Author: mindworks

I think the best way to learn hanzi is a) Start with pictographs b) Then ideographs c) Then the hui…

Chinese characters are picto-phonetic i.e. phono-semantic (usually both). This distinguishes them smartly from Western alphabets. Chinese can be most readily…

Some Chinese people find simplified Hanzi crude or barbaric ugly or otherwise. I generally don’t but then again I did…

I read an interesting article on surviving solitary confinement. It’s relevant if only because of memory strategies and also because…

George Bush Jr. was (and is) my political opponent; sadly for both of us, for we both admire his father.…

It’s annual “Let’s teach the colonists crop fertilization and crop rotation so they can feed themselves then watch them return…

Free supplement to The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary Black Humour He who laughs, lasts. Black site See: Prankster Paradise Clout in…

Stupidity is a sickness. It might be curable. It can be terminal. I hear books alleviate at least some of…

While there might be some truth (or no truth at all) to Elizabeth Warren’s family legend the fact is she…

This post will only interest you if you are learning hanzi. If you don’t even know what a hanzi is…

Free supplement to The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary   Mobligarch: A very rich man who made his money the old fashioned…

The guiding principle in citation is that whoever reads your work must be able to find whatever it is you…

“complex interrelated factors seem to make this conflict intractable”. 1) avoid words like “may” “seem” and “appear”. Those words are…

“it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again;…

“it is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but…

Some of you have recently bought my books on bar review: at the very last minute for July. Feel free…

In 2 weeks many of you will face the bar exam: if you bought my books and prepared for it…

A theoretical background is surely helpful for a global vision of law, but that’s not what the bar exam tests.…

Haley’s Comet: An object about to be fired up, blazing briefly yet brightly across the sky. Haley’s fiery flame is…

Free Supplement to The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary “The Devil Incarnate” Rumoured to be John Bolton’s infernal call sign. In fact,…

Poutrage: Poutrage is the whiny feeling of faux righteousness. Generally elicited as a result of base hypocrisy. Example: Elizabeth Warren’s…

The T Wrecks, unable to defend itself whilst wrecking U.S. foreign policy, has failed the Darwinian test of natural selection.…

A thesis like this is very bad: “this issue has it’s good points it has its bad points but in…

A student recently asked me an interesting question about quotations, which I did not address in How to Write About…

From “The Devil’s Diplomatic Dictionary” Pocahontas: A white person, who thinks themselves to be an Indian, although they are not…

T. Rex: A carnivorous dinosaur, thus a rare and an endangered species. Preferred hunting grounds of the T. Rex are…

Science is the formation and verification of hypotheses. A counter-intuitive hypothesis is always  interesting but is unlikely. The counter-intuitive hypothesis…

Once upon a time there was a loud loud lesbian. She was a nervous nelly! She was simply so scared!…

“In deep cold cavernous spaces where shadows pair with shades where old books dream the dreams of times when they…

Dear reader, Thank you for reading. Law is complex. Feel free to ask me about my books, just email me…

 THE CHINA FILE Some of you may know I am learning Mandarin Chinese. Since some of you may also be…

This video is not particularly well made, however it does illustrate an important point of Chinese grammar and also gives…

I saw this video and it reminded me of another empirical disproof of Chomsky’s theory of generative grammar. One might…

Chomsky argues that there is a meta-grammar, a grammar-of-all-grammars, inherent to human language, which he calls “generative grammar”. His idea…

I see that there appears to be an inner-party struggle within the Chinese Communist Party. I would like to see…

Examines the generative grammar hypothesis from the perspective of animal language.

Elliptical discussion of sex, law, and politics through the lens of game theory.

