LA: My Window Seat

Going to L.A. meant another opportunity to immerse myself in the experience of flying and observing our relationship with the earth from a vantage point I only get to have several times a year. I may have been riding airplanes since I was 5 years old but the view from my window seat never gets old. 

This post is simply about enjoying that view. 

LA stretched out sunny and populous below us as we approached. It is both flat and hilly and covers about 1300 square km.

If you look really closely at this photo above, you might be able to make out the airplane at around 11 o'clock. I tried to zoom in with my IPhone camera but at that distance you can see how the photo didn't come out very clearly.  I still find myself in awe of airplanes even though man has already gone to the moon and managed to send spacecrafts to other planets. It was kind of surreal watching that other plane hovering over the city with us. Somehow, I find the act of taking off less incomprehensible than just staying suspended in the air.

I do enjoy take-offs though. I love watching the ground speed past us and that moment that tells me we're off the ground.

We met a lot of cloud returning to Sydney and completely different terrain.

I hope you enjoyed the view.

Crime Rates: Australia vs U.S.

My run in with the LAPD, so to speak, made me wonder about crime rates. I've always assumed crime rates in the U.S. would be higher than Australia. What I found out really surprised me.  The following statistics are based on comparisons of crime in OECD countries.  I've narrowed it down to OECD countries as they would be more likely to have reliable national statistics agencies. See http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime.html.  

Crime	OECD Country	Police Recorded Cases Per 100,000 population
Intentional Homicide	Mexico (ranked 1st)	18.1
	Australia	1.2
	U.S. (3rd)	5.0
Rape	Australia (ranked 1st)	91.9
	U.S. (4th)	28.6
Robbery	Belgium (ranked 1st)	1762
	Australia	18
	U.S.	133
Assault	Scotland (ranked 1st)	1487
	Australia	327
	U.S.	262
Burglary	Denmark (ranked 1st)	1939
	Australia	1017
	U.S.	715
Vehicle Theft	New Zealand (ranked 1st)	466
	Australia	272
	U.S.	258

Equally interesting is that while the U.S. has the highest ratio of sentenced incarcerated persons per persons convicted (otherwise called the punitivity ratio) at 1.47, Australia ranks 21st out of 32 countries with a punitivity ratio of .068.  Finland ranks last with a ratio of .015. I guess the obvious question is how do crime rates correlate with punitivity ratio. Then again, correlation does not mean causation and as with most things, factors causing high crime rates are bound to be multiple and complex.

LAPD Sergeant

When I think of the U.S., images of heroic law enforcement agencies inevitably come to mind.  Law enforcement agencies feature prominently in so many of their movies and TV shows like I've never seen in any other country.  The fact that most people in the world who own a TV would probably be familiar with acronyms like FBI, CIA, DEA, NYPD and LAPD only goes to show how much these agencies figure in the popularity of North American culture in the world media.  So when I visited L.A. recently, I felt compelled to talk to one of their finest.

Sgt. Dennis Beacham works for the LAPD. He has been working as a police officer for the last 26 years.

How did you decide to become a police officer?

"Before I became a police officer I was a social worker. I’ve always wanted to help people and have an impact on people’s lives. So I decided to change professions and become a police officer. I still use my social work education though. I counsel people and I’m always doing interventions."

What’s the best thing about what you do and why?

"The best thing about my job is just being able to have an impact and to help people. I can only imagine what our society would be like if we didn’t have any law enforcement entity. It would probably be anarchy.

What’s the most challenging thing about what you do and why?

"The most challenging thing is going into situations and not knowing the outcome. Going to a radio call and it could be the first time you’ve been into someone’s home. You’ve got to resort back to your tactics and training. To me it’s basically dealing with the unknown."

What’s the most unusual experience you’ve had on the job?

"I really haven’t had any unusual experiences.  All of them have been unique. Each situation is different. It makes you think. That’s the other thing with law enforcement. You’ve got to be prepared for anything."

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned on the job?

"The most surprising thing for me is although you try and help everyone you can’t help everybody. There’s only so much you can do as a law enforcement officer.  A lot of people’s problems go far and beyond what a police officer is trained to do.  A lot of people out here are dealing with mental health issues.  We do have some training in how to deal with the mentally ill but I think our society has really failed when it comes to these people. What happens is they’re placed on the street and then they’re confronted by law enforcement and sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you would like it. We as a society, especially a very rich country like ours, we should be doing more for the mentally ill."

I’ve noticed a lot of homeless people around Santa Monica and certain pockets in L.A.. I’ve been informed by some locals that’s because the homeless services tend to be in those areas.

"Yes that’s true.  You have to understand though that a lot of people you perceive as homeless- they want to be on the streets, so to speak. We have a lot of outreach centers here and even the police department has resources. But a lot of times they will tell you they don’t want it. They just want to be left alone and what can you do in that situation? It’s not a crime to be homeless."

What are you most afraid of?

"To be quite honest, I’m not afraid of anything. The only thing I fear is God. I try to walk by faith and not by sight."

If you were an animal, what would you be and why?

"I would probably want to be an eagle because I would like to fly and soar.

What can you live without and why?

"I can live without sadness. If you think about it, I would like to be happy everyday but that’s not reality."

I am happiest when…

"I am happiest when I’m at home with my family."

If you had 3 wishes, what would you wish for? 

"I don’t want to sound like a cliché but I would definitely want to wish for world peace. I would wish for people with different nationalities to get along. We could do without the bigotry and racism. I would also wish for the end to world hunger."

Safari Videos: Part 2

What Do Angry Giraffes Look Like?

When I think of giraffes, I think supermodel tall, gangly, gentle vegetarians. But they have to compete and survive at some point or fight for their territory or their long-legged woman. So what does that look like? We witnessed this brutal aspect to these creatures' lives during one of our afternoon safaris.

The giraffes' horns tend to calcify from fights like these. Their horns can inflict injuries but apparently fights rarely get serious. Normally they size each other up and after a few swings and head butts it's all over. When they do get serious though, it ends up with one of them skulking off or sometimes in death.

What Does A Thirsty Ranger Look Like?

It was late afternoon and cocktail hour was fast approaching but perhaps not soon enough for our ranger. We were driving on the sandy river bed out searching for our first lions and nearly missed them.  

To be fair, our trusty ranger was informed by another that some lions were spotted in a particular area and he was on a mission to get us there. And get us there he did, we ended up sighting lions on three separate occasions during our safari. 

Fortunately, preparing these videos weren't as painful this time around so not a lot of cussing was required. However, just for finishing them, I say, hel ja!