Author: Edward

Texas no longer lets death row inmates choose a special last meal, and the change traces back to one prisoner’s highly controversial request.

In many US states, people facing execution are offered a “last meal,” but the practice isn’t guaranteed by law and differs widely. Some places set price caps or limit menu items, while others have ended the tradition altogether. Still, last meals have long drawn public attention for their symbolism and sometimes extravagant orders.

In Texas, the turning point was Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist convicted in the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr. Brewer and others beat Byrd, abused him, and dragged him for three miles behind a pick-up truck. The killing shocked the nation and later helped fuel tougher hate-crime legislation, including the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act passed in 2009.

Before Brewer’s execution in 2011, he submitted an unusually large last-meal order. Reports said it included multiple dishes—ranging from chicken steaks and fried okra to a bacon cheeseburger, fajitas, barbecue, ice cream, and desserts—along with root beers. Prison staff reportedly provided the meal, but Brewer refused to eat any of it, saying he wasn’t hungry.

After that, Texas senator John Whitmire pushed to end the state’s long-running last-meal tradition, calling it an inappropriate privilege. Since then, inmates on Texas death row no longer receive a special, made-to-order final meal.

Tennessee is preparing for a historic event. On September 30, 2026, the state plans to execute Christa Gail Pike. Pike, now 49, would be the first woman executed there since 1820. This marks a gap of more than two centuries.

Currently, Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. She received the death penalty for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Pike was just 18 at the time. Prosecutors say jealousy drove the brutal crime. Pike and two friends lured the 19-year-old victim to a secluded spot in Knoxville before attacking her.

Now, after nearly 30 years in prison, Pike’s lawyers are asking for mercy. They argue she is a different person today. Her team points to severe childhood trauma and untreated mental health issues, such as PTSD. These conditions were not diagnosed until years after her trial.

In a recent statement, her defense described Pike as thoughtful and remorseful. However, the execution remains scheduled. Unless the governor grants clemency, Tennessee will move forward. This rare case has sparked a renewed debate about the death penalty and mental health.

Cassandra Marshall, 35, thought she had a bad flu around New Year’s. Days later, she woke up in a North Carolina hospital and learned all four of her limbs had been amputated.

Marshall, a mother of four, became ill at the end of 2023. What felt like a flu quickly turned into septic shock, a life-threatening condition that can happen when the body’s response to infection causes dangerously low blood pressure and organ failure.

Her husband called 911 after she woke up unable to breathe. She was airlifted to hospital, resuscitated twice, and placed on life support. Marshall later told local Fox affiliate WGHP that doctors said the crisis was linked to strep and the flu.

Doctors put her on an ECMO machine to support her heart and lungs. It helped her breathing recover. But she lost blood flow to her arms and legs. As a result, doctors carried out a quadruple amputation to save her life.

Marshall previously told WGHP that her legs were amputated first. She then suffered another serious medical emergency. A few days later, once she was stable, surgeons removed both of her lower arms. She said losing her arms was hardest because she could no longer hold her children.

Two years on, Marshall is adapting with one prosthetic arm. She said she no longer qualifies for Medicaid and has been denied disability four times. Friends have launched a GoFundMe to help her buy another prosthetic. She said each robotic limb costs about $19,000.

As more people talk openly about “fictosexuality,” a growing number say they feel genuine romantic or sexual attraction to fictional characters.

For many, having a crush on someone from a book, movie, or game is harmless fun — like daydreaming about Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice or Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. But for some, the connection runs much deeper. People who identify as fictosexual may describe intense, meaningful relationships with characters who don’t exist in the real world.

Therapist and gender expert Rebecca Minor told Cosmopolitan that fictosexuality is “a sexual orientation where someone feels drawn — emotionally, romantically, or sexually — to fictional characters, sometimes more than they do to real people.” She added that for those who identify this way, these bonds can feel real and important, not superficial or pretend.

One high-profile example is Akihiko Kondo, who has described himself as fictosexual. In 2018, he married Hatsune Miku, a virtual pop star, using a subscription device that projected her as a hologram. He said the marriage gave him a sense of stability because, in his view, Miku would never betray him or get sick and die. Reports say the process cost about $15,000.

Researcher Agnès Giard of the University of Paris Nanterre has suggested that the lack of rejection is part of the appeal, and that some people use these relationships to challenge traditional gender and social norms.

However, Kondo’s relationship later faced a real-world limit. The company behind the hologram service reportedly shut down its servers in 2025, leaving him unable to interact with Miku.