A Hunch May Be Worth Listening To

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An MTV Style Video about United Breaking Guitars

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

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

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

Chicken and Corn Fried Rice with Lemon Spinach

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Public Service Announcement About Tornadoes

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update:  They're out.

Gmail Outage Updates

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

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

Steve Martin's Surprising Talent

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

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.

Stats on Google

Google posted some interesting statistics about searches during the inauguration.  It's neat (although not surprising) to see the drop in U.S. queries during President Obama's swearing in/speech.
Google also posted some interesting stats awhile ago regarding the election.  I had meant to post them earlier, but here they are now.

Pasta with Olives, Cauliflower, and Tomato Sauce

I saw this recipe in the Times and thought it was worth a try.  I modified it slightly.  I used plain olives and frozen cauliflower which I prepared in the microwave.  I also omitted the thyme because I didn't have any.  It still worked out perfectly well.

Facebook in Pirate

If you're bored, you can try going to Settings|Language in Facebook and picking English (Pirate) as your language.  You'll have to scroll down through the languages, but it is there.  Facebook's developers apparently had a lot of time on their hands.  It looks like they rewrote the entire interface in Pirate.

Runners and Cars, as well as a Useful Link

There was an article in the New York Times a little while back about runners and cars.  When I can, I like to avoid running with cars, but, unfortunately, living in an urban area, that's sometimes difficult.  I usually try to defer to cars, but it can annoy me when cars don't yield to me when I am in a cross walk.  Right now, on weekends, I like running in Rock Creek Park on Beach Drive.  At least a portion of that road is closed to vehicular traffic.
I also discovered a useful link, that lets you see what your pace is based on mileage run and distance traveled.

A Musical Examination of Buddy Can You Spare A Dime

There was an interesting piece on NPR yesterday which was a musical analysis of Buddy Can You Spare A Dime -- a depression era song.  Even though my musical knowledge is pretty limited, I was able to get a lot of what the analyst was talking about.
I also didn't know that the lyricist for this song also wrote Over the Rainbow of Wizard of Oz fame.

Hobo Stew

A few weeks ago when I went camping, I made Hobo Stew over a campfire.  The meal is readily transferable to non-campfire cooking. 
What's nice about this recipe is that you can use pre-cooked items, so you don't have to worry about cooking things extra thoroughly.
So, without further adieu, here is the recipe:
In a non-stick frying pan (although you can use a regular frying pan if you want), combine:

• Random vegetables of your choice (I use broccoli, celery, mushrooms, and peppers).
• Some variety of pre-cooked sausage.  While camping, we used kielbasa sausage.  At home, I used Trader Joe's chicken sausage.
• A medium potato, sliced thinly.  (You can cook the potato with the rest of the food if you want).  Or, if you're like me, and are impatient, you can just cook the potato in the microwave and add it to the pot.
• Simmer this whole concoction for a little while.
• After simmering, put it on a plate, and season it to your taste.  I use Montreal Steak seasoning, but you could use pepper, or really anything.

You're done!

How To Lose A Customer By Suing Them

A customer went to his local Chevrolet dealership and, while his car was in for repairs, borrowed a loaner car from the dealer. The car was insured under the dealer's insurance policy. The customer was involved in an accident, and the dealer's insurer then turned around and sued the customer for the damage sustained to the vehicle.  As the customer was a permissive user of the dealer's loaner car, an appellate court in New York ruled against the insurer.  I would imagine, however, that this customer will not buy a GM car ever again.

Apple Is Sneaky

Apple is being sneaky, sneaking applications onto people's computers without their consent.   They say they're installing only iTunes, but then lots of other applications find their way onto the computer.

On Why People Didn't Evacuate During Hurricane Ike

NPR had a good commentary by someone on why people did not evacuate during Hurricane Ike.  While I don't really agree with their reasoning on not evacuating, the essay is, nonetheless, very good (in particular the last paragraph).  I think it's more powerful listening to it than reading it. 

Update on Virginia Spammer

In March, I wrote how the Virginia Supreme Court upheld a criminal sentence of a spammer from North Carolina who used AOL's servers.  The Virginia Supreme Court issued a new opinion on Friday, vacating the convictions based on the First Amendment and the spammers right to free speech.  Here is a link to the summary (search for Jaynes within the page if you don't see it at the top).  Here is a link to the opinion (a PDF).

