Real Life Thiefyness

[Maximius]

So I am on the bus home from work yesterday, get to my stop, stand up and try to slide past the gentleman standing in front of me. He locks up and blocks my way momentarily. Just then, another guy bumps into my other side, pinning me between the two for a second.

 

Thats when I felt the second guys hand scrabbling around my front pocket. A classic pickpocket setup, wedge the mark between two guys and then make a grab in the confusion. My cat-like reflexes flashed and I threw my shoulder into the second guys chest, sending him toppling across the laps of four grandmothers seated behind him. "Excuse me!" I blurted and shoved past the other guy and out the door.

 

Fortunately, all the guy got was a packet of papers, the wallet was secure. A close call, good thing I carry my wallet in my front pocket or I would be singing the blues right about now.

[SneaksieDave]

Aw, man! You let a perfect opportunity to get all kung fu on someone slip through your fingers?!

 

If I remember correctly... aren't you in PA? Rural or urban area? Those damned rogue Amish pickpocket gangs. "Organic produce don't earn my bling!" they say. Right!

[Dram]

Damn, pretty close. Obviously you'd make a good Thief guard

[Maximius]

Aw, man! You let a perfect opportunity to get all kung fu on someone slip through your fingers?!

 

If I remember correctly... aren't you in PA? Rural or urban area? Those damned rogue Amish pickpocket gangs. "Organic produce don't earn my bling!" they say. Right!

 

 

Philadelphia, heart of the city. As if it had a heart.... I couldnt get too kung fu because for one, I have the fighting ability of a Pop-tart and two I know that these guys usually work in at least pairs, so if you mess with the one you get jumped from behind by the other. Its best to just get away ASAP.

 

Damn, pretty close. Obviously you'd make a good Thief guard

 

 

Hehe yes, believe me I wish I had a sword when I realized what was going on.

 

 

And then, to add the cherry to the fecal sundae that was my yesterday, I got home to install the new modem that was burnt out by the storm the other day. Got that in onlly to discover I had some sort of malware blocking my browsers from talking to the NEt. Reinstalled the OS, got internet up and running, sat down and discovered that Windows now cannot locate my soundcard. (insert smiley for homicidal maniacal rage here)

Edited July 6, 2006 by Maximius

[SneaksieDave]

I concur. When you described it, I imagined (for some odd reason) an old 1950's pickpocketing, where it's some guy in a trenchcoat and a fedora, but if you're talking center city Philly, um, yeah, just clear out if possible. Knives would probably otherwise come into play.

 

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of Philly. My local news (in central NJ) is nothing but this murder, that murder, most nights in Philly. Okay, not most, but way too often.

 

Got that in onlly to discover I had some sort of malware blocking my browsers from talking to the NEt.

Oh, that sounds like that... new one. I can't remember specifics, but I read something maybe last week about a very simple exploit in... reading email, was it? Where it could do something to your modem (even dialup) and prevent you from getting back online. Ouch.

[Maximius]

I concur. When you described it, I imagined (for some odd reason) an old 1950's pickpocketing, where it's some guy in a trenchcoat and a fedora, but if you're talking center city Philly, um, yeah, just clear out if possible. Knives would probably otherwise come into play.

 

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of Philly. My local news (in central NJ) is nothing but this murder, that murder, most nights in Philly. Okay, not most, but way too often.

Oh, that sounds like that... new one. I can't remember specifics, but I read something maybe last week about a very simple exploit in... reading email, was it? Where it could do something to your modem (even dialup) and prevent you from getting back online. Ouch.

 

 

Its pretty insane here sometimes. I love the things a city can offer, good food, museums, nightlife, schools, etc but Philly has had a violent assault with a handgun every single day this year. When you mix poverty, a culture that glorifies violence, and cheap handguns available almost anywhere, this is what you get. To give you an idea how easy it is to get a gun, take my bosses story. Her brother is a certified schizo and therefore cannot purchase a handgun. So the other day, she tells me, he walks into a handgun store, fills out the paperwork, and walks out with a brand new pistol. How in the hell did he get to do this? Well, the store clerk *asked* him if he was a mental patient or had a violent criminal background. He said no. The clerk said "Enjoy your new purchase." Thats right, the way you check to see if someone is a homicidal maniac here in PA is to *ask* them. My boss took her brother and the gun and ripped the clerks ass off, made him take the gun back.

