| effort |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|06:35 pm] |
With only a few days more of classes left, I realized today that I've probably put more effort into law school than I have for anything else in my entire life. The number of credits in law school is about equal to all three of my master's degrees combined. Add in the 950 or so hours I've spent interning pro bono, plus god knows how many hours I'll spend studying for the bar exam, and that represents a significant amount of work. But more importantly, I think I've also tried harder in law school than anything else I've every done before. I'm pretty good at skating by half-assing things. I rarely kept up with the reading in college or grad school because I considered classes just a means to a degree, not something I really wanted to know. I certainly never put any real effort into any of the jobs I've had because I've hated every minute of every job I've ever had. Writing books and other hobbies I've done came pretty easy and I put less thought into them than you might expect. But for law school, for some reason, I just really got excited about learning in a way I can't remember being excited about before. I mean, I did all the reading in every single class all the way through law school! That's just crazy! I paid attention when the profs were talking, made that dopey web site of all my notes, and even became a complete bore by continuing to talk about what I was learning to all my friends, who I'm certain couldn't care less about the vagaries of contract law. Yeah, I can't imagine ever putting that much effort into anything else again.
Which makes the way things turned out seem even more disappointing.
In slightly less disappointing news, I found though googlebooks the other day that a Dartmouth professor wrote a real academic book a few years ago about the future of literature in the internet age, and actually spent a few pages talking about a website I made back in 1995! Man, 1995, most of you probably weren't even alive back then. I know it's only a few pages in an obscure Univ. Nebraska Press publication, but I can't decide which is more impressive - writing a book yourself, or having academics writing books about you. |
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| plowshares |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|07:25 am] |
I was reading today in the New York Times that about 10% of all the electricity used in the US comes from salvaged plutonium from dismantled Soviet nuclear bombs. I knew that there was a program to recycle nuclear weapons into nuclear fuel, but I had no idea that it was being used that extensively. Talk about swords to plowshares! It made me really happy for the world to read that. Hopefully they'll be able to negotiate a replacement to START so the fuel can keep flowing and the weapons keep getting dismantled. It's also pretty intense to think that the Soviets (and the US) built bombs so powerful that we can get that much power out of them. Makes you think about what we could have accomplished if we started off by dedicating our efforts towards peaceful progress in the first place.
Here's the geekiest thing I thought of all week: what happens if a wolfman bites a chewbacca? Does he turn into an even more hairier guy during the full moon, or would he be pretty much the same? |
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| lifelong |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|09:58 pm] |
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Sometimes I'll hear through the grapevine or see a photo on Facebook or something about someone I knew in high school who is still hanging out with someone else I knew in high school. It happens a lot actually. I find it very odd to think that after all these years people's lives would still intersect at a level like that. Except for maybe the ultra-rare email or facebook comment, I never ever talk to anyone I went to high school with, I doubt I can even remember the names of more than a few of them. I also don't ever see any of the people I went to college with, or grad school with, or even any of the former coworkers I've had, including the coworkers that still live nearby. I'm pretty sure that I won't be hanging out on a regular basis with the people I' m hanging out with now in 5 years. Not that I don't want to, it's just that I always seem to lose touch with people. I move, or they move, or I get busy, or they get a baby or something that just makes it hard to stay close. But seeing other people who've remained close all these years makes me wonder; is there something specifically wrong with me that I'm unable to keep up friendships with people that I'm not obligated by class schedules or work projects to see on a daily basis? I know I'm shy, and that often comes off as being aloof and disinterested. But I'd like to think that the people close to me understand that. It's weird, I've never had a "lifelong friendship" with anyone. I still care about a lot of the people I've drifted apart from, but it's an abstract caring. I have no idea what is going on in their lives today and I'm sure they have no idea what is going on in mine. I'm not really sure how to rectify that. Maybe I don't even want to. It's not like I really need a lifelong friend or anything, I'm just curious what it feels like. |
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| hawk |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|03:08 pm] |
Right in downtown DC yesterday I saw a hawk swoop down and catch a little sparrow or something. There were a few people standing around exclaiming that was a pretty unusual site to see in the middle of the city. There was a policeman on the corner spreading out some of that 'do not cross' police tape, but I'm almost certain it wasn't related to the sparrow's death. He did yell at some lady for stepping over the tape he was setting up.
