Time For A New Intern

Lord, I haven't blogged in ages...long story for another time...but this is too much. Whatever the "Seven Mile Times" is, this is ridiculous on many levels.

In case you think it's a joke, the post continues on with the press release from the Avalon Police. Oh, and there's this...

(hat tip to the legendary FanSince09)

Sucker-Punched On SEPTA

So maybe a few people are curious about what happened the other night, although you wouldn't know it by the number of responses I got on Twitter and Facebook. Last week I was helping my friend Kurt pack his things in semi-orderly fashion so he could move on Friday, so I was at his place a few times during the week. On Thursday night I caught the bus from South Philly to Market Street to catch the Market-Frankford El at 8th. I was lucky in that I managed to catch both the bus and the El with little or no waiting. Or so I thought.

I was standing next to the doors on the opposite side of the doors that opened to the platform, because there were few seats available and I was carrying a laundry bag with some stuff in it, and I didn't want the bulky bag on my lap or disturbing the person next to me. So there I stood, reading the paper.

There were 2 or 3 young black guys -- teenagers or a little older -- in the seats on the same side as where I was standing. They got up as if they were getting out around the York-Dauphin station, but instead stood near the doors, and then were joined by another couple of guys who arrived from the next car. The train arrived at the Allegheny station at almost 8:35 pm, and they all left the train except the guy directly in front of me, who stayed on and had his arms outstretched as his hands were on both poles by the doors.

There was a brief delay for some reason -- the train's conductor later said he thought the others were holding the door open -- and then, just as the computer voice began to announce "Doors are closing,"

Long Days At Jury Duty

Let me start by mentioning that I served on the jury for three trials -- two criminal and one civil case -- prior to this week, but it's been many years since I last was selected. We have a "one day or one trial" system -- if you're not on a jury after one day your service is over. The last few times I've gone to jury duty I've been there for a day and then dismissed.

I thought the same might happen this time. I got to the Juror Assembly room on Monday at 8:15 am (after going through security at the Criminal Justice Center, which was a pain -- remove metal stuff from pockets, remove coat, remove belt -- but still not as bad as the airport) and completed the forms containing the questions about whether you've served before, whether you are related to any police officers, whether you've been a victim of a crime or part of a lawsuit, etc. Almost right away they called for a panel of 50 to go to a courtroom, even before they played the standard introductory video. I was number 48 of 50. We were taken to a courtroom which wasn't the one where the case was going to be handled. It was just to clear the Juror Assembly room a little, since it was going to overflow otherwise. So in that courtroom we watched the video, and then we waited. And waited. And waited. After 10 am we were told that "something happened with the case" and that we could take a 10-15 minute break and then go back to the Juror Assembly room.

About 10:45 or so those of us in that original panel were then sent to another courtroom while we waited to begin the voir dire process -- where we're questioned about our answers on the forms, among other things. We sat for an hour, doing nothing court-related but separating the various copies of our forms, and passing them to the court officer watching over us. Then, finally, we were called into the actual courtroom where the case was being handled.

Talk About A Misleading Headline

There are all these news stories today -- well, one story but with articles on many different websites -- that have a similarly-written headline: "'Ugly Betty' actor kills mother with samurai sword." Yet, if you read the article you find that the guy who is accused to hacking his mother with said samurai sword isn't one of the actual male stars, but some guy who had a bit part in one episode (as well as another bit part in the movie "Step Up 3D."

Apparently these parts were so small that he doesn't even have a listing at IMDB.com (the Internet Movie Database, in case you didn't know).

So, is this just an attempt by headline writers to get people to read the article? Isn't "Man hacks mother to death with samurai sword" or "Aspiring actor fatally attacks mom with samurai" enough? Or is this just lazy headline-writing?