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I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

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Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#371

Post by laurex »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #316
SI_Rob wrote: post #51

Every so often my pessimistic tendencies get a healthy slap across the face by the actions of someone who took the high road when they easily could have chosen otherwise. It's a couple summers ago, at the height of the summer tourist season and I'm cycling up 4th ave SW in DC. Somewhere between the NASA HQ and the National Mall my camera bag - packed full with a fairly new DSLR, a few lenses, and a secondary cell pho…

I turned in more than one lost wallet or debit card to a librarian (or similar) while homeless. I didn't want to call them myself or whatever because I was homeless and I knew I was automatically suspect as a thief because of it. So I wanted someone the world would trust/believe to deal with it. Well before I was homeless, attempts to return wallets or found ID cards or whatever were consistently met with suspicion.…

Long ago, I worked in a record store, and David Byrne came in to the store to shop. He was wearing a red plastic hard hat, yet gave a disparaging look to everyone who seemed to "notice" him. When he left, I discovered he had forgotten to take his credit card from the counter. I called him (we also had a video store with contact info) and he was incredibly rude and told me just to cut it up because he couldn't be bothered to stop back in. This story has no real point, but it did make me less of a Talking Heads fan, and perhaps relates to the idea that being a good Samaritan isn't always rewarding. That said, I once had my bag stolen at a nightclub, and a few months later someone found my wallet in some bushes and mailed it to me, which was a pleasant surprise. When I've had things stolen, I've always maintained a hope that there will end up being a happy ending, even if that hasn't been the case every time.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#372

Post by ALittleLight »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #363
ALittleLight wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The city in the US with the highest rape rate is Anchorage Alaska with 200 rapes per hundred thousand people. Without taking into account any of many relevant complications, that's a 0.2% chance to get raped annually, or a 99.8% chance of not getting raped. Suppose a woman went 6 years in Anchorage. There's a 99.8% ^ 6 chance of her not getting raped. 98.8% chance in other words. Would a woman who had not been raped…

Your statistical gymnastics is a case of how to lie with statistics. Most rapes aren't cases of random strangers grabbing you randomly off the street. That's not how that works. Most rape victims know their rapists. It's usually a social acquaintance of some sort. Most college campus rapes or date rapes involve alcohol. There is this narrative that we can't try to talk about what women can effectively do to protect t…

I don't really know what we're arguing about at this point so I'm tapping out.

I agree that it's good and not victim blaming to offer advice to people, regardless of their gender, as to how they can live safer lives.

I agree that, in the US, most victims know their attacker. That doesn't mean it's safe for young women to hitchhiker in Mexico though. Similarly, you are vastly more likely to be killed by your own gun than any random gun out there. That doesn't mean you have nothing to worry about if some random stranger points a gun at you.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#373

Post by Marsymars »

tapland wrote: post #270
m-i-l wrote: post #112

Nice hack. The "official" way of dealing with lost property in the UK is to take it to your local police station. If no-one claims it within 6 weeks, you might be able to keep the item. I certainly remember doing this a few times when younger. Not so sure many people know this nowadays. Anyway, my mother lost her purse a few months back in the small town in Scotland where she lives. Someone suggested she try her loca…

Going to a local bank also works. And you want to do that to get their cards replaced/blocked as well. And they have the owners contact details.

I've found bank cards a few times and have called the bank in question, they've just thanked me, made a note of it, and asked me to destroy the card myself.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#374

Post by DoreenMichele »

ALittleLight wrote: post #372
DoreenMichele wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your statistical gymnastics is a case of how to lie with statistics. Most rapes aren't cases of random strangers grabbing you randomly off the street. That's not how that works. Most rape victims know their rapists. It's usually a social acquaintance of some sort. Most college campus rapes or date rapes involve alcohol. There is this narrative that we can't try to talk about what women can effectively do to protect t…

I don't really know what we're arguing about at this point so I'm tapping out. I agree that it's good and not victim blaming to offer advice to people, regardless of their gender, as to how they can live safer lives. I agree that, in the US, most victims know their attacker. That doesn't mean it's safe for young women to hitchhiker in Mexico though. Similarly, you are vastly more likely to be killed by your own gun t…

That doesn't mean it's safe for young women to hitchhiker in Mexico though.

I never claimed what you are seemingly rebutting at all. I never said anything of the sort whatsoever.

I only suggested that this particular woman probably wasn't simply lucky. She was probably doing some things right that helped keep her safe.

It's an entirely different idea. It's the difference between saying "Lion tamers have lion taming skills and aren't merely lucky that they usually survive their shows." Versus "Because lion tamers exist, random people with zero lion taming skills are equally safe being locked in a cage with a lion."

