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Double Announcement Day
Apple introduces the new iMac (coverage fromMacCentral, Reuters, and AP). Six Apart introduces Movable Type 3.1, including the new plugin pack. Wow, it's like Christmas in August or something. UPDATE: If all went well, ai should now be coming to you courtesy of MT 3.1. Whoa there! No need to get so excited! There's plenty for everyone...Posted 07:50 PM | Comments (3) | mac geek meta-blogging
Day One, Year Two
Like a truck slamming into you on the highway. That's how the semester begins. Even on day one, there are reading assignments to do and discuss, and student organizations and extracurriculars are hitting the ground running. Yesterday my classes began at 8:50 a.m. and didn't end until 5:50 p.m. Sure, I had breaks in between, but they were filled with running around to the bookstore, financial aid, registration, and other administrivia. Long day. Packed day, a day when suddenly every moment of my time for the next three months seemed to fill up to overflowing. And of course it's not like that; it's never as hard as it seems to be, but on day one, sitting in class again for the first time in months, it can be a little discouraging to think of all the reading that lays ahead of you, all the classes you must attend, all the hoops you must jump through. Of course, it's also a little exciting, too, because there's a lot to learn, and at least some of it will be fascinating and useful and worthwhile. Yin. Yang. One thing I'm not so sure about though: The conventional wisdom is that the second year of law school is somehow easier than the first year. I'm not sure how that could be true. I mean, yes, it's easier in that you know a little more about what to expect so you don't have to deal with all the newness and uncertainty of your first year, but the workload seems, if anything, greater this year than last. Perhaps that's not true. I guess I'll find out. The schedule for this year includes the following classes, three of which met yesterday. Highlights from the notes:- Evidence: Every attorney and every person should know about the rules of evidence—everything you say or do is evidence of something. "That oughta worry the hell out of ya." (We also watched a few minutes from the film, "Brother's Keeper"—I guess we're going to be talking about it in terms of how we could use the different pieces of evidence raised by the murder investigation it documents.)
- Labor Law: 25 years ago, the stock market was at 1000, now it's at 10,000. Stockholder wealth is up 10 times. 25 years ago CEOs earned 40-1 what average worker earned, now it's 500-1. When American CEOs travel around the world they are embarrassed about this. Meanwhile, employee wages have remained stagnant. 1.3 million more in poverty this year than last. Gap between rich and poor is getting wider b/c people in bottom 20% have no voice. 45 million Americans have no health coverage at all, at least 30 million of those work and either have no health care option or an option that's too expensive so they can't afford it. Every other group in our society is organized because we recognize that we need to be organized to have any political power in America, yet society tells workers they don't need to organize. Why not?
- Corporations: American business is not about business, it's about the stock market. This single-minded focus on Wall Street is a damaging, long-term problem that will ultimately destroy corporate capitalism in America unless something changes, and it's all because of the historical development of the corporations in America. We read Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 (1819)—"the emancipation proclamation for corporations" because it's the decision that made them independent juridical persons.
- ConLaw II: Hasn't met yet.
Posted 07:33 AM | Comments (8) | 2L
The Only Reason You Need
The Republican Convention is underway and it seems the news is all Bush, all the time. I'm too busy to follow any of it in much detail, but yesterday I heard possibly the best reason yet why Bush has no business being president (if I wasn't certain of that already, that is). The reason? He admitted he's begun an endless war. Of course, I agree with those who argue that you can't have a war on an idea, like "terror," and I agree that war is terrorism, so Bush is creating terror by waging his so-called war. So I don't agree that we've ever been "at war" against terror. We've been "at war" in Iraq, but that's been a war of choice, not necessity, and I'm confident it will have an end. It must. So basically I disagree with Bush on about every level of his approach to the world we live in today. However, even if I agreed that we've been "at war" against terror, even if i accepted the Bush administration's claims on these issues, I can't see how anyone could accept or support a leader who plans to keep the United States "at war" forever. Is that what we want—to live our entire lives in "wartime"? is that what we want for future generations? To decide that they will be born into and grow up in a warring nation, a nation perpetually and endlessly "at war"? This is not the only option. It's a bitterly cynical condemnation of America and Americans, and expresses a hopeless vision of the future—President Bush's vision of the future. Is that really what you want to vote for? Is that the future you want? So while the Republicans try to transport you back to the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and play on your fears and emotions stemming from that day, don't forget what happened the next day, and the next, and for several days following 9/11. What happened in those days? The world came together in support of America, and Americans joined together in support of each other, and for a few days it seemed that we we really going to turn our incredible creativity, our massive resources of money and time and human energy toward figuring out why someone would attack us in this way, and toward resolving the problems that create terrorism. For a moment it seemed that instead of lashing out with bombs and bullets, we would bend our nation and all the nations of the world who sympathized so strongly with us in that moment toward creating a better, more peaceful, and secure futurue, a future with less killing and more cooperation and creativity and compassion, a future based on our American idealism and our conviction that peace is not only possible, but that it's better than war and that it always has been and always will be. The Republicans are asking you to think about Sept. 11, 2001, but don't stop there. Think also about that brief moment of hope after the tragedy, that moment when anything was possible, and remember that we don't have to be at war forever just because some regime of cynical warmongers says we do. Bush has made it clear: If you want to be at war forever, vote for him. If you think there's a better way, vote for Kerry. I guess the bright side here is that the choice is very clear. Thanks, President Bush!Posted 06:39 AM | election 2004
RNC No Thanks
The Republican National Convention starts today. Get your posters here, here, or here. And here's a little bit about some of the fine folks responsible for these posters. Meanwhile, this week in NYC there are better things to do than pay attention to the Republicans. Check out the Bike National Convention, for example. Last week you could have checked out Life After Capitalism 2004, but they've left some good resources online for those of us who missed it, including links to Counter Convention.org and RNC Not Welcome in NYC! I'm not sure what the latter group hopes to accomplish by harassing Republican theatre-goers, but, well, not all forms of protest are effective or fully consistent with other long-term goals the protesters might have. For a perhaps more positive outlook check out the Still We Rise march tomorrow (Aug. 30) or the A31 Non-Violent Direct Action the next day. Man, I bet legal observers in NYC are going to be busy this week! Thanks to the National Lawyer's Guild, of course.Posted 07:54 AM | election 2004
