusses economics is Cafe Down on the Corner by Sawyer Brown. That's much older.

Handy Things the IRS Can Do For You

2009-02-28T09:00:00.001-05:00

By calling one toll-free number:
800–829–1040, you can get answers to your tax questions, order free publications and order transcripts of information you entered on previous tax returns. All of these services are free.

With regard to publications, may I suggest Publication 17, both for its utility in answering tax questions and helping you fall asleep.

The automated system for getting transcripts will ask you for your address, so I'm not sure how it will react if you want things sent to a new address because you've moved. In any case, though, the phone system is quite efficient, and you can order multiple transcripts with one phone call.
See:
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0,,id=199557,00.html

Status Page for Google's Cloud Applications

2009-02-26T18:45:00.004-05:00

Google has set up a status page for its applications (like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk, etc.)
See:
http://www.google.com/appsstatus
They really ought to have had such a status page since the beginning of Gmail, but I suppose late is better than never.

Poached Salmon

2009-02-22T20:30:00.006-05:00

Yesterday and tonight I poached salmon fillets for dinner. To make this, I did the following:
1. Took a frying pan and put a little bit of water into the bottom of it.
2. Brought this water to a boil.
3. Put the salmon in the water and covered it with a lid.
4. Waited until the salmon was done (flaked easily with a fork and was light pink).
I also made a side dish of pasta (small pasta works better, like orzo if you have it or elbow macaroni), and served it with lemon juice, which you can pour right over the fish and the pasta.
You could also, I suppose, use rice instead of pasta, although then I suppose the lemon juice wouldn't work so well.
It was quite easy to do and did not take long at all.

Sons of Bill: A Band to Watch

2009-02-21T09:45:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday night a friend and I went to see Sons of Bill (music samples are on MySpace and Facebook). They were quite good, and both of us thought that they were better than the main act, Reckless Kelly. I'll definitely keep my eye open for them to see if they are in Metro DC again.

Copyright and Facebook Terms of Service

2009-02-18T19:30:00.012-05:00

There's been an interesting discussion in both the mainstream media and Facebook's blog (there have been two entries) about Facebook and copyright law. My three cents is that the only thing that Facebook needs a perpetual license to is an email that I send to a friend via Facebook. I think it's weird that they'd even need this, given the fact that one normally doesn't think of email as copyrighteable. If I send an email on Gmail to my friend on Yahoo!, am I really granting Gmail a license to copy my email and send it to my friend? Ordinarily, I wouldn't have the need to claim copyright on an email I sent. Even if I was sending my friend a manuscript for a book I was writing, could I then sue Gmail for copyright infringement? I don't think I'd have a cause of action.

Anything else that I post on Facebook, like a wall post or photo, can be deleted. Therefore, any license I give Facebook for posting something like that should be revocable at my will.

I wonder whether someone who sued Facebook for copyright infringement for redistributing his or her pictures would even have a cause of action (so long as Facebook posted them in compliance with his or her privacy settings). I guess Facebook is covering itself, but are they going over the top?

Flickr's terms of service are pretty clear. Once I remove my content from Flickr (which is owned by Yahoo!), Yahoo!'s license to display and/or distribute this information is instantly revoked. Sometimes, as when I submit content to a Flickr-sponsored group, the license, by its terms (you'll need a Yahoo!/Flickr account to see these terms), expires at a certain time.

Google's answer to Flickr (Picasa Web), on the other hand, has much broader (and less favorable) terms for me as an end-user. If I upload a photo to Picasa Web, under the terms of service (Section 11.1), I give Google what essentially amounts to an irrevocable royalty-free license to display my information. As a result, I don't use Picasa much.

It's interesting to see what at tangled web is woven with all these license agreements. It also shows the importance of reading license agreements.

Free Starbucks Instant Coffee

2009-02-18T17:45:00.001-05:00

Go to this website for free coffee. There's no strings attached.

Update: They're out.

Gmail Outage Updates

2009-02-15T20:45:00.003-05:00

If you use Gmail as your email provider, you might be interested to know about this Google group. Only Googlers can post to it. It will let you know if there is a problem with Gmail. There's also an RSS feed you can subscribe to if you are so inclined.

Peanut Butter Recall Information

2009-02-03T18:45:00.003-05:00

This website from the FDA has information on the peanut recall and a comprehensive list of every product affected.

Steve Martin's Surprising Talent

2009-02-02T22:01:00.001-05:00

The other day I was on Amazon MP3 and saw a free download (still free as of this writing) from Steve Martin. At the time, I thought the name was just coincidence, but then I saw this article in the Times about how Steve Martin plays bluegrass.

Old Folk Music on NPR

2009-01-25T12:15:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday, there was a piece on NPR's All Things Considered about people who are preserving "old-timey" music. The CDs available for purchase on the group's website are pretty pricey, but the audio on the story's page on NPR is free.