Who Are You? (For Non-Lawyers)

Say hello in the comments, and tell us a little about who you are, how long you've been reading the blog, and anything else you'd like to add. If you have some fun blog-related stories, please mention them. (My favorite, of course, is a marriage that indirectly stemmed from the parties having both been readers of the blog; but you don't need to feel like you have to measure up to that!)

Lawyers, law students, etc.: Please do the same, but in the other post I'm putting up.

Comments

[Herveus]

I'm a computer guy. I've been reading this blog since around Obergfell. I picked up a number of legal blogs then, and it's been useful to read informed commentary, even if I don't always agree with the positions taken. It's light on the stupid and ignorant.

[DaivdBehar]

So, all here are employees. Where does one go to find CEO's of companies with money for lobbying? They need to understand the devastating effects of this most toxic occupation in the country, 10 times more toxic than organized crime.

[bernard11]

I was a computer guy centuries ago - Fortran - fun, COBOL - boring.

Worked for a (very) small software company and got into the financial end. Did some doctoral work in finance - no dissertation. Lots of involvement with small companies - some hits, some misses. Mostly pretty interesting.

Now ostensibly retired but still have a hand in some things. Very serious about tournament bridge, pretty serious about photography, lousy and unserious at piano but like it anyway.

[bevis the lumberjack]

Fortran, LOL. I remember more than once being stuck in a do loop at 2 am in the computer lab. Back when you entered your program into a terminal that punched holes in cards that you’d then run through a collator to upload your code onto a mainframe.

Retired engineer here.

[The Drill SGT]

make sure to stripe the deck regularly

[Absaroka]

That's the voice of experience speaking.

Card anecdote: I knew a grad student whose thesis data was on cards - a box and a half of them (3000??). They got wet. She ran home and spent hours ironing them. They looked perfect ... but had expanded by 0.5mm or something, and wouldn't feed in the card reader. They just had the holes, not the printing along the top, so transcribing them was pretty tedious.

[Mike W.]

Wow, what a horror story...

[Brett Bellmore]

Fortran 77 was my first programming language; I went to a summer program at Laurence Tech, and they gave us a few photocopied sheets from a programming textbook, and access to a Honeywell mainframe, and otherwise let us figure it out ourselves.

Pascal was the first programming language I ever got formal training in. Borland's Turbo Pascal. Still miss the minimalist version that would fit the entire development system AND your program on one floppy. By the time I finally gave it up, you couldn't have fit "Hello world" on that floppy, there had been so many features added.

[Paladin_44]

FORTRAN 66 with an 028 punch to make the program and data entry cards for an IBM 370/168. Those were the fun days. Still use what I learned writing and rewriting programs to handle protein crystallography data sets. A great help when debugging Access and Excel macros and VBA stuff.

[cmcc_aus]

I've also punched paper tape

[edbeau99]

Yup, started in university with Fortran and punch cards. I was proudly gathering up the printout from my very first program when the Director of the Computing Centre came by. He asked me what the program did, and I said "calculates prime numbers". He looked at one page and said, "I don't think 355 is a prime number."

[Darth Chocolate]

PhD Chemical Engineer with a PE License. Semi-retired. Liven in China for 1 year. Started up a number of Polypropylene Plants in China as well.

Almost went into law back in college.

[De Oppresso Liber]

What are your feelings on organic solvent nanofiltration?

[jsfreason]

Retired economist. Around since... forever, though this pseudonym comes from the Reason years. (I remember Juan non-Volokh, for example. That would seem to be a minimal requirement to qualify as a long-timer. Pretty sure I learned about this blog from Glenn Reynolds. who I never read any more.) I very rarely comment any more... here or elsewhere... I lack the energy to argue with people that I used to have when the Internet was just a village of weirdos, instead of the much larger city it is today.

[March9999]

Designer / inventor in manufacturing. A parole officer many mango seasons ago.

I enjoy keeping current and like the good commentary. I have noticed over time that there are some glaring mistakes / misunderstandings when a blog post discusses manufacturing. One was about building ventilators and I almost choked on my cornflakes! Would love to see more patent law content but you get what you get. I read daily and usually learn something.

[James Pollock]

The thing about patent law is that it's the only kind of law that has special certification, so people who do patent law usually only do patent law and people who don't do patent law really, really don't do patent law. If you think IT patent law is all screwed up, (which it mostly is) it's because the PTO doesn't consider IT to be a qualified undergraduate degree to sit for the patent agent or patent bar exam(s). As a result, they don't have a lot of IT-qualified practitioners. that's how so many dodgy patents (like "X over the Internet") got approved.

[jb]

Degrees in computer science and "computer engineering" (whatever that is) qualify, which is the degree most practitioners would have these days.

[Joe Severs]

Retired statistician, now geology major. Interested in all 1A issues.

[rsteinmetz]

Architect/Computer/Sometime Expert Witness
Interested in Law for a long time.

[ThePublius]

Early 60's, still working as a software engineering manager. Interested mostly in 1A, 2A, and 4A issues. Been reading this blog since about 2008.

[TMH5541]

I'm in my early 30s, work at a university. Starting Law School in the Fall. I'm not sure if I should have posted here or the other blog! I have only been reading the blog for about 2 months but reading Reason for about 4 years.

[James Pollock]

I don't think you count as a "law student" until you take your first actual law class.

[Bwaaah]

I'm a computer guy (software engineering, network engineering) and an operations manager (manufacturing and distribution logistics), mostly retired now. The first reference to "volokh" in my inbox is from 2011, so I've been reading at least that long. I found the blog to be informative (about the subjects it covers), relatively scholarly and not trashy. I continue to find it to be those things. (And I have a soft spot for liberty.)

[The Captain they call D.M.F.L.]