And That's Basically That
I was almost forgetting to say the BBQ/Poker Party was a rousing success (at least it seemed so), and to thank all those who came for coming and leaving me with all your liquor and money. Ok, I'm kidding about the money part. We played two tournaments and I got booted ignominiously from the early rounds of the first, but managed to luck my way to the number two spot in the second tournament. I really do play better poker when I just play for fun and don't worry about stakes or winning. There's a lesson in that, I reckon. And so the summer is pretty well over. The list of things I hoped to accomplish this summer is long and daunting, but those things will just have to wait for now. I've been sitting around all day trying to get myself to visit the webpage that lists the reading I'm supposed to have done for tomorrow, but for some reason my web browser just won't go there. I think there's something wrong with my computer, or the internet, maybe. Yeah, I definitely think it's going to be impossible for me to access that homework assignment. Definitely.Gunners Smunners
New-to-me blawger quasi in r.e.m. (not to be confused with Quasi In Rem) may be a gunner. I'm not sure what law school she's attending (it appears to be somewhere in the "bay area"), but wherever she is, her peers are at least lucky she realizes she may be a gunner. The first step to recovery is realizing you have a problem. I'm kidding, of course. I don't care about so-called gunners. We all learn in different ways, and while some people do just try to show off in class and monopolize the professor's attention, often these little tangents are more interesting than what might be happening otherwise, and I don't usually feel cheated by them. Worse than gunners, in my book, are people who come to class unprepared (and I'm definitely guilty of this) so that when the prof calls on them, they take forever to spit out an answer, one that is likely wrong anyway. And worse still are the profs that then basically bring class to a grinding halt to humiliate these unprepared people and highlight their lack of preparation by continuing to ask them questions until they admit they're unprepared. Some profs will even go beyond this, forcing the unprepared student to look up the answers while everyone sits there twiddling their thumbs. What pedagogical goal does serve? Stupid. So gunners, you go. Ask your questions and get what you need out of class; just recognize what you are and try to make sure your colloquy's w/the faculty are interesting or entertaining to someone besides yourself. Thanks.Posted 05:53 PM | law school
Last Saturday before 2L
it's the last Saturday before school starts (for me), and I really wish it would last forever. I purchased books yesterday to the tune of $430 (that's 8 books). This was after picking up and depositing my "auto refund" check, which means I only had to use first order fake money to pay for the books instead of the second order fake money I've been existing on for a few weeks now.
Tangent: All borrowed money is fake money because it's not really yours; you have to find that money again someday to pay off the loan, so you're not really spending money, you're spending promissory notes. So both school loans and credit cards are fake money; however, school loans are first order fake money because you're getting cash directly from a lender. Credit cards are second order fake money because you don't even get cash, you get nothing except the debt, which, if you're like me, you can then pay off with the cash from your loans. It's all very ugly. Fake money is bad, no matter how you slice it.
But, and so, it's the last Saturday before school starts and I'm sure as hell not opening any of those gold-plated books I bought. instead, I want to try to finish reading The DaVinci Code, and we're also busily preparing for a BBQ we're hosting tonight. One benefit of our new apt. is the deck and grill out back—it would be a shame not to use it! So it'll be BBQ'd chicken, burgers, hot dogs, brats, portobellos, gardenburgers, and smart dogs (never say we don't have enough options), plus grilled corn on the cob, a nice fresh pasta salad, and a tangy BLT salad as well. For desert, L. has whipped up something with homemade pudding, cool whip, cappuccino, and oreos. I'm not sure what it is, but I know I'm going to wish there was more. The evening will end w/a no limit Hold 'Em Poker tournament, with a million dollar first prize. (Kidding about the prize part.)
See why I wish this day would last forever?
Posted 05:05 PM | Comments (4) | 2L life generally
1Ls Get Rolling
In addition to the old faves I mentioned the other day who have started school again, many new 1Ls are now beginning classes . . . or, at least, the exotic rituals known as orientation prior to doing so. The Scoplaw has moved in, shopped, and been clipped by a car already. What's a Scoplaw, you ask? Read the Field Guide to the Scoplaw for all you ever wanted to know, and more! Anyway, it sounds like the Scoplaw's socialization and adjustment to law school (at GULC) is going swimmingly. The same goes for In Limine, also at GULC, is also quickly becoming socialized, but not w/out some invaluable introspection as he tries to find his place in the new crowd of school.
From my limited experience I'll say this: Orientation (and its accompanying parties, nights out, etc.) rewards the outgoing social butterflies, the party animals, and the gunners. A surprisingly large number of law students seem to think they have to try to fit into one of the above categories in order to succeed in law school; however, this is not true. Once things settle down there will be much more room for many more types of personalities and approaches to social interaction. There's no need to think you have to compete with the neon kiddies. (This is not intended as advice to the Scoplaw or In Limine; they both sound like they're fine w/who they are and where they're going to fit into things.)
In addition to the 1Ls just getting underway, Half-Cocked has already started his second year. I'm sure others have started, as well, including all 1Ls at GW. Lucky for me, 2Ls don't start until next monday (just four days away!). I'm so not ready, but that's how these things go. I'm currently trying to figure out how drop/add works so I can nail down my schedule and buy books. Then there's getting a locker, making sure my financial aid comes in (must have September rent!), and probably other things I'm forgetting. The next week should be interesting.
Best wishes to all, and to all a good semester!
Posted 11:11 AM | Comments (3) | law school
Swift Boat Vets for Rewriting History
Now that we've learned that the Bush campaign and Swift Boat Vets for "Truth" share the same attorney, what's next in this debacle? Oh, it looks like a Democratic lawyer is working for both the DNC and MoveOn.org. Great. This is all so ridiculous I've been loathe to comment, but for the record: While the Repubs are wrong to try to smear Kerry just as they did McCain in 2000, they're right that Kerry has made too much of his Vietnam service and should focus more on the rest of his record and his concrete and detailed plans for the future. They're also more or less right that the 527s are fighting hard on both sides. Truth Laid Bear notes that, according to OpenSecrets.org, the 527s on the Democratic side have all the marbles. What's to be done about the 527s? How do we allow people to join together to make their voices heard in a way that we can all agree is good for democracy? Conundrum.
