explodedlibrary.info

ABA chart on the eligibility of foreign law graduates to be admitted to the bar in the US

One of my first ideas for this blog was to discuss some of my reference questions (appropriately sanitized and redacted) and mention what resources I was able to find while answering them. It would be primarily for my own benefit - so that if any similar ever came up, I could refer back to my notes. But I imagine it would also be interesting for other legal researchers.

The trouble has been that I don't like to spend much time on this blog whilst at work - indeed even if I wanted to, it wasn't possible to update this blog from work with Radio - unless I used their scary email to blog feature. This is why I really like TypePad's draft post feature. I can make a quick draft post from any computer. Then later I can polish it up some more and publish it.

So the other day, I had a call from a patron with a law degree from the UK, and LL M from an American law school who was wondering if this would be helpful for him to practise as a lawyer in New England states. This was an interesting question for me, because at one time I had been looking into whether it was feasible for me to practise in Minnesota with my Australian LL B. I found this pdf chart at the ABA's web site which lists the various requirements by all the states on recognizing foreign law degrees and LL Ms. For my part, I wouldn't rely on such a chart without verifying the information about the states which I was interested in. But that chart seemed to be a good starting place for this kind of research.

the new home of this blog in TypePad

Well, I've decided to move to TypePad. Although I've thought through a number of the issues, I don't think this is strictly a rational decision. As I've become more used to the Radio software, I've come to respect it, but never to really like it. Does this matter? Well, if I'm going to be spending so many hours of my spare time blogging, yes. It's nice to know that I can easily change things about my blog without a lot of stress and botheration.

For example, if I decide that my original yellow design on the Typepad version of this blog is a bit too bright and bold, I can easily make a more subdued custom design in less than 5 minutes, or choose one of the pre-made designs.

I've also been impressed with TypePad's technical support (thanks Brenna) with helping me find out how to convert my Radio blog to TypePad. I plan to write about this later in more detail, but for now I'll just mention Bill Kearney's Radio Exporter program. I only converted the last month, but now that I know how to, I plan to convert more. Probably not all - the LiveJournal version will continue to be my official backup and archive.

The transition from Radio to TypePad is going to be very gradual. Over the next week or so, I plan to tinker some more with the MovableType version. Particularly the "about me" section and the blog rolls. When it's ready, I'll announce it, change the "www.explodedlibrary.info" redirect so that it points to TypePad and stop updating the Radio version of the blog. In the meantime, I'll be updating both.

I think that it's very possible for me to continue as a "Salon blogger" even if I'm not using the official program. I'm also looking forward to discovering kindred spirits in TypePad/MT land.

ahh - trying a different aggregator has helped alleviate my information overload

Switching to TypePad will also involve getting a stand alone news aggregator. For the past week I've been experimenting with NetNewsWire, a fine Mac only product. I've been very impressed. Before I used to think that needing a new aggregator was a drawback to switching from Radio, but now I think it's a positive reason to try something else. I love its Post to Weblog feature - which replicates the one thing about the Radio aggregator which I really liked. More interesting, I find that the three-pane design makes it easier to get through all of my subscriptions. If I'm in the mood to see what's been on at one particular blog first, I can do this. If none of a blog's titles appeal to me, I can mark them as "all read" with one click and effectively ignore them. All this is much easier than needing to wade through all the entries of all my subscriptions. And I can arrange my subscriptions alphabetically or in theme-based clusters, rather than just by time (although I understand why some bloggers would prefer this). There are some blogs which I would like to check everyday, while others can wait a week or so - it depends on the quality and quantity of the words, as well as my mood. Anyway, here's something from the blog by NetNewsWire's makers:

Wired News: “Maniacally wired netizens who read a hundred blogs a day and just as many news sources are turning to a new breed of software, called newsreaders or aggregators, to help them manage information overload. Many now say that their news aggregator is as indispensable as their e-mail client.”

