Internet for Lawyers > WELCOME ???: "WELCOME TO INTERNET FOR LAWYERS

A free, 'teach yourself' tutorial that lets you practise your Internet Information Skills

using this tutorial

key Internet sites for lawyers

how to search the Internet

what to trust on the Internet

how to get the most from the Internet for your work

Let our experts guide you to the best of the Web...
Internet for Lawyers has been written by Sue Pettit, Subject Librarian for Law, Wills Memorial Library, University of Bristol. It is one of a set of tutorials within the RDN Virtual Training Suite, created by subject-specialists from universities and professional organisations across the UK."

Law skills for KLS students: "Legal skills classes
Powerpoint slides for legal skills classes "

Club Quarters

EUROPA - Research - RTD info -Special Issue - March 2004 - The beauty of maths:

The Mobius strip (1790-1868) is one of the most famous and easily understood geometric paradoxes. It simply involves joining the two ends of a strip together after first twisting one end through 180 degrees. This produces a 'non-orientable' surface. In moving along it, one moves from one surface of the strip to the other without any transition.
(c)Konrad Polthier, T-U Berlin"

Letter to the Editor

Subject: One Sided Outrage [at the Blue Stone Press]

So many letters --- so little time. Where to begin?

Let's begin with the "atrocities" (Ms. Katz's word) at Abu Ghraib. The
Bataan death march was an atrocity. The massacre at Malmedy was an
atrocity. The rape of Nanking was an atrocity. Auschwitz, Treblinka,
Buchenwald, and Bergen-Belsen were atrocities. Leaving a young woman to
drown in the back of your car while you scurry off to cover your own sorry
behind is an atrocity.

Being made to stand naked in front of a woman is not an atrocity. Having a
dog bark at you is not an atrocity. Being humiliated is not an atrocity.

Several of the people who expressed outrage about the treatment of prisoners
in Iraq mentioned the Geneva Convention. The problem with that is that the
Geneva Convention should not cover the people who were mistreated.

The Geneva Convention states in no uncertain terms that a party to the
convention, the United States, is obligated to extend the protections of the
convention to forces which are not a party to it, only if those forces are
operating under convention guidelines. Hostage taking is against those
guidelines. Executions without trials are against those guidelines. Those
guidelines also require uniforms or a designated insignia, which will
identify opposition combatants at a distance. If the terrorists (and they
are terrorists) wore a uniform or insignia, routine sweeps of civilians
would not be required.

As for being "stripped naked, shackled in 'distressful' positions and
photographed" - I'm sure that Mr. Pearl, Mr. Berg, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Kim
would have gladly accepted that sort of treatment. In fact, I'm sure they
would have been happy to model the entire Victoria's Secret catalog on live
Al-Jazeera television. And that brings me to my point.

I've seen a great deal of outrage directed at the United States in the BSP's
Letters & Opinions pages over the last couple of months, but very little
outrage directed at the people who are beheading hostages and blowing up
innocent civilians in Iraq and abroad. I haven't seen a single word about
the 300,000 plus bodies that have been discovered in mass graves in Iraq.

This is not about who is in the White House. So many of the people
expressing outrage against the current president seem to have forgotten that
we were attacked three times by these terrorists when Bill Clinton was in
the White House - when we were "the most respected country in the world."
They've also forgotten that THE icon of the Democrat party, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, pulled off the biggest denial of civil rights and due process in
the twentieth century. Ask any Japanese person who happened to be around at
the time.

By the time the next BSP is published, the Iraqi people will be in charge of
their own country living in a fledgling democracy. But the hostage taking
and the homicide bombings will not stop - because these terrorists don't
hate foreign or domestic armed forces. They hate the freedom that those
forces bring.

And finally, with the Editor's permission, because I just know that someone
out there is hopping out of their Birkenstocks because our vice president
told the gentleman from Vermont to go forth and multiply (although not in
those words) let me remind everyone what Mark Twain said, "Under certain
circumstances...profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

Richard Aronoff
Kerhonkson, NY

Council of Europe portal: " Court judgment in the case of Princess Caroline von Hannover against Germany
[24/06/04 10:30:00] The European Court of Human Rights has delivered at a public hearing a judgment in the case of von Hannover v. Germany. It held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for private life. The applicant, Princess Caroline von Hannover, who is the eldest daughter of Prince Rainier III of Monaco maintained that the decisions of the German courts failed to afford her adequate protection from the publication of photographs taken without her knowledge by paparazzi. Photo: Gamma "

Judge Says Artist Can Make Fun of Barbie

By BILL WERDE

Published: June 28, 2004

Seven years ago when Tom Forsythe, an artist and photographer, was searching for a subject for a new project, he settled on Barbie, ultimately producing a series of 78 photographic images of the wildly famous doll showing her nude, and sometimes posed provocatively, in or around various household appliances.
. . .