Switching Easily Between Desktops on Windows

I found a utility, aptly named Desktops, which allows you to easily switch between desktops on Windows.  So, if you wanted to switch between one Desktop where you had Word set up and another desktop where you had Excel set up, you could do so easily.  It's published by Microsoft, and it looks like it will run on most versions of Windows.

The Yellowstone National Park Fires -- Ten Years Later

There was a piece on NPR about the Yellowstone National Park Fires, ten years later. This is the first part of a five part series.
I also found more than you ever wanted to know about how the National Park Service manages fires.

Useful Plugins for Firefox

I discovered a few plugins for Firefox, two of which are from Mozilla Labs. A disclaimer: These are all non-final versions, and therefore might be buggy. However, I have not had any real difficulty with any of them.
Ubiquity allows you to use the keyboard to quickly Google something, select text and email it to someone, or insert a map into an email and email it to someone, and more. But hitting -, you call Ubiquity, which then will do your bidding.
Second, a program called Auto Dial, which, based on your web history, builds a custom web page that opens each time you open a new tab, so that when you open a new tab, it will
Finally, a program called Ctrl-Tab allows you to switch between tabs easily, all the while seeing what tab you will be switching too.

Red Cross Has Problems Again

I've written regarding the Red Cross's blood donation problems before.  According to an article in the Times, they still continue to have problems.  The article discusses a specific procedure for disinfection prior to inserting the needle to donate blood (swabbing antiseptic and such).  I didn't know there was a separate procedure, but I'll bet that other blood donation services that I've given to have not followed that rule. 

Le Vent du Nord

I was listening to NPR recently and heard a Quebecois group called "Le Vent du Nord" or "The Wind from the North."  The band plays traditional Quebecois music.  The neat thing is that they play songs that date from the founding of Quebec and came across from France.  Meanwhile, these same French songs have become extinct in France.
There are songs to listen to both at NPR's website (where you can hear the report) and also at the band's MySpace page.  They're also on iTunes.

Metro Wasting Money

What's one million dollars to fund a mystery rider program on Metro???!!!
See:
http://www.wmata.com/about/met_news/story.cfm?ID=1813
What a waste of money. Especially because I can tell you about Metro for free, as can many other customers.

Front Pages from Around The World

I have been going to concerts at the National Gallery of Art recently and, on my way back to the Gallery Place China-town Metro, I've been stopping at the front of the Newseum to view the newspapers that they have on display from across the nation and world. But, you don't have to make the trek to see them, because you can see them online too. Hopefully they'll keep this up after they open on 11 April, but it looks like they may not.

Apple Forcefeeds Software to Users

On the Windows version of iTunes, Apple is, by default, disguising an installation of Safari (their browser) as an "update" to iTunes. It takes advantage of users who are told to install security updates religiously and forces an update on them. Microsoft does not take advantage of security updates to install new software onto people's computers.
See this blog entry for more information.

Blog by TSA on Airport Security

I don't fly that much, but I have had some experience with TSA, so I've found this blog interesting. One entry discusses the Macbook Air and an experience one traveler had when TSA was suspicious of his Macbook Air because it did not look like other laptops. Another entry discusses how, after implementing lanes for different types of travelers based on ski slopes (black diamond = expert, blue square = intermediate, green circle = inexperienced/family), they have seen a decrease in the amount of banned items that they see in the green circle lane at security checkpoints. I find this somewhat surprising, since I would have thought that by the time someone arrived at the checkpoint, they had already packed their bag with items they think are ok. I guess maybe someone who isn't feeling rushed by the people behind them may take the time to read the signs and realize "Oh, wait, I can't bring that shampoo on the plane with me!"

Mount Everest and the Olympic Torch

I heard about China asking Nepal to close Nepal's face of Mt. Everest from 1 May to 10 May last week on the radio. Nepal has acquiesced. They want to run the Olympic torch to the top of Everest. This article has more information.
I think Nepal shouldn't have acquiesced, as it will deprive all of the people who have planned their years around climbing Everest from climbing it.
As for China, I don't know much about climbing Everest, but one thing that I do know about it is that it is not easy and is not something that should be rushed. Yet, China seems to want to rush someone to the top of Everest and do it sometime between 1 May and 10 May. I understand that China may want to show the world that it can climb Everest, but, in reality, they're depriving people who have planned for years to attempt Everest of that chance so they can put on a show for the world.

