Monthly Archives: May 2009

The Miami Herald Doubles Down on Boring

Posted on May 10, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

As if it wasn't boring enough already, the Miami Herald picks one of its more boring columnists to be editorial page director: Columnist Myriam Marquez to lead Herald editorial board.

It doesn't help that she's also a don't rock the boat moderate conservative. Not someone to offend many readers, certs, but not someone to sell many papers either.

In a further sign of Not Getting It, consider this quote from the article announcing the appointment,

“The blogs are great — they offer quick snapshots of the prevailing winds — but only the board can look at the big issues like the future of the Everglades and money for education and thoroughly research them.''

Oh yeah? How come I learn more (and sooner!) about area water issues on this blog than in the Herald?

How come I learn more (and sooner) about the candidates in local elections from blogs than I do from the Herald?

How come almost all the columnists (except Fred Grimm, Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry when we can get him) and 100% of the editorials in the Herald are boring and uninformative?

This isn't the sort of appointment that is going to fix the real problems at the Herald. Oh for the days of Jim DeFede and Ana Menendez…

Posted in The Media | 1 Comment

Teaser

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Finishing a paper.

Working on a Big Project I hope to reveal in a week or two.

Not working enough on a different Big Project I hope to reveal in a couple of months.

Grading starts next week. (Cf. The Scariest Moments in Law Teaching.)

No blogging today, at least not until late, please feel free to talk amongst yourselves….

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

‘Call a Canadian’?

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

I can't decide if this is smart politics or an invitation to thousands of horrible intrusions on the private lives of innocent people.

Call a Canadian : Effect Measure

Back in the days when Quebec was a referendum in the Province on whether to secede from the rest of Canada, there was a campaign from outside to call a Quebecois to tell them that Quebec was a valued part of the country. People dialed their own phone number but with a Quebec area code. Mr. Link suggests that Americans start a similar campaign to Call a Canadian:

Want to know what universal single-payer health care is really like? Do people die on gurneys waiting for operations? Would you pay through the nose in taxes? Is it really worry free? Instead of listening to “experts” from the health insurance industry, lobbyists, the government, or even Michael Moore, why not call an average Canadian and find out for yourself?

Substitute your area code for a Canadian one listed below and call your own phone number. Introduce yourself and ask the person at the end of the line what they think about their health care system. Ask about their own experience. The service, the price, the choice, whatever.

Then make up your mind if single-payer universal health care is a good idea for the USA.

Canadian Area Codes:

  • 709 Atlantic Time plus a half hour
  • 506 and 902 Atlantic Time
  • 819, 418, 581, 450, 613, 514, 438, 343, 416, 647, 905, 289, 705, 519, 226, 807 Eastern Time
  • 204, 306 Central Time
  • 867, 780, 587, 403, 587 Mountain Time
  • 250, 778, 604 Pacific Time

Somehow, I just can't shake the idea that most foreigners would just as soon not find a strange American on the line quizzing them about health care (or anything else for that matter).

Posted in Politics: US: Healthcare | 18 Comments

Florida’s Open Records Law Meets the FIU Dean Search

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Spare a moment of sympathy for the poor folks at FIU Law.

Having just been through a (very successful) relatively painless Dean search here at UM, I know just how awful even the very best search can be. Now imagine having to do the whole thing in public, thanks to Florida's Sunshine Law: PrawfsBlawg: Deans and Sausages: On conducting a dean search in public and correcting the public record.

I'm for open records, but not for the internal workings of (most) personnel matters, if only because it scares away candidates. In this case, it's hard to see what the public benefit is, and easy to see the costs.

Posted in Law School | 5 Comments

Orthodox Celts

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

So I encountered a link to Orthodox Celts – Star Of The County Down, and enjoyed the video:

But the accent was a tiny bit funny — were these maybe Australian expatriates? — and come to think of, these are not very most Irish looking group I ever saw, but then again they said “Celts” so maybe they are Scottish?

But I did like the name — Orthodox Celts. None of this modern music for this crew. Take that, you Pogues. And I liked the drinking song, and Far Away, and some of the others.

Is there an Amazon CD? No, there's none. Odd.

Well, what does Google say? There I learn that Orthodox Celts are “Belgrade's most popular Irish & Celtic music band.” OK, that explains the accent and the look. But it sure sounds like damning with faint praise, or at least small frog, microscopic puddle, but no … Wikipedia tells me that the OC are part of a genuine cultural phenomenon:

Formed in 1992, Orthodox Celts are part of the musical phenomenon that came up in Serbia during the 1990s. The band performs Irish folk music combined with rock elements. Their music led to a popularisation of Irish and Celtic music and other aspects of Irish and Celtic culture in Serbia. Despite their unusual sound the band is currently one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene and has influenced several younger bands, most notably Tir na n'Og and Irish Stew of Sindidun.

A big-time Irish music scene in Serbia. Who wouldda thunk?

It's especially amazing given that, as far as I know, the Celtic influence on Serbia ended when Rome was at its peak. The Scordisci — who may or may not have been ethnic Celts, but seem to have been part of a Celtic political constellation — had their capital at Singidunum (now Belgrade) in the 3rd century BCE, but the Scordisci faded from history more than 2000 years ago, after the Romans conquered them, and the rest of the Celts were pretty much gone from most of mainland Europe before the fall of Rome.

Posted in Kultcha | 3 Comments

Because We Can

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Anyone tried Windows 7 RC1 in a virtual box under XP?

And then, the next question, can you run XP under that?

(I answered the inevitable third question in the title.)

Posted in Software | 2 Comments