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LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 31, 2004 12/31/2004 06:22:00 PM [Home]
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No Escaping Blogs and Legal Documentation (e.g. for Patents)
Why There's No Escaping the Blog is a "Tech Trends" article at Fortune Magazine by David Kirkpatrick and Daniel Roth.
The excellent article also touches on law in the following context:
"Says Bill Gates, who claims he'd like to start a blog but doesn't have the time: 'As blogging software gets easier to use, the boundaries between, say, writing e-mail and writing a blog will start to blur. This will fundamentally change how we document our lives.'
Google, the company that Microsoft is playing catchup with (its Blogger.com division is the largest blogging service right now), also expects blogs to become as important as e-mail and IM. Right now, it's working on ways to better help people find content they want in blogs, says Jason Goldman, Blogger's product manager. But if Google's internal use of Blogger is any indication, it also sees it as an essential business tool. Since 2003, when it bought Pyra Labs, the company that launched Blogger.com, Google's employees have created several hundred internal blogs. They are used for collaborating on projects as well as selling extra concert tickets and finding Rollerblading partners. Google's public relations, quality control, and advertising departments all have blogs, some of them public. When Google redesigned its search home page, a staffer blogged notes from every brainstorm session. "With a company like Google that's growing this fast, the verbal history can't be passed along fast enough," says Marissa Mayer, who oversees the search site and all of Google's consumer web products. "Our legal department loves the blogs, because it basically is a written-down, backed-up, permanent time-stamped version of the scientist's notebook. When you want to file a patent, you can now show in blogs where this idea happened." [emphasis added]
Read the whole thing here.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/31/2004 06:22:00 PM
No Escaping Blogs and Legal Documentation (e.g. for Patents)
Why There's No Escaping the Blog is a "Tech Trends" article at Fortune Magazine by David Kirkpatrick and Daniel Roth.
The excellent article also touches on law in the following context:
"Says Bill Gates, who claims he'd like to start a blog but doesn't have the time: 'As blogging software gets easier to use, the boundaries between, say, writing e-mail and writing a blog will start to blur. This will fundamentally change how we document our lives.'
Google, the company that Microsoft is playing catchup with (its Blogger.com division is the largest blogging service right now), also expects blogs to become as important as e-mail and IM. Right now, it's working on ways to better help people find content they want in blogs, says Jason Goldman, Blogger's product manager. But if Google's internal use of Blogger is any indication, it also sees it as an essential business tool. Since 2003, when it bought Pyra Labs, the company that launched Blogger.com, Google's employees have created several hundred internal blogs. They are used for collaborating on projects as well as selling extra concert tickets and finding Rollerblading partners. Google's public relations, quality control, and advertising departments all have blogs, some of them public. When Google redesigned its search home page, a staffer blogged notes from every brainstorm session. "With a company like Google that's growing this fast, the verbal history can't be passed along fast enough," says Marissa Mayer, who oversees the search site and all of Google's consumer web products. "Our legal department loves the blogs, because it basically is a written-down, backed-up, permanent time-stamped version of the scientist's notebook. When you want to file a patent, you can now show in blogs where this idea happened." [emphasis added]
Read the whole thing here.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/31/2004 06:22:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/31/2004 04:46:00 PM [Home]
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Is all Justice simply "Local" ? - The International Court of Justice
Prof. Eric A. Posner has a Dec. 30, 2004 NY Times Op-Ed entitled All Justice, Too, Is Local, dealing with the status of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Posner outlines the decline of the International Court over the years, explaining that decline with a scathing commentary on judges:
"Why have countries abandoned the court? The most plausible answer is that they do not trust the judges to rule impartially, but expect them to vote the interests of the states of which they are citizens. Statistics bear out this conjecture. When their home countries are parties to litigation, judges vote in favor of them about 90 percent of the time. When their states are not parties, judges tend to vote for states that are more like their home states. Judges from wealthy states tend to vote in favor of wealthy states, and judges from poor states tend to vote in favor of poor states. In addition, judges from democracies appear to favor democracies; judges from authoritarian states appear to favor authoritarian states. This is not to say that the judges pay no attention to the law. But there is no question that politics matter."
It can probably be presumed that judges around the world are no better, defending the vested political interests of their persons and their personal "localities".
What does this tell us about the rule of law? Whose rule - in any particular country or place - is it?
Anyone who doubts that local "good old boys" run the world just about everywhere has just has not been around this world long enough.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/31/2004 04:46:00 PM
Is all Justice simply "Local" ? - The International Court of Justice
Prof. Eric A. Posner has a Dec. 30, 2004 NY Times Op-Ed entitled All Justice, Too, Is Local, dealing with the status of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Posner outlines the decline of the International Court over the years, explaining that decline with a scathing commentary on judges:
"Why have countries abandoned the court? The most plausible answer is that they do not trust the judges to rule impartially, but expect them to vote the interests of the states of which they are citizens. Statistics bear out this conjecture. When their home countries are parties to litigation, judges vote in favor of them about 90 percent of the time. When their states are not parties, judges tend to vote for states that are more like their home states. Judges from wealthy states tend to vote in favor of wealthy states, and judges from poor states tend to vote in favor of poor states. In addition, judges from democracies appear to favor democracies; judges from authoritarian states appear to favor authoritarian states. This is not to say that the judges pay no attention to the law. But there is no question that politics matter."
It can probably be presumed that judges around the world are no better, defending the vested political interests of their persons and their personal "localities".
What does this tell us about the rule of law? Whose rule - in any particular country or place - is it?
Anyone who doubts that local "good old boys" run the world just about everywhere has just has not been around this world long enough.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/31/2004 04:46:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Saturday, December 18, 2004 12/18/2004 06:47:00 PM [Home]
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German Parliament Demands 35% German Music
There is a popular play on words, arising out of the reunification of West and East Germany, which recites that former East Germany now has "the capital" of West Germany (i.e. the money) and that West Germany in turn now has "Das Kapital" (the book by Marx and Engels) from East Germany.
Indeed, vast amounts of money have been spent by West Germany on the former East Germany.
At the same time, reunified Germany resembles former East Germany more and more, increasingly impoverishing its inhabitants and moving toward being a less parliamentary republic.
There was in the former East Germany, for example, a strong Communist movement to eliminate hated "foreign" words from the vocabulary. The universally used Italian word pizza was one of these words. The Communists argued that they had to save the "mother tongue". The East Germans thus created an artificial German word for pizza and required that this made-up word be used by the populace instead of the Italian real thing. Needless to say, that infamous synthetic word has not survived the reunification, perhaps also because there were few pizzas to be had under Communist rule.
How nice it would be if the Schroeder administration and the members of Red-Green had learned something from that past experience. But this does not appear to be the case. We are thus not surprised to read at Tagesspiegel Online that the Red-Green coalition in the German Bundestag (the lower house of German Parliament) has just set an arbitrary 35% quota for German music in the media. (Hat tip to jonet Medialog.) The quota is to be applied voluntarily for the first year and to become mandatory if German media do not toe the line of the new Red-Green "ukase". [An ukaz was "a proclamation of a czar having the force of law in imperial Russia"].
Is this what the SPD (German Socialist Party) and the German Greens (Grüne) understand as their concept of "freedom" - a freedom of government to dictate to the media and to the populace what they are to transmit and to hear and what not? See also here.
The opposition CDU/CSU has rightly denounced the quota as reminiscent of the days and policies of the despots of the former East German government.
It is remarkable at a time when unemployment is topping 10% and rising (due in material part to the ineffective economic policies of the Schroeder administration), that the German legislators have time to fool around with this kind of media quota nonsense.
Rather than moving backward all the time, the Bundestag and the Schroeder Administration should try to find someone, anyone in their ranks, who is looking to move forward, rather than to return Germany to 1933.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 06:47:00 PM
German Parliament Demands 35% German Music
There is a popular play on words, arising out of the reunification of West and East Germany, which recites that former East Germany now has "the capital" of West Germany (i.e. the money) and that West Germany in turn now has "Das Kapital" (the book by Marx and Engels) from East Germany.
Indeed, vast amounts of money have been spent by West Germany on the former East Germany.
At the same time, reunified Germany resembles former East Germany more and more, increasingly impoverishing its inhabitants and moving toward being a less parliamentary republic.
There was in the former East Germany, for example, a strong Communist movement to eliminate hated "foreign" words from the vocabulary. The universally used Italian word pizza was one of these words. The Communists argued that they had to save the "mother tongue". The East Germans thus created an artificial German word for pizza and required that this made-up word be used by the populace instead of the Italian real thing. Needless to say, that infamous synthetic word has not survived the reunification, perhaps also because there were few pizzas to be had under Communist rule.
How nice it would be if the Schroeder administration and the members of Red-Green had learned something from that past experience. But this does not appear to be the case. We are thus not surprised to read at Tagesspiegel Online that the Red-Green coalition in the German Bundestag (the lower house of German Parliament) has just set an arbitrary 35% quota for German music in the media. (Hat tip to jonet Medialog.) The quota is to be applied voluntarily for the first year and to become mandatory if German media do not toe the line of the new Red-Green "ukase". [An ukaz was "a proclamation of a czar having the force of law in imperial Russia"].
