Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground

THAT LITTLE RUSSIAN MUSIC SITE WITH ALL THE GOOD PUBLICITY . . . As reported in the New York Times, several recording companies have sued AllOfMP3.com in a New York federal court. As Ernie the Attorney points out, the New York Times article provided a link directly to controversial Russian site. Ernie writes, "Somewhere in this country record executives in lush office suits are smacking their foreheads, as though in vaudevillian pantomime.  Not exactly the kind of publicity they were hoping for."

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Where and How to Stand During Direct and Cross-Examination."

IN THE MAGAZINES . . . Weblogs are boring. I know it's true because I read it in the Wall Street Journal. But magazines? Magazines are great, especially when they're free. Why not try these--

Hillary and Obama Is America ready? [Newsweek]

Three Years in Iraq An oral history of the news coverage. [The Columbia Journalism Review]

Connoisseurs of Chaos Beautiful images from the nanoworld. [American Scientist]

Best Albums, 2006 The not-quite-cool version. [Rolling Stone]

More Best Albums, 2006 The very, very cool version. [Spin]

RANDOM NOTES . . .

--Did you see who's guest-posting at Overlawyered? It's George Wallace, who didn't need to introduce himself, at least to me.

--Ernie the Attorney explains the banner photo on his weblog. When I first saw that banner on Ernie's weblog, it confused me. "Who is that guy?" I thought. Now I know.

The photo I use on my weblog has a story too. I told it once here.

--Best books of 2006? Milbarge has a helpful list of lists. To this I would add one other list, this one by Jeremy Blachman, whose own book, Anonymous Lawyer, I'll definitely be placing on my own list of best books, should I ever make one.

--During this holiday season, be sure to make it easy for those who care about you to give you things. It's all explained at the imbroglio.

--Two of my other weblogs keep on keeping on: The Illinois Personal Injury Weblog and the St. Louis Personal Injury Weblog.

SHOPPING MADNESS . . . I thought the shoppers would lay off a bit during the middle of the day, when people are supposedly working, but I had trouble finding a parking space everywhere I went this afternoon.

A short half-hour slip-away from the office turned into a three-hour shopping marathon, as the first store was out of what I wanted, making it necessary to try a second store, where a worker suggested a third store, etc. I wasn't even looking for one of those popular items, just something that every store has displayed on its shelves, but happens to have run out of . . .

Shopping via the Internet is the only way to go, but you've got to plan ahead. I didn't, at least with some purchases. Now I'm paying the price.

BORED OF WEBLOGS . . .  Here's Joseph Rago, assistant editorial features editor of the Wall Street Journal:

Because political blogs are predictable, they are excruciatingly boring. More acutely, they promote intellectual disingenuousness, with every constituency hostage to its assumptions and the party line.

Glenn Reynolds calls Rago's essay "rather embarrasing," although he doesn't say why. I think guys like Rago ought to get weblogs themselves, so we can see how it should be done. His anti-blog essay would make a good first post, though perhaps just a little long. The writing style is also a little too self-conscious and full of itself. Writing a weblog for a few months ought to take care of that.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Technology Tip: Receive Faxes on Your Cellphone."

CHANGES TO AN OLD POST, BY REQUEST . . . In February, 2004, I did a post about the infamous federal judicial decision that's filled with hidden references to Talking Heads songs. The post included both the complete decision and all the Talking Heads allusions I could find. In the early days of this weblog, it quickly became my most popular post, especially after Boing Boing linked to it.

Unfortunately, not everyone was happy with the post. As it turned out, there was a guy mentioned in the federal decision who apparently wanted to forget it. Thanks to my post, searches for his name made the old judicial decision turn up on my weblog.

After nearly three years of receiving emails from this very unhappy reader, which included threats of litigation I didn't take very seriously, I've finally decided to amend the post in a way that should solve the problem. Although my unhappy reader wants me to remove the post entirely, I took a less radical approach and simply removed two letters from his name everywhere it appears in the decision.

Except for that change, the opinion remains as exactly as it's printed at 825 F.2d 835. Perhaps it's not much of a change, but it might eventually take care of the name-search problem. I hope it does.

RANDOM NOTES . . .

--Howard Bashman's gift ideas for appellate lawyers. (And for litigators, of course, don't forget Deposition Checklists & Strategies.)

--HealthBlawg hosts Blawg Review #88.

--"Another quick victory" in the Vioxx litigation.

--Dennis Kennedy writes about a handy electronic discovery slide chart.

--Denise Howell recommends Cranky Geeks.

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . The Weekly Law School Roundup alternates between Legal Underground and divine angst, where Kristine has posted this week's Weekly Law School Roundup #49. The next installment will appear here this Sunday (or perhaps Monday), so be sure to check back.