Category Archives: Blogs

The Consumerist

The Consumerist linked to and summarized my treadmill saga with a typically pungent headline, Sears Annoys The Crap Out Of Customer For Weeks, Still Doesn’t Deliver Treadmill.

[Next Installment: Final Sears Treadmill Delivery Disaster Post]

Posted in Blogs, Shopping | 1 Comment

No Kidding

Local politics gadfly, “Ladra,” in the course of fulminating about voter suppression in Hialeah, turns to fulminating about people surprised at voter suppression in Hialeah:

Hellllooo? Do you not read Political Cortadito? Do you think I’m kidding? I’m not even exaggerating most of the time.

via Intimidation at JFK starts early in early voting | Political Cortadito.

Yes, she is the blogger Hialeah deserves.

Posted in Blogs, Miami | Comments Off on No Kidding

“Speaking Fluent Terrarium”

Some time back, someone invented a game the object of which was to write a blog post that used a phrase unique to Google. If I recall, you got the most points for a single word, then for two common words together, then for three in a unique order, and so on. Ironically, I have no recollection of who invented it, or where it appeared, or even what search terms to use to find it, which is why I can’t link to it now. (If it wasn’t Making Light, it probably should have been.)

All this is by preface to today’s Google-unique mix of three words which appear in a Crooks & Liars takedown of a NYT op-ed, Bill Keller has a sad over Social Security, Medicare: “speaking fluent terrarium”.

Yup, that’s a new one alright.

Posted in Blogs | 1 Comment

Palsgraf, Circa 1933

Torts mavens will like this posting about the immediate reception of Palsgraf v. Long Island R. Co., a Cardozo decision that is arguably the most famous US tort case about causation.

I happen to hate Palsgraf for all sorts of reasons, not least what I consider the opinion’s dishonesty, and try to teach it as fast as I reasonably can. Even so, or perhaps particularly so, it’s fun to read the account of what a contemporary hornbook, James M. Henderson’s Questions and Answers with Problems and Illustrative Matter on the Law of Torts, Based on all the Standard Text and Case Books made of it back in 1933.

This is an early effort from a promising legal history blog, noncuratlex.com, one that seems to offer just about the right mix of history, whimsey, and obscurantism.

Posted in Blogs, Tort | 1 Comment

Random Life Advice

Business pundit Seth Godin offers some almost-random advice tips:

  1. No stranger or unknown company will ever contact you by mail or by phone with an actual method for making money easily or in your spare time. And if the person or company contacting you asserts that they are someone you know, double check before taking action.
  2. Don’t have back surgery. See a physiatrist first, then exhaust all other options before wondering if you should have back surgery.
  3. Borrow money to buy things that go up in value, but never to get something that decays over time.
  4. Placebos are underrated by almost everyone.
  5. It’s almost never necessary to use a semicolon.
  6. Seek out habits that help you overcome fear or inertia. Destroy those that do the opposite.
  7. Cognitive behavorial therapy is generally considered both the quickest and most effective form of addressing many common psychological problems.
  8. Backup your hard drive.
  9. Get a magnetic key hider, put a copy of your house key in it and hide it really well, unlabeled, two blocks from your house.
  10. A rice cooker will save you time and money and improve your diet, particularly if you come to like brown rice.
  11. Consider not eating wheat for an entire week. The results might surprise you.
  12. Taking your dog for a walk is usually better than whatever alternative use of your time you were considering.

I guess I’d endorse ## 1, 6, 8 & 10. I’m not at all on board with # 5, although it’s certainly the case that many people get them wrong. [Update: And why is it wrong to borrow to buy a car, so long as you understand how it depreciates?]

Maybe I’ll start accumulating a list and post it some day. Once in class, I told my students to make a will, especially if they had kids or assets, and was shocked by how many got a startled look in their eyes.

Meanwhile, what’s your best piece of random life advice?

Posted in Blogs | 4 Comments

Blogging: The Rules (per Jonathan Rauch)

My friend Jonathan Rauch discloses his plans.

While I’m blogging, I’m going to try to observe a few rules.

1) No second drafts. There isn’t time.

2) No reporting. There isn’t money.

3) Factuality is approximate.

4) Crabbiness is allowed.

I think he could be quite good at it.

Posted in Blogs | 2 Comments