Did We Suddenly Go Back To 1969?

Is Nixon in the White House again? Then again, I guess it was only a matter of time before the UC Berkely students decided to take over something. This time its Wheeler Hall. How many times does this make it that Wheeler Hall has been taken over by students and is this now a record for a school building most often lost to protestors?

So what are they protesting? Darfur? Nope. Arab terrorism? Nope. American Imperialism? Nope.

They're protesting having to pay for their education.

Horror beyond belief I know.

Reminds me though of a funny story. Back in the 1960s, I forget which year, the students at the University of Cambridge decided that the Americans and French were having too much fun with their sit-ins and takeovers of school buildings to protest Vietnam and the rest of the social ills. So the student revolutionaries decided that they would take over Senate House. They figured by grabbing Senate House, which is where the University is headquartered, that they would bring the University to a halt.

Only one problem with that theory. The University of Cambridge works on a federal type system that has been analogized as being very similar to Switzerland's. Yes, its one university. No, its actually many different entities. Yes, the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor are in charge of the university. No, the member colleges don't have to actually adhere to anything. Its weird, wacky, and fun.

What it all meant was that a bunch of student revolutionaries grabbed the Senate House, and inconvenienced almost no one. According to a professor who was a student at the time, you had to really be aware that it even happened at all.

Google's Latest

So I started hearing about it yesterday. And quite frankly, I dismissed it as not being that big. However, now that I'm looking at it, I have to say I'm sort of blown away.

And yes, this is a geeky thing.

So what am I talking about? Google has gone and added legal opinions to its Google Scholar options. Now, big firms, and even not so big ones, usually spend an exoritant amount of money on Westlaw or Lexis. And for good reason. Westlaw and Lexis do give a good product. They also include a number legal treatises.

However, for smaller firms and solos, the cost is pretty high. Especially when you don't need it that much. At the times I really need the information, I tend to go to the law library (yes, its a hassel and yes, its ludditey) but its more cost-effective (barely) than paying what Westlaw and Lexis demand.

On the other hand, there are a lot of times when I just need a case or two. And there has been a few other sites that give you the cases. However, their search engines are well... kinda sub par. And their version of sherphardizing is, well, lousy.

But from my little test this morning, Google seems to have improved on all that.

Now I just wonder how long its going to last before they start charging for it.

The downside to this is that more people will think they can be their own lawyer now. And yes, it is true what they say about someone who is their own lawyer. They do have a fool for a client.

What the hell just happened here? (DWTS Reveal)

The audience, in its infinite wisdom has spoken. The smoking hot model, who has proven that for Dancing With The Stars she can dance, home short of the finals. In her place, the mental daughter of the Prince of Darkness has been voted into the finals next week.

Huh?

Ok, let's get something straight. Since week 1, I have been a Kelly Osbourne fan. However, as she admits, her own worst enemy is herself. Also, while she has been very good for the show's competition, Joanna Krupa was the better dancer.

I know this is the nature of the show, especially because of the way scoring works. But to send home Joanna in favor of Kelly... when perhaps it should have been Donny who went home.

I have to wonder what Louis thinks of all this. He's had better performing partners in the past who were as good or better dancers, who were not nearly as mentally self-destructive. And he did not make to the finals with any of them.

All I can say is th Kelly has been given a gift by the fans. Now she owes us to not meltdown and turn in the kind of dance we've seen her give us, albeit in brief flashes, throughout the season.



With Joanna out of the way, I find it hard to believe that Mya won't win it all. Donny is leaking oil, and if wasn't for all of Utah voting for him (hey, it is the core of his fanbase!), he probably does not make it into the finals. The real question is whether Dmitri is going to follow the Cheryl example of Save A Horse Ride A Cowboy, of if he is going to do a Cheryl What a Feeling type routine. One is a vanity routine. The other wins competitions.

Semi Finals Madness (DWTS)

Its triple routine night on Dancing with The Stars. And I have to say, unlike some seasons past, America has actually voted the way it should have, as opposed to voting for the popular person. Makes watching this so much nicer. :)

Donny Osmond and Kym drew lead-off duties tonight. First dance tonight for them is the Tango. This must be interesting for the nice Mormon boy from Utah. He has to make everyone uncomfortable? Mrs. ANgrybell wants to knwo what is up with the gold lame jakcet. Footwork is a little sloppy right now. And the song is not helping them. Had a little trouble with the walks. But nice overall. Problem is, its not enough at this stage. And the look on Donny's face says he knows it. Followed by his scream of anguish. With all the problems, they should be happy with the 21.

Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough followed that routine up with a waltz. Alright, they got a better song than Donny did. And she is executing well so far. Nice posture. She is dancing a bit on her toes instead of going back through the heel. It had rise and fall, but not quite right. Crowd loved it, shocker. The 27 was right, it was a good but not perfect routine.

The Princess of Darkness and Louie Van Amstel were up next. Let's see if Kelly Osbourne can hold it together. Her brain is literally her own worst enemy. She has rumba first. Best outfit she's had all season. Good song, but I never considered it a rumba. Little problme getting that hip action going, but she is getting nice quicks and slows. Mrs. Angrybell thinks that Kelly is an every woman (she is a daughter, she has issues, she is not rail thin but not grossly fat. Basically someone people can identify with). Now that is gutsy, a solo. Stumble at the end. Dangerous end. Tricks were nice, but some basic stuff was missing (i.e. lack of hip action). Should be an 8. Carrie Ann was brought to tears. Shocker. Len lends some perspective. Bruno had some interesting things to say, pariticularly when he questioned if she was familiar with eroticism. The 24 was dead on.

Mya and Dmitri. So here is the question, will Dmitri become the anchor or the albatross for her. Mrs. Angrybell thinks Mya is trying to channel Edyta with the leg warmers. Dancing the Waltz for their first routine. Nice dip. She is also up on her toes a bit. But she is throwing in some heel leads. But this looks great. It looks like she is floating. I didn't like that open bit in the waltz. It was like Dmitri was trying to give her a solo in the waltz, which is not appropriate for that dance. She had a bit of an issue in the last combination. Mrs. Angrybell thinks that the lift police might be out. The 28 is a good score. I'm still confused with Carrie Ann's comment about them not being connected.

Donny and Kym are doing a smaba as their second dance. He has more hip action than Kelly did in her ruymba. He is having too much fun out there. Fairly flexible for an old guy. I think he has been waiting to do this since he made his first fumble earlier tonight. This looks clean and it looks like he is right on with everything. Only a slight fumble at the end. Mrs. Angrybell thinks it was OK. 26 was ok as a score. Too bad that Carrie Ann wasn't watching.

Joanna and Derek chose Cha Cha Cha. Again not a good song. Mrs. Angrybell is just happy that Derek is wearing a shirt. Nice hip action. Take that back on the hips, its not consistent. Mrs. Angrybell thinks she is a little sloppy, not finishing her moves. To her, tis the difference between her and Mya. Again, nice but missing something. The 27 was a little generous.

Kelly and Louie doing the jive. Good song but dress is interesting. She had a little hic hup but then did the turns without a hitch. Who is this girl in Kelly's place? She is not always crsip but she is holding it together better than she usually does. Sumble but a recovery. Wow. Louie was just pushing her to the edge with that. Other weeks, with the little hiccups would have resulted in a meltdown. I give it a 9. Too many little problems to get a 10. But it was nice. 27. Mrs. Angrybell tormented me with her control of the tivo remote on that one.

Mya and Dmitri chose to do a Salsa. Why did we have to see Dmitir's chest? Good song for this. It was good. The problem was... it was underwhelming. Not a question of performance. It was the choreography that was lacking. They're going to give it 10s. I would have given it 9s.

So now we come to the knock-out dance. Third time the charm?

Donny and Kym went Jive. Good song. Mrs. Angrybell thought it was ok. For me, it made up for the first one. Mrs. Angrybell thought that the costumes looked like Poison Ivy going to the prom. 27. Not enough for what Donny needs.

Joana and Derek chose the salsa. Thank you Derek for not taking your shirt off. This salsa was better than Mya's. It was fun, flirty, and crisp. They got robbed with those 9s.

Kelly and Louie cha cha chaed out for the their knock out dance. This is a risk, especially since she did well in the first week wit h this. Good song. The skirt is helping to hide her hip movement. Footwork spot on. Did well with it. Mrs. Angrybell loves that Mrs. Osbourne is always in the front row. 27s.

Mya and Dmitri also chose the cha cha cha. Not a great song choice. What else is there to criticize? Mrs. Angrybell has decided that Mya deserves to win. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Carrie Ann. The 10s were a little too much. Mrs. Angrybell thinks they are trying to tip everyone in favor of Mya.

Alright, the weak gazelle of the week is Donny. He is sputtering right now trying to keep up with the multiple dances. He is a great showman, but this week his technique fell apart. I think, in addition to be physically tired, he might be cracking a little under the stress.

On the other hand, Kelly rose to the challenge. She was not perfect, but when things could have gone wrong, she danced on. I was impressed.

As it stands right now, Mya should win. Dmitri is the only thing standing in her way. Is he up to choreographing a free style. Joanna has hung in there. Right now, she needs Mya to stumble and to remember to finish her moves.