I had to take an ethics test for the bar exam this morning. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was disruptive to have had to study for it right in the middle of the semester. they should schedule things like that a little better. |
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| new tiny ghosts book available in stores now |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|01:53 pm] |
Pleased to announce that the second tiny ghosts anthology is now available. Admittedly, every comic in the anthology is already available online for free. However, if you buy the book, then you can take it with you and enjoy tiny ghosts in all sorts of places that are not internet accessible - such as airplanes, deserted islands, and maximum security prisons. In addition, the anthology contains several behind the scenes segments that explain how the comic is created.
You can get more information and order the book direct from me at:
http://www.tinyghosts.com/books/
or, you can get it at amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931468281/invisiblecoll-20
If you get it from me, the book will come signed. If you get it from amazon, I won't have to walk to the post office.
 
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| halloween |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|07:51 pm] |
I really hate the 'going out' holidays. The ones where people are somehow obligated to go to a bar or a party or something like that. Like New Year's Eve or the Superbowl or like today - Halloween. I really hate crowds and loud places, and the bars and parties on days like this are extra loud and extra crowded. And I never feel comfortable in places like that. I always feel out of place, or unwanted or generally awkward. I don't like getting bumped around and having to yell to be heard. I hate having to deal with drunk people and the things that drunk people want to talk about. What's that you say, "just stay in?" I know, that's what I mostly want to do, but it gets real annoying because everybody I know demands that I should go to their drunken loud crowded places because they are under the mistaken presumption that somehow I'll "loosen up and have fun." They can't understand that I hate places like that and never have fun and immediately want to leave as soon as I arrive. But they make me feel bad for not going.
And what's worse, is that somehow, I feel bad for not going. I know I am going to hate it, but part of me asks why, if everybody else apparently thinks it is so awesome, do I hate it? Shouldn't I love places like that? Everyone else seems to. Everyone else begs me to come 'enjoy myself', so what is wrong with me that I prefer places that are less sweaty and a bit quieter? I start to have self-doubts that maybe deep inside I'm what they all tell me I am, a horrible depressed loser that is incapable of enjoying himself. Admittedly I almost never enjoy myself no matter where I am so they are probably right. I start thinking that maybe there is some switch in my head that I can turn to make me feel less awkward and more gregarious and want to go do all those things that people keep telling me are 'fun' That makes me feel even worse about myself and my decision to stay in and miss out on what everyone will later tell me was the "bestest evening they ever had!"
For similar reasons, I really don't think it is a good idea to sign up for art shows like that one I have running tonight. I'm probably supposed to be there right now, standing by my work and talking it up to the people who've gone for the Halloween-themed open house. It is supposed to be 'fun' and the kind of thing that artists love to do. But I hate the idea of being seen in front of my work. I'd feel uncomfortable and awkward and embarrassed because I see all the flaws in the work that maybe they don't see, or maybe they do see but they are too polite to say anything to my face. I'd much rather just show up at the gallery under cover of darkness, hang up my work, and then run away and hide until it is over. Of course, that also makes me feel bad because here I am with this great chance to do what most people would consider the most fun part about being an artists, and I'm missing it and instead hiding in my basement reading for next week's class and writing depressing notes in my blog. Ugh. |
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| artificial fakeness |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|07:26 am] |
Sometimes I wish I was making stuff up. I recently saw the new condiment "Neutrasweet Pink" the other day. Now as far as I can tell, this is a product made with one kind of fake sugar (aspartame, aka "the Blue sugar") that is designed to taste just like another kind of fake sugar (saccharine aka "the Pink sugar") for those people who I just just love the taste of saccharine but don't want to the negative health effects associated with artificial sweeteners? Seriously? Is that what America's scientists are spending their time on? Creating substitutes for fake sugar?
