Gringott's

I think I finally figured out what kind of law I want to practice. This semester, I'm taking banking law. I think it's quite possibly the coolest form of law ever. Yet most folks I speak to find it horribly boring. Fine, so I'm a big dork, banking law is still cool.

So today, we had a lecture at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. When the professor spoke of the Fed building here in Atlanta, he said it was a very impressive place with extremely modern facilities. He described the check clearing operations that went on there, the gold reserves, and all the other stuff. Somewhere in there was mentioned electronic carts that zip around the place, probably carrying gold or something. Unfortunatly, the tour we were supposed to have after the lecture was cancelled due to rennovations of their money museum. Crap. I didn't get to see the electronic carts.

When the professor described the Fed last week, I kept thinking of Gringott's bank from the Harry Potter series. In case you're one of those poor souls who has never read the Harry Potter series, Gringott's is the wizarding bank that is run by goblins. The funny thing is that the way the vaults are described in the books and in the movie, they involve carts that kind of go wherever they are supposed to go on their own. Moreover, the building of Gringott's is a big white marble structure located in Diagon Alley.

The fed is quite literally, Gringott's (sans the goblins). When pulling up to the building today, it was a huge white marble structure. Even though I didn't get to see the electronic cart or the gold reserves, I'll take it on faith alone that they have that sort of stuff. I'm also imagining how cool it must be to work there.

The only other Federal reserve bank i've seen is the one in New York. I went on a tour of that one about 10 years ago. It was pretty cool, but the Fed building in NY is pretty old school. But looking at the huge gold reserves was awsome. It really does look the way it was portrayed in "Die Hard with a Vengence," when Jeremy Irons and his crew of East Europeans set up a heist over there.

In the end, they sent us off with little souvenir bags of shredded currency. They literally look like big bags of weed. Ironic, I wonder how much of the shredded currency in there at one point went to buy illicit substances. Ah, the random thoughts with which I keep myself occupied. Until next time.

America's Disappointing Sweethearts

Disclaimer: I am not a fan of figureskating. I am a bona fide straight male.

The only time I'm exposed to figure skating is every 4 years, when America hypes up to send one of our teenage "sweethearts" over to some international spot, because it's her turn to win the gold. But undoubtedly, she manages to screw up and fall on her ass once or twice, and allow some underdog to skate away with the coveted gold medal.

I remember about 8 years ago, some of my friends and I were all gathered, watching the winter olympics, and seeing the new star, Michelle Kwan, going out to win her entitled gold. But she blew it, got a silver instead. I think that annoying looking girl, Tara Lipinski or someone, the underdog, walked away with the gold. Kwan disappointed America, but all of us guys thought she was cute, so we rooted for her again in 2002. We were disappointed again when she blew it to that Hughes chick. I remember being in college with friends watching that. I quipped, "This girl looks like she's from Long Island" (referring to Sarah Hughes). To which one of my friends replied, "She is from Long Island." Ironic, Long Island girls definitely have a distinctively annoying look to them. Michelle Kwan didn't even deserve a medal last time... she sucked... Sasha Cohen did better, but it was Michelle Kwan, they had to give her something for her lost gold. Oh well.

So this year, all the hype was about Sasha Cohen. Ironic, that's too similar to Sacha Baron Cohen, a distinctively less disappointing individual. So tonight, while flipping channels, the Olympics were on, and showing Sasha, "the leader after the short program," warming up. Of course, during her run, she fell on her ass twice. So much for her gold medal! I guess they pulled a Kwan on her.. gotta give her something despite falling twice.

Then also undoubtedly, just like in politics, the disappointer manages to disappear never to be heard from again. With certain exceptions, mainly embarrassing situations (i.e. Oxana Baiul getting arrested for drunk driving, Tanya Harding for being white trash, and Nancy Kerrigan making stupid comments while the microphone was on). But Lipinski, Hughes, and whoever the hell else have also disappeared into oblivion. Wow, regardless of how you do in that sport, when your 15 minutes of fame are up, they're really up. Now that is tragically funny.

Freedom of Idiocy

So I want to find whoever the idiot is who decided to make and publish those cartoons that have provoked anger throughout the Muslim world. I want to find him, and smack him silly... not for offending me, but for being an idiot. Is this really the best time to rock the boat in terms of Western-Islamic relations? When so many lives are at stake on both sides, and knowing the sensibilities, is it really worthwile to test the waters like this? I say it's not.

People are pitting this as a part of the clash of civilizations, having respect for religion against freedom of press. But that's not really the case. This is a clash of ignorance more than anything else.

The west has to realize the emotional value of Muhammed to the Muslim world. So considering the emotions and offenses that are at stake, publishing these cartoons are akin to publishing something that portrays Jews as deserving of what happened during the Holocaust. They seem different, but the emotions at stake and the type of offense it would cause are very similar.

