Archive for March, 2008

My First Meme

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

Meme’s are so, like, 2 years ago. But I haven’t done one yet, and my friend Alwen tagged me with one. So here goes.

7 random things about me you may not know…

1. I crave hot dogs. I put them in soup. I role them up in tortillas with a little cheese. I eat them cold. I will eat them until I feel like barfing

2. I hold a white belt in at least three martial arts. No kidding.

    i. Kun Tao - A variety of Kung Fu practiced in Indonesia. (The teacher told me I’d earned a green belt in this one, but I couldn’t have fought my way out of an angry preschool with these techniques: so, I still think of myself as a white belt.)
    ii. Muay Thai - Our school didn’t have belts. So my belt is still white.
    iii. YMCA Karate - I have no idea how long I was actually in these classes, but somehow I missed all the belt tests. I was like totally the most fearsome white belt in the class.

3. I hate doing things I suck at. I grew up with modest talents in a number of areas, and got accustomed to being good at things without putting in much effort. It’s a curse, because later in life I have a hard time staying the course when things get hard. And everything gets hard, sooner or later.

4. I pierced my own ear once. It didn’t hurt at all, but I suspect that’s because I was more than a little drunk at the time. Sadly, I didn’t have an earring to put in the hole, so it was rather pointless.

5. I take one heck of a long time to finish a meme. Seriously. What’s my problem?

6. Pet peeve: People who keep large, aggressive dogs in their front yards. I’m running along, minding my own business, enjoying the peace and quiet of my neighborhood, when suddenly 100+ pounds of bad doggie charges out of nowhere and throws itself at me. Yes, I realize afterward that I’m perfectly safe on my side of the fence. But why should I have to wear two pairs of super hero underwear when I go running?

What really pisses me off are the people who only have four foot fences. Are you telling me that a 100 pound Rottie, moving at 25 mph, can’t clear a four foot fence? And don’t even get me started about the a__hole who uses some invisible sonic collar thing instead of a fence. The next time his wife decides to run her hair dryer and the toaster at the same time, some little kid is going to be puppy chow.

7. I used to play a pretty mean blues harp (harmonica).

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Rules:
A. List 7 random things about yourself that people may not know.
B. Link the person who sent this to you, and leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.
C. Post the rules on your blog.
D. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Things I’ve Learned In Law School #1

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

The Constitution was intended to limit the Federal government power so that the State governments could, with a few exceptions, do whatever they wanted. Two hundred years later, thanks to the Supreme Court, the same Constitution is used to limit the State governments so that the Federal government can, with a few exceptions, do whatever it wants.

… that said, of course, I don’t think the answer to “what do we do about it now” is altogether clear. Perception is reality, and the vast majority of people perceive that the present Federalist order is the way things are supposed to be. Going back would require a revolution, and those tend to be very messy. We were unbelievably lucky the first time: I wouldn’t want to roll the dice again.

Read This Book

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Fooled By Randomness, by Nassim, Nicholas, Taleb

Seriously.