Sidewalk Sociologist -- The Theories and Observations of a Street Sociologist

You know what to do

2009-10-02T23:20:00.001-06:00

Feeling like you should do something, and you don't...

Country girls walk different

2009-04-19T21:20:00.001-06:00

I wonder if open space and the availability to move around freely over time has altered the way country side folk walk, in comparison to city folk. A learned behavior engrained in time to become a cultural difference.

HER

2009-01-31T00:29:00.002-07:00

Her is a magic word, it provides for the time warmth, comfort, compassion, and the necessary movements of the mind to find oneself wondering why they are thinking too deeply into one person otherwise known as HER.

NO Human Decency anymore

2008-07-08T15:24:00.003-06:00

How do you not leave a note?
Example: “I am so so so sorry I hit your car!”

All females inately love monkies...

2007-09-20T08:01:00.000-06:00

It dropped upon me like a ton of bricks this mornin; that every single female I have come into contact with, loves monkies...

Is this some herditary trait that has been passed on since the dawn of humanity?

How To Sell A Stolen Car on Craigslist

2007-03-12T11:34:00.000-06:00

Disclaimer:
The following is a work of humor and in no way is it suggested to try this in any shape or form. The following is an extraction compiled to generate a method based upon experience and should be looked at as nothing more.

Step #1: Locating the target vehicle
What you should be looking for is any car / truck that is fairly popular, affordable, and what is considered to be in desirable condition. Good examples of this would be sporty but affordable cars: Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, etc.

Preferably the car should be a few years old. 95-98 somewhere in there, with some cosmetic damage, dents or small scrapes nothing to extreme.

The car needs to be in working order, this could be a tricky process because you will need to keep in mind the following:
- Keys
o 2 sets are required.
- Locks
o No damage and working with keys
- Cosmetics
o Small amounts of dings, dents, paint damage, nothing extreme.

The three listed items need to be intact 100% to get this to work. Regardless of how one obtains the vehicle these three items need to be 100%.

Step #2: Getting Car Ready to Sell
The vehicle should have some draws and some flags, and what this means is, you want the vehicle to have features that are desired, but something that isn’t. A good example of this would be to install a high-end stolen stereo, and put bald tires on the car… that way the car can’t be stolen from you. This also gives the buyer a reason to negotiate price with you.

You need to be able to allow buyers to test drive the vehicle. This can be achieved by going to your nearest grocery store, with a Phillips head screw driver. Pick out a similar car, and remove the license plates. Now you have plates for your car, and will be able to take it on the road.

The final part of step#2 is getting the title in order. You will need to contact a graphic artist for this. Once this person is contacted, have them mock up a title for the car, but have the title be from a different state. For example, if in Colorado, have the title made for New York. This is very important when it comes to selling the car. Fill out the title in a fake name

Step #3: The Ad
Composition of the craigslist ad is a very important step and must be done correctly. The ad must be written in broken English, stating the following: Year of the car, Milage, Cosmetic damage, and a phone number. Example: 1997 Mazda 626. 104,000 miles, stick, new muffler, new radiater, 30-35 miles mpg, no machanical problems, small dent on door. Please call 505-555-xxxx.
Include 3 photos of the car a frontal shot, side shot and shot of the engine. Have your graphic artist friend remove the license plates from the photos. Place the car for sale at a price that is reasonable, and will move quickly. An ideal range would be $2000 –3000. Publish the ad and wait for a call.

Step #4: The Buyer
When you receive a call from an individual interested in the car, go and meet them where they live or where ever they would like to meet. Upon meeting them tell them the car is great, and that you are selling it for a friend who got a new car. While they are test driving the car, go with them for the ride, point out how great the stereo is and be sure to mention all the work that you had done on the engine. In this speech you should mention that the car has an out of state title. Answer all of the buyer’s questions with the following answer: “I don’t know, it is my friend’s car.”
The less information provided will save you in the long run.

Allow the buyer to make an offer to you. Reject the first offer, allow them to go back up in price, insist on receiving payment in cash that day. Sell the car to them “as is”.

Conclusion:
Congratulations! You have just sold your first stolen car to what we in the industry like to call a “Sucker.” Apparently there is one born every minute!

The beauty of this method of selling a stolen car is the out of state title, and the stolen plates. The stolen plates, if in the event the buyer had some foresight and or some intelligence enough to copy down your plate number available on the car, it can not be traced to you.

The fake out of state title cannot be traced to you either, based on the fake name on the title. What is truly brilliant about the fake title is that it is out of state and there for gives you a 2week – one-month window for a clean getaway. What occurs is the DMV will take the title, and process it. The title then needs to be sent to the State that issued it, which could take up to 2 weeks. When the title actually reaches the DMV in what ever State the fake title was made to look like… they will have to validate the title, which will not pass. The title will then be sent back to the State where the car was sold, another two-week process. The DMV will get the non-valid title and call the owner of the stolen car, and let them know that the title is invalid.

Which leaves this individual out a few thousand dollars, and with a car that cannot be registered which all happened a month ago, which means that you are long gone with your new hard earned cash.

FYI:
If you have been a victim of something similar to this, you can “bond” the car, which means that you will have to get the car’s worth assessed and you put up twice the amount the car is worth to the bank who will issue a “bond-title” for the car. It makes the car able to be registered, also legal, but good luck reselling the vehicle.

