Academic

For All Those Commuters Out There

Posted on September 14, 2009
67.9 MPG. Top that.

Apparently things aren?t *too* bad at some state universities

Posted on September 10, 2009
In the midst of furloughs and massive cut backs at many state schools, the University of Alabama’s announcement of Nick Saban’s 42.35 million dollar coaching contract is almost humorous … almost. The Faculty Lounge details the announcement here...

Most Interesting APSA Rumor Heard

Posted on September 08, 2009
So, I’ll start: I heard that UIUC is considering a plan requiring faculty account for every 15 minute increment in their day. What did you hear? [Rumors heard, not started.]

Guest blogging at The Faculty Lounge

Posted on September 06, 2009
Check out my posts there! The Faculty Lounge Jeff

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Holding narratives accountable

Posted on September 01, 2009
Professor Linda Edwards (UNLV Law) has recently posted “Once Upon a Time in Law: Myth, Metaphor, and Authority” on SSRN. In the paper, she evaluates the use of narratives in legal authority and suggests that narratives are pervasive in the law and that we should learn to recognize their presence and hold them accountable by [...

Study for the bar ? on your IPhone

Posted on August 26, 2009
WSJ Law Blog details perhaps the ultimate “there’s an app for that”. Of course, not to be outdone, “Law in a Flash” already helps you through law school with their apps.

Decriminalization in Mexico

Posted on August 24, 2009
Apparently Mexico is experimenting with drug decriminalization and a number of popular drugs are legal to possess – as depicted in the above photo (showing roughly the amount you can legally possess). More here.

Law and Zaring on citing legislative history

Posted on August 20, 2009
David Law (Washington University Law School) and David Zaring (University of Pennsylvania Legal Studies Department) have recently posted “Why Supreme Court Justices Cite Legislative History: An Empirical Investigation” on SSRN. Law presented this paper on our panel at the Western Political Science Association Conference  in Vancouver and it sounds like a very interesting project...

Caffeine vs. Calories

Posted on August 19, 2009
From Information is Beautiful:

Nine habits to stop now

Posted on August 16, 2009
Tim “Four Hour Work Week” Ferris has a classic post on some bad habits that you need to stop. Below the fold I’ve listed the first four. You’ll have to check out the link to get the rest (and his explanations). Of course, I don’t follow these rules nearly as well as I should...

A ?grass? roots movement for marijuana legalization?

Posted on August 11, 2009
David Simon comments on the growing movement on Prawfs Blawg. Perhaps most interesting is his observation that since the medical marijuana laws require ailments for which almost everyone over 45 qualifies, marijuana could soon become an old person’s drug...

A Conditional Theory of Judicial Accountability

Posted on August 11, 2009
Critics of judicial elections have traditionally argued that such elections are insipid events marked by low levels of participation and low levels of information.  Under such conditions, it is difficult to imagine elections that achieve their stated goal of promoting accountability to the citizenry...

Ranking Colleges by Alumni Salaries

Posted on August 10, 2009
Rankings are often interesting and sometimes useful.  The folks at Payscale.com have recently posted their 2009 survey of top U.S. colleges based on either median starting salaries of new graduates or median salaries of graduates who are now mid-career...

iPhone Apps for Lawyers

Posted on August 06, 2009
From TUAW. It’s official. The iPhone has come into its own in the legal world. It took a little time, and lawyers are notorious Luddites (you can pry the WordPerfect out of their cold, dead hands) but they do like Bright Shiny Objects, and nothing fills the lapel pocket like an iPhone...

Statisticians are Cool

Posted on August 06, 2009
Says the Times. ?I keep saying that the sexy job in the next 10 years will be statisticians,? said Hal Varian, chief economist at Google. ?And I?m not kidding.?

Scarcity and the Value of Journal Publications

Posted on August 03, 2009
A couple of recent events has caused me to think about the issue of the scarcity of journal space.  Recently, the Law and Courts Section of APSA formed a committee (and surveyed its membership) about the need for a section journal.  One of the strongest arguments put forth in support of a section journal is [...

