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Philadelphia Inquirer

 
July 14
2010
Filed under:  

Criminal Procedure
  Law
  Penn Law
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  SCOTUS
 

Quick Quote: Penn Law professor and his students took procedural question to SCOTUS and won -- via @phillyinquirer [Law]

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"When you are charged with a crime, your lawyer needs to tell you the full picture," said Bibas, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan who teaches criminal procedure at Penn, and who lives with his wife and two children in Fairmount. "You would never hire a business lawyer to advise you on a contract for a company if the lawyer was not also able to say that this might get you in trouble with antitrust authorities or you will be liable for violating someone's patent."

via philly.com

This is a pretty cool story. Keep in mind that the point isn't that the guy wasn't a criminal -- it seems clear that he was -- but that he was misled by incompetent counsel on the likely ooutcome of a guilty plea.

He may have had other options, like, off the top of my head, a bargain in which he could have revealed the source of the 1,000 pounds of marijuana in exchange for a guarantee that he wouldn't face deportation.

Of course, I haven't had criminal procedure yet, so what the hell do I know?

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; University of Pennsylvania Law School Supreme Court Clinic

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June 15
2010
Filed under:  

Philadelphia Inquirer
  RoboCup
  RoboCup 2010
  Robotics
  Robots
  University of Pennsylvania
  UPenn
  UPennalizers
  Video
  World Cup
  World Cup 2010
 

Robots + Soccer = RoboCup; World Cup still top contest...for now [Robotics]

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via youtube.com

Visit the University of Pennsylvania's team at the UPennalizers website and find out more about the RoboCup at RoboCup.org.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

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June 11
2010
Filed under:  

3D
  Image
  Newspapers
  Old Media
  Philadelphia
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Philly.com
  Rant
 

Someone please tell me why the Inquirer is trying out 3D section this weekend. Please. [Rant]

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This is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Now I'm dumber, because I read it. And anyone who buys a paper for the 3D bits without the sole intent to burn the damn thing would be owed a great debt by me for explaining themselves. 
     

Read the rest of this post »

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June 8
2010
Filed under:  

Ars Technica
  BBC
  Facebook
  Foursquare
  Gowalla
  InformationWeek
  Law School
  Loopt
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  PleaseRobMe.com
  Privacy
  Rate My Professor
  Rate Your Students
  Techdirt
  Temple Law
  The Truth About Cars
  Unvarnished.com
  Wall Street Journal
  Yelp
  YourOpenBook.org
 

Publishing My Privacy Assignment About Publishing Sensitive Information [Privacy]

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Image via Flickr user rpongsaj
 
This is an assignment I did for my cyberprivacy law class, the sole summer session course I'm taking between my 1L and 2L years. I have written about many of these issues on joebeta before. It was an ungraded summary of privacy implications on the internet, and will apparently serve as the foundation for some work we'll be doing for the rest of the summer session (the class ends mid-July).
 
I'm publishing it here so I can get feedback from those more knowledgeable than I am on how accurate everything is, as I wrote it up from what I already knew, looking for examples from recent events to fill out the general ideas.
 
Maybe those less knowledgeable will learn something, too, which is all I can ask. Remember folks: be safe out there.
 
Click through for the (longish) article.
 

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April 5
2010
Filed under:  

Philadelphia
  Philadelphia Courts
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Philly
  Philly.com
  Quote
 

"New rules will govern city courts" -- Via Philly.com [Quote]

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Municipal Court judges can no longer postpone hearings when defendants, police, witnesses, and victims are in the courtroom and ready to go, a little-known practice that has contributed to the pervasive delays that have bogged down the Philadelphia criminal courts.
via m.philly.com

These rules seems promising, and maybe they'll reduce the 60,000+ caseload the city faces every year.

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February 17
2010
Filed under:  

Nikola Tesla
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Philly.com
  Quote
 

Philly science club recognizes Tesla's awesomeness -- Via Philadelphia Inquirer [Quote]

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Enter Philadelphia's Nikola Tesla Inventors Club. The group was founded by Lonchar with just six members in July 2004. But now the science club is hitting its stride.

It has 250 local regulars online, and its Facebook page is swamped with members worldwide. These days, every event attracts no fewer than 40 attendees. Lonchar says his ever-growing group has students in elementary school as well as adults who attended presentations by Tesla - now dead for 67 years - in their youth.

Their goal: finish what Tesla started and inspire others to develop new energy technologies.

via philly.com

This is very cool. I am particularly happy to read about the generational diversity of the group's membership.

Visit the club's website:

http://www.nikolateslainventorsclub.com/

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February 4
2010
Filed under:  

Image
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Weather
  Winter
 

"Paralyzing" winter storm brings lots of snow, meteorological hyperbole -- Via Philadelphia Inquirer [Image]

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via philly.com, through Twitter user @ferry.

The paralysis starts tomorrow, folks.

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January 29
2010
Filed under:  

Animal Cruelty
  Crime
  Dog-Fighting
  Philadelphia
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Philly.com
  Uniontown PA
 

Pit-Bull Injured In Fight, Cut By Owner, Dies At Hospital [Animals]

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Philly.com has this story about a pit bull that recently died in a veterinary hospital after being found on the side of the road. The dog apparently had dog-fighting injuries, and its throat had been slit by whomever had left it to die. I don't like reading this stuff, but it's important to remember that there are people like this in the world.

State police near Uniontown say the animal also had its throat slit by a human who apparently wanted to kill the animal before it was found about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

I hope the people that did it are eventually caught. Recent enhancements to PA's animal cruelty law don't, if I recall, touch specifically on dog-fighting, beyond making it a third-degree felony to steal an animal for use in dog-fighting, but the hate-fueled vigilante in me wants to see  the sub-human fleshrot who did this get put in jail for a long time.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often enough. Philadelphia Dog Rescue Examiner Joyce Hoffman rounded up some stats last year in this article. You can follow allegations of animal cruelty in Philadelphia County and areas all over the country here.

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January 12
2010
Filed under:  

Philadelphia Inquirer
  Quote
 

"Chocolate factory fined for fatal fall into vat" -- Via Philadelphia Inquirer

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Federal safety officials fined a Camden chocolate plant $39,000 yesterday for safety violations following the death of a factory worker who fell into a vat of chocolate last summer.
via philly.com

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January 12
2010
Filed under:  

Law
  Philadelphia Inquirer
  Quote
  Same-Sex Marriage
  SCOTUS
 

"to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation makes no sense with respect to marriage" - Ted Olson, on Prop 8

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I think it's important in this country that we give people liberty of behaving in ways in compliance with the law, but to have the relationships that the rest of us have," he continued. "And to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation makes no sense with respect to marriage and their desire to live with one another in a peaceful, stable relationship. And it's good for our society to stop discriminating on that basis.
Conservative Attorney Ted Olson, via philly.com

This is Olson on why he's representing the plaintiff fighting California's Proposition 8, which bans marriage between individuals of the same gender. Olson's position on the matter is something of a thorn in the side of many Republicans who are used to agreeing with the high-powered lawyer (55 cases before the United States Supreme Court).

The Supreme Court has delayed an order by the judge in this case to post video to YouTube throughout the proceedings. The Court is still trying to decide if that kind of coverage should be allowed at all.

Follow live updates during proceedings from the Twitter users below:

The Advocate: http://twitter.com/TheAdvocateMag
American Foundation For Equal Rights: http://twitter.com/AmerEqualRights

Thanks to Jill Ivey for posting this for me to find.

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