The Faculty Lounge

What To Drink During Final Exams

"Brain Toniq is no marketing gimmick." 

Additional info here.

And here's a link for those who think a single can won't suffice.

Counter Culture Comes To Philadelphia: In Honor Of A Great Cup Of Coffee

Longtime readers know that I love drinking and writing about coffee.  I've pondered how to get fat faster at Starbucks, whether Starbucks will start selling booze, menu mischief at Starbucks drive throughs, Starbucks secret menu, and coffee at the AALS.  Yes, there has been an obsessive focus on Starbucks here - which is an artifact of its ubiquity.  In my own defense, I have advocated for fine alternatives such as California's Graffeo and Philly's La Colombe.

Today I want to make the case for the roaster of the tastiest, brightest java I've had in a very long time: Counter Culture Coffee, out of Durham, NC.  Why am I so moved?  One totally awesome cup of Papua New Guinea coffee which spirited me through an entire exam review session in Criminal Law this morning.  And while I'm in the mood to promote things that bring me joy, let me also mention the best prepared coffee in all of Philadelphia - a little gem named Town Hall Coffee in (gasp!) suburban Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Every cup is prepared via pour-over, with freshly ground coffee.  It takes forever, but the result is spectacular. 

Last class of the term.  Incredible cup of coffee.  Is this a day for Lotto or what?

Who Needs a Pick-Me-Up?

As if the UCC itself didn't provide a sufficient buzz, now comes ... UCC coffee!

(Hat tip to Bob Lawless at Credit Slips.)

Get Fat Faster At Starbucks

 
Starbucks is about to make two significant changes that will help its loyal customers get more calories more quickly.  What could be better?  First, after the smashing success of the company's trademarked Venti size - a 24 ounce format in the cold drink cups, notwithstanding the name - Buckys is unleashing a new Trenta cup.  Curiously (or simply to be extra-generous, or maybe to gain trademark protection) this "30" drink has 31 ounces.  The 31 ounce format, a scanty one ounce short of the 7-11 Big Gulp,  will appeal to drinkers who find that the Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha simply won't do at a pathetic 610 calories.  They need more.

But what good is all this heft if you have to wait forever to pay?  Which is where the second piece of good news comes in.  Very soon, Starbucks will allow you to pay by scanning your smartphone.  And why not?  If a phone scan is good enough for United Airlines - and by extension, TSA - it ought to be fine for Starbucks!

Of course, all these products will sport the new Starbucks logo - rolling out by May 3 - which drops the words "Starbucks Coffee" and gives our favorite mermaid a little more room to spread her fins.

Vaguely related posts:

Return Of The Fern Bar? Starbucks Tiptoes Towards Beer And Wine.

Caught With Pants Down, Starbucks Relents

More Menu Secrets: Drive-Thru Mischief At Starbucks

Coffee At The AALS: An Addict's Guide

 

Top Thanksgiving Films

I  just came across a relatively comprehensive list of top Thanksgiving movies, but it was missing two excellent films with culinary and familial themes: Babette’s Feast (a 1987 Oscar-winner from Denmark that always makes me hungry) and Soul Food (the 1997 film that also included Vanessa Williams as a lawyer). What are some of your favorite foodie films? Happy Thanksgiving!

Westlaw Next and the Magical Westlaw Mug

I just came from a presentation on Westlaw Next (good review here) which already rolled out for lawprawfs and which our students will be learning about within a few weeks.  I already had some limited experience with Westlaw Next, mostly because searches from my Westlaw welcome screen took me straight into the service.  Overall, I'm impressed.  The requirement to search in a specific database to find what you're looking for has gone by the wayside, and searches are now more Google-like.  In a little more than one week's worth of use I've already discovered new sources that I never realized were available within Westlaw...very cool.  Also, if you edit cases for a seminar or casebook, the downloads into Word or RTF are much cleaner and easier to edit. 

Some of the other features are the ability to highlight cases and add sticky notes to them.  You can save your research to research folders and sub-folders, and there is an enhanced copy with reference feature that will put your copied text into a (rough) BlueBook format.  If you get the chance to go to your Westlaw rep's presentation I recommend it.  Plus, you get free food and a free mug which is the real reason I'm writing this post.

