March 31, 2006
unblague: Calling all bloggers...!
http://unblague.blogspot.com/2006/03/calling-all-bloggers.html I started completely anonymously, then about a year and a half ago I came “out” by writing a short article about blogging, using my real name as a byline, and allowing the editors to mention the name of my blog. Since that time, I've continued to post pseudonymously, knowing full well that anyone who wants to spend a minute on Google can find my real name. I think it's better in the long run to blog under the assumption that your readers know your “real” identity or could know it very easily (e.g. via a Google search or two). If you block under this assumption you will be more careful about what you say and less likely to say something that you will regret in your “real” life. Yes, this means you sacrifice the freedom to publish whatever the hell crosses your mind, but in the long run, that's going to be better for you. I think the above is the best plan if you hope to maintain your blog long-term, but even if you just blog for six months, I still think you should do so with the assumption that your identity is known or easily could be. You may never run for public office, but someone may end up digging into your past for some other reason and wouldn't be nice if you didn't have to worry about all those crazy insane things you said on your blog? And remember, even if you delete a blog, it doesn't go away -- the Google cache will save it, as will the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive. In short, the risks of pretending that anonymity is even possible are just too large for me to accept.Posted by mowabb at 10:28 AM
March 27, 2006
parenthetical statement: phoenix
http://web.mac.com/washingtonydc/iWeb/parenthetical%20statement/blog/985A2BEE-7660-433C-9B23-6DBD6B867F10.html Congrats on your new home here. I'll be interested to see how things go w/iWeb and iLife for you. I've played w/iWeb and it's great for putting a cool site together quickly, but using it for a blog? May you find it to be as simple as you hope!Posted by mowabb at 08:47 PM
March 26, 2006
3L Epiphany: Taxonomy Work Thus Far
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/taxonomy_work_t_1.html#comment-15428052 This is looking very interesting -- much more helpful than I'd initially thought. One suggestion: I would not put Blonde Justice into the “humor” category. Yes, some of what she writes is very fun, but that is balanced by quite a lot of serious and very informative commentary on criminal defense law and what it's like to be a public defender. Lots of blogs make readers laugh once in a while, but I really don't think it's fair to Blonde Justice to suggest that is its main goal.Posted by mowabb at 05:32 PM
March 21, 2006
3L Epiphany: Question on Alphabetizing Blogs
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/question_should.html#comment-15259448 I gotta say I agree w/“some guy” here. You see blogrolls alphabetize with “the” only b/c the software is doing the alphabetization and it's not smart enough to ignore articles. If you're going to arrange the blogs in your taxonomy by hand, alphabetize like a human (ignore articles), not like a machine.Posted by mowabb at 07:02 PM
March 06, 2006
3L Epiphany: Question about Links and New Windows
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/03/question_about_.html#comment-14714700 You can control this behavior by setting the “target” attribute on an anchor tag to “blank.” I'd give you examples but you've set up your blog to reject HTML in comments so any examples will prevent me from submitting this comment. (BTW: I may be missing it, but I haven't found an email address on your blog, either. Such an address would allow readers to send you stuff that won't fit in comments for some reason and might therefore be a good idea.) Others will disagree w/me, but I encourage you to avoid making links open in new windows. This is annoys me no end b/c it puts the page author's preferences above my own as a reader. I prefer to respect my readers' intelligence and preferences and allow readers to decide whether to open a link in a new window, or a new tab, or whatever.Posted by mowabb at 06:32 AM
March 03, 2006
Audacity: Blogger Code of Ethics
http://audacity.typepad.com/index/2006/03/blogger_code_of.html#comment-14595284 Well, I dunno. If the blogger posted it, he/she must expect people to read it, and he/she must know that people often like to talk about things they read, right? If it's online, it's fair game for links and comments, isn't it? Sure, you might not want to be too mean or snarky if this person is a friend, but still, linking and commenting should be fine.Posted by mowabb at 12:29 AM
February 27, 2006
3L Epiphany: Dialogue: Blogs and Debate Boards in the Classroom
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/02/dialogue_blogs_.html#comment-14406362 The trouble w/students blogging about a law school class is that it would take the prof an unwieldy amount of time to evaluate and track participation. My school already has discussion boards for each class and a handful of profs require 2 or so posts/semester from each student. For some classes it's worthwhile, but for the most part the professors tell you that it's a pass/fail thing -- if you do it, you get credit. That means the quality of the posts varies pretty widely and is not necessarily useful. Plus, there's really no way to track whether anyone is reading the posts others have made. So while I agree that more online participation (via blogs or discussion boards) could be valuable to law school classes, I just don't think it would work unless classes were really small (e.g. a dozen students or less), and/or profs had a dedicated team of RAs or something to monitor quality and quantity of participation.Posted by mowabb at 11:09 AM
February 21, 2006
Will Work for Favorable Dicta: Oh sh*t!
