March 30, 2005
Will Work for Favorable Dicta -- Odds 'N' Ends:
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2005/03/odds-n-ends_28.html
Hey ya, blawgcoop rocks. ;-) And it would be happy to host any of ya'll (y'all?), because it's like that -- it is a happy hosting thing and it hearts you and wants to make your life better.
But even if you stick w/Blogger, you might be able to increase your blogging bliss and be less annoyed by blogger slowdowns and problems if you use a desktop blogging client like ecto or w.bloggar (short reviews and links here. The advantage is that you won't be working in a browser so you can have spell check, code shortcuts and help, undo, etc, and also if your browser or Blogger freak, you won't lose your post-in-progress or upon hosting, and that's kind of a good thing. Also, if you just can't be bothered to try one of these programs, you could also try this: hit control-A (select all), control-C (copy) before you hit “post.” That way, if something freaks out, your post will be on your clipboard for you to paste into notepad to save for later or to try posting again in blogger.
All of which is more than you wanted to know, but I'm a geek like that. And I agree w/ES: “baby mama” does not sound like a complimentary term.
Posted by mowabb at 08:17 AM
March 28, 2005
Favorable Dicta -- Decisions, Decisions:
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2005/03/decisions-decisions.html
Silver Spring is pretty cool, but it is pretty far away from most of what people I know enjoy about DC -- and far away from your job. I lived there the first 6 months or so I was in DC and i enjoyed the lower cost but didn't so much enjoy the commute. That said, I'll be doing an hour commute each way to work again this summer and that blows, but I did it last year and it wasn't as bad as it sounds. You can get lots of good reading done on the bus/train. I'm still keeping my eyes peeled for a sublet for you, but so far, nothing has come up. I know a guy who said he might have something at his place that's closer in to downtown; I'll talk to him again and see if the place is available and what the details are...
Posted by mowabb at 07:32 AM
prod & ponder -- flickr's future:
http://www.prodandponder.com/?p=13
Hmm. I hadn't given this too much thought before these comments, but now that you mention it, there does seem to be something very different going on with things like Flickr and del.icio.us and Orkut and Friendster (although I don't hear much about those anymore). They're already coops in a way, since they require the cooperative participation of thousands of users to be useful or worthwhile, yet they are coops beneath corporate structures -- coops in the service of corporations. That's really really icky, and I think many people sense that, which is why you get such activist/sensitive user communities. People seem to recognize their own participation in making these things cool, and some of them want to demand something in return for that besides just making the site cool. I wonder if something like this could be something of a model for a new sort of activism or a new way of “waking people up” to the way corporations are taking advantage of them every day and giving so little in return. For example, imagine if the AFLCIO had started flickr for its members, but opened it to the world. Suddenly every flickr user would have some stake in the success of the union movement. It would be easier for people to recognize and value the role they could play in that movement and in its larger goals of improving society. Sort of. Maybe. There's at least a utopian impulse there....
Posted by mowabb at 07:31 AM
March 27, 2005
prettytypewriters » Making a mess . . .
http://www.prettytypewriters.com/bloggy/index.php?p=67
Much fun! And what a cute baby -- should I recognize this little one? (I'm bad w/things like that.)
This design makes me think of Scripting News, whose header features a large picture that changes periodically -- sometimes once a week, sometimes once every few months, depending on the author's whim. You could also do that w/your current design, which would be cool, I think. I've thought about doing it myself but that would require more design tweaking than I really have time for right now...
Posted by mowabb at 07:25 AM
March 25, 2005
divine angst: answer my questions!
http://divineangst.blawgcoop.com/archives/2005/03/answer_my_quest.html
Hm. I think I attend one of the schools you're attending and I'll first say: Give many extra points to the school located in the place you think you're mostly like to want to stay upon graduation. You'll make connections and learn the legal job landscape in the area where you go to school, so it will be easier to start your career there, but if you're going to school in a place you don't want to stay, all that benefit will be wasted. Plus, lots of legal employers prefer to hire from local or area schools, so if you're in law school where you want to work, you get that advantage, too.
About the faculty-student relationship: At GW, I think it's ok. Not great, but not generally super-distant. It depends on you and on the professor, but all profs have office hours and my experience has been that they're happy to see you during office hours. Nearly all are also happy to talk w/you after class. Many many are involved in one student organization or another, either as the faculty liason or just as someone who supports the organization and attends its functions. I don't think there are many profs who attend social events that aren't “official” in some way -- I mean, I don't hear about profs showing up at bars frequented by students or anything, but who knows? I'm not really in the know for things like that. A good number of profs (maybe 20-30, I'm guessing) attended the recent “Law Revue” -- a sort of talent show/satirical sendup of the school and faculty. To me that shows that many of them are good sports and don't take themselves too seriously, which is good.
