Mon, 30 Apr 2007

Jury Duty

Of the countless ways consensus functions in our society, I believe none is more essential than the jury trial. As a group we may be deluded into electing misguided leaders who give absurd orders. Our legislatures, supposedly representing our group interests, may vote to enact silly or harmful bills. But for these ill-founded and potentially abusive government acts to have more substance than so many scary shadows on bedroom wall, ultimately they need to be applied in specific cases to specific defendants or plaintiffs in specific trials that are decided, not by politicians or corrupt judges, but by a small group of ordinary people, disinterested "peers" of the defendant, legal system outsiders, chosen at random from society.

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Posted Apr 30, 2007 at 19:14 UTC, 2781 words,  [/dan]  Permalink

Last Call (redux)

Bruce Schneier announced a Second Annual Movie-Plot Threat Contest with entries due by the 30'th. So once again I'll making my monthly IronWriter contribution a movie plot with a terror threat, this time involving common objects used in terrorist plots.

Her hands were shaking so badly, Alice had to dial the familiar number three times. Dear god, she prayed, please let Bob answer.

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Posted Apr 30, 2007 at 14:15 UTC, 737 words,  [/dan]  Permalink

Summer Vacation

Towards the end of the last ice age, the Wisconian glaciers that covered the northeastern part of North America began to slowly retreat back into the arctic regions from whence they had come, leaving at the point of their furthest reach southward terminal moraines of rocks and soil. As the glaciers retreated and melted, and the oceans rose, one of these moraines became isolated from the rest of the nearby land; we now know this area as Long Island, New York.

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Posted Apr 30, 2007 at 01:34 UTC, 3330 words,  [/rich]  Permalink