urbanSTL

Father in law was ripped off yesterday before the game. We needed one more ticket for anywhere (planned on hanging out at Casino Queen bar in the stadium), so he found a ticket scalper outside Kilroys - large african-american man. Bought one ticket from him for $10, and, of course, it was already used.

It's a minor scam, but still left a sour taste in all of our mouths. Even petty crimes for $10 give a poor impression of the city as a whole. Yes, I realize it could happen anywhere. The fact is, it happened here.

Maybe a marketing campaign aimed at these trouble causing groups. Yeah I know, it isn't exactly a new idea, but maybe if these kids are called cowards (which make no mistake, they all are) in front of a mass audience, they will change their behavior.

They always target senior citizens or have a gun in their possesion. I would literally bet everything I had that if they had no gun and tried this sh*t on a twenty-something who didn't mind the altercation they would be running in a heartbeat.

This sounds bad, and i really do not mean this to imply pro-filing, but those who can, make it known that they are being watched and we are sick of the bullsh*t. And if you are ever in the situation, put the ass-kicking of a lifetime on them in front of their little friends. Maybe one or two of those stories going around and a shithead or two in the hospital will start to get the point across.

At least that's my plan whenever I am in the city. Been using it since I was 10

Edit: Basically what I mean is that we need to step-up the neighborhood monitoring. You can put all the police you want on the streets, but vigilant citizens can make the most difference. Maybe a city-wide campaign aimed at mobilizing the citizens to take a very active role. Couldn't hurt.

newstl2020 wrote:And if you are ever in the situation, put the ass-kicking of a lifetime on them in front of their little friends. Maybe one or two of those stories going around and a shithead or two in the hospital will start to get the point across.

At least that's my plan whenever I am in the city. Been using it since I was 10

Guessing if you did this once, the next 8 times the kids go out, they will be more inclined to arm themselves/use whatever weapon they are arming themselves with. I'd rather be punched with fists than with a wrench...
The correct answer isn't to frighten the group of teens, it's to get the teens off the street and having them do something else. Don't know specifically what the "something else" is, but that's the solution. Maybe for everyone that gets caught doing this has a mandatory 200 (or x) hours of community service, but localized to within 10 (or x) blocks of his/her dwelling. Paint a park pavilion, plant a garden, coach a youth basketball team, pick up cigarette butts on the sidewalk, pick up Cobra cans and collect the deposits on them, homework, etc. In theory, this will not only clean up the city, but it would also instill a tiny amount of civic pride. Even if it only works for 1 or 2 of every 20 kids, that's 1 or 2 fewer petty teen criminals who grow up to be adult criminials...

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about the perception of St. Louis around the country, but when I go to Google Image search, and search on St. Louis, Google lists these five links as "related searches" right at the top of the page.

st louis cardinals, st louis mo, st louis logo, st louis ghetto, & st louis blues

I thought it was odd that Google would assume St. Louis Ghetto would be a popular related search. I tried a few other cities under Google Image, and I see Ghetto as a related search under only Detroit, St. Louis, and East St. Louis, and Gary, Indiana. No such negative perception apparently for Chicago, Cleveland, Newark, Los Angeles, Kansas City, or New York. Gary Indiana has an additional related search link: "gary indiana slum"

I guess the Google people think the rest of the world wants to search on Ghetto for St. Louis ahead of other options such as St. Louis Rams, St. Louis Arch, and St. Louis style ribs.

Such is the perception of St. Louis in Silicon Valley. Should the Mayor or County Executive give Google a call and ask how they came up with that, and suggest alternatives?

gary kreie wrote:
I guess the Google people think the rest of the world wants to search on Ghetto for St. Louis ahead of other options such as St. Louis Rams, St. Louis Arch, and St. Louis style ribs.

Such is the perception of St. Louis in Silicon Valley. Should the Mayor or County Executive give Google a call and ask how they came up with that, and suggest alternatives?

This is not what 'Google people think' or a matter of perception. Those suggested results display because users frequently search on them.

ricke002 wrote:
Guessing if you did this once, the next 8 times the kids go out, they will be more inclined to arm themselves/use whatever weapon they are arming themselves with. I'd rather be punched with fists than with a wrench...
The correct answer isn't to frighten the group of teens, it's to get the teens off the street and having them do something else. Don't know specifically what the "something else" is, but that's the solution. Maybe for everyone that gets caught doing this has a mandatory 200 (or x) hours of community service, but localized to within 10 (or x) blocks of his/her dwelling. Paint a park pavilion, plant a garden, coach a youth basketball team, pick up cigarette butts on the sidewalk, pick up Cobra cans and collect the deposits on them, homework, etc. In theory, this will not only clean up the city, but it would also instill a tiny amount of civic pride. Even if it only works for 1 or 2 of every 20 kids, that's 1 or 2 fewer petty teen criminals who grow up to be adult criminials...

Agree with the first part, but a little indifferent on your solution. I guess I'm somewhat pessimistic that community service will instill any civic pride in these sorry excuses for human beings. I'd rather put bright pink jump suits on them, make a chain gang and force them to pick up litter and clean allies.

However, even that's not much of a solution. The fear of embarrassment might keep a couple kids away from the flash mob/petty crime/vandalism scene (the knock-out game participants should be thrown in the hole for life), but it really doesn't do much to address a whole segment of the population that is becoming more and more detached from the rest of society.

south compton wrote: Agree with the first part, but a little indifferent on your solution. I guess I'm somewhat pessimistic that community service will instill any civic pride in these sorry excuses for human beings. I'd rather put bright pink jump suits on them, make a chain gang and force them to pick up litter and clean allies.

However, even that's not much of a solution. The fear of embarrassment might keep a couple kids away from the flash mob/petty crime/vandalism scene (the knock-out game participants should be thrown in the hole for life), but it really doesn't do much to address a whole segment of the population that is becoming more and more detached from the rest of society.