 

Right now in Jersey I hear things are getting tough for gun owners. They *might* pass a bill that will limit people to buying only one gun a month. Thats right, one gun a month. Really cracking down in Jersey.

 

A few months back, Bush made it impossible to sue the arms manufacturers for "dumping" cheap, man-killer pistols into poor neighboorhoods. The manufacturers intentionally make and sell crappy, inexpensive handguns expressly for this purpose, to sell in low-income neighborhoods because they know that the damned things will sell like french fries. Of course, the arms manufacturers, big and small, were MAJOR contributors to the Bush campaign.

 

Almost all of my coworkers know a victim of gun violence. A girl at the Thrift store down the street who Im friendly with was told two weeks ago that her husband was shot in the head with an AK47 while sleeping on a friends couch. A five or six year old girl was killed a month ago by a stray bullet, a 25 year old woman last week. I am getting the fuck out of this city and then this country ASAP. Its really a madhouse here. Even the moron cops are starting to bitch about the availability of cheap guns in Philly.

[woah]

I want a gun because--although a little muscular--I can't fight for shit.

[Maximius]

I want a gun because--although a little muscular--I can't fight for shit.

 

 

Its not as good idea as it may seem. First of all, if you are in a fistfight and you pull a gun, you are going to the pokey for about 3 to 5. If its an actual gunfight you had better prove the other guy +shot at you first+ or you are going to jail. People assume they can cry "Self Defense" but as it was explained to me at least in Pennsylvania its +really+ tough to prove self defense and the onus is all on you. If you cannot prove your case, you willed be judged as a violent attacker/murderer. As the cops told my buddy when they arrested him after he beat up someone who jumped him: "We arrest who ever wins the fight." I would guess the same applies to handgun use.

 

Just having a gun in your house is the far greater danger to you than a mugger or a melee. The odds of accidentally shooting yourself, someone else accidently shooting yourself, someone shooting you because they are angry, you shooting someone cause you are angry, you shooting yourself cause your depressed or someone else shooting themselves because they are depressed are much higher than the chance of you actually needing a gun in a fight. Afraid of home invasions? Much, much better to get a dog.

[OrbWeaver]

As a European it is typically difficult to empathise with a culture that holds the possession of a deadly weapon to be a constitutional right. Nevertheless, I have tended to become more sympathetic as I read about the constant slide towards fascism that is happening in the United States.

 

Guns may not make for a civilised culture, but when the Thought Police come knocking on my door I'd sure as hell rather go out in a blaze of glory than sit in some jail cell wondering whatever happened to that thing called "freedom".

[Vadrosaul]

I had a pickpocket try and take my wallet 3 weeks ago. I was strolling in downtown Vancouver, and bumped into a spasming drugged-up hooker who decided to grab me suggestively. After I disgustingly shrugged her off, I put my hands in my pockets and noticed it was gone. I turned around to look at her and she had it in her right hand. She didnt pack it away quickly enough, so I snatched it from her fingers.

[sparhawk]

If you own a gun, you must also have the will to use it. If you are counting on the attacker being afraid of the gun, then you should rather throw it aywa, because if a burglar is confronted with a gun, he might go away, but then he also might fight you for it and kill you in the course of the action with a higher probabillity than without. If you are to afraid to shoot, when it comes to it, and the other realizes it, you loose the gun and maybe your life as well, because the situation wil become much worse in this case.

[Ombrenuit]

I have been pickpocketed once, in the movie theater actually whilst I was buying snacks. Let's just say that I came in with a great deal of money in my pocket (and it was a foolish thing to do. I was also much younger.) and by the time I got home, it was all missing. Somehow they managed to take it, relieve it of its contents, and return it. I was pretty impressed honestly.

 

Maybe I'm just naive, but I honestly fear this world more and more to the point of anxiety hearing about all this gun violence. I guess I need to relax and not let such things get to me. It's very true: if you are going to be mugged in a dark alley, if you hand over the money, you can probably walk away safely. Pull a gun, and you become a threat. Now, who gets killed first? The one who is marked as most threatening. You pull a gun, and if they happen to have one, now there is no doubt they will not hesitate to shoot you given the chance. All thieves want are a quick and easy job, a nice escape, and no trouble. As soon as you put their life in danger, it's like backing an animal in a corner, and they will do everything they can to survive just as you will. So you have to measure things. What is more important, my life or...? Don't carry a lot of money on you, keep your wallet in your front pocket, and if you are worried about home invasion, invest in a security system or a dog.

