The return
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I started this blog as an unofficial vehicle for interesting statistical
information. When I retired, I let it lie fallow. I'm going to post here
period...
Gender Wage Gap By State - Census Bureau
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If you need a reason to start a business, the gender wage gap may be a
factor. The Census has created a new visualization of the disparity between
male ...
It takes a lot of practice
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A friend asked: “If you had the chance to ask three different people
(living or dead, famous or not) ONE question… who and what would you ask?”
The one req...
Faded road markings cause concern
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Q: Can someone at New York state tell me why the DOT doesn’t use a better
reflective paint when the lines are painted? It appears the paint used has
no ref...
Goodbye but NOT farewell
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Using the words which Roger used in his intro for the last post of round
20--- Z
*With joy, we'll dream away each sorrow, With love we'll live for each...
Alan Moore's Twilight Proposal
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Introduction by Alan David Doane:
Honestly I didn't intend the irony, but this week's FMF, looking at Alan
Moore's never-published Twilight proposal, also ...
The Best Films of 2023
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Martin Scorsese, left, Lily Gladstone, and Robert DeNiro all received Oscar
nods for *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Some say Leo DiCaprio, right, was
snubbe...
Getting Ready To Die
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Getting Ready To DieNo, as far as I know, it’s not imminent, but you never
know. An awful lot of people are checking out in the seventh decade that I
just ...
Petitioning season cut short
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Political "petitioning season" for U.S. Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate,
and a host of other positions, was cut short. Like all the other things
that...
Eagle Scout Project
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Rutherford neighbor Krish Soni is getting started on his Eagle Scout
project on Saturday, October 26. He will be labeling storm drains in the
neighborhood ...
We’re Off On An Adventure!
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Just now, Marge and I are doing a bit of adventuring. The next adventure
will include a whole new online reality and presence for me and my work…
See you i...
It Changes
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Living with Lupus and Fibro and Asthma is often not so much 'one day at a
time.' It is much more like one fifteen minute segment of time - at at time.
This...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…
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Well, kids, this is it. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My visits
home will be few and far between, and when they happen, they’ll be
exclusive...
Spring is here?
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As far as the pro peloton goes, it’s on! I watched the Tour of Flanders
today, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. “Looking back, you
get a b...
Modern Types-Ronald Searle,Geoffrey Gorer
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With the recent attention given to Ronald Searle's 90th birthday and new
interview,I decided to look at one of his books.
The book is titled Modern Ty...
Cloudy days continue
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The weather the past couple days has been mixed, with some sunshine and
clouds in the daytime, and rain at night. There’s nothing unusual about
that—it’s ...
Dragging them over the finish line
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Wow, this has been a loooong semester. It seems like forever ago in January
when 22 “graphic designers” stepped into my classroom for their capstone
projec...
AmeriNZ 414 – Circus clowns
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Today I start with a brief catch-up, but my main topic is about a new
opinion poll that has very bad news for the NZ’s 3-way coalition
government. I provid...
Our Blood – Not Theirs
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With the caveat that I’m intentionally being a bit provocative, I’d like to
say that… Regarding the well being of this country, violence might be
necessary...
Bedfordshire, the hay, and the sack
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Inspired by Anatoly Liberman's *Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of
English Idioms* (which I've reviewed for the *International Journal of
Lexicography*...
1, 2, 3, 4: You Can Count On It
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Up the stairs, count the steps1, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3…Crap, it didn’t
come out even, it’s eleven But 1-2-3-4-1/ 2 /3-4-1-2-3 will have to do; the
middl...
Here we are at 21.
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Happy 21st birthday, Johnny Bacardi Show!
Probably won't begin writing here again anytime soon, but hey, if you like
my stuff I have a Substack now and...
Check me out!
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Over the years I have collected a range of recipes to help me lose weight.
I attend Slimming World and achieved my target weight in November 2022.
Read...
This is The End (a follow-up)
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I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of
migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I
am now pul...
18 and life, you got it
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It's the 18th of April, and that means it's the anniversary of Mia's
accident - 18 (!!!!) years ago today, we were in the crash that damaged her
brain ir...
