The Pilot and the Priest, at the Pearly Gates...

Via my mom:

A priest dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him is a guy who's dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket and jeans.

Saint Peter addresses this cool guy, "Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?"

The guy replies, "I'm Jack, retired airline pilot from Houston."

Saint Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the pilot, "Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom." The pilot goes into Heaven with his robe and staff.

Next, it's the priest's turn. He stands erect and booms out, "I am Father Bob, pastor of Saint Mary's for the last 43 years."

Saint Peter consults his list. He says to the priest, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom."

"Just a minute," says the good father. "That man was a pilot and he gets a silken robe and golden staff and I get only cotton and wood. How can this be?"

"Up here - we go by results," says Saint Peter. "When you preached - people slept. When he flew, people prayed."

Plea Bargains...

Most criminal cases in the U.S. never go to trial.  Instead, the accused pleads guilty as part of a “plea bargain”.  This saves an enormous amount of time and money, and reduces the number of judges, courtrooms, prosecutors, etc. needed in the justice system.

It also leads, in some cases, to miscarriages of justice – in both directions.  That is, sometimes innocent people are pressured into pleading guilty to avoid the risk of long jail terms.  Sometimes (more often, actually) guilty people are pleading to lesser charges than they're guilty of – putting us all at risk of their repeat offenses.

But, what if...every defendant decided to insist upon their right (granted by the Constitution) for a trial by a jury of their peers?  Short answer: they'd crash the justice system, which doesn't have the resources to handle such a load...

Another interesting and thought-provoking read...

Anybody Know What Time It Is?

Go here.  You'll find the exact time, and it will tell you how far off your computer's clock is.  I have a Mac, so it's using NTP out-of-the-box and the clock setting is darned near perfect (0.008 seconds off)...

Locked Up...

The New Yorker has an interesting article on why America imprisons so many more people than any other country.  I have many disagreements with some opinions expressed, but I completely agree that our incarceration rate is symptomatic of some profound problem in our society.  It's a thought-provoking read...