Interesting article. I think I was slightly misquoted about sales of NetNewsWire. The “five figures” part refers to the number of users of NetNewsWire and NetNewsWire Lite: the number of users is at least a five figure number. Just wanted to clear that up: not a big deal, really. [Ranchero]

a correction about AOL Journals - it's only useless for some people

Thanks to feedback from Jason Lefkowitz of theAnt's Eye View, I can tell you that AOL Journals will work with if you use IE 6 for Windows to create or edit posts. Using IE 6 will give you a built-in WYSIWYG HTML editor which will allow you to both link and have titles. So that's the good news. I thought that the way to get the most out of AOL features was to use its browser (the one based on IE), but I guess AOL 8.0 for Windows must be based on an older version of IE, because it had no WYSIWYG editor. Maybe AOL Journals will work properly in the upcoming AOL 9 for Windows. But the bad news is that yesterday's comments are still very true for Mac users. There is no equivalent of IE 6 for the Mac. The Mac AOL browser is based on Netscape / Gecko. I wonder why AOL would欥t Mac users use AOL Journals, knowing that it won't work properly for them? I suspect they never really thought about it.

By the way, you can read Jason's review of AOL Journals here.

AOL Journals and iBlog

OK, I was never serious about AOL Journals - but I was curious. Now I've discovered a flaw that makes it almost worthless as a blogging tool. In AOL Journals you must choose between making an entry with a title (which is essential), or making an entry which contains links (which is also essential). You can't have both - and this is an anathema to any self-respecting blogger. This is because you can make an entry with a link by using AOL instant messenger - but when you use AOL instant messenger, you can't designate a title for your entry. Now there is a way of editing an entry, when you could theoretically add a title, but if you try this, you will lose your link! Because the stupid editor only handles plain-text - it doesn't even support any HTML tags! So until this is fixed, it's quite useless as a blogging tool.

The trouble with iBlog is that I'm yet to find a iBlog blog which seems to offer a good RSS feed. This is crucial for a blog - your blog may as well be invisible if it doesn't have a reliable RSS feed (this was something which AOL at least, could get working). In no way have I surveyed all of them, maybe I was just unlucky with the ones that I looked at. So I'd like to support iBlog, but it's not quite ready yet either.

Besides, I've been playing around with TypePad some more and am still very impressed. Its elegance and functionality remind me of a Mac. Coming from a Mac user like me, this is high praise.

should I stay with Salon blogs or switch to TypePad?

I find it quite amusing and ironic that less than two weeks after I promised myself that I wouldn't switch this blog to MovableType, I am feeling very drawn towards switching to MovableType's TypePad. Of course, I did give a proviso to this undertaking - "unless Movable Type became idiot-proof." While no blogging software is truly idiot-proof, except possibly AOL Journals (see this amusing piece about them), TypePad seems way more user-friendly than standard MovableType and a lot easier to work with than Radio Userland.

So I'm seriously considering defecting to TypePad. So here are my pros and cons about switching to TypePad -

Pros:

- I don't really like the Radio Userland software that much. Although it's easy enough to start a bare bones blog with it, it isn't very user-friendly IMHO. I find it difficult to understand for customizing and think that the documentation is poor - especially when compared with TypePad.

- I haven't really been following the flame wars associated with Dave Winer. But what I've heard makes me feel uneasy about the future of Radio. I worry that Radio Userland is isolating itself in the blogosphere.

- TypePad is web-based, so it's very easy to update from anywhere. No more being tied to the one computer!

- TypePad offers more gadgets for blogs - which are really easy to implement. This goes back to one of my complaints with Radio - yes, you can do a lot with it, but a lot of it is quite difficult and arcane to configure.

- I like TypePad's photo album feature

Cons (and there are quite a few):

- It's more expensive than Radio. I'm interested in the intermediate $8.95/month option.

- I'd also need to get a separate news aggregator (maybe this isn't all bad), which I may need to pay extra for if I want a good one.

- I think that initially, my readership would plummet. (but is this really an issue?)

- I would leave the Salon blog community, which I like a lot. I would get onto the Salon blog webring, but that wouldn't be the same. The issue is, if Salon blogs is on a sinking ship (Radio), do I show solidarity and stay until things get worse, or do I just seize what seems to be a good opportunity at this moment?

