Honors and Signaling

What's that? The DOJ under Bush systematically excluded left-of-center applicants from the DOJ honors program? The Federalist Society is a vehicle for affirmative action for conservatives? This is me not surprised.

Photo Outrage: Ur Doin It Rong

The Daily Show tells me that everyone's all upset that the popular star of a Disney kids' show posed for sexy pictures in a magazine, and she's only 14. I agree that the pictures are gross. But not because of her bare shoulder. They're gross because she looks like The Joker:

Cloverfield

All you need to know about the movie is from the last two sentences of the New York Times review:

Like too many big-studio productions, “Cloverfield” works as a showcase for impressively realistic-looking special effects, a realism that fails to extend to the scurrying humans whose fates are meant to invoke pity and fear but instead inspire yawns and contempt.

Rarely have I rooted for a monster with such enthusiasm.

TMI

I just received the following weird, creepy e-mail:

Trevor,

Zipcar and Flexcar merged. Now we're working 'round the clock to turn Flexcars into Zipcars and Flexcar members into Zipsters.

Who better to bestow savory bits of wisdom upon our newest additions than you, a Zipcar pro?

Its a busy time of year (don't we know it) and we won't keep you long -- just five short questions and you're done. Thanks in advance for the help. Check out the survey here.

The whole Zipcar team

There's nothing weird or creepy about the text, and I have used Zipcar's fine service several times with happy results. The only problem was the subject of the e-mail was "Afterglow".

Marketing directors of America, I implore you. I do not want to be burdened with mental images of C Corporations copulating.

Thank you. That is all.

And Matt Holliday Still Hasn't Touched Home

Goddamn Rockies.

Those Who Do Not Remember The Past...

I can not believe that Law & Order's Fred Thompson is a serious candidate for President of the United States of America. A lazy, affable, inexperienced Southerner and "Authentic Conservative" with down-home charm that seems like the kinda guy you'd want to have a beer with? Guys, we just tried that one. It didn't work out so well.

Relative Velocity

I'm picking Ken up from the airport. I just realized it may take me longer to drive there than it will take him to fly.

CM is right; this WSJ story is ridiculous: are law students emotional wrecks? Not about the emotional wrecks part, which I suppose is true enough, but the inference that that this is due to the environment of law school as opposed to the particular characteristics of law students.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but most law students I know (myself included!) would not survive med school, let alone find satisfaction there. Law school may not be easy, but compared to med school, it's a frigging cakewalk. Law students whine more because (1) we are way less tough on average and (2) many of us really don't want to be here.

Maybe some of my vestigial techie chauvinism is going to shine through here, but (1) should be pretty obvious. Most law students were humanities majors in college, and never learned what hard work really is. Law school is a shock to their delicate systems. Meanwhile, the pre-meds were crazy for ages. Actual medical school is still a step up in work, but they've been working hard for years, and they're ready for it.

(2) may not be such common knowledge, but it certainly should be to blog readers. A lot of people kind of drift into law school because they aren't sure what to do with themselves and they're kinda smart and do well on the LSAT. These people don't really want to practice law, and the strong focus on actually learning legal doctrine in law school, while it shouldn't really have been surprising, makes them understandably unhappy. Nobody has any illusions about how an MD is a "versatile degree" that "opens all kinds of doors," so practically everybody at med school actually wants to be a doctor. They've probably wanted it for a really long time, because you'd kind of have to in order to put up with all that pre-med craziness alluded to above. Now it may be so awful (you don't see me doing it!) that along the way some of them decide they don't want to be doctors after all, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that's still a smaller percentage than the number who never wanted to be lawyers when they got here.

I could go on too, about why we should expect med school to be objectively harder than law, but I have to go to work.

Hoy

Adding insult to a lengthy litany of grevious injuries, Massachusetts apparently sees fit to let Cinco de Mayo pass without comment or celebration. This sucks. They can keep their stupid race on their stupid Patriots' Day.

A Hipster Walks Into a Bar

From Cat and Girl

Mars Cali Needs Women

So, this sucks:



Because this guy could not be more right about that Wintry Mix:

I don't know if any of you have ever had the pleasure of experiencing a Boston winter, but if not let me awaken your senses. It's basically an 8 month-long night of sitting in your bathtub tearlessly crying while listening to Townes Van Zandt/Joy Division mashups, half-heartedly trying to cut your wrists with the Lady Bic of some jawn you were hot for that you just found out gave brain to Mr. Len in the bathroom during some poetry slam in Central Square. No. It's really like that. For everyone. 8 months.

All those red dots are deep in the No Fly Zone.

The Sanctions Regime

"I'm sorry sir, but you're going to have to surrender these. They're a Product of Cuba." He pronounces the capital letters. "We have an Embargo against Cuba."
"I thought there was a one-box exception. For personal use?"
"No exceptions. Embargo means Embargo."
"Didn't there used to be though? When did it change?"
"There have never been exceptions," he intones in shades of Orwell. "There has always been the Embargo."

Bastards. That was a good box of cigars.

The Decline and Fall of Higher Education

One of my friends just joined a Facebook group called "You know your in college when."

God help us all.

Social Justice vs. Social Calendar

From an e-mail about upcoming events:

Mardi Gras at HLS
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 20
Location: The Hark
Time:
6-7:30pm: When the Levees Broke
Watch a screening of selections of Spike Lee’s film documenting Katrina’s devastation. The screening will be followed by remarks from Dean Kagan.
7:30-10pm: PARTY!!!!
Celebrate the joy and spirit of an enduring New Orleans! Eat, drink and indulge in the sultry sounds of jazz by Evan Diamond & Chris Drake.

Because, you know, nothing makes we want to get down on a Tuesday night like a documentary about the desruction and abandonment of a major American city.

You'll Thank Me When You Share My Politics

I thought for a while I might post some celebratory Valentine's Day message, complete with homegrown holiday-appropriate imagery.

Well, screw that.

from the indispensable dinosaur comics

Additionally: xkcd, pbf

It's Like Tennis, But in a Box

It seems like everybody's playing Racquetball all of a sudden. And Amazon just threw this up on my Recommended section:

What gives?

Cambridge Communist

The HLS Parody, a venerable insitution with a history of alumni much more talented than myslelf, wrapped the 2007 script tonight. It goes to the printer tomorrow, for the first cast read-through on Thursday.

Clearly, a party was in order.

However, treasured law school landmark Cambridge Commons, conveniently located at the end of my block, apparently has a policy that a table can only order one round of shots every half an hour.

This limitation was an entirely unacceptable constraint on our creative freedom, especially since the Drama Society was paying for the party. I urge future generations of celebrants to be wary of CC's deliberately slow service.

Next time, I'm pushing R.F. O'Sullivan's all the way.