What is the Cloud - as in Cloud Computing?

Here's a great overview of what the "Internet Cloud" entails, and what it means to you and your business:

Wall Street Journal's "Cloud Computing: What Exactly is it, Anyway?"

If you want more details, but not geek-talk, then try these articles, too:

Wikipedia's article on cloud computing;

The Cloud Tutorial;  and

(somewhat geeky) InfoWorld's "What Cloud Computing Really Means."
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The Massive Confusion of US Estate Taxes - Attorney Seminar to "Enlighten and Depress"

This morning's inbox included the following seminar invitation from the State Bar of Texas:

A Look at the Current State of the Estate Tax: Massive Confusion

Approved for State Bar College Credit and Texas Board of Legal Specialization Credit in Estate Planning & Probate and Tax Law.
Live Via Webcast
Thursday, February 11th
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
1 hour MCLE credit


With the failure of Congress to do something with respect to the one-year suspension of the federal estate tax and generation skipping transfer tax and the one-year return of carryover basis, followed by a return to 2000 law, we are in a situation of having no reasonable or rational way to advise our clients. Two experienced lawyers (who remember the original carryover basis and generation skipping transfer tax in the Tax Reform Act of 1976, both of which were repealed) discuss the alternatives in how they and others are dealing with this uncertainty and highlighting some issues that are not immediately apparent and other problems if Congress does nothing before 1/1/2011. A fun filled hour guaranteed to enlighten and depress you simultaneously.

Now, mind you - this is an invitation to legal practioners in the field of estate planning to come and listen to experts in this area discuss "a situation of having no reasonable or rational way to advise our clients."

What's going on here?  Congress didn't act, even to patch things up by passing a bill that said "everything stays as is until we do something else," so some tax laws died - their effective dates passed on December 31st - and now, we're apparently in a huge, fat mess.
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Toyota in the Hot Seat: First it's the Gas Pedal, now it's the Brakes?

It was only Monday when all this big news was popping up regarding Congressional Committees getting involved, investigating Toyota about its "sudden acceleration" problem. 

Just this past Sunday, the New York Times wrote a great article, giving an overview of this gas pedal acceleration problem in both Toyota models as well as Lexus vehicles -- something that's been a known issue since 2002.  Known issue, as in stuck accelerators have been causing wrecks and killing people for several years now.

So, as an attorney, I was already expecting to read about new Toyota lawsuits - heck, I was ready to see the television commercials.  All about the gas pedal slamming down, think how creative those ad agencies could be ....

And then, today, whattha????

Because today, first I read that the Secretary of Transportation reported before Congress to give his testimony today, and he's said that folk should just stop driving their Toyotas until they can get their dealers to fix them. 

(Plaintiffs' lawyers smile like Cheshire Cats when they hear something like this -- and it's even better when there's video of the head of the Department of Transportation telling this to Congress.  Oh, the glee....)

But wait.  Wait. 

Now, I learn there's also some big problem with the BRAKES made by Toyota.  Apparently, the brakes in the 2010 Prius hybrid are malfunctioning, too.  Ye Gads. 

Brakes, gas pedals ... there's gotta be a lot of jokes in all this.  And so, so many lawsuits ....
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One Smart Fox

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Cuba Gooding, Jr. to play Tiger Woods in a Movie? Cuba, say it isn't so....

It's being reported that Cuba Gooding, Jr. is being cast as Tiger Woods in a new movie that will focus on the continuing Tiger Woods scandal.  This news is showing up on Gooding's IMDB profile as almost a done deal.

Wo Nellie. 

My first thought -- which is a bigger fall from grace, Tiger Woods for obvious reasons or Cuba Gooding, Jr. (an actor whose talents I admire) even being MENTIONED to star in this opportunistic crud? 

You remember Cuba Gooding, Jr. -- he's the guy who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Jerry McGuire, playing the character with the catch phrase "show me the money" ....

Show me the money, indeed. 
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It's Complicated - Legally Related Movie Review No. 1

It's Complicated not only has a main character who is a lawyer (Alec Baldwin's role), it deals with lots of stuff that family lawyers will appreciate.  Divorce, the kids after the divorce, adulterous liasons, ... you get the idea.  You never know what kind of law that Baldwin's character practices, but he's gotta be a trial lawyer.     