Is this what the SPD (German Socialist Party) and the German Greens (Grüne) understand as their concept of "freedom" - a freedom of government to dictate to the media and to the populace what they are to transmit and to hear and what not? See also here.
The opposition CDU/CSU has rightly denounced the quota as reminiscent of the days and policies of the despots of the former East German government.
It is remarkable at a time when unemployment is topping 10% and rising (due in material part to the ineffective economic policies of the Schroeder administration), that the German legislators have time to fool around with this kind of media quota nonsense.
Rather than moving backward all the time, the Bundestag and the Schroeder Administration should try to find someone, anyone in their ranks, who is looking to move forward, rather than to return Germany to 1933.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 06:47:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/18/2004 03:21:00 PM [Home]
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The Catch 22 of Comfort and Pleasure
In a useful posting, especially for young people, but also for middle-agers or those in the later prime of life, we refer to the blog
kuro5hin.org
which has a posting entitled "Comfort and Pleasure" and asks "Are You A Comfort Addict?"
Judging by the sheer number of comments, the posting has hit an important issue.
"Catch 22" is defined at Wikipedia.
Hat Tip to skalpelis at Idiosyncratic Revolt.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 03:21:00 PM
The Catch 22 of Comfort and Pleasure
In a useful posting, especially for young people, but also for middle-agers or those in the later prime of life, we refer to the blog
kuro5hin.org
which has a posting entitled "Comfort and Pleasure" and asks "Are You A Comfort Addict?"
Judging by the sheer number of comments, the posting has hit an important issue.
"Catch 22" is defined at Wikipedia.
Hat Tip to skalpelis at Idiosyncratic Revolt.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 03:21:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/18/2004 01:27:00 AM [Home]
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German Recycling System Under Fire and Changed
We posted some time ago on the far-reaching incompetence of the Schroeder administration in Germany, citing as one example the absurdity of the German recycling system which has developed under their inept environmental minister.
We are thus pleased to report that the European Court of Justice has found
that the German recycling system violates EU law.
Update:
Apparently, one way to get the German´lawmakers moving in the right direction - few other things seem to work under this catastrophic Schroeder administration - is legal pressure from outside. Just a few days after having the German recycing system declared violative of EU mandates, the German Bundesrat finally approved a new "drink deposit law".
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 01:27:00 AM
German Recycling System Under Fire and Changed
We posted some time ago on the far-reaching incompetence of the Schroeder administration in Germany, citing as one example the absurdity of the German recycling system which has developed under their inept environmental minister.
We are thus pleased to report that the European Court of Justice has found
that the German recycling system violates EU law.
Update:
Apparently, one way to get the German´lawmakers moving in the right direction - few other things seem to work under this catastrophic Schroeder administration - is legal pressure from outside. Just a few days after having the German recycing system declared violative of EU mandates, the German Bundesrat finally approved a new "drink deposit law".
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/18/2004 01:27:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Monday, December 13, 2004 12/13/2004 09:01:00 PM [Home]
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Blogging in America - A Skewed View
Via The Asian Age we found a rather negative first article of a series on blogging entitled Blogging in America: A view from the Old World by Bertrand Pecquerie, writing out of Paris for MediaChannel.org which describes itself as "the global network for democratic media". Pecquerie - in an article which in fact seems to have little understanding of "grass roots" democratic media - expresses his
"hope my selection will be appreciated as a European's interpretation of the American scene".
As someone living in Europe, we could not let Pecquerie's statements go unchallenged.
Pecquerie - apparently not realizing that many people in the world do not regard e.g. Le Monde (and similar mainstream newspapers) to be the sole fountain of truth - writes incredulously about the emergence of the Drudge Report (per Google Zeitgeist, Popular Media Queries) as a main source of news for Americans:
"What is amazing about this piece of news is that very few people seem to be worried: the emergence of blogs -- not just the Drudge Report but its newer cousins such as Wonkette, InstaPundit and Daily Kos -- is now a part of the American media landscape. Organizations with hundreds of staff -- including professionally trained journalists and small armies of fact-checkers -- are now measured as equals to a single person working out of a basement. But nobody seems to care!"
Do the mentioned blogs gladly see themselves regarded as "cousins"? One really has to read the rest of the article for a good chuckle. Moreover, the Drudge Report main page has a plethora of links - ALSO to "old" journalism. He apparently does not realize that the Drudge Report - whatever its admitted defects - made its name by scooping established journalists (who had rejected the story) on the Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky affair and has since had an audience of millions.
By comparison, "news reporting" in France is heavily subsidized by the government and tends to be extremely one-sided due to lack of competition. Indeed, the government even controls the price of newspapers. Anyone who expects fair and impartial investigative news reporting from government-subsidized news media is kidding themselves, regardless of whether the staffs of such media are two or two hundred.
Pecquerie's article is therefore marked by wishful thinking about mainstream journalism as he writes:
"I am, by now, perfectly aware of bloggers' arguments regarding the CBS affair concerning the "60 minutes" report about George W. Bush National Guard service. It is said that, thanks to the "guys in pajamas", truth emerged very quickly. To be frank, I'm not fully convinced. For the following reason: CBS' competitors would have done the same job, criticizing the sources and the conclusions as they usually do. But it would have taken days and days."
Or weeks and weeks, or months and months, or years and years, or not at all....
Besides, CBS' competitors did do the job, and that job was done by bloggers.
Bloggers did not have "fewer" resources at their disposal concerning the "forgery" aired by CBS. Rather, by a combination of blogging efforts, they probably had "more" resources at their disposal than the mainstream could muster - or, more importantly, did muster. Mainstream journalism merely relied on the opinions of a few experts and was solidly beaten by bloggers who went beyond such a noncritical approach.
The lack of critical news reporting in France, especially toward its own politicians, is commented in the posting entitled "French Journalism 101: How to put on the kneepads" at E-nough!, the blog of two females living in France, one American and one French.
Pecquerie's visualization of a blogger as someone "working out of a basement" indicates a lack of understanding of the persons driving the blogging movement (many highly educated, numerous legally-trained, blogging from offices). He also seems out of touch that a blogger with a laptop (and optimally wifi) can blog from anywhere in the world, even from the poshest cafe on the Champs Elysées.
Blogging may have its drawbacks and not all bloggers are our cup of tea either, but Pecquerie's thinly researched article is an example of the kind of one-sided journalism that led to the rise of blogging in the first place.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/13/2004 09:01:00 PM
Blogging in America - A Skewed View
Via The Asian Age we found a rather negative first article of a series on blogging entitled Blogging in America: A view from the Old World by Bertrand Pecquerie, writing out of Paris for MediaChannel.org which describes itself as "the global network for democratic media". Pecquerie - in an article which in fact seems to have little understanding of "grass roots" democratic media - expresses his
"hope my selection will be appreciated as a European's interpretation of the American scene".
As someone living in Europe, we could not let Pecquerie's statements go unchallenged.
Pecquerie - apparently not realizing that many people in the world do not regard e.g. Le Monde (and similar mainstream newspapers) to be the sole fountain of truth - writes incredulously about the emergence of the Drudge Report (per Google Zeitgeist, Popular Media Queries) as a main source of news for Americans:
"What is amazing about this piece of news is that very few people seem to be worried: the emergence of blogs -- not just the Drudge Report but its newer cousins such as Wonkette, InstaPundit and Daily Kos -- is now a part of the American media landscape. Organizations with hundreds of staff -- including professionally trained journalists and small armies of fact-checkers -- are now measured as equals to a single person working out of a basement. But nobody seems to care!"
Do the mentioned blogs gladly see themselves regarded as "cousins"? One really has to read the rest of the article for a good chuckle. Moreover, the Drudge Report main page has a plethora of links - ALSO to "old" journalism. He apparently does not realize that the Drudge Report - whatever its admitted defects - made its name by scooping established journalists (who had rejected the story) on the Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky affair and has since had an audience of millions.
By comparison, "news reporting" in France is heavily subsidized by the government and tends to be extremely one-sided due to lack of competition. Indeed, the government even controls the price of newspapers. Anyone who expects fair and impartial investigative news reporting from government-subsidized news media is kidding themselves, regardless of whether the staffs of such media are two or two hundred.
Pecquerie's article is therefore marked by wishful thinking about mainstream journalism as he writes:
"I am, by now, perfectly aware of bloggers' arguments regarding the CBS affair concerning the "60 minutes" report about George W. Bush National Guard service. It is said that, thanks to the "guys in pajamas", truth emerged very quickly. To be frank, I'm not fully convinced. For the following reason: CBS' competitors would have done the same job, criticizing the sources and the conclusions as they usually do. But it would have taken days and days."
Or weeks and weeks, or months and months, or years and years, or not at all....
Besides, CBS' competitors did do the job, and that job was done by bloggers.
Bloggers did not have "fewer" resources at their disposal concerning the "forgery" aired by CBS. Rather, by a combination of blogging efforts, they probably had "more" resources at their disposal than the mainstream could muster - or, more importantly, did muster. Mainstream journalism merely relied on the opinions of a few experts and was solidly beaten by bloggers who went beyond such a noncritical approach.
