Big Day

[Kip]

We'll be in Tennessee July 9-23, then Florida the 24th-27....

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[Kip]

Came across this interesting tidbit today. I know there's a recent spike in crime, but apparently it isn't out of the ordinary longterm.

"The 10 countries with the highest homicide rates in the world are in Latin America and the Caribbean, where Honduras’ 85.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants leads, followed by El Salvador (63.2), Venezuela (51.7), Colombia (48.8), Belize (37.2), Guatemala (36.2), Jamaica (35.2), Trinidad and Tobago (32.8), Brazil (30.5) and Dominican Republic (30.2)."

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[Kip]

That's gotta be pushing toward Chicagoland levels, right?

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[Stewmuse]

That's gotta be pushing toward Chicagoland levels, right?

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Nah. These countries are lightweights!

[Zedman05]

Boy, it really makes me want to move to a place like that.....

Not to be a dick, or say a dictatorial government is good in any way, but I wonder what Cubas actual stats are in this case ? You wont ever be able to get the truth, but just wondering. I know I feel safer there than anywhere else outside my own country, even a bunch of the US.

[Kip]

Boy, it really makes me want to move to a place like that.....

Not to be a dick, or say a dictatorial government is good in any way, but I wonder what Cubas actual stats are in this case ? You wont ever be able to get the truth, but just wondering. I know I feel safer there than anywhere else outside my own country, even a bunch of the US.

That's exactly what I'd have said of the Dominican Republic during the years I was visiting for a 1-2 weeks at a time. I probably was a little skeptical of the stories I might have heard during that time, because for the brief time - and locations - I was visiting, I felt very safe. Having lived here these past 2 years, being in a lot of places visitors wouldn't end up, finding myself in situations I'd never have imagined, learning to read Spanish newspapers and effectively communicate with the locals....these things have given me a much different perspective than I possibly could have seen before. I still feel relatively safe here - not from ignorance of what could go awry, but because I'm acutely aware of those things and try to take reasonable measures to avoid them.

As a sidenote, Chicago has a reputation, but it turns out there are far worse cities in the US. St. Louis is the Mac Daddy homicide capital, doubling even those DR stats....

The Dominican Republic's (reported) homicide rate is about 6x the US rate as a whole, but a number of American cities individually eclipse it.



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[kurtdesign1]

The shared/covered Chicago murder stats were about 750 in 2016. With a population of about 2.75M, that's roughly 1 in 3,600 people. The issue with Chicago is that these murders were greatly focused in specific areas. These statistics are much harder to quantify but I've heard that it's about 3/4 of the murders in just a few hundred thousand citizens. Assuming this, we're looking at (easy numbers) 600 murders in 600k. Or, 1 per 1,000. This number is not published. Rather it's a thought of stat to discuss how much worse the ghettos are than other areas in the city.

[Kip]

From my bedroom window I'm treated to the sounds of this guy this morning. He has a few crates of live chickens, and has rigged a contraption to boil water in the bed of the truck. You can pick your chicken and he'll gut, blanch, and butcher it for you on the spot....



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[Zedman05]

^ I know what you mean Kip. We had a neighbour skinning live goats and bbq'ing right outside our place too........oh wait NO WE DIDN'T. What a culture shock. That kind of stuff would get the fuzz on you like flies on crap !

[Kip]

^ I know what you mean Kip. We had a neighbour skinning live goats and bbq'ing right outside our place too........oh wait NO WE DIDN'T. What a culture shock. That kind of stuff would get the fuzz on you like flies on crap !

Well, actually the goat thing happens here as well. There are small lots around town where you can pick your goat and have it butchered while you wait. They do it this way because some unscrupulous meat-sellers were passing off dog meat as goat. At least with these lots you know you got the real thing....