A Private Little Tumblr

Cops Vs. Murders: Does Indy Need More Cops?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:01:00 -0400

So yesterday I went off on a Twitter rant, but unfortunately based it on some bad information that I thought proved that overstaffing Indy police officers would do nothing for crime. I looked up the REAL numbers, and not limited by Twitter’s 140 characters, want to write them up here. (TL;DR - I was wrong, but ….. )

Indianapolis Chicago Chicago/Indy

Pop (millions) 0.829718 2.696 3.249296749

Pop (10k) 82.9718 269.6 3.249296749

Murders So Far 65 165 2.538461538

Murders (/10k) 0.7833 0.6120 0.781234136

Cops (Per 10k) 20 44.2 2.21

Is Indy experiencing more murders per capital than Chicago?

Yes. 1.28x the Chicago rate per capita.
How many more cops does Chicago have than Indy?

LOTS. Chicago has 2.21x as many cops as Indianapolis
So does Indy need more cops?

Maybe a few. But this really looks like an issue of diminishing returns*. I know, WARNING: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE, but 2.21x as many cops for a reduction in murders/capita of ~22% seems like there’s a point where adding more cops only gets you marginal help in the number.
So is the Marion County Democratic Party right for attacking Mayor Ballard over the number of police offices?

I was wrong. Sure, a few more cops wont’ hurt and would possibly be of a little help, but mostly in property crime vs murder rate.

Sadly, the MCDP is going for the lowest hanging fruit by focusing on murders (of which more cops will have a much smaller effect) and also implying that ANY project the Mayor wants to spend money on (whether they are good or not is another question) is ill advised while we are ‘critically short on cops’ to ‘keep us safe from murderdeath’.

City budgets don’t work in a way that Project A can just be cut and all money goes to Service B. Not to mention that sometimes Project A is good**.

I’d also argue that turning Indianapolis into a police state isn’t exactly the welcoming friendly image we’d like to portray, a cop on every corner, gun holstered and ready to protect us from the savages who would murder that poor family from Carmel and take their Lexus. </sarcasm>

I think it’d be MUCH more useful to sure, hire a few more cops, but also look at the reasons for the crime rate - poor employment opportunities, shitty mass transit that further reduces many’s employment options, and a terrible horrible no good very bad public school system that even further traps people in a cycle of crime and poverty.

But that takes longer to say than “OMG BALLARD SPENDS MONEY ON THINGS OTHER THAN COPS AND WANTS YOU TO DIE”.
Does anyone remember 2007?
Apparently not in the Marion County Democratic Party offices. I remember the GOP and Ballard’s campaign attacking Mayor Bart Peterson for the murder rate going up, how he wasn’t putting enough cops on the street, how he wanted us to ALL DIE MURDERDEATH and Democrats defending him, saying the Mayor can only do so much about crime, that police staffing is only so effective, that there is a lot more to crime numbers than number of cops. Now the roles are reversed and NO ONE in either party seems to care about the massive hypocrisy.

*Someday I want to do a bigger statistical study comparing police officer numbers with murder rates across cities of various size to see if there really are diminishing returns there.

** Okay, so the cricket stadium…. is it good? Probably not. But how many people, if transported back to when the Hoosier Dome was being proposed would have said building a stadium with no team was a good idea? I am NOT saying that the cricket stadium is like that, BUT I’m also saying that this city has had it’s success in taking chances. A refusal to take any chances, and instead just play the safe road in everything, will stagnate our city. Sometimes chances don’t work. Sometimes they are just dumb. But that’s how you grow.

I’m finally seeing some arguments specifically against the cricket stadium as to exactly WHY it’s dumb, but up until very recently the entire attack was “LOL CRICKET DUM” without any substance, which is bullshit politics no matter WHAT party it comes from.

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:52:00 -0400

azathfeld: vaccerellireplied to yourpost:You know, there are exceptions, but mostly I just… but...

