Copyright Law

Fish Wrapper

Posted on October 04, 2008
Final debate wrapup, starting with some amusement before getting into the serious stuff:    The real problem with these debates is that although they are supposed to help educate the American voting public on the candidates, they have degenerated since the 1960s into a further opportunity to evade — to prevaricate — to delay, delay, delay, hoping that one's opponent is the first one to commit a

Lyin' Like Dogs

Posted on October 02, 2008
During a momentary break in the football game (still 0:0 near the end of the first half), I flipped for a moment to the Veep Debates. And I saw these two morons screw up an easy question at my alma mater. Gee, guys, just how stupid does one need to be to answer a very straightforward question about whether Israel should adopt "the [so-called] two nations solution"? The pitbull wearing lipstick

Not Exactly a Lot of Money These Days

Posted on September 29, 2008
Is it just me, or does the current "financial crisis" resemble Dr Evil's ransom demand?    Well, given that the House just narrowly rejected the bailout bill in its current form, maybe it's just the news cycle being held hostage. But then, nobody is looking at the linguistic irony involved in this nonsense...

And the Debate Winner Is...

Posted on September 27, 2008
Lawrence O'Donnell. For all the faults of the "live debate" episode of The West Wing, this is what I — as a voter — wanted to see: Candidates who actually engaged each other's policies instead of vacillating between personal attacks and mealy-mouthed promises with virtually no substance to them...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Not That Paul Simon

Posted on September 26, 2008
... the groovy one. In anticipation of tonight, I'll be watching two old episodes of The West Wing. Sittin' on a sofa On a Sunday afternoon, Gonna hear the candidates' debate, Laugh about it, Shout about it, When you've got to choose, Every way you look at it, you lose...

One Sausage Marginally Fit for Human Consumption

Posted on September 25, 2008
I'll save the dangerous link for the middle. Don't blame me. I voted for Bartlet... and now he's advising Obama in one of the more creative, and interesting, comments on the current election process that I've seen. That, however, does not even begin to illuminate the problems with biology and politics...

Genius

Posted on September 23, 2008
After the idiocy of the last few days — a constitutionally defective plan for unreviewable blank checks for the finance industry is only one example, not to mention arguments over pigs and lipstick — it's a relief to see recognition of genius. That's certainly not normal for an election season! Actually, it is; it just ordinarily slips beneath the radar...

Method Instead of Madness

Posted on September 18, 2008
I'm not a big fan of organized religion. I don't claim that the scientific method is the only possible method of reasoning. Sometimes, based on other values, one must make seemingly irrational choices; consider, for example, the hearsay rule in evidence, which has no scientific basis at all — it is a value-based rule coming from notions of fairness...

Yet Another Survey

Posted on September 17, 2008
Snurched from Professor Froomkin: You have been invited to take part in an academic research study to learn more about the psychological bases of political attitudes and voting behavior. This study is headed by Professor Yaacov Trope, Department of Psychology, and conducted by Margarita Krochik, a doctoral student in the Department of Psychology...

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

Posted on September 15, 2008
On the good "celebrity news" front, George Takei (Lt, later Capt, Sulu) got married over the weekend. The universe did not come to an end, so maybe the getting a marriage covered by the Daily Mail doesn't signal impending doom. But, in addition to David Foster Wallace, we've also just lost Richard Wright, the keyboardist of Pink Floyd...

Variety Pack

Posted on September 15, 2008
We've got smoked internet links, raw internet links, and not a few rancid internet links today. It's really, really hard not to lead with the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, which comes from derivative pseudosecurities as a way of life. In other words, the financial markets are finally paying the price for elevating gambling above economics...

Rodney King Wasn't Here

Posted on September 14, 2008
After having the crap beaten out of him on a videotape that made its way into the national consciousness (not to mention a rather disturbing, if sub rosa, indictment of the way juries get selected), Rodney King still managed to beg those outraged by the acquittal of his assailants to stop destruction...

Harry Potter and the Copyright Infringement

Posted on September 08, 2008
Judge Patterson issued his post-trial ruling in the Harry Potter Lexicon case today. I'm not going to set forth an extensive analysis here; I just want to note a few things that this opinion does not do and/or proclaim. Contrary to the whingeing (and outright screaming) that you're going to hear, this is not a rejection of fair use as a concept...

Planet of Origin Not Guaranteed

Posted on September 08, 2008
A truly bizarre selection of miscellaneous sausages today. No guarantee of meat content, species content... or planetary-origin content. These links have not been approved by the USDA, or in fact anyone else, and NASA wants to determine their possible extraterrestrial origin...

Princess Monochromé

Posted on September 07, 2008
Last week, the elder remora (among several thousand others) received a prankish e-mail that had been spoofed to look like it came from the chancellor. The e-mail was rather anti-frat/sorority. It took me less than 30 seconds to show the remora how it had been spoofed, and that even the purported source was itself spoofed...

