License Plate Watch 21

Seen today in a Fashion Valley mall parking structure on a Mercedes-Benz I parked behind: "BEEN2OZ". (I'm assuming the reference is to Australia.)

Fun with your brain

Try doing the actions described in this comic.

I don't know if everyone gets the result that is described, but I do, every time. Very disconcerting, to say the least!

License Plate Watch 20

Seen today on a Mini Cooper convertible: "DWEEB"

License Plate Watch 19

Seen today on a Mini Cooper that was painted all black: "LTL DETH"

Star Trek meets Monty Python

This is simply the funniest video I have seen in I don't know how long: A near perfect blending of the song "Knights of the Round Table" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail with clips from the original Star Trek series. Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Temper, temper

I've been vaguely aware from news sites that people having been camping out in lines at stores for days in order to be among the first to get their hands on the new Sony Playstation 3 when it officially goes on sale this Friday (November 17).

A little earlier today I went shopping for a new land line phone and drove to a Best Buy store that is fairly near me to look at what they had. As I drove in, I saw there was one of these lines at this store, and there were two San Diego Police Department cars in it's parking lot, with what looked like four officers watching the line and talking with store personnel.

Seeing that police presence definitely made me wonder what was up. So, I just checked the local newspaper's site, and I see there had been fighting in the line earlier today.

All I can say is:

1. I have no interest myself in video gaming. As a result of that:
2. I can not imagine why people would wait in line for days to get their hands on gaming consoles. But:
3. I'm not entirely surprised passions among those who do want to wait in such lines would rise to the point of tempers being lost.
   

Oh man, oh man, oh man

So yesterday morning on the way to work, I had gotten on northbound I-15 and was starting to feel settled in for the drive to the office, when all of a sudden I hear screeching brakes on my left and a few car lengths ahead of me lots of dirt starts flying up from the median, and I watch an airborne car rollover at least twice before it crashes back to the ground! (YIKES!)

I thought about pulling over and stopping, but I could see other cars were doing so, so I decided most likely I'd just be getting in the way and continued on.

I saw on traffic reporting web sites that the injuries related to this collision were minor, so that's a big relief. But I do not think I will soon forget the sight of that car rolling over in the air.

License Plate Watch 18

Seen October 20 on a certain model Volkswagen: "JETAAAH".

Whoa, trippy

Picked up new eyeglasses today. I had totally forgotten how the combination of a new prescription and differently shaped lenses feels at first; for most of the day I was feeling rather spacey while my brain was working on integrating these changes.

But as I type this up I'm feeling much closer to normal. Which tells me the changes are working, so that's a relief.

Confirmation that autumn has started

Seeing lots of leaves being blown out of a tree by the wind definitely says that we're moving into autumn.

OK, that's a signal

Earlier this morning I had been sitting here at my computer reading something on a web site, when all of sudden the left side of my vision went blurry. So, I removed my glasses, and lo and behold, the left lens had fallen out. And this had happened because on the semi-rimless frames I have, I now see there is a thin strip of plastic that runs across the bottom of each lens that attaches at two points on the frame in order to hold the lens in place, and the strip of plastic for the left lens had separated from one of it's attachment points.

I'm relieved this happened at home, needless to say! I don't want to think about what may have occurred if this had happened while I was driving my car on a freeway, for instance.

I have been starting to think about seeing the optometrist I've gone to before for an examination, so now I definitely will do so. I decided to not try to mess around with attempting to repair the glasses myself, since the lenses are only a very minor change in the prescription from my previous lenses; I dug out the glasses with those lenses and am now wearing them. And I'll call the optometrist's office first thing Monday morning for an appointment.

The fix is in

And now now, an admission: I have long resigned myself to generally not being very mechanically competent.

Which I imagine is one reason I delayed for way too long doing anything about the flapper in my toilet's tank, which became leaky quite a while ago.

The continuous dripping noise that leaky flapper created finally drove me to researching what to do last Saturday. I was strongly hoping this would lead me to something I could handle myself and not have to resort to calling for a plumber. A search on toilet "leaking noise" led me to a plumbing advice column that recommended using a device called the "Flush Fixer Kit".

I made up my mind right then to obtain one of those this morning, as I'm taking a vacation day anyway, so it would be real good time to work on fixing the problem. I took great care to follow the directions, and was very pleased to find it immediately stopped the leaking.

