In a sparkling cover story in this week’s Times Higher Education (cover left), Tom Palaima tells of the passion that drove him to teach Classics and how it is at odds with the “educational shopping mall’ vision of officialdom. His experience has universal relevance, as Irish public policy on state-funded higher education is “learning” from the US practice, rather than recognising it for the mistake it is, as cogently argued by Palaima (article | pdf | html) …

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According to Richard Warner, in “Turned on its Head?: Norms, Freedom, and Acceptable Terms in Internet Contracting”, a paper recently made available on SSRN and BePress, many commentators contend that it is, though in his view it is not. The issue is basically very simple: either the current law of contract is capable of regulating internet contracts because they are after all still contracts, or the current law of contract is not capable of regulating internet contracts because the internet is too different from its current reach that it cannot cover internet contracts. It depends on whether you stress the “internet” element, or the “contract” element. I stress “contract”, and take the view that the current law can easily accommodate internet contracts, for the simplistic reason that a contract is still a contract. …

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From a piece by Mitch Kowalski in the FP’s Legal Post:

First major law firm to have Facebook page

I don't know why Canadian firms don't hire me to do their marketing and recruitment. Here is yet another good idea that is being ignored by Canadian firms. NYC firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost,Cole & Mosle LLP has its own Facebook page for summer student info and hiring. Just another idea to throw out there….

More coverage:
– Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog “[A partner at the firm said:] We are pleased to be capitalizing on the popularity of the most widely used social networking site. As a firm, we recognized the power of this format of communication and the wide use being made of it by future lawyers”.
– The ABA Journal Law News Now “The page promotes the 178-year-old firm with historical information and the benefits of starting a career in New York”.
– The AmLaw Dailty and Law.com “[The firm] hopes the Facebook page–different from an actual profile, through which Facebook members build a network of “friends”–will increase interactivity between members of the firm and effectively tell the “Curtis Mallet story”.
– The National Law Journal “The firm believes that the launch is the first of its kind for an AmLaw 200 firm”.…

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The Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is 50 this year, and its famous symbol is 50 today (hat tip: Opinio Juris; BBC):

The images (from left to right) are the first ceramic CND badge, an early tin badge, and the current badge.

The symbol was

designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a professional artist and graduate of the Royal College of Arts. He presented his early designs to the Peace News office in North London and, significantly, to the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, one of the groups that helped to set up CND. The symbol was first seen in public during the 1958 Aldermaston march and from that moment onwards became identified with CND and its objective of nuclear disarmament.

Ironically the symbol itself is a mix of the military semaphore signals N – representing nuclear – and D – representing disarmament (semaphore alphabet). However, Holtom, a conscientious objector during the Second World War, subverted this use of semaphores by placing the D over the N, the “upside down logoâ€? signifying his anti-military principles.

This can be clearly seen in the following graphics:

The CND peace symbol will doubtless understand if I say that I am sorry that it is just as relevant today on its golden anniversary as it was in when it was first adopted in 1958!…

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