tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57250079942519697022024-02-10T15:57:03.787-05:00A RETIRED PROSECUTOR'S RANDOM THOUGHTSGeorge R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.comBlogger411125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-24461111930494359992024-02-10T15:54:00.001-05:002024-02-10T15:56:00.651-05:00FROTHING AT THE MOUTH<p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>It seems in this day and age that everybody is offended by everything. A starlet wears her skirt too short, and the Twitterverse explodes with angry tweets. And the angry tweets provoke other angry tweets condemning the tweeters as twits. Then she wears her skirt too long, and we get another Twitterwar. Someone makes a casual, thoughtless remark that they would never have made if their brains had been in gear, and loud calls are made to "cancel" that person. </span><span>If someone thoughtlessly refers to a person as "he" when the preferred pronoun is "ze," this is a crime against humanity. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Fortunes are lost and careers are ended at the slip of a tongue, and almost nobody is immune to censure for the slightest offense. It's somewhat like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In the land of the First Amendment, you risk ruin every time you open your mouth. The PC police have a fundamentalist view of all transgressions against Wokeness. The least insensitive comment engenders cries for the harshest punishment. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Many people with a strong survival instinct act as though their every word and action are being recorded on an enemy's cellphone video. Aesop is supposed to have said: <a href="https://quotestoenjoy.com/wise-men-say-nothing-in-dangerous-times/" target="_blank">"Wise men say nothing in dangerous times"</a>, and that quote has seldom been truer than it is today. Of course, the original version of Aesop's quote had been cancelled due to the man's obvious misogyny and has been gender-neutralized as "Wise people say nothing in dangerous times." Is there a statue of Aesop anywhere that can be torn down?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Anyone born prior to 1950 who has ever transgressed the least prohibition of the 21st century's version of morality is to be cancelled, written out of the history books as a hero and made a villain, and any statues of them must be torn down. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">That bigoted racist, Winston Churchill, who was largely responsible for saving Europe during World War II, is supposed to have said that a people who are at war with their past have no future. I agree.</span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-5009488977993057822024-01-09T13:36:00.000-05:002024-01-09T13:36:36.548-05:00ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S TEETH versus DONALD TRUMP'S TONGUE<p> </p><p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">At a recent campaign stop in Iowa, Donald Trump made
some interesting comments:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">“The Civil War was so fascinating, so horrible,” Trump
said. “So many mistakes were made. See, there was something I think could have
been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that.
All the people died, so many people died. You know, that was the disaster.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" data-el="text" data-testid="drop-cap-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--wpds-colors-gray40); line-height: var(--wpds-lineHeights-160); margin: 0in; padding-bottom: var(--wpds-space-150); text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">Trump
went on to describe the Civil War as “vicious” and suggested that “Abraham
Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn’t even know who
Abraham Lincoln was.” </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/06/trump-says-civil-war-could-have-been-negotiated-historians-disagree/"><i>Trump says Civil War ‘could have been negotiated.’ Historians disagree. - TheWashington Post</i></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Ambrose Bierce, who served as an officer in the Union Army wrote that warfare “untied with the teeth a political knot which would not yield to the tongue.” Contrary to Trump's assertion, the political knot that led to the Civil War could not be untied with the tongue.</span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The question of whether to negotiate was settled in the election of
1864. George McClellan ran against Lincoln on a ticket which included
negotiating an end to the war. Lincoln’s re-election, which was aided by Union
soldiers returning home on furlough to vote, demonstrated that negotiating a
compromise wasn’t favored by either side, regardless of what Lincoln did.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">A negotiated settlement would have been near impossible for the
following reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Southern leadership (aka the slave-owning planter class) had
been losing influence in national politics for years. The population boom in
the North was beginning to overpower the Southern leadership in the House of
Representatives. The addition of states in areas incompatible with slavery
threatened to erode the Southern leadership’s influence in the Senate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">The Southern leadership decided that if their economy was to survive,
it had to expand its influence or withdraw from the Union. The Southern
leadership saw the election of Abraham Lincoln as a sign that its national
influence was going to continue to wane; therefore, they seceded. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">At the outset of the war, Lincoln’s stated aim was to preserve the
Union, not abolish slavery. His views changed over the course of the war. He
came to the conclusion that the only way to preserve the Union was to abolish slavery.
Shortly before the publication of his Emancipation Proclamation Horace Greeley,
the publisher of <i>The New York Tribune</i>, complained that Lincoln had no
real policy for the Civil War. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">Lincoln replied with a letter to <i>The New York Tribune</i> in
which he said: “I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under
the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer
the Union will be ‘the Union as it was.’ If there were those who would not save
the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with
them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the
same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in
this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy
slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and
if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save
it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do
about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save
the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help
to save the Union.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">After Lincoln’s death, Greeley wrote that he though Lincoln’s
letter was intended to prepare the public for his revised war aim—to free the
slaves. Lincoln had decided that he could not preserve the Union by
compromising on the issue of slavery with the Southern leadership. Any
compromise acceptable to the North would continue the erosion of the Southern
leadership’s influence in national politics through population growth in the
North and the addition of new Free States, and the Southern leadership saw such
erosion as leading to the inevitable destruction of their economy and the ruin
of the planter class.</span></p>
<p class="wpds-c-cydrxm" style="margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-13838556948531809482023-11-26T16:50:00.000-05:002023-11-26T16:50:12.950-05:00NON-RANDOM EVOLUTION<p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Some time ago I wrote a blog post which questioned the Darwinian article of faith--Evolution by Natural Selection. As I understood Natural Selection, It was a process of random selection of random mutations to the genetic structure of DNA. My questioning such an article of faith quite naturally caused some kickback from neo-Darwinists. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">One critiquer of my position argued that evolution was not random--that it was a non-random selection from a variety of random mutations. I see two problems with this thesis. First, it says that evolution is both non-random and random at the same time. This, of course, violates the logical rule of non-contradiction. As Aristotle put it, a thing cannot be and not be at the same time. Second, the way out of this logical contradiction is to recognize that if there is a non-random selection from random mutations, then the process of evolution is not random at all. In other words, an intelligence of some sort drives evolution.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">To use the "intelligent design" escape from the neo-Darwinian self-contradiction is not to buy into the belief that the "intelligent designer" is God. Here is a theory of evolution which should be congenial to both theists and atheists--a "self-organization" theory. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Science teaches that there are <a href="https://www.space.com/four-fundamental-forces.html" target="_blank"><b>four fundamental forces of nature</b></a>--the strong force, the weak force, electromagnetism, and gravity. I theorize a fifth force--the self-organizing force. The phenomenon of self-organization has been identified on all levels of physical science and biology. From the organization of subatomic particles into atoms to the organization of galaxies into <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_cluster">clusters and superclusters</a></b>, the clues of <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organization">self-organization</a></b> are everywhere. So how would a self-organization theory of evolution work?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">To grossly oversimplify: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Natural Selection posits that when the asteroid hit Mexico 66,000,000 years ago, the big, lumbering behemoth dinosaurs went extinct, but some dinosaurs accidentally evolved into birds and continue living to this day. This certainly was a fortuitous accident. Out of a near-infinity of possible random mutations (most of which would have been harmful), a mutation occurred which saved the descendants of the dinosaurs.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">According to the Self-Organization Theory of evolution, when the asteroid struck, some dinosaur DNA reacted to the fact that its current structure was no longer working and reprogrammed itself to eventually become birds. It will be easy to say, "Self-organization is a godless process like the other four fundamental forces of Nature," and look no farther. But there is a new scientific theory floating around which is suggestive of an Intelligent Designer.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">According to this theory, the Universe is actually a <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_hypothesis">virtual reality simulation</a></b>. Partial evidence of this theory is found in the fact that every aspect of the Universe is so well-organized. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If we live in a virtual reality Universe, then it stands to reason that somewhere outside the Universe is a Virtual Reality Simulator. One atheistic view of the virtual reality simulator is to imagine the Universe as a computer simulation on somebody's laptop. A theistic view might be that the Virtual Reality Simulator is God. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Regardless of which theory suits your fancy, or even if neither does, evolution by self-organization makes more sense than evolution by random accident aka Natural Selection.</span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-51130902322378261272023-10-27T12:10:00.002-04:002023-10-27T12:11:00.992-04:00HOW DO YOU FREE A SKUNK FROM A LIVE TRAP?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
have a critter problem in our neighborhood. Armadillos get into the yard to dig
holes and root for grubs. I used to sit up late at night with a rifle and try
to shoot them when they came into the yard. In order to shoot an armadillo, it
has to come into the yard when you are out in the weather sitting on the side
yard’s picnic table. I only saw one the whole time I was hunting, and that
night all I was armed with was an air gun. I shot him in the butt and he hightailed
it out of the yard. I switched over to a .22 rifle loaded with subsonic cartridges
and never saw another armadillo on my late night/early morning vigils. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
decided to trap them, and we have caught countless armadillos in our traps. The
first we caught I euthanized with a .22 pistol. Being a kind soul, I decided to
make sure I killed him instantly. I walked up to the trap and held the gun
close to its head. Apparently armadillos have very small brains. I hit his head,
but not his brain. The armadillo jumped and tried to spin around. It couldn’t
make full spin, but it did spin enough to spatter blood all over my business
suit (I was going to court that morning). I shot it again in the chest and then
went in to change clothes. The next few times I shot the armadillos in the
chest with a .22 rifle. Maybe less human, but definitely less danger to your
clothing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finally,
the milk of human kindness got the better of me, and I started carrying them
off to Osceola National Forest and releasing them. Armadillos are very uncooperative
animals. I would often have to open the trap and shake them out. Not a lot of
fun, since armadillos are known to carry leprosy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’ve
caught other things in the trap: squirrels, housecats, and possums. Getting
squirrels and housecats out of the trap is very easy—just open the door and
they dash out. Possums are like armadillos, they don’t seem to want to
cooperate with you when you try to get them out. I usually have to resort to
shaking them out of the trap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday,
I was confronted with a new animal. A tribe of skunks seems to have invaded our
subdivision. We first became aware of them when they started getting themselves
repeatedly run over near the entrance to our subdivision. These incidents were
most malodorous, and we could smell them from our house. Then the unthinkable
happened. We caught a skunk in our live trap. How do you get a skunk carried
off and removed from a live trap without getting perfumed? I called our pest
control company, and they said they would be glad to dispose of the skunk IF
they had set the trap. Since I had set the trap, however, they would not help.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At
a loss for an idea about what to do, I went to that infallible source of odd
information, YouTube, and found videos by two skunk trappers. One of them told
how to improvise a lance with a hypodermic spearhead. He said it was best to
get one of those long, extendable tree pruning poles and extend it to its
greatest length. Fill the hypodermic with paint thinner or some other poisonous
liquid and affix it to the pruning pole. Stab the skunk and push so that the hypodermic
discharged the poison into the skunk’s chest. He said if you were gentle enough
when you stabbed the skunk, it wouldn’t spray. If you weren’t gentle enough,
the length of your lance would protect you. I decided not to follow this plan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
next guy said skunks were pretty docile, and the best way to get them out of the
trap was to SLOWLY walk up to the trap and CAREFULLY cover it with a blanket you
wouldn’t care being rendered stinky. The blanket serves a twofold purpose.
First, if the skunk gets agitated and sprays, it theoretically will contain the
stench. Second, the blanket cuts off outside stimuli and renders the skunk less
likely to spray. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This
is the method I chose. First, I changed clothes into an outfit I was willing to
part with if the plan miscarried. (My wife warned me that if I got sprayed I
would be sleeping in the guest room until I was decontaminated). Then I got our
best blanket (just kidding) and slowly walked up to the skunk. I covered the
cage very carefully and without incident.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Next,
I gently walked the cage to my pickup truck and loaded it in the bed. Then I
drove slowly to the deep woods, being careful not to hit potholes. When I got
into the wilderness, I was overjoyed to see that the skunk had not
sprayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final step was to convince the
skunk to come out of his cozy cage. I set the cage on the ground, removed
enough of the blanket to get the trapdoor open, and locked it in the open
position. Then I waited from a safe distance. Like the armadillos and possums
before him, he did not seem overly anxious to escape to freedom. I decided not
to use the method I used for emptying the trap of armadillos and possums. I had
better sense than to pick the trap up and try to shake the skunk out.
