Thursday, June 24, 2004

Funny Things You Find In Research

One of the reasons this blog won't be updated as much this summer is that now I sit in front of a computer all day, instead of just most of the day at law school. This makes coming home to read more stuff on the computer less than attractive. However, that doesn't mean I don't find good stuff at work! For example, check out this holding:

The FTCA does not apply to tortious acts or omissions occurring in Antarctica.

And not just any court decided the case either. Check out the case here.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Guess Who

From a Dorf Findlaw Article on Reagan's federal court legacy:

A former law clerk to a prominent Reagan appointee to the federal appellate court once told me that his erstwhile boss said he liked to dismiss at least one case per week on jurisdictional grounds. The former clerk was not joking, and the judge's remark was consistent with his and many of his colleagues' rulings.

Caught red handed! (and he looks it)

Saturday, June 19, 2004

News Visualization Project

It visualizes the news impact of certain individuals and events. You really have to see it to understand, but it's very cool, trust me. Try the sitehere. (from Slashdot)

The Terminal

Just saw it. Initial conclusions:

1. Spielberg has finally solved in his own head the age-old problem: how do you end a movie? His answer: don't. Just keep it going.

2. Catherine Zeta-Jones is bad in this movie. But then again, Spielberg was never known for coaxing great performances from actors.

3. It's cute.

4. The set is really something. The set's embedded avertising is really something.

5. Don't underestimate the skills of Gupta, the cleaner.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

For All You "The O.C." Fans (me included)

This writer is one of us:

A proposal to rename the Orange County, Calif., airport after "The O.C." has disappeared faster than Marissa's little sister.

After being besieged by criticism of the proposal, Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby says he's dropping the idea, much as Ryan dropped Luke with a punch at the Crab Shack. John Wayne International Airport will keep its name and not be changed to "The O.C. Airport - John Wayne Field," as Norby suggested earlier this week.

"Let's just say it was a trial balloon," Norby tells the Los Angeles Times. "It crashed and burned." In effect, Orange County residents said "Eww" to the idea and shot it down, sort of like Summer did to Seth at first.

Read the rest here.

Monday, June 14, 2004

A Tiny Little Blog Post

This graphic on the ownership of The Strip is cool.

Not much of a blog post. Gotta warm up, you know.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Blog Update

All bloggers still in the process of getting settled. Not to fear - I have first-hand knowledge that both Ben and I still exist. I hope to get back to blogging this week.

Monday, June 07, 2004

Recent Titles on the LA Times Editorial Page

"Stinky Toilets, and, Maybe Worse, Stinky Grammar"

"What Some Texans Want Is Kinky"

"Sistani Is Winning, and That Helps U.S."

"Beneath Bombast and Bombs, a Caldron of Humiliation"

"You Have Rights -- if Bush Says You Do"

"A Potter of Gold for Those Who Think Big"

"Dumping on Girls: Now That's Mean"

"'No-Communist Zone' has No Place in America"

And that's just in the last week! They must have just given up, and are now simply amusing themselves. They're probably just stealing titles from The Onion at this point.

I hope so, for their sake.

South Park on Protesters

[the U.S. Capitol. The Romanian father and two Romanian officials sit in Janet Reno's office]

Romanian Official: [no beard] Mrs. Janet Reno, you must understand, the father has right to his children.

Janet Reno: [flanked by two agents in riot gear] Yes, but the girls seem to wanna stay here. Why don't you all stay here in America, and this whole thing can go away.

Mr. Vladchick: Okay. [the official smacks him with the back of the hand] Heh!

Romanian Official: Our home is Romania. We love it there.

Mr. Vladchick: Ah, yes, uwuh we love it there.

Romanian Official: If daughters will not return on their own, you must force them to return.

Janet Reno: Gentlemen, this has to be handled very delicately. You don't understand Americans' power to protest.

Romanian Official: Protest?

Janet Reno: Look, people have it so good in America that they get bored very easily. And when people get bored they start protesting things.

. . .

[The Marsh house, day. The protesters leave one by one. The Marshes stand in the bombed-out ruins]

Sharon: Oh, Randy, it's gone! It's all gone!

Cartman: [arrives with Kyle] Dude, what the hell happened?

Stan: The government came and got the quintuplets. No more Cirque du Cheville for us.

Kyle: Damnit! How come every time we get a sweet idea, the government has to screw it up?!

Stan: Yeah! Well, not this time!

Cartman: Huh?

Stan: We've just gotta get that angry mob back on our side! [addresses the mob] Alright, everybody, listen up! Those bastards broke in here and took those poor quintuplets to the mayor's office downtown! But they haven't won yet! I say we all go over to the mayor's office, and demand to see the quintuplets right now!

Protester 1: Hmm.

Protester 2: Yeaahh.

Protester 3: I don't know. I usually like to stop protesting by 5:30.

Protester 4: Yeah, ah, do we get overtime for this?

Stan: Uh, sure, you can all get overtime.

Protester 5: Alright!

Protester 6: Yeah!

Protester 7: Down with Japan! [the mob moves away]

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Ronald Reagan

Lauren and I were sad to hear of the death of President Reagan on Saturday. It wasn't totally unexpected, of course, but sad nonetheless. If nothing else, growing up he was always the rote answer to the question: who is the President? We didn't know much about politics, but we knew that Ronald Reagan was the President, and he was protecting us from the evil communists.

Yet for a long time, I never really "got" the Reagan thing. I remember seeing a picture of him on a Claremont professor's wall and thinking, "was he really that special?"

I soon came to realize, however, that Reagan represented, perhaps for the first (and only) time in the 20th Century, a president that truly believed in the ideas of the modern conservative movement. He distrusted big government. He liked cutting taxes. And, perhaps most importantly, he despised relativistic thinking. He truly believed in the Declaration of Independence's principles, Lincoln's words, and 20th century conservative thinkers' writings. It's rare for such a true believer to enter the White House.

So whatever your politics, I think there's a lot to admire about Ronald Reagan. "Ideas" people are always preferable to wishy-washy politicians in my book. Thus, We should all hope Reagan's influence on public life endures, if not because of his politics, then because of his character.

The Perfect Question

Here's a fun game: if you had to ask one question to figure out, say, whether someone is a lawyer or not, what would it be? In other words, what's something every lawyer would know, but every non-lawyer wouldn't?

Here's my suggestion: What is Erie?

I bet there's better ones though.

How about figuring out if someone lived in California?

My suggestion: What's a sig alert?

Perhaps I'm simply amusing myself. Good enough for me!

Thursday, June 03, 2004

I'm Back . . .

. . . but I'm sick. And I don't have much internet access yet.

Today I worked all day, like a normal person. Yesterday I did the same thing. Tomorrow, too. Weird. But even weirder: when I get home, I have nothing to do. Hasn't been a problem so far, since my first two days both lasted 12 hours or so.

I'm not complaining, mind you, just noting that jobs aren't like school. For example, heard yesterday:

"I'm not interested in the law. I just want to make money."

I'm not in Hyde Park anymore, kids.