A few articles worth a read, especially for engineers.
Liberating America's secret, for-pay laws « Boing Boing. The title is a bit overly dramatic, but still a fascinating article. In order for an engineer to do his job and meet legal requirements, he needs access to engineering codes that aren't freely available. "Incorporation by Reference" is a way that our public laws are, in a way, kept secret, or so the article argues. I like this quote: (Having spent a lot of time with these documents, we can vouch that many of these standards are very high-quality technical documents. This is important stuff and groups like ASME and NFPA do a great job.)
Mississippi River creates its own diversion. Note that you're going to hear more and more about river diversions as the last, best hope for coastal restoration in Louisiana.
MIT NSE Final Report on Fukushima Lessons Learned. [PDF] Billed as a technical report, it's actually quite accessible and well written.
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Friday, July 22, 2011
Jury Duty - Impressions
A couple weeks ago, I had the honor (?) to serve Orleans Parish criminal Jury Duty.
A few quick notes:
* I had many people warn me about how disorganized and chaotic the system was, but I have to say, on the whole, it was fairly well organized. Parking was no problem. One gripe: it seemed like the jurors had to arrive earlier than the judges, who would trickle in hours after the jurors.
* I brought plenty to read and needed it all. I was very surprised at the prevalance of E-readers/Nooks/Kindles/etc. Far more people were using them than I thought.
* A constant complaint during the Voire Dire was NOPD. Juror after juror would say, "I'm sick and tired of picking up the paper and seeing some officer under indictment for murder, rape, etc." I appreciate that it's actually fairly difficult to 'prove beyond a reasonable doubt' that someone is guilty. Case after case, for better or for worse, depends on the testimony of a single officer and the conviction rate will rise and fall based off NOPD's reputation first and foremost. Check out this report from The Lens for an idea of what people look at NOPD as.
* There was an extremely large contingent (>1/3 of the jury pool) that openly advocated, at a minimum, marijuana legalization. The Voire Dire for drug cases was far more involved that it should have been. The prosecutions spent way too much time trying to pick out anyone who may have thought about smoking a joint one time. On the flip side, defense attorneys spent their time trying to get the jury most likely to result in an acquittal / were most uncomfortable with the thought of judging someone else. I personally feel that the jury should be closer to a representation of society and then take your chances and present your case from there. If society is skeptical of drug busts, than the average jury should reflect that.
* Fortunately, the entire time, I was only picked for 1 jury and that guy pled guilty at the start of the trial. One group of my fellow jurors had to sit through the trial of an NOPD officer who eventually pled guilty to raping his step-daughter. From what I heard after the trial finished, that was a seriously messed up case.
For all of its flaws, it's hard to think of a better system than trial by jury. It's not perfect, but it's the best we can do for now.
Further reading: New Orleans juries aren't voting 'guilty' too often, analysis shows
A few quick notes:
* I had many people warn me about how disorganized and chaotic the system was, but I have to say, on the whole, it was fairly well organized. Parking was no problem. One gripe: it seemed like the jurors had to arrive earlier than the judges, who would trickle in hours after the jurors.
* I brought plenty to read and needed it all. I was very surprised at the prevalance of E-readers/Nooks/Kindles/etc. Far more people were using them than I thought.
* A constant complaint during the Voire Dire was NOPD. Juror after juror would say, "I'm sick and tired of picking up the paper and seeing some officer under indictment for murder, rape, etc." I appreciate that it's actually fairly difficult to 'prove beyond a reasonable doubt' that someone is guilty. Case after case, for better or for worse, depends on the testimony of a single officer and the conviction rate will rise and fall based off NOPD's reputation first and foremost. Check out this report from The Lens for an idea of what people look at NOPD as.
* There was an extremely large contingent (>1/3 of the jury pool) that openly advocated, at a minimum, marijuana legalization. The Voire Dire for drug cases was far more involved that it should have been. The prosecutions spent way too much time trying to pick out anyone who may have thought about smoking a joint one time. On the flip side, defense attorneys spent their time trying to get the jury most likely to result in an acquittal / were most uncomfortable with the thought of judging someone else. I personally feel that the jury should be closer to a representation of society and then take your chances and present your case from there. If society is skeptical of drug busts, than the average jury should reflect that.
