Notes from Jury Duty

I had jury duty today. I escaped remarkably unscathed!

According to those in the know, Thursdays are frequently slow at this courthouse, so it’s not surprising that my name never got called ever during the whole day.

Therefore, I did not need to play up the poorly socialized mathematician angle.

Very poor OPSEC at jury duty. Not that I am considering doing anything that is illegal or unethical or disruptive. But if someone were considering doing any of those things, it would not be hard. Likely there are cameras and stuff that could be referred to later if someone did something significant enough to be noticed, but some of the subtle ways of undermining the system might not even be noticed.

New theory about the airport: You need to go through the metal detector to get into the courthouse, and your bag needs to go through the x-ray machine. But the rules at the courthouse are not the same as the ones at the airport; the rules at the courthouse are roughly like going to the airport in 1979. Maybe all the people I see at the airport who are really terrible at the security line go to court a lot and just assume that it works the same way at the airport?

Insert angry-face emoji: The letter from the jury duty office specifically alerted us to the security screening process. It listed specific items that are verboten. These include knitting needles. Today I saw a woman knitting a sock in the jury lounge. Hashtag security theater.