So the deal is that if you like a prof and the subject he/she teaches, and you visit office hours frequently, you can have a good and fairly close relationship w/a prof and get good references, etc. My experience in this regard has been generally good, but then, I'm probably not a good person to ask b/c this has never been very important to me.
Sorry, I feel like I just told you nothing...
Posted by mowabb at 09:26 AM
Half-Cocked: Have I ever mentioned how much I hate law school?
http://blawgcoop.com/half-cocked/archives/2005/03/have_i_ever_men.html
Here here! This law school thing is *so* overrated, and I am *so* ready to be done w/this semester. I even kind of like my classes and I'm still tired of going. I shudder to think what the burnout is going to feel like at this time next year....
Posted by mowabb at 09:12 AM
idlegrasshopper: Dear Mr. Thermostat Man:
http://idlegrasshopper.blogspot.com/2005/03/dear-mr.html
I ran over your neighbor.
Now I'm in all the papers.
Doughnuts on your lawn.
Tony Orlando and Dawn.
Hey man, where you headed?
I don't want unleaded!!
(It only sounds random if you haven't bitched about life and chug-a-lugged bleach.)
Posted by mowabb at 09:10 AM
thisdarkqualm » Instant K.:
http://thisdarkqualm.com/index.php?p=152
Since blasphemy is fun, I will agree that Apple’s open-ethics suck and that yes, it did crash and burn in the ’90s b/c of greed and trying to lock its users into proprietary hardware and software, etc. Now it’s doing the same w/the iPod and iTunes, and it really really sucks. I agree.
That said, I love my mac and I hate windows. ;-)
Perhaps it’s just rationalization, but I think it’s important to consider why Apple has done what it’s done. First, it tried to control everything in its hardware/software b/c it didn’t want to go the way of Windows which was to please the lowest common denominator and build systems and software out of chewing gum and scotch tape. It wanted quality, not quantity. And the fact that Apple has always been a small company (relatively speaking), I think is a product of many conscious decisions to pursue quality rather than profit. This is especially true w/its hardware. Apple could easily produce a $400 laptop that looks kind of cool but is flimsy and crap, and they could sell boatloads of them and make lots of money, but they won’t do that. It’s not really about the money, it’s about the pursuit of goodness.
Yeah, I’m a totally cult devotee.
But, and so, w/the iPod, it’s different. The path Apple is taking is being dictated by the music companies – they require the DRM and all the stuff you hate about the iPod and iTunes. This is Apple’s Faustian bargain: We will hobble our users and hardware to make it really hard for people to share and do what they want w/their music; in exchange, you (the music companies) will license your huge catalogs of music to us so we can sell them at the iTunes Music Store. If you want to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, you could say it is doing this b/c it wanted to break the deadlock we were all in before the iTMS came along where users were just file-sharing and had no way to legally buy music online and the music companies were getting increasingly pissed and resorted to all kinds of ever-more draconian legal maneuvers to protect their crumbling dynasties. So Apple didn’t do this for Apple, but for the users, to blaze the trail, knowing that if it could just prove the concept of the pay-per-download model, others would follow and eventually all the DRM and whatnot won’t be as important.
I don’t believe that, either, exactly, but it’s a nicer story than simply saying Apple’s a bunch of greedy bastages.
Your Rio looks cool. J9 has been using something else that’s quite cool, I can’t remember what, but it records voice memos and I think you can plug a mic into it for interviews and it has an FM tuner and you can record direct from radio, etc. All much much better than an iPod. Sad, really, b/c the iPod *is* cool; it could just be so much cooler….
Posted by mowabb at 07:34 AM
March 22, 2005
The Neutral Zone Trap: March 2005
http://emcpan.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_emcpan_archive.html#111144083563847343
And now I finally understand what your painting meant!
But welcome back from the islands and good luck w/your trial. How's that going, by the way?
p.s.: That lava is cool because it is hot. Discuss.
