Out of the Jungle

Magic and Science

2008-08-04T10:11:00.005-04:00

Click on the title to this post to read a fascinating article from the Boston Globe's Ideas section Sunday, August 3, 2008. Title: "How magicians control your mind: Magic isn't just a bag of tricks - it's a finely-tuned technology for shaping what we see. Now researchers are extracting its lessons," by Drake Bennett. Cognitive neuroscientists are teaming up with professional magicians to

Obama as Professor

2008-08-01T11:45:00.002-04:00

I thought The New York Times article about Barack Obama's stint as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School was interesting. Not only did it provide insights about how Obama "refined his public speaking style, his debating abilities, his beliefs," but also it described how he always stayed somewhat aloof from other faculty members and remained untouched by their views. The Head of

Repeal of Massachusetts law barring marriages illegal in other states

2008-08-01T09:48:00.005-04:00

The title to this post takes you to an article in today's Boston Globe about Governor Deval Patrick signing a bill that repeals 1913 Massachusetts statute, MGL 207, section 11, Non-residents; marriages contrary to laws of domiciled state. You can also read here, the home page for GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders). The gay and lesbian community and friends welcome this change to

Anonymous online attackers unmasked

2008-08-01T09:41:00.002-04:00

Follow the link in the title to this post to read a news item in Wired online about the 2 Yale Law women who sued AutoAdmit over misogynistic and slanderous comments posted about them on that site. The lawyers have managed to unmask a number of the posters. lawyers for two female Yale Law School students have ascertained AK-47's real identity, along with the identities of other AutoAdmit

Hein Online: hippest legal info vendor?

2008-07-29T21:34:00.006-04:00

I've got to give a shout out to Hein Online, which is one of my favorite resources to turn students on to. Their collections, including the law review archives, legal classics, and English reports, are, of course, fantastic. But it's their marketing and outreach efforts that are downright hip. Hein has been blogging since last September, and posting tutorial videos on their YouTube channel

The Justice Dept. and Political Hiring

2008-07-29T18:13:00.005-04:00

Click on the title to this post to read a Washington Post article today on a report about Justice's recent political hiring practices: Another Blow To Justice, by Jamie Gorelick dated today, July 29, 2008. There are also links to related articles from this page. The report covers not just the favoritism to "good conservatives" in hiring prosecutors and other staff under Alberto Gonzales, but

Student Loan woes will impact law schools

2008-07-29T18:03:00.002-04:00

I've been watching articles on problems with student loan availability, and considering how much this is going to impact law schools. Here is a small sampling of recent articles: Massachusetts state lender has no funds for 40,000 students (Boston Globe 7/29/08) Hotline for Massachusetts students to get help locating loans (Boston Globe 7/29/08) Student Loan News (New York Times 7/29/08) A

ABA offers alternatives to billable hours

2008-07-29T17:57:00.002-04:00

OOTJ previously noted the articles in the ABA Journal about changes in law firm billing away from the billable hour, and the many downsides to that traditional form of charging for legal services. Click on the title to this post to read a nice article from Your ABA: Q&A about alternatives.

Blast from the Past

2008-07-29T17:51:00.004-04:00

We have dozens of cassette tapes at home. My husband created many compilations of our favorite music to listen to on car trips, and they are like snapshots in time. There is the tape that has the theme music from the Ghostbusters, which at one time was my son's favorite movie. There is the tape that contains children's favorites, Old McDonald Had a Farm, etc., put together when our children

Sad Situation at Hyde Park

2008-07-29T17:27:00.005-04:00

The editorial section of July 28's The New York Times discussed the sorry state of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum at Hyde Park, New York. Nick Taylor points out that the "nation's first presidential library, is literally falling apart. The roof leaks, the basement floods, asbestos is flaking from old steam pipes, an ancient electrical system could send the whole

Whoa, St. Louis!

2008-07-25T16:48:00.002-04:00

I have been watching in shock and dismay as Belgian behemoth InBev gobbled up Anheuser-Busch in a pretty hostile-sounding take-over. (the first link is to a St. Louis Business Journal article which starts "Anxiety. Excitement. Disgust." The second link is to the WSJ Deal Journal article which almost sounds admiring when it describes the "...“Godfather”-worthy hints to A-B’s recalcitrant board.

Digital Preservation

2008-07-23T11:54:00.002-04:00

There is a good summary of the issues relating to the preservation of digital information in today's Inside Higher Education. As the article points out, many individuals and institutions are racing against the clock to preserve digital data and to tackle a whole host of problems that so far have no satisfactory solution. They range from hardware complexities, such as constructing storage

You marked your place with WHAT?!

