The Blog with No Name

Check out this postcard my older brother sent to my grandparents when he was 6.

If you can’t quite read it, click here for a bigger version.

Point of Law points to a new blog:The Becker-Posner Blog. Gary Becker is a Nobel Prize winning economist and Richard Posner is a brilliant legal scholar. The blog itself only has a a place-holder post up right now, but apparently it will be starting soon. I’m sure it will be on my blogroll after it gets going. It’s also more reason to think that people who belittle blogs are really just ignorant.

Also, Randy Barnett, a co-blogger over at The Volokh Conspiracy, was one of the lawyers who argued before the Supreme Court about medicinal marijuana.

UPDATE: Well, on the day I bring this up a few others discuss similar things. First is a longish and excellent article (via Slashdot) discussing blogs, their collective impact, and their future as the Fifth Estate. An excerpt:

Under specific circumstances—when key weblogs focus on a new or neglected issue—blogs can act as a focal point for the mainstream media and exert formidable agenda-setting power. Blogs have ignited national debates on such topics as racial profiling at airports and have kept the media focused on scandals as diverse as the exposure of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity to bribery allegations at the United Nations. Although the blogosphere remains cluttered with the teenage angst of high school students, blogs increasingly serve as a conduit through which ordinary and not-so-ordinary citizens express their views on international relations and influence a policymaker’s decision making.

And we find an idiot too. Brian Williams, the dude who is going to replace Brokaw an NBC, had this to say about bloggers:

When a fellow panelist mentioned that bloggers had had a big impact on the reporting on Election Day, Williams waved that point away by quipping that the self-styled journalists are “on an equal footing with someone in a bathroom with a modem.”

Mmhmm, you bet. I’ll have you know, Mr. Williams, that I’ve only made one post while in the bathroom.

I forgot to post this earlier. Another new — and hazardous! — element has been isolated and described: woman.

I know it’s a little late for a post like this, but I’ve wanted to post something like this for a while. I have a very blessed life, so the list of all things for which I am thankful (or should be thankful) could go on for pages. However, these past few months I’ve been especially thankful for some particular things. First, I am thankful that I own a dependable truck. Every time I drive up to Seattle, Portland, or down to California I am reminded how fortunate I am to own a vehicle that can go for hundreds of miles at a stretch. When I drove down to California for Thanksgiving I passed probably almost a dozen cars on the side of the road, and every time I was glad I didn’t have to go through that. And as long as I’m smart about gas (and I’m not always), it’ll stay that way. Second, I am thankful that I live in a country with an interstate system such as ours. Our well-developed and generally reliable infrastructure is amazing. The idea that I can get on one road that will take me all the way from the Canadian border to Seattle to Salem to Sacramento to L.A. to the Mexican border is amazing. And that road can be extended beyond our borders. So far I’ve traveled that highway as far north as Whistler, B.C. and as far south as the very southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. After my experiences down in deep Baja I am extra thankful for our wide and relatively drunk-free highways. Third, I am thankful for my friends and family. Even though I’m stuck down here in Salem all alone, it is good to know I have friends in Portland and Seattle (and even in California) that are available, fun, and dependable. They cut me a lot of slack, and I think that’s awfully swell of them. And of course, I could could fill some long, sappy pages full of stuff about my family, but I won’t. I’ll just say that my family is better than your family.

The box set for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is available December 14th. Amazon is selling it for only $78, which is a great deal. I haven’t purchased any Lord of the Ring movies precisely because I was waiting for this box set. So guess what’s on my wishlist.

You can see a trailer for the extended version of Return of the King here. It’s going to have 50 minutes of extra footage!

“Some of these cases [you read in law school] are picked because the fact pattern is fun and sexy.” - my contracts professor.

What?

The Volokh Conspiracy points to some more articles about France’s expansive civil power in fighting terrorism. I first blogged about this here. Suffice it to say, France has laws that make the PATRIOT Act look like child’s play.

Another reason to hate MTV: for putting Marilyn Manson in a philosophy classroom.

It seems almost impossible to parody PETA. They’re now “shifting strategies” and moving to protect fish with what they call the Fish Empathy Project.

“Fish are so misunderstood because they’re so far removed from our daily lives,” said Karin Robertson, 24, Empathy Project manager and daughter of an Indiana fisheries biologist. “They’re such interesting, fascinating individuals, yet they’re so incredibly abused.”

I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry when somebody believes fish are individuals. The gulf between my worldview and their worldview is so enormous that I’m not sure where I’d start if I had a discussion with somebody like this. Fortunately, these nutcases are in the minority, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to try to proselytize others. The “director of vegan outreach” Bruce Friedrich knows he’s got a tough fight in convincing people about the evils of fish murder, but he’s got the right spirit, “We’d rather go too far than not far enough.” Well, Brucey, I think you’ve already gone too far.

