Recent Learnings

From law school
  • Postmodern-style semantics will be the doom of us all: “The issue is, what is chicken?” Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. Int’l Sales Corp., 190 F. Supp. 116, 117 (S.D.N.Y. 1960).
  • Peanut butter is serious business for federal regulation.
  • Summary judgment is magic (it just is).
  • Apparently the pronunciation of Lil Wayne’s name is up for grabs.
From life in general

politicalprof:

The percentage of “hits” when New York City police officers fire their weapons in the line of duty: 34%, according to a 2008 study. So professionals trained in using their weapons, who are required to keep those weapons in good working order and are trained to deal with high stress situations, miss their targets 66% of the time.

Still want armed citizens to “save” you in a shootout? Real life ain’t the movies, folks … and you’re not Deadeye McGraw.

My thoughts exactly.

Foundation and Emmerich

I remember reading Isaac Asimov’s Foundation in my late teens. For me, it was enthralling. The story was epic: a struggle for the survival of civilization itself. The setting and scale were equally immense: an untold time in the future when humanity had reached a size that makes the present day seem quaint. Later, as I learned to turn a more skeptical eye on the book and others in the series, I realized that they were not perfect. The writing style was uninventive. Many of the characters, particularly the women, were one-dimensional. As impressive as the universe was, it was also little explored beyond surface descriptions.

Regardless, I still find much in the books to be compelling. The ideas, the scope, and the themes presented by Asimov stand out just as brightly (if not brighter) now that I can also appreciate their limitations. Foundation is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of science fiction to date.

Roland Emmerich is planning to make a movie based off of it. The director whose résumé includes 2012, Independence Day, and the infamous 1990s Godzilla, is out to tackle one of the founding works of modern sci-fi. This makes me weary, and for a lot of reasons.

(Warning: mild spoilers)

Read More

The Football Season is (not) going to be Fun

My university’s football team was recently slaughtered. Again. Not in terms of points. The margin of loss wasn’t all that terrible. The real damage came in terms of expectations. For another year, the prospects don’t, by any means, look good.

I personally don’t follow football closely. Sports performance doesn’t make me for a moment regret my experience there as an undergrad (and currently as a law student). However, it still doesn’t make me feel any better.

In a strange way, I feel quasi-guilty right now. A lot of people I know have been pretty upset, over something that I don’t care all too much about. Then again, it would be nice to see all the money and deference given to the football program justified by some results now and again.

(For clarification I’m not intending to criticize the players themselves. The team has had a lot of changes in management, and from what I understand the way the last game was handled really made no sense.)

Week 1: the Human Condition

I survived my first week of law school. It’s been exhausting, but I like my classes so far, and the workload appears manageable. Most of the people I’ve met seem to be all right. However, there have also been some darkly enjoyable moments.

In one of my classes, the professor explained that one of the ways legal training had affected his everyday life was through an increase in his sense of “caution.” (I think he meant ”justified paranoia towards the human race.”)

This anecdote was followed by a case. The short version: never, never, let anyone know that you have named them as a beneficiary if the individual has access to your food. 