A unique sight

This morning while driving to work I had a first-time-for-me sighting. I passed a UPS tractor-trailer where the trailer was a flat-bed that held four large cargo containers of the sort that slide into planes for transport. I was especially surprised to see at least one portion of each container was transparent and I could see boxes that were stacked in them as I drove past.

It honestly never occurred to me before that such containers would be used anywhere but airports, but after doing a little thinking about it, I realized it must be most efficient to move these containers from the plane straight on to a flat-bed trailer when the distribution center that will transport all of the boxes in the containers to their final destination is not near an airport that UPS services.

As I saw this on northbound Interstate 15, I'd imagine the containers were most likely on the way to UPS distribution centers in Escondido and maybe other north San Diego County cities.

Amazon.com and boxes

As a happy Amazon.com customer, I was very bemused by this.

Mind boggling driving

On Google Video - An astonishing 1980's commercial for an Isuzu vehicle. As noted on that site and others that are running this video, the commercial was made before computer generated imaging, so all this highly complex driving was done live.

Watch it and be amazed.

New neighborhood library

For several months a new San Diego City branch library has been under construction near my home.

The construction clearly still has a ways to go (especially for landscaping), but it's looking promising. The fence that had been around the site recently came down, so that's helped with being able to get a better view of the building.

I'm looking forward to being able to get in it.

License Plate Watch 17

It's another two-fer!

First one was seen August 10: On a red VW Beetle: "FUNSTRR"

Second one seen today, August 12: On a yellow vehicle that I think was an Explorer, and had a Wisconsin plate that said: "JUS DKY"

Comic-Con International 2006: Part the fourth

July 22

Comes the flood (of people)! The Saturday session of each Comic-Con has become very notorious for having MANY more people attend then any of three other days (as I noted in the initial entry about this year's Con.) So much so that I considered skipping it entirely this year and attending on Sunday instead.

I finally decided that I was going to make an effort to confront my traditional reaction to very crowded situations (getting super stressed).

As it turned out, I should have skipped Saturday and gone on Sunday instead. What really caused me to stress out even more than the astonishing crowds was getting a good look at the sanitary conditions in the Convention Center. To be blunt, there were no where near enough janitors on duty. They were completely unable to keep up with the amounts of trash that were being generated and the amounts of usage the restrooms were getting. I found that to be rather alarming.

Well, at least I was able to get to one really good presentation. This was a talk by the artist Shag, during which he commented about and showed photos of his life and how his personal artistic style grew and developed over the years. I think Shag's art is very entertaining, so I was happy to see and hear him in person.

It's way too early for me to say if I will or will not go to Comic-Con next year, but if I do I will most definitely not go on the Saturday!

(Part the third)
(Part the second)
(Part the first)

(My photos of the Con are available here.)

Comic-Con International 2006: Part the third

JULY 21

A highlight on Friday was the Bruce Timm Retrospective; I greatly enjoy the style of animation he created for multiple Warner Bros. series that were based on characters in the DC Comics universe. This retrospective was done largely as an interview. The interviewer (whose name I unfortunately failed to make a note of) asked Timm questions about multiple aspects of the series, and he replied with lots of details.

A "clips reel" of highlights from each of his series for Warner Bros. was also shown, which the audience loved.

But the really BIG event on Friday was a presentation on the new movie "Snakes on a Plane." This occurred in the Hall H that I wrote about earlier. I knew that would likely fill up all 6500 seats, at least partly due to the fact the big star of the movie, Samuel L. Jackson, was going to attend. Another factor being the incredible build-up about the movie that has occurred on the Web for the last several months.

I admittedly got into the admission line late. By the time I was in the line, it was running along a considerable portion of the outside of the Convention Center, going around a corner of the building to one side of it, doubling back, going back around the corner, going inside, then doing some more snaking around (I know, bad pun! Sorry) before finally going into the Hall. So, by the time I was in the Hall, I ended up in a seat quite a long ways toward the back. Which was no worry because there were many large video screens hanging from the ceiling to display live what was happening on the stage, thanks to at least one camera that was near the stage.

