Elena Kagan's Documents

Senate confirmation hearings for former Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, U.S. Supreme Court nominee, are scheduled to begin June 28. While the media has featured and critiqued a small number of the documents released this month from Kagan's time working in the Clinton administration and as law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the best way to discover and assess the nominee as attorney and thinker is to read some of her writings for yourself.

A clear explanation of the Kagan documents released so far from her Clinton years--with links to pages of topical documents in full text--is at the National Archives web site. In addition, CBS News has posted five of Kagan's law clerk memos, culled from the Thurgood Marshall papers at the Library of Congress. For her background and qualifications, check out Kagan's Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire here.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Google Voice for Students

Do you have too many phone numbers? Google Voice has a nifty solution and is now available to anyone with a .edu email address without knowing anyone with an invite. Some of the cool features include getting voice mail sent to e-mail, sending free text messages, and reading voice-mail transcriptions.

How it works - You get a new phone number, and can forward all your other phones to the new one, and get all your messages in one place. And once you stop being amused by the way the transcription sometimes turns your friends' words into things they didn't really say, you might find it useful.

Check out Google's site and this Youtube clip and another for demos. To get an invite, just visit google.com/voice/students and enter an email address that that ends in .edu.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Unusual And Marvelous Maps

While we would not recommend them as current guides to Summer travel, these antique maps, which show sea serpents and other monsters devouring ships over huge expanses of the ocean, fascinatingly reflect to us how the world appeared to our forebears.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Your Brain on Computers

The New York Times recently published a series of articles (Your Brain on Computers) discussing the effect computers appear to have on our brains. The comments "highlights" are worth reading for the different perspectives.

It is food for thought. Technology is a wonderful tool, but it is worth a moment to think about how and why we use the technology that we do.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Legal Twitter

This is a list of the top 100 legal Twitter feeds, some of which are very useful and informative. Depending on your interests, you may choose to follow one or two of the people listed here on Twitter.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

the Kindle in Colleges

Think it would be great to have all your textbooks in Kindle format? It seems like a great idea, but apparently, the Kindle has not yet gained favor in college campuses. Read this for an interesting discussion.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

You have the right to remain silent

We are all familiar with the Miranda Warning from television. Today the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an opinion (Berguis v. Thompkins) that tilted the warnings procedure towards the police. Criminal suspects must explicitly invoke their right to remain silent. Check out the SCOTUSwiki for the background of the case with supporting documents; and SCOTUSblog for an initial analysis of the deicison.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Environmental Impact of Google Searches

Although internet searches may not appear to have any environmental impact, they require servers, which require electricity. You may have even heard the rumor that every Google search uses as much energy as a 100 watt light bulb uses in one hour. This is not true. The Slaw blog outlines how much energy Google searches actually require--Google has tried to limit this energy consumption for both environmental and cost-saving reasons.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Global News on the Go

Summer is here, and unless you are taking the Bar exam, study or travel abroad may be in your immediate future. Take a few minutes to become familiar with two very different, but complementary, online news sources before you take off on international adventures. These can keep you in the know and up to the minute with news and culture from and about every region and major city across the globe.

World News Network brings you actual news pages from publications and blogs worldwide, gathering the news from over 500 sources in 49 languages. Organized by region, city, and topic, the site is searchable and has an archive feature making it easy to see relevant stories from any date going back to 2003. Global Post was founded in January 2009 by an American journalist and an entrepreneur with a mission to "redefine international news for the digital age." Global Post is a totally online, independent news source with its own correspondents living on every continent and dedicated to covering international news well, without partisan bias. They find newsworthy stories on topics--including cultural trends and sports--that you won't see elsewhere. When you travel abroad this summer, take WN Network and Global Post along.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Enjoy the weekend!!!

I for one am looking forward to a nice long weekend and many cat naps. We will be open Saturday and Sunday but will be closed on Monday.

For a little fun over the weekend, check out wackyuses.com . You can great tips here like using plain yogurt to sooth the sunburn you get if you plan to get to the beach on this unofficial start of summer.

Whatever you do, have fun!!

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat