Murder a la Russe...

A colleague from another department sent me a note:

Did you see the news about a Russian serial killer? I just read an article on CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/14/russia.trial.ap/index.html) and was caught up short with the realization that Russia has them, too. It’s weird that I have only heard of serial killers here in the U.S., so the idea of a serial killer in another country is rather surprising. This is just another reminder for me how small my world still is in many respects.

Read the article. Very interesting. I wrote back:

Hmmm…while the pschopathology of mass murder may, indeed, be international, there are some particularly Russian things about Mr. Pichushkin:

1) The chess board. Leave it to a Russian to mark his murders on a chessboard.

2) Vodka. Would it work in America? “Come with me to a dark, murder-plagued park on the outskirts of town and drink to the memory of my small dog, until you pass out and I bash your head to such a point that I can insert a bottle of said vodka into your skull.” I have to say, only a Russian would fall for the lure of tragicomedy and vodka. In a park.

3) Do we have sewage pits in America?