Last time around this comment thread was posted I believe I was one of the last to respond with my comment number being close to 300.

I'm in the prime of my life in my late thirties and am the general manager of a restaurant in Philadelphia. I have no computer/engineering/mathematics education. I did, however, study philosophy during college with an emphasis on Heidegger.

I have been reading for the last five years.

[DaivdBehar]

Did you have a course in Medieval Philosophy?

[John F. Carr]

Perhaps I should call myself an administrative law specialist having spent a lot of time the past two months telling a federal agency that if they actually read their own reports and the reports they are supposedly acting on they would do the opposite of what they propose. But I don't get paid for that. My paying jobs have been in computers, mostly in industry but right now I am paid partly from federal grants on a university project. I worked for two startups where my options were worth something and a few more where they were not. I would like this year to finish identifying all the species of sedge growing in the woods across the street.

I live in a town with progressive elected officials and residents who vote to ban everything except racially discriminatory traffic stops. On the scale of priorities talking about racial discrimination is first, harassing people who don't look like they live in town is second, banning disposable straws is third, and doing something about racial discrimination is last. But we do have a catch and release policy for blacks and Hispanics. Police are permitted, even encouraged, to give them a summons rather than arresting them.

[ThePublius]

Newton, MA?

[John F. Carr]

Formerly of Auburndale, according to the RMV who would not allow me to put Newton on my license because the USPS ZIP code database normalized 02166 to Auburndale. And we can't have states deciding what to name their cities, can we? Now outside 128.

[ThePublius]

Pretty good guess, though, eh? I, too, live in the People's Republic, just outside 495.

[James Pollock]

My prior address was in "Portland" according to the post office, despite the fact that I was in a completely different county. Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, and my house was in Washington County.

[Dr. Ed 2]

" Police are permitted, even encouraged, to give them a summons rather than arresting them."

That is a COVID policy that actually kinda makes sense.

[PeteRR]

I am a retired Millwright. I was injured on the job a while back and I am disabled. I just moved to Spain because of the climate. I've been following the VC from before the WP days.

[James Pollock]

Are you in the part of spain that doesn't want to be part of Spain any more?

[PeteRR]

I'm just south of that part of Spain. They don't want to leave, but they insist of speaking Cata...er I mean Valencian. Which are functionally identical languages.

[CLTJustin]

Early 40s. Worked in federal gov on national security stuff in 00s, now work in compliance/financial crimes for a big bank. Been reading this blog since almost the beginning (heck, I went on a trip to the gun range with your brother almost 20 years ago when he was at HLS and I had just graduated from the College). Went to GT law at night for 2 years before realized I didn't want to be a lawyer and went back for a MBA instead. Interest in 1A, 2A and national security law and have just found you and your co-contributors commentary interesting over the years.

[AmosArch]

I work as a janitor at a very prestigious major East Coast college you've almost certainly heard about even though I feel like I'm smarter than most of the people who go there. Sometimes the professors there like to challenge their students with equations written on a blackboard like half an equation and... I just figure it out in the middle of the night when nobody's looking. One of them has noticed and is currently mentoring me but to be honest I'm ahead of him half the time.

Don't get me wrong though. I have been going through some personal issues and he's been kind enough to put me in touch with a counselor friend of his. This guy is really one of the most interesting people I've ever met and I've met alot and was able to reach out to me in ways nobody else has.

So with his help I'm currently at a crossroads in my life just trying to figure out where to go from here with my future career and of course my lovely British girlfriend who I met at a local bar. BTW the story of how we met. Total riot in and of itself. Maybe I'll tell it to here sometime later.

[Tom O'Brien]

You must be wicked smart.

[AmosArch]

Well i did bomb an interview for a government job one time so who knows?

[Paladin_44]

And your brother's names are...

[WilliamCheswick]

Have you anonymously solved problems in graph theory on blackboards in the college hallways?

[AH20638]

Mid 50s Healthcare Executive. Enjoy libertarian perspectives and free markets.

[ah....Clem]

Trained mathematician (MSc Michigan), now retired software developer (dot.net, Oracle mainly, but cut my teeth in the 70s on Fortran and C) Been reading the blog since almost the beginning (2001?).

Grew up as an "east coast good government Republican", supported Nixon as a youngster, became a libertarian as a teenager. Hated Carter for bringing back the draft, voted for David Koch for VP in 1980. Abandoned libertarianism as a one-size-fits-all solution as I realized how much I benefited from free public education through high school, and state-supported universities, Pell grants, NSF grants, etc. thereafter.

I still retain a strong libertarian streak, but also recognize that government services have greatly improved my quality of life, which I suppose makes me a "progressive".

No legal training, but as a trained mathematician (logic & topology were my fields) I appreciate the precise reasoning sometimes provided by a legal argument when I see it. Emphasis on *sometimes*.

[WilliamCheswick]

Also, a fan of Firesign Theater.

[wolfefan]

I noticed too. You and Clem are men of taste and refinement.

[SZ]

High school junior who finds constitutional law very interesting to read about. A lot of the posts here are beyond my understanding, but I still enjoy reading them and learning a bit about law.

[DaivdBehar]

SZ. The constitution was written in high school English. You are an owner. Any legal utterance you do not understand should be void. The pirates here jacked the law and are holding it for ransom to get their legal fees. Anything you do not understand is not just garbage, it is illegal, being part of a huge crime.

[James Pollock]

"The constitution was written in high school English."

Not really, no. High school wasn't really a thing when the Constitution was written.

[DaivdBehar]

Run a clause through the readability function in a word processor. All legal utterances must be at sixth grade level or they fail to give the required notice. The constitution is at the 11th grade level.

