WDFloyd

Broader than bombs: what the arms export control act means to you - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-02-08T13:39:00.000-06:00

Broader than bombs: what the arms export control act means to you - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

US Interstate System as a Subway Map

2012-02-08T13:35:00.000-06:00

Using volunteers: what policies do you have in place? - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-02-08T13:30:00.000-06:00

Using volunteers: what policies do you have in place? - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Cycling: Follow Up On Brake Issue

2012-01-31T00:48:00.000-06:00

My Burnt Orange Gary Fisher Cobia

Back in August, I wrote a post about the hydraulic brake system* on my Gary Fisher mountain bike and how the brakes were prone to locking up during summer rides. In said post, I mentioned that the mechanic with whom I spoke at the Bicycle Sport Shop was of the opinion that the fluid in the lines for my hydraulic brake system was expanding because of the summer heat (which, you will recall, was often in excess of 105 degrees during August 2011). Considering that the brakes would unlock when placed in the air conditioning of my apartment or another building, I assumed that the mechanic was probably right but that I'd have to wait until after the summer to test things out. I put the mountain bike into my storage unit and focused on my road bike (roads can be ridden at night, trails cannot).

I've recently pulled my mountain bike out of storage and begun to ride it around central Austin. Within the past month, I've also taken it onto the Shoal Creek trail and into the Barton Creek Greenbelt. There have been no issues with the brakes locking up while riding in pleasant temperatures. It seems logical that the problem with the brakes was caused by the heat. What interests me now is the temperature at which the brake system becomes subject to failure.

*My mountain bike is a 2010 model Gary Fisher (which is made by Trek) Cobia that has on it the stock ProMax hydraulic brakes and ProMax Hornet brake levers.

Events: HYP Build the Love 2012

2012-01-30T18:20:00.001-06:00

Austin Habitat Young Professionals' annual Build the Love Fundraiser is this week. I'm getting quite excited about the event, as it looks like its going to be HYP's best Build the Love yet. Also, I'm making one of the music playlists... a project which has been a lot of fun.

Here are the details from the HYP site:

Whatever your plans are this Valentine's day season, we'll give you a reason to celebrate. Come help HYP Build the Love!

Join us Wednesday, February 1st from 5 to 8 pm at Moonshine to sample their delicious food & wine tastings and Thirsty Planet's fabulous brews all while raising funds to benefit Austin's Habitat! Plus we'll have a House of Sweets with delectable desserts and a photo booth courtesy of Beth McKinney Photography. No matter your tastes, savory, bitter or sweet, we'll have something for you! Click here to buy your tickets.

Tickets are going fast, so buy one tonight.

New guidelines for social media background checks - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-30T10:09:00.000-06:00

New guidelines for social media background checks - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Legal issues abound with BYOD (bring your own device) - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-30T10:08:00.001-06:00

Legal issues abound with BYOD (bring your own device) - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Disclosure obligations relating to cyber security risks - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

Disclosure obligations relating to cyber security risks - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

It starts! CFPB announces implementation of its nonbank supervision program - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-25T17:42:00.000-06:00

It starts! CFPB announces implementation of its nonbank supervision program - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Top 10 2011 developments/headlines in trade secret, computer fraud, and non-compete law - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-25T17:41:00.000-06:00

Top 10 2011 developments/headlines in trade secret, computer fraud, and non-compete law - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Removing the ban on general solicitations gaining momentum - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-25T17:39:00.000-06:00

Removing the ban on general solicitations gaining momentum - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

The America Invents Act—from the perspective of the small business - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-25T17:38:00.000-06:00

The America Invents Act—from the perspective of the small business - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Frivolities and Amusements

2012-01-25T17:19:00.000-06:00

Today, while returning to the world of risk management after a lunch meeting, I ran across the sign pictured to the left. I'd heard the rumors, and today I saw the evidence: there is indeed a skeeball league here in Austin. According to the Austin Skeeball League site, there are leagues in Lubbock and College Station. A Google search revealed that adult skeeball leagues also exist in Philadelphia, DC, and Chicago.

