I Already Miss Chenango County.

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Last “extended” weekend, I took a “vacationette”  to Chenango County, which was a camping-hiking-sight-seeing trip. It was quite a bit of fun, to get away from the Albany area, and explore the wilds of this area, nearly 3 hours away. A rural county, with much of land either in form of forest or farm land, it much different then the urban life that I live everyday in Albany.

Plant

It was nice to get away from the city.

I enjoyed seeing the farms, the hills, the mountains, and valleys. I enjoyed exploring the vast state forests, and camping in woods alone with nobody to bother me. I enjoyed the campfire and cooking over the campstove. And I enjoyed the cold of early spring.

What is An Appropriate Amount of Gun Violence?

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There will be some who say: Zero.

Of course, that is not a realistic answer.

There always will be some amount of crime, some amount of violent individuals, and some amount of people who die every year from gun violence. Even countries and states with very strict gun controls have gun violence. While it’s hard to argue in favor of more gun violence and more death, we have to accept a certain level that is consistent with our society’s values. Some people are going to die from gun violence. It’s sad, and quite troubling, but it’s a realistic part of society.

Nobody wants to see children gunned down. But accepting a certain amount of carnage may be required to protect our rights and liberties as a free people. A politically unpopular position, but the reality is our civil liberties rights have consequences — and if we as a society believe that every individual should has a constitutional right to own a firearm, then a certain amount of carnage must be acceptable.

Before we debate gun control, we should first all put forward what appropriate number of carnage is every year. 

We must all realize that freedom is not free.

Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime? | Transportation Nation

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When New Jersey Transit upgraded the public address system at its Newark transit hub a year ago, they began piping in classical music along with the announcements on train arrivals and connections. The authority subscribed to a music service and station agents could select from different channels, which also include easy-listening and jazz.

The idea, said a NJ Transit spokesperson, is to relax customers “and make it more pleasant to traverse the facilities.”

But in cities from Atlanta to Minneapolis and London, there’s often a bigger strategy at work: turn on the great composers and turn away the loiterers, vagrants and troublemakers who are drawn to bus stations, malls and parking lots. Last month, the Associated Press reported on a YMCA in Columbus, OH that began piping Vivaldi into its parking lot, and claiming to disperse petty drug dealers as a result.

via Does Classical Music at Train Stations Really Deter Crime? | Transportation Nation.