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2006/02/oh-sht.html Prevent this from ever happening again: Get a nice 1-2GB zip/thumb drive (whatever you call the little USB doohickies in your neck of the woods), load it up with Portable Apps (including Firefox), and use that when visiting your parents. For good measure, password-protect the whole shebang so if you lose it no one will be able to access your info. Or, more simply, just give up on anonymity. It's a very freeing thing.Posted by mowabb at 09:35 PM
February 13, 2006
3L Epiphany: Electronic Footnote
http://3lepiphany.typepad.com/3l_epiphany/2006/02/electronic_foot.html#comment-13939206 This sounds like a terrific idea. Your uncertainty about what might happen to this blog (and the URL you actually print in the published version of your note) suggests that what's needed here is a sort of permanent repository for these things. Something like SSRN might be able to host electronic footnotes, but it would need to be some established organization that can make the webspace available and guarantee it will be there for years to come. For your own purposes, how long are you really going to want to pay TypePad fees? Maybe it would be better to create a free blog on Blogspot for something like this -- then it could be online for free (to you) for as long as Blogger/Blogspot exists. I don't know if this is the best solution, but it's a thought.Posted by mowabb at 09:02 PM
Life, Law, Gender: Bad, bad blogger
http://musingsonlifelawandgender.typepad.com/life_law_gender/2006/02/bad_bad_blogger.html#comment-13916984 It's great when real life is so rich and full you have no time for blogging. We'll be here for those times when you decide to take a little blog break; meanwhile, enjoy!Posted by mowabb at 10:35 AM
February 10, 2006
Scoplaw: Blawgging Pause
http://scoplaw.blogs.com/scoplaw/2006/02/blawgging_pause.html#comment-13840304 Sometimes when a single subject takes over your blog, you let the mundanities slip. And when they slip, it’s hard to return to them (for the contrast makes them seem trite) and it’s hard to compile them as they start to slip out of immediate memory. So true. I feel this way all the time. A blog can be sort of schizophrenic when it jumps from serious to light and everywhere in between all the time, yet that's how life is, isn't it? Your rarebit sounds yummy, if a little complicated. I'm more of a “open microwave, insert dish, press 5 minutes” kind of cook, myself.Posted by mowabb at 04:31 PM
January 27, 2006
WonL: I write a blog, but am I really a blogger?
http://wonl.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-write-blog-but-am-i-really-blogger.html You expressed almost exactly something I've long felt and never resolved. I generally keep the blogging world clearly separated from the the “real” world except with my closest family and friends who “know me” in both worlds or ways. It's odd when the two worlds collide. And I wonder if you'll find -- if you continue to develop friendships with people you meet through your blog -- that the separation will continue. Your blog friends will still be your blog friends, separate from the rest of your life, at least until you invite some blog friends and some “real life” friends to get together for the same event and are forced to explain to your “real life” friends how you know all these crazy blog people. That has only happened to me once and I just didn't answer the question. Are our blogs reasons to be embarrassed? I don't think yours is, and perhaps its time I “owned” mine, as well. Hmm... Anyway, good for you for going to that happy hour. I thought about it for about 10 seconds. Now that I know you were there I wish I'd gone!Posted by mowabb at 11:28 AM
September 19, 2005
idlegrasshopper: Old blogs never die, they just fade away.
