Tuesday, April 29, 2008

An Open Letter - Barnes and Noble Man

Dear Barnes and Noble Man,

I hope you were not offended when Celia and I didn't exhibit zeal to continue conversation with you. We didn't want to be rude, but you did interrupt us in the middle of reviewing for our Con Law exam. Courtesy aside, the point you were wanting to make, we had already made more succinctly about 10 minutes prior to your interjection, and more completely several weeks ago in class. While ordinarily we might have been happy to engage you in a discussion on your skepticism of the political process, we were two law students trying to stay on the healthy side of the exam preparation/psychotic episode line. Trust me, it's better for all involved.

As a side comment, I could not help but notice the "Ask me about Barack" pin you were wearing. It coordinated well with the "O" pin you had affixed to your "Obama 2008" commemorative T-shirt. While your attention to the current national political climate are your apparent desire to engage in related discussion are both commendable, the point I wish to make about your button is that you seem to have either misunderstood what it says or intended to grab a different button. The button you thought you were wearing probably says "Ask me about Barack or I will force my way into your private conversation in order to engage you on a topic about which you are likely sick of hearing and that just may cause you to leap through the store's glass window-front and into mercifully oncoming traffic in order to get away." I might be paraphrasing.

Yours,

-Nathan

Saturday, April 26, 2008

An old thought in a new place.

How do you warn a blind person of danger visible to the sighted? What about combination headset/RFID tag that broadcasts in a short radius the presence of someone for whom visual cues are ineffective? We then install RFID receivers and audio transmitters in key locations: when they detect (via RFID) the presence of a blind person, they transmit the appropriate warning over radio or some other appropriate frequency. The individual's headset picks up the signal and relays the cue aurally. Perhaps there could also be some triangulation and proximity possibilities as well. (Stereo headphones?)

This would seem to be a much better system than Braille warnings that count on a person happening to put their hands in a particular spot. Indeed, the normal operation of Braille in public places seems to be based on the presumption of sight to be able to locate the contextual "hotspot."
Derek Leach from IT came to Contracts to explain the new online multiple-choice component of our exam but was unable to get the computer and projector to work.
Kraus to Derek: "How does it feel standing in front of the class with your pants down?"

Friday, April 25, 2008

What exams?/I'M GOING TO DIE!

Schroedinger would love my brain right now. Exams have induced a state of simultaneous stress/unstress. Until measured by the taking of the first exam, no one - including myself - can know whether my brain is alive or dead.

2 weeks.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The very first time

I suspect that everyone has nostalgia accompanying memories of their first _____: first date, first kiss, first start on the varsity squad. Every subsequent instance is unable to measure up to that initial thrill, even if it could somehow be measured and shown to be objectively better. Right now I wish I could relive the first time I put in contact lenses. After wearing glasses for years, I had thought that good vision was good vision, and the only switch would be not having the clunky frames on my face. But now even my peripheral vision crackled with a clarity that glasses could never have provided. I no longer had to look directly at the floor for it to be anything other than an eternally fuzzy carpet of varying hues. I sometimes get a glimpse of that experience if I go without contacts for a few days or a week, just long enough for my brain to forget. Maybe one day I'll find a special pair that will make me feel like it's the first time all over again. Some day.

I'm sorry, but...

There is an amusing farce acted out in any number of communities and social situations. Actually, there may be many, but the one I have in mind right now is the fiction that anyone is actually good at remembering other peoples' names. It is a nice social save to claim "I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names," and I admit to using it myself almost daily, it seems. With the number of people who claim this, though, it makes me wonder where all these hypothetical people are who must be good at remembering names. I, for one, cannot remember meeting anyone with this skill, and if I have, I probably have forgotten their name, anyways.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Nerdy Lawyer/Economist Joke

Kraus: "Thank God for repudiation. It's a public good for lawyers."

A Glib Cynic Poll

I am uncertain as to which kind of lawyer I'm more bothered by: activists (of any stripe) or personal injury. I'm also not sure if the "With whom would I least prefer to be seated at a dinner party?" test is the correct one to apply here. Thoughts?

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Enter Procrastination, Stage Left

Procrastination, unfailing herald of Exam Season. As my spotty blog history might suggest, Exam Season is roughly coterminous with a desperate desire to do anything but study. Poor is the mind that cannot come up with something more interesting than outlining, and law school doesn't usually attract the mental slouches. Today, though I was able to come close to finishing a Con Law outline and to make inroads on one for Contracts II: Contract Harder, in the meantime I found myself researching the history of aircraft carriers. And no, I am not taking Admiralty.

This afternoon when preparing to heat up some Campbell's soup for lunch, I experienced a revolt of the stomach (or taste buds), demanding immediate cheap Chinese food. I obliged by making my way to Taiwan Garden on Ivy. Total hole in the wall (完全漏洞在墙壁里). The food was tasty and a good value but nothing to wax poetic on. The lunch special was $4.50 and included a lunch entree (Amazing Chicken; their words, not mine), fried rice, egg roll, and soft drink. The egg roll was actually quite good and the rice - well, it's hard to mess up rice - but the sauce on the Amazing Chicken didn't really grab me. B+ (on the law school curve)

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Thoughts from my Notes

I'll update this as I make my way through typing up my notes (some of the faculty quotations made it into the Law Weekly, so apologies for any repeats):
  • Whenever a professor says "Good question" she usually means the opposite.
  • --
  • Student: "There’s a difference between wine and pot."
    Mitchell: "Of course there is! One is legal and one should be legal!"
  • --
  • Goluboff: "It has been argued that polygamy is actually good for women...I could use another wife [around the house]."
  • --
  • Kitch: "So what kinds of animals did they leave off?"
  • Student: "Amphibians."
  • Kitch: "Oh yes. Dolphins!"
  • --
  • Student 1: [says something stupid in class]
  • Student 2: "It's okay, it's Monday."
  • The next day -
  • Student 2: [says something stupid in class]
  • Student 1: "It's okay, it's Tuesday."
  • --
  • Kraus: "What does the writing say?"
  • Student: "It says what it says."
  • Kraus: "That's keeping your truth-telling percentage up."

Monday, April 7, 2008

Law School Term of the Day - eleemosynary

eleemosynary
adj.
  1. Of or for charity; charitable; as, "an eleemosynary institution."
  2. Given in charity; having the nature of alms; as, "eleemosynary assistance."
  3. Supported by or dependent on charity; as, "the eleemosynary poor."
"That an expert testifies for money does not necessarily cast doubt on the reliability of his testimony, as few experts appear in court merely as an eleemosynary gesture." Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 43 F.3d 1311 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 869 (1995).