Spammer sentenced to 30 months
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2221866/spammer-gets-jailed-months
"Spamming is serious criminal conduct; this is not a teenager engaging in child's play," U.S. District Judge Denny Chin told Adam Vitale as he sentenced him.

Some 300 people a year are hospitalized after being hit by foul balls at major and minor league games, according to a study by Robert M. Gorman and David Weeks for their upcoming book, “Death at the Ballpark.”
WSJ Law Blog July 15, 2008

New FTC Online Resource Answers Questions about U.S. Antitrust Laws
FTC Guide to the Antitrust Laws: This plain-language guide is written for consumers and business people with questions about the antitrust laws. It summarizes the core laws that ban unfair business practices and prevent mergers that harm consumers, and explains how antitrust cases are brought by U.S., state, and international authorities, as well as private parties. Antitrust rules are organized into four basic areas by the business conduct they regulate: Dealings with Competitors, Dealings in the Supply Chain, Single Firm Conduct, and Mergers.

A federal jury in Riverside, Calif., determined on July 17 that MGA Entertainment’s hugely popular Bratz dolls were designed while the designer worked for Barbie’s home, Mattel Inc.
It’s a big loss for MGA. Damages will be decided in a second phase of the trial, but the company could be forced to surrender royalties or even the right to produce the Bratz dolls.
Likewise, it’s a big win not only for Mattel but also for Mattel’s attorneys, a team led by John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel, who called into question the credibility of the designer, Carter Bryant, after the designer used a program called “Evidence Eliminator” to wipe his computer hard-drive
WSJ Law Blog July 17, 2008

EPA Releases Greenhouse Gas Document for Public Comment
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA has released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) soliciting public input on the effects of climate change and the potential ramifications of the Clean Air Act in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. “The ANPR reflects the complexity and the magnitude of the question of whether and how greenhouse gases could be effectively controlled under the Clean Air Act,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.
The action is in response to the April 2, 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that greenhouse gas emissions could be regulated if EPA determines they cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. With the ANPR, EPA is evaluating the broader ramifications of the decision throughout the Clean Air Act, which covers air pollution from both stationary and mobile sources. The notice’s publication in the Federal Register begins a 120-day public comment period.
+ Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF; 17 KB)
+ Fact Sheet

FTC Issues Staff Report on Roundtable Discussion About Phishing Education
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has released a staff report on a Roundtable Discussion on Phishing Education that it hosted in April. Approximately 60 experts from business, government, the technology sector, the consumer advocacy community, and academia met at the FTC to discuss strategies for outreach to consumers about avoiding phishing. Phishers use deceptive spam that appears to come from legitimate, well-known sources to trick consumers into divulging sensitive or personal information, such as credit account numbers or passwords, often through a link to a copycat of the purported source’s Web site.

Lead Shot and Sinkers: Weighty Implications for Fish and Wildlife Health
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
Millions of pounds of lead used in hunting, fishing and shooting sports wind up in the environment each year and can threaten or kill wildlife, according to a new scientific report.
Lead is a metal with no known beneficial role in biological systems, and its use in gasoline, paint, pesticides, and solder in food cans has nearly been eliminated. Although lead shot was banned for waterfowl hunting in 1991, its use in ammunition for upland hunting, shooting sports, and in fishing tackle remains common.
While noting that more information is needed on some aspects of the impact of lead on wildlife, the authors said that numerous studies already documented adverse effects to wildlife, especially waterbirds and scavenging species, like hawks and eagles. Lead exposure from ingested lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers also has been reported in reptiles, and studies near shooting ranges have shown evidence of lead poisoning in small mammals.
The most significant hazard to wildlife is through direct ingestion of spent lead shot and bullets, lost fishing sinkers and tackle, and related fragments, or through consumption of wounded or dead prey containing lead shot, bullets or fragments, emphasized USGS contaminants experts Drs. Barnett Rattner and Chris Franson. The two scientists are lead authors of The Wildlife Society (TWS) technical report and co-authors with five other experts of a recent Fisheries article on the same subject.
+ Management concerns about Known and Potential Impacts of Lead use in Shooting and in Fishing activities (page 22 of this PDF of the My 2008 issue of Fisheries magazine; 4.1 MB)

Federal Reserve Board issues final rule amending home mortgage provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
News release: On July 14, the Federal Reserve Board approved a final rule for home mortgage loans to better protect consumers and facilitate responsible lending. The rule prohibits unfair, abusive or deceptive home mortgage lending practices and restricts certain other mortgage practices. The final rule also establishes advertising standards and requires certain mortgage disclosures to be given to consumers earlier in the transaction. The final rule, which amends Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) and was adopted under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA).
Highlights of Final Rule Amending Home Mortgage Provisions of Regulation Z (Truth in Lending)
Draft Federal Register Notice
Consumer Testing of Mortgage Broker Disclosures, Summary of Findings
Open Board Meeting Materials

nosism (NO-siz-em) noun
The use of 'we' in referring to oneself.
[From Latin nos (we).]
As it's often used by editors, it's also known as the "editorial we". It's also called "the royal we" owing to its frequent use by royalty.
A.Word.A.Day

On July 16, 1951 J.D. Salinger's first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was published (books by this author). In 1949, editor Robert Giroux of The New Yorker wrote him to ask if he wanted to publish a collection of short stories. Giroux didn't hear back from Salinger for months, and then, one day, Salinger walked into his office.
Giroux said, "A tall, sad-looking young man with a long face and deep-set black eyes walked in, saying, 'It's not my stories that should be published first, but the novel I'm working on … about this kid in New York during the Christmas holidays.'" Giroux said he'd love to publish it, but when it was finished one of his superiors thought the kid in the book seemed too crazy. So Salinger published The Catcher in the Rye with Little, Brown and Company, and it came out on this day in 1951.
The New York Times ran a review titled "Aw, the World's a Crumby Place" that poked fun at Salinger's style. The New Yorker refused to run any excerpts of the novel, because they said that the children in it were unbelievably intelligent, and the style of the novel was too "showoffy." But despite the mixed reviews, The Catcher in the Rye reached the best-seller list after being in print just two weeks, and it stayed there for more than six months. It has gone on to sell more than 60 million copies. It has been at one time or another both the most banned book in America and one of the most assigned books in American classrooms.
The Writer’s Almanac