Posts made by Rinel

@Auspice

I've voted Republican in every coroner election I've ever voted in, because the Republican is the only one with a medical degree.

@nyctophiliac said in The Art of Lawyering:

Okay, so I could totally google this but I thought it might be a good topic of conversation here because why not! Some of these questions will likely be really obvious but... I have always wondered...

1. Jury System. Just why would anyone ever want to be tried by a court of their peers when the majority of our peers aren't all that smart - why not rely on a professional with experience? (Like a Judge!) Does this happen anywhere other than America? What do yall lawyers think about this?

2. The Gavel. Talk to me about this. ORDER ORDER! BLAM BLAM! Is it just to punctuate that you mean business? What do yall lawyers think about this?

3. Why did you choose the section of law (family, criminal, etc) that you chose? Or did it choose you?

4. Bond and bail, what's the difference?

5. Why on earth did you choose to practice law to begin with? Was it the money or..?

6. What is the most hilarious case you've worked on?

7. What is the saddest case you've worked on?

8. Criminal Justice Lawyer Types: What's the scariest person you've represented?

9. Would you ever represent someone that is guilty but they wanted you to get them off the hook? Would you lie for them? What's the furthest you'd go?

10. Do you like arguing? How can you manage to keep your shit together when impassioned?

Thanks in advance for humoring me

1. Judges are more biased and jaded than juries. Also, in several jurisdictions, including mine, they're elected.

2. It's a politer version of shooting a gun into the air.

3. I have a birthday card from someone the state executed.

4. Bail is a type of bond used to secure release from prison, but in reality they're used interchangeably in the criminal realm.

5. I met people who were affected by the criminal justice system. So it was either law or armed revolution.

6. I've had some great interviews. One guy was charged with stealing electricity. From his neighbor. With coathangers.

7. ...all of them. Maybe the asylum case where my client's husband had been murdered in front of her and her children during a church service.

8. All my clients have been very well mannered and polite. As a student investigator, I interviewed a few people who were pretty obviously professional murderers. I've never felt unsafe in a corrections center because of the inmates. I'm much more afraid of LEOs.

9. I'm a criminal defense attorney. Most of my clients are guilty, statistically speaking. Guilt is immaterial to my job, except when I'm pursuing a very specific kind of relief in post-conviction proceedings. My job is to ensure that the constitutional protections afforded to all citizens of the country are afforded to my clients. So yes, I'd represent someone I thought was guilty of rape or murder without losing any sleep. I would not lie to protect my client. I haven't had a capital case yet. I will admit that I do not know what I would do in such a situation. But in other cases, no. I swore an oath and will neither commit nor suborn perjury to the court.

10. Yes, as everyone here who's interacted with me will attest. I don't practice in court, so it's not much of a problem. It takes a lot to truly anger me, even though I'm constantly irritable, and when I'm truly enraged my hate burns cold. You just keep it bottled until you can release it, like any other professional situation.

ETA: I would and have represented people I suspect are guilty of murder and rape, I should say. And I lose sleep but it's over deadlines

My firm offers a certain number of combo days off. Sick, vacation, whatever. You get about 15 per year.

I've used two already this year. I've worked from home on both. I still feel guilty for using them.

Something is wrong with me. Seriously, deeply, frighteningly wrong.

@Kestrel

counterpoint: i am balding and ugly and horrible

Like @Roz said, delivery. I don't have the willpower to do basic survival tasks.

Or, when it's really bad, some weird sort of self-harm through fasting. I unironically suspect I'm beginning to develop an eating disorder.

Even after all the shit she's done, people still coming to Rinel for information. And, rarely, but still horrifyingly, for advice.

@Ganymede said in Good or New Movies Review:

I have found that many people get hung up on any of the songs with the word "jellicle" in it.

I'm fine with Jellicle Cats, who come out at night and dance at the Jellicle ball. I had a gorgeous illustrated book of Growltiger's Last Stand, Jellicle Cats, and the Aweful Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles as a child (my avatar is actually Errol Le Cain's masterful GREAT RUMPUS CAT from the very same book).

I love the text of the poems. I just cordially despise ALW's addiction to melodramatic excess. And this is from a fan of Les Mis.

I'm not f

@JinShei

Haha yes of course. They're very useful things! I simply want the history clear.

@surreality

Sure, though it was and remains an incredibly unhealthy practice--and one that I seriously doubt could provide sufficient dietary B12.

@Ganymede said in Good or New Movies Review:

Cats was fantastic.
Granted, I love the musical. I always have. I like the ballet, I like interpretive dance — I love it all. As such, I’m biased

Crucial to understanding our differences of opinion on the work is the fact that its music was never mentioned in your post.

@Kestrel said in What do you eat?:

In the wild and throughout most of human history, B12 would've just as easily been gotten by drinking unpurified water.

what.

Yes, maybe if you were drinking water contaminated with feces.

Look, there's nothing wrong with admitting veganism is a 20th century thing. But implying it is in any way equivalent to vegetarianism is wrong.

I'm not vegetarian, but I dated one for sixish years and have moved very significantly towards it. But there are much better (by which I mean more difficult to attack) reasons for vegetarianism than health. Sustainability is chief among them.

@Kestrel said in What do you eat?:

This is a cookbook I own; I bought it in New Orleans where I also ate at an extremely cheap, local-favourite vegan diner called Sweet Soulfood in the Tremé neighbourhood. I recommend using the "look inside" feature to see what the author has to say about embracing veganism as a reclamation of his African heritage from the malnutritious effects white colonialism has had on his communities, and the disproportionate impact Western cuisine has on black people in America, who have higher incidences of chronic disease such as diabetes and various heart conditions.

It's also a thing that hasn't been accepted widely by the black community in the South, and I don't think it's appropriate at all for white people to be telling black people how to eat ethically.

It's very important to distinguish between veganism and vegetarianism. Vegetarianism has an ancient history. Veganism, in contrast, has only been possible since the 20th century (when it was invented), because a vegan diet will cause fatal B12 deficiency without supplementation that was impossible to provide through vegan means until then.

@Kestrel

The privilege of the vegan position is that it generally consists of white people of a very specific subsect of society seeking to divorce lower class groups from culturally meaningful foods while ignoring issues like food deserts.

@saosmash

he's STERN and OLD

@saosmash

I hate to tell you but Legate Aureth is basically this

(jk lol that's actually orazio)

@Three-Eyed-Crow said in Character Playlists!:

These things help me with characterization a lot, and give me stuff to listen to at work!

Yeah, I come up with a lot of good ideas from listening to mine at work.

Also omg @saosmash Aureth is this in my mind forever

@saosmash I'm gonna fuggin listen to Aureth's is what I'm gonna do

I know you have them. I want to see them (and then hear them). I'm not going to listen to them all, but it's very likely that someone is going to want to hear your musical take on your character!

@Ganymede

Yeah, that's the first lesson. The second lesson is to apply that to other attorneys.