A large storm blew through Chicago on Wednesday, June 23. A photographer caught lightning hitting the Trump Tower and the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) in the same image.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
From foreclosed homes to islands for sale
From this Guardian UK article discussing Greece’s efforts to lease or sell island property to help fill its national coffers, I clicked through to this website: Private Islands Online. Even with a weak economy, why not pick up a 12.5 acre island in the Florida Keys for $17 million? Or how about a 3 acre island in the St. Joseph River in Michigan, just an hour or so from Chicago?
And for those who are a little worried about their budgets, don’t worry: there are some beautiful islands for rent.
From minivan to “Man Van”
Perhaps the Toyota Sienna is not the only minivan men love (at least according to its commercials). According to the Wall Street Journal, Chrysler will be rolling out a “man van” version of the Grand Caravan in the coming months. The slightly different styling and interior will cater to men:
“A man van won’t generate huge sales, but it’s one of those vehicles that gets people talking and heads turning,” said one dealer. “We need that now. I mean if it gets one guy to give the minivan a second look, its worth it.”…
Chrysler’s man van may help overcome the stigma surrounding the minivan in the eyes of many men. With its focus on cup holders, sliding doors and a ho-hum driving experience, the minivan has an image as a boxy vehicle of convenience, driven by mothers to get the kids to soccer practice or pick up groceries.
The article seems to suggest this is more of a marketing ploy of anything else; the company is unlikely to sell a larger number of these to men but it could get people talking. And isn’t that most of the battle these days with products?
Reviewing the Kelo decision
The Volokh Conspiracy examines the consequences of the Kelo v. City of New London decision by the Supreme Court five years ago.
h/t Instapundit
Early to bed, early to rise…should cut one’s carbon emissions
A new recommendation from the Japanese government to its citizens: go to bed earlier and get up earlier. The benefits: a 85kg reduction a year in a family’s carbon footprint.
Spring cleaning
Summer may have officially begun, but it looks like the New York Legislature could still stand to do a little spring cleaning. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided that a police officer cannot be liable for an illegal arrest because the unconstitutional no-loitering law that he was enforcing was still “on the books.” Though it may be “hard to understand why the [New York] Legislature would continue this statute on the books, given that it is now close to 20 years since it was determined to be unconstitutional,” the Second Circuit held that the issue for the police was “whether it was objectively reasonable for [Officer] Novarro to fail to realize that the statute he was attempting to enforce against [the arrestee] had been held to be unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals.” Because the court thought it was reasonable for Novarro to think the law was still in effect under the circumstances, he couldn’t be successfully sued by the arrestee.
How to succeed in business without really trying
Forget the 1961 Broadway play. According to the July/August 2010 issue of the Atlantic, all you have to do is be white and be willing to go to China.
Oh, and to check your ethical qualms at the door.
“It’s like they took my essence, bottled it, and poured it all over the car.”
This line comes from one of the Toyota Sienna commercials featuring a family that truly does see itself reflected in their minivan. A number of the advertisements are quite humorous – but this single line would sum up the advertising pitch for many consumer products: “this product reflects your truest and best self.”
Enjoy.
Pew Research: “Apocolypse Now”?
A number of news outlets are reporting on an April 2010 nationally representative survey from Pew Research of roughly 1,500 Americans that included questions about the future. Some of the findings are summarized in these two tables:
The titles of each table point out some of the differences. Education, a trait that is linked to social class, income, places where people live, occupations, and more, makes a difference in views of the future and even more so in looking for Jesus’ return.
See no evil
The Wall Street Journal is reporting a summary judgment ruling in the Viacom vs. YouTube copyright infringment case (link to the opinion here).
For those of you not familiar with the case, Viacom, which owns a host of media outlets, is suing on the theory that YouTube/Google is legally responsible for Viacom clips that YouTube users post. As Judge Louis Stanton puts it, “the critical question” from a legal perspective is whether the law punishes an online service provider that has “a general awareness that there are infringements” taking place (i.e., the fact that everyone knows there are infringing videos up on YouTube) or whether YouTube is only responsible if it has “actual or constructive knowledge of specific and identifiable infringements of individual items.” Closely reading the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [text] and its legislative history, Judge Stanton concludes that “[m]ere knowledge of prevalence of [infringing] activity is not enough….To let knowledge of a generalized practice of infringement in the industry, or of a proclivity of users to post infringing materials, impose responsibility on service providers to discover which of their users’ posting infringe a copyright would contravene the structure and operation of the DMCA.”
This one’s virtually certain to be appealed. Stay tuned…
Chunga – 6/23/10 8:24 PM – The onus now seems to be on the content providers, like Viacom, to monitor which of their products are uploaded and then ask for their removal (which Google appears quite willing to do). If Viacom does not explicitly ask for a removal, YouTube/Google can keep all sorts of of copyrighted material online?
Sagescape – 6/23/10 9:34 PM – Generally speaking, that’s correct. There’s a very helpful FAQ maintained by ChillingEffects.org that describes the DMCA’s “notice and takedown” process in some detail.
Legally Sociable 