Greetings! As you obviously are aware, we have an honor code here at UVA that leads to you getting expelled after one incident. One of these violations is stealing. There is very little crime at UVA, which is attributed (by silly people) to this Honor Code. In actuality, the laptops are probably not stolen at any higher or lesser rate than any other item left in a public place used by the same number of people as our law library. I mean, taking things in public places is hard to do if most people in that place are sedentary. YOu run the risk of someone knowing that isn't your computer, bag, etc. that you're running off with.
Anyway, I wish this wasn't the case, because when you walk into the library on certain days, there are like 30 laptops unattended, just sitting on tables. These laptops will remain unattended for upwards of three hours because their owners are off doing other things and can't be bothered to carry a five pound laptop with them wherever they went (or just dump them off in a locker). Instead, they make sure no one can sit in that specific seat in the library, so that they can have it when they get back. Why should they be inconvenienced when they can just inconvenience other people.
These are the people you hear about that keep on losing secure data. They leave their laptop places where it doesn't belong because they can't be bothered to take care of it. So thousands of people have their personal information in the hands of criminals. Sometimes, it'd just be better if someone walked off with their laptops now so that they'd learn their lesson instead of waiting until my SSN disappears.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Midterms
Here at UVA, we have graded midterms that don't count for anything. It's actually a really good system because it lets us take our first law school test without all the stress of our entire grade riding on it.
This is nice because law school tests are different from every other test I've ever taken. Math tests have one right answer. Science tests too. History tests require facts and English tests require bs. A law test is probably closest to being a combination of a History and English test.
You need facts (cases, restatements, etc.) and you also need to bs on a lot of stuff when you're not really sure what's going on. Now, that's also a pretty good way to look at litigation. You have to read the cases, get facts, and then bs them to help your case as best they can.
The one thing I wasn't really expecting was the necessity to talk about what the answer is not. Looking at the practice test my teacher put up online for us, I went through and was able to basically say what each answer was in a sentence. I knew I had to be missing something since people hyperventilate at the thought of law school so I decided to go examine the answers to see what the problem was.
Well, the problem is that you have to explain what each problem is not. Why does this rule not apply? What makes it different from this case? What things would need to be different to have that rule apply? It really was eye-opening.
I haven't seen what I got on my midterm yet, but I felt fairly confident i did Ok.
This is nice because law school tests are different from every other test I've ever taken. Math tests have one right answer. Science tests too. History tests require facts and English tests require bs. A law test is probably closest to being a combination of a History and English test.
You need facts (cases, restatements, etc.) and you also need to bs on a lot of stuff when you're not really sure what's going on. Now, that's also a pretty good way to look at litigation. You have to read the cases, get facts, and then bs them to help your case as best they can.
The one thing I wasn't really expecting was the necessity to talk about what the answer is not. Looking at the practice test my teacher put up online for us, I went through and was able to basically say what each answer was in a sentence. I knew I had to be missing something since people hyperventilate at the thought of law school so I decided to go examine the answers to see what the problem was.
Well, the problem is that you have to explain what each problem is not. Why does this rule not apply? What makes it different from this case? What things would need to be different to have that rule apply? It really was eye-opening.
I haven't seen what I got on my midterm yet, but I felt fairly confident i did Ok.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Comments
Comments are now unmoderated. So I no longer have to approve them so you can now see your writings on teh screen as soon as you write them.
Softball
Some of you may be aware that UVA has a major obsession with softball. I mean, this is hardcore activity at this school. People often claim to care more about softball than about law school. We like to call these people "winners" because I know that I also came to law school just to play softball.
I fail to really understand this obsession with softball. Look, I love playing sports (pickup basketball is my game of choice, but still). Here are reasons that I don't like softball.
1.) The arc required in slow pitch. I understand that some people have a hard time hitting a slow moving object in three dimensional space with a rounded stick. However, those people are usually eight. Normal twenty-somethings can have some sense of depth perception. And, pitching at such an arc actually makes it harder to hit the ball. Sure, the ball is moving slower, but it's dropping severely as it come towards the plate. If you're not good at hitting, you swing at the wrong spot. It's much harder to hit the correct spot than it is to correct the timing on your swing. So the actual result of the rule is contradictory to its intent.
