Is "The Juice" Finally Getting Squeezed?

"O.J. is back on the loose. He was released on a $125,000 bail today in Las Vegas. O.J. has been charged with 10 felonies, including robbery with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. He could get life in prison for all this. Isn't that something? You kill two people, you get nothing -- but steal your own football jersey, you go away for life.” –Jimmy Kimmel, earlier this year

When you’re famous, being on the butt end of a joke is somewhat normal. Whether from the mouth of Jimmy Kimmel, Leno or Letterman, being mentioned during the opening monologue is something of an endorsement that you are a Somebody. You are newsworthy enough to be a household name.

When all the laughing dies down, however, a lot of it is not really that funny. Take O.J. Simpson for example. This past Friday he was convicted in Las Vegas of kidnapping, armed robbery and ten other charges. Evidently his luck has run out.

He always was a great runner. He also had an affable, winning style that made him popular after his football career ended. Thus it was an easy jump for another touchdown in Hollywood. Fame and fortune seemed to fall into his lap… though we also know, for the record, that you don't make the big time as an athlete without a lot of hard work. We did not know, however, about his dark side.

When his beautiful wife Nicole was murdered, all the pretty pictures came tumbling down as the scene switched from light hearted fun to dead serious realities. His double murder trial revealed much more about O.J. than many wanted to see.

Many believed he had been set up. Many even cheered when it appeared he was going to try to escape… make a run for it. He was suicidal in that intense moment because he did not want to face the humiliation he’d be going through. I am sure he felt shame at having let so many people down.

But, O.J. got off. He walked, purportedly innocent according to the law. Later, better lawyers in a civil trial were more successful in pinning responsibility on The Juice, his nickname from the football era. In the second trial, the court determined he must pay 33 million dollars to the families of the two victims. Seems like that says a thing or two, but in more than a decade he paid nothing… living high on the hog, signing autographs, enjoying the stature of being an American celebrity.

It’s all very sad.

Then he had the gall to write a book titled “If I Did It,” explaining his rationale for committing such a crime, were he the kind of guy who would do such an appalling thing.

But sadder still, with the interactive nature of today’s news, where readers can write comments on journalists’ work, one becomes increasingly aware of how divided the nation is still. When O.J. was arrested for his Las Vegas misdeeds, one of the comments on that breaking story was, “Why are they still picking on O.J.?”

Well, duh. Maybe because he committed a crime? It’s not because he is black. I haven’t seen any stories like this about Bill Cosby, Lynn Swann or Tiger Woods.

Here’s the Associated Press story by Linda Deutsch two hours after O.J.’s most recent debacle, ie. conviction.

In the end, O.J. Simpson rolls snake eyes in Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a city where luck means everything, O.J. Simpson came out the big loser — and his unlucky number in a case full of bizarre twists was 13.

He was convicted of an armed robbery that happened on Sept. 13 and was found guilty on the 13th anniversary of his Los Angeles murder acquittal. The Las Vegas jury deliberated for 13 hours after a 13-day trial.

When the news initially broke, Conan O’Brien put it this way: "Earlier today, O.J. Simpson was charged with 11 criminal counts, including kidnapping, robbery and assault. Afterwards, O.J. said, 'Wow. Now I really have done it all.'"

Much more could be said, but let’s just turn the page. Please.

Mistake Proofing

Mistake proofing, or making things “idiot proof” as some engineers crudely call it, is a process in which a factor is designed in so as to prevent mistakes from occurring. Here are some examples from daily life that you may have encountered from time to time.

Filing cabinets can fall on you due to the altered center of gravity if you opened all the drawers at once. So they are designed in a way that makes it possible to open only one drawer at a time. This occasionally gets frustrating, but is actually a safety feature.

The old 3.5 inch floppy discs had a beveled corner which had to be on the right as you stuck the disc into the slot of your computer. This kept people from putting discs in upside down.

The safety bar on my push lawn mower is there so that I can’t stick my hand into the blades while the motor is running. The motor cuts off when I let go of the handle.

Circuit breakers keep you from putting too many electric devices into an outlet that would draw so much current it melts the wires and causes a fire. This is a wonderful safety feature which we take for granted.

The little hole near the top front of a sink is a mistake proofing device that keeps you from flooding the house by accidentally leaving the water running with the trap closed.

OK, now that we know what it is to make something mistake proof, what can we do to mistake proof the rest of our lives? How can we have mistake proof relationships? Is there some way to mistake proof our marriages? Ever notice how some men and women always get involved with the wrong kinds of people? How do they do that? Is there a safety feature that can be injected into social relationships that keeps such bad pairings from occurring? Can we mistake proof our social encounters so as to avoid wrecking a good time we've had together?

Wouldn't it be great if we could mistake proof our tongues so we never said things that hurt people or caused misunderstandings?

How can we mistake proof our hiring processes in business, so as to always get the right person for the job?

And what were hanging chads all about in Florida? Was there not enough thought given to making those election ballot machines mistake proof? If voters screwed up somehow, the blame must be laid at the feet of those who created the voting machines.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could mistake proof our elections so we don’t ever elect the wrong people?

I’ve read that there are quite a few instances in which the wrong person has been put in prison for a crime he or she did not commit. And sometimes, as it would appear happened in the O.J. case, the guilty party gets away with murder. How can we mistake proof our justice system?

Inquiring minds want to know.