If Bush wants to leave a postive legacy he's going to have to develop leadership skills in these last 2 years. After creating a quaqmire in 6 years with the house and senate (well 4 and change, his policies drove one senator to become an independent and the Dems controlled the senate for a while), I can't see him effecting any major change now.

Now with the Dems with the House at least, and with Dem leads in the last 2 senate seats that would give them a majority and Bush being a lame duck with no clear successor (Dick Cheney shot them all on hunting trips but covered it up better), it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

The Republicans may be able to wrestle control from the GOP... It will be interesting to see if McCain makes a run...

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As a final thought... Why the hell do people not use vote-by-mail across the nation? Polling stations are terrible. Gah!

Functioning teleportation

I figured this is right up everybody's alley ;p

I'm a little hung up on their $75 activation cost ($25 one time fee and $50 annual fee). Especially since in the 11.5 months I've been in DC this is only the 2nd time I could really use a car (not just being a very nice convience).

I haven't really been able to find anything on the net. I'm think I might go the rental car route, which would cost about $30 for the trip itself, but would be about $40 cheaper for this trip because there are no annual fees or activation costs.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

CNN Article

Apple and Dell laptops using Sony batteries have both caught fire (so much for all those bappleheads who claimed it was a 'PC' problem).

Anyone know why, all of sudden, it seems like this is happening?

CNN Article

Okay, it has a weird orbit but it does have 3 moons... Or had, can a non-plant still have a moon, or would it mearly have satellites?

"new rules for a planet: 'a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.'"

Apparently because it and Neptune dance Pluto got the boot:

"Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's."

No reason why they didn't keep Pluto and axe Neptune...

I'm going to be in Oregon for the week of Labor day so I took the lesson I'm going to miss yesterday. We spent 15 minutes talking about what constitutes cheating on the LSAT...

People actually thought they could fill in the bubbles on one section after time was up and kept trying to find a way to rationalize doing it.

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

He's Dumped

Apparently he didn't like his contract going from 10 million a year to 2.5 million as a direct result of his looniness.

Other people think Dickles is pretty ineffective.

Your Prof

Prep Course/Classroom Survivor...

A combination of Weakest Link and Survivor... The tenants of the show are very simple...

If you are studying for an exam that is only given in English and you are not even close to being English Language Proficient then you are voted out of the class. I know its harsh, but for heavens sakes, I didn't put down over $1,000 bucks so you can learn what the word reptile means!

If you ask too many stupid questions you are voted out of the classroom. Thankfully there is going to be some self-voting off in this respect as the most problematic offender is going back to grad school (note to self... Brown Public Policy Grads - don't assume high quality).

***

And of course even though the guy teaching the class told us that 1/3 of the class generally scores lower on the 2nd diagonstic test than the 1st because people are learning to impliment the techniques being taught everyone who scores lower is going to assume the class is making them stupider. No, its not. You entered with unrealistic expectations and are just naturally stupid (well, more correctly, not wise).

***

And then of course there are the people who refuse to believe they can be wrong. These are the ones that say something like... Well I chose D because XYZ. Would D have been right if the guy's dog had jumped the fence, monekys started dancing, and I completely reword the question.

People, please, for the love of all things intellectual... you got the answer WRONG. We all get the answer wrong. Learn why its wrong so you don't make the same mistake in the future. Don't try justifying your answer choice by engaging on some fantasy trip to an alternate reality!

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Sorry for mostly just putting up complaints about the prep course, unfotrunately it is now the only thing I do outside of eating, sleeping, commuting and working (mostly becasue the homework portion of the class takes 12-20 hours a week plus 8 hours of in-class instruction). I'm going to be very happy Sept 30th when I'm done with this.

Of course then its on to Law School apps and personal statements :( And then financial aid... Ugh... Why did I decide to do this again... oh yeah... DC + no advanced degree = job below ability level.

That make me feel old :(

VH1 has started 'I Love the 90's' The 90's are too recent to do that!

Plus part of what made 'I Love the 80's' is we really knew what had died and was the 80's. Outside of New Kids on the Block... has there been anything purely 90's? (yes but I'm refusing to acknowledge it)

Hell of Sand Falling Game

Fun little flash thingy (not sure how to classify it, it isn't really a game...)

