Image

Archive for General Blog Discussion – Page 2

A Movie… Predicting Technology?

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Sunday, March 11th, 2018

It’s Monday… is it time to refuel?

IMG_0010

I know… I am being crazy. I didn’t want to seem mean with that picture. I really can relate! In the past, I can remember “rewarding” myself with cake. (and maybe cheesecake too) And how can you be angry at cake?

Now… on to some smart stuff:

IMG_2194

OK, some real smart stuff.

Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is turning 50 years-old next month. (Wikipedia) It was the highest grossing movie of 1968. In 1991, it was described as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry

But how did the writer/director (Kubrick) and writer (Arthur C. Clarke) see into the future of technology and predict the iPad and flat screen televisions?

In the movie, there are flat screened tablet computers. Of course, this was long before there was any talk of flat-screened televisions. It did not make the final cut of the movie, but the original plan was to even include a touch screen. Here is a shot from the movie:

IMG_2196

These “tablet computers” were called “Newspads“. They looked portable in the movie, even though they were welded into the tables for special effect purposes.

So how did they do it? Kubrick and Clarke met with an MIT cognitive scientist, who was also an artificial intelligence pioneer. The artificial intelligence computer in the movie is named “HAL” which stood for “Heuristic Algorithmic”. That meeting, coupled with their own thoughts is part of the history of how they did it.

The Wikipedia attachment does more justice to the production and legacy of the movie. In fact, I was going to compare some of this technology to Facebook. Then, I read about how this movie was included in a recent lawsuit. (Wall Street Journal article that requires subscription, so not attached)

It is probably not surprising that the lawsuit involves Apple. The first iPad was released in 2010. Samsung released a sim­i­lar de­vice about a year later. Then, Apple sued Samsung for patent infringement.

Samsung’s defense to the lawsuit alleged that Apple did not invent the iPad. The proof was that the device was already in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Right in the pleadings! You did not invent what was shown in 1968.

Sam­sung’s movie defense included photos attached to their answer, as well as YouTube links from the film.  The judge ul­ti­mately ruled that the photos and links were in­ad­mis­si­ble as ev­i­dence. But, this just added to the mystique of the movie and Kubrick’s vision of the future of technology.

I have always been fascinated with Steve Job’s determination about that lawsuit:

I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this.” —Steve Jobs to Walter Isaacson, March 2010.

Here is more information on what happened in the lawsuit. (here) How about that?

And for pic o’ day, I searched for a “smart picture and we ended up with… more smart pups:

IMG_2193

 

 

 

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, General Law, Science, The Human Spirit, Web/Tech
Tags : , , , , , ,

Just Some Random Positivity

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Tuesday, March 6th, 2018

IMG_2017

I have this picture on my iPad and I regularly look at it. I love this little girl’s positivity and I also feel positive when I look at the kindness and the power of encouragement of these window washers.

I am a believer in the concept that if you replace negative thinking with positive thinking…positive things will happen.

I saw a book review on the following title:

HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE YOU MAKE

Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old 

It was written by John Leland. I just thought that it has some good positive reminders on happiness in life, based on looking back at life. Here’s what he says, “Live in the present. Focus on the good things. Find your purpose. Love unconditionally. Accept adversity. Feel gratitude. He says to acknowledge that “problems were only problems if you thought about them that way. Otherwise they were life — and yours for the living.”

At the end of his life, Mark Twain said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened“.

Every now and then someone will ask me for some advice on life. I have thought about that a lot. If I could travel back in time to talk about life with young Joel Bieber… I would tell him that it’s all going to work out, and don’t worry so much about it.

I wanted to close the blog today with something positive… but not heavy. Then I saw this again and I laughed:

IMG_2127

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, The Human Spirit
Tags : , , ,

When To Settle!

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Tuesday, February 27th, 2018

I missed blogging yesterday. So, let’s start with some food thought… move to the legal part of the blog (which you are probably thinking  is highly unusual) … and on to some “exercise”. A real plan!!!

IMG_2099

 

It takes two to tango is a phrase from a 1952 song that has become synonymous with cooperation. President Ronald Reagan used it when discussing Russian and American relations during a 1982 presidential press conference. I have heard it applied to the negotiations during lawsuits.