The presentation for "Snakes on a Plane" was hosted by Kenan Thompson, who acted in the movie. First guest was David R. Ellis, the movie's director. The two of them chatted about making the movie, then the movie's chief snake handler, Jules Sylvester, came out to show some of the actual snakes that had been used during filming. He first came out carrying an albino python on his shoulders, that was one of the larger variety of pythons. After talking about snakes in general (including emphasizing that snakes are NOT trainable, so he prefers not to be referred to as a snake trainer. Oh, and he said he brought 450 snakes to the start of filming, and when filming completed, he had 500 snakes. :-) ), he moved the albino to the director's shoulders, and then brought out another python of the same type that had standard coloring.
After putting away the two pythons he and four of his assistants brought out to the stage an example of one the larger varieties of anacondas. All these people were needed because it was about 9-feet long (and not full grown)! Wow.

A major surprise was then unveiled. Namely, the world premier of a 10-minute continuous clip from the middle of the movie! As the lights went down, an announcement was made that there was to be NO photography of the video screens while the clip ran, which I thought was understandable. I'll just say about the clip that it was VERY intense. It really impressed me, and solidified my desire to see the film when it does come out in theaters, which will be August 18, 2006.

As the clip ended, and just before the lights came up again, we heard the one line from the movie that the Internet has already made famous. (For those who may object to profanity, I'll just provide a link to a site that reveals the line.) The lights came up, and there was Samuel L. Jackson, microphone to mouth. The crowd loved it!

The remainder of the presentation was lots of fun: Jackson answering several questions from Thompson about the movie, and the whole panel answering questions from several members of the audience.

(Part the fourth)
(Part the second)
(Part the first)

(My photos of the Con are available here.)

Comic-Con International 2006: Part the second

JULY 20

The highlight of Thursday for myself was the formal presentation by the U.S. Postal Service of a new set of stamps that feature superhero characters from DC Comics. I am NOT a stamp collector, but I have become a fan of DC Comics, so that made me curious to see the presentation.

When I entered the meeting room this happened in, I was pleased to find each person was getting a free first day of issue cover that had one of the stamps on it, along with the unique cancellation mark that was only available July 20 in San Diego post offices and at the Con.
For each of the selected superheroes, there are two stamps:

1. A reproduction of a comic book cover that featured that superhero.
2. A portrait of the superhero.

The stamp on the cover I was given was the reproduction of a comic book cover for the superhero Green Lantern. Here is a photo I took of it.

The presentation included remarks by a couple USPS officials from Washington, D.C., concerning the general process of selecting what images will go on commemorative stamps, and specifically about working with DC Comics on preparing this set. There were also remarks from the president/publisher of DC Comics.

A very nice touch was that the artist who had created each image was there, or in those cases where the artist could not be there, a member of their family was present, and each of them was asked to stand to be recognized by the audience.

(Part the fourth)
(Part the third)
(Part the first)

(My photos of the Con are available here.)

Comic-Con International 2006: Part the first

Each year in July San Diego hosts Comic-Con International, a gigantic four-day blowout of popular culture. I had attended the previous two years on the Saturday only. As I learned, the Saturday session is always by far the most heavily attended of the four days, and as a result I found the experiences overwhelming, at least partly due to my tendency to get very stressed in highly crowded situations.

So, this year I decided I'd try attending all four days, and hopefully get a better experience by spreading it out. I preregistered through the Con's web site earlier this year. Registration confirmation letters were sent out in June to everyone who registered for the four days up until that point in time. The point of sending such letters at that time only to the 4-day registrants is that those people are admitted (if they wish) to a Preview Night on the Wednesday evening before the Con officially starts.

Preview Night involves admission to the Exhibit Hall.

The major areas of the San Diego Convention Center are exhibit halls on the first floor, and various sizes of meeting rooms and spaces and ballrooms on the second floor. There are eight exhibit halls, designated as halls A through H. Basically, each hall can be used on it's own, or any number of the halls can be used together, all determined by positioning of sliding barriers. For Comic-Con, halls A through G are used together as one gigantic exhibit hall. (Hall H is used for major events about specific topics; during the Con is seats up to 6500. I'll go into more detail about Hall H later, as I did attend one event there.)

On Preview Night (July 19 this year), the Exhibit Hall is open from 6 PM to 9 PM. This Hall is used by all manner of people and businesses that hope to sell their goods and/or show off new material that is not yet ready for sale to people who attend the Con. During Preview Night, they have their booths staffed and ready to make sales. Examples of the businesses:

• Brick-and-mortar vendors of comics and/or book-based comic collections
• Publishers of comics and/or book-based comic collections
• Other book publishers
• Web-based businesses related to comics
• Publishers of board games
• Makers of electronic games hardware
• Artists
• Costume makers
• Jewelry makers
• Cable television channels
• Movie studios

...and more.

