talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

assorted reading

David Grann's piece on squid hunting in The New Yorker is what kept me from going to sleep. Not that I was disturbed by thoughts of giant squid; on the contrary, I love reading about this kind of thing (Jacques Cousteau's Octopus and Squid was one of my favorite books as a child), and so I didn't want to wait until morning to finish the article.

On deciding whether or not to get a dog--and if so, what kind: a good, realistic piece by Jon Katz on Slate.

I'll not trouble you with the administrative law reading du jour...

These sorts of statistics always stun me: one in every seventy-five American men is in prison. Astonishing.

I read Clotilde Dusoulier's excellent blog, Chocolate & Zucchini, every day. It's so well put together that I look forward to it. I's nice to have this little connection to Paris, too.

snopes.com is a great place to check out those beware-of-this! email we all receive some time. (The most recent one that came across the wires was an alert that the Swiffer web floor treatment could be toxic to dogs. Not so, it seems.

The passing of another major publishing figure: Roger Straus (of Farrar, Straus & Giroux) has died.

cert granted!

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted petitions of certiorari for the Michigan and New York direct shipping cases. From the Court's order:

(03-1116) GRANHOLM, GOV. OF MI, ET AL. V. HEALD, ELEANOR, ET AL.
(03-1120) MI BEER & WINE WHOLESALERS V. HEALD, ELEANOR, ET AL.
(03-1274) SWEDENBURG, JUANITA, ET AL. V. KELLY, EDWARD D., ET AL. The petitions for writs of certiorari are granted limited to the following Question: "Does a State's regulatory scheme that permits in-state wineries directly to ship alcohol to consumers but restricts the ability of out-of-state wineries to do so violate the dormant Commerce Clause in light of Sec. 2 of the 21st Amendment?" These cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument.

Fasten your seatbelts...

lidsky on television--any networks left standing?

Mr. Lidsky doesn't find solace in UPN's offerings for the coming season. And I'm sighing at the news that the next season of "Alias" supposedly won't begin until January 2005. How "Sopranos"-like... At least BBCAmerica is showing the Blackadder series and some new episodes of the Trinny & Susannah version of What Not To Wear. (There is another version, on TLC, I think, that just doesn't do it for me.) How can you not love a show in which Susannah ponders the possibility that one of their fashion victims has grown a third breast?

fee increases for u cal students

The Regents of the University of California voted to increase student fees in the coming years. Next year's increase for professional students (which includes law students like myself): at least 23%, with the possibility of an additional 10% increase at the Regents' discretion. Although next year will be my last at the law school, those following me will have the possibility of addition 10% increases each year.

The Daily Bruin provides an overview. From what we've been told, professional students can most afford the increases, but what that really means is that professional students should be willing and able to incur more debt, since most of the professional students don't have the means to pay their tuition and fees out-of-pocket. This is especially difficult for those students who had been making ends meet based solely on federal loans, which offer relatively low interest rates and are less strict in terms of credit requirements. Those students will likely have to turn to conventional lenders, some having to pay rates you'd normally associate with not-so-great credit card offers.

Budget cuts, increased class size, and other administrative issues are also likely to hurt UCal's recruitment of faculty. The system used to be considered (by some) a model of public higher education. Not sure how long that will last...

Previous posts here and here.

msn direct: why?

someone's gotta explain this one to me. the "msn. Direct Smart Watch". huh. this is the watch you wear so that microsoft can send information it thinks you need right to your wrist. uh-huh.

most of the ads I've seen on-line and on billboards for this thing picture a watch telling you the weather forecast. why is this information so critical that I would pay a montly fee to microsoft to have it beamed to my wrist?

in what has to be one of the more pointless ads I've ever seen, a Smart Watch billboard on Olympic Blvd, here in LA, shows the forecast for "today" and the next two days. what's the forecast you ask? 83 and Sunny. all three days. that's right: all. three. days. and why? because it's LA!

