"Remain seated and come to order"

As of last Thursday, I am officially seated on a jury for a criminal trial. The trial Tuesday afternoon and is expected to last through Thursday. This means that I won't have to miss too much work, which makes me happy.

I'm rather excited about having this opportunity. Despite the common dread of jury duty, I've long thought it would be an interesting experience to serve on a jury. Ever since I started really getting interested in and studying philosophy, I've been intrigued by the fact that a trial is little more than an extended argument. The textbook in my introductory logic course even used the jury trial as its "gimmick"/theme.

I can't go into any details here, of course; we (the jury) are under strict orders not to discuss the case with anyone, not even the other jurors (outside the deliberations, of course). But once the trial is over, I might very well post some more musings. On the off chance that any of my readers have any questions, they should post them here and I will address them once my tongue is loosed.

Photo Op: Saturday at the Sea

This past Saturday, my folks and I went out to my grandparents' house in Thermal, CA (near Palm Springs). The house is near the Salton Sea, which looks something like this:


We went to have our annual "September Birthdays Party." I thoroughly enjoyed it (as I always do). I also acquired a spiffy new tripod for my camera, with which I was able to take not-blurry closeup pictures like these:



To see some more photos from the trip (not all of them closeups of bunnies), head over to my other blog. (As usual, please leave comments here on this post.)

Absurdity, Again

In the spirit of The Onion and my tongue-in-cheek previous post, I give you a made-up story whose real-world inspiration astounds and saddens me.
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"Americans Call for bin-Laden's Americanization"

Washington, D.C.-- In a speech from the White House yesterday, President Bush echoed the thoughts of all Americans when he demanded that Osama bin-Laden immediatedly renounce his Middle Eastern heritage and become an American.

"It's the least he can do for his role in the 9/11 attacks and ongoing terrorism," Mr. Bush said. "Any rational, thinking person would not stay in a position such as his one minute, but would become a U.S. citizen forthwith."

"And don't think you can get out of this just by saying you're sorry," the president continued. "Until we see some immigration papers and citizenship-test results, you are so not forgiven!"

Bush's speech has met with unanimous approval. Senator John Kerry praised the president's remarks for their vigor and accurate representation of predominant opinion. "President Bush really hit this one on the head," the senator said.

Bin-Laden is widely recognized as one of the leaders of the Global Terrorist Movement. As of press time, he has neither made a public statement nor begun the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship.

"Former Student Finally Starts Book"

Rialto, CA -- After owning a copy of the book for almost a year, one-time undergraduate student Adam "Martinez" Martinez has finally started reading G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy this week, sources say.

"I had heard a lot of good things about the book, so I picked up a copy last Christmas," Martinez said. "I meant to read it right away, but I had to go back to school for the Spring semester and I didn't have the time. Since then, it's just been one thing after another getting in the way."

Martinez blames homework, socializing, a new job, and "a veritable barrage of other books" for his ridiculous tardiness in reading Orthodoxy. He says that, despite the setbacks, he's glad to be starting it at last.

"It's a remarkable book, and I can already tell I'm going to have to read it several times. Chesterton sets out many ideas that are, at least at first glance, mind-blowing. But his gift for analogy and imagery is astounding, and the first few chapters have got me thinking about all kinds of things in new ways."

Martinez cites Chesterton's comparisons of sanity/madness with imagination/reason as an example of new and provocative ideas. He looks forward to finishing the book and says he expects to get "lots of writing ideas" from it. He says the hardest part is organizing the book's arguments and identifying the most important and interesting points.

"I have to keep reminding myself that if I underline the entire book, it doesn't do me any good."