Five things
1. I have in fact been playing a lot of Minecraft since my last post! Since the update let me open up way more of the map to explore, I put in a lot of time finally finishing my starter base and storage. :D (it is basically the Drum Point lighthouse done in birch and copper; note to self: don't build things that are made of hexagons and diagonal cross-braces in Minecraft?? But it came out pretty nice actually! I have decided I love trapdoors!)
I also realized what I thought was a glitch when sand fell on me is actually that apparently Protection IV armor with Feather Falling in Peaceful means it's nearly impossible to die of anything. Good to know that after I panicked I guess! I don't think I ever enchanted my armor in my other Peaceful worlds, and you can definitely die without Prot IV. Will probably finally go to the Nether soon because now that an Enderchest is an option I really really want one.
2. I finished up my 18 months on the Federal Grand Jury last week! I would like to write a proper long post about the experience but, um, we'll see. I will say that overall I am glad I had the chance to do it, and if you get a chance to be on a grand jury and it's something you can do, you should. Getting to see more of how the justice system works in process by seeing a lot of different cases at different points in their lifespan (from "we've subpoena'd you a witness just to see if it's worth trying to prosecute anything" to "this case mostly went to trial a year ago but we need to make a minor change to this one last charge) was really interesting and helped me understand a lot about how things work. I think most valuable though was working for 18 months with the rest of the grand jurors, who were a group that was pretty unique to my adult life in a couple of ways: We were completely randomly selected, the only thing we had in common was that we didn't wriggle out of our jury summons, so it was a lot of people I would not in normal life probably have ever worked that closely with, and vice versa. But also: the court treated us as grown-ups who were competent and could be trusted to get on with it without supervision and didn't owe the court anything, which was kind of an amazingly transformative experience to me? We weren't being evaluated, we weren't being supervised, we weren't being treated like we were there on sufferance and could be kicked out at any time if we didn't meet standards. It was weird to think that was maybe the first time I was ever in a position like that. Our society is broken.
However they do in fact need to pay jurors more.
I still have to keep confidentiality about a lot of details but if you have anything about grand jury duty you're curious about I can give you vague answers! One very interesting thing is that when we started the clerk warned us that we would probably see about 1/4 firearms cases and about 1/4 deportation cases, but while we did see about 1/4 firearms cases (almost entirely 922(g) felon in possession), we saw less than 1% deportation cases. Which I can only assume is yet another quiet result of Biden running the executive branch that we haven't heard enough about.
3. Fifteen years ago, back when everyone had a dubious MP3 collection and burned mix CDs for the car, fanmixes were a major part of the fanworks I was making, but on the last one I was working on, there was a slot in the mix where I just couldn't find quite the right song, until I heard one on the radio that was so perfect I couldn't believe it. And I didn't catch the artist or title or enough lyrics to google it. So I put the mix aside until I managed to find it again.
Anyway I finally heard it on the radio again last week and made sure to remember the relevant lyrics, so I found it and I can finally finish that fanmix and work on the next one!!
4. ...yeah you may have noticed that I said I was going to finish fic WIPs this year and instead the wips I have finished are a cross-stitch pattern, a datapack, a website, and (hopefully) a fanmix. Um, oops? But hey, I'm finishing wips!
I have a Nimona wip I was hoping to finish before the movie came out but it snuck up on me, so I didn't. I have at least one GO wip I'd really like to finish before S2 comes out but prospects hazy, try again. I have the new Ann Leckie book sitting on my desk and I am already plotting out the Minecraft crossover I want to write for it.
5. Con.txt happened! I missed most of it because![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stellar_dust came through on a flying visit on the way to Iceland but what I made it to was super fun! Even if I did have to do a panel about how to find fanfic that consisted of "well, here's AO3 tips, but AO3's kind of a mess right now... Pinboard's theoretically great but it's kind of abandonware... Reddit has some good ficfinder resources -- oh oops never mind... Here's how to find and download stuff on Fanfiction.net, if you can get the site to load... Twitt-- --I guess we can always hope Google stays moderately functional for at least a few more months......?"
Anyway download your faves and save them to a thumb drive ok
Barricades con in less than two weeks! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
(Does anyone have any advice for doing a crafts how-to panel on Zoom when you don't have much in the way of a camera setup?)
I also realized what I thought was a glitch when sand fell on me is actually that apparently Protection IV armor with Feather Falling in Peaceful means it's nearly impossible to die of anything. Good to know that after I panicked I guess! I don't think I ever enchanted my armor in my other Peaceful worlds, and you can definitely die without Prot IV. Will probably finally go to the Nether soon because now that an Enderchest is an option I really really want one.
2. I finished up my 18 months on the Federal Grand Jury last week! I would like to write a proper long post about the experience but, um, we'll see. I will say that overall I am glad I had the chance to do it, and if you get a chance to be on a grand jury and it's something you can do, you should. Getting to see more of how the justice system works in process by seeing a lot of different cases at different points in their lifespan (from "we've subpoena'd you a witness just to see if it's worth trying to prosecute anything" to "this case mostly went to trial a year ago but we need to make a minor change to this one last charge) was really interesting and helped me understand a lot about how things work. I think most valuable though was working for 18 months with the rest of the grand jurors, who were a group that was pretty unique to my adult life in a couple of ways: We were completely randomly selected, the only thing we had in common was that we didn't wriggle out of our jury summons, so it was a lot of people I would not in normal life probably have ever worked that closely with, and vice versa. But also: the court treated us as grown-ups who were competent and could be trusted to get on with it without supervision and didn't owe the court anything, which was kind of an amazingly transformative experience to me? We weren't being evaluated, we weren't being supervised, we weren't being treated like we were there on sufferance and could be kicked out at any time if we didn't meet standards. It was weird to think that was maybe the first time I was ever in a position like that. Our society is broken.
