For those going into the legal profession, and for those curious about the logic of legal procedures, this book offers and excellent introduction. Its length will suit those readers who want a quick but accurate overview of this topic. It might also satisfy the needs of a reader in a field of endeavor somewhat removed from the legal profession, namely, that of artificial intelligence. Artificial and computational intelligence has been applied to the legal profession with the goal of creating automated legal reasoning machines. My interest in the book was somewhat different when I first read it years ago, but now has been reactivated from the standpoint of artificial intelligence. The author describes his book as an attempt to give a general description of the process of legal reasoning in case law and in statutorial and constitutional interpretation. He emphasizes right at the beginning that the law should not be viewed as a known system of rules that are applied by a judge, that legal rules are never clear, and that a requirement for such clarity would make society impossible. Ambiguity in the rules he says, allows collective participation to resolve the ambiguity. Such a characterization of legal rules by Levi prohibits an axiomatic or formal approach to legal reasoning, and this will make the problem of creating automated legal reasoners much more difficult. Interestingly, Levi quotes Aristotle in asserting that the pattern of legal reasoning consists of reasoning by example, and that it follows a three-step process: With the doctrine of precedent assumed throughout, a proposition describing a particular case is made into law and then this rule is applied to a situation that is similar to these. Thus: 1. The cases are shown to be similar. 2. The rule of law in the first case is announced 3. This rule is then applied to the second case. It is the finding of similarity in both cases that would entail, in the context of a legal reasoning machine, the use of data mining techniques coupled with a formalization of the Aristotelian "reasoning by example" that is discussed by Levi. An interesting part of Levi's discussion on the determination of similarity (or difference) is that this determination is dependent on the judge. When a statute does not exist, and case law is being considered, the judge is free to dismiss teh facts that the prior judge may have considered important. The doctrine of "ratio decidendi" in legal philosophy, and has been the subject of intense investigation. A formal or computational model of ratio decidendi must come to terms with this tension between precedent and judicial discretion. In addition, Levi argues, the rules are discovered in the process of determining the similarities (or differences). This dynamism in legal reasoning is not too different from what happens in scientific research, for in the latter new laws (rules) are discovered in the process of interpreting new data that has been acqu... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

An Introduction to Legal Reasoning: Books

Watch all of this video. It's astounding.

Living Cornstarch

To be a good programmer is difficult and noble.
The hardest part of making real a collective vision
of a software project is dealing with
one's coworkers and customers.
Writing computer programs is important and takes great intelligence
and skill. But it is really child's play compared to
everything else that a good programmer must do to make a
software system that succeeds for both the customer and
myriad colleagues for whom she is partially responsible.
In this essay I attempt to summarize as concisely as possible
those things that I wish
someone had explained to me when I was twenty-one.

This is very subjective and, therefore, this essay is doomed
to be personal and somewhat opinionated. I confine myself to problems that a
programmer is very likely to have to face in her work.
Many of these problems and their solutions are so general to
the human condition that I will probably seem preachy.
I hope in spite of this that this essay will be useful.

How to be a Programmer: A Short, Comprehensive, and Personal Summary

Memestreams with more money and more users?

Digg = (Memstreams Main Page + Venture Capital)

The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis.
He plans to have millions of machines in production within a year.
The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning.

UN debut for $100 laptop for poor

The only secondary school textbook that covers relevant Georgia and federal law. Discusses what law is and who makes it; how the law relates to young people in various areas; constitutional protections; and how the civil, criminal, and juvenile justice processes work. New chapter on immigration law. Extensive glossary puts legal terms into easy-to-understand language.

Carl Vinson Institute of Government - Introduction to Law in Georgia, An: Fourth Edition

Woodward's testimony in a two-hour deposition Monday would mean that another White House official told a reporter about Plame before Libby revealed her identity to Miller. A spokesman for White House adviser Karl Rove told the Post that Rove did not discuss Plame with Woodward.

Rove or Cheney?

Bob�Woodward: My CIA leak source was not Libby - Nov 16, 2005

Meditating does more than just feel good and calm you down, it makes you perform better – and alters the structure of your brain, researchers have found.

...

They found that meditating actually increases the thickness of the cortex in areas involved in attention and sensory processing, such as the prefrontal cortex and the right anterior insula.

“You are exercising it while you meditate, and it gets bigger,” she says. The finding is in line with studies showing that accomplished musicians, athletes and linguists all have thickening in relevant areas of the cortex. It is further evidence, says Lazar, that yogis “aren’t just sitting there doing nothing".

The growth of the cortex is not due to the growth of new neurons, she points out, but results from wider blood vessels, more supporting structures such as glia and astrocytes, and increased branching and connections.

ADHD suckas, heal thyselves.

Meditation builds up the brain

This is a bilbiography of the work of John Bellairs. My mom read these to my and my brother when we were kids. A friend had one sitting on top of his toilet, and I cracked it open. Then I stole it. Cause they're still entertaining.

John Bellairs is the bomb. The illustrations by Edward Gorey are the bomb. These books make me feel cozy and content. Harry Potter can kiss my ass.

The Books of John Bellairs

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii - The airman's possessions, laid out on a table in a military lab, offer a peek deep into the past.

His pockets produced 51 cents in dimes, nickels, and pennies dating from 1920 to 1942. A neatly handwritten note tucked inside a faded address book reveals the words "all the girls know," though the rest of the letter is mostly decomposed and unreadable.

Forensic scientists at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command are using these and other clues to help them identify the body of World War II airman found in a California glacier last month. The Hawaii-based experts have spent the last few weeks meticulously examining his bones, taking DNA samples, and studying his teeth to learn who he was and when he died.

Scientists Examine Airman Found in Ice