response 51 of 187:

Jul 31 04:01 UTC 2003

There are no hardship exemptions for jury duty?  You can't
ask for your duty to be deferred until the end of classes?

response 53 of 187:

Jul 31 04:06 UTC 2003

(She could claim she's considering law school and just wanted to see what 
daily life in a Prosecutor's office was like.)

response 55 of 187:

Jul 31 04:28 UTC 2003

(I've always heard that the question period didn't always occur on the first
day.  She might have to show up every day, just to be told to come back the
next day.)

response 57 of 187:

Jul 31 07:33 UTC 2003

I had to show up every Monday for a month and sit around doing nothing while
groups of other people were chosen for questioning.  About the third Monday
they put me in one of those groups and immediately disqualified me for no
stated reason.  Possibly because I was so nervous they could not hear my
answers.  The disqualified at least 90% of the people in each group.  I hear
you can now request 1 week instead of 1 month.

I got out of jury duty one year because I was in school in Belgrade.

Anyone who had ever been burglarized or knew anyone who had been burglarized
or knew any police got disqualified.  They could not be impartial.

response 59 of 187:

Jul 31 13:05 UTC 2003

That's basically what I was getting at.

response 61 of 187:

Jul 31 13:27 UTC 2003

What are "hair plugs"?  I heard of them from a radio commercial for 
Sirius Satellite Radio, but nowhere else.  Did I mis-hear the phrase?

response 65 of 187:

Jul 31 15:00 UTC 2003

A mullet is long in back and short(er) on top and side.  The earliest
example I remember is the "shag cut" of the early to middle '70s.
Photgraphic examples can be found at http://www.mulletsgalore.com

Hair plugs are small plugs of hair transplanted to a bald(ing) person's
scalp to replace the lost hair.  Same idea as using plugs of grass to
start a lawn.

response 67 of 187:

Jul 31 15:15 UTC 2003

Why do most Jewish people use "G_d" instead of God. When I first 
encountered this, I thought it was just that one persons personal 
preferance, but now I notice most Jews do that.

response 69 of 187:

Jul 31 15:49 UTC 2003

I was called for jury duty a couple weeks ago.  I wasn't selected for the
jury, so it took me just one afternoon.  (For which the paid me $8.50. 
Wahoo!) I got far enough to be in the room when the questioned the jurors.
I thought two jurors were doing their best to answer questions in such a
way as to avoid being called to serve.  Both claimed that for personal reasons
they would not be willing to pass judgement on another.  Both were called to
the podium to discuss it privately with the judge, one was dismissed, the
other wasn't.  A woman who was a former homocide detective was dismissed.
A woman who seemed to have trouble following simple logical arguments was not.
The case was a drunk driving case, so a woman who was divorced from an
alcoholic husband with a history of drunk driving violations was dismissed.
A woman who herself had had her license suspended for drunk driving was not.
My impression was that it was pretty hard to figure out what would and would
not get you dismissed.

response 71 of 187:

Jul 31 16:05 UTC 2003

It's specifically a Jewish belief that you shouldn't say the name of God.

response 73 of 187:

Jul 31 16:51 UTC 2003

Ah, I understand. Like Christians wouldn't say something like "Oh my 
God". Jews just don't use the word at all. What would be considered a 
reasonable occasion to take the name of the Lord? When you're praying?

It's interesting to see the difference when compared to Hinduism. It's 
a common belief (I'm not sure whether it's actually written in some 
scripture) that saying the God's name is actually beneficial to your 
karma. In prior generations, and even the more old-fashioned people in 
the present generation, it was pretty common to name kids after 
reincarnations of Gods and even Bhagwaan, which literally translates 
to God, because everytime you called them, you were gaining karma 
points