Snippets...

Welcome to the latest edition of Snippets. For new readers, Snippets is our semi-regular attempt at covering a lot of topics from the worlds of law, economics and politics in a little time. Some would call this lazy; economists prefer the term 'efficient.'

- We will kick off this week's edition with the latest proof that we don't live in an over-litigious society after all. Or actually, strike that and reverse it. For the story on the lawyer who sued Michigan State Law for hiring people who weren't him, visit the Wall St. Journal's legal blog here.

- The Wall St. Journal legal blog also posted an interesting story on some of the legal issues surrounding DNA theft. While Blawgconomics has researched and posted stories on familial DNA issues before, this is the first time we have seen anything on DNA theft. For those who don't want to go to the story itself, the lesson is to never get a haircut. Or smoke cigarettes. Or ever leave your house ever again...

- DNA theft is not the only way the advance of technology can be used to screw up your day. For some thoughts on the potential challenges societies could face in the areas of cyberwarfare and spying, visit The Becker-Posner blog here.

- On to some lighter fare. Fans of the NFL will likely be familiar with the arbitrary and difficult to explain quarterback ratings system currently used by the NFL. In an effort to gain more traffic to its already mega-successful website, ESPN has launched an alternative system. Though equally as difficult to explain, at least the new rating system is on a scale of 100, making it easier to remember numbers when trying to casually throw them out during a conversation at the local watering hole. Then again, do we really need another set of numbers to tell us that Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady are really good?



- Staying in the sports arena, Darren Rovell has some strong thoughts on the ironies inherent in college coaches imposing Twitter bans on student-athletes here. Mr. Rovell, as per usual, has some nice points. However it is worth remembering that most student-athletes are not mainly using social media to sharpen marketable job skills...

- Continuing on the lighter side with a topic that hits very close to home for your humble author, Freakonomics has an interesting post up about incentives for attending and skipping classes here. If only all professors were as economically-savvy as the one who ran the class highlighted in the article...

- We have spent some time in recent days, as is appropos for a blog claiming to serve as an intersection of law and economics, on the debt deal and the subsequent downgrade of the debt in question by S&P. For readers interested in some of the fallout stories, President Obama's comments on the downgrade can be found here. Meanwhile, the President of S&P defends the honor (and political neutrality) of his employer here. For a story on the potential steps the Fed could take, visit here. Finally, for a story making the rounds about a mystery investor who allegedly profited handsomely on the downgrade, readers can check out the Daily Mail here.

- Changing gears a bit (sorry), readers can visit Behind the Wheel for a story on the surprising buoyancy of the auto market despite the notable lack of stability in the broader economy.

- Finally, for those who haven't been following international news, a recent police shooting has led to widespread rioting and damage in England to the point where even a soccer game between the home side and the Netherlands has been cancelled. Though of course rioting anywhere is unfortunate, our thoughts especially go out to the hard-working and law-abiding citizens of the island nation today. Many of our site's visitors hail from the UK, so it has been personally difficult to see the physical and economic damage which has occurred there over the past few days. Here's hoping that the situation settles down before more people are injured and more damage is done to the reputation of next year's Summer Olympics hosts.