Light Web Trolling Today

Because I had jury duty today, I didn't have much time to find my usual batch of quirky stories.  But over at ESPN Cars is funny article in which its whole premise to throw drool-worthy pictures of the top ten most expensive production cars on the planet, and write funny bits about them.  The premise: you've just crashed your Ferrari Enzo like that swedish con man, what's your replacement?  The funniest line comes from the blurb on the 2006 Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster:

Why it matters: If 12 bustin’ out and firing cylinders matters to you, if oozing sex appeal matters, if driving a car that’s got a name you can’t pronounce matters, then the Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster matters a great deal.  If not, go buy a Honda.

Seriously, one of these cars, the Bugatti Veyron, has a W16 1,001 horsepower engine.  Never heard of a W?  That's because it's 2 V8 engines stuck together!  Okay, stop hyperventilating, head between knees, whoo, much better now.

 

Civic duty is for suckers (aka tell it to the judge).  Actually, I'm kidding.  Up until the income tax was created about a hundred years ago, we Americans had only one requirement as citizens: to serve on a jury of our peers.  Here in Los Angeles County, it is much harder to get out of jury duty, but that's because the system they instituted about 5 years ago makes it much easier to fulfill your civic duty.  Before the new system, potential jurors had to either sit around for 10 days, hoping not to get on a case.  Or, even worse, if the case they got onto was short, they had to stick around until their 10 days was up, sometimes getting onto another case.  Nowadays, the system is called One Day or One Trial.  If you don't get called to panel a jury, then you only have to report for that one day of waiting around.  Most trials are between 5 to 7 business days, so a week as a juror is what you'll get.

I got kinda lucky today.  My name was called to be on the second panel, but they called over 65 people.  The court requires 12 jurors plus 2 alternates.  I have only a 1 in 5 chance of getting on this jury.  But, it's get's better.  You see, because the judge had a prior appointment, she had to dismiss the jury panel at 12 o' clock and make us come back tomorrow.  Okay, that part's not so great, but because we all got dismissed and have to show up tomorrow, we've already served our one day.  If the judge did not have this prior speaking engagement, dismissed jurors would have been sent back to the potential jurors waiting room, would have to wait until 4 o' clock or possibly get called onto another panel.  I have an 80 percent chance of going home tomorrow without being on this jury.

The jury selection staff have got some really good people skill training since the last time I went 4 years ago.  They were all so happy that we were there, thanking us, and being very clear with what constitutes grounds for excusal.  The entire staff of one courtroom came down to thank us all: the clerk, the court reporter, the bailiff, and the judge.  Now, I'm pretty cynical and can see a public relations ploy from a mile away, but this judge was pretty charismatic, and put the entire jury pool into a very good mood.  Too bad I won't be seeing them again, at least by the end of tomorrow.  Unless...