I have not written about gender and sex in language partly because gender and sex strike me as ridiculously stilted…

I am learning Chinese and would like to find a bi-lingual parallel hypertext of Sun Tzu or Mao Zedong in…

Is artificial intelligence possible? Well, that depends on what we mean by “intelligence”. If we mean “memory”, machines clearly remember…

Law school is like a pleasant walk in the woods, a real picnic. Except, there is a murder in the…

Noam Chomsky was originally a linguist. He made himself famous arguing for a theory of a universal generative grammar. For…

Often my students need a job. Consider civilian careers in the military. Here are some links. Naval Air Systems Command…

http://www.interacnetwork.com/recruit/2014-recruiting.html It looks legitimate. Idk? Ask around not an endorsement.

      wie gut ist Ihr Deutsch? Möchten Sie Ihre Sprachkenntnisse spielerisch auffrischen, regelmäßig trainieren oder wollen Sie konkrete…

http://www.amazon.com/author/quizmaster

http://www.borenawards.org/ This program looks fantastic. Please consider it: if any of you require a recommendation or further details just ask!

http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/AusbildungKarriere/IO/Organisationen/VereinteNationen_node.html#doc345060bodyText3 Opportunities in the U.N. (in German)Both the U.S. DOS and the German Foreign Ministry (AA) try to coordinate fairly…

https://www.daad.org/undergrad I know you all go home soon; some of you may wish to come back, whether as undergraduate or…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/11/24/the-last-time-a-russian-jet-was-shot-down-by-a-nato-jet-was-in-1952/ Thomas Gibbons-Neff seems to know what he is talking about and writes well, so I recommend reading him.I would…

Application Portal Closing on December 1st at 5pm (EST) December 1, 2015 is the deadline to submit an online application…

http://news.yahoo.com/doctor-helped-launch-modern-paramedic-system-dies-98-003503538.html I try not to talk about obituaries. That man was a hero. We all lost tonight.Let’s try to live…

https://blogs.state.gov/stories/2014/10/30/working-united-nations-insider-application-tips If anyone sees this please point it out to Luis. Thank you!

http://news.yahoo.com/747-plane-engine-snaps-off-during-iran-flight-104820363.html For example. Yes, they work, eventually. It is a question of how much the lawless regime is willing to…

http://news.yahoo.com/were-targeting-terrorists-syria-kremlin-093858253.htmlS The next president, like it or not, will wind up facing a proxy war in Syria. Ugh.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1655983 We saw the criminal law regime was only somewhat satisfactory.Now we look at the issues of human rights in…

One way activists fund their human rights projects is through performance art.http://www.reclaimyourcity.net/ This is a current Berlin art and activism…

In the prior post I included investopedia links to the BALANCE SHEET and INCOME STATEMENT. Read and try to figure…

To present, we have seen the few possibilities and real limits of the international public law of human rights. While…

Why do states (or for that matter people) obey law? -Self enforcement -Expectations of behavior of other actors. -Expectations of…

Syria  10 Airstrikes   100 Army Battalions (Bn) $1000  1 CWU.S.   100 Airstrikes  10  Marine Bns           $10000Russia 20 Airstrikes   3  …

Because there are many of you and many readings I assigne a reading to each of you in this post,…

http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/how-the-us-made-isis-a-threat/ http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/responsibility-to-protect-cant-save-syria/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/beyond-airstrikes-on-syria-ask-what-would-the-godfather-do/279457/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/defeating-isis-iran-united-states-syria/381944/ http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/interview-graham-allison-9201 http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/brzezinski-the-syria-crisis-8636 http://projects.nytimes.com/live-dashboard/syria http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/chinas-instructive-syria-policy/http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1780-we-built-their-death-squads-isiss-bizarre-origin-story_p2.html Lawshttps://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/articles/https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_cha_chapter24_rule74 Videoshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uHXUe8VsBg Leaders are readers. This may seem like a lot, but…

For the Syria scenario please google “eric engle” “syria” and read everything thathttp://papers.ssrn.com/author_id=879868 Humanitarian Intervention and Syria: Russia, the United…

How and Why to Publish Articles about the Law Eric Engle Lawyers have a responsibility to work for the general…

Executive Ministries: ·         Executive Ministers form the executive arm, collectively. ·         This body sets overall political agenda of government. ·        …

State power is the use of force to limit the use of force. The law of war is one part…

Each of you, except for Lara, now has 1100 hostages. Namely, 100 hostages for each player. Hostages represent not just…