Here is the new magical Westlaw mug.  

 

What is so magical about it?  Well here's what the paper insert I found in the mug says:

Your tumbler was crafted using a unique, FDA, CFA approved advanced technology which combines popular plastic materials with an additive called BIO-GPS.  When supplemented to the plastic resins, your Tumbler fully maintains its mechanical properties and shelf life.  When disposed of, communities of microorganisms, which are present almost everywhere on this planet, break down the plastic construction into stable, organic matter in only 1-5 years!

HOW DOES MY TUMBLER DO THAT?

As soon as you discard your Tumbler into a microbial environment the process starts!  A swelling agent begins to weaken the plastic's molecular composition.  Next, a combination of bio-active compounds attracts colonies of microorganisms.  The weakened plastic structure is no match for the microorganisms which are able to completely digest and neutralize the remaining matter.  The residual non-toxic residue is completely harmless to the environment and living organisms.  

This thing automagically disintegrates.  Now of course, I'm skeptical and perhaps a little concerned.  How does the tumbler know when it is disposed of?  It seems the trigger for break-down is "communities of microorganisms" and those things exist "almost everywhere on this planet."  I'm no scientist, but I'm guessing that my office is on this planet, and I'm thinking it has some microorganisms present.  (Consider this report "What's 100 Times Dirtier Than A Toilet?" Here's a hint, it starts with a "your" and ends in "keyboard").  According to scientists, there are four hundred times more bacteria on a desktop than on most toilet seats.  Yuck!  So the automagical Westlaw Next mug seems great for the environment...until it disintegrates halfway through your morning latte. 

Tune in 1-5 years from now for an updated photo of the disintegrating mug.     

UPDATE:  Over at The Glom David Zaring also has some initial thoughts on Westlaw Next. 

Spongeworthiness: Wine Applications

 A few weeks ago, we blogged about the paper, An Option Value Problem from Seinfeld, by Avinash Dixit (Princeton University).  From this weekend’s Dear Economist (Tim Harford) column:

I have inherited six bottles of excellent wine, which I plan to consume, over time, on special occasions. But how do I know when to open a bottle when I don’t know what occasions lie ahead? I don’t want to use up all the bottles within a few months on mediocre occasions, but neither do I still want to be hoarding them until I die.

 

George Stevens

 

Dear George,

 

This is known as the “spongeworthiness” problem, after an episode of Seinfeld in which the contraceptive sponge is taken off the market. The character Elaine Benes stocks up with several hundred sponges, but then faces the same problem you do: how to decide whether a man is “spongeworthy”.

 

This is an option-value problem: every sponge or bottle consumed is one that cannot be used later. It has been solved by Avinash Dixit, a renowned game theorist and former president of the American Economic Association. (For some reason, Professor Dixit waited to finish his term of office before publishing his research on spongeworthiness.) Unless you are absurdly patient, you should open them more quickly than you might think.

 

Assuming you are patient enough to wait for a gain of 5 per cent a year – but not more – and if you have one possibly special occasion per month, Dixit calculates that you should open a bottle if you expect an occasion in the top 21 per cent of all possible occasions. As the number of bottles remaining shrinks, raise your standards. The last bottle should be consumed on an occasion in the top 9 per cent.

 

Of course, there is always the chance that an occasion is so special that you are tempted to open another bottle. Dixit’s analysis allows for this. After all, Elaine once told a lover that he couldn’t have a second bout: “Sorry, I can’t afford two of them.”

Blawg Friends Happy Hour

Thanks to Dan Markel, Prawfsblawg will be having a happy hour with friends from other blogs and law schools this coming Thursday in Chicago. (Perhaps some other Loungers will be in attendance?  Sadly, I’ll have to miss the festivities this year). 

From Dan: 

The fun starts at 9pm at Bar Novo, which is conveniently located in the Renaissance Hotel, the host site for the Law and Society Conference. In years past, people typically stay through midnight or so; if you can’t make it right away because of the reception or dinner plans, we hope you’ll swing by later.

