New Definition

Definition: carfully
kahr"-ful-i'
Adj. Definition: Describing the level of attention and caution one employs driving a car full of baby ducks. Not to be confused with "carefully" (the adjective form of careful.)

Delaware and a "fun" fact

1. Over at ProfessorBainbridge there was a post on a topic related to my paper: what's special about Delaware's role as the site of incorporations.
(My paper dealt much with the question of whether a "Delaware" would emerge in Europe. Answer: We don't know yet.)

2. I was looking at Google's answers service, and came across this choice nugget:

Question Presented:

What fraction of Americans over 30 have never been married?
What fraction of American women over 30 have never been married?
What fraction of American men over 30 have never been married?


Answers:

10.9% of American men over 30 have never been married
7.8% of American women over 30 have never been married
or 9.3% of American men and women over 30 have never been married

So it would appear I'm in some rare company.

Blog to Check Out

Davids Medienkritik does a great job of highlighting persistent anti-americanism in German media.

Check out this entry, where he skewers a tendentious cover from Der Spiegel that manages to make the CIA look kinda cool (you know, like in the 60s.)

MPRE Results

I'm on my way to my exam, but I just checked:

I scored a 103!

(which is a minimum passing score high enough for every jurisdiction that uses the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam.)

So I won't have to take it again in March.

PS: This is the link to the MPRE log-in page.

My paper was handed in Monday Night

And I'm still recovering!

I sent a copy on to Mom and Dad (via email) so they could finally read what I've been nattering on about for the past three months.

So for comparative law, I probably won't fail (at least.)

Of course, every few hours, I still think of something I want to add to it. It's weird to suddenly not have to worry about the blasted paper. Well, I can worry about the grade, but I only have to worry about additions or modifications if I do decide to try to improve it for publishing.

Now it's on to the exams for International Law, Professional Responsibility, and Evidence. (Monday, Thursday, and Friday of next week.)

And according to the folks who run the MPRE, the scores ought to be available on-line on Monday, Dec. 12. I'm hopeful I scored well enough to not have to take it again in March.

In Six Hours My Comparative Law Paper will be Finished

My plan is to hit save the final time, and then send the final copy to the Professor tonight at 11:30. After that, I'll forward a couple of vanity copies, and then I'll go home and sleep. Of course, I only have a few days to prepare for exams, but it won't matter. So long as the paper gets credit I will be on track to graduate.

How many channels do I watch?

After reading this article on Slate, it occured to me that I really could figure out how many of the hundreds of channels I get I really watch.

Once a month: Movies on Demand
Fox
CBS
CNN
ABC
NBC
PBS
MTV
VH1
WB
UPN
TBS
Comedy Central
E!
Food
TLC
Discovery Channel
Cartoon Network (Adult Swim)
Weather Channel
CNBC
CSPAN
CSPAN2
Sci-Fi
MSNBC
Fox News
ESPN

I was a little generous, even if I don't regularly watch the channel, I added it if I could ever recall watching it. So I watch more channels than the FCC found was common on average, but not too many.

Restaurants

When in New York, be sure to visit Kerala Kitchen.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had a happy Thanksgiving Holiday, and I hope you did, too!

I enjoy Zippy

I enjoy Zippy the Pinhead.

Classes for Spring 2006

Securities Regulation

Antitrust

Criminal Procedure I

And all of them are Section 051: that means that I don't have to worry about getting in to campus before 6:00 PM!

Tuesday is the New Sunday

Why am I still working on my draft?

Somehow, whenever I put aside time to do things, it all disappears. Seriously, I really have only a fuzzy concept of all of the time between last Thursday and now. And somehow I'm afraid that tomorrow, around 4, I won't have any idea where I was now either.

Awareness of passage of time

I just realized that the King of the Hill is in its has been going on now since January of 1997. That means that it has been on the air the entire time I was a student at Pitt, and the whole time I've been a student at Temple.

Adult Swim

Perfect Hair Forever sings,

"Watch out for bears, to them you are spaghetti dinner"

Sadly, the show didn't make any sense.

Also, right at the moment I hate everything. And writing.

Paper

You know that paper I'm writing. The one that consumes my waking thoughts and fills me with dread. Yeah, that one.

I told the professor I'd email the draft Saturday. Taking a page from early church practice...Sunday is the new Saturday. I've got a two-liter bottle of Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi.

Last night after work I went to my friend Elysia's birthday party. It was a blast. All cool people, and I got to take home some grub (I ate the jalapeno poppers for lunch today, matter-of-fact.)

Also, it is quite chilly outside. While the lows the last few nights have just touched freezing, I have taken no action on my Sedum 'Matrona'. During the day, when the temperature climbs above 52 or so, flies and bees visit the flowers. The southern exposure right up agains the wall seems to be creating a microclimate that's helping the Sedums. When the cold air kills the plants off I'll throw some mulch on top. I will also keep a few of the seedpods to plant in the spring.

In general I've been quite satisfied with my attempts at growing things this year. The little growing plants have been a blessing to me.

All right, back to paper-writing. I will be very happy when all of this foolishness is over.

At this point I want to take out loans so that I can Establish a Business in Denmark.

AFP Reports French Riots dissipating

See here.

Somebody was parked all day in our loading zone at work.

As my boss went to put a note on the truck, I turned to my colleagues and said, "You know, in France, they'd just set it on fire."

Bonus: Slate's Explainer on burning cars.

Lightning

It was lightning outside about a half hour ago.

Yay weather.

Bizarre Comment Spammers

Right after the last post, I got two comment spammers.

One was for seized property sales, and the other started with a head for the Pentagon's New Map, and ended with something even more irrelevant (Irrelavant to the topic of Philadelphia corruption, that is.)

But I wanted to point out that I really do enjoy Barnett's writing and analysis, although as a Republican, I frequently sense in his writing a want of charity towards the President and his advisors.

He is a strategist who wrote both the Pentagon's New Map and Blueprint for Action, and has a fun-to-read blog.

The Culture of Corruption takes a hit

The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that a referendum passed yesterday here in Philly that signals voter disgust with a political culture of pay-to-play. I, too, voted for it. Our local good government types have an analysis, here.

Movies

I'm looking forward to this, this, this, this, and for the benefit of anyone who's heard me warble "Ring of Fire", this.