I need a microsoft watch for this?

so thank you msn direct, your ad communicates exactly what it should to potential consumers. I no longer have to wonder if the Smart Watch is for me.

update: well, it appears that these highly effective ads aren't just confined to LA billboards. while reading Morford this morning, I came across another Smart Watch ad, this time aimed at the hapless parent who can't think of what to get Bobby or Suzy for their college graduation. and what keen feature does the "smart" watch depict? "Graduation. 1:OO PM".

trust me on this, if on the day of your child's college graduation they need to look at a watch to remind them a) it's graduation day and b) it's at 1:00, your gift of a watch is too little, too late.

are there any good examples for this technology? the ads sure don't communicate them.

and a comment from a friend: "The biggest laugh I get from those stupid ads is that the watch is often worn the wrong way on the cartoon arm.  The thumb has to be up (12 o'clock) in order to read the stupid data." I was so thunderstuck by the pointlessness of the data, that I overlooked that. yikes! thank you Stephen.

"extreme ironing"

What the hell?

"...extreme ironing - the marriage of activities like cliff jumping and kayaking treacherous rapids with what participants call 'the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt' - has been catching on."

I'm not making this up.

meet nutella!

Wallace recently met Nutella, a Pembroke puppy who lives just a block away from us. Some puppies seem to annoy Wallace--he's already forgotten what it's like to want adult dog attention so desperately--but he's usually quite happy to see Nutella. He's very mouthy with her, in a good way, and gently corrects her when she gets excited. At times like this it would be nice to have a protected space where the two could play more freely than their leashes allow.

Nutella might be traveling to Asia in the near future with her master and mistress, but we hope to have more opportunities to see this sweetheart before she leaves the neighborhood.

Wallace's great canine friend, Casper (also known as the Great Pyrenees love sponge), will be moving to a new neighborhood with his family at the end of the month. We'll try to get a photo of Casper up on the site--he and Wallace are our block's equivalent of Mutt and Jeff.

(For a larger image, click on the photo to open it in a larger format in another window.)

lidsky on television--taking aim at the WB and CBS

The WB gets a lot of attention here in L.A. because the local station--KTLA--is a powerhouse of local news. Some find their broadcasts a little silly, but Terrence and I find it entertaining and informative, enough that when we had moved to northern Cal, it was one of the things we missed the most. (KTLA's broadcast area includes San Diego/La Jolla as well as Los Angeles, so we've been watching for some time now.)

KTLA's morning news can't save the network from Mr. Lidsky, though: TV week continues on FCNow with his views of the WB's just-announced fall schedule.

Also on Mr. Lidsky's radar: CBS. Rob Lowe and Joey Pants on the same show? Unconventional doctor? Las Vegas casino? Robe Lowe? Joey Pants? (I sigh a lot as I type these posts, you know?)

So far it looks like I'll have very little to tempt me away from my studies come the fall semester...

lidsky on television--is that what ABC means?

Ah, Mr. Lidsky's turned his sights toward ABC...and so far, it looks like my TiVo "to do" list won't feature many shows from this major network, either. Ouch.

worthy of sherlock holmes

Seems the auctioning of materials from Arthur Conan Doyle's estate is engendering mysteries...from an article in today's Times:

Adding to the sense of unease is the mysterious death of Richard Lancelyn Green, a leading Conan Doyle scholar and private collector, and a vociferous opponent of the sale. On March 27 Mr. Lancelyn Green, 50, a former chairman of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the author of several well-received books on Conan Doyle, was found garroted to death, strangled by a shoelace wrapped around a wooden kitchen spoon used to tighten its grip.

Mr. Lancelyn Green had become increasingly agitated and worried for his safety in the days before he died, several friends and family members told the inquest into his death. The coroner in the case said that he could not rule out murder and recorded an open verdict, meaning that he did not conclude what led to Mr. Lancelyn Green's death, although he said that he "would not wish to stress the importance of any conspiracy theories."