I also saw an ad in Metro the other day touting how this bus driver had driven over 2 million miles in his career without getting into a single crash. Some very trivial math implies that this dude has been averaging 2,000,000 / (30x40x50) = 33 mph down congested DC streets for the last 30 years! It's kind of nice to imagine this crazy person careening through DC in a runaway bus for 30 years, but I bet the more likely possibility is that Metro is totally making this number up because they figure no one in Washington is capable of doing division anymore. |
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| homemade |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|05:39 pm] |
Why is it that lots of people out there grow their own marijuana, but as far as I know, no one grows their own heroin? I did some checking on line, and getting opium out of poppies is trivial, and turning it into heroin isn't all that much harder. Plus, the cops know what marijuana looks like, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that they have no idea what an opium poppy looks like. You could grow a whole field of them and no one would catch you. Plus, the heroin you make yourself is probably cleaner and purer than what you get on the street. If I was a smack addict, I'd definitely grow my own.
I think it is humorous that the tv set in the cafeteria at law school is always turned to the People's Court. Maybe I should watch one of those courtroom shows sometime to see how close to real law it is.
btw, I haven't formally announced it yet or anything, but the second tiny ghosts anthology is now officially for sale on the tiny ghosts website. Let's see if I can't beat the sales of the first book! |
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| torpedos |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|05:50 pm] |
A lot of times when a group of people want to sue someone, they have to come up with an organization so they can establish standing. So they just make something up. I was reading a case today brought by a group of people called "The Association of Irritated Residents." It doesn't really matter what you call the organization, it is just a legal construct. I think it would be fun to make up organizations for the sole purpose of having their names appear in court documents. "The Association of People Who Think Scalia is Kind of a Dick Sometimes." Imagine getting to argue in front of the supreme court with a name like that! Ginsberg might vote to grant cert on that basis alone.
I'm participating in another art show in a few weeks. This one is at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria VA, from Oct. 31, to Nov. 3. If you are in town, maybe you could go? Don't fret, there are no real torpedos there anymore. I am told it is reasonably safe. More info at Art Outlet (http://artoutlet.org/news/events/ofrenda-art-for-the-dead). |
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| pigeon hunter |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|07:46 pm] |
I was walking in the city today and I passed by this guy sitting on the sidewalk feeding pigeons. He spread out some seeds or something and a whole flock of them came over. Then the guy reached out and grabbed one of the pigeons, stood up, and walked off with it. That seemed sort of strange to me.
All of the places to get coffee near my office are chain places. I was thinking today that someone should make a chain where every store is different. I don't know much about retail, but I believe that the two reasons why chains are a successful business model are that 1) they give the consumer confidence that every meal will be the same, and 2) economies of scale allow them to operate more cheaply than independent places. But why doesn't someone make like a chain of independent coffee places? They could benefit from the economies of scale, and I don't want every cup of coffee I get to be identical, so it would be an advantage. I am a consumer who drinks a lot of coffee and I would prefer a nice, homey place that doesn't look like a McDonalds. Maybe this new chain could afford the high downtown rents and I could get coffee at a place I liked. If I knew something about business maybe I'd start a chain like that. Although I guess that since no one seems to be doing it, it is probably a dumb idea. |
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| just us |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|11:01 am] |
I was getting coffee early this morning and there was this girl standing in front of me who had this crazy wild hair and I thought that it looked great and it was pretty cool that she would style her hair like that. Then I thought about the time of day and the fact that she appeared to be wearing pajamas under her winter coat and I decided that she probably just hadn't bothered to brush it yet. I also saw a girl waiting in line today wearing earmuffs. I guess winter is almost here.
As I walked back with my coffee I was thinking that if I ever got to write the Justice League comic I would have them fight a group of Ayn Rand objectivist supervillains who would call themselves the "Just Us League." As in, "Superman, you may fight for truth, justice, and the American way, but you'll never win because here's the truth: we fight for just us, and that's the American way!" I probably wouldn't literally call them objectivists in the comic because it's a comic book and not political commentary, but it still would be a pretty good pun I think. I'm surprised no one has thought of it before.
