Friday Links

Above, you’ll find the cover of Superboy #90, published way, way back in 1961.  With all this talk of surveillance and privacy in the news these days, we feel compelled to share this issue, which features Lana Lang using a “time-telescope” to spy on future Superman and Lois Lane. “This horrid time-telescope which looks into the future!” Lana exclaims to herself. “It reveals that when Superboy grows up into Superman, he’ll forget me for that reporter, Lois Lane. I’d better do something about it now!” The question: Would the images set forth on the time telescope be admissible in a court of law? We doubt it.

The former members of the historic punk group Black Flag are suing each other. Those are some depositions we’d like to see.  For more, read here.

Adam Davidson of The New York Times had an interesting piece recently on the practice of keeping and billing time. Of course, it goes back to lawyers. An excerpt:

The notion of charging by units of time was popularized in the 1950s, when the American Bar Association was becoming alarmed that the income of lawyers was falling precipitously behind that of doctors (and, worse, dentists). The A.B.A. published an influential pamphlet, “The 1958 Lawyer and His 1938 Dollar,” which suggested that the industry should eschew fixed-rate fees and replicate the profitable efficiencies of mass-production manufacturing. Factories sold widgets, the idea went, and so lawyers should sell their services in simple, easy-to-manage units. The A.B.A. suggested a unit of time — the hour — which would allow a well-run firm to oversee its staff’s productivity as mechanically as a conveyor belt managed its throughput. This led to generations of junior associates working through the night in hopes of making partner and abusing the next crop. It was adopted by countless other service professionals, including accountants.

Friend of the blog Walter Olson, himself of the Overlawyered blog, had a letter to the editor published in The Washington Post. Check it out.

Here’s a warning label on one company’s football helmet: “No helmet system can protect you from serious brain and/or neck injuries including paralysis or death. To avoid these risks, do not engage in the sport of football.” How about that? For more on that label, see this piece at the ABA Journal by Debra Cassens Weiss.

Finally, don’t forget that today is THE LAST DAY to submit your nominations to the ABA Journal for its Blawg 100 competition. For information on how to submit, see here.