ENGLAND

November 5, 2005:

Buckingham Palace



Changing of the Guard

Nelson's Column, Trafalger Square

National Gallery

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

Big Ben, with the London Eye in the background

Westminster Cathedral


Backlit stained glass windows at Westminster Cathedral

Tower of London

Henry VIII's armor in the Tower museum. Nice codpiece, no?

Tower Bridge

November 6
Salisbury Cathedral

Stonehenge

Knowlton Church. A Norman church built inside a Neolithic henge monument.

A pony and her foal in the New Forest:


Christchurch Priory




PARIS

The Catacombs of Paris

Montparnasse Cemetery



Sainte Chapelle

Notre Dame

Entertaining details on the outside of Notre Dame

The Lovure

A cylinder seal

Sharing.



Bunny and pig seem to get along by dint of the fact that they're totally uninterested in one another. They'll always have broccoli, though.

Gypsy looking contemplative in the garden. Note the blooming mini-rose.

Was reading the news, saw that Olivian Newton John's love interest has gone missing...mind you, he was missing for 11 days before any one reported him missing, which I find suspicious in itself...

Anyway, the most shocking thing in the article was that she still tours...At first, I could think only of Nancy Sinatra songs...well, a Nancy Sinatra song...but clearly wrong. I realized the only song I remember of Newton John's was Physical, as it was considered naughtily suggestive among my age group when I was younger and thus was massively overplayed:

"I'm saying all the things that I know you'll like, makin' good conversation
I gotta handle you just right, you know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie
There's nothin' left to talk about, unless it's horizontally

CHORUS
Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk"

The woman has no shame - she rhymed "movie" and "horiontally!" I had forgotten that, shiver....must have repressed the memory of it.

Cousin Michal just got back from Canada and brought me some presents, including a darling little Russian doll ornament a very pretty pendant. The pendant is of Raven, a trickster spirit. I adore trickster spirits.

Finally have a chance to update this blog. This is a cream and sugar set that Bernard got me for graduation. It's the Casper Cream and Sugar set by SWAK. I'm a sucker for cats, and the color combination on this set is very pleasing. Very nice.

Big cat.

Bernard sent a new quiz. Surprise, I'm a postmodernist! Does that mean I get to be really cool, act disaffected and smugly superior and wear lots of black...er, nevermind. "Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis." The quiz definitions are unfortunately not entirely accurate, but still a fun quiz.

Postmodernist 94%
Existentialist 94%
Idealist 75%
Romanticist 75%
Cultural Creative 75%
Materialist 63%
Modernist 56%
Fundamentalist 6%

Couple of funny things today.
First, Maria gave me a B&N gift certificate for graduation. I've been browsing for books I want and like. I checked my Amazon list of recommended books. Here is a typical excerpt of books recommended to me and, yes, they pretty show up in this sort of order:
Natasha's Dance : A Cultural History of Russia
How to Start a Solo Law Practice
Linear B and Related Scripts (Reading the Past, Vol. 1)
Medea (Dover Thrift Editions)
Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down [supernatural romance]
Schaum's Outline of Russian Grammar
Bellydance : A Guide to Middle Eastern Dance, Its Music, Its Culture and Costume
A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits
The Japanese Way of Justice: Prosecuting Crime in Japan (Studies on Law and Social Control)
Echoes of a Native Land : Two Centuries of a Russian Village [Just bought it]
Game Theory and Political Theory : An Introduction
Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)
Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Harvard Economic Studies)
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Sort of quirky, I think, and actually does reflect the books I've been reading recently.

I found an...interesting...tidbit in _The Logic of Japanese Politics_ by Curtis:

The most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl occurred in Tokaimura in 1999. The accident happened while workers were transferring enriched uranium in stainless steel buckets, mixing the uranium by hand and then pouring it into a holding tank.

And you never realized that the Simpsons was a documentary on nuclear material handling techniques, did you?

This is from an e-mail to a friend. It is one of those things you write not for the recipient, but for yourself, but I'm posting it here for those of you who may find my views on this interesting (surely there is at least one of you out there).
_________
Thinking over our conversation this morning, I felt I should clarify a couple of points.

First, as to whether people are capable of change, I believe we are using different standards for what constitutes “change”. I do not believe that the fundamentals of a person’s personality are prone to change under most circumstances. I, for instance, am conceptually oriented, creative, inwardly focused, somewhat scattered, dislike chaos and dislike authority. These are factors that have been consistent in my personality since early childhood; I can remember incidents at ages 3 and 4 that are completely consistent with these personality traits. Now, what can change is behavior, i.e. the way I exhibit these traits, or the putting on of various masks… Several people who have met me in the last handful of years have observed that I exhibit as an extrovert, although I am still a fairly classic introvert (being with strangers, except ones I find very stimulating, drains me). The difference is more one of conscious behavior rather than a fundamental personality change. I have learned to function in situations that conflict with my own preferences: I act extroverted, but I am not. I can make a schedule, but I’m not an inherently organized person. My only weak spot is that I am still unable to understand why people care about down-to-earth details. To use a clichéd metaphor, I have trouble seeing the trees, I see only the forest….trees are only interesting because they shape the forest.

That said, when I say “people don’t change,” not only do I mean that personality fundamentals don’t seem likely to change, but most people are unlikely to consciously focus on changing potentially problematic behaviors. When I’m in a situation that requires me to act in a manner inconsistent with my preferences, it may be somewhat stressful, but I am able to do it. The key is that it requires much more conscious effort than my innate behavior (sitting around thinking deep thoughts comes naturally; chatting about fung shui and horoscopes without being contemptuous does not, but I can manage that, too. But I have to think about it.). So, am I a “different” person, or am I just acting differently? Of course, one is judged on their behavior, not their inner heart, so perhaps people do “change” for all intents and purposes, yet I am more interested in the internal rather than the external manifestations… Geoff correctly points out that my personality type is the one most likely to enjoy introspection of this nature: I am my own best subject in this experiment called life…my perceptions are definitely filtered through this lens. Perhaps others really can change without conscious thought. On the other hand, perhaps the ability to bring these things to a conscious level helps me better shape my actions…

