Second communication of the week regarding scholarship and presentation that could fairly be translated as "for the love of God, no more AI" (this one was more explicit). Fam... Is it happening?!

Sauron's Eye: Lord of the Rings

ALT: Sauron's Eye: Lord of the Rings

static.klipy.com

Do I add a citation to my rejection letter basically saying "for the love of God, stop writing about AI" to my article whinging about how much people are talking about AI and talking about how young people in particular don't like it?

I had a very fun couple of weeks, travel and all. But it would be hard to tip this bad boy.

Look, I'm sorry, it's not every day you realize you've made meaningful progress towards one of your dreams?! @msmith750.bsky.social and @brianlfrye.bsky.social , I'm ready for round 2 if you guys want to talk LotR and Disco Elysium this cycle. www.imdb.com/title/tt3970...

My post from a few weeks ago got taken down for administrative reasons, but it's back! If you're interested in a temporary position at the University of Idaho, I can tell you from personal experience that we're an amazing home for budding law librarians. uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/52092

Temporary Faculty - Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian

The Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian is located at the University of Idaho’s Moscow, Idaho campus and works under the supervision and general direction of the Director of the Law Library. ...

uidaho.peopleadmin.com

Folks seemed to like the last one, so whatever, this is a Warhammer novice painting channel now. Kroot are newer figures for me, needs work, but this did get a GW Employee "if you brought 10 of these to the table I'd be happy" when I asked how he'd spice this up so here you go!

I know it's my most embarrassing and mockable hobby (and I ALSO know I say that as a man who just admitted to writing a legal essay focused on Magic: The Gathering), but whatever, Warhammer is clearly a good hobby for me and I want to show off my little guys.

1) This sucks. 2) If anyone has materials for this class they're willing to share LMK. 3) Fun announcement/sample: My essay, "Making Magic: How Lessons From 20 Years of Creating Magic Cards Can Improve Legal Instruction," will be available in "Law and Magic: Vol. II!" cap-press.com/books/isbn/9...

Michael Smith@msmith750.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Deeply silly situation, though one possible path to a silver lining would be to somehow smuggle this class on Magic: The Gathering onto the list of courses that count toward the mandatory requirement: law.uiowa.edu/news/2026/06....

Counterpoint: Puns are fine, but only on the condition that they are central to your analysis. (I think the puns are underrated, the corniness is part of the charm. Very possible discovering law review articles through Gonzales v. Raich and the endless weed puns had something to do with this.)

Alexandra Lahav@alahav.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Law professors: please, for the love of all that is holy and good, do not make the title of your law review article a pun.

You or someone you know getting started in law librarianship or shaking things up? Apply for a position as a Temporary Reference Librarian position at the University of Idaho in Moscow! An incredible opportunity to explore all aspects of law librarianship. uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/51617

Temporary Faculty - Reference Librarian

The Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian is located at the University of Idaho’s Moscow, Idaho campus and works under the supervision and general direction of the Director of the Law Library. ...

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Well, this sucks. I was already exploring alternatives to the fractured legal publication landscape, but this probably make those more challenging. Some of my most successful work owes a lot to SSRN's cut features. Maybe expected, but still sad. www.stephenbainbridge.com/p/the-social...

The Social Science Research Network Has Jumped the Shark

Significant and unwelcome changes to what had been legal academia's major open source scholarly repository and notice system

stephenbainbridge.com

A lot of this in the air right now, so heads up that it has ALWAYS been like this and will get worse. One of the earliest ingredients in my AI Haterade was a presentation titled "The ROI of AI" that considered neither the cost (I) nor savings (R) of AI. One is deflated, the other unverifiable.

Ms. Rosenberg@msrosenberg.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In CLE today: Westlaw Deep Research AI costs almost $4000 per month for 4 logins at a small firm 😮

Update: Apparently nobody knows what I'm talking about when I mention this?! I'm so happy for these people but wow does this hammer home a lot of the thoughts in the shorter piece I'm working on...

Sam Williams@sawilliams.bsky.social · 4mo ago

My summer got off to a raucous start as I just had to explain what 538 and Nate Silver is/was to a coworker. I know that this is a symptom and cause of my self-inflicted political junkie brainrot, but who are these people?! Do they know peace?

My summer got off to a raucous start as I just had to explain what 538 and Nate Silver is/was to a coworker. I know that this is a symptom and cause of my self-inflicted political junkie brainrot, but who are these people?! Do they know peace?

