A Real Red Sox Fan
If you don't read fafblog from time to time you should, and Giblets's "celebration" of the Red Sox win is an especially good excuse:

So the Red Sox have won. Giblets accepts this . . . . But now Giblets has a new problem. Giblets is no longer satisfied with victory. Now he thirsts for vengeance.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:45 AM 0 comments

 
Finally, another kind of poll to worry about
We're all, I think, a little burned out by the election, so here's some polling that it's easier to get excited about: The new NCAA basketball Coaches' Poll. And, Whoa, Nellie! LOOK at the ACC this year. We've got 6, count 'em, 6 teams in the top twenty, and we're the majority of the top top 5. Wake, UNC, and Tech come in at 2, 3 and 4, Duke at 12, Maryland at 16, and State at 19. Florida State at "others receiving votes." I'll predict now that entering the conference season, the ACC will be 50% of the top ten. That's gonna make the Tar Heel sweep of the ACC even sweeter.

I've gotta get cable.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:15 AM 0 comments

 
More RAD Christmas Present Ideas
For the man who has everything, including an irrational fear of heart attacks, his very own home defibrillator.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:40 AM 0 comments

 
Proper Collar Popping Style
We've been getting a lot of traffic from people looking for information on collar popping. There must be a lot of interest out there, since we've only had one post on it, so, I've responded: If you came looking for the correct way to pop your collar, here, modeled by AER, who was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule of naps, meals, and diaper changes, is proper collar popping style:



The mischevious grin is totally optional.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 5:50 PM 0 comments

 
Live Blogging Grading, Part deux
8:25 – Back at it.

9:06 – Five down. More coffee.

9:13 – Grading should be done in the evening. Then one’s desire to have a Manhattan makes one feel less like an alcoholic.

9:21 – Everything by Clifford Brown makes the top 10 songs to grade to. MAN did that dude swing.

Makes me think of Miles Davis’s said about Wynton Marsalis: “Aw, he ain’t doing nuthin’ Clifford didn’t do 30 years ago.”

9:49 – Six Down. More coffee.

9:55 – Turns out the $3.00 coffee from Harris Teeter is not as good as the $7.00 coffee from the gourmet coffee shop. Not even close.

It’s still got caffeine, though. Thank goodness.

2:05 – College kids today LOVE the word “hegemony.” I don’t think I even knew what that meant back in the stone ages when I was at school.

2:35 – FINISHED . . . with short answers. More coffee.

3:30 – Matching graded. Wow, easy compared to short answer. Love those letters. Now off to class.

5:00 – Hmmmm. No grading gnomes came by. Bummer. On to the essay.

11:20 – ugh. Still at it. 1 and ½ of the four essays done. Gordon Lightfoot is the best of the vocalists to grade to.

12:32 – Time for a Manhattan.

12:34 – Mmmmmmm. Good. A’s for everyone!!!!

2:30 – To bed. I’m in the short rows, though. 1 essay left. 40 or so to go. But now, sleep.

7:16 – Have I slept at all? Has the world stopped turning ? How can I still be doing this? My kingdom for a grading gnome!!!!

10:02 – If you can imagine the NFL Voice guy narrating a huge win with the Alleluia Chorus going on in the background, you have some idea of how I feel. Is it too early for drinks?

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:06 AM 1 comments

 
Free Martha!!

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:22 PM 0 comments

 
Live Blogging Midterm Grading
Some folks do it for the debates. I’m doing it for my midterm grading extravaganza. Basically just to keep myself entertained.

7:35 – First thought: Holy Crap is a stack of 130 or so blue books a big stack. I predict the temptation to have more than the one beer I’ve had with dinner will be a strong one.

7:58 – Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man is currently the leading candidate for best grading song. Smooth enough to relax you, peppy enough to keep you grooving.

8:15 – Look. I used to be a lawyer. I spent more than enough time with people who say a lot without saying anything at all, so God bless the kids who just admit the don’t know the answer. I wish I could give them bonus points for not making me read some pile of foolishness.

8:17 – And God bless those with good handwriting. I can’t imagine how much more I’ll love them when I start grading the essay.

8:38 – two short questions down. 8 to go. Ugh. I gotta get faster than this.

9:12 – Three questions down. Take 5 makes a strong move into second place on best grading songs, but can’t overtake Watermelon Man. Coffee calling, but I will resist for one more question.

9:24 – We’ve just passed the Law Firm point – the time at which, were I billing at my approximate law firm rate, I’d have already earned all the money I’ll get for grading these papers.

9:25 – No, student X, the U.S. did not use napalm in the 1920s.

9:26 – Did we use napalm in the 1920s?

9:27 - No, says Google, thankfully confirming my belief since I'd already marked it in pen.

9:28 – Ah, the old gorilla war. Has anyone ever figured out how the rebels gets the gorillas to fight for them?

9:36 – Horace Silver’s Song for My Father takes second place on the Songs to Grade to top ten.

