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It is with great interest that I have read the posts by CrimeCents and crimineepery about the television program Dexter (2006-present). I always find it interesting to read about the ways that the medium provokes responses filled with a sense of emotion. CrimeCents rhetorically asks, “Why can’t I just willingly suspend my disbelief and enjoy the show like everyone else?” Russian […]
March 13, 2012 by CrimeCents
A new article titled “Lethal Ladies: Revisiting What We Know About Female Serial Murders” is in Homicide Studies by Farrell, Keppel, and Titterginton. It’s a good article. And I get the need to draw people in with catchy titles, even in an academic journal. But language matters. My problem with the titling of this article is the […]
March 12, 2012 by CrimeCents
Bruce Schneier is a cryptologist. Bruce Schneier is his own trope. Bruce Schneier is also a geeky hero, triumphing with the mighty power of his little gray cells over the brawny exploits of Chuck Norris. If you’ve never checked out schneierfacts.com, run right over and do it. Then come back here, because if you don’t, Bruce […]
I like Dexter. I like the books, I like the show. And I don’t like myself much after having indulged the momentary pleasure in the snappy writing of Dexter’s internal monologue, the soap-opera style plotting, or the world’s most brilliant show intro. The eggs, the orange, and the floss all send a frisson of guilt-ridden […]
March 5, 2012 by CrimeCents
If you’ve never wasted a good hour done scholarly research using Google Ngrams, let me explain. Google, that giant, data-collecting, statistics-loving monster, has scanned a couple-a-few-bajillion books spanning a couple of centuries. All of those words have gone into a giant, searchable database that produces graphs that show the relative frequency of your search terms. […]
February 29, 2012 by CrimeCents
“Do you have a minute?” The voice is intense. “Can I ask you a question?” A hand is often laid on my arm, as if to implore me to say yes. In this line of work, the topic is never easy. No one wants my restaurant recommendations. “My friend just died. He beat her up […]
March 24, 2012 by CrimeCents
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