Exam Schedule Fall 2005

International Law
Monday, December 12th, 6:00 PM

Evidence (Rice)
Thursday, December 15th, 6:00 PM

Professional Responsibility
Friday, December 16th, 1:30 PM

MPRE

I took the MPRE on Friday, with about as little preparation as one reasonably can. (My former roommate had left a copy of his BarBri book, so I used that as my sole study aid.) It did help, though, that I am currently taking Professional Responsibility, as a number of questions did have to do with stuff we'd covered in class.

By the way, here's a hint. When you hold money for a client, make sure that you record who you took it from, and for what reason. If you don't, it's a violation.

I discovered on Wednesday that I was going to need to go to Pittsburgh to take the test--I'd been under the impression that my first choice here in Philadelphia was where I'd been sent. So I had to take the bus overnight to Pittsburgh (and then take it back yesterday to Philadelphia.)

But, it was cool to be in Pittsburgh again, and I got to see Bill and Terri and Gage! So that was fun. And I got to have a Max and Erma's buffalo chicken sandwich and a late breakfast at Pamala's (we went to the one in Shadyside.) Also, I got to check out the Apple store. Very nice, with a lot of folks in looking at all the stuff.

Pomegranate Guttation

The technical term for when my pomegranate plant produces little droplets of water on the leaf tips is guttation. Apparently, my bedroom has relatively high humidity and low winds.

More about the Buildings Going Up in Philly

Today I picked up the Temple Times, and read about this cool blog about building in Philadelphia.

And, the Philly Blog also rocks.

Where should I go for Spring Break

Recently, I've been inundated with stress. And as a consequence, have been thinking a great deal about vacations. Specifically, my (hopefully) last Spring Break next year. Classes will be out March 6 through 10 2006, So I could leave the 3rd.

But where should I go?

I might point out that I've never gone on one of the classic "debachery" style spring breaks, both out of a sense of decorum and because of a lack of funds (of course, since many of my years of schooling were while I was also working full-time, taking a weeks vacation usually seemed out of the question.)

Still, if I were going to go for a full-out spring break experience, doing my best to look like partiers 10 years my junior, where should I go? (Does Abercrombie still supply the standard ensemble for bright-eyed middle class college kids wanting to emulate porn stars?)

Of course, another alternative would be to go somewhere more adult. Europe would beckon under that scenario. First, many of the countries already have large english speaking service infrastructures in place. And second, I have retained some portion of my repeated attempts at German. And, since I've been studying the EU for years, it might be nice to see some of the places where everything actually happens.

Yes, I'm looking at you, Brussels.

The worry would be with the cold weather. Early March is probably quite cool in Mitteleuropa. So, what about Monaco? According to this page, the weather is quite reasonable, if not exactly tropical hot, in March.

Making Philadelphia Better

Let us suppose that you wanted to make the City of Philadelphia better.

I have an idea how to do it, which I frequently ruminate upon as I walk through the city.

The big idea is this: the fundamental resource of a city are people. Thus, the best way to improve Philadelphia is to create incentives for people to move to Philadelphia.

I believe that people are more important than any other available resource as to the development of a great city, but I must concede that here I cannot prove it. I assert its truth, and for now will ignore the possibility that it is wrong.

Let me also make another assertion. Right now, there are two catagories of jobs. There are jobs that are location dependant, and there are jobs that are not. Examples of jobs that are location dependant include construction, face-to-face service industries, agriculture, some transportation, retail, medicine, and protective government services. Jobs that are not location dependant include financial services, mail-order, and a wide variety of back-office functions.

Location dependant jobs will become more plentiful as the number and variety of inhabitants in a locale increase. If more people move to Philadelphia, there will be more location dependant jobs that can only be done in Philadelphia. This has the potential to start a virtuous cycle: more population leads to a larger local market in location dependant jobs. A strong demand for local labor will increase put upward pressure on wages, which will further signal to the providers of labor (i.e. individuals) to move to Philadelphia to sell there labor at higher rates.

The problem, of course, is that this could lead to inflation, and could strain public resources.

To attack the problem of local inflation, one must look at its sources, and here I believe the single biggest source of inflation, and the single biggest cost that wage-earners in Philadelphia worry about is housing. But this is a fixable problem, and it leads to my single biggest concrete suggestion.

Government should take aggressive steps to increase the population density of Philadelphia, particularly through reducing taxes and lifting zoning regulations that burden the creation of housing. The highest density housing, i.e. apartment buildings and condominiums, should be the favored creatures of the law. New buildings, as high and as dense as is practical, should be promoted. Particularly when their location would allow easy access to the legacy mass transportation network.

As supplies of housing increase, the fraction of wage-earner income devoted to housing should drop. This frees up more income to support savings, increased consumption (leading to increased employment), and the redevelopment of old or uneconomical housing stock. In turn, this will send important pricing signals to the real estate market, helping developers to recognize the highest and best uses of land.

