doing my double duty

i did my jury™ duty today, which meant sitting around in a freezing cold room¹ for most of the day and then being told to go home. but i did get to catch up on a couple of weeks of magazines.

at the beginning of the day, the folks playing lifeguard over the jury pool told us that there were 35 cases on the docket for that day, two in superior court (both torts) and 33 in petit court (mostly misdemeanors). only one jury was empaneled, which suggests a lot of people suddenly decided that playing spin the jury was not a winning move.

1: it's probably a normal american A/C temperature, but i keep my office warm, and i've got folding@home running as a hungry puppy on hopni, which doubtless makes it warmer.


yesterday i voted in the local primary election. my silly party has only one chance to gain a state-wide office, which is treasurer. and that's only because the incumbent has been:

1) doing a subordinate
2a) using a state credit card for personal expenses
2b) ...including paying for a romantic jaunt with the subordinate of the first part
3) and is of the same party as controls the rest of the state government (democrats)
4) ...who were really hoping he'd resign much earlier, allowing them to appoint a replacement.

OTOH, i'm pleased that the folks who run the DE GOP are starting to grasp that we're outvoted, and so we're going to have to pick candidates that the *gasp* independents and whisper it softly democrats will vote for *falls over catatonic*. if that keeps up, we might have to remember how to govern the state and/or the country.

likewise, in a slightly more important district, Republicans gaining traction in push to turn Silicon Valley red by using the same method. however,

In state houses, Democrats are championing online consumer protection efforts that expose tech companies to new liabilities.

...on privacy issues, protection of personal data (credit card numbers, medical information) and other things that interfere with making money fast. which, um, is one of those things where the party i dislike less is... less than helpful.

brief review: robocop (2014)

the movie performs within acceptable limits for summer brain candy, category: violence, subtype: remake.

no action is needed at this time.

thank you for your co-operation.

samuel l. jackson did seem to be having fun playing a parody far-right TV commentator. he even got to say that word once. the SF/X for the various robotic prostheses characters have looks pretty good too. however, that barely justifies watching carefully-edited clips of the movie.

with better writing, the remake could have been made to work as black humor or dystopia. that might have even allowed some good performances. but both are too much to ask of what we got.