Call of duty.

Calling today pointless would be polite. 10:00am start time, 12:45 dismissal, thank you very much. In what counts as two days of my time, only one case required a jury. Let me explain how it works in Manhattan's court system.

• 150-200 people are selected "at random" to serve jury duty.
• Jury duty lasts 2 days.
• Manhattanites are required to answer the call once every six years.
• Everyone sits in a room trying to keep busy sane.
• Four courtrooms are served by this larger pool of people.
• If a court case cannot come to terms and requires a jury, 80-100 people of the larger group are selected "at random."
• The jury (12) and backups (2) are picked from the smaller pool of 80-100.
• If not selected for the jury, the remaining 66-86 people return to the rest of the group with the possibility of being selected again.
• This entire process was painfully slow.
  

Overall, a drab scene. But on to other matters!

Today's picture has nothing to do with the mind numbing duty described above. Call him an only in New York moment or a smart business entrepreneur, but this guy can be found hanging outside of the city clerk's office. Now that marriages in City Hall are a viable option, my friend here is dominating the fake flower bouquet market. Twenty bucks will make your next shotgun wedding complete.