Digenis.org

50 common job interview questions and some suggestions on how to answer them. (via Kottke)

Research conducted in the UK shows that hungry men prefer fuller women. As Kottke put it, “…if you’re hungry, you’re more likely to be attracted to someone who looks like they might know where some food is.”

It’s not often that I delve into issues of crime and punishment on my blog, but the recent not guilty verdict in the Andrea Yates retrial has got me thinking about the insanity defense. First of all, let me make it clear that this is not a post about capital punishment; this entry is solely to express my feelings that the insanity plea at the stage of conviction is morally suspect.

I realize that much of my readership is out of the United States, so let me give you a little background here. In 2001 Andrea Yates killed all five of her children by drowning them in the bathtub. She confessed to the crime and was found guilty in a 2002 trial. In 2005, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the convictions due to false testimony of a psychiatrist hired by the prosecution. So, the case headed back to the courts.

Now, I have no doubt that Yates’ mental condition was diminished. She attempted suicide twice and had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital four times. The diagnosis of schizophrenia was probably right on. Add to that postpartum depression and dealing with 5 very young children and I’m sure her condition was one far beyond what I can comprehend.

But at what point can we say that one’s mental condition changes the criminality of acts they commit? I would argue that it should never have that effect.

I’m certainly not arguing that we should completely disregard mental illness in such cases. All I’m saying is that it should not be part of the conviction stage, but rather only part of the sentencing stage. What does that mean? Well, one’s mental illness does not remove their culpability from a crime, but it may mean that they are in need of treatment rather than punishment. The point here is that we at no time declare these criminals ‘not guilty’ of their crimes.

I guess one of the biggest flaws with the insanity defense is this: Who defines insane? We could also argue that there are some crimes that could only be committed by an insane person.

Andrea Yates was declared not guilty of the crimes of which she confessed. Regardless of the verdict, she’ll be receiving court-supervised psychiatric care, which is exactly what she is in desperate need of; in that sense, justice was served and this sick person is getting help.

Still, it says a lot about the moral objectivity embraced by our justice system when moral judgments concerning things like murder can no longer be made, and that worries me.

Randall Goodgame is reading The Prophet by Kahil Gibran. He recently shared the following passage over at his blog:

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half-murdered.
For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings, but cannot fly.

Profound. I’d love to get my hands on a copy of this book…

Yes, I know I’ve been neglecting my site for some time now. My work and personal life have been busy lately, so that will remain my excuse. I’ve got about 30 topics scribbled down to blog on, but I can’t seem to find the time.

I was supposed to move to my new apartment this past week, but that keeps getting postponed as the remodeling is still not finished. They turned off my hot water here until the 20th of June, so every shower feels like a polar bear plunge in Lake Superior.

I’m really excited for this weekend as I’ll be taking a three day trip to St. Petersburg with some friends. Hard to believe, but it’s been about two years since I was last there.

Here’s a recent HDR photo I took to tide you over for now:

It’s that time of the year again. The time when I have to venture out of Russia to fill out of a bunch of paperwork to live in Russia. As the options of where to go scrolled through my head, it’s no surprise that Helsinki, Finland didn’t top the list; no offense to the Finns, but I’ve been to that expensive city 7 times and last August’s trip didn’t go as smoothly as it could have gone. The Russian Consulates in the Baltic countries have done away with their express visa processing in the last year, so that also narrowed down the list. I wanted something new and exotic.

A friend advised me to go to Baku, Azerbaijan. Of course, Baku is only new in the sense that I’ve never been there before; the city itself is quite ancient. Plus, I’d read an article called 48 hours on the run in Baku in Passport magazine a while back, so I knew that it was possible to see a lot of what the city has to offer on a budget and in a short amount of time.

So I flew into Baku on Sunday afternoon. Roma, a friend of Maria’s, met me at the airport and helped me get situated where I’m staying. It’s a nice, central part of the downtown called Besh Mertebe because the first 5-storey building in Baku was built here (besh means five in Azeri and mertebe means floor). I’d be staying there with an Azeri guy named Azer.

Having gotten rid of my bag, I decided to explore the city. I didn’t have a map, but that rarely bothers me; I’ve stumbled into some of my greatest adventures by sheer luck when forging my own path. As I walked down the streets in the general direction of the Caspian seashore, I was struck by the omnipresence of Heydar Aliyev, the deceased former-president of Azerbaijan, whose face graces practically every third billboard in this city, and in whose honor many streets, buildings, and even the airport are named. His son is president these days, but he’s not nearly as popular as his father was.

On the way to the seaside I found Nizami Street, a pedestrian street complete with Benneton, McDonald’s, fountains, a few restaurants and clubs, and a slew of mobilephone shops. In other words, it was not all that different from the pedestrian streets I’d seen in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Moscow, or any of the European capitals. I suppose the only real difference, and a quite pleasant one at that, was that it was not teeming with tourists.

I joined the general flow of people on Nizami Street and ended up at the seaside boardwalk area. The sidewalks were full of families on afternoon walks, and in the grassy areas some men were taking naps under the shade of the trees. Not a bad idea as it was about 35 degrees (95 F) on the streets. It seemed that this was the place where all the kids wanted to be; there were quite a few ghetto carnival rides and you could even rent Big Wheel type three-wheelers (some were even motorized).

I peeked over the side of the railing and quickly came to the conclusion that taking a dip in the Caspian Sea would not be on the agenda. The water was pretty nasty and had a layer of trash floating for a foot or two closest to the shore. Not to mention all the oil rigs drilling not to far down the shore.

I could see the high walls of the Old Town and the Maiden Tower from the boardwalk, but I decided to save that for the next day. The heat really takes a lot out of you.

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I’m back in America for about three weeks and I would love to meet up with anyone who’s interested. I’d have given some advance notice, but the whole trip was meant to be a surprise for my sister’s high school graduation.

I’ll be in Utah until the 5th, around Yellowstone National Park from the 6-9, and in Minnesota (the Twin Cities and Duluth) from the 10th to the 16th.

Leave a comment or send me an e-mail at tom(AT)digenis.org if you’d like to hang out.