The lack of critical news reporting in France, especially toward its own politicians, is commented in the posting entitled "French Journalism 101: How to put on the kneepads" at E-nough!, the blog of two females living in France, one American and one French.
Pecquerie's visualization of a blogger as someone "working out of a basement" indicates a lack of understanding of the persons driving the blogging movement (many highly educated, numerous legally-trained, blogging from offices). He also seems out of touch that a blogger with a laptop (and optimally wifi) can blog from anywhere in the world, even from the poshest cafe on the Champs Elysées.
Blogging may have its drawbacks and not all bloggers are our cup of tea either, but Pecquerie's thinly researched article is an example of the kind of one-sided journalism that led to the rise of blogging in the first place.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/13/2004 09:01:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Sunday, December 12, 2004 12/12/2004 01:19:00 PM [Home]
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CHI BM ? IBM and the Lenovo Deal : A Form of Offshoring?
John Oates of the Register opined on December 3, 2004 that "Offshoring [is] inevitable, so get over it", writing:
"The movement of jobs from high cost to lower cost countries is now inevitable and attempts by Western governments to stop it happening are doomed to fail."
The immensity of the problem becomes visible when it is not only jobs that are being moved but entire production divisions, such as the sale of IBM's PC business to the Chinese Lenovo Group.
In anticipating the IBM-Lenovo deal, InfoWorld has an article by Robert McMillan of IDG News Service entitled Dell slams expected IBM-Lenovo deal, in which Michael Dell gave his opinions on the deal, indicating that Dell thought his company would maintain its position as the world's Nr. 1 PC company because of its predominantly US manufacture.
So why has IBM gone the Asian way? First, China has a lot of dollars to spend, holding nearly 10% of outstanding US Treasury securities. Second, the IBM and Lenovo deal manifest something we already know from outsourcing and offshoring. Obviously, China is on the march in the world economy due to low wages and a gigantic market, and much manufacture is being offshored to them (or to similar low wage nations such as India).
What is the difference between offshoring and outsourcing? Performix provides these definitions:
"Outsourcing means a third party takes over the execution of a business process such as a contact centre; offshoring means that a business process is taken to a different country."
Where there is a gain, there is generally also a compensating loss, so that outsourcing or offshoring is not without its drawbacks. McMillan makes a very interesting observation about Dell which points to the problems of outsourcing and/or offshoring products and services:
"Dell has some first-hand experience in the problems that can accompany offshoring. A year ago the company moved customer support operations for its Optiplex desktops and Latitude notebooks back to the U.S. after corporate customers complained about the quality of service they were receiving from international facilities."
Similar problems may surface when entire divisions of manufacture are sold to foreign investors, which is nothing other than outsourcing or offshoring on a larger scale. Business divisions are simply sold to firms operating in lower wage countries and an equity interest is kept by the seller in the company of the buyer, as in the IBM case. The bottom line is that IBM profits increase - at the cost of US labor.
As far as other potential drawbacks are concerned, analysts see the IBM and Lenovo deal to have the potential for culture clash and to perhaps lead to difficulties in customer relations with existing customers.
See also
McKinsey & Co. for analyses of offshoring and
CNET News.com for a chart of world PC computer sales by company.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/12/2004 01:19:00 PM
CHI BM ? IBM and the Lenovo Deal : A Form of Offshoring?
John Oates of the Register opined on December 3, 2004 that "Offshoring [is] inevitable, so get over it", writing:
"The movement of jobs from high cost to lower cost countries is now inevitable and attempts by Western governments to stop it happening are doomed to fail."
The immensity of the problem becomes visible when it is not only jobs that are being moved but entire production divisions, such as the sale of IBM's PC business to the Chinese Lenovo Group.
In anticipating the IBM-Lenovo deal, InfoWorld has an article by Robert McMillan of IDG News Service entitled Dell slams expected IBM-Lenovo deal, in which Michael Dell gave his opinions on the deal, indicating that Dell thought his company would maintain its position as the world's Nr. 1 PC company because of its predominantly US manufacture.
So why has IBM gone the Asian way? First, China has a lot of dollars to spend, holding nearly 10% of outstanding US Treasury securities. Second, the IBM and Lenovo deal manifest something we already know from outsourcing and offshoring. Obviously, China is on the march in the world economy due to low wages and a gigantic market, and much manufacture is being offshored to them (or to similar low wage nations such as India).
What is the difference between offshoring and outsourcing? Performix provides these definitions:
"Outsourcing means a third party takes over the execution of a business process such as a contact centre; offshoring means that a business process is taken to a different country."
Where there is a gain, there is generally also a compensating loss, so that outsourcing or offshoring is not without its drawbacks. McMillan makes a very interesting observation about Dell which points to the problems of outsourcing and/or offshoring products and services:
"Dell has some first-hand experience in the problems that can accompany offshoring. A year ago the company moved customer support operations for its Optiplex desktops and Latitude notebooks back to the U.S. after corporate customers complained about the quality of service they were receiving from international facilities."
Similar problems may surface when entire divisions of manufacture are sold to foreign investors, which is nothing other than outsourcing or offshoring on a larger scale. Business divisions are simply sold to firms operating in lower wage countries and an equity interest is kept by the seller in the company of the buyer, as in the IBM case. The bottom line is that IBM profits increase - at the cost of US labor.
As far as other potential drawbacks are concerned, analysts see the IBM and Lenovo deal to have the potential for culture clash and to perhaps lead to difficulties in customer relations with existing customers.
See also
McKinsey & Co. for analyses of offshoring and
CNET News.com for a chart of world PC computer sales by company.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/12/2004 01:19:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 10, 2004 12/10/2004 01:23:00 PM [Home]
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Evidence and Religion
Douglas Harper is definitely one of our favorite internet writers.
In his posting on Christian Fallacies, which should be mandatory reading for all religious fundamentalists of all religions, he quotes Richard Dawkins on the conflict between religions:
"The virtue of using evidence is precisely that we can come to an agreement about it. But if you listen to two people who are arguing about something, and they each of them have passionate faith that they're right, but they believe different things -- they belong to different religions, different faiths, there is nothing they can do to settle their disagreement short of shooting each other, which is what they very often actually do."
That is certainly one aspect of the explanation for the current world conflicts involving Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Obviously, we could discuss God peacefully on the basis of what is known to be fact, e.g. modern genetics, astronomy (God's abode), anthropology, etc.
But facts and evidence have something to do with proof.
"Belief" and "faith", on the other hand, are the "absence" of proof,
otherwise they would be called "knowledge" and "certainty".
As Dawkins states:
"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world... Religions do make claims about the universe--the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false... The trouble is that God in this sophisticated, physicist's sense bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible or any other religion... Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.... "
We agree. A modern man can believe in God, based on the modern evidence, but this God has no resemblance to the God of the religions and is surely not found in their religious works, which are nothing else but the creations and hypothecations of men who lived long ago in a world where knowledge was scarce and superstition rampant.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/10/2004 01:23:00 PM
Evidence and Religion
Douglas Harper is definitely one of our favorite internet writers.
In his posting on Christian Fallacies, which should be mandatory reading for all religious fundamentalists of all religions, he quotes Richard Dawkins on the conflict between religions:
"The virtue of using evidence is precisely that we can come to an agreement about it. But if you listen to two people who are arguing about something, and they each of them have passionate faith that they're right, but they believe different things -- they belong to different religions, different faiths, there is nothing they can do to settle their disagreement short of shooting each other, which is what they very often actually do."
That is certainly one aspect of the explanation for the current world conflicts involving Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Obviously, we could discuss God peacefully on the basis of what is known to be fact, e.g. modern genetics, astronomy (God's abode), anthropology, etc.
But facts and evidence have something to do with proof.
"Belief" and "faith", on the other hand, are the "absence" of proof,
otherwise they would be called "knowledge" and "certainty".
As Dawkins states:
"I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world... Religions do make claims about the universe--the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false... The trouble is that God in this sophisticated, physicist's sense bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible or any other religion... Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.... "
We agree. A modern man can believe in God, based on the modern evidence, but this God has no resemblance to the God of the religions and is surely not found in their religious works, which are nothing else but the creations and hypothecations of men who lived long ago in a world where knowledge was scarce and superstition rampant.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/10/2004 01:23:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/10/2004 10:22:00 AM [Home]
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Freedom of the Press and Power of the Media
How far should freedom of the press extend?
Robert D. Kaplan has a superb article at the Policy Review Online entitled "The Media and Medievalism".
Kaplan's article is an erudite analysis of the power of modern media.
Via Classical Values,InstaPundit and Silent Running...
the blog Silent Running in its posting "Wretchard Is Right" writes:
"This is truly a magnificent essay. In fact, if there is one thing you should read this month, if not this year (that is at it's end, anyway), this should be it."
Kaplan's article easily serves as a basis for argument to limit the freedom of the press: for example, in cases where lives have been endangered or are in danger of being endangered. This is a current legal issue in the Plame case. See e.g. Steven Chapman at the Chicago Tribune in "Why the press is wrong about the Valerie Plame case" (registration required), where Chapman writes:
"Unmasking covert operatives is serious business, with potential life-and-death consequences. It's also a felony under federal law."