2/26/07 -- Dissection of A Child Hood Favorite:

2007-02-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

I was recently able to catch a film of interest to me that being a childhood favorite. The movie in question is titled “The Karate Kid”

Upon watching this film I began to question certain elements within the story that rose questions. After finishing the film I began to question the affect this movie might have had on my adolescent development and or American society in general. Several factors in the film I feel I could safely say today would not fly as elements that are acceptable in family films such as this.

One observation I noticed was that there was a lack of a storyline to back up the characters decision to move across the country from New Jersey to California. According to what was made available to the viewer based on the plot and story line, the mother of the main character pulled her son Daniel out of school and packed everything up in a beat up station wagon and drove to California, without any real notice given to the main character. What struck me as an obvious reason was the possibility they had to move for a new job, being that the mother had a job immediately upon arrival as a waitress in a restaurant.

Why Move?
I was content at first as this being a reason for the move. Upon a second review of this fact I came to a conclusion that no one would move such a distance to wait tables. So I decided to over analyze this aspect for a minute and come up with my own sub plot based on what information is presented.

Hypothesis: I feel that the main character and his mother were put in a situation where they had to move fairly quickly due to an abusive husband and father which is suggested based on the following four factors found within the plot:

One: there is no presence of a father figure or any mention of a father for the main character, which leads me to believe that this is a fairly negative topic for the characters in question.

Two: The immediate need to move as quickly as possible as viewed in the beginning scenes of the movie and this being very hard for the main character is made obvious through out the film, with comments such relating to the mother deciding to move without asking the main character. The question remains why did one need to move so quickly and so far?

Three: The first appearance of the main character is exiting the car upon arrival to the new apartment complex in California. The main character takes his bike from the top of the car and escorts it into the complex through a gate door that he kicks open into an on coming neighbor. The neighbor asks him if that was Karate, in which the main character admits that it was. Later in the film the main character admits to having taken Karate lessons at the YMCA.

This to me suggests the main character had at one point in time the need to defend one’s self from an attacker. Being a product of the East Coast myself I know that growing up in Jersey is no picnic and I personally feel everyone should take a self-defense course. In order to keep this analysis objective I needed to keep looking at the facts presented. The way the main character deals with the bullying situation from the other kids at school suggests to me this was not a common situation for him, and therefore suggests to me that the need for self-defense was not due to common everyday encounters with bullies.

The way the main character jumps into a physical altercation upon first encounter with the villain in this film displays some aspects of pent up aggression and the desire to control and put an end to an abusive situation between the main character’s love interest and ex-boyfriend (the villain).

Four: After receiving his first beating and or physical altercation the main character knew how to hide a black eye from his mother, who upon discovery seemed highly concerned as if familiar situations were reoccurring. The main character when questioned about his black eye chose to lie about what had actually occurred with the story that he fell off his bike or had a bike accident. The main character did this with little effort suggesting that he had gone through these motions several times throughout life.

Conclusion:
Based on the four factors of the plot stated above, it is safe to assume that there was a history of domestic violence present in the life of the main character before and up to the point of the decision to move from New Jersey to California.

The fact that these elements were stripped from the story line suggests one of the two following issues. One, that the general public has no interest in understanding the horrors suffered by those in abusive situations and the options presented to these individuals. Two, the topic is that of a controversial nature that would have required a different rating for the film to be enjoyed by families and children.

Given the time frame that this movie was produced and released these issues were not heavily discussed in mainstream media, which could explain the lack of a background story for the characters introduced in this film.

The affect that this film might have on adolescent development is the exposure to the necessity for self-defense courses and or some martial art training. Also subjecting the viewer to the morals presented within the training of the main character. The affects this film and others like it might have on American society are concentrated on the generations exposed to this movie are as follows: One, solving problems physically, Two, a lack of exposure towards compassion for families that suffer from abuse. Three: is the unnecessary glorification and acceptance of gang violence.

2/25/07 -- Shopping Bags -- Boulder CO

2007-02-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

I awoke this morning and went out on the deck, this is where I often make my decisions for the day, and where I begin my observations.

This morning brought me an image of a woman walking holding two plastic bags which appeared to be carrying some unknown articles. From a distance this looked normal, being outside a dog park. I immediately thought that she was comming from the store with some groceries. I then continued to observe while constructing in my mind where the woman would have been being that there is no store within 3 blocks and why she would walk there and back.

I began thinking about the time, being 10am I thought it rather strange to be walking with only two bags that early. I began to think about wether or not the individual being observed was one of those quote un-quote "Bag-Ladies" on her way to a garage sale or something to that affect.

As she approached closer I could hear her mumbling to herself, and I was able to get a better look. I immediately thought, hands free cell phone, but no cell phone or bluetooth tech could be seen and the mumbles were too infrequent.

Her clothes seemed to be highly out of date, something you might discover at a thrift shop, but they were realtively clean looking. Which made me come to a conclusion that she was not homeless but most likely suffering from some mental illness.

Since that observation this morning I have left the house, and upon leaving I notice all the other neighbors leaving were all carrying bags. I found this interesting that they would be leaving with shopping bags vs. arriving carrying shopping bags.

Maybe I should get some shopping bags and sport them around today... I want to fit in on something I know nothing about.