Archive for November, 2006
Thursday, November 30th, 2006
Copyright and the Blogosphere
Another interesting seminar today (with free lunch, which is always appreciated by us poor law students. There is a direct correlation between advertising pizza and increased seminar attendance.) At this seminar an experienced copyright attorney discussed her studies of copyright ‘norms’ practiced by the blogosphere. She believes that these norms (unregulated and perhaps unwritten rules that have become standard practice among bloggers), which have largely been empirically documented, should play some role in guiding future copyright reform.
There were two points I wanted to bring up. First, when she listed 10 or so types of blogs, there was mention of “mommy blogs,” but nothing about “daddy blogs.” We have a long way to go to catch up to the Mommy blogs!
Second, and of course much more importantly, her talk made me think about the copyright norms that I practice when blogging. She mentioned that the blogosphere is a huge laboratory for studying copyright norms because of the ability to track content. Linking, trackbacks, comments, and search engines are all methods employed to monitor content. When I write posts, I always try to provide links to sources of information or interesting sites (ingrained perhaps by my education in science, where credit is an important facet of writing). Recently, I discussed a New York Times series called “Broken Bench.” In my post I included a short section of the article so that I could highlight what I considered to be some important points. I have to admit that when I did that, I took a brief moment to decide whether I could or should do so. A factor in my decision, undoubtedly, was that there is little chance that the New York Times would ever find my post, and if they did, I don’t receive enough traffic to make it worth their while to litigate. But as per usual, I provided numerous links back to the original article - failure to do so, in my mind, would have constituted a blatant copyright infringement.
In my [many] hours reading blogs, a rough framework has evolved and formed in my head that guides my actions when posting. I believe that most legitimate bloggers always credit their sources with a link, as that creates a positive environment that will eventually reward the ‘linker’ when he becomes the ‘linkee’. Additionally, when a blogger brings an interesting site or video clip or new story to the reader’s attention, that reader tends to acknowledge the original blogger when posting the site or video to their own blog.
So anyway, to make a long story short, before this seminar I hadn’t given my own blogging norms much conscious attention. I think that being made aware of these unwritten norms will only help me be a better blogger. By the way, I found a great guide for bloggers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, if you have any questions about copyright or your rights as a blogger.
Just a final question - when blogging, what constitutes copyright infringement to you? Other than blatant content-stealing, what norms do you dislike seeing violated?
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Thursday, November 30th, 2006
Evolution, Theistic Evolution, Intelligent Design, and Creationism
Yesterday I attended a seminar presented by Stephen Harvey, a lawyer in the Law Firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP in Pennsylvania. Mr. Harvey was one of the leading lawyers for the famous case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. In this case, the school board of the Dover Area School District voted to require Biology teachers in the District to read a disclaimer when teaching evolution that promoted the theory of “Intelligent Design” and offered the book “Of Pandas and People” available to students in the library. The teachers all refused to read the statement, and as a result the administrators were forced to read it in class. 11 parents contacted the ACLU and the lawsuit was soon initiated. Mr. Harvey’s work on this case was provided pro bono through his law firm.
Before I go any further, let me say that I have no problem with Intelligent Design. It has no basis in science of course, but all people living in this country have a right to their religious beliefs. That is where we have to draw the line. I’m free to believe, but I’m not free to force that belief on others, especially children. And more, this country has a long and dedicated history of separation of church and state.
Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Constitution does explicitly state the phrase “separation of church and state.” Instead, it is an interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The first use of the phrase comes from an 1802 letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut. Jefferson, quoting the First Amendment, writes: “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting and establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between Church and State“. For more information, see here.
So Mr. Harvey presented some of the evidence that they used in the trial, as well as a number of themes that the attorneys felt represented their understanding of the issues. As you might have guessed, the plaintiffs in this case won and the disclaimer was revoked. The school district was left with a mountain of legal bills and every one of the board members who voted in favor of the disclaimer were voted off the board in the next election. One of my classmates was a legal aide to Mr. Harvey during the trial, and needless to say I was envious of that experience.
