Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Terrorism and Fear
With the terror level at orange, I wonder what the mindset is tonight of people going to Times Square. Is it a mindset of refusing beforehand to let terrorist threats dictate their choices? Is is it a willful ignorance of the elevated danger? Or is it that the tickets have been purchased, so to hell with it?
Read English Version of Palestinian Sermons
Click Here
Bowling for Columbine Primer
Just in case you were wondering if it was satire, read this.
Internet Hoax
Have any of you received this email? It is a hoax
1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000.00 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running amuck inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving tyke was Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000.00 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice someone was at the wheel of the car whose hubcap he was trying to steal.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol Pennsylvania was exiting a house he finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. This upset Mr. Dickson, so he sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars and change.

4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock Arkansas was awarded $14,500.00 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The award was less than sought after because the jury felt the dog may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500.00 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000.00 and dental expenses.


Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Northwestern Might Win Big
Possible $100 million a year epilepsy drug for Northwestern?
HOOVER PROTESTS
One of the things I hope to cover in this blog is the ongoing effort by students in the Stanford Community for Peace and Justice to have the university remove its ties with the Hoover Institution, which is one of the major think tanks in the country (that also has a discernable conservative tilt, which is part of the reason why it has been targeted). The letter to the editor above is dated, but I will link to more in the future, as this has been unfortunatly an ongoing movement.
The War Continues..........
There is an interesting, although dated article about the war on drugs in the National Review.

Also, here is another dated study, this time on the effectiveness of the DARE program.
Something seems wrong here.... - Michael Jackson and the Nation of Islam
Bored?
Star Wars Episode III Spoilers
The plot for the next Starwars film might be circulating on the web.
Is the term "Racist" being diluted?
Fox news is running a story on racism in the Lord of the Rings. Here is a question - if the term racist is continued to be thrown about gingerly, will there be a point in time when it will lose its force?

The deep thinkers at Indymedia have come to the conclusion that the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy paints a "racist stereotypical tapestry" that does a disservice to young viewers everywhere.
Welcome to The Fladen Experience!
Welcome to the Fladen Experience. I am Elliot, a second year law student at Stanford, and am procrastinating on a paper. Come back soon when we get this working.