Today's New Blawg

A number of firey-eyed and feisty blawgers (all law students, if I'm not mistaken?) are now sitting En Banc. I really like the group blog format for law types. It's a little like the talk show format, but they get to take the discussion anywhere they want and the "cameras" are on all the time. It also lets them cover lots of material and bring diverse perspectives to bear, but as Greg Goelzhauser is quick to point out, "I'm not sure the 8 of us combined could be as productive as [Howard Bashman]."

In other blawgy news (and speaking of Howard):

Please don't let 20 Questions die!

[U]nless I receive a volunteer by Friday, October 31, 2003, there will be no December 2003 installment, and the January 2004 interview with Chief Judge Tacha of the Tenth Circuit will mark the end of the "20 questions for the appellate judge" feature.

To volunteer, a federal or state court appellate judge need merely send me an email by clicking here. Since this Web log was launched in May 2002, it has received more than 2.2 million visits, and regular readers include state and federal appellate and trial court judges from throughout the United States and the world, attorneys, law professors, law students, staffers who work in the White House and at the U.S. Senate, and plenty of others readers located in the United States and throughout the world. I don't believe there is any other outlet that will allow a federal or state appellate judge to communicate to this extent in his or her own words to such a sophisticated and diverse audience.

20 Questions is narrowcasting with a broad appeal (uh, no pun intended). There are so few opportunities for the public and the profession to learn more about the people comprising the appellate judiciary. Howard has done a fantastic job of giving these folks an accessible voice. Please spread the word, and help 20 Questions continue.

Whose Standard Is It, Anyway?

Dan Farber's* article on Federated identity, PingID and standards cartels provides a good overview of some of the standards issues and discussions from Digital ID World last week, and highlights the efforts of PingID, which Farber says "takes its cue from a well-known and successful networked partner infrastructure: the ATM banking system." I'm still intrigued by the excellent question posed by Cory Doctorow during Phil Windley's primer on the developing standards: how are the intellectual property implications of the standards being dealt with on the front end, and if they're not, do people understand what this can mean? John Udell is wondering the same thing. You would think something is pretty bleeding edge if no one has yet figured out who will own it, but cue Phil again: he's wondering why digital identity is not an emerging technology.

*That's Dan, far right.

[Update] PingID's Bryan Field-Elliot has some thoughts.

Today's New Blawg

Michael Lowe is a criminal defense attorney in Dallas, TX, and writes Dallas Lawyer. Michael does a good deal of expunction work (see Texas Expunction of Criminal Records):

Upon the petition of a criminal defendant, a court can direct certain law enforcement agencies to destroy all records associated with an arrest and subsequent prosecution. Many times the court will specifically direct law enforcement agencies to destroy jail records, police reports, prosecution reports and court files. In addition, a successful expungement petitioner, can legally deny ever having been arrested for or charged with the criminal offense for which he is receiving the expunction.

This process was a new one on me. Thanks Michael, for the enlightenment, and I hope you keep blogging in connection with your practice.

[Feel free to insert Bush joke of your choice here.]

Another Assault On The Gene Pool

Congratulations!! to Heather at Held In Contempt, proud new mommy-blawger.

(Baby gear with a sense of humor: "Mommy, when I count the sheep do I include the clones?")

Call Your Mother!

Recipe for keeping the kid's grandmothers-to-be happy:

• Take one Mac running OS X and the current versions of iSync and iCal.


• Create an iCal "Birthdays" calendar, with alarms, listing all those occasions the forgetting of which will have you paying in blood for years to come.


• Fold in one Bluetooth enabled phone (make sure it's one with calendar support).


• Sync lightly for 1-2 minutes.

And Voilà! You have a phone that reminds you to call your mother on her birthday (and reminds you to shop, if you set the alarm far enough in advance and/or add a "to do" item).

Caveat: my own mother was appalled at the suggestion I might actually require such a reminder. May my careless indiscretion help you avoid such pitfalls. (Hopefully, the business utility of such a system isn't lost on you either...)