Posted by mowabb at 09:22 PM
divine angst: and here comes the ulcer again:
http://divineangst.blawgcoop.com/archives/2005/03/and_here_comes.html The debt feels different to everyone. I've lived w/debt since about age 19 when I was paying my own way through undergrad (although w/help from scholarships). The debt has only grown since then after an M.A. program and now nearly two years of law school. The amount of my loans is truly astounding to some, and w/no wealthy family or other resources to fall back on, what am I doing? Living. I've never had much money, yet I've always been able to make do and live a good life, which has taught me that he, it's only money.;-) And while I might sound cavalier about all this debt, that's only b/c I have no other choice at this point. I can either let it ruin my life, or I can just accept it and keep moving. When I first started thinking about law school, I decided I'd only go if I could go for free (via scholarships). That didn't happen, but by the time I figured that out I'd mentally decided to go anyway. Dumb idea. I could have done a million other things. But I decided to do this, so here I am. And the debt really sucks, but now that it's settled on my shoulders, I have no choice but to live w/it. It only sucks when I start thinking about how great it would be to travel, or buy a motorcycle, or a new computer.... But since huge bills are a fact of law school, if you're going to have to finance law school w/loans and you can't take $130k in loans w/out making your stomach churn, I'd say these are your options: 1) Don't go to law school. 2) Go to a cheaper and lower-ranked school where you'll qualify for more merit-aid. 3) Go as an evening student or part-time student and pay as you go. The thing is, while I don't have much choice about the debt at this point, you still do. I'd take those stomach-churnings pretty seriously if I were you. Have you checked out Should You Really Be A Lawyer? yet? If not, it might be worth a look to see if it can help you find ways to either justify the debt or make a different decision....Posted by mowabb at 04:39 PM
Parenthetical Statement: tour guide:
http://www.bloglicious.com/tony/archives/001016.html Cool. I'll look forward to checking in on your daily shots. My advice after doing it for a year is don't expect or demand too much of yourself. It's hard enough to post a photo every day, let alone a *good* photo every day. If you demand too much in terms of photo quality, you may quickly lose interest b/c it won't be much fun. I'm guessing you understand this already, but that's just the lesson I've learned for myself. Anyway, welcome to photoblogging!Posted by mowabb at 05:54 AM
musclehead: saying goodbye
http://musclehead.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_musclehead_archive.html#111125718733422056 You will be missed during this break so I hope it helps you find the refreshed perspective you seek. You may have noticed that I have recently avoided lengthy examinations of political events; like you, I find current events quite depressing and dispiriting, and almost surreal. However, my "break" from this human folly has come from focusing on other things, including reform of legal education so that it's not as empty and disappointing as you've found it. Perhaps you would like to be involved in a "Law School Can Be Different" conference project? Check in on my site and especially here for more on this to come. Meanwhile, enjoy your break. I hope you pop in once in a while to tell us about the birds, the bodybuilding, and the books you read. Politics and human folly are not the only blogworthy subjects in your arsenal....Posted by mowabb at 05:46 AM
March 21, 2005
The Unreasonable Man: Dilemma:
http://theunreasonableman.blogspot.com/2005/03/dilemma.html If the bag you describe exists, I want one, too! The problem is that if the bag is big enough to carry that load, I'm probably not strong enough to carry the bag. As it is I have a large Timbuk2 messenger bag and it can carry the laptop and two of the most massive law books you'll ever find (or 3-4 smaller ones), but once it's all loaded like that it's no fun to bike with, let me tell you. I swear, if law books were smaller I'd read more. As it is, I sometimes just skip reading b/c I just can't deal w/hauling the necessary books around. Yeah, I are a bad law student. But if you find this perfect bag, let me know. If you don't, the Timbuk2 is pretty handy, sturdy, etc. Also pricey, but you might get what you pay for w/a bag like this.Posted by mowabb at 09:51 PM
Notes from the (Legal) Underground: Does Law School Change a Person?
