Happy Birthday, Mama

My mother, Hilda, would be turning 95 today had she remained alive.  She sadly passed away from complications involving lung cancer in November, 2002.  Back in Mama's teenage culture during the 1940's, smoking was simply something that everyone did, and as soon as you were old enough to light up, inhale and puff without getting sick on the spot, then you were "good to go".  Only we've known for many decades now that this isn't so, and smoking is responsible for many deaths and sickness.  Mama, it turned out, had been suffering from birth with lungs that weren't fully developed, so smoking had a sharper effect on her than with many others.  She gave it up more than twenty years before the tumor was detected, and I am grateful for the time that she took this brave step against an addictive habit that was harming her health and shortening her life.  My mother was one of those warm, real, people who would fully engage folks in conversation and had a natural way of presenting herself...and a strong propensity to see humor in things (and the sweetest laugh).  When I look at myself and occasionally see some good points, chances are Mama had something significant to do with it...  

Just Pick a Side

Hard Rock, the entertainment/resort company that is prominent in my home state of Florida, has recently been airing a slew of TV commercials, some featuring recording artist Post Malone, that tout their online "service" allowing players to gamble on sports.  I suppose that if you're into that, then good for you...it's just that much easier to put your hard-earned money on the line.  So in this vein I see a company responding to a demand within the population that satisfies them.  I see other companies likewise doing this.  For example, many addicted cigarette smokers welcomed the advent of vaping, which did away with the carcinogenic tobacco elements they would breathe when "lighting up",  but which still provided them that craved nicotine effect.  Again, a demand met by companies' innovations...good for them, again.  Where I have a problem, though, with both of these examples is when the companies go out of their way to create new "needs" among the potential consumer pool that previously did not exist.  Making vaping seem cool to young people who never touched a cigarette in their lives is like this.  Or go back to Hard Rock, expanding the gambling to generally ignorant folks who don't know enough to at least make an educated guess about who will win or lose a sports contest.  With them, their latest pitch is a gimmick they have on their app whereby participants can still lay down their money and bet by simply "picking a side".  It all sounds so fun and inclusive, or at least that's how the ads make it look: come on and join the party!  But here again is a company expanding its consumer base to create a need that simply wasn't there before.  I guess, though, that's the essence of advertising, isn't it, to make the fool targeted potential consumer feel somehow inadequate or less than acceptable if they don't climb aboard with the company's agenda...  

Just Finished Reading The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

Having served on a jury earlier this year (and not liking it one bit), when I ran across John Grisham's 1996 legal novel The Runaway Jury I couldn't resist and decided to read it.  After all, when stuck in the courthouse I myself felt like running away...but from the jury, not with it.  Grisham's meaning, though, was to describe a jury whose deliberations and decisions went way beyond the parameters expected by both the judge and the opposing attorneys.  Another difference is that my jury experience was of a criminal trial and this book concerned a civil one, with big business, money and publicity playing major roles...

The trial in The Runaway Jury has the plaintiff, the widow of a longtime chain smoker, suing the tobacco company making and selling his favorite brand of cigarette.  It's all seen as a test case for the tobacco industry and anti-smoking litigation, and as such both sides employ extraordinary means to create a jury that will deliver them a favorable verdict.  It seemed pretty creepy to me that there are consulting firms for investigating people in jury pools, even following them around and interviewing neighbors and coworkers concerning their lifestyles, habits, and opinions...what an invasion of privacy!  Grisham exposes not only this form of manipulation but also delves into jury tampering during the trial as well.  But what makes his story special is that he has inserted a mysterious wild card jurist, Nicolas Easter, into the picture.  Just who exactly is Easter, a young man with no discernible past who seems determined to throw the proceedings into complete chaos?  And what about Marlee, a young woman who seems to know everything going on with the jurors...even after they are sequestered? 

I'm getting to be quite a fan of John Grisham...he might now be my second favorite author behind Stephen King.  I heard they made a movie based on this book in 2003, starring among others John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman.  But the trial in the film isn't based on smoking litigation but rather a shooting, making me not even want to watch it.  But do read the book: it's one of Grisham's better ones...