Of course, things such as severe trauma, injury, strokes, senility, chemical imbalances, etc. are likely to cause significant changes. C.S. Friedman (list of her books here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-author=C.%20S.%20Friedman/104-6537346-1827952) and I once politely went round about on this topic. She is depressive, a fact clear in all of her books, which I adore – I’m a very cheerful person, but I love dark themes in literature – the irony, no? Friedman noted that when she was finally diagnosed and prescribed anti-depressants, it was as if her personality changed overnight. I'm not sure about that, though; I wonder if it was also her perception of herself that changed. My grandmother, during her slow descent into senility, became what I can only describe as even more herself. She was always fairly selfish and petulant, but as a younger woman she was largely able to mask this by displaying a variety of masks (good mother, caring nurse, etc.). The ability to put on masks declined with age, but her personality didn’t…. thankfully, she passed away before she completely lost her personality and memories. Many people say that even early senility causes a marked change in personality, but it may also be related to the slipping of the various masks that people wear. Same goes for positive changes…an acquaintance of mine recently completed his chemical engineering degree and now is working in that very lucrative field instead of waiting tables, as he had done for last few years. His personality seemed to blossom overnight, but did his personality fundamentally change, or did the extra boost of self-confidence simply help his “true” personality show through? Same for all of my law school acquaintances: I’d say law school has simply made them “more” who they were, boiled them down to the more essential core, stripped away some extraneous details without changing the fundamentals. What changes is the mask and the way they present to the world. Selfish, corrupt people become selfish, corrupt lawyers, no matter the mask they present to the world. People put too much reliance on masks when making judgments - Boy Scout leaders who enjoy child porn, MADD spokeswomen who drive drunk, the upstanding church-going man who frequents women of ill repute, the quiet neighbor who didn’t seem a bit like a serial killer - why is anyone surprised by these things? They’re practically clichés. There are always signs. People just don’t see them. Masks make it hard to thin slice people, to believe intuitive snap judgments.

In _Blink_, Gladwell mentions a study that shows that doctors who exhibit concern and are respectful towards their patients are significantly less likely to be sued for malpractice regardless of skill level. Highly skilled doctors with poor bedside manners are much more likely to be sued. Something for all professionals to consider,

Read this the other day. Although the author seems perfectly nice, it rubbed me the wrong way....so I had to e-mail him a commentary on the flaws in both his understanding of the Star Wars universe as well as the problems in his free-market libertarian world view. I hate it when people base their arguments on a flawed analysis and incorrect data and end by concluding that their arguments are correct, Q.E.D. Below is the e-mail I sent to him:
________
Greetings. I just read and enjoyed your recent article, "What is the 'Dark Side' and Why Do Some People Choose It?", but I found it flawed in both the terms of the mythology of the Star Wars universe and the discussion of politics, law and economics.

First, your attempts to use the mythos of Star Wars to bolster your own political positions would have been more swaying had you correctly identified the nature of Anakin Skywalker's birth. In episode 1, Anakin's mother clearly indicates it was a case of immaculate conception. The exact quote from his mother is "There was no father, that I know of... I carried him, I gave him birth..." (Script available here: http://scripts.cgispy.com/newsboard.cgi?action=view&num=2&user=starwars1). I also find the claim that _immaculate conception_ leads to crime both unlikely and, if you're of a religious inclination, blasphemous. I cannot think of many cases of immaculate conception in humans...parthenogenesis in lower orders of animals notwithstanding, of course. Maybe Shmi just budded off little Anakin (pretty much impossible, though, as he's male (parthenogenesis produces female clones), unless the genetic makeup of the people in Star Wars differs significantly from that of humans - in that case, one could argue that copy error led to Anakin to the dark side. I'm voting copy error.), but I suspect Lucas is actually alluding to the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Using it to bolster a flimsy argument on the evils of single motherhood just doesn't work. Serious overreach. Truthfully, I found the entire mention of immaculate conception disconcerting, and I am surprised that you failed to identify the parallel between Christ and what is essentially a science fiction anti-Christ, i.e. Darth Vader, especially as you later went on to compare Darth Vader to Hitler.

Lucas does build his universe around many images and details from our history, but I perceive those to be details and images pillaged from and filtered through secondary sources such as other movies and books. I'm intrigued by your statement that, "In recent episodes he showed how an evil empire emerges from a constitutional republic via expanding mercantilist polices, bureaucracy, and political manipulation using images from Roman and British empires as well as Nazi Germany." I disagree with some of the implications of what causes a republic to become evil, but I'm going to give it some thought. Rome and Great Britain did not have constitutions, although the Weimar Republic did. I'd say that the parallels between Star Wars and Nazi Germany are the strongest.

What really doomed the Star Wars Republic was Jar Jar being allowed to vote in the Senate. I blame Jar Jar for the collapse of the Republic. In both the case of Rome and the Nazis, there were also individuals who strongly influenced the change in government structure (Augustus, Hitler). The British did countless vile things abroad, but they were fairly respectful of civil liberties _at home_ compared to other countries of the period (which weren't very respectful at all. Great Britain had the concept of mutual obligations between lords and vassals, whereas in other countries, such as Russia, duties flowed only upwards, vassal to lord, with lords owing their vassals nothing in return. I’m happy the US stems from English common law.), which is a large part of how England managed to avoid having a (successful) civil war or revolution, Roundheads aside. The Roundheads were basically the Puritans, and you know where they ended up.

Additionally, you over-generalized the link between single parenthood and crime. In addition to the marital status of the parents, there is also a strong correlation with socioeconomic class and education; that single parents tend to be at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale and thus face greater challenges does not imply a simple, causal connection between single parenthood and a life of crime. The socioeconomic class and education of the single parent also have a bearing on the matter, not single parenthood in and of itself, Mr. Thornton.

Now, on to your argument on the evils of government interference in the economy as explicated by the Star Wars universe. It was clearly stated in Episode 1 that, "The Republic doesn't exist out here," thus slavery was tolerated. This implies that Tatooine and many other planets exist outside the control of galactic law. We are agreed on the evils of slavery. On Earth, slavery is now universally recognized as jus cogens, i.e. violating the fundamental norms of international law (along with genocide), yet slavery is still rampant. In as much as you concluded that Mos Espa was ruled by organized crime, your conclusions were accurate in that organized crime is closely tied to slavery in this day and age. This is borne out by real life evidence, as the vast majority of human trafficking is carried out by organized crime groups. Slavery is most rampant in those places with poor law enforcement, which goes counter to your strongly anti-government interference argument. It is strongly driven by the economics of the individuals involved, and is one of the things that makes me question unbridled capitalism. Should the question of supply and demand be totally separate from the ethical and moral considerations of what is being supplied or demanded? I don't think so.

