Paul Caron, a beloved professor at the law school at the University of Cincinnati, turns 50 years old today. Like me, Caron is a tax professor; also like me, he's way into the whole internet thing. Here he is on "vacation," working from the front porch of his in-laws' beach place, where the wi-fi reception's better:

In addition to winning prizes for his teaching, and drawing prestigious gigs as a consultant, Caron is an accomplished publisher of information about law in general, and tax law in particular. When not busy authoring a raft of articles and books, he serves as the series editor for a couple of lines of books by other writers -- one telling the stories of historic legal cases and the other teaching advanced courses in tax law. On the internet, he edits several electronic journals; perhaps more importantly, he owns and moderates a blog and an e-mail discussion group where professors and professionals get to compare notes on what's going on in the ever-changing tax system.

Last weekend, posting on his TaxProf Blog about another writer's work, Caron took a personal turn and explained why he blogs: "My goal with this blog and companion email discussion group is to enhance the feeling of community among tax academics, practitioners, and government officials. My hope is that the tax world is a more interconnected place as a result of these efforts."

Without question, it is.

Caron's written some other things recently as well. We blogged about one of them here. He may be a tax nerd, but he is one with a huge heart.

So best wishes to Paul as he celebrates this major odometer turn. Just think -- by the time he hits the next milestone this big, he will be eligible to receive distributions from an entity described by Section 4974(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, without incurring the additional tax specified in Section 72(t) thereof. Have a great day, friend.