short takes

[cellio]

We had a clear sky for last night's eclipse, though things were darker than I expected. Yeah, duh, "dark" is part of the definition -- I mean that I was somehow expecting the moon to be closer to red than it was.

There are only two classes at the upcoming Academy (SCA event) that specifically interest me. (Thanks, dagonell, for the list.) Naturally, they are scheduled against each other. Sigh. (They weren't on the previous draft.) There are some classes that I wouldn't mind taking so it's probably worth going, mind; I'm just a little frustrated. (The advance information doesn't include names of teachers [update: just added, yay], which could make a difference for classes I wouldn't attend just based on title. A good teacher can make all the difference, and we have some of those in this kingdom.) Still, it looks like a weaker slate than I'm used to.

A news story reported that someone was convicted of "attempted first-degree intentional homicide". I thought the difference between homicide and manslaughter was intent, meaning there's no such thing as unintentional homicide. So I'm assuming sloppy writing here, though I'll admit to being a little confused at times about the degree thing, which might be relevant. My impression is that "first degree homicide" means "I specifically meant to kill you, in cold blood if necessary, you scum", that "third degree manslaughter" means "I was doing something I should have known could kill someone, but I sure didn't mean to kill or hurt anyone, let alone you specifically", and that everything else falls in between.

To the writers on West Wing: we want our characters back; could you repeat the ransom demand?

The relevant network [1] moved Jack and Bobby into the same time slot as West Wing. That's a smart move, as the show seems to be aimed at the same viewers (though the shows are very different) and WW is floundering. But I also wonder how much scheduling actually matters these days; doesn't just about every TV-viewing household have at least one recording device? Competing shows aren't the problem they once were.

[1] Yeah, branding is real effective on me... I notice the intrusive logo on the screen but just don't retain the data, and the VCR takes care of remembering what channel it's on.

Comments

[siderea]

Er, I don't think there is a "third degree manslaughter". Nor a "first degree homicide". Homicide is the parent class involving all killing of people, including legal forms. Within illegal homicide is:

First degree murder
Second degree murder
Third degree murder? (Unsure this exists)
Manslaughter

By default the difference first and second degree is the planning. However, note that many places (or maybe this is Fed?) have statutory first degree murder, which says that any death caused in the commission of a felony crime is a statutory first degree murder.

The two standard examples of that are if someone torches a building (arson) and a person is killed in the fire, and someone DUI who runs into someone and kills them. In both case, the felon may be tried for first degree murder, instead of manslaughter.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

most states have first and second degree manslaughter. Second degree is sometimes called "involuntary manslaughter"

[cellio]

I've definitely heard of "second-degree manslaughter" in PA. I've also heard of "involuntary manslaughter" and wondered what the difference was.

[cellio]

Homicide is the parent class involving all killing of people, including legal forms.

Thank you. That makes perfect sense. A distinction between murder and manslaughter makes sense; a distinction between homicide and any other sort of killing of people doesn't. (At least from a linguistic perspective.)

I've heard of third-degree murder, but I certainly don't know what distinguishes it from the others.

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

Third-degree murder is generally the catch-all for non-premeditated spur-of-the-moment, heat-of-passion killings. For example, if a husband comes home from work early and finds his wife in bed with another man, and he goes ballistic and kills him/her/both, the police will charge him with murder in the third degree.

From a quick Google search:
http://poptop.hypermart.net/homchart.html