Leslie Crystal joined Josh to talk about The Geekie Awards. Leslie works in IP Litigation, has been to San Diego Comic Con, and is also known as the twins Lara & Tara on The Guild. Both discuss the show, Stan Lee singing and their favorite moments from The Geekie Awards. Don’t worry, neither discuss document review or discovery requests.
Stan Lee.
Seth Green.
NASA JPL.
The Geekie Awards was a tour de force of talented professionals who excel at being Geeks.
This was perhaps one of the greatest gatherings ever to recognize the hard work of being a “Geek.”
One for The Geeks
The Geekie Awards was organized by Kristen Nedopak and her very talented team. The awards show was the first of its kind recognizing “geeks.” The event sold out and the show was trending on Twitter above the season finale of True Blood.
There has yet to be a legal conference with that much energy.
I was grateful I ordered my tickets early. We were at Table 2. Right under the podium. Best seats in the house.
Powerhouse Opening
The Geekie Awards opened with Seth Green presenting Stan Lee the Lifetime Achievement Award. This was followed by recognizing NASA JPL for their “Geek Cred” for landing Curiosity on Mars.
Yes, Flight Director “Mohawk Guy” gave a nice speech.
It is tough to imagine who will be honored next year for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Lucas? Spielberg? I do not envy the selection team.
It is a shame Ray Harryhausen is no longer with us. There is a man who inspired generations of Geeks.
The Awards
The Geekie Awards recognized excellence in the following categories:
Art & Craft
Comic Books & Graphic Novels
Crowdfunded Geek
One Shots
Podcasts
Retail Stores & Websites
Short Films
Toys & Games
Web Series
I cannot express how I was in awe of the talent of the nominees.
From the creativity of the short film Undying Love, to the talent in Cosplay Piano, to the unmatched skill of One Carve to Rule Them All, you could respect the dedication all of these winners to have such geek perfection.
Classy Honorees
All of the honorees showed exceptional humility and class to their fellow nominees. I strongly encourage check out all of the amazing work.
We Went Full Geek
The Avalon was transformed into a Geek playground. R2D2 was on the Red Carpet. They had the Bridge of the Enterprise-D. Tons of amazing cosplay.
For the record, yes, I brought my 3rd Doctor sonic screwdriver.
I was greatly impressed with The Geekie Awards. My good friend who accompanied me, also an attorney, described it as extremely fun. She wants to attend next year.
My only suggestion for next year is for registering guests: 1) Have different colored signs for where people should line-up, because colors are easier to organize lines then having to read any text from a distance; and 2) Have registration tables labeled “A-G” and so on to ease the check-in process.
Job well done. I look forward to The Geekie Awards: Year 2.
The selection of Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor is a very good choice. He is clearly different than Matt Smith, while showing all the qualities of the Doctor. After two relatively young Doctors, having a seasoned actor who grew up watching the show should make for excellent storytelling.
I have been a fan of Doctor Who since I was a kid in the 1980s. I would watch on the PBS Station Channel 54 late at night, usually setting the VCR before going to bed. I even went to an event at the station to meet the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy. I also attended TimeCon in 1985 and 1986.
Yes, that is Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor and a much younger version of me. I did sew question marks into my shirt collar.
Why Doctor Who?
Doctor Who is one of the most established science fiction TV shows in history. The only other one with such staying power has been Star Trek.
Why? How has it lasted 50 years?
The show inspires, with clear lines of right and wrong. There is imagination, hope, adventure and the very human element of pain.
The Next Doctor
Peter Capaldi reminds me as a cross of William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee. We will see how exactly Capaldi approaches the role, but there are several things that are established laws of time:
A generation will grow up with Capaldi as their Doctor.
He will do his best with the role.
Fans from the last 50 years will continue to watch with excitement.
I look forward to the upcoming 50th Anniversary Special and Matt Smith’s goodbye in the Christmas Special.
The question remains, while Capaldi will be different than Matt Smith, will he continue the tradition of the First, Second, Third and Eleventh Doctors and wear a bow tie?
Everyone who has had one crazy summer knows the film Better Off Dead. In true 1980s fashion, I re-watched the film on VHS to analyze the fact pattern like it was a bar exam question. I am sure there are people who still have it on Beta and Laserdisc.
The off-beat 1985 cult classic focuses on John Cusack’s character Lane Meyer, whose heartbreak over a girl leads to multiple legal issues. This is ironic, because the fictional father (played by David Ogden Stiers) was an attorney.
Was Lane Meyer a Such a Danger to Himself to Be Involuntarily Confined?
