Late October deskscape.

I've been working way too hard these last few weeks, and I finally feel some sense of space in the schedule, enough to take my old one-hour drive this morning to listen to "Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan" -- theme: guns! -- and enough to glance over to the part of the desk where things I eventually need to do accumulate... and enough to stop and photograph it and write a blog post about it.

Now, this is a bit of a test for you.



What did you focus on and think about?

I know all too well that some of you are all ooohhhh, the USNews survey, oh, noooo, Althouse is a USNews survey recipient, oh, pleeeeease, don't you think my school is "Outstanding" or at least "Strong"? Don't call me "Marginal"! Don't say you "Don't Know"!

But, my friends, how the hell am I supposed to know about all the schools? I'm supposed to judge based on my familiarity with "all the factors that contribute to or give evidence of the excellence of the school's J.D. program, for example, curriculum, record of scholarship, quality of faculty and graduates." How many schools do you think I have a properly based opinion about? How many people fill out this survey honestly? How many people are just drawing on what they have absorbed from reading USNews over the years? And, yes, I will fill it out honestly, which means the vast majority of ratings will be "Don't Know," and I'm not going to rate any schools based on my sense that they are competing with my school for rank. But I severely doubt that everyone else is doing this.

But maybe something else caught your eye. Was it "Blue Flame"? Was it the iClicker equipment? Was it the bronze sculpture? Was it -- boring! -- the "Expanding Knowledge and Serving Our Community" blue droplet brochure for the Association of American Law Schools meeting? Was it the tiny remote control sticking to the side of the iMac? Was it my CivPro notes? Are you trying to read my CivPro notes?