The end of support for the Netscape browser shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise. The software’s user population has dwindled to almost nothing, and the dropping of support was long overdue.

But for me, I have very fond memories of this browser software that is soon to be a footnote in web history. For many of us early web users Netscape was the first quality graphical browser we used — Mosaic was pretty good, but Netscape made our mouths drop.

For myself, the software progression went from gopher browsing, to Lynx, to Mosaic, and then finally to Netscape 1.0 . . . [more]

The announcement below was sent out today. Louise Hamel, Manager at the Judges’ Library, tells me there is new content which has also been translated into French. The real news, though, is the official new design of the site. Congratulations to the Judges’ Library!

I am pleased to announce that the Guide to Ontario Courts www.ontariocourts.on.ca has been re-launched.

This revitalized website was reorganized and updated in response to user feedback on content and design, and in consultation with the Office of each court. We have developed what we hope will be a more user friendly = website with each

Hardly a week meriting a fillip… Still, Friday is Friday. Herewith, then, a couple of ads, which is fitting for the week containing Boxing Day I guess.

The first is an oldie but a goodie, the marvelously orchestrated disassembled Honda that Rube Goldberg’s its way across a room:

The second is from J.C. Penney, “The Aviator,” the tale of a nerdy girl who wants to fly. I found it quite touching.

Thanks be to Boing Boing for both of these… and more. . . . [more]

A group from the Lakota First Nations, the Lakota Freedom Delegation, announced in mid-December that they have unilaterally withdrawn from treaties with the United States and are henceforth an independent nation. Those who are interested in learning more and following the progress of this group, who, in their words:

do not represent those BIA or IRA governments beholden to the colonial apartheid system, or those “stay by the fort” Indians who are unwilling claim their freedom

may take a look at the web pages they have established. . . . [more]

I have been fortunate in the last two years to have been asked to speak about social networks in law (and other professional) firms at conferences and workshops. I thought I would take this opportunity to summarize some of the key points I make about social networks.

First, social networks and social media (or knowledge media) are not the same thing. People often called tools such as LinkedIn and FaceBook social networks. These are tools for making our social networks explicit. And indeed, we can use these tools / platforms to keep in touch with parts of our social network . . . [more]

I heard it on Twitter first coming into the office this morning, then word has slowly spread throughout the news agencies. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, has been killed in a suicide bombing at one of her political rallies. The power of the wiki is evident–her page on Wikipedia was updated immediately with the news.

Google News

Related Slaw posts:

Musharraf and the Judges (Nov. 4/07)
News re: Pakistan via the Google AJAX News Bar (Nov. 8/07)
Human Rights Blog Tracking List of Arrestees in Pakistan (Nov. 14/07)
CBA March in Solidarity with the Defenders of . . . [more]

As a footnote to my post on Legal Indexing, here is a delightful piece on indexing from Intelligent Life.

And for fans of obscure works, any thoughts on what sort of work would have the following entries:

Ayn Rand School for Tots, 85, 111

B

Bacon, Francis, 291

Baldwin, Alec, 29

‘Barney Gumble’

alcoholic, 47, 129

Which website has the following completely unhelpful FAQs:

Q: What does an indexer normally charge?

A: It depends

To all our readers, a blithe Yule and a Guid Hogmanay. . . . [more]

Via Seesmic:

[flash http://seesmic.com/Standalone.swf?video=dcaXsw4eqY] . . . [more]

Today or tomorrow, depending on your time zone, the sun will be at its furthest point from you and winter will officially begin. If that seems anticlimactic to you, given how autumn has been behaving, think of this vital fact: from here on in the days get longer. Yes, light fans, there’s going to be more of the good stuff. So at 10.08 p.m. tonight in Vic and Van, at 11.08 in Ed and Gary, at 12:08 a.m. tomorrow in Peg… and so on and so forth, give a cheer, however faint, as Sol begins his approach.

Now, knowing you . . . [more]

…or even earlier, and Canada’s still under British rule somehow.

I use Google Calendar, and when I’m logged in I see a menu of other Google goodies at the top left of the window, thus:

Google Maps is not in the Calendar menu, and so I have to go to the “more” link to find it. Imagine my surprise when that “more” link flings me into the arms of Google UK’s version of the goodies page, whence the maps, of course, start with the British Isles.

Thinking I’d logged on wrongly somehow, I backed out of Google Calendar and logged . . . [more]

Sad news from the Supreme Court today of the death of Gerald Eric Le Dain, law teacher and judge. He was educated at McGill University and the University of Lyon, where he became a Docteur de l’Université in 1950. He practised law with Walker, Martineau, Chauvin, Walker & Allison in Montreal, and taught at McGill University, before becoming dean of Osgoode Hall Law School in 1967.

On a personal note Gerry gave both of the Slaw Simons their first academic jobs.

For Canadians of a certain age, his name will be associated with the Commission of Inquiry into the . . . [more]

The Lawyers Weekly December 21st article “Should legal blogs be seen as scholarship?” does just what its title says: It briefly explores the key differences and similarities between legal blogs and journal articles, and whether blogs have the same authority/credibility as journal articles inside or outside a court of law. . . . [more]