Category Archives: Places

Crime rates vs. perceptions of crime

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The Chicago Tribune reports on a recent Chicago area poll of 800 heads of household that found nearly half of Chicago residents think crime is up. The reality is that crime rates are pretty steady: homicides are up less than one percent compared to last year and overall crime rates are down.

One reason given for these perceptions: several high-profile shootings of Chicago police officers. According to one academic:

“Police officers are the embodiment of authority,” said Arthur Lurigio, a professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University Chicago. “When officers are getting shot, that gives citizens a sense that the social order is completely collapsing. The average citizen, the regular guy and woman on the street, are going to think, ‘If they’re shooting police, what chance do I have?'”” Police officers are the embodiment of authority,” said Arthur Lurigio, a professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University Chicago. “When officers are getting shot, that gives citizens a sense that the social order is completely collapsing. The average citizen, the regular guy and woman on the street, are going to think, ‘If they’re shooting police, what chance do I have?”

Another factor that is likely playing a role: media coverage. As a consumer of Chicago news, much of what I have heard about in the last few months is crime, shootings in particular. These may be stories that should be reported on but the coverage has been heavy. If one were just to watch or listen to the local news, I have little doubt many would think crime is up and perhaps even out of control.

California Picture #5

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Looking down the mine shaft of the Empire Mine in Nevada County, California. This mine went nearly a mile below the surface and produced gold (according to Wikipedia, 5.8 million ounces) for over a century.

(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)

California Picture #4

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Public art on a grand scale. This 60-foot piece, titled Cupid’s Span, opened to the public in 2003 and was designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.  Read more about it here.

(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)

Measuring happiness

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Forbes has released a list of the world’s happiest countries. The story discusses a few important factors in determining happiness, including income and feeling like one’s psychological and social needs are met on a daily basis.

According to the story, here is how Gallup measured happiness between 2005 and 2009:

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a “life evaluation” score between 1 and 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their “daily experiences”–things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.

It appears Gallup is working with two different dimensions of happiness:

1. Overall life satisfaction. Have you been able to meet your goals?

2. Happiness on a day-to-day basis. Are you relatively free to enjoy life each day?

It is interesting to note that relatively few people in any of the countries are categorized as “suffering.” Additionally, there is not a whole lot of variation in the daily experience index (1-10 scale).

California Picture #3

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On the way back from Alcatraz (and its very well-produced audio tour), we sailed back through San Francisco Bay. As the sun came out, a number of sailboats passed by.

(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)

More contracted municipal work

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The Wall Street Journal reports on more municipalities contracting out city services.

Cities say they have little choice. Municipalities across the U.S. will face a projected shortfall of $56 to $86 billion between 2010 and 2012, according to a report from the National League of Cities.

The primary focus of the story is California communities.

For many of the services mentioned in the article, such as tree-trimming, residents likely won’t notice much difference.

Schooling and race in North Carolina

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Interesting story about schools in North Carolina struggling with this issue: how to create diverse “community schools.” The article details some of the integration efforts and their degrees of success.

A confounding factor: many of the people in the area, nearly 50% in Wake County, were born outside the state and haven’t experienced the long history of integration efforts.

California Picture #2

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Cities are often thought of as the antithesis of wildlife. Yet, they occasionally mix like here at Pier 39 in San Francisco where sea lions where have been around for 20 years.

(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)

Skin-whitening cream in India

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Yahoo reports on a controversy in India over an ad for Vaseline from Unilever. The campaign was based around having men lighten their Facebook profile pictures.

The ad campaign has drawn attention from around the world as people have both attacked and defended it. The issue is a long-running one in India as it is tied to the caste system and lighter skin people sitting at the top. Skin color has social consequences:

A 2009 poll by an online dating company of 12,000 participants living in Northern India found that they rate skin tone the most important factor in choosing a romantic partner. “Fair skin is generally associated with beauty, greater affluence and increased employability,” writes Riddhi Shah at Salon, who copped to using the creams herself even while criticizing the country’s racist ideas about beauty in her work.

It is interesting that this campaign is targeted toward men as the article suggests this is a recent development in the skin-whitening market in India.

Quick review: In-N-Out Burger

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Prior to traveling to California, my wife and I kept hearing good things about In-N-Out Burger, a California based fast-food chain.

After having two meals there (once outside Sacramento, once in Burbank), we both agree that the good reviews are justified. The hamburgers are excellent – juicy and fresh-tasting with crispy lettuce and fresh tomatoes and onion. The vanilla milkshakes are quite thick and the french fries are good but slightly different than the crispy fries one typically finds at fast-food places.

Several downsides: a limited menu (no chicken, fish, special burgers), a longer wait for your food as it is prepared fresh, and the restaurants are only limited to four Western states.

Overall: very good and fresh fast-food.