Misunderestimation

Posted on September 07, 2008
Just a couple of thoughts on politics today; miscellany tomorrow. I really do not think that Sarah Palin is about winning the White House in 2008. McCain and his campaign have displayed plenty of unbridled arrogance before; they really don't think that Palin's presence on the ticket will change the result this time around...

Screw the Lipstick

Posted on September 04, 2008
So Sarah Palin is going to be McCain's pitbull, constantly attacking the opposition in audacious, more audacious, always audacious words... and non sequiturs. This is not something that I find attractive. She — and the Inner Party — are following the path foretold by the great political philosopher Gabriel: There's safety in numbers When you learn to divide How can we be in If there is no outside

Internet Sausage Barbecue

Posted on September 02, 2008
These sausages may appear a bit underdone, because — proving that Murphy loves nothing more than a barbecue — my gas-powered grill ran out of propane yesterday while I was doing the chimichurri. Values voters have gotten a real hint of what the actual, no-shit values of the Republican party are through several recent "revelations" regarding Sarah Palin's family...

The Internet Is for Porn, Part XVII

Posted on September 01, 2008
Various efforts to deal with internet piracy have proven yet again an essential part of making the 'net safe for porn. You may have heard about a recent decision in a lawsuit filed by IO Group, a distributor of porn films, against Veoh. When I read the actual opinion, I had flashbacks to 2002, when I was writing the appellate briefs against AOL...

No Rebel Yell

Posted on August 30, 2008
Now that the Jackass National Convention is over, and McCain has removed all possible suspense from the Heffalump National Convention by naming a gun-toting fishmonger as his VP candidate, it's time for some miscellaneous snark hereabouts.    Selecting the right "balancing candidate" for a ticket under the modern Electoral College system — for the first few elections, President and

Back to School Edition

Posted on August 27, 2008
And here's a Back to School Edition of tasty internet sausages. They're links; they're tasty; and you really, really don't want to see them being made. Let's start off with a true back-to-school item: the fiftieth anniversary of instant ramen, that dietary staple of university students everywhere (probably even in other galaxies)...

The Rest is Rock and Roll

Posted on August 25, 2008
And so I have no rumblerumble of teenaged feet around the house today. The elder remora is off to university (but he's living at home, so come 2:30 or so...). Thus, the miscellany is a day late. I think I'll lead off with an article on the purported death of the semicolon; it seems all too appropriate, too easy, too timely; and it provides a great segue into A piece on the trials and

Unqualified

Posted on August 22, 2008
John McCain is a member of a class of persons who are unqualified to be President of the United States. This has nothing to do with ideology, or age, or ancestry, or gender, or the number of houses he does (or does not) own, or links to lobbyists, or anything else like that...

Venom Warning

Posted on August 19, 2008
I am really getting pissed off at the intellectual — bordering on actual — dishonesty that seems to be the editorial standard at Reed Business Information, publisher of Variety (and, not incidentally, its "competitor" The Hollywood Reporter, and of Publisher's [sic] Weekly)...

Last of the Summer Sausages

Posted on August 17, 2008
It's getting weird around here... First, just a couple of observations of the surroundings here on the Silicon Prairie. Given the new and (not surprisingly) awful Star Wars cartoon's appearance this weekend, I shouldn't have been too surprised to see a Prius with the license place YAVIN 4 on the road this morning...

Adams Family Valuation

Posted on August 13, 2008
Just a bit of irony coming from a problem with the publishing industry... Since the Authors Guild [sic] has (rather unwisely, IMNSHO) gone public with its intent to "study" accounting practices at F&W Publication, I feel able to engage in unlimited snarkery...

Dancing Fool

Posted on August 12, 2008
The University of Illinois Alumni Association has extended a "free" membership to all alumni. I'm going to decline. I'm not a paid member, and won't become a "free" member, because the Alumni Association is... full of crap is probably the nicest thing I can say about it...

Chorizo of Doom

Posted on August 10, 2008
They're of dubious origin, they're nonetheless quite tasty, and they come in links: That's why they're sausages. Once upon a time — supposedly — literary criticism mattered in the grand scheme of Things. Yeah, I'm convinced. This really reflects a problem in historiography more than anything else: Due to social concerns as much as anything else, the only discourse that has survived in a

The Hugo Awards

Posted on August 09, 2008
Congratulations to the (literary) Hugo and officially-not-a-Hugo recipients, announced earlier this evening. Mary Robinette Kowal received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer... which marks the first time in quite a while that a sitting SFWA officer (she just began her term as Secretary a month ago) has won a Hugo...

...With Credit for Time Served

Posted on August 07, 2008
After all of this nonsense, sixty-six months for Hamdan after he was convicted of the lesser offense of providing support to a foreign power, rather than the active participation in terrorist acts and conspiracies with which he was also charged. I do not think it is a coincidence that the military court (equivalent to jury — in military justice parlance, the "court" is the trier of fact, whether

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.