California’s Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150 allows a person to be involuntarily confined if they are a danger to themselves from a mental disorder. The law specifically states:
(a) When any person, as a result of mental disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, a peace officer, member of the attending staff, as defined by regulation, of an evaluation facility designated by the county, or other professional person designated by the county may, upon probable cause, take, or cause to be taken, the person into custody and place him or her in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation.
(b) The facility shall require an application in writing stating the circumstances under which the person’s condition was called to the attention of the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person, and stating that the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person has probable cause to believe that the person is, as a result of mental disorder, a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled. If the probable cause is based on the statement of a person other than the officer, member of the attending staff, or professional person, the person shall be liable in a civil action for intentionally giving a statement which he or she knows to be false.
Cal Wel & Inst Code § 5150
Lane Meyer without a doubt could have been placed under a 72-hour hold in California. Lane showed obsessive behavior toward his girlfriend Beth, which included sleeping with a photo of her, photos of her on all of his clothes hangers and other photos decorated all over his room. Lane sank into a depression after Beth’s break-up line, “Lane, I think it’d be in my best interest if I dated somebody more popular. Better looking. Drives a nicer car,” and took affirmative actions to commit suicide.
And then his drawings started talking to him.
To show probable cause, “a state of facts must be known to the peace officer (or other authorized person) that would lead a person of ordinary care and prudence to believe, or to entertain a strong suspicion, that the person detained is mentally disordered and is a danger to himself or herself or is gravely disabled. In justifying the particular intrusion, the officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant his or her belief or suspicion. [Citations.] Each case must be decided on the facts and circumstances presented to the [detaining person] at the time of the detention [citation], and the [detaining person] is justified in taking into account the past conduct, character, and reputation of the detainee. [Citation.]” Heater v. Southwood Psychiatric Center, 42 Cal. App. 4th 1068, 1080 (Cal. App. 4th Dist. 1996).
All of these factors clearly show a mental disorder and Lane becoming a danger to himself that would demonstrate probable cause to justify a psychiatric hold for evaluation. Moreover, the affirmative acts to commit suicide would be enough to establish probable cause. People v. Triplett (1983, Cal App 1st Dist) 144 Cal App 3d 283.
You Wash Your Hands On Your Own Time
The intent of the California Retail Food Code is for the people of California to have food that is “pure, safe, and unadulterated.” Cal Health & Saf Code § 113705. To be blunt, everyone wants some hand soap to wash their hands before cooking food.
The events at Pig Burger flew in the face of California law with the owner’s comment “Wash your hands on your own time.” The law requires:
(a) Except as specified in subdivision (b), all employees shall thoroughly wash their hands and that portion, if any, of their arms exposed to direct food contact with cleanser and warm water by vigorously rubbing together the surfaces of their lathered hands and arms for at least 10 to 15 seconds and thoroughly rinsing with clean running water followed by drying of cleaned hands and that portion, if any, of their arms exposed. Employees shall pay particular attention to the areas underneath the fingernails and between the fingers. Employees shall wash their hands in all of the following instances:
(1) Immediately before engaging in food preparation, including working with nonprepackaged food, clean equipment and utensils, and unwrapped single-use food containers and utensils.
(2) After touching bare human body parts other than clean hands and clean, exposed portions of arms.
(3) After using the toilet room.
(4) After caring for or handling any animal allowed in a food facility pursuant to this part.
(5) After coughing, sneezing, using a handkerchief or disposable tissue, using tobacco, eating, or drinking.
(6) After handling soiled equipment or utensils.
(7) During food preparation, as often as necessary to remove soil and contamination and to prevent cross-contamination when changing tasks.
(8) When switching between working with raw food and working with ready-to-eat food.
(9) Before donning gloves for working with food.
(10) Before dispensing or serving food or handling clean tableware and serving utensils in the food service area.
(11) After engaging in other activities that contaminate the hands.
(b) If approved and capable of removing the types of soils encountered in the food operations involved, an automatic handwashing facility may be used by food employees to clean their hands.
Cal Health & Saf Code § 113953.3
There is simply no way an employer could tell an employee to wash his hands on their own time and have it be legal.
The Paperboy: Property Damage & Collections
The Paperboy raises several issues: Property Damage; Unlawful Collection; and Gang Violence.
The Paperboy damaged the windows of the Meyers’ garage door repeatedly. This property damage would be unlawful, subjecting the paperboy and newspaper to liability, because the windows were broken repeatedly.