On the other side, Kerry is right that this is a smear campaign (Snopes even says Kerry's medals are all legit), and he's right to fight back on it, but he's wrong to focus so exclusively on it. He's got so much more to run on; squabbling about his war medals is making him look petty and is allowing the Repubs to reduce him to nothing more than that. And why isn't Kerry making a bigger deal out of Bush's war medals?
And yet, the controversy rages. The best overall summary I've heard of what is going on with the Swift Boat Vets comes from Kathleen Hall Jameison who spoke last week on NOW:
We know that human memory is fallible. And anybody can go back in their own past and say, there are times when I was so sure this is what happened. And then I talked to other people who were there, and they didn't remember it the same way. I don't think that the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth had any idea who Kerry was when Kerry was on those boats.
He wasn't Senator Kerry or President Kerry, he was just one more person on the boats. I think they went back and recalled their memories of Kerry when he came and protested the war. And I think they were very angry. They came back and thought they heard him accusing them of atrocities. I think this is the explanation for why it is that they believe that he must not have earned his medals even though the evidence would suggest that he did. In order to make their own internal story coherent about Vietnam, they have to somehow reconcile what they heard as an attack on them, what they heard as allegation of atrocities that they had committed, which is different actually I believe from what Kerry said.
But, nonetheless, what I believe they heard and the ads suggest what they heard. They had to reconcile that with Kerry the hero who earned the medals. I believe to make their own story consistent for themselves they believed he couldn't have earned those medals. Hence, he was a liar then. He was a liar when he protested the war. He must be unfit to be President. I think this is an exploration in the process about human memory requires us to create a consistent story, particularly about people we intensely dislike.
As Lisa Rein noted last week, "The Daily Show"d has pointed out that few if any of the Swift Boat Vets actually served "with" Kerry (as in, going on actual missions with him so they could see how he got his injuries and how he performed in the field), so the best what they're saying now can be is second- or third-hand memory distorted by time. In other words, regardless of their ties to the Bush campaign, the Swift Boat Vets aren't very credible.
Kerry was actually on "The Daily Show" last night, and Stewart put things into perspective immediately:
"That's what I understand, too, but I'm trying to find out what happened," Kerry joked.
All this Vietnam talk has reminded me of an "old" Lou Reed song, Xmas in February. I wonder if there will be songs written like this about the troops serving in Iraq. War, what is it good for? Not for people, that's for sure.
And speaking of the "Daily Show," Monday's episode also had a terrific bit w/Rob Corddey about how utterly worthless the mainstream media have been throughout this campaign, but I can't find it online. The point was that the media just give a "he said/she said" near-verbatim report of what the campaigns are saying w/very little (relatively speaking) investigation as to the value or credibility of each side's claims. They report all right, even if what they're reporting is complete crap. Makes you proud to live in a country w/such a free press, doesn't it?
Posted 02:35 PM | election 2004 tv land
Amazingly Ugly Racers
Hey, look! Another episode of the Amazing Race and another example of Americans Behaving Badly. Maybe that should be the name of this show. If you missed it, there's a pretty good recap here, but the show was all about Colin's anger. He and Christie got a head start on everyone at the beginning of the episode, but their cab got a flat tire and the driver had no spare. Colin basically stole the spare from another team's cab, then refused to pay his driver what he'd agreed to pay. After being threatened with jail, Colin finally paid up, then proceeded to continue blaming Christie for making him have to give in to the demands of the cabbie and the police.
So is it just me, or does Colin have an anger problem? I feel very bad for Christie; she didn't deserve any of the blame for the consequences of Colin's tantrum. She was being the reasonable one, while he was being an insane anger bomb. Sad. Of course, what do we know? Editing means everything, doesn't it?
Even before Colin's craziness in the most recent episode, I've noticed that this season everyone seems more stressed and high strung than in past seasons, and also more aggressively "ugly" (as far as how they treat each other and the people they interact with around the world). Is it a coincidence that this season also seems to be drawing the biggest audience the show has ever had?
Posted 10:56 AM | Comments (2) | tv land
Blawgs Go Bye? And Aggregators...
Cruising through the blogroll, subscribing to feeds where I find them and checking on things before school starts next week and I get buried, I've found several sad gaps and one major hole. First, Dylan Goes to Law School has been dormant for some time—since last January. Veritable Cornucopia has been on hiatus since the beginning of May—has the team decided to call it quits?
The good thing about those sites is they're still online, meaning perhaps their authors will return someday, and even if they don't, their archives are still available for reference. But sadly it appears one of my favorite blawgs from last summer and fall— Liable—has completely disappeared—the domain has expired! Liable, if you're out there, we wish you the best and hope everything is going well for you.
In other (rather random) blogroll news:
- Dave's a gunner.
- Beanie has started her last year of school and it's like high school.
- Lawless Gal is having fun with OCI.
- Cinnamon has started 2L—she gets to watch movies in class! (Hey, does anyone know how to make a LiveJournal feed I can subscribe to?)
- Scherezade says: choose your seat with care. She's right, but I've always chosen kind of haphazardly and it's worked out ok. Not necessarily great, but not bad, either.
- Transmogriflaw has recently switched tracks from law student to mother-to-be. The switch is temporary; she plans to return to school after the baby arrives. This means she won't get her J.D. in 2006, but I'll still always think of her as part of my virtual cohort. Best wishes, Transmogriflaw—keep us posted!
Do you use an aggregator? Which one? How do you use it? Why do you use it? I've played with BlogLines, Net News Wire, Shrook, and PulpFiction. None of them really seem to bring all the speed and convenience that others have raved about, so I feel I must be missing something here...
Posted 12:43 PM | Comments (8) | meta-blogging
Bye Bye Spammies
Atlantic City was kee-razy. No sleep, lots of smoke, lots of bells and whistles, and only a leetle money gone. See it all in the past few days of ambivalent images.
