"Once in a generation!"

   Saw a news article today about Hurricane Irma being a "once-in-a-generation" level storm. A quick google search of this phrase, however, brings up reports from (supposedly) credible weather sources about these "once-in-a-generation" hurricanes:

• Irene (2011)
• Sandy (2012)
• Harvey (August 2016)
• Irma (September 2016)

This doesn't even scratch the surface on "once in a lifetime" hurricane and flooding hits, mind you, just "once in a generation" hurricanes only.

     I realize I'm not completely up to date on generations and which ends where and what times they cover, but I'm pretty sure generations are more than 1 month, 1 year, or 4 years, respectively. This leads me to wonder what type of generations, exactly, these people are talking about. Mosquito generations? Rabbit generations? Octopi? Rats? Finches?

     Maybe, just maybe, we should stop overreacting and over-exaggerating things. 

Jury Duty, part 3 - deliberation and verdict

(continued from part 1 and 2)

     The first thing that we were told to do was choose a foreperson. The door had barely closed behind the Clerk when one woman stuck her nose up in the air and declared "I want to be the foreperson!" The rest of us kind of looked around and shrugged, because we didn't really care, but it wasn't really the best of starts. Continuing in her attempts to make herself unpopular, said woman (whom we'll call Patty- I have no clue what her real name is) declared, "Well, why don't we start out with a preliminary vote, just to see where everyone is?" Again, the rest of us shrugged and nodded. Patty asked, "All those who think he's guilty?"... and eleven of us raised our hands. She looked around at all of us, sniffed, and  said, "Well, I don't, and my parents taught me never to give in just because of what other people think, so this is going to be an interesting day, isn't it?" Ugh. 

     With twelve people in a room, there are obviously going to be overlapping conversations, so I won't even attempt to try to report everything that happened, or exactly who said what, other than me and Patty. I'd already decided I didn't like her, so I shut up for a good long while. In the mean time, following a moment of stunned silence at her declaration of whatever, here's a really, really rough outline of the main points:

Jury Duty, part 2 - the trial

(continued from part 1)

     After all- and I do mean all- of the applicable laws and considerations had been read to us by the judge, we finally got down to the actual trial. Since the burden of proof is on the prosecution to show that a crime had, indeed, been committed (remember that whole innocent until proven guilty thing?), they got to go first. The prosecuting lawyer stood at the podium and, in his best "I am a responsible member of society" voice, explained the police's side of the story. Here's a brief overview.

Jury Duty, part 1

     About two months ago, I received that dreaded form in the mail that said I had to report in for jury duty in my county. Normally, this wouldn't have phased me, as I've been a panel member on the student council for cheating and plagiarism at my college, and I'm a pretty firm believer in participating in our justice system (especially having been to other countries where justice isn't really a right). I was slightly concerned this time, however, because my jury duty day was set to start literally four days before I was due to get on a plane for spring break.

     Despite the timing though, I was pretty happy about the idea. It seemed like I was the only one who was, however, because with only one or two exceptions, every single person I told about it offered their sympathy at having to go in and contribute to what I feel is a reasonably fair justice system. After a while, I just stopped trying to explain that it didn't bother me, because people weren't listening. Only one other person- ironically, the only other person who had actually served jury duty- offered congratulations and reassurance that they'd work with me to make sure I didn't miss my plane.