Foolishness

Nov
18
Posted by georg at 10:43 am

They just ran through all the juror exemptions.  About half the room cleared out after she said that Non US citizens and convicted felons could leave, which seems a little unfair, no?  Students and caregivers got to leave to.

The final exemption was my favorite: “If you do not understand English, you cannot serve as on a jury.” And people got up and left! Like lots of people! Was that like a trick?  Were you supposed to wait until she said it in Spanish?

I think the next exemption should be: “If you have an outstanding warant for your arrest, or are delinquent in child support payments, you can leave through the door on the left, where the cops are waiting.”  I bet we’d be surprised how effective that is.

Nov
18

Nothing says appreciation like a well placed ad

It’s juror appreciation week down here at Kings County Supreme Court! What do I get in my manilla envelope of appreciation? A photocopied certificate of appreciation, a handy little NY State juror pen, a trail mix bar, and an ad for tkts in downtown Brooklyn, which apparently has just been welcomed by MetroTech Center.

In addition to all these goodies we got to watch a pretty kickass juror orientation video that started out with some medieval dude getting tossed in the water (but NOT drowning, LAME!) and ended with Diane Sawyer telling us how exciting jury duty can be.  Yes, that’s the word I’m looking for: Exciting!  It’s like NASCAR in a courthouse!

Basically like an exciting car race

Oct
03
Posted by georg at 5:03 pm

An excellent article by Bill Simmons about the Manny Ramirez trade a few months ago. Simmons posits that agent Scott Boras orchestrated a premature ending to the Manny-Red Sox relationship in order to get a commission, which seems reasonable considering Boras’ track record.  As a bonus treat for DFW fans (and I think an intenional homage), Simmons goes footnote crazy.

Enjoy: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=manny