What was superfun was to return home after being gone only two days to find over 100 spam comments on the blogs. Hooray for comment spam! Not. Andbutso, life is good now because MT-Blacklist v2.0e has come to the rescue of idiots like me who upgraded to MT 3.0D for no good reason and destroyed our compatibility with the old (and very effective) version of MT-Blacklist.
If you're running MT 3.0D and you have problems with comment spam, get yourself some Blacklist today. If you're waiting to upgrade to MT 3.1 comes out, you're smart because the new and even more improved Blacklist will be built right into that. I wish I was smart, but I know I'm not; that's why I are in law school.
UPDATE: Blacklist reports it blocked more than 60 attempted spam comments overnight. You gotta love that!
Posted 09:33 PM | meta-blogging
Gamblers R Us
It's 3:44 a.m. Do you know where your children are?
We're off to Atlantic City to gamble away all the money we don't have. (It's a late b-day trip for L.) Don't burn the place down while I'm away, ok?
p.s.: For the five of you who click over there each day, ambivalent images is kind of messed up right now. I'll try to fix it when I get back...
Posted 03:56 AM | Comments (1) | life generally
Blawg Explosion
I vaguely recall checking on the "blawg.org" as a URL when I was setting up the Blawg Co-Op. At the time, I believe there was just a lame placeholder page there. Now, however, there's all kinds of activity over there. It appears to be trying to be some kind of blawg portal, which is interesting. It's also where you end up if you go to "blawg.com." It doesn't look like it's a booming hive of posts and links, although it does seem to be updated regularly. Recent posts have included a heads-up about the ACS Blog, a post about the upcoming BloggerCon that Dave Winer is planning, a post about Feedster, a link to the Lynne Stewart Trial Blawg (a fascinating and frightening offshoot of the main site supporting Stewart), and finally, a post linking to four new blawgs (including Foot In Mouth, which I found recently somehow thanks to some advice on applying to law school it offered -- linked, of course, on Blawg Wisdom).
I assume the site is run by the same person making the posts, Bill Gratsch, who may be the same person responsible for the Gov Blog and eGovPad.
Is this another sign that blawgs are becoming a big deal?
Here's another possible sign: In a lecture today on how to write a "note" for a legal journal, a professor at GW suggested we read blogs (or probably blawgs) for topic ideas and to become familiar w/the conversation currently going on about topics in which we're interested. I wonder if this professor has a blawg and I just don't know it....
Whatever the case, I'm glad to see this kind of growing acceptance of blawgs. I fear my little article about them is going to seem quaintly outdated by the time it comes out, but then, a big part of the reason I wrote it in the first place was to give blawgs more exposure and share the benefits of blawging w/more people, and those goals seem to be coming to fruition, article or no.
Posted 03:43 AM | meta-blogging
She's A PD
I just discovered I'm a PD, the blawg of a public defender in "Big City, California." Where has she been all my life? A bit of inside info from the most recent post:
By "the great ones" she means the cases that you could slam dunk, and those almost never go to trial. So true.
But, um, what's "infracted"?
I have to run to school five minutes ago. Yeah, school. Today it's just meetings, but the summer is, for almost all intents and purposes, over. Gulp.
Posted 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | law general
Settling in
And then we were moved. After a solid four days of almost non-stop moving-type activities (packing, throwing away, loading, unloading, unpacking, arranging, rearranging, etc.), our new place is beginning to look a little like a place we'll be able to live. A little. There are still many boxes to unpack, the furniture arrangement is still up in the air, and we're seriously flummoxed with the sorry state of the kitchen. How could we have missed the fact that there's almost no cabinet space and that which does exist is rotting (literally) and falling apart? Yeah, that's right. There are a total of five drawers in our kitchen, all very small. Of the five, two are missing their fronts—they apparently pulled right off. Two of the other three are about to lose their fronts, as well, primarily because the drawers are warped and swollen and barely move on their tracks. Great.
How do you persuade your landlord you need an entirely new kitchen?
Of course, that's not going to happen. Judging by other little details of this place, our landlord—who I must stress seems very very nice and who I like a lot—has kind of skated by, doing the minimum in maintenance for some time. In addition to the tiny, falling apart and otherwise completely substandard kitchen, the bathroom exhaust fan was broken, the walls are scuffed and pocked with holes, and there are about four strange little dead spaces at different points around the place. These dead spaces are little closet-type spaces containing the guts of the apartment—furnace, water heater, electrical panel, random plumbing and wiring, and other machinery I cannot identify. That's fine; every house/building must put these things somewhere. The trouble with this place is that all of these mechanicals have been positioned randomly and w/out any forethought, then they were enclosed in the same manner, thereby creating huge pockets of "dead space"—meaning space that is almost completely unusable, wasted. We're talking maybe close to 20 square feet or more of space that you mostly can't do anything with; you can store boxes or something in part of it, but otherwise, nada. This is a tragedy in an already small apartment.
But enough of the whining. The place is growing on me, and we're going to save $300-400/month (the savings vary b/c we don't pay utilities so I'm counting the variable costs we used to pay in utilities as savings). Plus, I've already replaced the bathroom exhaust fan, so there's one complaint out of the way. The bathroom is the size of a small closet and L. could not cope with the lack of circulation in there; after I'd replaced the fan, I realized she was right. Other big pluses include a cool covered and locked bike storage area in the entryway; access to the back "deck, including gas grill and patio furniture (w/prior approval of the landlords who live upstairs); and a dog park right across the street. No more walking a block and a half just to let the animal get her ya-yas out. (No, a block and a half isn't far, but it gets a little old when you do it 3-4 times/day and/or when you're in a hurry to get to class or work.)
So we're settling in. This is the third time we've moved in the last 15 months, and I'm hoping it will be the last time for about two more years. Moving blows.
I was going to write something about how much U-Haul also blows because they jerk you around w/your reservations and never have the equipment you reserved and their trucks smell bad and are in poor repair, and and.... I was going to write all that, none of which I need to write because if you've used U-Haul you know what I'm talking about already, but I'm holding off on that to see if their "SafeMove" insurance policy will save my buttocks. A big blemish on this recent move was that I sort of, um, got too close to a parked car w/the truck and pulled its passenger-side mirror right off. Oops! The repair bill is going to be upwards of $300, and I just don't have that right now. So now I'm waiting to hear back from U-Haul's insurance company to see if they will cover the claim. Keep your fingers crossed for me, will you?