"Plaintiff had access to sophisticated counsel who could have determined that such a suit was objectively unreasonable and frivolous," Judge Lew wrote in his order. "Instead it appears plaintiff forced defendant into costly litigation to discourage him from using Barbie's image in his artwork. This is just the sort of situation in which this court should award attorneys fees to deter this type of litigation which contravenes the intent of the Copyright Act.''

The order also characterized Mattel's claim of trademark infringement as "groundless and unreasonable.''

Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School who specializes in Internet and copyright law, said, "It's enough to give corporations with brands they want to protect and expand pause to consider whether to simply reflexively unleash the hounds the minute they see somebody doing something that relates to their brand of which they don't approve.

"It may send a signal that a 'take no prisoner' litigation strategy against the little guy has new risks for the plaintiff," he said.

The Copyright Act allows for tens of thousands of dollars in statutory damages per violation. Professor Zittrain said the risk of such damages "chills'' many defendants, even if they have a strong case.

"Maybe now when an angry C.E.O. picks up the phone to counsel and says 'sue this guy,' " he said, "instead of saluting and sending the bill, the lawyer may say 'I have to warn you, this could boomerang.' "

Virginia Gas Prices - Helping drivers save money by finding low current gasoline prices: "Virginia Gas Prices
When you report a gas price into the above form, you are assisting in the fight against high gasoline prices in Virginia. Together we can work to promote competition and drive down the retail price of gasoline."

"One in four credit reports has errors that are serious enough to disqualify consumers from buying a home, opening a bank account or getting a job - and an overwhelming majority contain mistakes of some kind, according to a survey released June 17, 2004, by a consumer group. Serious errors found in the credit profiles maintained on some 90 percent of American adults include consumer accounts incorrectly listed as delinquent or in collection or that actually belong to another person, said the report by Public Interest Research Group. Of the 197 credit reports collected from people in 30 states, 79 percent had some sort of error, while 54 percent included personal identifying information that was misspelled, outdated, belonged to someone else or was otherwise incorrect. Thirty percent contained credit accounts that consumers had closed but that remained listed as open. Nearly 8 percent were missing major credit, loan or mortgage accounts that indicate creditworthiness, PIRG said.' - Source "

Comments: Give the people what they want
When you commented on people in TN not being able to spell the name of their state, I was reminded of a column by Will Manley, I think, several years ago.

He was expressing the view that public libraries should be required to reflect the categorization demographics of the community which the library serves. I think he was alluding to "lesbigay" rather than racial or ethnic identities and I wondered, "why, how would you ever be able to 1.) determine the demographics of lesbians, gays, bis, transgendered, transexuals, transvestites in the community without intruding people's privacy and 2.) how would you ever categorize your job applicants to reflect that diversity without intruding in their privacy and dignity?" Plus how could you ever categorize the confused or transitioning folks and those in denial without yourself (meaning the government in the form of the library) assigning them into a category?

My final conclusion was, "right, if we need to reflect the community then we need to determine how many residents are illiterate and high school drop-outs and we need to hire sufficient illiterate, drop-out librarians to reflect the reality of that community and make all feel welcome."

If 45% of the Tennesseans mispell Tennessee, then 45% of the librarians there should misspell it too! Dammit!


Posted by oldfox at June 24, 2004 07:27 PM

eGovernment Weblog: "About Me
I'm an Information and Library Science Masters student. I believe that information is a public utility to be shared, used, and, yes, regulated. My areas of research are Government Documents, work flow / knowledge management, and the uses of technology to aid information transfer. "

GeorgeWBush.com :: Official Blog

A blog is a free-flowing online journal that’s constantly updated with the latest news from throughout the Web. This blog will serve as your personal guide to the campaign to re-elect President Bush, with breaking news, grassroots updates, and posts from campaign leadership.

Washington Independent Writers: Resources > Research-Beyond Google: "Washington Independent Writers
RESOURCES: Creating Web Sites for Writers

We extend grateful acknowledgement for the following to:
Kee Malesky, MLIS; Gary Price, MLIS; Thomas Mann, MLIS "

WebSite-Watcher - internet monitoring software - watch website change: "WebSite-Watcher S a v e T i m e , S t a y I n f o r m e d !

