Should We Have Professional Juries?
That's the provocative question asked by GW law professor Daniel Solove over at the Concurring Opinions blog. The post was prompted by the news that a law professor's article on his experiences as a juror in a slip-and-fall case resulted in a new trial for a grocery store found liable for $876,000. Click here for last week's LB post on the New Jersey case; here for the ruling; and here for the ABA Journal's writeup of the ruling.
Warner-Google Contractual Staredown Vexing Some YouTubers
Next time you think about putting up a YouTube video of your daughter's clarinet recital, you might check to see who owns the rights to the songs. Why? Because while YouTube --owned by Google--has reached licensing deals with a host of record companies, the company is currently locked in a contractual dispute with Warner Music. As a result, videos containing even homemade versions of Warner-owned songs are getting yanked from the video-sharing site. Click here for the NYT story.
Trial Set for Army Corp of Engineers Over Katrina Liability
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there was plenty of blame to go around for how such a disaster could have unfolded in a metropolitan area in a first-world country. A federal judge has paved the way for one group of plaintiffs to pin the cause of the flooding that devastated much of New Orleans in 2005--if not the chaotic evacuation and response--on the Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval tossed out the Corps' argument that it can't be sued for the flooding and paved the way for a trial, scheduled for April 20. Here's his ruling. WSJ Law Blog March 23, 2009

The Terrafugia Transition made a successful first test flight on March 5 at Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York. Often referred to as a "flying car," the Transition (created by Terrafugia Inc.) is a two-seat aircraft designed to take off and land at local airports and drive on any road. http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-airport-500.jpg,0,2632125.photo

Propellers of the new flying car are made by the Prince Aircraft Co. in Whitehouse, Ohio, a 30-year-old firm that has made a big name for itself in a niche industry: designing and manufacturing custom plane propellers. shttp://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090328/BUSINESS03/903280346

Toledoans Paul and Jackie Sullivan go green. "It was a lot of fun but just a whole lot of work," says Mr. Sullivan of transforming an 1887 building that was an open-to-the-sky birdhouse when they bought it in August, 2007. He made every effort to be environmentally friendly. After all, he notes, restoration is greener than a new build. Example: the 122-year-old floorboards in what’s now the garage were yanked up and installed, warts and all, on the second floor. Inside the upper hallway are lovely 8-foot-by-2-foot, mahogany-stained double closet doors, salvaged from renovations in the former Carleton Hotel at Michigan and Madison streets. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090329/ART16/903270254

After July 1, anyone wanting a strong drink in Utah will no longer have to fill in a form and pay a fee in order to enter a bar. Under the new law, restaurants will be able to take down partitions separating bartenders from diners, meaning bartenders will soon be able to serve drinks directly over bar counters. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7973413.stm

The first annual 30 Poets/30 Days, a celebration of children's poetry is taking place here at GottaBook during National Poetry Month. Every day in April, the gottabook blog will post a previously unpublished poem by a different poet. http://gottabook.blogspot.com/2009/03/announcing-30-poets30-days.html

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's book written by Eric Carle, originally published in 1969. It is highly popular and has been praised for its use of easy-to-read words which makes it good for teaching young children to read. The book contains 225 words and large, colorful illustrations. It follows a caterpillar as it munches its way through a variety of edibles such as ice cream, salami, watermelon, one slice of Swiss cheese, and a lollipop before it finally pupates and emerges as a butterfly. The story teaches the life cycle of a butterfly, counting to 5, the names of the days of the week, and about different types of food. "One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called 'A Week with Willi the Worm'. Then my editor suggested a caterpillar instead and I said 'Butterfly!' That's how it began," said Eric Carle, the author.[3] The book placed at number 199 in the Big Read, a 2003 poll conducted by the BBC to determine the United Kingdom's best loved books. It was one of the very few picture books to place.[4] In a 1999 survey, George W. Bush listed the book among his favorite from his childhood. This raised some questions since Bush was twenty-three when the book was first published.[5][6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Hungry_Caterpillar

Best-selling books for infants and children ages 1-2
http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=bk679-3-Anderson.pdf&mode=retrieve&D=10.1598/0872076792.3&F=bk679-3-Anderson.pdf&key=CD6BA293-9B9A-47B0-A2DB-18BAA8A0EAD7

Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.
Joseph Campbell (1904- 1987) American mythologist, writer and lecturer