Posted 11:06 PM | Comments (5) | life generally
Campaign Dashboard
Check out the Campaign Dashboard. I haven't had time to really analyze it, but it looks like a cool tool for tracking a bunch of different aspects of the presidential campaign.
Moving. Fun. Too much stuff. Must move boxes.
Posted 05:44 AM | election 2004
Terrorism = Forum Shopping?
Over drinks last night we were talking about what could make someone decide to give their life to be a suicide bomber or to fly planes into buildings. One of my fellow interns suggested that people who do this may just be "forum shopping." They realize they live in a world where there simply is no justice, so they decide to take their complaints to a higher court, be that the court of Allah or whatever higher power it is they worship.
Needless to say, I think my fellow intern really enjoyed Civ Pro.
Posted 07:11 AM | Comments (2) | general politics
NaNoWriMo News
Speaking of NaNoWriMo (which I was in the last post), this will be my third (or is it fourth?) year as a participant, and from the July update, it looks like this year will be better than ever. First, Chris Baty, the founder of the "event" or "contest" or "insane spectacle" — whatever you want to call it — has published a book:
Sure, it's a shameless ploy to make some money off of all those aspiring novel-writers out there, but I've been getting writing encouragement and advice from Baty for several years and I can tell you this book will probably be worth your pennies.
In addition to the book, NaNoWriMo is partnering with a non-profit group to help build a library somewhere in the world where people don't have access to such a thing:
I don't think NaNoWriMo has ever had much in the way of "proceeds," but now there's a better than ever reason to make sure that changes. I can't wait for November. (But, well, yeah I can. I've got lots to do between now and then!!)
Posted 07:08 AM | life generally
Two Days
My summer internship ends tomorrow, Friday the 13th. Is the date somehow significant?
Strangely, I don't really want this job to end. It would be great if I could continue doing it through school for 10-20 hours/week or something, but I just can't see how that's going to be possible. This fall will be full with EJF, NLG, and ACS obligations and activities, not to mention some journal work, plus class, plus novel-writing through november. Oh, and then there's are all that career research I should probably be doing and all those resumes I should probably send out. Isn't now the time I'm supposed to be getting clerkship applications ready if that's something I want to do?
It's going to be one crazy fall, no doubt about it.
Posted 06:59 AM | Comments (1) | 1L summer 2L
Confidence to Defend
A lesson of this summer: It takes a lot of confidence to be a public defender. Very often, the odds are against you and you're going to lose. Sometimes your client is actually guilty, sometimes your client will have confessed whether he/she was guilty or not, sometimes the evidence will be so stacked against you that your client's guilt or innocence appears irrelevant. And at all times the state has a formidable array of resources amassed against you — primarily the police with their investigative authority thinking they work for the prosecutors, and the prosecutors themselves, who may have significant advantages via the laws of discovery in your jurisdiction, via their cozy relationship with the police and w/certain judges, and just through the supposed moral force of "representing the interests of the state." If you're a defender, these are the main forces against which you must struggle every day. And that struggle is not done quietly in your office, or via briefs and motions you have the time to write at your liesure. Some of your work will be there, but a great part of your work will be going to court every single day, facing the police, the prosecutors, the judges, complaining witnesses -- all of them (except, theoretically, the judge) there for one reason and one reason alone: To tell you you're just plain wrong. There you stand, just you and your client (and if you're lucky, a witness or two willing to testify on behalf of your client), and your job is to convince a judge or jury that regardless of what all these people are saying, your client should not be punished (or, in some cases, should be punished very little).
If you don't have a lot of confidence in yourself, in your knowledge of the law, in your role as a public defender -- if your confidence in any of these weakens or fails, you will be toast.
Posted 06:43 AM | Comments (4) | 1L summer
The Book I Am?
You're Watership Down!
by Richard Adams
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.
[link via Half-Cocked; see also Buzzwords, aka The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.]
Posted 05:54 AM | Comments (5) | life generally meta-blogging
Slow Loading
Reader Survey: Have you noticed ai loads very slowly these days? For me, the right sidebar loads immediately, but the main content (the blog posts) take forever to pop up. Is this true for you, as well?
And if so, do any of you webslingers out there have any tips on how to speed things up? At first I thought maybe it was just a slow mySQL database or something, but then I remembered that MT pages are static—they don't rebuild every time your refresh the page—so that can't be it. What could it be?
Posted 07:35 AM | Comments (8) | meta-blogging
Two Questions:
1) Why is the Bush campaign requiring people to sign "a pledge to endorse President Bush" in order to enter campaign events?
2) Why do our "terror alerts" always seem to come within days of other news that could damage the Bush administration? Is there a pattern here?
UPDATE: See also:
Posted 06:59 AM | Comments (5) | election 2004 general politics
Birthday / Blogday
In the middle of moving (which is what I've been doing today and what I'll be doing next weekend, as well), I almost forgot: Happy Birthday to ambivalent imbroglio, which recorded its first post two years ago today. That would mean August 8th is this blog's birthday, except that it wasn't really "born" so much as created, or started, or some less organic and spontaneous verb. Therefore, I guess August 8th is ai's "blogday." So Happy Blogday, ai! I hope you'll hold my attention and the attention of at least a few readers for many, um, more posts.
And yes, I realize it's completely bizarre to anthropomorphize my blog by addressing birthday/blogday wishes to it. It's an illness, but don't worry, I'm seeking treatment.
When I first began this blog I was still in graduate school working toward a PhD in English, but I had begun to realize (in typically melodramatic fashion) that I probably wouldn't stay there much longer. A year later, I had moved to D.C. and was waiting to start my first year of law school, while also obsessively following the race among the Democratic candidates to be the party's nominee for president. Now we have a Democratic nominee—someone who was at the bottom of my list for most likely or desirable canddiate—and I'm now just weeks away from starting year two of law school. Year one wasn't really that bad, but then, I didn't really expect it would be. Time flies when you're having something approximating fun.
