Of course, nothing in the title of this post makes any sense – unless you’re trying to get readers to email your post to their friends — or so you might think. However, the New York Times reports on a recent study which suggests that internet readers may have more refined tendencies when it comes to what they email to their friends and colleagues: Keep reading →
What lessons Lady Ga Ga and Britney Spears can teach you to improve your troubled marriage on Valentine’s Day and why Barack Obama and Sara Palin are both to blame
February 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff · Pop Culture
Video upload from my mobile phone – ice creek
February 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Just humor me – I’m working on a way to upload video from my mobile phone – enjoy the winter scene.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
Sneaking in professional responsibility in my Contracts course
February 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Last week, for the first time since I became a lawyer, I filed an ethics complaint against another lawyer. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done (and I’ve done some doozies). Afterwards, I talked about the process and the reasons why I filed the complaint to my first-year students.
It was interesting to see their reactions. We spoke about the need to return clients’ phone calls promptly, and we spoke about why, when a lawyer says she’s going to do X if Y doesn’t happen, she has to follow through on that promise.
I spend a lot of time talking about the practice of law with my students (and not just in my PR course). I don’t want them to get the idea that PR is something that one takes in law school and only thinks about during the course, and I want them to think about the challenges that they’ll face as lawyers.
Will the state bar do anything about the complaint that I filed? I don’t know. But watching the process from this close up will be an education for me.
(Posted by Nancy Rapoport)
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Law · Methods · Nancy Rapoport
There’s an App for that: Introducing Siri
February 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Siri is the new virtual electronic personal assistant. Many have tried before to create such an animal, but this one actually seems to push us closer to having something useful. Check out more on Siri (free, by the way) on Fast Company, or just check out the video below. [hat tip to Rachel Miller].
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Introducing guest blogger Nancy Rapoport
February 6, 2010 · 1 Comment
Nancy Rapoport
Please join us in welcoming guest blogger Nancy Rapoport to the Voir Dire Blog. She is the Gordon Silver Professor of Law at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law and was formerly professor and dean of the University of Houston Law Center and the University of Nebraska College of Law. She has authored entirely too many articles and books to list here, but you can see them by checking out her UNLV web page. She is also an avid internet writer, posting on a variety of blogs, including her own. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that she is the only guest blogger we’ve had on Voir Dire to have credits on the Internet Movie Data Base (for her work on “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”). Finally, it is reported that she is an excellent ballroom dancer. We look forward to reading her posts 
→ 1 CommentCategories: Jeff
DIY Tax Auditing Prediction
February 3, 2010 · Leave a Comment
In 2006, they published a page on the IRS.gov website that details exactly how they determined which tax returns to audit. It comes down to these four main ways (for individuals):
- Computer Scoring – I listed this one first because it’s the most interesting of the four reasons. Tax returns are “scored” using two systems – Discriminant Function System (DIF) and Unreported Income DIF (UIDIF). The Discriminant Information Function System (DIF) score gives the IRS an indication of the potential for change in tax due, based on past IRS experience. The Unreported Income DIF (UIDIF), as you can imagine, scores the return on the potential for unreported income. The higher the score, for either, the more likely the return will be reviewed.
- Information Matching – This is an obvious reason because it’s the easiest to catch. The IRS receives the same W-2s and 1099s that you do, so it’s trivial for them to compare the two totals. If they don’t match, they investigate.
- Related Examinations – Beware who your friends/business contacts are! If their returns are audited and their return includes transactions with you, your return may be audited as well.
- Potential participants in abusive tax avoidance transactions – The IRS may get information about promoters of and participants in various schemes and select a return for audit based on that information.
