August, 28, 2001 archives

the new york times has an incredibly well-written story about jury duty. in some respects, it is hard to reconcile the number of people in jail in the united states with the tough standards for conviction. on the other hand, from my experience serving on a jury and seeing how some people acted during deliberations (and reacted to questions during voir dire), i can only imagine the number of jury panels that don't quite grasp the full significance of "beyond a reasonable doubt".

the dixie chicks are suing sony, claiming they are being paid less in royalties than they should. they're almost certainly right. (yeah, yeah, innocent until proven guilty. whatever.) we're supposed to respect the copyrights held by these corporations? (and make no mistake, it is the corporations who hold the copyright on most music because of the onerous contracts they get artists to sign.)

because parenting is just too damn hard, some people are shocked, simply shocked, that kids can create and download violent mods for violent games. while they're at it, can't they do something about those kids who write violent things in their diary? oh wait, they already do.