Assassinations and terrorist attacks may be launched anonymously. In that phase you write out the attack. Note: there may be…

http://crypto.interactive-maths.com/kasiski-analysis-breaking-the-code.html http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/onetimepad.php http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/vigenere.php key recoverykasiskisfrequency analysisknown plain text attack known plain text attack is your best method to key recovery…

Qslw zwh yfdf bbn qqrshegwaeff cjgaarjfnebj ku yzy Qaecai Fupvkwo bzcyu sxqqv lafqup nf bae cjesahc 500 pkrjx. Zisrrnn, kgl…

To attack a vigenere  cipher you need to figure out the key length and then the key. This is done…

To attack a vigenere  cipher you need to figure out the key length and then the key. This is done…

Between now and Wednesday you may swap resources but may not engage in any armed attacks.Civil/Intervention war combat mechanics:To start…

OQGGIA AMIAGAZ Tdue bbzevqs 100 zcsssetkvf lf h krdpvtosa jocmuqqrnz mf ioyuhg vntnie whhv d psaovsyb gvdhurzetx. Fdrhp zlwuey xb…

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Martina – National Minority Party (the former government) 0 Constituents, 1000 coins, 1000 cannonsLuis – Farmers Grange Cooperative Society 200…

What types of protest actions are effective?http://inthesetimes.com/article/17440/what_makes_protest_movements_explode https://www.quora.com/Why-are-protests-so-ineffective-for-achieving-political-changehttp://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30402637https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFrZfluKDrchttp://mavrixonline.com/wp-content/gallery/20100727_times_square_peta_protest/7_27_10_nearly-nude-peta-protest_778.jpghttp://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2080036_2080037_2080049,00.html http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/04/femen-stages-a-topless-jihad/100487/ What types of protest actions are ineffective? http://occupywallst.org/http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-globalization-why-seattles-1999-protesters-were-right/282831/ The UN Reports…

Refugees continued:All those dead refugees are: lost productivity, lost  income.  So it costs us all. Developed countries have a self-interest…

QUESTIONS:What causes refugees?What are the possible responses to refugees?Which Responses are most effective?Is Germany an example of a success story…

I contacted the UNHCR here in Berlin, they will be happy to have us visit. UNHCR = UN High Commission…

A structured argument is much likelier to be persuasive and thus convincing as compared to an unstructured argument. Thus we…

What is “jus cogens”?What rules are “jus cogens”? Were there individually enforceable rights or duties under the pre-war system of…

How to think:Counterfactual reasoning:-What if it were NOT the case that X were true? Then what? Goal oriented reasoning– what…

NYT Opinion: “Gay and Marked for Death”http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-gay-and-marked-for-death.html?smid=fb-nytopinion&smtyp=cur Anti-Refugee Riots in Dresden, former East Germanyhttp://news.yahoo.com/riot-over-refugees-eastern-german-town-leaves-31-143513492.html Conflict diamonds:http://www.dw.com/en/un-blacklists-car-diamond-firm-for-illegal-trading/a-18663343(See also: conflict palm oil)

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/lgbtq-stonewall-marriage-equality-mattachine-sylvia-rivera/ This web log is where I will put more information. The above article is about LGBT rights and is…

The remainder of this page is your required reading. and is a “skeleton” of the course. HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE…

The Learning Environment*Safe*Fun*Exploration*Curiousity*Interaction*I will tell jokes, to try to make you feel relaxed and happy.*Work hard, play hard. We’re here…

Aristotle: Man is a rational talking social animal, curious by nature.State is a natural outgrowth of the family.Man when good is…

US Institutes of Peace: http://www.usip.orghttp://exchanges.state.govhttps://careers.un.org/

Plagiarism is the unattributed use of others works. When you use texts of others, whether quoted or paraphrased, you Must…

Videos, Legal Information Institute These videos are optional material you may find useful/fun.Caveat: This site==> http://www.youtube.com/user/Lawschoolsuccess is not good. It’s…

How to Read a Balance Sheet (The Non-Boring Version) Understanding Annual ReportsCommon Valuation Ratios | P/E RatioInvestment Valuation Ratios: Price/Earnings…