siobhan sums it up

[boxofdelights]

Jury duty is not done, but probably will be Monday. I am procrastinating leaving the house: there are five inches of snow out there, and I do not have snow tires, but I have horses to feed. Also an overdue library book and an overdue bill to pay. And groceries.

Anyway, I was delighted by the_siobhan's sharp accurate description of the Pycon 2013 incident.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I'm dreaming of some combination of overhead oats, horse-driven plows, and literary catapults.

Yeah, I'll let you know when I've figured that out.

Your description of jury-duty discomfort collided with this paragraph from The Science of Sherlock Holmes: From Baskerville Hall to the Valley of Fear, the Real Forensics Behind the Great Detective's Greatest Cases, E.J. Wagner, John Wiley, 2010:

begin quote By long tradition, judges of the period were rarely censored and were allowed enormous control over juries. During the early Victorian era, an undecided British jury could be locked up without fire, food, or light until it reached a verdict. No doubt as a result of this draconian rule, juries were rarely hung, and the accused often was. By the more enlightened 1870s, a sequestered jury was allowed refreshments and warmth as long as it paid the bill for them. At the whim of the judge, trial sessions often stretched for many hours with no break for the call of nature. Judges were thoughtfully provided with vases discreetly hidden behind the high bench, but the unfortunate jury were not so privileged. quote ends

The book is a lively peak into the scientific and legal issues Sherlock Holmes would have encountered, but no so much about the science deployed by Holmes in canon.

[boxofdelights]

Hee! Our judge is very kind to us with breaks, and thanks us for our patience and attentiveness. In Colorado jurors can pose questions for the witnesses. We write them down, the bailiff takes them to the judge, the judge decides whether they are permissible and gives the attorneys an opportunity to object, and then the judge reads the question to the witness. It is interesting!

[amaebi]

Whoa, that does sound interesting!

[the_siobhan]

Oh wow, thank you for the compliment!

[amaebi]

Have some more from me. So horrendously apt.

[amaebi]

Oh, I wish there were more snow in FC, inconvenient though it is! We have around a foot here, and more coming.

Yesterday I got finished urgentest gardening before snowfall: getting a Turkish filbert and three Viburnums planted. (A couple of days ago I did another smaller Turkish filbert and two Viola blancas.) I bought and used a sledge hammer for the first time, to get rid of completely pointless pavement and plant one of those Viburnums. It worked, and that was fun. There were snowflakes in my face as I put tools away, and I got chilled, and today a two-month-old cold is blooming into dripping and sneezes. Aided by getting totally chilled on Tuesday at a soccer practice. (I didn't take Chun Woo to his Thursday practice. I couldn't stand to contemplate the chill, even with a blanket.)

Soon I will post pictures of our newer raised beds. I am Pleased with them.

[boxofdelights]

Yes. Even as I was shoveling I kept thinking "more like this, please." How does your back feel about the sledge hammer? How about your wrists? Did you take the opportunity to sing some Peter Gabriel?