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