[Cal Cetín]

I could just as well ask you the same question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYb_nqU_43w

[Brett Bellmore]

I'm a mechanical engineer in my early 60's. Been following your blog since well before the WaPo days. Started sometime in 2009, I think.

[Alan Vanneman]

I'm a very unfamous novelist who dropped out of law school decades ago. I started reading Reason about 20 years ago. I enjoy the Volokh report's devotion to free speech and am obviously amused by the stunning hypocrisy of "originalists" like Josh Blackman, whose "original" reading of the Constitution discovers it to be a get out of jail free card for Donald Trump. I also get a chuckle out of Dr. Volokh's vow of silence regarding Jan. 6. Never take anything a lawyer says too seriously, especially constitutional "experts".

[James Pollock]

Fun fact: The Constitution says whatever it is you want it to say, if you squint at it long enough and hard enough.

[Geotype50]

Retired geologist interested in legal issues. I've been following Volokh since ~2000 but never comment as I seldom have anything useful to contribute.

[cmcc_aus]

Mostly retired from computing and data mining, still work a few hours a week. PhD in linguistics but didn't want to race against the rest of the rats in academia, so went to work for the administrative side of the university. Did spend a year in China, 1982-83 teaching English, very early in opening and modernization. Been reading VC since before the Washington Post.

[Pooneil]

I am a retired financial analyst and money manager. I have been reading the blog regularly since it moved to Reason. Sporadically before that. I have been married for a statistically longer than average period of time and have 2.2 children. I am particularly interested in leaning more about how appellate law drives changes happens in daily life.

[JohnW in Md]

Since at least 2003. (Thanks to Instapundit for the link.)
Former congressional staffer, long-time interest in the law. Early 60's now, have thoroughly enjoyed the comings, goings, and writings of the various conspirators. Learned to read a case for law school here, how to write a brief, what to say when stopped by police, and that the Slaughterhouse cases, Wickard, and Kelo all merit revisiting. Introduced my daughter to VC when she showed interest in law and the 1st amendment.

[GSpeed]

MD PhD Neurologist who has read Supreme Court opinions and others for years

[Armchair Lawyer]

I am...
...too paranoid to list too much personal information in this age of cancel culture.

Sorry. It's true.

[Da5id]

Sigh, same.

[SimonP]

Bernstein has threatened to dox commenters who cross some poorly-defined line when responding to him. For this reason, I am also disinclined to say too much about what I do, even though I never say anything that would get me properly "canceled."

[Nomad]

I am an Army veteran of nine years. Then dabbled in law enforcement, realized that was not for me. Worked in tree service, played in the oil fields of North Dakota and now work on a 2200 milking head dairy farm. Newly elected Village President in my area. I happened to be the only dumbass on the ballot. Shows ya people will elect anyone as long as there's a name on the ballot. Generally speaking, court decisions in regards to Bill of Rights issues is what interests me. Also that slippery slope and Schadenfreude stuff I find particularly humorous. Pointing and laughing.

[Don Nico]

Behar will be disappointed that I am not a lawyer although I regularly take online law classes.

I am a semi-retired physicist at a major NE research university who has published in a very large range of areas from particle physics to international cyberlaw to epidemiology. I am still editor-in-chief of two major international journals. I've run a national multi-university graduate program and a very large research division at a national laboratory.
I've been reading this blog well before to move to WaPo.

[DaivdBehar]

Donnie, I thought you said, you were a lawyer. You have taken some law courses. I am curious. Do you believe minds can be read. Future rare accidents can be foreseen. And, that standards of conduct should be set by a fictitious character. The reason the character has to be fictitious is to make the standards objective. The real reason is to hide the fact, he is Jesus, making this character illegal in our secular nation. I am curious, if they have gotten to you, made you a d-word.

[Don Nico]

I never said I was a lawyer; that has been your assumption. I do take CLE courses every three years and I have written chapters in four books for the ABA.
As for your d-word, I have not the slightest idea what that is.

[DaivdBehar]

Not a lawyer, a lawyer running dog.

I am curious about your take on lawyer supernatural doctrines, given your technical background. Or perhaps, the Aether Theory of the Universe is true.

[Don Nico]

"I am curious about your take on lawyer supernatural doctrines, given your technical background. Or perhaps, the Aether Theory of the Universe is true."
Your extra-legal thoughts are even further off the real axis than your screeds about lawyers.

[James Pollock]

"I never said I was a lawyer; that has been your assumption."

I had to tell him like 5 times that I am not a lawyer before it got through to him. I think he sees lawyers hiding under his bed and behind every tree.

[James Pollock]

"As for your d-word, I have not the slightest idea what that is."

Shh! It's daivd. don't tell anyone.

[DaivdBehar]

I can't believe I have been arguing nerds. Get these cooties off me.

Have a blessed day, you two. I wish you well.

[taqmcg]

I recently retired from work as an astronomer at NASA. Started reading back in the days when this was an independent blog and I think that the commentary was best then. I'm interested most of the postings regardless of topic. The recently introduced weekly poetry feature is very nice, both new poems and delightful reminders from childhood.

[Queen Amalthea]

I/O psychology consultant and sometimes adjunct for a third tier university. My primary job often runs along law issues (workplace legal issues) so I study law and enjoy blogs like this.

[DaivdBehar]

Queenie, can you tell the class the gender checked off on your birth certificate?

[JSR2]

Software engineer nearing retirement. Started out as an electronics technician and gradually moved into software about 20 years ago. I've been reading VC since well before the WP version (still miss the WP readers who stumbled into VC and freaked out at the content).

[Whistling Willie]

Am a retired college biology professor. Hung out with econ/polisci/philosophy types in grad school, and so was exposed to the ideas of Friedman, Hayek, and the like. Cultivated classical liberal leanings. Am a strange hybrid of a libertarian/social conservative/environmentalist.