Family lawyers will probably think this film is a hoot in ways that others won't. Here's what I thought (my background isn't family law) .... 

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Melinda Duckett Family Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Nancy Grace and CNN -- It May Be a Dog that Will Hunt

Here in Texas, and I suppose most of the South, lawyers will talk about a weak argument as being a "dog that won't hunt."  And there was a time after the 2006 filing of a wrongful death action against CNN and Nancy Grace by the family of Melinda Duckett where that was exactly what I was thinking:  it's a dog that won't hunt.  Things may have changed ....

Backstory - What's the Basis for the Lawsuit?

On September 7, 2006, Nancy Grace interviewed Melinda Duckett over the telephone as part of her continuing television coverage of the search for Melinda Duckett's missing child, 2 year old Trenton.  (A transcript of the interview, as it was aired on September 8, 2006, by CNN is still available online.) 

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Must See Video: Dogs Greeting Soldier Coming Home From 14 Mths in Iraq

I'm late in the game here, lots of folks have been sharing this video for awhile. I found it on Mental Floss, and I discover that Andrew Sullivan posted in a year ago.

Still, how can NOT I share it here, in case you haven't seen this?

God bless our soldiers and God bless dogs.

I love this video.
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I Rank Within Top 3 in Google Search Results for My Blog Posts and the Search Results are in the Millions

Yesterday, I went roaming thru my blog post stats and found some very nice results. Like I'm hitting with posts in the top 3 out of millions in Google search results, and with posts that have staying power (they're old and still hitting hit.) So, please forgive my intrusion into the usual theme of this blog, but I'm republishing my post from yesterday on my Writer-Lawyer blog here (and on Everyday Simplicity and Rebecca Kennedy, too) as an experiment - to see what happens, stat-wise ....

This afternoon, I stopped to check the stats for my personal blogs and found some nice results. I do this a lot, but today I actually stopped to make a little tally.

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Monday, August 17 - Prepare for Delays Getting into the Courthouse: the Keller Impeachment Starts at 9:30 am

Tomorrow morning, the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will start at 9:30 am in the courtroom of Judge David Berchelmann.

A friend just sent over a "tweet" -- there are protesters planning on demonstrating on the courthouse steps tomorrow morning (they are estimating their numbers at 1900) ... and of course, we should all assume there will be the usual news crews and media trucks.

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Byrd and Melanie Billings Murder in Florida: When Do the Florida Sunshine Laws Kick In? How Does Billings Case Impact the Casey Anthony Defense?

A Florida Grand Jury has just indicted the seven men whose mugshots we've already come to recognize as the "Ninja Warriors" arrested for the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings. Each of the men -- including the minor, Rakeem Chavez Florence (16) -- have been formally charged with two counts of first degree murder and one count of home-invasion robbery. With this, the death penalty is apparently still on the table.

(The other defendants are Wayne Thomas Coldiron (41); Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. (35); Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr. (56); Donald Ray Stallworth (28); Gary Lamont Sumner (30); Fredrick Lee Thornton (19).) It's alleged that the younger Gonzalez was the sole shooter in the case.

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Byrd and Melanie Billings Murder in Florida: My First Impressions

Those of you reading regularly know that I practice in the local Children's Court, so I was especially interested in the first few new stories on the murder of a couple who had adopted so many special needs kids. Byrd and Melanie Billings -- didn't they look nice in that big family photo?

1. They adopted, not just fostered. They weren't getting those monthly foster care checks, assuming that Florida runs like Texas. Nope. They adopted those kids as their own. Maybe they get some financial support (over and above Medicaid) because the kids are special needs. But they're not being paid by the state to care for them in the same way that they would be as foster parents. Big points in my book.

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Ed Freeman Is a Name I Want To Know

A friend sent this to me by email just now, and I thought it would be a good idea to post it on the web.

While Ed Freeman died last August, not in the same time frame as the Michael Jackson media frenzy (which is what I thought at first, upon reading the email), I still like the idea of stopping a minute to think about Ed Freeman.

It's never a bad thing to ponder courage, and respect a hero. And, yes, it is sad that his passing did not get more media coverage -- something else we can all stop and ponder today for a bit.

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