Employees Expected to ‘Bear the Burden’ of American Airlines Bankruptcy

After 81 years of flying, American Airlines landed in federal bankruptcy court in New York City yesterday.  The last of the legacy airlines to file for Chapter 11 following 9/11, the beleaguered company cited nearly $30 billion in debt, just under $25 billion in assets, and $4 billion in cash reserves as part of the decision to file for protection against its creditors.

Because this is the seventh largest bankruptcy in U.S. history by number of employees, it is widely anticipated that AA will trim labor costs by shedding jobs.  A large question also hangs over the security of American employee pensions.  Watch Judy Woodruff  discuss the contributing factors of the filing and its pending aftermath with Ben Mutzabaugh of USA Today on PBSNewsHour.

According to a public service announcement on its website, American Airlines is flying normal schedules and conducting business as usual worldwide.  Additional information about the Chapter 11 reorganization is available at www.aa.com/restructuring.

"Brace yourselves...it's gonna be a rough landing!"

StatCan announces 2011 Census data release schedule

Columnist Carl Meyer has reported that all of Statistics Canada’s standard online products, including the 2011 census, socioeconomic and geographic data, will be offered to the public for free starting February 2012.  Source: Embassy Magazine

The announcement builds on earlier decisions by internationally-acclaimed StatCan to make its census data and specialized search tools available online in 2001 and 2006.  In additon to daily CANSIM news alerts, a detailed schedule of release dates for 2011 major economic indicators has been posted on the agency’s website.  Other neat, new features on the updated site include E-tutorials and Thesaurus Search.

 

Evernote–One Tool to Rule ‘em All

Ever use a notebook? Spiral-bound, reporter’s, fauxhemian Moleskine even. Sure–everyone does it. Ever miss typing, bullet points, check-boxes? Ever lose or misplace your notebook, wish you had it with you at work, school, home, bed? Ever lose it and wish you had a backup? Right? Right? Well, let Evernote be your friend. Evernote is software, a service, a notebook–your everywhere notebook. Click “New Note.” Type. Paste. Drag and drop. Sync. Go home, the note’s there. Pull out your iDevice, Android, Palm Prē, Blackberry even–ditto.

I used to be a OneNote addict “power user.” But I was frustrated that it was hard to sync and impossible to use unless I was at a Windows computer. So if you like OneNote, c’mon, drink the Kool-Aid. Evernote will do almost all of what OneNote will do (Evernote’s formatting isn’t as flexible), plus, Evernote works almost everywhere (hence its name).

Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/) is software that works like a virtual notebook. It has programs that work on most gadgets. It works with your data in the cloud on most devices, and keeps copies of your notes on your computer or iPad. Access the notes–with rich formatting, graphics, files and a PDF reader–anywhere, even via the Web for when you’re using someone else’s computer.

And like good technology, Evernote:

• Doesn’t get in your way, and
• Lets you use it your way–from simple to complicated.
• Has a low “geek factor.” If you want to, just enter notes, then search easily by note contents.

Unless you want to get your geek on, in which case you can tag notes, drag in files, PDFs; drop in scanned notes or even take pictures of notes or signs with mobile devices. Evernote recognizes text in pictures. You can even use links to specific notes that can also be shared with non-Evernote users!

Use Evernote:

• As “The Notebook” (everyone uses one)
• Try using it for:
• Notetaking
• To-dos
• Shopping lists
• Snippets of legal drafting forms and language
• Recipes
• Files
• The Great American Novel (or even Law Review Article)

Notebooks and scraps of notes go everywhere–where you want and where you don’t. Your great new idea doesn’t do any good if it’s on a scrap of tablecloth in the pocket of your other shirt. And when you have seventeen notebooks full of notes, you’re out of luck finding stuff, unless you have your own personal archivist. Notebooks aren’t secure, aren’t backed up, are impossible to organize–and can’t be searched!

Evernote solves all these problems.

And the price is right–free! (There is a premium version, but at $5/month, it’s cheaper than your Moleskine habit.)