Comments Off - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Monday, November 27th, 2006
Thanksgiving and the Erie Doctrine
I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. We had a great time eating too much and playing games with the family, and the E-man had fun playing and sharing food with his cousin. The weather was perfect, nice and chilly, just how we like it on the winter holidays. Sixty degree weather on Thanksgiving is just plain anti-holiday, and we were treated with a day in the 30’s and 40’s. Now the holiday season is in full swing, with just a few short weeks until Christmas.
I have about 3.5 weeks until I’m done with the semester, so needless to say I’ll be spending every extra minute studying for my three exams. I still can’t believe I’m almost done with the first semester of law school - it’s gone by so quickly. I’m in the library right now, working on Civil Procedure. Sitting in front of me is my casebook, open to Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, one of the most challenging and important cases in American history according to many sources. There seem to be a few seminal cases that every lawyer in the U.S. is at least familiar with (such as Pennoyer v. Neff), and Erie is one of them. So now it’s time to dive in!
Comments Off - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
Boy he loves the Backyardigans!
The E-man LOVES the Backyardigans. Honestly, my wife and I don’t mind them so much ourselves. In every episode the characters use their imaginations to come up with a new adventure. There’s lots of entertaining singing as well, and every episode uses a different musical genre, which is pretty cool. The one we watched this evening was traditional Irish music, and since my wife and I spent the 10 best days of our life in Ireland, it was a nice way to spend 20 minutes. In honor of the Backyardigans, here is my own meme - which episodes have you seen?
Season 1:
Knights Are Brave and Strong
The Yeti
Pirate Treasure
The Heart of the Jungle
Secret Mission
Riding the Range
The Key to the Nile
The Snow Fort
It’s Great to Be a Ghost
Viking Voyage
The Quest for the Flying Rock
Castaways
Race to the Tower of Power
Polka Palace Party
Surf’s Up
Eureka!
Race Around the World
Monster Detectives
Cave Party
High Tea
Season 2:
Mission to Mars
Samurai Pie
Scared of You (aka Monster Party)
Whodunit?
The Legend of the Volcano Sisters
Swamp Creature
Horsing Around
Special Delivery
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
Another day in the life…
How about a recap of a typical day in the E-man household?
We start with the alarm at 5:00, then eventually getting up between 5:15 and 5:30. A hectic morning rush of showers, clothes, bottles, diapers, breakfast and lunches, and then we’re out the door by 6:30. My wife drops me off at work, then the E-man at daycare, and by 7:15 she’s at work.
It’s 7:50 right now, and I’m doing odds and ends (ok, reading blogs and the news) before class starts at 8:30. Exciting, hunh? My wife is done at 3:00PM, and since the E-man has his 18-month checkup today (with shots!) she’ll pick him up and get to the doctor’s office by 3:15. I’m not too upset that I’m missing this appointment; I hate seeing him get his shots. At 5:20 she’ll pick me up and we’ll rush home to make dinner and spend some time with the baby before his bedtime at 7:00PM. Another hour or two, and then we’re off to bed as well. Needless to say, we’re ready for the weekend by the time it comes!
Comments Off - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
A Year Ago…
A year ago today I spent the morning dealing with one of the worst household disasters I’ve ever had to face…
I swear, I haven’t eaten Kielbasa since that day!
Comments Off - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
Election Day!
No matter who you’re supporting this year, it’s an important election so get out there and vote!
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Sunday, November 5th, 2006
Sunday Night Blues
As is true for almost everyone, Sunday evening is the hardest night of the week. 7:00PM, the E-man’s bedtime, is the worst part of Sunday evening. When I put him to bed I know that the weekend is officially over, and I won’t see him again until Monday morning when it’s time to send him off to daycare. Then my wife and I try to squeeze a couple of hours out of the remainder of the night, but in reality we’re just gearing up for another work week.
We both enjoy our careers (yes, my current career is being a full-time student), but we enjoy the weekends and full days with the E-man a lot more. There just isn’t enough time on Saturday and Sunday to do all the things and see all the people we wish we could.
He just moved into the Toddler 1 room this week when he turned 18 months old on Friday. It’s a big transition because he goes from two 2-hour naps to a single 2-hour nap. It’s going to be pretty rough on him (and us, I think). Today he took a 2-hour nap and was so exhausted that he refused to wake up - instead, he laid on my shoulder for an hour, and it was really nice. It doesn’t happen very much anymore. I hope this transition goes well!
