Blog Archives
Office 2016 for Windows Coming on September 22
August 29, 2015
Already available for OS X, the new Office will soon be out for Windows, too. A leaked image from a Microsoft intranet site has disclosed that Office 2016 for Windows will be released on September 22. Office 2016 for Mac is already available to Office 365 subscribers. When that was launched in July, Microsoft said that regular retail copies would be released in September. While we're not certain, it seems likely that September 22 will be the release date for that, too. Office 2016 is an incremental...
August 29, 2015
Already available for OS X, the new Office will soon be out for Windows, too. A leaked image from a Microsoft intranet site has disclosed that Office 2016 for Windows will be released on September 22. Office 2016 for Mac is already available to Office 365 subscribers. When that was launched in July, Microsoft said that regular retail copies would be released in September. While we're not certain, it seems likely that September 22 will be the release date for that, too. Office 2016 is an incremental...
The Emotions That Make Us More Creative
August 29, 2015
Artists and scientists throughout history have remarked on the bliss that accompanies a sudden creative insight. Einstein described his realization of the general theory of relativity as the happiest moment of his life. More poetically, Virginia Woolf once observed, “Odd how the creative power brings the whole universe at once to order.” But what about before such moments of creative insight? What emotions actually fuel creativity? The long-standing view in psychology is that positive emotions...
August 29, 2015
Artists and scientists throughout history have remarked on the bliss that accompanies a sudden creative insight. Einstein described his realization of the general theory of relativity as the happiest moment of his life. More poetically, Virginia Woolf once observed, “Odd how the creative power brings the whole universe at once to order.” But what about before such moments of creative insight? What emotions actually fuel creativity? The long-standing view in psychology is that positive emotions...
Male Mice Process Pain Differently
August 28, 2015
Male and female mice use different types of immune cells to process chronic pain. Studies of male mice have shown that immune cells called microglia in the spinal cord have an important role in chronic pain. To see whether this is the same in female mice, a team led by Jeffrey Mogil at McGill University in Montreal and Michael Salter at the University of Toronto, both in Canada, induced chronic pain in both sexes. The team then used drugs or antibodies to reduce microglia function. Whereas pain...
August 28, 2015
Male and female mice use different types of immune cells to process chronic pain. Studies of male mice have shown that immune cells called microglia in the spinal cord have an important role in chronic pain. To see whether this is the same in female mice, a team led by Jeffrey Mogil at McGill University in Montreal and Michael Salter at the University of Toronto, both in Canada, induced chronic pain in both sexes. The team then used drugs or antibodies to reduce microglia function. Whereas pain...
Opting In or Opting Out: Report on Consumer Arbitration Clauses
August 28, 2015
I am somewhere between a Luddite and a techie, finding prudence in patience when it comes to technology purchases. But since purchasing an iPhone one year ago, which has text-to-speech capabilities, I find myself wanting to obtain the next version of the so-called smartphone. The iPhone has various adaptive features, such as reading the many text-based missives I transmit out loud, not to mention paperwork involved in financial transactions. When I acquire that upgrade, I will do well to read the agreement...
August 28, 2015
I am somewhere between a Luddite and a techie, finding prudence in patience when it comes to technology purchases. But since purchasing an iPhone one year ago, which has text-to-speech capabilities, I find myself wanting to obtain the next version of the so-called smartphone. The iPhone has various adaptive features, such as reading the many text-based missives I transmit out loud, not to mention paperwork involved in financial transactions. When I acquire that upgrade, I will do well to read the agreement...
Who Responds to U.S. News & World Report’s Law School Rankings?
August 28, 2015
U.S. News & World Report (USN&WR) publishes annual rankings of ABA-approved law schools. The popularity of these rankings raises the question of whether they influence the behavior of law teachers, lawyers and judges, law school applicants, employers, or law school administrators. This study explores some indicia of USN&WR influence. Using data purchased from USN&WR, we attempt to determine whether USN&WR might have influenced (1) law faculty members who respond to the USN&WR survey of law school...
August 28, 2015
U.S. News & World Report (USN&WR) publishes annual rankings of ABA-approved law schools. The popularity of these rankings raises the question of whether they influence the behavior of law teachers, lawyers and judges, law school applicants, employers, or law school administrators. This study explores some indicia of USN&WR influence. Using data purchased from USN&WR, we attempt to determine whether USN&WR might have influenced (1) law faculty members who respond to the USN&WR survey of law school...