I wandered through the Hall and purchased several comic-collection books.

One highlight of the evening was that shortly after the doors opened a woman came on the PA system and said (sounding very irritated): "There is no running allowed in the Convention Center. Yes, I mean you in the green and white baseball cap!" (Approximate quote.) That got lots of laughs.

(Part the fourth)
(Part the third)
(Part the second)

(My photos of the Con are available here.)

License Plate Watch 16

It's a two-fer!

Both were seen Saturday, July 15:

1. On a Mercedes-Benz: "OYLG 39". I haven't a clue what it means, but thought it unique enough to make note of.
2. On a VW Beetle: "I MODUL8". Hmmm, modulate what?

License Plate Watch 15

Seen on a Mazda today: "ZUMY ZUM"

License Plate Watch 14

Seen on a Ford Explorer today: "FXY MAMI" - which I was unable to verify. :-)

License Plate Watch 13

Seen on a Jaguar this morning: "TAK2BNK"

Cat meets bear. And the winner is...

It's a bear up a tree.............................and the cat that chased it up the tree:
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/06/10/picture_of_the_4.php

That photo is priceless!

Rocked and Rolled

Earlier this month I volunteered at a function related to the annual "Rock 'n' Roll Marathon" here in San Diego.

Specifically, I volunteered for the Health & Fitness Expo that runs the two days before the marathon, and which is where the marathon participants have to complete their registration process. This occurred at the San Diego Convention Center.

For volunteers each of the two days of the Expo was split into two 6-hour shifts; one could work both the shifts on a given day or just one. (Of course there were also volunteering possibilities during the marathon itself.) I decided to go for the second shift the Saturday before the race.

After myself and the other second shift people had checked in, the volunteer coordinator explained we needed to choose one of two assignments:

• Registration, which allowed for sitting, but would be demanding.
• The souvenir shop (I think that was what she called it) which would be more relaxed but would require staying on one's feet most of the time.

I decided to go with registration. I'’ll need to explain what all that involved. On the registration forms marathon participants had sent in with their entry fee, each one needed to write a prediction of what they felt their overall time for completing the race would be. Based on that, each person was assigned to a "corral", meaning an area behind the starting line. For instance, those who believed they would finish within 3 or 3.5 hours (don't remember which) were put in Corral 1, right at the starting line. At the opposite extreme, those who thought they'd need at least 7 hours were put in the final Corral, number 22, at the back of the pack.

Number bibs for each participant were assigned, again based on the predicted overall times. The bibs for each corral were then placed in a box and placed at the registration station for that corral. I was placed at the registration station for Corral 5.

Each marathon participant should have received beforehand a confirmation card that listed their corral number and bib number. They had to present that card at the registration station for their corral, along with a photo ID.

I would ask for the photo ID if it was not presented with the card, and also had to confirm the waiver statement on the back of the card had been signed and dated, and ask for that to be done when needed. After confirming the photo ID was for the person listed on the card and confirming the waiver had been signed, I would then find that person's number bib and pull it out of the box. I'd then give the person their bib and a packet provided by the firm that organizes and operates the expo and the marathon. I'd then explain that the packet included safety pins (for holding their number bib to their shirt during the race) and ties to use for attaching their timing chip to their shoe during the race. I would then tell the person to proceed down the hall to stations where the timing chips were assigned and activated for each participant. (These chips are triggered to start recording time when they pass under a device at the starting line, and are triggered again to stop recording time when they pass under a device at the finish line. Volunteers at the finish line take the chips off of the shoe the participant attaches it to.)

As the volunteer coordinator said, this was indeed VERY demanding, because my station (and every station) had people coming for their bibs almost continually through almost the entire shift, and frequently had people lined up waiting. And also because I was basically doing and saying the same things over and over.

The organizing firm did it's best to make sure the situation for registration volunteers was not impossibly stressful. They provided bottled water and provided for stations to be covered when one needed a bathroom break. For those volunteers who were there for both shifts that day, a free lunch was also provided, away from the registration area. They also had staff people who were more knowledgeable about the many details of the marathon than volunteers would be expected to be floating around the registration area to answer questions and help with problems.
I think I may have gotten in some photos, because I noticed several times when a family member or friend who was accompanying a marathon participant would produce a camera as I worked with the participant.