The managers at Bar Novo have arranged some food and drink specials in honor of the gathering. There should be some 4$ beers, reasonably priced good wines, signature cocktails, and 5$ flatbreads/tapas. Feel free to bring others and please do share the info with your colleagues and friends. Over here, you can find a map and contact info. No RSVP required, though feel free to drop a line to give me a heads up if you can make it. Cheers!

Sounds like a good time.

Best Law Firm Ads Ever (Part II)

 Yesterday, I showed you the “Hidden Flaw” ad.  Today, I bring you another favorite, “Hot glass looks exactly the same as cold glass.”  The text reads:

Ever grabbed a business opportunity only to find it’s not quite what you thought?  Our lawyers are experienced at assessing situations and projects, providing the insights that you need to make informed decisions. 

Get in touch via www.pinsentmasons.com

Again, maybe it was the food and wine taking hold, but I found this ad to be pretty clever too.  This night dinner was at Amaya. As the Restaurant Awards Citation says:

"Amaya's arrival on London's restaurant scene has had in remarkably short period of time, a profound effect on the image of Indian cooking in this country... ... ... ...Amaya is elegant, sleek, marbled and beautifully finished, ... ...creating some of the world's most magnificent kebabs. Who would have thought that an Indian grill would become London's top restaurant and in only a matter of months."

 Amaya achieved the rare distinction of winning the two most prestigious restaurant awards in the UK in the same year - The Tio Pepe ITV 2005 Awards for Best Restaurant as well as the Best New Restaurant. This is the first time either award has been awarded to a restaurant serving non - European food, let alone an Indian restaurant.

In 2006, it also became one the very few Indian restaurants to be awarded a Star in any Michelin Red Guide.     

 

Best Law Firm Ads Ever (Part I)

 So, I blogged briefly about my recent U.K. trip, from which I narrowly escaped being trapped by volcanic ash.  But, I haven’t yet shown you any of my trip photos.  In the back seat of a London black cab were two law firm ads, which are probably the cleverest I’ve ever seen (and are definitely the best ads I’ve ever seen in the back seat of a cab). Both are for the firm of Pinsent Masons.

This one is the first.  The caption reads:

The last thing you want when you’re negotiating a deal or drawing up a contract is to leave yourself exposed.  That’s why so many of the U.K.’s leading companies rely on us for seamless and robust legal advice. 

Visit www.pinsentmasons.com and you’ve got it covered. 

(Click on the photo to enlarge and read the whole thing).  Maybe it was the bottle of wine and excellent Indian food at Colony, but I laughed out loud at this.  I’ll be back with the second one tomorrow.  Until then, below is the Colony menu.  We had the sea bass, mallard, mutton, and lamb, plus breads, tarka dal, and aubergine.

 

Etiquette 101: The Noisy Classroom Eater

In the normal course of events, I think it is fine if students want to bring a drink or a snack with them to my class.  Most of the time I don’t notice, and if I don’t notice, then why should I care?  While my students (I hope) don’t need a venti starbucks to stay awake in Business Associations, I was a student once too and sometimes coffee does help focus one’s concentration.  I find this to be the case at conferences that I attend – it’s just a fact of life that sometimes if you’re sitting in the same seat for two hours, it’s helpful to have something to munch on to sustain blood sugar levels. 

Interestingly, two years ago, when I taught in Pacific-McGeorge’s evening division, I had several students tell me that they were observing Ramadan and that they hoped to be able to break their fast during class.  I readily agreed, with the caveat that they should be considerate of those around them (I also thanked them for asking permission and told them they had good manners).  Another year, I had a student who wasn’t observing any holiday (to my knowledge), but who was eating a three or four course meal from the cafeteria every night throughout class.  While I didn’t really care, (because he was quiet), his seatmates right around him minded the smell of the food.  In response to their complaints that he was being rude, I asked them to address it to him directly first, and then come back to me (ah, yes, the pleasures of being an authority figure) if it was still problematic.  These efforts at self help apparently worked, since I never heard about the matter again.        

