70s Pop, Remixed

Warner Brothers has released a new remix album, What is Hip?, Volume 1. Old pop songs from their catalog, mostly from the 70s, remixed by modern artists. Best of all, for those try before you buy people, there's a free player on their website.

With the strangely compelling sounds of Do Ya Think I'm Sexy remixed by Halou and Midnight at the Oasis remixed by Cuica, my workday soundtrack is set. If loving this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...rocking out...

Turkey Day Weekend Recap

Thanksgiving with the family, stuffed to the gills with turkey and pie. In between gluttony, I played lots of gin with my grandfather and my sister had her fourth birthday celebration. I stayed over and hung out most of Friday, eating and playing cards. Occasional reprieves from the studying are nice.

Over the weekend I sold my motorcycle to a guy from Craigslist. While I didn't get as much as I would have liked (as is the case with most old vehicles), I was saved the trouble of renewing my registration and the attendant $97. My baby, a 1980 Suzuki GS550, has a new daddy now.



Allyson and I went to see a Chinese dance recital on Saturday night, featuring or friend Teena. The performances were wonderful and the company at dinner afterward was equally so. Myke insisted on eating frog, while I was content with the novelty of drinking heavily from a bowl embossed with a hula dancer.

Sunday was spent studying and taking care of silly domestic things, like dishes and bills.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...back in the swing...

Killer Shrimp

As my Torts exam approaches, it's good to see that all this proximate cause stuff is useful in the real world:

A piece of grilled shrimp flung playfully by a Japanese hibachi chef toward a tableside diner is being blamed for causing the man's death.

Making a proximate-cause argument, the lawyer for the deceased man's estate has alleged that the man's reflexive response -- to duck away from the flying food -- caused a neck injury that required surgery.

Complications from that first operation necessitated a second procedure. Five months later, Jerry Colaitis of Old Brookville, N.Y., was dead of an illness that his family claims was proximately caused by the injury.

But for the food-flinging incident at the Benihana restaurant in Munsey Park, N.Y., Colaitis would still be alive, attorney Andre Ferenzo asserts.

Check out the full article at law.com. It just gets funnier.

When I mentioned the case to Professor Popper after last night's class, he replied, "Sounds like an exam question."

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...beware the flying prawn...

Twain's Writing Advice

"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

That's some damn useful advice.

Twainquotes.com has more of his writing quotes, but oddly doesn't have the one above. The Mark Twain Wikiquote site does, though. There's also Mark My Words, for those of you who like your quotes on paper.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...aspiring...

Should a Law School Take Sides?

Will Baude has a thought-provoking commentary about law schools taking sides on political issues at Crescat Sententia:

The trouble with Dean Koh's sentiment is most clear with his suggestion that a school should not be neutral "when it comes to questions of law and justice."

The trouble is that people-- especially professors and students of law-- disagree about what law and justice require. For a school not to be neutral on those questions is for it to take an institutional stance on the very questions its faculty members are supposed to be free to be debate. The role of a great university (and, I submit, a law school) should be to let, to encourage, its members to change the world themselves, not to be a second-rate political force.

There is a crucial difference between having a majority of faculty and students sharing positions on issues and having the school itself take positions on issues. Failing to draw that line will eventually lead to the creation of a hive-mind, probably capable of turning out lawyers, but not lawyers ready for the real world outside the liberal cocoon. I hope that administration of my fine school recognize that.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...the anti-borg...

Killing the Monkey

I turned in my open memo for Legal Rhetoric last night. After a month of reading and synthesizing Connecticut case law on prescriptive easements, it's a relief to have it all behind me. No more thinking about poor Ms. McGregor and her rose-lined path to the lake that mean Mr. Zuckerman wants to fence off. No more bourbon-fueled nights trying to clearly describe what "open and visible" really means. (Trust me, bourbon helps with that.)

There was a little post-memo celebration at Buffalo Billiards (props to Will for putting it together), thought it's a little premature. There's still a cover letter exercise due tomorrow and tons of outlining and studying for exams left before the semester is done. And there's still seven more semesters to go after this one. It's a long road to travel.

Update: John has pictures over at his blog.

One day at a time.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...temporarily calm...

Good and Bad from the Republicans

Good: It looks like Senate tradition will win out over conservative mass emailing/calling, resulting in Arlen Specter being named chairman of the Judiciary committee.

Bad: The Republicans changed their party rules to allow Representatives under indictment to serve in leadership positions. So much for 'sauce for the goose...'

One of the NPR commentators pointed out that this in some ways reflects the different nature of the House and the Senate. The House is a smashmouth partisan brawl, while the Senate is more of a social function amongst people with differing opinions.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...law school hasn't killed me yet...

I welcome our Skull & Bones overlord

Well, that's over with. What a successful campaign. Bush/Kerry managed to work the American people up to a fever pitch with bugaboos of Supreme Court nominations, gay marriage, and other elements of the culture wars, ensuring that they won the election.

Shockingly, on November 3rd, Kerry nicely conceded and everyone became friends again. Almost like they were really friends all along, or members of the same secret society, or something. Now we have four more years of the Bush arm of that campaign. Here's hoping that they're better than the last four.

Michael Badnarik did better than Harry Browne, better than all the other third-parties combined, and was within 18,000 votes of Ralph Nader, last I checked. Pretty respectable for a campaign fought in a [culture] war zone.

Further thoughts on the campaign can be found on the Montgomery County Libertarian Party site. We didn't win this battle, but we're not quitting. Not by a long shot.

Yours truly,
Mr. X

...noncombatant...