Eventually the skunk found the open door and slowly walked to freedom. I wish I
had taken pictures of the entire process, but it didn’t occur to me to do so
until time to let him out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here
he is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>after he discovered the open door
and decided to saunter out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
have a critter problem in our neighborhood. Armadillos get into the yard to dig
holes and root for grubs. I used to sit up late at night with a rifle and try
to shoot them when they came into the yard. In order to shoot an armadillo, it
has to come into the yard when you are out in the weather sitting on the side
yard’s picnic table. I only saw one the whole time I was hunting, and that
night all I was armed with was an air gun. I shot him in the butt and he hightailed
it out of the yard. I switched over to a .22 rifle loaded with subsonic cartridges
and never saw another armadillo on my late night/early morning vigils. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
decided to trap them, and we have caught countless armadillos in our traps. The
first we caught I euthanized with a .22 pistol. Being a kind soul, I decided to
make sure I killed him instantly. I walked up to the trap and held the gun
close to its head. Apparently armadillos have very small brains. I hit his head,
but not his brain. The armadillo jumped and tried to spin around. It couldn’t
make full spin, but it did spin enough to spatter blood all over my business
suit (I was going to court that morning). I shot it again in the chest and then
went in to change clothes. The next few times I shot the armadillos in the
chest with a .22 rifle. Maybe less human, but definitely less danger to your
clothing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finally,
the milk of human kindness got the better of me, and I started carrying them
off to Osceola National Forest and releasing them. Armadillos are very uncooperative
animals. I would often have to open the trap and shake them out. Not a lot of
fun, since armadillos are known to carry leprosy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We’ve
caught other things in the trap: squirrels, housecats, and possums. Getting
squirrels and housecats out of the trap is very easy—just open the door and
they dash out. Possums are like armadillos, they don’t seem to want to
cooperate with you when you try to get them out. I usually have to resort to
shaking them out of the trap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday,
I was confronted with a new animal. A tribe of skunks seems to have invaded our
subdivision. We first became aware of them when they started getting themselves
repeatedly run over near the entrance to our subdivision. These incidents were
most malodorous, and we could smell them from our house. Then the unthinkable
happened. We caught a skunk in our live trap. How do you get a skunk carried
off and removed from a live trap without getting perfumed? I called our pest
control company, and they said they would be glad to dispose of the skunk IF
they had set the trap. Since I had set the trap, however, they would not help.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At
a loss for an idea about what to do, I went to that infallible source of odd
information, YouTube, and found videos by two skunk trappers. One of them told
how to improvise a lance with a hypodermic spearhead. He said it was best to
get one of those long, extendable tree pruning poles and extend it to its
greatest length. Fill the hypodermic with paint thinner or some other poisonous
liquid and affix it to the pruning pole. Stab the skunk and push so that the hypodermic
discharged the poison into the skunk’s chest. He said if you were gentle enough
when you stabbed the skunk, it wouldn’t spray. If you weren’t gentle enough,
the length of your lance would protect you. I decided not to follow this plan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
next guy said skunks were pretty docile, and the best way to get them out of the
trap was to SLOWLY walk up to the trap and CAREFULLY cover it with a blanket you
wouldn’t care being rendered stinky. The blanket serves a twofold purpose.
First, if the skunk gets agitated and sprays, it theoretically will contain the
stench. Second, the blanket cuts off outside stimuli and renders the skunk less
likely to spray. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This
is the method I chose. First, I changed clothes into an outfit I was willing to
part with if the plan miscarried. (My wife warned me that if I got sprayed I
would be sleeping in the guest room until I was decontaminated). Then I got our
best blanket (just kidding) and slowly walked up to the skunk. I covered the
cage very carefully and without incident.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Next,
I gently walked the cage to my pickup truck and loaded it in the bed. Then I
drove slowly to the deep woods, being careful not to hit potholes. When I got
into the wilderness, I was overjoyed to see that the skunk had not
sprayed. The final step was to convince the
skunk to come out of his cozy cage. I set the cage on the ground, removed
enough of the blanket to get the trapdoor open, and locked it in the open
position. Then I waited from a safe distance. Like the armadillos and possums
before him, he did not seem overly anxious to escape to freedom. I decided not
to use the method I used for emptying the trap of armadillos and possums. I had
better sense than to pick the trap up and try to shake the skunk out.
Eventually the skunk found the open door and slowly walked to freedom. I wish I
had taken pictures of the entire process, but it didn’t occur to me to do so
until time to let him out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here
he is after he discovered the open door
and decided to saunter out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeK6VMXTkB8c1j8MiK8Mv3CBrLdLIRyJIWuzaJxbqX_hLeTrqmWqjin7lzKJayR2pElFgStkIhFd3WZpRJbTTrVi5_dFhDnObnaEUI2U6y-P7cScsHNi3jM-9CJb7-waA5wh7OeRId8WJHxn8Jyx32l9xVhDbDs0jPQFC990JJ74GoUyMe80RwPoB7zx9/s640/IMG_2383.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="295" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeK6VMXTkB8c1j8MiK8Mv3CBrLdLIRyJIWuzaJxbqX_hLeTrqmWqjin7lzKJayR2pElFgStkIhFd3WZpRJbTTrVi5_dFhDnObnaEUI2U6y-P7cScsHNi3jM-9CJb7-waA5wh7OeRId8WJHxn8Jyx32l9xVhDbDs0jPQFC990JJ74GoUyMe80RwPoB7zx9/w296-h640/IMG_2383.PNG" width="296" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here
he is strolling toward the woods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGUp2vt73NXVYP58CdBl6RPXIHTnQGaN-im7elde_Y1ZyzF8o2FnE12g0gS8CMScy0qb5nCKr8uINoK8HO68q4ImsOFk4vhMVaDgP0204nlSNIrGEz5Bj6SlpFV7_jwNYjRkEIBBVJeViYrLPd1wG9_GC4W9kJ1VV7SI3iaJgpKiv78w7BRwwxoAt4L83/s640/IMG_2384.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="295" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGUp2vt73NXVYP58CdBl6RPXIHTnQGaN-im7elde_Y1ZyzF8o2FnE12g0gS8CMScy0qb5nCKr8uINoK8HO68q4ImsOFk4vhMVaDgP0204nlSNIrGEz5Bj6SlpFV7_jwNYjRkEIBBVJeViYrLPd1wG9_GC4W9kJ1VV7SI3iaJgpKiv78w7BRwwxoAt4L83/w296-h640/IMG_2384.PNG" width="296" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And
here he is escaping into the woods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNNqii-7yC_ur2S0Wb_SzhSgT11paaw_X1UXPT6EuJkqz6bsr5LLXn_xHmOvL6Zwwa4rFsrRBY-9S8jpYjmsdexyiCaKC4_0ra4UWQv5wl0UboQ-mAE23wpxy3N3H7JIppXRikMBuZrxqqr4JjOxssR5P7SeYNjrlL6dJMvN85JFUa3H3RcAiWoqlRQZmQ/s640/IMG_2385.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="295" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNNqii-7yC_ur2S0Wb_SzhSgT11paaw_X1UXPT6EuJkqz6bsr5LLXn_xHmOvL6Zwwa4rFsrRBY-9S8jpYjmsdexyiCaKC4_0ra4UWQv5wl0UboQ-mAE23wpxy3N3H7JIppXRikMBuZrxqqr4JjOxssR5P7SeYNjrlL6dJMvN85JFUa3H3RcAiWoqlRQZmQ/w296-h640/IMG_2385.PNG" width="296" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Franklin Gothic Demi Cond",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All
that was left to do was drive home, throw away the beggar weed infested blanket,
pick the beggar weeds off my pants cuffs, reset the trap, and hope that no more
skunks wandered into it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-59470020744678944252023-05-30T13:33:00.003-04:002023-05-30T13:33:42.623-04:00SPACE SHOGI<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Back in the 1980’s I invented a Shogi
variant which transported the Shogi pieces to a 3-D board. The game was
described somewhat inaccurately in Michael Keller’s <i>World Game Review</i>. I
take full responsibility for the inaccuracy, blaming it on my poor effort to
communicate the game to Keller.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The game is now on Wikipedia, using
Keller’s description. I recently got a communication pointing out that the
pieces were too lonely on a 9x9x9 playing field. I agree. I never meant for the
game to be played on such a large field. It is now time for me to clear up the
inaccuracies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Space Shogi should be played on a
field consisting of 81 cubes arranged 3x3x9. Think of the field as consisting
of a row of three cubes, each one subdivided into nine smaller cubes. White occupies
the 3x3x3 cube on one end of the field, and Black occupies the cube on the other
side of the field. The middle cube is vacant. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The pieces are identical to those of orthodox
Shogi, and their moves are extended to the third dimension. They are:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG5Jon7u4Qv-QzV5iV9yRdRE1Gr76cpownkuniPy4sRKFepj8m2nLTxWOysUgMmz6OY4kkQCK8KwLXuGuHet1gkLJfx6LOBoOPUgECxPThIxNcDXSJlfCwvK-hHCfzDzUhv1F-bgYH7g-Ei2sh7QoWWVZRXOkrM_jwV_ADniDVf3LQyU38ynAX4PYGQ/s4425/SPACE%20SHOGI%20PIECES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4425" data-original-width="4050" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG5Jon7u4Qv-QzV5iV9yRdRE1Gr76cpownkuniPy4sRKFepj8m2nLTxWOysUgMmz6OY4kkQCK8KwLXuGuHet1gkLJfx6LOBoOPUgECxPThIxNcDXSJlfCwvK-hHCfzDzUhv1F-bgYH7g-Ei2sh7QoWWVZRXOkrM_jwV_ADniDVf3LQyU38ynAX4PYGQ/w586-h640/SPACE%20SHOGI%20PIECES.jpg" width="586" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All the rules of orthodox Shogi
apply, including captures, drops, and promotion of the pieces. The array is
shown below, as are diagrams of the moves of the pieces.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1W1nKNGaUgG2SwQ93Ik2aRG7r-eAlg6n8D06svbN022h7Fa8vkgUBFQ2H0fJCiVUT53F44VRRwNePCzOuL8UuTNlBhi1e2F4xPQm7LlW2Ly1sNbhRm5xZ4edMWHmtX0y1Pa2A_rY184WpQOM74tjRcs8u_Omxj6cYeD2S4KCXNakNxSSzsW1hxzmqlA/s4800/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4650" data-original-width="4800" height="621" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1W1nKNGaUgG2SwQ93Ik2aRG7r-eAlg6n8D06svbN022h7Fa8vkgUBFQ2H0fJCiVUT53F44VRRwNePCzOuL8UuTNlBhi1e2F4xPQm7LlW2Ly1sNbhRm5xZ4edMWHmtX0y1Pa2A_rY184WpQOM74tjRcs8u_Omxj6cYeD2S4KCXNakNxSSzsW1hxzmqlA/w640-h621/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzeAxqhnMJ6iZ6TvOU0UHFOz-x7-A0p8thJz1Glf3nfaB8a7wMOgDxd70z0lqqLTYHt4L__hnNtYWpcPO8oNkO5_4bP4qpDa65xMv_IDpH3-dKNvbUGUU54YJ2SfFzLGjAPyCImHmMOXN2En1kalSyfHr1eGp2TK36tSIiHIoY5zn6lXmS4DPy5GqoA/s4800/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4650" data-original-width="4800" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzeAxqhnMJ6iZ6TvOU0UHFOz-x7-A0p8thJz1Glf3nfaB8a7wMOgDxd70z0lqqLTYHt4L__hnNtYWpcPO8oNkO5_4bP4qpDa65xMv_IDpH3-dKNvbUGUU54YJ2SfFzLGjAPyCImHmMOXN2En1kalSyfHr1eGp2TK36tSIiHIoY5zn6lXmS4DPy5GqoA/w640-h620/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjodip9DWYfm4ZZAqcj9oT8sMRN9jy_CjDNbYLnVwwzapIQ6sJv1qrHs3GNYsXce06nM_MhUQ8phwCspb3cUydPZdSOsMcHwFSW58qm6jUKn3v-fft-iw34QgH8EepNOC1GbOzuizEQ8cmJagdzaC9jco4M0m1k6E8TLjui6i0erIsG_oK8PuxfWBet6g/s4800/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzUznNIQgeAmzHidVWPY5f7hoSGljVqf1HIZ0wzxXmUIEjVrNoIE9hlClkxMDolXw0rLpFKKHW5poma3fpM8crm_YxQCHf5fd-IQuqrbiQ0bHaIPYXLPECfE4INiwCjifRHEG3ClODZ2-8GaUsMYYKBKWCytiwKMsW1OlpPFmBKcFf6NepR9y2IeHOw/s4800/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4650" data-original-width="4800" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzUznNIQgeAmzHidVWPY5f7hoSGljVqf1HIZ0wzxXmUIEjVrNoIE9hlClkxMDolXw0rLpFKKHW5poma3fpM8crm_YxQCHf5fd-IQuqrbiQ0bHaIPYXLPECfE4INiwCjifRHEG3ClODZ2-8GaUsMYYKBKWCytiwKMsW1OlpPFmBKcFf6NepR9y2IeHOw/w640-h620/SPACE%20SHOGI_Page_8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-45478720453010847742023-05-19T15:27:00.012-04:002023-05-20T12:48:13.480-04:00VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF CHESS<p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">I have been a chess aficionado since I was in the first grade, and once upon a time I was a fair player, going 2-2-2 in my first chess tournament, the 1980 Florida State Chess Championship. After a while playing tournament chess, I gravitated toward postal chess, and then my passion for the game dried up. It's been years since I played the game, but I still have a collection of some 40-50 chess sets.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In college I got interested in chess variants. I have collected rulesheets for some 200-250 variations on the theme of chess, and I have invented more than a dozen chess variants myself. I must confess that I was more concerned with how the variants looked than how well they played, but I think that some of my variants are very playable.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Which brings me to my latest venture in self-publishing: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Variations-Theme-Chess-George-Dekle-ebook/dp/B0C4XL17G9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21MM7XB0TEM1J&keywords=variations+on+the+theme+of+chess&qid=1684521791&sprefix=variations+on+the+theme+of+chess%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><b>Variations on the Theme of Chess</b></a>, </i>available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon. A significant number of the games described in the book are games I invented or modified. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Games like Chesquerque:</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0mhQvf04hgvoTgQ36XkWlwntCdIDfZW7Gv4_XAu3pfDYmJxnnX_zlu6f_MFmoTjYKYjDJ2isTFPOvcyVPD6uI2uaUhnXOFFqyRvHq7kYGv7JkzZwJqn-Q0fGMSFEiDZSh3gjOYc-5zbZqgQimASZywydnDIDGlwPDXzdPLTM4A9PdD6h2cUrXWLWUyQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="6060" data-original-width="5940" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0mhQvf04hgvoTgQ36XkWlwntCdIDfZW7Gv4_XAu3pfDYmJxnnX_zlu6f_MFmoTjYKYjDJ2isTFPOvcyVPD6uI2uaUhnXOFFqyRvHq7kYGv7JkzZwJqn-Q0fGMSFEiDZSh3gjOYc-5zbZqgQimASZywydnDIDGlwPDXzdPLTM4A9PdD6h2cUrXWLWUyQ=w392-h400" width="392" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />And Cross Chess:</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgExAFNgb1d-zHWH0o8Xq4ateCY2ZRYbPEGPI0CgfnfsDqqT4y7WiQ8nE_kp_vrRvl7Wj8-_503RS8lKTc1Wlvm3XEvOWKFJKl1INaM-wmQP2mhvjHiwKiyiQy08bRJbcyX033e4BluVD9cN55Z7KFDaW2R16U-q29Km2KsDxr48CVbMixb_4EcEvuUJg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="3300" data-original-width="2400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgExAFNgb1d-zHWH0o8Xq4ateCY2ZRYbPEGPI0CgfnfsDqqT4y7WiQ8nE_kp_vrRvl7Wj8-_503RS8lKTc1Wlvm3XEvOWKFJKl1INaM-wmQP2mhvjHiwKiyiQy08bRJbcyX033e4BluVD9cN55Z7KFDaW2R16U-q29Km2KsDxr48CVbMixb_4EcEvuUJg=w292-h400" width="292" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-size: large;">And Hexagonal Shogi:</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn8tg9IHAqFCVLqY0scLqbwfeRqcmfxPZg6lYHmdiDZsNiwKsm1sG1q-z3Gfy-vXpjBRypo1SymSdoBRPdPHso2LjBk5PXi7t66OqKEOMcsC-5eQboxqOdypvpPjLUJ6AtE82PKpf2Q8Y_Y7VtlS0uwaqOr_Mcp3g-SF1GfqHI3f117WmyHqL7tGvmzw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="1632" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgn8tg9IHAqFCVLqY0scLqbwfeRqcmfxPZg6lYHmdiDZsNiwKsm1sG1q-z3Gfy-vXpjBRypo1SymSdoBRPdPHso2LjBk5PXi7t66OqKEOMcsC-5eQboxqOdypvpPjLUJ6AtE82PKpf2Q8Y_Y7VtlS0uwaqOr_Mcp3g-SF1GfqHI3f117WmyHqL7tGvmzw=w377-h400" width="377" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />And Hexagonal Xiangqi (Chinese Chess):</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3Ly7htvrqbZ_teX-al_47ZQ4UsCupe5zTTtUKCyxrVpC3KTl73hJxBhQEFbl1BmLj-bL_AiAxyujA3i4suKegBYkMgxhdmgSUQgMq8t7ejNT_198IA13EIrJgVV5ggGgldPhuM1FnW_c66ZN9jfh-8bmKivuwZrtZbtVQWl77F4UYWfdETFZ5rXww9Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3Ly7htvrqbZ_teX-al_47ZQ4UsCupe5zTTtUKCyxrVpC3KTl73hJxBhQEFbl1BmLj-bL_AiAxyujA3i4suKegBYkMgxhdmgSUQgMq8t7ejNT_198IA13EIrJgVV5ggGgldPhuM1FnW_c66ZN9jfh-8bmKivuwZrtZbtVQWl77F4UYWfdETFZ5rXww9Q=w400-h400" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think any of these games I have illustrated are very playable. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to my own inventions, I have included descriptions of some ancient and exotic chess variants.</span></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Games like the Prussian National Game: ( In the diagrams below, the empty ranks are omitted)</div></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKtu6qUv_RQLKXqAXbNhfohXtW6o47LPUwUlySVxl3QsALsBEaGP9CvOJCCt8pyri03l8UtI2hsU2sjF4Oaa0jbCqvaBn40DmYgDI6RqyX_ES-hAFiByb106xcpdBhGQPCGTYwlYR3l4AD8O2wMs8vyZETXgl7U8cP6_4bxVWDOD5fXRL94pqvtKNh-A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="5850" data-original-width="8625" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKtu6qUv_RQLKXqAXbNhfohXtW6o47LPUwUlySVxl3QsALsBEaGP9CvOJCCt8pyri03l8UtI2hsU2sjF4Oaa0jbCqvaBn40DmYgDI6RqyX_ES-hAFiByb106xcpdBhGQPCGTYwlYR3l4AD8O2wMs8vyZETXgl7U8cP6_4bxVWDOD5fXRL94pqvtKNh-A=w400-h271" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">And Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian Chess: </span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYbydV3t3FCbjn9cj26J7QQR05h6XJZkzr9jLGOOrSyr3iYF28g-adq2Lg_b2Ah81fjJVPco2knnb5MFCEYZNAqOJpRkl5zV-sZyhDn0LAUIKADK8owJYnxf33ob_WZ3pX2UgtbhXaRGsQc_ZwqJswnuzktkywdV0m0Q3YNm-jJmDlxuarJ5zHVNy9pw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="1464" data-original-width="2544" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYbydV3t3FCbjn9cj26J7QQR05h6XJZkzr9jLGOOrSyr3iYF28g-adq2Lg_b2Ah81fjJVPco2knnb5MFCEYZNAqOJpRkl5zV-sZyhDn0LAUIKADK8owJYnxf33ob_WZ3pX2UgtbhXaRGsQc_ZwqJswnuzktkywdV0m0Q3YNm-jJmDlxuarJ5zHVNy9pw=w400-h230" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>And Tamerlane's Chess: <br /><br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIjL6VtytLGtrFgUD7Wbel-Do7iQBHXrldohdDws-9rvSRcb8Ba541MlehiYxzcKLopfWL5lBT93nKcAB6Wv_2INL7NcizR-u5X2sZTPwuaoUuPpi-9UDU1XJB0VyUZH4y5BstG0X2vZteBaN_EI9AddiqbShKir1Q8zdzdgr8vUZkkvniN4pqLZCWDg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" data-original-height="5850" data-original-width="9750" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIjL6VtytLGtrFgUD7Wbel-Do7iQBHXrldohdDws-9rvSRcb8Ba541MlehiYxzcKLopfWL5lBT93nKcAB6Wv_2INL7NcizR-u5X2sZTPwuaoUuPpi-9UDU1XJB0VyUZH4y5BstG0X2vZteBaN_EI9AddiqbShKir1Q8zdzdgr8vUZkkvniN4pqLZCWDg" width="400" /></span></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have included some old, established variants.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Like Capablanca's Chess: </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwdGdGc8ycZ0HVs4iA4-I8F43RcfYUjP1rd9WhMyOYJ7bFQwiYfg74KqBPOZs8WwLhWrDwckLNM_mKIyrJA9F77se-_g_Mq8b-uF0q9YG4nWA-_wD9Hm33Sv-MG0e68oRxfvwNaXFdR77wHQ5TI8fV5lhAt1UxZUd9x6Sv6CUctCzjiDvJ4LyFVHB78Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="4425" data-original-width="7800" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhwdGdGc8ycZ0HVs4iA4-I8F43RcfYUjP1rd9WhMyOYJ7bFQwiYfg74KqBPOZs8WwLhWrDwckLNM_mKIyrJA9F77se-_g_Mq8b-uF0q9YG4nWA-_wD9Hm33Sv-MG0e68oRxfvwNaXFdR77wHQ5TI8fV5lhAt1UxZUd9x6Sv6CUctCzjiDvJ4LyFVHB78Q=w400-h228" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />And Courier Chess:</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkqNGtaQyIdtUGEAtVAPsP-3rjCnTs8QaaU-OQb01hculk4jP4f4r7Xezfio85tPGuXSda6Aawr03EYvuedSzxolQfMEAUJKbwD8ORk-BmTw-RfTn0S6P0paTadPY2QZbMwtidUsr4Q56XvxGq8pJHB3JsrMWQ7yys3zOBEjB2dGEuSCxE7vbVexZ8xw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="5775" data-original-width="7125" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhkqNGtaQyIdtUGEAtVAPsP-3rjCnTs8QaaU-OQb01hculk4jP4f4r7Xezfio85tPGuXSda6Aawr03EYvuedSzxolQfMEAUJKbwD8ORk-BmTw-RfTn0S6P0paTadPY2QZbMwtidUsr4Q56XvxGq8pJHB3JsrMWQ7yys3zOBEjB2dGEuSCxE7vbVexZ8xw=w400-h324" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And I have even included some variants which are almost, but not quite Chess.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Like George Parker's Camelot:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK9W3I_xNtdWzZId5XSA2oyoylpGS0h-vYX7hPmmbQJ98DSNx7fLStgDYMcp2moHdoiMQTABBOb6Xg2tLah0aiNnITiofiXoqqlC-T64cK0qkz9R6A_GvUE8DiWjlmn4piFrmp0Ziw3kmMaFo4Zb7kePWwUhM3wcKI5RzsffPUqPXoc-XCTS6NG7hsGA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img data-original-height="11625" data-original-width="8670" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK9W3I_xNtdWzZId5XSA2oyoylpGS0h-vYX7hPmmbQJ98DSNx7fLStgDYMcp2moHdoiMQTABBOb6Xg2tLah0aiNnITiofiXoqqlC-T64cK0qkz9R6A_GvUE8DiWjlmn4piFrmp0Ziw3kmMaFo4Zb7kePWwUhM3wcKI5RzsffPUqPXoc-XCTS6NG7hsGA=w477-h640" width="477" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />And Gala, a game played long ago in Germany:</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoR_MNSwC6Yx8cHpahrRfkd_2diIl6l7fnT3Ej2XF_Cxa_7ZhzlUP5p6vjDyZjarQFZaV0Xn7Pc1G2lgPFioC5BNq2JL16nL7vkJkTvW_nDVd6n-5QaH9NEyllJfSGuJ54dZd84vNN-21pSpMB0P-6Te7PNpbaRaCABZXGOPzmo-H0FsiDHTYyuV7QVA/s1950/10%20NOT%20QUITE%20CHESS%20ARRAYS_Page2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1950" data-original-width="1800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoR_MNSwC6Yx8cHpahrRfkd_2diIl6l7fnT3Ej2XF_Cxa_7ZhzlUP5p6vjDyZjarQFZaV0Xn7Pc1G2lgPFioC5BNq2JL16nL7vkJkTvW_nDVd6n-5QaH9NEyllJfSGuJ54dZd84vNN-21pSpMB0P-6Te7PNpbaRaCABZXGOPzmo-H0FsiDHTYyuV7QVA/w369-h400/10%20NOT%20QUITE%20CHESS%20ARRAYS_Page2.jpg" width="369" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And one of my favorite not-quite Chess games, Cheskers:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFLRKqQkEDGmsTLgMQEsHv_ToO6hsS2vMu0w45aqW0eCB2ZrDACNvUVJAB917oJeD3BisnBSy83LNoXGZaDsz2-YzBrvbU7-uA8nDt8W0ch76Rf6ejh3SnPRosF-y0lT46etD8khrR1649THUzSH1D8sUsABUn43fbvKlnxc55I9qX5R88N5Ai3qWgQ/s1950/10%20NOT%20QUITE%20CHESS%20ARRAYS_Page1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1650" data-original-width="1950" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFLRKqQkEDGmsTLgMQEsHv_ToO6hsS2vMu0w45aqW0eCB2ZrDACNvUVJAB917oJeD3BisnBSy83LNoXGZaDsz2-YzBrvbU7-uA8nDt8W0ch76Rf6ejh3SnPRosF-y0lT46etD8khrR1649THUzSH1D8sUsABUn43fbvKlnxc55I9qX5R88N5Ai3qWgQ/w400-h339/10%20NOT%20QUITE%20CHESS%20ARRAYS_Page1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you like chess variants, you'll probably find one to suit your taste in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Variations-Theme-Chess-George-Dekle-ebook/dp/B0C4XL17G9/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21MM7XB0TEM1J&keywords=variations+on+the+theme+of+chess&qid=1684521791&sprefix=variations+on+the+theme+of+chess%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><b>Variations on the Theme of Chess</b></a>.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-78199295597968558222023-01-15T13:10:00.000-05:002023-01-15T13:10:22.614-05:00ACCIDENTAL ADAPTATION?<p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Darwinians are celebrating the adaptation of a Puerto Rican forest lizard to urban life. In an article entitled <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/forest-lizards-genetically-morph-survive-151953826.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Forest Lizards Genetically Morph to Survive Life in the City</b></i></a>, the adaptation is ballyhooed as proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. This may be a fine example of evolution, but I don't think it supports the neo-Darwinist theory of Natural Selection. According to that theory, random mutations of the DNA molecule are selected to survive because they give the DNA an advantage in the struggle for survival. "Random mutation" equals "Accidental change." Accidents are more often disastrous than serendipitous. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Which is more reasonable? That when the lizards moved into the city, their genes were randomly modified and the modifications gave the lizards longer legs and modified scales which helped them to better survive in the city? Or that when the lizards came into the city, their DNA recognized the need for longer legs and modified scales and reprogrammed itself to make city life easier?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">If evolution is random, why does DNA keep coming up with the same solutions to the same problems? This phenomenon is called "convergent evolution," and convergent evolution has given us the Ichthyosaurus, the Shark, and the Killer Whale, all of which are basically the same. It has also given us Hyenas and Wolves--two very different genera which survive in much the same way. Then we can look at Ants and Termites; pterodactyls, bats, and birds; and myriads of other unrelated species which have "convergently evolved" the same sort of solutions to the same problems.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">One of my favorite examples of convergent evolution is the Panda's thumb. The Panda, like primates and people, needed an opposable thumb for grasping things (in the Panda's case it was bamboo shoots). To meet this need the Panda evolved a thumb. It's a very different thumb than the human thumb, but it still is a thumb.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">I once read a joke that claimed DNA invented human beings because it wanted to explore extraterrestrial opportunities for replication. The joke was funny because it advanced the "ridiculous" theory that DNA had some form of intelligence, and that evolution was purposeful.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">I think Darwinists are allergic to the idea that some sort of intelligence drives evolution because they see the term "Intelligent Design" as a code word for God. If they could remove God from the process of evolution and retain some sort of directing force, they would probably drop Natural Selection like a hot potato.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Henri Bergson, the atheist French philosopher, could accept neither the theory that accident drove evolution nor the theory that God controlled it. He posited a theory that there was some sort of "elan vital," or "life force," which drove evolution by seeing needs and opportunities and modifying life to meet those needs and opportunities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">I'm not a scientist, a philosopher, or a theologian, but I think I can see a theory of evolution which can satisfy both the proponents of materialistic evolution and theistic evolution. I'll discuss it in my next post.</span></p><p><br /></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-49026617762701278952023-01-13T12:03:00.000-05:002023-01-13T12:03:53.719-05:00MORE THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF COLLEGE AND PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL<p><span style="font-size: x-large;">In my last post I talked about the safety measures that have
been put in place which have sought to transform football from the brutal sport
which I played as a young man into something that is safer. With the
exponential growth in the size and weight of today’s players, it is open to
question whether these safety measures are as successful as they should be.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I’d like to talk about another change in football which
possibly increases safety, but which gives players <i>carte blanche</i> to
cheat—the legalization of blockers touching the “blockees” with their hands.