Skittles Leads to a Suspension

In New Haven, although the school district eventually backed down, an eighth-grader was suspended from school for a day for buying Skittles from someone. He also was stripped of his eighth-grade vice president title, and was not permitted to attend an honors dinner.
I don't think the suspension was fair, and I also don't like the idea of the adults interfering in the political affairs of 8th graders, although I imagine sometimes it is necessary.
I've always wondered what purpose suspensions serve, particularly out-of-school suspensions. For the students who get them, it translates into a day off from school.
Apparently "dealing" Skittles also earns a suspension, although the story doesn't say whether that merits more days.
Here's the story.

Virginia Nabs a Spammer

If you're going to spam people, don't use Virginia ham in your spam. A North Carolina man who spammed people using AOL's servers had his sentence upheld recently. AOL is based in Virginia, which is how Virginia got jurisdiction over him. For those who don't want to read the opinion, there is a short summary here (search for Jaynes on the page if you don't see it at the top). Here's a link to the court's decision.

When to Call Animal Control

Don't read this if you've just had dinner, it's slightly gross.

Now, that being said, if a python starts sleeping in the same bed as your chihuahua, and other animals have been killed by snakes, it might, perhaps, be time to call animal control. This family apparently did not know that. Although the python was in the dogs bed and their cat had recently died under suspicious circumstances, the family did not call animal control.

Voting in Maryland

Last Tuesday I voted in Maryland. This was my first time voting there, and it was a different experience from voting in New York. Maryland uses touch screen voting machines, whilst New York uses huge lever-operated voting machines that have been in use for decades. Personally, I like the old voting machines better. There is something anticlimactic about pushing a button to finally cast my ballot and see a screen informing me that my vote had been cast. I liked New York's voting machines much better, with the huge lever that you had to pull. I actually felt like I was accomplishing something in New York. I also don't like a computer counting my vote to begin with.
I would also feel more comfortable if they asked questions about one's identity that could not be obtained from a Facebook profile and the phonebook. (like the date and month of one's birth and one's address). I'm not sure if they even checked my signature against something. While I don't think that they should be asking for ID to vote, I do think that they could at least compare signatures (since that's available from the voter registration form)

Carlisle in The News

There have been two instances where Carlisle has been featured in the news.
First, pastors are visiting Market Cross to talk to people who may be drinking their troubles away. Here's the article. I'm not sure if the Patriot-News keeps its articles up forever, so I don't guarantee how long the link will be valid for.
I'm also not sure if the pastors are visiting the right bar. I wouldn't visit Market Cross. As Carlisle bars go, Market Cross is, at least in my opinion, one of the classier ones.
Second, NPR wants to learn about truckers, so where do they go? The Flying J truck stop. They could have visited Dickinson, right nearby, and gotten a legal perspective. Here's the story.

FM Radio Reception Tips

This website has some information on receiving FM radio stations in general, and receiving WAMU (Washington's NPR Station) in particular. One thing I had not realised was that you should put an antenna in a T formation against the wall that faces the direction where you know the signal is coming. I had thought, that since FM radio was line-of-sight, that it would be better to keep the antenna away from the wall.

Information on Working Out

This article in the New York Times discusses the most efficient calorie-burning methods for using various machines in the gym. Some take-away points:

• Not entirely a surprise, the calorie count on the machine is inaccurate.
• Hanging on the rails of a treadmill reduces the number of calories burned by 40 or 50 percent.
• It looks like it may be better to run on a treadmill than to use a bike.

Taking Lessons From Shawshank Redemption

Don't read this if you have not watched Shawshank Redemption (which, incidentally, is a very good movie)



Now that I've gotten that out of the way, two (former) inmates apparently took (at least somewhat) careful notes on Shawshank Redemption. The long and short: two inmates chiseled their way out of a prison in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and, although they didn't crawl through a sewer pipe, they did take careful notes on the movie, in that they covered their chiseled hole with models from a magazine. I wonder if they'll meet in Zihuatanejo.

A Late Halloween Posting

I had meant to post this around Halloween, but never got around to it. Anyhow, this is a link to a posting about witch trials in Connecticut. It's unfortunate, but witch trials didn't just happen in Salem. There's actually a lot of documentation linked in that blog entry about it.

Ikea Breaches the Implied Warranty of Merchantability

I bought some pots from Ikea awhile back. Like most things Ikea, they were assemble them yourself, so I finally got around to assembling them this week. Within a week, the handle fell off the pot. The weld that holds the bracket broke as I was washing it in my sink. So, it looks like I will be returning the pot to Ikea.
I don't think I will get into the intricacies of the Implied Warranty of Merchantability with the clerk, though.

