Concurring Opinions has a great idea for a reality television show based on the Supreme Court.  I am not a fan of those shows, but I sure would watch this one.

Here is an interesting post combining Christmas and copyright.  It is the story of the copyright of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  According to Randy Picker, Robert May wrote the story in 1939 when he was employed by Montgomery Ward.  Montgomery Ward distributed the book in it stores but then transferred the copyright to May in 1947.

I did a little more research and learned from snopes.com that Rudolph’s name was almost Rollo or Reginald.  May’s brother-in-law was Johnny Marks who developed the lyrics and music for a Rudolph song and then recorded by Gene Autry in 1949. 

Here are some Games for the Brain for Friday! 

Thanks to Resource Shelf. 

Here is Forbes list of America’s Drunkest Cities. Nashville came in 35th. 

Thanks to Resource Shelf (for the link, not for Nashville’s ranking) 

Do you have a client who you really want to impress? 

May I suggest Dinner in the Sky.  According to its website, Dinner in the Sky is a "unique event meant for anyone who wishes to transform an ordinary meal or meeting into a magical moment that will leave a lasting impression on their guests!"  Here is how it works.   Dinner in the Sky suspends a table 50 meters in the sky.   Twenty-two people can sit around the table and three in the middle (your chef or meeting presenter).  The price is about 8,000 pounds, and that does not include the chef or food. 

As for me, I will continue to give my clients chocolate chip cookies. 

I noticed that it was a big cooler this morning so that can only mean that football season is nearly here.  Actually, it has already started if you count pre-season games. 

Anyway, here is something that will help you get ready for the most important part of any football game -- the tailgate party.  It is a bundt cake pan in the shape of a stadium.  It's a deal at $35.00.  With some work, you should be able to decorate it for your favorite team.  Enjoy! 

Thanks to Feedmedrinkme. 

The [Non]Billable Hour points to a delightful video about a personal declaration of independence.  It is perfect for a Monday afternoon – check it out. 

Nicole Black at Sui Generis--a New York law blog  - regularly includes entries for comedic breaks.  We can all use those! 

Nicole started out this week with definitions of experts, lawyers and judges: 

Experts are people who know a great deal about very little and who go along learning more and more about less and less until they know practically everything about nothing.

Lawyers, on the other hand, are people who know very little about many things and keep learning less and less about more and more until they know practically nothing about everything.

Judges are people who start out knowing everything about everything but end up knowing nothing about anything because of their constant association with experts and lawyers.

Funny and, unfortunately, often true! 

Do you ever think about changing careers? If you think you would be a good surgeon, here's an entertaining exercise for Saturday morning.  I did pretty well with the virtual knee surgery, once I cut on the correct knee. 

Thanks to the Law Librarian Blog! 

If you don't get enough fun from lawsuits in your working life, maybe you can play a lawsuit game in your time off. 

The Patently Silly blog tells about a Lawsuit Board Game patent.  According to Patently Silly,

This game unabashedly introduces kids to the realities of being a legal eagle, including:

    * crippling law school debt;
    * outrageous hourly fees;
    * filling your office with expensive and intimidating leather bound books;
    * product-liability cash cows;
    * and the hazy definition of "emotional distress."

This is the abstract of the patent from the USPTO. 

An educational, legal based game and method for players, has a board with spaces on which the players land. The spaces instruct players to bring a simulated lawsuit or to act as a result of a simulated circumstance associated with the legal profession. A fund of play money is provided and a random generator determines the number spaces the players will move. Lawsuit cards are part of the game, each having a fact pattern and a positive or negative monetary result. At a player's option, an appeal card can be selected but then the player must comply with the monetary result which may be higher or lower on the appeal card. A player landing on one of the other type of spaces acts in accordance with the simulated circumstance of that space.

Thanks to Overlawyered.com. 

I saw this on Marylaine Block’s Neat New Stuff email a few weeks ago.  

The Observer Review has put together the “50 albums that changed music.”  You can read the list here.  The list should bring back some memories.  The list may also feel un-hip if, like me, you don’t even recognize some of the titles. 

The Observer recognized that there could be some differences of opinion with regard to the list.

Restricting our anniversary list to a mere 50 was a tortuous process. We know you have opinions on these highly emotive matters, so join the debate and make a case for your choice of record at observer.co.uk/blog

The blog entries make the list even more interesting.  I was surprised that there were not more comments.    Check it out.   What albums would you have omitted or added from the list? 

What could be better than Stevie Wonder and the NSA? Concurring Opinions directs you to a wonderful cartoon music video that will make you smile. 
 

One of my diversions from the law is America’s favorite pizza weblog.  Yes, there is a blog devoted solely to pizza!  According to the blog,

Slice is a group weblog about America's favorite crusty, saucy, cheesy meal—pizza. We're Big Apple–based, with a special affinity for New York–style pies, but we're wild about pizza in general. We're even warming up to the idea of deep dish. Visit Slice for a delicious mix of news digests, original reviews, and musings on pizza. Our favorite topping here is opinion, and we're throwing on a double order of it.

Nashville has not gotten much mention at Slice, but I vote for Pizza Perfect.  

It seems like some organization is always ranking cities on various subjects. Old Spice recently ranked the Sweatiest Cities. My home, Nashville, ranked 43, thank you very much. Interestingly, however, Nashville ranked 17 just three years ago. I don't know what changed but I think it is a change for the better.

Looking for clothing to tell the world that you are a lawyer? Here is another option at Tortfeasor.com.

There is an article today on law.com about a bobble head doll of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy from The Green Bag at George Mason University School of Law. I was intrigued and found the web site for The Green Bag.

Want to play games on the Internet while improving your language skills? Go to http://a4esl.org for "[q]uizzes, tests, exercises and puzzles to help you learn English as a Second Language (ESL)."

With hurricane season starting next week, I -- like many others -- are thinking more about Mississippi and other states on the Gulf Coast. I will always be a Mississippian at heart so I very much enjoy these promotional items about the state.

Check it out -- Mississippi ... Believe It!

Here is an interesting handout at the Yale Law School to help students understand the billable hour. I wonder if I would have stayed in law school if someone had explained it this way to me.
Speaking of the billable hour, check out www.thebillablehour.com. The Billable Hour was founded by husband and wife Mark and Lisa Solomon, who are both practicing lawyers. Mark spends his billable hours as a trial attorney for an insurance defense firm, while Lisa, like me, runs her own practice providing legal research and writing services to other lawyers. The Billable Hour also publishes a monthly e-newsletter that focuses on work/life balance issues and legal humor.

Randy Walker is a lawyer turned writer who lives in my home state of Mississippi. I don't know him, but I enjoy reading his blog, Randy Bandit: The Musings of a Mississippi Writer. He recently wrote about the differences between lawyers and writers and I think he prefers being a writer. I like to think that I have found a way to have the best of both worlds.