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Author Archives: skepticlawyer

Further on Intellectual Property

February 13, 2010 – 10:32 am

Regular commenter Lorenzo has written a very thought-provoking post on intellectual property, which I highly recommend. I looked over it and made a few lawyerly comments… for which he has provided me with far too much credit
The take-home (and very thoughtful) piece of analysis? (Lorenzo is a specialist on the role and activities [...]

Posted in Intellectual property, Law | Tagged , , , , | Comments (2)

An ‘unvalued person’: guest post by Adrien

February 10, 2010 – 7:07 am

[SL: Adrien, as you all know, is a regular commenter on this blog and over at Catallaxy. A while ago, he offered us a series of occasional guest posts on matters artistic, to which we heartily agreed as Adrien has forgotten more about fine art than most of us have ever known. In light of [...]

Posted in Art, Feminism, Guest Post | Tagged , , , | Comments (36)

Word, Pat

February 8, 2010 – 7:18 am

You may not agree with everything notable atheist and skeptic Pat Condell says, but it needs to be said all the same. You may not like Geert Wilders much, either, but this is appalling.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ZUZ9CPZII&feature=topvideos[/youtube]
More (mainly in Dutch, alas) here.

Posted in Australian internet filter, Law, Religion, Skeptics | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (6)

Down, Kookaburra, Down

February 5, 2010 – 7:52 am

I learn via the Hoydens that the Federal Court (oh, the stupid, it burns) has decided that Men at Work’s Down Under infringed the copyright held by the owners of Kookaburra Sits Under the Old Gum Tree. Here are a few observations from a lawyer who has handled some small IP matters.
1. IP law is rapidly [...]

Posted in Economics, Intellectual property, Law | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (45)

Forgiveness is overrated

January 25, 2010 – 11:13 pm

One of the advantages of being a skeptic is that you don’t have to reject positions articulated by religious figures just because you think they believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden, but also because you think that core chunks of their doctrine — including bits often regarded as wholly good and reasonable [...]

Posted in Economics, Feminism, Marriage, Politics, anthony daniels | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (49)

Oh, the squick, it burns…

January 17, 2010 – 1:03 am

I have never seen this film, and I’m not sure I want to see it either, as it seems to consist of humour that makes you excruciatingly uncomfortable at the same time as being funny.
Of course the premise is unbelievable: it is economically impossible for a state with significant chattel slavery ever to develop the [...]

Posted in Australian internet filter, Economics, History, Human/Civil rights, Popular culture | Comments (4)

The Last of the Mohicans in Space

January 5, 2010 – 6:16 am

Well, finally managed to drag myself off to see James Cameron’s Avatar, which — it’s fair to say — divides people. In the red corner (US political colour configuration), we have Miranda Devine irritated at untoward greeniness, while in the blue corner we have this selection of links over at Hoyden About Town. Other (slightly) [...]

Posted in Popular culture, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (30)

See the other side

December 23, 2009 – 3:43 am

Legal Eagle’s post on Lisa Pryor’s rather misguided criticism of the lawyerly tendency to see both sides of an issue got me thinking about the essence of one’s occupation as a lawyer. I think being able to see that the other fellow has a point is often part of it, although things like a careful [...]

Posted in Law, Philosophy, Politics | Tagged , , | Comments (35)

An appeal to my American readers…

December 13, 2009 – 10:11 pm

This is a fairly blatant exercise in tourism blegging, so if you don’t live on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, then feel free to ignore it.
I will be attending a conference in Washington DC from 19-21 February, 2010, and (having done this once before) would like to avoid flying across the pond, staying for [...]

Posted in General, Site News, Society | Comments (3)

…But not when you’ve been drinking

December 11, 2009 – 11:19 pm

Via Dave Bath comes this u-beaut collection of science stunts, all of which look magical but aren’t really. Some of them, I suspect, require rather more practice than the presenter admits, but even allowing for that, a great deal of fun can no doubt be had.

Posted in Science | Tagged , , | Comments (7)