Thursday, March 02, 2017

Oscar Certainty in 2017: Apocalypse Now


Everyone makes mistakes. Stuff-ups show you’re embracing risk, working and living right on the edge of your capacity.Even the organisers of the Oscars can stuff-up big time.
The wrong envelope landed in the right hands of award presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. They read the film listed on the card dutifully. The La La Land team embraced and got up on stage to make their big, emotional acceptance speech.
How to recover after a monumental stuff-up



The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has extended a deadline to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request asking who the director of the agency is. That’s all they want. And the PTO asked for more time to respond! The absurdity of this reminds me of Apocalypse Now. [IP Watchdog]


You’ve heard about Justice Ginsburg’s workout regimen. Well, Politico sent a reporter to do it and… it nearly broke him. [Politico]


The Jeffrey Wertkin case puts a spotlight on the whole whistle-blower unit. [Bloomberg]




Professors And Politics: What The Research Says

Following up on my previous posts (links below):  Inside Higher Ed, Professors and Politics: What the Research Says:
When Betsy DeVos on Thursday accused liberal faculty members of trying to force their views on students, the new education secretary infuriated many professors — and won praise from some conservatives. Most faculty members who weighed in on social media denied the indoctrination and unfairness charges. While not disputing her assertion that they are more likely than others to be liberal, they said it was unfair to say that this meant they were indoctrinating anyone. Many conservatives who applauded DeVos said their personal experiences (or those of their children, nieces, nephews, etc.) showed she was correct.


Following up on his previous presentation, Why Lawyers (And Law Professors) Eat Last: A Workshop On Selfless ServiceJack Manhire (Texas A&M) presented The Force Is Strong With This One: Peer-Based Leadership and Effective Listening for Lawyers at Texas A&M yesterday as part of the Professionalism and Leadership Program (PLP) and the Professionalism and Academic Workshop Series (PAWS):
Continuing the theme on “how to lead without a rank,” this presentation will teach you the Jedi mind trick of effective listening that you can use with clients, employers, colleagues, and even children and spouses. The session builds on earlier topics from Breaking Implicit Bias,Resilience, and Why Lawyers Eat Last. You will learn why most lawyers have conversations backwards and how you can build trust in record time by doing it the correct way. This is for intermediate and advanced students only, as master-level secrets will be revealed.