November 02, 2005
Manhood!
Apparently Maureen Dowd is in the business of providing fodder for Leon Kass's next piece about women and sexuality.
I particularly like this:
When I asked a young man at my gym how he and his lawyer girlfriend were going to divide the costs on a California vacation, he looked askance. "She never offers," he replied. "And I like paying for her." It is, as one guy said, "one of the few remaining ways we can demonstrate our manhood."
Guys demonstrate their manhood by paying? Guys, let me give you a hint. If you think that's how you demonstrate your masculinity, you're doing it wrong.
(If you think you're doing it because it's a nice gesture, that's different. But don't flatter yourself it's about manhood.)
Via Amber, whose much better critique left me with only snarky remarks to make on the side.
Posted by Heidi at 04:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Life
Sounds like . . . .
Today we had two police officers visit our Crim Pro class. Among the fascinating things they told us, most fascinating was the off-hand response to someone's question about whether they felt that the law got in the way of their jobs.
"Oh," said the officer, "it's not the law that prevents us from searching people. It's the Constitution." This seemed like a really interesting distinction to make, and I wish I knew what he meant by it. Did he mean "it's not statutory?" Or did he mean something more interesting?
(Tangentially: he clarified that it was the Michigan constitution. Which, unlike the U.S. Constitution, didn't allow you to shoot felons on sight. To be fair, that seems to be the only mistake that he made.)
Posted by Heidi at 12:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Law
November 01, 2005
Project Implicit
Vavoom over on Tedrow Drive points out an interesting study on implicit biases. They ask you to put various words (such as Ronald Reagan or horrific) into categories (liberal/conservative or good/bad). By associating the categories to the same key on the keyboard (liberal,good/conservative,bad) but keeping them separate (i.e., flowers are still good, not liberal...), and comparing the timing of your responses when the category pairings are switched (liberal,bad/conservative,good), they draw conclusions about your implicit biases for liberals or conservatives. There are more pairings than just liberal/conservative. I was assigned that particular one randomly.
I don't know how accurate this analysis is, but it seems to be at least a reasonable approach. I was surprised to find that I have a strong preference for liberals over conservatives. (I also kept trying to put Bill Clinton in the Conservative category. Imagine that!) Maybe it's just because of the group of so-called conservatives that's running things these days.
Posted by L at 12:44 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Politics
October 31, 2005
Trick or Carol
Today I walked into Borders. To my dismay, there were snowmen up and about, and little notes at the register offering savings to start the season.
It is fucking October. It is Hallowe'en. Wasn't the rule supposed to be, wait until after Thanksgiving? Wasn't it? Or at least wait until the candy's collected? It is not "the season" yet. Why don't they just hang golden coins from the ceiling and spell it out in red and green script starting in July?
"It's always the season to spend your money. We prefer that you do it here."
Posted by Heidi at 09:01 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Life
Hallowe'en Margin Notes
Poultrygeists!
Posted by Heidi at 01:27 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Life
October 30, 2005
Nose of Steel
I have a squishy nose. A very squishy nose. My nose is more squishy than a number of things which you may think of as "squishy," such as pillows, couch cushions, and somewhat dry marshmellows. It is almost certainly squishier than your nose.
I have discovered that when I flare my nostrils my nose becomes slightly less squishy. This leads me to believe that if I could only exercise my nose muscles -- or whatever mushcles those are -- I could eventually flex my nose, and obtain a (echo-y fruity announcer voice) NOSE OF STEEL! Da dum dum!
But alas. Law school has interrupted all my plans for nostricular fitness. Damn you, law review! And damn you, Michigan Gym, for not having nose-weight training machines.
Posted by Heidi at 05:14 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Life
October 27, 2005
Indeed
I throw this question open to the unwashed masses of Windows users.
How the heck do you people function (if that's what you can call it) without a command line?
In other news: L. forgot Bubblefishymon.
EDIT: Oh, right, I also want to know: how do you function with only one desktop?
Posted by Heidi at 09:17 PM | Comments (30) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Linux
Awesome linux software
OpenOffice 2. (it works on Windows, too, if you don't want to pay for Word.) Inkscape, the premier vector graphics program (think Illustrator). Enlightenment DR17, a rocking window manager. And, of course, Eterm. I don't know how all you Windows people get along without a functional terminal. A quick count of applications open on my four desktops shows a Firefox window (to edit this!), a Matlab figure, an xemacs window (a text editor), KDVI (a DVI viewer), and seventeen terminals. Without a command line, I would be ten times less efficient.
These are just a few of the many reasons that Linux rules.
Posted by L at 08:05 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Linux
Anna Nicole Smith
For those of you who were interested, Chris Grostic's Note on the probate exception, which is going to be reviewed this term, is available on SSRN now.
Get it while it's hot!
Posted by Heidi at 02:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Law Review
Growl.
For the last few days, I've felt just a little under the weather -- a bit too tired here, a bit of a headache there. I finally woke up this morning with a headache and a sore throat. And congestion and a sneeze.
I also woke up with a midterm at 11 AM. (A midterm. In law school. Heavens preserve us.)
There's an alternate date next Monday, but it's in the middle of a seminar that I really enjoy, and I want to ditch on that about as much as I want a hole in my head. Which, in the figurative sense, I appear to have acquired over night. The real question is whether I want a hole in my head more than I want to take a midterm exam with a hole in my head.
Tap, tap, tap. Maybe I'll feel better after I have some tea.
Posted by Heidi at 09:25 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0) | Posted in Law