XKCD: Honor Societies
Google ran the following heartwarming ad in the Super Bowl, telling the story of a romance in Paris through search queries.
The ad, of course, begs to be spoofed. See Hitler spoof meme for a preview of where this is headed.
David Dow is a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center and Litigation Director of the Texas Defender Service. His latest book The Autobiography of an Execution (Amazon) was just published last week.
He had a very interesting interview on Fresh Air on NPR 20 Years Of Defending Death Row Inmates (embedded below) Hat tip to Nancy Rapoport
Prof. Dow also had an excellent article in the Houston Law Review: The Last Execution: Rethinking the Fundamentals of Death Penalty Law, 45 Hous. L. Rev. 963 (2008) (pdf).
It’s probably not a good idea to sleep outside in one of these – especially not in Maine – certainly not in hunting season – or or mating for that matter. Still, a clever idea from designer Eiko Ishizawa.
When a graphic artist says the wrong thing. From Betsy Streeter, Brainwaves
In the south at least, significant football games are quickly setting precedent as grounds for automatic continuance. Just as ‘Bama courthouses emptied in anticipation of the Rose Bowl, a Lousiana court has taken judicial notice of the Saints Super Bowl appearance to grant a continuance (embedded below). As my third grade teacher used to say – let’s not abuse this privilege – but chalk one up for work-life balance.
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Classic diatribe on the state of politics by the imitable Jon Stewart, embedded above.
According to the Star Tribune a Minnesota car dealer called an otherwise satisfied customer to demand an additional $7,000 or the return of the car it sold her two weeks prior.
“Walser Chrysler says it made an “administrative error” when it sold the crossover wagon to Townsend for less than what the dealership thinks it’s worth. Instead of accepting the loss, the dealership blames Townsend, saying she should have spoken up before accepting an unintentional discount on the car she’d been leasing for two years.”
I couldn’t find the claim posted anywhere so I got curious about the law…
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via Presurfer.
The YikeBike is a mini-farthing concept, a bike-like vehicle designed for stable, safe motorized human transport.The YikeBike runs on an liFePO4 battery, weighs 10 kg (22 lbs), goes up to 20 kph (12.5 mph), travels around 10 km (6 m) on a single charge and the expected retail price is between 3,500-3,900 EUR (5,038.97-5,615.30 USD). You can reserve yours today at the YikeBike website.
Eat your heart out Segway.
via life is a thrill, a parody of German film director Werner Herzog reading Curious George. Hysterical, at least if you’re a fan of Herzog’s work.
Jim Hoerricks of the Forensic Photoshop Blog reminded me of a great quote by former Supreme Court Justice and Nuremberg prosecutor Robert H. Jackson on the art and limits of oral argument.
“I used to say that, as Solicitor General, I made three arguments in every case. First came the one I had planned — as I thought, logical, coherent, complete. Second was the one I actually presented — interrupted, incoherent, disjointed, disappointing. The third was the utterly devastating argument that I thought of after going to bed that night.”
It comes from an article by UH…
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Some are wondering if Google Dreams of Electric Lawsuits? given the uncompensated homage their new ‘Android’ and ‘Nexus’ brands to Philip K. Dick’s novella Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? featuring a bounty hunter after several Nexus-6 models of Android.
I’m starting to dream of Aaland Island sheep. The work on the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is well underway, with briefs due next week and oral arguments in regional national competitions in a little over a month. One of the principle cases in this year’s case concerns Aaland Islands from 1921, so I got…
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Andy Woodruff took me back to my Maine days in his excellent Cartogrammer post You can’t get there from here
As noted in a Texas Monthly article a few months back, Mike Leach has been working on an article for the Texas Tech Law Review about ‘the relationship between practicing law and coaching football.’ He looks as prescient as ever. Who knew he would put it into practice so soon?
On Monday Texas Tech suspended Leach after allegations that earlier in the month he had made Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, stand in a dark shed for up to three hours at a time on two separate occasions during practice, apparently because…
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For all that we learn in law school about the craft of legislative construction, judicial opinions, appellate briefs, orders and even jury instructions, there is ample evidence to expect that many of us will have written our last appellate brief in 1L year. But we will spend an inordinate amount of time writing letters on behalf of our clients. We may console ourselves that it’s every bit as artful, though less impressive at cocktail parties….as if any of the other stuff is impressive at cocktail parties…
