Open letter to PayPal class action lawyers

Co Lead Counsel:
PayPal Class Action Settlement
A. J. De Bartolomeo
Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP
601 California Street, Suite 1400
San Francisco, California 94108

PayPal's counsel:
PayPal Class Action Settlement
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
One Market
Spear Street Tower
San Francisco, California 94105

In re PayPal Litigation, Case No. CV-02-1227-JF (PVT).

Dear Lawyers,

This is a request for exclusion from the case listed above.

While I appreciate that there are those willing to take on the evil corporations for us little guys, I don't appreciate that I am automatically included in whatever litigation category I fit into. Nor do I care to receive, at most, a few hundred dollars – as I am not one of the “Dispute Resolution Claimants” – while the claimants' counsel gets in excess of 3.3 million dollars. Lawyers work long, hard hours; I don't dispute this. But compensation in excess of hourly fees is disgusting and bloats our legal system with trivialities.

Have fun in court. :)

Not just for sex

In case one gets bored with the original way to use condoms, it turns out that they make cheap lubricators for sari silk weavers. Other creative utilitarian uses include: water bladders, waterproof membranes in concrete construction, and mixed into asphalt they make smooth roads.

The Wendy City...built in an hour.

A Masters in Architecture is a professional degree, so why do so many graduates leave school with Michael Graves style uberdesigner intentions (and egos)? We aren't taught anything applicable to the profession, really, at least not in the first year. The instruction of minutia, such as how to draft or knowledge of what goes into a wall, is left to the lucky firms that hire us. These firms already have principal designers, of course, and little need for detail-ignorant artistes.

Studio architecture allows for a lot of creative freedom, in some cases even from gravity, but in-school field experience would benefit everyone. Whether this is a Rural Studio type class or an ongoing internship for credit (and money) the result could mean buildable studio projects and better architects.