As of late, communitarian ideas have crept into my thinking. With advancing age I have less certainty than I had when I was younger, about many things.

Am married to a feminist, which (surprisingly) has not brought strains into the marriage (we don’t discuss politics).

Have always loved legal reasoning; hence my daily reading of The Volokh Conspiracy.

Whistling Willie

[LadyTheo]

In pharmaceuticals. The legal kind. Have been reading VC since before the WaPo days.

No stories around the blog, although I wouldn't mind meeting a partner here, if you are offering...

[Jmaie]

Just learned (yet again) not to assume, don't know why but I've always thought LadyTheo was the new iteration of theobromiphile...

[wolfefan]

I mentioned Hoosier in my intro. I'm glad to see that someone else remembers Theobromiphile. I liked her comments.

[DaveM]

Another computer nerd, reporting for duty. I've been reading the VC for a very long time. I worked my way through college as a History major, and the reason I went was to satisfy my curiosity about ancient law in general, and the Code of Hammurabi, specifically. Little did I know that I'd have to work my way through many years of undergraduate studies before I could even find a class that would let me explore that topic! Well, it wasn't time wasted, I did pick up a few things here and there along the way. And I eventually was able to dig into the Code and write a few research papers.

The law does fascinate me both as a system of thought, and as a practice where those ideas have to survive in real-world applications.

Love the VC, very interesting and engaging writing and the comments are usually a real treat, too.

[DaivdBehar]

Dave. You can make yourself useful. Write an app that will make decisions based on the law, so we can get rid of these horrible judges. The owner would be the legislature. They would be sued when they made mistakes.

[Obfuscator]

Started reading about 2004 or 2005 when I was a philosophy grad student. Work in Healthcare IT now.

[David Lawson]

Long term reader (from back when it was running on Eugene's own code). Maybe 2006ish?

I'm a software engineer, basically retired. I was one of the 4 individual plaintiffs in McDonald in which we overturned Chicago's handgun ban.

Later I sued again (and won in Cook County court) when they tried to ban my SKS collection as "assault weapons" even though they didn't fit statutorily. I had a great time bringing my SKS rifles into the administrative (kangaroo) court after the County judge ordered it so they could demonstrate they had removable magazines. Funnily enough, the CPD Sergeant was ordered by brass to not touch the rifles.

Interestingly enough, both McDonald and Lawson v Chicago were won not by non-compliance but by over-compliance. I spent several hundreds complying with Chicago's registration scheme and the ultimate result was its eventual repeal.

[Bill Bowser]

I'm a retired mechanical engineer. I started reading this blog about 16 years ago I think. It's difficult to say with certainty, but I think it was probably around 2004 - 2005. I'm also a nudist. Prof. Volokh and I exchanged some emails regarding the 1st Amendment and public nudity several years ago. I was surprised at how much time he had to discuss it with me. I;m sure he had more important things to do. I thank you sir.

[James Pollock]

One of the nice things about working in a university is how much time you can free up for whatever interests you at the moment.

[Waterfowl/MDT]

Longtime reader; I remember "Juan" joining Eugene and Sasha. Mechanical engineer originally, then changed paths completely and switched to musicology. Still a writer about music and a violinist/violist. I started reading here because I love law, Constitutional law in particular; but over the years it has also proven to be one of the very few blogs whose commenters haven't gone nuts. So I stay on.

[iowantwo]

Husband, father, grandfather. Farmer, and Agronomist by education, training and experience. I've been reading since the blog was independent. Not sure what legal issue was in the news at the time but I think I got here with an Insty link.

[Rob K]

Software engineer. I got interested in constitutional law because of gun rights. I don't remember how long I've been following y'all, but it's been a long time. I've learned so much.

[Brett Bellmore]

That's what got me interested in law blogs, too.

[Rex]

Rex Avery

Retired. PhD in Astronomy.
I made my living as a software/IT architect. (Major chance of profession!)

Discovered your blog when you were hosted by WAPO. I also am a fan of SCOTUS.blog

[Bill R]

MS EE, CS PhD, ~30 years as a software engineer, currently embedded firmware and low-level security stuff. I started following groklaw.net back in the early naughties, found techdirt.com and the VC shortly afterwards. I'm not sure why I find it so interesting.

[Russell M]

I'm just an average guy. I was in I.T. for about 20years but now I am taking things a little slower. A high school drop out who rose to be a Global Support Manager for a well known company but I was missing out on my kids growing up.
I'm a Constitutional Libertarian, some would say 'constitutionalist'. I fell upon 'The Volokh Conspiracy' by accident and I then became an daily reader since I am fascinated by how law emanates from the framework of the Constitution and, hopefully, returns to it. I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV but I enjoy learning about the nuances and interpretation of law.

[A_Lior]

I'm an Israeli-born mathematics professor working at a North American university. I started reading the blog after moving to the US for grad school, sometime around 2003. In think I learned about it from Radley Balko or Glen Reynolds, but it's hard to remember.

[The Drill SGT]

Former Drill SGT, later Regular Army Armor Officer. BA(econ) and MBA(OR) from the UC schools. Born in CA, spent 30 years in DC, first in the Army (ORSA) and later in consulting (war gaming, IT, Intel, energy, and medical analysis).

semi retired doing energy futures stuff from Oregon

been here since perhaps 2005

[Renderman]

Very long time lurker here, never commented. Found the site from Instapundit sometime shortly after 9/11 I think?

Long time tech person, graduate degrees in engineering and computer science. Lots of interest in the law and work with and know a lot of lawyers socially. Briefly managed a legal technical team at one point. Love music, arts, reading, sports. Nothing special.

