The Yin Blog

My boys on Taylor Swift

My two boys are getting exposed to my taste in music, which is to say, mostly 80s and 90s pop/rock, with notable exceptions including Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift.

It's funny hearing my sons say "I like this song!" when the MP3 player kicks out a new one over the powered speakers. Since they seemed to like a lot of Swift's songs, I showed them the CD cover so they could see what she looks like.

"Oh my gosh, she has a lot of hair!" exclaimed my older son (7 years old).

"And she's naked!" declared my younger son (almost 4 years old).

"What? She's not naked," I pointed out. "She's wearing a dress." What goes through the minds of little boys. . . .

$25K to 100K cost per law review article?

That's the estimated cost to a law school for a law review article by a faculty member:

Neumann’s estimate assumes the professor spends up to 50 percent of his or her time on scholarship and writes one article a year. The figure is based on salary, benefits, possible research grants, and the cost of research assistants.

This strikes me as analytically wrong. A faculty member who writes one article a year probably does the vast majority of that work during the summer, which means that the cost is largely confined to the summer research grant.

Portland JTTF update -- no deal?

The city of Portland has finally come to a conclusion about whether to rejoin the JTTF: it is, but apparently only under conditions -- well, one condition -- that the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI find unacceptable. (The city's proposal is here, and U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton's response is here.) As the Oregonian notes:

But a deal breaker could be a clause Adams added this week -- modeled after one sought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon -- that would restrict Portland police involvement to the task force's full investigations, or during a critical incident or imminent terrorist threat. It would not allow officers to get involved in what the FBI classifies as preliminary investigations or assessments, including the initial follow-up of leads.

If you read the city's proposal and Holton's response, you'll see that what the city wants to opt out of are so-called assessments, which including checking out leads, etc. It strikes me that the clause in question would more or less convert the JTTF into the ad hoc model of cooperation that currently exists -- which is to say that federal-city counterterrorism cooperation will occur only when there is a definite threat that has been identified and is being actively investigated and interdicted.

What would be lost, however, are the more important instances of cooperation, during the early phases when potential threats are simply coming on to the horizon. Because these will not have materialized into something definite, the city's proposal would bar Portland officers from JTTF-participation, and hence, information will not be shared.

I'll have more thoughts about the city's proposal, but for now, I must get back to exam writing. . . .

UPDATE: The Oregonian has more details here.

When losing out is winning (Frontier/FIOS edition)

Wow, when I moved to Portland and was checking out the TV-programming options (cable vs. satellite), I remember feeling disappointed that Verizon's FIOS (fiber optic feed) just happened not to be available in my neighborhood. Well, losing has turned into winning, since Verizon sold that whole line of business to Frontier, which is now monkeying around with its customers, basically trying to drive them all away so that it too can exit the business.

What if we mashed general elections with "Survivor"?

Some time ago, economist Steven Landsburg (I think) had a really neat idea that for congressional elections, we should each get two votes -- one for the local office, and one to cast in any other election for similar office. In other words, you'd get one vote to cast in your Senate race, and one to cast in any other contested Senate race for that election. And the same for the House race.

The point of this proposal was to subject porkbarrel masters like the late Sen. Robert Byrd (WV) to the wrath of the rest of the country if they steered too much to their own constituents at the expense of everyone else.

Think of the game theory implications of this proposal! Would the Republicans decide to concentrate all of their firepower on trying to oust, say, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA)? Or would they want to spread out their "extra" votes on the most vulnerable Democratic representatives? And would the Democrats retaliate by stacking all their votes against Rep. John Boehner (OH)? Or would they try to protect Pelosi? Given the colossal number of possibilities, I'm pretty sure there would be no Nash equilibrium.

But you know what would make this an even better proposal? (And by better, I mean, more entertaining. . . .) It should incorporate an element from CBS's "Survivor": the immunity idol.

Here's how it would work. After the primary elections are over, when each party's candidates have been determined, the two "tribes" (i.e., Ds and Rs) would "compete" in an immunity challenge of the type used in "Survivor." I would be quite partial to the "eat disgusting food" type, but it might also be entertaining to see congressional representatives slogging through mud while racing to throw balls at targets, or whatever else the producers come up with. The key would be that the list of potential challenges would be put on a giant wheel, and we'd spin the wheel right before the challenge, so as to prevent some kind of advance notice cheating.

Whichever "tribe" wins the immunity idol would then be able to use it to nullify all "extra" votes cast in that representative's district. In other words, for that race alone, only the votes cast by constituents would count. For maximum suspense value, the idol would have to be "played" before election polls close. . . .

