June 24, 2016

Northern Ireland voted Remain... It's not just Scotland

"BREAKING: Sinn Fein says "British government has forfeited any mandate to represent economic or political interests of people in N Ireland"

June 18, 2016

Florida Rule 4-7.18 for Legal Practice

Florida has an interestingly detailed rule on the subject of lawyers attempting to contact prospective clients:

Rule 4-7.18, in general, addresses the subject of "Communications With Prospective Clients"

(b) Written Communication.

(1) A lawyer may not send, or knowingly permit to be sent, on the lawyer's behalf or on behalf of the lawyer's firm or partner, an associate, or any other lawyer affiliated with the lawyer or the lawyer's firm, a written communication directly or indirectly to a prospective client for the purpose of obtaining professional employment if:

(A) the written communication concerns an action for personal injury or wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster involving the person to whom the communication is addressed or a relative of that person, unless the accident or disaster occurred more than 30 days prior to the mailing of the communication;

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What this means is that if something happens to you while you are at, say, a resort in Florida and some kind of misfortune befalls you, then the resort can, while attending to your needs as you stay at the resort and all of your communications with resort staff are recorded, have THEIR lawyers meet with you and communicate with you for a full month before any other Florida lawyer may attempt to contact you. Of course, if you are vacationing there, your odds of knowing a Florida lawyer whom you might contact, are approximately zero.

June 17, 2016

Disney Ignored Complaints About Guests Feeding Alligators

One of the problems with "there have been lots of visitors and no problems" to the 28 year old Grand Floridian resort at Disney is that even if a facility has been open for a long time, conditions can change over time.

Apparently, Disney very recently opened a set of bungalows on piles in the water, and guests have been feeding alligators from their decks. Employees were aware of this practice, but since the bungalows go for $2000 a night, it's not as if they are going to reprimand those guests for causing the alligators to associate humans with food:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3645504/Disney-ignored-employees-complaints-guests-2-000-night-bungalows-feeding-alligators.html

The problem has allegedly been exacerbated by the opening of the new $2,000-a-night Bora Bora Bungalows, a an expensive collection of private rooms situated directly on the Seven Seas Lagoon - just across from the beach where Lane was snatched.

The bungalows have private porches and guests apparently feed the alligators as they float past.

'Disney has known about the problem of guests feeding the alligators well-prior to the opening of the bungalows,' said an insider. 'With the opening of the bungalows, it brought the guests that much closer to wildlife. Or, the wildlife that much closer to the guests.'

A few employees said they had complained about the bungalow guests feeding the alligators, but alleged that park officials may have been hesitant to reprimand guests staying in $2,000-a-night suites.

'Disney knew these alligators had become desensitized to humans, as they had begun to associate guests with food, and did not act in a proactive manner,' the insider added.

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A change in conditions, about which they were aware, caused a substantially new and different risk relative to what had previously been the norm.

June 16, 2016

Which of these cars would you buy for your teenage driver?

This one:



Or this one:




If you would rather your child drive one of these than the other one, please explain why.

Also, please understand that they are the SAME car, with just some styling differences.

June 9, 2016

Kalamazoo cyclist crash suspect had previous DUI charge

http://fox17online.com/2016/06/09/kalamazoo-cyclist-crash-suspect-had-previous-dui-charge/

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich.—FOX 17 News has learned that the suspect in the crash that killed five bicyclists and seriously injured four others, was arrested for driving under the influence in Tennessee in 2011. However, that charge was later dismissed.

June 6, 2016

Trump is challenging a deranged individual to "do something" about Judge Curiel

Trump is perfectly entitled to file a motion for recusal of the judge on whatever grounds they see fit.

His lawyers:

DANIEL M. PETROCELLI (S.B. #97802) dpetrocelli@omm.com
DAVID L. KIRMAN (S.B. #235175) dkirman@omm.com
O’MELVENY & MYERS LLP 1999 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, California 90067-6035 Telephone: (310) 553-6700
Facsimile: (310) 246-6779

JILL A. MARTIN (S.B. #245626) jmartin@trumpnational.com
c/o TRUMP NATIONAL GOLF CLUB One Trump National Drive
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275 Telephone: (310) 202-3225
Facsimile: (310) 265-5522

have not done so.

Are they unethically failing to represent their client zealously?

Or does Mr. Trump expect someone else to take some other sort of action against this judge?

June 3, 2016

"This isn't an attack on a woman, it's an attack on a Trump supporter."

A range of opinions from DUers on the subject of cheering on protesters throwing eggs at a woman attending a Trump rally:

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Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I disagree with throwing eggs as a form of protest, however, I don't think the poster's subject line is serious enough to hide it.

Juror #2 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Agree with the alerter. Just because this woman supports Trump does not mean she should be assaulted in any way. If she were a Hillary or Bernie supporter, there would be massive DU outrage at such an attack. Hide it - don't encourage this kind of intolerance and violence, against this woman or anyone else.

Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: We have an ugly side too.
To hide it or to pretend that this doesn't exist is to bury our heads in the sand and learn nothing.
This isn't an attack on a woman, it's an attack on a Trump supporter.

Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: It's not only the assault. Violence is part of the Trump Cult's culture, and it's bad enough that some of their opponents are stooping to their level. But, it's even worse when people here celebrate that kind of behavior.

Juror #5 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: This is one of the most disgusting and evil posts I've seen on DU. Shame on you. Hide it and potentially ban the poster as well if it's part of a pattern of behaviour - DU must not become a haven for incitement to violence.

Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given

Juror #7 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: Are we really advocating physical assault on people who support Trump? How are the people assaulting this woman morally superior to the Trumpsters?

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In order to get people to accept violence against others, it is first helpful to de-humanize the object of the violence.

The reasoning of Juror #3 is such a good embodiment of this principle, that it is worth sharing:

"This isn't an attack on a woman, it's an attack on a Trump supporter."

Once you have placed the object of violence into a category other than "human", then anything is possible.

June 3, 2016

Congratulations Trump Protestors

I guess some of the geniuses in California are going to be featured in a Trump ad modeled after this highly successful Nixon ad:



MOST people - by far the vast majority - do not spend a lot of their time thinking about politics. They have their lives to manage.

May 21, 2016

I'm thinking lithium battery in a consumer device

Because it's only a matter of time.