Are you in favor of organized crime, Mr. Thornton? I doubt it. Myself, I am happy to live in a country ruled by laws and a democratic government. Try living in a country that isn't; I have. Even the US could work much harder to eradicate the slavery taking place within its borders (the statistics on that are absolutely *shocking*). Ditto for the EU, Japan and other first world nations.

On the wider question of civil liberties, I generally do agree with your points. The Bill of Rights has taken quite a beating these last few years, no?

I assume you are of a libertarian bent, as you criticize politicians who are in favor of big government as well as cutting civil liberties, yet you implicitly support big business by criticizing attorneys general (yes, it is attorneyS general - attorney is the noun, general is the adjective. The phrase is confusing because if follows the French ordering of modifier following noun. I will concede that this is a picky point and both forms are now accepted, but attorneys general is preferable). You do realize, of course, that big business and lobbying are closely linked to big government and high tax rates, no? Large corporations are able to successfully lobby for tax cuts and other preferential treatment, thus shifting the burden to regular taxpayers. It is also not unheard of for a corporation to lobby for legislation in its favor, which goes against the thrust of your big government argument. (The EU seems slightly more resistant to corporate lobbying, at least in the arena of intellectual property protections, but the fact that approximately half the EU budget goes to agricultural subsidies makes it another example of big government tied to big business, I'd say). I would think that a libertarian would be against lobbying of this sort, as it goes against the principles of the free market. You are right, however, in your observations that many bureaucrats do nurture their own fiefdoms, leading to bureaucratic bloat. Some bureaucrats, however, do have good intentions, and not simply those too low on the rung to make a difference.

Assuming you are of a libertarian bent, perhaps you should stop to consider that Mills was not against all government interference and regulation per se. As I recall, Mills was not against protecting the environment, nor against regulating acts that could cause harm to others. Were I a betting woman, however, I'd bet you're more of a Smith man.

I found your random and unexplained attack on Joseph Stiglitz rather puzzling. I'd hardly consider him to be on the dark side, compared to other many other notables in his field. Stiglitz has made a number of arguments against globalization without social responsibility, although admittedly someone in favor of the uncontrolled free market would find these arguments somewhat odious. I would recommend his book, _Globalization and Its Discontents_, you may purchase it at the following URL: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393324397/qid=1115992496/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-6537346-1827952?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 Try visiting a third world country; I have. Perhaps the plight of the world's poor isn't your concern, but it is mine.

Side note, Hitler hardly excelled as a painter. His sense of perspective was drastically skewed, with his human figures standing eerily as tall as the surrounding buildings. He was either rejected by or flunked out of art school for this reason. Like many of his cronies (e.g. Eichmann, who was incapable of completing even vocational-technical training in engineering), he was a failed, bitter excuse of a man who relied on a narrow version nationalism to cement his power base. Nationalism is the fallback of the despot.

All thoughts here are my own and off the top of my head, aside from the Star Wars quotes, which I had to look up, Star Wars being much less my forte than international affairs. If you are curious as to the explicit sources of information supporting my views, I will be more than happy to provide you with additional information.

Geoff sent me a kitchen witch, which I absolutely adore:

Working thought: Extraneous words are vital to set mood precisely because they're extraneous.

A new flower blooming this weekend, an unknown epiphylium. It came from a cutting from Michal's mother a few years ago. A pretty pale pink with a deep floral scent.

The campaign to ban dihydrogen monoxide…laugh. http://www.dhmo.org/ I think my favorite quote is “Dihydrogen Monoxide has been found in our rivers, lakes, oceans and streams…even in Antarctic ice.” *gasp*

I guess some politicians actually got a bit worked up about it. From snopes.com: In March 2004 the California municipality of Aliso Viejo (a suburb in Orange County) came within a cat's whisker of falling for this hoax after a paralegal there convinced city officials of the danger posed by this chemical. The leg-pull got so far as a vote having been scheduled for the City Council on a proposed law that would have banned the use of foam containers at city-sponsored events because (among other things) they were made with DHMO, a substance that could "threaten human health and safety."

I’d have loved to be at that city council meeting…sigh.

Happy day, Just got notice that my order of ostrich feathers are slowly wending their way across the nation to my door via FedEx. They're for a hat...a bright, gaudy hat. ostrich.com carries a lot of ostrich-related things, including a wide assortment of colors and feathers. I bought four feathers at the Ren Faire last weekend, but I wanted more. Will post pictures when they arrive. Ostrich.com has a really darling photo of a cat in a box of feathers.

I see a niche market for a book….the hero or heroine is a devout fundamentalist being oppressed by an unseen force…and runs smack into the middle of the global conspiracy to repress all religion, led by the UN, Planned Parenthood, university professors and the like. It will be the topic of courses at fundamentalist Bible colleges. Over the course of a long and best selling series, the heroes manage to unmask the conspirators, overthrow the conspiracy and install a global theocracy, which then promptly executes the heroes because they pose a threat to the new world order; unfortunately, all that research, thinking and traveling they did to fight the conspirators unintentionally educated the heroes to the point they will no longer be good drones. The last novel would end on that very Orwellian note, thus betraying and angering the core base of readers. Sales will plummet, although a small group of devout fans will remain steadfast, holding firm to the belief that the global conspiracy forced the author to write the last book. At that point, intelligent people will start to read the series because they realize it was actually a well-constructed satire all along. The series will make it back to the bestseller’s list after the initial precipitous plummet in sales. Courses will be taught on it at real institutions of higher learning. The reclusive author sheds the old pen name and starts on another series involving a devout fundamentalist being oppressed by an unseen force...

I’d be tempted to write that series just to make a point…and lots of money. Points and lots of money are good.

More stick insects today. One on the ceiling when I got home tonight. Not sure if s/he got there on his/her own power, or if he was brought in by one of the cats and escaped. I assume it came under its own power, as it seemed unharmed; the last stick insects the cats caught didn't fare so well. Caught it and put it back on the Cymbidium and noticed two teeny baby sticks nearby. Very cute. There is a Painted Lady butterfly migration heading through San Diego right now, but I haven't seen them yet. Cousin found a whole bunch in her yard, however, so here is a picture of one of them.


Two kids were over today, lots of interaction for the cats. Djali is pretty exhausted (plus bunny bit his tail after Djali kicked him in the face, making both of them a bit grumpy - they've some unresolved dominance issues, I suspect). Bunny's toe is less swollen, so hopefully the broken nail will heal without any permanent damage.

