Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

UM Global Governance Symposium

Posted on March 2, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Here's an interesting conference that I will be attending right here at UM: The Global Governance Symposium coming up this Friday. Full details below — come join us! If you can't make it in person, there's a high likelihood that it will be webcast; I'll post the details if and when they become available.

Continue reading →

Posted in Talks & Conferences | Comments Off on UM Global Governance Symposium

People Who Don’t Get It

Posted on March 2, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Received from FPL_Correspondence@fpl.com:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for using www.FPL.com …

You may also be interested in FPL's other billing and payment options.
FPL E-Mail Bill allows you to receive your bills online; like getting an
e-mail from a friend.

Um, no.

Posted in Internet | 1 Comment

Wallace and Gromit Ride Again

Posted on March 2, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Wallace and Gromit have a movie coming out this fall, The Curse of the WereRabbit!

There's a trailer and also a short about the making of the movie accessible via clicking “video” at this site. The short is spoiled by some pretty dorky narration, but it will interest true fans.

Er, Helena Bonham Carter has a part? Well Gromet, that's almost as good as cheese.

Posted in Kultcha | Comments Off on Wallace and Gromit Ride Again

Smiles Have Accents

Posted on March 1, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

(via Boing-Boing) The Times (UK): The smile that says where you’re from

While we British smile by pulling our lips back and upwards and exposing our lower teeth, Americans are more likely simply to part their lips and stretch the corners of their mouths.

So distinct is the difference that the scientist behind the research was able last week to pick out Britons from Americans from close-cropped pictures of their smiles alone, with an accuracy of more than 90%.

The study by Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California in Berkeley, near San Francisco, analysed the 43 facial muscles used by humans to charm, smirk and appease.

He found the British were also more likely to raise their cheeks when they smile, showing the crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes. This produces a more sincere, hard-to-fake smile.

But what happens when Irish eyes are smiling?

Posted in UK | 1 Comment

It’s Rumsfeld

Posted on March 1, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Updating ACLU & Human Rights First to File Torture Allegations Against 'High Ranking US Official' below: Reuters reports that the “high-ranking US official” being sued is indeed Rumsfeld.

Posted in Torture | Comments Off on It’s Rumsfeld

ACLU & Human Rights First to File Torture Allegations Against ‘High Ranking US Official’

Posted on March 1, 2005 by Michael Froomkin

Two human rights groups plan to file a lawsuit charging a high-ranking U.S. official with violation of the U.S. Constitution and international laws prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

According to their press release,

At a 10:30 a.m. news conference [in Washington later today], the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights), joined by former military and government officials, will announce a lawsuit against a high-ranking U.S. government official on behalf of eight men who were tortured and abused by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lawsuit will charge that officials at the highest level bear ultimate responsibility for the physical and psychological injuries these men suffered. The men represented in the lawsuit were incarcerated in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, where they were subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, including severe and repeated beatings, cutting with knives, sexual humiliation and assault, mock executions, death threats, and restraint in contorted and excruciating positions. None of the men were ever charged with a crime.

Who is the official? I have no idea, although Rumsfeld would be my first guess, followed by Gonzales, followed by whoever Rumsfeld put in charge of the information extraction program (would that be Feith?)

The case could have everything – fights over discovery of classified information, claims of multifarious sorts of immunity, and (from the sound of it) maybe even debates over the scope of the alien tort statute. Oh, and the smell of justice. Don't forget the smell of justice. Even if the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow.

Posted in Torture | Comments Off on ACLU & Human Rights First to File Torture Allegations Against ‘High Ranking US Official’