Once in a while I've toyed with the idea of studying law. However, I've always decided it's a bad thing, even for someone evil like I am. However, a write up of teaching Jewish law has me wondering if that would be a fun profession. Of course I'd need to convert to Judaism.

On two not-very-related notes, Anna Nicole Smith suddenly collapsed and died. Since her son also collapsed and died, I have to admit part of me is expecting a real-life Diagnosis Murder episode. Most of what I know about Smith involved her various lawsuits, one that actually made it to the Supreme Court (whether she legally qualifies as her billionaire husband's heiress). Since Smith just had a little baby who will inheirit whatever Smith legally inheirited, that lawsuit will continue.

One thing that I find intriguing about attorneys is the project management side of their work. However, law offices are run more like lawsuit factories now (well-paying factories, though). So the lawyers are probably happy that the newest heiress is only a few months old. It's hard to get a jury to believe an infant is really a gold-digger.

The other not-very-related story is copyright. Last night I heard a local radio show that consisted of callers venting on how they feel morally justified in using peer-to-peer networks to get all their music and movies without paying for it. I don't believe I have a right to copyrighted matieral, partly because I hope other people won't ever have a right to my copyrighted material. If I don't want to buy a whole album "because I only want, like, one song on that album," I pay iTunes (or Wal Mart, or several other companies) a buck for that one song.

On the other hand, copyright used to be an industrial law. That is, the copyright message for a book isn't meant for the book's readers; it's meant for competing book publishers ("don't you dare try to publish your own version of this book"). Likewise for music albums, computer programs, pictures and movies. But, over time, the readers, listeners, and users have become their own publishers (web sites), musical engineers (remixing songs), and whatnot. I think it's time to rethink some fundamental policies of copyright. A normal person ought to be able to do whatever he would reasonably expect to be able to do.