Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Always Release the Sleazy News Friday

Posted on March 24, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Everyone knows that the fewest people watch TV Friday night, and the Saturday papers have the lowest circulation. So media-savvy pols release bad news on Friday around 5pm.

And, regular as clockwork, here’s this week’s,

FEMA Abandons Pledge on 4 No-Bid Contracts : FEMA has broken its promise to reopen four multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work, including three that federal auditors say wasted significant amounts of money.
…

Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison pledged last fall to rebid the contracts, which were awarded to Shaw Group Inc., Bechtel Corp., CH2M Hill Inc. and Fluor Corp. Later, the agency acknowledged the rebidding wouldn’t happen until February.

This week, FEMA said the contracts wouldn’t be rebid after all. In fact, they have been extended,

It really is just a giant kleptocracy, isn’t it?

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | Comments Off on Always Release the Sleazy News Friday

People With Too Much Time on Their Hands

Posted on March 23, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

via Boing Boing comes news of a Firefox plugin converts dollars to barrels of oil.

Click one of those links for the broccoli action picture.

(Although, now that I think of it, if it updated in real time and worked for any currency, it might actually be useful….)

Posted in Software | Comments Off on People With Too Much Time on Their Hands

The Alienware Next Door

Posted on March 23, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

Who knew that Alienware was in Miami? A fact I only just discovered from AOL News – Alienware Racks Up Video Gamers, Big Bucks.

Of course if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Now I just have to figure out how to get them to give me a machine to, um, review for a few years. Which is probably less likely now that they have been acquired by Dell…

Posted in Miami | 2 Comments

To Minneapolis

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

I am off to Minneapolis to give a ‘works in progress’ talk to the law faculty. Usually, when I go places I try to bring something nearly finished even if it’s touted as a ‘half-baked’ talks series. This time, maybe for the first time, I’m bring a true work in progress, which does make me slightly nervous.

It’s an article I wrote a strong first draft of some time ago (quite a long time ago in Internet years), and then set aside because I thought something was missing. I’ve started updating it now, with an eye to finally getting it out the door. But I still think it’s missing something.

Maybe talking it over with a room full of smart folks will help me find that missing ingredient. Or maybe I’ll just look silly.

It’s a very short visit — I get back to Miami around midnight Thursday — but I gather I will need my coat.

Posted in Talks & Conferences | 3 Comments

Life Is Tough … For Some

Posted on March 22, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

I wonder if stuff like this helps explain why applications to UM Law remain strong?

Pseudonymous 1-L UM blogger Klio writes about her spring break:

Spring Break for the University of Miami Law Student is a bit non-traditional. Because we spend our law school days sparsely clothed in a tropical paradise, most of us head back home to a Abercrombie & Fitch wool sweater hell. Some of us seek refuge from the 1L stress with an inquisitive exploration abroad to places like London, Paris, and Latin America. Others just stay put, tumbling out of bed at noon to crash face down on the sandy, white beaches.

Personally, I spent the week binge writing.

Posted in Law School, U.Miami | 1 Comment

NYT Covers Abuses of Material Witness Statute

Posted on March 21, 2006 by Michael Froomkin

My colleague Ricardo J. Bascuas is quoted by Adam Liptak in tomorrow’s NYT story New Scrutiny for Law on Detaining Witnesses . Rick is an expert in this area, and the article is a good introduction to the abuses of the material witness statute.

Posted in Civil Liberties | Comments Off on NYT Covers Abuses of Material Witness Statute