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Saturday, November 22, 2003

Tying One On

Jerry Lawson and David Maizenberg are exploring the notion of Web Site Design As Necktie. Jerry draws a parallel between the necktie divide—those who pay for $5,000 Hermes, and those who would sooner hang themselves given the array of acceptable, better priced alternatives—and Web pages, concluding "[t]hat's where blogs are going to take web site design." David says not so fast: uniqueness, instant recognizability, and "branding" are becoming more, not less, important.

Me? I think they're both right. In Jerry's post I see reflected the fact the Web is still in its infancy, and part of the progression to the next level is the easy, out-of-the-box, idiot-proof ability to have complex online interactions and presence. It also reflects the growing RSS- and RDF-ification of text and other online media, the death of push (and rise of pull), and the semantic Web. In David's post, I see perhaps further into the future. Not to get too sci-fi on you, but in Neal Stephenson's Metaverse, off-the-shelf avatars ("Brandys" and "Clints") make participation (and deception) possible, while those concerned with their identity and credibility opt for something more unique, personal, and sophisticated. In other words, I think we're at the very beginning of all this. We'll start to see a continuum, and before we're done we'll see it all.

Today's New Blawg

Cindy Chick is Information Resources Manager, Knowledge Systems at Latham & Watkins. In addition to being a self-professed "case study in how to get on every spammer's e-mail list from here to China," Cindy writes LawLibTech, "a conversation on law library technology and knowledge management." Cindy readily recognizes the law firm knowledge management ramifications that can crop up in Dilbert when one pays close enough attention. If you're interested the convergence of law, technology, and knowledge management (and who isn't?), Cindy needs to be on your list of must-reads. [Via Genie Tyburski]


Friday, November 21, 2003

Encyclopedia Dumtannica

There really is a For Dummies book for everything, isn't there? (Well, not quite everything.)

Today's New Blawg

From Winston-Salem North Carolina, J. Kevin Morton writes the Disability Law Blog:

We've had a traditional website for about 5 years, and it's had its share of compliments. But it was so rarely updated that it went the way of other Websites of the Living Dead, made useless by outdated content. Look at your own site and see if you don't have a "last updated February 3, 1999" somewhere. Weblogs make it easy to update websites. So I've bought a new suit, and I'm hoping it fits. [...]

What is this site about? It's about Social Security disablity law and practice, though there's plenty of medical news, the odd woodworking story (I love woodworking), and a few hikes down rabbit trails regarding technology in my practice.

Kevin's posts are wide-ranging and informative. The new suit seems tailor made.


Thursday, November 20, 2003

It Never Rains, It Showers

Aw, folks, I'm extraordinarily touched by the notion of a virtual baby shower. Leave it to an intrepid blawger (and one of my all-time favorite people I've never met) to ferret out our Amazon wishlist of baby necessities. Really, it's amazing to go into an event like this buoyed by the tangible support and wisdom of folks I know because our blogs pal around together when we're not looking (and sometimes when we are). I can't thank you all enough.

In The Nick(olas?) Of Time

Given I am not far from giving birth, yet miles from settling on a name for the little nipper, imagine my delight at finding Baby's Named A Bad, Bad Thing, "[A] catalog of naming questions and suggestions posted on several different baby naming bulletin boards going back as far as early 2001." This, from "Part I: Brought to You by the Letter Y:"

We aren't having kids for another year or two, but we like Kellyna Nychole, Taryn Mykah and Mykenzie Kathryn for girls.

This woman was indicted under the Flagrant Over-Use of the Letters K and Y Act of 1983.

[Via Maccers, via Rick Bruner]

Today's New Blawg

In addition to being the creator of the Sapere Aude group blog from students at Indiana University's School of Law in Indianapolis, Joshua Claybourn has his own blog. Joshua writes about legal and political issues, without neglecting girlfriends past, present, and (perhaps) future.


Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Life & Times Segment Backgrounder (And Gratuitous Promo Shot Of Me, My Phone, And I)

Smile!
Say, "Cheesy!"

Ok, so we've established the supermodels are toast, and those within KCET's signal range are tuning in to my segment tonight, right? Well, even if not, here are some links on topics covered in the interview. (I have no idea if the related points will make their way into the final edit, but this is the stew of stuff I had in mind when Toni and I spoke.)

More Things To Sprinkle Around The Office

In addition to Blogger's observation that no working environment can have too many copies of Cluetrain lying about, some additional essentials (both via Rick Bruner) include:

Potential

Advice For The Bloglorn

Biz Stone, having provided sage counsel on how to avoid the apocalyptic collision of mom and blog, now tackles How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog. The Cluetrain Kool-Aid section is a howler:

Put a copy in the break room on top of the donut box, run out to the parking lot and stick one under your CEO's windshield wiper, stand outside the executive washroom with some mints and a basket of books, or just walk up to your manager and say, "Oh, and here's that book you wanted."

Meanwhile, Dooce (Heather Armstrong) describes an apocalyptic collision of mom-to-be and blog—the kind where, once again, a wealth of knowledge is not necessarily a good thing. At least it's reassuring to know someone is making progress toward Mid-East peace. (Bonus post: Belly Button Watch 2K3. Thanks, Hanan, for recognizing I'd find these irresistible.)

