Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

With British campaign season full upon us, I found a few links to the British campaign posters of the last campaign, in 2001. I happened to be working outside of London during most of the month-long campaign, missing election day only for a quick jaunt stateside for my sister's wedding. (Hi Laura!)

Anyway, since the Brits aren't allowed to do paid TV commercials (they get free broadcast time for that), they spend their campaign funds on big giant billboards. And unlike the political discourse we get here in America, these are hilarious. My favorite example was the movie-parody series that Labour did, with one billboard predicting "Economic Disaster II" if the Tories got back in control, and another one showing the Conservatives walking around like zombies, because if they won your house would become one of "The Repossessed."

And now, I've finally found links to revisit the memories. I'll just jump right in:

A substantive discussion, from 2001, of that election's posters

The posters themselves, more easily visible

Campaign posters throughout history

And no, I don't have the 2005 posters; if anyone else has a link, let me know.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If you just can't wait until May 1st, the first episode of the returning Family Guy got leaked, and, well, here's the link. If you don't have BitTorrent, uh, get it:

http://torrentspy.com/search.asp?mode=torrentdetails&id=257591

I think the best joke is the first one. Not that I've seen it.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All right, well I won't say this trip was useless, but I'm no closer to making a decision than I was three weeks ago. I went to Duke, thought I had to go there, went to UVa, thought I had to go THERE, and now I'm here thinking, "why on earth would I ever not go to NYU?" this is getting ridiculous.

students: This was the weak point of NYU's presentation, but I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. At Duke I had friends to stay with, and at UVa I hung out with a student host, but at NYU I didn't really get a chance to hang out with any current students and get a sense from them of what they're like. But I went to student panels and the like, and frankly they came across as just like the students at UVa or Duke, except the NYU students are probably a little more diverse and probably a little more from New York City. So basically what you'd expect.

professors: NYU had fewer events with professors than Duke did. That said, NYU sat a professor down at every eight-person table at lunch and let us grill them (speaking of grilling, the chicken was awesome too). There's no point in being shy at these things, and the guy answered all my concerns and then some. I asked him if a student strolled into his office asking if there was any work he could do, if the professor would let him, and the professor said, "oh, I only wish that would happen." (That's a great response, because wherever I go I'm going to try to latch on to the professors in whatever disciplines I'm interested in.) Like everyone, he embraced the idea of a law school in NYC, especially in contrast to his last position, at UVa. I asked him what he thought of UVa, and he said he loved his time there and would never say a bad word, and then he proceeded to say that the beer-and-softball atmosphere at UVa interferes with learning. At UVa, the idea of balance seemed really appealing, at NYU it felt like an unproductive use of my time. So, as always, I have no point.

the area: This is the big deal with NYU. I had assumed that a law school in NYC would be too unconcentrated for my tastes. I want to meet new people and make new connections, not just for professional reasons but to make new friends. I was a little concerned going in that NYU students would all be too distracted to form a tight community with the other students, but that seems not to be the case. The class size is the biggest (about 430 per class, in contrast to 360 at UVa and 200 at Duke), but like the other schools NYU Law first-years get put into 25- to 30-person sections that become really close, go have dinner at professors' houses and go out drinking together on the weekends. Like Duke, a premium was placed on initiative, but at NYU the reason was because there's an infinite array of choices in the city. The area itself is very nice too; the law school is on the southwest corner of Washington Square, so not only is there a beautiful park right outside the building but I can get weed any time I want to. (Mom, that's a joke.) The campus is located in the Village (I'm still not confident in my knowledge of the East-West Village geography) by a lot of sweet restaurants and stores and coffeeshops and the like. Plus when you leave the law school front door, the Empire State Building is right in front of you. How do you beat that?

the crushing amounts of debt: Well, like all the law schools I looked at, you can get a sweet gig out of law school, where you sell your existence to a law firm for as long as you can handle it. Duke and UVa claim it's easier to get an NYC firm job from them because NYU is more competitive, NYU claims it's easier to make contacts in the city when you're in the city too. Either way, NYU is the most expensive of the three, by a fair amount, because it's more expensive living in New York. Uncle Tim asks what 8-10,000 dollars is in terms of your whole life's path, and I've heard that a law school applicant should embrace the best school they get into for basically the same reason. NYU is indeed the highest ranked law school I got into, though since it's newly good, a school like Columbia supposedly has a better rep around the city. And since I'm concerned with the general picture here, not the edges, I don't really care.

differences with Duke and UVa: I could tell at the end of my time at Haverford that I was ready for a more exciting time of life: an extensive and complicated social scene, events happening all around, and people unencumbered by the social awkwardness that permeates the air on Haverford's campus. And honestly, three years later, I'm still waiting. I postponed having fun for campaigns, three times, and while I'm certainly not overburdened by responsibility with my current occupation of sleeping until noon, it's not that exciting either. UVa, socially, seems like a more mature version of Haverford, i.e. a big happy family. My memory of Duke could stand a little refreshing, but I'm pretty sure it felt like a more academic version of the Edwards campaign. I loved Haverford. I loved the Edwards campaign. Is my time better spent repeating one of those experiences, or starting the new one I've been waiting for?

