“GM is famous for being run by bean counters and ad men. Toyota is run by engineers.” ⇒

Happy end of the year, everyone. Of course I’m thinking about a big end of year, beginning of new year reminiscence type post, and the fact that I’m thinking about it means it probably won’t happen or won’t be readable, in which case, and in the meantime, you should please do this:

1. Go fill out Kristine’s survey. Hurry, before it disappears! It’s fun! And fast! Yay!
2. Go vote in the Public Defender Blog Awards. Hurry, before your time is up! Voting ends on January 5th! It’s also fun! And also fast! Yay yay!

Whew. I better go to bed. All those exclamation points wore me out….

“Certainly the labels are free to file any suit they wish, despite knowing full well that AllofMP3 operates legally in Russia. In the mean time, AllofMP3 plans to continue to operate legally and comply with all Russian laws.” ⇒

PD Wannabe is loving her¹ winter break from law school. I’m so jealous I think I might cry.

As I was going through law school I didn’t enjoy the actual school part all that much. I was constantly disappointed with what we learned and the way the academic culture seemed to reward regurgitation of material rather than any attempt to advance it. Of course, now that I’m working I look back with much greater fondness on law school and one of the things I miss most is all the free time. Compared to my life now, law school looks like a three year vacation.

So enjoy it while you can, PD Wannabe. Work is great, but there really is nothing that beats a true winter break. And spring break. And summer off. And fall break. And all the hours in every day that are “free” for you to fill as you choose.

*sigh*

1. I’m making a gender guess here. Apologies if I’m wrong.↩

“Karnazes’ transformation from a tequila-sodden party animal into an international symbol of human achievement is as educational as it is inspirational. Here’s his advice for pushing athletic performance from the unthinkable to the untouchable.” ⇒

“39. The common pigeon can memorize 1,200 pictures.” ⇒

Today is the Winter Solstice, the day of the year with the least amount of daylight because “the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator,” or something like that. It’s all about the tilt of the earth on its axis and the spinning and rotating and all that. It’s all very technical and I went to law school b/c I was never much good at math or science, so let’s just leave it at this: the days start getting longer tomorrow! Hooray!

At right is also a pic of our xmas tree, which someone requested I post some weeks ago. This was taken early in the morning when the tree lights were the only lights on in the room. I love low-light, time-lapse stuff when it works out.

I’ve been posting more frequently in the last week or two over at FETWC. Check there if you’d like to read a few more thoughts on the practice of criminal law in Montana.

“The President’s trying to mangle and warp us,
“The Fourth is in tatters, so’s Habeas Corpus!” ⇒

“Padilla, a U.S. citizen, has been detained for four years without formal charges, much of it in solitary confinement. He is now a broken human being.” ⇒

This is brilliant. And scary. (Flash animation from the ACLU) ⇒