Professor Paul Frampton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is not in his classroom his week because he is sitting in Devoto Prison in Buenos Aires for allegedly smuggling cocaine in his luggage. Frampton insists that he is innocent and that he will return to his research into “phenomenology” at the physics department. Frampton is an accomplished physicist and an adviser to the National Republican party, including drafting the science portion of the Republican platform for the 1988 Convention.
Category: Academia
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Seems the far Right just can’t stay out of – or quit throwing – the muck. The Huffington Post reports that University of Rochester econ professor, Steve Landsburg, has launched his own attack on Georgetown law school student, Sandra Fluke, who had the temerity to speak her mind to a congressional committee discussing contraceptive services. Landsburg apparently dabbles in English grammar when his dismal graphs Continue reading “Professor “Defends” Sandra Fluke As Mere Extortionist or Prostitute Not Slut; Students React Creatively”
. . . so is the entire actual Jersey shore. A Princeton study has found that global warming is causing a rise in sea levels that is far greater and more accelerated than previously thought. The report predicts that the Jersey shore could be underwater in a matter of decades and low-lying areas thrashed by increasing storm surges.
Continue reading “The Good News Is Jersey Shore Is Set To Be Cancelled, The Bad News Is . . .”
New York lawyer David Anziska has been one of the attorneys pushing litigation against law schools over inflated or erroneous employment figures. He has now released a list of 20 law schools accused of fudging the books. Two top 50 schools — Pepperdine and American University — are listed. No evidence for the inclusion on the list has been given and these schools have not had the opportunity to respond. Some of the schools have been previously accused of such fudging of data in the now hyper-competitive annual rankings.
Continue reading “Twenty Additional Law Schools Accused Of Cheating On Employment Figures”
I have previously written about my view of the clear negligence committed by Virginia Tech University in the 2007 campus massacre as well as the gross unfairness created by a state cap on damages for the families of dead students and faculty. I have also criticized the university’s litigation posture and steadfast denial of such negligence. Now a jury has added its collective voice to this criticism — finding Virginia Tech not only negligent but awarding the families of two Virginia Tech students $4 million each in a duty-to-warn case. However, due to the state’s imposition of a cap, these awards are likely to be reduced to a mere $100,000 each for their dead children. For parents like Erin Peterson and Julia Pryde, the cap must be a terrible insult as the calculation of what the state believes their child is worth in the face of lethal negligence by the school.
An online site has released a list of the top 50 law professors on Twitter. I am listed in the top 50 as is one of my colleagues, Dan Solove, at George Washington University. The listing is not ranked but it is an interesting array of academics.
Continue reading “Professors Who Tweet: Educational Site Lists Top 50 Law Professors On Twitter”
A new species of leopard frog has been discovered in one of the most wild and exotic places on earth . . . New York City. Having just returned from a weekend in New York with the kids, we explored our favorite spots in this unique ecosystem from the feeding hole known as Carnegie Deli to the herding areas of Times Square. We did not, however, spot this little guy despite trips to Central Park. That is probably because it turns out that this little guy prefers Staten Island to Manhattan.
Continue reading “Frogetaboutit: New Species of Frog Discovered in the Big Apple”
Scientists have released pictures of a fossil that may be a previously unknown type of human that existed only between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago. The “Red Deer Cave People” may represent a new hominid species. [Creationist Warning: Many people, and some presidential candidates, believe that the Earth is only 5,000 – 6,000 years old. Thus, according to Biblically based science, this is story is a bunch of Satan-inspired or secular-inspired hooey].
Continue reading “Meet The Red Deer Cave People: A New Hominid Species Found In China”
It is not quite Boys From Brazil, but the discovery of a long-forgotten diary of an English soldier has led to a rekindling of the theory that Adolf Hitler fathered a child . . . and the little Führer was French. The diary adds support to claims that Jean-Marie Loret was the son of Hitler — conceived when Hitler lived in France as a corporal in World War I.
