Thank goodness: Shag holiday cards. And an upcoming show.

Further debunking the myth that everything worthwhile in California occurs north of Bakersfield (fyi, to the extent I'm rooting, I'm rooting for the Giants): meet my Congressman, Chris Cox, and the Cox-Wyden Resolution (H.R. 5/17; per THOMAS, "The text of H.R. 5/17 has not yet been received from GPO"):

Wyden and Cox based their resolution on the Technology Consumer Bill of Rights devised by DigitalConsumer.org, the organization started in 2001 by Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer, two of the co-founders of the Internet portal Excite. [from Lawmakers Back Digital Rights, via David Weinberger]

Christopher Smith faces an unfortunate challenge: demonstrating to firm management why creating an electronic gulag will waste money and undermine productivity. ("Inappropriate Use Of Technology," 10/24/02.)

Jodi L. Sax of Lawgirl.com, an IP and entertainment lawyer in L.A.: "I created the site purely for my own amusement (and to learn how to make a website.) I have just continued along those same lines. My site is a reflection of my interests and my aesthetic sensibilities. Hopefully you all find it useful and informative too. :)" Yep-er-ino! ...via Kevin J. Heller of Tech Law Advisor, an IP and entertainment lawyer in New Jersey: "Disclosure: I am an amazon associate. clicking and purchasing items via links from this site may generate a small commission, so long as kazaa doesn't steal it." [via the Blawg Ring] Jennifer Klyse, who blogs from/of IT at a large firm (et cetera) and is Rick Klau's blog-child: "KM for the sake of KM--whether it is CRM, a case management database, or whatever--needs to be something that is needed or wanted by people who are willing to contribute as well as reap the benefits of the sharing. Otherwise, it's not going to work." [via Rick and Ernie] NYU 1L Aaron of Last Best Hope: "Student activists just aren't what they used to be. Now they usually just stand on sidewalks handing out flyers as if they were advertising discount men's suits or trying to get me to come see stand-up comedians." [via Lane McFadden]

Rory Perry offers:

Suggestion for blawg ring motto: Building the new Blackstone, blog by blog. Maybe a little cheesy, but true nonetheless. The legal and public information blog explosion in the past six months is a compelling development in the evolution of the common law.

Tomorrow, as part of my firm's associate training program, I talk to the Southern California contingent of our new lawyers about legal research. I've been doing this for a few years now. (The firm figures -- hopes? -- we appellate types have picked up a thing or two about legal research along the way.) The poor summer associates get my spiel too, so I try to keep the material fresh in order to avoid delivering the same harangue to the same people twice. My spirit guide in these efforts continues to be my old legal research and writing prof from Boalt Hall, Bob Berring, who knows well where legal research has been:

Eventually classification decisions that were once based on the banal realities of constructing a workable sorting process transform that very process. Now this early decision becomes the only possible outcome; the result appears to be natural. Indeed, those using the system see no decision at all. Because those who use the system tend to conceptualize in terms of the system and, as a system matures, it becomes authoritative, the classification system simply describes the universe. Researchers mature using it, organize their thoughts around it, and it then defines the world of "thinkable thoughts."

and where it has arrived:

A simple click on the computer screen can take today's researcher from the text of a United States Supreme Court decision to the pages of a news magazine, a trade association publication, or a political journal. It is commonplace to complain about the proliferation of judicial decisions, but the far larger universe of information that is available to the online legal researcher today is not primary source legal material. It is all of the world's information that lies at the other end of a hypertext link. Legal researchers are awash in judicial reports, but that is only a drop in the ocean of information that lies a keypad away.

[From Legal Research And The World Of Thinkable Thoughts, 2 J. App. Prac. & Process 305] The above article is a couple of years old, but listen closely to where it winds up:

Most likely, our Blackstone will come in many pieces. I envision a return to individual authority. As the law grows more complex, individuals who can make sense of discrete parts of it will be increasingly valuable. Just as individual judges assembled the early nominative reports, new experts will arise. The opinions that they offer will arrive over one's e-mail system, not in leather bindings. Perhaps they will be available for interactive conversation. When there is such a glut of available information, the need for guides becomes more important. Twenty-first century researchers will yearn for guidance and the reliability of individual expertise. More personal, more interactive, and more specialized, such information systems can hold things together. [Para.] Our challenge is to find a mechanism for helping these authorities to develop...We need authorities that can create a new world of thinkable thoughts. It need not be a perfect model, but it has to be one that meets the characteristics of a good classification system. This is especially urgent because there are other possibilities. [Links and emphasis added.]

The other possibilities Berring goes on to consider are "authority via common denominator" (e.g., Google; I wonder whether this is quite as pernicious as Professor Berring seems to assert) and authority via mass media-controlled "infotainment" (e.g., Rupert Murdoch). So, by now you've figured out a couple of things my talk tomorrow will suggest: (1) weblogs, ezines and "bottom up" legal Web sites already are building the new "Blackstone" Professor Berring points out we need in order to winnow the digital resources at our disposal, and (2) the savvy legal researcher knows how to include them in his or her arsenal.

This, plus this, plus this, plus (most important part) this = this (gawd, is that graphic classic or what?). Nothing else to offer this afternoon 'cept malaise about this. -- Bonus from the internal tech support guy at AT&T I wasn't supposed to reach, but did: this.

Brian Hurley of Web radio station Detroit Industrial Underground explains in this L.A. Times article (reg. req.) why the proposed compromise royalty bill pending in Congress gets mixed reviews from Webcasters. More, from Eric Olsen at Blogcritics.

ZDNet, the San Francisco Chronicle, the L.A. Times and others all report today on Intel's plans to invest $150 million in wireless technology to help boost worldwide adoption of WiFi. (c | net and Alan Reiter had this yesterday.) From the L.A. Times: "Intel hopes to promote a more robust wireless infrastructure that will support its next generation of products. 'The goal is to have anytime, anywhere computing.'" The Times says that among other things Intel will fund companies working to solve issues like consolidating billing for independently operated hot spots; iPass and Boingo Wireless are mentioned.

It's all in the punctuation.

Came across Karen Blakeman's Tales From The Terminal Room today. Chock full of good stuff, mostly reviews of Web utilities, search engines, gizmos and resources. Subscription info here.

1) Class schedule 2) T.V. schedule 3) Cookies for the librarian 4) Blog Two more law student blogs for your reading pleasure: Daniel Epstein, the Jewish Buddha, a 1L at Georgetown who had this wicked bit featured by Donna last week [via Howard], and this crustacean with attitude, the Angry Clam, a 1L at UCLA whose voting guide for Californians proves that webloggers not only are excellent magazine fodder but a modern convenience: "[N]ow you don't have to think. If you hate me, vote exactly the opposite. If you like what I have to say, follow me."

Bret Fausett provides an excellent overview in New Architect of deep linking authorities, and reflects on the enforceability of written restrictions on linking past a site's home page. [via LLRX]