On the Fallacy of Judges as Umpires

Posted on August 02, 2009
Much has been made of the whole “judges as umpires” business, popularized by John Roberts.  Indeed, Dahlia Lithwick has a column in Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/208123) arguing that Sotomayor’s testimony over the past weeks will make it harder for Obama (or any other president) to appoint a justice who does not subscribe to this mechanical jurisprudence...

Go Madmen yourself :-)

Posted on July 30, 2009
Not a lot of people know that I actually got my start in the advertisement business back in the early 1960s … when I smoked … and was more fit …. and was much cooler and better looking than I am now. (By the way, that’s me with the cigarette and coffee)...

Tell me something I don?t already know ? taking meetings

Posted on July 29, 2009
This post on Conglomerate does a much better job of explaining why meetings are great for some people and horrible for others than I have done in my occasional treatments of the topic in casual conversation. I might add that for some people meetings are downright enjoyable – they have a captive audience, they (falsely) [...

IBM to Buy SPSS: Why Political Scientists Should Write Code

Posted on July 28, 2009
IBM to buy SPSS for $1.2 billion in cash International Business Machines Corp plans to buy technology services company SPSS Inc for about $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday. SPSS shareholders will receive $50 a share, a 42 percent premium to Monday’s closing price of $35...

What to do when your undergraduate degree has been revoked

Posted on July 26, 2009
Everyone’s favorite host on The Soup, Joel McHale, has a new pilot on NBC, “The Community.” In the show, he plays Jeff, a smooth talking lawyer who is forced to go back to college (actually community college) when his undergraduate degree is revoked...

Taughannock Falls hiking

Posted on July 26, 2009
I did some hiking (glorified walking) at Taughannock Falls yesterday. It’s about 10 miles outside of Ithaca, NY. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to do the loop around the falls. Here are some pictures.

Lesser Known Texas Musicians

Posted on July 24, 2009
As we head into the weekend, I thought I would share a post discussing one of my favorite passions: music. The State of Texas has produced a wide range of high-profile musicians: Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, Lyle Lovett, Roy Orbison, Townes Van Zandt, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, to name but a few...

Assaying the ?top 8 reasons not to go to law school?

Posted on July 23, 2009
The H. Luiz blog presents it’s “Top 8 Reasons to Not Go To Law School.” Elaborations are provided, but I’ll set them forth in abbreviated fashion below. While this post has been forwarded by a lot of legal blogs, my hat tip goes to Adjunct Law Prof Blog, since that’s where I saw it first...

America?s most trusted newscaster?

Posted on July 22, 2009
Personally, I was pulling for Ted Baxter, but: hat tip Buzzfeed. Don’t get too happy Stewart, I don’t think Fox News was considered in this Time Magazine online poll.

Law school innovations

Posted on July 22, 2009
The WSJ blog posts on recent innovations at the new UC Irvine School of Law. It cites an ABA Journal Article as noting the following proposed innovations: According to the article: The school will include an interdisciplinary curriculum and a mandatory semester in one of the planned eight law clinics...

More on Selection Bias

Posted on July 21, 2009
In my last blog, I noted the problem of selection bias in studying appellate court decisions and also pointed out that Harold Spaeth is coding a sample of denied certiorari petitions that will help us assess the degree to which this problem exists at the SCOTUS...

Things to Read

Posted on July 21, 2009
So, while I was away last week in beautiful Bermuda, I had some time to catch up on some leisure reading.  My two major non-academic hobbies are baseball and our Brussels Griffon, Boss.  Those of you who have similar interests would enjoy reading: The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci...

Ten people who almost became president

Posted on July 19, 2009
This is a very interesting piece on some close, but no cigar stories on the presidency. Here’s a taste: Marshall was Vice President under Woodrow Wilson, and he probably had a legitimate reason to become president. In 1919 Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke which left him unable to carry out his duties as president...

Getting bang for your (academic degree) buck

Posted on July 19, 2009
In which states is it most useful to get a college degree? Paul Caron blogs on the relative productivity of state  higher education programs here. But below is the handy dandy chart:

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