Evernote works everywhere: computer, tablet, desktop and mobile Web if your device doesn’t support it directly. It’s easy to organize with–great tagging, excellent, intuitive searching (including scanned and photographed text–take pictures of handwritten notes, and search them!), and (much) more power if you need it. It records audio on mobile devices, and stores files in the cloud with notes.

Evernote is compatible with Outlook–send emails directly to Evernote, with formatting. And clip Web pages from many browsers, and support for others, like Safari on iPhone and iPad.

Evernote does have some problems. Formatting in notes can be wonky, especially on the iPad–rich formatting there is new and still being worked on. Unlike files, if you open and edit a picture in a note, the changes don’t always appear.

The Wall Street Journal’s personal technology columnist Walt Mossberg had some issues with it (http://allthingsd.com/20100120/evernote-review/): data limits and other restrictions (since eased) with the free version, differences between apps on mobile platforms, and buggy Web clipping.

It can also be slow in mobile Safari–I usually just email Web links to Evernote.

Even so, Mossberg liked Evernote–a lot.

So give Evernote a try. You don’t have much to lose (except stacks and scraps of paper). And you may really like it.

Some Evernote resources:

• Evernote intro (Purdue University Information Technology):
• http://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/INSITE/Evernote
• Evernote Essentials ebook:
• http://nerdgap.com/landing/evernote-essentials/
• Evernote GTD ebook:
• http://ebook.dangoldesq.com/

“Pardoning the Turkey”

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board (yes there is a “National Turkey Federation and a Poultry and Egg National Board) have given a turkey to the President of the United States for use in the White House’s “National Thanksgiving Turkey Celebration.” Since 1947, an unsuspecting turkey has found its way into the White House oven on Thanksgiving Day more often than not. However, since 1989, during then President George H.W. Bush’s first year in office, presidents have “officially” pardoned the chosen turkey and its understudy (an understudy is chosen just in case, for whatever reason, the star is not able to perform its culinary duties; after all, the show must go on). After receiving their pardons (possibly for the crime of engaging in incessant gobbling), the turkeys must then suffer through a symbolic turkey “roast” consisting of every humorous (and not so humorous) poultry joke imaginable. Finally, the turkeys are then relocated to their new homes at “exotic” turkey ranches, where they are able to live out their days without fear of being stuffed, roasted or consumed.

Although, it is unclear exactly how this tradition got started, it appears that President George H.W. Bush granted the first “official pardon” of a Thanksgiving turkey during the first year of his presidency (I am not sure if an executive order was actually issued). While one story suggests that President Harry Truman pardoned a turkey in 1947, the Truman library has not been able substantiate that claim. After receiving a turkey in 1963, President Kennedy unofficially pardoned it when he said, “[l]et’s just keep him.” There is still another story which contends that the tradition goes all the way back to Abraham Lincoln, who allegedly pardoned his son Tad’s pet turkey (like the Truman story, the Lincoln story remains unsubstantiated).

Provided below are the statistics regarding presidential pardons since 1945 per the “Office of the Pardon Attorney” (I am not sure if the turkeys are included in the official statistics.):

• Harry S. Truman – 1913
• Dwight Eisenhower – 1110
• John Kennedy – 472
• Lyndon Johnson – 960
• Richard Nixon – 863
• Gerald Ford – 382
• Jimmy Carter – 534
• Ronald Reagan – 393
• George H.W. Bush – 74
• Bill Clinton – 396
• George W. Bush – 189

Thus far, President Barack Obama has pardoned 9 people and 4 turkeys (unless the First Family develops an especially irresistible craving this year, 2 more turkeys should be added to that number this Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 24, 2011.

Does the turkey receive a “pardon” in your household during the holiday season? Generally, “it’s curtains” for the turkey in my household, but this year a member of that species will be spared since we have elected to serve ham instead.

Book Reviews: Forensic Oratory

Bradshaw, Brad. The science of persuasion: a litigator’s guide to juror decision-making. Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, 2011. ISBN 978-1-61632-989-1

Mathis, Laura. Acting skills for lawyers. Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, 2011. ISBN 978-1-61632-932-7

Both of these recent ABA publications address the subject of forensic oratory, and while they stress many of the same points, their approaches are very different.