Went to the Getty today, here is a picture from the gardens:



And from afar:

Poor bunny ripped one of his toenails off the other day and it has become infected. He's fairly good about taking the oral antibiotic, although he detests the taste and pulls his head into his neck turtle-style to avoid the dose.

Cousin had a fabulous idea to make Amanita mushrooms out of Sculpy. I realize I've mixed mythologies: Celtic mushroom rings and German mushrooms, but to good effect. Here is the result:

In the mail on Saturday:

"The Committee of Bar Examiners is pleased to advise you that you have been found to posess the good moral character required for certification to practice law in California." Woo hoo, I'm a good person, and the State Bar said so.

Okay, took an updated picture of the fairy garden, here goes. Filling in nicely, although I've left a few bare patches for additional plants.

Found a stick insect on my Cymbidium orchid (Sussex Court 'Not Peace') tonight.


And a wider angle view of the mini garden.

A close up of my mini-garden.

Yukos, the troubled Russian oil giant, has filed for bankruptcy protection in US courts. Very clever move on their part, I'd say, if just because it creates confusion and stir among potential buyers (i.e. Gazprom). International law is fun like that, very few real rules (i.e. genocide, slavery and piracy are BAD, that's as firm as a rule as you get in international law), just some norms that nations ignore at their leisure.

Took my first final of my last semester of law school. Two to go, and a paper for one of my graduate classes, then I'm officially done with law school. Yay!

Trip to Tijuana yesterday with my NAFTA politics class to see the Mattel maquiladora. Was interesting. The factory was interesting, although not very depressing, no more so than any regular semi-automated factory; turns out Mattel actually seems to have a sense of corporate responsibility. The line workers get paid $8/day, but Mattel provides supplemental stuff that the government doesn’t, like free food, vaccinations and transportation, in order to make sure its workers show up. An engineer led our factory tour, which means we got about 2 hours of talking about industrial processes (I now know the difference between injection molding and blow molding), got to watch toys being safety tested on stairs, ViewMaster reels made, boxes printed, bubble “vacuum cleaners” being stress-tested on a conveyer belt, etc. Sort of interesting, they’re very worried about being competitive with China; the engineer showed us their machine for screwing in the screws on Magna Doodles, and noted that in Mattel’s Chinese factories, they’d just use 14 laborers, one for each screw. And China is still cheaper overall. “Labor is the one resource the world has in excess,” said one of them, which seems very true (and horrible). And, as you’d expect, although the professor seemed mildly surprised, the VP said NAFTA had had minimal impact on them, except for causing more red tape.

Two pictures of the hovels near the maquiladora. Mexico has very little in the way of consumer credit, so people buy little plots of land and build onto their houses as they can afford it.

For those of you curious as to what I've been doing the last two years, here are some of my observations on law school to a friend considering it:

The common law tends to be very "detail oriented" and spends a lot of time focusing on facts (as opposed to civil law systems, i.e. every country in the world except the English speaking ones, which are more conceptual in spirit). I'm conceptual, too, which is why I enjoy the Masters more (political science/international relations needing no facts whatsoever ;)). Yet I did enjoy law school, and thought it was a positive learning and growth experience that I'd recommend to other people looking for that sort of thing. It's not as bad as they say, once you figure out the way things work. There are some silly things in law school, especially the first year. I about died when they told us we'd need to spend 60 hours a week studying. Not true. They LIED. 3-10 hours a week is a more realistic estimate if you're a fast learner and have better things to do, although being at the top of the class requires quite a bit more studying and also figuring out how the law school "game" is played. Outlining is a scam, too (mind you, this is what most of said 60 hours are to be spent doing, you see the logic). I highlight relevant stuff in my textbook then put it into my class notes, that's the closest I come to "outlining." Although, of course, people have different learning styles, and outlining seems to work for some people. My class notes are pretty good, though; I type about 110 wpm (almost at the speed of spoken word, although I don't bother transcribing the lecture (some people do!)) and I format them nicely, so that helps a lot. I guess that's one of the big points I'm trying to make, there are lots of myths about law school, and I've chosen to ignore most of them and do what works for me (of course, the proof will be in the pudding once I'm out in the real world). Lots of silly stuff, essentially rites of passage. I think rites of passage are almost always a way to identify suckers who are willing toe the line (see above about working for big law firms and clerking with judges, i.e. those looking for slaves willing to toe the line), so the system has a certain twisted logic. Can you see why one of my professors called me an iconoclast, as I might have mentioned, but he meant it very nicely (as he writes articles on how law school should be changed to be more accommodating to - gasp - students, thus is well aware of these issues as well. There is a surprising amount of literature on it.) As to exams, it's basically buzzword bingo, you try to identify and use the same language to describe things that the professor used in his or her lecture. I find it a very dull and stilted way to write, unfortunately, but that's the secret. Almost all class grades are based entirely on a final exam (and maybe a few participation points); a few have papers or midterms. There is a curve, and people don't seem to like it. I think curves are inherently evil, but it's survivable. The Socratic method is okay, you get used to it. Not all professors use it, and no one gets called on that often (maybe 5 or so times a semester, at most). It did help me get over a mild aversion to speaking in public, as once you get used to rambling aimlessly in public, you stop being humiliated by it. That was actually my biggest fear about law school, as I'd had a bad experience with an undergrad professor who used it to target students who irritated her (never me, she seemed to like me okay, or maybe I just lucked out, but one of my friends walked out of the class and flunked rather than go back to more abuse). At it's best, classroom discussion can become a very interesting dialogue, which is when law school is at its best. Although it has degenerated into a shouting match a couple of times (people get very heated about economics!). That's another thing, I read up a bit on basic economic principles, as my own knowledge was spotty; the law and economics movement is chic right now, and it helps to know how to talk THAT talk, too. Game theory is also another thing to maybe read up on in a very minor way, if you haven't read much about it (I keep avoiding it like the plague, bah, mathematicians attempting to predict human behavior indeed). You hear people talking about zero sum games and even the prisoner's dilemma ever so often. Um, that’s about it for general law school observations. As one of the drunken attorneys at the Mensa meeting told me, it all does come together in the end. There is sort of a method to the madness, ultimately. But not really. Once you've got the basics, it's mostly all just made up on the fly. And THAT is the real lesson of law school...heh heh.