I probably shouldn't be wasting time thinking about these things as I have perfectly good things to think about these days, like the fact that I signed up for the California bar and it turns out they don't offer California bar classes in DC during the winter. That's a real problem that needs my attention. But no, here I am wasting what little brain power I have blogging about objectivist supervillains with bad puns for names. |
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| presents |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|07:52 am] |
When I started law school, I decided that when I was done I was going to buy myself something expensive and unnecessary. Right now the two leading contenders are an actual animation cel from The Lorax, and a first edition copy of Silent Spring. Both of those would be great additions to the office of an environmental lawyer, don't you think? Also making a strong last minute showing is a vintage Vox Phantom Special VI guitar, which doesn't have the environmental connection as the other two, but is equally unnecessary.
Of course, my enthusiasm for wasting thousands of dollars on that sort of stuff has been significantly dampened by the whole lack of job prospects thing. What's the point of having a Lorax animation cel to hang on the wall of your office when you don't have an office? Seems almost like it would be mocking me in a way. This last semester at school has been pretty hard, energy-wise. I think one of the things that makes school exciting is the promise of it, you know? Like trying to imagine all the great things you are going to get do (or large amounts of $$$ you will make) when you are finished? But now, when the profs say things like, "when you are out practicing in the real world you'll need to remember that..." it just kinda stings a bit. It almost seems pointless to even bother finishing. I've got enough momentum to get me through the next few months, but I'm glad I don't have to keep up my energy level any longer than that. I also signed up to take the bar exam in Feb. That too seems expensive and completely pointless. Hopefully I'll have the energy and/or inertia to make it through. At least I'll get a trip to San Francisco out of it. |
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| good fit |
[Oct. 10th, 2009|01:14 pm] |
So I applied last month for a job with a tiny law firm that specialized in law related to airports. I got rejected because, according to the managing partner, I wasn't specialized enough in airport law. Now, 90% of what airports have to deal with is environmental regulations (e.g. NEPA), so I would've though that I'd be about as close as they could get. How would one specialize in airport law? They don't even have an airport law class at Georgetown!
I would be more willing to accept the guy's reasoning, except that this morning I got a call from a headhunter that was looking for someone to work in the public affairs office of a Dept. of Defense agency. Now, if you've seen my resume you'll notice that I have nothing that even remotely resembles public affairs experience, but all the headhunter cared about was the fact that I used to have a security clearance. She wasn't that picky.
So, what I find annoying is why are the places I want to work so focused on every minute detail of my resume and willing to reject me even if they think I'm 99% qualified, but places that I don't want to work are willing to give me jobs even though I doubt I'm even 1% qualified? It is like the job market is mocking me. I once long ago got rejected for a job as an environmental engineer because, according to the hiring manager, even though I was the most qualified person, he noticed that I had some nuclear engineering background and he decided that I'd never be happy doing just pure environmental engineering with no nuclear work so he'd hire a less qualified, more focused person instead. And yet the headhunter this morning seemed to completely skip over three MS degrees and a JD that all scream, "I do not want to work in public relations!" and say that she thinks I'd "be a great fit!" Why can't I find someone in a field that I want to work in willing to hire pretty much anybody? It is quite frustrating. |
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| alaska photos |
[Oct. 5th, 2009|07:17 am] |
I've been way to depressed about the whole failure to find a job thing to come up with anything witty to say here. so instead, I'm just going to link to a whole bunch of photos I took in Alaska this summer. I took almost exactly one billion photographs, and these are the ones I think came out best:
http://picasaweb.google.com/superluminal23 |
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| tour guides |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|12:04 am] |
So I had this idea for a new kind of tour guide. Basically it would be a dude like me who knows his way around DC. Out-of-towners would tell the guide the sort of things that they are interested in, and what kind of food they like, and then, the guide would take them around town to the museums and restaurants and whatever else the guide figures they'd want to do. The guide would help them navigate the subway, and steer them away from the tourist traps, and make sure they didn't get lost, and take them to the really cool places that only the locals know about. But there'd be flexibility involved and no set itinerary. It'd be like having a friend who lives in town to show you around. I think this would be a big hit with affluent out-of-towners, especially if the tourists were foreigners and the guide spoke their language. There'd be almost no overhead for this kind of business, and I bet you could just advertise it on Craigslist. I'm not serious about starting this sort of business myself, but I think someone else should do it... and then maybe pay me royalties for the idea.