Regional Variations In Store Stock

Yesterday at Giant, I tried to find Maypo. Usually this is by the oatmeal, but I found, much to my surprise, that they didn't have it. Today I tried Safeway, which also didn't have it.
Safeway, on the other hand, stocks Tilamook Cheese, which is from Oregon.
It's a bit frustrating, since brands that I've taken for granted in New York are difficult to find here. At least they still sell Campbell's Soup.

Highway Sunrises, Back to Carlisle

I went to the alumni weekend this weekend at Penn State Dickinson. To do this, and get to an 8:00 lecture, I had to get up at 5:20 a.m. and drive up there. It was dark when I started out. As I drove into Pennsylvania, dawn broke over the fields, mist was rising, and it was pretty neat. I'm not usually up and driving before dawn, but when I am, I always think it is neat to see the sun come up.
All of the events were at the Advantica building, which I think they've done a somewhat good job with. The only problem is that students don't hang out at the school after class, they all flee back to Carlisle, so there isn't as much community at the law school.
I saw a few people from my class, and overall, it was a good experience.

A Little Cajun Music at the Kennedy Center

Last night I saw The Lost Bayou Ramblers at the Kennedy Center. It was part of Millenium Stage, which puts performances on 365 days a year free of charge. There is quite a variety of music, as you can see if you check out the calendar.
The Lost Bayou Ramblers not only sang in French, but also spoke to the audience in French too. I think it's neat that over 200 years after we bought Louisiana from the French, there is still so much French culture in Louisiana that there are still people that speak French and preserve this excellent music.
You can catch a recording of the concert here, and there are free downloads of music at The Lost Bayou Ramblers website.

People Who Think Rules Are For Other People

People like these people annoy me. Short story:
People from my synagogue parked in front of a fire house in a no parking zone so they could do this ceremony where they throw bread crumbs (symbolizing sins) into the water. This was on a Jewish holiday -- Rosh Hashana -- the Jewish New Year.
It is a no parking zone so the fire trucks can get out. The fire department asked them to move. The congregants didn't, because they thought an exception should be made because it was a Jewish holiday.
They (rightly) got ticketed. I wish their cars were towed, the extra fees might have made an impression on them. It's not as if Cold Spring Harbor was enforcing some strange ordinance. It's just common sense. You don't park in front of a fire department, because, if there's an emergency, the fire trucks need to get out. Did the congregants think that there wouldn't be a fire because it was a Jewish holiday?

They are Penn State...Too

There was an article in the Times about Penn State's football team and how, to fundraise, they have to clean the seats at Beaver Stadium after football games.
I think this is wrong. The football team (except this year, when they are being punished for alleged misdeeds) does not have to clean Beaver Stadium after the game. I realize that the fencing team does not generate the same type of revenue for Penn State that the football team does. But, it strikes me that Penn State could invest some of the vast fortune that football generates and put it into the fencing team (and other "minor" sports). The fencing team, after all, had a better record than Nittany Lions Football last year. Of course, then Penn State will have to hire someone to clean the football stadium, rather than using free slave labor from the fencing team.
A disclosure: In high school, I was on a fencing team, not a football team.

Red Cross Sued for Trademark Infringement

According to this BBC article, Johnson & Johnson is suing the Red Cross for trademark infringement. Apparently Johnson & Johnson owns the red cross that Red Cross uses as its symbol. Johnson & Johnson believes that the Red Cross is violating the agreement that it entered into by licensing the red cross to other companies, who are selling Red Cross-endorsed first aid kits.
A copyright/trademark attorney friend of mine tells me that Johnson & Johnson is going to lose, because the trademark does not make people think of Johnson & Johnson and really doesn't have a particular meaning.
I had no idea that Johnson & Johnson owned the trademark for the Red Cross. Prior to reading this article, If you had stopped me on the street and asked me who owned the trademark to the red cross, I would have answered the Red Cross.
To me, if I see a red cross, I either think of first aid or I think of the Red Cross. I certainly don't think of Johnson & Johnson. I think of Johnson & Johnson when I see the script Johnson & Johnson.
Perhaps that's why the Boy Scouts don't use the red cross for the first aid merit badge.

