Faces

I just posted an elementary school class picture on Facebook. Going to tag the people who are my Facebook friends, I notice trends:
29 students in the class
8 are currently my Facebook friends
3 1/3 African-Americans in the entire class, all of whom are my Facebook friends
3 of my 8 tagged friends are gay/bisexual
2 of my Fb friends were the other huge dorks that annoyed the hell out of me growing up. Both of them are gay
The third tagged lesbian I still see occasionally and I like very much; we could be reality friends.

Ken's photo is next to mine. The pictures aren't in alphabetical order; I'm guessing they're in whatever order we chose to stand in line because I'm also next to my fifth grade best friend, Ken's best friend is on his other side, and there are mini clique clusterings across the page. I've known him for 20 years. He remembers things about me I'd forgotten, times when I tried to conquer the world at age 10 and was too wrapped up in fighting evil to be a kid or be happy or notice what anyone else was doing.

Now Ken is working to fill the world with good and caring for everyone around him. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
How?

yes, I AM this nerdy

I checked on the crime stats thing...in 2005, Rogers Park and Lincoln Park had about the same total populations (63,282 and 64,320 respectively). Lincoln park actually had a greater total number of reported crimes - 3,719 to Rogers Park's 2,497. That's the thing that gets quoted all the time. But Lincoln Park's crimes are heavily property crimes (burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) whereas the fun stuff like aggravated assault and battery and murder are much higher in Rogers Park.

I crunched a bunch of numbers from the 2005 Chicago Police Department's annual report because I am a huge dork. For those of you from out of town, Rogers Park is a neighborhood that's as far north as you can go along the lake and still be in Chicago and where I plan to move. Lakeview is where I currently live and is fairly yuppie, but it also contains Boystown (gay area) and Wrigglyville (frat-boy land). Lincoln Park is Yuppie Central. All the shops are boutiques and chains. It's very nice, but pure gentry. Austin is the lovely ghetto just east of where I grew up (Oak Park). It's a big sprawling piece of shit that's one of the worst areas of the city, arguably worse than the south side since it lacks any sense of cohesive community.

per capita crime rates
Rogers Park: 3.93%
Lakeview: 4.14%
Lincoln Park: 5.78%
Austin: 6.63%

per capita crime rate for crimes against people*
Rogers Park: 0.88%
Lakeview: 0.45%
Lincoln Park: 0.43%
Austin: 1.98%

per capita crime rate for crimes against property**
Rogers Park: 2.90%
Lakeview: 3.70%
Lincoln Park: 5.36%
Austin: 4.66%

per capita sexual assault rates
Rogers Park: 0.04%
Lakeview: 0.02%
Lincoln Park: 0.03%
Austin: 0.10% (with 117! holy hell, Austin)

...and what dorky stats project would be complete without charts!
(please pardon the craptacularity and inconsistent size and clarity of the charts...I made them all the same exact way on the same exact program, but thank you Microsoft Works for being a cheap piece of crap and thank you me for being a cheap piece of crap and refusing to pay for Microsoft Office)



*murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery
**burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson