What July 31st Means To Me: Odd Jobs

My brother mentioned something interesting yesterday that, for some reason, I haven't been able to stop laughing about. 

You know those old customs that make no sense, but we still do because, well, "that's the way it's always been done?"  And, of course, now I cannot think of an example to support my point, but feel free to stop reading if you don't know what I mean.  Or are already bored. 

Everyone has a camera these days.  If its not some high tech digital camera, its one attached to their phone.  Within seconds we can text, email, or instagram photos all over the world.  Hell, I know too many people that annoyingly photo document every fucking second of their lives.  My point is, we've become a very photograph/video based culture, and often use photos as a way of conveying information.

So, with that in mind, how does the guy who does this ...

...still have a job.  Yes!  The court room sketch guy.  In case you're unsure of what I'm talking about, many court cases forbid the use of cameras within the courtroom, so they employ an artist to make random sketches of events.  Why?  I'm not sure.  Perhaps, back in the day, ya know, before cameras, they wanted some sort of visual documentation of the events, but I'd love to hear a good reason as to why we still do it. Really. Just one. There's zero practical use for it; it's not like the judge can stop the case and ask the sketch artist to review his notes to see if the defendant made a sudden move or something similarly silly.  And its not like the pictures are displayed in some art gallary afterwards (I don't think), though even if they were, it wouldn't be a good enough reason to keep doing it. 

So, if we're going to keep employing these people, can we at least inject some humor into the drawings?  Like, from now on, the judge has to look something like ...

No, not every judge should be Gerald Ford, but, you know, the style... well...no every judge should be Gerald Ford.

Or maybe replace the lead defense attorney with ...

At least sneak this guy ...

.. in the picture.


These guys must have one hell of a union.