Fear of the Day
 

I thought we already had a thread like this, but I couldn't find it, so... meh, here's a new one.

Today's Fear Of The Day comes to us from the fine folks at MSNBC, who tell us to fear random theives in parking lots stealing our untraceable catalytic converters for miniscule amounts of precious metals.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23117250/

I didn't read your link because I've read others before.

This freakin' sucks, doesn't it? I mean, you park your car, any where it seems {except if you can put it in your garage} and they can do this. It has been going on for a while. And, if you don't notice it right away, it will mess up your car, right?

I can't believe how people spend so much time to find things to do that rip honest people off. The punishement for crimes like these {including identity theft, credit card theft, etc.} should be high because the effects to the victims is costly and can be long and painful.

Yes, but it'd be immediately obvious. The instant you start up, the car will sound very wrong and you will be very motivated to kill the engine.

I imagine the most likely targets are suvs and trucks that have a high enough ground clearance to make it easy to get underneath.

I also imagine that, seeing as they didn't even bother mentioning in the article how often this crime is being reported, it's not even remotely as wide spread as they'd like you to believe.

I thought it was thieves stealing GPS devices that stick on the windshield. The advice is to remove the device and the holder and hide them in the glove compartment. Also, keep a cloth handy to wipe the sticky residue off the windshield because thieves will look for that.

GD~ I have to remember to not blast the stereo right off then. But, I do wonder how widespread it is. I googled it a couple of weeks ago and the article I opened on was from a state out east. I have heard about it hear in San Diego {I would guess being so close to the border doesn't help me one bit}. Such a pisser. I have to clean out my garage so that we can put my SUV in it. My son has a truck and darnit, no room for that in the garage. The Hubsters car will stay out front.

But, alas, this cleaning of the garage isn't any time soon.

The gps system, I guess I should be glad I don't have one. Want one. Don't have one.

And, airbags are stolen a lot, too. Right?

My son said he was surprised about cars {his mind is wrapped around his little hand held systems}. He said it is one of the most expensive items you have and you have to just leave it here and there. Trusting that it will be there when you get back. And in tact.

Trust me, even with stereo blasting you'll notice something wrong.

Yes, airbags are stolen often. As are stereos, CDs, wheels, batteries, boxes of kleenex, loose change, and just about anything else that can be removed from a car with in 60 seconds. But fortunately, the odds of any of it happening to you are pretty low. The best thing to do is to keep your insurance payments up, lock your car, and not leave anything you'd miss in your car. Beyond that, it's out of your hands.

When my car was broken into they stole my backpack, trash bag, stereo, stuffed animals off the dash and the visor cd holder with 2 CDs in it. They didn't steal my CD book that was in the back seat.

I was lucky when my car was broken in to, they made a mess of the glove box and the arm-rest container by tossing the contents all over the car, but they took nothing, not the stereo, not the faceplate for the stereo, not even the parking meter change in the ashtray. I guess whoever it was that was looking was looking for a cell phone.

I guess my point was the obvious fear-mongering written into the article. The "oh my god this is happening everywhere and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it so naturally it's going to happen to you and you're completely powerless" impression the article gives off.

Today I fear I will be misunderstood

Welcome to Bush's America? ;)

The GPS theft item was in a "fear of the day" piece.

Ditto.

Today I fear I will become a spinster!

That my worst fears will come true

Fear mongering is as old as the wheel. It sells. Just ask religious text publishers.

Looks like Morrigoon's attempt at demonstrating the ridiculousness of the media's fear mongering actually instilled fear in MouseWife.



I fear that we do not fear fear itself.

Visible mojo for comprehension, CP :)

I fear that no-one will take me seriously.












......Yes, really.

Really.


I'm not kidding, you guys.



True.



Why won't you believe me?




Bugger.

I fear you were implying that I thought that Bush came up with fearmongering. ;) I fear that I need to add more winky faces when I write.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
(Dune, Litany Against Fear)

"All these failings generate fear, a soul-sickness in its own right... we loaf and procrastinate, or at best work grudgingly under half-steam. These fears are the termites that ceaselessly devour the foundations of whatever sort of life we try to build." (AA 12&12, page 49)

Life is full of really bad sh*t sometimes. It's bad enough worrying about the things you CAN control, let alone those you can't.

Can't speak to how widespread catalytic converter theft is, but commodity metal theft is a quickly increasing category of crime and if catalytic converters are easy to take and get the metal out of, I'm sure it's being done.

Locally we had someone steal the copper wiring out of all the street lamps along a couple miles length of road. Monuments and graveyards are having quite a bit of trouble with copper plaques and insets being stolen. I have a coworker who recently told that his condo building has replaced all the brass door knockers with something else because someone kept stealing them right off the doors (probably an idiot since I don't think there is much market for brass).

It isn't commodity metal in that catalytic converters that is of interest:

Yes, but how much of these metals are in a CC? If it is a lot, I may just have to have a second career.

I don't know what scrap recyclers pay for them but looking around it appears that a catalytic converter would have 1 to 2 grams of platinum in them. Platinum is running about $1700/ounce so this would be $60 or so in just platinum and there are other precious metals in there too.

According to the articles that ($60) is the low-side of what scrap recyclers will pay for them.

Of course, I'd need to figure out just WHAT a CC is and what it looks like. ;)

Just take everything sticking out under the car. (Actually, I have no idea either, it might be built into the roof for all I know.)

Today I fear my good works and good intentions will be used against me

Well at least we know a CC would be safe around you two, neither of you would know what to steal!!

In my old car it was a little appendage sticking off the engine block but I doubt I could identify one on a random car either!

To give you a rough idea, I have hi-jacked pictures from a couple of sites:

New fear - global cooling! No joke!

Last 12 months wiped out a century of warming

Global Cooling is good news! Maybe now us fat girls will be attractive again. My prayers have been answered! Now worship me!

Today I fear I'll either never make enough time for myself, or waste the time I have

My fear is that I will fail.

I fear that my pants will not stay on anymore.

If you look at the biography of any famous/successful/powerful individual you will see their failures were just as important as there successes in shaping their futures. If you don't fail now and then you're not really trying. It's nothing to fear.

I want that fear! I'll trade you the fear that my pants will not zip up anymore.:p

We ALL fear that!

Funny. Chris always wants his pants OFF!