Daily Archives: January 21, 2008

Monday Morning Musings

Lately, it seems that some of what I’ve been watching on TV has to do with private investigators. Watching a Science channel special on the science of Star Trek, the show featured the HoloDeck of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Captain Jean Luc Picard enjoyed using the HoloDeck in his off hours to immerse himself in the world of Dixon Hill, Private Detective, and this use of the HoloDeck was featured in the special more than any other use of the HoloDeck in the series.

In the series Without A Trace one of the main characters is Samantha (Sam) Spade. There’s a reference to private investigators in every episode. I was watching an episode from the week before last called 4-D. 4-D was the apartment number of the missing person – a private investigator. The private investigator was hired by a defense lawyer to check on the plaintiff. You see, the plaintiff had stepped in front of a delivery van for a chain of stores and suffered minor injuries. But he was trying to win the litigation lottery claiming nerve damage and inability to work.

Turns out that the plaintiff didn’t have anything to do with the missing private investigator, but the private investigator had found out that the plaintiff and the driver of the company delivery van had met. The private investigator had not had time to impart this important information to the defense attorney before he went missing. The FBI team from Without A Trace did find the photos on the missing private investigator’s laptop and the FBI questioned the van driver. They found out that the plaintiff and the van driver were in cohoots to defraud the company and share in the proceeds. This is what the private detective had uncovered, but these two didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance.

Two of my favorite shows, Psych and Monk have started up again too. They both feature private detectives working with the police. The last episode of Psych I saw also had another private investigation looking for Gus as his e-wife was looking for him.

Then I get a spam email that says:

Summer is here, and love is in the air!

and I look out the window at the falling snow and look at the temperature as recorded by my remote thermometer 14°F and almost, kind of, wish that I had enough disposable income to launch a private investigation to find these spammers and find a way to put them out of business…

mm-5