Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

John Edwards’s Passionate Speech

John Edwards gave a barn-burner of speech in Hanover, New Hampshire.

I've posted the full text below.

Edwards is currently my favorite of the Democratic candidates, although I am by no means suggesting that there are not others that would be fine too. Nor am I claiming I agree with 100% of what he says — I'm more conservative on trade, less willing to demonize corporate profits (while agreeing that corporate political behavior is often not in the common interest); I'm more liberal on gay marriage. Overall, though, he seems like the major candidate most passionate about poverty, health care, and ending the war (although Obama, to give him his due, was right about this long before Edwards).

Unfortunately, I am not as impressed by the John Edwards campaign organization as I would need to be to feel optimistic about his chances of winning the nomination given that he's running third in fund-raising. Clinton has a machine. Obama has a press and (slightly diminished?) public vibe. Edwards has passion. And a platform. But passion (not to mention a platform) won't make up for money unless you have a really good organization. And while they're a lot better than they were six months ago, and have some great instincts (e.g. their web presence, and unleashing Elizabeth Edwards), it's going to take both luck and still-better command of the fundamentals of campaigning to make it happen.

I believe Edwards is sincere and passionate when he says this:

A few weeks, ago I met a man named James Lowe in Wise, Virginia. James spent the first fifty years of his life without a voice — literally without a voice — because he didn't have health care. All he needed was a simple operation to fix a cleft palate. That a man in the richest country in the world could go unable to speak for 50 years because he couldn't pay for a $3,000 operation is something that should outrage every American. We are better than that. America is better that that.

It's a stark reminder of our broken political system that leaves millions of Americans without a voice in their government — a government that is supposed to work for them.

But it doesn't have to be that way. And we can change it together.

One can hope.

Continue reading

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | Comments Off on John Edwards’s Passionate Speech

Perils of Ratings

Usually when I’m complaining about ratings it’s US News or some such. But here’s another bad ratings service:
What's My Blog Rated?

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

  • torture (10x)
  • hell (1x)

My personal homepage, however, is rated

Posted in Discourse.net | 3 Comments

New Way to Prevent Alzheimers?

Protein that removes plaque holds promise for Alzheimer's patients

Using a protein as a sponge to absorb the toxic plaque that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer's patients can halt symptoms and improve brain function, U.S. researchers suggest.

Scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Centre in Rochester, N.Y., performed studies on mice with a buildup of amyloid-beta, a toxic plaque that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers and damages them.

I'm not so clear if this is a cure that reverses Alzheimer's, or “only” a preventative — a way to stop Alzheimer's from getting worse once one is identified as susceptible. Even so, it sounds like a major advance.

Posted in Science/Medicine | 1 Comment

Jargon Watch: Bacn

The Kool Kids are all aTwitter about Bacn, which means non-spam email you don't want right now,

Bacn is email you receive that isn’t spam… And isn’t personal mail. It’s the middle class of email. It’s notifications of a new post to your Facebook wall or a new follower on Twitter. It’s the Google alert for your name and the newsletter from your favorite company.

Bah. Procmail is your friend. If you use 'nix email, anyway. My procmail rules are rather long and complex, but they do sort the Bacn and Sausage pretty well. It's the spam that bugs me, even with SpamAssassin working at full tilt.

Posted in Internet | Comments Off on Jargon Watch: Bacn

Attention UM Law Students: Research Assistants Needed

I need a research assistant. And so, no doubt, do several other faculty members. Some faculty members will hire their own; others, especially new and visiting faculty, may prefer a clearinghouse approach. As I am now the “Director of Faculty Development” I have appointed myself the coordinator of this process for those faculty who prefer to work through an intermediary. If you are a 2L, 3L or LLM student and would like to work for a professor this year, please send me your application.

Different professors will want different skill sets, so don't be shy. Some may have special application requirements but I think most would be happy with a copy of your resume, an unofficial transcript (for 2Ls and 3Ls), and a short writing sample. Personally, I prefer a NON-legal writing sample if you have one, but most of the colleagues will want something legal if you have it, so include both if you can.

Your cover letter should include the number of hours you would most like to work (the range is usually 10-20 hours per week, with most clustering in the low part of that range, but there's a lot of variation), and the legal subjects that most interest you (to help match you with professors in those areas).

I'm particularly interested in students with Linux and HTML experience, although that's not a requirement for me and won't be of interest to many colleagues, so don't let the absence of those stop you.

You can email me the application bundle, or you can drop it off to Ms. Rosalia Lliraldi, who sits outside Rm. 382 in the library.

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on Attention UM Law Students: Research Assistants Needed

UM Hurricanes to Leave Orange Bowl!

‘Canes to leave the Orange Bowl. No tradition is safe!

August 21, 2007

To the University Community:

We have an extraordinary history and tradition at the Orange Bowl: The players running through the smoke tunnel. “Touchdown Tommy” and his cannon. The Ring of Honor. An incredible winning streak of 58 consecutive home wins. And three of our five national championships were won on that field. I love the Orange Bowl-we all do!

As many of you are aware, the University has been working closely with the City of Miami to assess the feasibility of making much-needed renovations to the Orange Bowl. It has long been our goal to have a first-class football stadium.

The City of Miami has been a wonderful partner with us at the Orange Bowl for many years, and they understand how hard we have wrestled with a very difficult decision. Mayor Manny Diaz has been heroic in his efforts to meet our future needs. After much thought, analysis, and discussions with many, many of our trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and fans, we have concluded that we must move our football games to a better facility. The more than $200 million in renovations that the city has proposed would only provide basic and mostly infrastructural upgrades. A part of those funds are not in hand and may or may not be determined until after the proposed construction would be well underway. Overall, the renovations clearly would not address the long-term needs of our athletes and our fans.

The Orange Bowl chapter of our history-in which we can all take great pride-will never close, and we are confident that the legacy of Miami Hurricanes football will live on and thrive as we move to a new location. After an assessment of all options available to us, we have decided reluctantly and painfully to move to Dolphin Stadium for the 2008 season.

Dolphin Stadium is one of the premier football stadiums in the country. At our new home, our student-athletes will have the opportunity to compete in a first-class facility that plays host to the NFL‘s Miami Dolphins, the FedEx Orange Bowl, BCS National Championship Game, and that has been the site of recent and upcoming Super Bowls.

Our fans will experience outstanding amenities including one of the world’s largest plasma TV displays, high-definition video boards, club seating and suites, chairbacks on every stadium seat, approximately 14,000 parking spaces, and a large variety of concessions and restaurants.

The end zones will be redone so that our shared home will reflect both Miami teams’ pride. The Dolphins are actively pursuing a corporate sponsor so that by 2010 the stadium will have a neutral name.

I want to assure all members of our University community-students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, donors, friends-and the tens of thousands of fans who regularly cheer us on, that we looked exhaustively into every aspect of the choices in front of us, and that your needs figured prominently in our final decision. The quality of your experience at our games is of the utmost importance to us.

As always, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at an e-mail address we have established for your comments: umfootball@miami.edu. If you have any further questions, please go to the Official Athletic Department Web site at hurricanesports.com or call 1-800-GO-CANES.

Thank you, and Go ‘Canes!

Sincerely,

Donna E. Shalala

Office of the President
P.O. Box 248006 Coral Gables, Florida 33124-4600
305-284-5155 Fax 305-284-3768

As someone who has yet to attend a Hurricanes football game, I don’t feel this very strongly.

But I know a lot of people who will.

Posted in U.Miami | 2 Comments