Are You A Potential Crime Victim?

Are You A Potential Crime Victim?

By:Joseph Garrio(articleworld.net)

I've been in law enforcement for 17 years and have a great deal of experience working in the street and dealing with the common problems and crimes of the average person. This article addresses the common crimes that are occuring to people when removed from their homes. This is to make you aware of them and how to reduce your chances of becoming a victim.

Unattended Property

Many people in the city become a victim to this crime. This mainly happens when someone is in a public place and puts down their wallet, purses, etc., doesn't pay attention, and then someone picks it up when noone is watching. Popular places for this crime to occur are coffeshops, bars, supermarkets, gyms, churches, schools, your place of business, just about any public place.To help avoid this happening to you follow these guidelines. Never leave anything down by itself, even where you work! It's as simple as that. If you do have to put something down make sure that you or someone that you are with keeps a close eye on it. If a criminal is trying to take it odds are he won't if he/she sees someone paying attention. These criminals want to steal your property and walk away when no one is watching, they don't want to be seen or chased. Do not leave items of value in your car, especially your wallet when playing sports or when you are at the beach.

Pickpocket

Otherwise known as a Grand Larceny in the Penal Law. This usually occurs when someone removes something from someone else's pocket, bag or purse. Famous places for this to occur are subways, buses, bus stops, bars, stores, crowded sidewalks. It can happen in just about any busy, noisy, crowded place.Follow these suggestions so they don't get you. For women always carry your pocketbook towards the front. When carried on the back or side you cannot see when someone is trying to reach in. For the men always carry your wallet in your front pocket instead of your back pocket or in a jacket pocket. For those of you who are tired or had too much to drink and are traveling on public transportation, don't fall asleep! Falling asleep makes it much easier and the criminals will even cut your pocket open to get out that wallet, it happens all the time on the subway. In addition to the above just be aware of what is going on around you, criminals will strike when someone is not paying attention.

Snatches

More famously known to the public as a purse or chain snatch. There are many new snatches out there today. The criminal will take just about anything from you. These include cell phones, money, ipods, metro cards from the subway. Many times these criminals are on bicyles for a fast snatch and getaway.Right now cell phones seem to be the most popular. The best way to avoid this from happening to you is not to carry those cellphones, ipods, money and cards in your hand. When not using these items put them away in a safe place. When you have to keep them out, such as when talking on your cellphone, be aware of your surroundings. Place yourself in a position where it would be hard for someone to run or walk by you and hold onto them tightly when someone is near. As with all the other crimes listed here, pay attention to your surroundings.

Robberies

A Robbery is when someone takes property of another by using force. That force can be physical or just the threat of force. I save this for last because all the crimes discussed above can easily become Robberies. If the purse snatch is done with force, it's a Robbery. Many times a criminal will use force to steal that money, cell phone, ipod, etc., instead of just snatching it. So if you follow all the guidelines above for unattended property, snatches, pickpockets you will automatically reduce your chances of getting robbed. When driving in your car make sure you keep your doors locked to prevent someone entering. Leave plenty of space between you and the car in front of you so you can move forward and around if necessary when approached by someone. If you live in an apartment building never enter the building with someone you've never seen before. If you see a stranger in the lobby or hallway after entering turn around and leave. Use extreme caution and make sure noone is following you when you have just come from the following places: cash checking, banks or any place where you displayed some money.

Follow these safety guidelines and you will definitely reduce your chances of becoming a victim. If a criminal approaches you and tries to commit any of these crimes, it is important to remember not to resist. Your life is more important than your property. Property can always be replaced but not you. Stay safe!

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Promised Town

Promised Town

By:Jessica Greenbaum(poems.com)

You hoped your string of tickets
would last all day, or some one's parent,
protectively wandering the Fund Fair,
would buy you more because
as it worked out, they cared for you.
Those were the two hopes.
The land behind high school had never
been bigger, or more friendly.
Your older brother's friend,
working the Treasure Chest booth,
set you up behind the mound
of keys and schooled you
in how to fish for luck. But
the main attraction was the fair
itself, that it fit, nearly uniquely,
the illustrations set before us
in books and movies, of our lives,
and now, on one blessed
let-it-last Saturday afternoon
we could try winning, wandering
to a score of circus music
as real kids. Who can explain
why our good fortune—
handmade by our parents
and carted piece by piece into
our days—why it retained
a fated weightlessness, and why
our childhoods maintained
a haunted feeling of the inauthentic,
as if we orbited outside
the promised town, outside
its Main Street, and with no relation
to the promised girl skating
on the Town Grove's frozen pond,
her magenta scarf a gift ribbon
below her very yellow blonde flip,
which was why the teacher
titled the mural "Our Winter"—
so we might be her, although
we had never seen her. But the seasons
had moved on. We were very
warm at the fair, and our favorite
booth, the one that always settled
the question once and for all,
was where we now stood.
Its metal tub looked like a tire
cut in half, and hummed with power.
We watched an upperclassman
move a paper cone around the entire
hollow, twirling it as he went,
again and again like the earth
twirling in rotation while it circled
the sun in massively speeded-
up years, and the invisible wisps
became, during some moment
we could never quite pinpoint,
pink and real cotton candy
which disappeared inside the little
cosmos of our selves within
a blink, as it had spun to life,
as time would spin and sink,
and luck appear, and disappear.