Overall, I don't regret deciding to do registration. It was extremely interesting to see from looking at confirmation cards and photo IDs how many different areas of the nation marathoners were coming from, and 99% of the ones I spoke with were very pleasant. But, as it was really demanding, when I left for the day I had a really bad muscle tension headache and felt tired.

License Plate Watch 12

Seen yesterday evening on a bright green VW Beetle: "GO KERMT"

The car had daisy pattern taillight covers, just like this. And as I passed this Beetle, there appeared to be lots of little dolls sitting on the interior's back shelf.

Someone's being too cute for their own good!

Fiction by Tim Dorsey: An Appreciation

One of the areas of fiction I have enjoyed (and still am enjoying!) for some time is what I'll call comedy crime novels. I don't remember precisely how I started with these, but one of the first was Donald E. Westlake's novels featuring his on-going character John Dortmunder. I also early on found Carl Hiaasen's novels, especially those that include his major on-going character, Skink.

I recently discovered the novels of Tim Dorsey. This happened when I was amused by the cover art for the paperback of his Torpedo Juice. I picked up a copy of it, looked at the back cover copy, and decided to give it a try. And proceeded to be thoroughly blown away by one of the wilder and funnier novels I've read in some time. Since finishing it I've been proceeding to find and read all of his other novels.

Dorsey's novels consistently feature the state of Florida and his anti-hero character, Serge A. Storms (get it?). Serge has been a diagnosed psychopath most of his life. Since the diagnosis the state has attempted to keep him under control by requiring him to take multiple anti-psychotic drugs. But Serge hates the condition the drugs put his mind into, and actively avoids using them as much as he can. When he is off the drugs, he becomes a serial murderer. But, he does not murder just anyone. He's selective; he only kills persons he comes across who are preying on innocent third parties, or who are otherwise (at least in his opinion) deserve to die. He tends to find these people in clusters, thus making himself known as a serial murderer.

There are also instances, to a much lesser degree, where Serge murders those who directly get in the way of his own goals. Such as the two fellows who have the misfortune (in The Stingray Shuffle) of unwittingly interfering in Serge's dogged pursuit (which goes on over multiple novels in the series) of a briefcase that holds five million dollars in cash. I suppose people such as these two are seen by Serge as deserving to die because they're interfering with his ability to get that cash.

And he is wildly inventive about how he carries out these murders; for instance (I won't get into too many details), the first murder he does in Torpedo Juice involves a certain very precise placement (without use of a gun) of multiple bullets followed immediately by activation of a MRI machine.

When he is off his drugs, Serge is also highly obsessive-compulsive, especially about the folklore and history of Florida. He is an extraordinary fount of knowledge about the entire state; no matter where he is in Florida, he knows something about the history of that immediate area. And he likes nothing better than to share that knowledge with anyone he is able to speak to, whether or not they like it.

To illustrate Dorsey's humor, I will mention one specific moment of laugh-out-loud humor in Dorsey's novels. In The Stingray Shuffle Serge finds himself confronted by a group of armed members of the Russian mob, who are looking to take the cash briefcase from him. This meeting takes place at a display at Cape Canaveral of replicas of the various rockets NASA has used through the years. Serge is horrified when the Russians accidentally shoot some of the replicas: How dare they shoot these pieces of Florida history! Seeing this reaction, one of them walks over to the replica of the first booster the U.S. used for manned space flight, points his gun at it, and says "Hand over the briefcase or the Mercury-Redstone gets it!" And Serge immediately does surrender the briefcase to them (but also starts thinking about how to get it back).

Tim Dorsey: heartily recommended!

License Plate Watch 11

Among the varieties of California special interest, or "vanity", license plates is one that funds children's safety programs in the state. This plate is distinguished by use of one of four symbols:

• a hand
• a heart
• a star
• or a plus sign

Last night I saw one of these plates. It read: "RU(star symbol)DEVO"

I can only assume that references the group Devo, but I'm stumped about what the star symbol means in this case.

License Plate Watch 10

Seen on a Chrysler 300: "SOME CAR".

The really interesting thing about this California plate was that it was the older style yellow characters on blue base type. Due to that I'd assume it has been transferred from car to car for many years. (New California plates have been various styles of blue characters on white base since 1987.)

CUSP: A Review

I have written previously about what I called Really Big Concepts in science fiction. For that novel, it worked. For this novel, CUSP, by Robert A. Metzger, it initially works, but ultimately fails.

The novel opens in 2031 as a solar flare of unprecedented size is occurring. Some people realize it is not just an exceptionally large flare; it's edges are absolutely straight. Something is controlling it. And it is causing the Sun to move.

