f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

no wind today —
the cottonwoods
speak in chickadee

 

 

long winter–

prayer bundles sway

in the cedars

 

 

 

 

breezy afternoon–
dandelion ghosts
float past the daisies

 

 

“snowflakeSN”  Billie Wilson from The Heron’s Nest – a haikai journal

“no wind today” (special mention, Valentine’s Issues, Feb. 2005)

“long winter“;  “breezy afternoon“

 

 

by dagosan:  

travel plans

penciled in —

winter’s asterisk *

 

  potluck

  I just learned today that Sen. Barack Obama was among the 18 Democrats voting 

for the Class Action Reform Act last week.  All 26 opposing senators were Democrats.

Obama appears to have adopted the popular (with me too) anti-coupon position, but

maybe also the Madison County-bashing. According to the Kansas City Star (Feb. 10, 2005):

Barack Obama, D-Ill., said in a statement afterward that he had voted for the

bill even though he is “a strong believer” in class-action lawsuits.”When multimillion-

dollar settlements are handed down and all the victims get are coupons for a free

product, justice is not being served,” he said. “And when cases are tried in counties

only because it’s known that those judges will award big payoffs, you get quick

settlements without ever finding out who’s right and who’s wrong.”

Of course, f/k/a is still waiting for a fuller explanation of Obama’s Tort Reform position.

I can’t understand why it would be shocking to learn that some companies are firing

employees for things they have posted at their weblogs concerning the company.  (See CNN/Money

 article)  Would we be shocked that an employee was canned for putting nasty remarks about a

supervisor, or proprietary information, on a roadside billboard?  If the electronic communication

device in question were a telephone, wouldn’t you want to know the facts before getting huffy? 

People get so myopic when they think their ox is being gored.

 

A year ago this week, we talked about misleading “hit” counts on weblogs (see here, here).

I finally got a Site Meter two weeks ago and have compared the Daily Hits numbers from my 

Harvard weblog server over a 24-hour period with the Site Meter results.  On one

representative day, I found that Site Meter Page Hits were 5.9% of the Harvard Hits, and 

on another they were 4.7% of the Harvard Hits.  

 

   Where do they get these slogans?  New York City wants to trademark a new    

tourism slogan “The World’s Second Home” — which is only going to remind folks of

the line about it being a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.    In general, I

think telling people your self-proclaimed status is not very effective.  If they want the home

theme, why not “New York City — Make Yourself at Home” or “We’ll Make You Feel at

Home”?  On the other hand, who travels to feel at home?

 

All kidding aside, for a moment, Steve Bainbridge has some very good questions 

for his fellow conservatives on private Social Security accounts.  Check his TrackBacks and

decide whether their answers are persuasive.

 

“tinyredcheck”  Speaking of weblog persuasion, Lisa Stone at Legal Blog Watch quotes a couple

Law.com luminaries who seem riled by the MSM-weblog-what’s-journalism? debate.   Prof. Eugune

Volokh thinks the analogy of webloggers to lynch mobs is very weak.  And J. Craig Williams wonders 

“After all, if you have a legal question, who would you rather hearthe answer from? A newspaper

reporter who asked a lawyer? Or from a lawyer who’s also a highly respected law professor?”  While

I agree that some weblogs are journalism (but many don’t even try to be), I also believe that:

(1) Webloggers have the ability to create giant “opinion bubbles” that are based on weak or

misunderstood facts, yet have persuasive or coercive force that is totally unconnected to reason,

logic, virtue, or facts.   The “lynch mob” effect is fueled very often by such anger and vile — and

ideologically-based agendas — that the target can be easily overwhelmed and left without allies.

(e.g., the Durango Cookie Case, where the girls were flooded with gifts and tv invitations and

Mrs.Young ended up flooded with hate mail and phone calls, and death threats, before she had

any chance to get her facts out.)

 

(2) I know of no source more likely to give a skewed response on an issue than a law professor

who’s already stated an opinion publically on the issue in question.   There are some legal

journalistswho do a darn good job at figuring out the law without asking a lawyer or a law

professor.

 

(3) Too many folks with weblogs have a hard time understanding that their opinion is not

necessarily truth and comes filtered through their own ideological and experiential perspectives.

 

I know this last blurb violates yesterday’s pledge to keep things short, but Lisa made me do it. 

 

potluck

 

“tinyredcheck”  Steve Bainbridge has assured his readership that — tip jars and cable-organizer ads

aside — he would not auction off space on his pregnant tummy just to make a few

bucks.   (I don’t make these things up.) 

 

In the law (and religion) biz, we call that turning necessity into virtue.  With Gov. Arnold 

being sort of busy, I wonder how Steve would feel about tummy ads, if he were to star

in the sequel to “Junior.”  Hmmmm.

 

  It seems that Prof. B won’t be buying any Dogs Playing Poker original

paintings, either.   On aesthetics grounds, on with him — although the old posters have

always made me smile.   Of course, the buyer of the two paintings from the series this

week, for $590,4000, might be counting on this being a smart investment. 

• 
  
  
  

  “I was intrigued to learn that the artist, C. M. Coolidge is “credited with

  
  

  creating the life-size Boardwalk cutouts into which one’s head is placed,

  
  

  allowing the person to be photographed as a character or animal.

  
  

   

  
  

  “Coolidge was also a banker, shopkeeper, inventor and painter. He even

  
  

  penned an opera.”  CNN.com article)

• 
  
  You’ll probably only get $10 for your old Poker Dogs poster.