INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
November 23, 2003
Tom
Mighell
Turkey Day Edition
Welcome to Issue #134 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!
And away we go…..
Focus on Wireless
The latest edition of Law Practice Today is out, and the focus is wireless. I'm flattered that my article, From Clueless to Wireless in Fifteen Minutes (Give or Take) was included.What if you created a national website and nobody came?
A U.N. report, E-Government at the Crossroads, reports that although 173 of the U.N.'s 191 member nations have their own websites, only 20% of people with Internet access use them.Hang out with information researchers
SearchDay this week featured a brief overview of the research community FreePint.Wicked fun with Nigerian scammers
Are you tired of receiving endless e-mails from Nigeria desperately seeking your assistance? Then have a little fun. 419 Eater features one man's attempts to play along with the scammers, many times with hilarious results. There are even tips on how to bait these wily creatures.Search audio/video at AOL
AOL has purchased SingingFish, the audio/video search engine I mentioned back in February. Danny Sullivan has the lowdown on the purchase, as well as other search enhancements at AOL.MSN brings you the news
MSN is beta-testing its own news service, called Newsbot. Right now, it only features news from the U.K., France, Spain, and Italy. Check out the U.K. page -- remind you of another news search service? Actually, there are two big initial differences I can see: first, it only offers you one version of
the headline; Google News gives you the ability to find other stories on the same topic. Second, there's not a valuable service like Google News Alerts to bring the news to us.Internet not keeping up with medicine
A study in the Journal of Urology finds that cancer information on the Internet is often inaccurate or outdated. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to the journal to read the article.The presidential race gears up on the Internet
Here's another way to see how your candidate is faring in the presidential campaign: GoogleRace2004. Just enter your search terms (say, "social security"), and the site sends that query along with the name of each candidate's name, to see how frequently the terms appear together. In my "social security" search, Joe Lieberman came up first, John Kerry second, and Al Sharpton third. Hmm.New features at RocketNews
RocketNews, a site I don't mention often enough, will soon have several new great features, according to Gary Price.Defining your search strategy
Mary Ellen Bates can always be counted on to offer a tremendously useful Internet search tip. This month, she tells us that sometimes the best way to start a research project is to consult a dictionary or glossary for words connected to your search topic.Blawgs of the Week
As always, there are new law-related weblogs to talk about this week: Let's start with Displacement of Concepts, which provides "Thoughts on technology, innovation, law, economics, cyberspace, intellectual property, and other things of interest to the humans inhabiting the information society, brought to you by a few folks at the University of East Anglia and the Norwich Law School." Monyca, a 2003 law school graduate and current NYC criminal defense attorney, brings us Thoroughly Modern Monyca. Alextronic Discovery is Alex Lubarsky's electronic discovery blog covering news, articles and thoughts for the legal and corporate community. Legal Services of Northern California has its own weblog, the AdvocateFeed, with lots of terrific links. Another organization that's blogging is the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution. Digitus Impudicus features three lawyers blogging. The DLA Weblog is the online journal of the Dartmouth Lawyers Association. It's published by Doug Simpson, who also pens Unintended Consequences as well as River of Dreams. That's a lot of blogging.You're filling out a form on the Internet -- you submit it, and find there's an error. When you go back to fix the error, you find all of the data in your form is gone -- you have to start all over again. Don't you just hate that?
There's a way to avoid that from happening. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, then Internet Options. Select the General Tab and then the Settings button. Check the box next to "Every time you start Internet Explorer." If you're using Netscape, click Edit, then Preferences. Double-click Advanced, and click Cache. Set the memory cache to at least 1024KB, and the disk cache to a minimum of 7680KB. Then clear both caches.
Even after you do this, it might still not work properly -- you may have to click your browser's refresh button to see the data.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net – I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
Cases & Materials on American Federalism
This site was designed as a companion for the American Government and Public Policy courses taught at Purdue University-Calumet. Each of the eight chapters contains links to important documents and review questions (if you are so inclined to answer them). I'm sure it's not as useful as attending the actual course, but it's still pretty neat.Comparative and Foreign Governments on the Internet
A service of the University of British Columbia Library, this site provides links to most of the countries of the world, broken down geographically. Each link takes you to a long list of links on a wide range of topics for that country. Don't miss the excellent page with International or Cross-National materials. This site isn't very pretty or imaginative, but it has a lot to offer.WIPO Panel Decision Search
This page is part of the World Intellectual Property Organization's site, which allows you to search for decisions and cases from panels deciding primarily actions brought under the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). You can browse the Index of UDRP Panel Decisions, or search by domain name or full text search. An interesting site, with great information, and opinions you can download.Energy Bar Association
Established in 1946, the Energy Bar Association is a non-profit voluntary association of attorneys and non-attorney professionals whose mission is to enhance the professional competence of those who practice and administer energy law. In addition to lots of information about the association itself, you also have access to the Energy Law Journal (table of contents only, no articles), a memo on 2002 energy-related court opinions, related links on energy issues, a job bank, and more. If you practice any type of energy law, this might be a good group of friends to have.Federal News Service
A terrific site with great information. The FNS provides immediate verbatim transcripts of government briefings, speeches, press conferences and other newsmaking events to the many domestic and international news bureaus in Washington, D. C. For example, Sunday's selections include the transcripts of all the major news shows (Meet the Press, Face the Nation, etc.) You can also get transcripts of Congressional hearings, speeches of key politicians or policymakers, Israeli issues, as well as nationwide TV news monitoring, taping and transcribing. Of course, this all comes at a price. The problem is, I couldn't find out how much it is to subscribe -- you have to call them to learn the prices.
Finally, some fun and useful sites for you this week:
Don't feel like working this morning? Relive your childhood by with the Elf Magic Etch-a-Sketch Screen.
It's back -- the Fantasy Supreme Court League. Enter your picks for the outcomes of fifteen cases appearing before the Supremes this term, for a chance to win $2,500!
And last but not least, some Turkey-day links:
Martha Stewart may be distracted with her upcoming court appearance, but that doesn't stop her from showing us the right way to carve a turkey.
Don't have time to cook your bird? Colorado State University offers some safe shortcuts.
And the University of Illinois Extension has got it goin' on -- Turkey for the Holidays is a huge site packed full of great tips.
Well, that’s it for Issue #134 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
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