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.