Did Professor Lessig know when he wrote Code, And Other Laws Of Cyberspace he'd be getting read poolside in places like Lake Tahoe, on occasions like Labor Day weekend? I wouldn't put it past him: "Real space is the space where you are just now: your office, a den, maybe a pool..."

More musical stylings of Mad Kane.

Rrrip!

Kevin Marks has great ideas about weblogs as a locus for participation and action. See his 8/28 entry (permalink not working for me at the moment), and his ProSUA blog ("a weblog dedicated to the clarification of copyright law for legislators and citizens alike").

Rael Dornfest digs Sherlock's flight information tool.

Dr. Wienberger supplies a primer.

Professor Tillers would like your thoughts, as he begins blogging with JURIST. (Not that the CowBlog doesn't kick tail, mind you.)

Well, I'm likely to have a new t-shirt: "Doc Searls Moderated My Panel." See you there. (As intriguing as this preliminary schedule already looks, Eric says there are more surprises to come...)

Upgraded to Jaguar over the last couple of days, and used its enhanced built-in networking to (un)wire the house. Printer sharing a breeze, file sharing ditto (we need better/more signal coverage, but I take it this is a common complaint). Is it my imagination, or does Apple keep releasing stuff that you can't believe is better than last month's latest and greatest -- but you kick the tires and it turns out it is? More toys in the chest: Sherlock actually is something I'll use now, and its built in Dictionary/Thesaurus is so nifty it's making me plot how best to accomplish all my briefwriting on my non-work hardware. Says Apple: "It’s best, though, to think of Sherlock as a service provider that just happens to use your browser to fetch web pages as one of the services it provides. Need something translated from one language to another? Ask Sherlock. Want a real dictionary definition of a word alongside a real thesaurus listing of related words? Ask Sherlock." The thesaurus accesses Bartleby, which is what I already use, except it eliminates the need to go through Google (which I inevitably do: e.g., typing "thesaurus inevitably" into Google generally does the trick), and it provides a slick interface that lets you thread through the related words, and their related words, to your heart's content. This philosophy seems to permeate the native applications in Jaguar (see Evan Williams/Ken Bereskin on the calculator), all to the good. Now, I've never sat down and played with an XP box, so for all I know the two platforms are neck and neck on this sort of end-user extravaganza. But my Win 3.1/95/98 experiences leave me needing to be convinced.

If you have not yet had some sort of epiphany about the impact of digital identity issues, it won't be long. Eric Norlin begins to crystallize this here, on his blog. My reaction oversimplifies, and identity touches so much more, but even limiting consideration to the two "RMs" ("D" and "C") is like beginning to see an intricate puzzle's solution because missing pieces fortuitously have surfaced. There's much to consider here and Eric is right that the conversation requires many voices and perspectives. The journey from back there to out there is underway, and if we care about the view from the bus and where it deposits us this discussion needs to ramp up to a dull roar. (Turning the dial: Digital ID World and Digital ID World Conference 2002.)

The folks at JURIST are going blawg wild: "JURIST is pleased to present Tillers on Evidence, the first of a series of new JURIST web logs offering ongoing commentary and perspective from law professors on specific areas of legal doctrine. An acclaimed evidence scholar and lately Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, Peter Tillers is Professor of Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York."

I haven't listened to a whole lot of Janis Ian since I was, well, about seventeen (that'd be an even twenty years, for those keeping score at home). Her decision to put some great tracks on her Web site for free clued me into the fact she still belts it out, with beauty and soul. Download and see. Blogging at you for the first time over WiFi, and beginning to see what all the fuss is about! :)

Autumn. Back to school. Back to business. Time to set aside the frolic of summer (and the summer has been rife with frolic) and get back to the critical issues at hand. Time once again to mention the occasional legal development or fascinating new case on this weblog. Time for Serious Posts to resume. Contrary to certain outward appearances, I do discern these changes in the air. One must bear in mind, however, that autumn descends slowly on Southern California, and that Ninth Circuit judges are not the only ones who have witnessed "an eyeful of issues" on their dockets in recent weeks. [Link via Howard] Other current cases likewise illustrate the steamier side of appellate jurisprudence, while emphasizing the contrast between the working conditions of law enforcement officers in San Diego, California, and those of reactor technicians in Montgomery, Alabama. There is little doubt that the decision of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division One in Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. ABC Appeals Board [PDF], has done more to increase applications for employment at the San Diego Police Department than a year's worth of job fairs could have hoped to accomplish. This case considered whether an undercover detective, hard at work in this establishment ("Dream Girls;" do not click that link if you are offended by sexually explicit advertising), unfairly enticed exotic dancer Mary Diann Gast into "showing more skin" than otherwise is allowed in California adult entertainment venues that serve alcohol. Specifically, Detective Nelson "did an undercover inspection," that included commissioning two "couch dances" at $10 apiece. Apparently not content with whatever the first dance had entailed (little is said except it complied with the law), Detective Nelson asked Ms. Gast whether "more skin" would be shown on the second go-round. Ms. Gast responded with enthusiasm, in a manner more graphically (correction: quite graphically) explained in the opinion. Ms. Gast "may" have received a $5 gratuity for her trouble, while her employer eventually received a suspension of its liquor license. Dream Girls later successfully appealed the suspension to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board of California, on the grounds of entrapment. But the Court of Appeal held otherwise in this opinion, reinstating the suspension. According to the court this was all in a good day's work for Detective Nelson, who had not acted so overbearingly as to "induce a normally law abiding person to commit [an] offense." (The court somehow refrained from commenting on the unmatched value Detective Nelson received for his second $10, or on the lackluster nature of his tip.) Although Patrick La Day's on-the-job experiences appear to have been considerably less enviable than those of Detective Nelson, a recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, La Day v. Catalyst Technologies, Inc., at least has restored his ability to seek legal recourse. In his case, Mr. La Day asserts he was employed as a reactor technician for Catalyst Technologies, under the odious supervision of one Willie Craft. Mr. Craft is said to have told Mr. La Day he was jealous of his girlfriend and the "passion marks" with which she had decorated Mr. La Day's neck. Not content to pursue Mr. La Day verbally, Mr. Craft also is alleged to have initiated physical contact somewhat similar to that between Ms. Gast and Detective Nelson -- albeit distinctly less voluntary on Mr. La Day's part. While the trial court had granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, the Fifth Circuit's decision reversed that outcome on several fronts, and gave Mr. La Day the opportunity to continue to pursue his Title VII sexual harassment claims. (It is not that common to hear about same-sex harassment claims, though they do get filed -- regardless of the amount of any tip that may have been offered).

Turns out, we do! Ernie Svenson rolls out Five Minute Legislation.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law, is blogging, with Blogger Pro, through JURIST, and featuring other blawgs (safe to say this is a meme now, yes?) as well. New to me from there is David Wagner ("Ninomania") who as you might guess is a big fan of Justice Antonin Scalia. And new to me from Australia is Ken Parish, who has a facile way with words (anyone who uses the expression "nonsense on stilts" gets grins from me). [Via Howard, Ernie and them trusty referral logs; the above link text was corrected 8/26 to reflect that JURIST is distinct from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law]

Los Angeles' Coronet Theater is home to Puppetry Of The Penis, through September 22. [Via Reuters] Some would argue this sort of production is available around town al fresco and without charge throughout the year, but Simon Morley and David "Friendy" Friend add video projection -- and capes -- to "the ancient art of genital origami." It's not late to seize the limelight; the show is auditioning more penis puppeteers in response to its popularity, who should "come to the auditions with a flexible working attitude and be ready to demonstrate their own genital installations." (Sock puppets need not apply.)