But I guess what I’m asking is, at any point is there a line where it becomes appropriate for the instructor to discuss such a matter with a student?  Right now I have some students (I actually have lots of students; this semester I’m teaching a Business Associations class with 95 students as well as a seminar, so this shouldn’t give too much away), who have been eating loud foods in class.   For example, crunchy apples (think the three or four or their equivalent in slices – eaten one after another), crunchy chips, or small foods that seem to be in a loud crinkly wrapper, one after another. 

So when does it become appropriate to say something?   We might be able to find some etiquette guidance by comparing class to the movies; this online article provides some guidelines about what foods to avoid in a theater, lest you disturb your fellow audience members.  (A colleague noted that the line depends on whether the student has brought enough for her).  I suppose that segues into the question of whether it is appropriate for an instructor to eat or drink during a class?  (Other than cough drops and water).  Thoughts?

Guess Who's Coming Over For Some Fried Chicken!

So Oprah wants to have Jesus over for a meal.  Story here.

I, too, would have Jesus at the top of my list of dream guests for a meal (I don't know if I'd serve fried chicken, though).   Think of the life-changing opportunity to be in the physical presence of God's only begotten son, who died on the cross for my sins.  Wow!  Amazing!

My table has six other chairs, though.  So who else is on the guest list?  Vladimir Lenin?  Billy Graham?  Charles Darwin?  Albert Einstein?  Mother Teresa?  Adam Smith?  Muhammad?  Martin Luther?  Martin Luther King, Jr.?  Aristotle?  Confucius?  Helen Keller?  Friedrich Nietzsche?  Galileo?  Sigmund Freud?  Adolph Hitler?  Socrates?  Karl Marx?  Nelson Mandela?  Julius Caesar?  Moses?  Buddha?  Michelangelo?  Alexander the Great?  Wolfgang Mozart?  Thomas Edison?  Oprah?  Loved ones who have died?  Sports heroes?  Movie stars?  Billionaires?  Legal giants?

And I thought paring down our wedding guest list was a challenge!

How do you respond to Tina Fey's question:  "If you could have dinner with any person, living or dead, in the history of the world ...."  Fascinating to think about, yes?

(Hat tip:  my wife)

Fine Young Cannibals

For some reason, I seem to be obsessed with food lately – see my earlier, rather sarcastic post about rating law schools based on their cuisine.   

 

So, I was at a dinner (thrown by my colleague Ann Marie Marciarille in honor of visiting speaker, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard), when the conversation turned from the normal well-traveled road of health care to criticizing a zoo for throwing a BBQ.  That seemed bizarre to me - to go watch animals only then to go cook them - and I even thought at the time that it must be "made up."  But after a little online search I discovered that apparently this is a fairly common event at lots of different zoos.  At that point I remembered that I’ve also been to two aquariums that serve fish in their restaurants (disturbing). 

 

Then I found this blog, which specializes in showing bizarre pictures of animals advertising themselves to be eaten.  It’s unsettling, but also hysterically funny, in a strange Regina v. Dudley kind of way.

 

Bottom Line:   I'm snacking vegetarian while I finish up this article.

Ranking Law School Cuisine

Yesterday, I was sent a pointer to this blog, Fed Up with School Lunch, in which a teacher has chosen to eat the cafeteria food served to her students every day. She takes pictures of it and then gives it a food review (she liked the chicken patty, but was down on the hot dog). Unsurprisingly, she offers a few insights along with these reviews:

I worry that kids are getting offered junk and convenience food because adults believe that that's all they will eat for school lunch. Obviously we want kids to eat, but should not cater to what a 7 year old would theoretically prefer to eat.

Students are also quoted as saying that it is hard to be healthy eating many of the options that are offered and that the food isn’t very fresh. In between these observations, the blogger (who has chosen to remain anonymous), frets alternately between what this diet is doing to her insides and the fact that if she is discovered, she might be fired. (Right now the blog has shades of “Fast Food Nation,” but if the teacher starts making organic lunches for the kids, it might turn into a feel good movie, although it then might might also be viewed as a re-tread of “Julie and Julia.”)

Meanwhile, over at Concurring Opinions, Prof. Alfred Yen is doing a series of posts aimed at prospective students on “how to choose a law school.” In an earlier post, our own Dan Filler comments on a ranking of law schools based on the quality of their websites.