I hope this time next year I'll be looking back at my second year of law school with satisfaction at how much I've learned, and with a much clearer sense of where I'm going with this legal education. It would also be nice to have either, A) some sort of project set up so I can apply for an Equal Justice Fellowship, or B) a clerkship lined up with a federal judge in Michigan, Montana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Washington, or Oregon (not necessarily in that order of preference). I'd also like to have an income next summer, but you know, money is overrated. Let's see... I'd like a new computer and maybe a motorcycle and a new bike and a new president and health insurance for everyone w/out any HMOs. Yeah, that would be nice.
As an ex-girlfriend of mine used to tell me, it's good to want things.
Posted 08:16 PM | meta-blogging
Link Love
Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit and Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy for linking to Blawg Wisdom and recommending it to their readers. Their links pushed the site from 79 page views two days ago to 1218 page views yesterday. Today it's at over 500 and counting fast. Isn't it amazing what a little link can do?
Posted 08:46 AM | Comments (2) | advice meta-blogging
Letter to Mr. Comment Spammer
Dear Mr. Bob@y####o.com,
Thanks for bombarding my site with spam comments in the last few days. Your ability to send 6-8 spam comments per hour to the multiple blogs that compose ai is very impressive. I would be in awe of your abilities, but for the fact that they are so pathetic. For now, deleting your comments and banning the IP addresses from which you send them is quite a little hassle for me. If your goal is to be a pain in my ass, you are succeeding. However, in the spirit of fairness I feel obliged to tell you that when MT 3.1 comes along with its new improved Blacklist, I will crush you.
Have a nice day,
-ambimb
Posted 08:37 AM | Comments (7) | meta-blogging
ACS Blog via Lexblog
A few weeks ago the ACS was seeking applications from law students to act as volunteer editors for a new ACS blog. Well, the ACS blog is now online, staffed by a crew of six law student editors. So far all posts come courtesy of the editor in chief, but I assume that will be changing soon. The site looks good, and considering the amount of support for the ACS nationwide, this blawg is well-positioned to become very popular and influential. I'll be visiting often to see how it grows.
But since it's still just getting started, what's most interesting about the ACS blog at this point is a little logo in the bottom left-hand corner for something called LexBlog. LexBlog apparently "builds blogs for lawyers."
Yeah, that's right. Someone is now in the business of building blogs for lawyers.
LexBlog offers several packages, the most extensive of which take care of every possible detail of building and maintaining a blog, including the writing of content. LexBlog even claims its "lexPremium" plan comes with a "customized plan to establish lawyer or firm as 'go to' resource on topic." And it's all powered by Movable Type.
So law blogging has now taken the next step toward commercialization. On one hand I'm thinking, "why didn't I think of that?" Who needs a J.D. to build and maintain blogs for lawyers? Also, if the culture of law school teaches you anything, it's that you have to pay people to get stuff done. This makes lawyers a rich market of suckers who are pre-programmed to pay exorbitant fees for people to do things for them that they could do for themselves if they gave it half an effort (e.g. BarBri). Mr. LexBlog Kevin O-Keefe might make a mint this way. Nevermind the fact that thus far blogs have been almost completely noncommercial, an anomalous little pocket of the web and the world where there's virtually no profit to be gained or lost, where value is driven and measured by links rather than money. Nevermind how wonderful that is, and how fresh the air is in the blogosphere when it's unpolluted by profit motives. Nevermind that the foundation of the blog as a form is that it allows individuals or small groups to express themselves to a wide audience for free or virtually free, and that it offers very little incentive for manipulation or dishonesty, that the blog as a form has become a phenomenon precisely because of its honesty and freshness and originality and candor. Nevermind all that. I'm sure there's lots of money to be made here.
Don't you look forward to the day when you can pay a fee to become the "go to" resource on a topic? Forget about building credibility and earning the respect of your readers by dint of effort and intelligence and the love of what you do. In the brave new world of for-profit blogging, you'll be able to work as hard as you like to build a popular and reliable online resource, but there will always be someone (i.e. a big corporate law firm) with enough money to pay an army of bloggers-for-hire to make sure its own "blog" is the "go to" resource on your favorite topic. Hooray.
I anticipate comments reminding me that people have been making money from blogging for years now. For example, Radio Userland started charging for its blogging software years ago, and Movable Type recently started charging for its software, and you have to pay for hosting, etc. People have also been running ads on their blogs, trying to make money from them. And I'm sure LexBlog isn't the first blogger-for-hire. I know all that. It's ok. I understand that the complete commercialization of blogging is almost inevitable. I wish LexBlog a bright and prosperous future. Like I said, part of me wishes I'd thought of it first. Still, just because I understand how our world works, that doesn't mean I have to like it.
Ambivalence rules.
Posted 08:20 AM | Comments (6) | general politics law general meta-blogging
Notes for Votes
"Let no medium go unsaturated" seems to be the motto of this year's election season. First it was the web w/the campaign blogs, flash animations, dueling videos, and convention bloggers, and now it's all about the music. First there's the Future Soundtrack of America from the MoveOn PAC featuring 22 big songs for only a $25 donation to the MoveOn PAC. Then there's Rock Against Bush, Volume II, featuring 28 crazy punk rockers for only $6! I hope this kind of thing catches on; I could get used to this.
Posted 07:54 AM | Comments (1) | ai music election 2004
So many things
So much has been happening at work the last few weeks and I just haven't had the time to write about it, but I promise I will do so this weekend. Coming your way: an explanation of the "drinking privilege," notes from a visit to federal court, some comments from Federal Public Defender Ken Troccoli on his work for Zacharias Moussaui, thoughts on a career in criminal defense from Jonathan Shapiro (who has been defending John Mohammed, the D.C. sniper), and the case of Wilbert Lee Evans — an example of just how high the deck of justice can be stacked against criminal defendants.
Meanwhile, I have a half dozen or more new gems in the Blawg Wisdom hopper; if you've passed something my way, don't worry, I'll be posting it soon! Thanks again to everyone for their help with this, and if you write or read advice about law school, please do pass it along.