A few weeks ago, while sidelined by some intense cedar fever, I watched the entire first season of Portlandia. One of my favorite skits featured an adult hide-and-seek game. My first reaction to this skit was to post on Twitter my observation that we don't have an adult hide-and-seek league here in Austin. Fortunately, I was quickly messaged by a friend who suggested that we do something like this with a philanthropic twist. I was interested, but only if there were to be an afterparty with 80's karaoke.

Increasing levels of workplace retaliation reported in national survey - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-24T12:47:00.001-06:00

Increasing levels of workplace retaliation reported in national survey - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Securing ownership of your company’s digital property - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-24T12:47:00.000-06:00

Securing ownership of your company’s digital property - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Department of Justice reverses position on online gambling - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-24T12:46:00.000-06:00

Department of Justice reverses position on online gambling - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

The entrepreneur access to capital act and what it could mean for startups - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

The entrepreneur access to capital act and what it could mean for startups - ACC Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

No FMLA violation for firing employee who abused leave - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-20T13:48:00.000-06:00

No FMLA violation for firing employee who abused leave - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

Texas' Water Rights System Gets Tested in Drought

2012-01-19T16:45:00.000-06:00

by Kate Galbraith, The Texas Tribune

12 hours ago

Earlier this month, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a notice to a handful of East Texas groups in the Sabine River Basin: Their rights to river water will be suspendedbecause a hunting and fishing club needs more water. The club's right to water predates the others' rights — literally.

The Sabine River notice is the latest development in what experts say is an unprecedented tug of war between surface water rights holders. Texans with more "senior," or long-standing, water rights can tell the TCEQ that they need more access to water, trumping "junior" rights holders along the same river, who may see their water use limited. And when drought makes water scarce, those senior rights prove to be critical.

"In modern history, at least as long as I've been paying attention, this is the first time it's really come to the fore," Russell Johnson, of the law firm McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore, said of the junior-senior system.

The oldest Texas water rights were claimed in the 18th century. "We have water rights that date all the way back to when Texas was a colony of Spain," said Andrew Sansom, executive director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University.

Droughts in the recent past have triggered some "senior calls," but nothing like the current numbers. In 2011 there were 15 senior calls, according to Bryan Shaw, chairman of the TCEQ, in testimony before the Legislature last week. By contrast, only one such call occurred in 2009, another drought year.
All told, Shaw testified, more than 1,200 water rights permits in Texas have been suspended or curtailed recently, with the effects felt in the Brazos, Guadalupe, Colorado, Sabine and Neches river basins. With 99.5 percent of Texas still in drought as of last week, and with many reservoirs and rivers not replenished by the recent rains that have soaked into the thirsty soil, the junior-senior struggles could continue.

Groundwater, which is managed separately, is not on a junior-senior system.
Some groups have concerns with surface water hierarchy. "I got a few calls from industrial users who were adversely affected by this," Johnson said.

The recent decision in the Sabine River Basin will mean less water for a Wood County flood control project, as well as several groups who use water for recreational purposes and two individuals who use it for irrigation, according to the Longview News-Journal.

In the Neches River Basin, a range of water users has been affected, according to Andrea Morrow, a TCEQ spokeswoman. "Water rights that were completely curtailed included recreational uses, agricultural irrigation, industrial, and mining uses," she said.

The Texas system is not unusual. Doctrines of "first in time, first in right" are "almost universal west of the Mississippi," Johnson said. And the system has pros and cons, he noted. On the one hand, it protects people who have already been on the land against newcomers taking water the early birds had been counting on. On the other hand, the importance of the use is not taken into consideration.

Some changes are under way. Recently, the TCEQ decided that water rights holders couldn’t trump cities or power plants. This ensures that the taps keep running and power stays on. However, the TCEQ can ask cities that are "junior" to mandate outdoor watering restrictions. (This may have caused some of the confusion in the Hill Country town of Junction last summer, which thought it had to ban all outdoor watering after a senior call from the downstream city of Llano but later was able to ease off.)
"Sunset" legislation last year reauthorizing the TCEQ and its mission contained a provision that allows the agency to suspend or make changes to the water rights system during times of drought. Comments on a proposed rule to implement the law closed last month — and it's something the Texas Farm Bureau is watching closely, said Billy Howe, the bureau's representative in Austin.

