Yipee! You actually get textual content tonight!

I'm home at a semi-reasonable hour tonight. So, here are some random things I needed to blog about:

1. Shane Ragland, who had been convicted of murdering UK football player Trent DiGiuro in 1994, but that conviction had been overturned because a forensics expert lied on the stand, was set for his second murder trial when he copped a plea for second-degree manslaughter instead. The authorities are recommending an eight-year sentence, but with credit for time served, so he'll be out in three days.
   
   I can understand why he took the plea bargain--he was facing life in prison for using a scoped rifle to shoot and kill DiGiuro who was out on a balcony with friends celebrating his 21st birthday. My first thought was why on earth did the Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney offer it? Apparently it was to protect the main witness, who had been under the protection of state and federal agencies, but this could be done only once. Still I don't get it. Wouldn't she be safer with Ragland behind bars?
   
   The defence of course maintains Ragland's innocence, saying that he had to say he did it to get out of jail, basically. What a load of crap. Either you plead guilty because you did it, or you plead innocent because you didn't.
   
   At the time of DiGiuro's death, I lived two blocks away, near campus. It shocked the community that anyone would do this. Now the guy's going to just walk? Argh. My thoughts are with DiGiuro's family. It's been an emotional rollercoaster and I'm sure this isn't how they wanted it to end, although I guess it's good he did serve some time.
   
   
2. On a lighter note, the moon is high and beautiful and full overhead, but later on tonight there will be a full lunar eclipse. It'll be near morning, which might affect viewing. I'm not sure if I want to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning to watch, but thought I'd put it out there for any of you who want to watch it. The high point I think is 5:52 EDT.
   
   
3. My neighbour across the hall, who is Hindu, came up to me and told me that in her religion they feed animals because they are close to God, and she didn't have any and neither did her friends. Her family is far away. So she wondered if it would be okay to get food for my dog and if so, what kind do I feed her? I told her that would be fine, but I was pretty sure it had beef in it and I didn't know if that would be a problem. I looked at the ingredients and there it was. She said she'd check with her mother (she seems pretty young, in her early 20s). Apparently it was alright because this morning next to the newspaper there was a bag of food for Cerys. So Cerys benefits and so do we. That's very nice of them. I must find a way to thank them (although I wish they'd feed me; I constantly smelling wonderful smells of Indian food when I pass their apartment). :)
   
   
4. I worked 10 hours Saturday but I'm off from the store today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. Yay! Maybe I can get some rest.
   
   
5. Despite the heat and drought, I've seen lots of butterflies lately. I love them. My middle name, Eilir, actually means butterfly in Welsh. They're wonderful examples of transformation.
   
   
6. I'm beginning to get stuff out of the library. I have boxes of books in my new closet, and I'm putting the journals that have been weeded on a cart to go back to the compactor (and yes, I did offer them to other libraries first). Emptying that shelving unit gives me room for things that were on my small bookshelf, which will be going away. Eventually my desk will be back with that larger shelf. I need to keep room for acquisitions to be processed, though.
   

That's all I can think of right now.