Wireless Networks @ School June 9, 2005
Posted by atharkhan in : Law School , add a commentI forgot my wireless router at school last night and asked the security guard to let me in to the locked classroom so that I could pick it up. The words “wireless router” caught his attention like nothing else. Apparently, he was required to confiscate any routers connected to the network.
That’s a darn good policy if you ask me. If someone plugged a wireless router into my network, I would at the very least ban the MAC Address or at the worst, have them publicly flogged and probably expelled too. So, I definitely understand where the school’s administration was coming from. Anyway, so I needed to talk to the Network Administrator who tried to explain all sorts of trouble this can cause. I think he was surprised that I was agreeing with him on every issue. I listened why I needed to use it.
I need a network connection because one of the things that have helped me survive law school is real-time collaboration with my study partner. We use a software application that allows us to take notes simultaneously on the same page. I cannot tell you how valuable this is. We never have to ask the Professor to repeat himself. If I miss something, he fills it in. If he misses something, I correct it. And, when the Professor is dictating/writing out a rule, both of us don’t have to write it. One of us writes the rule and the other will look it up in the book and cite it so that we can use it for our outline later. I don’t know if this is the smartest way to go about it. But, I will tell you, this is pretty much the ONLY thing that kept me awake in class (you can’t really stop taking notes if someone else is watching) after a LONG day at work.
I have an immensely stressful job but I love it. I think that it is probably the best job a guy could have so I don’t mind it at all. The only thing is that I get so into it at work that it drains my batteries by the time I get to school. So from that point onwards, I am fueled pretty much by caffeine and sugar.
Anyway… so after explaining my situation to the gentleman, he told me that I would need to speak to the Dean. Yiiiikes! Okay, so we walked over to the Dean’s office. When I got there, I saw a bunch of confiscated routers in the room. This was not looking good.
I explained what I was doing. In fact, I showed him my class notes from all of last year so that established that I wasn’t making it up. I also told him that the application we use is also used used by the US Army, The Pentagon and the Department of Defense (aren’t they all the same thing?) to communicate so its hardly insecure. In fact its the only software application out there that is encrypted end to end. Even PGP cant do that. Guess thats why Microsoft bought the company. Anyway… I digress (See? I love this stuff!) so let me get back to the story.
The Dean told me that the faculty is concerned with people not paying attention. I couldn’t agree more. In class, it’s so irritating when you can see about 20 laptop screens and on half of them you see someone playing solitaire. Heck, even the stupid screen savers are irritating and distracting so I definitely get it. What I don’t get is why someone would pay $20K/year and play solitaire in class? Surely, daddy isn’t that rich is he? Because if he is, then I need to get him to adopt me. I can’t really imagine playing solitaire or surfing the internet that no matter how difficult the class is to follow.
If you do some rough estimates, we pay about a dollar for EVERY minute that we are on campus. (I will wait while you do the math…….Scary isn’t it?) What kind of genius would flush that kind of money down the toilet? Although, I have to admit… there was one time that I was thoroughly impressed by one of my colleagues’ multitasking skills. He was playing “Sonic the Hedgehog” in class and the Proffesor called on him. This guy managed to pretend that he was looking at his screen to consult his notes and answered the question perfectly… all while playing Sonic! Now, that’s talent that I wish I had. You go boy!
Aaaahhh! June 8, 2005
Posted by atharkhan in : Law School, Personal , add a commentI am going insane! I have the worst pain in my knees. I have no idea where this came from but I have suddenly developed chrondomalacia in both my knees. So its either live with pain or take the pills that make you slow in school. So far, I am sticking with mental lucidity but it seems like I will need something called SynVisc. I havent taken the time to read up on the brochure or website because I have a ton of stuff to read for Patent Law tomorrow. I did try and call an old friend who I think had the same thing done but couldnt get a hold of them. Oh well…
Anyway, lots of fun stuff going on at work and school. I am especially excited to find out that we will be studying Amazon.com’s One-Click lawsuit. Speaking of Amazon, I would really like to get one of those Segway Human Transporters…. I am sure it will do wonders for my masculinity but man! its soooo cool!
Okay, time to go ice the knees and read up on some lawsuit about Titanium patents.
Cyber Squatting June 6, 2005
Posted by atharkhan in : Personal, Tech , add a commentTalked about Cyber Squatting in Internet Law. Hilarious stuff. Patent Law was “interesting.” One student gave a presentation that was so technical that I think half the class got lost. I liked it though. Learned about how the Recombinatory DNA processes work. I especially liked how they filter out the non-useful DNA. Genius!
In other news, Apple is switching to the Intel Chipset. Wow! I am sure a lot of people are upset about this but I think Steve Jobs (the ultimate iCon man) will beat expectations again.
Heres a link to the news story: http://news.com.com/Apple+shakes+hands+with+Intel/2009-1006_3-5733937.html?tag=nefd.lede
