Since the start of this blog, we have used WordPress as a publishing platform. Recently, however, WordPress appears to be working to drive off bloggers by imposing insular charges for every little thing. Indeed, they routinely charge you more if you are one of their more successful blogs beyond the annual fee for the blog (which is quite reasonable). Thus, they will now put advertising on your blog without your consent unless you pay them not to. Once again, if you are a successful blog, they zero in on your blog for such placement. Now, with no warning, WordPress has changed the basic tool for embedding videos by requiring bloggers to pay $60 a year for a video feature.
Continue reading “Things That Tick Me Off: WordPress”
You might want to dump those De Beers shares. Scientists have discovered a plant that may be basically a giant diamond. The planet circles around pulsar J1719-1438. Sure, it is 4,000 light years away, but isn’t she worth it?
Continue reading “Meet PSR J1719-1438 b — The Diamond Planet”
State Rep. Phil Hinkle , R-Indianapolis, is in a rather curious position. He admits that he paid a young man $80 to come to his hotel room for a good time but insists that he is neither gay nor guilty of any criminal act. He has refused to resign after being stripped of his committee chairmanships. Hinkle is viewed as an anti-homosexual legislator and has been outspoken in his opposition to same-sex marriage.
This is one of the photos released today by the Park Police showing the cracks in the Washington monument. Below is another picture.
Continue reading “Photos of Cracks in Washington Monument After Earthquake”
This week, I was milking sympathy after being stung twice by bees on two successive days walking our dog, Molly, through our nearby forest. The sympathy then came to an end when I saw this story about an elderly man in Redondo Beach, California.
There is an interesting torts case of consent out of Shelbyville, Kentucky where truck driver Phillip Seaton, 64, sued after a doctor amputated part of his penis in what was supposed to be a simple circumcision operation. Dr. John Patterson insists that, upon examination, he found the penis to be infused with cancer and took the step in the best interests of the patient. A jury agreed and ruled for Patterson.
Continue reading “Kentucky Man Loses Lawsuit Over Amputation of His Penis Without Consent”
The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is being sued for age discrimination by tax professor William J. Brown. Brown, 73, first began at Pitt in 1968 and earned tenure at that institution. After 30 years, he left to accept a post as director of the Graduate Tax Program at Duquesne’s business school. When he returned in 2006, he alleged was blocked to returning as a full-time faculty member by a decision of the law school to seek younger faculty members.
Continue reading “Law Professor Sues Pitt For Age Discrimination”
I was honored recently to be selected as the Appellate Lawyer of the Week featured in the National Law Journal. Here is the interview. The interview was a chance to speak with one of the great legal journalists, Tony Mauro, whom I have long admired.
We previously followed the case of Madera (Ca.) officer Marcy Noriega, who shot and killed a handcuffed suspect, Everardo Torres, in the back of a cruiser — after mistaking her semiautomatic pistol for her Taser. Now, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Torres’ family can bring a lawsuit against the officer. Previously, Chief U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii ruled that the officer had complete immunity from lawsuit in such a circumstance.
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit Rules Family Can Sue California Officer Who Shot Handcuffed Son In Back of Cruiser”
The last few years have been replete with stories of fraudulent and possibly criminal acts for banks in the mortgage crisis. Thousands have lost their homes and faced financial ruin. The Administration is yielding to demands from lobbyists for the banks and particularly targeting Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, in demanding support for a deal that would offer just civil fines rather than criminal penalties.
The epicenter was Mineral Virginia in the district of Republican Congressman Eric Cantor. You may recall Cantor’s effort to slash the budget of the United States Geological Service (USGS).
We have another rather bizarre infringement action based on a fairly common symbol. The State Bar of Wisconsin has sued LexisNexis over its use of an online logo that looks like its own symbol. Once again, as with prior lawsuits by Apple and other organizations, I fail to understand the tightening stranglehold of infringement actions over the use of common symbols and terms. The column is a standard symbol for lawyers and schools. In my view, the Wisconsin Bar is showing poor judgment in litigating such an issue — particularly when there is little danger of confusion for observers.
Continue reading “Pillar Envy: Wisconsin Bar Sued LexisNexis Over Use of Column Symbol”
Former McDermott Will & Emery partner Bruce Paul Golden is facing disbarment in Illinois after officials learned that he had allegedly lied about his income on a financial aid form for a private school. The school is Francis W. Parker, one of the most affluent schools in Chicago. I graduated from Parker’s traditional rival, Latin School of Chicago. Both are ridiculously expensive, but Golden is accused of actually altering his tax forms to establish a base for support.
I was sitting in my office an hour ago when my pictures begin to fall off the walls. It was a rare earthquake in D.C. and it was pretty exciting. I am told that it was a 5.9 quake. Of course, this could lead to Georgetown law reporting their quake as 6.0 and our revising our figures accordingly.
Continue reading “EARTHQUAKE!”
It is often said that “academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.”[FN1] Some may view the recent dust up between University of Colorado Paul Campos (left) and University of Chicago law professor Brian Leiter as such an example. However, there are some important issues raised in the controversy over the writings of “ScamProf.” Campos recently admitted that he is the anonymous law professor who created such a stir with a criticism of law teaching and law schools. Critics say that Campos only came forward after various bloggers had deduced his identity. However, Leiter and others went further and challenged Campos personally and professionally.
Continue reading “Lawyers and Law Professors Erupt in Bitter Debate After Identification of “ScamProf””