Some words from YC.
So, it’s apparently true – J. Souter’s retiring, giving the president the task of picking a person (not an easy task, considering the various options and considerations) and planning to go home to New Hampshire.
Tons of interesting reading material out there: Kermit Roosevelt, former Souter clerk, on Souter. I liked Dahlia Lithwick’s analysis on Souter. Linda Greenhouse also puts two cents on Souter. I do tend to think of him as the man we keep underestimating.
In an alternative universe, I think Pres. Obama could be on the US Supreme Court (or maybe in a distant future? Hey, it happened to Pres. (and Ch. J.) Taft!). At any rate, as David Brooks noted on Friday’s Lehrer Newshour, noted, “This is something we’re actually used to, and it will probably unfold in a pretty predictable way,” i.e., that at least S.Ct. selections are something we’re awfully familiar with (the controversies, the debates and ultimate confirmations). I think that it’s pretty cool that this time, it’s a Constitutional Law prof who’s doing the selection and that he knows so much about the process and the substance.
Speaking of selections, Alma Mater’s Engineering School has selected a new dean – a man of Dominican ancestry and an MIT alumnus.
Lessons about the flu: NYC’s health commissioner’s having a cool head saved us in 1918. NY Times’ Jim Dwyer on how ignorance and bigotry are the side of effects of the H1N1 flu – no doubt about that; that was the first thing that came to my mind when the news broke about something we knew so little about. I do wonder whether we New Yorkers are losing our ability to be rational – but then again, law school kind of taught us that the idea of a rational person is just that – an idea.
Meanwhile Slate reminds us about how soap – even a dirty bar of soap – is useful stuff, and how those masks aren’t that useful (that’s right – it just doesn’t do all that much good, so how reasonable is it to walk around with those masks on anyway?) – stuff we should have learned from SARS in the first place. NY Times’ Elizabeth Rosenthal also recalls the same her experience with SARS about the ineffectiveness of masks and the better use of hand-washing and just walking away from people with symptoms.
I completely forgot it was Law Day on May 1 – the day to celebrate rule of law (not lawyers).
May 1 was also the first day of the summer blockbusters, with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” A Slate article to explain the fascination with Wolverine; oh, and he’s Canadian (well, a certain kind of Canadian – apparently, not the East Coast liberal Canadian, but probably more like West Coast libertarian Canadian; he sure never seemed to have the Canadian accent in the cartoons though).
And, cherry blossoms in Brooklyn (sadly, I missed the festival this year, but the pictures on the NY Times website are lovely).
And with May, it’s APA Heritage Month. PBS/Channel 13 has been putting up its schedule for APA items for viewing. May 3, 2009, was the 30th APA Heritage Festival – unfortunately, the rainy weather made it less than fun, but the show went on. Henry Chang, writer of the Detective Jack Yu series, was there and I said hello (coincidentally, I had finished reading Year of the Dog, sequel to Chinatown Beat, last week; I had read Chinatown Beat some time last year; the series is good stuff).
In case you were wondering what happened to those “Top Chef” contestants, NY Times checks out what happened to some of them who are in the NY metro area.
An interesting FYI column in the Sunday Times’ City Section – about the “Essex” sign and how it’s been grandfathered in despite its – uh – garishness.
Good stuff in Time Out New York’s Great Walks issue – even a Staten Island walk. Now, if only I actually would be doing these walks…
Last but not least: the passing Jack Kemp; they don’t make Republicans quite like him anymore.