And he was surprised by our response?

You may remember that I mentioned that my wife and I had put an offer in on the house here in San Francisco. And you might also remember, how the "lovely"person who would put the place up for sale countered our reasonable offer by increasing his price by approximately 25%.

Because apparently he thought that it was an automatic given that any property in San Francisco must be sold for over asking.

So we told him, after making one counter, to pound sand. At least, that was the polite translation I allowed my broker to make.

After all that, we passed by the place over the weekend. We noticed that there was an open house. We did not go in.

Apparently, his cunning plan of finding someone to get into a bidding war with us failed. No one apparently so much as made a low ball offer on the place.

So what is he to do? Well, apparently his plan was put into effect yesterday, this "lovely" person came back with what he called a great offer. His listed price (as opposed to his desired price) plus we get to pay all of the transfer fees.

Now, let's step back a moment and consider comparables for the neighborhood in question. The median $/square foot is about $657. Let's consider the condition of the house for a second. The front stairway which needs serious work (as in the report came back saying it needed $10,000 in work soon or it was liable to collapse in some places), a kitchen in which only one of the main appliances was working, a basement which can best be described as a haven for things that go bump in the night without the possibility of doing anything usable other than storing boxes and a car (seriously, the ceiling in the basement is 7 feet max, except for a lane where you can park a car which would be about 9 feet, basically making anything installed down there other than a work bench being in violation of building codes), and house which needs foundation work. And for this, he wants to get in the range of $670/sq ft.

Consider the fact that the houses which have gotten 670/sq ft and above have all been in markedly better condition.

Ummm... does that make sense to anyone? I mean, I suppose if I had money to waste, it would be the perfect deal.

So we countered low. Why? Because with $20,000 in repairs to the foundation and the steps (not to mention a roof which is on the edge of needing to be replaced... oops forgot to mention that), with an addition 3 to 7 grand in appliances for the kitchen (you sort of need a refrigerator and the cabinetry would look really funny without a dishwasher, plus the stove looked to be about ready to die), you come in with a bill of being $25,000 - $30,000. And thats not including redoing the floors to get rid of the carpet which looks like it belongs in a crack house (thankfully there are hardwood floors underneath, even tho their condition is questionable since this "lovely" person has zero pride of ownership in his property, being content to let it run down over the past 20 years).

I mean suddenly, we're talking a lot of money. Money we would not have to put into another house in better condition.

Add into that Mrs. Angrybell's goodwill was used up by the "lovely" person's actions during the first go round and you have a situation where any offer is going to be low. Also, remember, we had moved on at this point. We were not intending on making another offer.

However, add into this mix, our real estate broker was saying that we should accept his terms. I almost fired him on the spot. Can anyone give me a good reason not to? I mean, we are in a position where we don't have to move right this minute. We also have a situation where we are the only people who are willing to make any sort of a bid on the property. So why should we meet his price? Especially in light of the fact he has been such a "lovely" person to deal with so far?

We will be needing a new real estate agent in the near future. One who actually wants to work for us instead of himself.

Anyways.

So we came in low. At about $637.50/sq ft.

The "lovely" person was apparently offended by that and has informed us that he will no longer try to sell to us.

I'm so broken hearted. Of course, its going to tickle me to see the sign for the open house every time we go near there.

Yes, someone will buy it. Some idiot is out there who will pay this "lovely" person's asking price. And all I can say is that person is a sucker.

Dancing With The Stars - Sabrina Edition

So I'm watching the reveal show tonight and was struck by something. Sabrina has not been doing ballroom like the rest of the season. Yet she walked onto the dance floor and did the best paso doble routine that has been done all season.

Joanna and Mya should take note of how good she is and thank their lucky stars that they are not having to compete against her.

I think that Vampires have officially lost their coolness

Alright, let me make this clear. I am not a fan of vampires, except as a target to be killed. I subscribed to the whole Xander theory of dealing with vampires: stakes to the heart.

But usually, you have to give the pointy, bitey ones. They used to have style. Dracula was elegant and suave. When Angel was evil, he was dangerous. He also drove a cool car. And who can forget Spike's car. It was a big, sexy muscle car (sure the blacked out windows was not great but you know).

However, now, ten years later, we have Twilight. And the whole Twilight thing generally makes me sick. Its so saccharine... but I digress. But it seems that in addition to all that, they've decided to fully emasculate the vampire.

How?

Have you not seen those ridiculous Twiglight ads asking what Edward is driving. In case you haven't, apparently, he forgone living the high life, and is instead driving a nice, sensible, and eminently safe Volvo.

Ugh. And to think they used to be so formidable.