Gear Diary GD Quickie: Go to Traffic Court Get a Lesson in Tech photo

My father-in-law spent a few hours yesterday in traffic court. Yes, ol’ leadfoot didn’t see the speed trap but the officer sure saw him. All told, he was there for over two hours. This wasn’t because he was in so much trouble, he wasn’t, but because the judge literally held court… In court. Yes, the judge apparently opined about life, liberty and the pursuit of tech.

He told the group that was gathered to appear before him about the Kindle he got for Christmas. He loves it! He told them that since he is cheap he is reading some of the books that are available for free; among them a number of tomes regarding our founding fathers. (“You all should read about them, they really were brilliant, simply brilliant.”)

And then there was this. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the judge said, “we have this thing called technology and it makes life a bit easier. In the old days if someone who was in prison needed to appear before me we would have to transport them here, give them lunch and then get them back to prison. Now we do things a bit differently.”

With that he flipped a switch and a HiDef TV came on. The video feed was coming from the local prison and, one by one, the inmates who had scheduled court appearances came on screen.

Can technology be useful? You bet. Case Closed.

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Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.
  • http://twitter.com/travisehrlich/status/36137211560722432 travisehrlich

    RT @GearDiarySite: GD Quickie: Go to Traffic Court Get a Lesson in Tech http://goo.gl/fb/4x3uL

  • http://twitter.com/khouryrt/status/36140430827458560 Rita El Khoury

    Reading – GD Quickie: Go to Traffic Court Get a Lesson in Tech http://bit.ly/f24TIr



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