http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com Rory Olsen's reflections on writing, law and life. Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:44:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The other evening while reading Levitt and Dubner's SuperFreakonomics, I came across the name of one of the true benefactor's of mankind, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss. Never heard of the name? I never did either until I read the book. But, I am sure that you have heard of his seminal ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/11/05/a-forgotten-benefactor/ Today we held the tenth seminar in the series of annual seminars that Probate Court Three has sponsored for the lawyers who do the court's mental health docket. The court's motivation in starting the program a decade ago was simply that there was--and continues to be--a dearth of continuing legal ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/10/22/tenth-anniversary/ I sent my article dealing with some guardianship issues involved with end of life situations off to Texas Tech.  I'll have more to say later on that subject. As part of my research, I read Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel's 1998 book, "The Ends of Human Life: Medical Ethics in a Liberal Polity." ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/10/20/marxist-wisdom/ Since the cutoff for nominations for the prize in any year is February 1st and he was inaugurated on January 20th, one must assume that President Obama received the award for things done beforehand.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_peace_prize  I am not sure what it was he did that earned him such a prestigious ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/10/09/congratulations-president-obama-on-winning-the-nobel-peace-prize/ Over the last few weeks, I have been working on an article for a law review edited at Texas Tech.  This afternoon I encountered a citation problem. I made reference in my paper to what is known to historians of World War II and its aftermath as the Doctors' Trial. Technically, ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/10/06/october-confusions/ Last night's episode of Law and Order had an embarrassing plot.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_&_Order  Jack McCoy had Michael Cutter prosecuting a former Justice Department lawyer for writing a memorandum that authorized the use of "harsh" interrogation techniques on "unlawful combatants" captured in Iraq.   This entry is not going to wade into ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/09/26/law-and-order-almost-went-over-the-deep-end/ When my wife was in Europe years ago, she picked up some cheap novels in French to give her a chance to practice reading colloquial French. One of the novels that she purchased was a cowboy novel set in the Old West. Picture the scene. The local sheriff is sitting on ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/09/09/show-me-your-identity-papers/ The probate courts in Harris County, Texas differ from the other civil courts because probate courts have large staffs that administer the flow of documents in estates.  My court, Probate Court #3, also has a second staff at Harris County Psychiatric Center which processes documents and the administration of the ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/09/01/kudos/ A friend of mine, Dr. Ralph D. Berenger, sent the news story appearing below to me.  After securing permission to post and edit the story, I wasted no time in publishing this breakthrough.   Here it is in slightly edited form. ARNOLD EXPLORES WHITE HOUSE BID!!! (Los Angeles)  Hollywood and Washington are ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/08/29/will-irony-strike-out-again/ A week ago I had only heard about how much easier to use a Mac is.  Having used a Mac for the last few days, I am firmly convinced that all of the glowing reports about Macs are all true--except the ones that claim that using a Mac will help ... http://goodwillwinintheend.booklocker.com/2009/08/16/i-did-it-i-bought-a-mac/