January 2012
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Internet Access for All
Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet”, recently wrote an op-ed titled “Internet Access Is Not a Human Right.”
I see what Vint Cerf is saying, but it’s a semantic trick. Access to information is technically the “human right” that advocates are striving for when trying to bridge the digital divide. To create headlines like this detracts from that...
July 2011
1 post
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Copyright and the 2008 Presidential Election
I wrote this paper in December 2008. Some of the topics came up recently in a discussion at work— and the media currently appears to be discussing the issue as well ever since a rock n’ roll star wrote a cease and desist letter to a presidential candidate. I thought I’d post it publicly in case anybody else is researching these type of matters.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Prof. Marcus...
May 2011
1 post
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Major League Ballparks Visited
My first major league baseball game was in 1987 in NYC to see my beloved Yankees. I’ve loved going to games ever since so I thought I’d put together a list of ballparks I’ve visited.
The stadiums and teams have changed over the years, but it’d be nice to eventually be able to say I’ve seen each franchise play at home at some point. I’m not necessarily trying to...
April 2011
2 posts
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ATX
About a month ago I had an idea for a feature that I wanted a travel website to implement. So I wrote them.
+++
Hi Kayak,
I love you.
I also love my long-distance girlfriend, which is why I’m writing you with the following feature request.
Cheapest way for person from city A to see person from city B. Sometimes the result will be person traveling from A to B. Other times it will be B to...
“Mark Pike: I don’t remember how I stumbled on Free Darko back in 2005, but...”
– freedarko.com
Goodbye, Free Darko. Long live, Free Darko.
February 2011
1 post
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“When I came to William & Mary, I knew I wanted to focus on learning about...”
– W&M Law School - Student Profile
Nice write-up on my old law school’s admission site!
December 2010
2 posts
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Random Rules →
I wrote a guest post for my favorite basketball blog, Free Darko, about the NBA’s new technical foul policy and legal philosophy. Check it out here.
During a particularly inspired round of SSRN browsing for search terms wholly unrelated, I stumbled across an article titled “Legal Formalism, Institutional Norms, and the Morality of Basketball”, which pretty much made me want to give...
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November 2010
1 post
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Career Questions
I recently received a few emails from students at my law school alma mater who were looking for career advice. I thought I’d go ahead and post one of my replies publicly in case anybody else was interested in it. I know I would have appreciated the opportunity to read about somebody else’s input during the grueling job search process. Hopefully this helps, and please feel free to get...
August 2010
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June 2010
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May 2010
1 post
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April 2010
1 post
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“Courts across the country have been unclear about what privacy rights apply to...”
– The Supreme Court, Texting and Privacy - NYT
I was particularly interested in the oral arguments for Ontario v. Quon, not just to see how the Court applies search standards to the fact pattern, but also to see how the Court would handle the technology focused discussion.
After the Court heard...
March 2010
2 posts
6 tags
I Love Zipcar
This is my whole-hearted endorsement of Zipcar.
For reals, click here and get $25 free driving right now and thank me later.
Since graduating from school, I’ve been living in metropolitan areas where owning a car and trying to park was simply not worth the time, money, and energy. Plus, public transportation options in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA were so readily available that...
WatchSaving daylight in San Francisco.
The morning began when I subconsciously forgot to “spring forward” the clock in a failed attempt to make my girlfriend miss her cross-country flight home. WH:00 PST
February 2010
4 posts
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"It's All a Game"
I’m finishing up one of my first weeks at work and thought I’d watch a video a few people have been passing around the office on “Why It’s All a Game.”
It’s a fantastic and lively presentation by Jesse Schell, a game designer and professor at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. He discusses economic incentives and small...
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On the Move
When I wrote my law school application essays several years ago, I talked about my interest in technology policy and where I wanted to be when I graduated. I just took a another quick look at my application again and it surprised me.
First, I’m lucky the admissions committee let me into school with the cheesy, sophomoric, idealistic essay I sent them.
“… I once read an article in...
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Never Built Virginia →
“Never Built Virginia offers examples of structures that never were and poses the question, “What if?” In the age of recycling, redevelopment, and reuse, it is appropriate to revisit these frustrated ventures, lost competitions, and unrealized commissions.”
I really enjoyed reading about all the cool buildings in Virginia that never existed, which lead me down the rabbit...
January 2010
4 posts
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Antique Technology
On the eve of Apple’s big announcement, I emailed a local antique radio collector.
I explained to him that a few years ago I bought a very large Farnsworth radio at a garage sale. It was a beautiful vintage machine, harkening back to the era of wooden analog machines that matched the living room furniture.