A student mentioned that they didn't know Appa (who I dress up as for class around Halloween) and wondered if I was an Axoatl (which they also didn't know much about). It's sort of a layered joke, but I find the conflation of these two things (especially with regards to me) very funny.

Point/Counterpoint (unsure): You'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.

The Independent@the-independent.com · 4mo ago

Paul McCartney says one song has the power to unite Democrats and Republicans in Trump’s America

Last weekend I was interviewed by comedian Steve Byrne as part of the Idaho Film Society's "Idaho Film Hall of Fame" gala. It was fun! It was probably the most "some guy" interview I have ever given in my entire life, but apparently people liked it. I DID get upstaged by Scott Glenn but I'll be OK.

First comments on Legal Elysium: "I think I have to play Disco Elysium now?" I'm not sure I'm cooking quite as much as LOTR, but if nothing else I seem to be meeting my hype man obligations for the year.

What a perfect asshole. I liked him more when he was talking about typewriters.

Lawrence Hurley@lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 4mo ago

NEW: Chief Justice John Roberts bemoans that Americans don't understand how the Supreme Court operates and see justices as "political actors". The court at times simply has to make "unpopular" decisions, he adds: www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

Good thread. I'm in the middle of a project to become a new guy who cares A LITTLE about fashion about fashion or my physical appearance- it's not going great, thanks for asking- but the case for fashion as an art form is even stronger than the same case for legal scholarship (which I DO believe).

derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Pierre Bourdieu once argued that the question of whether something is art isn't answered by the artist's intention or even the object itself. Instead, the quality of being "art" is conferred by a community — curators, dealers, auction houses, audiences, etc. 🧵

Alright, I have officially run my first half marathon! It's a real Sam special of being distinctly average at an impressive thing, but still... We did it!

I've been going through a very stupid and self-inflicted crash out for the past week that has ended with multiple people suggesting I develop any discernible fashion sense. Anyway between the first effort and Legal Elysium what if I just stopped being a law prof and became a disco detective?

Follow up on this: if you've ever found yourself feeling old with your pop culture references in class, I encourage you to lean into it. I had a (noticably younger) student mention that they had never felt older than when I referred to Friday as "ancient internet lore." They will know our pain!

Sam Williams@sawilliams.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I had to explain Rebecca Black's Friday and Downfall memes today, so I feel your pain. :'(

Early reviews of the "smell test draft" of this year's first writing project are in: "Needs more LotR!" "Too likely to start beef!" Fam, I think we're COOKING.

How gauche is it to nominate yourself for your 10 year reunion (😬) Excellence in Law award? Especially when your contribution to law is... Whatever it is that I do?

My friend has a running joke where she lists her friend's favorite movies, with the bit being it's always the lesser known or controversial stuff they talk a weird amount about. This joke didn't really work for me because her list resembles my real one more than it should. The latest addition:

Tristan Johnson@stepback.nebula.tv · 5mo ago

Cinephiles will be like "this is my favourite movie. It's really bad."

Frighteners is a fun one for me on a similar axis. I remember like 75% of it in vivid detail, and every time I think about that 75% I wonder why it's not the greatest movie ever made. Then I rewatch it and... Yep, adds up. Overall, though, big fan! A direct link between Dead Alive and LOTR.

Adam Scott - Photographer@justadamscott.me · 5mo ago

I'm watching The Frighteners for the 1st time. I think... This movie is tickling bits of my brain... Maybe I've seen it before, but if I have, I've no memory.

I'm in a little bit of a "defend legal scholarship as an artform" era (stay tuned, I've already done it once and have a couple of bangers in the works expanding on it), so I do want to push back on this. But also it is really bad, and its best characteristics are further proof of just how bad it is.

Anthony Michael Kreis@anthonymkreis.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The more American legal scholarship I read, the more I hate the entire genre. It’s just terrible.

I think it's more eerie than weird myself, but very happy to see @edzitron.com join the Weird AI discourse! (Yes, I do cite him in this). scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol53/is...

Ed Zitron@edzitron.com · 5mo ago

Free newsletter: We need to talk about the inherent weirdness of the AI bubble, and how strange it is that an industry that loses billions of dollars to create few productivity benefits is described as a disruptive technology rather than an industry of WeWorks. www.wheresyoured.at/ai-is-really...

As a long-time rat partisan, I encourage you to check on the date that this article was published. But also they are the best and every opportunity to celebrate that fact should be taken with gusto.

Alex de Campi@alexdecampi.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Somewhere up in heaven, Richard Scarry is like “fuck yeah, told you so”: www.bbc.com/news/world-u...