WebSite-Watcher allows you to monitor your favorite websites for updates and changes with a minimum of time and online costs. Now you can monitor your competition without having to lift a finger!

When changes in a website are detected, WebSite-Watcher saves the last two versions to your hard disk and highlights all changes in the text."

One step forward, two steps back. One step forw.....

Oh, wait. That doesn't get you anywhere. It has to be:
"Three steps forward, two steps back." Yeah that's it. "Three steps forward. Two steps back."
I flunked Communism in high school.

file 225 on Dialog. You can search for an entity as owner. It brings up all domain names registered to that entity.

Domain Registration is Not Property Right

From BNA

An Internet domain name registration is not a property right, but rather a contract for registration services, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, said June 8 (Wornow v. Register.Com Inc., N.Y. App. Div., No. 3817-3818, 6/8/04).

The court also held, en route to affirming the dismissal of a putuative class action challenging Register.com's automatic renewal of domain name registrations, that there was nothing deceptive in Register.com's terms of use, which provided, among other things:

+ for automatic renewal of domain name registrations and billing to the registrant's credit card;

+ for unilaterial modifications to the registration contract;

* that notice of such modifications would be via e-mail; and

* that the registrant must maintain a valid e-mail address for receiving such notices.


The court observed that its conclusion was consistent with precedent elsewhere holding that a domain name that is not trademarked or patented "is not personal property, but rather a contract right that cannot exist separate and apart from the services performed by a registrar such as defendant." Network Solutions v. Umbro Intl., 529 S.E.2d 80, 86, (Va. 2000), citing Dorer v. Arel, 60 F. Supp.2d 558, 561 (E.D. Va. 1999); Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Network Solutions, 194 F.3d 980, 984-985 (9th Cir. 1999).
The court concluded that General Obligations Law Section 5-903, which makes self-renewing contracts unenforceable absent written notice before renewal, was inapplicable to domain name registrations.

The court also affirmed the lower court's dismissal of plaintiff's allegations that Register.com's online terms of use and provisions for modification of the terms amounted to a deceptive trade practice. Register.com's terms of use reserve to it the right to make modifications to the terms, giving registrants the right to cancel if they are displeased with the modifications. The terms of use also provide that notices to registrants will be made via e-mail.

"Plaintiff asserts that he never received these e-mails, but, so far as appears, that was only because he failed to update his e-mail address with defendant, as required by the agreement," the court said. "We perceive nothing deceptive in defendant's use of e-mail to give notice of modification of an agreement that expressly permitted notice by e-mail."

Jeffrey L. Fazio of Fazio & Micheletti, San Mateo, Calif., represented the plaintiff, Brian Wornow. Kenneth A. Plevan of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York, represented Register.Com.




Wornow v Register.Com
2004 NYSlipOp 04776
Decided on June 8, 2004
Appellate Division, First Department
This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.


Decided on June 8, 2004
Nardelli, J.P., Saxe, Sullivan, Marlow, Catterson, JJ.
3817- 3818


[*1]Brian Wornow, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v

Register.Com, Inc., Defendant-Respondent, Does 1-100, Defendants.


Fazio & Micheletti, San Mateo, CA (Jeffrey L. Fazio, of the
California Bar, admitted pro hac vice, of counsel), for appellant.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York (Kenneth
A. Plevan of counsel), for respondent.


Orders, Supreme Court, New York County (Charles Edward Ramos, J.), entered April 17, 2003 and on or about February 24, 2004, which, in a putative class action arising out of defendant Internet domain name registrar's automatic renewal of plaintiff's domain names registrations, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, granted defendant's motion pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(1),(7) dismissing plaintiff's causes of action for a declaration that such renewals violated General Obligations Law
§ 5-903, damages and injunctive relief under General Business Law § 349, and damages for breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and conversion, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

We are in accord with authorities holding that a domain name that is not trademarked or patented is not personal property, but rather a contract right that cannot exist separate and apart from the services performed by a registrar such as defendant (see Network Solutions v Umbro Intl., 259 Va 759, 770, 529 SE2d 80, 86, citing Dorer v Arel, 60 F Supp 2d 558, 561; Lockheed Martin Corp. v Network Solutions, 194 F3d 980, 984-985). Accordingly, General Obligations Law § 5-903, which makes automatic renewal provisions unenforceable except upon conditions admittedly not met here, is inapplicable (see Donald Rubin, Inc. v Schwartz, 160 AD2d 53, 56-58; Prial v Supreme Ct. Uniformed Officers Assn., 91 Misc 2d 115, 117). Inasmuch as plaintiff argues that section 5-903 was part of the parties' agreement as a matter of law, and that his cause of action for breach of contract therefore stands or falls with his cause of action for a declaratory judgment, we deem the cause of action for declaratory judgment to be unnecessary, and decline to make a declaration.

