In Praise of Portable Firefox

Dear Portable Firefox,

I love you. Love. You are the best thing since... since.... USB drives were invented. The best! I'm working in an office that runs something like Windows 2000 or NT (I'm not sure which) and the tech freaks have locked everything down so that I can't even update IE, let alone install Firefox. Until I learned about Portable Firefox, I thought I was just stuck with IE. And then my good friend Jose gave me a tip and everything changed.

I didn't realize how much it sucked doing legal research on IE until I loaded up Portable Firefox and got to work. Tabs make legal research much more efficient for me—I'm always getting a list of search results and it's nice to open the cases I want to look at in new tabs—way better than a bunch of slow IE windows. And even on a USB drive Firefox is faster than IE. Heaven.

Thank you John Haller for creating this, and thank you Jose for the tip!

Now does anyone know where I could find a nice Windows compatible, USB-friendly outliner/database like DevonThink or NoteTaker?

Posted 06:32 PM | Comments (2) | 2L summer mac geek

Blawg Wisdom Needs You

Blawg Wisdom has been updated with a new request for advice about choosing between Loyola and Southwestern law schools. Please head on over and offer any tips you can think of, either about those schools specifically, or making the choice more generally.

Unfortunately, this is the first update to Blawg Wisdom in weeks. I frequently come across posts I think would make good links there but then I forget where I saw them before I have time to post them. Plus, I just don't have the blog-reading time I once did. Bottom line: I can't find all the good “wisdom” about law school on my own.

So: Would anyone like to help keep Blawg Wisdom more up to date? I envision a handful of people posting occasionally when they come across links they think would be helpful to other law students. If I post twice a month, and two or three other post twice a month, the site will be a bit more active and useful for everyone. Ideally we could get volunteers from different places in law school—pre-law, 1L, 2L, 3L, maybe even a recent grad or two. Your interests change as you go through the process so it would be good to have a representative from each step along the way.

Volunteers?

Posted 06:51 AM | Comments (6) | meta-blogging

Hosed in Court?

Yesterday I saw a woman show up to court wearing a moderately short skirt and black stockings with the seam up the back of the leg (are these called French stockings?). It made me wonder: Is this supposed to mean anything? Are there rules about stockings? Is it ever appropriate to wear, say, fishnets to court? And what about women attorneys who wear skirts? Are hose required? Is there some code that says bare legs are bad?

This is what I'm reduced to: writing about pantyhose.

But on the subject of court attire, here's another question: What is the meaning of the blue blazer? Is it acceptable for an attorney to wear khakis, a nice shirt and tie, and a blue blazer to court? Or is that not formal enough? Is a suit required?

Posted 06:12 AM | Comments (3) | 2L summer

20 Truths About Criminal Justice

Just quickly: 20 Incontrovertible Truths About Criminal Justice [via Alaskablawg].

Posted 07:01 AM | crimlaw

Hearsay Exception Movie!

Energy Spatula offers up the very best way to learn about hearsay exceptions—The Hearsay Exception Movie!

The maker of this movie is without a doubt a rockstar. What a great way to study! And he got credit for it, too! My evidence class does not even begin to measure up.

Extra points to anyone who can name the song on which the Hearsay Exception Movie tune is based.

Posted 07:00 AM | Comments (2) | law school

When you don't have time to read or write you make lists

1. These tape men are awesome.
2. Blawg Review #7 is up and good. Mr. Richey did a great job frontin' for blawg students everywhere. Thanks JR!
3. Blawg Review #6 also looked really good, although I still haven't been able to read most of it. Working 40 hrs/week and commuting an additional 10 has a way of seriously cutting down on surf-time.
4. This Rojo thing looks like a possibly cool replacement for del.icio.us—sort of like del.icio.us on steroids. Anyone tried it?
5. Legal Lies at Stay of Execution is a must-read for law students and future law students, although I haven't yet read it. It has made f/k/a unhappy, but really, I have no idea what they're talking about. Do you think I should read the things I link to?
6. At first blush (and again, I haven't read much about it), this fillibuster deal seems like a big fat loser for Democrats because doesn't it basically mean they're going to have to confirm the nominees they previously blocked? Doesn't it give the Republicans almost everything they wanted (up/down votes on nominees) while giving Dems almost nothing? What am I missing?
7. I learned a new word yesterday:

   asportation |ˌaspərˈtā sh ən| noun Law, rare the detachment, movement, or carrying away of property, considered an essential component of the crime of larceny.

   ORIGIN late 15th cent.: from Latin asportation-, from asportare ‘carry away.’

   It strikes me as a rather odd word. Doesn't it seem like it should also be a verb? “My car was asportated” is rather simple, but as a noun I guess you'd have to say “Someone has committed asportation of my car.” Strange.



8. I have a strong preference against links that open in new windows. I have a variety of options when I click a link—open in new window, new tab, or in the same window—but web authors who set their links with a “new window” target play a power game in which they attempt to manipulate the choice I make on that click. Don't these hatas know I will always win!?

Posted 07:04 AM | Comments (11) | lists meta-blogging