(United States Third Circuit) - Reversing the pre-discovery dismissal of a wrongful termination claim filed by an in-house patent attorney against their former employer, L'Oreal, alleging that he was terminated for his refusal to violate ethical rules on their behalf because, as the court put it, his allegations were more than skin-deep.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversing a trial court judgment granting writ of mandate and the award of attorney's fees in the case of a real estate salesperson who sued a state agency for publicizing her three misdemeanor convictions because they had no mandatory duty to remove from their website information about a licensee's convictions even if they were eventually dismissed.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversing the dismissal of a claim relating to the alleged conflict of interest in the acquisition of property by the San Lorenzo Valley Water District's acquisition of property where one of the District's directors had partial ownership of the agency facilitating the sale of the property and whose wife was its listing agent because the former owner had standing under the Government Code to bring the action and that the action was not subject to validation statutes because it was a conflict of interest rather than a contracts claim.

(Court of Appeals of New York) - In a personal injury action, arising after plaintiff, a minor child, was exposed to lead at her grandmother's apartment where she was cared for during the day, the Supreme Court's dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where plaintiff child' did not 'reside' at her grandmother's apartment for the purposes of section 27-2013[h][1] of the Administrative Code of the City of NY, which requires landlords to remove lead-based paint in any dwelling in which a child six year of age and under resides.

(United States First Circuit) - In an action stemming from the plaintiffs' purchase of a piece of land and the opposition the defendants mounted to the plaintiffs' plan to develop that property, alleging defendants' conduct violated various constitutional and state law provisos, including 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA), Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 12, section 11, the District Court's grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendants is affirmed where plaintiffs did not give sufficient facts to state plausible-on-their-face claims, ones that gave rise to more than a mere possibility of liability.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversing a trial court judgment granting writ of mandate and the award of attorney's fees in the case of a real estate salesperson who sued a state agency for publicizing her three misdemeanor convictions because they had no mandatory duty to remove from their website information about a licensee's convictions even if they were eventually dismissed.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of a consumer's proposed class action, which alleged that a debt-collection letter violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The letter allegedly stated that important information was on the back of its first page, but the information was on the front of its second page.

Montreal Hip-hop Collective Triple-R Has Signed With Squash Comp And Released Their Debut Album “Red Rum Records”

Ethereal Wave & Neo-Psychedelic World Beat Artist, Simrit, Set To Release Her Seventh Full Length Album, 'When We Return', In Early November 2019

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that a real estate firm could not compel arbitration of a home seller's proposed class action lawsuit. The arbitration clause in his residential listing agreement was unenforceable because there was no proof the broker had initialed it. Affirmed the ruling below.

In order to protect marriage, we should be careful not to denigrate singleness.

*** I wrote this last year on the occasion of my wife's and my 10-year anniversary. It's now our 11-year anniversary, and I thought I would repost it as it's an important topic to revisit. ***

Tomorrow is my 10 year wedding anniversary. 10 years is an important anniversary for any couple, but doubly so for us as just a few years ago, I was terrified that we would not make it this far. But lo and behold, we have arrived at this important milestone, and my wife is still healthy and cancer-free. I love Carol to bits, and am so thankful for every year, really every day, that we spend together.

At this point, you would probably expect me to gush about my wife and our marriage for another thousand words, but I actually want to do something quite different, even the opposite: I want to talk about the value of singleness in the Christian faith. I know it is a strange subject for a happily married man to talk about on the occasion of his anniversary, but perhaps that makes what I have to say all the more relevant, that a happily married man might feel it is vital to make this point.

It seems to me that the evangelical church places marriage on something of a pedestal, describing it in elevated terms, and investing enormous amounts of time and resources into strengthening that institution. I wasn't born in the evangelical movement and so don't know if it was always this way, but I would guess that this was a response to cultural developments of the past few decades, both the rising prevalence of divorce as well as co-habitating couples. These dynamics did legitimately threaten a biblical understanding of marriage, and still do. And so it was only natural that the church would shift its attention to marriage, ...

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Montreal Hip-hop Collective Triple-R Has Signed With Squash Comp And Released Their Debut Album “Red Rum Records”

We understand why unrest is bubbling among those who are unemployed and entrepreneurs who could lose their businesses. But the alternative to stay-at-home orders is allowing the highly contagious new coronavirus to rip through our communities.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board's petition for review was premature in a case where the Federal Trade Commission had charged it with adopting an unlawful policy that restrained trade. Dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

Everyone has started baking bread during the coronavirus outbreak: Your mom, your neighbor, your best friend. Even you.

Everyone has started baking bread during the coronavirus outbreak: Your mom, your neighbor, your best friend. Even you.

Although the deadly coronavirus has wreaked havoc with all aspects of American life, there are people who optimistically believe there can be baseball in 2020, if all major-league teams play in a bubble down in Arizona.

