Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

TEDxMIA MIA?

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

The TEDxMIA website doesn’t seem to have been updated since early 2012.

Posted in Miami | 1 Comment

No UM Food Workers’ Strike After All?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

I was working up a long post on the looming food workers strike against Chartwells, which operates the food court and dining areas at UMiami, but it looks as if there may not be one. Responding, undoubtedly, to pressure from the U, Chartwells has agreed to the workers’ demand for a card check election regarding a union.

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI STATEMENT ON UNIONIZING EFFORTS The University is aware of a possible work stoppage as part of a unionizing effort. Today, we have learned that Chartwells offered the union a card check, and the University is hopeful this will resolve the issues. The University assures the campus community that residential college dining halls and our food court operations will continue as scheduled through the remainder of the semester. The University values its faculty and staff, as well as employees of its contractors, including Chartwells.

This is very good news for the workers and for the rest of us. I would like to think that the faculty letter I and about 300 others signed, and the subsequent action by the UM Faculty Senate played at least a small role in this development.

Posted in U.Miami | 1 Comment

Couldn’t Resist

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

A request for a correction in The New York Times:

Article Headline: Rewinding History, Bush Museum Lets You Decide

Date Published: 4/21/13, Print (National Edition, p. A1)

Phrase in Question: “As president, he rarely had a chance to rest….”

Your Concern (please limit to 300 words):

In the page A10 continuation of the front-page article in today’s paper by Peter Baker, “Rewinding History, Bush Museum Lets You Decide”, Mr. Baker writes,

“As president, he [Bush] rarely had a chance to rest….”

In fact, George W. Bush spent 32 months at his ranch (490 days) or Camp David (487 days) — an average of four months away every year, according the the Washington Post’s POTUS tracker (as cited at http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/235844/deconstructing-the-5-most-ridiculous-myths-about-barack-obama).

I understand Presidents sometimes take their work with them when they travel, but I submit that there were plenty of chances to rest in those 977 days.

Posted in The Media | Comments Off on Couldn’t Resist

Sartre’s Little Helper

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

University of British Columbia researchers have found a new potential use for the over-the-counter pain drug Tylenol. Typically known to relieve physical pain, the study suggests the drug may also reduce the psychological effects of fear and anxiety over the human condition, or existential dread.

— Science News Anxious About Life and Afraid of Death? Tylenol May Do the Trick, Study Suggests

I think it would have been better poetic justice if the cure for existential angst were an anti-nausea drug.

Meanwhile, just remember: if it you take too much Acetaminophen, it will destroy your liver.

On the bright side, though, Acetaminophen is the only painkiller that doesn’t interact poorly with any of my meds….

Posted in Science/Medicine | Comments Off on Sartre’s Little Helper

Quick Trip to Philadelphia

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

Tomorrow I’m going to Philadelphia so that I can give a talk at U.Penn law on Wednesday. I’m going to do something very uncharacteristic and present a true work in (early) progress rather than something rather more baked which is my usual practice.

I do have a different, near-finished, paper, but it’s old enough that I’m no longer in the mood to talk about it. Instead, I’m thinking about this new paper, although it’s so new — just three weeks old — that there’s a substantial chance some step in the argument is just plain wrong and I’ll look silly. Usually I’m too risk-averse for that. But this is what I’m excited about right at this moment, and tenure ought to be good for something.

Posted in Talks & Conferences | Comments Off on Quick Trip to Philadelphia

Exxon Claims It Doesn’t Hate Children

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Michael Froomkin

Exxon hated this video by Exxon Hates Your Children so much that Exxon threatened “legal action” against TV stations in Arkansas who had planned to run it as a paid ad.

Even assuming that the ad is wrong, and Exxon doesn’t hate our children, what would the nature of the claim be? I thought almost no states permitted claims alleging a corporation was libeled?

Update: Crude censorship on Arkansas oil spill story

Posted in The Media | 3 Comments