Friday Notes: Reclaimed Edition

It’s been some time, no?  So let’s see what’s in the closet:

Taiwan!  I know, surprise.  But still, my head’s still half there, and I keep finding more avenues of interest.  One of the big sources of that is Michael Turton’s blog, which appears to focus on my general areas of interest – cycling, politics, and information control – but in a Taiwanese context.  Check it out.  This great piece on subtle (and not so subtle) creeping censorship is great, as is this photo series on the (often hilarious) political billboards featuring posing candidates.  It does not, unfortunately, include a shot of my favorite: two candidates, thumbs up, over the headline: “Younger and Better!”

~

This should be circulated to everyone you know who is considering law school:

The number of people employed in legal services hit an all-time high of 1.196 million in June 2007. It currently stands at 1.103 million. That means the number of law jobs has dwindled by about 7.8 percent. In comparison, the total number of jobs has fallen about 5.4 percent over the same period.

At the same time, the law schools—the supply side of the equation—have not stopped growing. Law schools awarded 43,588 J.D.s last year, up 11.5 percent since 2000, though there was technically negative demand for lawyers. And the American Bar Association’s list of approved law schools now numbers 200, an increase of 9 percent in the last decade. Those newer law schools have a much shakier track record of helping new lawyers get work, but they don’t necessarily cost less than their older, more established counterparts.

~

The US may have had to occasionally compromise on its trumpeted values to combat Terraism., but we still stand strong against obvious things like child soldiers, right?  Well . . .:

The Obama administration quietly waived a key section of the law meant to combat the use of child soldiers for four toubled states on Monday, over the objections the State Department’s democracy and human rights officials. Today, the White House tells The Cable that they intend to give these countries — all of whose armed forces use underage troops — one more year to improve before bringing any penalties to bear.

The NGO community was shocked by the announcement, reported Tuesday by The Cable, that President Obama authorized exemptions from all penalties set to go into effect this year under the Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2008. The countries that received waivers were Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen.

Anyway, it’s not like being a kid *really* makes a difference in the US.

~

Bob Gucionne died while I was on my trip, and no one around me knew who he was.  And that made me sad, because I used to love his magazine as a kid.  No, not that one.  The other one.