Here is some more fun stuff. (via Soini)

Well they’re at least taking over universities. It’s nice to know that SPU isn’t the only university struggling with a glut of women (very close to twice as many women as men). SPU is now actively pursuing more men and expanding the science programs. I liked the ratio my first couple of years because it was nice to have a larger pool of women to oggle. My last couple of years I didn’t like it so much because I attributed much of the sissiness on campus to the large amount of women who didn’t want to put up with rambunctious boys. But let’s not talk about SPU women . . .

Anyway, two guys at the end of the article have the right idea in mind:

Men especially enjoy the new social math. At midday on the Santa Clara University student union patio, juniors Patrick Semansky, 20, and Richard Bersamina, 20, who were classmates at an all-boys high school, said they were very aware of the gender imbalance when shopping for colleges.

Santa Clara’s female majority “definitely wasn’t discouraging. This is an attractive place,” Semansky said mischievously, glancing at women milling about.

“This is definitely an attractive place,” Bersamina agreed, smiling.

That’s right, boys. Look but don’t touch.
(via The Volokh Conspiracy)

Lamest of the lame poll topics. I want to rename my site, and my creativity is completely failing me. “Steve of Salem” is lame (as Greg already pointed out to me), and it’s just a place holder until I figure something else better. If you have an “other” suggestion in the comments. Remember the poll still doesn’t work if you are viewing an individual post. You need to be on the main page.

I don’t want any name that has anything like “Steve’s Musings/Jottings/Thoughts/Prattle/etc.” I consider that lame. No legal-based name either because I think that would be awfully presumptuous and misleading.

Bush rescued his own Secret Service agent while down in Chile over the weekend. Of course, all the Bushies think it’s cool (this includes me), and I’m sure all the anti-Bushies are just rolling their eyes. Anyway, it’s something to talk about. You can see a video of it here. The camera angle is really bad so it doesn’t look like too much was going on. This write up makes it more exciting:

In the fracas that ensued, amid a flurry of half nelsons, one Secret Service agent wound up jammed against a wall. “You’re not stopping me! You’re not stopping me! I’m with the president!” an unidentified agent can be heard yelling on videotape of the mayhem.

It took Bush several minutes to realize what was happening. The president and the first lady walked on through the door onto a big red carpet, looking relaxed. They greeted Lagos and his wife, Luisa Duran. “You want us to pose here?” Bush asked Lagos with a grin, and they turned to face a wall of flashes.

Then Bush either realized he was missing something, or he heard the commotion. The president, who is rarely alone, even in his own house, turned and walked back to the front door unaccompanied, facing the backs of a sea of dark suits. Bush, with his right hand, reached over the suits and pointed insistently at Trotta. At first the officials, with their backs to him and their heads in the rumble, did not realize it was the president intervening. Bush then braced himself against someone and lunged to retrieve the agent, who was still arguing with the Chileans. The shocked Chilean officials then released Trotta.

Trotta walked in behind Bush, who looked enormously pleased with himself. He was wearing the expression that some critics call a smirk, and his eyebrows shot up as if to wink at bystanders.

Bush adjusted his right cufflink and muttered something to Lagos, took the first lady’s arm and headed into the dinner of grilled fish.

Of course, the Chilean press corps, who happen to be pros at spotting cowboys, didn’t like it:

Chilean journalists were critical of Bush’s actions. Marcelo Romero, a reporter with Santiago’s newspaper La Cuarta, said: “All of us journalists agree that President Bush looked like a cowboy. It was total breach of protocol. I’ve seen a lot of John Wayne movies, and President Bush was definitely acting like a cowboy.”

Oh, shut up. What a damn sissy. Since when is making sure bodyguards are actually, you know, guarding a body a breech of protocol? (via Best of the Web)

Intelliseek’s BlogPulse has a really cool set of charts and graphs about blog content, issues, and sources. Drudge is top dog of cited blogs (just edging out DailyKos), but I know a lot of people would say that Drudge is not a blog. He’s more akin to a site like FARK. (Link via The Kerry Spot)

Cuteness overload.

Anybody know how to take care of an over-population of kittens? FARK readers can be quiet.

Classes were cancelled today. Yesterday a professor collapsed in front of his students, and he was rushed to the hospital. He had a massive brain hemorrage caused by an aneurysm. The Dean thought it would be inappropriate to have classes today considering the professor’s condition and the impact it has had on the school. Apparently one of the students knew CPR and saved the professor’s life with it. Maybe I should get my CPR license again.

Classes over all have been going well. Nothing extremely difficult. The only real problem is just the volume of information that is being jammed into my brain. Finals are coming up pretty quick. I’m going to have to start prepping in earnest for those. I’ll do that after Thanksgiving. Everybody knows the brain works better when hopped up on mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and turkey. Speaking of potatoes. <— Click it and wait for it to load. It’ll be the next macarena in no time.

This weekend I help out a friend with a video project, study (fingers crossed), and get my truck’s sound system infused with awesomeness.