For those interested in a more scientific approach, see this classic in the JEL from Andreoni, et al.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Law · Policy
New Datasets at ICPSR
February 2, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Of interest to those working in our area:
24641 Annual Survey of Jails: Individual Reporting-Level Data, 2007
26382 National Crime Victimization Survey, 2008 [Record-Type Files]
26521 National Corrections Reporting Program, 2004 [United States]
26601 Impact Evaluation of Youth Crime Watch Programs in Three Florida School Districts, 1997-2007
26602 Census of Jail Facilities, 2006
27002 Firearm Injury Surveillance Study, 1993-2007 [United States]
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Data
Cool graphic on the State of the Union Address
February 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment
State of the Union Message Wordle
Courtesy of the LA Times. [Hat tip to Enik Rising]
“You see, it’s about the PEOPLE and the AMERICANS …” Perhaps I should start issuing a wordle from my lectures – but I’d be afraid that the big words would be “um” and “well”
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff · Presidency
Scholarly productivity study – the other schools
February 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment
While most studies on scholarly productivity of law schools focus on the top 20 or so, a new one examines schools outside of the top 50. Here’s the top 10 of the “out of the top 50″ group, (based on articles in top journals, 1993-2009):
1. University of San Diego
2. Florida State University
3. University of Richmond
4. University of Missouri-Columbia
5. Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago-Kent)
6. University of Nevada-Las Vegas (tied)
6. Case Western Reserve University (tied)
8. University of Cincinnati
9. Brooklyn Law School
10. Pepperdine University
See the rest here. hat tip – Leiter Law School Reports
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff · Law
Check out our Social Vibe Widget
January 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment
On the right — you can do some simple (and free) online activities to help the cause — it just takes a few minutes.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Postdoc at WUSTL Law
January 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Andy · Law
Which cities have the most depressing local news?
January 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Asylum.com has a pretty interesting listing here. The ‘misery index’ is all about category of story:
The substance of the local evening news from the first full week of the New Year (Jan. 4-8, 2010) boiled down to the 10 categories of stories from accidents to crime to weather. Based on those categories, we created a “Misery Index,” which accounted for how depressing each category is, and the percentage of time each broadcast devoted to each category.
For example, here is how New York City (#8, tied with Washington, DC) breaks down:
The rankings after the jump:
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
Next Generation Workshop focusing on Environmental, Social and Governance
January 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment
All expenses paid for selected grad students!
Keep reading →
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Conferences · Law
CQ custom publishing
January 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Bring the entire CQ Press collection to your computer. Browse, search, and read title after title, whenever you want. Be green. Be smart. Be efficient. And be kind to your students’ wallets.
- e-Comp—why wait to get an examination copy? Get online and you’re a click away from an entire bookshelf of CQ Press books.
- e-Book—offer your students the inexpensive option of an online subscription to a CQ Press college text. They can take notes, highlight, bookmark, and print out.
- e-Custom—build your ideal book. Choose just the chapters you want and forego those you don’t want to assign. You can mix and match across our publications, as well as add your own content.
Choose your preferred format: print or online. Custom publications can be printed in just two weeks once an order has been placed; online books are available immediately.
Anyone planning on using it? Think it will catch on?
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Andy
Latest data on capital punishment
January 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment
• In 2008, 37 inmates were executed: 18 in Texas; 4 in Virginia; 3 each in Georgia and South Carolina; 2 each in Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oklahoma; and 1 in Kentucky.
• 36 executions were by lethal injection; 1 by electrocution.
• Of persons executed in 2008, 20 were white and 17 were black. All 37 inmates executed were men.
• Thirty-seven states and the federal government had capital statutes at yearend 2008.
• As of November 30, 2009, 48 executions had been carried out, 12 more than the number executed as of the same date in 2008.
• Between 1977 and 2008, 7,658 people have been under sentence of death. Of these, 15% were executed, 5% died from causes other than execution, and 38% received other dispositions.
• A total of 111 inmates were received under sentence of death during 2008, representing the smallest number of admissions since 1973.
• A total of 119 inmates were removed from under sentence of death—37 were executed and 82 were removed by other methods, including sentences or convictions overturned, commutations of sentence, and deaths by means other than execution.
