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Academic

The Yin Blog

Random thoughts on law, politics, game theory, sports, books, television shows, and movies. - From Tung Yin, Associate Professor of Law at Iowa. \r\n

Post Frequency: 0.9/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 17:08:59

Perfect weather for the office worker

Posted on April 29, 2010
We've been having the perfect weather for the M-F, 9-5 office worker these past few weeks: on the weekdays, it's been gray and drizzling, with occasional 15-minute patches of blue skies and sunshine; but on the weekends, it's been dry...

Wow, China is stripped of a women's gymnastics team Olympic medal!

Posted on April 28, 2010
The IOC found that a member of China's women's gymnastics team in 2000 was underage and hence ineligible, which results in the disqualification of the entire team. That team had won the bronze medal, which now goes to the United...

How 2 innings can turn around a bad fantasy baseball day

Posted on April 24, 2010
So there I was, checking out the late baseball games and lamenting the awful day that my fantasy baseball team had been having. My best player, Ryan Braun, had gone 0-4. In fact, every Milwaukee Brewer on my team went...

How not to design survey questions

Posted on April 23, 2010
For some reason, my wife got an official looking piece of mail the other day, titled "2010 Congressional District Survey -- OR 3rd" . . . from the Republican National Committee, of which she is not a member. The survey...

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Goodwin Liu's "unnecessarily flowery" language

Posted on April 19, 2010
Boalt law prof Goodwin Liu was raked over the coals last week for, among other things, his testimony against then-Judge Alito during Alito's confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. This particular statement from Liu's testimony drew a lot of attention:...

Reminiscing about Oklahoma City

Posted on April 19, 2010
15 years ago, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up a truck bomb outside the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing almost 170 people and destroying the building. At the time, I was nearing the end of my...

Skin, financially and literally

Posted on April 15, 2010
Since today is April 15, there's been extra focus on the fact that about half of the population pays no federal income tax. Megan McArdle has a typically clear-headed post with thoughts on the ramifications of this observation, and the...

How a few inches changed the Star Wars universe. . . .

Posted on April 09, 2010
Just about everyone I know hates how George Lucas tinkered with the original "Star Wars" for the 20th anniversary re-release. Maybe the most loathed scene change is how in the original version, when Greedo confronts Han Solo, Solo shoots first;...

Justice Stevens' retirement: what impact on Goodwin Liu's nomination?

Posted on April 09, 2010
Just thinking aloud -- what impact does Justice Stevens' retirement have on the pending nomination of Boalt law prof Goodwin Liu to the 9th Circuit? There's always the tiny possibility that President Obama will take a page out of George...

When 1% > 99% . . . .

Posted on April 06, 2010
So when Jesse James said that 99% of the allegations about his cheating were untrue, it sure makes you wonder about his math skills. . . . Or is it that the initial allegations vastly underreported the scope of his...

My former institution wins a lawsuit!

Posted on April 01, 2010
A legal writing applicant's lawsuit against my former employer, the University of Iowa College of Law, made quite a splash over a year ago, when she alleged that she had not been hired for a Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research...

The end of "24" is near . . . .

Posted on March 28, 2010
I suppose I should be saddened by the news that this season will be the last for "24," but instead I feel a sort of relief. Although parts of this season have been outstanding, it's largely recycled past years' plot...

If elections matter . . .

Posted on March 16, 2010
I didn't vote for President Bush in 2004, but he won the election and I thought he was entitled to nominate well-credentialed lawyers like Miguel Estrada and John Roberts to the federal courts, because elections matter. Senator Obama won the...

"Fish are our friends, not food"

Posted on March 15, 2010
We've introduced our boys to the Pixar movie "Finding Nemo," both the DVD itself (once) and the read aloud storybook version on CD (many times). Last night, as we sat down to a dinner with a main course of fish,...

I'm happy to be excused from jury duty, but what harsh wording!

Posted on March 12, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, I had a piece of forwarded mail that turned out to be a summons for jury duty in Iowa City. I wasn't too worried about it, since I was pretty sure that Johnson County was...

CIA drone pilots as unlawful combatants?