 

It's really sad that we have to worry about such things. I suppose the best is to just take it all with a grain of salt and not allow the worry to manipulate our lives. Be safe and the rest is all up to luck. Be thankful for everyday and always noble in your intentions, and then you will be able to die when it is your time without regrets.

 

And also, I share your sentiment Maximus. I really do want to get out of this country as soon as I can.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Ombrenuit

[Komag]

Actually, from case studies I've read it would seem that the theories of thieves grappling the gun from you or shooting you first are not very common. Most of the time when a victim has a gun and pulls it, the thief either runs away or stops in fear. It is rare to be hurt when you pull a gun on the bad guy. But, it's true, you ARE more likely to get hurt than if you simply give him what he wants. I'm just saying that, as I undestand it, the risk is unlikely, as opposed to "most likely" as the above posts make it sound.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Ombrenuit, Maximius - what countries do you propose on escaping to? I'm in Toronto, Canada. Never thinking about pickpocketers, never checking anything, leaving my bag with my wallet unattended everywhere, and I was safe so far. I just remember one girl running in a panic asking everyone where is her laptop (it was stolen) and another case of a person leaving a laptop on a table left for lunch, and the laptop was stolen with his thesis on it. but then more people lost their thesises(?) by stupidity. lost their usb-key with the only copy on it. On the other hand, I've become paranoid about bikes. I carry mine on my shoulder and never leave it chained or unchained unattended. I've had two 1.5k$ bikes stolen. They say Toronto is the world capital for bike theft. I was thinking of getting a plot of land in northern ontario. Cars and houses there are left unlocked, as are bikes, and the population is very civil. I was also thinking about moving to Chile (I like the land and the industrialization policies) or India...

Edit: At the library people leave their (those new ones with the huge widescreen displays) laptops on the table all the time for up to 5 hours at a time all the time when they leave for lunch. Even though the sign says: don't leave anything, thefts have been reported, I've never seen any thefts.

Edited July 10, 2006 by Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat

[Ishtvan]

Giving up your stuff is probably the safest option, but you still have to watch the guy and be ready to fight back without mercy or hesitation if he decides to attack you. I knew someone who complied and gave a mugger his money and still ended up getting pistol whipped into the hospital. Guess they wanted some extra time to get away so they knocked him out.

[Maximius]

Ombrenuit, Maximius - what countries do you propose on escaping to? I'm in Toronto, Canada.

 

 

I'm thinking of Canada, my fiancee and I have looked into the legal process and we could do it in a few years. I realize its hardly the perfect place on Earth but I like the climate and I understand there are pretty inexpensive properties available in the rural areas like around Saskatoon (which is a little too isolated.) My plan (so far) is to move to a urban center to get a foothold (job, pad) while trying to find a much more isolated house with some land to buy. Then its off the grid, on the land, probably the first big project being the construction of a greenhouse that can yield a steady annual crop, maybe some hydroponics indoors and hopefully some aquafarming in the basement as well. I would like to be as self sufficient as two adults can be, maybe doing some part time work or something but thats it.

 

Solar panels, windmills, hydro systems, they sound crazy but they can be done and they bring you freedom from working for someone else to keep the lights on. Thats my big hangup in life, I absolutely will never get comfortable having to give my time up to others unless its something that I want to do. I've done some reading and for around 10K$ U.S. I figure I could have a lot of that stuff in place and running. I've cooked for years and I would be happy to look into making a lot of stuff at the home, preserves, cheese, booze, you name it Ill try my hand. The idea is to have an isolated hideaway that turns into a retirement home, hopefully sooner than later.

 

If I were single I would probably be living overseas already, I have looked into teaching English abroad and stuff like that. The girl wasnt hearing that shit when we started dating back in school. But she is starting to come around on the idea that this place is going nuts and Canada is the natural choice. Not too far from our families, not too wildly different in culture, fairly liberal in sentiment despite the current leadership. India would be a wonderful place to live for a change, I have friends who have lived in parts of Africa, one in Senegal and the other somewhere else. A little to hot and not enough infrastructure for my taste but it would be a wonderful experience, they both loved it.

[Ombrenuit]

As for the country I propose to escape to, I can't say that I'm far enough along for that idea to have entered any sort of reasonable fruition. I will be entering college this year, for one, and still there are so many options open to me. I will probably end up minoring in Asian Studies, and I will be taking Japanese as my language starting in September. If anything, I will have to see where I am in four years, and what options I have available.

