u/goodhobbies

Although I studied Plato’s version of Socrates a bit in college (a quarter century ago), I only just now realized that Socrates died a few years after Athenian defeat in the Peloponnesian War. I had thought he was a soldier at the Battle of Marathon for some reason, and I had always imagined him living through a sort of golden age. It changes my view quite a bit to think that he served as a hoplite in a losing war for many years and lived through the plague and then conquest by Sparta. That sounds like a pretty difficult life, actually, and his statements of loyalty to Athens in the Apologia are even more remarkable. Can anyone recommend a good biography or other source to help me envision just what sort of conditions he actually lived through?

I am an American who grew up in an atheistic household. For a variety of reasons, I am interested in studying Tibetan Buddhism, but I guess a stopper for me is that I don’t have an image in my mind of what it would be like to study Tibetan Buddhism as an American. If you come from a western background and have been active in the Tibetan Buddhist community for a number of years, I would be interested to hear about your experience.

My wife is from Brazil, so she didn’t know about the Columbine HS massacre. Somehow she came across a memoir written by Dylan Klebold’s mom, and got kind of fixated on it. The thesis of the book is basically that Dylan Klebold was outwardly a normal seeming kid and so that could have happened to any mom. As a first-time parent of a young child, that seemed to spook my wife. So, I was like, “You need to learn the real story.” And so we sat down this evening and started watching Michael Moore’s doc Bowling for Columbine — first time I have watched that since it was new 24 years ago. All I can say is, “Woah.” I was one year younger than Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (I was born 1982), and I didn’t realize how hard it would hit revisiting all that. Those final years of high school for our class were pretty damn dark — before 9/11 happened freshman year of college.

I’m in the middle of Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You. My wife likes the show, which is good enough for me — it’s light entertainment. Certain plot elements are a bit of a stretch, though. Here’s one thing I really don’t get: The main character, David Burroughs, was convicted of committing a murder in Boston, Mass. How and why did he end up in a prison in Maine?

This short video apparently shows Sen. Graham’s final public appearances. He is celebrating that he secured additional Trump admin support for Ukraine. I can’t think of any time he ever looked better or happier — nor of any other time where I fully agreed with what he was doing and saying. I just think that it’s worth noting that his last day may have been his best day in public life.

I hope this question is allowed. My wife is from Brazil and submitted tonight her N-400, which is the application for a person with a Green Card to become a US Citizen. She meets all the requirements, but Claude tells me that Trump has a policy of not granting final approval to anyone from Brazil. Does anyone know if that is true? Does anyone here know of any immigrants from Brazil who have been granted US citizenship in the last few months?

Hi! Tonight my wife finally got around to submitting her N-400. She is a scientist from Brazil who first received a Green Card in September 2022. I don’t anticipate any delays based any red flags other than nation of origin. But I saw somewhere that there is a Trump policy not to grant final approval for N-400 applications from Brazil. Is that true?

I know firsthand why Graham Platner shouldn’t be a U.S. senator

I recently attended a CLE where judges of US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit gave advice for appearing before that court. One tip that seemed shared across the ideological spectrum was that the US Solicitor General’s Office apparently writes the best briefs, and so the advice was to follow their style and tone. Does anyone know of any particularly notable US Solicitor General’s Office briefs? Have a link? Bonus points if the brief was filed to the Third Circuit.

CIA officer who had millions in gold bars accused of creating fake spy program

I have been using Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini for a while and appreciate the usefulness of these products. But I can’t seem to find any guidance as to what is the best option for a small firm (2 lawyers) to use the tech for review of sensitive materials. For example, I just received 6000 pages of medical records. Of course, I would love to plug that into AI and ask for an outline and so on. How can I do that while using reasonable efforts to maintain the confidentiality of my client?

Hi! I am planning a total roof replacement. So far, the best offer seems to be GAF UHDZ w/ a certified company that is able to offer the Freedom Pledge. It’s bit more expensive than some of the other options I have come across, but the installer’s 25-year workmanship guarantee seems hard to beat (especially because it’s a big company that might actually still exist in 25 years). Has anyone else gone this route and if so, do you feel like it was a good idea? Alternatives that I am considering are GAF HDZ for a tad bit less money or CertianTeed.

I just don’t get what is going on here. Let me tell you the story of my personal experience with this system. My wife is a scientist doing cutting-edge research in the field of gene-editing to cure diseases at one of the nation’s foremost institutions. It seems to me like she has one of the most important jobs. She has published dozens of peer-reviewed academic papers and her most-recent doctorate degree is from any Ivy League American university. She was on an H1B visa before applying for a Green Card. Even though she was mega-qualified, it still took like two years for the Green Card to show up in the mail. Those were two years when she was doing extremely important work, we were starting a family, etc. So, the new plan is that someone like my wife would have been required to go back to their home country and wait around — maybe for a couple years — until the Green Card gets sent out? Although this shouldn’t affect us directly, where do people think the next generation of people like my wife are going to come from? Why will the best scientists and other innovators from all over the world keep coming to the USA if they are blocked like this?

My 5 year old iMac is starting to feel obsolete. I find myself wasting a lot of time waiting for it to load and such, which I think may be related to new demands that I placing on it by using multiple AIs and other tech. Has anyone upgraded to Mac Studio, and if so have you found it to be a significant upgrade from iMac? Is it helping you get more lawyer stuff done is less time?

Hello my fellow gratefully recovering alcoholics. I have been active and strong in the program for about 3.5 years and it’s been amazingly positive for me. That said, I have moved slowly through the steps. Overall, I think that has been a good exercise. 1.5 years considering my defects of character, for example, was a good exercise. That said, I am ready to move. I think one stumbling block is I am not sure how to approach Step 8. I feel like a lot of my bad behavior was towards random strangers, just being drunk at the bar and so on. I’d like to think of a way to make amends to them.

Update: I am getting a lot of “ask your sponsor” responses, which is fine. For context, I posted this because I will be meeting with my sponsor on this topic soon and thought that working out my thoughts on this issue ahead of time might better prepare me for that conversation.