When I played on the line, I was taught that if you put your hands on the
person you were blocking, you would be flagged for holding and garner a 15 yard
penalty. What you were supposed to do was hit the “blockee” with your shoulder
and drive him back from the line of scrimmage. You were also taught to put your
head between the “blockee” and the hole that the ball carrier was going to hit.
This made it more difficult for the “blockee” to slide along the line toward
the ball carrier to make the tackle. On defense, the linemen were taught to “read”
the blocker’s head. Look and see which side of your body the head was going to
be placed on, and slide in that direction to keep from being cut off from pursuing
the ball carrier. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Old time defensive linemen defended against a shoulder block
with a maneuver called variously a “forearm shiver” or a “flipper.” You hit the
blocker with your forearm as hard as you could in order to fight off the block.
Some blockers would also hit with the forearm rather than the shoulder. I got
my facemask busted and my chin split open from a huge offensive tackle who smashed his
forearm into my face. The worst part of it was that the blow caused me to
swallow my cud of chewing tobacco. Aiming for the head with a flipper was a
good tactic on either side of the line. As a defensive lineman, I aimed my flippers for the
head of the offensive lineman. On offense I aimed my flipper at the chest
of the opposing lineman. We used to wear flipper pads to prevent injury to the
forearms, but my junior and senior years in high school flipper pads were
outlawed because some cheaters were “loading” their pads. Consequently, during
the course of a game I would beat my forearms bloody from hitting faceguards
and chinstrap buckles. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Nowadays I don’t see the linemen throwing flippers. Why?
They’ve been outlawed. NFL rule 12, Article 3, Section 1(a) defines
unsportsmanlike conduct, among other things, as: "Throwing a punch, or a
forearm, or kicking at an opponent even though no contact is made." <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Shoulder blocking is why the old-time football linemen had
such bulky shoulder pads—to cushion the shoulder against the impact of hitting
the “blockee.” Today the offensive lineman’s first move is not to hit with his
shoulder, but to put his hands on the defensive lineman and push. Being denied
the use of the flipper, the defensive lineman can do nothing but push back. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The push block is less traumatic than the shoulder/flipper
block, but that is not why blockers are now allowed to use their hands. They
can use their hands because it is “too hard” for referees to police holding. I
remember reading about the rule change when it was made, and the justification
was that it made the policing of holding easier. It also made holding much
easier. If you grab a defender by the front of his jersey, holding is almost
invisible. It’s only when the blocker hugs the defender or obviously grabs the
defender by the shoulder pads or side of the jersey that holding will be
called. This makes pass rushing very difficult. Pass rushers had several
tactics for evading the shoulder block of an offensive lineman in a passing
situation, and these tactics are not nearly as successful when the blocker has
hold of the front of the jersey. One pass rush tactic that would be outlawed today was the head-butt rush. As a pass rusher, your first move was to butt the blocker's face mask with the crown of your helmet. Can we say, "Targeting?"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Because of these rule changes, passers get much more time to get off their
passes. So how does the modern game compensate for this great advantage? By
legalizing all but the most egregious forms of pass interference. Being able to
put your hands on or wrap your arm around a receiver who is trying to catch a
pass is an open invitation to do a little grabbing and shaking the receiver to make
him drop the pass. This grabbing is hard for referees to detect in the heat of
combat, and that is why you constantly hear announcers saying, “Well, the
defender got away with interfering on that play.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Back before they legalized pass interference, the defender’s
best way to defend a pass was to time the tackle to arrive at the moment the
ball arrived and jar the receiver enough to make him drop the ball. Probably
the greatest practitioner of this type of pass defense was <b><a href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/sports/football/2016/02/05/trash-talk-showmanship-super-bowl-hammers-time/79898914/">Fred
“The Hammer” Williamson</a></b>. Williamson would time his tackles perfectly
and deliver a stunning blow to the receiver’s head with his forearm. This blow
would usually knock the ball loose from the receiver’s grasp. He also frequently
knocked receivers out, and he boasted that he was going to knock the Packers’
top two receiver out in Super Bowl I. It didn’t quite work out as Williamson planned.
He instead was the player who got knocked out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I’m not suggesting that football go back to the old days of
shoulder blocking and throwing flippers—those tactics produce a lot more trauma
that is inflicted in today’s game, but there ought to be some way to tighten up
on the grabbing of jerseys. Only the <b><a href="https://www.ducksters.com/sports/football/officials_referees.php">Umpire</a></b>
is specifically charged with the duty of looking for holding on the line of
scrimmage. The <b><a href="https://www.ducksters.com/sports/football/officials_referees.php">Head
Linesman</a></b> and the <b><a href="https://www.ducksters.com/sports/football/officials_referees.php">Line
Judge</a></b> don’t appear to be assigned the task of looking for holding, and
they are stationed on either side of the line of scrimmage. If they are not
specifically required to look for holding on the line, they should have that
task added to their duties. Maybe an off-the-field referee should be added who
could monitor the line on a video screen and call in any holdings which are not
detected by on-the-field referees. As far as grabbing by the pass defenders is
concerned, maybe coaches should be given a limited number of challenges for no-calls
in the event of the officials missing egregious pass interference. This right
could be limited to interference in the end zone, the red zone, and on passes
in excess of twenty yards. Maybe someday the players will wear “smart” jerseys
that can signal when they’re being grabbed by opposing players.</span><o:p></o:p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-13993520322520306572023-01-10T16:22:00.002-05:002023-01-10T16:22:32.721-05:00THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF COLLEGE AND PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> I’ve watched more football this past year than I have in
many a moon, and the more I’ve watched, the more convinced I am that the game
being played today is not the one I played in the 1960’s. Many of the maneuvers
that we would have called “good hits” back then will now get you a 15 yard
penalty. Targeting? We thought you were a wimp if you didn’t have skid marks
all over your helmet from butting heads on the line and leading with your head
making tackles. Back in the day, if you got knocked out, you could go right
back into play when you woke up. We called getting knocked out "getting a phone
call" or "getting your bell rung." We were smaller back then, which meant that head-on collisions at full
speed were not quite as awful as getting run over by one of the 325-pound
behemoths who stalk the modern football field.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">All the changes I have discussed are designed to, and
do, reduce the probability and severity of injuries. Probably the best thing
that could be done would be to do away with the two-platoon system. If you’ve
got eleven guys who run onto the football field for the kickoff and stay there
until the final whistle, those guys aren’t going to be carrying a lot of extra
weight. Look at the men who play rugby and Australian rules football. There’s
not a 300 pounder in sight. Another way to reduce injuries is to restrict the weight
of football players. I’m not a mathematician, so these figures might be off,
but I’m going to take a shot at calculating the force of a 325-pound (147.7 kilogram)
tackle targeting a 220-pound (100 kilogram) quarterback who is in the pocket
looking for a receiver. Using the equation F=ma, and taking 8 miles per hour (12.8
kilometers per hour) as the speed of an average human being, we get an equation
of F=147.7*12.8. Force equals 527 Newtons. A Newton is the force necessary to accelerate
one kilogram a distance of 1 meter. The quarterback is hit in the head with a
force of 527 Newtons. That is sufficient to knock his head off if it isn’t
screwed down tight, and that is why targeting gets a 15 yard penalty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Now let’s reduce the size of the defensive lineman to 250 pounds
(113.6 kilograms). Our equation becomes F=113.6*12.6. Force equals 404 Newtons.
The 250-pound tackle hits the quarterback with only 77% of the force of the 325-pound
tackle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">You can make all the rules you want against targeting, and
players are still going to do it. And quarterbacks are going to suffer massive
trauma to the head. Rules against targeting won’t eliminate head trauma, but a
weight restriction will reduce it significantly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">My modest suggestion for player safety in football is: (1) Eliminate
two platooning; and (2) put a weight limit of 250 pounds on linemen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">But what about all those 300-pound behemoths? What sport can
they play? To paraphrase Marie Antoinette, let them play Sumo. [That’s a joke].