What about ranking the law schools based on the quality of their food? Perhaps this seems trivial (other rankings, of course, are non-trivial, wink-wink, nudge-nudge), but the quality of the food served does either add or subtract from your quality of life, either as a student or faculty member, (of course there are much more choices when you can walk or drive and can spend money as a consumer, as opposed to the blogger's captive audience of elementary school children).

The best food I have had as a student, hands-down, was when I was an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. Lots of different dining options, many of which were healthy. As a faculty member, again hands-down, the best food was at Cumberland Law School, where there was not only a cafeteria open to anyone that had a wide variety of fresh and tasty options, but also a faculty club. You had to dress up to get into it and it was subsidized.  It had table linens and fresh flowers and fresh brewed iced tea and fruit.  Years later, and I still pine for that faculty club.

Is your law school cafeteria food healthy? Plentiful? Subsidized and Cheap? Tasty? Merged with the undergrads?  Convenient? Open late? Pre-packaged? Outsourced? Offer good/bad service? A money maker/loser? Non-existent?  Comments are open, and now, given that my blood sugar is at a low, luckily I am off to dinner at our school's annual APALSA event. 

Vancouver Rocks! (Part I)

As I mentioned earlier, I was in Vancouver over spring break, giving a lecture on corporate board diversity, meeting some UBC faculty, and just generally hanging about.  I spent several very happy pre-tenure years at the University of Oregon, and always jump at any chance to head back to the Pacific Northwest – Vancouver did not disappoint.

I was invited out by the wonderful Cristie Ford, Co-Director of the National Centre for Business Law, whose research interests include comparative administrative and public law, securities regulation, corporate governance, and the legal theory surrounding public decision-making.  Cristie combines an unusual and refreshing knowledge of both public decision-making and “new governance,” as it is sometimes called, and financial markets and institutions.  Much of her recent work focuses on the financial crisis, corporate governance, compliance, and corruption.  Her recent piece, "New Governance in the Teeth of Human Frailty: Lessons from Financial Regulation" Wisconsin Law Review (forthcoming 2010), which I read in draft form earlier this year, deals with very difficult issues relating to financial regulation.   It’s nice to see someone with Ford’s knowledge level and command of the literature grapple with them.

David Duff, the Director of the National Centre for Business Law and the school’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, was also there, with thoughtful questions and insights about corporate board diversity.  And I was lucky to meet Ben Goold – whose many accomplishments include six years as a Lecturer at the University of Oxford Faculty of Law and a Fellow in Law at Somerville College, and stints as a visiting researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute and the Centre de Recherches Sociologiques sur les Droits et Institutions Pénales in Paris – over a lovely dinner of sashimi and oysters (and lots of wine). 

Finally, and this is my primary Vancouver travel tip, pictured at the top is The Winking Judge Pub, which is directly below the best yoga studio I’ve ever seen.  Now, our BC readers (of which there must be thousands by now) may write in to tell me that, in fact, YYoga is the worst yoga studio in all of Vancouver and that no local would ever go there.  I don’t care.  I went every day – sometimes twice – to the spinning/yoga class, with much nicer bikes than I’ve ever seen in a spinning class.  They have classes all day long from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and, in addition to the four YRide (spinning/yoga) classes each day, have classes like “yoga for stiff guys,” candlelight flow, and yoga for recovery of cancer and other illnesses.

I’m convinced that if I lived in Vancouver I’d be 20 lbs thinner, because I would live at this gym.  You might protest that the enormous quantities of dim sum I consumed while there would offset even the most vigorous exercise.  You would be right, but wasting your breath – I won’t listen. 

Which brings me to the two lower photos, of Japadog, where Jin ate when he was in Vancover.  Like most humans, whenever we see long lines of people standing in the rain for food, we’re going to stand there too and order whatever they order.   I don’t even like hotdogs, but had to have one, since everyone else in Vancouver seemed to be getting one – I have to admit that the taste of teriyaki and seaweed on a hotdog was not unpleasant, but not one I would wait in a 50-person line in the rain for again. 