If one party does not want to settle, it makes it nearly impossible to resolve a case. When a client asks me early in the case whether I think their case will settle, I sometimes mention the Two to Tango analogy. However, the “want to settle” may get influenced, if the assigned judge in the case tells the parties that “you better get this settled“.

I have seen corporations like Walmart and Food Lion take the corporate approach that “you can file suit against us, but be prepared to go to court because we don’t settle cases“. Ultimately, their yearly financial data will tell them if that policy makes financial sense in handling lawsuits. And that can lead to a change in corporate policy.

There are some lawyers that will not take cases against corporations with a no settlement policy, They know that they will have to file suit. And that’s what these companies count on in coming up with that claim policy. On the flipside, not settling cases can lead to significant defense costs and large jury verdicts. That is the corporate balance to weigh.

Yesterday, USA Today had a story (here) titled Trump golf club settles suit from former members seeking refunds. President Trump has previously said that he does not like to settle lawsuits and prefers to fight them. But in this case, he has settled with former members at his golf course in Florida.

The original lawsuit had been brought by golfers who previously purchased memberships at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Course, before Trump bought it in 2012. The golfers sued, claiming that he failed to return their previously refundable deposits that ranged from $35,000 to $210,000, after the ownership change.

According to court documents, Trump National Golf Club agreed to pay nearly $5.44 million to the members who were part of a class action. After legal fees, each of the plaintiffs will end up with about 71% of the refunds they sought, according to the ruling.

When I saw this article, it reminded me of a case that I handled long ago against Food Lion. My client had received about $4000 in chiropractic care, as a result of a fall in one of their grocery stores. Because Food Lion’s strategy was to never pay (at that time), we went to trial in Norfolk Federal Court.

Magistrate William Prince (a former defense lawyer before he went on the federal bench) did not think much of my claim, and dismissed it at the end of the two day trial. He did not let the jury return a verdict after sitting for the entire case. As an energetic crazy young lawyer, I was truly ticked off with the dismissal of the case… and appealed to the 4th Circuit.

At the conclusion of the appellate argument, it was clear from the questions of the panel that the justices were going to rule for my client, and all indications seemed to point to a return of the case back to the trial level, solely on the issue of damages.

One of my great memories from of all my years of trial work includes this case. That’s because, on the way out of the appellate court room that day, the defense attorney turned to me and said, “This is one case that Food Lion should have settled long ago“.

Soon thereafter, I received a call from that lawyer that led to a very satisfying settlement for my client. We caused a change in corporate policy… at least for that day!

 

And finally, in the introduction I promised something about exercise. This counts… right?

IMG_2100

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, General Law, Slip, trip and fall, Trip and Fall
Tags : , , , , ,

Removing the Obstacles!

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Sunday, February 25th, 2018

I like to think of Monday as the perfect day to fix last week’s mistakes! Here we are!

At what age do you start to say, “I am getting too old for this”.

IMG_2160

It’s all about attitude. Right?

IMG_2161

So for this Monday, I thought I that would post the obstacle story. I have read it in many positive thinking books. It’s one of those reminders that I keep around. A good one for Our Monday!

There once was a very wealthy and curious king. This king had a huge boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he hid nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road.

The first people to pass by were some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers. Rather than moving it, they simply walked around it. A few loudly blamed the King for not maintaining the roads. Not one of them tried to move the boulder.

Finally, a peasant came along. His arms were full of vegetables. When he got near the boulder, rather than simply walking around it as the others had, the peasant put down his load and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. It took a lot of effort but he finally succeeded.

The peasant gathered up his load and was ready to go on his way when he saw a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The peasant opened the purse. The purse was stuffed full of gold coins and a note from the king. The king’s note said the purse’s gold was a reward for moving the boulder from the road.

The king showed the peasant what many of us never understand: every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

Removing our obstacles! It’s going to be a great Monday!!!!

