Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Train burglaries in LA

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 652 posts

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#491

Post by [deleted] »

jiveturkey42 wrote: post #481
screye wrote: post #460

Kind of related : America Is Falling Apart at the Seams https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-a... A loss of civic sense and cultural criminality are incredibly hard to weed out of a population, once it has taken root. I worry that the a mix of pessimism and a loss of civic sense is sending non-elite America into a death spiral. Opponents of return-to-normalcy claim that these are temporary and a…

I wonder how much of this correlates with the drop in religious participation. Religion, for better or worse, was a useful tool for stigmatizing bad behavior and incentivizing good behavior

[deleted]

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#492

Post by soheil »

glenda wrote: post #387
jpambrun wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two wrongs don't make it right..

I’m not trying to justify any of it, just pointing out that theft is a completely accepted part of culture in the US. Don’t get me started on civil forfeiture…

Three wrongs don't make it right either...

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#493

Post by jiveturkey42 »

jdavis703 wrote: post #490
jiveturkey42 wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much of this correlates with the drop in religious participation. Religion, for better or worse, was a useful tool for stigmatizing bad behavior and incentivizing good behavior

Do we have any evidence that religion reduces bad behavior? We know some of the most religious countries (Mexico, Syria) are relatively more dangerous than more secular countries like France or China. Is there a better data source to look at here?

You would have to adjust for all external influences. Mexico and Syria are mostly dangerous because of failed USA policies (drug war, war on terror) than their internal cultures

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#495

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

y4mi wrote: post #470
screye wrote: post #460

Kind of related : America Is Falling Apart at the Seams https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-a... A loss of civic sense and cultural criminality are incredibly hard to weed out of a population, once it has taken root. I worry that the a mix of pessimism and a loss of civic sense is sending non-elite America into a death spiral. Opponents of return-to-normalcy claim that these are temporary and a…

And that ... Theory about the lockdowns supposedly not being because of the virus but to hide a larger financial crisis/weath reallocation is spreading quite quickly at least at far as I can tell. That's not going to reduce tensions in that regard, that's for sure. There is only circumstantial evidence but the story sounds plausible. If things continue like this, I'd wager that trump will return in 24

No post body was provided.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#496

Post by user-the-name »

nitrogen wrote: post #254
user-the-name wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inequality implies poverty, so this question is pointless.

No, they are orthogonal. A society split between middle class workers and billionaires still has inequality without poverty. A society of 100% poverty has no inequality.

But that does not actually happen. In practice, inequality means poverty.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#497

Post by soheil »

This is probably one of the most civilized ways to steal something. It hurts no one and is just a non-discriminatory tax on pretty much everyone in LA since most people order Amazon packages. I think of this like click fraud, a while ago Google decided to stop combatting it and just "let it happen" [1].

It turned out to be a winning strategy.

[1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-ceo-on-click-fraud-let-...

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#498

Post by dheera »

alkonaut wrote: post #150
paganel wrote: post #100

That's one of the main reasons why driverless lorries will never be a thing. Unless you accompany each one of them by a weaponised mini-drone, Robocop-style, that is.

What difference would a driver do? A driver is instructed to not interefere if robbed. The difference I suppose is that what would otherwise be a robbery could be a mere burglary which could have less legal risk as well as less risk of violence (In the case a driver interferes, against his instructions)

That's more for the driver's own safety, as the burglars could have lethal weapons.

If it were autonomous it could defend itself and its contents without risk to humans. At the very least with fart spray, pepper spray, itch powder, and the like.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#499

Post by mlyle »

gruez wrote: post #450
mlyle wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Containers carrying lots of packages headed directly to homes is new. Before, if you broke into a container, you'd often find weird homogenous B2B stuff. Like a bunch of dog food.

>Before, if you broke into a container, you'd often find weird homogenous B2B stuff. Like a bunch of dog food. but presumably the volume of b2c stuff being shipped over rail hasn't changed? after all, the b2c stuff has to get to customers somehow. Maybe a random assortment makes it a more attractive target due to the skinner box effect (ie. lootboxes).

If you open up a container going to a Walmart warehouse, it might be filled with massive blocks of bulky items of dubious fence value and can be difficult to dig to anything good. Even if you get something "good", having 30 pairs of Beats headphones isn't so personally useful or easy to unload for cash. And it's probably in a massive box that isn't easy to move and isn't easy to determine the contents of compared to others.

If you open up a container of UPS shipments, and you grab one random bag out of there-- there will be valuable consumer goods in it.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#500

Post by wrycoder »

wongarsu wrote: post #462
alkonaut wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if the train cars, or the containers thee packages are kept in within the train cars, were at least so secure that they prevented access for say an hour or two, then this likely wouldn't happen? What is this, open crates or sacks of packages, in traincars locked with a small padlock?

Padlocks are easy to cut, a bigger padlock just needs a bigger tool. Some companies apparently start welding their containers shut, which raises the bar for thieves significantly (now they need a grinder and more time).

Battery powered grinders being the hot new thing.
Post reply on HN