Also, why isn't there a MMORPG sports game? If people play World of Warcraft non-stop, and love sports video games, why not make a game where you get 28 people to each play one football player in a giant multi-player game. People could form teams with their fantasy-football friends and play in leagues over the internet. This seems like such an obvious idea to me. It'd be a huge hit. Yet I'm not aware of such a thing existing. Get on this video game companies, you are missing out on many sales... and then maybe pay me royalties for the idea. |
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| scripting |
[Sep. 26th, 2009|08:24 pm] |
I saw that new apocalyptic CGI movie "9" this week, and I have to say that I'm getting more and more disappointed by the really bad scripts that getting produced these days. A number of movies I've seen this summer, like the new Star Trek and District 9 (no relation) and this 9 all looked absolutely great, with exciting action sequences, special effects, sets, costumes, etc, but absolutely horrendous plots. I mean the ending of 9 made absolutely no thematic sense. Most of the movies I've seen this year have plot holes so big you can drive a truck (or giant alien spaceship) through. I know I know my Mom always says, "It's just a movie, watch it and don't think about it so much." But I'm not thinking about it much at all and yet the script problems are so glaring I can't believe that no one else in the theater notices. Are people paying attention to the movie at all? The same thing happened to video games a number of years ago. They started to have better and better graphics will worse and worse game play. It's like no one cares about substance anymore, they just want pretty flashing things and laser beams. And its not like these script problems are hard to fix, it's just that the writers and directors don't even seem to care. It's just not important to them.
It's like that doofus Joe Wilson "You Lie!" guy. Now I'm all for public dissent, and I don't really care so much about the breech of decorum when a Congressman heckles the President (I wish that happened more during the Bush years), but what gets me is that Wilson was fundamentally wrong in his criticism. No credible news source found anything untrue about the President's statement. But that doesn't seem to matter to any of Wilson's supporters. No one cares that he was wrong, no one cares about the substance of his statement. They only cared about the style. I think this substance over style problem is getting worse, and I don't think that's a good direction to be headed. People need to start paying more attention to things. |
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| 200 of 200 |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|04:49 pm] |
I'm rapidly coming up on sending out my 200th job application, and I've found myself in a bit of a philosophical quandary. If I were to rank all the places I've applied to in order of how much I want that particular job, the scoring might be a bit fuzzy, but logically there would have to be one application that I would rank #200 out of 200. What if the only job I get is the #200 job? Sure the first 10 or 20 places would probably all make me equally happy, but you would have to think that if there are 199 jobs I'd rate better than job X, job X would most likely make me pretty miserable right? I made the mistake once before of taking a job I knew I was going to hate, and it was a horrible thing that spiraled into a nightmare I still haven't clawed my way out of yet. So why would I take a job that was so bad I would rank it #200 out of 200? That doesn't seem like a good career move.
But on the other hand, beggars can't be choosers right? I mean if I send out 200 applications and only receive one single offer, I'd be a fool to turn that offer down, wouldn't I? How arrogant would that be!?! And if I did turn down the one job I was likely to ever get, then am I damning myself to a lifetime of unemployment? And would I lose sympathy from everyone because hey, I got an offer, I turned it down, now it's my fault I'm unemployed.
But then what would the answer be? I've applied to everyplace that I think I'd be a decent fit for. I can't imagine magically finding a job I haven't already applied for that would rank high in my 200. So does that mean I'm done? Should I just stop sending out resumes? That doesn't seem like a very satisfying answer either. What if I get no offer from any of the 200? Then what do I do? Or do I keep applying for jobs I am pretty sure I don't want, just so I can have the illusion of progress? Send out resumes to the top 50 places over and over again in the hopes they've changed their mind?
