I'm gonna live...

Last week while playing basketball I was kneed in the back of the leg, at the top of my calf. It hurt a lot, but I finished the game. That night it was really sore, but I just figured I had bruised my calf. A week later the pain was equivalent to the first day, but there was no swelling or bruising. I started to get concerned, so I went to the doctor.

The first doctor poked around, asked me some questions, and then referred me to an ultrasound clinic to get more information. I went to the ultrasound clinic and the doctor there referred me to another doctor, adding that I must go there "immediately". That doctor took one look at my ultrasound results, and sent me to Emergency, and told me to get there "stat". Apparently, the rush had to do with a lot of blood that was pooling in the tissue, and concerns that a clot could form.

The ER doc, despite his high level of self-assurance, did a couple of cross-checks to make sure he gave me an accurate diagnosis. He called a hematologist, and also checked his medical database to make sure there was no risk of clotting. He said that taking blood thinners wasn't really necessary ("you don't really want to take rat poison, do you?") and said that anti-inflammatories, heat, time, and mild stretching should do the trick. He also added, with a sly smile to Caroline, that vacuuming would be an excellent way to stretch that stubborn calf muscle.

The good news is that I'm gonna live. The bad news is that now I still have to write all my law school exams in two weeks.

Kansas Outlaws Practice of Evolution

It was only a matter of time. Read about it here.

Nostalgia for Thailand

A few different people I know are going to Thailand in late December or early January. Many of them have asked me for advice, so today while I was thinking about what to recommend to them, I started looking through our Thailand photos and came across this one.

I'm already a little envious that these people get to go there for a nice, warm vacation, and the fact that here in Calgary it's nearly 30 below and the car won't start is making my envy grow.

Elephants Raping Rhinos??

A friend of Caroline's pointed us to this article about elephants in the New York Times Magazine. The article describes how, in the absence of older bull elephants to keep the younger bulls in check, the younger elephants go into musth too early, get out of hand, and go on testosterone-fuelled rampages.

The results are shocking, and particularly devastating to local rhino populations. Between 1991 and 2001 in Hluhluwe-Umfulozi Park in South Africa, 63 rhinos were killed by elephants. Similar incidents have been reported in other parks, especially in the absence of older bull elephants.

The idea of elephants killing rhinos is pretty crazy. I mean, aren't rhinos supposed to be tough, with that big horn and leathery skin? But here is where the truly disturbing part comes in. Right there, at the bottom of Page 1, the author states that in this park, young male elephants were "raping and killing" rhinoceroses. What? I was so caught off guard that I went to the article that Siebert cited in the Journal Pachyderm. I read the article twice and found no mention of any "raping" going on. And then I began to wonder: is this really true? Is that even possible?

I am no expert on elephants, so I remain open to the possibility that Charles Siebert is correct, and that this wasn't just a bit of literary embellishment for effect. But deep down, at the core of my skeptical, elephant-loving soul, I seriously have my doubts.

Big Firm, Big Deal

I went to a negotiation competition a few weeks ago at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, one of the big downtown law firms. The evening had quite an impact on me, but it wasn't the competition itself that had the big effect. It was the atmosphere of the firm itself.

Upon arrival, I took the elevator to the 30th floor, where the firm's offices are located. I stepped off the elevator into a lobby adorned with beautiful hardwood and expensive art. The message was clear: the firm has money (and by extension, you should too if you're a client of theirs). In addition to being a nice place to do business, the atmosphere is designed to impress.

As we were guided to the room where our negotiations were to take place, I got a glimpse into big-firm life. I saw an older lawyer gazing at pictures of his family as he recorded something into his dictaphone. I saw bleary-eyed articling students smile and tell me half-heartedly that articling was "good, but really busy".

And suddenly it struck me, that the very thing that was supposed to impress me about this firm - the money - was actually having the opposite effect on me. I projected to the future and imagined myself gazing at my family in the evenings in person, not just at their framed pictures on my desk. I haven't yet decided what type of law I want to practice, or what kind of firm I would like to work in. But today I moved one step closer to figuring it out.

Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot

Thanks to Al Franken for the pithy title. I was about to post in response to Rush Limbaugh's attacks on Michael J. Fox's ad, and then I found this site. Chase Hamil's article seems to sum up my views on this little incident, so I'll save myself the effort of typing it all out again. Besides the fact that Limbaugh's smarmy invective was a low blow to Fox and others suffering from an incurable neurodegenerative disease, he also managed to obfuscate the whole issue of stem cell research. And that's why I believe that Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot.

Adolf Eichmann

Today in International Law class we were discussing the legal implications of international abductions and the maxim "mala captus bene detentus", which literally translates into "bad capture, good detention", referring to the idea that once a State has a person in custody (regardless of how it got the person), it can take jurisdiction over that person.

My prof talked about the remarkable case of Adolf Eichmann, which is a fascinating story with a remarkable twist. Eichmann was a high ranking Nazi who was put in charge of the transportation aspect of the Final Solution during the Holocaust. Following World War II, Eichmann fled to Argentina, as did many other Nazis.

He lived with his family in Argentina, working several odd jobs, all the while trying to keep a low profile so his true identity would not be discovered. Eventually, Eichmann's whereabouts were discovered, and in the greatest twist of irony (some would call it poetic justice), Eichmann was positively identified by a girl of Jewish descent, Sylvia Hermann, who was dating Eichmann's son, Klaus. Sylvia's father, Lothar, had known Eichmann from the Dachau concentration camp, where Eichmann had been an administrator. Eventually, word got back to the Mossad regarding Eichmann's identity and whereabouts.

In 1960 Eichmann was kidnapped during a covert operation by Mossad agents and eventually flown to Jerusalem, where he faced 15 charges, including crimes against humanity. After a lengthy trial, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected Eichmann's arguments regarding lack of jurisdiction and state immunity, and he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death. He was hanged on June 1, 1962, and remains the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel.

Rescue Dawn

The summer of 2005 as Caroline and I were bumming around Thailand, I was an extra in a Werner Herzog film called Rescue Dawn. The filming was taking place on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Thailand, and Christian Bale was to play the lead, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Besides, it sounded like a nice reprieve from wandering up and down Khao San Road, eating 40-baht pad thai, and fending off agressive shopkeepers and Thai lady-boys.

The filming went well (I played a U.S. soldier circa 1966), and we got our free lunch, twenty bucks, and a chance to chat with Christian Bale. The day we filmed was the very first day of filming, so I didn't know when the movie would come out. I check IMDb every once in a while, but it always says the same thing: this movie is classified as being in production...

Then today I had a breakthrough! It turns out that the film is being premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). And furthermore, it was picked up by MGM. It looks like it will be coming out in December, so check it out (and pay really close attention to the last scene of the movie!!)