I suspect most of them could eliminate body fat and excess muscle mass, and
they would be under 250. When I was in college we had a defensive tackle who stood
6’6” and weighed 245 pounds. He looked like a beanpole. A muscular beanpole. That same player today could pack on weight up to 300+ pounds and carry it easily. But he wouldn't be as healthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I've got some other ideas for rule changes to football, but I'll save them for another post.</span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-91875292918787726902022-08-12T15:49:00.000-04:002022-08-12T15:49:08.827-04:00"THE EAST RIVER RIPPER" A FINALIST FOR THE ROYAL PALM LITERARY AWARDS IN HISTORY<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXb6_mXD54Tpv6vprSxNW8BhWJwHZ-kWRXJwP1DRcVcLO5Sed3eRzE-gqteYFtj5q2RxRlxCw3UUtZ2SVgt4LIxwZZieLuIT_2Xpme-jVezVBWg6wXe8WByqwU68Ov4pG0aQ0oI9vR-f2wt4lH1rGLzvTfbL5_uJiu8KbS8XzPI4-x2hCZam_ger4AQA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="1800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXb6_mXD54Tpv6vprSxNW8BhWJwHZ-kWRXJwP1DRcVcLO5Sed3eRzE-gqteYFtj5q2RxRlxCw3UUtZ2SVgt4LIxwZZieLuIT_2Xpme-jVezVBWg6wXe8WByqwU68Ov4pG0aQ0oI9vR-f2wt4lH1rGLzvTfbL5_uJiu8KbS8XzPI4-x2hCZam_ger4AQA" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">"The East River Ripper is a finalist in the RPLA. The awards will be announced at the end of October. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I'm also up for an award in the category of unpublished short story. </span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-7194731181324283962022-08-08T13:16:00.000-04:002022-08-08T13:16:31.132-04:00AWARDS FOR "THE EAST RIVER RIPPER"<p>I<span style="font-size: large;">t's been a while since I posted anything, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge. The <i>East River Ripper </i>was a finalist in two categories in the <a href="https://www.indieexcellence.com/16th-annual-finalists" target="_blank">National Indie Excellence Awards</a>--Regional Non-Fiction Northeast and True Crime. It got a Bronze Medal for Regional Non-Fiction from the <a href="https://ippyawards.com/165/medalists/2022-medalists--regional-and-ebook-categories">Independent Publishers Book Awards</a>. And it got a Bronze Medal in the category Political/Current Events in the <a href="https://myfapa.org/book-awards/2022-book-award-medalists/">Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Awards</a>. Finally, it is a semi-finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards--category of History. I also have an unpublished short story on the semi-finalist list. Awards will be announced at the Florida Writers Association Convention in Orlando on October 29.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am also working on another true crime history about a murder case that was tried in Toronto in 1895. At the time it was touted as "Canada's Greatest Case." It has been a rough row to hoe in getting the book written. The pandemic lockdown delayed getting essential references from libraries and archives which had been shut down, and knee replacement surgery sidelined me for a while. I'm finally on the last chapter, and then I need to go back and trim the excess verbiage. I should be ready to start shopping the book to publishers by the end of the year.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I've decided that for my next project I'm going to try my hand at writing a novel. Checking and rechecking references for nonfiction work is a tedious process. It might be fun to be able to make stuff up without having to fact-check it.</span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-62591493809176713812021-12-27T21:04:00.000-05:002021-12-27T21:04:11.655-05:00RIPPEROLOGIST INTERVIEW<p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">The December 2021 issue of <i><a href="http://www.ripperologist.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Ripperologist: The Journal of Jack the Ripper, East End and Victorian Studies</b></a></i> contains an interview I gave to How Brown, the proprietor of the website <a href="http://CarrieBrown.net" target="_blank"><b>CarrieBrown.net</b></a>, and Mr. Brown has graciously agreed to allow me to reprint the article on my blog.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvRtmnyFRYX734hTHKeqW6RMO-2Ix-u7gB_wT-OzcPyCURIR-_DrXZWAsw2NB_FwExfxhwuGieqre7iVXNKed8GRfOcCUGuFzrZoQI5t2wWQhmF937-ixdjKG2Q53jAu_55WnmJLAIlI3cjQyosEbi5M9-VdISc0x3XBKwBKUTBala_pwnwWASYoIJaQ=s7016" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7016" data-original-width="4961" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvRtmnyFRYX734hTHKeqW6RMO-2Ix-u7gB_wT-OzcPyCURIR-_DrXZWAsw2NB_FwExfxhwuGieqre7iVXNKed8GRfOcCUGuFzrZoQI5t2wWQhmF937-ixdjKG2Q53jAu_55WnmJLAIlI3cjQyosEbi5M9-VdISc0x3XBKwBKUTBala_pwnwWASYoIJaQ=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 40.05pt; margin: 14pt 0in 0in;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: "Baskerville",serif; font-size: 40.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Baskerville;">THE
EAST RIVER RIPPER</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: "Baskerville",serif; font-size: 40.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Baskerville;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.05pt; margin: 14pt 0in 0in;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: "Baskerville",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Baskerville;">THE
MYSTERIOUS 1891 MURDER OF OLD SHAKESPEARE</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: "Baskerville",serif; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Baskerville;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Pa12" style="margin-bottom: 2pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;">By HOWARD
BROWN<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="Pa12" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">Recently
released by the Kent State University Press was <i>The East River Ripper: The
Mysterious 1891 Murder of Old Shakespeare </i>by author George R. Dekle, the
first full-length book on the murder of Carrie Brown. Her death has seen much
discussion over the years as to whether it was the work of the Whitechapel
murderer. </span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">“This book
will, for the first time, give an accurate history of the East River Ripper
case. It will not give an infallible account of what really happened. No
history can do that. All history can do is reconstruct an account of what
probably happened. The more numerous and reliable the sources, the more
meticulous the historian, the more accurate the history can be, and no effort
has been spared in making this history as true to what really happened as humanly
possible.”- George R. Dekle, from his Introduction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #211d1e; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> <span> </span> </span>Professor
Dekle, not only the first crime scholar to have written a full-length book
about the 1891 murder of Carrie Brown, the trial of Amir Ben Ali, and the
aftermath to this Gilded Age mystery, is perhaps the best person who might have
written a book about the case. His legal background separates him from the pack
by the very fact that he covers Ali’s trial, and does considerable damage to
the long-held belief that Ali was framed by the NYPD, a belief which came about
almost immediately after the June/July 1891 trial.</span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> <span> </span> </span>Professor
Dekle provides alternative theories as to who committed the murder, and leaves
the casual reader and Brownian researcher the option of choosing which of his
alternatives is closest to the truth as to whodunit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span><span> <span> </span></span>The book
doesn’t shut doors, but rather opens them in terms of encouraging further
research into the East River Hotel murder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #211d1e;">The East
River Ripper </span></i><span style="color: #211d1e;">is a must-have book for aficionados of Gilded Age
American crime and true-crime devotees of every stripe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: 9.05pt; margin-top: 5pt;"><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-size: large;">u<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Pa27" style="margin: 14pt 0in 5pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">FIVE
QUESTIONS WITH GEORGE R. DEKLE</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="line-height: 10.05pt; margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">1: When did you begin
your research into the Carrie Brown murder and Ali trial? How much time, from
the beginning of the research until the completion, did it take for you to
complete the work?</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">Toward the
end of 2018 as I was finishing up my last book, <i>Six Capsules: The Gilded Age
Murder of Helen Potts</i>, I decided to write a professional biography of the
lead prosecutor in that case, Francis L. Wellman. The format would be to give a
chronological account of his murder trials, devoting a chapter to each one. I
had followed this path once before, when I wrote <i>Abraham Lincoln’s Most Famous
Case: The Almanac Trial</i>. Upon finishing <i>The Almanac Trial</i>, I then
wrote <i>Prairie Defender: The Murder Trials of Abraham Lincoln</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #211d1e;">I started on my project exactly as I did
on <i>Prairie Defender</i>. I amassed all the information I could on every
murder case that Wellman tried, and then began writing the book. When I hit the
second chapter, I said to myself, “This case deserves a book unto itself,” but
I forged ahead. When I got to the fifth chapter, I said, “It’s impossible. This
case has to be a book unto itself.” Then I really dug into the research on the
Carrie Brown case and uncovered a wealth of information that confirmed my
opinion. I set aside the professional biography of Wellman and wrote <i>The
East River Ripper </i>instead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e;">I worked on the book from
October of 2018 until January of 2020, at which time I had a completed
manuscript. KSU Press accepted it for publication, and for the next six months
I worked on responding to the critiques of the peer reviewers, rewriting to
address the critiques, correcting mistakes found by the copyeditor, reviewing
proof pages, and indexing.</span></span></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">2: What was
the most interesting part during your research? Scouring the trial transcripts?
Reviewing first hand accounts, or something else?</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">The most
interesting moments during my research were the times that I found things which
had certainly been overlooked by the lawyers trying the case and apparently
overlooked by later writers on the case. As I tried to point out in the book,
the prosecution didn’t put on nearly as strong a case as they could have, and
the defense missed gaping holes in the prosecution case that they might very
well have exploited to achieve an acquittal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">3: When you
give the reader three alternatives to a solution in this case, was it entirely
for the reader or are you not entirely convinced an answer or solution is
etched in stone yourself.... or both?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">I talk about some of the
principles of evidentiary analysis when I give the three case theories. One
really important principle that I had to learn the hard way is: “Don’t get
tunnel vision.” Don’t latch onto a theory and defend it at all costs no matter
what new evidence turns up. Byrnes didn’t do himself any favors by latching
onto the “Frenchy No. 2” theory and not giving up on it until he had
established that “Frenchy No. 2” had an ironclad alibi. Then he continued to
let the public think that he was looking for Frenchy No. 2 and wound up with
egg on the face when he arrested Ben Ali.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: #211d1e;">You look at the evidence and devise
theories which explain as much of the known evidence as possible. Then you test
those theories to see if they hold up under scrutiny. The three theories I
advance in the book were what I believed to be the three most plausible
theories. Any one of them has a claim to being true, but which is most likely
true? In devising the three theories, I looked at all the evidence without
analyzing its weight. In choosing among the three theories, I weighed the
evidence, accepting what I felt was more believable and rejecting what I felt
was less believable. The weighing of evidence is a more subjective process than
simply looking to find the existence of evidence.</span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Could I be wrong about whether
Ben Ali committed the murder? Certainly I could. As Oliver Cromwell wrote to
the Church of Scotland, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, consider that
you might be mistaken.” This dictum gave rise to the scientific principle known
as Cromwell’s Rule: “Never assign a probability of 1 or 0 to any proposition.”
Statistician David Lindley coined the term, and he illustrated it by saying
that you should “leave a little probability for the moon being made of green
cheese; it can be as small as 1 in a million, but have it there since otherwise
an army of astronauts returning with samples of the said cheese will leave you
unmoved.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e;">Somewhere out there someone may
find a piece of evidence that proves beyond peradventure that Ben Ali was
innocent. I think it’s unlikely, but it could happen. What I haven’t seen is
any evidence whatsoever that the police, the expert witnesses, and/or the
prosecutors colluded together to frame an innocent man. The only “evidence” of
a frame job that I found was the unsubstantiated allegations in the press that
Ben Ali was “railroaded” and Charles Russell’s statement in his highly
inaccurate magazine article that there was “something strange” about the blood
evidence. These allegations got repeated over time until the acorns of
allegation grew into the oak forest of certainty.</span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e;">Sometimes people can get trapped
in a web of circumstances indicating guilt that they cannot extricate
themselves from, and that may well have occurred in Ben Ali’s case. I handled a
murder case once where an idiot kept doing stupid things that made him look
guilty. I felt sure I could have convicted him at trial, but I was just as sure
that he was innocent. We didn’t arrest him, and a year later we were able to
arrest the man who actually did commit the murder. When I was a defense
attorney I had a client who accidentally killed his girlfriend and then staged
the scene to make it look like a rape-murder and throw suspicion on someone
else. He took a manslaughter and turned it into a first degree murder and wound
up getting sentenced to life instead of 15 years for manslaughter.</span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e;">You get more false convictions
from bad luck and bad judgment than from bad police officers.</span></span></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin: 5pt 0in 2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2pt;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 2.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">4: If you
were a defense lawyer for Ali. what would have been (at least) one strategy you
would have undertaken that the trio didn’t, or one that you would have handled
better?</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
prosecution went to trial unprepared. Francis Wellman delivered what seemed
like a good opening statement, but it had gaping holes in it where he said things
that he could not prove. The defense did not take advantage of these failures
of proof. They actually papered over one of them. The prosecution wound up
putting on a better case than what they said in opening (but not nearly as good
a case as they could have), and the defense responded to that case with experts
who could easily have been turned to support the testimony of the prosecution
experts. The prosecution fumbled badly in their handling of the defense
experts. Instead of using the defense experts to bolster their own experts,
they attacked the defense experts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"> <span> </span><span> </span></span><span style="color: #211d1e; text-indent: 0.5in;">The way to
defend Ben Ali was to defend against Wellman’s opening statement, not against
the evidence presented at trial. In taking that approach, the defense could
ignore most of the damning new evidence that hadn’t been mentioned in opening
statement and cross-examine the prosecution experts to have them underline all
the things that Wellman had said but failed to prove. I would have worked hard
to keep Ben Ali off the witness stand. He never looked more guilty than when he
was denying his guilt. Wellman butchered him on cross-examination, and that may
well have been the turning point of the trial. More times than I can remember I
have seen a defendant who was sailing toward a not guilty verdict take the
witness stand and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by lying like a cheap
clock. Usually it was a client I couldn’t talk out of testifying.</span></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="color: #211d1e; text-align: justify;">It might be hubris on my part, but I
think I could have gotten Ben Ali acquitted by following the strategy outlined
above. I don’t mean by my remarks to disparage the efforts of either side. They
both worked hard, and both sides did enough to win the case before the right
jury. The problem was that the only truly experienced criminal trial lawyer among
the six lawyers was De Lancey Nicoll, and he was only a mediocre trial
advocate. The other lawyers were talented, and they occasionally showed flashes
of brilliance, but they all needed some seasoning in the trial of murder cases.