Sunday Round-up
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Wash your mouth out
In these ultra-hygienic days, Russian artist Yulia Popova has come into her
own by making models of foodstuffs out of soap. What makes y...
I believe ..Religion
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Written by the Rev.Jeannette van der Veen-Bosgra
I believe in a world where all people can live in happiness,
and that I too have a duty to create such a wo...
Tough Day
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A few weeks ago, I turned 38, and I am still under the scrutiny of
strangers in public. One would think that once you're out of grade school,
middle school...
Change
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Group Reading “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and
intrinsically ours is our integrity.” ~ Mira Grant One- to find the
universal eleme...
Retro Y'all!
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Still jumping. In place, mostly. Someone should do one of these rap battle
style brags about being a junker. Seriously. Big sale at the Peddlers Mall
today.
X is for XMAS
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*MERRY CHRISTMAS (XMAS) EVERYONE!*
I thought I'd put a link to the top 100 Xmas songs for 2017 so you could
click on it and play anything your heart d...
The Myth Memers
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One of those little questionnaires just to dip a toe back into blogging.
Took this from Chris Hull's Facebook.
1. Do you make your bed? No.
2. The first c...
Now available in paperback!
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*Sharp: A Memoir*. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
We lost 4 members of the Guilford High School Class of 84: David Ciardello,
Richard Eaton, Ronnie Burn...
No parallel
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Get a good look at these: Whence they came: After seeing that incredible
glow-in-the-dark Zac Posen dress that Claire Danes wore at the 2016 Met
Gala, Lori...
ABC Wednesday: The Importance of Being Bored
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When I was growing up, you being bored was your problem that you were
responsible to rectify. As children we learned never to be bored- or at
least not t...
Monday PSA: The Pioneer of the Pole
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Click on the image for the full ad As promised, the second of two
Antarctica themed PSAs. Today: “Pioneer of the Pole.” Just like last week,
this is from D...
Final Act
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Dear Followers of Berowne's "Savage Reflections." I'm very sorry to have to
inform you that my father, John Savage, passed away on December 26, just a
week...
Friday Post - Your services are no longer needed
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Heads will roll
While the good news fairies of Wall Street would have you believe that
everything is just hunky dory the truth is it's not. In order to m...
Age is a State of Mind, Somewhere Near Nebraska
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What a year it has been! After surviving the odometer rolling over to 40, I
had a year of sabbatical. That gave me plenty of time to think about my mid-lif...
The End of a Long Day
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You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your
pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would
mak...
#Freaking Out -AND!
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Calmly completely freaking out about my move. AND! I quit smoking. I feel
this qualifies me to have an opinion on how to do it.
So I am calmly completel...
Gaze Upon My Works and Snicker, Part 53.
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[image: DP700-F365028]
Another quickie sketch at work, because I wanted to draw Pandora A in a
white fuzzy hat (no, I don't know the name for them) and a b...
Superheroes I Love #10: Deathlok
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Every red-blooded boy loves cyborgs. Half-man, half-robot, what’s not to
love? The Marvel Comics character Deathlok is a bit on the obscure side,
but debut...
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Workplace Lawyer
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Choosing an Ontario workplace lawyer might seem like a difficult
undertaking. While there are many
The post Questions to Ask When Choosing a Workplace La...
Grandpa Knows Best
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“My grandpa and me. Cullera, Spain 2004.” (submitted by IG @tonigr99)
The post Grandpa Knows Best appeared first on AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.
Episode 326: The WGA Strike
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One by one, Ken goes over the many issues the WGA is fighting for and why
they’re important. He also gives an overview of the situation and how it
might...
The dopamine jail of joke Twitter
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I’m home from vacation and the Planet Funny promotional engine is slowing
down. (There’s still one last signing at Powell’s City of Books in two
short week...
Rex Smith: Free speech, pulpit speech and tax laws
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Each school day when I was a little boy began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, followed by all the students bowing their heads to recite the
Lord’s Prayer. T...