Nor does plaintiff state a cause of action for deceptive trade practices. Based on the [*2]complaint, documentary evidence and plaintiff's concessions in opposing defendant's motion to dismiss, it appears that the parties entered into an agreement for the registration of domain names submitted by plaintiff to defendant; that the agreement could be unilaterally modified by defendant and unilaterally canceled by plaintiff once notified of any such modification; that all notices required by the agreement could be given by e-mail; and that plaintiff was required to keep his e-mail address with defendant up to date, but failed to do so. It further appears that defendant modified the agreement so as to provide for automatic renewal of domain name registrations for a one-year period; notified plaintiff by e-mail of each expiring registration and of his right to cancel the agreement; and also notified plaintiff by e-mail of each completed renewal and of his right to revoke it by contacting defendant via its toll-free telephone number or by a hyperlink that would automatically credit the charge to plaintiff's credit card. Plaintiff asserts that he never received these e-mails, but, so far as appears, that was only because he failed to update his e-mail address with defendant, as required by the agreement. We perceive nothing deceptive in defendant's use of e-mail to give notice of modification of an agreement that expressly permitted notice by e-mail.

The conversion cause of action was properly dismissed on the ground that the $34.99 per renewal charged to plaintiff's credit card is not specifically identifiable (cf. Republic of Haiti v Duvalier, 211 AD2d 379, 384-386). We note that plaintiff's cause of action for money had and received survived the motion to dismiss and is pending. The cause of action for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in the parties' agreement was properly dismissed on the ground that plaintiff received the full benefit of that agreement, namely, the
registration of his domain names (see Aventine Inv. Mgt. v Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 265 AD2d 513, 514).

M-2197 - Wornow v Register.Com, Inc.

Motion seeking leave to enlarge record denied.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER
OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.

ENTERED: JUNE 8, 2004

CLERK

useful ways to differentiate your firm's clients

* How to identify and cater to your firm's top 20 clients. Your clients can be categorized in many ways, marketing consultant Deborah McMurray and Barbara Harrison Kaye, marketing director at New York City's Proffitt &
Wood, explain in a recent issue of the Legal Marketing Association's magazine, Strategies: The Journal of Legal Marketing. The authors note that there are a number of useful ways to differentiate your firm's clients: by industry; company size; revenue to the firm; frequency of hiring the firm; how many firm practices they use (service area utilization); how many other law firms they use and for what services (competitive intelligence); typical service teams required to handle work (senior partners, associates, paralegals); average matter value; and the average time they take to pay their bills. "Armed with this history and trend data, the marketing department can point out the structural impediments to profitability in the delivery of services to certain types of clients, especially those that fall in marginally profitable or unprofitable categories," the authors explain. Solutions for clients that pose a challenge to firm profitability, McMurray and Harrison write, include: bonus billing for unique services; staffing modifications; packaging your firm's services differently; or developing new services to meet changing marketplace or industry needs.

The Thurgood Marshall Law Library of the University of Maryland School of Law is proud to announce the availability of two free topical archives of Congressional Research Service reports on the web.

The first is an archive of CRS reports on Health Law & Policy: http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/ElectronicResources/crsreports/crssubject.asp?subjectchoice=Health.

The second is an archive of CRS reports on Terrorism & Homeland Security:

http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/ElectronicResources/crsreports/crssubject.asp?subjectchoice=Terrorism.

Each archive currently contains more than 150 reports.

Reports are also available on other topics, for a total of more than 400 reports. To browse all available reports, go to http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/ElectronicResources/crsreports/crsreports.asp?AlphaStart=ALL.

never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in

But we must learn to be equally good at what is short and sharp and what is long and tough. It is generally said that the British are often better at the last. They do not expect to move from crisis to crisis; they do not always expect that each day will bring up some noble chance of war; but when they very slowly make up their minds that the thing has to be done and the job put through and finished, then, even if it takes months - if it takes years - they do it.