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How To Tell If Your Child Is Gifted

How To Tell If Your Child Is Gifted

By:Bert A(ezinearticles.com)

During the many stages of a child's life, parents may wonder if their child is gifted. But coming to a definitive answer is often a difficult one because the arena tends to be largely subjective. Because no two children are alike, there are no tests to accurately measure the "giftedness" of a particular child.

However, there are certain characteristics that many gifted children have in common. Below is a list of these commonalities to help you determine whether your child is indeed gifted.

1. Super-sensitivity / Over-excitability

Education experts say many gifted children have extreme tendencies and preferences. For example, a gifted child may become cripplingly annoyed by a wrinkle in his shirt or very sensitive to loud noises. Polarizing tendencies, as opposed to stable and middle-of-the-line behaviours, are a common trait among many gifted children.

2. Intense Interests

Average children tend to have a broad range of hobbies within a certain range of interestedness. However, many gifted children harbour an intense passion for one particular arena whether it is art, music or maybe even collecting stamps. This passion sometimes becomes the focal point of a child's everyday life and all other interests become minute or obsolete.

3. Flexible thinking

Many children are naturally adaptable and nimble in their thought process. However, gifted children are more apt to make broad connections in ideas, objects or facts. They see that many things in this world are inter-connected and can easily identify the relationship between seemingly different concepts. They have excellent problem-solving skills that go beyond traditional solutions. Gifted children are essentially pioneers of new ideas and constantly push the boundaries of abstract thought.

4. Learns quickly

If your child learns concepts and skills with little practice or no repetition, then he/she may be gifted. Gifted children have a natural ability to memorize processes that normally take others months to master.

5. Prefers to spend time with adults

Because the brain of a gifted child is more highly-advanced than that of their peers, many gifted children tend to be more comfortable around adults. Their speech may be precocious or their notions of what is "interesting" may go beyond the usual activities that their classmates engage in. A gifted child can also carry a conversation with a certain ease and wise mannerism that even catches adults off guard.

If you suspect that your child may be gifted, seek out an assessment from a professional education therapist. These types of detections often take place during elementary school. But the earlier the detection, the more quickly you can harness your child's giftedness and secure the best possible future for him/her.

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The Elephant Rope

The Elephant Rope

By:Stephen(academictips.org)

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

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Minutes Into Hours

Minutes Into Hours

By:Robert Prentice(ezinearticles.com)

A powerful key to greater enjoyment in life is greater organization. It is a fact that for every minute you invest in organization you will create an hour of found time. People I know who are highly productive, and seem to get a lot of things done, do so because they are able to turn minutes into hours. So how does a person do that?

Easy! Make sure you have a place for everything, and that everything is in its place. Think about your home, auto, office, shop and other places where you experience life. If you were to go looking for something, would you be organized enough to find it right away or would you begin frantically searching and after several minutes come up empty-handed?If you would have to admit that most often the latter scenario characterizes your level of organization, then I suggest you make up your mind to do something about it.

Develop a passion for organization, by investing every available minute on organization over the next 10 days. I mean really go nuts for a season of time on the process of getting organized. Get crazy about cleaning things up. Put things back where they belong. If where you normally put something isn't working for you, put it somewhere else. Keep the things you use often in a place where you will be able to get to them easily. Watch what happens as you take steps to get yourself and the spaces you utilize organized. See if you don't recognize what a time saving - even time making - device organization can be.

If one of your organizational "headaches" is that you have piles of loose papers all over the place and you don't like putting everything away in cabinets because you can't see it, try this: Take several three ring binders and a three hole punch and start sorting through the piles, bunching "like" areas and placing them into three-ring binders. Be sure to put a label on the spine of the binder, so you can see at a glance what you have. I find these binders are great for travel and for storage, and when I need to review information, it is very easy to thumb through and read.

We use three ring binders in our home office all the time for organization, and love the concept. What do we keep in our binders? Binders house our life strategies, our business plans, checklists, letters, action lists, original writing, projects in progress, client and sales information, and other facets of life and business. Anyhow, I think you get the idea. This system may sound goofy, but boy does it work! I especially like the portability of the information and then the ease to work almost anywhere with the binder.

If you are really organizationally challenged, don't hesitate to get help from someone who is really good at organization. These special people, who cannot stand clutter and usually keep a very clean home or office, are out there and will generally be glad to help you if you ask. but don't just have them do the work for you. Be sure you actually learn from them how you can be more organized, otherwise, you will be organized for a time and then most likely lapse into your old ways.

Organization is a key process for effective leadership. It follows in priority to planning. As you think, and then plan, organization is the next logical step. Get organized and watch those minutes magically turn into hours of found time for you to enjoy your life to the max!

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