Hey I’ve come up with an idea. I’m going to rate dictators, past and present on their fetishes and hobbies when they weren’t busy repressing their people. E.g. Kim Jong Il gets a negative million points for cool for his Daffy Duck collection. Gold toilet seats get you negative points for taste. Catherine the Great gets major points for the Hermitage, as does Louis XIV for Versailles; at least they spent their peasants’ desperately needed food money on great artwork and architecture rather than e.g. Daffy Duck memorabilia. This is why I like the French and the Russians, repressive as their leaders were. They had style and didn’t do things by halves.

Okay, this is the best photo of the lot:



And one of my tree by itself:

A cute Christmas photo of bunny (still trying to get a good one with the cats):

Jon Stewart of the Daily Show has written a book. Watch the video blurb if you get a chance (in which Stewart says he likes to buy books off Amazon because he’s afraid of, oh, people, the outside world…germs). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446532681/ref=bxgy_cc_text_a/104-6537346-1827952 It’s Amazon’s #1 book right now. It’s funny, because there are several reviews of the book on Amazon accusing *Amazon* of liberal bias for promoting Stewart’s book while giving a “chilly reception” to upstanding Republican authors. Perhaps it’s just because they can’t write, and the books don’t sell well? No, couldn’t be. I read the back of cereal boxes, for heaven's sake, and I'd read a book by Ann Coulter if she could write half as well as something a Kellog's or Post marketing executive could spew out during the most liquid of lunches. The funniest reviews are the ones accusing Stewart of historical inaccuracy (duh! It’s a parody). My favorite review: “The problem with this book: It's made by the Daily Show, the worst news show on TV period(.). It's weird Liberal anchor man is all goofy. When I get home from work, my mother and I will watch this show and just look at each other at how incompetent it is and even laugh outright sometimes at it. And this is the only news show I'm aware of that doesn't even have one correspondent actually in Iraq (where we're fightin)!” How can people just not “get” it? I mean, what real news show sends correspondents trick-or-treating on embassy row in DC? Can you see Dan Rather skipping along dressed like a pirate and carrying a plastic pumpkin full of candy?

Interesting factoid from the reviews: The Daily Show recently (and somewhat scandalously) won the Television Critics Association's award for outstanding news and public affairs series.

Stupid people tricks.

Spoke with my ex-boyfriend today; he called and we had a pleasant enough chat, although it is very weird to talk to him these days. Anyway, he had a story about his mother. She is, quite literally, one of the most nastily bitter and stupidest people I've ever met (I doubt the two factors are unrelated). She recently got a new Lexus and accidentally put diesel fuel in the tank. Yes, diesel fuel. But that’s not the really stupid part. She realized her mistake before she started the car but figured, "gasoline is gasoline," and drove off (yet another linguistic insight from the woman who once said, "Bourgeois means poor. I know; I'm from Montreal."). Thus she now has a $10,000 engine replacement bill. She blames the Lexus, too, apparently for not being able to tolerate diesel fuel (because it couldn’t possibly be because she’s rock stupid, now could it?).

Interesting Crossfire episode with Jon Stewart, of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." I've pasted some of the most insightful gems here, a full transcript is available at the following address: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html.

STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
And:
CARLSON: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE. We're talking to Jon Stewart, who was just lecturing us on our moral inferiority. Jon, you're bumming us out. Tell us, what do you think about the Bill O'Reilly vibrator story?STEWART: I'm sorry. I don't.
CARLSON: Oh, OK.STEWART: What do you think?BEGALA: Let me change the subject.STEWART: Where's your moral outrage on this?CARLSON: I don't have any.STEWART: I know.

And:
STEWART: I didn't realize that -- and maybe this explains quite a bit.STEWART: ... is that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity.

And yet more:
STEWART: But the thing is that this -- you're doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great. BEGALA: We do, do... STEWART: It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery. And I will tell you why I know it. CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery? STEWART: Absolutely.CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you... STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. (LAUGHTER) STEWART: What is wrong with you?

And, Stewart’s best gem:
CARLSON: I do think you're more fun on your show. Just my opinion. …
STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

Human Folly.

I’ve decided to start a (very small) museum dedicated to human folly. I'll post pictures on my website if I get around to it. I’ve already two exhibits in the acquisition stage: a pets.com sock puppet ($5 on eBay) and a stock certificate from my old employer (cash value: 18 cents). As my acquisitions budget is close to nill, I expect my museum to grow slowly, but I've just bid on an Enron stock cert on eBay, which will increase the size of my collections by half. If I feel like including historical folly, I’ll add a tulip bulb to the collection. Anyone who has any useless, tasteless dotcom related memorabilia or stock certificates not worth the paper on which they're printed, remember to send them to me before you jump off that ledge, okay?

And yes, this sort of thing is how I keep myself busy and entertained: how many people do you know with their own self-declared museums, no matter how small? ;)

Animals are funny. I just bought bunny a used rainbow slinky from eBay for $1.40 total; the local House Rabbit Society website recommends them as good bunny toys, hope he likes it. A good soaking in soap should remove any nasty kid germs the slinky picked up during its previous incarnation.

New bird toys today, too, the source of great puzzlement and perhaps even anger to the two birds. You know where you stand with birds: I am in the "evil" category and don't expect that to change despite any number of bribes. I see that my male yellow bird has a crooked tail feather. I wondered why, but noticed the other day that the female has the habit of pulling his tail feather to make him move when he’s somewhere he oughtn’t be (i.e. anywhere she wants to be, i.e. anywhere he is).

As to the cats, noticed some dander on Djali, so gave him a bath. He kept shrieking his meow of death (I’M DYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYING), and Gypsy came and perched on the side of the tub and started to give her sympathetic, distressed meow. Such a sweet girl, she’s now engaged in some comfort grooming because it upset her so much. Poor Djali was literally in shock with horror once I pulled him out. He lay in my lap for several minutes goggling into empty space...this can’t happen to *me*…how could this happen to *me*… Puts up such an act, but a total baby underneath, a typical male.

