Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Perils of Comparative Statics

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

ABC News: A World Without Chocolate?

“If nothing was done, and the temperature was to rise, and the rainfalls were to change and drought became more prevalent … without looking into new farming practices, then there should be a problem, and there might likely be a problem,” he said.

In other words, if we suspend all the known laws of capitalist economics, and if we have very nasty climate change and everyone keeps their behavior utterly unchanged as a result…

No. I have enough to worry about. We may well have global warming, but we'll still have profit-maximization. This is not going on the list.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on Perils of Comparative Statics

Bloggers Behaving Badly

Posted on February 14, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

blogfreedom.jpg

It well could be a tempest in a teapot, but details as to what this is about can be found at Random Pixels and Loose Talk from Miami Beach, It's our birthday … so time to lawyer up!, but basically these comments, produced a threat — so far, just a threat — of a lawsuit by one local blogger against another.

It may not have been wise, and certainly wasn't polite, for Random Pixels to say

The reality is that Babalu is really nothing more than a fringe group of bomb-throwing, anthrax-mailing, loud-mouth fanatics gone high tech.

Impolitic, but I think and hope that were anyone foolish enough to bring suit a jury would have very little trouble finding this wasn't an assertion of fact as to past acts, but rather a hyperbolic analogy. That's certainly how I read it and how I think anyone reasonable would read it.

I hardly ever read Babalu as I have very little patience for monotonous bullies of any stripe. (I suppose I should admit that I read Random Pixels only a little more often, mostly via SFDB links.) But having one blogger sue another over hyperbole would be very silly. Let's hope sanity prevails.

Posted in Blogs | 1 Comment

EU Court of Justice Upholds Validity of Data Retention Directive

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

The EU Court of Justice has upheld the validity of the Data Retention Directive (“Directive 2006/24/EC Retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of electronic communications services”) in Ireland v Parliament , decided Feb. 10, 2008.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Internet | 1 Comment

When Trees Reproduce

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

This is the time of year in Florida when I get a very violent allergic reaction to something in the air. When up lived in New England, the allergy season was final exams, which I guess means that it's Spring here now.

There seems, most years, to be a strong correlation between when the mangoes bloom and when I sneeze hard enough to cause damage, but my doctor once assured me that since there aren't any mango plants very near where I live, and I sneeze like crazy in the yard, odds are that it's not mango pollen itself because it is a very heavy grain and doesn't travel that far from the plant. It is, he said, likely to be a tree that pollinates on the same schedule. And indeed, there were not a lot of backyard mangos in New Haven.

But what tree? How to tell?

Weatherbug says “Predominant Pollen: Cedar/Juniper and Bald Cypress.”

But JustWeather.com says the pollen count is “low”. Yah, right.

Weather.com agrees, but adds, “Most active tree pollen types: Oak” (and there's a big live oak in the law school courtyard where my eyes itch and water…hmm…). They also say today's pollen will be worse than yesterday's. Oh joy.

Local Pollen Types for Miami-Dade County, Florida in Winter offers a veritable cornucopia of suspects in the tree category (not mention the grasses and weeds):

Alvaradoa (Alvaradoa)
Avocado, Bay (Persea)
Bayberry (Morella)
Blackbead (Pithecellobium)
Castor-Bean (Ricinus)
Cherry Palm (Pseudophoenix)
Coconut Palm (Cocos)
Coral-Bean (Erythrina)
Elder (Sambucus)
False Sensitive-Plant, Mimosa (Mimosa)
False Willow (Baccharis)
Hercules'-Club, Prickly-Ash, Toothachetree (Zanthoxylum)
Holly (Ilex)
Leadtree (Leucaena)
Mulberry (Morus)
Nettletree (Trema)
Oysterwood (Gymnanthes)
Punktree (Melaleuca)
Royal Palm (Roystonea)
She-Oak (Casuarina)
Soapberry (Sapindus)

Not that knowing would probably do me any good, but I'd still like to know the true name of Nemesis. Meanwhile pass the Fexofenadine.

Posted in Personal | 2 Comments

Petition for a US Truth Commission

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

The Bush Truth Commission web site, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, invites you to sign their online petition.

Some background at Kos.

Posted in Guantanamo, Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals, Torture | Comments Off on Petition for a US Truth Commission

SFDB Post of the Week

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

sfdb1.jpgI'm more than a little behind on my blog reading, so I've only just discovered that something I wrote was in the running for the South Florida Daily Blog's “SFDB Post Of The Week”. Had I but known, I might have asked readers to stuff the ballot box or something.

But it seems I won.

Oh, wait, the voting is only for “Post of the Month” — so it seems you'll have a chance to do that Miami/Chicago voting thing later.

Posted in Discourse.net | Comments Off on SFDB Post of the Week