Going Black On A White-Out Day

Today I am snowed in, thanks to the weather, and working more-or-less normally, thanks to the internet.

Part of the internet is "going black" today, to remind us of the dangers of the current form of 

SOPA and PIPA, two proposals in Congress to screw-up the web in the name of protecting intellectual property rights.
There are critics of these bills, and mostly they are people who know and understand the internet's potential for increasing human knowledge and freedom.
There are supporters of these bills, and mostly they are people in public office who are dependent on campaign contributions from people with lots of money.

There's a lot of money involved and, as we have learned from our corrupt Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, Money Talks.
Personally, I'll stick with the internet folks; I don't have a lot of money and I see no reason to trust those who do over those who are trying to empower me.
Without a free internet, I'd be shoveling snow today, instead of making money.

For more information ... the following links may be illegal under SOPA/PIPA since they may link to material that is under copyright. How would I know?
Wikipedia's articles on SOPA and PIPA

• Statement from Wikipedia editors announcing decision to black out
• Wikimedia Foundation press release
• Blog post from Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner
• Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post on the problems with SOPA/PIPA
   

As of 6AM PT, January 18, Google has more than 4,600 articles about the blackout. Here are a few:

• Why is Wikipedia staging a blackout and what is SOPA?
   
  , from the National Post
• Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves
   
  , from the British Broadcasting Corporation
• Wikipedia blackout over US anti-piracy bills
   
  and FEATURE: Websites blackout over 'SOPA censorship'
   
  , from Al Jazeera
• Wikipedia, Craigslist, other sites go black in SOPA protest
   
  , from the Los Angeles Times
• Google Rallies Opposition to Murdoch-Backed Anti-Piracy Bill
   
  , from BusinessWeek
• SOPA protest: The Net strikes back
   
  , from Politico
• Wikipedia blackout a 'gimmick', MPAA boss claims
   
  , from the Guardian
• Wikipedia 24-hour blackout: a reader
   
  and Why we're taking Wikipedia down for a day
   
  , from the New Statesman
• Internet-wide protests against SOPA/PIPA are kicking up a storm
   
  , by the Hindustan Times
• SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know
   
  , from CBS News
• Protest on Web Uses Shutdown to Take On Two Piracy Bills
   
  , from the New York Times
• Protesting SOPA: how to make your voice heard
   
  , from Ars Technica
• Why We've Censored Wired.com
   
  , from Wired

MLK Weekend Snow

Snow days are Nature's way of telling us to slow down and think about stuff. Let us celebrate the great America Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by staying the heck off the icy roads today!

Tebown'd ....

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
-- Matthew 6:5

Fear Vs Compassion?

My friend Mudball posted at Wholly Hodgepodge:

A new study finds that today’s college students are not as empathetic as college students of the 1980s and ’90s.
University of Michigan researchers analyzed data on empathy collected from almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years.
“College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait.”
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/06/01/compassion-on-the-decline-among-college-students/14210.html

My reaction:
The article doesn't consider one simple fact: this generation has been raised in a climate of total, immediate fear.
When I was a kid, we had a generalized fear of the Russians but were confident of victory and didn't take our shoes off to get onto airplanes.
In contrast, today's kids are surrounded by endless depictions of dark-skinned, hairy men who will bomb their precious bodily fluids, and CANNOT BE STOPPED.
This has an impact on young people; constant fearfulness may reduce the capacity to reflexively consider the impact of our actions on others. This reminds me of a scene in "Persopolis" where the author (a woman grown up in modern clerical-fascist Iran) explains Iranians are constantly in fear of being beaten by the religious police, or worse ... and that this fear keeps them so busy worrying about whether their veil is too short or their hair too visible that they don't have time to think about public affairs. When a little too much lipstick puts her in danger of arrest, she unhesitatingly accuses an innocent man of swearing at her, resulting in his arrest and likely beating; the shocking thing is that she goes home and tells what happened and laughs like it was a joke ... she was so desensitized by the fear.


I wonder if this phenomenon is what the study is revealing.

Our Daybed

Teh Awesome Daybed!

