Geeky Chic

Back at JHU, there was a mediocre comedy magazine called the Black and Blue Jay.  I’m not sure if it is still around, but there was a section that was devoted to funny things that professors said in class.  If there was an HLS equivalent, this quote from Professor Warren would definitely be included:

“I had a dream earlier this week where I called on a student and he died.”

(This happened after she called upon a student who answered her with silence.)

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Also, you should buy Professor Warren’s book, The Two Income Trap.  It provides food for thought for why the entire middle class in this country is in serious trouble.

During the whole Eldred v. Ashcroft saga, Mickey Mouse was implicated because the Sonny Bono Act expanded the copyright term to protect Disney’s copyright on Mickey Mouse, among many other works.  This Times  article points out that Mickey’s popularity is waning.  I still believe that the Eldred decision was improperly decided (I agree with Breyer’s dissent), but I think this article shows a little bit of irony.  Disney has worked very hard to extend the copyright of something that has lost value with time.  I guess one cannot really generalize from Mickey Mouse though, because there are so many other works that gain value over time.

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Finch directed me to the Terry Gross interview with Triumphe the Insult dog.  I found it hilarious.

I rarely gush about political candidates, but Slate directed me to this new bio-mercial for General Wesley Clark, which I found sappy, but compelling.  With everything that I’ve learned about the 30-second TV ad, and how it has corrupted politics, I don’t want to admit that I like the commercial, but it’s pretty convincing.  There’s something about Clark (at least on the very superficial level) that embodies leadership — this is a man who I want to be president now.  He makes Dr. Dean look like a Vermont hippy. This is someone who can look other figures of state straight in the eye, and not talk to them in that uni-directional, pseudo-cowboy speak that President Bush employs.  He’s Clinton without the french fry habit, pervy-womanizing, and cowardly Vietnam-draft dodging.  I should just take out my checkbook now.

Yesterday, I was one of the last eight people allowed into Nick Hornby’s Boston-Area appearance to promote the paperback release of Songbook (I arrived right when it started at 7, but other fans said that the line was already around the block at 5:30).  None of the material was new to me, since he read aloud four essays that I had read already, but the Q&A session was interesting, because there were a lot of rapid Arsenal fans in attendance.  One not-so-rabid fan asked, “I only followed Arsenal in ’71, and everyone tells me I’m crazy because I still swear that when they played Liverpool, Liverpool had green jerseys that year.  Do you know about the green jerseys?” 

As the Wash. Post, reports, soon, you will be able to transfer your home phone number to your cell phone.  Phone number portability, yay!

My stereo started acting oddly a little while ago.  When I returned to my room from the kitchen, it went beserk with the volume feature.  It kept on counting up to the maximum volume; when I manually turned the volume down, it would go down momentarily, and then shoot back up again.  I turned off the stereo, turned it back on, and the same thing happened again.  I gave it one more try, and now, it’s playing at its normal level, with the volume within my control.  Has anyone else heard about this phenomenon?  Any explanations?

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In other news, I’m having a good week, the financial aid office increased my grant my a tiny bit, and I secured a winter internship at the awesome office of the EFF in San Francisco.  I get to participate in defending your digital rights.