"Hawaii 5-0" and Asian actors

One of the new shows that I'm really pulling for renewal is CBS's "Hawaii 5-0." Although the original show was largely before my steady TV-viewing age (it ran from 1968 to 1980), I've caught enough episodes in reruns to be familiar with the characters. Who can avoid being drawn in by the iconic theme song? And who doesn't love weekly glimpses of the Hawaiian paradise?

The new version has an added advantage of being filmed in HDTV, so it looks absolutely spectacular in clarity and color. (CBS shows often know how to take advantage of HD -- "Survivor" is another show that is simply a visual feast.)

Admittedly, "Hawaii 5-0" isn't plowing any new ground in storytelling the way that, say, "24" or "Prison Break" did. But there's something to be said for executing a formula well, much like ABC's "Castle" (which ironically is aired against "Hawaii 5-0").

But one thing that stands out for me about "Hawaii 5-0" is how seemingly authentic it is in terms of its portrayal of the racial diversity of Oahu. The 5-0 team itself is comprised of four members, two of whom are Asian cousins played by Grace Park ("Battlestar Galactica) and Daniel Dae Kim ("Lost"). Numerous other recurring characters are played by Asian actors, including Masi Oka ("Heroes"), Kelly Hu (various movies), Will Yun Lee ("Witchblade"), and Mark Dacascos ("Iron Chef America"). And then there are the one-episode actors, including extras . . . this week's episode had a large extended family gathering for an aunt to Park's and Kim's characters, who was dying of kidney failure. There were probably about a dozen or more extras, all Asian.

Considering how infrequently Asians appear in TV shows, I can't help but feel warm feelings toward "Hawaii 5-0" for giving parts (some non-speaking, but many others rising to the level of guest stars) to so many Asian actors, and for depicting a full variety of Asian characters, as opposed to the usual math/science nerd or martial arts gangster. 

* * *

What about another show with a prominently featured Asian actor, CW's "Nikita"?

Well, I continue to watch that, but I won't be anywhere near as disappointed if it's not renewed. It started with an interesting idea, but it hasn't been executed all that well, and lead actress Maggie Q just doesn't seem like she's capable of inhabiting the role.

How much faculty time is wasted because of the ABA?

Just got out of a faculty meeting, the last 30 or so minutes of which were essentially wasted time because of figuring out how to satisfy a well-intentioned but needlessly nitpicking ABA requirement.

It makes you wonder how much collective faculty time is lost each year because of the ABA. And yet the one thing that AALS decides to stand up to the ABA on is the self-serving issue of the ABA's proposed elimination of tenure as a requirement of accreditation.

A minor roadbump on the route to decreasing BMI

I suppose this is still progress, seeing as how I'm mildly disappointed to see my weight back at 160 after several post-workout weigh-ins of 159. (That's a BMI of 23.0, versus 22.8.)

But it was likely the result of an unfortunate but very tasty encounter with a seafood brunch buffet.

Buffets and my pre-law training in economics have been a very bad combination, since I irrationally -- well, maybe it's not irrational in the economic sense -- think I should maximize the value I receive, which if you're not careful, involves eating way too much. I think I sort of avoided that yesterday because I didn't feel overstuffed, but I probably still ate more than I should have. However, I think I managed to do reasonably well on getting my value, since I concentrated on the pricey stuff that I get to eat very infrequently, like crab legs, raw oysters, and smoked salmon.

User error -- it's why the first meeting between Mohamed Mohamud and undercover agents wasn't recorded

It's been a while since I've blogged about the Portland bomb sting case, but there's news today. In a response to a defense discovery motion, the United States has explained that there was nothing wrong with the recording equipment that failed to record the crucial first meeting between Mohamed Mohamud and undercover agents. Instead:

"Put simply," they wrote, "it was human error: the device was accidentally turned on hours before the meeting time and therefore ran out of battery power as the meeting began."

This sounds like a fairly plausible explanation for what happened. The other day, I got to the gym to work out and noticed for the first time that my MP3 player was almost out of battery power, because apparently I had failed to pause it earlier, so it had been running for hours. It's easy to see how this kind of mistake could come up.

Still, the lack of a recording, combined with the existence of recordings of other meetings, provides the defense with an opportunity to challenge the verbatim account of the first conversation. If Mohamud testifies to a different version of the conversation and comes across as credible, that could provide some room for the jury to find that he was entrapped. Even if he doesn't testify -- which he's not required to -- the defense could try to pitch its version of what happened through cross-examination of government witnesses.

This hurts just reading. . . .

From the Oregonian:

A 29-year-old mother of four who is accused of trying to circumcise her 3-month-old son at home - but called 9-1-1 after she realized she botched the surgery -  has been released from jail.