And lest we forget how important capital punishment studies have been in advancing political science, an oldie-but-goodie from Bob Erickson
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Courts · Data · Law
Crime Against People with Disabilities
January 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Findings in this report are the first estimates of crime against people with disabilities measured by the NCVS, administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The NCVS adopted questions from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) to identify respondents who had a disability. Disability is defined as a long-lasting (six months or more) sensory, physical, mental, or emo- tional condition that makes it difficult for a person to per- form daily living activities. The NCVS questions identified six types of disabilities: sensory, physical, cognitive func- tioning, self-care, go-outside-the-home, and employment.
And they find:
Persons age 12 or older with disabilities experienced approximately 716,000 nonfatal violent crimes and 2.3 mil- lion property crimes in 2007 as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Nonfatal violent crimes include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Property crimes include household burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft.*
About one third (34%) of the crimes against persons with or without a disability in 2007 were serious violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated assault). Per- sons with disabilities were victims of about 47,000 rapes, 79,000 robberies, 114,000 aggravated assaults, and 476,000 simple assaults.
Here’s a lit review on crime against people with disabilities, albeit with a Canadian angle.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Data · Law
A goodbye to Conan O’Brien
January 23, 2010 · 2 Comments
We will miss your late night antics Coco
Whatever one might think of the whole situation, I felt that this was a nice farewell speech.
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Jeff
Law students as entrepreneurs?
January 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment
See my post on this idea and legal education on prawfs.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff · Law
Air America, RIP
January 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Air America files for Chapter 7.
What’s the outcome? I doubt much of an impact. The footprint was too small (unless counting satellite radio), and the listener base too mobile to worry about that media source. Of course, this all part of larger and broader themes in communications, including delveraging among larger media shops and continued failures of papers. The papers get the coverage, while the smallish radio stations fly under the radar.
Who’s next?
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · politics
What are corporations anyway?
January 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
In light of the US Supreme Court’s recent pronouncement on the entity known as the corporation in Citizens United (see our prior post here), we might pause to think more about what a corporation really is – where did it come from, how does it fit into our present society, what are its characteristics, and how is it different from a natural person? A 2003 documentary, “The Corporation” may provide some insight. I recently watched it and found it very intriguing, although it certainly has a very specific view on the topic. Here’s the trailer:
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Courts · Jeff · Law
Surf’s up! SCOTUS overturns campaign spending limits
January 21, 2010 · 1 Comment
The 5-to-4 decision was a doctrinal earthquake but also a political and practical one. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision, which also applies to labor unions and other organizations, to reshape the way elections are conducted.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Andy · Courts · politics
Conference on Path Dependency
January 21, 2010 · Leave a Comment
From Polmeth:
That path dependence is a key feature of complex human systems is now well-recognized by students of politics and other social sciences. How best to model path dependence both mathematically and statistically is a matter of debate. This small, select conference will bring together scholars and graduate students who are producing models of path dependence and/or attempting to fit these models to data. The objective is to stimulate conversations, future exchanges and eventually new work on this topic.
The conference is sponsored by the National Science Foundation under the auspices of the Political Methodological Society. Additional support will be provided by the Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan and the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. The dates of the conference are tentatively set for June 4 and 5, 2010. Papers will be presented and discussed on Friday afternoon the 4th and most of Saturday the 5th. There will be a dinner for conference participants on Friday evening. All coach travel and local expenses will be reimbursed. If accepted, all participants must submit a short, at least 4 to 5 pages, think piece on the topic for circulation to the participants at least 1 week prior to the conference. Advanced graduate students are encouraged to apply.
Interested scholars should send a one paragraph proposal to John Freeman (freeman@umn.edu) and John Jackson (jjacksn@umich.edu) by Feb. 20, 2010. Invitations will be issued by March 15, 2010. Questions about logistics should be sent to Freeman.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Andy · Conferences
Obama’s appointments – not fast
January 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Well, at least not as fast as the Bush Administration.