For almost as long as I have known her, Kris has talked up the virtues of a daybed, sort of a couch upon which a lady may array herself, to enjoy a book, some bon-bons, and what-she-will. We knew that, sooner or later, we would find one.
Sooner became now on Monday, when I was at the Thrift store. A man dropped of the pictured item, explaining that his grandmother had had it from Colorado, where it had come from a saloon or some such. He wasn't sure whether it was worth donating, but I assured him it was a generous donation and would be an asset.
Don, who usually prices vintage material, wasn't in that day, but I kept my eye on it. When Kris was done shopping, she saw it and instantly knew: This Was It!
The next day, I came in after morning yoga and asked about a price. It was a steep price, measured one way, but very reasonable, considering everything about it, and I paid it without hesitation. (This had the advantage also of freeing up floor space for some other items.)
By great luck, my brother's pickup was available (I'd driven it home from the airport Sunday, when he went to work) so bringing the thing home was not a big problem. Mother-in-law helped bring it into the living room, where it may stay for an awefully long time ... both Kris and the cats love it.
Looking more closely at the daybed, it's handmade of real wood - no particleboard! It'll probably need a little linseed oil, and we plan to redo the upholstery in a fabric more like the original ... perhaps red velvet. When you consider that this daybed is actually very practical, and will last as long as we do, it's really a very reasonable thing to get!
A nice thing about having a settled place to live is that we can gradually stock our space with quality stuff, collected a little at a time. We're not fancy people, but having read wood furniture means we won't have to replace things every decade or so. And who knows what the story behind this vintage item may be ... if only the wood could talk!

Pilates Dog

Jeannelle and a downward facing dog!

Sundays we head in the direction of Ballard for Kris' Pilates class. Usually I drink coffee and get in an hour of writing; afterwards we may brunch with friends or head to the farmer's market.
This Sunday, New Year's Day, class was scheduled and hour later and one of the participants brought her very well-mannered dog to observe. We had a good time playing pull-the-rope-and-growl!

O, Dog Samaritan!

Our friends for the moment...

Pulling up to the Roanoke for a sandwich, Kris and I saw a black dog standing confused in the road. A man in a pickup truck was looking at him, but the two were clearly not related - the dog was shying away barking, and the man was not calling to it.
I parked and Kris & I went over. The dog seemed lost; no collar, wet all over, and the truck man said he'd emerged from Lid Park. I talked to the dog and he barked back, but didn't seem interested going anywhere. I offered him a granola bar, which swiftly disappeared and he begged for more.
The other guy had to go off to work, and thanked us for taking care of the lost dog. I went into the Roanoke; the manager suggested maybe the dog had jumped out of a customer's car. I asked the crowd if anyone had a black dog in their car and one man perked up - he couldn't see how his dog could've gotten out but we went to see.
It wasn't his dog; his dog was still in his truck, and so was some dog food. So our new friend got some food in a bowl and fed the stranger dog. We talked with the dog, and knocked on a couple of doors next to the Roanoke, but no-one was home. The Rowy's manager came out with some water and some bacon; the dog wasn't thirsty but wolfed the bacon.
Finally, we called the nonemergency line, and the police said they'd send someone over. We figured we could wait; a car stopped and asked if we'd seen their dog - but it was a different dog.
Kris and I stepped inside the Roanoke to get takeout while the other guy watched the dog, when he came in. Someone done the street and come and called the dog, who came!
It looks like we may have been had - or maybe the dog really was lost. Who knows? But we had fun taking care of the dog for a while, and maybe the dog has learned that if he comes to the Roanoke, he'll get fed. We always do!

Lessons from the War of 1812

I just finished C.S.Forester's The Age Of Fighting Sail which, while several decades old, offers an important lesson to serious students of military campaigns. In this account of the naval side of the War of 1812, Forester points out that British superiority at sea lead their frigate captains to offer battle so secure in the certainty of victory that they lost, five in a row, starting with Constitution's victory over Gueriere.

This gave us Americans great confidence and, in turn, our side started offering battle under foolish conditions, ending in several completely unnecessary and pointless defeats. Eventually both sides got tired of a war which neither could "win" in any meaningful sense (Wellington refused the leadership of the war against the Americans, on the grounds that while he could easily occupy all the cities, he could not control the countryside ... sound familiar?), signed a treaty and are now the best of friends.

We Americans all  need to learn and remember this lesson but I don't think our corporate leadership wants us to.