Today's New Blawg

Mark Loftus, a trial lawyer in Chicago, writes Trials and Tribulations. [Via Ernie Svenson] Without naming names or apparently disclosing confidences, Mark blogs about the cases he is handling in some detail, as well as the law that affects them. This is truly a trial lawyer's journal, and thus provides a series of vignettes and personal impressions about the legal system's function at that level.


Tuesday, November 18, 2003

TV Me

I had fun last week meeting and doing an interview with Toni Guinyard of Los Angeles PBS station KCET. The segment is scheduled to air tomorrow on Life & Times at 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. PST:

CELL PHONE CAMERAS
What happens to your privacy when more and more cell phones are also cameras. Tony Guinyard explores the pros and cons of this new technology, and what you should be aware of.

A colleague was "kind" enough to point out that my television debut—not Bag and Baggage's of course; in all likelihood the unregenerate tangle of code will utterly upstage me—airs precisely opposite the third annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. C'mon—me, 8½ months pregnant, in a suit, or Karolina, not, and not (what is that thing, anyway??). Ahem. Well. There's always TiVo.

Barrett v. Rosenthal To Get A Second Look

Last month, in Barrett v. Rosenthal (PDF), the California Court of Appeal (First District, Division 2) reversed the Alameda County Superior Court's determination that the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) immunized Ilena Rosenthal from defamation liability when she re-posted statements of a third party in an Internet newsgroup. (See the EFF's case archive.) Last week, the Court of Appeal agreed to take another look at its decision when it granted (11/10 docket entry) respondent Rosenthal's Petition for Rehearing. I haven't read the Petition and so don't know on what grounds rehearing was sought, but the San Francisco Chronicle is not optimistic about the chances for a substantive turnaround: "such reviews seldom change the results[, and] [a]n appeal to the state Supreme Court seems virtually certain...." [Via ILN]

Today's New Blawg

Craig Silverman, a 22 year prosecutor and defense lawyer, plans to blog the Kobe Bryant trial for ABC 7 News in Denver, CO: "In my job as legal analyst and in this blog, Channel 7 has given me the privilege and opportunity to observe and opine about the people and the law involved in this epic court battle." (Is this page a really a weblog? It certainly has those aspirations. It would probably behoove a major news outlet to eliminate more of the doubt about that on the technical front. Doing so would make the page more useful, too.)


Monday, November 17, 2003

Say It Loud: I'm Dry And I'm Proud

Andis Kaulins reacts to the Stewart Kirkpatrick article noted here last week: "Hoping that I will still be welcome in Ayrshire ..." So does The Curmudgeonly Clerk: "[I]f one is looking for legal news and commentary, the best that the blawgosphere has to offer is far better than the print media generally manages." (As Kevin Heller points out we're just feeding the hand that bites us, but as long as we stick to Scottish cuisine—with apologies to Gary T.!—I can live with that.)

Bottoms Up

Chris Geidner writes eloquently at En Banc In Defense of Student-Edited Law Reviews: "By giving tomorrow's lawyers this responsibility, new ideas—beneficial for all—might appear, ideas that could take the law in directions seen as necessary by today's law students but odd or tangential by those accustomed to the status quo."

Public Disputes (Round II: The Blawgers)

xrlq posts the Infotel C&D letter Justene Adamec recieved last week; 21 comments so far.

It's been about 18 months since Ernie Miller and I—with a dollop of Glenn Reynolds thrown in for good measure—were musing about how the public airing of prelitigation demand letters might affect dispute resolution as we know it. This current brouhaha is particularly interesting because it already has drawn so many legal professionals into the discussion. The participation and insights being provided remind me a little of Harvard's Openlaw project, coming together in an even more ad hoc manner. (See again Larry Lessig's Wired column on political blogs: "A managed community works about as well as a managed economy. So the challenge is to find a way to build community without the community feeling built.")

Reversive

Why hasn't someone done this before: The OneLook Reverse Dictionary? [Via Genie Tyburski] (Has someone done this before? It's like a thesaurus, but something about being a "reverse dictionary" elevates the coolness quotient about six ticks.)

John Allen Muhammad Is Guilty

So says a jury in Virginia Beach, and the sentencing phase of the trial is under way: "A jury of 12 Virginia Beach residents this morning found sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad guilty of capital murder, after deliberating about six hours. He could be sentenced to death." Kerry Sipe continues to blog real time courthouse coverage.

Today's New Blawg

Psst—wanna see three lawyers blogging? Then check out Digitus Impudicus, where you can learn all about rude Romans, nude laundry, and skewed doughnut nutritional assessments. [Via Howard; welcome home.]


Sunday, November 16, 2003

Today's New Blawg

Thoroughly Modern Monyca is a criminal defense attorney in New York City. [Via the Blawg Ring] Here's Monyca on anticipating the results of the New York Bar exam: "It's sort of like waiting for Santa Claus, only with fear." No worries, she passed; New Jersey too!

Wired 11.11

The November issue of Wired Magazine was chock full of good stuff, as I just got around to discovering. Some highly subjective highlights:


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