#24 - Our Civic Duty
Welcome to the five new folks who joined us since last week - including my dad and sister who also feature prominently in the “What I Published This Week” section as I FINALLY got the video and blog posts up from our Amtrak adventure back in June.
Don’t forget that if I get enough replies with questions or things you’d like to know about, I’ll publish those in issue 26 as an Ask Me Anything section. So, something you want me to answer, talk more about, or write a tip or find a tool for, just hit reply.
Photo of the Week
I hadn’t made it to the Fort Ben Farmer’s Market yet this year so, of course, I decided Kona and I needed an outing on Thursday afternoon which was one of the hottest days of the year! He got his new fave treat from Pet Wants (if you have a dog - they will love these!), I got some beautiful basil plants and a few veggies, and for the two of us - popcorn from Groomsville Popcorn. In addition to being my first time to the Farmer’s Market this year, it was also my first time at the new “Cultural Campus”. These are the musical swings. As you swing on them they make noise. It’s very fun. There is a nice picnic area as well. Shakespeare in the Park was being held right near here later that night but that wasn’t really our jam.
Our Civic Duty
As you sit reading this, I may very well be making my way onto the Marion County Community Justice Campus to see if I have to sit on a jury.
This is the third time in less than five years I’ve been selected for Marion County jury duty.
The last time was during COVID and I didn’t have to report. That said, that day was almost two years to the day since my first call to jury duty - but it was outside of the two year window so there was no automatic exemption from service and I still had to call to see if I had to report.
When I got called for jury duty the first time, I got selected for the jury in an assault case. It was an interesting process and it made me think about what it means to be called for jury duty.
Someone is having one of the worst days of their life - putting the fate of their freedom into the hands of 12 people and some lawyers and a judge - for a mistake they may or may not have made.
Someone has to relive one of the worst days of their life as they tell the story - or tell the story on behalf of a victim - of a crime or crimes perpetrated against them.
A jury holds freedom in their collective hands. The decision for or against guilt must be unanimous. The human dynamics inside of a jury room are really interesting.
We found the defendant guilty on all but one charge in the case. I remember hearing the gavel drop and seeing officers lead the defendant away. My decision played a part in the rest of that person’s life.
The fact the jury found the defendant not guilty on one of the charges brings up something my service on the jury made me much more aware of than I previously had been - the way prosecutors stack charges. As a juror with my 11 counterparts, the charge stacking was frustrating. We had to consider a number of separate charges, the evidence separately for each of these charges, and then make a decision separately on each charge. Based on my limited understanding of the law, these charges overlapped - so there was say one lower class charge for the assault and one higher class charge for the assault. This gives the prosecution a better chance of a guilty verdict on some charge(s). More importantly, it gives the jury the idea that this defendant did LOTS of bad things.
So, as I probably walk into the jury selection process - and possibly into a court room - I will hold the reminder that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty and I’ll do my best to give the person a fair trial. And, if I don’t have to report for duty - it will just be another regularly Monday.
I consider it important to do those things which are a part of our freedom and democracy. As frustrating as the political and justice systems are we must still participate in them in order to exercise our rights in this country.
Tools, Tips, & Tricks
Password Security Tip
tl;dr - NEVER click a link in ANYTHING - emails, texts, chats, direct messages, etc. that you didn’t request or specifically expect.
This week, I received a random email from Qdoba telling me that they’d changed my password and that I needed to click a link in the email to reset my password. Here’s a photo of what I received.
In all honesty, this probably was a legitimate email, but even if it is, Qdoba practiced poor security in handling this. Here’s how to handle an email like this from a security minded perspective:
NEVER click links in emails like the one above if - and here is the key to it - you didn’t request a password reset email from their website.
Go to Google (or your favorite search engine) and search for the site in question - so in this case I went to Google and searched for Qdoba.
Find the “forgot password” or “reset my password” link on their web site and click it. They will typically ask for your email address. After you enter your address, you will get a link to reset the password.
Use THAT link to reset the password.
Again, while Qdoba’s initial email passed every sniff test for me of a having no big potential security concerns, where your digital information is concerned safe is better than sorry.
What I Published This Week
I set up some new templates this week to help manage my publishing schedules. Definitely not perfect yet, but I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made so far. Here is what I published this week:
I FINALLY hit publish on my video from our Amtrak Trip AND posted the blog posts. They will keep coming out over the next few days, but the video is live now and you can start with these that are already posted:
YouTube Video - It’s 45 minutes long. You can also read the blog posts (the whole video is linked in the first post below - Meet Your Travelers) and in some posts, I’ll link to specific moments of the video if you want what I think are maybe highlights.
And…as this publishes, thanks to the joy of scheduled posts, the second day post will also go live on my website (just scroll down past the photo of Kona and I and you should see it)
Develop Prompts to Action - Habits, Templates, Checklists, Standard Operating Procedures, and Projects - This began as a really long email. Lucky for you, the article is a much more refined second draft of that email.
12 Favorite Problems - A Tool for Systematic Curiosity - I’ve really struggled to regularly release content on my business web site. I’ve got a list of about 10 article ideas so hopefully I’m now set in a rhythm to release these every Friday.
Mental Health Awareness and Care in Higher Education - This was a piece for a client and I’m really proud of it.
Job Profile: Chief of Peace and Wellness (Chief PAW) - I shared several more well developed pieces this week. This one - written in Kona’s voice - as well as this one on what kind of fruit would I be were just for fun.
What I’m Reading This Week
I didn’t add any new reading material to my list this week - just continued reading all the stuff on my reading list.
Diversion
I’ve been binging a lot of television lately. Last weekend, Gayle and I may or may not have binged 10 hours of The Lincoln Lawyer - a reimagining of the film as a tv series. I don’t remember watching the film. That said, the series was wonderful.
For me, the highlights of the series were character development and the complexity of the story. Here is the official trailer from Netflix.
The Lincoln Lawyer is available on Netflix. Thankfully, there will also be a second season coming out soon.
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