The actions the Paperboy took to collect his “two dollars” raise multiple legal issues. First, the law prohibits harassment. Federal law states that a “debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person…” and also prohibits the use of obscene or profane language to the hearer or reader. 15 United States Code section 1692d(2). Also, California law prohibits collection agency employees from physically threatening or injuring someone. California Civil Code section 1788.10.
The Paperboy chasing Lane Meyer would violate both Federal and state law. Moreover, the multiple paperboys working together to threaten Lane after the high school dance could rise to the level of gang violence under California Penal Code 186.22.
Despite the collection sins of the Paperboy, Roy Stalin was not legally justified in pushing the child off a cliff while skiing K12. That would be attempted murder.
Mail Order Exchange Student
The French exchange student Monique was treated like a mail order bride by her host family. The actions by Ricky’s mother would violate multiple human trafficking laws, since the mother’s intent appeared to be to select a woman for her creepy son.
Sorry Your Mom Blew Up
Mrs. Smith lit a cigarette after drinking the primer that Lane intended to use to kill himself in the Meyer home. Mrs. Smith would be able to prevail on a theory of premise liability if she could prove the Meyers were negligent in failing to use “reasonable care to keep their home reasonably safe” or “give adequate warning of anything that could be reasonably expected to harm others.” 2-10 California Forms of Jury Instruction 1001.
The primer was put on the table, which Mrs. Smith drank. The primer was labeled and Lane knew it to be dangerous, since he was planning to use it to light himself on fire. These facts might be enough to show negligence to establish liability for Mrs. Smith’s injuries.
Illegal Street Racing
The car racing with Lane Meyer and the brothers Yee Sook Ree and Chen Ree would be illegal in California as a “drag race” or “street race.” Those who cause injuries in a street race can be found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon from reckless driving under California of Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1). See, People v. Aznavoleh, 210 Cal. App. 4th 1181, 1189 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 2012).
Lane’s backing into the owner of Pig Burger and landing in the puddle with Monique and Ricky would place him in both civil and criminal jeopardy for his actions. In the second race, Monique stepping on the accelerator would be a mitigating factor.
Delinquency of a Minor
The parents of Badger Meyer were negligent in their son’s development. The child ordered the book “How to Pick Up on Trashy Women,” which he put to use entertaining women in his bedroom, complete with underage drinking.
Between the moral issues of Badger’s childhood, he built a working laser gun and launched a homemade Space Shuttle through the roof of the house. These actions would cause liability to the parents for the child’s actions and a harsh visit from Child Protective Services.
Trespassing & Reckless Driving
There is simply no legal way to drive a car onto the field at Dodger Stadium.
Unless you are making a movie.
Josh Gilliland asks for your vote in the ABA Journal Blawg 100. To vote for The Legal Geeks, please visit
July 20, 1969: A Man walked on the Moon.
Let’s say that again: A man walked on the Moon.
President Kennedy challenged the country to be bold. We answered the challenge, doing what had only been the stuff of dreams since Mankind first looked up at the night sky.
In honor of this significant historic event, let’s celebrate with reviewing the legal issues of sending human beings to the Moon and “Lunar Litigation.”
If I were a NASA Lawyer in the 1960s…
Presidents Kennedy, Johnson & Nixon needed lawyers for many reasons. What would a 1960’s Era NASA lawyer be concerned about?
Government Contracts: Saturn V rockets, Apollo capsules, and Lunar Landers did not build themselves. The entire contract process probably rivaled the complexity of the technical requirements to get to the Moon.
Engineers have the right stuff to design space ships, but the process to order the construction of the ships required help from attorneys.
Assumption of Risk for the Astronauts: Make sure the Astronauts understand the risk they are engaged in doing. That means an employment contract that clearly stated the risks of space flight and going to the Moon. That could include anything from exploding on the launch pad, to being trapped on the Moon, to contracting a “space virus” that could destroy the human race if returned to Earth.
Provided the Original Seven and New Nine all had military or test pilot experience, they understood the that there were risks in flight.
Insurance for the Astronauts: Develop life insurance policies for those traveling from the Earth to the Moon on a rocket that makes slightly less noise than a nuclear bomb going off.
No Keepsakes from NASA: Make sure employees and astronauts understand that hardware developed for the mission belongs to the government.
Former Astronaut Edger Mitchell tried to sell a camera used on his Apollo 14 mission. NASA sued to get it back. United States v. Mitchell, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125844 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 3, 2011).