Mixed Results for The Rules
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Well that was an “interesting” Emmy Awards. There were enough surprises to
make the alteration of the voting rules to a single round plurality rather
than ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
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GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Week 17 NFL Picks
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Last week’s 10 wins leaves me with 153 wins. Weak season. Sorry. Week 17
picks NFL Picks Away Home Chicago Detroit NY Jets Buffalo Tampa Bay Atlanta
Caroli...
Coverville Countdown 2012: Nominations Begin NOW!
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It’s that time of year again! Time for you to nominate and vote for your
favorite covers, and for me to spend the last few shows of the year to line
them...
Obama’s speech coverage on NPR
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What were the people at NPR thinking? The coverage of President Obama’s
speech on National Public Radio on Wednesday was just awful. I’ve never
minded anal...
Ellsberg’s “Desperate Proposal Pattern”
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by Thomas Reifer At the height of global demonstrations against Israel’s
radically disproportionate response to the horrific October 7, 2023
terrorist atta...
2PP132 – 16 May 2020
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This episode was delayed, yet again, because Arthur didn’t have enough
time. Anyway, here we are—were? Today’s chat was about the changes to New
Zealand’s ...
My New Venture: Top Flight Family
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You may have noticed that you haven’t heard much from me lately. That’s
because I’ve been quietly working on new passion of mine, a digital media
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First blog post
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This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it,
or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you
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10.29.15 GOOGLE UBER ALLES
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This article originally appeared in the 10.29.15 issue of Metroland.
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This Is Not A Joke
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A new ball game - with tasers. Hat-tip : The Volokh Conspiracy According to
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Friday, February 16, 2007
Jury Duty
A couple months ago, both Carol and I received a juror qualification questionnaire from Albany County, which we had to fill out and verify our address and criminal status (or, in our case, lack thereof). So it was not at all surprising to discover that, a couple weeks ago, I received a notification that I had to call to see if I needed to report for jury duty.
The possibility of jury duty has happened to me thrice before. In the fall of 1977, I lived in Jamaica, Queens (NY), voting as I was leaving town for Schenectady; a couple months later, Queens sent me a jury notice. I wrote back that I didn't live there anymore. In 1991, I received notice to appear as a juror in federal court. I wrote back that I was in the middle of grad school; could I postpone for two months? Apparently yes, but they never followed up. Then about six years ago, I had to make calls every evening, but my number, which was in the 250s, never came up.
This time, however, when I called, I received this lengthy message. One group was to go to one place at 9 a.m., another group to another location, also at 9 a.m., and the group consisting of 243 to 411 ended up having to show up at 9:45 at the Albany County Judicial Center, a building built just a year ago, just behind the county office building; my number was 357. The woman giving instructions was very pleasant, but knew she needed to project to the large crowd in a big room, so her voice was at a constant near yell. (One of my fellow attendees thought it was a monotone.) She swore us all in.
We got the scoop on jury duty. For instance, the law requires the employers of 10 or more employees to pay us at least $40/day. The only folks who will get specifically paid for service by the state are those who are unemployed, retired, not scheduled to work the particular days, or the self-employed. (This is all explained here.) She noted how the law had changed so that there are far fewer automatic exemptions because of one's profession, a good thing, I think, since a juror class of retirees and the unemployed is not really, a jury of one's peers. A large part of the discussion was about parking; the Crown Plaza Hotel allows jurors to park for $6/day, rather than $14. We had been encouraged to take the CDTA bus down, but obviously many did not, for at the first break, lots of people went to move their vehicles.
Eventually, we went to the courtroom. After a few more instructions, Judge Herrick came in. He explained that while the jury trial was an important part of the system, he knows it's inconvenient, so he appreciated our service. He asked if any of us had a problem with serving each day until 5 or maybe a little after this week. At first, only a trickle was in line, but the queue didn't seem to get any shorter. I got in line myself, not because I didn't want to serve, but because I had to pick up Lydia before 5:30 that day. No one else who was authorized to get her was in town, as Carol and her parents were all in Harpursville, near Binghamton, at Carol's aunt Vera's funeral. I stood off to the side as the judge, DA and defense attorney conferred. The judge waved me back to the bench and said that he didn't expect that today's session, involving jury selection - known as voir dire - would last past 4:30. Of all the people who came forward, I was the first to return to his/her seat, as opposed to out the door, only one of three total in that situation. So the pool of over 160 jurors was down to around 120; no wonder they call so many people.