[Kazinski]

I'm a retired computer programmer, I spent a large portion of my career as an independent contractor, and the last dozen as an employee for a municipal owned utility, which confirmed my contempt for government run organizations.

I live summers in my 2300sqft cabin off the grid which I built myself, and hopefully will get the interior finished someday. Winters I travel when there isn't a pandemic.

[cjcoats]

Mathematician (Ph.D. MIT), high-performance-computing software engineer, and OpenSource® software authoor. I wrote the software for the world's first numerical air quality forecasts, developed an atmospheric-emissions model 300 times faster than any of its predecessors, one of the world's most advanced hydrology/land-surface models, more than a million lines of production Fortran and 100,000 lines of production C software. And I document what I write (unlike so many others).

[Don Nico]

Bravo!

[James Pollock]

" And I document what I write"

do the unicorns and jackalopes let you ride them?

[WilliamCheswick]

Internet security graybeard and science guy. I’ve been lurking since pre-WaPo with little extra to contribute: Brett has my proxy, mostly.

But lately I could have made a couple useful contributions to the discussion.

[Paladin_44]

Retired PhD chemist. Occasional expert witness. A bit left of center politically. Stumbled across the blog while it was on WaPo. I read this for general interest as well as Sacha's poetry readings.

[VinniUSMC]

I've been following the blog since around a year before the move to WaPo.

I'm working on a BS in Computer Science from UMich. I am currently a metrologist (CMM programmer). It's why I am a jaded, pedantic asshole.

[John Rohan]

I have been reading since Volokh was its own site, before the WaPo years. I found this site through Overlawyered.com, and found that site in the early days of the Internet by reading newsgroups.

I'm retired military, I work for a government agency now. I am not a lawyer, but legal questions do come up frequently in my line of work.

[C]

Another IT worker - I still call myself a Unix Administrator because it's the coolest title in the world but in truth I do a bit more.

I've been reading Volokh since before it was at the Washington Post I think. I don't really come often because I don't have the background to really appreciate down in the weeds legal arguments but when this place hits I really enjoy it. Plus it has the right tone - like Marginal Revolution or Russ Robert's EconTalk. Disagree without be disagreeable is a cliche but it's always nice not to have to read something you agree with and feel worse for it.

[James Pollock]

"I still call myself a Unix Administrator because it’s the coolest title in the world but in truth I do a bit more."

Eunuchs? Is that still a thing?

[Jason C 3]

Grew up reading Grisham, Connelley and others which made me think about going into law but lack of actual planning led me down a different path. A few years in the Corp and wandering around the IT landscape I ended up in Florida. Now I do computer/cloud architecture and sales type stuff. I subscribe to more legal blogs than I do tech now a days.

[Beechbeard]

Age 71, Chemistry Ph.D. (enables self-delusion about knowledge of scientific methods and critical thinking), retired twice but working full time as SME for health services company. Have a LLD oldest son of whom I am proud, despite his choice of professions. I enjoy Short Circuit because it reminds me that "fair" is not an important concept.
Don't generally read the comments for reasons that are obvious to anyone who reads the comments. Am also a pre-WaPo. I read every day to sharpen my aging mind - the challenge is to figure out what is the flaw in every line of reasoning.

[James Pollock]

I am another of the IT professionals. Went off to university in the mid-80's with an interest in computers, but the academy hadn't yet discovered IT as a field yet. So, they pushed me into Computer Science, which pushed me right back out by using Pascal as the implementation language for all the first- and second-year classes. Had I come along later, when they switched to C, or gone to a different school that used C, I'd have a Computer Science degree today. But no. Doesn't matter, didn't want to be a programmer anyway. Earned a first degree in liberal arts, and self-taught the computer stuff I was really interested in. Eventually went back and added AAS and MS in IT.
Started reading VC as a law student, along with a number of others. Still reading "Lowering the Bar".

[cmcc_aus]

I went to grad school in the mid-70's with an interest in AI and automated translation, but the computing technology of the day -- punch cards -- wasn't going to be up to the task, so I just studied linguistics. Until it was time to get a real job, doing business application programming.

[James Pollock]

My IT career largely consists of microcomputers, which means that I pretty much missed punch cards. I do, however, remember CP/M and once owned a 5MB Seagate ST-506 hard disk drive.

[Jmaie]

5MB? Luxury! Now, we had it tough...

Seriously, though, I do look back with nostalgia at the days when joy came from a 14.4 to 28.8Kb modem upgrade.

[James Pollock]

I have owned, and used, a 300 baud modem. I also once paid $400 for a 9600 baud modem only to struggle with the fact that most of the BBS systems in the area could still only connect at 2400.

[lhfry]

Retired law librarian (no law degree). Been reading for years. I don’t remember exactly when I started with The Volokh Conspiracy but before the Washington Post period. Always enjoyed working with lawyers, finding that it is usually possible to have an argument in which you disagree but don’t quarrel.

There is always something interesting to read here.

[BurningHiram]

High School Teacher, World History, Government and AP GOV, Econ, AP Econ, Woodshop, Technology. Way overqualified by some reckoning, BA Finance (NMSU), MA History (UNC), MBA(Chicago), MA Ed Leadership (NMSU), I like to learn and earn merit badges. Been reading for 15+ years. Ed law is near and dear, and short circuit is required reading in my classes.

[The Other Bob M]

Former: cop, pizza guy, funeral escort, Army MP, programmer (COBOL/Y2K). Current: writer. "Constitutional hobbyist" in that I like to stay informed about such things. I've been reading irregularly since before the WaPo days. I don't read or interact with the comments much. I probably should.

[KCar]

Civil Engineer PE. Thankfully living in a vilified nonlocked down and unmasked Midwestern state. Worked in mining for a long time and now do development work. Did a brief stint with VA in between and hated every minute, but did give me an appreciation of just how bad gov is at everything. Been reading on/off since before WaPo. I like Randy Barnett's writing and that might be what attracted got me here, but cant remember. No idea why I find this stuff interesting.