The inside of the machine was a mess, but I was inspired by a blog post that...
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Rebuilding Greensburg
“What happened here?”
The question lingered in the air as our rental car sped along Route 54 in Kansas, somewhere between Wichita and Dodge City. We had no idea exactly where we were, or what had happened until we saw a sign.
GREENSBURG, KS Rebuilding… STRONGER, BETTER, GREENER Home of the “BIG WELL”
That’s when I remembered the Tornado—and everything that came after it.
(Thanks to Chris...
December 2009
7 posts
3 tags
In re Typewriters
Stories about typewriters seem to be popping up all over the place this December. I thought I’d collect them here.
Cormac McCarthy, author extraordinaire, put his Olivetti Lettera 32 up for auction at Christie’s to benefit charity. It sold for over $250,000 after he had knocked out more than 5 million words on it over 50 years. His friend bought him a replacement typewriter for less...
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“This is one of those rare cases where the laissez-faire approach is incorrect....”
– Obama’s Billions Could Render Furnaces Obsolete: Kevin Hassett - Bloomberg.com
You must be on the right track when even a policy analyst from the American Enterprise Institute, a fairly conservative think tank that maintains a strict free-market mindset, encourages government intervention in order...
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I live in a van down by Duke University -... →
How do I afford grad school without going into debt? A ‘94 Econoline, bulk food and creative civil disobedience…
I applaud this student. And I probably used to park a Volvo station wagon where he’s got his Econoline van.
This whole thing reminds me of the time my great uncle was very confused by Krzyzewskiville and thought there was a dorm room shortage on campus. We had to...
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“There’s a growing concern now about robot ethics, but what’s missing...”
– Robots of future may need a good lawyer— San Francisco Chronicle
This article discusses some fascinating issues in the inevitable field of robo-litigation, though the title mistakenly suggests that robots need to lawyer-up as opposed to the humans interacting with them. I think the former...
November 2009
3 posts
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“The district attorney subpoenaed Facebook to verify that the words had been...”
– With Facebook as Alibi, Brooklyn Robbery Charge Is Dropped (NYTimes.com)
Things got a lot more interesting ever since Congress expanded the acceptance of electronic evidence in 2006. This type of info can work for prosecutors and defense attorneys, but I imagine things are going to get more...
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Under Eighteen to Life →
The Supreme Court takes up the question of whether life sentences for juvenile offenders are cruel and unusual.
Here’s a piece I wrote for The American Prospect after sleeping by the steps of the Supreme Court yesterday so that I could attend oral arguments for two big cases.
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October 2009
3 posts
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Export WordPress to Tumblr?
I used WordPress for 5 years and I really want to import old posts into my Tumblr account so that they can co-exist as one. Solutions exist, but they are huge headaches and litter the Dashboard with several hundred posts.
I love Tumblr for its ease of use as a platform, but data portability is really important. Users own their content, and should have complete control.
So, how would you export...
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“I’ve been in government for 45 years and this is the first meeting...”
– States weigh campaign rules for the Internet age
I would love to have been at this meeting.
September 2009
3 posts
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A batboy for the New York Yankees goes on a wild... →
The Moth Radio Hour 1
One of the greatest stories ever told.
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“Courts have interpreted the ECPA to prohibit services such as Facebook from...”
– Facebook fights Virginia’s demand for user data
+1 for Facebook. There’s no reason Virginia’s Workers Compensation Commission needs to see my vacay photos.
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“Mint sends me alerts when I have a low balance, an unpaid bill looming, or if I...”
– My Electric Bill « blogband – Broadband.gov blog
I love Mint.com and I love the Smart Grid.
Nick Sinai makes some excellent points about giving consumers more information and control over their energy usage.
August 2009
4 posts
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July 2009
4 posts
1 tag
A Crowd-Sourced National Communications Census →
Great post from Carl Malamud on national broadband strategy. I’d be curious to see if such a Census would result in too much self-selected data from folks with good broadband access.
For example, if one of the main problems in closing the digital divide is that we’re unable to identify areas with inadequate coverage, then how would those citizens be able to chime in on a crowd-sourced...
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“The Associated Press reported Tuesday night that a widespread and unusually...”
– Cyberattacks Hit U.S. and South Korean Web Sites
“We see attacks on federal networks every day, and measures in place have minimized the impact to federal websites.” - Amy Kudwa from DHS
Matthew Broderick movie or real life? Real life.
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June 2009
11 posts
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thereifixedit.com →
Q: How would I describe this site? A: Occam’s Razor— if Occam shaved with a butter knife tied to a hockey stick with duct tape.
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