"Hi, my name is Barack Obama and I am running for mayor of Belford Roxo, Brazil"

From The Guardian:

"Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves "Barack Obama" in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October's municipal elections."
I suppose that's one way to capture headlines and distract the voters from the real issues. (thanks to loganberrybunny)

Here's To New Beginnings... Carpe Diem! -- Part I

Yesterday was my first day of Law School. All we had was registration and a couple of induction lectures. We met our personal tutors, which is a welcome change from the impersonal (read: shit) system at McGill, and I also met my fellow tutorial classmates whom I will see a lot over the next nine months. Lectures begin Monday, our first (informal) tutorial quiz is on Tuesday and our first proper test assessment is two weeks from Monday on October 3rd. Altogether there are seven modules that will be covered during the nine months and they are as follows: Constitutional & Administrative Law, Contract Law, Tort Law, Criminal Law, Land Law, Equity Law and EU Law (which is only a half-module). Each module has a one hour lecture every week, except for EU law which as a half-module is taught fortnightly. The lectures comprise several tutorial groups. The tutorial groups (roughly 15-20 people) also meet for each module for an hour each week, except for EU law which meets fortnightly. Our personal tutor is also going to teach us the Land Law module. At the end of October the school will release the Independent Research Essay topics which will then be due at the beginning of April. There are a total of eighteen substantive teaching weeks that begin after the first assessment on October 3rd. Leading into the substantive teaching are two weeks of induction lectures to the English legal system, statutory interpretation, the doctrine of precedent and case analysis. The first assessment does not contribute to the final course grade but it will test us on our understanding of the induction topics.

During the first week of November we will have our first informal assessment of the substantive topics covered until then and we will also have the option of participating in some informal, ungraded classes covering Company Law, Evidence and Forensics and Corporate Law. We then have another week of informal assessments a week into our Christmas break, and just when you think you can put your feet up for a quick break, the school will release our Case & Statute Analysis tests which will be due in the first day back from the "break". They're calling it a break because there will be no substantive teaching! In the new year we start off slow with only substantive lectures in January, but the pace picks up with the school releasing the Coursework in the middle of February, quickly followed by another informal assessment. The course work will be due less than a week after it is handed out and then we have formal lectures till the first week of March. We then have a couple weeks of live revision lectures followed by a few weeks of optional online tutorials which we can participate in from the comfort of our own homes. As mentioned earlier, the Independent Research Paper is due the first week of April and our final exams are throughout the month of May. There will be a total of seven papers (one for each module), all except EU law lasting three hours, with EU law lasting only two hours (and it's the last one - some respite!). My first final examination is on May 2nd and my final exam is on May 26th. Many students will then probably spend the summer working, but I intend to convert my Diploma into an LLB degree at the same school by completing two more intensive modules before mid-August. In short, I'm signing my life away to the law for precisely 11 months!

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