Continue reading “English Soldier’s Long Lost Diary Supports Claim Of Hitler Child”
The new rankings for law schools are now out for 2012. Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Berkeley, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Michigan round out the top ten schools this year. That is basically the same group from last year but there are changes. Stanford passed Harvard to take the second position. Berkeley moved from 9th to pass Michigan and tie for 7th place. Michigan had the biggest hit — falling from to 10th. George Washington is again at 20th. (GW is also ranked again as having the second best part-time legal program in the country after some other school named George-something)
Continue reading “U.S. News & World Report Rankings 2012 Released For Law Schools”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
When it comes to standard of living I can’t complain. Between a pension and social security I live comfortably, though definitely without luxury. I have no investments and minimal savings so that I in essence live from check to check, as do most Americans less fortunate. Would I like thousands in the bank, of course? Would I like to travel overseas, as I never have, of course I would. It would also be nice to have a luxury auto that accommodates my long legs, 72” 3D plasma TV and many other accoutrements of our consumer society. I know I’d enjoy them, but frankly I am content with what I have and do not begrudge those with far more material things, savings and income. In this respect I am decidedly a creature of what has been known up to now as the “Middle/Working Class”. It is a vanishing citizen category that I identify with most closely and is gradually through conservative policies being driven down towards underclass status.
In addition, my entire working career was spent dealing with those people who can be roughly characterized in American terms as the “Underclass” due to poverty, race, ethnicity, disability, mental illness, criminality and addiction. I know first hand the depredations suffered by this portion of our citizens and this knowledge via experience, is something not shared by most Americans. My work exposed me to the basic unfairness of our system and I must admit my experiences fill me with rage towards those who lack empathy for the ignored and maltreated. Some say that this disparity is merely the result of lack off effort on their part, or of the natural result of lack of ability. Those that do are basically people ignorant of how the American system works and the fact that the putative “race” towards the top is a fixed affair, in all of its’ aspects. Since this is a legal opinion blog I would be giving its purpose short shrift was I not to mention that inequity of result has been a standard of our legal system since our Country’s inception. With a few exceptions used to demonstrate the opposite, the truth is as Leonard Cohen states so eloquently “Everybody knows the game is rotten”.
To me it is a fact that inequality is inherent in our system. Please indulge me to look at what I find most perplexing in this state of things and why I think it exists. Why does it seem that many people, who have received so much benefit from the fruits of this nation, are so begrudging of having those less fortunate at least live more comfortable lives? Continue reading “What Motivates the 1%?”
An amazing team of historians and forensic experts have released the amazing results of years of construction of the features of two of the men who died in the USS Monitor in 1862. They have come to life in these pictures.
A couple of past students went to the debate between Ann Coulter and Lawrence O’Donnell and were surprised b one exchange. Despite being continents apart, I became a point on which Coulter and O’Donnell agreed. While some would say this is a sign of the apocalypse, I say it is merely an expression the great unifying healing force that I send throughout the world.
Continue reading “Coulter and O’Donnell Find A Point Of Agreement And Guess What It Was . . .”
Japanese researchers can finally claim to have invented a device that has left their colleagues speechless. Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University, have created a “SpeechJammer” gun that can silence people by sending back their words to them to confuse their cognitive processes. I really need to get one of these for faculty meetings.
Continue reading “Unspeakable Science: Japanese Scientists Invent Speech-Jamming Device”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
This week Huffpost ran an article titled:“IBM’s Role in the Holocaust — What the New Documents Reveal”, written by Edwin Black. The article was a followup to Mr. Black’s book “IBM and the Holocaust” published in 2001. As Mr. Black puts it justifying this particular article:
“Newly-released documents expose more explicitly the details of IBM‘s pivotal role in the Holocaust — all six phases: identification, expulsion from society, confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, and even extermination. Moreover, the documents portray with crystal clarity the personal involvement and micro-management of IBM president Thomas J. Watson in the company’s co-planning and co-organizing of Hitler’s campaign to destroy the Jews.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edwin-black/ibm-holocaust_b_1301691.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
These are of course pretty serious charges being made about one of the world’s most famous companies and about its founder. While I will present the nature of these charges and the specificity of the author’s alleged proof in the piece, it really is not my focus to condemn IBM one way or another, or even to vouch for the truth of the article. I will provide a link that offers a different perspective on these charges and will leave it to you the reader to decide what you think of them. My real purpose here is to discuss the necessary amorality of Corporations and what effect that amorality has upon nations and people. Continue reading “A Corporate Tale”