On Saturday, a host of Denver businesses — from clothing stores to hair salons — will open their doors for the first time in nearly two months as Mayor Michael Hancock’s stay-at-home order expires.

On Saturday, a host of Denver businesses — from clothing stores to hair salons — will open their doors for the first time in nearly two months as Mayor Michael Hancock’s stay-at-home order expires.

Real Husbands will have you cheesing mad hard.

Kevin Hart has to handle some dysfunctional relationships.

Bad Lucc and Problem talk about Nick and Kevin's rap game.

Keeping it real has gone wrong.

Kevin does the most to find his funny.

They claim they want to make Hollywood great again.

She said actor Pierce Brosnan prevented her from choking.

He has kept a low profile.

DJ Khaled and John Legend pay tribute to Nipsey Hussle.

Channeling her "American Horror Story" character like...

It just got real.

It just got real.

We’re not necessarily mad at it, either.

Plus, she shares her style obsessions with Vogue.

The stylish singer has officially added model to her resume.

The King was honored for his extensive philanthropic work

DJ Khaled and John Legend pay tribute to Nipsey Hussle.

The former NBA player is a cancer and cannabis activist.

It was a case of mistaken identity.

Family lets fans in on their "woke up like this" mornings.

It’s good to be Jaden Smith.

Just as the Columbus real estate market entered its busiest months, COVID-19 struck. The National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales dropped 20 percent in March. Nationwide, nearly 4 million homeowners have sought mortgage relief and were not paying their mortgage in April.

She passed away just not too long ago, 6-12-13. It was very hard for me to put her down. I had her for 21 years, going on 22 years. I know I feel her presence

Now, before I start this, I want to reassure you all that this is a true story. I'm not making this up. This really happened, and I thank God every night

My 19 year old cat had to be euthanized a couple of days before Christmas. I must admit the guilt was horrible and all I could do is wonder where my dear

This seems to be something of a thing. Our last "Tales From the Quarantine" post focused on how television celebrities had taken to offering people help on Twitter with their virtual home decor in the latest Animal Crossing game. This post also involves Animal Crossing, but in a much more direct way. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are enormous numbers of people who have suddenly found themselves without jobs or regular income. And, so, they've turned to irregular sources of income instead.

Ars Technica has an interesting interview with one of many people who have taken to the internet to indirectly sell Animal Crossing's "bells", the currency of the game.

In the midst of COVID-19, some New Horizons players are turning to World of Warcraft-style gold farming methods to make ends meet. In early April, Lexy, a 23-year-old recent college grad, created a Twitter account offering up bells (Animal Crossing’s in-game currency) for real-world cash (she requested we refer to her by a nickname to avoid potential reprisal from Nintendo). “I got laid off due to COVID so I'm farming bells in ACNH,” she wrote. “I really need to make rent this month so I'm selling 2 mil bells per $5, please message me if interested, I'll give you a discount the more you buy.”

Before setting up this unorthodox income stream, Lexy had been working at a supermarket while developing her animation portfolio. She began exploring the idea of turning bells into cash after showing friends just how much in-game income she’d been making. “One of them asked to legitimately buy some for me,” she recalled in a Twitter interview. “I did some research and found some people selling bells on sites such as eBay, but for pretty ridiculous prices.” (Current prices on eBay seem more competitive, with some sellers offering rare gold tools and gold nuggets to sweeten the deal).

The threat from Nintendo is probably real. After all, unlike some other games where people do this sort of thing, Nintendo's game doesn't include any method for selling in-game resources for real currency. Nintendo is also notoriously prudish about things like this. And, finally, to make an effective go at this sort of thing, it takes some manipulation of the console in a way that is somewhat controversial with gamers generally.

Understandably, Lexy adjusts the clock on her Nintendo Switch to speed up the game’s slow, “natural” money-making cycle of harvesting daily fruit, digging up bells from the ground, and planting a daily “money tree” that can yield big profits. This kind of in-game “time traveling” is controversial practice among casual Animal Crossing players, but it's a practical necessity to maximize real-world bell-farming profits.

As for how much money people like Lexy are bringing in, it's in the four figures, but she wasn't any more specific than that. Payments are made through digital apps like PayPal, after which she visits the game islands of others and deposits the bells.

That all of this is going on during a global pandemic that has some folks farming bells to make ends meet and others with apparently enough disposable income to be buyers is all, of course, deeply strange. But it's also just yet another way technology is having an impact on our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have recently been several proposals for pseudonymous contact tracing, including from Apple and Google. To both cryptographers and privacy advocates, this might seem the obvious way to protect public health and privacy at the same time. Meanwhile other cryptographers have been pointing out some of the flaws. There are also real systems being built … Continue reading Contact Tracing in the Real World →