The 1st Amendment free speech protection was never intended to cover reporters who essentially are doing the publication dirty work for felons and hiding behind journalistic privilege to enable what otherwise is illegal.
Via TigerHawk (who we definitely recommend for blogrolling) we see that Eugene Volokh has a December 2, 2004 op-ed at the New York Times entitled "You Can Blog, but You Can't Hide".
Volokh addresses the questions:
"Should there be a journalist's privilege? What should its scope be? And who exactly qualifies as a journalist?". Read the article for his analysis, especially as it applies to blogging and bloggers. Are we also entitled to some kind of journalistic privilege? Logically, yes. Practically, questionable. If bloggers are "journalists", then everyone is (potentially) a journalist. This is a logic which speaks against giving ANYONE special privileges.
We agree with Volokh's statement concerning journalistic privilege that:
"Communications that facilitate crime or fraud, for example, are not protected."
And that seems to us to be the case in the Plame case where the "leak" of a covert operative's identity is a material element of the crime itself.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/10/2004 10:22:00 AM
Freedom of the Press and Power of the Media
How far should freedom of the press extend?
Robert D. Kaplan has a superb article at the Policy Review Online entitled "The Media and Medievalism".
Kaplan's article is an erudite analysis of the power of modern media.
Via Classical Values,InstaPundit and Silent Running...
the blog Silent Running in its posting "Wretchard Is Right" writes:
"This is truly a magnificent essay. In fact, if there is one thing you should read this month, if not this year (that is at it's end, anyway), this should be it."
Kaplan's article easily serves as a basis for argument to limit the freedom of the press: for example, in cases where lives have been endangered or are in danger of being endangered. This is a current legal issue in the Plame case. See e.g. Steven Chapman at the Chicago Tribune in "Why the press is wrong about the Valerie Plame case" (registration required), where Chapman writes:
"Unmasking covert operatives is serious business, with potential life-and-death consequences. It's also a felony under federal law."
The 1st Amendment free speech protection was never intended to cover reporters who essentially are doing the publication dirty work for felons and hiding behind journalistic privilege to enable what otherwise is illegal.
Via TigerHawk (who we definitely recommend for blogrolling) we see that Eugene Volokh has a December 2, 2004 op-ed at the New York Times entitled "You Can Blog, but You Can't Hide".
Volokh addresses the questions:
"Should there be a journalist's privilege? What should its scope be? And who exactly qualifies as a journalist?". Read the article for his analysis, especially as it applies to blogging and bloggers. Are we also entitled to some kind of journalistic privilege? Logically, yes. Practically, questionable. If bloggers are "journalists", then everyone is (potentially) a journalist. This is a logic which speaks against giving ANYONE special privileges.
We agree with Volokh's statement concerning journalistic privilege that:
"Communications that facilitate crime or fraud, for example, are not protected."
And that seems to us to be the case in the Plame case where the "leak" of a covert operative's identity is a material element of the crime itself.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/10/2004 10:22:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, December 08, 2004 12/08/2004 09:10:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Keyword Research for Blogs
Amanda G. Washington in Even Blogs Need Keyword Research tells us that keyword research is essential for the presentation of blog content.
She writes:
"[I]f you are going to go to the effort of creating and maintaining a blog (and they are a lot of work), then why not make sure that the blog is found on the search engines via the keywords most searched by your intended audience....I'm simply advocating a disciplined versus random approach to blog content development." See here for more.
Via Andy Beal and Kimberly Krause.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/08/2004 09:10:00 PM
Keyword Research for Blogs
Amanda G. Washington in Even Blogs Need Keyword Research tells us that keyword research is essential for the presentation of blog content.
She writes:
"[I]f you are going to go to the effort of creating and maintaining a blog (and they are a lot of work), then why not make sure that the blog is found on the search engines via the keywords most searched by your intended audience....I'm simply advocating a disciplined versus random approach to blog content development." See here for more.
Via Andy Beal and Kimberly Krause.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/08/2004 09:10:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/08/2004 01:43:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Online Book Prices - Caveat Emptor ! (Look out !) - Using the Example of Stars Stones and Scholars
Read this eye-opening posting about online book prices.
The LawPundit recently posted about his book Stars Stones and Scholars as a potential ultimate religious Christmas gift.
Today, we found through the German amazon.de website that someone is selling the book for € 99.95 (= US$ 133 by today's exchange rate as calculated at XE.com's Universal Currency Converter (UCC)).
At the UK amazon.co.uk website we found Stars Stones and Scholars being offered for £ 69.95 (= US$ 135 by today's exchange rate as calculated at XE.com's Universal Currency Converter (UCC)).
Although we are great believers in entrepreneurship and although we have no power over the prices charged by others for selling our book, we should make it clear that some online booksellers are clearly offering books - and not just ours - at vastly inflated prices. Our legitimate author's concern is, who is going to buy Stars Stones and Scholars at those outrageous prices, which are surely not the optimal blend of the supply and demand curve. We are not a rare classic yet. Perhaps Amazon should review bookselling practices at its various international bookselling divisions, which, as we understand it, are all largely independent one from the other and have their own product mixes.
For potential book buyers, this is the AUTHOR's notice
that the book
Stars Stones and Scholars
is available NEW at the time of this posting
at the following - in part originally recommended - prices
at the bookselling websites listed below:
At Amazon.com - US$ 35.99
At Abebooks - US$ 35.99
At Barnes & Noble - US$ 35.99
At Trafford Publishing - US$35.99, C$45.99, EUR29.99, £20.99
Mild and legitimate discrepancies in prices will arise due to the fact that the US dollar has recently lost in value against the other currencies, but no one should be paying prices that are more than three times the price of other booksellers. And this is a problem not only for our book, but for many others. So be on the alert.
The problem appears to arise
when one international bookseller (e.g. amazon.com) carries a book as a normal part of its product mix at a normal price,
but another international bookseller (e.g. amazon.de) does not include the book in its normal product mix at all, as is the case with Stars Stones and Scholars.
Seeing a selling niche, independent booksellers at other Amazon sites then offer the book through such Amazon sites at vastly inflated higher prices since the book is otherwise not being offered there at all and since there is no Amazon indicator of what the normal price is supposed to be.
Of course, an author is pleased about sales at other international booksellers, and a certain "international" markup could even be justified, but we think that the prices being charged should be reasonable. Accordingly, potential book buyers should always cross-check prices at various online bookshops, especially if such prices appear to be too high. After all, you can order anywhere, so get the best deal you can.
Update, December 11, 2004
According to a list the Law Pundit can view at the publisher, the last 50 orders for Stars Stones and Scholars came from the following widely spread locations:
Lincoln, NE, US
Acworth, GA, US
LA SPEZIA, Italy
Skerries, Ireland
castle rock, CO, US
Denver, CO, US
Seattle, WA, US
Paris, France
Peterborough, NH, US
North York, ON, Canada
Momence, IL, US
Seattle, WA, US
Jamestown, MO, US
Ternat, Belgium
DERBY, United Kingdom
Westbury, NY, US
Seattle , WA, US
Westbury, NY, US
Westbury, NY, US
Santa Fe, NM, US
Seattle, WA, US
New Bern, NC, US
MORLEY, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Seattle, WA, US
Baycormo nr Pittenweem, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Lexington, VA, US
Hedingham, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Momence, IL, US
Niagara Falls, ON, Canada
BRIGHTON, United Kingdom
Izegem, Belgium
Wickford, Essex, United Kingdom
Sway, Lymington. Hants, United Kingdom
Sun Valley, CA, US
Glen Iris, Australia
Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Westbury, NY, US
Momence, IL, US
Traverse City, MI, US
Westbury, NY, US
Westbury, NY, US
New Bern, NC, US
Phoenix, AZ, US
Brampton, ON, Canada
Brampton, ON, Canada
Athens, Greece
Swindon, United Kingdom
One can see why the issue of a correct international price is important, not just for our book, but for any book one buys online. CHECK and CROSS-CHECK online prices.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/08/2004 01:43:00 PM
Online Book Prices - Caveat Emptor ! (Look out !) - Using the Example of Stars Stones and Scholars
Read this eye-opening posting about online book prices.
The LawPundit recently posted about his book Stars Stones and Scholars as a potential ultimate religious Christmas gift.
Today, we found through the German amazon.de website that someone is selling the book for € 99.95 (= US$ 133 by today's exchange rate as calculated at XE.com's Universal Currency Converter (UCC)).
At the UK amazon.co.uk website we found Stars Stones and Scholars being offered for £ 69.95 (= US$ 135 by today's exchange rate as calculated at XE.com's Universal Currency Converter (UCC)).
Although we are great believers in entrepreneurship and although we have no power over the prices charged by others for selling our book, we should make it clear that some online booksellers are clearly offering books - and not just ours - at vastly inflated prices. Our legitimate author's concern is, who is going to buy Stars Stones and Scholars at those outrageous prices, which are surely not the optimal blend of the supply and demand curve. We are not a rare classic yet. Perhaps Amazon should review bookselling practices at its various international bookselling divisions, which, as we understand it, are all largely independent one from the other and have their own product mixes.
