miscellaneous

No, nothing that follows really has to do with Indiana law or businesses, but then it has everything to do with the law and life. I caught the following paragraph from Out of the Mouths of Children published by the Adam Smith, Esq. Blog:


While researching some statutes about the beginning of November I realized that I was mistaken in my memory of one particular statute. Yeah, what you think you know can hurt you. Well, actually, embarrass one's self. Which lead me to changing how I selected articles for my Indiana Divorce & Family Law Blog and soon for this blog.

Rex Stout put into Nero Wolfe's mouth something along the lines that inertia is the strongest force in the world. We all dig our own professional ruts. I can say as of now that blogging has probably made me take a harder look at my conventional wisdom. I suggest any of my peers reading this take a look at the blogroll - the list of links - get out and about on the Internet. Things are happening out there. Ideas have no great boundaries of space and time. I will agree with Mr. Friedman's flat earth theory to that extent. More importantly, no longer can any class claim a toll on access to those ideas. At the same, distinguishing between information and knowledge is something the general public must learn and that there is value in knowledge. Let me make a facile analogy, just because I know what a rotor cap is does not mean I can rebuild an automobile engine.

Meanwhile, best wishes for the new year.

My readership - what there is - appears to be solely lay people. I try to write as much for the general public as I can. However, that does not mean I throw away all my training as a lawyer. How you phrase things in your Google searches may not be how they are written here. So here is a grab bag of observations and tips on using this blog:

1. I do not have specific answers to your questions. I see these very specific Google queries and I wonder if you find anything. I see some missing information because they do not want to look in depth.
   
2. Google is not a natural language search engine. Learn the proper way to put in search terms. Sorry, but research is part of my professional life. I cringe when I see it done so badly and when doing it correctly is so easy.
3. Use the topical/subject archive. It is just down the right hand of your screen. There are also links below every post next to the word "Labels". If for nothing else because I went to a lot of work to do this for you. Less selfishly, I see plenty of you missing articles that would probably have answered your question - if you had looked just a bit more.
4. From what I see of the searches bringing people to this blog, most people are not looking for information as much as the answer to their specific question. If that is still your attitude after reading 1 - 3, then get yourself to a lawyer. Odds are you will be needing one.
5. If you want to keep with this blog, then use the e-mail subscription service or the RSS feed service.
6. Why would you want to keep up with this blog? Because it changes at most daily and at least every other day. You can keep up with the legal information you need.
7. Use the online search feature - upper left hand corner - just to make sure that you are not missing something.
   

Something different to end today's posts. The Boston Globe published an interview with D. Graham Burnett under the rather startling headline of Blowing the status quo out of the water. So who is D. Graham Burnett? Well, he just wrote a book which the Boston Globe describes like this:

The Indiana Judiciary website has a page ofGlossary of Legal Terms. The page applies mostly to appeals, and civil and criminal cases, it may be of some help in understanding terms that cannot be rendered in plain English.

I am writing a column for The Anderson Free Press. You can find the first installment here.

I am not really sure what to make of this article, Facebook friends not real friends: judge, from England by way of Australia's The Age but it is interesting enough.

The new, imrpoved version of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure from LII at Cornell law school

"These rules govern the conduct of all civil actions brought in Federal district courts. While they do not apply to suits in state courts, the rules of many states have been closely modeled on these provisions."

Ok, I admit I am trumpeting my own horn but The Massachusetts Divorce and Family Law Blog has listed my Indiana Divorce and Family Law Blog as one of the best in the country. See Ballard's Best: The 11 Best Family Law Bloggers In the US.

Having a week of dealing with gastritis is probably not the best way to lead into a Thanksgiving Dinner. Which I hope explains the silence here for the past few days. Still, we can all think of things we can be thankful for today. Mine right now consists of the consolation that I will be eating very little later today.

The Federal Register shows a new federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation being proposed, FR Doc E8-2605:

The Indiana Law Blog is back: About this blog - More on: Announcement from the ILB editor. My best wishes for Ms. Oddi.

From Adam Smith: Unintended or Unanticipated? While I support the laws mentioned in the post, I must agree that just passing a law is not all that is needed to solve a problem. It is the easiest action but not necessarily the best solution.

I caught this in today's Muncie Star-Press, Attorneys to offer free advice Jan. 21:

The Indiana State Bar Association will sponsor "Talk to a Lawyer Today," a pro bono program to provide legal assistance to the underserved, on Monday, Jan. 21 as an annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The program is an opportunity for attorneys statewide to offer free legal consultations to members of the general public who might not otherwise be able to afford the counsel of an attorney.

Attorneys will provide a 10- to 15-minute consultation to answer general questions and offer general legal information for those who use this service.

The program will be offered locally on Jan. 21 at these sites:

Delaware County: Vivian Conley Library, 1824 E. Centennial Ave., Muncie, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Grant County: Clarence Faulkner Community Center, 1221 W. 12th St., Marion, 9 a.m.-noon.

Henry County: First United Methodist Church, 1324 Church St., New Castle, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Madison County: Mounds Mall, 2109 S. Scatterfield Road, Anderson, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

In addition to the district site locations, the public can call a statewide hotline, 1-800-266-2581 between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you like the blog, would you mind going here and adding a comment about the blog?

Thank you.

Sorry to the non-lawyers for this sort of inside baseball kind of post. Marcia Oddi of The Indiana Law Blog has suggested for some time that the Briefs filed in Indiana appeals be available online. I agree with her. Now I find Massachusetts doing exactly this. See Legal briefs of SJC cases available on court Web site.