The Bush team, after a transition shortened by hanging chads and such, managed to fill 348 of 508 positions (just under 69 percent) that were tracked by the Brookings Presidential Appointee initiative. Seventy-two more people had been nominated for such jobs — which did not include ambassadors, U.S. marshals, judges or federal prosecutors — for a grand total of 420 folks.
The Obama team ended the year with 305 of 515 similar appointees confirmed (just under 60 percent), with an additional 91 nominated but not confirmed by the Senate, according to The Washington Post’s interactive Head Count feature online.
More interesting:
More than half of Obama’s picks (56 percent) are inside-the-Beltway types. The second-largest groups come from California and New York (each with 7 percent), while Obama’s home state of Illinois ties Massachusetts for fourth with 3 percent.
The Obama appointees generally have substantial government experience, with about two-thirds having most recently worked in the federal government, academia or think tanks (among which the Brookings Institution leads with seven appointees), the House or Senate (evenly split between the two), and state governments. The other third came from the private sector, including 34 from law firms.
You’d think that an incoming administration would know how important it is to hit the ground running. We’ve only been talking about it for years.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Presidency
Bar Prep on the iPhone
January 20, 2010 · Leave a Comment
TUAW complains is excited about the new $999.99 BarMax CA app for the iPhone, which is
designed to help would-be lawyers pass their bar exams. Comparable services cost up to three or four times the price of this one, so if you have an iPhone and are planning to take the bar, this could actually be a “bar”gain (sorry, please don’t sue us). The app is over a gig in size and brags about squeezing 50 lbs of books into the palm of your hand — there are test questions, reference guides, audio lectures, and practice cards all included in the app’s purchase.
Next up? The American politics comps app.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Andy · Law
How to spend a sabbatical [and a new blog comments policy]
January 20, 2010 · 2 Comments
[First, an announcement - we are experimenting with a new comments policy whereby you no longer have to register with wordpress to leave a comment - only a valid email. We'll see how this works - hopefully it will facilitate a more interactive experience here on Voir Dire]
On Prawfs, fellow guest blogger Lyrissa Lidsky asks an excellent question – what is the best way to spend a sabbatical? Obviously, the wise-guy answer is ‘on the beach with a martini,’ or something like that, but – contrary to what some may think – it is my belief that most (emphasis on *most*) academics earnestly want to make the time worthwhile from a work-product perspective. In many political science departments there is an expectation of grant writing during sabbaticals, but the expectation is usually fairly vague and some departments may not even have this expectation.
Here’s my comment on the Prawfs post – and then some questions for our readers:
I’m not an authority on this matter since somehow in doing this academic thing since 1997 I haven’t yet had a sabbatical (long story), but I’ll offer up something along the lines of what Rick Bales said – you might want to consider this time for learning and developing new skill sets. I have no idea what those skill sets might be for any given individual, but it (a sabbatical) can be a good time for making an effort to push your comfort zone and think outside of the box. This might entail learning a new language or studying your doctrinal field from a comparative perspective, or it might be learning computer applications that would aid your practice area – I don’t know – but I think that something like this may have more long term benefits than writing another article or two.
So readers, what are the expectations or guidelines for sabbatical leave in your academic institution? Are there specific policies? How do you plan to spend (or have already spent) your sabbatical?
→ 2 CommentsCategories: Academia · Jeff
college sports subsidization
January 14, 2010 · Leave a Comment
We’ve touched on this topic before, but USA Today has a really interesting story on it, so we’re talking about it more – see my post on prawfsblawg here.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized
Position announcement – Georgia State University
January 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment
(from Law & Courts listserv)
The political science department at Georgia State University is currently searching for a Lecturer. Our Lecturer positions are structured differently than is typical at most universities. Essentially, they are tenure track in everything but name. Lecturers are members of the department in full standing. They have the same claim to seniority, office space, votes on departmental issues, and most other things as tenure track faculty members (although there are a few administrative privileges/responsibilities which apply to tenure track faculty but not Lecturers.) The position is, with rare exception, automatically renewed for five years. After five years Lecturers can go up for promotion to Senior Lecturer, which is roughly equivalent in rank to Associate Professor. The primary differences between a Lecturer and a tenure track faculty member are that (1) Lecturers teach a 3-3 load, rather than 2-2, and (2) there are no research expectations of a
Lecturer. Our department currently employs one Senior Lecturer and three Lecturers.