The meaning of the word "Yield"

I've been driving back and forth between Chambersburg and metro Washington, DC recently and have noticed that there is a particular intersection that people seem to have problems understanding the meaning of a yield sign. The intersection is I-81 and I-70, going east on I-70 towards Frederick/Baltimore. For Dicksonians, this is the intersection that you'd go through if you were going to the Hagerstown outlets.
Anyhow, I-70 is essentially three lanes at this point, with one lane being a segregated lane that is meant to just be used by traffic getting on from or off onto I-81. I go around the cloverleaf from I-81 south onto I-70 going east and am in this third segregated lane. This lane will end shortly after the intersection (it merges with I-70 east) so I have to be at highway speed or close to it. Shortly before the third segregated lane merges with I-70, traffic from I-81 north merges in, at a yield sign. There is no merge area. The yield sign tips people off to the fact that there is no merge area. Despite this, people come into this intersection and expect me to yield to them.
A yield sign means that you may proceed if the way is clear. It does not mean that you can proceed if in so doing you'll require another car to apply its brakes hard (or, technically, apply its brakes at all) or take evasive action. Yet, at this intersection, people seem to take it that way. If you have to stop at this yield sign, because there is no merge area, then you have to stop.
Of course, I'm not going to prove my right of way to them, sure, I may have the right of way, but I'll also have a car in an accident, with all the hassle that comes with. So I've just learned to watch other cars at this intersection.
Of course, why Maryland thinks it is a good idea to have no merge area where two interstates merge together is another question, but that's for another blog entry.

Apple Quality Control

Compared to Microsoft, Apple has serious quality control problems with their software/system updates. For many of the updates that they release, there are significant problems with them. One firmware upgrade caused my computer to become unbootable, requiring me to hold down a combination of keys on my keyboard to make their computer useful again, if Apple Support knew that trick (which they didn't, they made me send my computer in for service). One of the updates caused my computer's speakers to make popping noises (it wasn't just my computer's speakers, other people had the problem too). Apple resolved this problem with another update. Another update caused people's optical drives to stop working. Apple removed that update. Yet another update causes applications that were not specifically built for Intel-based processors (Rosetta applications) to stop working. I could sympathize with Apple (somewhat) if these were caused by obscure applications. But they're not. Many problems occurred directly with Apple's hardware. (The first three problems I've listed). While Apple may have come out with with Intel-native applications, there are certain applications -- for example, this obscure application called Microsoft Word -- that run on Rosetta. I'd like to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, but it is now at the point where if I see an update, I wait a week for Apple to iron out the bugs before I install it. For Microsoft updates, on the other hand, I install them instantly on my PC and, knock wood, have not had a problem with them.
Microsoft does not control the hardware that its updates are installed on, and yet still manages to have very few serious problems with their updates. Apple should improve.

Summer Reading Suggestions

I surfed into this website recently. It's published by the University of Texas at Austin, and has a list of summer reading suggestions. Kind of nice of them to go to the effort to get all these suggestions together. At the bottom of the page are links to previous years' lists.

Avril Lavigne Plagiarizing?

People are saying that Avril Lavigne plagiarized her latest song "Girlfriend" from an obscure band from the 1970s. There's an article discussing this on CBC. (Be forewarned, the video that this article links to, at least the quicktime version, is rather loud) Her manager claims there is "no basis" at all, but I disagree. The chorus seems pretty similar, in my opinion. I wonder if whoever wrote the song gambled that because the band with the song was so obscure, they could get away with it.

Small Towns, Long Term Residents

I saw an article in my town's local newspaper about how this year's summer concert series on my high school's lawn will be dedicated to the memory of Donald Luckenbill. He was a music teacher in the school district from 1944 to 1980. Although I never had Donald Luckenbill as a teacher, I sang a song by him in elementary school (essentially an ode to Sagamore Hill, home of Teddy Roosevelt) and later played that song when I was a member of the Oyster Bay Community Band. I also played Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs that he arranged when I was in the boy scouts and performed at a kresh/memorial lighting.
I guess I'm writing about this because I really enjoyed growing up in my town. It's small enough so that my middle school band teacher had my third grade teacher when he was in kindergarten. This teacher could also point to a portrait of a basketball team hanging on the high school wall and point out his father on the wall.
I was at a meeting with the elementary school's principal while I was in high school to discuss a fundraiser that the club I was involved in was doing. He said, so, [D], your parents are long term residents, right? And without really thinking, I said yes. Looking back, I also don't know what this had to do with fundraising.
Afterwards, though, I realized that it all depended on how one defined the word "long" in long-term resident. Sure, my parents lived in East Norwich since right before I was born, but we're certainly not one of the "generational" families that have lived in Oyster Bay/East Norwich since the Revolution, or even since before suburbanization. In some ways, Oyster Bay is different from other towns on Long Island. Unlike other towns, it has a history of its own, and wasn't just potato farms until the suburbanization boom of the 1950s.

