Thought

European Union Constitutional Law is way cooler than U.S. ConLaw. At least as far as separation of powers and institutional delineations.

(This thought courtesy of final exams)

Cool car?

On a stop by Wikipedia for other reference work, I happened upon their article about the Maserati MC12, Maserati's supercar (comparable to the Ferrari Enzo). I immediately began daydreaming about the gentle vibration of the 630 horse 6.0 liter v12 right behind the driver seat, the tight cornering, the massive but effortless acceleration...

And then I noticed that it doesn't have a CD player, radio, or any sound system whatsoever, nor any space or hookups for one. Sheesh. If I am going to drop $820 grand on a car, I don't want to also have to bring an iPod just to listen to tunes. Guess I'll be sticking to more run-of-the-mill Maseratis from now on.

ILM Sense of Humor

"Phantom Menace character Jar Jar Binks is also encased in carbonite - after being voted the worst character in science fiction history."

The Pets Unionize

China to battle gaming addiction

From the BBC

China has announced that within the next three months, certain online games in the Chinese market will be required to implement systems for players younger than 18 cutting point-making ability in half after three hours of gaming. After five hours, a warning screen will have to pop up and no further points may be allowed. (The article did not seem to indicate whether this is a per-day limit or just requires a logout.)

The privacy implications, however, are astounding. In order to implement this system, youngsters will be required to log in with their real names and the Chinese equivalent of their social security number. From what I gather, the software provider then checks this information against a central database the government provides access to. Unless the law itself provides differently (media being such informative and accurate sources of the intricacies and technicalities of regulations), this seems like the ideal time to go into the advertising-and-video game industry in China. With all this information about the identity and tastes of the gamers at your disposal (pshaw if they're minors), there is plenty of targeted ads that can be readily delivered. And hey, they're allowed to be at your site for 3-5 hours a day.

More legal humor

Thanks to The Heart for pointing me to "Say What?!", and to TexasBar (Judge Buchmeyer) for his amusing legal anecdotes, including the following:


In a one-sentence order in a frivilous wrongful termination suit (after the plaintiff had lost a jury trial), U.S. District Judge Barbara K. Hackett (Eastern District of Michigan) denied the motion for reinstatement "for the reasons best stated in defendant's brief in opposition to the motion," which read in full:

Brief in Opposition to Plaintiff's
Motion for Reinstatement
Plaintiff has got to be kidding.

Respectfully submitted,
Simpson & Moran
By Donald A. Van Sullehem
Attorneys for Defendant
Birmingham, Mich.

Original here

The New Steel

If you have opened a newspaper, visited a website with advertising, ridden public transit, or turned on the radio recently, you have probably noticed that the steel industry is running a general advertising campaign. One of their advertising slogans involves the steel industry as the "backbone" of America, as shown in the following ads:





As inspiring as these pictures may be, however, they leave me wondering just why they chose to represent their industry as having scoliosis, the condition of a spine which has lateral curvature. (The economy also appears to have lordosis, a forward bending of the spine, but that is not as clear from the pictures.)
Note below where I have added lines indicating more clearly the angles, demonstrating how according to their own advertisements, America's backbone is nearly 40 degrees from straight, thanks to the steel industry!





This will, of course, lead to deforming of the economy's ribs, mobility and strength limitations, abnormal muscle tensions, and eventually, if left to its own course, cause the entire country to become hunchbacked.

(click here for the democratic encyclopedia entry for scoliosis)

Turnitin.com Sued

First, I would like to thank the Brain and GBA for their welcome.

Next, I would like to share a piece of intelligence which will not bring tears to many eyes. It may prove diverting, and some may even break out a bottle of Extra Old.

Our favorite paper-scanning site is being sued by some high school students in Virginia and Arizona. The point that they raise is that Turnitin.com archives all that papers that it scans. The students requested that the site not archive their papers, which it did. They are going to argue that because the site profits from their intellectual property Turnitin.com violates the copyrights that the students hold on the papers.

"Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, co-director of the intellectual property law program at Suffolk University Law School, said that although the law regarding fair use is subject to interpretation, he thinks the students have a good case.

"Typically, if you quote something for education purposes, scholarship or news reports, that's considered fair use," Beckerman-Rodau said. "But it seems like Turnitin is a commercial use. They turn around and sell this service, and it's expensive. And the service only works because they get these papers.""[1]


And there was much rejoicing. We will keep you posted on the developments of the case.

Thanks for reading.

~The Heart

===================================================================
[1] Gold, Maria. "McLean Students Sue Anti-Cheating Service." Washington Post 29 Mar. 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802038.html.

Plagiarism is defined as the borrowing in whole or in part of another's work with out proper attribution.

Music quiz

I don't share many quiz results, mostly because they are generally pretty poor at coming up with a good answer that demonstrates its ability to use particular questions to infer a related result; that is to say, if I can predict the answers I should give to get a particular result, I'm not going to be a big fan of the quiz. This one, however, I found interesting. Thanks to Dougie for the quiz.

