Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you own a plane, you're rich globally.
Posting a comment to this website makes you rich globally. Not exactly a high bar.
But hopefully that activity puts less lead into the environment... hopefully...
Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
141–150 of 190 posts
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Small planes still run leaded fuels so the (rich) owners can save money not changing their engines. This is 50% of our current exposure, needlessly! http://www.treehugger.com/aviation/leaded-gas-banned-around-...
I fly planes, and I haven't met a rich owner yet. The typical cessna 150/172 costs less than a new SUV. The rich owners tend to fly kerosene burners. Also, most small-engine planes can already burn regular unleaded autogas. It's just the high-compression engines that require the lead. The FAA, AOPA and others are working on developing alternatives, but it takes time. Perhaps they should have done this sooner.
"Rich" is a pretty flexible yardstick. Somebody who can afford to drop the price of a new car on a hobby item is rich compared to most Americans. I recall a thing a while back about how hardly anyone in America will admit to being rich, because they all measure themselves against someone even richer. "Sure, I have three houses and a yacht, but I'm not rich! It's not like I can afford a private island!"
Your points about engines and fuel make sense, though.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've got plenty of replies criticizing your "rich" bit, but, well, you deserve at least one more. Something should probably be done about the use of leaded fuel in general aviation. However, trying to turn it into class warfare (while every single pilot I know, and I know a lot of them, is middle-class) severely hurts your argument.
If you own a plane, you're rich globally.
Same for cars, but people don't try to paint car owners as rich jerks.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#144I don't think enough emphasis is put in these studies on the rise of cheap entertainment for bored male youth. Teenage boys that normally would have been running around in the streets committing entry level crimes are now glued to their Xbox. The declines in crime also happen to correlate with the ubiquitousness and availability of video games. As they get cheaper and more violent, crime goes down. Sure policing has…
I think you're underestimating the scope. It's not just video games, but access to an unimaginably large quantity of free video and music...someone's watching all those kitten videos. And time spent consuming entertainment of any kind is time spent being docile. It's been postulated that the Arab Spring protests were heavily spurred by regular people who, having their Internet cut, had little else to do but express t…
"someone's watching all those kitten videos."
I don't have data, but I doubt it's the boys who otherwise would have become criminals who watch kitten videos.
Where you, by chance, looking for a synonym for 'kitten'?
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
But lead by itself can't be the major factor behind the crime drop. Countries such as Brazil have banned leaded gas even before the United States, and crime rates are still rising dramatically. It seems clear that other factors play a more important role. Things like police effectiveness, or economics. Edit: reference for lead ban dates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead Crime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…
When was it effectively phased out in Brazil, though? Leaded gasoline was mostly gone in the US by the 1970s and there was a 20 year lag before the crime rate started dropping. The wikipedia article says lead was banned in the US in 1995, but it was definitely not widely available. However, if lead was widely used in Brazil right up until the ban date there (1989) then it would stand to reason that the crime rate wou…
I was buying leaded gas in Indiana as late as 1990, and had no trouble finding it in the general Illiana area. I don't think it's fair to say it was "mostly gone" in the 70s.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
But lead by itself can't be the major factor behind the crime drop. Countries such as Brazil have banned leaded gas even before the United States, and crime rates are still rising dramatically. It seems clear that other factors play a more important role. Things like police effectiveness, or economics. Edit: reference for lead ban dates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead Crime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…
A 1989 ban means people now in their 20s were young children in an environment with use of leaded fuel. This article has some data about lead levels in children in Brazil: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1... In Brazil, Teixeira (32) has found that 11% of pipes used in the water distribution systems of 100 schools in São Paulo present lead levels above the limit considered safe by the WHO.…
The exact lag time doesn't matter.
If lead was banned at different times in different countries, the bans can't be responsible for a crime drop that happened at the same time.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I fly planes, and I haven't met a rich owner yet. The typical cessna 150/172 costs less than a new SUV. The rich owners tend to fly kerosene burners. Also, most small-engine planes can already burn regular unleaded autogas. It's just the high-compression engines that require the lead. The FAA, AOPA and others are working on developing alternatives, but it takes time. Perhaps they should have done this sooner.
"Rich" is a pretty flexible yardstick. Somebody who can afford to drop the price of a new car on a hobby item is rich compared to most Americans. I recall a thing a while back about how hardly anyone in America will admit to being rich, because they all measure themselves against someone even richer. "Sure, I have three houses and a yacht, but I'm not rich! It's not like I can afford a private island!" Your points ab…
Well I'm pretty sure I'm less rich than Cory if he is a MS employee.
I pay about $85/hour to fly and don't own a plane. If I lived in the USA it would be $68/hr due to lower gas prices. I think the majority of Americans can afford to spend $68/month on their hobby (assuming they flew once a month).
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#148Living in a bay area city with a recent alarming increase in armed robbery due to a shrinking police force (guess which one), I would suggest that crime, like real estate, is local, local, local. Perhaps Times Square and Talinn are safer than before, but the negative dividends of the crack epidemic, the rise of gangs and guns and glorification of criminal culture, the lack of parenting in at risk communities, and the collapse of municipal finances since 2008 has left cities like mine in the US with soaring violent crime rates.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if we have to go reaching for lead as the reason. If the effects of chemical substances on the brain are indeed a factor... and yes, they probably are. Then there is probably a far more simple explanation. Drugs. Instead of police being faced with impoverished young men of the 70s, 80s and 90s who are hyped up on cocaine, crack or pcp and trolling for their next hit. They are dealing with the impoverishe…
> They are dealing with the impoverished young men of today, high on pot and trolling for snacks. That is, they would be trolling for snacks if the munchies are ever able to override their desire to keep playing whatever video game. Downvoted for being hilarious while talking out of your ass. FYI, pot has a (very) mellowing and relaxing effect. The idea of the munchies as some sort of dangerous rampage in search of f…
Dude, your missing his point entirely. He's saying that young males are smoking weed instead of doing hard drugs and therefore less likely to commit violent crimes. It may or may not be true, but it's an interesting thought.
Re: Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if we have to go reaching for lead as the reason. If the effects of chemical substances on the brain are indeed a factor... and yes, they probably are. Then there is probably a far more simple explanation. Drugs. Instead of police being faced with impoverished young men of the 70s, 80s and 90s who are hyped up on cocaine, crack or pcp and trolling for their next hit. They are dealing with the impoverishe…
It would be interesting to see data on the usage of marijuana vs harder drugs over the past 30-40 years.
I read an interesting theory about "Leave It To Beaver" leading to more social problems than truly violent television; the premise is that the sanitized depiction of family life and the easy resolution of problems set a false standard in very young children that left them unable to cope with real problems, eventually leading to more violent behavior.
I wonder if marijuana used by teenagers could sometimes have a similiar effect; the actual payload is peaceful and gentle, but seen as part of the broader system of someone's emotional development, there might be a net-negative effect of antisocial behavior. (Hippies may smoke pot, but so do violent gangsters.)
I'm not reflexively pot-negative; it's absolutely nothing compared to alcohol, and should not be illegal (among other things, street dealers don't ask for ID). But like you, I'd be very interested to see the data.