Eminent Domain & Project Apollo
Trailblazing to the moon has made it necessary for the United States, exercising its power of eminent domain, to acquire large tracts of land here on earth. One such acquisition included 654.43 acres owned by appellant Colton, who received as just compensation for the taking an award fixed by a jury in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The principal issue on this appeal is whether the district court erred, as the appellant contends, in disallowing evidence of enhancement in the land’s value caused by the original establishment of a space facility to which the appellant’s land was later added. We hold that this evidentiary exclusion by the district court was improper and that the judgment must be reversed.
The record before us provides an interesting account of early developments in our nation’s manned lunar landing program, accelerated in May 1961 when President Kennedy called upon Congress and the country to send an American to the moon and back before the end of the decade. The President’s challenge was accepted and, as this opinion goes to the printer, two American astronauts prepare to depart from the moon after successfully landing there and exploring the lunar surface. An initial step in the implementation of this national goal was the selection of a launch site. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, after considering various locations, selected Cape Canaveral, Florida, now Cape Kennedy. On August 24, 1961, the Justice Department, acting upon a request by NASA Administrator James Webb, filed in the district court a complaint in condemnation describing a 72,644-acre tract of land needed for the project.
United States v. 2353.28 Acres of Land, 414 F.2d 965, 966-967 (5th Cir. Fla. 1969).
Long Before eDiscovery Cases
The instant case demonstrates once again the paradoxes within the spectrum of the practical application of the computer sciences. At its best, the computer has enabled NASA to send men on lunar missions zooming 238,857 miles into outer space so that they may land softly on the moon and return safely with pinpoint landings despite reentry speeds of 25,000 miles per hour. For computer science application at its worst, Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare (DPW) could not master the less dramatic task of assuring a proper disbursement of checks to 3,502 deserving recipients in the counties of Allegheny, Dauphin, Delaware and Philadelphia.
Brower v. Wohlgemuth, 371 F. Supp. 863, 864 (E.D. Pa. 1974) [Emphasis Added].
What About Those Moon Rocks?
There have been many cases involving Moon rocks. Here is one that even included dinosaurs:
According to the presentence investigation report (“PSI”), Roberts had participated in a criminal scheme, whereby he and several co-conspirators stole lunar samples and Martian meteorites from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (“NASA’s”) Johnson Space Center in Houston and transported these items in interstate commerce for the purpose of selling them and using the sale proceeds for their own enrichment. During the course of the conspiracy, Roberts and some of his co-conspirators stole a 600-pound safe containing “lunar samples from every Apollo mission that landed on the moon, documentation authenticating the lunar samples, Martian meteorites, and other items from NASA/JSC.” After transporting the lunar samples and meteorites to Florida to sell them to purported buyers, Roberts was arrested by undercover FBI agents who had been posing as the buyers. Additionally, in an unrelated case, Roberts, while working as an intern for the paleontologist department of the Utah Museum of Natural History, had possessed in his residence several items of stolen U.S. property, including dinosaur remains and other vertebrate specimens that belonged to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the National Forest Service, and the National Park Service.
United States v. Roberts, 155 Fed. Appx. 501, 503 (11th Cir. Fla. 2005).
There and Back Again
I look forward for us to return to the Moon and ultimately Mars. I was technically alive for the final Apollo mission with the Soviet Union. I really wish that mission instead had been used to service Skylab, so our first space station would have still been in orbit by the time Space Shuttle Columbia was launched in 1981.
One of my earliest memories was the roll-out for the Space Shuttle Columbia. My father was in charge of installing the tiles.
I saw the last two Space Shuttle launches. I was glad I could take my father back for the grand finale of the shuttle program.
http://youtu.be/pw96k3i5lpw
It is time to leave near Earth orbit and go beyond where we left off in 1972. The Space Program is a very American adventure. It inspires us to learn science, math and more importantly, dream. It creates jobs and improves technology. Without the Space Program of the 1960s, we would not have had the Computer Revolution of the 1970s.
Fundamentally, the Space Program brings us together as a country. It is time to take another step towards the future.
http://youtu.be/ccCWLJkO5IA
I was a history geek long before I was a lawyer. I spent a substantial amount of time at UC Davis studying 19th Century United States History, the diary of John Quincy Adams and the US Civil War.
150 years ago, the very concept of liberty hinged in the month of July in 1863. Here is the breakdown of key events:
July 1-3: Gettysburg
July 4: The Union victory at Vicksburg, lead by Ulysses S Grant
July 11: First Draft in the Union
July 13-16: New York Draft Riots
July 18: The Massachusetts 54th Assault on Fort Wagner
The Civil War
If we were to honor all of the fallen in the Civil War with a monument of names it would be the size of 11 Vietnam Memorials.
The Civil War was caused by eleven states that committed mass treason to nullify a Presidential Election because of their self-proclaimed “right” to own other human beings.
