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.