random bits

[cellio]

Guess-the-anonymous-poster update: One outstanding guess (paging aliza250), one where I had to be told (eclectic_1), all others identified. That was fun.

The stereotype is that smart people (including anyone whose job title implies serious analytical skills) don't get picked for juries, but I'm beginning to wonder. I've been called three times and picked twice, and our engineering director is currently away from work because he's on a jury. Do they just sometimes miss in the screening, or are the lawyers not really screening for this sort of thing after all?

A Texas judge has ordered that a person convicted of animal cruetly must post pictures of the animals she starved in her jail cell. Good for the judge! This is similar to the local story some months back of the hit-and-run driver who is required to carry a photo of the person he killed in his wallet during his probation. Such orders do no harm (it's hardly "cruel and unusual") and serve to put a human (or animal, in the one case) face on the damage done by these people. More, please. (And remember, we're talking about people convicted of criminal charges; I am not advocating haunting those who accidentally cause harm and don't try to hide it with such sentences.)

Do spammers really think that people still open messages with the subject line "URGENT"? Or that most of us think we even might know a sender named Brittany? Ah well; it doesn't fool the filters.

At my most recent physical my doctor called for a routine test that kicks in for women at age 40. (Am I being sufficiently delicate?) No surprises there; the surprise came when I called to schedule and the person said "oh, and no caffeine for two days before". After I moved from incoherent blubbering to actual words, I explained that this posed a difficulty and she relented. It turned out to be advice, not medical necessity. Don't scare me like that!

Comments

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

No caffeine? Never heard that one. I didn't have to do anything other than "no body powder."

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

Hey! Women get _told_ about certain tests at age 40. For us guys, it's the sound of the rubber glove snapping onto the doctor's wrist! No contest! :D Not having both sets of anatomy, I'm unable to make a proper comparison as to whether "squish" or "poke" is more painful. :D

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

"or are the lawyers not really screening for this sort of thing after all?"

When my wife got interviewed, she was asked for "highest level of education completed". When she replied "PhD in Computer Science and Computational Linquistics" they couldn't escort her out the door fast enough. On the other hand, her brother who has a PhD in Biochemistry recently served on a jury. A baron from Rhydderich Hael who's a PhD in physics is currently serving on a jury for a violent felony.

[jducoeur]

The stereotype is that smart people (including anyone whose job title implies serious analytical skills) don't get picked for juries

I suspect that this is nothing more than a small but statistically significant tendency, which gets overblown in the retelling. That is, it wouldn't surprise me if some lawyers, for some cases, prefer to select against the smart candidates. But I suspect that it doesn't happen all that often.

On the no-caffeine front: I'm currently dealing with anecdotal observations that caffeine may be the single thing that's wrecking my stomach. I really don't want to admit this possibility, but it seems to be fitting the facts. This does *not* make me happy. (I'm not a true Coffee Achiever any more, but most of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks involve some caffeine.)

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

Some women find that caffeine makes their breasts tender pre-menstrually, so it makes sense to avoid it before a mammogram.

I haven't gone back to your anonymous poster thread to check, but I suspect you nailed me.

Re: Smart jurors

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

My mother was excused from a jury when the examining lawyer discovered she had taught accounting, and was therefore capable of understanding balance sheets. (It was an insurance arson case.)