At pet store today, found a cute, silly collar for Gypsy. Here she is:

Maria, Audrey and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore’s biggest flaw as a director is his somewhat simplistic and sledgehammer approach to driving home his point, but I found it very effective. Moore’s two earlier documentaries were much more simplistic; this one shows a more mature and sober Moore. Good selection of footage. He managed to make both George Bushes and their cronies look both greedy and idiotic. And very, very evil. ;) Quite well done. Although of course the people in the administration surely don’t see themselves as selling out the American people in pursuit of their own economic self interest, there were several interesting connections drawn between Bush family and the Saud family and big oil. E.g. Karzai used to be an advisor to Unocal (coincidence? Hah). Also the large and mysterious influxes of money to the companies Bush Jr. ran – and ran into the ground – while his father was president suspected to have come from the Saudis. Also that Bush Jr. was investigated by the SEC in the early 90’s. Some wrenching scenes, too, of people both Iraqi and American crying over lost family members. It had fewer of Moore’s trademark “shock attacks” than his earlier movies and his tv show. This is my own favorite aspect of Moore’s work, except for the rather cruel-spirited argument with Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine; no matter how odious Heston may be, he is aging and slightly fuzzy-minded, and watching Moore verbally nail a doddering old man disturbed me. But taking potshots and politicians and businesspeople is always amusing, like shooting rather unpleasant fish in a barrel. Perhaps it is unsporting, but damn funny. My favorite part of the movie was when Moore took a bunch of recruitment brochures and enlistment paperwork to the street outside Capitol Hill and was trying to convince members of the House and Senate to enlist their own children (as Moore pointed out, only one person in Congress has a child serving in Iraq). The looks on the faces of the few politicians Moore managed to corner were priceless, although it was exactly what cynical ol’ me expected to see (i.e. are you frickin’ nuts!?) The audience actually applauded after the movie was over. Imagine Bush lost a few votes in that crowd. Moore just may do more to win the election for Kerry than Kerry’s own campaign.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/05/07/soldier.charged/index.html. Female private charged with abuse of prisoners. What a weak-minded little fool she is. Just because her lover told her to torture prisoners, she did it with a smile on her face. Ick! Of course, as her sister pointed out, she?s only human. Yes, she is....a bad human. Obviously pathetic weakness runs in her family....I don?t care if she was a close relative, I?d be leading the charge to string her up. Especially if she was a close relative, I'd be absolutely ashamed to be related to such a snivelling, cowardly, pathetic little worm. "She obeys orders" indeed....gee, it was an order, I have no personal responsibility in the matter.... That's the oldest excuse in the book, and I think we should institute special penalties for anyone banal, trite or stupid enough to ever use it again. We all know how well it worked at the Nuremburg Trials. (Don't anyone get all huffy on me, I'm commenting on the banality of the excuse, and not making any attempt to compare to the degrees of evil involved. Of course, evil is almost always banal, isn't it...)

Yes, I'm being judgmental, but people like infuriate me. She's what I call "petty evil". The sort of evil kept in line by threats of punishment rather than any kind of moral concern. As soon as that threat seems to go away (I say seems, because I hope she gets the maximum possible penalty, and given the way the army needs a scapegoat right now, I imagine the chances are strong that these torturing idiots will get the maximum sentence. Now if only we can go after their officers...) they act out in bizarre and stupid ways. Absolutely loathsome. Must crack down, and crack down hard, and not just make a token effort of punishing the offenders (guess which one I think will actually happen).

I hate stupid, petty evil people.

Had an idea today. You see, I get a lot of junk mail. I think junk mail that goes to an actual person, e.g. the money laundering scams, should be sent to each other. So when I get one from a guy in, say, Togo or Zambia, I'll forward it to that unhappy widow in Nigeria who lost her husband due to "the situation" in her country, or to the poor (well, "rich") unfortunate in Kuwait with cancer, along with the suggestion that I can't help them, but I bet they could help each other. I may also offer my services as an English language consultant...only 2.8 million dollars. I hate stupid people.

New laptop on the way! Very spiffy, am pleased with it, as has been 4+ years since I've bought a new computer. Have upgraded the existing ones, but not quite the same. Now a brief musing on the miracles of electrical tape. I fixed my old laptop's power supply to get me through the next week until the new one arrives. Jury rigged, but it works! Amazing how dependent one is on electricity and how one forgets until one's laptop power supply dies right before one's civil procedure class. But now it is charging, and no raging inferno that I've noticed so far. Scissors and electical tape solved the problem, as they always do. For bigger jobs, it is duct tape and scissors, but really, the same principle. Name me a problem that duct or electrical tape can't solve (although perhaps it'd require a creative application), and it's probably not a problem worth considering.

Had my first strawberry crop yesterday, crop being defined loosely as a single strawberry. An alpine strawberry, close to wild type strawberries, bought at cousin Michal's recommendation. They're yummy. I saw that Djali was licking the leaves of the strawberry plants lovingly, perhaps he's already partaken of their bounty. I wonder if I qualify for farm subsidies now, as I've 14 strawberry plants and a whole bunch of culinary herbs.

Now an amusing quote from http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/02/27/un.britain/index.html on weapons inspectors being spied upon. "Butler told Australian radio he believed he was being bugged by at least four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, adding, 'I don't know what the Chinese were doing.'" My first thought was, only four?! Does that mean I have a jaundiced view of world politics?

Found a wonderful, fabulous item today. Italian inlaid wood pedestal chess table. It matches my Italian inlaid wood music box tables. 40% off, too! Here are two pictures, top and side view. Man, I really need to vacuum, cat fur builds up after a week out of town!

Well, this past week has been positively exhausting. My grandfather and my uncle died within twelve hours of each other, my grandfather of pneumonia and my uncle from complications after heart surgery. I flew to Arkansas for my grandfather's funeral and drove to LA for my uncle's. I just got back a few hours ago. I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch for an hour because I literally could not make it to the bedroom. Although I did manage to check e-mail before passing out. ;) Things were as pleasant as could be expected. Got to see many people I hadn't seen in ages - cousins, family friends, etc. - and met a few new ones. I'd never met my step-uncles (my grandfather's second wife's children) and am glad I got a chance to do that. They were all nice, and one of them was an attorney with lots of interesting stories. Always nice to have someone with a somewhat similar background around, and he seemed to feel the same. I also got to spend time in Memphis, although I'm neutral about having had a chance to do it. Had I had more time, I would have seriously considered visiting Graceland just for the tacky bragging rights and to get lots of Elvis-themed postcards for friends and family. As it was, all I brought back are some photos. Here is one of our land in Arkansas:

Welp, just finished my "updates" for my Public Interest Law class. Then I got to cleaning out some old e-mail when I noticed my Inbox is 225 megs and dates back to 2000. No wonder it gets corrupted on occasion... Sort of creepy, found e-mail from two deceased relatives lurking about in there. Classes start tomorrow.

http://tlc.discovery.com/news/afp/20031229/magazine.html?ct=3498.72619452984 When books attack...Be careful, it could happen to you!

http://tlc.discovery.com/news/afp/20031215/bullet.html?ct=6788.92970857309 Doctor killed while testing his anti-bullet charm. Surprise, suprise, it didn't work.

