Today is Groundhog Day, and it seems Brett Favre saw his shadow, so there will be 16 more weeks of Packers games with Favre as quarterback.

Punxsutawney Phil, however, failed to see his shadow — the first time that’s happened since 1999 — and thus predicted an early spring. Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam agreed. Residents of South Bend, however, may disagree, in light of the forecast for highs in the single digits and lows below zero over the next several days. Early spring, my eye.

For those of you who continue on defending the government’s action in holding people in Guantanamo and elsewhere without having to present any evidence whatsoever that they have committed a single act that would qualify them as a danger to the U.S. and beyond that without giving them a chance to defend themselves, I suggest you read the story of Adel Hammad, a man who was taken from his bed in the middle of the night and has been held at Guantanamo for the past 5 years. Thats right, he was NOT taken in the field of combat, but from his bed, in the middle of the night.

At least 14 people were killed in the storms that smashed through central Florida this morning, emergency officials tell The Associated Press. Visit CNN for the latest.

I’m not the only law student who’s freaking out about the timing of the seventh Harry Potter book and the bar exam. Via Google Blog Search and Technorati, I found several others.

From the blog Gutted: “The date of the release of the new Harry Potter book is 21st July. This is something I am very excited about, yes despite being 22 years old. However, what I am very upset about is that this date is a matter of days before I have to take the New York Bar and so I will have to postpone my usual ‘don’t-you-dare-disturb-me-til-I-have-finished’ attitude until after I have sat the bar exam.” (Side note: taking the New York Bar at 22? Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Doogie Howser, J.D.!)

From Monkeyhead: “Guess who just pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book? Thats right, ME! It comes out on July 21, right before the bar. I am going to have to try really hard not to read it before the test. It will be my prize when I get done.”

From iamthestranger: “I just knew this was going to happen. … Read it right away all at once and return to studying, or put it aside until the next weekend? Do I really even have a choice?”

From William J. McDermod IV: “JK Rowling is evil.”

From Typhoid Mary: “Well, the news is out. The final Harry Potter book will be released the weekend BEFORE I TAKE THE MOTHER F***ING TEXAS BAR. Crappidy crap.”

From Nolo Contendre: “July 21st. That’s when the last book in the Harry Potter Series comes out. Four days before the bar. You bastards! I won’t be able to read it until after the exam!!” A commenter writes: “Damn people - don’t they plan for this? I have no self control! I might have to plan to not see another living soul during that time to avoid (1) spoilers and (2) acts of violence to express my bitterness that I haven’t had time to read it.” To which the blogger responds: “Exactly. Someone is going to spoil it. Like seriously. Not fair.”

And from Amicus Curiae, by a Texas law student named Ruth, whose initial reaction and eventual realization were both pretty much identical to mine:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows scheduled for July 21 release.

In other news… Ruth fails the bar exam.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling. Would it have killed you to push that date back two weeks?

*sobs*

EDIT: On second thought, Bar Bri should be over with by then, so I can easily take the night off, read it in one go, and get back to it. It can be done. It can be done.

Ruth adds in comments: “It’s pretty much the worst possible release date. Actually, take out the words ‘pretty much,’ and the statement becomes more accurate. But there is no way I can wait until after the exam to read it. I just don’t have that kind of discipline.”

It’s not just a question of discipline. Or at least, not of one’s own discipline. I could be disciplined enough to not read the book for five days — but can I count on everyone around me to be disciplined enough not to tell me the ending? That is the real issue.

If it’s just Voldemort who dies, eh, it might be possible to go four or five days without overhearing that news. But what if Harry dies? That will be an absolutely, positively HUGE DEAL. It’ll be the pop-culture story of the year. It’ll be the topic of every water-cooler discussion in America; it’ll be on Drudge; it’ll be everywhere. The mainstream TV and print media will probably avoid explicitly talking about it right away, but they’ll surely hint at it (keep in mind that late July is a very, very slow-news period), with phrases like “the controversial ending of the Harry Potter series” — which would totally give it away, since Harry living and Voldemort dying wouldn’t be controversial!

And c’mon — some bar-exam takers will have read the book, and there will totally be conversation about it, before and/or after the exam. Or at least, it’s a distinct possibility. And we’re lawyers; therefore we’re assholes; therefore somebody might very well say something too loudly. :) Realistically, there is just no way to assure oneself of not accidentally finding out who dies. And once you know, you know; you can’t un-ring the bell. The suspense is ruined, and there’s no way to recapture it. Kinda like when Sean told me Mr. Ludlow’s first name just hours before graduation. (Inside reference, people; move along, move along.)