For potential book buyers, this is the AUTHOR's notice
that the book
Stars Stones and Scholars
is available NEW at the time of this posting
at the following - in part originally recommended - prices
at the bookselling websites listed below:
At Amazon.com - US$ 35.99
At Abebooks - US$ 35.99
At Barnes & Noble - US$ 35.99
At Trafford Publishing - US$35.99, C$45.99, EUR29.99, £20.99
Mild and legitimate discrepancies in prices will arise due to the fact that the US dollar has recently lost in value against the other currencies, but no one should be paying prices that are more than three times the price of other booksellers. And this is a problem not only for our book, but for many others. So be on the alert.
The problem appears to arise
when one international bookseller (e.g. amazon.com) carries a book as a normal part of its product mix at a normal price,
but another international bookseller (e.g. amazon.de) does not include the book in its normal product mix at all, as is the case with Stars Stones and Scholars.
Seeing a selling niche, independent booksellers at other Amazon sites then offer the book through such Amazon sites at vastly inflated higher prices since the book is otherwise not being offered there at all and since there is no Amazon indicator of what the normal price is supposed to be.
Of course, an author is pleased about sales at other international booksellers, and a certain "international" markup could even be justified, but we think that the prices being charged should be reasonable. Accordingly, potential book buyers should always cross-check prices at various online bookshops, especially if such prices appear to be too high. After all, you can order anywhere, so get the best deal you can.
Update, December 11, 2004
According to a list the Law Pundit can view at the publisher, the last 50 orders for Stars Stones and Scholars came from the following widely spread locations:
Lincoln, NE, US
Acworth, GA, US
LA SPEZIA, Italy
Skerries, Ireland
castle rock, CO, US
Denver, CO, US
Seattle, WA, US
Paris, France
Peterborough, NH, US
North York, ON, Canada
Momence, IL, US
Seattle, WA, US
Jamestown, MO, US
Ternat, Belgium
DERBY, United Kingdom
Westbury, NY, US
Seattle , WA, US
Westbury, NY, US
Westbury, NY, US
Santa Fe, NM, US
Seattle, WA, US
New Bern, NC, US
MORLEY, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Seattle, WA, US
Baycormo nr Pittenweem, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Lexington, VA, US
Hedingham, United Kingdom
Seattle, WA, US
Momence, IL, US
Niagara Falls, ON, Canada
BRIGHTON, United Kingdom
Izegem, Belgium
Wickford, Essex, United Kingdom
Sway, Lymington. Hants, United Kingdom
Sun Valley, CA, US
Glen Iris, Australia
Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Westbury, NY, US
Momence, IL, US
Traverse City, MI, US
Westbury, NY, US
Westbury, NY, US
New Bern, NC, US
Phoenix, AZ, US
Brampton, ON, Canada
Brampton, ON, Canada
Athens, Greece
Swindon, United Kingdom
One can see why the issue of a correct international price is important, not just for our book, but for any book one buys online. CHECK and CROSS-CHECK online prices.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/08/2004 01:43:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, December 07, 2004 12/07/2004 04:41:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
The Ultimate in Electronic Christmas Cards
Want to send an E-Card?
Take a look at the ultimate electronic Christmas cards from
Jacquie Lawson. These cards are absolute WORKS OF ART. We know of nothing better out there on the Web anywhere. This is not an ad - just our honest opinion.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/07/2004 04:41:00 PM
The Ultimate in Electronic Christmas Cards
Want to send an E-Card?
Take a look at the ultimate electronic Christmas cards from
Jacquie Lawson. These cards are absolute WORKS OF ART. We know of nothing better out there on the Web anywhere. This is not an ad - just our honest opinion.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/07/2004 04:41:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/07/2004 01:43:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
The Job Dangers of Blogging
Wired News has a December 6, 2004 article suggesting that "Blogs May Be a Wealth Hazard".
Rachel Metz reports on the plight of three bloggers who have lost their jobs through their blogging activities:
1. Ellen Simonetti (then a flight attendant at Delta Airlines) for "Delta photos" on her blog Queen of Sky
2. Michael Hanscom (then a Xerox temp working at Microsoft in Redmond) for "Microsoft photos" on his blog eclecticism
3. Heather Armstrong (then a web designer in Utah) for posting material about the people she had worked with to her blog Dooce
Judging by these three cases it would appear that two things are required to help eliminate such situations:
1) good judgment by employees on what they should and should not post to their blogs relating to their employment activities, and
2) company posted policies on blogs, identifying job-related blog postings which are undesired and which could (or would) lead to firing.
As a general rule of thumb in life generally: do not bite the hands that feed you or you may wind up hungry.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/07/2004 01:43:00 PM
The Job Dangers of Blogging
Wired News has a December 6, 2004 article suggesting that "Blogs May Be a Wealth Hazard".
Rachel Metz reports on the plight of three bloggers who have lost their jobs through their blogging activities:
1. Ellen Simonetti (then a flight attendant at Delta Airlines) for "Delta photos" on her blog Queen of Sky
2. Michael Hanscom (then a Xerox temp working at Microsoft in Redmond) for "Microsoft photos" on his blog eclecticism
3. Heather Armstrong (then a web designer in Utah) for posting material about the people she had worked with to her blog Dooce
Judging by these three cases it would appear that two things are required to help eliminate such situations:
1) good judgment by employees on what they should and should not post to their blogs relating to their employment activities, and
2) company posted policies on blogs, identifying job-related blog postings which are undesired and which could (or would) lead to firing.
As a general rule of thumb in life generally: do not bite the hands that feed you or you may wind up hungry.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/07/2004 01:43:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Monday, December 06, 2004 12/06/2004 11:25:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Is Reformation of the Internet Necessary?
An anonymous commentator - comparing himself with Martin Luther and addressing the "netizens" of the world - has posted "Time for Reformation of the Internet" to the Susan Crawford blog. The first five paragraphs are nicely written, whereas the core of the posting is - to the eye of this viewer - quite weak.
34 Theses "In the Name of Jon Postel" are presented, primarily calling for reform of the present centralized role of ICAAN.
It is always easy to clamor for reform, but it would seem that two things are necessary:
1) the NEED for Internet reform must be convincingly argued, and
2) the Internet REFORM to be instituted must be transparently presented.
The 34 Theses do none of this.
Quite the contrary, the main concern of the posting appears to be ICAAN's monopoly on the granting or non-granting of TLDs.
Without meaning to imply a connection, it all reminds the Law Pundit a little bit of what we find posted about ICAAN at Ambler on the Net.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/06/2004 11:25:00 PM
Is Reformation of the Internet Necessary?
An anonymous commentator - comparing himself with Martin Luther and addressing the "netizens" of the world - has posted "Time for Reformation of the Internet" to the Susan Crawford blog. The first five paragraphs are nicely written, whereas the core of the posting is - to the eye of this viewer - quite weak.
34 Theses "In the Name of Jon Postel" are presented, primarily calling for reform of the present centralized role of ICAAN.
It is always easy to clamor for reform, but it would seem that two things are necessary:
1) the NEED for Internet reform must be convincingly argued, and
2) the Internet REFORM to be instituted must be transparently presented.
The 34 Theses do none of this.
Quite the contrary, the main concern of the posting appears to be ICAAN's monopoly on the granting or non-granting of TLDs.
Without meaning to imply a connection, it all reminds the Law Pundit a little bit of what we find posted about ICAAN at Ambler on the Net.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/06/2004 11:25:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/06/2004 06:44:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Volokh's Legalese and Gender Linguistics
As someone who has taught legal writing and legal research in law school, the Law Pundit is (very) sympathetic to Eugene Volokh's attempts to drive "legalese" out of written legal materials.
However, we think that Volokh's suggestions sometimes go too far and that some of his "simplifications" may actually affect questions of individual - and important - "elements of style".
So we separated Volokh's list of Legalese into two lists - one list of verbose words (legalese) and one list of nonverbose words (non-legalese) - and plugged these into The Gender Genie.
Many persons may think that the Gender Genie has no value, but our experience is that it does in fact measure "something", even if people do not like its main assertion that "gender" is or can be reflected in the writer's choice of words.
