What We're Reading

Not too long ago USA Today published their bestseller list for the year 2009. I like their list because it doesn't split books up by subject or format, it's just a simple list of what books are selling the best. So, what were America's favorite books last year? Numbers one, two, three, and four are all books in the “Twilight” vampire series by Stephanie Meyer.

Seriously? Sparking vampires? That's what you're reading America? You couldn't have found anything more challenging, stimulating, or improving? Oh my. Listen to me America. It's okay that you read an occasional sparkly vampire book. Really. All work, no play, I understand. But your four favorites are all sparkly? Let's think about this for a moment. There is a lot more at stake than a bit of literary fluff. Don't believe me? America, next time you visit Boston (and don't pretend you're not going to visit, I see you every year America, with your cameras and fanny packs, walking the Freedom Trail and visiting colleges, you'll be here, sooner or later) stop by our library. It won't be hard to find, it's just a block away from the big shopping mall. Look up and read what is carved into the side of the building. “The Commonwealth requires the education of the people as the safeguard of order and liberty.” What does that mean? It means that if you have the ability to read, you have a duty to yourself and your society to occasionally read something that challenges your mind, that exercises your brain. Entertainment is fine, but while you're at it inform, expand, and educate. America, if you stop reading good books we lose the greatest safeguard of our order and liberty – an informed, intelligent populace.

There you are America. If all you're reading is sparkly vampire stuff, then the terrorists win. And you don't want that, now do you? Of course not. So stand up, salute the flag, march down to a library or bookstore near you, and continue that education. Be a patriot – embiggen your mind.

Weak and Weary

I just noticed that today is the 165th anniversary of the first publication of Edgar A. Poe's “The Raven” in the Evening Mirror. That reminds me that I haven't yet mentioned my recent visit to the Boston Public Library's exhibit of “The Raven in the Frog Pond: Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Boston.” If you're a Poe fan and you're in the Boston area, it's worth the trip. They've gathered a nice little collection of Poe stuff, most of it related to his association with his natal city. I was amused to see a few things in a case of pop-cultural artifacts that are in my own collection, including the Edgar action figure and an old magazine ad that used the poet to sell Bell's Whiskey. My copy is framed and hanging, hanging by my chamber door. Only that, and nothing more.

They have quite a few letters written to him and some that he wrote. I enjoyed seeing his handwriting, which was something he himself thought highly of. There were some documents relating to various literary feuds he got himself into with Boston writers, some stuff about his mother that I had never seen before, and pictures of his birthplace as it stood before our idiot state government had it torn down to make way for an office building. The collection had two real gems. The first was a copy of Tamerlane and Other Poems, Poe's first book and one of the rarest in American literature. The other was the famous “Annie Daguerreotype.” I've seen pictures of both, but it's kind of a thrill to see the real things.

As I said, if you like Poe, you'll like the exhibit. If you're a Poe geek, you've probably already seen it. If you're a poor student and need something to do, remember that the library is always free.

Protecting Children

Officials in Culpeper County, Virginia, have decided that students there shall no longer be assigned Anne Frank's diary as part of their education. It's just too damned sexy. Really.

A whole family being hunted down and killed along with millions of other innocent people? That's fine for the kids. A young girl musing about her changing body and dealing with new feelings? We must shield the children from such terrible things.

Congratulations Culpeper County. You are now Maniacal Hooting's official Most Embarrassing Place in America ™.

The Verdict

As you may have heard, I had jury duty this month. A fellow juror told us that one of his co-workers had asked him if he was on a fun case or a boring case. The answer is neither. Ours was a case of the rape of an eleven year old girl.

The prosecution's star witness was the victim, now sixteen. She looked and acted like an average teenage girl. She told her story, occasionally fighting back tears, in stark, simple terms. It was not easy to listen to. She was very credible, and nothing was presented that suggested any reason that she might lie.

The defense's star witness was the defendant himself. He did not do himself any favors on the stand. He was defensive, evasive, and not credible at all. He was a gift to the prosecutor. During cross examination I looked over at his attorney. Her head was down and her face was hidden behind her hands. She looked unwell.