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:51:11 -0400

azathfeld:

vaccerellireplied to yourpost:You know, there are exceptions, but mostly I just…

but what about the one with the incredibly brash superpowered guy and his ridiculously buxom companion and how they save the world from various racially ambiguous creatures just in time to accomplish nothing of note

That’s good, but it’s not as good as the one about the skinny, nerdy guy who is weirdly appealing to women but gets too nervous around them for it to ever go anywhere for several seasons.

You’re both forgetting about the one with the giant robot.

Pacers vs. Heat Propaganda Posters

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:41:55 -0400

A few years back I did a few like this for Colts vs. Patriots. Figured I’d do the same for the upcoming Pacers/Heat clash.

Original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37935745@N02/6870565721/

Original: http://library.umkc.edu/blog/speccoll/worldwar-poppen

Original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37935745@N02/6870558413/

Hoppy beer is awful—or at least, its bitterness is ruining craft beer’s reputation. - Slate Magazine

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:58:14 -0400

Hoppy beer is awful—or at least, its bitterness is ruining craft beer’s reputation. - Slate Magazine:

wilwheaton:

section9:

sotheresthat:

YES.

PREACH!

No. I’m sorry, but this is wrong.

Seven paragraphs into this poorly-researched article, the author says:

Let’s be clear: Not all craft beer is hoppy. There are many craft breweries that seek to create balanced, drinkable beers that aren’t very bitter at all, like Patrick Rue’s the Bruery in Placentia, Calif., and the Commons Brewery in Portland, Ore. Among the non-hoppy yet complex and delicious American craft beers available are Widmer’s hefeweizen, New Glarus’ cherry and raspberry beers, and Full Sail Brewing’s Session Lager (a beer specifically developed to serve as a refreshing counterpoint to overhopped beers). America’s independent breweries make beers to suit every palate, not just the ones that revel in bitterness.

Yeah, so the entire premise of the headline is disproven by the author, but somehow Slate thought this was still worth publishing. That’s lazy and should be an embarrassment for both writer and editor.

There are plenty of craft beers that aren’t hop-forward, like Mama’s Little Yella Pils from Oskar Blues, Lagunitas PILS, and Coney Island Lager. There are literally dozens of browns, stouts, and wheat beers that feature malt and yeast instead of hops. The first craft beer I ever had, when I was in college and convinced that all beer was Budweiser was St. Rogue’s Red Ale, from Rogue brewing.

A more accurate and actually useful article might be headlined Think All Craft Beer Is Too Hoppy? Think Again.

kicktv: May the Fourth Be With You. Here’s our Galactic...

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:08:12 -0400

kicktv:

May the Fourth Be With You. Here’s our Galactic Champions League. [article / video]

arrestedwesteros: Clerk: Do you want a cage for that?GOB: No,...

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:48:33 -0400

arrestedwesteros:

Clerk: Do you want a cage for that?
GOB: No, I’m a magician.
(Walks into glass door)
GOB: What is your return policy, by the way?

Top Banana - 01x02

submission from devancho

wilwheaton: neil-gaiman: butcherbilly: The Post-Punk / New...

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:14:27 -0400

wilwheaton:

neil-gaiman:

butcherbilly:

The Post-Punk / New Wave Super Friends by Butcher Billy

Who are your heroes?

Reblogged purely to make Amanda smile.

This is the best thing that was ever made so just turn off the planet now because we can all go home. Thank you, it’s been a great show.

Locations for a future Indy Eleven stadium

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:56:00 -0400

So… excited for the new pro soccer team coming to Indianapolis next year - the NASL’s Indy Eleven. They will temporarily be playing (2-3 years?) at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium, but they have already stated a desire for a soccer-only stadium in downtown Indy. That leads to the question…. where?

It’s best to get an idea of the potential footprint of a stadium first. With that in mind, let’s look at the new stadium for the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions (the league leader in attendance, something that the Eleven should shoot for with their already impressive season ticket deposit numbers, currently over 3,350).

