"Conference 2" written by Heidi on estrip.org

Category: school

04/01/11 04:36 - ID#53956

Conference 2

I'm at the cornell law school fracking conference with my friend hannah. We're laughing at the industry hacks. They sound like idiots in comparison to the academics with their nuances and complex understanding. Maybe we'll go to ithaca beer company to celebrate our hippieness with some flower power.

Permalink: Conference_2.html
Words: 50
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 04/01/11 04:36

Category: topics

03/30/11 06:49 - ID#53947

Topic idea: alternate universe job

Topic Idea: "What would I have done for a living in an alternate universe?" suggested by tinypliny

I'd be a photojournalist, travelling the world to find the best light, the best shot, the best story.

I was a photographer for the Penn State yearbook and loved it. I really gave thought to at least minoring in photography but ended up just majoring in sociology and then going to grad school. One of the biggest obstacles for me is that I hate to travel. I figured this out in high school when I did a 10-day tour of Japan and then the next year did one in France with side trips to Italy and Switzerland. Travelling makes me crazy and sick. :-( Even to be a newspaper photographer wouldn't be very satisfying - it's a grunty tedious job and it would require living in a city. Oh, right, I currently live in a city. I have fantasies of being a light, easy traveler. I'm really much more of a turtle - I have to have my STUFF with me. I like stuff. I like consistency in my sleeping arrangements. If I could be a photojournalist with a small RV, that might work. *giggle*

Permalink: Topic_idea_alternate_universe_job.html
Words: 202
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/30/11 06:49

Category: tech

03/30/11 06:41 - ID#53946

Phones are a pain!

I love my phone. However, I left BOTH outlet chargers at Uncle Dudley's two weeks ago and charging from a USB port on my laptop takes a while and requires laptop to be on. (I know, I could use my tower, but that's in the living room and I use the phone for a back up alarm clock.) I forgot to plug it in last night and today I've been going from client to client and it's run out of battery twice. Client 1 showed me his super cool charging pack - a 3-cell mophie juice pack.

I'm in love. I want this sooo bad. But they don't make it for anything but iPhones. booo.

What do you think of this solar USB charger?

Permalink: Phones_are_a_pain_.html
Words: 135
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/30/11 06:41

Category: school

03/29/11 06:55 - ID#53940

Conference

I presented at a conference on fracking at UB today. Last night I was pretty freaked out about how different I am - the dinner was excruciating - my dinner companions, fellow presenters at the conference, were cracking jokes about Pennsyltucky, and this one particularly arrogant companion was bitching how she had to go to Wilkes-Barre. oi. Hanging out with rich city folk can be very draining.

I talked about Pittsburgh's ban on natural gas extraction. Instead of taking a traditional zoning approach, PGH went the radical route and established a bill of rights for the community and nature: the right to water, the ecosystem's right to exist and be healthy, the right of residents to sue in defense of the ecosystem/nature. Then they said that for purposes of natural gas extraction, corporations aren't "persons". Corporate personhood is a long-established piece of U.S. law and it's almost impolite to question or challenge this concept. But I did it. They liked the pictures.

heidi writes at 12:44:21 04/04/11 - Comment #61623: This Story of Stuff video about the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is a nice easy way to get the basics of the problem :::link:::

The really basic summary is that corporations have more rights than human beings. Both are considered "persons" under the 14th amendment, which was supposed to be giving former slaves the status of "person" rather than 3/5ths of a person as they were under the Constitution as it was written. It's also what provides babies born here with citizenship regardless of the status of their parents. Some Republicans are proposing to change the 14th amendment in the fear that people are immigrating here illegally to have babies and establish a foothold into becoming a citizen. Corporations have 1st, 4th, 5th and other amendment-based rights, the 1st amendment right was re-affirmed and expanded with the Citizens United case last year, a true disgrace of a decision, possibly as bad as Dred Scott or Plessy v. Ferguson. Because corporations have corporate personhood (without the death penalty and with very limited criminal responsibility due to limited liability), endless contributions to electioneering efforts, and many other rights, they end up with more rights than we do as humans and communities.

My (Tioga County) friend Chris just wrote a nice piece tying a few of these strands together and how it applies to the public-sector union busting we're seeing around the country: :::link::: I pointed him to a couple more sources that have answers to some of his questions:
American Legislative Exchange Council is one of the orgs behind the union busting. :::link::: This UW history prof also has an excellent analysis. :::link:::
and then the classic book by Sara Diamond that no one's heard of _Roads to Dominion_ :::link:::

tinypliny writes at 07:41:22 04/01/11 - Comment #61558: "Corporate personhood"

?! hehe, no wonder law jargon is always waaay over everyone's heads. Well, except lawyers, I reckon.

libertad writes at 07:02:09 03/29/11 - Comment #61517: Who are rick city folk?