We have received only a very small number of applications for this position as of now. The position will remain open until it is filled, but the review of applications will begin on January 22nd. Thus, anyone wishing to be considered for this job (which is a pretty good one in this job market) should send in their materials ASAP.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff
Quentin Tarantino seems to like mentioning east Tennessee in his movies
January 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment
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We get used in a BBC article
January 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Here.
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Our new disclosures page
January 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Find it above or link here.
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Robert’s Rules of Order and faculty meetings
January 6, 2010 · Leave a Comment
As featured in my latest post on Prawfs.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff
Cultural cognition and judicial decision making
January 5, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Paul Secunda (Marquette Law School) has recently posted his paper “Cultural Cognition at Work” on the Social Science Research Network. It looks to be an interesting read – here’s the abstract:
Cultural cognition theory provides an anthropological and psychological-based theory about how values actually influence judges. It suggests that values act as a subconscious influence on cognition rather than as a self-conscious motive of decision-making.
Applying these insights to two controversial U.S Supreme Court labor and employment decisions, this article contends that Justices in many instances are not fighting over ideology, but rather over legally-consequential facts. This type of disagreement is particularly prevalent in labor and employment law cases where the factual issues that divide judges involve significant uncertainty and turn on inconclusive evidence.
The distinction that this article draws between ideology and cultural cognition is critical for two independent reasons. First, the identification of cultural worldviews as a major influence on judicial decisionmaking assists in bringing legitimacy back to the judging function. Second, social science research indicates that existing techniques might be available for judges to counteract their susceptibility to this form of biased decisionmaking.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Courts · Jeff · Law
Guest blogging at Prawfs.com
January 2, 2010 · Leave a Comment
For the month of January I will be guest blogging at Prawfsblawg. You can check out my first post (on data collection and intellectual property) here.
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Merry Christmas!
December 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Andy · Pop Culture
How the public views Congress
December 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The public’s view of Congress has slipped since 2002, at least with regard to perceptions of honesty and ethical standards. Here’s the trend:
Gallup Poll
Here’s what recent views look like by party – apparently increased bad feelings cross party lines:
Changes in past year
How do other occupations fare? Check it out below the fold. [hat tip Bioethics Blog]
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff · politics
No more MS Word?
December 22, 2009 · 1 Comment
Maybe, at least for a while – apparently they did a no-no. See the story here and an excerpt below:
But it’s no joke. In August of this year, a court sided with a small Canadian company called i4i that holds a 1998 patent on the way the XML language is implemented, finding that Microsoft was in violation of that patent. The result: Microsoft was told to license the code in question from i4i or reprogram it, or else Microsoft Word would have to be removed from sale in the market. The original ruling gave Microsoft until October to get its legal affairs in order, but appeals pushed that out a bit.
Now a federal court has upheld that original ruling — plus a fat, $290 million judgment against the company — imposing the new January 11 D-Day on the matter. Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office will both be barred from sale as of that date — though naturally you’ll still be able to use copies of Word and Office that you already own, and Microsoft will be allowed to keep supporting those copies.
→ 1 CommentCategories: Jeff · Other
Do political independents matter in elections?
December 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Independents important?
Or, perhaps we should ask – how much do they count? On the Monkey Cage Blog, John Sides takes on three claims regarding political independents:
1) Independents are the largest partisan group.
2) Independents are actually independent.
3) Change in the opinions of independents is always consequential.
Or is their relative importance a myth?
