One of the things I like about riding in a car, or a bus, or a train

is seeing the little moments in people's lives outside the vehicle. The faster pace inside makes even small things look ever more meaningful and huge.

A few weeks ago we were going to the doctor, and at one corner we saw a woman with three elementary aged kids, one of whom was scared of walking through a flock of pigeons in case she startled them and they flew up in her face. Her mother had to go back and shoo the pigeons away. When we turned the corner - there was a huge flock of turkeys! And that girl was worried about the pigeons!

Yesterday we were going to a different doctor, and on this corner I see a young girl, skipping and excited, dashing into her apartment building. Turn the corner and there's another girl, also coming home from school, miserable face, clearly just finished crying, trudging along. Poor kid. I hope today is better.

Important facts:

Last week in NYC, there were 5 murders. I know, because I looked it up during a rather heated discussion with a Lyft driver. (He may think the discussion affected his tip. It did not. The only thing that affected his tip was the fact that the trip from the Island into the city is over $80 one way, and we were of course going both ways. My mother's the one who got us onto that discussion in the first place, and she was enjoying herself, so....)

A bit of quick googling and some rapid calculations suggest that the weekly murder average in 1990 was ~45 per week.

When I gave that first stat, he suggested I meant to say 5 murders per day last week, and expressed disbelief that, no, this was the week's number. I wish to note that even if 5 people were killed every single day in NYC last week, that still would be less than the number killed weekly in 1990, when the population was somewhat lower than it is now.

In a nuanced discussion, which this very much was not, I would of course point out that it doesn't count into the murder rate unless you actually die, and that while crime is overall at MUCH lower levels than in the 70s and 80s, part of the lower murder rate specifically is better emergency medical care.