Some golfing buddies and I were trying to decide whether to play a course close to home or a course that is $20 cheaper but an hour away. We were discussing whether the “love bank” credits with our wives for playing closer to home and thus getting home for dinner were worth the additional $20 in green fees. To provide a more empirical basis for this decision, I devised the following (admittedly sexist) formula for determining the monetary value of “love bank” credits. (Actually the formula determines the marginal value of adding additional love bank credits to an existing love bank.)
Month: September 2006
I participate in an email list called “Cyberprofs” (teachers and scholars of the law relating to cyberspace). As part of a long discussion on how SSRN affects scholarship, we decided to start an “open source” distributed law review article. The utterly ridiculous results are available on the An Academic Experiment blog. As you can see, law professors as a class have too much time on their hands and too much snark in their veins. Behind the humor, though, there’s a hint of the philosophical divide among cyberprofs — the “exceptionalists,” who think cyberspace is something ontologically different than the brick-and-mortar world, and the “anti-exceptionalists,” who think of the Internet in more instrumentalist terms.
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The Kingdom of Christ — Part I
This is a first in a series of posts that will review Russell D. Moore’s important book The Kingdom of Christ. In the course of the book review, I’ll reflect a bit on how a robust theology of the Kingdom is important for cultural engagement.
A theology of the Kingdom of God is vital, and difficult, because how we answer the question “what is the Kingdom of God” determines how we answer questions such as “how should Christians relate to culture and society” and “what is the Church’s proper relationship to the State.” Anyone who wishes to develop a Christian perspective on law, culture and society must first develop a theology of the Kingdom. In fact, the “Kingdom of God” arguably is the central concept in Jesus’ teaching as recorded in the Gospels. And yet, Evangelicals have long had a complicated relationship with the Kingdom of God.
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What I Used to Do for a Living
This reported opinion in a patent infringement case was released not long ago. Notice that I’m listed as lead counsel for the winning side! I was very involved in this case when I was still at my law firm four or five years ago. My former partners continued to litigate the case after I left, leading to this judgment declaring the patent we were challenging invalid. I guess my name was still on some of the court filings. I can’t take credit for all the arguments that were made after I left, but the key admission by the inventor about the prior art was testimony I elicited at his deposition and on cross-examination at a previous court hearing. Cool!
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TGD Quiz: Knowledge
Here’s a quiz for today. Who said the following:
Look for him [God] by taking yourself as the starting point. Learn who it is who within you makes everything his own and says ‘My God, my mind, my thought, my soul, my body.’ Learn the sources of sorrow, joy, love, hate. Learn how it happens that one watches without willing, rests without willing, becomes angry without willing, loves without willing. If you carefully investigate these matters, you will find him [God] in yourself.
(a) Oprah
(b) Dr. Phil
(c) Robert Pirsig (author of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”)
(d) Deepak Chopra
Continue reading to see the correct answer.
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Blog Advertising
Well, I have to do something to start driving traffic! (Courtesy of Ronald McHummer.)
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Song in Progress
Here is the current progress on “Pretty Cafes.” Coming along very nicely lyrically, I think, and the chorus seems to work. (After the chorus, it peters out because I haven’t finished it yet.)
I’ve been working on an idea for some “book list” pages. Here’s a list I’ve started on good books concerning the intersection of faith, law and public policy. Some of these are more about the theological foundation for thinking about law and public policy, others are specifically about the place of faith-based claims in the public square.
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More Proof the Terrorists Haven't Won
The September Concert: all around New York, there’s music today. I caught a bit of The Brooke Fox Band at Madison Square Park during lunch. Celebrating life in NYC on a beautiful and horrible day.
It’s 9-11 today in New York. It’s hard to believe that only five years have passed, and just as hard to believe that it’s been five years already. I don’t have anything profound to say that won’t sound treacly. On 9/11/2001, I saw the smoke rising from the towers from outside my office in Newark, NJ, where I was a young law firm partner. Today, I took the train into my office in New York, where I’m a somewhat older young professor, on a bright blue morning just like that morning five years ago. Time goes on, but we have to remember.