http://www.legalunderground.com/2005/03/amorality.html Sure, law school changes people, and I'd agree generally w/Buffs that too much of the change is not good for society. W/out going into it all here, this is one reason law school should be different. For anyone who agrees, please join the discussion. But I also agree w/JR that if you go into it w/a solid commitment to what you want to do, you can escape mostly unscathed and better for some positive things you can pick up in law school, including familiarity w/how a flawed system works. And although it's a little old, for more on why law exams may not be so good, see this recent criticism. Still, I'm really glad to hear that the feeling that you're seeing the world upside down wears off quickly once law school is over. I'm predicting the upside-down feeling will right itself as soon as I learn I've passed the bar and I can give the finger to law-related “exams” for good ... er, or at least until I move and have to take another damned bar exam. Dave: I resemble resent that M.A. in English remark. ;-)Posted by mowabb at 06:23 PM
Public Defender Dude: Becoming a PD:
http://publicdefenderdude.blogspot.com/2005/03/becoming-pd.html I'm late to this party but I want to thank PD Dude for the great response to my questions, and everyone else for the insight they've offered into employment situations at different PD offices. the MO and FL PD systems sound pretty cool, but, well, they're in MO and FL. ;-) But seriously, I'm hoping to be further north and west, generally. I've heard CO has a statewide system like you describe for MO. I bet somewhere I could find a central database of information on the different PD systems in each state -- does anyone know where something like that would be? About paying law clerks: I've amost never worked for free, although since starting law school, I've rarely recieved any monetary compensation. To suggest that accepting alternative forms of compensation in exchange for your time and effort as a law clerk is "whoring" -- well, I appreciate the implicit desire to protect the rights of workers, but such a sentiment also suggests an excessive fixation on the almighty dollar. That's where your comparison to Mexican farmworkers breaks down -- what can those workers get from their farmwork besides a paycheck? Nothing. They're not learning new skills or making connections to advance their careers or enrich their lives, so money becomes all-important -- there's simply no other way to compensate them for their work. If the same can be said about a legal internship, you need to find another internship, because I guarantee you that money is about the least valuable form of compensation available from a good legal internship. Sure, I would love to get paid for my internships, but I value the experience I've gained far more than I value money. If I had to choose whether to get paid or get great experience doing something I really care about, I'd choose the experience any day. In a way, that's exactly the choice I've made in rejecting the BigLaw you confess to being a part of. If I can understand your desire for dollars w/out calling you a whore, perhaps you could try and understand my desire for other values w/out calling me one?Posted by mowabb at 07:59 AM
March 20, 2005
Half-Cocked: Mail:
http://blawgcoop.com/half-cocked/archives/2005/03/mail.html So does this mean you didn't get my message that I can no longer access your index page in Safari on the Mac? If not, I'll repeat here that Mac users browsing via the Safari browser cannot see the content on your blog unless they access your site through the archives (which is how I got to this post). For some reason, the only thing that shows up are the two coins in the top right corner. I have no idea why this is, but, well, it is. The site looks fine in Firefox... The web is all about me and my problems, so please fix this, will you? I mean, probably about 10 people total use Safari; do you want to discriminate against all of us? ;-)Posted by mowabb at 08:28 PM
WonL: Journal Write-On Competition:
http://wonl.blogspot.com/2005/03/journal-write-on-competition.html Whew! I'm breathless just from reading that last paragraph. I'm glad you made it, glad you're done, and glad something I said was helpful. You'll find it was all worth it when you're in school a week early this fall to take very stupid "here's how journal works" classes and you'll be thinking, "for this I stressed over that stupid competition?" ;-)Posted by mowabb at 01:16 PM
Bag and Baggage - Denise Howell, appellate and intellectual property lawyer
http://bgbg.blogspot.com/2005/03/yack-day.html FYI: I keep seeing people talk about Podshow and Odeo, but no one mentions sites like Slapcast.com, which is already making podcasting a more effortless experience -- all you need is a phone! I now Odeo, et al. are planning to offer more features, but Slapcast actually works, today, which gives it a significant advantage at the moment.Posted by mowabb at 12:59 PM
Sea-Fever: Race Report:
http://seafever.blogs.com/seafever/2005/03/race_report.html Congratulations! Do you feel like doing another one next Saturday? ;-)Posted by mowabb at 12:30 PM
March 19, 2005
prettytypewriters » A Day in the Life:
http://www.prettytypewriters.com/bloggy/index.php?p=58 That was awesome. I mean, really, really cool. How did you do that!? Was this mostly iMovie? And what did you use for recording the initial video and sound? It looks and sounds so sharp and clear! I'm very impressed! And jealous. You get to do this stuff for credit!? I clearly made a mistake in not following your footsteps... But, and so, I do think you would like Garageband. I played w/Audacity a little and it just seemed clunky and I couldn't make it do what I wanted, but Garageband is dead easy and fun, too. I don't have the '05 version, but I still recommend it. Don't you think you should do a podcast with me and tell me all about the fun stuff you're doing these days? Yeah, I think you should, too. ;-)Posted by mowabb at 10:19 PM
me, 2.0: march tracks
http://monkey.org/~jose/blog//viewpage.php?page=march_tracks I love this pic. It's simple and subtle, and that makes it great. But dude, since when do you feel you have to explain why you're using a Mac? There are so many reasons it should be the other way around -- why would you use anything else? (Yeah, I know, lots of reasons. I'm just pulling your leg b/c I'm jealous you got a new PB. My trusty but slow (600 mhz G3) iBook is headed for 4 years old and I'm starting to seriously yearn for some new hardware...)Posted by mowabb at 06:22 PM
Jeremy Richey's Blawg: THE WEEKLY POUNDING: AN INTERVIEW WITH MIKE CERNOVICH:
http://www.jeremyrichey.com/2005/03/weekly-pounding-interview-with-mike.html Great podcast, Jeremy! Mike was a very interesting interesting interview subject.Posted by mowabb at 02:03 PM
Crime & Federalism: Two types of Federalists?