Mathis is an actor, not an attorney (although she is married to one!) In her preface, she draws a parallel between actors and attorneys: “Both actors and attorney are expected to entertain, to inspire us to look at life a bit differently, and to share a story that has not been told” (p. xi). Her book offers an amusing and instructive overview of the tools attorneys need to meet these expectations, and thus to best represent their clients. Her focus is on physical presence, demeanor and appearance, with advice on relaxation, breathing, diction and body movements. Mathis likens taking depositions to being a talk show host (p. 57), and preparing witnesses to being an acting coach (p. 97). Quick tips (e.g., “Depose your coffee maker or potted plant”) and exercises, both physical and mental, are presented in text boxes throughout the book.  She even devotes a chapter to advice on the perfect photo shoot.

Bradshaw is a trial consultant with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, and the emphasis of his book is on the psychological aspects of oratory.  It has a more serious tenor than Mathis’s book, but it is not at all a dry scholarly tome. He says in the preface that he wants to reach as broad an audience as possible: “… law students, experienced litigators, and everyone in between” (p. xiii). The book’s opening chapter presents the basic elements of persuasion: credibility vs. likeability, “reading” an audience, and framing an argument to fit that audience’s beliefs. The following chapters work through a linear progression from trial preparation through jury deliberations. Text boxes throughout highlight practical advice; e.g. “Make sure your witness is comfortable with silence” (p. 64). The final chapter of Bradshaw’s work is an extended exercise, entitled “Putting it into practice”. It presents a fact pattern, and then suggested lists of questions covering depositions and voir dire, plus opening and closing statements for both plaintiff and defendant.

These two books make an outstanding combination, and all but the most seasoned litigators are sure to find something useful in each of them.

Libraries of the World: Amsterdam

You know you’re a librarian when you routinely make touring libraries in foreign locales a top priority of every vacation.  Over the years, I’ve accumulated a large cache of pictures and memorabilia from different libraries I’ve visited, but the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (Public Library Amsterdam) deserves a special shout out.

OBA is the collective name for all public libraries in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The first library opened in 1919 at the Keizersgracht.  As of 2007, there are 28 public libraries and 43 lending points, such as hospitals. In 2005, OBA had 1.7 million books with 165,000 members and lent out 5 million books  in Amsterdam.  Impressive stats!  I want these guys on my Fantasy Library League Team.  Seriously.

During a recent trip to Amsterdam, I managed to take a few interesting outdoor pics of Centrale Bibliotheek (Central Library), the largest public library in Europe.  According to Wikipedia, the complex has a floor surface of 28,500 m², spread out over 10 floors, 1,200 seats, of which 600 with Internet-connected computers, and a staff of 200.   Now that’s what I call a LIBRARY.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to view the inside (hard to do that when you’re being ferried away in a speeding canal cruise boat) but here is an interior shot to give you an idea of the vast space and lofty beauty of this facility.

And I was also delighted to discover the Airport Library at Schiphol.  Enjoy, fellow library lovers!

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Controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) now before House Judiciary Committee

Numerous web companies, including Google and Facebook, are reacting harshly to the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261), a.k.a. SOPA.  Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (TX-21)  on October 26, the bill contains the most controversial parts of the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (S. 968), but radically expands the scope of what constitutes a “‘rogue website”, or site that engages in criminal copyright activities as defined under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, P. L. 105-304 [H.R. 2281]. 

H.R. 3261 would essentially force U.S. Internet service providers to block access to rogue sites.  There would be a ban list that ISPs would have to enforce, modifying their DNS records to prevent  foreign sites from resolving to that domain name’s Internet Protocol address.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Smith said the legislation is designed to “stop the flow of revenue to rogue websites… that profit from selling pirated goods without any legal consequences”.  Unsurprisingly, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are among the strongest supporters of the legislation.

In this morning’s testimony before Congress, the MPPA claimed that SOPA would allow the U.S. Department of Justice “more effective tools to protect American intellectual property, including the films, television shows and sound recordings created by our members”.  You can follow the hearings via Twitter using #sopa or watch the webcast via the Committee’s website.

