Kim over at LP is engaged in an interesting but - in my view - ultimately fruitless discussion of the relative merits of Big Brother. Unfortunately, all this is by the by. Big Brother may be socially illuminating, an interesting commentary on class, a reflection of broader Australian cultural trends, etc. I do not quibble with Kim’s account on those points. The problem is its objective quality as television. Read more »
As I mentioned over at Catallaxy, I’m one of those erstwhile lefties who decided that I didn’t want to visit the USA as a callow youth, and then - despite my politics shifting as time passed - I never got around to it. Read more »
What a crazy situation:
In late 2006, Darrell Roberson came home from a late-night card game to find his scantily clad wife with another man in a pickup in the driveway. Tracy Roberson was with her lover but cried rape, and her husband fired four shots into the truck as Devin LaSalle drove off, killing him.
Darrell Roberson was arrested, but a murder charge was dropped, and a grand jury indicted Tracy Roberson instead.
The wife has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and faces between 2 and 20 years in gaol. Read more »
I don’t feel like the best mother today. My daughter was sick last week, and didn’t have to go to creche. I don’t think she had quite realised that she would have to go back this week now that she was better. She screamed “NO CRECHE, WANT TO STAY HOME WITH MUMMY!” and kicked the car and her precious Tigger toy with rage the whole way to creche. She managed to wriggle out of her car seat while we were on the freeway (!!!) which was alarming, to say the least. I had to carry her under my arm, kicking and screaming, into the creche. Sigh. Read more »
Well, not strictly a ‘blawg’, but distinctly lawyerly. Do take the time to look around. Enjoy 
A while back, a non-lawyer friend asked me out of curiosity if a lawyer could (or should) report a client to authorities if the lawyer knew or suspected that client was committing fraud. It’s a little complicated. One’s first thought may be: ”Surely the primary duty of a lawyer is to uphold the law, and therefore the lawyer should report the client to authorities?” But in fact, there are competing duties to the court, to society and to one’s client. Read more »
I know that some people have lost a lot of money through the collapse of Opes Prime, so it seems a bit ghoulish to be fascinated by it - but there you have it, I can’t help myself - I’m fascinated. There are so many interesting equitable and property law questions raised by it (tracing, equitable mortgages, mere equities, trusts in undifferentiated property), not to mention corporate governance issues. Some of my favourite topics! Read more »
I’ve written previously on how Alice in Wonderland has made it into many Court judgments. Well, now Jerry and Elaine have made it into a judgment too!
In Parish Oil Co Inc v Dillon Companies Inc, the US Court of Appeals in Colorado mentioned Seinfeld in an anti-trust case: Read more »
I’ve been impressed with the imagery that rap/metal group Linkin Park wheel out for their music videos, and making a choice for a YouTube selection is very difficult. I finally settled on the anime-inspired Breaking the Habit, which was created by the artists who did the animated sequences in the first Kill Bill. Yes, it’s metal again (go figure), although Linkin Park hover around the edges of several different genres. Read more »
I’ve seen some pretty strange stuff in my life. No doubt, too, there are perfectly normal things that I think strange because, ahem, I’m pretty strange.
Anyhoo, that’s by-the-by.
The hot-penny-chucking ritual I witnessed yesterday was right up there on teh weirds list. A mate of mine suggested the RSPCA would be on your case if you did this to animals, and one of my tutors suspected the whole exercise was a tort waiting to happen (even he was weirded out, and he studied for 3 years at Oxford and is now a Fellow at Balliol). Read more »
No, I haven’t suddenly become a Christian or anything - but I found out today that my PhD was confirmed. It’s been a bit of a nerve-wracking week. I had to give a 25 minute presentation to the department on my topic. Somehow giving a talk to friends and colleagues is a very scary prospect, probably because I really do care what they think - if it was a bunch of strangers, I don’t think I’d care so much. But amazingly enough, it all went fine. Then today, I had to face a committee to talk about my progress to date (I’m about half way through). Read more »
I’ve always liked the classic fiddling number, The Devil went down to Georgia - made famous by the Charlie Daniels Band and covered by just about everyone else in country music. This version by alt metal band Primus really takes the biscuit, though, in part through some very clever animation. Read more »
Yes, it’s official now - I am expecting Baby No. 2. Well, most of you probably guessed from my post “Pregnancy is not an illness“. Read more »
I haven’t been too impressed with ethanol fuels for a while. My concern back then was “that if governments make emotional knee-jerk reactions, the cure may be as bad as the disease it is designed to alleviate.” Read more »
A science teacher friend told me that “teaching by real life example” is all the rage these days. People have to run around the room pretending to be electrons, rather than learning about electrical current in the abstract. It’s supposed to make learning more “approachable” and easier. A creditable aim, but I am afraid that I have always despised that kind of teaching. It treats people like idiots, incapable of understanding abstract thought. And personally, I learn far more by learning the abstract concept. Read more »
A certain section of the British spiritualist community is protesting again the repeal of the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 (UK). The Independent reported the other day that the recently formed Spiritualist Workers Association (SWA) believes that the repeal of the legislation is discriminatory towards spiritualism. Read more »
Continuing on the American theme from Helen’s conference post below, I thought I might mention this amusing First Amendment case, Purtell v Mason. I’ll let Sykes J from the Seventh Circuit of the United State Court of Appeals introduce the story: Read more »
Here is a rather amusing post about the 17 different types of lawyer. I’ve meant to put it up for a while, but it got lost in my Inbox.
