Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Vladeck on Padilla

Posted on January 17, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

My youngest colleague, UM Law Prof Steve Vladeck, has another fine JURIST column, this time on the AUMF and the Ever-Increasing Importance of Padilla.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Padilla | Comments Off on Vladeck on Padilla

Taming the Blog Comment Flamers

Posted on January 17, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Today’s coincidence: I deleted a comment today (a very rare event around here) due to its knuckle-dragging racism. A few minutes later, via Captology Notebook, I ran into Have a hug. It seems that by pre-loading the phrase “Everyone needs a hug” into the comment box of a blog, the owner cut down flames “by a huge amount”.

It’s so cutesy that I can’t quite bring myself to try it. Yet.

Posted in Internet | 3 Comments

Market Manipulation in Discourse.net Shares? (Translation please)

Posted on January 17, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

It’s probably been almost two years since I last looked at discourse.net’s listing at blogshares. Shortly after registering there I decided this wasn’t a game I was going to play, and more or less forgot about it without doing any transactions.

On a whim I looked at blogshare’s discourse.net listing over the weekend, and found lots of strange stuff.

Can anyone please explain the meaning of multiple “press releases” by people I don’t know that sound like the following,

Discourse.net suffered a huge setback with several analysts urging their clients to ditch the stock as it suffered a public relations disaster. The exact nature of customer dissatisfaction was not known but sara bear was rumoured to have had a hand in it. Industry insiders suspect a Star Spangled Banner (artefact) was involved. Discourse.net share price dropped from B$56,734.68 to B$32,906.11

sara bear declined to comment on the recent speculation.

“Huge setback”? “(artefact)”? “customer dissatisfaction”? And, how did one Matt Williams come to have what seems to be a controlling interest of 71.2%? Did I sell shares without noticing?

Not that I suppose it actually matters…

Posted in Discourse.net | 1 Comment

In Britain, Birds Are Bugs

Posted on January 16, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

In the USA we worry about the NSA tapping our calls, faxes and emails. In the UK, it seems the new thing to fear is … talking parrots.

Talking parrot gives away girlfriend’s secret lover: At first, 30-year-old Mr Taylor was amused when Ziggy started screeching “Hiya, Gary” everytime it heard Miss Collins’s mobile phone ring.

He even saw the funny side when the parrot began making kissing noises when the same name was mentioned on television or radio.

But the truth finally dawned as the couple snuggled alongside one another on the sofa and Ziggy blurted out, “I love you, Gary” in her voice.

What I wonder, assuming this isn’t another one of those great British journalistic hoaxes, is how the Telegraph got the story.

Posted in UK | Comments Off on In Britain, Birds Are Bugs

Where Was This Guy Hiding During the Elections?

Posted on January 16, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

So Al Gore gave a great speech. It’s worth reading.

I sure would like to know why he didn’t do stuff like this when he was running for President.

UPDATE: The Washington Post covered the speech, which is more than most TV networks apparently did.

Posted in Politics: US | 3 Comments

MLK Wikipedia Bio Vandalized

Posted on January 16, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Via Bitch | Lab (who seems to know Brad DeLong somehow), we learn of a campaign to vandalize the Wikipedia entry for Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s biographical entry on the free online publicly-edited encyclopedia Wikipedia has been repeatedly vandalized today, an ongoing attack, forcing volunteer editors to monitor the page constantly throughout this day of remembrance.

His bio and a page tracking the history of edits and vandalism.

Bonus link to Short discussion of the problem.

Posted in Internet | Comments Off on MLK Wikipedia Bio Vandalized