2.) The arbitrary rules for the benefit of girls. I think I'm biased on this because in my neighborhood growing up, the girls all played sports with the guys. And the age relative kids were about equal, regardless of gender. My neighbor (girl) and I were the two oldest kids in the group and we were the best two at the sports and we were about even. When puberty hit, the only sport that I gaiend a real advantage in was basketball, mainly because I was stronger than she was so she couldn't stop me from getting to the basket. In baseball, I could throw a little harder and hit a little farther, but considering our competition and the yard in which we were playing, the difference was minimal.
That's why I think the rules that give benefit to girls are kinda sexist. I mean, if there's a guy who really sucks at softball, we can basically play 10 man infield. However, if it's a girl, the outfield has to be behind this arbitrary line in the outfield that most guys can't even hit the ball past. Also, the girls get more more allowed foul balls and a much larger outfield. If we're granting this much advantage to girls, isn't this just institutional bias indicating that we don't consider girls equal to males?
My neighbor is still better at baseball than some of the guys that play. She's actually probably better than I am at this point. She would shred these rules. Why should we treat her differently just because she doubled up her X chromosomes and is less likely to be colorblind? It's a minor thing, but I think that there's something wrong with it.
3.) Softball captains. Listen, our section voted you to be in charge of setting up games. Just because we have you do that, does not mean you understand the fundamentals of softball better than we do. Some of us may have played baseball, but, surprisingly, the way you field and catch is really quite similar. And no, I will not use both hands to catch a fly ball. This isnt' the last out in the world series. This is a random out in a softball game that means nothing. Whoop de doo. Get over it. Stop yelling at me about it.
4.) The fact that EVERYONE plays. 20 person batting orders suck. I know it's for fun and everything, but sitting around waiting to hit is not fun. In fact, it's boring.
5.) It's softball. The ball is difficult to drive, taking away a lot of the fun and the ball is huge, making it impossible to miss. For those of you keeping track at home, this means lots of nubbers out into the middle of the infield. Softball: Feel the excitement.
I fail to really understand this obsession with softball. Look, I love playing sports (pickup basketball is my game of choice, but still). Here are reasons that I don't like softball.
1.) The arc required in slow pitch. I understand that some people have a hard time hitting a slow moving object in three dimensional space with a rounded stick. However, those people are usually eight. Normal twenty-somethings can have some sense of depth perception. And, pitching at such an arc actually makes it harder to hit the ball. Sure, the ball is moving slower, but it's dropping severely as it come towards the plate. If you're not good at hitting, you swing at the wrong spot. It's much harder to hit the correct spot than it is to correct the timing on your swing. So the actual result of the rule is contradictory to its intent.
2.) The arbitrary rules for the benefit of girls. I think I'm biased on this because in my neighborhood growing up, the girls all played sports with the guys. And the age relative kids were about equal, regardless of gender. My neighbor (girl) and I were the two oldest kids in the group and we were the best two at the sports and we were about even. When puberty hit, the only sport that I gaiend a real advantage in was basketball, mainly because I was stronger than she was so she couldn't stop me from getting to the basket. In baseball, I could throw a little harder and hit a little farther, but considering our competition and the yard in which we were playing, the difference was minimal.
That's why I think the rules that give benefit to girls are kinda sexist. I mean, if there's a guy who really sucks at softball, we can basically play 10 man infield. However, if it's a girl, the outfield has to be behind this arbitrary line in the outfield that most guys can't even hit the ball past. Also, the girls get more more allowed foul balls and a much larger outfield. If we're granting this much advantage to girls, isn't this just institutional bias indicating that we don't consider girls equal to males?
My neighbor is still better at baseball than some of the guys that play. She's actually probably better than I am at this point. She would shred these rules. Why should we treat her differently just because she doubled up her X chromosomes and is less likely to be colorblind? It's a minor thing, but I think that there's something wrong with it.
3.) Softball captains. Listen, our section voted you to be in charge of setting up games. Just because we have you do that, does not mean you understand the fundamentals of softball better than we do. Some of us may have played baseball, but, surprisingly, the way you field and catch is really quite similar. And no, I will not use both hands to catch a fly ball. This isnt' the last out in the world series. This is a random out in a softball game that means nothing. Whoop de doo. Get over it. Stop yelling at me about it.