Prediction for 2012: Free CLE Changes the Legal Education Landscape

Cross-posted from 4freeCLE - and representing one of my big projects for next year:

2011 was the year in which free, on-demand continuing legal education began to really take off, both as a business model for the sponsors and as a real choice for practitioners. I'll list a couple dozen below for the sake of those who need a few credits quick, but first let me make a few predictions:

Predictions for 2012:

• There will always be a market for paid, premium CLE. Just as free books and images on the internet have not destroyed the market for books and art IRL, so too free CLE on the internet will not destroy the older market. It'll just change the, possibly shrink its overall dollar value but by increasing the need to prove value, it'll improve quality. And higher-quality items usually command a better mark-up.
• In 2012, at least 1 percent of the market for CLE in general will be satisfied through free CLE, and most of that will be on-demand via the internet.
• Although economic issues may encourage some lawyers to exit the profession, the overall demand for CLE will increase, as on-demand access makes it practical to use it as a resource for problem solving. For example, if an ethical issue involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act occurs to you while you're stuck at the airport with your cellphone; you can take a quick, short on-demand ethics CLE to help you now!
• 4freeCLE is going to do a *lot* more in 2012 to radically improve free continuing legal education. If you have any special requests, contact us!

OK, enough predictions. Here's some links for those who have waited until now to earn credit. Let's have an educational 2012!

---

Intellectual Property Colloquium (IPC)

Most IPC recordings have been granted credit in CA, FL, IL, NE, NY, PA, TN, TX, WA

• The Bilski Oral Argument
• Can You Hear Me Now? - fireside chat with Verizon executives
• A Conversation with Chief Judge Paul Michel
• A Conversation with Fred von Lohman
• Derivative Work
• Everyone Hates DRM
• Patent Reform: Damages
• Privacy in Networked World
• Statutory Damages and the Tenenbaum Litigation
• You Tube, My Take - (Viacom/Google litigation)
• Many More Hours of AV CLE on intellectual property!

---

Lexvid

• Attorney-Client Privilege and the Duty of Confidentiality
• Chapter 11 Reorganizations: A General Overview of Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Terminology 
• Hot Topics in Commercial Leasing
• Insurance Law Fundamentals
• Getting In, Getting Out, Getting Paid: Fee Agreements, Withdrawal as Counsel, and Fee Arbitrations - by Lexvid
• Legal Considerations When Assisting a Client Form a Business
• Navigating the Immigration Jungle: Immigration Visas
• Short Sales & Other Options to Avoid Foreclosures 
• Lots more - I'll catalog them soon!

---

Practising Law Institute

• Advocating for Veterans - the Basics on Benefits, Discharge Upgrades and Cultural Competency
• Debt Ceiling Debate Raises Legal, Regulatory and Financial Issues 2011 
• Defending Unlawful Detainers: Training Pro Bono Attorneys to Help Families Avoid Homelessness 
• Diversity in Law Practice 2011: Legal Update, Inclusion Strategies, and Work-Life Balance
• Expanding Your Practice Using Limited Scope Representation

---

Trial.Com

• Catastrophic Loss Cases - How They Are Different
• Changing In-House/Outside Counsel Relationships
• Compliance: In-house Counsel’s New Challenges
• Copycat Liability
• Counsel Selection: A Trial Lawyer's Guide to the Universe
• Effect of Corporate IT Politics on Otherwise Privileged Communications (ethics credit!)
• Guilt By Association: You Didn't Design, Make or Sell It, But You Could Be Liable Anyway
• In-House Counsel On The Hot Seat
• Internal Investigations Done Right - The Nuts and Bolts of Who and How to Conduct Them
• Preparing Your Client to Testify 
• Privilege and In-House Counsel (ethics credit!)  
• Protecting Your Brand from Social Network Abuse
• Trials, Tribulations and Travails
• What’s Your Story? It’s Simply the Key to Winning Your Cases 
• Lots more - I'll catalog them soon!

---

Black Duck Software

• The Impact of Visualization Technology on Open Source License Obligations
• Insights and Lessons learned from the Top OSS Legal Cases
• An Introduction to Open Source Software and Licenses
• Managing Open Source Software: Legal Issues in M&A
• The Open Source Community vs. Patent Trolls 
• OpenSource Due Diligence in M&A and Financing
• Open Source Exposure via Your Software Supply Chain
• Trademarks and Open Source Licenses
• Understanding the Top 10 Open Source Licenses

-----------
See also: "Why Free CLE? Because it’s a commodity and because “interesting CLE” is oxymoronic"  by The Irreverent Lawyer