Low living expenses and a healthy demand for service industry positions provides a key component in the development of entertainment and artistic communities. Artists need inexpensive living, as their work (at least generally in their early stages of their career) tends not to be well compensated. At the same time, artists and entertainers tend to form important communities of mutual aid, criticism, and exchange of ideas. But all of this requires that artists can find day jobs to support their art (again, at least in their early careers.)

Low living expenses and a strong demand for labor provide perfect incubator conditions for new enterprises and entreprenuerial activity. Even risk-takers weigh risks. If the personal financial consequences of a bold but risky entreprenurial idea are softened by the knowlege that the local market will always have a job for you (and you won't lose your house or apartment) then it's easier to take the risk.

Finally, for jobs that could theoretically be done anywhere (the non-location dependant jobs) Phildelphia would have a better chance of competing for them if the city became known for low living expenses and a boldly entreprenurial local culture.

My Intuitive Speculation is True

Fundraising by pretty women more effective.

(H/T Instapundit)

Now what do I do?

Great minds think alike.

Unfortunately for my paper-writing, I discovered today a wonderful journal article on exactly the points I wanted to cover in my paper. Three days before I need to have my initial drafts of some preliminary sections done.

Go to here and you can read Tobias H. Tröger's excellent, well-reasoned, well-documented paper that says almost everything that I wanted to say in my paper I'm writing, including my theories as to how big a deal the Daily Mail-Centros-Uberseering-Inspire Art Ltd. line of cases will be to the creation of a market for reincorporations in the European Union. (Quick answer: Not as big a deal as it seemed after Centros.)

I can recover by focusing more on Denmark (which should be do-able, as Tröger focuses more on Germany more than I planned to). Still, this is quite annoying to me.

I hadn't caught it because it's a foreign journal, and so my primary Lexis searches (focused on US Journals) didn't "see" it. But I hit it when I was doing a foreign periodical search trolling for economic data (my intent was to nail down how many pseudo-foreign corporations were formed in Denmark each year.)

The End of Summer

It's going to get cooler in the next few days, with a 10 degree drop coming in the next 48 hours.

The trees here in Philly are only just now starting to show color (many of them appear to have lost leaves from stress rather than from the change in seasons--I suspect that it's because early fall was unusually warm and dry.)

I've spent the night looking up Danish economic statistics, and job hunting. The latter is never fun, except for the part where you sit back and go, "Oh yeah, I could do that." For instance, I found a few scattered references to the hiring practices of Advance Publications, the owners of Conde' Nast, the magazine publishers. I'd love to grow up and be a lawyer for GQ. And it would improve my chances of dating models.

Ate a Beet

According to the weathermen, it’s going to take a cold turn here in the north (until last week, we’d had an unbroken string of 34 days with highs above 80 degrees.) So I decided to harvest one of the biggest of my beets. I also wanted to avoid it getting too large, after which there is a risk of becoming fibrous and less tasty. Before cooking it was a little sphere with a 2 inch diameter.

So I yanked the root from the ground, cut off the leaves, put a little bit of olive oil on it, and popped it into the oven (along with some frozen fish sticks.)

I washed the leaves and so I had a Beet green salad (consisting of the top of my single beet.)

The fish sticks were ready in 20 minutes, but I left the beet in for 35. The beet had gotten a little smaller, and while it was hot from the oven I pulled the skin off (this appears to be the recommended method for best taste and ease of removal.)

The beet had a jewel-red interior and was easily cut with a fork.

How did it taste? Delicious. The sweetness was definitely present (coming from the garden mere moments before, there was little risk that the stored sugar would have time to turn into starch) and the distinctive "cooked beet" smell was present, but subtle.

When I cook my next beet I'll try to take some pictures.

Pictures of Plants

Check out the Sedum. It has formed a nice head of little pink and white flowers.

The leaves still show some damage from the caterpillar attack earlier this summer. As promised, the flowers are very popular with bees and little flying insects. Relatively few butterflies, though.




Here is a picture of the Beets, also taken today.

I bought a blanket

Today was one of my long days at school. PR this morning at 9:30, then I went to a presentation at noon by Donna Gerson, an attorney and author who came to talk about finding job opportunities at small law firms (generally so classified when they have 50 attorneys or less.)

Fun fact: Our tenures at Pitt overlapped, so I asked her (after the presentation) if she ever called the Pitt Help Desk.

Anyway, I still need to write more for my introduction (due tomorrow) and I need to finalize my calender (ditto.) But I'm tired, and somewhat cranky--there was a sudden change in my housemate status earlier this week, leaving several significant issues to be resolved--such as when or if I'll ever receive payment for over 3 months worth of utilities.

So, I wanted to take a nap (in a few minutes I'll go pull the books to study for Evidence). With all the folks here during the day, it's a little crowded in the Law School building (during my regular hours there's no trouble finding a nook to sleep in) so I bought a blanket, and slept outside for an hour. Quite refreshing, although my bookbag leaves much to be desired as a pillow.

And, I'm still outside even as I write this: my batteries have sufficient juice, and I've got a wi-fi signal from school.

High School with Ashtrays

Sometimes when I hit "Next Blog" I get a gem.