Critics of H.R. 3261 predict that any user-generated content site or cloud-based service (i.e. virtually any participant in “Web 2.0″) could find itself targeted by the bill.   Opponents likewise argue that the new legislation represents a severe threat to online innovation and legitimate communications tools, effectively stifling free speech and impeding job creation.

Additonal objections have been raised by digital rights proponents, IP/copyright advocates, and public watchdog  groups.  Furthermore, in order to increase public opposition to H.R. 3261, open government organizations such as EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Sunlight Foundation are hosting grass roots events such as American Censorship Day: November 16th to coincide with today’s hearing.  Free Speech.net has started an online petition while the Center for Democracy & Technology has posted a resource list of the growing opposition to SOPA. 

Whether or not H.R. 3261 will pass remains to be seen; witnesses have another five days to present testimony.  More information about the bill can be found on the House Judiciary Committee website under Issues >> Rogue Websites .

Student Workers Rule!

You might not realize how heavily academic libraries rely upon student workers.  Without student workers, most academic libraries would not operate efficiently, and many would not operate at all.  The LLTC is no different.  The LLTC employs approximately 20 student workers every semester.  Some work in Technical Services, ensuring that pocket parts are inserted, loose-leafs filed, and periodicals processed and placed appropriately on the shelves.  Other students work in Audio Visual setting up laptops, projectors, and other classroom equipment.  Still, others work in the administrative suite answering phone calls, filing documents, and running errands.  And, still, others work at the Circulation Desk.  Indeed, without student workers at the Circulation Desk, the LLTC would probably need to reduce its operating hours by at least 25%. 

In the past several months, the LLTC has changed some long-standing policies regarding student workers.

The LLTC, at least over the past 5 or so years, has not employed Law Center students at Circulation.  The policy changed during the Winter 2011 term.  Now, the LLTC attempts to hire only law students if possible.  We find law students are great student workers.  They know the layout of the LLTC, are able to better direct patrons to reference librarians when needed, and are extremely reliable.  Plus, why not give needed jobs (money) to our own students?  Additionally, the LLTC now employs student reference assistants.  This term we have two reference assistants – Ayelet Faerman and Sylvia Cano.  Each works approximately 5-10 hours a week at the reference desk.  We look for students who did well in LSV (the Law Center’s first-year legal writing and research course) as well as students who have either already taken or are enrolled in Advanced Legal Research.  This has worked out tremendously. 

Possibly the law librarians will be able to convince one of reference assistants that being a law librarian is a great career choice!

Next time your in the LLTC, thank the student workers.  Each student worker works hard.  And, as noted above, without them the LLTC could not function as efficiently as it does.  I’m going to take this opportunity to now thank all of our student workers.  You are awesome and we highly value you!

U.S.S.C. to hear Affordable Healthcare Act appeal

Given the scorecard meted out by the appeals circuit, it’s no surprise to learn that the United States Supreme Court has agreed to rule on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148).  Although the legislation isn’t due to go into effect until January 1, 2014, opening arguments have been scheduled for March 2012.  The largest and broadest legal challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act comes from a joint filing by 26 states, led by Florida. 

The cases accepted Monday are Dept. of Health and Human Services v. Florida (11-398); NFIB v. Sebelius (11-393); and Florida v. HHS (11-400).  Court reporter Lyle Denniston has written an excellent blog post analyzing the court’s agenda on healthcare reform.  All documents related to the three cases can be viewed here.

 

 

Senate rejects S. J. Res 6, opens door to FCC’s Net Neutrality rules

Today the U.S. Senate rejected S.J. Res 6 which would repeal the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) authority to enforce its net neutrality rules.

Despite the waffling of some Senators prior to today’s vote, the result was along party lines. Senator Inouye (D-HI) and Senator McCain (R-AZ) did not vote. Here’s the roll call. Earlier in the week, President Obama said he would veto the measure if it came to his desk.

The FCC’s rules are scheduled to take effect on November 20. However, there are several pending lawsuits, including one filed by Verizon on September 30th, that may delay their implementation.