* Fortunately, the entire time, I was only picked for 1 jury and that guy pled guilty at the start of the trial. One group of my fellow jurors had to sit through the trial of an NOPD officer who eventually pled guilty to raping his step-daughter. From what I heard after the trial finished, that was a seriously messed up case.
For all of its flaws, it's hard to think of a better system than trial by jury. It's not perfect, but it's the best we can do for now.
Further reading: New Orleans juries aren't voting 'guilty' too often, analysis shows
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Link Dump - 11 June 2011
Engineering:
✭ Calamities: Engineering Design FailuresA column by an MIT engineering professors that goes through engineering failures (mostly materials failures) and their post-accident investigation.
✭ Michael Bay’s Scenario « xkcd
Great discussion from XKCD about the rising levees, with a plug for McPhee's "Control of Nature."
Evil lawyers:
✭NYT: At Well-Paying Law Firms, Some Going cheap in Legal. Wonder why some firms took so long to try to cut costs in legal, while cutting their engineering staffs to the bone? Maybe they thought the consequences of crappy engineering wouldn't be as bad as crappy corporate defense. Ask that to BP and see how they respond.
✭ NOLA.com : Sen. Vitter's spokesman dares Obama administration to prosecute his boss Umm, Mann Act (aka- the "White Slavery Act" with its 10-year statute of limitations) anyone?
YouTube:
✭ YouTube - Bear Grylls turns a dead seal into a wet suit
Bear Grylls makes homemade wetsuit: Umm..
Note to self: if ever in Austin, go to this theater:
Miscellaneous:
✭ Joplin Sat Images
✭IEEE on Chernobyl and Fukushima radiation deaths Verdict: It's VERY hard to put a precise number on it
UPDATE- a few more:
✭IEEE on Chernobyl and Fukushima radiation deaths Verdict: It's VERY hard to put a precise number on it
UPDATE- a few more:
✭ The First Item on my Christmas List...
✭ Faulty Towers: The Crisis in Higher Education | The Nation . From 1971 to 2001, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in English declined by 20 percent, but the number awarded in math and statistics declined by 55 percent. The only areas of the liberal arts that saw an increase in BAs awarded were biology and psychology—and this at a time when aggregate enrollment expanded by something like 75 percent.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Tulane Law School to begin wholesale grade inflation
Tulane will now tack on 0.3 to every law school student's GPA. Apparently, too many recent grads are unemployed, so law schools across the nation feel like they have to give their students a helping hand. Above the Law has the details.
At least they're not stealing shoes anymore...
[Insert obligatory Cowen and Tulane Engineering comment here; I'll take your suggestions in the comments]
At least they're not stealing shoes anymore...
[Insert obligatory Cowen and Tulane Engineering comment here; I'll take your suggestions in the comments]
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Time to kill the Jones Act?
Recently I've seen a spurt of articles like this: Is the Jones Act lost at sea? and FOX NEWS: Why won't Obama waive the Jones Act?. One of the talking points in a lot of the articles is that oil spill response vessels are being kept away because of the Jones Act, despite specific provisions exempting vessels responding to an oil spill.
That's in part because of a specific exemption in the act that can allow for the use of foreign "oil spill response vessels," said H. Clayton Cook, a Washington attorney and expert on the Jones Act.
"That takes care of your skimmers and your oil spill vessels," he said.
Is the Jones Act, on balance, a good thing or not? Is it protectionist or is it a vital matter of national security? There's way too many facets of such a large law, but I'll talk about the main thrust of the Jones Act (maintaining domestic merchant marine and shipbuilding force).
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 was authored by Wesley L. Jones (R- Washington) and has been nicknamed the Jones Act ever since. Note that the act has also been revised several times, with large changes made in 1970 and 2006. Here's the preamble to the Jones Act that more or less goes through its purpose and intent:
I've read a few things that have led me to the conclusion that the main thrust of the Jones Act is a good thing (although there's lots of subsets that could probably use a re-write). A couple more things to throw out there:
* All shipbuilding tends to be overbuilt. From Wikipedia's Shipbuilding page: "Historically, the industry has suffered from the absence of global rules and a tendency towards (state-supported) over-investment due to the fact that shipyards offer a wide range of technologies, employ a significant number of workers, and generate foreign currency income (as the shipbuilding market is both global and dollar-based)."