But when it comes to the freedom of press and speech, yes, it is protected speech, but then again, so is Nazism. But you don't see cartoons portraying Hitler in a positive light in most newspapers. Inflammatory speech is still speech, but it has consequences.

I think Karen Armstrong, in her commentary on the BBC, described it best:

Karen Armstrong is a leading British commentator on religious affairs and
author of Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet.

Each side needs to
appreciate the other's point of view. I think it was criminally irresponsible to
publish these cartoons. They have been an absolute gift to the extremists - it
shows that the West is incurably Islamophobic. It sends a very bad message.

But, more seriously, it is letting ourselves down. We trumpet abroad
about what a compassionate culture we are. But these cartoons depicting Muhammad
as a terrorist are utterly inaccurate, feeding into an Islamophobia that has
been a noxious element in Western culture since the time of the Crusades. It can
only inflame matters at this very crucial juncture of our mutual history.

On the other hand, in a secular Europe, freedom of speech has developed
as one of our sacred values. We fought hard for it, but we have to remember it
carries responsibilities. For example, do we have a right to say whatever we
want even if it is false and dangerous?

More importantly, however, freedom is as sacred a value for us as the
Prophet is to Muslims.
We are seeing here a clash of two different notions
of what is sacred and this is part of the modernising process.

Modernisation and secularisation has this bumpy ride where people at
different levels of modernisation are clashing. In other parts of the world
where modernisation is not yet complete it is not regarded as a crucial as other
sacred realities.

And now we are all living in this multicultural society cheek-by-jowl
with one another, not even within a single country but we are linked to one
another in our global village. We have to learn to live side by side better than
this.

Little Kid Lost

Earlier this week, Tiff and I were in my apartment studying when we heard some little kid in the hallway call, "mommy!" After about three or four of these calls, I went outside to investigate. I found a little blonde toddler wandering around alone in the hallway. I'd seen him in the building before, but had no clue who he was or what floor he lived on.

So that was interesting. This kid was being pretty uncooperative, refusing to tell his name, or anything else. After some unsuccessful calls to the Property management company, whose only advice was to call the police, all hoped seemed lost to not blow this incident out of proportion entirely. So after plying this kid with peanut M&M's and some juice, and thanking god he wasn't throwing a toddler hissy fit, his mom finally came up to our floor to look for him. Luckily, no need to call the cops. She had the "you're in a lot of freaking trouble" look on her face, combined with the relieved look a parent has upon reuniting with a wandered off toddler.

I remember when I was younger, I was at the mall with my parents and sister. I can't remember exactly when it was, probably the late 80's or early 90's. We're at the Macy's at Roosevelt field, my sister and I are separated from my parents, and she began crying hysterically and throwing a fit. I distinctly remember her crying, and me wondering, "what the hell is she crying about? Our parents are probably right around here somewhere." And sure enough, a security guard came over and asked us our parent's names so he could page them. Of course, since my parents don't have Americanized or easy to prounounce names, the security guard gave us a funny look when my sister told him the names he requested. Oh I love being a second generation American.

It was funny, seeing that little kid lost in the hallway reminded me how simple things were when you're younger. You get lost, your parents eventually find you, and you go home. Although that kid seemed a bit bothered by the fact that he couldn't find his mommy, and started rolling around on the floor, I can't help but relate to him to a certain degree. Sometimes it does feel like at this point in my life, I'm entirely lost and wandering around, sometimes not knowing where the hell I am in life. But, I don't exactly have the "mommy" coming to look for me either at this point.

I think I'm having a mid-law-school-life crisis. The halfway point has been passed. The moot court competition for this semester is underway, and there has been a lot of stress and hard work affilliated with that. Yesterday in particular was stressful because my partner, who gives an entirely new meaning to the word "procrastination," really did cut things down to the wire. So after the brief we were working on was handed in, just under the deadline, the urge to murder subsided. Then I went home and slept.

Lucky me, the mid evening nap meant that I couldn't sleep at night. So today, I'm in a haze. It also doesn't help that Thursdays are really bothersome for the fact that I have three classes in a row, all in the same room. So far, I'm 2/3 done with classes today. Then it's off to my apt to sulk some more. I just hope there's good stuff on TV... had to miss a new episode of SVU on Tuesday thanks to the State of the Union Address.

Speaking of, that State of the Union gave a new meaning to the word "bullshit!" Bush talking about energy independence and alternatives? Who the hell is he kidding. He's an oil man from Texas, and Cheney talks about conservation as nothing more than a 'personal virtue.' The state of political affairs in this nation is pathetic. All we can do is laugh while the national house burns down.