The order of succession was in direct inverse proportion to the population of slaves within the state. With the exception of South Carolina, each state in rebellion had pro-Union troops, making the Civil War a war within each state.
The Civil War had been 80 years in the making since the Constitutional Convention, when slavery was thought to be on the path to extinction. The invention of the cotton gin perpetuated the national sin, leading to multiple crises, from the Compromise of 1820; to the Gag Rule in the 1830s; the 1844 election of James K Polk & the Mexican-American War, which lead to the Compromise of 1850; the Dred Scott opinion in 1857 followed by John Brown & Harper’s Ferry, and finally the war itself after the first shot at Fort Sumter.
For those who argue that the Civil War was about “State’s Rights,” let’s examine the Confederate Constitution. It was nearly identical to the US Constitution, with several key differences:
The President served one six-year term and could not run for re-election;
The President had a line item veto; and
The Confederate Constitution bluntly defended slavery in Section 9(I)(4) with “No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.”
The defense of slavery was driven home with Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens’ “Cornerstone Speech.” Stephens flatly rejected Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal with the haunting statement:
Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.
The only property right at issue in the Civil War was the “right” to own other human beings.
There is nothing more Un-American than such a twisted belief.
And that is why men and women lined up to fight to preserve the U.S. Constitution when eleven states decided they could break the country in two when they could no longer decide the Presidency.
The Hinge of Liberty
The Civil War had not gone well for the North, often due to the lack of audacious generals and bad command decisions. July 1863 was a tipping point.
The three-day battle of Gettysburg had the same number of casualties as the seven years of the Vietnam War. The Union victory at Gettysburg could have ended the war if the Union Army had crushed the retreating Confederate Army. That did not happen. However, the South would never invade a Northern State again.
Vicksburg was another significant loss for the South.
The city would not celebrate the 4th of July again until after World War II.
Vicksburg was one of the key battles that propelled General Grant to the command of the Union Army.
Grant was not afraid to fight and had done the math that the Union outnumbered the South 4 to 1. In a war of attrition, it was only a matter of time before the North would put down the rebellion.
The first Union draft launched the largest race riot in US History in New York City. The New York Herald published the names of everyone who died at Gettysburg, followed by the names of those who had been drafted. Each were several pages long.
The Irish population in New York City exploded in three days of rioting. Up until that point, African-Americans had been racially depicted in political cartoons and lithographs as tool-welding apes. The Irish who rioted went on a killing spree, including lynching people, burning them alive and beating the faces off of police officers. The exact number of dead is not known, because of the bodies that were dumped in the river.
President Lincoln had to send in troops who had been at Gettysburg to put down the rioting with cannon and bayonet.
While New York recovered from a horrific three days, something happened that changed pubic opinion on July 18 in South Carolina.
The Massachusetts 54 was a volunteer regiment of free northern African-Americans, lead by Robert Gould Shaw. The ranks of the 54th included the sons of Fredrick Douglas. Shaw himself was the son of Bostonian abolitionists.
Despite their depiction in the film Glory, the 54th was never deprived uniforms, boots, or supplies. No one deserted. No one was whipped. Moreover, when Shaw learned that his men were to be paid less than white soldiers, it was his idea for them all not to take pay.
Colonel Shaw volunteered the 54th to lead the frontal assault on Ft. Wagner in South Carolina. Those men marched straight into Hell. From sand dunes to an uphill battle under cannon fire, those soldiers faced bullets that would tear off limbs.
The 54th lost over half their numbers. Shaw was one of them. The Confederates broke the practice of returning dead officers after the battle. Shaw was stripped naked and buried with his men in a mass grave.
The Fort was never taken by force until the Confederates abandoned it months later.
The United States did a massive about face after Ft. Wagner. The story and images of a gallant battle replaced the racist lithographs from just a week before.
William Carney of the 54th would ultimately become the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics in carrying the regimental colors.
It is important to remember that in the years leading up to the Civil War many in the North believed that African-Americans should either be returned to Africa or colonized in South America. Those unrealistic ideas vanished after Fort Wagner, because people did not see the men of the 54th as African-Americans, but as fellow Americans.
President Lincoln was able to argue that those willing to fight for their country should be able to vote in it because of the sacrifice of the Massachusetts 54th.
We should all remember the Sesquicentennial of July 1863. Thousands of Americans were killed to preserve freedom in our country.
The key events of the first 18 days of July 1863 have to be analyzed together for their significance. All are connected. The sacrifices of many ultimately would give us the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the country we know today.