My new Xmas ornaments - after Christmas sales rule! Note the Sharpie for size comparison.

Took a few cute photos today of my cats "kissing" under the Christmas tree.

Am back from finals! Seemed to go well, etc. Although I have a cold and have been otherwise mostly nonproductive over the last two weeks, I did feel adequately prepared. Now I need to do laundry, clean, etc. During the last week of classes a classmate and friend noted that I was dressed nicely (at least, more nicely than usual, although she didn't say that), and was I going out after class. You see, I explained, all my casual clothes were too dirty to wear and I'd probably be wearing formalwear to my finals. Not that I did, I raided my store of animal-themed t-shirts and sweatpants and have worn variants of that style for the last two weeks. Mostly because it was better than paying for the dry cleaning for the formalwear. ;)

Put up my Christmas tree. A large number of soft toy ornaments and sturdy metal and wood ones - cat-proof, you know. A few glass balls - very small, and thus resistant to breakage despite their delicate nature (none lost yet, despite several spills). Colorful and animal-themed. The tree has the requisite mushrooms - mom claims it is a German tradition that having a mushroom on your tree brings good luck; I have several, including a few semi-antique ones given me by my parents.

Djali is lurking in the lower left-hand corner. They cats have taken to sleeping under the tree.

Several new, cool ornaments this year. First is the angel top of the tree, a gift from cousins Michal and Georgina, they know I like blue (and especially gold-trimmed blue, I'll add); most beautiful, and I needed something to put on the top of the tree, last year it went untopped. Second is the lampshade thing in the middle, above the giraffe, which I adore for its unusual shape and the fact that it has appliqued flowers. Got it at the Knorr Candle Factory, where I also acquired the little handbag ornament, directly below the angel. The two standing Santas are new, too - one from Michal, one from Costco. The candle holders are also new. I ordered more and will put them up next year, along with a bunch of glass icicles, when I get a better fake tree, one that actually resembles a _tree_. This one was a $20 Walmart special. *laugh*

A bit of Yahoo fun tonight. Got hit on by some "attorney" (yeah, right) who happened to have hit on me about a year back. He used the _same_ trite lines he used a year back (charming the first time = pathetic the second time. get some new material, already.) I also recalled how easily he got enraged when he was questioned or challenged in any way (and he's hitting on law students WHY?). So, being me, I decided to have a bit of fun. Edited transcript follows (full transcript available upon request), name changed to protect the loser:

ImaLoser: do you need a new penpal.... do you like poets.... are you allergic to lawyers
imbrium44: hello
ImaLoser: hi
ImaLoser: so you wanna be a lawyer..... should i warn you, or should i encourage you to finish
imbrium44: oh doesn't matter much each way
ImaLoser: so would you rather tell me about yourself, or read one of my poems about law school
[…] imbrium44: sorry to disappoint, I know everyone expects horror stories about law school, but I have none
ImaLoser: well, law school is fun
ImaLoser: it is being a lawyer that sucks
[…] ImaLoser: my motto is this... if anyone tells you they love being a lawyer, they are either psychotic, or a liar
imbrium44: perhaps it is just the field in which you work?
ImaLoser: nope
ImaLoser: i know lots of lawyers
ImaLoser: i know a heck of a lot abou a heck of a lot
imbrium44: do you now?
ImaLoser: did i tell you i am humble????
ImaLoser: it is my best quality, my humility
ImaLoser: lots of people go around pretending to be humble, but they got nothing to brag about
[...] ImaLoser: but me, i got lots to brag about, so in comparison, i am overly humble
ImaLoser: hey, what is yoru second grad degree going to be in
imbrium44: international relations
ImaLoser: so you want to deal in international trade, where there really is no law
imbrium44: no, I don't particularily want to deal in international trade
[…] imbrium44: so if you hate your job so much, why do you continue to do it?
ImaLoser: i said i did not love it
ImaLoser: i said it sucks
ImaLoser: i never said i hated it
imbrium44: then why continue to do it? why not chuck it all and buy a farm in montana?
ImaLoser: most jobs suck, that is why they call it a job
ImaLoser: you need money for a farm, even in montana
[…] imbrium44: yes, but you could do that on a gas station attendant's salary...in montana
[…] ImaLoser: you are sounding a little like ronald reagan, when he held up the newspaper back in the 80's, and said, "you want a job, check out the wantads in the newspaper"
imbrium44: but certainly better than much of the coasts, where even attorneys can't afford 1 acre
imbrium44: so perhaps you're tied to the status and prestige as well?
[...] ImaLoser: so you really think a bank is going to loan a gas station attendant enough money to buy a farm..... and then the bank is going to loan the start-up capital so that the new farmer can work the farm...... and then the bank is going to wait around until the crops come in to collect its money..... ??????
[…] ImaLoser: you are republican, huh?????
ImaLoser: you probably call yourself conservative, huh
imbrium44: not a bit
ImaLoser: i bet you do not last fives years practicing law...... nope, not five years....... no offense, but you have no idea how hard it is........
[…] imbrium44: yes, my poor fellow. but if you hate it so much, quit
ImaLoser: you are so wrong....... about the bank...... why do you think john mellencamp had to put on a concert called farm aid..... why do you think the government gives out billions of dollars a year in welfare to farmers.... and, what crop is the farmer going to grow in montana???????
imbrium44: I don't care for people who complain but do nothing to solve their situation. It's like the woman who stays with the rich abusive man because she otherwise couldn't afford designer clothes
imbrium44: it isn't an argument I find appealing or swaying, sorry
[…] imbrium44: ahhh farm subsidies!
imbrium44: so do you know much about the CAP? How do you feel the entry of the ten new states will affect it?
ImaLoser: good luck........ you are going to need it when you get out in the real world.... goodbye.....
imbrium44: laugh bye bye mike esq
imbrium44: you'd already talked to me about a year before, I recalled your amusingly patronizing attitude quite quickly
imbrium44: next time, do remember on whom you've tried your trite, tired out hit-ons. good BYE

And, with my closing line, I blocked him.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=405949§ion=news Yes, Michael Jackson, go ahead and antagonize the DA.... Cutest quote: "Indeed, a profile of Sneddon on the official Web site of the National District Attorneys Association mentions that 'he's the only DA in the nation to have an angry song written about him by pop megastar Michael Jackson.'"