Free Music from Smithsonian Folkways

There is free music from Smithsonian Folkways (downloadable as an MP3, no signup or registration required) at this link:
http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/freedownloads.aspx
Right-click on the MP3 link to download them.
Check out Rabbit in a Log by The Stanley Brothers. It has some wicked good banjo picking.
One of The Stanley Brothers is Ralph Stanley, who did the "O Death" song in O' Brother Where Art Thou (this is the scene during the KKK rally)

A Spider, a Swan, and Another Spider

I was at the public library the other day and was flipping through a biography of E.B. White (author of Charlotte's Web) There was an interesting discussion of how, originally, Fern (the girl in the story), was not going to be featured so prominently, so he originally planned to start the book with what is now the opening scene of Chapter 3, at the barn. It also had pictures of drafts of the book that he had typed up and scribbled on, which I thought was kind of neat, to see the original wording and see how he had changed it.
The biography was critical of The Trumpet of the Swan. I enjoyed The Trumpet of the Swan when I was growing up, partially because I played the trumpet when I was younger, but also because E.B. White is just a talented writer. Louis' father is funny in that book.
And now, for "Another Spider," as promised in the blog post title.
When I was looking at my car in the hotel parking lot in Washington this weekend, I noticed a spider web on it, in between the spare tire and the side hinge of the door. I drove back to Chambersburg and discovered that the spider was still there (after hurtling at over 65 mph on the highway). Impressive. It spun a web between last night and today. I wonder what it thought when the blue "rock" that it had spun a web on started to move, and then was hurtling down a highway with other "rocks" at amazing speeds. (Probably nothing, since spiders don't think, but it's still impressive that it stayed on my car)

The Beatles in Court

A defendant wrote: "Like the Beetles say, 'Let It Be.'" when asked how he should be sentenced. The judge in his case, in Yellowstone County, Montana, wrote a two page opinion in which he incorporated many Beatles songs. He also took the opportunity to correct the defendant's spelling of The Beatles.

A Little Civ Pro Does a Body Good

There was an interesting Supreme Court decision published Monday where Philip Morris tried (and failed) to argue that because it used the government's method of testing cigarettes, it fell under a statute that allowed removal to federal court when someone acted "under" a federal officer. The opinion talks a lot about federal officers being accused of murder during prohibition and using the statute to get their murder cases removed to federal court. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this use of the statute, although I suppose the climate was different then and states had less respect for the federal government than they do now. A federal court (and its jury) might have more sympathy for a federal agent than a state agent would.
The opinion is pretty short and worth reading in my opinion. Who knows, maybe it will be used to torture first generations of law students for generations to come.

Oh, Dickinson

It looks like Dickinson messed up with their temporary facilities, since they are waiving the fee for transfer applications. To me, that means it is a fair bet that they suffered a high attrition rate from the 1L class. Not that I blame them, I'm not sure how much I would have liked going to school amongst the truck stops.

Dell Windows Install Disks

I read on this blog that Dell -- one time only -- will give you a copy of the installation disks that came with your computer in case you lost them. I'm not sure if they charge you for the install disks (I don't see a discussion of payment on the initial page for it, and I'm not going to type in my information since I have the install disks already and I'd rather wait until I've lost them before ordering them)
Yet another reason I like Dell.

40 Years Since Anti-Miscegenation Laws Were Banned

Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that the US (in particular the South) was so different forty or fifty years ago, with segregated schools, anti-miscegenation laws, etc.  Today marks the fortieth anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (which banned anti-interracial marriage laws).  

When I was in law school, I always liked Loving because it was an easy case to remember (Loving = Marriage)

Anyhow, the NPR story talked about how far we've come and how far we have to go.  They talked about an interracial couple and the challenges they face.  The white wife was probably still racist (or at least used stereotypes about African-Americans)

I've realized how far we have to go as well.  My neighbor used the n-word the other day, and that has made me even more eager to get out of Chambersburg. (I'm assuming my neighbor doesn't read this blog)

Surfing in Cupertino

I wanted to come up with a somewhat creative title for this blog entry about Apple Safari entering the Windows market.  