adriofthedead: nintendonut1: notreallykira: budgiebazooka: theinfp: eris-said: rouxfully: awesome-everyday: shorterexcerpts: thecallus: theatlantic: The Cheapest Generation: Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Cars or Houses? What if Millennials’ aversion to car-buying isn’t a temporary side effect of the recession, but part of a permanent generational shift in tastes and spending habits? It’s a question that applies not only to cars, but to several other traditional categories of big spending—most notably, housing. And its answer has large implications for the future shape of the economy—and for the speed of recovery. Read more. [Image: Kagan McLeod] It’s safe to say that a decent number of Tumblr users are a part of the Millennial generation. So, tell us: Do you own a car or house? If not, why? IT’S BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO DISPOSABLE INCOME YOU THUNDERING IDIOTS. Fucking preference has nothing to do with it. 50% of college graduates have no job! They all have the most student loan debt ever! What are you asking this question for?! Also: housing is a good bit more expensive now. My parents got a 15-year mortgage on a new house in the mid-70s. The house was $32,000. Average home price in that area now? $190,000. So, home prices went up. Food prices went up. Health care prices went WAY UP. Rent prices went up. Higher education went up so damn high that some of us forgo that all together. Energy prices went up. Car prices went up. Prices of prices went up. We also pay cell phone bills, internet bills, data plans, text plans, online subscriptions, cable/satellite tv, netflix, DVR subscriptions — bills that didn’t even exist 30-40 years ago. We also use computers and smartphones and microwaves and other consumer electronics that didn’t exist 20-50 years ago. We need medications and doctors and contact lenses and tampons and maxi pads and other things that cost money just to be alive and keep us healthy. Most of us can’t afford to: Get married and have a “Traditional” big wedding Buy a house Buy a new car PLAN to have children Take two, consecutive weeks of vacation. Jobs that paid 50k in the late 1990s now pay between 30-35. Interest rates that favor consumers have gone down. So I say, no. We are not choosing not to buy homes. We’re not choosing to take the bus in cities where there’s no good public transit. WE ARE NOT CHOOSING TO LIVE WHAT SOCIETY DEEMS AS AN UNDESIRABLE LIFESTYLE. Don’t even get me started on the fact that these two people in the picture are young white hipsters. Young lack and brown folks have been forgoing homeownership and buying new cars for decades, this shit isn’t new, pal. You’re just acting like this shit is new because it’s hitting white folks. anyway, my point is: We are fucking broke. SERIOUSLY. Cheap and broke are not the same thing, motherfuckers. If 60% of my income wasn’t going to paying debt, I’d be all over the shit that made my life easier. Car not held together with duct tape? Yes please! My own space away from my parents where I could actually begin building a life for myself? I’ll have one of those, if you’re offering! Oh but wait, you’re not really offering, because there is no possible way for someone in my situation to give you what you want for it. If I hadn’t believe the lie of continuous prosperity I was spoon fed for 28 years, maybe I’d be in a position to be the good little consumer you want me to be. I co-sign all of this. Some are barely scrapping by even with living with parents or having 5 roommates. Trust me, when I was still living in the States, I wanted nothing more than my own place and to begin building some kind of life for myself and I did almost everything right by society’s standards. You know how I’ve finally gotten a bit of a cushion? I moved to the other side of the fucking world. Teaching ESL in Korea was the only way for me to get out of debt and save up some money, but it’s taken two years. Now I’m facing going back home and frankly the thought fucking terrifies me. …… Seriously? I would love to buy a house. Too bad I make peanuts lol Yeah I’m sure those On The Road -lookin assholes in the picture might have a choice, but my husband and I sure can’t afford to buy a house right now, and both of us are driving ten year old cars that we pray my husband can fix if anything goes wrong. The only way we were able to afford a wedding was because a friend offered to hold it in her backyard, and we were only able to invite a handful of people.  It’s not because we like being fun, carefree spirits, not tied down by boring shit like mortgages and house payments, man. If I could buy a house I would, but I can’t, because the goddamn economy collapsed when I was two thirds of the way through my degree and now that I have one I’m still making barely above minimum wage.  What a fucking tone-deaf post.  Half of my paycheck goes towards student loan payments for college that society was insisting i follow through with and now they want me to buy a house and a car? Holy shit. Do the writers at the Atlantic live at the center of the earth or Can I punch whoever wrote this article? Like… in the throat? Is that allowed? So, people are being judged for trying to not live beyond their means?
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adriofthedead:

nintendonut1:

notreallykira:

budgiebazooka:

theinfp:

eris-said:

rouxfully:

awesome-everyday:

shorterexcerpts:

thecallus:

theatlantic:

The Cheapest Generation: Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Cars or Houses?

What if Millennials’ aversion to car-buying isn’t a temporary side effect of the recession, but part of a permanent generational shift in tastes and spending habits? It’s a question that applies not only to cars, but to several other traditional categories of big spending—most notably, housing. And its answer has large implications for the future shape of the economy—and for the speed of recovery.