Voting Rights Volunteer Opportunity
Ed. note: This just in via email:
Friends,
We are compiling a list of attorneys throughout the nation who would like to volunteer to help with the DNC Voting Rights Institute's efforts to ensure that all votes are counted this November. We envision an army of "field attorneys" roving the precincts of the battleground states, ready to advocate on behalf of voters who are turned away or wrongly denied the right to vote. If you are interested in helping with this effort -- either as a field attorney who can travel to a battleground state for Election Day, or by taking calls in our attorney "war room" -- please sign up now!
Also, please pass this message on to any other attorneys who may be interested.
For those of you who are law students, we also are assembling teams of law students as "research strike teams."
Thanks for your time and energy. Even if you can't join us on Election Day, sign up to help the effort! And sign up others too!
Posted 06:56 AM | Comments (1) | ai action alerts election 2004
MT 3.0 Glitch?
I haven't had a chance to upgrade to Movable Type 3.01D, so maybe this is fixed, but I seem to have found some kind of glitch in 3.0. Since 3.0 is not compatible with MT-Blacklist, I've spent at least 5 minutes each day (often more time) banning IPs and deleting spam comments. (I sometimes get 30-40 spam comments/day; other days only two or three.) When I check comments to delete, a little confirmation window pops up, asking if I'm sure I want to delete the comments. I click the delete button, then wait. And wait. Nine times out of ten, the delete times out and returns a "can't find server" error. If I click the delete button again, it always works. I've also found that if I click the delete button once, then immediately cancel loading the page (command-period), then click delete again, it works.
Why does it take two tries to delete comments? Is this just my installation, or is this a bug?
I can't wait for MT 3.1 with built-in Blacklist. I have high hopes it will dramatically reduce the time required to keep a blog spam-free.
Posted 06:17 AM | Comments (1) | meta-blogging
Spatula Serves Up Sweetness
I'm on the verge of being late for work but I wanted to thank Energy Spatula at Will Work for Favorable Dicta for meeting me for lunch yesterday. She is every bit as take-no-prisoners funny in person as she is on her blog, and it was terrific to finally put a face to the hypothetical weapon. At the risk of offending any of my secret readers (those who read but don't tell me so), the short time I spent with Energy Spatula made me realize how great it would be to have more friends like her. The lunch lesson: Life is better with more exuberant candor and less obsession with money, career, grades, etc. In other words: cut the bullshit. That's a lesson I'll keep in mind next time I start catching the freak anxiety disease around finals or whatever. Thanks, ES!
p.s.: Thanks to everyone who has sent me links and suggestions for Blawg Wisdom! The response has been terrific, as you'll all be able to see when I get a free moment to update the site tonight. Until then, keep the wisdom flowing!
Posted 07:38 AM | meta-blogging
Amazing Race Jerky Brothers
Are Russians the most miserable people on the earth? Somehow I doubt that they are. But leave it to the Jerky Brothers, Marshall and Lance from Dallas, TX, to take one look at St. Petersburg and declare Russians both miserable and "angry-looking." The brothers' brilliant theory: The cold makes people unhappy in Russia. My theory: The pollution and heat in Texas makes the Jerky Brothers stupid.
I believe it was someone on L-Cubed who I first saw commenting about what an awful image of Americans the Jerky Boys represent, but I can't find the post right now. Not to worry. I see Professor Yin has already commented on last night's episode and had the same impression. This show will be better when these guys go.
Posted 06:03 AM | Comments (8) | tv land
Wisdom Grows
Shout out to Letters of Marque, Sua Sponte, Screaming Bean, Jeremy Richey, Jeremy Blachman, and Transmogriflaw. Thanks to them, Blawg Wisdom is slowly becoming populated with links to great tips and gems of advice from successful law students around the "blawgosphere." As I read through some of the posts I'm impressed once again with the generosity and breadth of knowledge and experience and opinion displayed by so many blawgers. If I could only go back about two years and know then what I know now thanks to all of you...
But even though that's not possible, that's no reason to keep the benefits of our experience from those who are following in our footsteps. So again, if you have written or read a law school advice post on a blawg somewhere, please drop me an email so I can add a link to that post at Blawg Wisdom.
New: If you don't have a blawg of your own, but would like to pass on any tips or bits of advice to other law students about your law school experience, please send your wisdom to me and I'll make sure it gets posted at Blawg Wisdom.
Finally, here's a little experiment: Can the LazyWeb tell me the best way to automate Blawg Wisdom so that when someone writes a blog post containing advice for law students, that post automatically gets copied (and posted) to Blawg Wisdom?
Posted 10:41 AM | Comments (5) | advice meta-blogging
Private v. Public Defenders
One lesson I've learned this summer as an intern for a public defender is that, if you qualify (which means, if you're poor to penniless), you're likely going to get better representation from a public defender than you'll get from a private defense attorney.
But wait! Before I get pilloried by private defense attorneys, let me qualify that. Different jurisdictions may be different; I only know about the one I'm working in where time and again this summer I've seen private defense attorneys forget things or pass up opportunities that the public defenders would never miss. The public defenders work in the same courts every day, they develop relationships with the prosecutors and learn how to "pitch" cases in order to secure the most favorable plea offers, and they know the everyday criminal procedure inside and out so they can give their clients the benefit of every possible loophole or trick available. Also, because they're in the same courts before the same judges every day, they learn what kind of arguments work best with different judges, how to read the judges' moods to know how far they can push, how to read the subtle signs judges send when they want to hear more on an issue or when they want you to shut up. (Sometimes this can make all the difference; if you talk too long, you may just anger the judge and he'll decide to rule against you just because you annoyed him by talking too much about something he'd already made up his mind about.)
In contrast, private practitioners often just don't seem to know what's going on. They don't understand court procedure, when to speak, when to stand, where to go to file papers, what papers need to be filed or signed or by whom or at what time. Of course, this varies a great deal; a lot of private defenders are simply excellent. Also, some private defenders are much better with certain types of cases in which they specialize, such as capital cases, or rape or other serious offenses.
However, there's one more drawback to private defense attorneys: the profit problem. Since private defenders sometimes bill by the hour, it's to their advantage to drag cases out, while the client just wants the case to end. For example, a private defender might encourage her client to go to trial, even if there's little chance this will help the client. Public defenders have the same incentive as their clients—both want to get the case over and done with as soon as possible. The client wants this because no one likes the uncertainty of unsettled criminal charges against them. The defender wants this because he/she is busy and needs to make time for the next case.