More on Vancover, my adventures there, and corporate board diversity tomorrow.

Columbia Law’s Elizabeth Scott Wins Best Book Award (And Some Darn Good Indian Food, Too)

Rethinking Juvenile Justice, by Columbia Univesity Professor Elizabeth Scott (Law) and Temple University Professor Laurence Steinberg (Psychology), has been awarded the 2010 Social Policy Best Authored Book Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence.

Scott and Steinberg will receive their award at a ceremony on March 12 in Philadelphia.

From the Harvard University Press website:

What should we do with teenagers who commit crimes? Are they children whose offenses are the result of immaturity and circumstances, or are they in fact criminals? . . .

[Scott and Steinberg] argue that juvenile justice should be grounded in the best available psychological science, which shows that adolescence is a distinctive state of cognitive and emotional development. Although adolescents are not children, they are also not fully responsible adults.

Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg outline a new developmental model of juvenile justice that recognizes adolescents’ immaturity but also holds them accountable.

  

Congratulations to Elizabeth, whose accomplishment provided a great excuse (as if we needed one) to celebrate at Tamarind restaurant in New York, which I've wanted to visit for years now, and finally made it.  I made up for lost time with the Lamb Dopiaza, Samosas, Boondi Raita, Pindi Chana, Bhagarey Baingan, and way too much other food and wine. Excuse me, while I waddle back to Durham now.

 

Image Right: Tamarind Restaurant in New York City.

Below: A video of dishes at Tamarind

Peeps! Not Just For Easter!

Peeps.   The adorable marshmallow favorites that are a staple of many a child's diet during the Easter season.   Who can resist the sugary and spongy bunnies and chicks?   Gotta love 'em!

Now comes word, in this story by Jessica Gresko for the Associated Press, that a "Peeps" store is opening this week in a mall near Washington, D.C.   What's for sale?   Approximately 850 different products!   Amazing!

Sweet relief indeed, especially given this story by Sarah Skidmore for the Associated Press:  "General Mills reducing sugar in kids' cereal."   Yikes! 

Trade Secrecy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory

I had been meaning to post about this for a while but life got on top of me.  Jeanne Fromer at Fordham has written a great essay on trade secret law with reference to the confectionery industry and with specific reference to Roald Dahl's creation of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.  The current draft is available here.  The essay will be published next year in a book on trade secrecy edited by Rochelle  Dreyfuss and  Katherine  Strandburg, both of N.Y.U school of law.

Two Big Mac Stories To Sink Your Teeth Into

1) Mark McGwire retired from baseball following the 2001 season.  He ranks #8 on the career home run list with 583 round-trippers (tied with A-Rod).  He hasn't fared all that well in HOF balloting and has been rather successful in flying under our radar in recent years.  But now comes word that Big Mac will be the Cardinals hitting coach next season.  Commish Bud Selig is "delighted."  Me?  I'm still sifting through my feelings on this one.  Thoughts from baseball fans out there?

2) If your "bucket list" includes eating at a McDonalds in Iceland, you're about to run out of time.  The country's three restaurants (all located in Reykjavik) are closing very soon, apparently a victim of the collapse in the local currency.  Story here.  (Or could it be the work of those "eat mor chikin" bovines?)

Vermonster: Beer? Or Energy Drink?

I don't drink beer or energy drinks (unless one includes the "buzz" I get from an occasional Pepsi or Coca-Cola).  Nevertheless, this "David v. Goliath" story holds some appeal for me.

Matt Nadeau owns Rock Art Brewery, a small brewery in Morrisville, Vermont.  One of its beers is "the Vermonster."  Nadeau recently filed a federal trademark application for the name, which brought Nadeau to the attention of the makers of Monster Beverage Drink.

You can guess what ensued.

The makers of the Monster energy drink are concerned about possible trademark infringement and have asked Nadeau to stop using the "Vermonster" name.  Story here.  A copy of the letter Nadeau received is here, and Nadeau's reply letter is here.

Hmmmm.  Do I want a beer?  Or an energy drink?  Might I be confused by the Vermonster label?

Maybe one or more of our readers well-versed in trademark law is looking for a cause.