This blogger has much more authority than I do about Safari's market prospects, but my initial thought is that unless it offers something unique, it's going to have a hard time gaining widespread popularity among people other than techie-computer users.  The only thing Safari does is surf the web, and unless it has a "killer" feature, I'm not sure what its market prospects are.  Firefox came on the market and gained widespread popularity partially because Microsoft had so many security problems. Firefox has a reputation for being a "safe browser," and I don't think that Safari has that reputation (I don't mean to say Safari is unsafe, I just mean it doesn't have a reputation of being safe).  Unless something disastrous happens with Firefox, people who want a "safe" browser are probably going to install Firefox, not Safari.

I've installed Safari on my Mac, and am typing this blog entry using it.  I wish that Safari gave me the opportunity (Firefox does) to simultaneously have the beta and non-beta versions installed.  

I also wish that it had an option to add a new tab button to the toolbar.

I would install it on my PC, but my PC runs Windows 2000, which Apple apparently has chosen not to support.  It looks like Windows 2000 is beginning to fall by the wayside for Apple.  I don't entirely fault Apple for this.

Microsoft didn't develop IE 7 for Windows 2000 (although they'll continue to provide security updates until 2010).

Congestion Pricing in NY

In case you had not heard, Mayor Bloomberg is trying to institute congestion pricing similar to what they have in London (you'd get charged eight dollars for entering Manhattan, with a discount if you used a toll bridge to enter). I think this has potential to work well and will encourage people to take mass transit. I just hope that they are not overwhelmed with people who decide to take the subway instead of paying eight dollars. I'm surprised to see how quickly it is moving thus far, I expected it to stall out in the state legislature, but it looks like it may not.

Controversial Carousels

There is a controversy in my town about a proposed carousel in Oyster Bay (my town). There is a waterfront park which was donated by the Theodore Roosevelt Association to the town of Oyster Bay in 1942. As part of the deed, it was ordered that there be no carousels or other mechanical rides. The Association (which still exists) has agreed to waive that provision of the deed, but there are a number of people who are still opposed to it. I wonder if (cue scary music) there is a Rule Against Perpetuities concern here, although maybe the way New York implements the RAP will prevent a problem with that.
The park is a relatively small park, and a number of people think that the carousel would add a lot of noise to the park. I tend to agree with them, I also wonder how they are possibly going to get enough visitors to the park to cover the cost of running the carousel.
The Main Street Association also thinks it will draw visitors to the downtown. I disagree. Unfortunately for Oyster Bay, it's on the northern shore of Long Island, and that means it is far away from major east-west arteries like the Long Island Expressway. Even a less major east-west artery (Northern Boulevard/25A) is probably four or five miles from downtown. There are no major roads that go through downtown Oyster Bay, so the downtown has suffered. Two car dealerships have closed, and the downtown is not doing so well. The problem is that the park is not that close to the business district, it's two or three blocks, so I don't think people are going to go to the park and then go shopping.
We'll see what happens, it's before the town board right now.
Here is an article from Newsday.

Tilapia Recipe -- So easy, Douglas can do it

Lately I've been experimenting with cooking tilapia. To do it, I put an inch or so layer of water in a frying pan, bring it to a boil, and then put a filet of tilapia in the water. I then return the water to a simmer (not a boil), cover it, and poach it for five minutes. Then, I flip the tilapia piece over and poach it (covered) for another five minutes. It's then pretty much done, and I usually eat it with rice and some vegetable. It makes my meals more interesting. My grandmother has suggested adding lemon to the water, and I also use pepper on the fish.

Bottle Deposits

There was a posting on bottle deposits on a mailing list that I subscribe to. I think that bottle deposits are a good thing, I think that to encourage recycling it might be necessary to increase the deposit on the bottles from a nickel. It has been a nickel since I was a child, and I think longer than that. (By bottle deposit, I also mean the deposit on soda cans as well)
The problem, though, is, at least under New York State's law, if you show up at any store with a bottle of a drink that they sell, they have to give you a deposit back. You don't have to return it to the store where you bought it. This is a problem for mom and pop stores.
There was a New York grocery store that I used to go to that was on the Pennsylvania (no deposit) and New York border. Someone took bottles/cans that he got in Pennsylvania and brought them to New York, where he attempted to redeem them. The New York grocery store got tired of this and eventually stopped him, probably by noting that some of the cans he was redeeming were not stamped with a five cent refund, even though the barcode was the same as refundable cans. If they doubled it to ten cents (or even made the amount more meaningful, like a quarter) it might have a significant impact on a store's income. On the other hand, recycling has become bigger now, so maybe it is not necessary to have the deposit law at all.