At the same time this is occurring, two monstrous walls, many miles wide and tall, rise from the Earth, while all of the planet's seismic faults simultaneously snap. The walls straddle the planet in two directions, along the equator and across the poles. All of this throws the entirety of the planet's civilization into chaos. Soon after that the solar flare shuts down and the Sun stops moving.

CUSP then jumps to the year 2051. The survivors of the 2031 events have been spending the time both trying to recover and to understand what happened. It is at this point that author Metzger starts bringing in metaphysical concepts that I feel ultimately cause the failure of this novel.

In 2051 one man, a U.S. Army General, has gathered enough intelligence about the events of 2031 to know that the Sun's controlled flare will soon start up again to resume moving the star, and at the same time energy output from the planetary walls (now called the Rings) will cause Earth to move with it, and there is no way he or anyone else can stop all that from happening.

But the General is determined to find a way to exert some degree of control on the manner in which the movements of the Sun and the Earth occur. And this is where the metaphysics start coming into play. The General believes the only way he will obtain such control is if humanity transcends itself and moves to a higher level of existence (moves past the Point, to use author Metzger's word.)

I found the talk between characters about transcending the Point eventually got so dense that I simply found it unreadable and I started skimming pages trying to find something that I would find more readable. And for me, such a development means this is not a novel I will want to retain and eventually read again.

A gas prices map...

I thought this was very interesting. The average gas price for every county/parish/borough in the contiguous 48 states: http://gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

License Plate Watch 9

Seen on a Prius: "HAFGAS2"

Court follow-up

In this post, I wrote about going to a local San Diego court for jury duty. I haven't written about what happened due to dithering on and off about whether to post about it, because of issues that came up. I've finally decided to proceed, so those issues will be brought up later in this post

So, I reported to the Hall of Justice building downtown morning of March 13. Almost immediately after the orientation, I was sent to a court as part of a panel of potential jurors. When we were let into the courtroom I was startled to see one of the attorneys was Bruce Henderson. Now, I'd rather not get into discussion of this, but I do not have a good opinion of Bruce Henderson based on his involvement with several highly notable lawsuits over the last several years. It turned out from the judge's introductory remarks that he is now a San Diego assistant city attorney. (The San Diego City Attorney's office prosecutes misdemeanor cases. This case was about a misdemeanor methamphetamine usage case.)

One of the judge's first questions to the jurors panel was if anyone was familiar with either of the attorneys for any reason. I raised my hand and explained myself, and the judge immediately excused me.

So, I trotted back to the jury services office where I was told I would need to wait for possibly being on other panels of jurors. Nothing happened until 11:30, when everyone in the jury lounge was told to take lunch break.

Shortly after the end of the lunch break I was sent with a new panel to a different courtroom. Now, what this case was about is going to take some explaining. For one thing, the judge told us, it was unusual because it was technically a civil case, but would have elements of a criminal case in it. Namely, that the verdict would have to be a unanimous decision (civil cases normally require only a minimum nine person majority to reach a verdict) and the case would have to proved beyond a reasonable doubt for the state's arguments to be accepted, which does not normally apply to civil cases.

What the case involved was the District Attorney petitioning the court to have a person legally labeled a "sexually violent predator." As the case involved a petition, the person whom the DA was filing the petition against was referred to as "the respondent", not "the defendant". We learned this person (who of course was present in court) had already pleaded guilty to three counts of sexually molesting children, but had chosen to fight the DA's petition.

Needless to say this presented some major issues that the judge and the deputy DA and the respondent's attorney needed to discuss with the potential jurors. This made the process of selecting jurors longer than what I assume would be normal. That process of course started that afternoon, and had to be continued March 14. I was called from the panel to be questioned at about 11:15 AM of March 14.

One of the interesting questions from the deputy DA for each person was if that person had any interest in cartoons or cartooning. Well, I used to have an active hobby related to Warner Bros. studio classic cartoons, so I briefly talked about that. He also asked me to explain what I do at my job, so I also briefly talked about that. The respondent's attorney had more generally philosophical questions for me.

After I was questioned, the next turn for using a peremptory challenge belonged to the respondent's attorney. He excused another person, then someone else was called for questioning. After that round of questioning, it was the deputy DA's turn to use a peremptory challenge. After thinking about it for (I think) at least 30 seconds, he excused me.

