The Lawyer & The Jury

In a criminal justice system based on 12 individuals not smart enough to get out of jury duty, here is a jury of which to be proud. A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defence's closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened. Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed, and I insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." The jury spokesman replied, "Yes, we did look, but your client didn't." Tags:Jury,Lawyer

Current Mood: Accomplished

Sales, Pride & Prejudice

Whoever says Spain is always sunny and warm don't know what they are saying! Most of the time yes, definitely not always. For about 2 whole months now, the weather in northern Spain has been most days icy cold though dry, and often with a very fierce and destructive wind named 'Tramontana', so well known even many foreign visitors ask about it at travel agencies before they decide to book a trip or not during the months when this famous wind also visits, and this year, now, it refuses to subside. I received an invitation to return to London round last Christmas time, to stay over till after the January sale in all famous big stores as well some otherwise not so affordable to most. I wished I had gone, but then I was being threatened by Multiply wishing to chuck out all their users and I needed to spend more time at the computer to find myself a new web 'home'. I have not yet find where I will be happy to stay put, and meanwhile suffering as I never did with the freezing weather, worse than all those years I lived in London!!!

Anyway, as far as Sales, I remember watching how the legendary, the most prestigious department store in London, Harrods, were wildly assaulted by bargain hunters bursting in like tornado or avalanche trying to get into the store, as if their life depended on able to grab something, anything, from the store to show off to their family and friends.

Similar scenarios were also everywhere here in Spain, classy stores as well as street corner ones. One in particular in Barcelona captured my attention in their January Sale, during which their prices do not come down but fall headlong to the ground. As if the sort of bargaining or the general sales strategy, the kind most commerce use, progressively cutting down prices 10%, then another 10% ... was contemptible; like great artists, opera maestros, singers, famous orchestras ... anything in between is below them. They charge sky high entrance or do it for nothing.

Well this boutique, during the sales, the goods are packed and given to you in plastic bags, the kind for collecting garbage, not the usual glossy wrapping with gigantic silk ribbons. Their way of disdain, or undertone contempt, or display of superiority maybe, not sure which. As though the meagre sum they enter in the receipt for you was dirtying their hands. Because of the queues to get in, the battle one has to fight when you are actually in, to get to your desired target goods, and most of all for that contemptuous attitude, I have never bought a thing there. At normal prices I can't afford it, at sales my own pride wouldn't allow me!

Come to think of it, the few years I lived in London, I never bought a thing in Harrod's sales either. I did buy a few items during normal seasons though, exquisite food, and shoes; what else?

Tags:Harrods,sales

Current Mood: Satisfied

The Seeing Machine

A portable device to help the blind or visually impaired people to see is a result of more than 20 years' work, in the Institute of Technology in Massachusetts (MIT), in the United States. The machine can be fabricated for less than $500 (€372), assured Elizabeth Goldring, scientist at the centre of the Advanced Visual Studies of the MIT, author of the idea. To Goldring, who is herself blind in one eye and with very limited vision in the other, conceived the idea of a 'seeing' machine when she was at the optometrist, during the examination of her eyes, where the diagnostic machine, the ophthalmoscopy (examination of eyes using ophthalmoscope) with laser sweep to project a simple image directly on the retina. She could see the image and asked to have a word projected, which she could see as well so later she asked for the transmission of a video to be projected the same way. Although the ophthalmoscopy permits seeing images, it's a very big and expensive machine. During the next 20 years Goldring and her team, together with dozens of participating students, had, through studies, experiments, trials and errors, produced first a machine of table size and now a portable one. So informed MIT. The team led by Rob Webb who invented the ophthalmoscopy, and works in the University of Harvard. The portable version is cheap and possible because they have replaced the laser with diode transmitter of light (LED) which are equally a source of brilliant light. Besides, all the components are these days much smaller and are mass produced for other purposes. This seeing machine is mounted on a flexible tripod and can be connected to any source of vision like a video camera, or a computer screen .It is not a matter of magnifying the images. It works because all the details of the image is concentrated in a minute point of light. This device is being tested out now in patients of the Ophthalmology Clinic of Boston. Goldring uses it to make photos which lets her express herself visually. The entire project is financed by NASA and MIT. Tags:LED,Nasa,Ophthalmology

Current Mood: Accomplished

Ordinary Miracles

** Old Age, I decided, is a gift! **

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body - the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante-garde on my patio. I am entitled to overeat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with ageing.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 am, and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the bikini set. They, too, will get old if they are lucky! I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten, and I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when a beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength, understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

 

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. I can say "no," and mean it. I can say "yes," and mean it.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself any more. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day.

Today, I wish you a day of ordinary miracles.

Tags:OldAge,Miracles

Current Mood: Cheerful