2002-06-19 - 6:20 a.m. doing my civic duty At 1:15 p.m. yesterday, I reported for jury duty. It's a miracle I showed up there at all since I relied upon the Court system's Web site to find out when to report since the phone line was always busy. After clicking through to more than a dozen pages on the site, I finally clicked on a link that read "telephone standby" or something along those lines, which finally brought me to a page whereupon I could click a button for the court of my choice and see when my group was slated to report. Yeah, that was *real* intuitive. Perhaps I should ask if they'd like some usability testing on their site, for a small fee? I showed up with a book and the latest issue of Harper's to get me through the afternoon...I was actually a little excited at the prospect of not having to go to work and having to sit there for a few hours while keeping myself amused. Amazingly, I was sent home before setting foot in a courtroom...I am happy to report that I did have time to read the July issue of Harper's though, and have some tidbits to share from the index: Daily fine for the outdoor use of upholstered furniture in Normal, Illinois: $100. This place must *really* have some aesthetic issues that clash amongst its neighbors. I personally wouldn't want to see a tweedy La-Z-Boy in my neighbor's front yard, but the idea of making this a crime, and wasting any civil servant's time to enforce it seems...well..silly to me. Amount Congress has allocated Blue Springs, MO to help them combat "gothic culture": $237,437. This reminds me of high school. There was a national religious group that produced TV shows that discussed the lyrics of the Cure's "Head on the Door" album at length, and told concerned parents that if their children were listening to this album, Robert Smith was the devil, and their children were gong to hell (lots of paraphrasing there as it's been a while since I saw those shows.) If children dressed in black and listening to mopey music is the worst scourge your town has, get over it already! The above factoid is followed up with what I hope was a winking inclusion: Miles from Blue Springs to nearest gothic cathedral: 4,280. For those of you not familiar with Harper's, it's a lovely magazine that I highly recommend. I'm currently reading "Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America", which started its life (and its place in my consciousness) as an article for Harper's. Check it out. any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09