Facebook/Social Media

[E7]

My wife uses Uber all the time when on travel; linked to my Paypal account so I get full trip reports sent to my e-mail. I know when and where she has been picked up, by who, and where she was delivered to and when..... When we are traveling together in a location where a rental car is inconvenient, it's a cab or Uber.

Not always the best option:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ja ... ce-n523561

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Thanks for the heads-up, E7.

However, the streets of NYC have increasingly become the venue-of-choice for all sorts of violent, one-on-one killers and maulers who select their targets, seemingly, with considerable random glee, or at the very least, with great personal satisfaction, then running or sauntering away with dedication and characteristic cowardice.

I'm not going to offer a description of what the usual perp looks like, but if one has watched the News often about such violence in the NYC area, a picture starts to form, and it doesn't look like that thug mental-case in the link you provided, though making generalities isn't necessarily the best forewarning and defense. Sometimes, the person one would least expect to be violent is the one attacking a pedestrian not known personally to the criminal. It's difficult to figure out. Lately, violence on Manhattan has occurred in some of the exact spots my wife and I have patronized for dinner or theatre. We have moved into and around the city via limo but have still allowed ourselves to walk around a bit, too, which is part of the NYC scene, isn't it.

So, I have bears I am concerned about when I take hikes in the forests of Upstate NY, and news of seemingly random violence against pedestrians and residents of Manhattan have become concerns. Am I just a scared-e-cat or a word-to-the-wise-guy (get it, "wiseguy"/ )

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My wife uses Uber all the time when on travel; linked to my Paypal account so I get full trip reports sent to my e-mail. I know when and where she has been picked up, by who, and where she was delivered to and when..... When we are traveling together in a location where a rental car is inconvenient, it's a cab or Uber.

Not always the best option:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ja ... ce-n523561

There's going to be an exception to all possibilities - are you really going to take a this example and apply to the entire population of Uber drivers across the entire country?

So, taking a cab is safer? Not really. I bet you can find a equal examples of criminal cab drivers.

[rogruth]

IMHO "bad" cabbies are old news.
"Bad" Uber drivers are new news.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

IMHO "bad" cabbies are old news.
"Bad" Uber drivers are new news.

Sure. But, I doubt that the percentages of bad/good are significantly different. Probably reflect the same percentages of bad/good of the general population.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

IMHO "bad" cabbies are old news.
"Bad" Uber drivers are new news.

Sure. But, I doubt that the percentages of bad/good are significantly different. Probably reflect the same percentages of bad/good of the general population.

Personally, I really wouldn't know. Ya' pays yer money and ya takes yer chances, it used to be said. However, that link E7 provided did give me pause.
(Yet, note my signature slogan, below. )

[Rufus T. Firefly]

IMHO "bad" cabbies are old news.
"Bad" Uber drivers are new news.

Sure. But, I doubt that the percentages of bad/good are significantly different. Probably reflect the same percentages of bad/good of the general population.

Personally, I really wouldn't know. Ya' pays yer money and ya takes yer chances, it used to be said. However, that link E7 provided did give me pause.
(Yet, note my signature slogan, below. )

Yes, one bad guy means everyone that drives for Uber is the same......that's the kind of thinking that makes the US what it is today.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Did I say that, or even imply it? Maybe I'm not being clear, these days, and am not wording things well, or maybe you are right in suggesting I may need help. Or maybe you are being too subtle for me?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Did I say that, or even imply it? Maybe I'm not being clear, these days, and am not wording things well, or maybe you are right in suggesting I may need help. Or maybe you are being too subtle for me?

I was not referring to you specifically - it was a general blanket statement.

We as a nation like to characterize based upon what is almost certainly an insignificant sample number or minimal information oft times skewed in its content w/o having a shred of real 1st hand knowledge. For reasons that I do not comprehend (laziness or just herd mentality?), people like to trust others to do our thinking for us.

[rogruth]

Did I say that, or even imply it? Maybe I'm not being clear, these days, and am not wording things well, or maybe you are right in suggesting I may need help. Or maybe you are being too subtle for me?

I was not referring to you specifically - it was a general blanket statement.

We as a nation like to characterize based upon what is almost certainly an insignificant sample number or minimal information oft times skewed in its content w/o having a shred of real 1st hand knowledge. For reasons that I do not comprehend (laziness or just herd mentality?), people like to trust others to do our thinking for us.

Possibly "we" are being taught to do that now.

[E7]

Yes, one bad guy means everyone that drives for Uber is the same......that's the kind of thinking that makes the US what it is today.

No, I do NOT think that everyone that drives for Uber is a homicidal maniac. The point I was trying to bring into focus is that just maybe, their vetting system leaves a bit to be desired! What credentials (if any) are required to hold the position? Knowing a cabbie has to have a chauffeur's license (at least in most places) makes me think the odds of getting Norman Bates for a Driver might be less when you take a cab. I don't think Travis Bickle offed any paying customers. The sad truth is, it's all a crap shoot!

PS: You might get lucky and get Ben Bailey for a ride,

[HONDO74]

Social media, the scourge of adolescence
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-med ... o-burnham/

This might be the scariest movie of the summer, at least for parents: The new dramedy "Eighth Grade" is about Kayla, a painfully shy 13-year old stumbling through her last week of middle school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 8lFgF_IjPw

San Diego State professor Jean Twenge calls this generation "iGen."

"Like iPhones and iPads. They are the first generation to spend their entire adolescence with smartphones."

The author of "iGen" (published by Atria, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a CBS company), Twenge says kids who can easily chat online can sometimes have a tough time talking face-to-face.

According to Twenge, "Overall, around 2011, teens' mental health really began to suffer. 2011, 2012 is right when smartphones became common, so, [that's] when they switched from being something only a few people had to something almost everybody had."

[Rufus T. Firefly]

..........kids who can easily chat online can sometimes have a tough time talking face-to-face.

According to Twenge, "Overall, around 2011, teens' mental health really began to suffer. 2011, 2012 is right when smartphones became common, so, [that's] when they switched from being something only a few people had to something almost everybody had."

In some ways already addressed in an old SF story where no one interacts personally and everyone is isolated physically never leaving their silos....and things fall apart and no one is capable of fixing anything with the predictable ending.

[HONDO74]

In some ways already addressed in an old SF story where no one interacts personally and everyone is isolated physically never leaving their silos....and things fall apart and no one is capable of fixing anything with the predictable ending.

Would that be your prediction for the "iGEN" generation ??

Maybe they will all become politicians, They can't fix anything either.

[rogruth]

Some schools in this educationally challenged part of the country are requiring students to continue being educated during the summer months when they are not in school by "attending" school using their phones. No further comments from me.