The clerk empaneled the first group of 21, using a cage like one of those BINGO caller devices. The 21st person was Shawn Morris, president of the common council, Albany's city council. By mutual agreement among the judge, DA and defense attorney, she was sent home, though she had made no effort to get off the trial.
The facts of the case were read. The defendant was charged with two counts of robbery, i.e., he was accused of robbing two named alleged victims at a specific address on South Pearl Street on a date last August, arrested by two named police officers.
The judge used to have jurors do a juror survey, but since he found that keeping them around might violate one's privacy, he decided on the oral recitation by each juror of the: Name, City, Job, Spouse/Significant Other's Job (if retired, what the jobs were), Age of Children, Hobbies, Memberships People forgot to mention all of these points a lot, especially their city. The judge asked the jurors about the race of the accused - he was black - and whether that fact would influence their decision-making. No one said "yes". He also asked a series of questions such as: Have you been a victim of a crime? Do you know anyone in the Albany police department? (One woman was engaged to an Albany city cop.) Do you know the arresting officers? Do you know the accused? Do you know either attorney? Do you know the district attorney, David Soares? What was interesting about the assistant DA in his presentation was that he made the point, over and over again, that if he didn't make his case, that the accused should be acquitted. Both lawyers and the judge all emphasized that it was unnecessary for the accused's to speak in his defense, and that one ought not to draw inferences from that, if he does not. The defense attorney seemed to be trying the case when he asked if it would mitigate the circumstances if it were shown that the accused signed something (a confession, I'm guessing), but that the accused was shown to be incapable of reading.
The first panel of 21 started before lunch, wasn't finished until after lunch, when 11 of the 14 needed jurors were selected. This required empaneling 21 more people, and I was afraid that picking up Lydia would become problematic. But all parties were more terse, assuming we all were listening. The 21st juror in this panel, when asked if he had been a victim of a crime, said that his girlfriend had been raped, and that he would be unable to render a fair verdict. Why he didn't go to the bench and tell the judge this - that was an option if there were embarrassing issues - I don't know. Anyway, he was excused, and another person was chosen. From that group, only three needed to be chosen, and that happened quickly. They had a juror of 12, plus two alternates. It was 3:30, and I was done for the day.
My feeling at the end of this long, tedious process, during which I got through five magazines, was that it made me more confident in the legal system, much to my surprise. So, I'm glad to have served, if even for one day. I was surprised, though, that at least one woman was having trouble with the notion of "beyond a reasonable doubt". Didn't she watch, as I did, any of these shows? Perry Mason The Defenders Judd for the Defense The Bold Ones - the lawyer segment Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law LA Law Law & Order (regular, not extra crispy) The Practice/Boston Legal
But as the trial progressed, if she had been chosen - I don't think she was - the judge would have made that notion clear.
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I served once on a Federal civil suit. The trial and deliberations lasted about six days. It was very interesting, but also confusing. There is no reasonable doubt in a civil suit, so we just had to figure out who was telling the truth and who wasn't. Though the other jurors and I figured everyone embelished their side of the story, except for one witness. I ended up being picked foreman of the jury (only 8 of us), and was petrified that I would have to stand up and read our verdict. Thankfully I didn't have to.
I have been called several times, but only got to the questioning period once. I was excused. In some ways, it would have been really interesting to stick around, but that particular case was just a civil case involving a motor accident.
2 comments:
I served once on a Federal civil suit. The trial and deliberations lasted about six days. It was very interesting, but also confusing. There is no reasonable doubt in a civil suit, so we just had to figure out who was telling the truth and who wasn't. Though the other jurors and I figured everyone embelished their side of the story, except for one witness. I ended up being picked foreman of the jury (only 8 of us), and was petrified that I would have to stand up and read our verdict. Thankfully I didn't have to.
I have been called several times, but only got to the questioning period once. I was excused. In some ways, it would have been really interesting to stick around, but that particular case was just a civil case involving a motor accident.
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