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I posted this on DailyKos, so I thought I'd repost it here.

Fans of the Michael Lewis baseball book "Moneyball" will know that taking a hard look at statistics can offer insights that the human eye cannot. According to Lewis and his subject, Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, baseball teams with limited payrolls can compete - and win - against overfunded franchises like the Yankees and Red Sox, if they have the creativity and determination to find inefficiencies in the game. On-base percentage, formerly a comparatively unheralded statistic, turned out to be just that kind of ineffiency. So the A's loaded up on undervalued players with major flaws but who walked a ton, and sure enough, Oakland was able to end up near the top of the league in runs scored - and in wins. That's Moneyball.
Here's what I've been wondering: could any of the lessons of Moneyball apply to the world of politics?

Here's an example: we all know early fundraising is crucial, right? But how much? Does anyone know the exact answer to that question? And we could ask similar questions about all sorts of aspects of campaign life: how important are early polls? How important are late polls? How bad a press story can a campaign handle? Does a big field staff really get the job done?

Most people reading this site can already give vague and general answers to these questions. But that's not good enough anymore: we need real numbers with real results. Billy Beane and his staff found out that every point of on-base percentage is worth three points of slugging percentage. Could they have figured that out just by sitting and watching a bunch of baseball games? Of course not. But they collected the numbers, crunched the data, and found immensely important conclusions. We can do the same with politics.

So I would love to hear feedback on this project. Is it feasible? Would anyone want to help collect the data, or help process it? Is anybody doing this already? I'd love to see what we could do; I say the possibilities are enormous.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a link that's hilarious on its face, the more so if you've ever followed pro wrestling. The Ultimate Warrior, groomed as Hulk Hogan's successor in the early 1990s, turned out to be a flop on the wrestling circuit and now makes his living as a fanatically and uproariously right-wing college speaker. Ultimate Warrior (born Jim Hellwig, now legally Ultimate Warrior) also once released a Christmas comic in which Santa Claus met several violent fates not appropriate for discussion in a blog my mom reads.

Anyway, last Friday at the University of Connecticut, Warrior's lecture turned into a nasty confrontation between Warrior and some crowd members, drawing up assorted bemused coverage around the internet. The nature of the lecture, or somethingawful.com's coverage, is not important to be able to appreciate the back-and-forth correspondence between somethingawful.com's editor (or whatever) and the Ultimate Warrior's ultimate director of communications.

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2790

Posted by Terry McMahon at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, that was a pretty big surprise. I was really not expecting to like UVa all that much, but I actually really enjoyed it there. before I forget everything, here's the scoop:

students: I had heard that UVa Law students were a lot preppier, Republican and uptight than most law students. as for preppy, there were a few people wearing khakis on admitted students weekend, as opposed to just me at Duke, so I guess that means UVa people are about as preppy as I am, maybe less. there were certainly Republicans (and a fair number of people who were clearly preppy rich kids of prominent Virginians), and I hear the breakdown is about 2/3 Democrat and 1/3 Republican, which I might be able to handle. as for uptight, honestly, didn't see it. what struck me the most about UVa students, and this really did strike me, is that pretty much everyone loves being there. at Duke everyone seemed to like it, but everyone at UVa is thrilled, alumni apparently call law school the best three years of their lives, and the alumni giving percentage (like 47% I think) is the highest of any law school in the country, which the dean said was especially impressive for a longtime public school (the law school now funds itself exclusively from donations with no state support). that is pretty compelling to me; I mean if pretty much everyone loves it there, and you're going to get just as sweet a job when you graduate, why wouldn't I want to go there? also the chicks were hotter.

professors: Here I was a little disappointed as compared to Duke. This could have been an issue of presentation, as everything I liked about the student-professor interactions at Duke (easy to work together, really talented professors) is apparently true at UVa, but Duke had better events. At Duke they had a panel with three popular professors, so you got to see what they were like as people, and then they had an outdoor event where students and professors roamed around and talked to each other. At UVa they just had sample classes, which was good, but not as instructive as Duke's. I did go to a sample Con Law class and afterwards asked the professor if his generally accessible lecture was indicative of the law school experience. he said sort of, but when I mentioned that I was thinking of my future career as based on the fact that recent baseball GMs have tended to be law school grads, and he laughed and it turns out we're both red sox fans. he said he couldn't think of a better use of a law degree. plus if you take professors out to lunch, the student bar association picks up the tab.