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#375

Post by fulafel »

ALittleLight wrote: post #361
DoreenMichele wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm claiming that a long track record of success is probably not pure luck. Occam's Razor. One factor in me not being raped while homeless was that I was usually not alone. There is safety in numbers.

The city in the US with the highest rape rate is Anchorage Alaska with 200 rapes per hundred thousand people. Without taking into account any of many relevant complications, that's a 0.2% chance to get raped annually, or a 99.8% chance of not getting raped. Suppose a woman went 6 years in Anchorage. There's a 99.8% ^ 6 chance of her not getting raped. 98.8% chance in other words. Would a woman who had not been raped…

Given a long enough time in risky circumstances (vs a few months of single-mode behaviour, hitchhiking, in your example) the experience would start to get pretty compelling. I think the cited six years is probably good enough to get a good feel for the risk level, especially since you presumably hear about other incidents from peers and develop an intuition for risky situations.

edit: data tangent - if your Anchorage stats were about reported cases, the averages would need correcting for underreporting.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#376

Post by bradlys »

perl4ever wrote: post #341
bradlys wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My example was mainly on a straight road because it's easy to understand. It applies to curvy roads where you won't see ahead too though. As someone driving, you should never drive faster than what you can see ahead and be able to stop in time. I kind of imagine what I'd like to call a "meteor" incident. Would I be able to stop in time if a meteor randomly crashed just outside of my vision ahead in a turn? If not - p…

"As someone driving, you should never drive faster than what you can see ahead and be able to stop in time. I kind of imagine what I'd like to call a "meteor" incident. Would I be able to stop in time if a meteor randomly crashed just outside of my vision ahead in a turn? If not - probably going too fast." Seems like you've ignored what I just wrote in the previous comment. If I make a turn just as a car is barely ou…

In this case, you're the meteor and the other person is at fault. They turned a corner (I don't see how else they couldn't see the intersection - if it's a straight then they can see the intersection - thus my cornering talk) and went into an intersection where another car was already. It's no different than someone romping over a very steep hill (very prevalent in SF) and assuming the intersection they're running into is "clear". (It usually isn't!) It's not a thing they can do and they shouldn't do it.

Either way - sounds like a bad intersection and they should design it differently. (Turn on left with left arrow only, etc.)

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#377

Post by bradlys »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #306
bradlys wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Speeding tickets make sense. They're putting people's lives in danger by speeding. Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do regularly. Having a set of predictable behaviors saves a lot of lives. People who think that think they're "great drivers" or "everyone else is doing it" violate those norms and create risk. Speed at which you drive has very little to do with your predictability. "Oh, no, Betty is dr…

I signalled and looked over my shoulder before changing lanes today, only to see an unexpected car right behind me when I looked back into my rear-view mirror. I'm still not sure whether they changed lanes into my lane, or if they were going so fast that they weren't in my field of vision until I turned back around. They braked in time, though.

Looking over your shoulder takes a lot of time. Adjust your mirrors and you'll rarely ever have to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIkodlp8HMM

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#379

Post by CaptainZapp »

laurex wrote: post #371
DoreenMichele wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I turned in more than one lost wallet or debit card to a librarian (or similar) while homeless. I didn't want to call them myself or whatever because I was homeless and I knew I was automatically suspect as a thief because of it. So I wanted someone the world would trust/believe to deal with it. Well before I was homeless, attempts to return wallets or found ID cards or whatever were consistently met with suspicion.…

Long ago, I worked in a record store, and David Byrne came in to the store to shop. He was wearing a red plastic hard hat, yet gave a disparaging look to everyone who seemed to "notice" him. When he left, I discovered he had forgotten to take his credit card from the counter. I called him (we also had a video store with contact info) and he was incredibly rude and told me just to cut it up because he couldn't be both…

I flew back from Palermo to Zurich on Monday. Exceptionally in business class (essentially same price).

A pretty well known German performer was also on the flight with his companion and - I assume - his favorite microphone.

The gentleman was meticulously polite, including the fact that he queued up at the gate instead of jumping the queue with about a dozen economy passengers in the queue.

Not every prominent person is an asshole.

Re: I just lost my wallet on the way home from work

#380

Post by [deleted] »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #379
laurex wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long ago, I worked in a record store, and David Byrne came in to the store to shop. He was wearing a red plastic hard hat, yet gave a disparaging look to everyone who seemed to "notice" him. When he left, I discovered he had forgotten to take his credit card from the counter. I called him (we also had a video store with contact info) and he was incredibly rude and told me just to cut it up because he couldn't be both…

I flew back from Palermo to Zurich on Monday. Exceptionally in business class (essentially same price). A pretty well known German performer was also on the flight with his companion and - I assume - his favorite microphone. The gentleman was meticulously polite, including the fact that he queued up at the gate instead of jumping the queue with about a dozen economy passengers in the queue. Not every prominent person…

[deleted]
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