Archive for August 8th, 2003

Mickey Ward Sells Life Story for just $1,000

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Ward claims he was duped……..

Boxer Victim of "Classic Bait
and Switch"

Ward filed suit yesterday in Lowell Superior Court to try to void
a contract he claims he was duped into signing that gave away the rights
to his life story for a mere $1,000. He signed a five-page agreement
and accepted a check for $1,000, believing he had been paid only to play
a small role
in a
film about his half-brother’s life.

But when several Hollywood producers and actor Mark Wahlberg began negotiating
with Ward’s representatives to make a film based on his rise from the streets
of Lowell to working-class hero, they received letters ordering them to cease
and desist.

"Micky had no idea what he was
signing. There was no way he could have understood the legal language
in that contract" according to his lawyer. from
the Boston Globe

Questions for my law students, who just finished Contracts:
Is this contract valid and enforceable? Why or why not? What factors
will the court’s decision depend on?

Fantasy Sports Explosion

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Once considered a closeted hobby for numbers geeks, fantasy sports leagues are booming online, where they’ve become both a fast-growing business and an unlikely demonstration of Web publishing at its best.

Good anlysis of both business and tech sides of the phenomena from CNet

Oracle Busted for Intoxicating Drugs

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DELPHIC ORACLE is shown inhaling vapors in this photographic interpretation,
because new evidence supports ancient assertions that intoxicating
gases were a source of her inspiration. In reality, the gases would
have been invisible.

Strabo (64 B.C.-A.D. 25) wrote: "They say
that the seat of the oracle is a cavern hollowed deep down in the earth,
with a rather narrow mouth,
from which rises a pneuma [gas, vapor, breath; hence our words "pneumatic" and "pneumonia"]
that produces divine possession. A tripod is set above this cleft, mounting
which, the Pythia inhales the vapor and prophesies." .

from Scientific
America

Pressure on BC, MIT to Name Downloaders

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The Recording Industry Association of America this week asked judges in both Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., to order the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College to release the names of students who are accused of sharing copyrighted music files over the Internet.

The schools have refused to comply with subpoenas that the organization issued last month to obtain the information. Under federal copyright law, the group could seek penalties of up to $150,000 for each illegally shared song.

from the Boston Globe

Kobe’s Shakespearean downfall

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As a teacher of ”Macbeth” and as a reader of the media frenzy of Kobe Bryant’s transgression, I have noticed similarities between Shakespeare’s antihero and the athletic icon of teenage boys. Even though Macbeth’s swift, brutal, and bloody ascension to Scotland’s throne differs from Kobe’s rapid, elegant, and gracious rise to pop culture deification, both men stubbornly worked to mask their darker sides.

Boston Globe Op-Ed

Woman makes Harley Davidson from butter

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A woman from Iowa is making a model of a Harley-Davidson
motorbike out of butter.

Norma "Duffy" Lyon from Des Moines is creating a full-scale
butter V-Rod to celebrate Harley-Davidson’s 100th anniversary.

The butter she is using is five years old, which is about the maximum
age she likes to work with because the consistency changes.

from Ananova

Traditional Values Coalition Terminates Arnold

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Rev. Lou Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, blasts Schwarzenegger candidacy. Robot sent back in time to deal with Rev. Sheldon…

from the Traditional Values Coalition