[KCar]

...and suffer from some dyslexia and am often negligent in proof reading as you in most my posts. I apologize to you all. An edit feature would be great!

[James Pollock]

No editing! Some commenters already suffer from severe revisionism.

[Vandalia]

Ph.D. Electrical Engineering then an M. Div.

I was formerly a university faculty member and then moved on to form an LLC. My hook into the legal realm was IP work, and since then I have moved into interest of more interesting legal topics, albeit at the amateur level.

[wolfefan]

If I may ask, is this a reference to Vandalia, OH?

[Pork Belly]

Mid 30's mechanical engineer. Been reading since sometime in the WaPo days. Been reading Reason for at least as long.

[pjm18]

I am a recent Computer Science grad and am working as a research assistant on a research project involving compiler optimizations. I have been reading for about two years, but only made an account this morning.

I found the blog because of links to some posts by scotusblog. I used to want to be a lawyer in high school, but decided against doing so when I learned programming.

[NF]

Airline pilot, former USAF fighter pilot, interested in law, film history and politics. Been reading the blog for about 4 years when my son entered law school

[James Pollock]

What fighter(s) did you fly?

[De Oppresso Liber]

I'm a Reason transplant. I deal with (through our attorneys) patents and IP sharing agreements in relation to a company I co-founded in 2019. Always been interested in law. Military combat veteran. Married, kids.

[Doug Sundseth]

60 y.o. technical writer and editor for a large manufacturing company, with a vocational interest in IP law. I also have an avocational interest in constitutional law. Started reading VC back when USS Clueless was a major force in the blogosphere, but I have no actual idea how I first found the blog.

[airforce]

Retired military, retired corrections officer, now a full-time Libertarian. I missed you guys when you were with the Washington Post, but Volokh just wasn't good enough to get me to subscribe. Glad you came to reason, I read this every day.

[Kristian H.]

Former USAF officer, software developer, libertarian (as in, get off my lawn, don't give f' what you do in yours), model rocketry enthusiast. Interested in the law in that I don't really understand how they (lawyers, prosecutors, judges) think, but am very, very skeptical of news 'reporting' of legal issues.

[The Other Bob M]

> very, very skeptical of news ‘reporting’ of legal issues
Oh gods yes. I remember early on whenever I'd read about a big legal decision, I'd head over here to see how badly the media screwed it up.

[BadLib]

Retired software developer here. Mostly enterprise server development. Mostly startup companies - none wildly successful but most, in terms of years I worked at them, at least got to an IPO.

I always felt lucky that someone would pay me and give me stock options for something I viewed as a hobby.

I've had an interest in law for a very long time. I considered going to law school in my early 40s but couldn't justify it economically as I was unlikely to make nearly as much money doing the type of law I was likely to gravitate to as what I was making in software development. Also, in software I actually like the "grind" (and the associated "aha" moments) and don't care so much about the principle (i.e. if what I'm doing "matters"). In law it would have been almost the exact opposite.

As well I was a bit disheartened when I practiced on released LSAT tests and couldn't figure out why everyone didn't get close to 100% (really, are simple logic problems and reading comp that difficult for the general population?). This lead me to question what the capacity of those I would be working with/against would be unless I pursued academia (which I was neither interested in nor had much of a chance of success in - if nothing else due to my late entry).

Apparently I've been reading this blog since at least April 2002 as, looking through my email, I find that I clipped some text fromthis post and sent it to a friend back then. I probably initially noticed the blog because I once interviewed Eugene for a software development position so the name of the blog stood out to me somewhere it was referenced.

[Rocking Chair Lawyer]

30-something finance at an electronic market maker, 3 parents and a sister who are or were lawyers.

Began reading in ~2004 via instapundit, during the golden era of the blogosphere.

Fun story: cited Orin's work on Auernheimer (weev) for actual finance-y work stuff. Never expected anything I read here to be of practical value in my professional life, that was neat!

[ducksalad]

Engineering professor at a somewhat obscure university. Getting too old to remember stuff like when I started reading, but it was before the Washington Post days.

[Hey Skipper]

Retired AF fighter pilot, recently retired airline pilot (Northwest, FedEx).

I've been lurking here since before the move to the WaPo.

Back then, it often happened that the comments would change my mind both ways, multiple times.

Not sure if I've lost some flexibility, or the comments have.

[wolfefan]

I'm a retired 911 supervisor, working part-time as a pastor and building manager for a church in DC. I've been reading this blog forever, way before the WaPo days. One of my fave commenters who is no longer seen around here is Hoosier. When I take one of those "what political party are you" quizzes it always recommends Green and/or Libertarian, since I am a live and let live guy who cares a lot about social justice. It's nice to put some history to the names I read here.

[MatthewSlyfield]

I'm an IT professional. I work as a consultant (an an employee of a large firm) for a publicly traded utility company.

[Diogenes Radar Gun]

*squints eyes*

I don't trust the unspoken purpose of this thread, but I understand it.

[Billll]

Retired mechanical engineer from aerospace and private industry product development. Interested in 1A, 2A, patent law, and Mad Science.

[Call Me Ezra]

ex-lawyer (classmate of Josh Blackman; Hi Josh. If you're ever in Dallas, pop me a line; and Ilya Somin advised me for my law journal comment).
And now a string orchestra teacher in Ft Worth public schools. Father of six, bald as a bat, and a frequent visitor to this site. Y'all (and Sarah Isgur at the Dispatch) keep me as up to date about my former profession as I want to be.