Here are The Gender Genie results:
VOLOKH'S VERBOSE LIST (LEGALESE)
a large number of a number of accord accord respect to acquire additional additionally adjacent to advert to afforded aforementioned
ambit any and all approximately ascertain assist at present at the place at the present time at this point in time at this time
attempt because of the fact that cease cease and desist circumstances in which cognizant of commence conceal concerning the
matter of consensus of opinion consequence contiguous to demonstrate desire despite the fact that does not operate donate due to
the fact that during the course of during the time that echelon elucidate endeavor evince excessive number exclusively exit facilitate
firstly secondly for the duration of for the purpose of doing for the reason that forthwith frequently fundamental has a negative impact
I would argue that it is arguable that it could be argued that in a case in which in accordance with in an X manner in close proximity
in light of the fact that in order to in point of fact in reference to in regard to in the course of in the event that indicate
individual (noun) person inquire is able to is binding on is desirous of is dispositive of is unable to it has been determined that it is
apparent that it is clear that it should be noted that locate manner methodology modify negatively affect notify notwithstanding null
and void numerous objective observe obtain on a number of occasions on the part of owing to the fact that period of time permit
personnel point in time portion possess prior to procure provide provided that provision of law purchase rate of speed referred toas
remainder render assistance request require retain said subsequent subsequent to subsequently substantiate sufficient sufficient
number of termination the case at bar the fact that the instant case the manner in which this case is distinguishable to the effect
that until such time as upon utilize very was aware
__________
The Gender Genie gave the above 321 Words the following "gender" score:
Female Score: 133
Male Score: 402
__________
VOLOKH'S NONVERBOSE LIST (NON-LEGALESE)
many some several many give respect get more also next to near mention given reach scope all about find out help now where now
now currently now currently try because stop stop when where aware knows start hide about consensus result next to show want
despite though does not give because during while level explain clarify try show too many only leave help first second during while to
do because immediately often basic hurts harms when where by under Xly near because given that to in fact about about during if
show say mean ask can binds wants disposes of cannot clearly clearly find way method change hurt harm decrease tell despite void
many goal see watch get often sometimes by because since time period let allow people time point part have before get give if but
law buy speed called rest help ask need keep the later after after later prove enough enough end this case that this case how this
case is different that until on use knew
__________
The Gender Genie gave the above 170 Words the following "gender" score:
Female Score: 209
Male Score: 81
__________
The reduction of "verbosity" from 321 to 170 words for the same "word message" proves Eugene's point that much of "legalese" is just "extra" for the conveyance of meaning.
However, as a matter of style, the verbose words are "possibly" more MALE and the non-verbose words are "possibly" more FEMALE in style.
We thought that this may not have to do with "gender" per se, but verbosity may reflect a certain kind of aggressive assertiveness whereas nonverbosity may reflect a certain kind of careful reserve, so we googled "verbosity" and "gender", giving us the following result:
"- Studies of verbosity - holding the floor means holding power
- 'Women don’t talk as much as men in mixed company…These facts, which have been provided by numerous research findings, appear to conflict with a stereotyped image of the female as an excessive talker…' (Spender, 1988: 148) "
We have found in the interim that there is a whole field of "gender linguistics" and that "talk time" (verbosity) is one aspect of that study. So it might be that we should be careful in artificially limiting verbosity if it is - as it appears to be - an essential element of style, and even perhaps gender. Perhaps males or assertive persons (also females) are simply more verbose.
Too much verbal "trimming" then might be a form of emasculation.
The Law Pundit would imagine that this matter could be investigated by examining the legal writings of male and female students. Indeed, the LawPundit found in the course of teaching ca. 200 students per semester that papers and examinations by females repeated succinctly and accurately what had been lectured much more so than those written by males, who tended to frame topics from within their own particular, subjective viewpoint. Indeed, the difference between male and female written work in this regard was substantial.
Hat tip to Minor Wisdom for the link to Volokh's Legalese.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/06/2004 06:44:00 PM
Volokh's Legalese and Gender Linguistics
As someone who has taught legal writing and legal research in law school, the Law Pundit is (very) sympathetic to Eugene Volokh's attempts to drive "legalese" out of written legal materials.
However, we think that Volokh's suggestions sometimes go too far and that some of his "simplifications" may actually affect questions of individual - and important - "elements of style".
So we separated Volokh's list of Legalese into two lists - one list of verbose words (legalese) and one list of nonverbose words (non-legalese) - and plugged these into The Gender Genie.
Many persons may think that the Gender Genie has no value, but our experience is that it does in fact measure "something", even if people do not like its main assertion that "gender" is or can be reflected in the writer's choice of words.
Here are The Gender Genie results:
VOLOKH'S VERBOSE LIST (LEGALESE)
a large number of a number of accord accord respect to acquire additional additionally adjacent to advert to afforded aforementioned
ambit any and all approximately ascertain assist at present at the place at the present time at this point in time at this time
attempt because of the fact that cease cease and desist circumstances in which cognizant of commence conceal concerning the
matter of consensus of opinion consequence contiguous to demonstrate desire despite the fact that does not operate donate due to
the fact that during the course of during the time that echelon elucidate endeavor evince excessive number exclusively exit facilitate
firstly secondly for the duration of for the purpose of doing for the reason that forthwith frequently fundamental has a negative impact
I would argue that it is arguable that it could be argued that in a case in which in accordance with in an X manner in close proximity
in light of the fact that in order to in point of fact in reference to in regard to in the course of in the event that indicate
individual (noun) person inquire is able to is binding on is desirous of is dispositive of is unable to it has been determined that it is
apparent that it is clear that it should be noted that locate manner methodology modify negatively affect notify notwithstanding null
and void numerous objective observe obtain on a number of occasions on the part of owing to the fact that period of time permit
personnel point in time portion possess prior to procure provide provided that provision of law purchase rate of speed referred toas
remainder render assistance request require retain said subsequent subsequent to subsequently substantiate sufficient sufficient
number of termination the case at bar the fact that the instant case the manner in which this case is distinguishable to the effect
that until such time as upon utilize very was aware
__________
The Gender Genie gave the above 321 Words the following "gender" score:
Female Score: 133
Male Score: 402
__________
VOLOKH'S NONVERBOSE LIST (NON-LEGALESE)
many some several many give respect get more also next to near mention given reach scope all about find out help now where now
now currently now currently try because stop stop when where aware knows start hide about consensus result next to show want
despite though does not give because during while level explain clarify try show too many only leave help first second during while to
do because immediately often basic hurts harms when where by under Xly near because given that to in fact about about during if
show say mean ask can binds wants disposes of cannot clearly clearly find way method change hurt harm decrease tell despite void
many goal see watch get often sometimes by because since time period let allow people time point part have before get give if but
law buy speed called rest help ask need keep the later after after later prove enough enough end this case that this case how this
case is different that until on use knew
__________
The Gender Genie gave the above 170 Words the following "gender" score:
Female Score: 209
Male Score: 81
__________
The reduction of "verbosity" from 321 to 170 words for the same "word message" proves Eugene's point that much of "legalese" is just "extra" for the conveyance of meaning.
However, as a matter of style, the verbose words are "possibly" more MALE and the non-verbose words are "possibly" more FEMALE in style.
We thought that this may not have to do with "gender" per se, but verbosity may reflect a certain kind of aggressive assertiveness whereas nonverbosity may reflect a certain kind of careful reserve, so we googled "verbosity" and "gender", giving us the following result:
"- Studies of verbosity - holding the floor means holding power
- 'Women don’t talk as much as men in mixed company…These facts, which have been provided by numerous research findings, appear to conflict with a stereotyped image of the female as an excessive talker…' (Spender, 1988: 148) "
We have found in the interim that there is a whole field of "gender linguistics" and that "talk time" (verbosity) is one aspect of that study. So it might be that we should be careful in artificially limiting verbosity if it is - as it appears to be - an essential element of style, and even perhaps gender. Perhaps males or assertive persons (also females) are simply more verbose.
Too much verbal "trimming" then might be a form of emasculation.
The Law Pundit would imagine that this matter could be investigated by examining the legal writings of male and female students. Indeed, the LawPundit found in the course of teaching ca. 200 students per semester that papers and examinations by females repeated succinctly and accurately what had been lectured much more so than those written by males, who tended to frame topics from within their own particular, subjective viewpoint. Indeed, the difference between male and female written work in this regard was substantial.
Hat tip to Minor Wisdom for the link to Volokh's Legalese.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/06/2004 06:44:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Sunday, December 05, 2004 12/05/2004 02:54:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Online Learning is Coming - Also to Law
Online Learning (E-Learning) is Coming - Also to Law
Ray Schroeder at the blog Online Learning Update writes:
"Online learning has entered the mainstream of American higher education. "
Yet, U.S. News writes in "Learning in Legal Limbo" that the American Bar Association has yet to embrace the concept of e-learning in spite of the appearance of online law schools, such as Concord. Is the ABA bucking a coming online learning trend? Of course they are.
As written at CNN, "Online schools clicking with students". Indeed, we already have an online law school as well.
Concord - An Online Law School
For actual school experience, see Confessions of an Early Internet Educator by Jack R. Goetz, President and Dean, Concord Law School, which summarizes six years of experience with an online law school.
Based on Goetz's experiences, there can be no other conclusion except that it is only a matter of time until learning through video lectures and by other online methods will become more widely used in law school education.
Past Problems with E-Learning
There are of course also pitfalls ahead, however, and not all university e-learning systems have been successfully organized or implemented, as reported in the Economist, which writes, inter alia:
"University professors head the list of the skeptical and contemptuous. In some cases this is a defensive posture. Adding an online component to a regular course could mean more work without an accompanying pay rise. A deeper fear is that their positions will be eliminated altogether."
It is always remarkable to find that academics are often progressive as far as the rest of society is concerned but are defensive arch-conservatives when their own academic fields or professional skins are involved.
In fact, due in part to resistance by academia, e-learning has not advanced nearly as fast as originally thought. See e.g. What Keeps Universities from Embracing e-Learning?
See also the study by Robert Zemsky & William F. Massy, "Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to E-learning and Why".
Ken Switzer has a rebuttal to Zemsky and Massy. See also What's New.
E-Learning is Coming, Slowly but Surely
Despite these negative voices, E-Learning is progressing in e.g. the European Union and in the UK (HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for England). Ca. 20% annual growth is expected in the USA.