Sounds really interesting, I want the dumbed down version, or is this it?

WB4LIFE!

Permalink: Conference.html
Words: 164
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/29/11 08:17

Category: holiday

03/26/11 10:57 - ID#53910

Infringement Festival

You can donate to the Buffalo Infringement Festival to obtain naming rights to a venue/stage/sidewalk:

Donor will be given Venue Naming Rights. Donors can name a venue, such as a sidewalk or stage at a bar; the name will be used in the schedule and signage during the festival. Donor will also be thanked in the printed schedule, will receive a T-shirt, poster, sticker or magnet and will be thanked on the festival website.

You know you want it.

To submit a proposal (due May 1):

Permalink: Infringement_Festival.html
Words: 96
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/26/11 10:57

Category: work

03/23/11 10:42 - ID#53902

It's tax time!

Looking for those free efile options? Here's the link to the NYS ones:

You can do it!

Permalink: It_s_tax_time_.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/11 10:42

Category: tech

03/23/11 12:42 - ID#53895

Already??

I need a new laptop, again! Already! It's been two years. It's not a crisis yet and I could probably get away with waiting another 3-4 months but I dislike this laptop, it's getting cranky, and I'm going to be even more intimate with it as I study for the bar. (Actually, the bar review course is android/ipad accessible... hmmm....) It has a shiny finish and gets sticky. It also is starting to overheat, the speakers are twinging and the battery doesn't hold a charge for more than 30 min. It's too heavy. The keys are noisy.

So of course I'm checking all the toshiba and sony reviews. I want a sony and i think i'm just going to get one this time, probably a 13.3", 4.4 lb S series. i love the chicklet keyboard - the one thing i love about macs is the keyboard. (Have I mentioned that I played with a big ass mac with a touchscreen? very cool altho QuickBooks doesn't really like being touched. It shies away.) I know that I'm ultimately paying an extra $150 for the pretty name, but if the hardware is even 6 months better, it would be worth it. Is this silly? Also, Sony is shutting down some production lines because of the disaster trio. The model I want doesn't come in the cute colors that Jill & Kelly have. Kelly has a brown alligator-skin shell and Jill's is a seashell peachy pink. I was hoping for an iridescent blue. They don't really take theirs anywhere so 14"/5.2 lb is okay.

I'm in such an awkward place with my technology right now. I love my phone but I find I usually don't type a lot or reply to many emails unless I *really* want to say something. I probably carry my laptop more than I need to, but I find myself frustrated if I can't reference all the info I need or write something substantial on the go. I also use my laptop for recreational media consumption which doesn't help the wearing-out problem. I guess I'm still looking forward to buying a tablet in the next year.

referencing (e:heidi,48581)

Permalink: Already_.html
Words: 354
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/11 12:42

Category: holiday

03/21/11 08:05 - ID#53885

Jerk!

Some jerk removed one of the bags of tube sand from my truck and left it on the ground. I can't lift the damned thing. Sorry, neighbor :-(

Permalink: Jerk_.html
Words: 29
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/21/11 08:05

Category: food

03/20/11 03:01 - ID#53879

Lucky dogs

um... whatever i just ate from Lucky Dogs on Allen... omg. it's awesomely yum. it's veggie, it's spicy, it's amazingly yum. do it.

Permalink: Lucky_dogs.html
Words: 23
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/20/11 03:01

03/19/11 06:34 - ID#53867

Anicca

One of my favorite bloggers, Archdruid John Michael Green wrote about the catastrophes in Japan this week. His conclusory statement, "...there are good reasons why Japanese culture so insistently stresses the impermanence of life and the transience of worldly things." intrigued me - is Japan particularly known for stressing impermanence? So the magic google lead me to the the magic Wikipedia. Why, yes indeed, Japan has its own section of references in the article on Impermanence. Anicca, anitya, mujo.

Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment...

The lecture I gave at UBLaw about the impact of gas drilling on home made me very very sad. Bloss has been pretty much the same my entire life and I had forgotten its true impermanence and transience.

This week is the first time I've missed having a TV in quite a while. It's hard to understand the scope and scale of the natural disaster and the unfolding technological disaster without the visuals and constant updating of the news. However, this crazy video came to my attention via a salon.com post. I already posted it in chat but it's still on my mind so I'm sharing it again. A little background on the artist along with an entertaining and kinda informative video.