I'm told that many private defenders charge a flat fee according to the type of crime a client is charged with; in such a case, the private defender has the same incentive to end the case quickly as the client does. That's a good thing.
On the other side of the coin, private defenders can potentially make a lot more money than their public counterparts. However, at least in the jurisdiction I've been working in, you don't always get what you pay for; in this jurisdiction, the cheaper defense is the best defense. That's the kind of economy I can love.
Posted 10:14 AM | Comments (4) | 1L summer
WIR #7-8: That switch in your head
I'm way behind in my Week In Review series, which I hoped would be a weekly summary of the highlights of my experience as an intern for a local public defender's office. Somehow, just after week 7, I dropped the ball, and now memories of those weeks are hazy.
I do recall that I got to speak with a couple of clients who are mentally ill, which isn't that unusual since many of our clients are arguably mentally ill to one degree or another. My experience has been that these clients require a lot of patience, and to a large extent they just want to be listened to and to get some affirmation for what they're thinking and going through. I went to jail and talked to one client who's now serving the last three months of a year-long sentence and he was very distraught that he'd been forgotten, that no one outside the jail cared about him or even knew where he was, and that maybe he'd never get out because did they even know why he was in there, anyway? It was a little strange, actually, because I and two attorneys had to do some research to figure out exactly why he was there, and for a little while we thought he had, indeed, been forgotten—it looked like he'd served his time and we couldn't see any reason he was still in jail. Turns out, we were missing some records, he's supposed to be there, all is as it was supposed to be. And once we figured all of that out, and I explained it to him, he calmed down. We haven't heard from him since (he hasn't called the office to ask for help). Part of helping people as a public defender really is listening, providing reassurance, and just letting them know they're not alone. Sometimes that's the best you can do.
Somewhere around week seven or eight I also got to see videotape of a supposed "confession" one of out clients made to the police. I can't say anything about it, really, except that it was shocking the tactics the police used to get this person to say exactly what they wanted him to say. Truth is irrelevant on this tape; the police had an agenda and they hammered on it until their agenda became the "suspect's" agenda. I wish every law student could see something like this in his/her first year of law school. But I also wish I had some basis for comparison. Is this normal police conduct, or was is this an unusual interrogation? The attorneys in our office can't say for sure since this is among the first taped confession they've received from the cops. The attorneys are more or less outraged about it, as well, so I feel like my shock has some basis.
But watching this video and thinking about it got me to thinking: It's like people have a little switch in their mind. It's something like a fear switch, or a guilty switch, or a trust-in-the-system switch. Whatever variable it's switching, it works like this:
Person A views a video like this and says, "Oh my gosh! That's horrifying! We can't allow the police to treat people that way!"
Person B views the same video and says: "That guy was lying all along. The way he acted in that video shows he was lying when he said he didn't do it. That's awesome police work that they finally got him to admit his crime. Thank goodness we have such great police!"
Some people can switch back and forth in their minds between being Person A and Person B, and this is a valuable skill. I can kind of do it; it's interesting to try to imagine what the prosecutor is going to say about this tape, to guess which little bits he/she will pick on to convince him/herself that the police acted appropriately.
Other people don't even realize they have such a switch in their head; they're permanently programmed one way or the other. Where this programming comes from would be an interesting question to explore, but what matters is where the switch is set in people making policy and law. If Person A (i.e. a public defender) is making policy, defendants might get more of a fair shake. If Person B (hello John Ashcroft) is making policy, kiss your civil rights and liberties goodbye.
Note: We have a huge prison industry in our country; more people per capita are in prison here than in any other country in the world, I think . So how did we end up w/so many people switched to Person B?
Who do you work for?
A question for anyone who has worked in a law firm as a summer associate: How often did you do work (research, writing, document review, whatever) without knowing who, exactly, you were working for?
I ask because I was talking to a friend who's spent the summer at a big firm and she says she generally didn't know who she was working for. She just got assignments to research this or that topic of law based on a general fact pattern. Is this a common experience? I understand you're usually not allowed to tell people outside your firm who you're working for, but do you generally know, even though you can't talk about it?
And if summer associates often don't know who they're working for, is it common for junior associates to also be ignorant of such details? I'm guessing the answer is "no," but can anyone give any confirmation of that?
Posted 05:50 AM | Comments (3) | 1L summer
Collected Wisdom
Law students who blog are constantly offering advice to other law students-to-be. This means there's a wealth of up-to-date information available for those who are interested, but it's not always easy to find. I wonder if we could devise some sort of advice aggregator, some central location to collect all this wisdom (or at least links to it) so that people would know where to go when looking for advice from people who have gone before them.
What do you think? Would it be good to have a blawg about blawgs (that would be a metablawg), specifically focused on advice from law students to law students? It seems like the alternative is what has been happening, which is that law students who blog all just randomly collect the advice we see here and there and hope people just happen to find it. That means we might spend a good amount of time and effort putting down some thoughts that we hope will help someone else in the future, yet that effort is wasted if the people who need it can't find it. Also, I've found numerous times that I read some good advice somewhere, but don't really need to think about that topic until later. Then, when I need the advice, I can't remember where it was. If we had a central repository of links to all the advice we read or write or know about, maybe it would be easier to find the exact information you need, when you need it.
So I propose this:
Blawg Wisdom: Advice about law school from those who are in it.
The idea is to create an advice aggregator. If you write or read a post from a law student, professor, or legal practitioner primarily containing advice about any aspect of law school or job searching while in law school or immediately after, please tell me about it (via email) . Tell me where it is (the URL), and if you can, provide a short summary of what readers will find there. I will post a link to it with your summary (or mine). Eventually, we should end up with a nice collection of advice that will be easily-accessible to all who are interested.
If you are a coding wizard of some sort and could help create a web form to collect advice submissions (so that people don't have to do it via email), that would be terrific.
And if you would like to share in the joy of keeping Blawg Wisdom up-to-date, let me know and I can add you as a poster. If you're part of the BlawgCoop, you'll be automatically set up to post at Blawg Wisdom, as well.
Posted 05:02 PM | Comments (4) | advice law school meta-blogging
