Chalkdust and blood

I'm starting my newest semester as a graduate student in Criminal Justice. Ho-hum.

But tonight's class was an interesting elective: Bloodstain Pattern Analysis. From the syllabus:

"This course explores the methods used in the analysis of bloodstain patterns produced in violent crimes and the use of the results obtained to develop a likely responsible dynamics. Basic blood chemistry and the physics associated with blood drops in flight will be presented in order to allow a better understanding of how bloodstain patterns result from various typs of events at crime scenes." (Hueske, Edward E, 2007)

17 week, 3 hours a week. Includes labs and practical excercises involving mock crime scenes. (The textbook set a personal record for me: it costs $130. [For that price, I think I should expect a personal assistant to turn the pages for me, complete with a Happy Ending.])

If nothing else, I should be more informed as I rant at the TV screen, along with LawDog, about the outrageous leaps that the folks on C.S.I. take when reading the evidence of a crime scene. Just what my wife always wanted: more fodder to feed my outrage at cop shows. Heh.

Tomorrow's class is probably much more applicable to my career: "Legal Issues In Criminal Justice." It will be tough, and will likely take up much time. It will be extremely helpful, no matter what direction my job takes me.

But who cares about that-- I get to play with blood, and tell you how fast it hit and from what height and direction! Who's the coolest now? :)