How Many Jurors Does a Good Verdict Require?

I watch trial coverage on TV and like shows and movies that include legal drama, so I well know that an American criminal case is decided by twelve jurors.  Well, that's what I thought, but an article on "The Mathematics of Jury Size," by Chris Gorski of Inside Science News Service points out why this Blind Bambi isn't always as smart as he thinks he is.

He explains that the customary juror count of twelve dates back to the decision of an 8th century Welsh king, who established jury trials and based their size on the fact that Jesus had twelve Apostles.  The U.S. Constitution does not specify 12-person juries nor does it require unanimous decisions, and some states do, in fact, employ some variants of the traditions.  For example, states like Florida, Connecticut, and others have either considered or actually used smaller juries of six or nine people instead.  In Louisiana, verdicts may only require agreement of nine out of twelve jurors.  In 1978, however, when Georgia tried to pare down to a five person jury for certain criminal trials, the Supreme Court stepped in and disallowed it.

Anyway, Jeff Suzuki, a mathematician at Brooklyn College in New York, recently presented research into the likelihood of conviction given variances in jury conditions such as its size.  Not surprisingly, his model suggests that smaller juries are more likely than larger juries to convict when the defendant appears less certain to be guilty.  As he points out that the accuracy of jury decisions is much more complicated than the number of people entrusted with the decision, it appears that the answer for optimum jury size is (again not surprisingly) not clear.

A Gravity Defying Dunk

Paul "Tiny" Sturgess is the world's tallest professional basketball player. This 7' 8" tall British native is a Harlem Globetrotter. If you haven't yet seen it, there is a viral video of a dunk by him with a nearly non-existent vertical component. Check it out here on Yahoo! Sports. If you like that, there is a Harlem Globetrotters YouTube video with him assisting on a Statue of Liberty Dunk.

Making Mobile More Moisture-Resistant ???

Apparently, in Japan, most (about 90-95 percent) phones are waterproof.  At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, a Fujitsu vice-president stated, "The mobile phone is with us 24 hours a day. It accompanies us to the bathroom, to the shower, or under the rain. So it is a necessity for the phone to be robust,"

I love this way of thinking.  I personally, would probably never buy a watch that isn't waterproof. Why should this same logic not extend to my cell phone.  About a third of the damage to mobile phones involves exposure to water of some kind.

In general, any advance in "hardening" technologies is welcome news to someone as rough on things as I am.  For instance, in November, Apple recently filed for a patent on a crack resistant glass screen solution.

Some phone manufacturers already have models that meet military standards for solar radiation, rain, dust, altitude, shock, temperature and more.  These are typically, however, not the models with the most features, smallest footprint, or trendiest styling.  As such, they are not the phones that most of put at the top of our wish list.  With the Japanese helping to influence the global market, though, perhaps the concept of ruggedness will become more prevalent within the mainstream product lines.

Feat Turns Fatal

I just saw a news article reporting the tragic death of a Sri Lankan man, last Saturday, while trying to set a record for the longest time spent buried alive.  His mother indicated that he had been buried alive on two previous occasions - for two and a half hours and six hours respectively.  This time, he was found unconscious after spending six and a half hours buried in a ten foot deep trench sealed with wood and soil.  In spite of his efforts, it is unclear whether there is even an official world record for the longest time buried alive.

This is apparently a stunt that even famous escape artist Harry Houdini had trouble with.  In 1917, near Santa Ana, California, he was buried, without a casket, in a pit of earth six feet deep. He became exhausted and panicky trying to dig his way to the surface and called for help. When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the weight of the earth is killing."

I don't want to pass judgement on anyone's rationale for attempting something like this.  I can sincerely tell you, however, that this Blind Bambi has absolutely no interest in trying something like this at home (or on a reality show).

The Oreo Turns 100

This Tuesday, the iconic Oreo cookie celebrates it's 100th birthday.  On March 6, 1912, the National Biscuit Company made its first sale of Oreo sandwich cookies, for 30 cents per pound, to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey.  The current brand owner, Kraft Foods (parent company of Nabisco), enjoyed worldwide Oreo sales, in 100 countries, of more than $2 billion last year.  It is estimated that 491 billion Oreos have been sold since it was first introduced.  It was the best selling cookie of the 20th century.

The original Oreo came in one of two flavors:  lemon meringue and vanilla cream.  The meringue flavor was soon discontinued as the vanilla cream version was more popular.  In 1952, the sandwich cookie we recognize today as the classic Oreo, two crispy chocolate wafers with sweet vanilla icing filling, was introduced.  Apparently, the Oreo recipe is adjusted somewhat around the world to address regional preferences.  For instance, the Canadian version is slightly different than its U.S. baked counterpart.  In China, the most popular version is a green tea ice-cream flavor. In Latin America, there is a banana and dulce de leche-filled cookie.  Last year, Oreos were introduced in Germany, India and Poland.

Some believe that the cookie's name was taken from the French word for gold, "or" (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, "oreo." Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the "re" from "cream" and placing it between the two "o"s in "chocolate" - making "o-re-o." And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo simply because it was short and easy to pronounce.

The Oreo is dubbed milk's favorite cookie.  The "twist, lick and dunk" method of eating it is favored by about half of cookie connoisseurs and is more popular among women Oreo eaters than men.  Personally, this Blind Bambi is not an Oreo "dunker", but I am now off to enjoy a tall glass of cold milk and a couple of Oreo cookies to celebrate one of my favorite centenarians.

Contraction of the Market for CDs

The latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine includes an article entitled, “Is the CD Era Finally Over?”  It reports that, in 2011, digital music sales outstripped physical sales for the first time ever.  The speculation, then, is that the CD, as a format, will follow predecessors like the cassette and eight-track tape into obsolescence.  In fact, news stories are starting to announce that major labels may be planning to discontinue the recording and sales of music CDs as early as late 2012.

The first album pressed on CD was "The Visitors" by Abba, and the first CD release was Billy Joel’s "52nd Street," recorded and produced by Sony in 1982.  The first platinum-selling CD album came in 1985 – Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms – and according to BBC News, it is still the world’s most successful album on CD.  Sales for music CDs of all genres peaked in 2000 at 2.455 billion.  In 2006, that figure was down to 1.755 billion.  By 2011, just 223 million CDs were sold.

Middle-aged and senior adults are least likely to have embraced the MP3 era of digital downloads.  As a specific example, Rolling Stone compared this month’s sales of an older musician, Leonard Cohen, and a younger musician, Lana Del Rey. Cohen’s latest album sold roughly 70 percent of its copies on CD, but Del Ray’s album just sold 26 percent on CD.  Likewise, lower income Americans may have more difficulty transitioning to all-digital music distribution.

Believe it or not, this Blind Bambi actually owns and uses an iPod.  I certainly appreciate and understand the convenience and portability of digital music libraries and cloud-based services that can make them readily available to a variety of devices at nearly any location.  I grew up in an era, however, when buying music equated to the purchase of something physical (e.g., an LP, a 45 single, an 8-track, a cassette, a CD, ...).  For that reason, I struggle a little with the on-going demise of the CD as a music format.  I'm not ready, yet, for the CD-stocked shelves of Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and other retailers to simply disappear.  But, then again, I still own a bunch of VHS videotapes.