 

I have every intention to study abroad (which is why I chose an inexpensive school, where one could study abroad for a tuition cost 75% less than elsewhere at the same location overseas), but I have to say that it will depend on my job opportunities, my interests, who I end up falling in love with, who I meet. I would prefer a quiet place in Western Europe, and I would be open to eastern Asia as well. I'm fascinated with Asian religions and culture, but as I said before, I really can't say where I will end up in the future nor make definite plans.

 

As for job opportunities, I'm just pursuing my interests in college really; getting a typical Liberal Arts degree, and I'm focusing on Game Design as a goal to shoot for. I haven't been loyal to the idea, but recently warmed up to it when I started to get over my adoloescent phase of being convinced that parents and friends knew what was best for me (of which I started to feel guilt playing games, almost childish, and most of all, for designing them, something I have been doing since I was introduced to BASIC in 6th grade, but because of my programming ineptitude (because math has never been my forte and the math and logic were always above my head) I wasn't what you would call self sufficient.

 

My parents scorned games for much of my life, and this caused a deep desire to rebel by not buying games, but rather making my own to amuse myself (including RPGs when my brother introduced me at a young age to Dungeons and Dragons. Not knowing the rules, I made up my own versions and systems to host at day care). It never happened suffice to say, but that means that I've also been designing for my own enjoyment for a good deal of my life. I do feel awful for those I had abandoned in their project ideas after I started to feel childish for my interests. However, we must always stay true to our dreams, otherwise as in the Rolling Stone's single Ruby Tuesday, "Lose your dreams, and you will lose your mind." So I figure, by the end of four years, staying true to my interests, we'll have to see: where can I go, what can I do, where life takes me, and what opportunities fate brings.

[Vadrosaul]

If you move to Saskatoon, prepare yourself for brutally cold winters. Philadelphia's wouldn't remotely compare.

[Maximius]

If you move to Saskatoon, prepare yourself for brutally cold winters. Philadelphia's wouldn't remotely compare.

 

 

Oh no doubt, I had just happened to search around there on the Net. Its too remote for even me, the girl would not have it for sure. Im thinking somewhere closer to Toronto, but its all theoretical at this point anyway.

[Maximius]

Actually, from case studies I've read it would seem that the theories of thieves grappling the gun from you or shooting you first are not very common. Most of the time when a victim has a gun and pulls it, the thief either runs away or stops in fear. It is rare to be hurt when you pull a gun on the bad guy. But, it's true, you ARE more likely to get hurt than if you simply give him what he wants. I'm just saying that, as I undestand it, the risk is unlikely, as opposed to "most likely" as the above posts make it sound.

 

 

The greatest risk of all is in simply owning a gun. If the question here is the fear of avoiding physical harm, buying a gun elevates the odds of a horrible accident or intentional act by several orders. Gun owners are far more likely to get hurt by their own pieces rather than a robber or something. Its simply more likely that an accident will happen with something you are around all the time and playing with than a random individual selecting you as a target for violent robbery. I myself know only a few people who have been shot intentionally, and only a small handful in violent fights/robberies , but I know lots of people who own or owned guns and they all have a story or two about a hunting accident, a cleaning accident, or something stupid happening.

 

The best response to violent crime is to make the breeding grounds of it go away:poverty, ignorance, hopelessness. Also, get the fucking guns of the streets, make the goddam things with no other purpose than shooting other humans +illegal+. But this wont happen as long as our politicians take money from arms makers to get reelected and as long as people think owning a pistol is some sort of ultimate freedom.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Maximius

[Vadrosaul]

Oh no doubt, I had just happened to search around there on the Net. Its too remote for even me, the girl would not have it for sure. Im thinking somewhere closer to Toronto, but its all theoretical at this point anyway.

I don't know if you know, but Toronto is the violent gun crime winner in Canada right now. So much in fact that the police have made specific note of it.

[Maximius]

I don't know if you know, but Toronto is the violent gun crime winner in Canada right now. So much in fact that the police have made specific note of it.

