Olympic Curling and My Civic Duty

For anybody who has been living under a rock for the past 12 hours, Fenton's team made history by taking the bronze medal in Men's Curling, the first Olympic medal the US has ever won in the sport (women's or men's). It's unlikely that this will live up to other great moments in the annals of the American Olympic experience like the Men's Baseball victory in Sydney or Paul Gonzales's gold in the light flyweight in Los Angeles. However, the sheer volume of the coverage (I swear every TV I've looked at for 2 weeks had people carrying brooms on it) will certainly do wonders to raise awareness of the sport in the Unites States. For a month or so, after which we'll forget it for 4 years. Kind of like figure skating with 44-lb stones.

In other words, on Wednesday I am fortunate enough to be able to travel down to Centre Street bright and early in order to personally ensure the proper functioning of our criminal justice system. I don't want to come out against the jury system, because that would be un-American, but it is amazing the kinds of things they let juries decide. Especially things like patent cases and drug safety cases. Do 12 people off the street in New Jersey really have the ability to determine if Vioxx was legally responsible for causing some guy's untimely death? Personally I don't view myself as capable of understanding either the law or the science behind such a case, and I almost have a chemistry minor. I think the reason this persists is...the people who could really judge are squarely in the drug industry's pocket. So, I guess this system is as good as any.

I am a bit intrigued about the whole thing, but from a "is it really as horrible a waste of time as people say" perspective. Any good ideas for things to do while waiting indefinitely in a cold, dank jury room?