And the jury selection process continued on as I walked out of the courtroom as I heard another person being called for questioning.

So with that I was released from this jury duty.

New $10 bills - startling

Image of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing via Wikipedia

I must have read it somewhere prior to this, but I had forgotten until yesterday that a new design for the U.S. $10 bill would be coming out. On my way home from work, I had stopped at an Albertsons store near my office to buy a few things, and the self checkout machine I used included in my change the first of these new $10 bills that I have seen.

That bill really startled me (much more so than the new version of the $20 bill had when it came out in 2003), mainly because of the new color scheme. It has red and orange shades that are very prominent. It may be hard to call this version a "greenback" because of the amount of orange ink used on the back side of the bill.

To check about this new version, I found a page that has lots of information about it on a site that is run by the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The page describes all the security and design features that are in the new $10 bill. I was amused that it describes the new colors as "subtle shades." Sorry, but they're anything but subtle.

License Plate Watch 8

Seen on a Dodge pick-up: "HEMI HNY"

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to court I go...

...for jury duty, that is.

Morning of March 13, 2006, I will be reporting to the San Diego Hall of Justice for the latest in what has been a long series of calls to jury duty. (I seem to get one about every two or three years.)

My first jury experience was at San Diego's United States District Court, during the 1980's. And that was the only time (so far) that I have actually been on a jury. I was alternate number 3 (of 4) for a trial of four defendants on marijuana smuggling and trafficking charges. Due to the number of defendants, it was a rather long trial and the first two alternates ended up being seated on the jury to replace members who had to drop out (for reasons I now do not recall). When the time came for deliberations to start, the judge told me and alternate 4 that in Federal court alternates do not sit in on deliberations, so we were sent home. I recall feeling rather frustrated about that!

A few years later I got my first notice for jury duty at San Diego County Superior Court, at the court's location in downtown San Diego city. That period and the next few times I received such notices, the jury services office and jury lounge were in the original downtown Central Courthouse, prior to the construction of the Hall of Justice immediately next door. At that time the Central Courthouse had both criminal and civil courts; the jury services office and jury lounge and a majority of the civil courts are now in the Hall of Justice.

I remember getting to the jury lounge and jury services office in the Courthouse was a bit of an adventure the first time I was there because they had somehow been placed between two floors of courtrooms. So, figuring out the needed sequence of stairs that first time was interesting! It's difficult to explain why this configuration was odd without going into long, rambling, detail, so I'll just have to say trust me that it was very odd. The point is that in the rest of the building there was nothing between those two floors of courts but the jury lounge / jury services office.

I was relieved to find with construction of the Hall of Justice the jury lounge for both that building and the Central Courthouse is on the first floor of the Hall of Justice and there is no mystery at all about finding it.

As I noted above, my experience in the United States District court has been the only time I have had any actual jury experience of any sort. During my visits to San Diego Superior Court, each and every time I have been sent with a panel of other prospective jurors to a court for the voir dire procedure, and am selected to actually be questioned for voir dire, I have been the very first person either the prosecutor or the defendant's attorney uses one of their peremptory challenges on, removing me from the panel.

I've never been able to figure out why the attorneys are so quick to remove me! But I decided the last time, a couple years ago, to stop worrying about it. But it will be interesting to see what happens this time.

Spin: A Review

I have just completed reading Spin , a science fiction novel by Robert Charles Wilson. From time to time SF authors come out with Really Big Concepts. When an author combines that with good fiction, then we have a winner, and Spin is just such a novel.

In this case, the Really Big Concept is that Earth is enclosed by unknown forces in a membrane (the Spin) that not only cuts off all sunlight (which is replaced by an apparently artifical sun) and starlight, but also radically alters how time passes on Earth. A specific example mentioned in the novel is that while five years have passed on the planet, 500 million years have passed in the rest of the universe, on the other side of the membrane. Now, if that's not a Big Concept, I don't know what is!

Into this Wilson gives us the stories of three persons: twins Jason and Diane Lawton, and Tyler Dupree, their friend. The novel starts with the night the the Spin is put in place. The Lawton twins and Tyler are respectively thirteen and twelve. The three of them are outside looking at stars while the twins parents are throwing a party when they suddenly realize they can no longer see any stars.

A crew of Russian cosmonauts who were in orbit when the Spin appeared spend a week unable to regain communications with anyone on the ground before they decide to risk a manual atmospheric reentry, but once they are safely on the ground they are told it is the same night the membrane appeared. Nobody believes their story of having spent as much time in orbit as they say.