Online learning is also at the inception of "transforming" the US military.
E-Learning for professionals in law-related business matters is also increasing, e.g.
see the INTA Trademark Basics 2004 E-Learning Program. INTA is the International Trademark Association.
See also on the topic of e-learning at universities (as well as the related distance education):
E-Learning at U.S. News including their A-Z List of E-Learning Institutions
e.g. Stanford University, which offers 218 such courses, whereas the comparable Eastern schools, such as Harvard and Yale lag far behind on this score.
More at:
Master of Distance Education degree - UMUC
eLearn Magazine
PGCert Employment Law by e-learning
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/05/2004 02:54:00 PM
Online Learning is Coming - Also to Law
Online Learning (E-Learning) is Coming - Also to Law
Ray Schroeder at the blog Online Learning Update writes:
"Online learning has entered the mainstream of American higher education. "
Yet, U.S. News writes in "Learning in Legal Limbo" that the American Bar Association has yet to embrace the concept of e-learning in spite of the appearance of online law schools, such as Concord. Is the ABA bucking a coming online learning trend? Of course they are.
As written at CNN, "Online schools clicking with students". Indeed, we already have an online law school as well.
Concord - An Online Law School
For actual school experience, see Confessions of an Early Internet Educator by Jack R. Goetz, President and Dean, Concord Law School, which summarizes six years of experience with an online law school.
Based on Goetz's experiences, there can be no other conclusion except that it is only a matter of time until learning through video lectures and by other online methods will become more widely used in law school education.
Past Problems with E-Learning
There are of course also pitfalls ahead, however, and not all university e-learning systems have been successfully organized or implemented, as reported in the Economist, which writes, inter alia:
"University professors head the list of the skeptical and contemptuous. In some cases this is a defensive posture. Adding an online component to a regular course could mean more work without an accompanying pay rise. A deeper fear is that their positions will be eliminated altogether."
It is always remarkable to find that academics are often progressive as far as the rest of society is concerned but are defensive arch-conservatives when their own academic fields or professional skins are involved.
In fact, due in part to resistance by academia, e-learning has not advanced nearly as fast as originally thought. See e.g. What Keeps Universities from Embracing e-Learning?
See also the study by Robert Zemsky & William F. Massy, "Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to E-learning and Why".
Ken Switzer has a rebuttal to Zemsky and Massy. See also What's New.
E-Learning is Coming, Slowly but Surely
Despite these negative voices, E-Learning is progressing in e.g. the European Union and in the UK (HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for England). Ca. 20% annual growth is expected in the USA.
Online learning is also at the inception of "transforming" the US military.
E-Learning for professionals in law-related business matters is also increasing, e.g.
see the INTA Trademark Basics 2004 E-Learning Program. INTA is the International Trademark Association.
See also on the topic of e-learning at universities (as well as the related distance education):
E-Learning at U.S. News including their A-Z List of E-Learning Institutions
e.g. Stanford University, which offers 218 such courses, whereas the comparable Eastern schools, such as Harvard and Yale lag far behind on this score.
More at:
Master of Distance Education degree - UMUC
eLearn Magazine
PGCert Employment Law by e-learning
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/05/2004 02:54:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Saturday, December 04, 2004 12/04/2004 10:57:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
MSN Spaces - A New Blogging Environment
MSN Spaces - A New Blogging Environment
We have tried out the new MSN Spaces by establishing the Alpha Pundit blog. Although MSN Spaces has some interesting features (e.g. the revolving photo function), it is not a serious challenger to Blogger or similar blogging environments because of its virtual lack of sensible customization possibilities and its relatively non-intuitive user interface.
It remains a mystery to us that high-powered and well-financed firms still seem unable to introduce blogging products which are intuitively designed, which can be easily customized as the user wants them to be customized, which easily implement the state of the art and which allow the user to blog as he wants to blog.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 10:57:00 PM
MSN Spaces - A New Blogging Environment
MSN Spaces - A New Blogging Environment
We have tried out the new MSN Spaces by establishing the Alpha Pundit blog. Although MSN Spaces has some interesting features (e.g. the revolving photo function), it is not a serious challenger to Blogger or similar blogging environments because of its virtual lack of sensible customization possibilities and its relatively non-intuitive user interface.
It remains a mystery to us that high-powered and well-financed firms still seem unable to introduce blogging products which are intuitively designed, which can be easily customized as the user wants them to be customized, which easily implement the state of the art and which allow the user to blog as he wants to blog.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 10:57:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/04/2004 03:02:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Elbert Hubbard - Business and Personal Credos to Live By
Elbert Hubbard - Business and Personal Credos to Live By
Here is a quote by Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) which applies to blogging:
"Every man who speaks out loud and clear is tinting the "Zeitgeist." Every man who expresses what he honestly thinks is true is changing the Spirit of the Times. Thinkers help other people to think, for they formulate what others are thinking. No person writes or thinks alone--thought is in the air, but its expression is necessary to create a tangible Spirit of the Times. - Pig-Pen Pete--The Bee"
One of the lesser known writers of the American past is Elbert Hubbard, whose books I had the pleasure to read via Professor Wilbur Gaffney at the University of Nebraska (a remarkable man in whose name writing awards are still being given and without whom e.g. the present University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman might not be where he is).
In any case, in a period of time where people are looking for good "VALUES" to live by, it is worth taking a look at Hubbard's "Credos".
See also Hubbard's Essay on John Jacob Astor at Gutenberg.org.
Many of Hubbard's "quotations" - taken from over seven million published words - are also full of timeless wisdom: see
About.com Elbert Hubbard Quotes
The Quotations Page
Giga-USA
Proverbia.net
ThinkExist
Daily Celebrations
Entplaza
Said What
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 03:02:00 PM
Elbert Hubbard - Business and Personal Credos to Live By
Elbert Hubbard - Business and Personal Credos to Live By
Here is a quote by Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) which applies to blogging:
"Every man who speaks out loud and clear is tinting the "Zeitgeist." Every man who expresses what he honestly thinks is true is changing the Spirit of the Times. Thinkers help other people to think, for they formulate what others are thinking. No person writes or thinks alone--thought is in the air, but its expression is necessary to create a tangible Spirit of the Times. - Pig-Pen Pete--The Bee"
One of the lesser known writers of the American past is Elbert Hubbard, whose books I had the pleasure to read via Professor Wilbur Gaffney at the University of Nebraska (a remarkable man in whose name writing awards are still being given and without whom e.g. the present University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman might not be where he is).
In any case, in a period of time where people are looking for good "VALUES" to live by, it is worth taking a look at Hubbard's "Credos".
See also Hubbard's Essay on John Jacob Astor at Gutenberg.org.
Many of Hubbard's "quotations" - taken from over seven million published words - are also full of timeless wisdom: see
About.com Elbert Hubbard Quotes
The Quotations Page
Giga-USA
Proverbia.net
ThinkExist
Daily Celebrations
Entplaza
Said What
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 03:02:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 12/04/2004 02:03:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Smart Judge and Nobel Laureate Team Up on Blog
Smart Judge and Nobel Laureate Team Up on Blog
The marketing strategy for introduction of The Becker-Posner Blog is a good one - drawing people to the site even though no postings are up - so we are optimistic as to the coming content, whenever and whatever that will be. For bios see Gary S. Becker and Richard A. Posner.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 02:03:00 PM
Smart Judge and Nobel Laureate Team Up on Blog
Smart Judge and Nobel Laureate Team Up on Blog
The marketing strategy for introduction of The Becker-Posner Blog is a good one - drawing people to the site even though no postings are up - so we are optimistic as to the coming content, whenever and whatever that will be. For bios see Gary S. Becker and Richard A. Posner.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/04/2004 02:03:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Friday, December 03, 2004 12/03/2004 02:40:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
The Ultimate Christmas Gift - Stars Stones and Scholars
The Ultimate Christmas Gift - Stars Stones and Scholars
I have nothing against religion but I get tired of listening to religious babble from people who are not familiar with the history of their own beliefs.
Are you looking for a gift for adults who already have everything?
Give them the book Stars Stones and Scholars
available here and here
and jog the complacent noncritical brains of your family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues.
In a day when religious fanatics are making life on our planet much more difficult than it objectively should be, it might be useful to consider the fact that all modern religions are rooted in ancient hermetic belief ("as above, so below", or "As on Earth, So in Heaven").
Before the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, men studied the stars, and this ancient stargazing gave mankind its first conceptions of natural law (so Bertrand Russell).
The idea that God is "in Heaven" and not elsewhere is rooted in the idea of our prehistoric forefathers that God's abode was in the (apparently) immovable part of the Center of Heaven. Contrary to God's modern abstract realm, in ancient days God had a specific celestial "home".
Where is that home now?
This and much more is found in this fascinating book of which I am proud to say that I am the author. Read Stars Stones and Scholars to understand YOUR religion better.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/03/2004 02:40:00 PM
The Ultimate Christmas Gift - Stars Stones and Scholars
The Ultimate Christmas Gift - Stars Stones and Scholars
I have nothing against religion but I get tired of listening to religious babble from people who are not familiar with the history of their own beliefs.
Are you looking for a gift for adults who already have everything?