 

And finally, these “facts” made me laugh:

IMG_2164

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, Sports, The Human Spirit
Tags : , , ,

Just Friday Ramblings

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Friday, February 23rd, 2018

E7815F00-4251-4ABC-AF54-B76AE07BD855

Because I am on the move this morning, I am typing Our Blog on the iPad. The office outfitted me with a cover that includes a keyboard, but I still worry about the fat finger typing and spacing. Fears that wording might end up like this:

FE0CECA8-A64D-421C-AD2B-D5656565100C

I was in a seminar yesterday, on topics about IEPs and 504 Plans. “What?”  Exactly! I could blog a little on that…but it’s Friday and much more fun to post random.  Right?

How about an insurance mention?

7F9A291A-AB2C-4D80-9158-8F5CCEE4DB64

Today in 1945, the U.S. flag was raised on Iwo Jima. The famous picture was picked by Time Magazine as one of the most influential photographs of all time.

3425E2AD-8C71-4760-AC06-0BB15DCF9880

The story (here) described at History.com gives some insight on the controversy behind the photograph that has also been the subject of movies. It all revolved around “who was first” and why was this photograph taken of the second Flag raised?

It has been a great week!

0485452F-5A54-4BDD-A47C-6CF9A09D6620

I hope you have a weekend that makes you smile!

B25E8DF3-7EF8-4B9F-8A80-C9A9E7B96CAF

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, General Law, Insurance Law, Misc., Sports, The Human Spirit

Advice From Past and Present

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Tuesday, February 20th, 2018

I expect to get an immediate reaction from you! From 1950. “Tips to Look after your husband“.

IMG_2094

 

 

 

I knew that you would have an emotional reaction! Remember, this is what some were thinking in 1950. I don’t expect that these wives really felt like they were “living”.

It’s all about advice. I say that because I keep getting emails that give me all kinds of advice on shopping, “lawyering” and financial ideas. Plus, there are emails trying to get me all riled up politically. And I haven’t even mentioned Facebook posts.

I guess it all comes down to knowing who you should listen to. Like maybe Lincoln should have gotten this advice from an elementary school kid:

IMG_2130

Now that would have been good advice!

Or maybe even good cooking advice!

IMG_2107

This is on my mind, because it is about this time of year, that we decide on what seminars lawyers from the firm should attend for the year. There are all kinds of ways “to do it better”. I just think that you have to stop and really think whether these “experts” have the right way of doing things.

Think about it. In life, who should we listen to?  Don’t you think that sometimes common sense just rules the day. You know what is the right. It’s that inner voice. That’s the advice that we should listen and apply!  And just as the ending of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” ends with…and that has made all the difference!

And for pic o’ day, this picture just strikes a familiar chord with me:

IMG_2133

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, General Law, Legislation and Politics, Political, Science, The Human Spirit, Web/Tech
Tags : , , ,

Positivity Over Negativity. (Plus Barney Fife!)

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Monday, February 19th, 2018

In the world of strange facts, dolphins sleep with one eye open. That doesn’t seem like good rest! Maybe there are just some things that are not meant to be seen!

IMG_1621

This is really a blog about negativity… and then positivity.

IMG_0348

I read over the weekend that Lindsay Vonn had announced that she would not be attending the White House as a winning Olympic athlete. Then, in her first event, she failed to medal in the downhill Super G and dropped to sixth in the standings. (ESPN)  That’s when an avalanche of negativity hit her online.

Because of her previous political statement, she received tons of hate tweets. (USA Today) Such tweets as “You got what you deserved”, and “One loss down and only two more to go”. 

One USA teammate was sickened by the negativity directed at Vonn. She tweeted,  “It’s gross. I have been mistakenly getting her hate mail for weeks!”

A lot of times when I read a news article online, I find myself scrolling to the bottom of the article to read the comments. Even on tragic stories, you can find some of the meanest comments attached to the article. Sometimes it involves an attempt at bad humor, and other times just a remark about how the person deserved it.

Several years ago, one of my friends lost his mother in a car accident. There was a news article in the local paper that even included a picture of the her car that was in the crash. The story reported how she had been killed on impact. I was so saddened by the story and my friend’s loss. But sure enough, at the bottom of the article there were negative comments that included one that basically said, “She got what she deserved. Old people shouldn’t be driving anyway“.