http://idlegrasshopper.blogspot.com/2005/08/old-blogs-never-die-they-just-fade.html I'm late to this party b/c I only check occasionally b/c you only post occasionally, but I agree w/FPC in the hope that you'll find you miss this and come back. How else will we all be able to enjoy funny stories of your professors calling on you with coded references to your blog? So good luck w/2L and know that we, your loyal readers, will welcome you back w/open arms should/when you decide to come back to this virtual world of plenty.Posted by mowabb at 08:26 AM
June 26, 2005
thisdarkqualm » On the picture . . .
http://thisdarkqualm.com/?p=212 Dude, I love the picture and the whole new look. It’s more fun to post to an aesthetically pleasing and personalized space, don’t you think? I also love this instant preview of the comments. I bet you don’t have much spam trouble, either. If I’m not careful, you’re going to make me a WP convert!Posted by mowabb at 05:39 AM
May 23, 2005
Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground: Week Law-School Roundup:
http://www.legalunderground.com/2005/05/the_weekly_laws.html I am Unable to Compete with the High Level Discourse on this Thread, but I WILL say that the Weekly Law School Roundup coexisted with Blawg Review Happily for a few Weeks and I am Confident it Could Continue to do so, Especially with the Capable Aid of E. Spatula and Dave!. I Am Not Personally Involved In Anything.Posted by mowabb at 06:22 AM
May 09, 2005
Life, Law, Gender: Oooh! I'm famous!
http://musingsonlifelawandgender.typepad.com/life_law_gender/2005/05/oooh_im_famous.html We're cool w/you, too, Denise, and it's great to see that Chirs is, too. I really appreciate what you've done/are doing w/this site -- being candid about your transition and standing up to irrational prejudice where you see it. I really think it's this kind of thing -- on a massive scale -- that exposes fear and prejudice for what they are and make them unacceptable to soceity. One person at a time is really the only way to change anything, isn't it?Posted by mowabb at 12:20 PM
April 29, 2005
Preaching to the Perverted: Yipe! Skype!
http://www.gulbransen.net/preaching/archives/2005/04/yipe_skype.html Hey, you want to do a Skype podcast? I've been looking for an opportunity to try using Skype to record interviews so you would make a perfect guinea pig, if you're interested. You could explain to me how the heck you're getting through law school while working full time. Oh, and you were going to talk about how you're using Devonthink at some point, which would also be interesting, at least to me, and that's really what this is all about it, isn't it? ;-)Posted by mowabb at 10:14 AM
April 23, 2005
Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil: Ethics Question
http://www.threeyearsofhell.com/archive/003268.php I got the same email (probably it's the same one, anyway). I don't care about the money as an ethical thing (if you disclose that you might get paid for posting the link, where's the ethical problem?), but I agree w/Anonymous that the money has to be coming from somewhere and I don't think that's something I want to support. If the money doesn't come from sales of personal information, it sounds like it may come from big firms trying to improve their ability to suck up the best talent from American law schools. Helping with that project in any way is about the last thing I'd want to do, regardless of how much they offered to pay.Posted by mowabb at 08:45 AM
April 17, 2005
Will Work for Favorable Dicta: There's this one particular harbour...
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2005/04/theres-this-one-particular-harbour.html Moot shmoot. You'll rock the courtroom with your command of the law. And if you don't, there's always beer. Sure, good appellate arguments can make law (and earn loads of favorable dicta), but beer is cheaper, and, well, it's good. Those shots of the coast are awesome. They remind me of the time I hiked the “lost coast” of Northern California w/my then girlfriend. Three days of no one but us and mile after mile (about 15 miles in total, I think) of breathtaking beauty like that captured in your pics. Talk about solitude and peace and blowing out the cobwebs from your brain. Man, what I would give for another hike like that about now...Posted by mowabb at 09:31 PM
April 09, 2005
Woman of the law: Welcome to the Monkey House
http://womanofthelaw.blogspot.com/2005/04/welcome-to-monkey-house.html
How about a BlawgCoop blog for $5/year!? I'd be happy to get you set up w/a test site (using either Wordpress or Movable Type) so you can see if you'd like it. (Movable Type is the software on which Typepad is based.) Categories, images, no more blogger outages, being part of a great little community of happy law-related bloggers, and cheap, too! What could be better?