Hence, I think Ruth has the right idea. Take a day off, read the book, then get back to studying. Fellow bar-exam-taking Harry Potter fanatics of America, this is my advice to you. Screw “discipline.” Read the damn book. It’s the only way.

(Much more discussion of this topic in my previous post and the comments thereon.)

UPDATE: A standard Google search for “harry potter” “bar exam” reveals that Ruth (writing for a different blog, but I’m fairly certain it’s the same Ruth) was waaaay ahead of me on this one. She was worried about this two years ago! In July 2005, shortly before Book 6 came out (a week earlier than Book 7’s release date, but still during bar-exam season), she wrote:

I was thinking about those of you who may be (1) fans of the book and (2) taking the bar exam, and I felt really bad.

That’s when the thought occurred.

The last book came out two years ago. What if Book 7 comes out two years from now? That would put its release in the same time that I would be taking the bar exam.

On the one hand, I know a guy who put off the LSAT for a year because it fell on the same day as the Red River Shootout. But I don’t think I could put off the bar exam for Book 7, even if it is a huge deal. My only hope is that J.K. Rowling will take an extra year with this one.

So, what I want to know is this: for those of you who had a major life event* take place while you were studying for the bar, how did you handle it? I’m not asking about the bar exam in general, but more along the lines of which you chose. Did you keep right on studying? Or did you take a break for the major life event? If you took a break, how long was the break? And did it affect your studying any?

And if you are a Harry Potter fan and studying for the bar… are you going to take time out to read the book? If so, will you read it in one go, or reward yourself with a chapter a night, or what?

* Yes, actually, I do consider the release of Book 7 a major life event.

Heh. Alas, there are no comments (dunno if there never were any, or if they’ve disappeared from the archive), so we don’t know how people responded. But to be honest, I think the release of Book 7 is so qualitatively different from the release of Book 6 that the experiences of those ‘05 bar-exam takers may not be terribly applicable. I mean, yeah, with Book 6, you had the suspense of which main character was going to die (Dumbledore), and who the “Half-Blood Prince” is (Snape), but it wasn’t like this… it wasn’t the ultimate question of how the whole damn series was going to end, the culmination of all these years of suspense, the fulfillment of the prophecy, the fate of the wizarding world, etc. etc. The level of anticipation for the crucial salient facts that will be revealed in Book 7 is about eleventy billion times more intense than for Book 6, so I think the concern about accidentally learning the answers is much, much, much more acute.

UPDATE 2: On the other hand… here’s a blog suggesting that accidental revelations were a problem, even with Book 6. On July 17, one day after the book came out: “I admit I’ve focused mostly on MBE, so this week will be an absolute crash course in everything else. I think that’s why I’m freaked, and that’s why I need to keep telling myself to chill. I’ve seen this before, so I will be ok. Besides, my reward for all my hard work will be Harry Potter. Now, if only people would stop spoiling it for me…” And from July 25, nine days after the book release and one day before the bar: “I should be looking foward to Harry Potter 6, but thanks to Prof. Yin and his lovely rss feed, the book was just spoiled for me. Hello.”

See? See??? And that was just Book 6. (And incidentally, that test-taker — who practiced “discipline” and didn’t read the book — failed the bar. See, discipline sucks!)

Like I said: I’ve concluded, upon obsessive consideration of the issue, that taking a break from bar preparation and reading the book is the only viable solution, unless you’re prepared to accept a very high risk of accidentally learning That Which Must Not Be Learned.

P.S. Those of us who will be reading Deathly Hallows before taking the bar should call ourselves the “J.K. J.D.s.” :)

It’s always a good day when Duke loses. It’s especially good when they lose to a team that crushed Gonzaga earlier in the season. Virginia 68, Duke 66, final in overtime. Nice! The Cavs are now 6-2 in the ACC, in a three-way tie for second place in that league.

(Granted, the Zags lost to Duke, too. But nobody looks askance at a 7-point loss to Duke. A 21-point loss to Virginia, on the other hand, didn’t look quite so respectable. Virginia’s success as the season goes on makes it somewhat moreso.)

Other bubble teams that have gotta be happy about this: Appalachian State, which beat Virginia 80-69 in December, and Stanford, which beat ‘em 76-75.

Meanwhile, in more important basketball news, USC is handling Oregon State. Good.

UPDATE: Trojans 73, Beavers 56, final.

Beat the Ducks!

UPDATE 2: Also in L.A., in a battle for first place in the Pac-10 (not to mention, a showdown between USC’s next two opponents), UCLA beat Oregon, 69-57.