Wellman was a quick study, and he showed vast improvement in his next case, the
Carlyle Harris case chronicled in <i>Six Capsules</i>.</span></span></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p>
<p class="Pa77" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #211d1e;">5: Our opinion of George Damon, the
Cranford, N.J. man who came forward with the key to room 31 approximately a
decade after Ali had been in various institutions, is probably the same. What
might differ is what reason he had for coming forward. Do you believe this
reason was self-serving or altruistic?</span></b><span style="color: #211d1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">If George
Damon was telling the truth, what else must be true? (1) It must be true that
the police had no hope of ever finding out the true identity of “C. Knicklo.”
Damon, the only man who knew it, was concealing it. (2) It must be true that
the police had no hope of ever finding the key to the death room. Damon was
concealing it. (3) It must be true that George Damon valued his personal
convenience over the life of an innocent man. Ben Ali stood in danger of death
in the electric chair and only Damon could save him. (4) It must be true that
George Damon didn’t give a damn about the proper administration of justice.
Conclusion: George Damon was the real villain of the tragedy of Ben Ali’s false
conviction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa13" style="margin-bottom: 2.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #211d1e;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
unspoken theme of George Damon’s testimony, whether true or false, is “I’m a
dirtbag.” When someone says, “I’m the kind of guy who will let an innocent man
die in the electric chair,” he’s not the kind of guy I’m going to rely on to
tell the truth. And he’s not the kind of guy I’m going to expect to act from
pure motives. I’ve had quite a bit of experience with post-conviction
“exculpatory” witnesses, most of them as a defense attorney. The usual scenario
was that the witness came to me and said, “What do I have to say to get the
defendant’s conviction overturned?” None of these witnesses were motivated by
altruism. I suggested one selfish motive for Damon to fabricate the story of
Frank the Disappearing Dane in the book. There may have been others for which
we have no evidence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="Default" style="line-height: 9.05pt; margin: 8pt 0in 14pt;"><span style="color: #211d1e; font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-size: large;">u<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: #211d1e; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">HOWARD
BROWN is the owner of CarrieBrown.Net, the foremost online archive and
discussion site on the Carrie Brown murder.</span></span></b><o:p></o:p></p></div><br /><p><br /></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-65607978595817611342021-12-12T13:49:00.002-05:002021-12-12T13:50:03.131-05:00THE SUNSHINE STATE BOOK FESTIVAL (JANUARY 29, 30, 2022)<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">I just registered as one of the exhibitors at the Sunshine State Book Festival, which is to be held in the Oaks Mall, Gainesville, on Saturday, January 29, 2022, with lectures the next afternoon at the Matheson History Museum. More information on the festival can be found <a href="https://www.sunshinestatebookfestival.com/index.html" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">I will be featuring my latest book, <i>The East River Ripper: The Mysterious 1891 Murder of Old Shakespeare, </i>but I will have copies of most of my other books, including <i>The Last Murder: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Execution of Ted Bundy </i>and <i>Six Capsules: The Gilded Age Murder of Helen Potts.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">If you are a bibliophile (aka bookworm), you won't want to miss this event.</span></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjAntunoZUAEWf7gE6rBgBuW2LY9UDkT-B4CvNyp2Arb-OOhFm0i7GvoxQaxCR9gcmPODK9VGGGPZs9lUtgtTB1EuQOKaF2QZFkgvUve-GFV0xRxEcgPXUz7kEYkP-s4MOUe6cxBfat49R4LYE7D7PwRchkBeGsCX2wUK5yzxktVA4QHxIsBA1wQaDhw=s1126" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgjAntunoZUAEWf7gE6rBgBuW2LY9UDkT-B4CvNyp2Arb-OOhFm0i7GvoxQaxCR9gcmPODK9VGGGPZs9lUtgtTB1EuQOKaF2QZFkgvUve-GFV0xRxEcgPXUz7kEYkP-s4MOUe6cxBfat49R4LYE7D7PwRchkBeGsCX2wUK5yzxktVA4QHxIsBA1wQaDhw=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-2310956422152612602021-11-19T20:06:00.005-05:002022-01-31T21:59:48.893-05:00THOUGHTS ON THE KYLE RITTENHOUSE VERDICT<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">One comment on the Rittenhouse verdict before I give my analysis: To paraphrase the Old Bailey barrister Horace Rumpole, “A criminal trial is a pretty blunt instrument for settling questions of public policy.” The acquittal of Rittenhouse does not mean that the Civil Rights movement is dead. It does not mean that it’s open season for would-be vigilantes to go around shooting people. All it means is that the prosecution failed to prove Rittenhouse guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Let me begin my critique with a digression:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In December of 1946, 5’7”, 130-pound Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, who had a
baby face and was dressed in a business suit, picked up a 6’2” 190-pound
hitchhiker. The hitchhiker shoved a .45 into Murphy’s ribs and attempted to
carjack him. When Murphy was ordered to stop the car, he grabbed the man’s gun
hand and punched him, knocking him out of the car. Then Murphy went into the
ground-and-pound offense and eventually knocked the man out. As the news photo taken at
the jail showed, Murphy’s suit was unruffled. We can’t say the same for the
carjacker who experienced what Jeff Cooper called “a critical breakdown in the
victim selection process.” If Murphy had been 6’2” himself with a scarred face
and bulging muscles, the robber probably wouldn’t have attacked him.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">If Kyle Rittenhouse had been a muscular behemoth with scars
on his face and tattoos on his arms, it is unlikely he would have been
attacked. Instead, he was a slightly built, baby-faced youngster who looked
like he was not “man enough” to use the semi-automatic rifle he was packing. He
had exercised abominable judgement in going to Kenosha, abominable judgement in
arming himself with an “assault rifle,” and abominable judgement when he went
into harm’s way looking like a wannabe bad guy who had jumped in way over his
head by carrying a rifle into a riot. But stupidity is not yet a criminal
offense. It's a pity that some police officer didn’t tell him, “Son, you’d
better go home before someone takes your rifle away and gives you an AR-15
suppository.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Rittenhouse was a sitting duck for “tough guys” who might
think they could take him down a peg without running the risk of serious injuries.
I don’t know what motivated the men who confronted Rittenhouse. They may have
acted from motives as pure as the driven snow, but they too were exercising
abominable judgement by violently engaging a man armed with a semiautomatic rifle.
He may have looked like a wimp, but it doesn’t take Man Mountain Dean to
operate the 5.5 to 9.5 pound trigger pull on an AR-15 style weapon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">In a series of confrontations with men exercising judgement
as poor as his own, Rittenhouse acted like a youngster who had jumped in over
his head, but he followed up his series of bad decisions with a prudent series
of acts. He tried to disengage. He proclaimed his lack of aggressiveness, and he
ran away. Then he did something unexpected—he fired his rifle in self-defense.
When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, two men lay dead and another was
critically injured. A Medical Examiner friend of mine once told me "It takes three screwups to make a disaster." There were far more than three screwups in this scenario, and they culminated in a disaster of monumental proportions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">I prosecuted for 30 years, and I defended for two years
before that, and I have lost count of the number of homicide cases I prosecuted
and defended over the years. I have seen juries acquit on grounds of
self-defense in cases where the defendant had done far less to try to defuse
and withdraw from a confrontation. If the Rittenhouse case had come across my
desk, I would have resisted the filing of charges against Rittenhouse with all
my heart and soul and sinew. If I were ordered by my superiors to prosecute the
case, I would have told them that I could not. And they wouldn’t have had to
ask me why I refused. I would have told them. I would have said, “I believe
Kyle Rittenhouse is not guilty of murder.” If there had been a law on the books
in Wisconsin prohibiting “Stupidity Resulting in Death,” I would gladly have
prosecuted Rittenhouse for that, but life is too short and jobs are too
plentiful for me to be coerced into prosecuting someone I believe to be
innocent of murder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Thankfully, I don’t believe it would have come to that if
the case had come into our office. Both the elected prosecutors for whom I worked
were men of sterling reputation and excellent judgment. They would never
aggressively pursue charges against someone who had done so much to avoid
having to use deadly force.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">After I retired from active practice, I taught a class on
prosecution at a law school for ten years. One principle I tried to drill into the
heads of aspiring prosecutors was this: Sometimes prosecutors do their best
work when they resist political pressure and refuse to file iffy charges.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><br /><p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-85939812597255201682021-11-14T11:16:00.007-05:002021-11-14T11:19:36.487-05:00A NEW REVIEW OF THE "EAST RIVER RIPPER"<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">This Review comes from the <a href="https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2021/09/the-east-river-ripper-a-mysterious-1891-jack-the-ripper-style-murder/">New York Almanack</a>.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" />George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-3174822012707078612021-10-27T22:01:00.002-04:002021-10-27T22:01:51.184-04:00WOMEN'S SPORTS, WOMEN'S SAFETY, AND FUNDAMENTAL FAIRNESS<span style="font-size: large;">Caitlyn Jenner, who won an Olympic Gold Medal in the men’s marathon before transitioning to female, just came out against trangendered women competing in women’s sports. This might seem both unenlightened given our recent trend to gender neutrality and unnecessary given the fact that TV shows, TV ads, and in the movies constantly bombard us with depictions of lithe, svelte, beautiful women outdoing males in all sorts of physical activities from combat sports to track and field, and even to opening stuck jar lids. And there are women who have successfully competed at the highest level of sports against men. Babe Didrikson Zaharis comes to mind. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The current furor over the issue of trangendered females competing against biological females ignores the reason we have women’s sports. I think the reason which can easily be demonstrated by looking at a few sports records to see if women excel men in real life as completely as they do on TV and in the movies:</span> <div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9xB2lRFwNi42GmWqBKguIl9zHAzHAyqFxYF8f6f6d12AyGL7u3NVcb8w2rCJlFGHVlBaL14E3rCB3ugfPxDF0FN2xYM-q_FkWgR1i6E4ISboPoCra_2tnYAoSgunawTat8DK43A8LaQg/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9xB2lRFwNi42GmWqBKguIl9zHAzHAyqFxYF8f6f6d12AyGL7u3NVcb8w2rCJlFGHVlBaL14E3rCB3ugfPxDF0FN2xYM-q_FkWgR1i6E4ISboPoCra_2tnYAoSgunawTat8DK43A8LaQg/w566-h404/20211027+TRANGENDER+SPORTS.jpg" width="566" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">NOTE:
Boys’ records come from the Florida State High School Activities Association’s
record books for <a href="https://fhsaa.com/documents/2020/4/30//rec_bwt.pdf?id=85" target="_blank"><b>weightlifting</b></a> and <a href="https://fhsaa.com/documents/2021/3/15//rec_boys_track2019_20.pdf?id=1300" target="_blank"><b>track and field</b></a>. The women’s records can easily be checked on Google.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We see that the only two events where world champion professional women outperform amateur high school boys are the shot put and the discus. Of course, the women are tossing much lighter implements than the boys. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Let’s use these statistics to perform a thought experiment: What if we jumped in our time machine, went and got these boys at the age and stage of development they had attained when they set these state records, convinced them that they were really girls, and entered them in the 2024 Summer Olympics? They would be competing against world class professional women who had trained almost their whole lives to excel in their sports. How would they do? These amateur teenagers who had been practicing their sport for only a few years would probably bring home a sack full of gold medals. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We have women’s sports because a person with a woman’s body cannot be expected to compete with people who have men’s bodies in contests of strength, power, and speed. It is a biological fact that is ignored only at the peril of the safety of people with women’s bodies. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">When Cecil decides that he is a woman trapped in a man’s body and gets his gender reassigned to become Cecilia, changing to feminine pronouns when referring to her does not change the fact that Cecilia still has a man’s body. As proof of that proposition, I offer as evidence the y chromosome and the prostate gland, neither of which exist in the bodies of biological females. The y chromosome gives men a number of attributes relevant to fairness in sporting competition—bigger bodies, stronger bodies, more testosterone, and facial hair. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In contact sports like baseball, basketball, and lacrosse, this is going result in physical injuries to biological females. In collision sports like football, boxing, and MMA it can result in catastrophic physical injuries. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The main reason I see for allowing trangendered females to compete in women’s sports is the fact that their feelings will be hurt if they are excluded. I have a suggested remedy for the psychological injury that a transgendered woman might feel because she is being excluded from women’s sports—complete gender-neutrality in sports. Do away with men’s and women’s categories in sports and go to two divisions. One division, let’s call it the Y Division, will be open to anyone who wishes to compete, male or female, cisgendered, transgendered, pangendered, or ungendered. The second division, let’s call it the X Division, will be closed to anyone endowed with a y chromosome.