Putting Psychology into Behavioral Economics
August 27, 2015
RICHARD THALER: ehavioral economics and good psychology, there's a lot of art. There is science and there are well-crafted experiments, but thinking about what the right experiment to run, was art and, there are 80 gazillion experiments, which ones are relevant to getting people to plant the right seed. That's a problem that Sendhil and I have been talking about for, well, since he was born. You're now seeing the results of 15 years of conversations. And there wasn't a scientific way of answering...
August 27, 2015
RICHARD THALER: ehavioral economics and good psychology, there's a lot of art. There is science and there are well-crafted experiments, but thinking about what the right experiment to run, was art and, there are 80 gazillion experiments, which ones are relevant to getting people to plant the right seed. That's a problem that Sendhil and I have been talking about for, well, since he was born. You're now seeing the results of 15 years of conversations. And there wasn't a scientific way of answering...
Alabama Supreme Court Requires Policyholders to Arbitrate
August 27, 2015
In American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Tellis, 062615 ALSC 1131514 (June 26, 2015), the Alabama Supreme Court held that policyholders, who did not sign, read, or even receive insurance forms that contained arbitration agreements, nevertheless, had manifested their assent to the arbitration agreements by affirmatively renewing their policies and paying premiums. Accordingly, the court held that the policyholders were required to arbitrate their claims that American Bankers had sold them homeowners’ insurance...
August 27, 2015
In American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Tellis, 062615 ALSC 1131514 (June 26, 2015), the Alabama Supreme Court held that policyholders, who did not sign, read, or even receive insurance forms that contained arbitration agreements, nevertheless, had manifested their assent to the arbitration agreements by affirmatively renewing their policies and paying premiums. Accordingly, the court held that the policyholders were required to arbitrate their claims that American Bankers had sold them homeowners’ insurance...
“Too Many Notes”? An Empirical Study of Advocacy in Federal Appeals
August 27, 2015
The warp and woof of U.S. law are threaded by the appellate courts, generating precedents on constitutional provisions, statutory texts, and common-law doctrines. Although the product of the appellate courts is regularly the subject of empirical study, less attention has been given to the sources and methods of appellate advocacy. Given the paramount place of written briefs in the appellate process, we should examine seriously the frequent complaint by appellate judges that briefs are too long and that...
August 27, 2015
The warp and woof of U.S. law are threaded by the appellate courts, generating precedents on constitutional provisions, statutory texts, and common-law doctrines. Although the product of the appellate courts is regularly the subject of empirical study, less attention has been given to the sources and methods of appellate advocacy. Given the paramount place of written briefs in the appellate process, we should examine seriously the frequent complaint by appellate judges that briefs are too long and that...
Daniel Kahneman: A Short Course In Thinking About Thinking
August 26, 2015
Recently, I spent several months working closely with Danny Kahneman, the psychologist who is the co-creator of behavioral economics (with his late collaborator Amos Tversky), for which he won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. My discussions with him inspired a 2-day "Master Class" given by Kahneman for a group of twenty leading American business/Internet/culture innovators—a microcosm of the recently dominant sector of American business—in Napa, California in July. They came to hear him lecture...
August 26, 2015
Recently, I spent several months working closely with Danny Kahneman, the psychologist who is the co-creator of behavioral economics (with his late collaborator Amos Tversky), for which he won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. My discussions with him inspired a 2-day "Master Class" given by Kahneman for a group of twenty leading American business/Internet/culture innovators—a microcosm of the recently dominant sector of American business—in Napa, California in July. They came to hear him lecture...
Second Circuit Refuses to Confirm Foreign Arbitration Award
August 26, 2015
By summary order issued on July 1, 2015, the Second Circuit for the second time in the same case declined to confirm an award issued by an arbitral panel in Brazil. VRG Linhas Aereas S.A. v. MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners II L.P., No. 14-3906-CV, 2015 WL 3971177 (2d Cir. July 1, 2015) affirming No. 11 Civ. 0198 (MGC), 2014 WL 4928929 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 2, 2014). The Second Circuit previously remanded the matter to the district court to determine if the parties had agreed to arbitrate...
August 26, 2015
By summary order issued on July 1, 2015, the Second Circuit for the second time in the same case declined to confirm an award issued by an arbitral panel in Brazil. VRG Linhas Aereas S.A. v. MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners II L.P., No. 14-3906-CV, 2015 WL 3971177 (2d Cir. July 1, 2015) affirming No. 11 Civ. 0198 (MGC), 2014 WL 4928929 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 2, 2014). The Second Circuit previously remanded the matter to the district court to determine if the parties had agreed to arbitrate...