The full article explains more. And the article about Mr. Green's death on the BBC's web site adds a few other (admittedly strange) details (like his being "surrounded by cuddly toys"--gosh, I just shuddered while typing that...not an image I want to have in my head as I shuffle off to bed).

lidsky on television

You might remember our congratulatory post regarding David Lidsky's new position at Fast Company. When not saving the magazine world from shame and mediocrity, David is absorbed by television--the viewing of it, its development, planning, and production...the whole kit-and-kaboodle. So it's not strange or unexpected that this week he'll be blogging on FC Now regarding "upfront week," the period during which we get a sneak peek of the upcoming television season. We'll check in every day...all part of our plan to ensure that David's postings get a nice number of hits.

the mine-sniffing gambian rat

Wow! This is the kind of science article I love! Tuesday's Times has an interesting piece (from which the pictures come) about Gambian pouched rats being used to sniff out landmines. Clicker training is the key, and the rats are more than happy to work for rewards of bananas and peanuts. The article is currently available (reg req'd) on the Times site, but if/when the link expires, it's also here as a pdf.

Aside from my interest in clicker training, I love the part about the rats not being very motivated on Monday mornings. Seems during the week, when they're fed only when they successfully locate mines, they're very motivated to fine as many mines as they can. On the weekends, however, they're fed without "earning" the food, and so they're a little laid back on Monday.

Here's another photo of a rat in its harness. Seems the rats work better/longer than dogs because of their appetite (hmm...they clearly haven't used corgis...) and because their low body weight (approx six pounds) doesn't set off a mine, even if they run over it. A dog, however, is heavy enough to detonate the mine.

Not to worry that this is going to lead to a new member of our household. Terrence has already said "no" (very firmly, I might add) and it's currently a violation of federal law to import Gabian rats. Ones that are already here are ok to stay, but new ones aren't welcome due to monkey pox, which was brought in with a Gambian rat a few years ago and decimated the populations of prairie dogs in the midwest. I believe I read that the Gambian rats themselves are immune--or at least their immune system can respond successfully--to monkey pox, but the native prairie dogs didn't have the necessary defenses. It can also be spread to humans and is similar to smallpox so...no Gambian rats for us. But hey, three cheers for the ones that are serving as mine sniffers.

a shout out from a late night coder

I love Cocoa Bindings. Key-Value Observing is super-fly tech.
Thanks Apple!

faux this and faux that

First there was the bugaboo of fat, so products featuring Olestra and other fat substitutes appeared on the market. I couldn't bring myself to try these, even as a lark: any food product with a potential side effect of "fecal urgency" and a warning about underwear staining due to anal leakage is not for me. No how, no way. Anyone who's looked in my freezer and spied the extra stores of one-pound blocks of Plugra (unsalted, please) knows I don't have a fear of fat.

Now, in the wake of the Atkins craze, there's the bugaboo of carbohydrates, and faux carbs are making their way onto shelves. Josh Friedland of "The Food Section" participated in a tasting arranged by salon.com. His verdict: "faux substitutes are no substitute." For the full range of products and opinions, read the salon.com piece (day pass/ad viewing req'd). Some of the comments would be pretty funny if they weren't about products that are supposedly fit for human consumption. Of a particular brand of frosted flakes (breakfast cereal) in the tasting, Friedland observes that they have "that dried-urine-in-the-subway smell." Gee...just what I want in my kitchen.

It's difficult to sort out the good information from the marketing hype when it comes to this topic. One site that may help is the Center for Science in the Public Interest. And I highly recommend Michael Fumento's book, The Fat of the Land. While some have criticized his book as "blaming the victim," my reading of it was very different. Fumento himself struggled to lose weight and experienced the frustration of not knowing what information/program would help him lose weight and improve his health, and what was a bunch of hooey.

I'll think I'll stick to the moderation-in-diet + increased exercise plan for now. More work, but fewer risks.

For amusement, perhaps, or an idea of how complex and nasty hese debates over low-fat/low-carb become, check out the series of exchanges between Gary Taubes (of the Times) and Michael Fumento. Start with the original NYT piece, then move to the Fumento --> Taubes --> Fumento again chain of postings on the Reason site. I can only imagine how much of a beating Fumento's and Taubes' keyboard took as they prepared these pieces. Ouch.

god's headphones

One of the things that made studying for final exams far more efficient was a set of Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones. I had put off getting a pair of these for years now, thinking them a little pricey. They're headphones, after all. But after trying them out, I found I almost couldn't concetrate without them, and they therefore join the talbotlucas.org category of exceptional things (which includes "God's yogurt" and "God's machine").

