Blog of law articles

Hi kids, well that was some week, huh?

I definitely plan on having some fun and blowing off some steam this weekend, how about you?

Before we discuss weekend plans, let me ask you -- is there any utility at all to being "linked" on LinkedIn or Plaxo?

Seriously, it's nice to receive dozens of emails from friends and colleagues asking me to link to them, but what exactly is the point? If I want to call or email Hilarie Bass or Marty Steinberg I pretty much know how to do it easily. What benefit do I derive from having them "linked" to me on some website?

You got it folks, I have finally succumbed to social networking fatigue.

You got to love the Brits. They seem unusually obsessed with the science and chemical composition of matters of the heart. Consider this passage regarding some researchers who are looking at the concept of "love at first sight":

The scientists discovered that the females seemed to be in a primed state even before meeting the males, with the chemicals and proteins needed for their response already in place, without the need for new genes to be activated, as the researchers expected.

"The idea of priming is that even when the female is in the absence of males, that's her way, her status is this configuration of proteins," Clark told LiveScience. "She's wired for love. That’s who she is. And then the response to different males might be different because of that primed state."

The researchers say that the mating practices of fruit flies and humans are different enough that it's tough to directly extend their findings to humans, though it's possible that human females can also sense which males are genetically best suited to them, and their bodies may respond in ways that boost the chances of mating success.

"In mammals, including humans, the answer seems to be 'yes,' there is some differential pregnancy success deepening on the female's sensing of the male, and as a result of the genetic quality of males," Clark said.

He described a famous T-shirt experiment in humans, in which people tended to prefer the scent of T-shirts belonging to individuals that were a greater genetic mismatch for them, again perhaps the body's way of trying to prevent inbreeding.

Oh Phillip, you darling. I don't want to be merged or incorporated or compared to the mating habits of fruit flies. I want to be romanced!

Hold the phone -- Massachusetts wants to ban elder porn. Seriously. Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, Lauren Hutton, Jackie Bisset, a certain Ms. Derek -- come on!

They really are a bunch of commies.

Well, this weekend I plan to do everything I can to stay healthy, eat lots of bacon, and try to smell good. And as always, if you are looking for something worthwhile to put your hands on you can find it here.

Have a good weekend everyone!