Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Summer Carnival of the Criminal Minds

Philadelphia is having the season's second snowfall, with forecasts calling for light flurries of the white stuff but blizzards of coverage of the "news" in local papers and on local television.

Naturally, then, the current edition of the Carnival of the Criminal Minds is full of photos of surfers, scullers and belt racers (see explanation in the comments). The carnival's host, Helen Lloyd of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, and the It's Criminal blog, offers a nice-size roster of crime sites to add to your browsing list, including some that will appeal to the ear as well as to the eye.

As always, visit Barbara Fister's carnival archive for summaries of all thirty-one carnivals to date.

© Peter Rozovsky 2009

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10 Comments:

Blogger Sucharita Sarkar said...

Fascinating! All we need is Harley Quin, Agatha Christie's mysterious sometimes-appearing-sometimes-vanishing investigator-cum-mystic/seer (ref The Mysterious Mr Quin) and his group of Columbines and Pierrot and Pierettes to complete the carnival atmosphere. Thanks for the links.

February 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

And those pictures made a nice contrast to my current season. I have just enjoyed a few minutes' salubrious exercise sweeping snow from my steps and the sidewalk. I imagine most of your country does not afford opportunity for such exercise.

Mmm, I can imagine the mysterious Mr. Quin disappearing in a swirl of snow.

February 04, 2009  
Blogger Helen said...

Thanks for the mention, Peter!

If I might make a slight correction - those women you thought were playing beach volleyball are actually taking part in a belt race, which is one of the events at a surf carnival.

They are feeding out the rope from reels, the other end of the rope being attached to a belt worn by a rescuer swimming out through the surf to the drowning victim. It's not a rescue method used any more, but it's still a traditional event at surf carnivals.

And I could sure do with some of your snow right about now. It's marginally cooler the last couple of days, but they're predicting more scorching weather for the weekend.

February 04, 2009  
Blogger Sucharita Sarkar said...

This refers to the snow (or lack of it) in India. The northern and north-eastern part of the country is hilly (the Himalayan range - "him -alaya" means 'abode of snow/cold') and experiences snowfall in many places (I've witnessed it only once though). The rest of the country - nada.

Hope the snow-sweeping exercise put the bloom in your cheeks (as the hill-folks say over here).

February 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Thanks, Helen. Belt racing is not yet an Olympic sport, as far as I know. I wonder if the event's popularity increased when Harold Holt disappeared.

February 04, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

Yes, other than the extreme north, I never associated snow much with India. And thanks for the lesson on the meaning of हिमालय!

February 04, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Belt racing may not have gotten much of a surge in interest post Harold Holt, but there was an awful lot of Chinese submarine watching going on for a long time (you have NO idea the rumours that did the rounds).

But then we're not prone to take these things too seriously - Melbourne has it's very own Harold Holt Memorial Pool after all.

February 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

I think we in America might well believe that there could have been Chinese submarine watching going on. Folks probably spent decades looking for Russian subs.

I may have heard of the Harold Holt Memorial Pool. I will make it part of my itinerary if I visit Australia. Did naming a pool for Mr. Holt cause, as P.G. Wodehouse once wrote, the raised eyebrow and the sharp intake of breath?

February 05, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I confess to very little memory of reaction at the time of naming, but these days it mostly engenders some rather perverse pride in how perverse it all is :) (Oh and a bit of eye-rolling in some parts).

February 05, 2009  
Blogger Peter Rozovsky said...

The pool's name fills me with respect and envy for your country.

February 05, 2009  

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