From Eagan today, an announcement of a free podcast featuring Justice Scalia and Bryanb Garner who wrote the excellent Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.

Justice Scalia and Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary, led a CLE seminar at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. last July. All profits from the event were donated to Legal Aid. . . . [more]

Cory Doctorow writes on Boing Boing about the latest anti-terrorist campaign in England.

His entire post is a worthwhile read – but to get a flavour of it:

The London police have bested their own impressive record for insane and stupid anti-terrorism posters with a new range of signs advising Londoners to go through each others’ trash-bins looking for “suspicious” chemical bottles, and to report on one another for “studying CCTV cameras.”

Essentially, this redefines “suspicious” as anything outside of the direct experience of the most frightened, ignorant and foolish people in any neighborhood.

So in addition to being . . . [more]

♫ A new decade
A new decade
The radio plays the sounds we made
The radio plays the sounds we made
And everything seems to feel just right
And everything seems to feel just right…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by The Verve, “A New Decade”

An interesting article by Mel Beckman appeared in InfoWorld on March 23: “Why even IT Pros are Demanding Macs”

Mel Beckman writes: “A mid-2008 Yankee Group survey of 750 senior IT executives found nearly 80 percent have Macs onboard, up from 47 percent in 2006.” This is not the 20% or so . . . [more]

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, honouring women in technology. From the website:

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants. The list of tech-related careers is endless.

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones. That’s a relatively

There’s an entry on Language Log, How fast do people talk in court?” by Mark Lieberman that should be of interest to court admins, translators, reporters and some litigation lawyers. He and a colleague are doing a study to determine what are typical rates of speech in courts or depositions, so that court reporter tests can be useful. (There are also a couple of related entries referred to, one on the old court stenograph, and another on “voice writing.”) And as for fast talking, you should check out the excerpt on YouTube from the Little Britain . . . [more]

I’m a fan of myths… those big and little stories that persist in various forms within a culture, and often across cultures. Some folks treat “myth” as a dirty word, opposing it to truth or reality, and there’s no doubt that in the grip of a powerful myth we can, individually or collectively, go to places we ought not. But good or bad, myths drive us much of the time, in my view, and so we’d be best off knowing them as well as we can, retelling them consciously, and generally mixing them up to suit our own purposes.

Today . . . [more]

The Local Government Association has issued a list of 200 words and phrases banned from communications. Here’s the BBC story. And the full list of banned words is here.

While I doubt that any of us will miss predictors of beaconicity, I do wonder at a few of the selections. “Advocate”, for example – what are we going to use instead. “Ask for” does not lend the same weight.

Already I feel myself wandering down the path trod by colleagues during a plain language course I took a few years ago. (Insert your favourite “lawyers and plain . . . [more]

♫ The lips of the righteous teach many,
But fools die for want of wisdom.
The rich man wealth is in his city;
Do you hear, do you hear, can you understand?! ♫

Lyrics and Music by Bob Marley, recorded by Bob Marley & the Wailers “Wisdom“.

Omar Ha-Redeye’s last post on the iPhone and Privacy caused me to reflect. In particular, he started a train of thought that led to the conclusion that courtesy of the Internet, finding out answers to questions (i.e. the search for knowledge) has never been easier. One can seek information on . . . [more]

I’m not a big fan of receiving press releases, and am likely gluing a bulls eye on my back by writing this post, however… an interesting item did drop into my inbox this morning. McGraw-Hill Ryerson has launched a new website called AuthorExperts.ca to help connect their stable of writers to journalists and MSM.

The concept in itself is interesting, and certainly a value add component for their Authors. In a world where self-publishing has become so incredibly easy, publishers bringing more to the table seems like a smart move. Traditional services like concept vetting, editing, and distribution are . . . [more]

Hello Folks!
Our lovely government is at it again apparently.
The current victim? The Maher Arar Commission website.
It’s nowhere to be found! It used to be here: http://www.ararcommission.ca but alas, in attempting to answer a reference question this morning, I find the website is gone. At least we still have: http://www.maherarar.ca, but can we say with certainty that all of the previous website’s contents are available there? I’d like to know whether the Commission’s contents have been captured by the National Library. Isn’t it legally obligated to be there? I certainly hope so. I wonder to whom we . . . [more]

The big tech news yesterday was Apple’s preview of the new iPhone 3.0 software that is available now for developers, and this summer as a free upgrade for iPhone users.

The Apple mystique and reality distortion field continue despite Steve Jobs’ absence from the podium. There is no question that the iPhone sets the bar for smartphones, even though many of the new features announced yesterday are already available on other phones.

Details can be found on almost any tech site – but given Slaw’s audience, take a look at iPhone J.D.’s article entitled Why lawyers will love iPhone Software . . . [more]

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
may the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

– traditional Gaelic blessing

Photo: by Connie Crosby, Kerry County, Ireland, September 2006 walk. . . . [more]