Give them the book Stars Stones and Scholars
available here and here
and jog the complacent noncritical brains of your family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues.
In a day when religious fanatics are making life on our planet much more difficult than it objectively should be, it might be useful to consider the fact that all modern religions are rooted in ancient hermetic belief ("as above, so below", or "As on Earth, So in Heaven").
Before the advent of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, men studied the stars, and this ancient stargazing gave mankind its first conceptions of natural law (so Bertrand Russell).
The idea that God is "in Heaven" and not elsewhere is rooted in the idea of our prehistoric forefathers that God's abode was in the (apparently) immovable part of the Center of Heaven. Contrary to God's modern abstract realm, in ancient days God had a specific celestial "home".
Where is that home now?
This and much more is found in this fascinating book of which I am proud to say that I am the author. Read Stars Stones and Scholars to understand YOUR religion better.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/03/2004 02:40:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, December 01, 2004 12/01/2004 09:50:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
BLOG is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2004
BLOG is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2004
[What will the top word be in 2005? Add your prognostication to our comments and give your reasons, if any, for choosing that word. We link to some of the possible trends for 2005 further below.]
Via Blogger, Greg Frost at Reuters reports in his Nov. 30, 2004 article that
'Blog' Tops U.S. Dictionary's Words of the Year
Frost writes:
"A four-letter term that came to symbolize the difference between old and new media during this year's presidential campaign tops U.S. dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's list of the 10 words of the year."
That "four-letter word" is BLOG.
A definition of the term Blog plus a list of the top 10 words for 2004 are found at Merriam-Webster.
Read also how the words are selected.
In 2003 the Word of the Year was DEMOCRACY.
What word will win in 2005? We looked at some pages dealing with trends:
Hot Trends for 2005
(authenticity, age 35, multitasking, obesity, the third place, snobization (snobmoddities), uniqueness (outcool), life caching)
Travel and Vacations Trends for 2005
(low-cost airlines, de-hubbing, boutique hotels, style-lifers and style-lifing, grey geese, cultural travel, internet travel, globesity)
Fast Forward 2005 - Fast Company's 101 ideas, people, and trends
Top Food Trends 2005
(organic, probiotic) (membership required)
Trendwatching.com
(freedom, mobility, independence, youniverse, massclusivity)
Global Trends - CSIS - Center for Strategic & International Studies
(environment, social values)
Smart Trends for 2005
(tap the countertrend, eat off the big guys' plate, switch the niche, borrow a business model)
via Business Opportunities Weblog
Design Trends for 2005
(water, femininity, stability, expressionism)
Fashion Trends for 2005
(colours, fabrics, patterns, textures, knits, furs, techniques)
More Fashion Trends for 2005
Prom Fashion Outlook 2005
(year of the stars)
Hair Trends 2005
(nature girl, face off, windy ways)
The 100 Best Trends, 2005
(generation Y, nanotechnology, duppies)
World Christian Trends 2005
Technology Trends 2005 - Gartner Symposium
(connected society, smart objects, semantic connectivity, wireless broadband networks, digital ink, radio frequency ID (RFID) tags, smart dust, smart pills)
More Technology Trends 2005
(enterprise mobility, IP telephony, supply chain management)
see also White Papers
Consumer Trends 2005 (expensive eBook in German)
Meeting Trends 2005
Females and Sexiness 2005
Material Trends 2005
Five Business Trends 2005
Economic and Media Forecast 2005 (by geographic region) including Advertising
via Adverblog
Emerging and Evolving Trends for 2005
Trends in Open Source 2005
OUR PREDICTION: We think that the word VALUES has a good chance to win in 2005.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 09:50:00 AM
BLOG is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2004
BLOG is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Year 2004
[What will the top word be in 2005? Add your prognostication to our comments and give your reasons, if any, for choosing that word. We link to some of the possible trends for 2005 further below.]
Via Blogger, Greg Frost at Reuters reports in his Nov. 30, 2004 article that
'Blog' Tops U.S. Dictionary's Words of the Year
Frost writes:
"A four-letter term that came to symbolize the difference between old and new media during this year's presidential campaign tops U.S. dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's list of the 10 words of the year."
That "four-letter word" is BLOG.
A definition of the term Blog plus a list of the top 10 words for 2004 are found at Merriam-Webster.
Read also how the words are selected.
In 2003 the Word of the Year was DEMOCRACY.
What word will win in 2005? We looked at some pages dealing with trends:
Hot Trends for 2005
(authenticity, age 35, multitasking, obesity, the third place, snobization (snobmoddities), uniqueness (outcool), life caching)
Travel and Vacations Trends for 2005
(low-cost airlines, de-hubbing, boutique hotels, style-lifers and style-lifing, grey geese, cultural travel, internet travel, globesity)
Fast Forward 2005 - Fast Company's 101 ideas, people, and trends
Top Food Trends 2005
(organic, probiotic) (membership required)
Trendwatching.com
(freedom, mobility, independence, youniverse, massclusivity)
Global Trends - CSIS - Center for Strategic & International Studies
(environment, social values)
Smart Trends for 2005
(tap the countertrend, eat off the big guys' plate, switch the niche, borrow a business model)
via Business Opportunities Weblog
Design Trends for 2005
(water, femininity, stability, expressionism)
Fashion Trends for 2005
(colours, fabrics, patterns, textures, knits, furs, techniques)
More Fashion Trends for 2005
Prom Fashion Outlook 2005
(year of the stars)
Hair Trends 2005
(nature girl, face off, windy ways)
The 100 Best Trends, 2005
(generation Y, nanotechnology, duppies)
World Christian Trends 2005
Technology Trends 2005 - Gartner Symposium
(connected society, smart objects, semantic connectivity, wireless broadband networks, digital ink, radio frequency ID (RFID) tags, smart dust, smart pills)
More Technology Trends 2005
(enterprise mobility, IP telephony, supply chain management)
see also White Papers
Consumer Trends 2005 (expensive eBook in German)
Meeting Trends 2005
Females and Sexiness 2005
Material Trends 2005
Five Business Trends 2005
Economic and Media Forecast 2005 (by geographic region) including Advertising
via Adverblog
Emerging and Evolving Trends for 2005
Trends in Open Source 2005
OUR PREDICTION: We think that the word VALUES has a good chance to win in 2005.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 09:50:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT 12/01/2004 09:48:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
The Iowa Guide to Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields
The Iowa Guide to Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields
One example of such a journal would be the Journal of Intellectual Property Law.
Mass Communication is a booming field and the The Iowa Guide covers "Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields".
As written by The Iowa Guide, edited by Carolyn Stewart Dyer:
"This 16-year-old publication helps scholars find appropriate journals in which to publish their work and offers advice on how to prepare manuscripts for publication.
The searchable online Directory of Journals catalogs the manuscript requirements and review processes of more than 125 English-language scholarly journals published in the United States and countries spanning the globe. Some of the journals focus on journalism, mass communication or communication as their primary concerns. Others address communication in the context of another discipline, such as law or sociology, or they include communication under an interdisciplinary umbrella such as popular culture or women’s studies."
The Iowa Guide consists of
1. the Guide to Scholarly Publishing - as a .pdf - and also as an .html
2. the Directory of Journals, which can not be downloaded, but which can be accessed by a link list of journals .
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 09:48:00 AM
The Iowa Guide to Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields
The Iowa Guide to Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields
One example of such a journal would be the Journal of Intellectual Property Law.
Mass Communication is a booming field and the The Iowa Guide covers "Scholarly Journals in Mass Communication and Related Fields".
As written by The Iowa Guide, edited by Carolyn Stewart Dyer:
"This 16-year-old publication helps scholars find appropriate journals in which to publish their work and offers advice on how to prepare manuscripts for publication.
The searchable online Directory of Journals catalogs the manuscript requirements and review processes of more than 125 English-language scholarly journals published in the United States and countries spanning the globe. Some of the journals focus on journalism, mass communication or communication as their primary concerns. Others address communication in the context of another discipline, such as law or sociology, or they include communication under an interdisciplinary umbrella such as popular culture or women’s studies."
The Iowa Guide consists of
1. the Guide to Scholarly Publishing - as a .pdf - and also as an .html
2. the Directory of Journals, which can not be downloaded, but which can be accessed by a link list of journals .
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 09:48:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT 12/01/2004 01:15:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
Is Europe Culturally Naive?
Is Europe Culturally Naive?
This link just in from a friend writing from Beijing:
William Pfaff,
in an International Herald Tribune article dated November 25, 2004
and entitled
Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté,
discusses the problems which have surfaced recently in Europe based on the false belief of Europeans that a peaceful multicultural society without social discrimination and economic disadvantages to immigrants is possible.
Read the whole article.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 01:15:00 AM
Is Europe Culturally Naive?
Is Europe Culturally Naive?
This link just in from a friend writing from Beijing:
William Pfaff,
in an International Herald Tribune article dated November 25, 2004
and entitled
Europe pays the price for cultural naïveté,
discusses the problems which have surfaced recently in Europe based on the false belief of Europeans that a peaceful multicultural society without social discrimination and economic disadvantages to immigrants is possible.
Read the whole article.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 12/01/2004 01:15:00 AM
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