Link: What Life’s Taught Them

Shyam sent me a link to a list of things some people have learnt from their lives. These are my favourites:

• The truth hurts, but only if you let it.
• Upload your work.
• Laziness is too easy.
• You can’t dodge your own shadow.
• Trying to Fit In, Only Gets Me Lost.
• Feeling stupid is ok.

Source: http://www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com/

Link: QuizLaw.com

I just came across a site which lists stories like this:
The Government of Singapore is involved in the introduction of a ‘course teaching students about flirting and relationships. Subjects include love song analysis, speed-dating and online chatting’. [1]
According to IOL, a German lorry driver wasn’t punished for using his cell phone while driving since he claimed that he was using it as a ear warmer and produced a bill to show that he had made no phone calls at the time he was arrested. [2]
Gene R. Morrill, 57, tried to excuse his pedophilia by claiming to have been molested by the mythical Bigfoot. [3]
A 35-year old woman got stuck to her boyfriend’s toilet after sitting on it for two years. [4]
Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail. [5]
Links:

[1] http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080320/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_holdsingapore_love

[2] http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1205573962357C415

[3] http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0308/506664.html

[4] http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/5613590.html

[5] http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110//03-27-2008/20080327115008_03.html

Link: Ulises de la Cruz

I just came across this blog through an FB update from someone I (vaguely) knew years ago in school but who I’m quite sure doesn’t remember me:

Friends of Funde Cruz
http://friendsoffundecruz.blogspot.com/
“Ulises de la Cruz has for many years been supporting the development of his home village in Equador. Ulises donates 10% of his wage to his foundation ‘Funde Cruz’ towards the development of his hometown in Afro-Ecuadorean village Piquincho, in ‘Valle de Shota’ This is a day by day account given by three business students from Cass Business School, of their trials and tribulations during their 15 day fact finding trip to Ecuador.”

He’s also linked to an article from the Beeb about Ulises de la Cruz which talks about how the ‘South American footballer playing in the English Premiership is spending his high salary not on fast cars and big houses, but on rebuilding an entire community where he grew up’.
Talk about one person making a difference!

Sisters in a Circus

I know that they said that circuses with animals violated animal rights but … am too tired to say anything coherent. Just came across a story about two Bulgarian sisters in a circus which left me stunned:
One was forced to swim in a tank with flesh eating pirhanas and the other was forced into a container where snakes were tossed at her.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080326/od_nm/circus_dc

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

The transcript of a talk by a professor at Carnegie Mellon, Randy Pausch, who had, at the time, been told that he had only a few months to live (due to suffering from pancreatic cancer).He speaks about what he’s learnt and what he’s come to believe during his life in the talk.
A must read: Randy Pausch . Last Lecture from cmu.edu

Link: What is Fair Use?

Title 17 of the USC speaks of fair use as follows:

107. Limitations on exclusive rights:Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factorsto be considered shall include —(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or isfor nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. [4]

Quoting entirely from a blog I just came across:
http://whatisfairuse.blogspot.com/

“In connection with Peter Friedman’s Legal Analysis & Writing Course at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, the students are writing cross-motions for summary judgment in a fictional lawsuit brought by ASCAP and the owners of the copyright to “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).”
The Plaintiffs (represented by half of my students) allege infringement of their copyright in Que Sera, Sera by the KLF, the creators of a recording entitled “K Cera Cera.”
K Cera Cera (mp3) purports to be a recording of the Red Army Choir singing an amalgam of Que Sera, Sera and John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Happy Xmas (the War is Over). The Defendants also include Arista Records, the U.S. distributor of K Cera Cera, and Arista’s corporate parent, Sony BMG. The second half of my students, of course, represents the Defendants.”