None of these pathways seems very promising. |
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| Fla. St. U. J. of Land Use & Envtl. L. |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|04:53 pm] |
So, nothing all that important going on in my life these days. Just a few little tidbits. First, I am now actually a professional blogger! I'm getting paid to work on the Georgetown Security Law Brief. I'm not providing commentary so it's really more of a news aggregator than a blog, and they don't pay me very much, but the important thing is that they are paying me to keep it updated. This is better than my last semi-pro blogging gig, where they only offered to pay me in beer. Mostly because I didn't actually get any beer out of it.
Second, I can announce that my article on climate change and the Kyoto Treaty will be published in the spring 2010 issue of the Florida State University Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law. Unlike that blogging thing, they are not paying me, and since I don't have any prospects for getting an after-graduation job anyway, it's not like this publication is likely to help with my career. But it's still something to brag about I guess. Next to driving a motorcycle, there's nothing that the ladies like more than a guy who's had a law review article published.
Third, this week is the fourth anniversary of my webcomic tiny ghosts. I thought everybody who knew me already knew about the comic, but I have recently been informed that this is not true. So if you are not familiar with it, become familiar with it, and then tell all your friends about it. They will thank you for it.
Finally, I'm sitting on campus right now in the library overlooking the courtyard and they are BBQ-ing something and the entire courtyard is filled with smoke. It looks like a forest fire. I hope the building doesn't burn down. |
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| copyright |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|07:26 am] |
I was reading my copyright law textbook the other day and in the intro it was saying that copyright was important because without it people couldn't make money and if they couldn't make money they wouldn't create. The idea being that copyright increases the social good because it encourages production of arts. But is money the proper motivator for the production of arts? It seems to me that if your sole goal in crating is to make money, you will deliberately create something designed to make money, and not something designed to be as 'artistic' as possible. This is why the world is subjected to crap like Britney Spears albums and Stephanie Meyers novels. There is little if any artistic merit to their work, but they bring in a pile of cash. I once heard that Stephen King said that he could write much more literary novels if he wanted to, but he writes scholck because schlock is what sells. Limiting (or getting rid of) copyright law wouldn't stop people from making money from their creative work, because even if there is copying and plagiarism going on, some people will still buy the original from you. However it would stop people from making obscene amounts of money from their work, because the only thing that gets copied in large quantities are the things that are the most popular. Perhaps if the law was such that you couldn't make an obscene amount of money from your work, people would stop trying to create works designed to make an obscene amount of money? Sure, there might be fewer creative 'arts' produced, and you'd have to do a little research to find them, but I think the overall quality would be higher, and maybe that would maximize the public good more than the current system which awards appealing to the lowest common denominator? (Side note, if you really want to make money you should probably be getting an MBA, not an English degree.)
I say this and put my money where my mouth is. All of the creative works I've made, including two novels and the comic strip are public domain. I retain no copyright on any of them, not even a Creative Commons license, and have probably given away more copies than I've sold. I created them because I wanted to create, not to make money. I suppose you could argue that they are pretty poor quality so I wouldn't make money anyway, but hey, at least I'm trying...
In other publication-related news, I just found out yesterday that one of my law articles was accepted for publication in an environmental law journal. That's pretty exciting I think, even though, like all scholarly journals, they aren't going to pay me a dime. Like most academics I'm interested in getting my scholarly articles published to impress the ladies, not to make bank. |
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| alcoholism |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|10:37 am] |
So I was at a bar last night where the menu had a Kerouac Cocktail, named after Jack Kerouac and his "love of tequila." Now I'm a big Kerouac fan and like to see things named after him, but do you think it's respectful to name a mixed drink after a guy who died of alcoholism? Isn't that like naming a brand of nails after Jesus or a fast sports car after James Dean?
Cocktail was good though. Like most good tequila drinks they were successfully able to completely smother the taste of the tequila. |
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