Posted on March 12, 2010
Georgetown adjunct law prof Gary Solis has an interesting op-ed in the Washington Post in which he argues that CIA pilots of remote controlled aerial drones are violating the laws of war: [T]hey are fighters without uniforms or insignia, directly...

Dear Census Dept: Show, don't tell

Posted on March 10, 2010
In yesterday's mail, I received an official looking letter from the Census Department. It was quite thin, but I had read that this decade's census form was streamlined, so I excitedly opened it to get to the census. Instead, it...

I think I've kicked the "American Idol" habit!

Posted on March 03, 2010
How is the show with Ellen DeGeneris? I watched the audition episodes this year, then fell behind during Hollywood week, and didn't see the announcement of the top 24. And then with the Olympics, I missed the first two performance...

"24": what do the producers/writers have against African-American women?

Posted on March 01, 2010
"24" may have given us not one but two African-American presidents over the first six seasons (David Palmer, seasons 2-3; Wayne Palmer, season 6), but when it comes to African-American women, has there been a major guest character who's not...

Buffett vs. Congress on health care reform

Posted on March 01, 2010
I think I'm going to believe that Warren Buffett has a better sense of whether health care reform as currently proposed is a good idea: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett advised President Barack Obama on Monday to scrap the health care...

My "Princess Bride" article on SSRN

Posted on February 26, 2010
I know "The Princess Bride" has a reputation for being a "chick flick," but I think it's one of the best movies ever made (and a terrific novel, too). I like it so much that I used one of its...

Winter Olympics 2010 -- harsh DQ rules and lucking into bronze medals

Posted on February 26, 2010
I've been watching a good bit of the Winter Olympics 2010, and I haven't been alone in the house. My older son already likes hockey, but he became a fan of curling(!) from watching it. Compared to the Summer Olympics,...

I am a Wii boxing champion!

Posted on February 24, 2010
The International Law Society chapter here at Lewis & Clark has been sponsoring the Law School Olympiks (sic) as a fundraiser, with events like a table tennis tournament that concluded yesterday. Today was the day for Wii boxing, and the...

Who hurts the Republican Party more, Palin or Bush?

Posted on February 23, 2010
In a pithy analysis of the results of the CPAC straw poll of preferred Republican Presidential candidates in 2012, Steve Bainbridge has a funny line, calling Sarah Palin the "Paris Hilton of politics." This got me wondering -- 5 or...

My criticism the ACLU of Oregon's stance on religious freedom for teachers

Posted on February 22, 2010
The Oregonian is running my op-ed, which criticizes the ACLU of Oregon's stance on religious freedom for public schoolteachers. Here's the full text: Should public schoolteachers be allowed to wear religious garbs such as head scarves and turbans while teaching?...

The difference between Tiger Woods vs. Eliot Spitzer and Bill Clinton

Posted on February 20, 2010
So Tiger Woods cavorted with lots of women while he was married, was caught, and took a leave of absence from golf, only to emerge yesterday with a public apology that was broadcast live on TV. Why should I care?...

I think I'm getting used to Oregon

Posted on February 18, 2010
Yesterday, while I was teaching National Security Law, I kept noticing how the thin strip of window on the top of the back classroom wall was full of a rich blue sky. It was quite distracting. I guess I've gotten...

Maybe I'll finally get to sit on a jury!

Posted on February 15, 2010
I'm not sure how Oregon's court finances are doing, but they can't be much better than California's. And this L.A. Times story paints a pretty grim picture for the courts and juries, with so many people getting excused for financial...

The Belief-o-matic test

Posted on February 12, 2010
Via Prof. Bainbridge, another one of those Internet quizzes, this one about the religious or spiritual belief system that most closely matches the quiztaker's own. My top five results: 1. Secular Humanism (100%)2. Unitarian Universalism (96%)3. Theravada Buddhism (86%)4...

UNC women complain about a 6-4 female-male ratio

Posted on February 11, 2010
The NY Times has a story about how many universities, including the University of North Carolina, are seeing the social impact of "not enough guys," given the fact that their student bodies are more than 50% female. (Apparently, Lewis &...

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