4.) The fact that EVERYONE plays. 20 person batting orders suck. I know it's for fun and everything, but sitting around waiting to hit is not fun. In fact, it's boring.
5.) It's softball. The ball is difficult to drive, taking away a lot of the fun and the ball is huge, making it impossible to miss. For those of you keeping track at home, this means lots of nubbers out into the middle of the infield. Softball: Feel the excitement.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Apologies and Congratulations
First, I would like to apologize for the dearth of posts the last couple of weeks. I've been quite busy and sometimes it's difficult to find things to write about that aren't specific to me, thus revealing my secret identity. If some villain pierced my cover, it would render me virtually as an ace detective (10 Schrutebucks to anyone who knows the comic book movie that last sentence references. Leave your guesses in the comments).
Second, congratulations to you. YOu have helped make this blog the most read blog that I write on about Law School (note: So far, I only write on here). I had 5 page views last week. So, if you're reading this, you're getting on the ground floor for an internet phenomenon!
Second, congratulations to you. YOu have helped make this blog the most read blog that I write on about Law School (note: So far, I only write on here). I had 5 page views last week. So, if you're reading this, you're getting on the ground floor for an internet phenomenon!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
I swear this isn't a traffic blog
However, I find that the easiest thing to complain about is the traffic because it doesn't legitimately affect anybody negatively here. (This is a huge difference from my movie and sports blogs engage in rather severe name calling of certain people. I'm looking at you Orlando Bloom.
Anyway, I was trying to get to Alderman road from my apartment. First, I tried to go down Old Ivy. No dice. We had a football game here today so Old Ivy is closed to traffic heading towards Ivy at the Tunnel of Death. For those of you not familiar with the Tunnel of Death, there are train tracks running above the Tunnel of Death. The road narrows underneath these tracks because, well, why not? Why should engineers be expected to design a bridge capable of allowing two cars to pass by at once.
So, it was back up Old Ivy, onto the 250 Bypass, and through the Northern campus. Surely I can cross Ivy from Copeley.
Wrong. Besides getting stuck behind, count them, one, two, three, FOUR Sheriff cars, there was a police officer waving traffic through to the right. Or, back to Old Ivy. Thanks guys. That's really cool. Eventually, I just cut my losses and headed to the law school.
The thing I really don't understand though is the die hard affection for UVA football. Listen, UVA sucks at football. I hate to break that to everyone in this state, but at no point is this team going to be relevant. The high water mark for this program in the past 6 years was a 9-5 finish in 2002. Subsequent campaigns of excellence included 8-5, 8-5, 7-5, 5-7.
That's mediocrity at it's finest. On top of that, the program is 7-9 in bowl games. Not only do they not get invited often, they get invited to crappy ones and usually lose. So, really people, there's no need to mess up traffic on this side of Charlottesville for this kind of stuff.
Anyway, I was trying to get to Alderman road from my apartment. First, I tried to go down Old Ivy. No dice. We had a football game here today so Old Ivy is closed to traffic heading towards Ivy at the Tunnel of Death. For those of you not familiar with the Tunnel of Death, there are train tracks running above the Tunnel of Death. The road narrows underneath these tracks because, well, why not? Why should engineers be expected to design a bridge capable of allowing two cars to pass by at once.
So, it was back up Old Ivy, onto the 250 Bypass, and through the Northern campus. Surely I can cross Ivy from Copeley.
Wrong. Besides getting stuck behind, count them, one, two, three, FOUR Sheriff cars, there was a police officer waving traffic through to the right. Or, back to Old Ivy. Thanks guys. That's really cool. Eventually, I just cut my losses and headed to the law school.
The thing I really don't understand though is the die hard affection for UVA football. Listen, UVA sucks at football. I hate to break that to everyone in this state, but at no point is this team going to be relevant. The high water mark for this program in the past 6 years was a 9-5 finish in 2002. Subsequent campaigns of excellence included 8-5, 8-5, 7-5, 5-7.
