Giving whole new meaning to the phrase “you be the judge”, People’s Court Raw invites anyone with a dispute and a video camera to upload their argument, notify the “defendant” by email, and then let the web-surfing masses vote on who’s right.
Boasting that People’s Court Raw “is the ultimate democratic tool”, spokesperson and media personality Harvey Levin (no relation) urges visitors to “let the world finally prove you right…” with this “ultimate argument ender”.
As of this posting, cases include a dispute over a boyfriend’s back hair; a workplace quarrel about a co-worker who belches; and a domestic spat that results when a husband can’t get to sleep because his wife snores.
Hat tip to Colin Rule.
We mediators play midwife to decision making. We patiently assist in an arduous and sometimes painful process while parties labor, struggling to make the right choices in difficult circumstances. We strive to ensure that those who weigh those choices are able to reach rational decisions based on accurate and complete information.
But just how rational are the decisions that people make, whether at the mediation table or anywhere else? How much control do any of us really exert over those choices?
A new book has some surprising answers and explains why it is that we are more susceptible than we realize to the vagaries of our own minds and vulnerable to the forces of emotions and social norms. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, written by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a visiting professor at Duke University.
As much fun as the book (and of course more interactive) is the Predictably Irrational web site. Don’t miss the Demonstrations page with cool optical illusions and games you can test yourself with.
Recently I compared Blawg Review, the weekly review of the best in legal blogging, with a box of chocolates. You never know what you’ll reach into the box and pull out, particularly since each week a different blogger plays host, sampling many different posts across a wide range of topics.
Blawg Review #156, hosted by Benjamin Duranske at Virtually Blind, covers virtually everything you could want to know about virtual worlds and the brave new world of virtual law, and includes a short discussion on ADR in virtual worlds to resolve the disputes that inevitably arise wherever there is human interaction.
Meanwhile, Michael Fitzgibbon, a Toronto-based attorney, honors the Canadian National Day of Mourning at Blawg Review #157 at Thoughts from a Management Lawyer. It is a day established in memory of workers killed or injured in the workplace and in renewal of the pledge to make the workplace safe.
Test your ability to 