I don’t think it covers me, but then again, I am a rara avis. I do know, however, at least one Lawyer Who Is Writing A Thriller, although it’s not a legal one. And I know a lot of people who would consider they are Lawyers in the Wrong Profession. Read more »
Apparently a New York man is suing an airline for US$2mill because the pilot forced him to sit on a toilet during part of the flight. He was given a last minute seat on a plane, but then a flight attendant complained her jump seat was uncomfortable, so the pilot moved him to the toilet so she could use his seat. Read more »
Tyler Cowen gave last night’s keynote address at the Institute for Human Studies Fellows’ Research Colloquium, and in it he revealed a selection of five ‘libertarian heresies’. Three of them particularly struck me. Read more »
This piece had its origins in a pair of posts written by Don Arthur over at Club Troppo, and followed up by Andrew Norton, Andrew Leigh, Will Wi Read more »
I know that some people have lost a lot of money through the collapse of Opes Prime, so it seems a bit ghoulish to be fascinated by it - but there you have it, I can’t help myself - I’m fascinated. There are so many interesting equitable and property law questions raised by it (tracing, equitable mortgages, mere equities, trusts in undifferentiated property), not to mention corporate governance issues. Some of my favourite topics! Read more »
I’ve written previously on how Alice in Wonderland has made it into many Court judgments. Well, now Jerry and Elaine have made it into a judgment too!
In Parish Oil Co Inc v Dillon Companies Inc, the US Court of Appeals in Colorado mentioned Seinfeld in an anti-trust case: Read more »
I’ve been impressed with the imagery that rap/metal group Linkin Park wheel out for their music videos, and making a choice for a YouTube selection is very difficult. I finally settled on the anime-inspired Breaking the Habit, which was created by the artists who did the animated sequences in the first Kill Bill. Yes, it’s metal again (go figure), although Linkin Park hover around the edges of several different genres. Read more »
I’ve seen some pretty strange stuff in my life. No doubt, too, there are perfectly normal things that I think strange because, ahem, I’m pretty strange.
Anyhoo, that’s by-the-by.
The hot-penny-chucking ritual I witnessed yesterday was right up there on teh weirds list. A mate of mine suggested the RSPCA would be on your case if you did this to animals, and one of my tutors suspected the whole exercise was a tort waiting to happen (even he was weirded out, and he studied for 3 years at Oxford and is now a Fellow at Balliol). Read more »
No, I haven’t suddenly become a Christian or anything - but I found out today that my PhD was confirmed. It’s been a bit of a nerve-wracking week. I had to give a 25 minute presentation to the department on my topic. Somehow giving a talk to friends and colleagues is a very scary prospect, probably because I really do care what they think - if it was a bunch of strangers, I don’t think I’d care so much. But amazingly enough, it all went fine. Then today, I had to face a committee to talk about my progress to date (I’m about half way through). Read more »
I’ve always liked the classic fiddling number, The Devil went down to Georgia - made famous by the Charlie Daniels Band and covered by just about everyone else in country music. This version by alt metal band Primus really takes the biscuit, though, in part through some very clever animation. Read more »
Yes, it’s official now - I am expecting Baby No. 2. Well, most of you probably guessed from my post “Pregnancy is not an illness“. Read more »
I haven’t been too impressed with ethanol fuels for a while. My concern back then was “that if governments make emotional knee-jerk reactions, the cure may be as bad as the disease it is designed to alleviate.” Read more »
A science teacher friend told me that “teaching by real life example” is all the rage these days. People have to run around the room pretending to be electrons, rather than learning about electrical current in the abstract. It’s supposed to make learning more “approachable” and easier. A creditable aim, but I am afraid that I have always despised that kind of teaching. It treats people like idiots, incapable of understanding abstract thought. And personally, I learn far more by learning the abstract concept. Read more »
A certain section of the British spiritualist community is protesting again the repeal of the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 (UK). The Independent reported the other day that the recently formed Spiritualist Workers Association (SWA) believes that the repeal of the legislation is discriminatory towards spiritualism. Read more »
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