Daily Podcast: First We Kill All The Lawyers

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

But we've got to do it soon. Justin takes his New York bar exam on Tuesday and Wednesday, and our resident new car guy is no John F. Kennedy Jr. Fortunately for TTAC, the chances that Justin will hang out his shingle are about as high as a basil smoker (true story). In this job, I read hundreds of comments, dozens of articles and at least one porn site's fiction section per day. I can tell when a writer knows how to winkle-out the salient fact or dramatic moment that makes the story compelling. ("The western end of the beach has a 'certain' reputation. Nearly two miles from the access road it is the place where people go who want real peace and quiet, without interruptions.") It's an instinctive skill that Justin brings to this job. A skill shared by Frank, Eddy, John, the rest of the TTAC writing team and, of course, Lyle Lovett. When I began this website, I never thought I'd be spending most of my day polishing other writers' prose. But I got tell you guys, my hat's off to you. It's a privilege.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Cgraham Cgraham on Jul 25, 2008

    David, re wind vs nuclear I currently work in the nuclear industry and am all for wind power as a suppliment, but from what i see, that is all it can be. We have quite a few wind projects going up in my area and i think it is great, I think wind farms look like progress, but I do not believe that they are the answer. Right now we have 6 units running at about 842 MW each. If you go to the Vestas website (one of the companies building the farms around my area) you will see that they have 3 models, the highest rated is 3MW. It would take 281 wind turbines at 3 MW to replace ONE of our reactors, and those wind turbines would need to be spinning all day, every day. If you were to replace 25 reactors that would be 7,025 wind turbines. Where do you get the land for that many turbines?! With all six running we are producing 5,053 MW, enought for 1,685 wind turbines, but we only take up a few square miles. I am not arguing that nuclear is THE answer, because it is not, but neither is wind. We need a combination of many forms to keep a sustainable and affordable grid. If you don't believe that, then turn off your air conditioner.

  • N Number N Number on Jul 25, 2008

    That's right, you're not from Texas. Texas wants you anyway.

  • AJ AJ on Jul 25, 2008
    cgraham Says: July 25th, 2008 at 8:28 am David, re wind vs nuclear Where do you get the land for that many turbines?! Nantucket; just down the road from Ted Kennedy's mansion. ;)
  • ZoomZoom ZoomZoom on Jul 25, 2008

    I haven't listened to the podcast, because I am a much faster reader than anybody is as a speaker; and I just don't have the time to be a captive audience today... I guess I don't get the "kill all the lawyers" title in the context of Justin's upcoming Bar Exam. If society's problem is the lawyers, then what makes anybody think that just getting rid of existing lawyers would fix the problem? I think most of our problems can be attributed to lack of education. Or biased, slanted education. Major societal/legal/political shifts usually take a generation's worth of time for the "old guard" to retire, and for the new-thinking in education to percolate from kindergarten to adulthood. So it didn't happen overnight. It took a couple generations for us to end up with what we have today. It will take just as long to reverse the process. If people cared, that is. We (as a society) are basically happy with what we have now. So I submit to you all that it ain't gonna change much, and it ain't gonna change quickly...no matter how many lawyers are ... retired.

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