I missed this last summer: TimesOnline reported that China passed regulations forbidding Tibetan Bodhisattvas (i.e. living Buddhas) from reincarnating without permission from the Chinese government. This joins the Malaysian prohibition on Christian use of the word Allah in the “implacable force meets immovable object” category of demolition derby.

Of course, as I said when I blogged about Malaysia, without the text of the regulation it’s hard to say how sensible or silly the prohibition actually is. TimesOnline does at least throw quotes around a small portion of text, suggesting that this is how the law reads, in translation at . . . [more]

The Adbusters suit to get the major TV outlets to run its ads entered a new phase yesterday. The British Columbia Supreme Court began hearing argument on two motions, one to add the CBC as a party and the other by CanWest to have the case dismissed, presumably as showing no cause of action (the details are scarce, as usual when a lawsuit is involved). Adbusters has tried and failed to get the major networks to run its ads for Buy Nothing Day or those attacking the fast food and forestry industries. It seems–as I said, the details are scarce–that . . . [more]

An interesting article in the NYTimes on the recent health issues of Om Malik. Om, for those of you that don’t follow tech blogs, is a long time industry insider and the publisher of GigaOm.

On Dec. 28th Om had a heart attack, and well wishes aside (I’m a long time subscriber), the combination of the sedentary life style, smoking and scotch (nah, couldn’t be the scotch…), are cited as causes to his health issues. The big kicker for me was the fact that Om is 41! Now that’s a wake-up call if ever there was one. Ouch.

The . . . [more]

Xerox, a company that’s been part of your daily life for seemingly ever, is fed up with our thinking “copy” when we hear their name. (Hell, I still use xerox as a verb.) They do many more things than make copiers and want “a brand identity that reflects the Xerox of today,” as their vice-president of advertising says. So they’ve ditched the capital X and now will use this new logo:

I can’t say I’m impressed by the ball thingy. The 3-D look that’s popular nowadays will soon be out — if it isn’t already — and weren’t we using . . . [more]

Having been trained in the law, we all know better than to just click “I agree” to the next software licence agreement that pops up when you try to install that new widget on your computer. Of course, none of us do actually read the agreement, and the software ends up changing your start page and installing the yahoo toolbar into your browser.

If you have no interest in reading the lengthy contract, but still want to know whether you can expect that widget to also serve you some pop-up ads, the EULAlyzer promises to do the reading for you. . . . [more]

On Dec. 26 the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) received a legislative requirement (see here, choose HR 2764, and browse for National Institues of Health, then see sec. 218) to make all of its publicly-funded research results available online for free. A summary of the event with comments and links to reactions was published by Peter Suber in his SPARC Open Access Newsletter on Jan. 2, and, here is a preprint of an article on the news, which is to appear in an upcoming Information Today. . . . [more]

Howard Elliott of the Hamilton Spectator, in today’s editorial, says “Facebook … is threatening to render some Canadian laws irrelevant.” Noting that two youths had been charged with first degree murder in the case of Stefanie Rengel, Elliott complained that the two accused were “still legally anonymous. Except on Facebook, where they’ve been identified repeatedly by name and photograph.” Elliott calls for an end to the double standard, “in the name of civil society in cyberspace.” . . . [more]

The alpha version is out of Wikia, the search engine from Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia fame. Note the clean uncluttered Google-look. And note, too, that it quite correctly brings up Slaw first when searching on “slaw.” Apart from that, though, the Wikia team confesses that: “We are aware that the quality of the search results is low…” But they hope to improve them over the next little while.

You can get an account and help out, if you want, in true Wikipedia fashion. Jimmy says:

Right now, the most important thing you can do is help with the “miniarticles”

As this is my first post of ot8, I thought I would plant my tongue firmly in cheek and make some semi-serious, law-technology-Slaw predictions:

Over the next year…

• Online/Technology Privacy will become a much bigger issue in the mainstream.
• Someone or thing makes a small dent in Google’s search monopoly owing to privacy concerns (see Ask Eraser).
• The settlement of the Hollywood writer’s strike will have implications for the online distribution of content that are not yet anticipated.
• Google, MS or another larger fish will make an astronomical offer for Facebook.
• There will be a Federal election.
• There will

At the Chicago office of Perkins Coie, partners recently unveiled a “happiness committee,” offering candy apples and milkshakes to brighten the long and wearying days of its lawyers.

No this is not a joke. According to Alex Williams, “The Falling-Down Professions” in Sunday’s New York Times, other firms are trying to retain associates with means that appeal not simply to a sweet tooth, means such as money, for example, while others use a simple, dignified “Thank you.”

This is all part of a broader examination in the article of the unhappiness of some lawyers and doctors under the . . . [more]

The Malaysian government has told a Christian publication, Herald, that it may not use the word Allah to refer to the Christian God. The story is carried by the BBC and, later, the New York Times, though I first heard about it on the sterling Language Log.

I’ve not been able to get my hands on the wording of the prohibition. It’s been put variously by the news sources, which typically say that the rule is that non-Muslims may not use the word Allah; but this, as Language Log pointed out, doesn’t seem right: the Herald would likely . . . [more]

There are times when a challenge is what’s wanted and then there are other times. For me, at least, this is one of those. Other times, I mean. Gimme victories, lots of victories: too much snow, I think, too much cold, too much work piling up…

So, for those of you who, like me, don’t mind the occasional success no matter how easily arrived at, I present a couple of fun but winnable online games.

The Four Colour Problem offers you a small map of make-believe countries and four colours; you and the computer are to colour each land in . . . [more]