As IF Times

link $1000 iPhone App Returns with BarMax – PC World

Not only has the Apple Ipod/Iphone platform revolutionized how we interface with our handheld communications products, it is now promising to play a prominent role in addressing a serious shortage in the nation’s labor force. An app has been developed that is due for imminent release dubbed BarMax. What is this app that costs about $1000, yes you read right, $1000??.

This is an app to help people prepare for the legal bar exam and includes thousands of pages of notes as well as hours of audio lectures. No more will people use the innocuous ipod touch for pedestrian roles such as music player or virtual paper tosser. Now you can use this device to further yourself into a more lucrative career. The best thing is, you can do this in the comfort of your car as you take a long road trip or while running on the treadmill. Long haul truck drivers in particular will find this useful to pass those long hours on the road. The downside is that as time goes on, we’ll run out of truck drivers, but we’ll work on that later.

Just as an illustration of how dire is this shortage of lawyers, I show some stats courtesy of Wiki answers as of 2007;

Country Lawyers Population People/Lawyer

US: Lawyers: 1,143,358 Pop: 303MM P/L:265
Brazil: Lawyers: 571,360 Pop: 186MM P/L: 326
New Zealand: Lawyers: 10,523 Pop: 4MM P/L 391

Spain Lawyers:114,143 Pop: 45MM P/L:395
Italy Lawyers:121,380 Pop: 59MM P/L:488
UK Lawyers:151,043 Pop: 61MM P/L401
Germany Lawyers:138,679 Pop: 82MM P/L: 593
France Lawyers:45,686 Pop: 64MM P/L: 1,403

Of course, Americans are much better off than the nation at the bottom of this short list which would be France with a measly 1 lawyer for every 1,403 people. How they can call themselves civilized is mystery. Perhaps they settle things the old fashioned way, with pistol duels at daybreak. It was surprising to see Brazil and New Zealand near the top of the list, we’ll have to look into that for future insightful analysis. I didn’t know there was anything worth suing over in those countries.

With all these sharp legal minds populating the nation and presumably with many more to come thanks to Apple, we are certain to remain at the top of the list of civilized societies. There are some other statistics to consider before getting fitted for that powdered wig. According to insideprison.com:

“…The National Center for State Courts reported that tort filings steadily decreased over the past ten years, dropping by 9 percent between 1992 and 2002, and in Texas in particular, where the rate of filings fell by 37 percent between 1990 and 2000, and in California, falling 45 percent…”

You wouldn’t know this from all the high profile nuisance suits you hear about, such as coffee being too hot etc etc. What is interesting is this next revelation:

“…Plaintiffs also end up losing about half the time they go to trial, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics…In addition, when plaintiffs do win, the lawsuit reward is getting smaller all the time…”

Hmm this is taking some of the incentive out of this. Maybe just stick to music player. I’m not so sure I’d want to be represented by someone who graduated from the University of Apple Law School.

link Cameron hearts ecoterrorism — WHAT WOULD TOTO WATCH?#more-5646

Whatever people’s political leanings, if they feel passionately enough about an issue, they are bound to say some extreme and in hindsight, dumb things. All sides of the political spectrum will provide examples of this. Recently, Pat Robertson, in an intemperate moment, expressed that the nation of Haiti may have brought the recent earthquake devastation upon itself by making a pact with the devil some years ago. Without question, this was a poor time to volunteer that opinion and he was excoriated by the media and the political left and right alike.

In a recent interview according to the linked article, Mr. Cameron of recent Avatar fame, let it be known that he would certainly advocate “eco-terrorism”. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion since, like noses, everyone has one. Of note however is the notable silence on the part of the media on Cameron’s advocacy for violent means to support his views. No doubt Mr. Robertson and Mr. Cameron are sincere in their sentiments, it just so happens they expressed their opinions publicly.

As well as rebuking Robertson for his remarks, we neccesarily also have to weigh past and future opinions from him in a somewhat skeptical light. It doesn’t discredit everything he says, but the view of his judgement has suffered. Having said that, we weren’t actually there when the devil made the deal.

For Mr. Cameron, whose genius in film-making is certainly not matched by his logic in real world matters, we should consider what he is is advocating.

We assume “eco-terrorism” entails the destruction of things deemed to be harmful to the environment, which could include oil and gas drilling sites, power stations, forestry operations, mine sites or any kind of factory. The target list can be quite exhaustive since there will always be some way to rationalize the detrimental aspects of any kind of industry. Heck, even Starbucks coffee, the staple consumer item of the green set uses paper cups, so it’s just a matter of time until someone jumps on their case.

Let’s also assume that the hundreds of millions of dollars used to finance his epics came from conscientious people who buy into his worldview and not for reasons of glorious profits in case the films makes it big. These film making costs can only go up in the future because the price of walking the green walk will entail finding hybrid or electric airplanes to ferry people and equipment around to all the shooting sets. Either that, or use horses and mules.

In this scenario also, movie theaters that show the films would not use nasty old electricity gleaned from hydro electric power dams or coal fired plants. Instead, all theater goers will sit on bicycle-like devices and everyone will collectively pedal to power the projectors required to show the film. It’s likely Cameron will have to make shorter films, because bicycling for 3 hours seems like an iffy proposition. Not to mention, fewer people will go to the movies on a romantic date.

As well, he is now pushing new technology in his films, the introduction of 3-D effects. Naturally, they will have to stop handing out the free plastic viewing glasses because of plastic toxicity. They will have to make these viewers out of something biodegradable, perhaps sugar crystals that can later be eaten.

This obviously won’t work well, but as we all walk the green walk it’s likely that we’ll turn back the hands of progress of most everything we do including aspects of entertainment that we take for granted. I don’t know what forms they will take but I wouldn’t throw away the old radios.