[MuscleDoc]

Im a medical researcher and physician concerned about the direction of our country. Im a refugee from a communist country and always felt Americans were some of the brightest, until Clinton / Obama / Trump / Biden. I used to read Jonathan Turley but got discouraged with the trolls, switched to Simple Justice and recently discovered this blog. So far so good. You attorneys have far more fun than physicians. ????????

[Stephen Turner]

Philosophy Professor, works on philosophy of law, but only continental stuff. This blog is fun to read for the cases and puzzles in the law it turns up, and for clues as to how the legal fraternity thinks.

[Katy B.]

33 yo. I live where Blackman is a professor. First time commenter.

I started reading back in the WaPo days...sometime after 2005 when upon my mother’s recommendation. (Full disclosure: I stopped reading for a number of years so my timing is imprecise here and my only reliable starting point is when I moved back to the US.)

I am not a lawyer, but I wanted to be from about age 7 - 13. Not sure why I stopped wanting to be one.

Instead I’ve been...a student librarian, wiki site student intern, mail returns clerk, waitress/trainer/bartender/hostess, restaurant manager, executive administrative assistant to the CEO of a mid sized company (7 years), and now events manager (3 years) for that same company.

My roles as an EA and my current one have touched on the law over the years. The more they did, the more often I turned to Volokh for other legal topics of interest. I started reading more regularly in 2015.

Mostly, I enjoy reading the varied perspectives, questioning and analyzing logic presented, and occasionally taking a rabbit trail and reading an entire SCOTUS ruling.

I once was so passionately fascinated by a case ruling (I cannot recall which) that I not only read it in its entirety, but then proceeded to read it out loud with passion, to my then, boyfriend.

Needless to say, I’ve been a fan for a while.

[edbeau99]

My memory is hazy, but I believe I met you sometime in the late 1970's or early 1980's in Vancouver when you were still deeply in the HP3000 minicomputer field. My entire career has been in IT since graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1972 with a degree in Computer Science. I moved from technical areas to management in 1989 and then on to project management, then service management, finally retiring in 2010. I don't recall exactly when I started reading this blog, but it was two or three years before you moved to the Washington Post (bad idea, that).

[DonP]

Retired Advertising Executive and Combat Veteran, now teaching Concealed Carry and Basic Firearms Safety and Marksmanship in Illinois. (A lot of Cook County Democrats are suddenly "discovering" the 2nd amendment).

I started reading the blog when Heller was going to SCOTUS to get some more informed positions and POVs than could be found on other websites. Hung around through McDonald for the result ... and because I lived near and knew Otis McDonald. Now my interests are a little broader, but still primarily related to 2nd Amendment issues.

[Arc&Dove]

I'm an electrical engineer/computer type. I'm semi-retired.
I have always been interested in law and public policy---so I find much of the discussion here interesting. I still remember reading 1 Cranch 137 in my freshman political science course.

I once considered going to law school. I mentioned it to a friend and colleague who had gone to the school I was considering (a top-20 law school with a part-time program that was located within walking distance from my office and apartment). He turned grey and said something like "Oh, you may not want to do that. It's really hard."

Well, I did not want to do any thing he thought was that difficult! On reflection though, his advice may have been misleading. When he went there he had a demanding job, two young kids, and reserve duty. He did well enough in his studies that he ended up teaching there (as an adjunct) for many years teaching the course in his area of special knowledge. In contrast, (1) I did not have kids, (2) I was not in the reserve, (3) I did not plan to do well in law school or practice law (obviously, I would have omitted mentioning this last point in the application process). My goals were (1) to learn a little about the law, (2) graduate in the top 99% of my class (well graduate at any rank even if lower than the top 99%), and (3) no longer have to hear arguments about legal issues that included the phrase "Well, I'm a lawyer and you are not---so I must be right."

I have "won" at least one of my arguments with lawyers. My killer statement in that instance was "Well, to whom does the duty lie under the regulation?" The lawyers looked at the ceiling and said something like "Oh, hmm, let's think about that." The resulting pleading got the duty correct.

As for all the stories above regarding using early computers---I probably can claim strong credits for being earlier than most. I was a tab operator (you can look it up). I used 026 card punches before I used 029s. (Somebody above mentions a 028 card punch---they probably mean 029.)

I have spent many hours with a Teletype model 33 and paper tape.

I'm particularly interested in law and public policy involving telecommunications, media, privacy, and encryption. I have testified before congress regarding such topics about a dozen times.

A&D

[anonprof]

I’m an astronomer by training, but I have crossed over to the dark side of university administration. I’ve been reading this blog since some time around 2001 or so. Those early days of blogs are a bit fuzzy. I mostly read because I enjoy the tone and learning how legal profs think. I’ve enjoyed the puzzles as well.

[Yancey Ward]

I have been a regular reader for over 18 years except for the excursion period of WaPo. I rarely comment here, though I can be a prolific commenter on other sites- it is mainly just that I limit the blogs I comment on for time reasons.

I was a research chemist until early retirement in 2011. I wouldn't change anything here- you have the best law blog anywhere, and some of the finest commenters.

[Carey Allison]

I am a retired physician and toward the end of my career, a "medical director / chief medical officer" for an insurance company. I have been an intermittent reader (not daily, but usually weekly) since I stumbled upon the blog in its early days about 2005 or 2006. I never went to law school, but until my choice of a major in college I favored medicine one week and law the next, and I enjoy reading about the logic of the law and the vagaries of logic and aberrant reasoning that sometimes "emanates" from appeals judges as they struggle to convince us, the uninitiated, that because of special penumbras, "shall not do 'A' " sometimes means "you can to do 'A' ", and occasionally even means "you must do 'A' ".

[MuscleDoc]

...logic and aberrant reasoning that sometimes “emanates” from appeals judges

They would make excellent admins in health care insurance corporations. It is good to see other physicians here. Reading this blog also provides a respite from the daily realities of our broken medical $y$tem.

