David Weinberger, author of Small Pieces Loosely Joined (2002) ((Weinberger, D. (2002). Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.)) and one of the four contributors to the Cluetrain Manifesto (Levine, Locke, Searls, & Weinberger, 2000) ((Levine, R., Locke, C., Searls, D., & Weinberger, D. (2000). The Cluetrain Manifesto : The End of Business As Usual. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books.)), published a new book this year: Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder (2007). ((New York: Times Books.)) The central argument for the book is that a new order in organizing . . . [more]

A recent article  on a San Francisco-based web site has this this caption

American kids, dumber than dirt
Warning: The next generation might just be the biggest pile of idiots in U.S. history

 The article states:

No, my friend takes it all a full step — or rather, leap — further. It is not merely a sad slide. It is not just a general dumbing down. It is far uglier than that.

We are, as far as urban public education is concerned, essentially at rock bottom. We are now at a point where we are essentially churning out ignorant teens

You may notice that now, beneath each entry, there’s a link that invites you to “Print this post.” Clicking it will take you to a page containing a stripped down version of the relevant entry and a list of links referred to in that entry; if it’s what you want, the print button at the bottom of the page will send it on its way to your printer. I’d been meaning to install this for some time and was finally kicked into action by a kind email from a reader who pointed out how unsatisfactory the results of the browser . . . [more]

In trying to get into the Halloween spirit, I have conducted a small search for ghouly related material in various Canadian legal fields. However; the only mention of Halloween in Canadian Legislation is in the Proclamation Declaring October 31st of each year to be “National UNICEF Day”. Vampires do get mentioned in the Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulations but there is no mention of werewolves, zombies, mummies,or dracula. Mummy’s do get mentioned quite often in caselaw but that is a different type of mummy than what is associated with Halloween. Some of the other ghoulies mentioned previously come . . . [more]

I have to be brief this week, because I’m posting this from the LexUM conference in Montreal, while listening with one ear to the translated words of a speaker on the issue of information overload.

I’ve noticed lately that I have trouble hearing the occasional word. I think it must be because the people I hang out with are getting older and so have an increasing tendency to mumble. This can be frustrating, but it can also be fun when I find my brain supplying an amusing word or phrase to replace the blur. The classic instance of this is . . . [more]

Here’s a short list of links that came up in presentations yesterday and that might be of interest generally:

Droit francophone

Droit francophone, le portail de diffusion libre du droit de l’Organisation internationale de la francophonie donne accès à :

* Un portail de plus de 4100 hyperliens juridiques évalués et commentés
* Des collections juridiques nationales et régionales
* Un moteur de recherche du Web juridique francophone

Neil Campbell pointed us to this some time ago, but it seems that the URL has changed since then to the one used above.

Biblioteca Juridica Virtual

In Mexico

El Instituto de

“You can’t do much without a brain. Decapitation is, in most instances, associated with a decline in IQ.” (my emphasis)

Hmmmm…..

Never mind.

On the other hand (so to speak)

Still, I’m going to assume that the emphasized phase shows that the writer-author of this bon mot has been in court recently. A tip of hat, so to speak. . . . [more]

KM Space, the excellent BLOG of Doug Cornelius, has a post today on the Microsoft purchase of a 1.6% interest in Facebook.

It’s easy to stop at the fact that this purchase values Facebook at $15 billion. Discussions with colleagues have yet to reveal the importance of Facebook in the business world (admittedly, I also thought that the internet would never last.) On what basis did Microsoft come to the conclusion that this investment makes sense?

Doug’s post suggests that an enterprise version of Facebook, delivered on the SharePoint platform, may be the goal. While SharePoint doesn’t have the name . . . [more]

The ICT Regulatory Decisions Clearinghouse (ICTDec) is an online resource that provides a one-stop access point to decisions originating from ICT [information and communication technology] decision making bodies such as telecommunications regulators, industry ombudsmen and specialized dispute resolution tribunals. Currently, ICTDec provides unified and simplified access to thousands of decisions available on the Web, as well as to selected decisions unavailable online.

…thanks to the World Bank and LexUM working together. . . . [more]

Some of us might find this handy:

The Canadian federal government just launched a website with information on unhealthy and unsafe food and child products. I haven’t used it yet, but the Globe and Mail says we can search for information by keyword, date, or product or company name. We can also browse product recalls going back 10 years. . . . [more]

I’m blogging from the LexUM conference Conférence Internet pour le droit / Law Via the Internet Conference, live. At the moment, Justice Bastarache is telling us that the Supreme Court of Canada is planning to make factums available online next year, at least in some measure. He is explaining all of the issues that the Court is currently considering, as it struggles to develop a workable policy concerning the electronic publication of these documents. The Court has not yet decided whether and how to “clean” the files of sensitive business or personal information; they are still consulting, but a . . . [more]

[Bill SB 362] would prohibit a person from requiring, coercing, or compelling any other individual to undergo the subcutaneous implanting of an identification device, as defined.

California Senate Bill 362, made law October 12, 2007

I had no idea that anyone was considering the insertion of chips into employees, but I find I’m not surprised by the revelation. Apparently, a Cincinnati video surveillance company, Citywatcher.com (seemingly no longer online), required that employees be so branded.

[via Deeth Williams Wall E-Tips] . . . [more]