However they do in fact need to pay jurors more.
I still have to keep confidentiality about a lot of details but if you have anything about grand jury duty you're curious about I can give you vague answers! One very interesting thing is that when we started the clerk warned us that we would probably see about 1/4 firearms cases and about 1/4 deportation cases, but while we did see about 1/4 firearms cases (almost entirely 922(g) felon in possession), we saw less than 1% deportation cases. Which I can only assume is yet another quiet result of Biden running the executive branch that we haven't heard enough about.
3. Fifteen years ago, back when everyone had a dubious MP3 collection and burned mix CDs for the car, fanmixes were a major part of the fanworks I was making, but on the last one I was working on, there was a slot in the mix where I just couldn't find quite the right song, until I heard one on the radio that was so perfect I couldn't believe it. And I didn't catch the artist or title or enough lyrics to google it. So I put the mix aside until I managed to find it again.
Anyway I finally heard it on the radio again last week and made sure to remember the relevant lyrics, so I found it and I can finally finish that fanmix and work on the next one!!
4. ...yeah you may have noticed that I said I was going to finish fic WIPs this year and instead the wips I have finished are a cross-stitch pattern, a datapack, a website, and (hopefully) a fanmix. Um, oops? But hey, I'm finishing wips!
I have a Nimona wip I was hoping to finish before the movie came out but it snuck up on me, so I didn't. I have at least one GO wip I'd really like to finish before S2 comes out but prospects hazy, try again. I have the new Ann Leckie book sitting on my desk and I am already plotting out the Minecraft crossover I want to write for it.
5. Con.txt happened! I missed most of it because
stellar_dust came through on a flying visit on the way to Iceland but what I made it to was super fun! Even if I did have to do a panel about how to find fanfic that consisted of "well, here's AO3 tips, but AO3's kind of a mess right now... Pinboard's theoretically great but it's kind of abandonware... Reddit has some good ficfinder resources -- oh oops never mind... Here's how to find and download stuff on Fanfiction.net, if you can get the site to load... Twitt-- --I guess we can always hope Google stays moderately functional for at least a few more months......?"Anyway download your faves and save them to a thumb drive ok
Barricades con in less than two weeks! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
(Does anyone have any advice for doing a crafts how-to panel on Zoom when you don't have much in the way of a camera setup?)
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I will say I think a petit jury would be a very different experience (and I probably would have found it a lot more unpleasant.)
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Never served on a grand jury, though my spouse has. I did serve on a petit jury for a criminal trial once. It was an interesting experience. The judge appointed me jury foreman because I kept asking questions about the applicable law--according to him, I got the job because I wasn't afraid to talk to him.
All through the process, they emphasized that we, the jury, were the most important people in the courtroom. Without us, there is no justice system in a democracy. All the court officials and the judge were polite and respectful to us. When our deliberations spanned lunch hour, we were taken to dine in the judges' cafeteria, which was quite nice. Again, the emphasis was that jurors rank with judges in the legal system. It was quite the experience.
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This exactly!
Like, the whole time we were there, there was a strong sense of, all you had to do to earn your place here was to be an adult human being. All you had to do to be of equal rank and power to anyone else in this courthouse was to be an adult human being. Just by being a human being you are doing valuable work, and every adult human being has both the ability and the right to do that work.
Grand jury doesn't even have voir dire to speak of, if you were randomly chosen and didn't have an excuse you were in.
Like, say what you will about the justice system (there is a lot to say) I have literally never been anywhere else that felt that affirming of my essential, inalienable value as human. (And meanwhile part of the work we were doing was deciding if other humans deserved to have their rights stripped away. If only there were more contexts to get that kind of affirmation that did not involve being tied up in the justice system.)
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I have only found one armor trim so far! The first new section of map I opened turned out to be mostly desert, mesa, and coral reef, and the shipwrecks were not generous to me, so I only have Dune, which I am absolutely going to do in emerald on a gold helmet so I look like Commander Keen when I go to the Nether.
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That's so interesting. I'm finding it hard to fathom. ;-p
Your con.txt panel, oh dear! /o\
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Wow... Man, what a thought. I'm glad you were able to describe this.
Your panel about all the platforms currently on fire is kind of heartbreaking 🥲🥲 Many of the big platforms are really going through it right now.
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But the panel went fine! It was just kind of depressing.
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But it doesn't sound good: https://staff.tumblr.com/post/722477242948747264/tumblrs-core-product-strategy
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Are there youtube videos of it you can use?
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Ah, yeah, in that case, I'd make one, taking pictures of steps of all parts of the process, stick them into a powerpoint/ppt and share that. And maybe see if someone with a better camera set up would be willing to be the one doing it live.
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very yes... so many yes.
i think here where i live you get something like $8/day, maybe a little more.
how is that even workable? i mean, this has to be a big part of why ppl try to get out of jury duty - they literally can't afford to take the day for it bc their jobs don't pay them for not being there (mine does, but that may be a unique experience)
ETA: wanna add that i haven't official sat on a jury, just done the 'wait in the wings to see if this goes to trial' and the voire dire bits
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I am delighted that the fanmix from 15 years ago is something that has been an active wip all this time, just waiting to be finished! and you did it!!
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GOD, SERIOUSLY
It's flashing me back to the bad old days of the nineties with Usenet and Geocities where I printed out copies of articles and emails and stories that I wanted. Because the internet seemed so ephemeral. (Where are those printouts now? God knows....) I am not enjoying having that feeling again! Especially since the one time we saved up and got one of those 2TB external hard drives (lots of people have this brand, highly recommended, blah blah) it bit the dust after a lot of stuff had been loaded onto it. :-/