It’s so new that it doesn’t show up on Google Maps or Google Earth yet, so doing some sleuthing (maps, their official website, renderings, ticketmaster stadium layout image) this is a basic idea of the stadium size on the land they have:

Toyota Field, San Antonio, TX

There’s probably a bit of error in the scale, but it’s surely close (compare to this rendering)

I’ve heard a few ideas for locations in/near downtown Indianapolis, and come up with one of my own as well. So let’s take a look:

Carroll Stadium Site

One possibility is using the land near/around Carroll Stadium, cut a deal with IUPUI to basically share use.

Pros:

Would be close to the temporary grounds.
Easy access to parking and downtown
Leverage the White River for a nice view, as well as easy view to the downtown skyline

Cons:

It’s a bit of a hike to any bars for pre- or post-game drinking and gathering
It would wipe out a couple of baseball fields that is probably used for intramural. Those could theoretically be replaced with ones on the current Carroll Stadium footprint.
The White River Trail would need to be adjusted around it, and who knows what infrastructure issues woudl arise from building right next to the river like that.
Cost? Who knows what kind of deal would need to be struck with IUPUI
Size would be a bit restricted, potentially hampering expansion plans if success is sustained, an MLS bid is desired, etc.
Transit access - there’s a bus line that is near there but New York is a one way east street, making access via transit and car difficult.

East Market Street

The former site of the Indiana Pacers’ Market Square Arena has sat empty for over a decade. Various plans have fallen through to use it.

Pros

A truly urban stadium, just steps from the true center of the city
Lots of nightlife, bars, restaurants steps away
No one would miss it, fantastic publicity and would show the city is taking soccer incredibly seriously.
Transit access - Close to LOTS of current transit lines as well as proposed IndyConnect transit lines (if that ever passes and gets done) and people are used to driving downtown for immediate downtown activities.

Cons

The Toyota Field footprint crosses over into the streets a bit, so the stadium would be restricted in how big it could be, potentially restricting future growth potential. Even worse expansion restriction than the Carroll Stadium site.
Cost. While the city would probably be thrilled to finally get some development on that land, I doubt it would come cheap - either on the front end or on the back end in construction and taxes

The Old GM Stamping Plant

Just west across the White River, and south of Washington Street from White River State Park and the Indianapolis Zoo lies a HUGE HUGE HUGE unused piece of land that used to be a GM plant. This thing is so huge that at the same scale we only see a portion of it. North of the image below is the Zoo & White River State Park. East is the White River, across that lying a bunch of gritty industrial property (used and unused.. we’ll get to that later), and east of THAT is Lucas Oil Stadium.

Pros

LOTS of land for expansion of the stadium if that comes to pass.
That much land could lead to the creation of a whole soccer complex to support amateur soccer infrastructure for all levels of the sport
If the stadium is oriented right, could be a really cool view across the river to downtown - the view would include the river, Lucas Oil Stadium, Victory Field, JW Marriott building and the whole downtown skyline.
Crazy good pre-game tailgating potential.

Cons

Cost… demolition could get pricey and who knows if there are environmental issues under that land and all those factory buildings.
Barely could be considered ‘downtown’. It’s not really easily accessible from downtown. While it’s technically close as the crow flies, it’s not practically close. So forget heading to a bar before or after the game, drawing people that are already downtown for conventions or visiting to head over to the stadium, any of that.
Transit Access - it’s right off Washington, but that street there is more of a really wide avenue or parkway, so it’s not pedestrian friendly.

West & McCarty Streets

This is the one I thought of driving by the other day. Just across the river from the GM plant is a swath of industrial sites, some of which have been torn down and lie empty. One of these areas is at West & McCarty streets, within shouting distance of Lucas Oil Stadium. One block east is the Lucas Oil Stadium complex. A quarter mile west lies the White River.