Another lesson I think we may take, just throwing our minds back to our meeting here ten months ago and now, is that appearances are often very deceptive, and as Kipling well says, we must "…meet with Triumph and Disaster. And treat those two impostors just the same."

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period - I am addressing myself to the School - surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.

You sang here a verse of a School Song: you sang that extra verse written in my honour, which I was very greatly complimented by and which you have repeated today. But there is one word in it I want to alter - I wanted to do so last year, but I did not venture to. It is the line: "Not less we praise in darker days."

I have obtained the Head Master's permission to alter darker to sterner. "Not less we praise in sterner days."

Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.


http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=423

WebHostingTalk Forums - how to check if IP address is from an anonymous/open proxy?: "lobaloba9
Web Hosting Master

Registered: May 2002
Posts: 554
Status: Offline
how to check if IP address is from an anonymous/open proxy?
what is the diff b/w open and anonymous proxy anyway?
Report this post to a Community Leader | IP: Logged
05-22-2004 01:47 PM



coreybryant
Corey R. Bryant

Registered: Jul 2003
Posts: 1125
Status: Offline
This site should help: http://www.stayinvisible.com/index.pl/proxy_servers_faq

And : http://www.stayinvisible.com/index.pl/proxy_list - since the IP address is always changing - I am not certain what you might be looking for. Plus you can always install programs on your computer to hide your IP address as well.

And then for open proxies: http://theproxyconnection.com/openproxy.html and http://www.corpit.ru/mjt/proxycheck.html
__________________
Corey
General Merchant Account Info
Merchant Account Promo"

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VITAL STATISTICS
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By tube: Victoria station (Victoria, Circle and District lines). "

JUST BROWSING

That Invisible Hand Guides the Game of Ticket Hunting

By WILLIAM GRIMES

StubHub.com offers an arena for ticket buyers and sellers to arrive at a price that reflects the true value of a commodity, be it Madonna or the Yankees.

AskART.com - Biography, auction records and results, books, dealers, images, museums, and exhibition information about American artists: "Artist Last Name: First Name: (optional)
Use Last Name or both fields, to refine search results. You may use full or partial name.



A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z "

The Political Edge - Editorial Cartoons

<a href="http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?RecentChanges">Another Wiki place </a>

Meatball Wiki: RecentChanges: "RecentChanges
MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Preferences | Random Page | Indices | Categories

Recent changes to MeatballWiki, added automatically. Visit the [Preferences] page to customize the list below and to set your UserName and timezone. (The default timezone is Eastern-US.) See RecentChangesOptions for ways to change the settings temporarily.
[Random page]. Read one a day to relearn what's forgotten.
MeatballToDo
MeatballDigest concisely summarizes the changes listed below.
[Open:RecentChanges]
[all changes] [only minor edits] [no minor edits] [RSS]"

The New York Times > Business > Your Money >

Techno Files: How Google Took the Work Out of Selling Advertising

By JAMES FALLOWS

Published: June 13, 2004

"WHEN the computer age began, some people warned that the rise of word-processing systems would mean the decline of skillful writing. The idea was that computers would make writing so automatic and easy - yeah, sure -that fine points of thought and language would be buffed away, leaving depersonalized, machinelike prose.

In retrospect, there was nothing to worry about. Books, articles and lectures are now as good, and bad, as they have ever been. One area that technology has obviously changed is personal communication, through e-mail and instant messaging. But there, its main effect has been positive, in reviving what had been the moribund idea that people, even teenagers, could stay in touch through written as well as spoken words.

The broader ways in which computers will change our modes of thought and interaction are hard to predict, so any early indicator is interesting. Electronic calculators, for instance, have already eliminated one ingredient from the traditional concept of being "smart." From the invention of arithmetic until about 1970, speed and accuracy in handling numbers were a mark of intellectual distinction. Now computational skill is a parlor trick because the most gifted human prodigy cannot keep up with the cheapest hand-held device.

A "sticky" mind, one that retains names and ideas and retrieves them on demand, has traditionally been a proxy for one kind of intelligence. But how long will that matter, as search engines grow faster and more precise? We'll know the change has come when a schoolchild with Google can knock off any "Jeopardy" champ.