Read more. [Image: Kagan McLeod]

It’s safe to say that a decent number of Tumblr users are a part of the Millennial generation. So, tell us: Do you own a car or house? If not, why?

IT’S BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO DISPOSABLE INCOME YOU THUNDERING IDIOTS. Fucking preference has nothing to do with it. 50% of college graduates have no job! They all have the most student loan debt ever! What are you asking this question for?!

Also: housing is a good bit more expensive now.

My parents got a 15-year mortgage on a new house in the mid-70s. The house was $32,000. Average home price in that area now? $190,000.

So, home prices went up. Food prices went up. Health care prices went WAY UP. Rent prices went up. Higher education went up so damn high that some of us forgo that all together. Energy prices went up. Car prices went up.

Prices of prices went up.

We also pay cell phone bills, internet bills, data plans, text plans, online subscriptions, cable/satellite tv, netflix, DVR subscriptions — bills that didn’t even exist 30-40 years ago. We also use computers and smartphones and microwaves and other consumer electronics that didn’t exist 20-50 years ago.

We need medications and doctors and contact lenses and tampons and maxi pads and other things that cost money just to be alive and keep us healthy.

Most of us can’t afford to:

  1. Get married and have a “Traditional” big wedding
  2. Buy a house
  3. Buy a new car
  4. PLAN to have children
  5. Take two, consecutive weeks of vacation.

Jobs that paid 50k in the late 1990s now pay between 30-35. Interest rates that favor consumers have gone down.

So I say, no. We are not choosing not to buy homes. We’re not choosing to take the bus in cities where there’s no good public transit. WE ARE NOT CHOOSING TO LIVE WHAT SOCIETY DEEMS AS AN UNDESIRABLE LIFESTYLE.

Don’t even get me started on the fact that these two people in the picture are young white hipsters. Young lack and brown folks have been forgoing homeownership and buying new cars for decades, this shit isn’t new, pal. You’re just acting like this shit is new because it’s hitting white folks.

anyway, my point is: We are fucking broke.

SERIOUSLY. Cheap and broke are not the same thing, motherfuckers.

If 60% of my income wasn’t going to paying debt, I’d be all over the shit that made my life easier. Car not held together with duct tape? Yes please! My own space away from my parents where I could actually begin building a life for myself? I’ll have one of those, if you’re offering!

Oh but wait, you’re not really offering, because there is no possible way for someone in my situation to give you what you want for it. If I hadn’t believe the lie of continuous prosperity I was spoon fed for 28 years, maybe I’d be in a position to be the good little consumer you want me to be.

I co-sign all of this. Some are barely scrapping by even with living with parents or having 5 roommates. Trust me, when I was still living in the States, I wanted nothing more than my own place and to begin building some kind of life for myself and I did almost everything right by society’s standards.

You know how I’ve finally gotten a bit of a cushion? I moved to the other side of the fucking world. Teaching ESL in Korea was the only way for me to get out of debt and save up some money, but it’s taken two years. Now I’m facing going back home and frankly the thought fucking terrifies me.

…… Seriously? I would love to buy a house. Too bad I make peanuts lol

Yeah I’m sure those On The Road -lookin assholes in the picture might have a choice, but my husband and I sure can’t afford to buy a house right now, and both of us are driving ten year old cars that we pray my husband can fix if anything goes wrong. The only way we were able to afford a wedding was because a friend offered to hold it in her backyard, and we were only able to invite a handful of people. 

It’s not because we like being fun, carefree spirits, not tied down by boring shit like mortgages and house payments, man. If I could buy a house I would, but I can’t, because the goddamn economy collapsed when I was two thirds of the way through my degree and now that I have one I’m still making barely above minimum wage. 

What a fucking tone-deaf post. 

Half of my paycheck goes towards student loan payments for college that society was insisting i follow through with and now they want me to buy a house and a car?

Holy shit.

Do the writers at the Atlantic live at the center of the earth or

Can I punch whoever wrote this article? Like… in the throat? Is that allowed?

So, people are being judged for trying to not live beyond their means?

(via iamdrawberry)

Source: The Atlantic