</span></div></div></div>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-53397857917405306852021-10-07T10:49:00.002-04:002021-10-07T10:51:24.752-04:00THE ROLE OF THE PROSECUTOR<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8m98hMVK01urGAwQ0csO5zqBrq1m5liHETZaF8Aon0JcaD_QlzjEQvLEiQ3ijH2v_-qrPmmYt6GbEGybmU34kQyInYCrXy4aaL-R2vYFlZUBaiAr_nb21NSlaJDoU5sln999AL_XOlw8i/s212/Britton_Bath_Osler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="172" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8m98hMVK01urGAwQ0csO5zqBrq1m5liHETZaF8Aon0JcaD_QlzjEQvLEiQ3ijH2v_-qrPmmYt6GbEGybmU34kQyInYCrXy4aaL-R2vYFlZUBaiAr_nb21NSlaJDoU5sln999AL_XOlw8i/w325-h400/Britton_Bath_Osler.jpg" width="325" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Britton Bath Osler</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span style="font-family: times;"><span data-offset-key="c89kv-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">On May 23, 1895, Britton Bath Osler, the greatest Canadian prosecutor of the 19th century rose to make his final argument in the most sensational murder case that had ever been tried in the courts of Toronto. Arrayed against him on the other side were two of the most </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">distinguished</span><span data-offset-key="c89kv-2-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"> defense attorneys of the age, and they were aided by a man who was arguably the greatest American prosecutor of the 19th century, Francis L. Wellman, who had recently gone into private practice in New York City. Defense counsel, having spoken for almost eight hours, had ended their argument with an impassioned plea to spare the defendants' lives and return them to their wives and aged mother. </span></span></span></p><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="ajift-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="ajift-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="ajift-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="2onk2-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2onk2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2onk2-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">In attempting to defang the powerful arguments of his opposition, Osler called upon the jury to be guided by facts, not emotion. He then gave a statement of the role of a prosecutor which should be etched in the heart of all prosecutors everywhere: </span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="moii-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="moii-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="moii-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="1qndu-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1qndu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1qndu-0-0"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">"My function is simply to aid you in getting at the truth, and is entirely different from that of the prisoners’ counsel. It is the duty of the Crown' counsel to press home the facts. It is not his duty to present facts with an apology for presenting them against the prisoners. He is to treat the prisoners fairly, rightly; conceal no evidence that comes to his knowledge. He has to aid you in coming to a just conclusion upon the facts, and if acquittal follows and he has done his duty that is all the community asks of him."</span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="7clmd-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7clmd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7clmd-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="4n1ve-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4n1ve-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4n1ve-0-0"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;">William Randall Slaughter, the State Attorney of the Third Judicial Circuit when I began practicing law, made a similar statement when he told me, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">"A prosecutor doesn't win a case by getting a guilty verdict. A prosecutor wins a case by getting past a judgment of acquittal and getting a jury verdict. Whatever the jury says, the prosecutor has done his job."</span><span style="font-family: times;"> His language was a little more colorful than what I have reported, but I try to keep things on a PG level.</span></span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="vcre-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="vcre-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="vcre-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br data-text="true" /></span></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="75fak" data-offset-key="a6s20-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a6s20-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="a6s20-0-0"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">My next project, if I live long enough to complete it, will be a chronicle of this long-forgotten episode in Canadian legal history. It is, for me at least, a fascinating look at a titanic legal struggle in a court system that is somewhat unfamiliar to modern Americans.</span></span></div></div>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-74524766507507532122021-09-20T21:31:00.000-04:002021-09-20T21:31:24.677-04:00A RETIRED PROSECUTOR'S RANDOM THOUGHTS<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">It's been a long time since I did any real writing, so I decided to put a book together that collected some of my random musings on different topics from this blog. I venture far afield in my blog, touching on such arcane topics as Greek and Roman military history, chess variants, parapsychology, and a host of other topics that are guaranteed to have an audience snoozing in a matter of minutes. I do, however, sometimes write on criminal law topics and current events. Most of my writing on current events deals with some crime or other that is so prominent in the news that I cannot ignore it. Usually it is a murder. When I write on criminal law topics I cannot help but reminisce about some of my adventures as a prosecutor or defense attorney. When I put this new book together, most of the topics dealt with criminal law or current events, but some essays on other topics slipped in, too. What resulted was a book a little under 200 pages containing 50 essays of varying lengths, from a single paragraph to several pages. I'm putting the book out in both ebook and paperback, but as of this writing only the ebook is online at Amazon.com. The paperback should be up and running in a few days. I gave the book a thoroughly original title: </span><i style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Retired-Prosecutors-Random-Thoughts-ebook/dp/B09GNVTTQQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=B09GNVTTQQ&qid=1632187264&sr=8-1" target="_blank">A Retired Prosecutor's Random Thoughts</a>. </i><span style="font-size: x-large;">Here is the table of contents:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">INTRODUCTION <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 1: THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS (September 12, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 2: FOUR QUESTIONS EVERY PROSECUTOR SHOULD ASK
(September 14, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 3: REFLECTIONS ON <i>THE LAST MURDER: THE
INVESTIGATION, PROSECUTION, AND EXECUTION OF TED BUNDY</i> (September 15, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 4: ON CALLING THEM LIKE YOU SEE THEM (September 25,
2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 5: THE VOWEL THEORY OF CAPITAL LITIGATION (October
24, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 6: DECIDING TO BECOME A LAWYER (October 28, 2011)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 7: SOME STRIKING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE CASES
AGAINST RICHARD HAUPTMANN AND THEODORE ROBERT BUNDY (January 28, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 8: MORE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE CASES AGAINST
RICHARD HAUPTMANN AND THEODORE ROBERT BUNDY (March 3, 2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 9: VERDICT ON THE JAMES OSSUARY TRIAL (March 16,
2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 10: A GOOD QUOTE ON THE OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR
(March 21, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 11: STAND YOUR GROUND: GET AWAY WITH MURDER (March
23, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 12: CHANGING THE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM (March 25,
2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 13: THE COURTROOM OR THE NEWSROOM? (March 26, 2012)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 14: MEN WHO KILL POLICE OFFICERS (December 21, 2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 15: SATANISM, ATHEISM, AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
(February 27, 2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 16: MARTYRDOM TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH (January 15,
2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 17: PROSECUTING POLICE OFFICERS (January 17, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 18: THOSE WHO SNIPE AT SNIPERS (January 27, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 19: WHEN WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED? (February 18, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 20: MEMORIES OF MURDER WEAPONS (May 19, 2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 21: THE DOJ REPORT ON THE SHOOTING OF MICHAEL BROWN
(April 3, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 22: JURY DUTY (April 15, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 23: JURORS AND JURY SELECTION (April 17, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 24: UNINTENDED AND UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES IN
IRAQ (June 5, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 25: FAITH, REASON, AND SCIENCE (July 3, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 26: INTERVIEWS INTERROGATIONS AND CONFESSIONS (July
18, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 27: CHARGING CRIMINAL CHILD NEGLECT (May 20, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 28: ANOTHER LOOK AT THE GOLDEN RULE (July 22, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 29: THREE THINGS LITIGANTS DON’T WANT IN A JURY
(September 23, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 30: LOST EVIDENCE (October 26, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 31: FALSE DICHOTOMIES (October 28, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 32: PUNDITS, PISTORIUS, AND PREMEDITATION (March 20,
2014)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 33: MERRY CHRISTMAS; <span style="font-family: "MS Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: "MS Gothic";">メリークリスマス</span> (Japanese); کریسمس مبارک
(Persian) (November 29, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 34: POLITICAL CORRECTNESS VERSUS REALITY IN SAN
BERNANDINO (December 3, 2015)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 35: I’M GOING TO BECOME A PROSECUTOR. WHAT SHOULD I
READ TO PREPARE MYSELF? (March 11, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 36: NO APOLOGIES FOR HIROSHIMA (May 19, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 37: MISSING THE POINT IN ORLANDO (June 13, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 38: ASSAULT RIFLES: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION (June
13, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 39: PASSAGES
(June 24, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 40: <i>PRAIRIE DEFENDER: THE MURDER TRIALS OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN</i> (July 13, 2016)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 41 IS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH GUILTY?
(October 20, 2018)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 42: ON A PURELY MORAL BASIS, RATHER THAN A PRACTICAL
ONE, TO YOU THINK THERE ARE ANY CRIMES/PEOPLE THAT DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY?
(October 25, 2018)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 43: THE WORM TURNS: BABY BOOMERS ARE NOW RESPONSIBLE
FOR ALL THE EVIL IN THE WORLD (January 27, 2019)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 44: A CHARACTER SKETCH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN (April 24,
2019)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 45: ZAC EFRON PONTIFICATES ON TED BUNDY (May 4,
2019)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 46: MEMORIES OF WOODSTOCK ON ITS 50th ANNIVERSARY
(August 8, 2019)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 47: DEFUND OR DISBAND THE POLICE DEPARTMENT? (June
9, 2020)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 48: EXTREMELY INACCURATE, SHOCKINGLY DISTORTED, AND
WARPED (June 2, 2019)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 49: RESEARCHING <i>THE EAST RIVER RIPPER: THE
MYSTERIOUS 1891 MURDER OF OLD SHAKESPEARE</i> (January 10, 2021)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">CHAPTER 50: A STRONG MAN ARMED (September 15, 2018)</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><br /></div>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-67730565766388113742021-08-24T17:46:00.002-04:002021-08-27T13:59:30.890-04:00RADIO INTERVIEW ON "THE EAST RIVER RIPPER"<p><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday, August 23, 2021, I did an interview on the <i>True Murders </i>radio show with Dan Zupansky. The subject of the interview was my newest book, <i>The East River Ripper</i>. Here is a link to the interview: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/user/danzupansky1/show-11989964-2021-08-23-22-55-35-01-fix" target="_blank">TRUE MURDER: THE MOST SHOCKING KILLERS</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-11555693096865661982021-08-20T16:13:00.002-04:002021-08-24T17:50:34.969-04:00"THE EAST RIVER RIPPER" NOW BEING DELIVERED: AUTOGRAPHED BOOKPLATE AVAILABLE<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARPBRlfkpm2onxAsxoyng0orh5CH2K8TaVBMTZStnHeffEDqwcbEY0WlLJl9XcMXU-EZu8JXQsKSndWjOFoxfZ4UgyoLGTThm2PSKEtcljZzsnFuFwAYht6oezhIH1zhyn3_KSw3xiMsI/s1126/RIPPER+COVER.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARPBRlfkpm2onxAsxoyng0orh5CH2K8TaVBMTZStnHeffEDqwcbEY0WlLJl9XcMXU-EZu8JXQsKSndWjOFoxfZ4UgyoLGTThm2PSKEtcljZzsnFuFwAYht6oezhIH1zhyn3_KSw3xiMsI/s320/RIPPER+COVER.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Copies of <i>The East River Ripper </i>are now being delivered by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/East-River-Ripper-Mysterious-Shakespeare/dp/1606354264/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1629485159&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and, I presume, also by <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-east-river-ripper-george-r-dekle-sr/1138973656?ean=9781606354261" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a> and <a href="https://www.booksamillion.com/search?filter=&id=8294861137794&query=DEKLE+EAST+RIVER+RIPPER" target="_blank">Books-A-Million</a>. They can also be ordered from the <a href="https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2021/the-east-river-ripper/" target="_blank">Kent State University Press</a>.