1. SECTOR-RELATED NEWS

ENERGY

EXXON MOBIL GIVES ENERGY SECTOR A DOSE OF REALITY

With oil prices hovering in the high $30s, discussion about alternative fuels and ways that the U.S. can lessen dependence on foreign oil has grown louder, particularly on Capitol Hill. The solutions offered, ranging from ambitious to fanciful, have raised hopes that the country can gain some control over its energy needs. But the CEO of EXXON MOBIL (XOM, $44, up 1) recently threw a cold dose of reality on this wishful thinking. In a speech in Washington, Lee Raymond outlined that U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and specifically oil from the Middle East, will remain high for decades to come. This is due to the amount of reserves located in that region, and the fact that oil alternatives remain expensive and unrealistic options.

TODD'S TAKE: Despite the possibility that oil prices could drop dramatically from current levels (remember, anything is possible), the issues outlined by Raymond are precisely why we are bullish on the Energy sector for the long term. Yes, even if the market were to fully price in record annual earnings, we would still be bullish on Energy stocks because the hard truth is that the U.S. and the world are addicted to oil, and no alternative can satisfy that need.

Certainly, there are things you can do to reduce your own spending on oil and gas, like buy a hybrid car or ride your bike to work. But to make this modern world spin, we need oil; we need it to produce electricity, heat, and goods. We need it to transport people and products. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to find a part of your life that isn't somehow affected by oil, and things like solar power and wind power aren't going to change that.

Why is this so? As Raymond pointed out, wind and solar power cost far more than oil and natural gas. As for government hopes to increase the use of ethanol -- which is made from corn -- to replace 10% of all gasoline in the U.S. by 2020, Raymond showed that it makes no economic sense. Making ethanol takes more energy than it produces. Furthermore, to make that amount would require more than 20% of all the land in the U.S. currently used for food crops. These alternatives are just not feasible.

When you realize that it is oil and only oil that we need, then you can evaluate what's going to move the price in the coming years. As we've pointed out many times throughout the year, the major factors include rising global demand, especially as China advances into the modern age and adopts all the Western-style, energy consuming accoutrements that go with it. On the other side, we have a diminishing supply of oil, especially oil that is cheap to extract. Finally, there are issues of oil ownership and security, which are problems now (as they have been for decades) by nature of the fact that 50% of all proven oil and gas reserves are in the Middle East.

Because demand is only going to increase over the coming decades, the only way to limit price and supply risks must focus on diminishing reliance on Mideast oil. The Exxon Mobil CEO pointed to a few ways this can be achieved: Develop energy sources in the U.S., including those in areas currently closed to drilling and exploration; use energy more efficiently; and import more oil from places like Russia, Africa, and the areas around the Caspian Sea.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Promoting alternatives to oil, and using energy more efficiently, are great ideas -- but you can't let them cloud your view of the facts. Economic growth and prosperity depend on oil. Energy companies exist to bring oil and gas to market, to feed our needs. As our needs grow, and the process of bringing oil to markets gets harder, Energy companies are going to realize bigger profits. Investments in the best-run companies in the sector, which include those in our model Energy Portfolio, will serve you well. Check them out here: http://www.BullMarket.com/members/energy.php3

A Course in Christianity 
Read more about it at http://lwb.blogspot.com/2004/06/best-of-web-today-june-11-2004-by.html

Electronic Rights: Copyright Law & Collective Works: "Electronic Rights: Copyright Law & Collective Works
Copyright 2001 Lloyd L. Rich

Introduction

In 2001 three significant judicial decisions interpreted copyright law and publishing contracts as they related to electronic rights ('e-rights'). The decisions reached in The New York Times Co., Inc., et al. v. Jonathan Tasini, et. al., Greenberg v. National Geographic Society and Random House, Inc. v. Rosetta Books, LLC cases will all have an impact on publishers and authors as electronic publishing expands in the future. The decisions in these cases may provide the publishing industry with guidance in deciding some of the following e-rights issues: (1) What is a revision of a collective work? (2) Are e-rights granted implicitly by an author or must they be explicitly granted? (3) What is a book? and (4) Can a non-compete clause prevent an author from granting e-rights to someone other than the publisher of the author's printed book? "

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits >

For Budding Authors, a Rapid-Fire Publisher

June 10, 2004
For Budding Authors, a Rapid-Fire Publisher
By ERIC A. TAUB

'HOT off the presses' has taken on a newly literal meaning with the installation of the first instant book-printing machine in an American bookstore.

Take a floppy disk or CD-ROM to Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J., or e-mail the store a file, and pow! - in as little as 17 minutes a perfect-bound paperback version of your novel, family memoir, or favorite Bulgarian desserts can be printed.