shollitsville: actually, charlottesville is really one heck of a nice town. that area of virginia is really beautiful (it's at the foothills of the blue ridge mountains) and reminded me a lot of west virginia when I drove through it last year. UVa is a pretty big school to begin with, but the town does exist outside campus, which is nice, and there are at least two of those college-type streets with coffeehouses and bars, which is also nice, and there's a nice downtown-village promenade that's blocked to traffic where the street's made of bricks, and they have theaters and the like. the law school facilities are nicer than Duke's too. the downsides are that it's further from the beach, I don't know anyone there, and frankly it doesn't seem nearly as appealing as the research triangle area, which seems pretty vibrant even without the universities, as opposed to charlottesville which seems to depend on it.

crushing amounts of debt: UVa is actually a lot more expensive than I thought, and it's pretty tough to get residency as a law student. that said, it would be cheaper than Duke. the impression I got is that it's not quite as easy to get handed a law firm job, and I might have to take a little more initiative to get the job I want, but I also get the impression that if I'm reasonably successful percentile-wise, I wouldn't have a problem. I don't think the cost of living is especially different from durham.

differences with Duke: whereas the operative word at Duke seemed to be "initiative", as in your ability to do whatever you want as long as you speak up and ask someone, the operative word at UVa seems to be "balance." everyone seems to have fun, so much so that some people say UVa is just a "beer and softball" law school. but everyone there seems to like it, too. I'm not sure I can say the students seemed as impressive as when I was at Duke, but maybe that was just because I was less surprised on my second visit. really though, I'm starting to suspect that I just have a choice between really good law schools, and I'll love NYU just as much next week. we'll see!

Posted by Terry McMahon at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, that went well. I am sure I'll forget a lot about my Duke visit on Friday and Saturday, so I'll post now to give everyone the heads up.

The students - Frankly, I was impressed. First off, everyone there was smart, and witty, and a solidly nice person. Everyone works pretty hard, but they said explicitly that everyone roots for each other to succeed. There are study groups if you want them, everyone goes bowling together, there are a ton of extracurriculars, and you're encouraged to take initiative and make your law school career your own thing. I spent a fair amount of time with some of the first-years, and they were all friendly, open and interested in me (and they laughed at my jokes), and the admitted students were fine too. (Everyone's a little shy during these things, but I found it a little overwhelming that there weren't chumps in any conversations; everyone had compelling backgrounds and interesting perspectives, and they were all funny and good-natured. Can't complain.

The professors - Well, as the story goes, the professors desperately want to work with students, and do everything they can to make that happen. Students work for professors during the year, they get hired during the summer as research assistants, and they get published with professors a lot of the time too. Here's an example: Erwin Chemerinsky was described to me by separate people as "a constitutional law god" who has apparently argued two or three cases before the Supreme Court this session. Anyhoo, he's charming and witty, and he says some of the students working for him had similar interests, some of them got to know him through class, and some of them just strolled in and asked how they could help. And apparently all the professors are similarly accessible; I must have talked to seven or eight of them at this faculty/student get-together the other night (last night?) and they all seemed to be pretty on the ball. I talked to a Haverford alum who's now a Duke Law professor and a leading figure in sports law (perhaps crucial in my quest to follow Theo Epstein from law school to being a GM), and, rumor has it, is representing Marion Jones in the BALCO "situation." He informed me that Paul Wellstone once won a national title in amateur wrestling. It was pretty solid.

The campus - Well, I spent Thursday night out with my friend Aaron at the Top of the Hill bar in Chapel Hill, on a patio about three floors up overlooking Franklin Street. This is the bar (and the time of year, I think) where Aaron and I two years ago kind of looked at each other and said, "why on earth did we not come here undergrad?" I haven't needed a jacket outside yet, and since the whole place has been built up in the past 30 years, all the roads and buildings are new and actually work right. Also, wow did I miss sweet tea. That shit is underrated. But the point is, having been away for so long I found it really easy to forget just how beautiful and fantastic the Research Triangle area is. Plus, as they say, the beaches and the mountains are both two hours away.

The unbelievably enormous amounts of debt - Well, it's a less frightening concept now than it was about two days ago. First off, if you're willing to go work at a firm for 5 years or so (as I certainly am, I hear it's not that bad), apparently it's easy to pay off your debt completely, as most people make in the vicinity of $125,000 a year at a firm. Now, how hard is it to get a job at a prestigious firm? Well, for starters, none of the first-years I met know anyone who hasn't gotten a summer job yet. Employment rates at graduation have hovered between about 95-97% in the last three years, and the employment rate nine months out is always 100%. About 500 firms come down to Duke every year to interview 200 students (per class) for positions, and many of them apparently come in intending to hire at least 2-3 Duke students. At most law schools you have to be in the top of the class to be highly recruited, but, as the story goes, at Duke that applies to pretty much everyone. Finally, and I didn't know this, apparently they include food/rent/expenses/miscellaneous in the overall cost, so I presumably wouldn't have to pay any more than what they charge me. There are more exciting things I've heard about the Duke employment situation; just ask!

Well, that's pretty much it. It feels like a good fit. Next up is UVa next Thursday and Friday, and then NYU the Friday after that.

Posted by Terry McMahon at 1:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)