Random (but not really)

Monday, October 24, 2005

Leave Me

We really shoulda cleaned out the gutters this past weekend. Or the weekend before.

But from here on out it’s probably just going to be cold, and we’re really going to regret not having gone up on the roof earlier. When it was warm.

Written by Michelle at 5:05 pm    

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Saturday, October 22, 2005

A Moorland Hanging

A Moorland Hanging (1996) Michael Jecks

Okay, I give up. At least for now. Michael Jecks is a good storyteller, I will give him that, but his writing… The Merchant’s Partner was slightly better than The Last Templar as far as his writing style, but A Moorland Hanging is just as frustrating to read as the first book.

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Written by Michelle at 12:08 am    

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Categories: Books & Reading  

Friday, October 21, 2005

The Fashion Thing

And I ain’t it.

I am instead the Brainy Student. And unsurprisingly, I scored higher than 0% of the other respondents on sexiness.

(more…)

Written by Michelle at 12:25 pm    

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Law Lecture with Justice Ginsberg

Yesterday, I was able to attend a lecture at the Law School by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

I had the privilege of seeing Chief Justice Rehnquist when he was here in 1999, and so was glad I was able to take the time to see Justice Ginsburg.

First of all, she is a very tiny woman, which I found surprising, since in my mind Supreme Court Justices are larger than life. Although the pictures I have seen of her always look severe, so smiled quite often through her lecture, and made multiple funny comments.

Her lecture was on the role of women and the law, and how far women have progressed on the bench and in the bar.

She opened her lecture with a remembrance of Chief Justice Rehnquist, who she seemed to admire very much, and whom, she said, strived to keep debate and discussion civil between the Justices.

Talking about the advances that women have made in the legal profession, she spoke of how the profession of law was felt to be an unfit occupation for a woman, yet Pallas Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom and war, as also the goddess of Justice, and was behind the trial of Orestes. She also spoke of Jewish law, and of Debora (I apologize if I have spelled this incorrectly) who was only one of three to hold her legal position, the other two being Moses and Samuel.

The she spoke of women in the legal tradition in the United States. In the 1960s, only 3% of lawyers were women. Today, 23% of tenured law faculty are women, which is an improvement, however from this we can conclude that women have still not reached equity.

Although President Truman considered appointing a woman to the Supreme Court, he decided that the time was not yet right, and it was not until Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor that the first woman sat on the Supreme Court. However, President Carter was the first president to appoint women to the federal bench with any regularity. He appointed 40 women to the federal bench, while previous presidents had appointed only one or two women. Presidents Reagan and George HW Bush each appointed a significant number of women, and President Clinton appointed 108 women. In contrast the current president has appointed less than 40 women so far. (She gave the actual numbers but I didn’t write it down fast enough.)

Despite accounting for more than 50% of the population, women still make up for only 1/4 of the federal judiciary, although 48 out of 50 states have women on the court of last appeal. In contrast, she mentioned that in Canada, the Chief Justice of their Supreme Court is a woman, and 4 of their 8 Justices are women.

This is something that needs to be addressed, because our system of justice is richer when there is a diversity on the court.

The closed her lecture with an appreciation of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

She gave a brief question and answer period following the lecture, and the issue she addressed that I found most interesting was the Kelo case. She said that she was very glad the the legislatures were addressing the subject of eminent domain, and that the Court’s ruling was that the Court should have no say in what are essentially state and local matters.

In addressing the issue of religion and religious tolerance in the court, she spoke of how the separation of church and state in the US has benefited both churches and the state.

She closed her remarks discussing how opinion goes back and forth in the United States, as times change, and said that “the symbol of the US isn’t the bald eagle. It is the pendulum.”

Written by Michelle at 8:22 am    

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Categories: Politics,West Virginia  

Antibacterial Soaps = Worthless

A recent study has determined that antibacterial soaps are not any more effective than plain soap and water.

The group also recommended:

Consumer products that include bacteria-fighting ingredients should be required to have scientific data proving they prevent infections

As someone who despises antibacterial soaps and products, I hope that this means it will now be easier to find regular soap in stores.

Written by Michelle at 8:16 am    

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Categories: Science, Health & Nature  

Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Merchant’s Partner

The Merchant’s Partner (1995) Michael Jecks

This is the second Knights Templar Mystery, and I’m still undecided about whether I’ll continue the series.

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Written by Michelle at 8:33 pm    

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Categories: Books & Reading  

Weather

The weather fascinates me. My browser homepage is the weather.

Now, I can get continual updates on the weather with forecastfox! Works with Mozilla and Firefox!

Right this second I can glance down and see that the current weather is overcast, and tomorrow’s forecast is rain.

Yay!

(And no, I can’t just look out the window. I don’t have a window. I’m in the middle of the building, and my only window opens into a hallway. [Also with no windows])

Written by Michelle at 8:29 am    

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Categories: Science, Health & Nature  

Mountaineer Week

Get out your calendars again, Mountaineer Week is coming up!

This year Mountaineer Week is Oct 30th through Nov 6th. The craft fair is Nov 4th through 6th.

There will, of course, be funnel cakes.

Written by Michelle at 8:15 am    

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Categories: West Virginia  

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Splat!

Mark your calendars!

PUMPKINS TO PLUMMET AT 18TH ANNUAL PUMPKIN DROP
The WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources’ annual Pumpkin Drop will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28, at the Engineering Sciences Building on WVU’s Evansdale Campus.

Written by Michelle at 12:55 pm    

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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

You Cannot Escape Geek Cooties

Michael: Hows this for a chistmas gift? http://shop.lego.com/product.asp?p=4504
Michelle: What?! You LOST the Star Wars Legos I got you last year! (sniff)
Michael: Say this is for you
Michelle: I don’t think I’m the one with the Lego fixation.
Now if they had the USS Defiant….
Michael: but it is the falcon
Michelle: The Defiant is cooler.
Especially when Worf drives
I am really not having this conversation
Michael: yes you are..and i can’t find any defiants sorry
Michelle: I am so totally contaminated by geek cooties I can’t stand myself

Written by Michelle at 12:27 pm    

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Monday, October 17, 2005

Does It Come in Black?

It’s masked avenger day here at the land of Klishis.

Batman and Zorro!

Take that evildoers!

Written by Michelle at 9:00 pm    

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Flier

Got a flier in the mail (at work) today for Workplace Wellness.

Some things stood out.

First, is it just me or does Ex-Stress Yourself sound like a way to add extra stress into your life?
(Announcer voice, “If you don’t have enough stress in your life, here are ten easy ways to add some EXTRA BONUS stress!”)

Second,
“Do you wake up tried, fatigured, and unwilling to face another day of impacted stress?”

Impacted stress? Yikes! That sounds like something that requires either Metamucil or an expensive trip to the dentist. I definitely want to avoid “impacted stress.”

Third,
“Does “core renewal” sound appealing?”

No. No, it doesn’t. It sounds like something you’d do to a nuclear reactor that’s going bad.

Lastly,
“You can learn preventive measures to increase your quality of life at work.”

Well that just came out ALL wrong, didn’t it?

Luckiy, I destressed myself by laughing at the flier, so I can skip the conference.

Written by Michelle at 4:38 pm    

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Sunday, October 16, 2005

The Sandman Vol 10: The Wake

The Sandman Vol 10: The Wake (1996) Neil Gaiman

The final book in The Sandman collection, volume 10, The Wake tells of the funeral of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, and of how Dream rebuilds his realm, and meets the rest of his family.

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Written by Michelle at 7:59 pm    

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Categories: Books & Reading  

The Sandman Vol 9: The Kindly Ones

The Sandman Vol 9: The Kindly Ones (1996) Neil Gaiman

This is my least favorite book in the Sandman series. Part of it has to do with the fact that it’s a sad storyline. Normally in a book you have the good and bad parts together, however in the Sandman, there were eight books leading up to The Kindly Ones, so it’s pretty much all heartbreak.

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Written by Michelle at 3:48 pm    

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Categories: Books & Reading  
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