Giving Apple Credit Where Credit is Due

Thomas' iPod displayed the "sad iPod" icon, and so (after I tried and failed to fix it) we took it to our local Apple Store on Long Island. Within about fifteen minutes, the Genius fixed his iPod, and it didn't cost us a penny. Apparently, the hard disk had frozen, and he forced it loose by applying extra current to force it to rotate faster. Although this does not redeem Apple from their previous fiasco (or, after Dorothy's experience, make me any more likely to purchase a Macintosh computer again), it's still nice that they were able to fix it. That's more than I would be able to say for Dell, which doesn't have Genius Bars.

A Jury of Your Peers in Newfoundland

I listen to a podcast entitled Newfoundland and Labrador This Week from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. There was a segment about how a judge declared a mistrial because the entire jury pool for St. John's, Newfoundland had not been updated for eight years. (For those not up on their Newfoundland geography, St. John's is the capital of Newfoundland and is also it's largest city.) Apparently the person responsible for updating the jury pool just didn't, and so no one born after 1980 was listed in the jury pool. The judge hearing the case held that this violated the Candian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and rescheduled the case for October. All criminal trials in St. John's will have to be put on hold while they fix this problem. Plus, even the Justice Minister has conceded that people within the appeal period might have viable appeals about this. I don't know what Canada's jurisprudence is about juries, but it seems to me that they might have some argument to make. I had tried to find the judge's opinion online at this site (useful if you need to do Canadian law research), but no dice.
The best I could find was this article from the CBC.

Another Funny Email from Flickr

Flickr sent me another unusual email the other day, although it wasn't nearly as good as the last one.
This one said:
"New photos from friends

[Rene's screenname] has uploaded 1 photo in the last 24.139444444444 hours.
..."

Funny that someone at Flickr took the time to program this email to make the number of hours a variable and also calculate it out.

Cheating or Not Cheating?

Thomas brought this to my attention, but I wanted to throw it out there. At Columbia, there is a course that all students are required to take -- Literature Humanities -- which is taught by different professors (there are 57 sections). It is a survey course and there is a course-wide exam given at the end (basically to the entire first year class). The exam asks students -- among other questions -- to identify quotations from the various works studied. One professor came up with a study guide which listed the quotations that were to be used on the exam. Students in this section redistributed the study guide to other sections of the class, which messed up the exam (to put it mildly) because students knew which quotations were to be used. The lead professor of the course found out about this "study guide," (initially she thought someone had stolen the exam) and has now decided to discard the exam results and allow students to either take the exam again in the fall or use their other grades to determine their grade. I think it's clear that the professor should be fired.
Was it cheating for the students to use this study guide? I don't think so, the provenance of the guide was legitimate, it wasn't as if some student was distributing it improperly. On the other hand, the students reading the study guide might have realized that the professor should not have been giving out this much information. Columbia does not require students to report academic misconduct. Comments?

A "Family Tree" of Firefox

There is a pretty good diagram of Firefox on a website which is done by Mozilla Japan (Mozilla is the company that makes Firefox) It's a PDF, but if you are not familiar with Firefox and how it is related to NCSA Mosaic (and Internet Explorer) it's worth looking at.

My Law School Could Have Decided to Move to Florida

Through RichardZ (which I found through Jerry and Tammy), I learned about how Ave Maria School of Law has decided to move to Florida from Ann Arbor, Michigan. After seeing what happened with DSL, it was interesting. Here is a link to a blog entry which sets forth the faculty view. In the interest of balance, I'm also including a link to Ave Maria School of Law's own page on the topic. I'm not taking a position on this, though.

Running Again

I've been at a loss for things to blog about recently. However, I've taken up running again. I ran a lot last summer while I was studying for the bar exam, but kind of dropped it after that. I've started doing it again, and as I'm sitting in my office during the day, I kind of look forward to it. I've got a new route worked out, which goes around town, a lot of it is along quiet streets, so I don't have cars whizzing by me all the time. I'm debating joining a gym, but running is a good workout in and of itself.