Pros

This would turn the SW Quad of downtown into a Stadium District - all within a square mile would lie Victory Field, Lucas Oil Stadium and Indy Eleven Stadium.
A decent amount of land is available for expansion and a full soccer complex.
Not as good as East Market, but decent access to bars (there are a few there on West Street) and Colts fans already are used to hitting the bars around downtown and walking to Lucas Oil - this would just be a slightly longer walk.
No existing infrastructure to tear down
Could pitch it to the city as a way to help continue the revitalization of the SW Of Downtown area, which hasn’t boomed as expected after the Lucas Oil opening

Cons

It’s better than the GM Plant location, but still barely ‘downtown’ by the official definition.
An odd lot shape could be tough to work with

What do you think? Have any other downtown(ish) locations you’d like to see used?

If you’re interested in Indy Eleven, here’s some links:

Indy Eleven official website

The Brickyard Battalion (supporters club that’s been around since ‘11 trying to get a team in town)

Update/Footnote: I specifically didn’t consider a suburban site because I think that’s just a plan bad idea. Not only are you saying that the only people welcome are those that can drive in their car, it goes against the very model of success of sports in Indianapolis - downtown locations bringing together fans, tourists and locals.

notnadia: huffposttv: Tobias Funke’s sizzle reel. Tweeted by...

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:49:15 -0400

notnadia:

huffposttv:

Tobias Funke’s sizzle reel. Tweeted by Ron Howard.

Brilliant. insertmeanywhere.biz goes to a Tumblr where you can literally download videos clips of Tobias in order to, ahem, insert him anywhere. Go forth, interwebs! Show them what you can do!

Epic DJ Battles Of The Federation (From around the interwebs,...

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:27:17 -0400

Epic DJ Battles Of The Federation

(From around the interwebs, just had to bring them together.)

THANKS OBAMA

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:54:50 -0400

THANKS OBAMA

speriod: vanmega: Daft Punk - Get Lucky (M-Rock’s Disco Mix)...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:48:39 -0400

speriod:

vanmega:

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (M-Rock’s Disco Mix) [mp3]

I know posting remixes of Get Lucky is sooooooooooo last week, but this one is pretty good! A slight rework that - as the title implies - pushes the disco feel up to 10 (in a good way).

I guess it really does get better

A Question For The Liberal Christians Out There

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:39:08 -0400

A question for the more liberal Christians and religious folk I know prompted by some comments about the hypocrisy and cherrypicking the bible by some of the more hateful christians. Inspired by this:

Sorry in advance if this gets rambly or long winded. It is truly honestly not meant to offend so mega apologies if it does. It’s just a sticking point for me when thinking about ‘liberal’ vs ‘conservative’ believers.

What makes your liberal interpretation of the Bible correct? There are millions of very conservative believers who, just as fervently, believe that THEIR interpretation is correct. They can point to just as many bits of scripture and interpretations that support their conservative and at times hateful beliefs as you can point to bits of scripture and interpretations that support liberal, caring, loving beliefs.

If everyone is using the same source material and coming to vastly different conclusions, how is any of it trustworthy? How is it still the “word of god” when it can apparently be used to support a wide variety of (and many times contradictory) beliefs?

This is something that really keeps me from completely being comfortable with even the liberal Christians, because it seems like (on both sides) interpreting the “word of God” to bend to whatever morals you choose to have. And if that’s how it works, how does religion even work without a huge suspension of disbelief? i.e. “This is the unerring word of god…. and how I’ve chosen to interpret those words of an infallible omnipotent being” seems to undermine the whole omnipotent/omniscient/infallible bit.

TL;DR: What makes you right and them wrong?

I hope this doesn’t offend, because it really is something that I’ve scratched my head over for awhile and just leaves me confused every time I try and think about it.

wilwheaton: seenontabletop: “The Resistance” always ends up...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:35:53 -0400

wilwheaton:

seenontabletop:

“The Resistance” always ends up like this.

GOPY (re: today’s new Tabletop)

Every time.

wilwheaton: FOREVER REBLOG

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:48:25 -0400

wilwheaton:

FOREVER REBLOG

royhobbson: theclearlydope: Sleep easy America … we have a...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 09:52:05 -0400

royhobbson:

theclearlydope:

Sleep easy America … we have a protector.