Every book comes complete with a customized cover chosen from among several thousand designs. For an additional fee, it can also be trademarked and registered with a machine-readable ISBN number, essential for any author hoping to get the work stocked by a major chain and on its way to becoming a best seller.

Of course, the chances of best-seller status are as likely as sudden world peace. Which is why Victor Celorio, president of InstaBook in Gainesville, Fla., created his print-on-demand machine in the first place. ...

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

For Reagan, All Life Was Sacred

By WILLIAM P. CLARK

Published: June 11, 2004

PASO ROBLES, Calif.

Ronald Reagan had not passed from this life for 48 hours before proponents of human embryonic stem-cell research began to suggest that such ethically questionable scientific work should be promoted under his name. But this cannot honestly be done without ignoring President Reagan's own words and actions.

Ronald Reagan's record reveals that no issue was of greater importance to him than the dignity and sanctity of all human life. "My administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land," he said in 1983. "And there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning." One of the things he regretted most at the completion of his presidency in 1989, he told me, was that politics and circumstances had prevented him from making more progress in restoring protection for unborn human life. ...

World Bank Research - Working Papers:

Title:Greed and Grievance in Civil War

Authors: [alphabetically]Paul Collier, and Anke Hoeffler
Pub. Date:March 1, 2002
Full Text:Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [233 KB]

We investigate the causes of civil war, using a new data set of wars during 1960-99. Rebellion may be explained by atypically severe grievances, such as high inequality, a lack of political rights, or ethnic and religious divisions in society. Alternatively, it might be explained by atypical opportunities for building a rebel organization. Opportunity may be determined by access to finance, such as the scope for extortion of natural resources, and for donations from a diaspora population. Opportunity may also depend upon factors such as geography: mountains and forests may be needed to incubate rebellion. We test these explanations and find that opportunity provides considerably more explanatory power than grievance. Economic viability appears to be the predominant systematic explanation of rebellion. "

Half Staff

Military District of Washington - News:: "When the president directs that the flag be flown at half staff at military facilities, on Naval vessels and at stations abroad, it will be so flown whether or not the flag of another nation is flown at full staff alongside the U.S. flag.

When a president, former president or president-elect dies, the flag will be flown at half staff for 30 days from the date of death during the period of reveille to retreat.

When a vice president, chief justice or retired chief justice of the United States or speaker of the House of Representatives dies, the flag will be flown at half staff for 10 days from the day of death during the period of reveille to retreat.

There are specific guidelines for flying the flag for other individuals, ranging from an associate justice of the Supreme Court to retired enlisted service members. The flag might fly at half staff at all installations or only at the military installation while the funeral is being conducted.

The extent of the flag flying at half staff depends on the rank and or position of the deceased person."

Military District of Washington - News::

Origins of the 21-Gun Salute

The tradition of saluting can be traced to the Middle Ages practice of placing oneself in an unarmed position and, therefore, in the power of those being honored.

The cannon salute might have originated in the 17th century with the maritime practice of demanding that a defeated enemy expend its ammunition and render itself helpless until reloaded ? a time-consuming operation in that era.

In the Anglo-Saxon Empire, seven guns was a recognized naval salute, seven being the standard number of weapons on a vessel. Because more gunpowder could be stored on dry land, forts could fire three rounds for every one fired from sea, hence the number 21. With the improvement of naval gunpowder, honors rendered at sea were increased to 21 as well.

Beginning in our colonial period the United States fired one shot for each state in the Union. This was continued until 1841 when it was reduced to 21 from 26. Although it had been in use for more than 30 years, the 21-gun salute was not formally adopted until Aug. 18, 1875. This was at the suggestion of the British, who proposed a 'Gun for Gun Return' to their own 21-gun salute. "

Hail to the Gipper

: "Examples of Infopoll Question Types
Infopoll supports a diversity of question types to meet your needs. Many of the question type are unique, such as matrix/spreadsheet questions. "

C&EN: LATEST NEWS - Paving the Way For Nanotech:

"Paving the Way For Nanotech

Institute of Medicine roundtable hosts forum to assess field, find ways to avoid misconceptions

SUSAN R. MORRISSEY

Nanotechnology has been billed as the next great technological revolution--sometimes referred to as the "second Industrial Revolution." It holds great promise in a number of areas, including medicine, energy, and materials science. But as the science advances and applications begin to emerge, researchers and policymakers fear that unintended health and environmental implications and a backlash of negative public opinion will stop the field in its tracks.

To guard against such a backlash, a push is under way to make sure that, as the science moves forward, issues related to the environmental and safety implications and the ethical concerns of nanotechnology also are studied. This latter group of studies was the topic of discussion at an Institute of Medicine workshop held in Washington, D.C., on May 27. Sponsored by IOM's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research & Medicine, the meeting assessed the current state of research on nanotech implications."

DelphiGroup.com - About - Site Map: "Home > About > Site Map "

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Digital Domain: What's Google's Secret Weapon? An Army of Ph.D.'s:

"What's Google's Secret Weapon? An Army of Ph.D.'s

By RANDALL STROSSPublished: June 6, 2004

Mostly, Google has concentrated on recruiting those with a background in what you would expect: computer science. Founded by two near-Ph.D.'s who have purposely placed Ph.D.'s throughout the company, Google encourages all employees to act as researchers, by spending 20 percent of their time on new projects of their own choosing.
...
Microsoft has 56,000 employees, but its research group, with 700, is separate. Google has 1,900 employees, and no separate research group, so all 1,900, effectively, are charged to "boldly go where no one has gone before" (its words). You have to like Google's chances.
...
In 1991, Microsoft established its separate research organization, following contemporary orthodoxy, and sought Ph.D.'s to conduct research full time. Its mainstream recruiting, however, remains focused on undergraduates and master's students.
'We're not heavy into Ph.D. recruiting,' explains Kristen Roby, Microsoft's director of recruiting at colleges in the United States. 'We're huge believers in hiring potential.'
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Google, however, prefers those who have been trained for the maximum time setting on the university's dial and who have experience in organizing their own research agenda. The company has not released data about its Ph.D's for two years, but based on its history, the number is probably more than 100."

Legal Media Group - informing global counsel for over 15 years

"Record companies retain CD protection right

Stephanie Bodoni, London - 06 June 2004

Four of the world's largest music companies have scored a victory in a case that could have damaged their anti-counterfeiting efforts.

In an 11-page judgment on May 26, a Belgian court rejected demands by Belgian consumer watchdog Test-Achats to halt the record labels' production of copy-protected CDs and remove all such CDs from the market.
The court ruled that EMI, Sony, BMG and Universal Music had the right to produce anti-copying CDs, delivering a blow to Test-Achats, which had collected more than 200 complaints from disgruntled individuals. . . ."

Google Web APIs - Getting Help: "Getting Help
Google Web APIs is a free beta service, so support is somewhat limited. However, there are three ways for you to find additional information or get help with problems you encounter:
Discussing problems on the google.public.web-apis Google Group. Google employees monitor the group and occasionally will participate and post responses.
Emailing api-support@google.com. While we can't promise we'll be able to respond to every question that comes in, Google staff read all the email we receive.
Reading the FAQs. "

How does Gmail search work?

Answer

With Gmail, you have the full functionality of Google search in your email account. By saving your messages and using Google search, you don't have to spend time filing or creating an elaborate folder system to keep yourself organized. Choose your search terms, and Google will do the rest for you.
The simplest type of search involves entering a word (or multiple words) that appears anywhere within the message for which you're searching. For example, if you're looking for a message from a friend that contains the word shopping, then simply type in the search query shopping.

Gmail search is just like Google's web search -- it supports several advanced operators, or query words, that have a special meaning. Typically, these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to perform a different type of search. For instance, from: is a useful Gmail operator. Let's say your friend's email address is listed as "Jennifer Smith" . To find messages from Jennifer, you could search for from:jennifer or from:googlegal (note that the query from:jen would not work because the word jen does not appear in the listed email address).

Once you get more comfortable with searching, you may want to combine terms or use more advanced operators to make your searches more accurate. Suppose you're planning to go shopping with Jennifer and you want to review conversations only about shopping. You can then use the query from:jennifer shopping. Or, suppose you want to find a message you sent to Jennifer, and to which you've applied the label "fun-stuff". Then you can use the query to:jennifer label:fun-stuff.

There are many more options available. If you're interested in finding out more, check out advanced search operators. Don't worry if you can't remember every single special operator. You can always click 'Show search options' just below the Gmail search box to refine your search without having to remember any special operators.

It’s important to note that, at this time, Gmail search doesn’t recognize matches to partial strings or matches that are 'similar' to your query, including plurals and misspellings. If you search for 'travel,' Gmail returns emails containing instances of 'travel,' but does not return emails including 'travels' or 'travles.'

updated 5/28/2004

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