Sansom, of Texas State, says that another classic example of "oldest first" is the struggle in Central Texas between rice farmers, growing cities like Austin and residents of the severely depleted Highland Lakes (though this system, managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority, goes beyond and is more complex than the "junior-senior" rights hierarchy overseen by TCEQ). Rice farmers have been using Colorado River water since the 19th century, even before the Highland Lakes were created — and in normal years a few hundred farmers use more water than the city of Austin.

Speaking about both the LCRA situation and the junior-senior rights system, Sansom said, "It is probably time, based on the fact we're still using a system that is hundreds of years old, to update it to reflect modernity."

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/water-supply/texas-water-rights-system-gets-tested-drought/.

Events: HYP Build the Love (Feb 1st, 2012)

2012-01-19T15:38:00.000-06:00

HYP Build the Love 2012

Austin Young Professionals: We're less than two weeks away from the first major fundraising event hostsed by the Austin Habitat Young Professionals. Here's the information from the HYP Austin site:

Whatever your plans are this Valentine's day season, we'll give you a reason to celebrate. Come help HYP Build the Love!

Join us Wednesday, February 1st from 5 to 8 pm at Moonshine to sample their delicious food & wine tastings and Thirsty Planet's fabulous brews all while raising funds to benefit Austin's Habitat! Plus we'll have a House of Sweets with delectable desserts and a photo booth courtesy of Beth McKinney Photography. No matter your tastes, savory, bitter or sweet, we'll have something for you! Click here to buy your tickets.

Tickets are selling quickly, so buy one for you and a friend/date/significant other today.

Habitat Young Professionals: Have Fun. Build Homes. Change Lives.

Cycling: MS 150

2012-01-19T15:31:00.001-06:00

My Trek 2.1, As Seen During a Night Biking Pit Stop

I enjoy interesting challenges, plus I needed some motivation to ramp up my bicycling. And most importantly: raising money to fight Multiple Sclerosis is a great cause. Certainly a cause worth pledging to engage in fundraising plus make the plan to ride my bike from Houston to Austin. Thus, I signed up for the MS 150 which will be held in April. If you're interested in getting involved with the fight against MS via cycling, check out the various Bike MS around the country and see how you can get involved.

Outdoor: Fly Fishing

2012-01-19T15:11:00.000-06:00

WDF Fly Fishing in the Big Thomson River

Recently, while going through my desk at Prism Risk Management, I found the business card of Mike Oatley, a fishing guide I recommended for fly fishing in Rocky Mountain National Park. In August 2010, I went to Estes Park with a couple of friends and we hired Mr. Oatley as a guide (both for general fly fishing instruction as well as fish finding services). I subsequently caught a couple of brook trout in the Big Thompson River. In August 2011, we returned to the Big Thompson but this time decided to skip hiring a guide (not because we didn't like Mike, but probably because we were allocating the dinero for microbrew trips). While my casting and fly equipment handling skills are much better than in 2010, I had no luck finding any fish. Not even a flash or a rise. I did, however, come across some guide trips while working the river. They appeared to be having more success than me. Next time I'm in Colorado, as a still novice fly fisherman, I'll be hiring a guide in order to work the local rivers and for advice on flies.

Lanham Napier: The TT Interview

2012-01-18T13:55:00.002-06:00

[from The Texas Tribune]

by Becca Aaronson, The Texas Tribune

9 hours ago

Curious as to why some of your favorite websites have gone dark today? The answer lies in two acronyms — SOPA and PIPA — that could have a huge impact on the internet.
Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing are among the websites protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act, filed by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act, with an internet “blackout” today.
Both bills aim to curtail online piracy and other cyber crimes, such as the distribution of potentially harmful counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Although many people in the tech community agree that online crimes need to be stopped, they argue these bills would damage the economy, free speech and technological innovation.
Find more information on how SOPA would target cyber crimes and affect American businesses here.
To address concerns about SOPA, federal lawmakers had scheduled a hearing for today with expert witnesses from the technology industry. It was postponed after Smith released a statement Friday saying he plans to remove one of the most controversial provisions in the bill, Domain Name System blocking, which would have allowed a federal judge to order American companies to block U.S. customers’ access to an infringing foreign website’s address on the web.
“After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision,” Smith said in the news release.
The controversy surrounding the bills also prompted the White House to release a statement Monday that said the Obama administration would not support legislation that would "tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security." The statement did not specify whether President Obama would veto SOPA or PIPA.
Lanham Napier, the chief executive of the San Antonio-based web hosting company Rackspace, was one of the experts who had planned to testify at the House Oversight and Government Regulation committee hearing today. Before Smith stated his plan to take out the DNS blocking provisions, Napier discussed the harm of DNS blocking and why Texas businesses, such as Rackspace, are opposed to the SOPA and PIPA legislation.
Below is a full transcript and audio of the interview.