[edub52]

Lawyer by training (JD, Saint Louis Univ, '10), but I'm also an architect by training, so naturally it makes sense that I work in technology and teach IT as an adjunct at the University of Texas at Dallas. Before that, I flew B-52s as a navigator/EW, hence edub52. I've been a reader for the last 5-6 years.

[Craig Johnston]

I’m a semi-retired software developer with a background in Electronic Engineering from Cal Poly. I’ve enjoyed reading the blog since long enough before the WaPo move that I was willing to feed the paywall until you came to your senses. It’s fun to read the writings of people who are confident enough in their knowledge of constitutional law to share that knowledge, both in the posts and in the comments. The quality of the comments continues to decline, but there are still a good number of commenters on all sides who make meaningful contributions to the subject.

[dre]

I am a silicon valley software engineering manager in a big semiconductor company. I stumbled on this blog years ago and found it fascinating and enlightening. I also happened to meet you (Eugene) years ago when introduced by Mitch from UCLA, so stumbling across your blob was surprising and interesting, and subsequently very enlightening and always thought provoking.

[Cannon]

I left college with neuropsych degree but realized I didn't want to operate on rat brains forever so I went to grad schools for PubPol with focus on NatSec which was my unofficial minor in college. I worked for a think tank and government on natsec issues. I followed the blog at WaPo a bit but became a regular reader more recently. Very interested in free speech issues and criminal justice reforms although I find many of the other topics covered here and at Reason main interesting as well. Addition of a mute user button has done wonders for making the comment section more signal and less noise.

[Lurker9999]

Chemical engineer still working in industry. Pretty well known in the that field.

Reading Volokh since before the WaPo stint. Not sure how long, but it was only a little while before that. Reading Reason about the same amount of time. I'm always interested in the logic outlined about how decisions are made.

[Suudy]

Aging electrical engineer (fingers crossed 5 years from retirement). Never considered being a lawyer. I'm a full blown history geek, but never figured out how to make money doing it. And from history, law.

I've been following since before WaPo as well.

[um ok]

In retirement, thought it might be fun to learn a foreign language. Since you came to Reason, have enjoyed trying to grasp legal writing. Cases are educational; and since they don't involve me personally, entertaining. Thanks

[RobinGoodfellow]

I am an environmental compliance manager. I like to think it’s part engineer, part lawyer.

Been reading this blog since I lived in Florida, which I left in 2009.

[Anna V]

Mathematician, working at a small liberal arts college. I am from a Refusenik family.

[Omaha1]

I've been reading forever, since there was a "Volokh Conspiracy". Just a typical, sort of libertarian conservative, interested in the law as it pertains to Constitutional rights. I don't have a college degree but I had two semi-successful careers in IT management. 20 years at one company and 12 years at another. Both companies I worked for, I started at entry level and worked my way up.

[Mr. Interested]

Retired tech Ph.D (UCLA). I audited some law school classes during a year when I was a visiting prof which increased my interest in legal matters. I have been reading this blog since the beginning of The Time of Covid.

[ChemEng]

Chemical engineering, over 65, now working part time. (It's still challenging!) I suppose I have always been interested in public policy and economics, although not enough to study them in college. (My college roommate got a degree in physics, then electrical engineering, then economics, and went to work for OMB.) I remain fascinated by my political journey - from faint-hearted liberal (I went along in high school and college, but without much enthusiasm) to libertarian (Free Minds and Free Markets!) to conservative (basically, it's a lot easier to mess things up than to improve things - so let's value the traditions we have). Although, as a conservative, I still have libertarian leanings. I distrust government in a lot of areas (eminent domain, occupational licensing, etc.), which perhaps explains my interest in the VC.

[Mike Franks]

I did tech support at UCLA for a long time and was introduced to Prof. Volokh by another professor back in 2003. I've been reading this blog off and on ever since.

[Jeff Walden]

Software engineer. Used to be at Mozilla, have been between jobs since September.

I probably invested a bit too much of myself into Mozilla, so the work-life balance was a bit off, and I've been spending time since unwinding some. Done a bunch of reading, caught up on one or two TV shows, have done a bit of biking (and picking up various bike repair equipment I probably should have bought sooner) when I've been healthy enough to do it, and done some open-source tinkering on the sides.

I've started brushing up on things with an eye to reentering the workforce soon. I hope to do more in Rust, so I'm working through the Rust By Example site to refresh my knowledge. (I provided substantial pre-publication feedback on the O'Reilly Rust book, so I'm familiar with the language as it existed a few years ago. But I haven't followed more recent developments, and I haven't written much actual Rust -- tho I have substantial C++ experience, and I can mentally translate Rust idioms to equivalent unsafe C++, so I don't view the knowledge gap as especially large.

Can't remember when the last of these threads was, but back last March I planned to bike from Mountain View to Las Vegas for a Red Wings game, then fly to DC for Google v. Oracle, fly back to Vegas, then bike on to central Texas for Easter. Pandemic put a damper on it all. Looking forward to going to another SCOTUS argument at some point, when they resume in-person arguments and an interesting one arises.

[Jeff Walden]

Also, for anyone wondering, I've been reading and occasionally commenting since early 2009 or so. I started regularly reading SCOTUSblog maybe summer 2008, and my interest in law began maybe fall 2007. (Could well have done law school, had I twigged onto this well before having completed most of a remunerative CS degree.) My unread tab counts are such that I clearly don't keep up with it all 100%, tho.

[Jeff Walden]

Well *after*, that should be. The big problem with law school is the opportunity cost -- I wouldn't mind the monetary cost, but three years of my life is just too much to give up when I'm already readily employable.