Deadline stress
Had to happen, eventually. Using DNA to solve a crime. But a sample from someone else? They didn’t use that plot twist in the TV version. In California, a mass murderer has been tracked down and arrested, after the police went into the archives of a genealogy firm that collects and analyzes your spit for “who you have as a cousin” (it’s a thing, OK).
What they wanted to find was someone with similar characteristics to samples from crime scenes. Then, by climbing the online family trees of willing contributors (it’s also a thing, OK), they narrowed down their list of suspects until a match was found. Not what the ads promise, when they offer to find out your ethnic background. The part that so many miss when they buy a test kit is that you are giving up the generalized DNA of you AND all your relatives. Buyer beware!
I had a sleepless night, after remembering a couple of deadlines on my calendar. Happily, I completed my tax forms this morning, so one is now behind me. The other? Not yet. My examination, last evening, of the proposed book file came back with the realization that I have 28 chapters… and each one is formatted differently. I’m now faced with trying to create uniformity out of historical chaos, without loss of the story line or the photo identifications. Heady stuff! I may go back at it tonight. Tomorrow, for sure. The printing has to be done within the next few weeks (in order to sell on schedule).