He’s not the protector we deserve … he’s the protector we need. Nothing less than a knight. Shining.

Holy shit, it’s Jay Sherman’s kid!

wilwheaton: People of both sexes and all ages play video games and watch movies in every country in...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:55:28 -0500

wilwheaton:

People of both sexes and all ages play video games and watch movies in every country in the world.

Only in America do we have an epidemic of gun violence and repeated mass murder.

The problem isn’t video games and movies, guys.

WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR: kierongillen: tomewing: Stop Whining About Instagram^^ Inevitable...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 10:11:50 -0500

WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR: kierongillen: tomewing: Stop Whining About Instagram^^ Inevitable...:

azathfeld:

aprivatelittle:

azathfeld:

aprivatelittle:

kierongillen:

tomewing:

Stop Whining About Instagram

^^ Inevitable backlash-to-the-backlash post.

I get the point here, I know this Gizmodo post will get views, I respect the hustle, but I hate these kind of “GROW UP AND BE REALISTIC IT’S CAPITALISM” type of posts. Because, yes,…

A BLUHHH BLUHHH BLUUHHHH the service I’ve been using for free has decided it actually needs to MAKE MONEY to stay around, and I don’t like how they want to make money!!! I’m entitled to this free service, or at the very least entitled to be in full agreement with how it monetizes!!

The entitlement culture on the internet is fucking BONKERS. Don’t like it, don’t use it. Simple solution.

But then again, I never saw the utility in a service which had a main value proposition of making your photos look shittier with “filters”.

Okay, in fairness, what people thought was happening is that Instagram was making a stealth change to their TOS to essentially steal the rights to everyone’s photos. It’s a little different than just not liking the value proposition.

Which is the same freakout that happens every time any social media company changes their TOS for any reason. I’ve got a bit of TOS Outrage Fatigue.

Totally fair. We are The Internet Who Cried Wolf here. There’s a semi-legitimate freakout going on about Instagram (although they are apparently walking back the TOS change a bit because of it), but everyone’s so sick of OMG FACEBOOK IS BECOMING EVEN MORE EVIL that no one can be bothered to pay this any mind.

I mean, I’m unaffected, but there are a lot of professional photographers with stuff up on Instagram that stand to lose some of their livelihood here if they aren’t the sort of people who read the fine print when a service that they’re already using asks them to click on a box to lie about having read the fine print.

If someone is a professional photographer and using a free social media service, that’s their first problem right there. It should be known that this can (and likely will be) an issue at some point. If a social media service doesn’t fail, it will eventually reach the point where it needs to actually make money. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them in this case.

WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR: kierongillen: tomewing: Stop Whining About Instagram^^ Inevitable...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:55:17 -0500

WIL WHEATON dot TUMBLR: kierongillen: tomewing: Stop Whining About Instagram^^ Inevitable...:

azathfeld:

aprivatelittle:

kierongillen:

tomewing:

Stop Whining About Instagram

^^ Inevitable backlash-to-the-backlash post.

I get the point here, I know this Gizmodo post will get views, I respect the hustle, but I hate these kind of “GROW UP AND BE REALISTIC IT’S CAPITALISM” type of posts. Because, yes,…

A BLUHHH BLUHHH BLUUHHHH the service I’ve been using for free has decided it actually needs to MAKE MONEY to stay around, and I don’t like how they want to make money!!! I’m entitled to this free service, or at the very least entitled to be in full agreement with how it monetizes!!

The entitlement culture on the internet is fucking BONKERS. Don’t like it, don’t use it. Simple solution.

But then again, I never saw the utility in a service which had a main value proposition of making your photos look shittier with “filters”.

Okay, in fairness, what people thought was happening is that Instagram was making a stealth change to their TOS to essentially steal the rights to everyone’s photos. It’s a little different than just not liking the value proposition.

Which is the same freakout that happens every time any social media company changes their TOS for any reason. I’ve got a bit of TOS Outrage Fatigue.