Otherwise Occupied - TV

Wooly Bully

gregh — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:18:25 -0600

When I hear word of a writers strike, I think "Wooly Bully."

One of the all-time classic television moments.

Second Life on "The Office"

gregh — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:58:28 -0500

Or is it "The Office" on Second Life?

Dwight: Second Life ... doesn't have winners or losers.
Jim: Oh, it has losers.

Info/Law: Election's Impact on Info/Law

gregh — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:11:34 -0600

It will prove interesting to see the results of the election as they bubble up.

Election’s Impact on Info/Law:

In the House, it appears most likely that Rep. Howard Berman will take over the chairmanship of the subcommittee that handles intellectual property law. As National Journal’s Congress Daily noted, we can expect him to ‘protect his nearby Hollywood interests by cracking down on piracy and protecting against copyright infringement of TV, music and movie productions.’ In general terms, that means restrictive IP law that favors content producers and rightsholders and hostility toward flexibility or expansion of fair use. That’s the bad news for Info/Law. The good news is that Congressman Ed Markey, a champion of consumer-oriented telecom and internet policy (and sponsor of the network neutrality amendment in the House earlier this year) will take over the subcommittee with the most power over these issues; the full Committee on Energy & Commerce will be helmed by John Dingell, who is pretty good on telecom as well. In addition, Rick Boucher, another consistent advocate for balanced information policy, particularly fair use and library concerns, will be a very senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (and possibly on Berman’s subcommittee). Finally, there is reason to hope education-oriented Democrats like Dale Kildee may pay attention to the serious and growing problems relating to educational uses of digital content.

AP: High-tech 'pot factories' popping up in suburban homes

gregh — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 13:43:24 -0500

This story could be a promotion of Showtime's "Weeds," if it had mentioned the series. My guess is the DEA isn't too keen on promoting a show that has a DEA agent ignoring the creation of one of these growhouses.

High-tech 'pot factories' popping up in suburban homes:

Like the others, the home on Elk Grove's Mainline Drive had been converted to what law enforcement officials call a hothouse, with 1,000-watt lights for growing and irrigation networks feeding high-tech hydroponic growing systems.

Walls and ceilings were smashed to allow for complex ventilation and air filtration systems that vented the telltale odor through the attic. A web of extension cords and makeshift electric panels illegally tapped into the outside grid to avoid detection and save thousands of dollars in power bills.
. . .
Until now, West Coast law enforcement agencies have been more concerned about large-scale outdoor marijuana gardens, which often are planted on public forests or park land by violent Mexican drug cartels. Those operations have caused increasing concern in recent years because they severely degrade the environment and pose a danger to people who wander across them.

The Drug Enforcement Agency reported a 50 percent increase in indoor farms last year, Taylor said. Those operations have several advantages: They can't be spotted by an airplane or hunter, and the plants also can be grown year-round.

There are other advantages. Beyond not being able to constitutionally observe under either the open fields doctrine or those allowing observation of a property's curtilage from the air or other publicly accessible viewing locations, there's another big one. In Kyllo v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that observing hotspots of a house by way of sense-enhancing devices such as thermal imaging equipment was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. As a result, if you can keep power consumption low (and in the Central Valley, the best way to do so would be to install solar panels, I imagine) so you stay off the grid, without being able to meet the requirements of a warrant, law enforcement can't even observe the exterior of a home to see if it's emanating unusual amounts of heat.

I suspect that today, with more ready availability of thermal imaging equipment, they might find differently. Of course, who can ever tell. Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is all over the map, and you find yourself having to keep track of all of these random, disjointed rules.

Alias goes out with a whimper

gregh — Tue, 23 May 2006 23:34:54 -0500

Finally caught the "Alias" finale tonight. I knew I should have quit watching last season, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. Maybe I should just be glad it's over.

Michael's Lost time

gregh — Thu, 18 May 2006 03:03:33 -0500

*SPOILER ALERT*

(Because I know Emily won't have seen this episode yet, because I just pulled it off the TiVo.)

I was deep in an argument with someone at school last week before the Con Law final (i.e., in the hours before, when I'd pretty much decided if I hadn't learned it, I wasn't going to) about what Michael was up to on "Lost." It seemed clear to me that he was sent back to free Henry, but the person I was talking to insisted it was also about killing Ana-Lucia and bringing back Locke.

It was pretty obvious that there were just too many coincidences that would have had to fall in place for Michael to have set out to kill Ana-Lucia. His primary role was to free Henry, and with Ana-Lucia hanging around, she had to be killed off. Now we know that was the case.

I suppose an argument could be made that killing Ana-Lucia was necessary to ensure that he only brought back the people he was required to bring back; after all, surely she might want to tag along. However, she also might not care about tagging along. She's already tangled with The Others more times than she'd care to. I don't see how a decision that she had to be killed really would have fit in.

Mostly, I'm just celebrating being right. Usually I'm pretty dense about this stuff.

"Boston Legal"

gregh — Wed, 17 May 2006 10:45:17 -0500

[there's still a little action going on in the Con Law TWEN forum, and this is something I posted there.]

While catching up on last week's TV this past weekend, I caught "Boston Legal." Because there were no admonitions during the show not to consider justiciability issues, the case they were discussing, dealing with foreign aid to medical clinics and the Global Gag Order, had me questioning for much of the trial why the case was being considered at all. I couldn't find a way to get the plaintiff standing; the issue, dealing with the Executive's operation of foreign affairs, struck me as a political question; and this particular issue seemed moot.

The case might have been similar to Rust v. Sullivan, except that it was not the (foreign) clinic that was suing, alleging an infringement of its First Amendment rights; it was a patient who lost a child due to lacking medical supplies because of the cut funds.

All told, just another statement episode. Last night's season finale had me questioning whether Denny and Alan are admitted in California, because they immediately offered Seven of Nine (as one of our classmates referred to Jeri Ryan last week) legal services after finding her standing over the guy she'd just shot.

There was some more Con Law-related fun last night, as Denny had Barry Goal ("Denny Crane West, almost," played by Robert Wagner) searching for a jurisdiction for his "living will" that would allow him to be euthanized by "a bullet to the brain." Barry informed Denny he'd been unable to find such a jurisdiction.

[They]'ve made a huge mistake.

gregh — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:48:53 -0600

R.I.P., 'Arrested Development' -- critics' fave not given room to grow:

The Bluths are out of business.

"Arrested Development," the critically praised but low-rated Fox show that won an Emmy for outstanding comedy series, as well as Emmys for writing, will not be resurrected on Showtime as rumors circulating for months have suggested.

*sniff*

Paul Anka and the Bill of Rights

gregh — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:52:43 -0600

"He's totally fine having his personal freedom slowly stripped away, just as long as he's completely unaware that it's happening. Just like a true American." -- Lorelai Gilmore

"Could Care Less" about the Gilmore girls

gregh — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 07:44:17 -0600

How hard would it be for the writers of "Gilmore Girls" to get this right? Does every character on the show have to say "I could care less?" Even the supposedly brilliant Rory? I don't recall this being a New England affectation.

I wish I couldn't care less, but it just drives me up the wall.