Super way to ring in the new year
I have one of those colds that makes me want to cut off my head, drain it of all snot and mucous and whatever else is preventing me from breathing, then stick it back on my neck.
December 2011
37 posts
In Winter 2007, I wrote this post about Iraq when I met some soldiers on their way to Dallas-Forth Worth. →
eamcintyre.wordpress.com
As the war draws to a close, I thought it was worth a post. Granted, I did write it four years ago, and some of it definitely reads a little overdone, but you know, still. Worth a post.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has died →
latimes.com
North Korean officials have announced the death of leader Kim Jong Il, according to Associated Press. More soon.
Whew, all these dictators displaced/killed - 2011 is really killing it, huh?
No pun intended.
Sort of.
#8878
Editor on whether to save investigative story for next Sunday: “We’re not going to ruin their lives on Christmas, even if they are criminals.”
Most editors I’ve known would have agreed not to run it, but not because they’re nice - “We’re not running that story on Christmas - no one pays attention to the news on Christmas!”
Segal may have a point here. Several, actually. →
nytimes.com
David Segal at the New York Times has been annoying me with his campaign to point out all the problems with legal education, but this article is not terrible.
For my last exam I just get to write about what I'm going to do over break, right? Cool. I think I'll just go Christmas shopping and bake cookies, then.
“A mere condition for a promise is not the same as a request for consideration.”
—
Contracts Casebook
Totally true. I know they may seem like the exact same thing, because in both cases Party A says to Party B, “I promise to do X if you do Y,” but there is a very important difference. When a court wants to enforce a contract they call X a request for consideration and when they don’t want to enforce it they call X a mere condition for a promise.
A "Muscular Empathy" →
theatlantic.com
This is awesome. There are two ways of looking at people’s actions, I think. One is to ask, “What would I do?” and compare it to whatever the person actually did. That’s judging. Another is to say, “Why wouldn’t I do what that person did?” That’s empathy.
Ta-Neshi Coates at The Atlantic takes that idea and wraps it into understanding privilege and racism. Worth a read.
First law school exam = check
So, that’s like one-sixteenth of my law school career done, right?
And I actually think it went pretty well! It was a fair exam, I was well-prepared, and aside from wishing the damn curve wasn’t a ranked curve there’s not really much I can do.
Now, onto contracts. Switching brain modes. I can’t wait till this is over.
Look, we can either study for our law school finals, or we can bring about the violent dissolution of the American Legal System →
mcsweeneys.net
Frankly, I’m leaning towards the latter at the moment.
PS - McSweeney’s, thank you for the reality check.
“Since 2008, it’s become clear to us in this room that democracy is an inadequate means of determining economic policy in a functioning capitalist society. For capitalism to survive, our nation will ultimately need to shift to a system where the rules are set not by Congress, but by those of us who understand how a market economy really works.”
—
Ben Bernanke, Chair of the Federal Reserve, in his remarks as keynote speaker at the 2011 Goldman Sachs Winter Holiday Party. Well then. (via jakke)
I… WHAT?
Before I totally flip out here, do we have a source for this?