To make things worse for the defendant, we learned that he had been in possession of child pornography. When the prosecution rested we didn't know much about that. Was it just a few images along with lots of adult porn? Details were sketchy. After the defendant's testimony we knew for certain that he had a fairly keen interest in the subject, and did not deny that he had posted child porn to more than one on-line group.

We deliberated for about five and a half hours. My fellow jurors wanted to go over every detail of the case, to deal fully with every possible doubt, and even a few impossible doubts. No one wanted to get it wrong. No one wanted to send an innocent man to jail. For some of us even the possibility was too much to bear.

Over time and after much discussion, thought, and agonizing, we came to the only reasonable conclusion. Guilty.

Marching back into the courtroom to deliver the verdict was a bit difficult. In that courtroom the jury enters from behind the judge's desk and walks past the defense table. I suppose the defendant was watching us as we came in, looking for some sign. I don't really know. I tried not to focus on anything. When we got to the jury box I looked around the room. The victim was near the back on the prosecution side, surrounded by friends and family. Sitting just behind the defendant were his father and brothers. I had noticed the father earlier in the trial. He was bent over with age and troubles, but he had the look of a tough old guy. The Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on his jacket told me how he had served our country. He deserved better than to have to hear this. He had sat there while his son had revealed his sexual inadequacies and his fondness for naked children. As this had gone on he was slumped over. He was devastated. I was glad that his other sons were with him.

Our foreman read the verdict. Guilty. “So say you all?” Yes. For some reason I still couldn't look right at the defendant, now the convicted child rapist. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, almost like looking at the sun. I saw no reaction, as if he was prepared for it. One of his brothers fell back into his seat in obvious disappointment. From my angle I couldn't see the victim.

The court officer walked us out of the courtroom and back into the deliberation room. We had to wait a few minutes. The judge wanted to speak to us, thank us for our service, that sort of thing. The alternates rejoined us (it is a 12 person jury who deliberates, but 14 hear the case; two alternates are chosen randomly). They both said that they agreed with the verdict. One of the court officers congratulated us. That officer, who had seen far more of the proceedings than the jury, said that it was “a great, good verdict.” The judge joined us. He told us something that couldn't have been revealed to us before. The bad guy had not only been investigated for child porn, but had served a three year probation after having been convicted of the crime. The judge said that in his experience child rape was a terrible crime (of course) that left victims struggling and pained for years. He told us that he interviewed potential jurors for cases like this one in the past. That is done, of course, to determine if they have any bias. He has had grown men tell him that they were sexually assaulted as children, then break down, cry, and say that until that moment they had never told that to anyone before. It's hard to imagine that much pain hidden away in a human soul. He said that this sort of crime occurred far more frequently than most people imagine, and that the pattern of moving from child porn to child rape was something he saw often.

I thought the judge did a fine job. He explained things clearly and impressed upon us his feeling that the jury is the most important part of any trial. I was also impressed by the court officers. They did their jobs with professionalism and courtesy. It is good to know that justice is administered by such people.

It is a dark, miserable thing to deal with this side of humanity. It must be done, and in a free society it must be done by the citizens. This time it fell to me, and to thirteen other people, all of whom displayed decency, thoughtfulness, and good will. It was an honor to serve with them.

Strange January

It has been quite a month so far. It started with me getting sick. I haven't had a cold in years, so I guess I was due, but that thought didn't comfort me. While I should have been drinking fluids and getting bed rest, there was a problem at work -- a partial ceiling collapse. That was all kinds of fun. Once that was taken care of I had jury duty. I had to serve, and that was no fun at all. I'll tell you about it in a few days. Then we had a special election here in the Bay State. You may have heard something about it. That same week my computer died. The repair estimate was roughly the same as what I had paid for the thing. New computer time, so I'm way the heck over budget for the month, of course. Then, finally, a business trip. And just so you know, I hate travel.

Today's low point: rough weather in a Dash-8. Getting bounced around in my seat and being pulled in odd directions is not my idea of fun.