* The purpose of the Jones Act isn't about commerce, so citing examples how much it costs consumers isn't the point. If we let, say, China become THE global shipbuilding power and we have a war (or, more likely, a naval-based trade skirmish) it won't do any good to try and contract with Chinese shipyards to build vessels for the navy. Remember, by definition, the in-place warship building capability is overwhelmed.
* Big multinational companies are the ones pushing the hardest for killing the Jones Act, but lots of local shipbuilding companies are terrified of doing away with it. Aker Shipyards in Philadelphia has a page about the Jones Act. New Orleans City Business had a great article about the Jones Act a while ago where they interviewed reps from local shipyards and service companies who all stated they would be put out of business if foreign companies, with looser engineering, labor, and pollution laws were allowed to come in and compete on their home turf, meanwhile their countries have similar protectionist laws in place the prevent them from competing in foreign lands. The companies interviewed (going off memory; subscription required for City Biz site) included Bollinger, Houma Industries, Hornbeck, and Chouset Offshore.
Time to kill the Jones Act? Probably not. If there's a specific problem with it, rewrite that part of the law. Otherwise, leave some fat in the system, because it's way too easy to 'lean' your way to disaster.
Anyway, if anyone has any specific experience with the Jones Act, I'd love to hear it.
UPDATE- Even RigZone calls the Jones Act a red herring, but they fault the USCG for not seizing control of the spill response (non-wellhead intervention) -side of the Macondo Blowout.
That's in part because of a specific exemption in the act that can allow for the use of foreign "oil spill response vessels," said H. Clayton Cook, a Washington attorney and expert on the Jones Act.
"That takes care of your skimmers and your oil spill vessels," he said.
Is the Jones Act, on balance, a good thing or not? Is it protectionist or is it a vital matter of national security? There's way too many facets of such a large law, but I'll talk about the main thrust of the Jones Act (maintaining domestic merchant marine and shipbuilding force).
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 was authored by Wesley L. Jones (R- Washington) and has been nicknamed the Jones Act ever since. Note that the act has also been revised several times, with large changes made in 1970 and 2006. Here's the preamble to the Jones Act that more or less goes through its purpose and intent:
It is necessary for the national defense and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine of the best equipped and most suitable types of vessels sufficient to carry the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, ultimately to be owned and operated privately by citizens of the United States; and it is declared to be the policy of the United States to do whatever may be necessary to develop and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine, and, in so far as may not be inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall, in the disposition of vessels and shipping property as hereinafter provided, in the making of rules and regulations, and in the administration of the shipping laws keep always in view this purpose and object as the primary end to be attained.
I've read a few things that have led me to the conclusion that the main thrust of the Jones Act is a good thing (although there's lots of subsets that could probably use a re-write). A couple more things to throw out there:
* All shipbuilding tends to be overbuilt. From Wikipedia's Shipbuilding page: "Historically, the industry has suffered from the absence of global rules and a tendency towards (state-supported) over-investment due to the fact that shipyards offer a wide range of technologies, employ a significant number of workers, and generate foreign currency income (as the shipbuilding market is both global and dollar-based)."
* The purpose of the Jones Act isn't about commerce, so citing examples how much it costs consumers isn't the point. If we let, say, China become THE global shipbuilding power and we have a war (or, more likely, a naval-based trade skirmish) it won't do any good to try and contract with Chinese shipyards to build vessels for the navy. Remember, by definition, the in-place warship building capability is overwhelmed.
* Big multinational companies are the ones pushing the hardest for killing the Jones Act, but lots of local shipbuilding companies are terrified of doing away with it. Aker Shipyards in Philadelphia has a page about the Jones Act. New Orleans City Business had a great article about the Jones Act a while ago where they interviewed reps from local shipyards and service companies who all stated they would be put out of business if foreign companies, with looser engineering, labor, and pollution laws were allowed to come in and compete on their home turf, meanwhile their countries have similar protectionist laws in place the prevent them from competing in foreign lands. The companies interviewed (going off memory; subscription required for City Biz site) included Bollinger, Houma Industries, Hornbeck, and Chouset Offshore.
Time to kill the Jones Act? Probably not. If there's a specific problem with it, rewrite that part of the law. Otherwise, leave some fat in the system, because it's way too easy to 'lean' your way to disaster.