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-15-163124.asp?t=apnew&vts=111520031650 "Milwaukee postal workers find live alligator chewing through shipping carton." What intrigues me most is the explanation that "alligators longer than 20 inches are not allowed to be sent through the mail." So seems you can still buy a 20 inch alligator off ebay and have it shipped via regular mail.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/11/13/lawyer.kidnap.ap/index.html You knew working at law firms was a tough job, but did you think it'd be this tough? "An attorney accused of burying an associate alive under the floor of his Manhattan apartment..."

Thought of the day: Luxembourg: A buffer zone in which to park your tanks.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/11/06/putin.ap/index.html While doubtless Khodorkovsky didn't pay his taxes, he's hardly an exception. No one pays taxes in Russia. Selective enforcement for political ends. The Russian government doesn't seem to have adapted to operating with the light of international scrutiny shining in. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

http://www.msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=89&TrackingID=516311&BannerID=544658 Horrid, historically inaccurate article. No idea where he got his information about Elizabeth I of England , but he's obviously gotten her confused with Catherine II "The Great" of Russia. While some fringey group claims Elizabeth had scads of lovers, that is a highly controversial minority opinion. Catherine is a much safer target and the one I'd choose myself for making stupid assertions of the kind he makes. I hate idiots. Would e-mail the author if he didn't hide his e-mail address (obviously out of fear someone would correct his shoddy research).

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap11-09-174712.asp?reg=mideast&vts=11920031753 Yick. Bad baby formula. Can’t you see some execs saying, whoops, forgot the Thiamin, gee, do babies really need that? Nah….

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/reuters11-09-180601.asp?reg=europe&vts=11920031810 The Romanian film industry. Is good that they’ve been able to expand to sorts of movies other than just gothic horror. As I commented earlier regarding Vampire wineries, vampires are Romania’s biggest claim to fame, and certainly the one with the most mass appeal. They need to beat that horse till its good and dead and then keep beating. If the Dracula theme park gets built, I'd go visit. Am still trying to find more Vampire wine...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/11/08/peru.inca.reut/index.html A lost city found near a lost city. Why is anyone surprised? Lost things cluster together, it's the law.

Have been reading Bill Bryson's book "Made in America" for quite some time - keep it by the bathtub as it is excellent for reading in snippets when I'm not in the middle of a longer book. One bit struck me as especially funny in the discussion of early American table manners and how they were ridiculed by the Europeans. The author points out that the Europeans had a rather dubious claim to good table manners themselves, and quotes an 1840's French book on etiquette: "If your fingers are very greasy, first wipe them on a piece of bread." *giggle*

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/international/asia/07INDI.html?ex=1068786000 On population control in India. There is much to be said for not over populating the world, but some of their proposed methods are idiotic: "Some states have considered denying educational benefits to third children." Yes, create a permanent underclass having lots of kids, that's a plan. Also some discussion of removing town council-type politicians from office for having more than two children. Stupid.
This sounds much more reasonable: "But critics of the laws call them gimmicks. They point out that the countries, and even Indian states, that have most successfully limited population growth have done so more by increasing education and work opportunities for women, improving health care and providing a wide range of contraceptive choices. " But of course, the key lies in greater social problems: "'Everyone wants a small family — two children,' explained her husband, Rajaram Sonkar, as their girls flitted around his small shop. 'But if you have a daughter, you have to keep going.'" I have to say, I'm tempted to punish people with that attitude, too. Once women get equal status in terms of educational , career and financial opportunities, the cultural emphasis on male children will shift. Another irritating quote: "Like tens of millions of Indian women, especially across the northern Hindi belt, Ms. Bai was never schooled. She was married off at 15, and had her first child soon after. She said that she did not know how to prevent a pregnancy, and that in any case, the number of children she would bear was for her in-laws to decide." Yick.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/reuters11-06-193548.asp?reg=pacrim&vts=11620031956 And who says international law is all boring? Warning: slightly suggestive content.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2090675/ Supreme Court fun. For those of you who haven't been to law school, that hypothetical game playing is basically what you do, all day long.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2090622/

Cute little sequence today of a Djali/Bryansk squabble over territory, namely a flokati rug in front of my big bookcases.

The DMZ:


Sortie rebuffed:


Rout and full retreat by invaders, territorial expansion by defenders:


Fortifications (my favorite part is that Djali's ears clearly show annoyance, a Mongol outside the Great Wall):

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/parenting/11/02/grown.up.ap/index.html Fits in with my own observations, age 18-22 were college years, I didn't really start to do anything interesting until maybe 27. Of course, that was the dot com roller coaster, which was financially lucrative and gave me a lot of great "stupid business decisions" to share... ;)

Made the cats a new cat bed today out of a beautiful wood basket my mother gave me a while back. Put a soft dark blue towel in there, in decent shape but unused for ages (I've got a lot of towels, I went through a period of buying high quality bath sheets, so now my regular bath towels sit around looking pretty in the linen closet). Besides, it matches my bedroom decor, which is mostly royal/navy blues with touches of gold and silver, while my bathroom is now done in sage green with touches of gold. Basically, the recipe for the cat bed was: basket + towel + pinch of catnip. Just add one cat. Gypsy gave the basket a whirl, sitting in it for a few seconds, but Djali noticed her almost immediately and started to repeatedly swat her on the butt. Then he tried to bite her. The butt-swatting was a refreshingly unambiguous command of "get *your* butt the heck out of *my* bed." Outweighed, Gypsy finally left. Djali sat in it about two seconds before getting bored and wandering off to eat (Djali's life is a series of naps punctuated by meals, or perhaps a series of meals punctuated by naps, with occasional bouts of Gypsy-harrassment thrown in). Life is like that sometimes, you only want something when you see someone else enjoying it. Especially if you're a cat. All things are mine, in a cat's world view. As far as they're concerned, everything I own (except the vacuum cleaner), my family and friends, a neighbor boy, the rabbit, etc. belong to them. *chin rub* Watching two such sweetly selfish creatures interact can be quite amusing. As with the basket. At any given moment, either two cats want the basket, or no cat wants it. I considered making another bed, but no solution there. From experience, Djali will always want the basket Gypsy is in. I can draw a parallel here to world affairs, but it's just too obvious.