More Things We've Learned Reading True Crime

[Fishface]

I just started On Trial and I've already learned that in ancient Athens, the accuser would be penalized in a court case if less than a fifth of the jury voted to convict. It was a way of preventing what we now call false reporting or frivolous lawsuits. Those ancient Greeks, I tell ya...

[Fishface]

I also just learned, in the same chapter of the same book, that there was no fixed number of jurors in those days. The bigger the case, the bigger the jury -- there could be over a thousand jurors if the case was a really big deal.

[Fishface]

I just learned that Richard Grissom was such an impressive piece of work that Kansas brought back the death penalty in his honor.

[Fishface]

While reading Some Unknown Person, I noticed that when Starr raided the icebox she added turnips with cinnamon to her plate. Turnips with what? I thought, and looked that up online. I immediately found a recipe for boiled turnips mashed with apples and cinnamon which sounds odd, but good. Going to try it since I'm having dental surgery Wednesday and need to have soft foods only for a few days.

[Fishface]

Reading Blood Stains I've learned that holiness is a specifically-spelled-out spiritual destination if you are a Pentecostal Baptist, and I suspect that this is the origin of the name of Pee Wee Gaskins's church, which (IIRC) is a Pentecostal one.

I'm also learning some of the entertaining small-town names in Texas: Rising Star, Carbon, and Okra are examples.

[Fishface]

I just learned while reading The Girls: An All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down that because it's a public college, Michigan State University is actually considered a branch of the government. That never crosssed my mind before.

[Fishface]

I just learned while reading Hiding Mengele: How a Nazi Network Harbored the Angel of Death that the first officer to open the gates of Auschwitz on liberation day -- Jan 27th, we just passed the anniversary -- was Anatoly Shapiro, a Ukrainian Jew. Seems pretty fitting.

[Fishface]

Says here in Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed that Marc Lepine, the Canadian mass murderer of female engineering students, had a childhood quite similar to that of Albert DeSalvo and who changed his name from Gamil Gharbi to disassociate himself from his violent father. Guess he didn't do a good enough job?

[K.A.]

Fishface wrote: "Reading Blood Stains I've learned that holiness is a specifically-spelled-out spiritual destination if you are a Pentecostal Baptist, and I suspect that this is the origin of the nam..."

I lived in Sour Lake, TX for a while. There's an encouraging name for you.

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

K.A. wrote: "Fishface wrote: "Reading Blood Stains I've learned that holiness is a specifically-spelled-out spiritual destination if you are a Pentecostal Baptist, and I suspect that this is the ..."

👍🏻

[Fishface]

K.A. wrote: "I lived in Sour Lake, TX for a while. There's an encouraging name for you."

I've always wanted to visit Big Tuna, TX just so I could say I did it.

[Fishface]

I learned while cruising Murderpedia today that there is a town called Point Blank, Texas.

[Fishface]

Says here in Preacher's Girl: The Life and Crimes of Blanche Taylor Moore that among the treatments that might be recommended for an undiagnosed case of arsenic poisoning is... circumcision!?

[Fishface]

1) The double-jeopardy law in the UK has been repealed!

2) There is a criminology prof at Washington State U whose speciality is researching "comparative homicides." I would be interested to see some of her papers...