I must have an icon of Kim as a pirate!

The person committing patricide got the pummeling/mauling/poisoning/drowning.

Man, I definitely didn't take my Smart Vitamins today. I thought that Romans (or whoever) killed their fathers via the drowning + animal method. And then I thought, "I know I didn't pay attention in history class (seriously -- like, EVER; it's shameful how little I know about history, both world and American), but I think I would have remembered something as funky as THAT!"

I paid attention in history class, and the Romans continue to surprise me.

Wait -- did people who were committing the particide kill their father via the ape/snake/dog/drown method, or was that the method of punishing the person who killed his father?

Punishment for parricide. Sons who killed their fathers often used poison to avoid detection. So as to not get stuffed in a bag with a menagerie.

Killing your kids, by the way, absolutely your right as a father. I guess you might have to give a reason, but disobedience would do.

So as to not get stuffed in a bag with a menagerie.

And drowned.

Yes, well, drowning, that could happen to anyone. Hardly a deterrent.

t /things I learned from murder mysteries

Absolutely no patricide! Unless of course you go to the trouble of rounding up a dog, a snake, an ape, and a large - make that extra large - sack so we know you really meant it. In that case, carry on.

If you don't have any handy ice floes you have to improvise.

And I still hope someone manages to liberate from your camera that amazing picture you took of Matilda in mid-laugh.

I'm still working on it, JZ. I'll let you know as soon as I do.

The places I've been looking at are 80% higher than rental.

I think it would probably be 100-200% higher here. Oy. A small 2-3 bedroom, older house, in ok shape but probably needing some real work in the next few years, across the street from me just sold. I'm not sure what they got, but they were asking $329k, and that was under assessment. And they sold it within about 2 weeks on the market, so I doubt that they would have come down much from that, if at all.

I pay $750 for a large one bedroom, including utilities.

In cheerier news, my mom and her partner have been visiting the past few days, and we haven't gotten into one fight. She's staying with some friends instead of with me, which is probably part of it, but I think that this is her first visit that actually feels too short.

I'm a little bit nervous about telling her that my dad is visiting next month, and staying with me. He got a good airline sale, but I just visited him in April, and she's a little bit jealous of visits.

I paid attention in history class, and the Romans continue to surprise me.

Did you watch the HBO series, Sean? Really very good. I think they captured the nature of the Patrician Roman very well.

DH finally let me futz around with the settings on his work laptop. I KNEW it had wireless capability but he never likes to play around with those things. I switched on his wireless and now he doesn't have to vanish in the basement to hook up the LAN line when he wants to go online.

Silly actuary--doesn't he know it's perfectly ok to play around with stuff until you figure it out?