

In New York City, Fewer Murders on Rainy Days - neilc
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/nyregion/03murder.html?hp

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mediaman
Summary: rain reduces the probability of interaction with people. Interaction
with people correlates with homicides. So rain inversely correlates with
homicides.

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symesc
I have a buddy who lived in NYC for a decade. I was there for a visit a few
years ago and asked him if he ever had any trouble, getting mugged or hassled,
because he walked everywhere at every time of day.

He replied with, "Meh. Criminals are lazy. They don't want the effort of
earning something they can simply take, so they don't have jobs. I'm six feet
and I walk fast. I'm like the strong wildebeests at the front of the herd. The
criminals will wait for a weak one to fall behind. Easier."

By his logic, lazy murderers probably prefer to get their murder on without
getting wet.

~~~
e40
I walk a _lot_ , too. An interesting anecdote, which dovetails with your
"wildebeest" analogy.

I'm 6'2". I have gray hair and beard, but normally am clean shaven (head and
face). I walk through a somewhat tough area, and no one ever bothers me. Yes,
I walk fast and with purpose.

I was having razor issues and ended up growing a (white) beard for a while. I
was completely floored by the amount of crap I got from random people. It was
aggressive stares, and in some cases aggressive behavior. On a single day I
came close to an altercation with _two_ people.

It was pretty obvious to me that I looked much older, so I shaved the beard
and head. The next day, people were back to ignoring me.

~~~
profquail
Have you considered a straight razor (the old kind they used to have in barber
shops)? A good one is a little expensive (a couple hundred bucks for a brand
like DOVO) but will last you for decades if you take care of it. I've heard
they're good for people who get razor burn or ingrown hairs from normal safety
razors (since they are way sharper).

~~~
e40
Actually, I was being generic with the "razor" term. I actually use an
electric shaver. I never had much luck with razors, though I never tried a
straight razor. (The issue I had was that once it grows past a certain length,
I have to let it grow out for a week and whack it with a beard trimmer before
I can use the electric razor. Otherwise, it _hurts_.)

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youngian
Relatedly, our crime rate here in Minnesota dives every winter. Even the
criminals know when it's too cold to bother going out.

[http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2009/04/minneapol...](http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cspg/smartpolitics/2009/04/minneapolis_crime_rates_contin.php)
(check out the fun graph)

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Cornify
I think people are so excited about the upcoming rainbows that they forget
about all bad things. Searching Twitter for rainbow just brought up a ton of
results from people in New York going "Awwww" and "dancing under the
rainbow"... quod erat demonstrandum?

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taitems
Maybe with the open data push they could plot suicide rates against national
holidays. Snopes says it is false, but I have always personally felt that
there is a corrolation. <http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/suicide.asp>

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v3rt
The rain wave going on in the Northeast raises the question - is the reduction
in crime on rainy days a temporary phenomenon, or is it something more
fundamental? In other words, would an extremely rainy decade see a reduction
in crime due to the rain? I'm guessing it would be a reduction, but not as
great as the daily ones seen. After all, people adapt, with umbrellas and
such.

A similar phenomenon to look at is the increased birth rate observed nine
months after blackouts. Blackouts probably cause some births that would have
occurred in close proximity to the nine-months-later period to move to that
time period, as well as causing others to occur that would not have otherwise
(accidents).

~~~
byrneseyeview
<http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp>

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dustmop
Given that it's been soaking wet all summer long so far (and looks to remain
so), I guess it'll be a safe summer in New York.