 

 

Toronto is a summer camp compared to Philly. One violent death a day or so since January. Kids, cops, old folks, innocent bystanders, one almost every single day since January. No one can do anything about it because its all perfectly legal, the gun part at least, and the inner cities are in rotten state and theres no will to address that at all above the street level.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Maximius

[Ombrenuit]

It really reminds me of "Bowling for Columbine". Here in Cincinnati, it just so happens that we have a particularly bad area called Over the Rhine (where the impoverished black population is concentrated). The Music Hall where the symphony plays is actually located there, and in fact, it used to be one of the most art oriented districts in the city. Now if you go to a symphony you will find at least a dozen police officers hanging out OUTSIDE on the steps to protect concert goers. The area has that bad of a reputation.

Edited July 12, 2006 by Ombrenuit

[Maximius]

It really reminds me of "Bowling for Columbine". Here in Cincinnati, it just so happens that we have a particularly bad area called Over the Rhine (where the impoverished black population is concentrated). The Music Hall where the symphony plays is actually located there, and in fact, it used to be one of the most art oriented districts in the city. Now if you go to a symphony you will find at least a dozen police officers hanging out OUTSIDE on the steps to protect concert goers. The area has that bad of a reputation.

 

 

Philly is very similar in some sections. The wealth and the poverty are jumbled together in places, of course its predominantly segregated but where they meet its jarring. I had an interview at a museum a few years back, its a venerable old lecture hall from the 19th century with an incredible collection of fossils and specimens. Its located in the middle of a block so run down half the houses are overgrown with weeds.

 

My campus is in West Philly, which has two big schools and tons of money. The schools work hard to drive out the undesirable elements, helping students and staff with loans and stuff to colonize the area. Violent crime is always a problem, West Philly has some of the areas poorest neighborhoods. The local youth know the white and Asian students walking around at night are often very wealthy and carry lots of cash and jewelry and stuff. So every few months there is a hold up, every few years a murder. THe schools have private police forces that patrol, the "eyes and ears" of the police. They arrest kids for playing on university b-ball lots, harrass them when they stand outside pizza joints hanging out, generally make them feel unwelcome in their own neighborhoods.

 

My school has risen to the occcasion in response to these problems, they've opened a high school and elementaryschool for the highest achieving students in the neighborhood. Basically, they are cherry picking students of ability out of the sinking masses to highlight their own altruism to the world. Yay.

The public schools are so bad in some parts of the city the students dont have toilet paper in the bathrooms, textbooks are years out of date, their are guards with metal detectors at the doors, the schools are prisons in training.

 

In other sections, its the gentrification process at work too, you walk past three houses where you +know+ folks are dealing crack out of, trash all over the sidewalks,homeless guy pissing in the corner under the train, shitty restaurants, shitty groceries, divey bars. Then, suddenly, a lot of condos priced at 250K$, a spiffy little boutique restaurant with 35 $ entrees to start, about a thousand and one "artsy" coffee houses that strive so much to look different that they all loOk the same. Suddenly the same people walking around you look out of place, dirty and broken down, while the people who are living in the condos appear, crisp, sharply dressed, always seeming to be so confident in voice and manner.

 

Its like this place has multiple personalities sometimes. They call it a country but it seems like a bunch of different countries overlaid one another sometimes, countries that mingle in some ways and are strictly separated in others. Its not only the personal fear and worry and whatever about living in a dangerous society, its the constant mental stress of these conflicts going on around you.

[Ombrenuit]

I really can relate. It is most curious how seemingly the most extravagent neighbourhoods are always twenty feet from the run-down. We have a number of places where that occurs in Cincinnati; if you are a pizza boy in nearby place, you have to deliver to both Indian Hill (the number one contributor to President Bush in the country in terms of donations and support. The man has driven past my house on three occasions.) as well as Madisonville next door, where you have to worry about getting mugged or being attacked by dogs on a regular basis.

 

Also, a similar experience would be when my French Class (all 13 of us) went to the Maisonette (recently closed, the most consistant five star restaurant in the country). It was very expensive, but we got a special deal; and rather then allowing us to drive, our teacher thought it would be a wonderful cultural experience to ride the Metro. As my friend later said "It's like a haunted house on wheels!". I hate to be judgemental, but being dressed in my sunday best in the middle of the day with a woman sitting across from me who is vomiting in her hands due to a drug overdose, a man in the front discussing loudly his 70s experiences with Opium, and general intimidating behavior otherwise, it didn't amount to a great experience. And the contrast between that and the Maisonette was...a bit of a shock.

 

How are we even tackling this problem? Well, all I know is that our government is simply ignoring it. It's very sad. And instead of American tax dollars or defecits being pumped into domestic issues...do I even need to bring up our focus on foreign ones foremost?