- It's not as if TypePad is the only option for me, either. Maybe Blogger Pro will get better under the ownership of Google. Maybe I should support fine Mac only software such as iBlog. And don't forget AOL - for which I'm already paying for. Nobody will probably take an AOL blog seriously, but it might offer a way of communicating with a wider audience.

Well there's no rush to do any of this. I'll give myself a least a week before I do anything rash.

curious about TypePad

MT Pro vs. TypePad. One thing I was expecting TypePad to have that I am surprised it does not is the ability to FTP... [LibraryPlanet.com]

ads with air guitarists and the idea / expression of the idea dichotomy

Ads Ape Apple's Air Guitarists. Upstart BuyMusic.com is doing more than just offering a music service that mimics iTunes. Its commercials are strikingly similar to Apple's ads, too. Flattery? Perhaps, but it also could be a lawsuit in the making. By Danit Lidor. [Wired News] [A blog doesn't need a clever name]

"The fair-use doctrine does provide a defense to copyright- and trademark-infringement claims," Crowther said. "The critical issue will be whether the BuyMusic.com is a parody of the Apple ads."

"When the second work just borrows from the first work to get attention or to avoid having to develop something new or fresh and does not make fun of the original work ᠩt is not a parody and may not have protection," Crowther said.

Parody or not, a copyright-infringement suit wouldn't necessarily be an open-and-shut case. "The dichotomy between 'ideas' and 'expression' is hard to get across," said Blaney Harper, an intellectual property attorney at Jones Day.

"Showing average people air guitaring their way through a song against a white background" is not enough to show BuyMusic is copying Apple's expression, he said.

I haven't seen these ads, but I admit that they would really annoy me. It would seem that BuyMusic is stealing numerous ideas of Apple. But this happens all the time - in business, in art and science. Stealing an idea (unless it's patented) is different from violating intellectual property rights. This is a really good thing - even if it is infuriating to see BuyMusic use this legal point to peddle its lame Windows knock-off of the iTunes Music Store. It's corny, but the law is meant to be blind, (if people stay within its bounds) it protects the good and the bad, the creative and the exploiters. To change the law to stop the "bad" BuyMusic would be opening the possibility of flooding more of the "good" public domain under a torrent of copyright claims. It could shut down or severely damage the blogosphere. The idea / expression of idea dichtomy is being undermined enough already by contract law, without this happening. So what can be done? Protest this protected form of idea theft in non-legal ways. Try to shame BuyMusic into changing its behaviour.

Music (legally downloaded from iTunes): Moby, 18, I'm not worried at all

a Tasmanian blog! (I feel homesick now)

PLACE-ORIENTED BLOGS.
You may have noticed that I (sometimes unfairly) group blogs in my blogroll into
artistic, business/scientific, environmental, news, and political
categories, with Salon blogs listed separately because...well, because
they're my community.
Recently I've discovered another type of blog that is primarily
geographical in nature. These have been self-styled as 'place-oriented
blogs' or 'blogs of place'. Although most of us write from time to time
about what's happening in our physical community, place-oriented
bloggers write almost exclusively about the history, geography, and
current events (often with photos) of their community.

They're actually very entertaining (and sometimes educational) to read.
Here are some of the best of the breed I've found:

...
Life at the Edge -
Tasmania (whence the photo above)

Ecotone
- A wiki with more Bloggers of Place, and more about them



Some of our Salon bloggers write more about their physical location
than others, especially those living outside the country as ex-pats.
What do you think -- is your blog a 'blog of place' or do you just
write about home when there's nothing more urgent to write about? Is
this a legitimate new genre of blog? I have occasionally posted about
my home on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, but not with any geographic thoroughness.
Should I write more about place?



[How to Save the World]

Dave Pollard on the blogging process

Another intriguing flow-chart from How to Save the World. My thoughts: This is a very detailed & helpful description of what's generally an unconcious process for me. It also serves as a best practice to aim for, because it's rare that I'm doing all of the things which Dave mentions.