Indicting corrupt judges and exposing a shady judicial-selection system isn't winning Charles Hynes many friends.

Calvin Trillin, the New Yorker magazine writer, used to say that most cities not located on either coast suffered from "hickophobia," which was not the fear of hicks but the fear of being thought of as hicks. Imagine, then, the fears of Fargo, North Dakota.

I used to think that, for some reason, the American judicial system was avoiding me. Over more than three decades of adult life, as a citizen of three different jurisdictions, I had never once served on a jury.

Sophisticated sensors, complex algorithms and 'smart' fare cards are enhancing both the safety and efficiency of public transportation systems.

It may be free and totally adaptable, but whether or when to use non- proprietary software is far from an open and shut case.