Today's high points: rainbows. I saw the first one out the window of the plane. It was small in size, brief in duration, below me, and a perfect circle. It was a pretty thing. The second was quite large and even more brief, spotted up a hill at the end of a street above me. I walked toward it to get a better look, but it faded away as I reached the end of the road.

No pot of gold either time.

Normality, one hopes, will be returning soon.

The Best Policy

Good news! Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis has announced a new policy. Boston police officers will no longer be permitted to lie under oath. Lying on police reports is, of course, still acceptable.

These new "civil rights" we keep hearing about do make one quite giddy.

No Toaster?

Today is Edgar Poe's 201st birthday and for the first time in about 60 years the Poe Toaster failed to appear. I've always had the feeling that the new Toaster was motivated by family tradition rather than devotion to Mr Poe. Those notes he would occasionally leave, opining about football and France, gave me the impression that his heart wasn't into it. Perhaps it is time for the Toaster Nevermore. Maybe someone should start a less morbid tradition here in Boston. Two roses at his birthplace, one for him, one for Eliza, and no booze. That might be a nice project. For now I'll offer my own toast (with tea; it's a bit early for cognac and I'm more of a bourbon man anyway). To Muddy. To Sissy. And to dear old Eddie himself. Cheers from Frogpondium.

Blue Screen of Death

It looks like my PC just gave up the ghost. I guess I should try to fix it.

Sigh.

I'm a PC, and I turn into a paperweight.

I, the Jury

Just a quick status update. I'm on a jury. It's a criminal case, which is about all I can say. I'll probably be serving for several more days.

The Spaceman Answer

Well, I gave it almost a month, but nobody got my spacemen question. Last month I asked if you could name the first person to take off from the earth in a spacecraft, reach space, and then fly that spacecraft safely back to the surface of our planet. The answer is Alan Shepard in Freedom 7. While Yuri Gagarin was the first person to reach space, he did not fly his spacecraft, Vostok 1, back to our planet. Soviet rocket scientists felt that the cosmonaut would not survive a landing (they were surely right – Vostok is said to have left a nice little crater), so Gagarin bailed out of the plummeting ship about four miles up. He parachuted into a farm, where he asked the first people that he met for a phone so he could call Moscow and tell them that he was alive. I wonder, what is the Russian word for cojones?

Our Civic Duty

I've got jury duty next week. Yes, it is a pain, but it is a civic responsibility. Jury duty is part of the democratic bulwark that holds back tyranny. I have no patience for anyone who tries to get out of it. That's why I'm ticked off at Sal Esposito from East Boston. He tried to squirm out of his duty but the jury commissioner was having none of it. Sal is going to have to show up at the courthouse like everybody else. As if being a cat was an excuse. Ridiculous. Cats make excellent jurors. They are well known for their impartiality. They are fully capable of sitting and doing nothing for hours at a time. They are good observers. And the fact that they are highly judgmental demonstrates that they are capable of judgment.

I for one say that it is about time that feline freeloaders like Sal contribute something to society.

Never a Good Sign

The sound of helicopters hovering over your neighborhood is usually a pretty bad omen. It turns out that a large apartment building a few blocks from us is on fire. We can't see it from here, but there's a lot of black smoke off to the west. A lot of people just lost their homes. I do hope no one was hurt.

Early reports say it is a six-alarm fire and the locals have called in help from several towns.

Grim.

UPDATE: Three or four residents were treated for smoke inhalation, three firefighters were also treated for minor injuries. About 40 to 50 people lived there.

Still Dragging

Just an update -- I'm feeling a lot better. I may even get to sleep without drugs tonight. Well, just the usual drugs, but nothing extra. Still pretty wiped out. This afternoon I was working on a little project at my desk when I passed out. Roused myself, got back to it, then out again. Figured a little nap might help, so I hit the couch, figuring I'd just close my eyes for a few minutes. I opened my eyes two hours later.

I'm not feeling particularly productive.

Again I say, blah.

Found Book

I found a book on my way home tonight. It's called The Mall of Cthulhu. Never heard of it, but it looks fairly amusing. Anyway, if you lost your copy in the Boston area today, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just add it to the Maniacal Library.

By the way, I still feel pretty crummy, but I'm getting better.