Submitted for your approval: http://juniorcollege.blogspot.com/

Sample Story:

We have a translator and a ASL (sign language) person in our class. Today my teacher was doing the roll and he calls out, "Is (deaf girl's name) here?" Then he waits a minute and goes, "Oh she's deaf." And then he calls her name again.

Beets

This photo was taken about 10 minutes ago (you'll notice that in the late afternoon the sun is quite direct.). When I leave for class I'll check and see if the box outside needs more water.

And then the mint plants and the basil are on my side of the window.

Here in Philadelphia, it has stayed summertime warm throughout the month of September (Weather Channel tells me that it's 85 degrees outside, right now.) If the 10 day forecast is right, we won't be anywhere near cool weather right up 'til October.

Recall the seed packet told me that the Detroit Dark Red Beets need about 55 to 60 days to reach harvest. Since they were planted August 6, that puts harvest anytime after October 4.

At that point, I'll have to decide what to do with the windowbox the beets were growing in. I could just leave it outside and empty over the winter. Or I could try bringing it inside and grow something else over the winter.

I also have my large Sedum Pot outside. When the cold weather comes it will knock out the Sedums. By the way, as promised, the Sedums have attracted lots of little bees, but relatively few butterflies.

For the Sedum Pot I'm just going to keep the heads (for seeds next year) and top off the pot with dirt over the winter.

Next spring I may try growing the nasturtiums again in the Sedum Pot, but from seed. If I don't get a better response I won't worry about it. Potting soil may just be naturally too rich for nasturtiums to thrive.

Mints and Basil 2.0

On the Left are little mint plants, on the right is a basil plant.

Both of these pots had been used before, and so I think one of the basil seeds had never been exposed to the sun. The basil self-started in the same pot as the mint (the one on the left in this picture). Five days ago I moved the basil to the (previously unused) pot on the right. It appears that I managed to transplant it without damaging the roots (Yay!)

I generally leave the GE spot growlight on all day, as well as leave the windowshades open. Both plants show significant tropism to the light, even artificial light.

The mint plants look: the leaves are a light-green color, with very thin stems.

I'm still alive!

Well, yes, I have been remiss in posting. Nothing exciting--I've just been adjusting to the new semester. Soon I hope to start posting more plant pictures and updates on my monster paper.

Up to this point in life, I've never written anything of "publishable quality". Because, frankly, it's a lot of effort and hassle. But now, since I have to write a paper anyway to graduate from law school, (of 45 to 60 pages, fully footnoted) I figure this will be my best chance ever to write a journal article that will add usefully to the corpus of legal knowlege.

Today was my visit with my professor, who said that my proposed topic was fine, but add some more comparison to the US, and have a real introduction ready for next Friday (along with my major sources primary and secondary).

So that's it. Now it's time to hit the ground, running and the paper will be due in the first week of December. Already I'm feeling the time pressure :-)

The Chief Justice is Dead

CNN is reporting that the Chief Justice has passed away.

Belief-O-Matic

From the Beliefnet Belief-O-Matic Test.

Your Results:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (100%)
2. Eastern Orthodox (82%)
3. Roman Catholic (82%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (76%)
5. Orthodox Judaism (75%)
6. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (74%)
7. Jehovah's Witness (74%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (71%)
9. Islam (68%)
10. Bahá'í Faith (66%)
11. Orthodox Quaker (57%)
12. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (50%)
13. Sikhism (45%)
14. Hinduism (44%)
15. Liberal Quakers (40%)
16. Reform Judaism (35%)
17. Jainism (29%)
18. Unitarian Universalism (26%)
19. New Thought (24%)
20. Mahayana Buddhism (21%)
21. Theravada Buddhism (21%)
22. Nontheist (19%)
23. Scientology (18%)
24. Neo-Pagan (12%)
25. New Age (5%)
26. Taoism (3%)
27. Secular Humanism (2%)

School is Coming

I went up to school and purchased the majority of my textbooks on Thursday, spending about $300 for three classes. And there are four books to pick up for Evidence, but since an assignment hasn't been posted yet and the first class is on Tuesday, I decided to wait to carry those home.

Today I came home to discover that GQ had arrived, and is 436 pages! Nestled among the shiny pictures of people wearing nice clothes (btw, purple is the color for men this season) is the tale of Rob Shuck, undergraduate at Cornell since 1993. And he's no plans, as of yet, to make his departure.

And in gardening news, I had an attack of caterpillars
And finally, here is a picture of my beets:



And my little mint plants (they are so very tiny) are starting to appear.

Mars In the Sky as Big as the Moon

So tonight, my Mom asks me if I'd heard anything about Mars appearing as big as the moon sometime soon (she'd read about it in an email.) I said no, and that I was a little suspicious about such a claim.

So I look on-line, and sure enough there's an article here from NASA debunking the myth.

But I did learn something. The first article I found, from the Salt Lake Tribune, mentions that they investigated the rumor with the NASA Ambassador to Utah.

Now, I had never heard of NASA Ambassadors, and so I was curious.

If you're interested, go here for more information.