The Vonn story is a reminder that there are people who think that their disagreement means that there is license to be mean. You can’t change the anger in society. You can only control your own thinking and how you treat others. Just typing that makes me feel like I need to post something right now, just to make me smile.

PIMG_2136

I read that Vonn story while drinking coffee on Sunday morning. Then, during the Sunday morning church service, the minister included Psalms 103 in his message, and remarked that he thought that it was the most positive passage in the Bible. (Here)

 

The Psalm includes such verses as  “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” and “Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul“.  Reading it made me feel positive. Being grounded in what is important and not to be influenced by the negativity of others. And then… I felt so positive!

Sure, some days it can feel like this… Right?

IMG_2126

But other days it’s really the positive!

 

IMG_2128

Comments (0)
Categories : Auto Accidents, Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, Sports, The Human Spirit, Web/Tech
Tags : , , , , , , ,

Just Some Meaningful? Or Just Breakfast Full!

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Thursday, February 15th, 2018

I feel bad that I didn’t titled  yesterday’s blog “Spaghetti”. Life’s regrets! Just sayin’.

So here we are again on a Friday. Seriously? What is going on?

 

Let’s get it started!

IMG_2106

 

For Our Blog, it’s always good to remind ourselves that we can be anything that we want to be!

IMG_2109

And this falls within “legal humor”. Right?

IMG_2110

 

And finally… is this what they call high brow humor? I hope you have a great weekend!

IMG_2111

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, Misc., The Human Spirit

A Meeting… Plus School Pictures

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Tuesday, February 13th, 2018

I have made a personal observation about Our blog. Usually I get to Wednesday and I find myself a little behind, a little bit scrambling and then I find myself posting pictures quickly for Our Blog. And here we are on Wednesday.

I thought I would post a couple today that just made me laugh. One I saw on Instagram, and another on Facebook. By the way, I always appreciate pictures for the blog, if you want to send one to me at Joel@JoelBieber.com. (Yes…shameless picture begging!) I promise to give credit for the laughs!

What do you think of these? First, meetings make me laugh anyway. Right?

IMG_2087

 

 

 

And last, school pictures are classics anyway and this teacher took it to a new level!

IMG_2084

It’s going to be a great Wednesday… I feel it! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, Misc., The Human Spirit, Web/Tech
Tags : , , ,

Science-Prophecy-Technology?

By Joel Bieber · Comments (0)
Monday, February 12th, 2018

First, and unrelated to the blog, I know that you are wondering what I think of the Michelle Obama portrait that was unveiled yesterday at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

IMG_2092

Well, I think that Ben Shapiro might have captured my thoughts with his tweet.

IMG_2090

But I digress!

If you look at the title of the blog… it must be getting crazy! Although,  this blog mixes a little bit of conspiracy theory with a little bit of Science/technology?

IMG_1612

In Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift described the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. He gave their size and speeds of rotation. This was more than a hundred years before either moon was discovered! Was he “simply” a Martian? Did he just randomly guess it. Was it because he called the Psychic Network. Or is this the explanation? (Here) (Here’s a hint, maybe someone had written about moons in the 1600’s and it was just a random writing)

In Wall Street, Gordon Gecko said that “the most valuable commodity I know is information“. So here’s an article from USA Today titled “You are being tracked. Deal with it“. It is worth reading in it’s entirety, but I will give you a sampling . It’s why you might be talking about buying something from Best Buy... and then an ad pops up on your iPad with a Best Buy discount. Is your iPad really that wicked smart?

As the article indicates, your mobile phone already tracks every move you make, thanks to GPS and the location tracking feature on most apps. When you surf online on your computer, Google, Amazon, Facebook and others know which websites you went to, how long you spent there, what you clicked on, with whom you interacted with, which stores you spent money with and more.

The article goes on to discuss TV snooping that obviously includes tracking what you are watching and storing. Plus, your TV can probably hear your conversations. Just an interesting “throw-in”. I encourage you to read this reporter’s take on technology and how it affects us. What do you think is out there next?

And for pic o’ day… more information might not always be good?

IMG_2023

Comments (0)
Categories : Current Affairs, General Blog Discussion, Misc., Science, Web/Tech
Tags : , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »

Do I Have a Case?