Weird Al Shares Your Taste in Music

See his whole playlist here (iTunes required)

Which Musician (or Group) Shares Your Taste in Music?

Welcome to my partner in posting

GreatBlackAngus welcomes The Heart as a new contributor to this column of text. Look for thoughtful commentary from my partner-in-all-sorts-of-other-things-as-well coming soon.

--The Brain

Even Democrats have trouble with the District's asinine laws

Webb Aide Arrested

Whenever I cross the Potomac from west to east, I have this sinking feeling that somehow I forgot to check all my belongings for things that are perfectly legal where I came from - not just guns, but all sorts of metal objects, canisters, etc. I've had a few scares, especially when I had a courier job that required driving all over the area in unpredictable paterns. In all, my life would be easier, and I seriously doubt the world would be any more dangerous, if the District's (and Maryland's) laws mirrored my own.

Crichton

I have a longish commute, and as a consequence get in a bit of recreational reading/audiobooks. Pursuant to this plan, I have been reading Michael Crichton's Next. It is an interesting look at how biomedical advances have outpaced our ethical understanding of them. (Actually, that pretty much sums up all of Crichton's works, except for The Great Train Robbery and his pseudonymous works.) Unfortunately, Mr. Crichton seems to have fallen down a bit on his legal research in Next. Thus this post, which is little more than a good kvetching. Because I can. (Also, please note that I haven't finished the book yet, so more may be on the way.)

Hearsay

In a courtroom scene, there is an issue regarding a conversation between a guy and his doctor regarding certain contract and fraud claims. At one point, the lawyer asks the witness what the doctor said to him; the other side objected as hearsay, and the judge sustained the objection. Ridiculous. What someone says is not hearsay unless it is offered for the truth of what is said. Here, the plaintiff was trying to prove that the doctor had lied to him, so he was going to prove that what the doctor said was NOT true. What it was, however, was a verbal act. The witness observed the verbal act, and should have been permitted to testify about it.

One page later, however, there is a place where hearsay actually SHOULD have been raised. The same witness is examined regarding what the value of the biological materials the doctor made off with were worth, and in so doing, the lawyer and witness reference outside valuations of the materials. Here, the witness is offering the truth of what someone else said. In the context, it was not important in any way what the witness's subjective understanding at the time was or any such thing which would make the hearsay admissible for another purpose. I will grant that this isn't necessarily an error on Crichton's part, since a lawyer will not always object to everything he can. For instance, perhaps here the opposing lawyer has entered a stipulation as to the value of the materials, or he wants to cut the witness to pieces on the valuation on cross examination, softening things for later when the valuator takes the stand. In general, however, I would think you would keep the valuation for a battle of the experts and keep it out of the more emotionally involved testimony of the fact witness/victim.

Eminent Domain

At another point in the book, after the plaintiff above loses, there is a negotiation taking place, and the attorney representing the one side (a university) gives an ultimatum of sorts, claiming that if the plaintiff decides to appeal, his side will have to argue that eminent domain over the materials took place (essentially under the Kelo principles - I won't look at whether eminent domain is available for these materials or by a state university, since that would require research which I won't be doing just so I can kvetch). First, a matter of procedure: as this is the first mention of eminent domain yet, they can't raise it on appeal, since you have to have raised a matter at trial (with certain exceptions such as lack of jurisdiction) or you have waived it on appeal. But let's say there is some strange way in which exercising eminent domain would cause mootness or some other way out of the litigation, and while we're being generous, we'll ignore whether an ex post claim of eminent domain would be effective as to the prior fraud claim.

Even with all that, we have a serious constitutional problem, since the U.S. Constitution requires just compensation for property taken for public purpose, and this is applicable against the states and their actors. Rather than SOLVING the appeal and letting the university get away with the fraud, the plaintiff would end up merely having to show a judge what the materials were worth and collecting that amount from the state. Comparing this method to the fraud action, this is far more favorable for the plaintiff. Instead of the plaintiff having to demonstrate all of the elements of fraud, show causation, and demonstrate the extent of the damages, he will simply have to take the state actor's confession of exercise of eminent domain, show the value of the property taken, and he wins everything he was after.

For Glim

(re: Pixel Fiend)

Notice certain key differences, such as the presence of ears, which distinguish horses from rocks.

American Historical Figure of the Week

Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio.

Sure, he was a radical Republican, a leading figure in Johnson's impeachment saga, and so forth.

But that aside, before the Civil War, in an era when caning politicians was sport, many legislators carried revolvers on their persons. Senator Wade upped the ante - He seems to have customarily carried a sawed-off shotgun under his coat on the Senate floor.

Quote of the week

There seems to be something "hard-wired" with the XY chromosome that leads boys to glance at a small moss-covered branch and immediately see an air-cooled, camouflaged, fully automatic 50-caliber Browning rifle with attachable bayonet.

--Prof. Jonathan Turley (of GW Law), Washington Post Feb. 25, 2007, "My Boys Like Shootouts"