But it is later discovered packages of instruments can be boosted through the membrane by rockets to record what is happening on the other side and then allowed to come back to Earth the same day. When their recorded data is examined, the realization of the changes in how time is passing occurs.

Through out this novel the author provides a exciting mix of ideas and good old fashioned science fiction. For instance, the successful terraforming and colonization of Mars occurs during the lifetimes of the three main characters thanks to the time passage differential.

All in all Spin is a very highly recommended work!

V for Vendetta: A Review

Image of Alan Moore via Wikipedia

I have become interested recently in graphic novels. The most powerful one of those that I have read so far is V for Vendetta by writer Alan Moore and artist David Lloyd.

The tale is set in England after a World War III that involved a limited exchange of nuclear weapons. This created a political power vacuum in England that was filled by a fascistic group.

The story starts with a 16-year old girl, Evey Hammond, who is desperate for money to survive on in the very bleak world the fascists have made of England and decides her only option is to prostitute herself. The first man she approaches turns out to be a policeman working a vice detail. Under the rules of the fascist state, police who catch someone in the act of soliciting for prositution can do whatever they want with her before summarily executing her on the spot. As the group of three police working the vice detail move in to start raping Evey, a masked figure comes out of nowhere and kills them. The masked figure takes Evey away to his hideout, where he tells her she will be safe.

The man tells Evey that he has no name, and to call him V. We quickly discover he always wears masks, and the mask he uses almost full time is of the face of Guy Fawkes, who is famous in England for his plan (never carried out) in the year 1605 to assassinate King James I and all the members of Parliament by blowing up the Houses of Parliament buildings while all of them were present there.

Soon after taking in Evey, V carries out part of Fawkes' plan and does blow up the Parliament buildings (which were abandoned when the fascists took control of the country).

As the story progresses we learn V is simultaneously carrying out a plan to bring down the fascists by driving England into anarchy (destroying the Parliament buildings being just one part of that plan) and murdering individuals from his past.

I won't get into more details of the story here. But I will note that during the story we are shown many details that reflect on the significance of "V" as both a letter and the Roman numeral for five - all of which enhances how fascinating the story is.

All together the combination of Moore's writing, Lloyd's art, and the themes they explore create an utterly amazing and haunting book.

License Plate Watch 7

Passed on the freeway what I think was a Mazda Miata that had the following plate:

"4HR FUN"

At first I was trying to make sense of "Four Hour Fun", then I realized what the real reading of the plate must be: "For Our Fun"

Oh joy. A scam.

Among the items in my mail today was an envelope that contained a "Notice of renewal/New order" for "Consumer Reports."

I do subscribe to "Consumer Reports" magazine, but I was immediately suspicious of this item because it looked nothing like renewal notices I have received in the past for it. So, I found the customer service phone number for the magazine, and they quickly confirmed it's bogus.

Before I started this entry, I looked up on Google the name of the firm that is on the return envelope: "Magazine Payment Services." The first page of results had several items from other publications that had similar stories, such as this.

So, immediately after I post this I'm walking to my shredder and running this so-called renewal notice through it.

That's something you don't see every day...

...or at least I haven't seen it before, that is. I'm just back from an exercise walking session, and while out I saw something like one of these being worn by the driver of a motorcycle that went past.

Yes, a motorcycle helmet that has a mohawk. That was rather startling, I must say.

(Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page I linked to, by the way.)

Creative license

There's a commercial for Kohler that has an architect walking a client couple through his office, during which he shows them photographs of his work. He then takes them to his office and he asks "Now, what can I do for you?" The woman pulls a (Kohler) faucet out of her purse, plunks it down on the architect's desk and says "Design a house around this."

That last bit is not what this entry is about.

When the architect is showing the photographs of his work, one of them he describes as "...headquarters in Kyoto."

BZZZT. Wrong! That is the very unique main library at the University of California at San Diego. Which is formally called the Geisel Library after Audrey and Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). (See the link for a UCSD page about the building and links to photos of it.)

That's an interesting bit of creative license Kohler's ad agency did.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Found a page on a UCSD alumni site that also takes note of this.

License Plate Watch 6

Seen while driving home from work today: "ODN GOD".

I did a Google search for "ODN" to see if that would give me a clue about the meaning of this plate, but didn't see anything that immediately made sense when used with "GOD".

So, another license plate mystery!