TT: Why is the tech community in Texas opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act?
Napier: I think the bill as currently filed doesn’t work. Basically, it does not help us battle pirates, and we battle online pirates every day. It introduces technology remedies that create security risks for the internet, and it abolishes the due process framework that’s in place under the current law [the Digital Millennium Copyright Act]. So the bottom line there is basically the bill that’s currently filed doesn’t work. It doesn’t fix piracy, and it causes real problems.
TT: How would the bills affect American businesses, particularly Rackspace?
Napier: In lots of ways. I think a real good example is basically the technology remedy in there around DNS blocking, manipulating DNS. [It] is an activity that impacts not only Rackspace, but any company in the state of Texas that runs DNS, which is going to be lots and lots of companies. The bill that’s currently written would require that we go in and make changes to that system. That system is a fundamental lynchpin for how the internet operates. The changes ask us to manipulate the system in a way that it was never intended to operate and in the process creates some security holes in that system. That’s something that literally every company in the state of Texas that is dealing with DNS services would have to address.
TT: How would the Stop Online Piracy Act affect Rackspace's relationship with foreign customers?
Napier: If you look at the legal framework here in the States, we’ve had a number of laws that have hurt our ability to do business overseas. Whether there are certain acts, like the Patriot Act, [which] impacted our perception with international customers about the rights and powers the government has to seize data. I think this is another one, another piece of legislation potentially that could have a similar impact.
Our business is a global business. We’re headquartered here in San Antonio. We have 4,000 folks that work in the company. That’s up from 2,000 just a couple years ago when the Great Recession began. So we’re growing at a high rate, and legislation like this damages our ability to grow and chills innovation in the web. That’s why we want to try to work with members of Congress to fix this.
TT: Have you been able to communicate your concerns about to the bill to U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith or other members of Congress?
Napier: We’ve been making our views known. I have the opportunity next week to go to D.C. to participate in a hearing. [That hearing has since been postponed.] I’m looking forward to that, because I think ultimately in our country we want to pass legislation that makes our country better. The internet is one of those areas where we’ve had a lot of growth, and a lot of innovation. I think the legislation that we pass around the internet needs to make it stronger, not weaker. I think this is a complex problem that requires a lot of thought and effort, and I look forward to being able to help.
TT: What are some of your ideas on the best ways to combat online piracy and other cyber crimes?
Napier: You’ll hear more about this going forward from us, and we’re still building our thoughts on it. I think the first idea is let’s not pass a piece of legislation that from a technology perspective won’t work. That’s idea No. 1. Idea No. 2 here is to really think through the issue more broadly about how to get after it. On this call, I’m not really prepared to talk about specific ways to get after it. My mission and purpose right now is to help our leaders understand the risks with their current path.
TT: What else do you think Texans should know about SOPA or how it will affect businesses in Texas?
Napier: Generally, I think what happens with the bill as currently written is it’s not going to do anything to battle online piracy. I think it’s going to drive up compliance costs for anybody who runs DNS systems. I think it changes the legal framework meaningfully. What we’re going to get is a bill that introduces security risks, doesn’t battle the pirates and drives up costs on Texas businesses.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/texas-representatives-in-congress/us-congress/tt-interview-rackspace-ceo-explains-opposition-sop/.

State Parks Getaways E-newsletter: Winter Edition

2012-01-18T11:14:00.000-06:00

State Parks Getaways E-newsletter: Winter Edition

SEC issues guidance on use of social media by investment advisers - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology

2012-01-18T10:55:00.000-06:00

SEC issues guidance on use of social media by investment advisers - Corporate Counsel Newsstand - Powered by Lexology