He argues that none of these claims accurately depict political independents in the election game and that independents are neither very independent thinking nor very consequential as a group. This view runs counter to popular media accounts of the importance of independent voters in many political elections. Opposing views to Sides’s arguments can be found here and here.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff · Presidency · politics
The new and improved “Four Hour Workweek”
December 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Tim Ferris is launching the new expanded and updated version of his hit book “The Four Hour Workweek”. Check out his book launch adventure on his post here.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
All new for the holidays! It’s Tenure-Matic
December 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
It's as simple as that!
Ok, it’s actually called Tenurometer, but I think that Tenure-Matic rolls off the tongue a little better. Finally, an end to those long meetings and endless files – just plug the relevant information into Tenurometer and you have your decision
It’s just a matter of time until Ron Popeil comes out with a better version that also slices, dices, and juliennes!
Another great holiday gift idea here (Ron would be so proud of this plug).
[hat tip to Tax Prof Blog]
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff
The Year in Ideas
December 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment
From "Predictive Smiles"
This week’s NYT Magazine has its annual “Year in Ideas” which is, as usual, very interesting. Particularly read-worthy topics this year include (among others):
Cognitive illiberalism on the Supreme Court
The Myth of the Deficient Older Employee
Social Networks as Foreign Policy
and last, but not least – Zombie Attack Science
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
Some exam advice for law students …
December 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment
… can be found in this post on the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Here are some choice excerpts:
Rogan Nunn, 3L at UVA and an editor on the Virginia Law Review: By far the most useful thing I did when preparing for 1L exams was to round up a few people from the class and take old exams. Don’t just go through them, take them — pretend it’s the real thing, time limits and all. Then discuss answers. You’d be amazed how much you miss the first time. It can be time-consuming, but all the outlining in the world won’t save you if you can’t spot the issues on the fly.
Anonymous 3L at Berkeley, editor on the California Law Review: Perhaps the most important (and most difficult) advice is that you need to move on when the exam is over, either to prepping for your next exam, having a beer, or just generally getting on with your life. You might feel tempted to talk to your classmates about the exam, perhaps because you have nothing else to talk about (as your life of late was probably consumed with studying). Avoid this at all costs; at best you get affirmation in your answers (which could still be wrong), but at worst your start worrying that you missed something, which at this point is totally out of your control. . . . From my own experience and my friends, taking a law school exam can be defeating and leave students with the feeling that their days of studying were not properly translated to the answer they cranked out in three hours. Try your best not to dwell on those feelings.
The first piece of advice above is crucial – especially the part about making this a group endeavor and going over the exam answers as a team. I would add that you might want to do some multiple choice or short answer exam taking after every major section of a class. (Of course, please keep in mind that I’m stressing a ‘do as I say, not as I did’ approach). The second piece of advice is also important since failing to follow this advice can kill a whole day of productivity during a crucial time. I might add that it’s also important to have this attitude after all exams are done. There’s no point in beating yourself up about things or crying over spilt milk.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff · Law
Of moneyball, rankings, and productivity
December 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Tax Prof Blogger Paul Caron posts on an offshoot of moneyball with an analogy to volleyball – asking what measures we might consider in the way of non-traditional sabermetric statistics for academic productivity. While this is interesting, I’m not sure if we’ve even gotten people on board with the value of traditional sabermetric stats for academic productivity yet. His post does provide a nice summary and listing of prior blogging on moneyball relative to academia. In a related note of shameless promotion, I provide Binghamton Political Science Department’s rankings for moneyball productivity in political science published in the Hix 2004 study of international political science productivity in Political Studies Review (study focuses on 1998 to 2002):
Number of articles relative to faculty size: #8 (between Columbia and Geneva)
Scholarly impact (citations) relative to faculty size: #10 (between Ohio State University and Cardiff)
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff · Law · politics
A good criminal law exam question?