Similar to those sand clock/turny things that were popular in the mid-90's, 4 different types of 'sand' flow down.
Tan = Sand
Blue = Water
White = Salt
Maroon = Oil

Oil is burnable, water + plant (one of the options to manipulate things) = plant growing.

Concrete is wet and dries after a while. Salt in water makes a different color.

It's really quite relaxing - mindless yet entertaining ;p

You think that dawn occurs at night.... (as in dusk).

Seriously, there is this girl in the LSAT prep class that I'm taking that makes me think that if nothing else this class should be a cheap (realtively - $1,300 versus $150,000) hint that maybe Law School isn't for you.

And then there are the Bush-o-philes...

They even speak like him... there was a question dealing with patenting genetically engineered mice and one answer choice dealt with breeding... well the Bush-o-phile asked about 'what if they were breeded' seemingly without understanding there was anything wrong with the word....

Oh well... ;p

I'm housesitting and I've got the feeling I've got the two most mischevious and cunning buggers around. Having never had a cat before I have some questions, maybe I'm just not doing things right:

1) How often do you do you change the kitty box?
2) How often do you do a complete kitty litter change?
3) What do you do when the cats pee on the kitchen floor (linolium thank god) and crap on the carpet? I cleaned both up and used a scent remove to get rid of the smell (something you're supposed to do with dogs, which are much more my speed), but want to make sure there isn't something else I should be doing.

Anything you've learned/heard/read would be great. I don't want the people I'm sitting for to come back to a week's worth of cat poop in their guest bedroom (or more importantly, me sleep in a room that smells like cat crap).

Thank you!

***

Its not all bad though, they have a crazy duck (whose name is 'duck'). She wants to be chased into the coop (which she shares with 2 chickens) at night. I mean she'll be in the coop but come rushing out as soon as you open the door go out and secure the coop. So you have to grab a bamboo stick and walk around after her. She'll run in a big circle and then run straight for the coop and get in.

Its the damnedest thing... Its like she can't go to sleep without being chased first. Crazy duck.

Talk about being in a place you've never been before... I'm as lost as to what the next step in life should be as I've ever been and more. Heck, from the time I was 3 I knew what I was going to be/do with my life...

At the moment I'm working as a research assistant at a very respected statistical/survey research corporation on the largest survey (I've been told) besides the US Census.

However I'm doing things I've done before and the chances of that changing aren't very good considering I'm one of the few people that doesn't have at least a Master's, and even if I could advance... I'd be designing surveys, not policy...

Which leads to me to seriously think about what I should do... Try as I might I can't get interested in any Master's/Ph.D. programs in Economics or Politics, the only advanced degree program that seems interesting would be a J.D. with a focus on Constitutional Law. The problem is I don't want to be lawyer (how crazy is that, the J.D. program intrigues me but, unlike about 100,000-150,000 people a year, becoming a lawyer does not).

All that is fairly irrelevent though I as start to look at the questions:
1) Can I afford it?
2) Can I work and go part time? Do I want to work and go part time and be on the other side fo 30 by the time I'm done?
3) Could I get in? More specifically, could I get in where I want to?
4) Do I want to commit myself to it?
5) Why the hell don't I know?
6) This can't be all can it? These 5 lines can't be causing me all the grief and frustration can it?

Has anyone looked into Law school? Any advice? Suggestions (outside of really prepping for the LSAT) Things friends who have gone to law school have said?

If nothing else its good to get everything down on paper (or the electronic equivalent)

Okay, I get that you're pissed that you were 2 seconds late to the stop and the bus flew by making you wait another 1/2 hour. We've all been there.

Heckling the bus driver about it (who picked him up on the return trip somehow) to the point he calls the pulls the bus over and calls the cops making the rest of us either sit there for 25 minutes waiting for the next bus or walk a mile to the station (did the later), doesn't win you any fricking brownie points.

Note to all bus riders. They get paid shit. Starting salary is something like 24,000/year with minimal benefits and deal with more people with problems than a DMV worker.

They also have the authority of a captain on a ship. Unless they do something blatently illegal what they say goes.

So do the rest of us a fucking favor. On Fridays, shut the fuck up! So you lost a half hour waiting for another bus, how much more time did you lose while waiting for the cops and then being processed?

Dumb, stupid people!

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Ah... that feels better. Rant done.