10:05 – 4 questions down. I call a hasty retreat to plan a sneak attack tomorrow. I fear a Gallipoli.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:06 PM 0 comments

 
The More Things Change . . .
Here's E. Fitch Smith writing in 1848 about American courts, quoting Sir Fortunatus Dwarris who wrote sometime before 1826 about English courts:

"Instead of encroachment upon the common law, of which Bacon was
apprehensive, it seems that the Praetorian courts overflowed their banks in
the opposite direction, and, while sparing of injuctions, openly invaded the
province of the legislature. Upon a careful investigation of the course
actually pursued, it will be found that, in general, inconvenient laws were set
aside, and required changes were effected, by the use of technical fictions and
contrivances to evade inconsistent rules; and if there was a lamentable want
of politic institution, there has been thought to have been also, at times, some
defect of judicial principle."

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 10:30 AM 0 comments

 
Nerdy academic moment
It's a beautiful day out. I mean a really stunning fall evening - warm sun, brilliant colors on the trees, bright blue sky. And I carried a big golf umbrella on my walk home. But that's not the nerdy academic moment. My excuse for that outfit is that, well, it looked like it might rain before I got to the rare books room to read 19th century legal treatises at 8:30 this morning. But that's not the moment either. My nerdy academic moment is that I'm pleased about being in a rare books room all day, and even sort of like the umbrella thing. I mean, how great is my job that I read all day and nerdy outfits don't even matter?

Better than my old job as a lawyer. That's for damn sure.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 5:42 PM 0 comments

 
A little commentor love
There's a tight relationship for me between blogging and being an aspiring academic. I write for lots of reasons, but a big one is the hope that someone will find what I write worth reading. One of the great fears of academics, I think, is that we do nothing but, as a friend once said, spend our time painting the corner of a dark closet. You write stuff and it just sort of disappears into the ether. So when we get comments on this blog, like the few we've received from cyouincourt007, it really makes you want the best for those who wrote them. They were after all, wise enough to see the value in your work. Which is why I hope this picture from cyouincourt007's blog is a self-portrait.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:02 PM 1 comments

 
I've been remiss in pointing this out
but football season is back on, baby. Rock and roll.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:45 PM 0 comments

 
Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Something the French do right: coffee.
- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 11:00 AM 1 comments

 
They Keep Pulling Me Back In
I've tried to ignore the Presidental race because there's nothing I can do about it, I already have my mind made up, and most of it is just, well, ridiculous. Thank goodness I'm not in a swing state, where it'd be worse. But even here, it's hard to miss, especially the debates and the excitement among many that Kerry won it. You'll be unsurprised to hear that kind of talk makes me unhappy, so now I'm finding myself searching for good news. Which is why the recent email of a reader was so helpful. So, here, complete with an admission of bias - this is designed to make Bush supporters feel better not reflect the whole truth - is what he showed me:

By two-to-one, voters who watched the first presidential debate believe that John Kerry prevailed. But . . . [t]he latest national poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Oct. 1-3 among 1,002 registered voters, finds Bush maintaining a 48%-41% lead over Kerry among all voters.

And this:

Vote preferences are essentially unchanged, with President Bush maintaining a lead in this first ABC News tracking poll of the 2004 election — in the horse race, and on top issues and attributes alike.

Now, safe in my cocoon of good news, perhaps I'll be able to go back to ignoring this stuff until November.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 7:28 AM 0 comments

 
New to the Blogroll
I've added Professor Bainbridge to our blogroll, partly because he's very interesting, and partly because, like the make up of this blog, he's a lawyer, he's an academic, and he's generally conservative. You should go check him out. Especially his debate analysis here and here.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 1:37 PM 0 comments

 
I Mean Really
Sudan is on the UN Commission for Human Rights.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:56 AM 0 comments

 
Ah, Bigcity
So I'm back in Bigcity this weekend, mostly because Becky has a big event that I wanted to help out with. I figured this morning I'll go back to some of my old stomping grounds and do a little nostalga-ing. It was good: cup of coffee; Bigcity early in the morning before traffic is bad; big, famous buildings - sort of like Paris, I thought, but without French people, which is nice. A thought that maybe this wasn't so bad, that maybe I had a bad attitude about this place, was about to enter my mind when, within two minutes, two separate guys come up to ask for money, and ask in that way that only a Bigcity panhandler can ask - "C'mon, dude, you OWE me."

Whew. That was a close one. Say it with me now, "there's no place like Collegeville, there's no place like Collegeville, there's no place like Collegeville."

My dislike of Bigcity, and of big cities, also got me thinking. I imagine I'll have some kind of competitive advantage when I go on the market, since I'd prefer a Gentleville to pretty much any city with more than 150,000 people. So, with that in mind, here are my top ten job hopes, in no particular order: Michigan, Florida, Duke, NYU (ok, not really - just trying to see if you were paying attention), Chapel Hill, Tennessee, Washington & Lee, Virginia, Texas (ok, that one's on the big side, but I'm willing to stretch), South Carolina, Georgia. Now, I realize, none of those are really sacrifices, but there are a lot of schools not on that list that I think would make most folk's list, schools like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. So, there is it, for whatever its worth.

- posted by Tom Sawyer @ 9:04 AM 0 comments