2008-07-21T22:18:00.005-04:00

AbeBooks reports on some of the odd items that purveyors of used books find inside their wares, many presumably having been used as bookmarks. In addition to a wide variety of currency, these items include rare baseball cards, diamond rings, baby teeth, and a strip of bacon. As for me, I'm pretty mundane. I typically use the receipt I got when purchasing the book, or a mental note about which

Serenity Prayer Causing Agita

2008-07-11T10:43:00.002-04:00

Our colleague Fred R. Shapiro is mentioned extensively in a front-page story in today's New York Times. The article is about the authorship of the famous Serenity Prayer, long attributed to the Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Shapiro discusses the authorship of the prayer in a forthcoming article for the Yale Alumni Magazine; the magazine will be published next week, but is already

Librarians feel spurned by Google

2008-07-11T10:13:00.003-04:00

Click the link in the title above to read a Chronicle of Higher Ed online story titled "Librarians Accuse Google of Using and Discarding Them." I can't say I'm surprised, but doomed relationships are always so sad! The image is a mosaic near Grant's Tomb in NYC, but courtesy of http://www.vagabondish.com/ in a blog announcement of the Museum of broken relationships in Croatia. What an

Back From Michigan

2008-07-09T10:58:00.004-04:00

I'm back at work after three weeks in the beautiful state of Michigan, where we saw three of the Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, and Huron). We couldn't afford to go abroad this year, and so decided on a vacation within the United States. Of course, at the time this plan was hatched, gas didn't cost $4.50 a gallon. Some highlights of our trip were visiting two Frank Lloyd Wright houses in

CS-SIS Web 2.0 Challenge is Now Available

2008-07-07T16:03:00.003-04:00

I'm posting the message below on behalf of Bonnie Shucha, but OoTJ readers should feel free to contact me with any questions!-- Are you interested in learning about applications like blogs, wikis, and Second Life, but don’t have a lot of time? Take the AALL Computing Service Special Interest Section's Web 2.0 Challenge! The Web 2.0 Challenge — a free, comprehensive, and interactive online

Depression re-examined

2008-07-07T08:15:00.002-04:00

The link in the title to this post will take readers to the Sunday Boston Globe, July 6, 2008. The article is Head Fake: How Prozac sent the science of depression in the wrong direction, by Jonah Lehrer. The article discusses how recent research shows that depression is actually rooted in problems with the brain's ability to renew its cells. A bit disconcerting, but an excellent article for

Special Court Addresses Veterans' Issues

2008-07-07T07:58:00.002-04:00

Click on the link to this post to read a fascinating article about Judge Robert Russell in Buffalo, NY (Jim's town!)who set up a court to address the needs of veterans who run afoul of the law. The article talks a bit about efforts or aspirations around the country to duplicate this service to veterans, so watch for similar efforts in courts near you. It also mentions that Sen. John Kerry is

Celebrating Independence Day -- Happy Fourth!

2008-07-04T17:41:00.004-04:00

Dear OOTJ, Happy Independence Day! As an officially Grumpy Old Librarian, I had considered publishing a diatribe about the many ways in which our wonderful country has gone off the tracks. However, after reading the Seymour Hersh essay in this week's New Yorker (read it here), describing the Bush Administration's maneuvering to set up an invasion of Iran, I was so mad and upset, that the GOL

Salute to Texas Lawyers

2008-07-03T10:07:00.003-04:00

Note to readers: Raymond Ward, picked up this post and got comments from some lawyers in the know. This pleading was a joke, a hoax that got loose on the internet. See Ray's post at http://raymondpward.typepad.com/newlegalwriter/2008/07/the-dumbass-def.html My sister, who is a prosecutor in Austin, shared with me a short, but pithy pleading from a Texas civil action for personal injury. The

Academic Writing Meets Web 2.0

2008-06-25T16:58:00.002-04:00

Follow the link in the title to this post to visit "Criminal Law Conversations" hosted at U. Penn by Prof. Paul H. Robinson. Law profs are participating in this experiment by nominating and voting for their favorite essays on Criminal Law. Participants may also sign up to comment on the selected "core texts." Authors of the core texts then have an opportunity to respond to the comments. The

Guantanamo Detainees

2008-06-25T13:23:00.003-04:00

Today's Boston Globe reports on one of the law firms representing Guantanamo detainees, pro bono here. On June 12, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion stating that the detainees have a right to a civil hearing under habeas corpus. The majority decision specifically states it does not address the government's claim that they have a right to hold them indefinitely without a hearing.

Curricular Changes at Northwestern

2008-06-21T09:24:00.003-04:00

Inside Higher Education is reporting on curricular changes at Northwestern Law School that could potentially have important repercussions for legal education in the United States. I am reproducing the article below because the computer I am using while on vacation is not letting me add links. Frankly, I'm just glad to have free Internet access. The article was written by Scott Jaschik.

Profiling at the Reference Desk

2008-06-17T20:56:00.003-04:00

I contributed the above article, "Profiling at the Reference Desk," to the latest issue of the SCCLL newsletter. My article is on page 13. In the article, I call for improved data collection to improve the evaluation of how librarians contribute to court procedures. I welcome comments and debate on the topic.