The Bangus Ultimatum

To my 5 or so readers: Access to the site might go funky soon. I’ve been advised that we’ll be switching servers. Hopefully, this will be as painless as possible. Meanwhile, you can check out the blogs that I read, or view my growing collection of links.

olaninja

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

A few weeks back OLA Team 7 had a case conference sans supervisor. We were up against a wall: Difficult clients. Difficult judges. Blood thirsty opposing counsels. A solution was proposed: “meta-legal” action through our very own ninja (Not, as a shallow viewing of the picture might give you, a personal terrorist). Need an extension or reset desperately? Law Intern Sabayninja will stealthily and efficiently “take care” of it. Sabayninja will also write pleadings (though he can’t help but kill a few people in the process), and draft agreements (though he might find giving in to a peaceful resolution distasteful).

Of course, I totally ripped this off from Dr. McNinja. It might be hilarious to have a ninja doctor, but imagine what having a ninja as your advocate can do for you.

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
- Ken Blanchard

The shallow, practical version of the project: We want to build a wikipedia (or wiki-law)-like resource where law students can stash, revise, and retrieve stuff to make their lives easier: notes, reviewers, digests, that obscure municipal ordinance only their professor cares about.

The deep, philosophical version: We want to harness the power of smart people working together. To transform the way the law is learned and imagined: as a conversation rather than a lecture. To make sure that there is no space for fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the way we study and review the law. To trade in hierarchies for hyperlinks.

To do this, we’ll need your help. Any contribution will be welcome: Materials, skills, your time and effort. We have no grade, year-level, or height requirement. We will teach you how to use the tools you need.

To join the Openlaw Project, simply write your name and contact info on one of the sign-up sheets on the LSG Board, or write: lsg_openlaw[that-ubiquitous-at-sign]yahoo.com

baguio again

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

No longer quite the summer vacation place it used to be, Baguio has turned to just another high cold place where my friends can chill if they have time and gas to spare.

This time my friends wanted tats from this great and trusted shop in the City of Pines. So up the long and foggy road we went.

Did I mention earlier that I was also working? Well, I was. Nayna and I had to cobble together a project proposal for JJ. Between that and drinking with surfers and the awful awful snores of some of my friends, I had no real sleep.
Amazingly, I feel sufficiently refreshed, and eager to start on another project. It’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done, with law and tech and (gasp!) talking to people involved. But that’s for another post, and right now I desperately need to sleep.

zambales beach

Originally uploaded by emerson_banez.

Friends insisted that I had to see the beach in Zambales, and explore the surrounding islands and their cave systems.

The beach and I have had a long troubled relationship. Though I try to keep an open mind about it, the beach always gives me some trouble whenever I visit, and hilarity ensues. Once it flung a jellyfish to my face (the first of many interesting marine fauna over the years). It punctured my left foot with the spines of a sea urchin, and just recently, punctured my right foot through a jagged fragment of rock. Maybe in a past life I dashed an oil tanker into a coastal ecosystem.

Fortunately, no disasters this time. At least, none that would merit hospitalization. Just a nasty hangover after a night drinking with surfers-in-training (I could feel my coolness quotient rising ever so slightly).

I wanted to stay a bit longer, if only to test the new detente between myself and the beach. But Baguio was calling, and the mountains are my true home.

So after checking out islands off Zambales, I’m in an Internet Cafe in Baguio, and I just sent a proposal to my boss for a (potential) project funded by Canadians.

What if this is as good as it gets? Life distributed and discarnate. And where, pray tell, are the jetpacks?

More words (and pictures) of the Zambales-Baguio adventure soon. Very soon.

It’s reassuring to know that in light of the foiled “liquid bomb” terror plot, the NAIA is now screening for liquids and gels. I can either sign up for this farce, or listen to security expert Bruce Schneier:

It’s easy to defend against what the terrorists planned last time, but it’s shortsighted. If we spend billions fielding liquid-analysis machines in airports and the terrorists use solid explosives, we’ve wasted our money. If they target shopping malls, we’ve wasted our money. Focusing on tactics simply forces the terrorists to make a minor modification in their plans. There are too many targets — stadiums, schools, theaters, churches, the long line of densely packed people before airport security — and too many ways to kill people.

Oh what a terrible logical dilemma this is.