Anyway, if anyone has any specific experience with the Jones Act, I'd love to hear it.
UPDATE- Even RigZone calls the Jones Act a red herring, but they fault the USCG for not seizing control of the spill response (non-wellhead intervention) -side of the Macondo Blowout.
Friday, October 30, 2009
I'm not a scientist, I'm a trial lawyer!
If this guy was my defense attorney, I'd hang myself in my cell and save everyone the trouble. It's actually a little disturbing that he's allowed to "debate the science" without any background in physics, chemistry, or any background as an arson investigator or fire scientist.
Wikipedia has a concise, but detailed rundown of the whole affair.
H/T LGM
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Science Links of the Day - 23 Sept 2009
Start with a cool video:
An illustration of gyroscopic stabilization.
Secrets of the Gun that Shelled Paris. From an old issue of Popular Mechanics. Don't you wish newspapers and magazines covered science like this today?
RNA produced from "Primordial Soup". Wow. Maybe we can get some of that evolution around here: Too evolved for US audiences?
Costly [British] libel suits are stifling science. Perhaps the starkest indication that parliament needs to examine our libel laws is that American legislators are acting to block them. They recognize that free speech in America is compromised because US journalists have been dragged into an English libel court (so-called “libel tourism”) and forced to back down because of the high costs involved. Congress is considering a bill, which has already been passed by the state of New York, that would make English judgments on libel unenforceable in America.
Fined: for not producing enough garbage. Bike Mechanic Too Efficient. A standard monitoring tactic was used, but with no appeal process, there's an automatic fine for "green" mechanic.
"Catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" - Not so much: To get rid of fruit flies, which are so plentiful this time of year, fill a small dish with about a half a cup of cider vinegar, and add a drop of dishwashing liquid. The cider vinegar gives [off] fumes similar to spoiling fruit, which attracts the flies, while the dishsoap breaks the surface tension. Flies land, flies drown, no more flies! It works like a freakin’ charm, it does. Plus, there’s a morbid sense of satisfaction, seeing how many you can catch in a single day.
Synthetic Humans? On average, one-half of the nitrogen in a human body is synthetic, the product of one of a Haber-Bosch plant.
First ships navigate Northeast passage. 2 German merchant ships, escorted by Russian icebreakers, are navigating Europe-Asia shortcut. Could it be the first time in 5,000+ years the channel is regularly ice-free?
What does space smell like? After reentering the shuttle airlock, a strange smell lingers from space...
Niel DeGrasse Tyson takes on "Intelligent" Design:
An illustration of gyroscopic stabilization.
Secrets of the Gun that Shelled Paris. From an old issue of Popular Mechanics. Don't you wish newspapers and magazines covered science like this today?
RNA produced from "Primordial Soup". Wow. Maybe we can get some of that evolution around here: Too evolved for US audiences?
Costly [British] libel suits are stifling science. Perhaps the starkest indication that parliament needs to examine our libel laws is that American legislators are acting to block them. They recognize that free speech in America is compromised because US journalists have been dragged into an English libel court (so-called “libel tourism”) and forced to back down because of the high costs involved. Congress is considering a bill, which has already been passed by the state of New York, that would make English judgments on libel unenforceable in America.
Fined: for not producing enough garbage. Bike Mechanic Too Efficient. A standard monitoring tactic was used, but with no appeal process, there's an automatic fine for "green" mechanic.
"Catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" - Not so much: To get rid of fruit flies, which are so plentiful this time of year, fill a small dish with about a half a cup of cider vinegar, and add a drop of dishwashing liquid. The cider vinegar gives [off] fumes similar to spoiling fruit, which attracts the flies, while the dishsoap breaks the surface tension. Flies land, flies drown, no more flies! It works like a freakin’ charm, it does. Plus, there’s a morbid sense of satisfaction, seeing how many you can catch in a single day.
Synthetic Humans? On average, one-half of the nitrogen in a human body is synthetic, the product of one of a Haber-Bosch plant.
First ships navigate Northeast passage. 2 German merchant ships, escorted by Russian icebreakers, are navigating Europe-Asia shortcut. Could it be the first time in 5,000+ years the channel is regularly ice-free?
What does space smell like? After reentering the shuttle airlock, a strange smell lingers from space...
Niel DeGrasse Tyson takes on "Intelligent" Design:
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