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">To celebrate the publication of this book, I am offering a free personalized bookplate bearing my signature to anyone purchasing the book. The plate will read: </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">"To [your name here]: I hope you enjoy reading <i>The East River Ripper: The Mysterious 1891 Murder of Old Shakespeare</i> as much as I enjoyed writing it. Signed: George R. Dekle Sr."</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The bookplate will be 8.5" by 5.5" with an adhesive backing and will fit nicely inside the front cover of the book.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you would like to have such a bookplate, email me your address and a proof of purchase at bobdeklebooks@gmail.com, and I will send you the bookplate at no cost to you. (An example of a proof of purchase would be a screenshot of the shopping cart for the online bookstore where you purchase the book).</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">This offer is good through December 31, 2021.</span></p></blockquote><p>If you would like for me to send you an autographed bookplate</p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-10905044717696432752021-08-12T16:41:00.003-04:002021-08-12T16:41:45.352-04:00ADVANCE COPY OF "THE EAST RIVER RIPPER"<p><span style="font-size: large;">I just got my advanced copy of <i>The East River Ripper: The Mysterious 1891Murder of Old Shakespeare</i>, due out at the end of August. Here is a picture of the back cover.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVwuwkUSvqkM4CkG-g-bw1wSDwgOZbfngcFSoCqyOZ9znyav3yoJUZCBg-4TUzDPoYwwc_ycnU1CmS1pN0m2SMbdFlnSJqLO1oEetXPTLJy_b1Sbx8iojlkY7ZI53RR3uFiru5tPzjzLf/s879/scan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="597" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglVwuwkUSvqkM4CkG-g-bw1wSDwgOZbfngcFSoCqyOZ9znyav3yoJUZCBg-4TUzDPoYwwc_ycnU1CmS1pN0m2SMbdFlnSJqLO1oEetXPTLJy_b1Sbx8iojlkY7ZI53RR3uFiru5tPzjzLf/s16000/scan.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-41253486144544476192021-07-24T17:25:00.000-04:002021-07-24T17:25:02.391-04:00TRANSCRIBING THE LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING CASE: SUSPENDING THE PROJECT<p><span style="font-size: large;">Some time I embarked on the project of trying to transcribe the 4,000+ pages of the Lindbergh Kidnapping Trial. No good transcript of the trial was readily available, and I thought it would be helpful for those interested in the case to actually read the testimony of the witnesses.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It soon became clear that I had taken on a monumental task for someone who is not the best typist in the world. I stalled at the testimony of the handwriting examiners and took a hiatus of over a year. When I returned to the project, I discovered that the trial transcript had been published on Kindle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The transcript comes in three volumes, each costing $2.99. I immediately bought the three volumes. Anyone who wishes to have access to the trial testimony now has a simple, inexpensive vehicle for accessing it. For this reason, I am suspending my project of transcribing the trial. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Here are links to the three volumes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/State-vs-Hauptmann-Vol-Transcripts-ebook/dp/B071SDFKX2/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=lindbergh+kidnapping+trial+transcript&qid=1627161443&sr=8-2" target="_blank">VOLUME ONE</a><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/State-vs-Hauptmann-Vol-Transcripts-ebook/dp/B071LMC65T/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=lindbergh+kidnapping+trial+transcript&qid=1627161748&sr=8-3" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">VOLUME TWO</span></a><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/State-vs-Hauptmann-Vol-III-ebook/dp/B071P6YQ96/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lindbergh+kidnapping+trial+transcript&qid=1627161748&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">VOLUME THREE</span></a><br /></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-30085530472924040022021-07-24T10:04:00.001-04:002021-07-24T10:10:59.056-04:00ROYAL PALM LITERARY AWARD<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I just received word that I am a semi-finalist in the Florida Writers Association's Royal Palm Literary Award category of short nonfiction for a book review of mine that was published in the "Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association." You can read the book review here: <a href=" http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0041.213"> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0041.213</a></span></div><div><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0041.213/--lincoln-s-last-trial-the-murder-case-that-propelled-him?rgn=main;view=fulltext," target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0041.213/--lincoln-s-last-trial-the-murder-case-that-propelled-him?rgn=main;view=fulltext," target="_blank"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8HVicnvsZOTTCk_IZAWOARNh04BoW_IPvRnBd8u_szz3dCGtr4eZRv98D5gXzHSGBgUxaj1rCODYRXludiiEb3RMhpVUFw7CnbioSVPcf7gvHup0naGhuM_gs6mpIo_MGTKfBqkvWa2A/s721/RPLA_21_semiFinalist_Badge.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="721" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8HVicnvsZOTTCk_IZAWOARNh04BoW_IPvRnBd8u_szz3dCGtr4eZRv98D5gXzHSGBgUxaj1rCODYRXludiiEb3RMhpVUFw7CnbioSVPcf7gvHup0naGhuM_gs6mpIo_MGTKfBqkvWa2A/w400-h400/RPLA_21_semiFinalist_Badge.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-25290827182959634412021-07-20T17:13:00.001-04:002021-07-20T17:20:26.439-04:00PUTTING THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON MY NEW LIBRARY<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7n101lPUep1DoTIB3KehZCZbxB4_tTOnXC283tCgruRKWNzWzNjqF5-N1HtCGQfld3SSmUVGLHIocl17HO8hn0c_cLYe_7oNKKhVnhik893wTA8aTdqzsrHHoxrjaG_LBkYEYYs9S1BZJ/s2048/IMG_1671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7n101lPUep1DoTIB3KehZCZbxB4_tTOnXC283tCgruRKWNzWzNjqF5-N1HtCGQfld3SSmUVGLHIocl17HO8hn0c_cLYe_7oNKKhVnhik893wTA8aTdqzsrHHoxrjaG_LBkYEYYs9S1BZJ/w640-h480/IMG_1671.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>MY LIBRARY VIEWED FROM THE SOUTHWEST CORNER</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">After several months of building, putting bookshelves together, moving furniture, and arranging books, I finally have my new library almost completely finished. The books are arranged in a modified Dewey Decimal order (I call it the Dekle Decimal System), and all that really remains is to update my catalog of books, a chore which I have been neglecting for several years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAzD6A2lpULaX34Bl1mdxPpjn8hm72r9BrurUhl22VQ6ZdWM9xBy2VQPrpLKPno8pHWLmVOJ5URDEKIgMTqhcCZSo1rfHwoAToeQGBGHlepznVy1W7mcmeBTyn_Hp5fKRVcD8dgS8T8-6/s2048/IMG_1672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAzD6A2lpULaX34Bl1mdxPpjn8hm72r9BrurUhl22VQ6ZdWM9xBy2VQPrpLKPno8pHWLmVOJ5URDEKIgMTqhcCZSo1rfHwoAToeQGBGHlepznVy1W7mcmeBTyn_Hp5fKRVcD8dgS8T8-6/w640-h480/IMG_1672.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>MY LIBRARY VIEWED FROM THE NORTHWEST CORNER</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For my entire married life I have never had enough room for all my books, and many of them have been kept in boxes in various storage facilities over the years. I've still got some in storage, but all the important ones are now in the new library. It was fun pulling books out of the attic and out of the various storage places I'd put them in and getting reacquainted with them after not seeing them for years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I began my library when I was in grammar school at Lake Butler Elementary, and I still have a few books from that time period. The oldest, and possibly the most valuable, books I have were originally in the library of Dr. Seeber King of Lake Butler.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHX7zD4dqNxjVORMSOqMcdzcYdkeF5AzzLEExAw0NXMZgkoKUJ5q8Gwtzk70Z6NhHUrKvjo-cR6R1faGusdoV3FOfiHBcPOJA8AHCprJFcBcm_0TETRihACo2jGQr1UbkIIELVgWRk3Md/s2048/IMG_1673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVHX7zD4dqNxjVORMSOqMcdzcYdkeF5AzzLEExAw0NXMZgkoKUJ5q8Gwtzk70Z6NhHUrKvjo-cR6R1faGusdoV3FOfiHBcPOJA8AHCprJFcBcm_0TETRihACo2jGQr1UbkIIELVgWRk3Md/w640-h480/IMG_1673.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>MY LIBRARY VIEWED FROM MY DESK</b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Every Dewey Decimal classification is represented in my library, but some classifications are more heavily populated than others. I have approximately 47 feet of books in the 200's, which cover the Bible, religion, and mythology; 46 feet of books in the 300's, which cover law, crime, military history, and warfare; 23 feet of books in the 800's, which cover literature, poetry, and theater; and 30 feet of books in the 900's, which cover history. The other Dewey Decimal numbers, plus the fiction books, add another 140 feet of books. And finally, my library contains 50 feet of mass market paperback books. That's approximately 336 feet of books. The count is somewhere over 4,200 books. </span></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5725007994251969702.post-54700184473672065412021-07-14T15:37:00.005-04:002021-07-14T15:40:54.184-04:00THE EAST RIVER RIPPER: THE MYSTERIOUS 1891 MURDER OF OLD SHAKESPEARE<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The publication date for my latest book on the East River Ripper case is fast approaching, so I thought I'd post some of the pictures that I collected for illustrations which did not make it into the book. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">In summary, the book is about the mutilation murder of a prostitute in a New York City brothel. It would not have been a remarkable case at all except that the mutilations bore a striking resemblance to the handiwork of Jack the Ripper, who was operating in London at about the same time. The New York City Chief of Detectives, Thomas Byrnes, had been quoted in the paper as being critical of the London Police, and it did not sit well with Scotland Yard. </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8BauvHEtlT4lnOnR0kGlDMnxuJboO2AdzYwwaSplok0PUlm7f769NvXsgJBzUV1WdcI3woEMO2GGOOEtHC1dVh2K1O14htQvbo51deBmLJvTwkaTWN3qPqWIg-vClwb_4clNkOIIPasD/s2048/INSPECTOR+BYRNES.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1542" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl8BauvHEtlT4lnOnR0kGlDMnxuJboO2AdzYwwaSplok0PUlm7f769NvXsgJBzUV1WdcI3woEMO2GGOOEtHC1dVh2K1O14htQvbo51deBmLJvTwkaTWN3qPqWIg-vClwb_4clNkOIIPasD/w482-h640/INSPECTOR+BYRNES.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THOMAS BYRNES</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">It wasn't long before the NYPD received a letter purportedly signed by Jack the Ripper saying to batten down the hatches, he was coming to New York to see if the New York police would be any more successful at catching him. Then a prostitute known as Old Shakespeare was murdered in the East River Hotel, and the New York papers had a field day criticizing Byrnes for not immediately catching the ripper.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xbkCYs1qWm9lvzcE-vBYKWmoChKs5_F9wIZmtto3loS-UkNY6YHVUXZzGnU6VF_ksZaTEAo9vtxfQcuJutm_omy9Un2dfg-sF1VVU1QqHsH7FmyZdphfKGP7pzKwf18hj-eW9-ScOj8g/s2048/HIS+TURN.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1593" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_xbkCYs1qWm9lvzcE-vBYKWmoChKs5_F9wIZmtto3loS-UkNY6YHVUXZzGnU6VF_ksZaTEAo9vtxfQcuJutm_omy9Un2dfg-sF1VVU1QqHsH7FmyZdphfKGP7pzKwf18hj-eW9-ScOj8g/w498-h640/HIS+TURN.jpg" width="498" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-large;">The above cartoon shows a worried Byrnes unsuccessfully trying to solve the case as the amused heads of the London, Paris, and Berlin Police look on in amusement.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">When Byrnes finally announced that he had made an arrest the papers, which had criticized him for not making a quick arrest, began criticizing him for making too hasty an arrest. The sentiment was that Byrnes had picked out an Algerian immigrant who went by the nickname of "Frenchy" as a fall guy and was going to pin the murder on him regardless of whether he was actually guilty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">History remembers the case as a false conviction brought about by the collusion of police, prosecutors, and sleazy expert witnesses; and that the defendant's incompetent court-appointed counsel bungled the case away. It was only after an extended crusade by heroic newspapermen that justice was done and Frenchy was pardoned after serving 11 years of incarceration. That's how history remembers the case.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">Here are a few problems with how history remembers the case. De Lancey Nicoll, the elected District Attorney who oversaw and helped to try the case, enjoyed a sterling reputation among the bench and bar. Charles E. Simms Jr., the ADA who helped try the case, was also above reproach. Francis L. Wellman, the lead prosecutor, although he was unpopular with the defense bar in New York City, was a well-respected trial attorney in his own right. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgETzxfa8kUIyAjHdlUe9f_sjZOFYhsVM_aMDHNYyXCGELw562jer71p0wZVk1__-1RY5oRUN-WEPhnmRSWolpdEneXWfv84YFdYzKjIpxu0li0mpAwvdpZoba66qWnhDgSB_-QboThWS_M/s960/IMG_1094.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="750" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgETzxfa8kUIyAjHdlUe9f_sjZOFYhsVM_aMDHNYyXCGELw562jer71p0wZVk1__-1RY5oRUN-WEPhnmRSWolpdEneXWfv84YFdYzKjIpxu0li0mpAwvdpZoba66qWnhDgSB_-QboThWS_M/w500-h640/IMG_1094.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">The expert witnesses for the prosecution, Prof. Henry Formad and Dr. Austin Flint, were two of the most well-respected medico-legal experts of the 19th century, and their entry into the case did not occur in such a way as to make it plausible that they collaborated in a conspiracy to frame an innocent man.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSviF4pwcIeVTdP8TcEAL33JX9HB6-gDXYDY3J2aNU_qaaGgHtBIsWUOHfcnA0w85OkK_s8gLuWYo5dG8H4mAUUrFlht6jUqVfH0BZz2ZBRsfZQi4-G8q1OqBP4m1dXZUzWK3yujIfv0s/s2048/austin+flint.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1875" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDSviF4pwcIeVTdP8TcEAL33JX9HB6-gDXYDY3J2aNU_qaaGgHtBIsWUOHfcnA0w85OkK_s8gLuWYo5dG8H4mAUUrFlht6jUqVfH0BZz2ZBRsfZQi4-G8q1OqBP4m1dXZUzWK3yujIfv0s/w586-h640/austin+flint.jpg" width="586" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>DR. AUSTIN FLINT</b></td></tr></tbody></table><span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Modern police officers would have a difficult time fabricating the forensic evidence submitted to the prosecution experts, it is difficult to imagine the ignorant officers of the 19th century NYPD concocting such evidence.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">I discuss these issues in greater detail in the book, and I show how an innocent Frenchy could have been a victim of circumstances and his own poor judgment rather than a victim of a police frame-up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;">There are other problems with the received history of the case, but I will point them out in future posts.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>George R. (Bob) Dekle, Sr.http://www.blogger.com/profile/15242224536369458590noreply@blogger.com0