Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

I Should Have Known

Posted on March 8, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

David Bernstein writes in Friends in High Places that

“A well known tactic in getting a good placement for a law review article is for the author to thank in the first footnote important friends and colleagues who read and commented on the piece.” The message to student editors is, “you may know who I am, or anything about the subject matter, but this article must be important or these important people would not have bothered to read it.”

I'm such a dope that this never even ocurred to me. Perhaps because when I was a student law review editor I couldn't have cared less who was in the starred footnote.

Oh. Wait.

Perhaps Heidi Bond has better advice.

Posted in Law School | 1 Comment

‘It Can’t Happen Here’ Is Online

Posted on March 7, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Sinclair Lewis's under-appreciated novel, It Can't Happen Here is online at Project Gutenberg! Slightly dated though it may be, I think it has something to say to us in an all-too-believable way about creeping home-grown fascism.

One day reading Godwin's Law, by Interent lawyer and provacteur Mike Godwin, and I've already learned something.

Posted in Readings | 2 Comments

Sorry to Ruin the Joke, But…

Posted on March 7, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

A chain of links led me to this funny site called Dumb Laws, where I found a number of really silly-sounding rules including the claim that in Florida,

If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.

Well, I'm as willing to believe in the idiocy of the Florida Legislature as the next guy, but it made me a little suspicious that there was no citation to the source of this rule. Party-pooper that I am, I popped over to the Florida Statutes Annotated on Westlaw and searched for the words “elephant” and “elephants”. Not found.

Could it be the the “dumb” here is believing these are actual dumb laws?

(Hope these guys have done their research…)

Posted in Florida | 3 Comments

Visual Travel Records (2)

Posted on March 6, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

And also via Ed Bott, here's the world version via the visited countries project:


So much left to see…

PS. Several other cool-looking projects also from Douwe Osinga.

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

Visual Travel Records

Posted on March 6, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Thanks to a trackback from Ed Bott, here is a visual presentation of the same data as in the last post:

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on Visual Travel Records

Have I Really Never Been to Ohio?

Posted on March 6, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

As far as I can recall, I've never been to Ohio. Somehow, that seems like a strange gap.

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now…

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

Of the places I've lived in the USA, my favorites are easily Chicago and Washington, D.C., although I also had a very good time in Boulder, and New Haven wasn't that bad either. And if the circumstances were different I suspect I'd like Northern California a lot better next time. I have somewhat mixed feelings about South Florida: there's lots to like, not least the intellectual strength of the Miami faculty, but there's stuff not to like too. For one thing, it's a long plane ride from all the other places I like.

Posted in Personal | 5 Comments