After sitting in the Law Library's main reading room for an hour or so, I took them off and realized that without them the place sounded like a train station. Unlike my usual library visits, which are punctuated by nearby conversations, coffee slurping, cell phone ringing, idiotic Microsoft "welcome to Windows" music, this was blissful. And more importantly, productive, because I wasn't interrupted every few minutes by one thing or another. I had tried the Sony noise reduction earplug headphones, but soon found the sound of my own breathing and swallowing just as annoying as the outside noise I had been trying to block.

I went on and on about these new headphones to Terrence, and I think he was initially under the impression that the final weeks of law school were turning me into a loon. Then he tried them. And now...he loves them, too. They let him code without being interrupted by traffic noise, the barking of our neighbor's dogs, or my talking back to my email. These are the same model that are supposed to be quite effective at blocking the ambient noise on airplanes, and I'm thinking of testing them in other locations, just to see what a difference they make.

I love when technology improves my life rather than complicates it.

Exams are finished! for those

Exams are finished!

for those of you who didn't feel the sigh of relief yesterday evening...assuming all went well I can call myself a 3L.

I've been spending my day catching up on publishing business, catching up on email, catching up on those posts-in-the-works that have been lurking in draft mode, tending to Wallace (who's under the weather because of something he consumed on last night's walk), and generally enjoying the fact that another semester is behind me. Jury duty (maybe) next week, as well as the start of this summer's research, but I'm going to enjoy a few days of relative calm.

one...more...to go

My last final exam of my 2L year--Negotiation Theory--is tomorrow afternoon. I have several posts in the works, not least of which is cheese information for Mr. Doody, but those may have to wait until the weekend.

belated congratulations

Congratulations are overdue for David Lidsky, our friend and Terrence's former classmate, who's now Senior Editor of Fast Company magazine. I had waited to post the news, thinking that FC would update its online masthead, but they're not so fast in that respect. (I'd write the webmaster, but then reconsidered because there may be some sort of division between the print masthead--which features him prominently--and the online masthead of which I'm not aware.)

We'd add David's anti-blog to our blogroll (in process of being revised--keep your pants on), but that doesn't seem quite right. Maybe we'll need an "anti-blogroll" just for him.

All kidding aside, David's a great guy who has worked his way up the masthead, and some day soon we'll be pleased, but not surprised, to learn that he's at the very top. He's never afraid to put in the extra time or effort, whether it's editing a magazine piece or sending a thoughtful note. And he's a gentleman, which is no mean feat these days.

update 4:08pm: I guess a word to the wise is sufficient, assuming one knows the identity of the wise ones. David's now on the online masthead, too. Whoo hoo!

wallace in the sun

Click on the photo for Wallace in his relaxed sunny glory.

calmness, clarity, absence of rancor

From the Times review of Worse Than Watergate by John Dean (no stranger to Watergate):

Dean has again amassed evidence of a cancer growing on the presidency. But he has forgotten the lesson of his Ervin committee testimony: to strike a blow against a president, it takes a calm demeanor, clear presentation and a voice devoid of rancor.

Good advice, and not just for striking blows against the high and mighty. Calmness, clarity, and an absence of rancor are not qualities I associate with current politics or political commentary, or public discourse generally, and I don't know how to make it better. We can all try to do our part--to participate with those qualities as our guide--but I have the feeling that I'm wildly outnumbered by those who enjoy rancor, who don't care about (or don't even recognize) muddle, and who associate the loudest voice with the strongest opinion. I can't bear to watch "news" shows on which the debate consists of raised voices lobbing generalizations and vague insults, but apparently these rate very highly and spawn more shows in the same vein. Ugh.

Have to stop now. It's a sunny Sunday morning. There's a lot of work to do: laundry to wash, dinner to plan, corgi to walk, and oh, yes, two exams on the horizon. Off my soapbox...