December 3, 2009 · 1 Comment
The Quest Team
The Neuroethics & Law Blog posts on a recently published article by Guglielmo Tamburrini titled “Brain to Computer Communication: Ethical Perspectives on Interaction Models”. The abstract is pasted below the fold, but it brings to mind and interesting question – at least to me – in criminal law. Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) allow one to control robotic devices via brain activity alone – there is no physical action, at least as far as it is traditionally considered. If a crime (say, battery) is committed via BCIs, then the mens rea (guilty mind or intent) is pretty clear, but is there actus reus (guilty act)? At first blush it strikes me that actus reus is fulfilled in this situation, but I don’t have a formal definition of the term in front of me at the moment. Would the brain activity which “trips” the BCI to take action be enough? This all reminds me of a “Jonny Quest” show bad guy named Jeremiah Surd – he had no physical motor functions but wreaked a lot of havoc with his mind and robots. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a good Surd pic).
Update: I’m liking this format – I provide a silly picture and a vague legal question and blog commenters provide thoughtful and detailed answers. Am I unreasonable in hoping that this is a sustainable model of blogging? ;-)
→ 1 CommentCategories: Academia · Jeff · Law · Pop Culture
Greyhounds in need
December 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Greyhound racing is ending in Wisconsin and there are a lot of wonderful dogs who need to be placed. You can check out this situation at Greyhound Pets of America – Wisconsin to see if you’d like to adopt one of these fantastic dogs or make a contribution to their care.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
How to know when you’re doing it wrong …
November 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Tim “Four Hour Workweek” Ferris has a great post on this here. The short answer? If you’re pleasing most of the people most of the time, then you’re probably doing it wrong. A great line from the post – “Let the critics criticize. It’s the builders who count.”
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff
A Very Special Thanksgiving “Old Ads”
November 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Circa 1930s Ad for Camel Cigarettes
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Jeff · Pop Culture
Facebook Dilemma — Should we be “friends” with colleagues?
November 19, 2009 · Leave a Comment
OK, so I’m a pre-tenure professor lucky to have lots of friends and acquaintances from multiple phases of life including high school, college and grad school. I also have several academic colleagues who I consider friends – we discuss pop culture along with more serious matter at conferences. Inevitably this leads to looking for easy ways to stay in touch – I actually joined Facebook to see some conference photos a colleague posted after we were all back at our respective institutions. Every now and again I get a “friend” request from a colleague I don’t know that well – I almost always accept these. I don’t use different “groups” on Facebook. It may not be the most professional choice – but I figure if you want to be my friend — you should get to see all of it – the good and the bad, the intellectual postings and the less formal ones that lead to jabs with my oldest and dearest friends. I should also say that I have also enjoyed learning more about the colleagues who I am friends with in this manner — what they are interested in, what they are doing at any given time.
I’m sure others have more cautionary tales…. But I, for one, enjoy getting to stay in touch with colleagues in this manner in this brave new world. Other opinions?
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Academia · Other · Pop Culture
Tagged: Eileen Braman
Take on currrent enviornment for judicial nominees
November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment
From BreakingLegalnews.com:
Controversial court nominee survives Senate test
Political and Legal – POSTED: 2009/11/18 06:23
Democrats on Tuesday crushed a Senate filibuster against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can’t stop President Barack Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left.
The 70-29 vote limited debate over the qualifications of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, and assured his elevation to the Chicago-based appeals court. Sixty votes were needed to end the filibuster, but confirmation only requires a simple majority of the 100-member Senate.
Ten Republicans repudiated their own party leaders and voted to limit debate. The Obama administration made a crucial decision from the outset by getting the support of Hamilton’s home-state Republican senator, Richard Lugar.
The vote emphatically warned Republicans that with only 40 senators, they’re too outnumbered to prevent Obama from making major inroads into a judiciary that was populated over eight years with conservative judges chosen by President George W. Bush.
Republicans have objected to holding a vote on Hamilton’s confirmation since June, when the Judiciary Committee reported his nomination favorably to the full Senate.
Conservative Republican senators and their judicial-watching outside groups then launched a major political assault on Hamilton.
They criticized his rulings against Christian prayers in the Indiana legislature and against a menorah in the Indiana Municipal Building’s holiday display.
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Tagged: Eileen Braman