That's mediocrity at it's finest. On top of that, the program is 7-9 in bowl games. Not only do they not get invited often, they get invited to crappy ones and usually lose. So, really people, there's no need to mess up traffic on this side of Charlottesville for this kind of stuff.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Library Part II
Of course, the day after I write about the Library guy, he disappears. I've not seen him in a couple of days. Of course, the interweb was out here on campus so maybe he's only in the law library to l33ch it.
Update: Ah, there he is
-2:05
Update: Ah, there he is
-2:05
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All the Lawyers
Bonus points to whomever gets that reference. Leave the answer in the comments.
Anyway, the longer I'm in law school, the more esoteric law references are funny. My small section and I crack jokes about liability, contracts, mens rea, Civil Procedure (actually, that's probably the least funny out of all of them. We just complain about all of the Federal Rules).
Probably the funniest thing I heard in law school I'm not going to write on this blog because I don't want it coming back to bite me during law interviews. Yeah, this "blawg" is anonymous, but I don't take great pains to keep it so. I'm sure that the University or Law firms can figure out who's writing it.
Regardless, I'll can tell you the punchline is "Your favorite case is Lawrence v. Texas." The set up is a direct quote of a question posed by a comedy from a few years back. Sorry to be so vague, but my career is at stake (think about it and you'll get it though).
Also, Avast Ye Landlubbers
Anyway, the longer I'm in law school, the more esoteric law references are funny. My small section and I crack jokes about liability, contracts, mens rea, Civil Procedure (actually, that's probably the least funny out of all of them. We just complain about all of the Federal Rules).
Probably the funniest thing I heard in law school I'm not going to write on this blog because I don't want it coming back to bite me during law interviews. Yeah, this "blawg" is anonymous, but I don't take great pains to keep it so. I'm sure that the University or Law firms can figure out who's writing it.
Regardless, I'll can tell you the punchline is "Your favorite case is Lawrence v. Texas." The set up is a direct quote of a question posed by a comedy from a few years back. Sorry to be so vague, but my career is at stake (think about it and you'll get it though).
Also, Avast Ye Landlubbers
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Library
The thing about Law School is that you spend an inordinate amount of time in the library. For some, this is because they wish to study. For me though, some of it has to do with living off campus for the first time in my college career. Where else am I going to go?
When you go to the library on a regular basis, you start to get a particular study spot. Today, I have been thwarted because the spot I normally sit has been overrun.
So, I was forced to expand my horizons and it sucks. I am a creature of habit. Most people talk about how they want to "shake things up" and "do something new." Not me. I like what I do. That's the major reason that I do it. Now, obviously moving in the library isn't a big deal. Still though, it's representative of how much of a creature of habit I am.
Speaking of creatures of habit, there is this one old dude that is in the same spot in the library EVERY single day. I'm trying to figure out what he's doing here. He's there until at least 5 every day and usually later. He's there all day as far as I can tell. There hasn't been a day yet or a time of day during the week when I've not seen him in there. This isn't a matter of us just having the same times off. No, even on days when I have a class cancelled and I'm in the library at a much different time than normal, he's there.
Who is he? What does he do? These are all mysteries that I may never solve. One day, I want to get in here at like 8 am and just sit in that chair all day. I want to see what he does.
When you go to the library on a regular basis, you start to get a particular study spot. Today, I have been thwarted because the spot I normally sit has been overrun.
So, I was forced to expand my horizons and it sucks. I am a creature of habit. Most people talk about how they want to "shake things up" and "do something new." Not me. I like what I do. That's the major reason that I do it. Now, obviously moving in the library isn't a big deal. Still though, it's representative of how much of a creature of habit I am.
Speaking of creatures of habit, there is this one old dude that is in the same spot in the library EVERY single day. I'm trying to figure out what he's doing here. He's there until at least 5 every day and usually later. He's there all day as far as I can tell. There hasn't been a day yet or a time of day during the week when I've not seen him in there. This isn't a matter of us just having the same times off. No, even on days when I have a class cancelled and I'm in the library at a much different time than normal, he's there.
Who is he? What does he do? These are all mysteries that I may never solve. One day, I want to get in here at like 8 am and just sit in that chair all day. I want to see what he does.
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