Manti Te’o, Notre
Dame's superstar linebacker, said in a statement that he was a victim of a
“sick joke,” perpetrated by one or more Internet tricksters who lured him into
an online relationship with a fake woman and convinced him she had succumbed to
leukemia. But as more pieces of this
confounding puzzle come together, Law Blog spoke with Ben Brafman, a prominent
criminal defense attorney, about the legal implications of a hoax. Mr. Brafman says if the whole thing is a “practical
joke gone wild,” it’s unlikely that the person or people responsible for
concocting Lennay Kekua, the name of the made-up girlfriend, would face
criminal prosecution. “If we started to
prosecute practical jokes, you would run into First Amendment issues, and we
would overwhelm the scarce prosecutorial resources that could be put to better
use,” said Mr. Brafman. Probably the
most important factor is whether anyone behind “Kekua” tried to profit from the
ruse by soliciting money or gifts from Mr. Te’o or others. “There doesn’t seem to be a financial benefit
that anyone was trying to obtain,” said Mr. Brafman. Notre Dame officials, who retained a private
investigative firm after the linebacker alerted them that he had been duped,
found nothing to suggest that “Kekua” was after cash, university officials
said. A hoax could become a
criminal case if prosecutors suspect identity theft. But in the Notre Dame situation, the ploy
consisted of fabricating a character, as opposed to assuming the identity of
someone real. A similar situation
unfolded last year in Colorado, where the
tale of a cancer-stricken nine-year-old named Alex spread through a small
town, generating an outpouring of sympathy that turned to grief when they
thought the boy had died of leukemia. The story turned out to be a hoax. But local prosecutors declined to go after the
real “Alex” after finding no evidence that the person had collected money from
the trick. The threshold of civil
liability is lower. Victims of a hoax
could have standing to sue by claiming that it caused them to suffer financial
losses, extreme emotional distress or other serious consequences, Mr. Brafman
said.
“There’s a huge difference
between civil and criminal liability in a case like this,” he said.
Jacob Gershman http://blogs.wsj.com/law/?p=44243?mod=djemlawblog_h
Phrase definitions:
skin of/off my nose/skin/back/teeth; have a thick/thin skin; make
someone's skin crawl/creep; under the skin; skin a cat http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/skin
The competition brief stated that the Norwegian
National Opera and Ballet building in Oslo should be of high architectural
quality and should be monumental in its expression. One idea stood out: The concept of togetherness, joint ownership,
easy and open access for all. The marble
clad roofscape forms a large public space in the landscape of the city and the
fjord. The opera’s landscape comprises
the marble roof, additional marble clad areas, and the areas between the
building and the surrounding streets. Access
to the plaza and the main entrance is over a marble clad footbridge over the
opera canal. Oak has been chosen as the
dominating material for both the ‘wave wall’ and the main auditorium. For the wave wall it has a light and varied
surface. Oak is used throughout for the
floors, walls and ceilings. Inside the
auditorium oak has been chosen for a number of reasons: It is dense, easily formed, stable and
tactile. The oak has been treated with
ammonia to give a dark tone. To achieve
enough acoustic volume in the auditorium, the roof has been raised independently
inside the line of the balustrades. This
has created a new viewing point from which the city and the fjord can be experienced.
The roofs are mostly too steep for
wheelchair use but access to the near flat, upper areas is provided via a
dedicated elevator. The surface
treatment of the stone, its pattern, cuts and lifts which create a shadow play,
have been designed in close collaboration with the artists. The white marble is ‘La Facciata’ from the
Carrara quarries in Italy. The north facade
and all the stone cladding which is in contact with water is a Norwegian
granite called ‘Ice Green’ Read more
and see many pictures at: http://www.archdaily.com/440/oslo-opera-house-snohetta/
Highclere Castle is the home of the Earl
and Countess of Carnarvon and also features as Downton Abbey,
the hugely successful drama series with over 11 million viewers in the UK and
now shown in over 100 countries around the world. From the pen of Oscar-winning ('Gosford Park')
screenwriter, Julian Fellowes, now Lord Fellowes, it has an all star cast led
by Dame Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Elizabeth
McGovern, Penelope Wilton and many other leading actors and actresses. See images and link to visiting information
for 2013 at: http://www.highclerecastle.co.uk/
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
sang-froid (san*-FRWA)
[* the first syllable is nasal]
noun: Calmness,
especially under stress.
From French sang-froid
(cold blood). Earliest documented use: 1750.
Carl Sandburg poem discovered Jan.
18, 2013
Except for the smudgy typewriter strokes, it reads like up-to-date social
commentary: a poem on the fearsome power of a gun. But the brief work was composed some nine
decades ago by a literary giant, Carl Sandburg, and until days ago, scholars
had no idea it existed. For years Ernie Gullerud, a volunteer helping to create a
digital archive of Sandburg’s voluminous output at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, has pulled a poem from a folder, recorded its title and
first and last lines, and then moved on to the next page. But last week, a short poem, “The Revolver,”
caught his attention. “I said, ‘Hey, this is as pertinent today as it was
then,’ so I brought it to the librarians,” said Mr. Gullerud, 83. After consulting with experts, the staff of
the university’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library concluded that it was a
genuine, unpublished and unknown work. “The
paper is his paper, and the typewriter is his typewriter,” Valerie Hotchkiss,
the library’s director, said. Sandburg scholars think the poem dates to the
1920s, or perhaps earlier. RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/19/books/carl-sandburg-poem-discovered.html?ref=arts&_r=0
January 21, 2013 will mark the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. federal holiday. This milestone is a perfect opportunity for
Americans to honor Dr. King’s legacy through service. The MLK Day of Service empowers individuals,
strengthens communities, bridges barriers, creates solutions to social
problems, and moves us closer to Dr. King’s vision of a beloved community. Link to more information at: http://mlkday.gov/about/serveonkingday.php
Inauguration quiz from the National Archives http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/inaugural-quiz/
Inauguration quiz from National Public Radio
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