http://federalism.typepad.com/crime_federalism/2004/11/two_types_of_fe.html Great piece; you've helped clarify the Federalist Society for me, and your analysis is consistent w/similar arguments I've read about the "right" more generally -- that rather than being a monolithic party, it's really a loose coaltion of competing factions that often compete against each other but which manage to rally behind certain pivotal issues (e.g. abortion, "law and order," school vouchers, etc.) when it counts, such as during election seasons. There seems no greater evidence of this that the "values" rhetoric of the 2004 elections where the concept of "values" became an empty vessel that each different faction on the right filled with its own content in order to convince that faction's members that Bush was their best choice. However, I take issue w/your conclusion that "the Federalist Society is more diverse than the ACLU." This may be true, but it's arguable at best. The "left" has been criticized for decades (both from those who consider themselve part of the left and those on ther right) for being too factious and diverse to advance a coherent agenda that can compete with the coalitions on the right. For example, Lieberman Democrats are at least as far apart ideologically from, say, Kucinich Democrats or Greens as are Heritage Federalists from Cato Federalists, yet the Liebermans and Greens are still equally likely to be part of the ACLU and to oppose much of the agenda of the political right. It seems to me that both sides do themselves and society a disservice when they make condescending generalizations about the "other side." Even talking about "left" or "right" is obviously an oversimplification to which we tend to resort in order to strengthen whatever position we happen to be promoting ourselves.Posted by mowabb at 01:59 PM
March 14, 2005
divine angst: Comment on Final decision received
http://divineangst.blawgcoop.com/archives/2005/03/final_decision.html GULC might have been nice, but that *other* DC school might not be as bad as I sometimes make it sound. ;-)Posted by mowabb at 11:19 PM
Don't Know It From Adam: "Hold My Hand" Indeed
http://www.dontknowitfromadam.com/Blog_Archives/000186.html "Cracked Rearview" rocked! ;-) Seriously, I loved that disc! "Let Her Cry" was on heavy rotation on lots of Europop stations in the summer of '94 when I biked across Europe and I'm not ashamed to admit that it gave me the energy to pedal up more than one summit in the oppressive but starkly beautiful oven that is central Spain. When I got back to the States I practically played a hole in the CD writing papers for my last year of college. Damn. I guess that makes me old.Posted by mowabb at 11:14 PM
buzzwords: Alaska Update
http://tonguebutnodoor.net/monica/archives/001549.html#more Holy moly, what an incredible time you're having! And what a terrific post! You've singlehandedly restored my faith in becoming a PD! I was thinking maybe I'd just drop out of school now; spring break has been such fun, I wasn't seeing the point in going back, but now I do -- so I can be a PD in Alaska! (Shh! Don't tell my girlfriend!) Ok, so I may never work in Alaska, but the fact that you're already sitting in court and actually representing clients just blows my mind!!! You just don't get to do that everywhere, so this is going to be an incredible experience. Take good notes for the rest of us who will be stuck in class for the next two months. ;-)Posted by mowabb at 04:40 PM
Breaking up is hard to do.
http://favorabledicta.blogspot.com/2005/03/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do.html I'm w/E. Spat -- Fed Courts is such a ballbreaker! It just take take takes, and what does it give in return? More mumbo jumbo about the thousand different reasons none of it makes any sense. In its defense, I suspect it's so convoluted b/c it's basically where the buck stops in our legal system and that means at its core lays human folly and a rubber room of ambivalence that's really not much fun to bounce around in, but is nevertheless unescapable. In other words, it's the human condition bashing its head against illusory ideals of truth, justice, and the American way. No wonder it's so damned frustrating!Posted by mowabb at 07:54 AM