So the whole pink jumpsuit thing would only further distance them from the rest of society. (I know that's not an real idea, just venting frustration). Anything you can do to get one or two of the "punks" back on the civilized side of humanity, the better chance you have of getting more. Maybe the ringleader is proud of the garden he helped plant & sends a message to the rest of the neighborhood not to mess with it. Even if it doesn't get the kids off the street permanently, at least the residents will have fresh cucumbers & string beans, right?

the central scrutinizer wrote:

ricke002 wrote:

south compton wrote: Agree with the first part, but a little indifferent on your solution. I guess I'm somewhat pessimistic that community service will instill any civic pride in these sorry excuses for human beings. I'd rather put bright pink jump suits on them, make a chain gang and force them to pick up litter and clean allies.

However, even that's not much of a solution. The fear of embarrassment might keep a couple kids away from the flash mob/petty crime/vandalism scene (the knock-out game participants should be thrown in the hole for life), but it really doesn't do much to address a whole segment of the population that is becoming more and more detached from the rest of society.

So the whole pink jumpsuit thing would only further distance them from the rest of society. (I know that's not an real idea, just venting frustration). Anything you can do to get one or two of the "punks" back on the civilized side of humanity, the better chance you have of getting more. Maybe the ringleader is proud of the garden he helped plant & sends a message to the rest of the neighborhood not to mess with it. Even if it doesn't get the kids off the street permanently, at least the residents will have fresh cucumbers & string beans, right?

Which is more likely?

1) "I was going to join the mob on Delmar and play knockout tonight, but since Tyrell has planted such a nice garden, I think I'll stay home and study instead"

2) "I was going to join the mob on Delmar and play knockout tonight, but since Tyrell got his head blown off doing that last week, I think I'll stay home and sell crack instead"

^Neither?

Better question, which is a more stupid example?

If "Tyrell" is the sh*t-starter that's leading to the game of knockout, getting Tyrell off the street has a better chance of getting his kronies off the street. Retaliation is a big part of street life, so if you're going to blow someone's head off, said someone's brother/cousin/dealer/neighbor/pal is going to come looking to blow your head off.

the central scrutinizer wrote: What on earth are you talking about? Google "people" don't decide on alternative searches. It's all based on algorithms on what other people are searching for. So instead of calling Google, maybe you should call the millions of other people who are searching on "St Louis Ghetto" and suggest alternatives.

You would think. But you can't tell me that more people are searching on "st louis logo" and "st louis ghetto" for images than "st louis arch" or "st louis zoo". There must be something else going on. As I suggested, the authorities should ask Google how they came up with this.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/# ... ges&cmpt=q

They aren't.

Google and every other search engines' algorithms are proprietary, which spawned SEO as an industry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Thanks for the cool link. In the thousands of times I've used Google, I've never checked into that before.

Also, thanks for shedding light on Google's evil plan to destroy the image of St. Louis.

gary kreie wrote:

the central scrutinizer wrote: What on earth are you talking about? Google "people" don't decide on alternative searches. It's all based on algorithms on what other people are searching for. So instead of calling Google, maybe you should call the millions of other people who are searching on "St Louis Ghetto" and suggest alternatives.

You would think. But you can't tell me that more people are searching on "st louis logo" and "st louis ghetto" for images than "st louis arch" or "st louis zoo". There must be something else going on. As I suggested, the authorities should ask Google how they came up with this.

The "authorities" should ask Google? Really? Which "authorities"? The police? The Mayor? The SEC?

the central scrutinizer wrote:

ricke002 wrote:Better question, which is a more stupid example?

By "stupid example", I assume you mean the suggestion that we provide a garden for Tyrell to plant?

If you think maintaining a healthy, balanced diet for the city's residents is stupid, sure. Just because Tyrell has a green thumb doesn't make him stupid. The fact that he's involved in the knockout game & blowing people's heads off is stupid.

the central scrutinizer wrote:
Well, if I blow Tyrell's head off, his cousin is welcome to try to find me.

Why don't we set a trap for Tyrell's cousin? We can disguise you as a 70 year old man and let you wander the streets (armed of course). Once word gets back to the 'hood that there are decoy senior citizens out there just waiting for the chance to kick some ghetto ass, the cowards will stay in their own neighborhoods.

^why would CS need to dress in disguise to pass as a 70 yr. old

This last page and a half has been absolutely hilarious courtesy of CS. The original post is one of the funniest I have read. I busted out laughing at work.

Well done sir, well done.

gary kreie wrote:Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about the perception of St. Louis around the country, but when I go to Google Image search, and search on St. Louis, Google lists these five links as "related searches" right at the top of the page.

st louis cardinals, st louis mo, st louis logo, st louis ghetto, & st louis blues

I thought it was odd that Google would assume St. Louis Ghetto would be a popular related search. I tried a few other cities under Google Image, and I see Ghetto as a related search under only Detroit, St. Louis, and East St. Louis, and Gary, Indiana. No such negative perception apparently for Chicago, Cleveland, Newark, Los Angeles, Kansas City, or New York. Gary Indiana has an additional related search link: "gary indiana slum"

Your "related links" are based on <i>your</i> search history and the search history of people who make similar searches to you. If you have a prior search that is related, e.g. if you have searched for "st louis ghetto" before, that will always show up as a related link before any suggestions developed from other people's searches.

For example, I get:
St Louis Missouri (spelled out), St Louis Arch, St Louis IX, St Louis at night, and St Louis Downtown for my related links. None of our links are the same.
If I search on my work computer, where I do lots of crime mapping work, 4 out of my 5 links are references to crime and maps (two of them being links to St Louis Minnesota).