Reality TV not adaptable to Educational System - Parents in a California suburb have filed a complaint against a local public school system after a middle school teacher tied up her students with masking tape during a history lesson on slavery. [Story Link]
6:28:20 PM
Blawg Patrol -Howard mentions attorney-friend Stuart Buck, who has a great site. I love his reference to Professor Rosenberg at Harvard, who apparently passes gems like these on to his law students:
"You have been good enough to show up, so why shouldn't I try to keep you awake?"
"We have an inefficient system that only rewards you [lawyers]. Well, that ain't so bad."
"There should be a course called Markets. There should not be a course called Contracts and there should not be a course called Hairy Hands and Other Oddities."
"The Mafia save us a lot of money in transaction costs. That is, if they shoot straight."
More Rosenberg witticisms (actually "cynicisms" is more accurate) are available from the link on Stuart's site.
5:17:27 PM
Tauzin letter to FCC Chair - Louisiana's Rep. Tauzin has written a letter of his own to Chairman Powell, suggesting that Powell implement a broadcast flag mandate using powers granted to the FCC under 47 USC 336 (and other existing statutes). Tauzin also suggests that the FCC ought to consider the views of "consumer groups". via [EFF BPDG Blog]
4:56:56 PM
Corruption in New Orleans? - Yep. But, fortunately for us, our current administration is working to solve the problem.
2:59:35 PM
Was the WTC collapse one occurrence or two? - Fascinating article by Steven Brill in Newsweek on Larry Silverstein's quest to recover from the various insurance companies that insured his investment in the WTC. At the center of the controversy is the question of whether the damage and collapse of the World Trade Centers was one event or two separate events. The insurance companies cap damages on a per-occurrence basis, so they want it to be only one event. There were two buildings so you would think that would resolve the question, and there are written contracts too, but...not so fast. It's all very confusing, and the lawyers are working overtime to sort it all out. Welcome to the fascinating world of insurance litigation.
The Top 50 Winningest Law Firms of 2001? - Here's the list, and number two on the list is a firm from New Orleans that got a $1 billion dollar judgment against Exxon in an environmental contamination case. The local state court in New Orleans is sort of plaintiff-oriented. How much? If you look at a jury consultants' map of the United States, the area around our local court is colored very bright red (sort of like a Superfund site).
10:43:48 AM
WWF throws in the towel in libel smackdown case - I can't believe the WWF would settle. What happened to a fight to the finish?
10:38:22 AM
Lawyers are bidding for evidence on eBay - Sometimes if you want to win the case you've got to outbid your opponent for the key evidence.
10:35:53 AM
Newsweek articles on Apple, and TIVO - Steven Levy's Newsweek article discusses Apple's new Rendezvous "software that instantly links people in wireless networks. For instance, when several people who have laptops equipped with iTunes music software gather together, a superlibrary instantly forms, combining all the songs on everybody’s computer." Cool. Suddenly the idea of switching from PC to Macintosh is making even more sense to me (at least at home).
Newsweek also has a great article about TIVO, PVR's and the battle for our TV's.
10:34:30 AM