I'm esp. eager for you to do this b/c I want to read every entry in your “What they don't tell you about PD jobs” category. I bet I'm not the only one....
Posted by mowabb at 02:16 PM
April 03, 2005
Blawg Review - the carnival of the blawgs and law blog reviews by legal bloggers
http://blawgreview.blogspot.com/2005/03/do-you-blawg.html
FYI: I tried to create a complete list of the blogs/bloggers mentioned in the article here. I don't know what you're talking about with all this “which other bloggers should have been mentioned?” stuff. I mean, my blog is mentioned, so it's got to be a great article, right? ;-)
Posted by mowabb at 01:08 PM
March 30, 2005
Will Work for Favorable Dicta -- Odds 'N' Ends:
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2005/03/odds-n-ends_28.html
Hey ya, blawgcoop rocks. ;-) And it would be happy to host any of ya'll (y'all?), because it's like that -- it is a happy hosting thing and it hearts you and wants to make your life better.
But even if you stick w/Blogger, you might be able to increase your blogging bliss and be less annoyed by blogger slowdowns and problems if you use a desktop blogging client like ecto or w.bloggar (short reviews and links here. The advantage is that you won't be working in a browser so you can have spell check, code shortcuts and help, undo, etc, and also if your browser or Blogger freak, you won't lose your post-in-progress or upon hosting, and that's kind of a good thing. Also, if you just can't be bothered to try one of these programs, you could also try this: hit control-A (select all), control-C (copy) before you hit “post.” That way, if something freaks out, your post will be on your clipboard for you to paste into notepad to save for later or to try posting again in blogger.
All of which is more than you wanted to know, but I'm a geek like that. And I agree w/ES: “baby mama” does not sound like a complimentary term.
Posted by mowabb at 08:17 AM
March 27, 2005
prettytypewriters » Making a mess . . .
http://www.prettytypewriters.com/bloggy/index.php?p=67
Much fun! And what a cute baby -- should I recognize this little one? (I'm bad w/things like that.)
This design makes me think of Scripting News, whose header features a large picture that changes periodically -- sometimes once a week, sometimes once every few months, depending on the author's whim. You could also do that w/your current design, which would be cool, I think. I've thought about doing it myself but that would require more design tweaking than I really have time for right now...
Posted by mowabb at 07:25 AM
March 22, 2005
musclehead: saying goodbye
http://musclehead.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_musclehead_archive.html#111125718733422056 You will be missed during this break so I hope it helps you find the refreshed perspective you seek. You may have noticed that I have recently avoided lengthy examinations of political events; like you, I find current events quite depressing and dispiriting, and almost surreal. However, my "break" from this human folly has come from focusing on other things, including reform of legal education so that it's not as empty and disappointing as you've found it. Perhaps you would like to be involved in a "Law School Can Be Different" conference project? Check in on my site and especially here for more on this to come. Meanwhile, enjoy your break. I hope you pop in once in a while to tell us about the birds, the bodybuilding, and the books you read. Politics and human folly are not the only blogworthy subjects in your arsenal....Posted by mowabb at 05:46 AM
March 20, 2005
Half-Cocked: Mail:
http://blawgcoop.com/half-cocked/archives/2005/03/mail.html So does this mean you didn't get my message that I can no longer access your index page in Safari on the Mac? If not, I'll repeat here that Mac users browsing via the Safari browser cannot see the content on your blog unless they access your site through the archives (which is how I got to this post). For some reason, the only thing that shows up are the two coins in the top right corner. I have no idea why this is, but, well, it is. The site looks fine in Firefox... The web is all about me and my problems, so please fix this, will you? I mean, probably about 10 people total use Safari; do you want to discriminate against all of us? ;-)Posted by mowabb at 08:28 PM