Whenever there has been a public warning or media reports of an active serial killer in a city the inhabitants have a habit of staying in doors much more than they normally would.
What economic impact does this tendency toward self-preservation have on a communityÉ Do enough people stay home to actually have an impact, does tourism slowÉ
Unrelated question - Iève accidently turned on the é function of the computer and I have no idea how to turn it off - short of rebooting. Any helpÉ
Some might stay home, but any economic losses would be more than offset by sales of guns, ammo, food etc.
Back when the Boston Strangler was active, dogs were at a premium - any kind of dog that would look or sound vicious enough to deter the Strangler. The boom market applied to both new and used dog sales (reportedly, the animal shelters were rapidly emptied each day during the height of the panic, especially by women living alone).
One would also have to consider the money spent on serial killer tours. I think there’s been a long-running industry in London centered around Jack the Ripper.
Otherwise there are various incidental money makers - i.e. Gacy clown art, t-shirts et cetera.
Who is Iève and what is the “é function”?
Fair point on the guns and ammo - I had not considered that, or the dogs - I didn’t know about the run on dogs. Neat fact, thanks!
I know there is a market for after-the-fact serial killer tours - hell I would take one. But I have trouble accepting that people would go during the active phase. Go see the murder house after buddy is busted sure. Go see it while buddy is active not so much.
Im also not sure how the police would feel about people traipsing blissfully thought dump sites etc in an active investigation of an active serial killer.
Again, I do not know and this is all speculation.
Now, about the é problem. It is a function that allows you to type accented letters - like é. Unfortunately the accents are located on the apostrophe, quotation mark, question mark keys - among others. Iève managed to turn it on by accident many times but have never been able to discern how to disable it.
Hit CTRL + SHIFT. If that doesn’t work hit left ALT + SHIFT.
Is it the Insert Key?
Thinking a bit more about what you said though, is it possible there is a net benefit
You buy a gun you need a certificate of some sort, maybe go to the range, definitely need ammo. If you buy a dog, you need dog food and other supplies.
Alarm companies would see a spike, home security devices would likely see increased sales.
Is it possible that a city should encourage a serial killer in order to encourage growthÉ
CTRL+SHIFT = é - nope
Left ALT = SHIFT = é - nope
Thanks for the suggestions though. Left ALT would never have occurred to me because I invariably turn it on from the right side of the keyboard.
Sadly, owing to the deconstructive proclivities of 3 year old boys I am currently bereft of an insert key. One might say that it is a case of insert deletion.
On the plus side, all the ads are in French now.
What is this…I don’t even…???
How did you manage to do that and how is it related to your strange keyboard problem?
I should not have said ALL the ads, just many.
I think I have put my keyboard into French mode and the banner ads have picked up on it…
Keep trying. There are a bunch of layouts to cycle through.
Will do.
Thanks to all with ideas about the deFrenchifying of my keyboard.
It turns out that it has self-rectified. Having done nothing but watch a show for an hour or so it seems that I am back in English land! I can again use ,>?": YAY!!!
So, about those serial killers?
One economic benefit would be increased work hours for police and reporters. They’re earning more money which will end up being spent in the local economy.
I think that having your computer randomly decide to speak French is a more interesting topic.
Is it only French? How often does it happen?
You can set your language in a PC through the Control panel. in the region and language section. Perhaps somehow you changed that to a French setting.
Seattle has had two major serial killers, Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway. I don’t think it changed anyone’s habits here.
Of course, Seattle has always been a bit on the edge of danger. 
Okay, cool. Now we have guns, dogs, reporters and cops - and attendant offshoots. But what, if any, are the economic effects of these increased sales and work hours?
Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer, as far as I know, didn’t spark a localized reaction because they had a fairly large range. Zodiac, Hill-side and Son of Sam did. These are the ones I’m asking about.
I’m assuming that it is French because I recognise the accent acute and the accent grave (memories of jr high French) and that the ads changed to French.
I’m truly not sure if my keyboard is polyglot or not.
As to frequency I’ve nothing empirical. It doesn’t happen often but when it does happen it is always when I’m using the keys on the right side of the keyboard.
I don’t touch type and so I sometimes hit a few keys at a time when I type. Sometimes, when I’m going for the right ENTER or right SHIFT I manage to hit the correct combination of keys to cause the switch. All attempts at reversing the process have consistently failed.
This is the first time that is has self-corrected; normally I just restart to fix it.*
It seems to be a hotkey combination or something - see response to **ANL] above. Where in the control panel does one find language settings.
Also, I seem to have hit on the proper hotkey combination to turn it on, I’m hoping for the hotkey combination to turn it off.
Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer, as far as I know, didn’t spark a localized reaction because they had a fairly large range. Zodiac, Hill-side and Son of Sam did. These are the types situations I’m asking about.
*Is this the first time an OP managed to derail his own thread?
Really?!?
Ted did go on to terrorize other parts of the country, but he was here for at least 3 years, maybe more. My roommate’s sister was a near victim when she met him at a local lake. He was using a cast on his arm as a ploy, asking for help with his canoe. She got up to help, but saw something in his demeanor that put her off. He was in the local news at least weekly.
I actually watched them recover one of Gary Ridgway’s victims from my friend’s back yard. He too was in the local news frequently.
Gary was exclusively in the Seattle area for several years, but went to Spokane for a brief period.
Okay, I guess I haven’t been clear enough about what I mean. I’m asking about a specific phenomena with relatively narrow boundaries. Sorry if this seems like moving the goal posts or anything like that - it isn’t meant to be.
Son of Sam attacked average type people in a fairly easily defined, relatively small area. In his case there were survivors in almost every case; which allowed for the story to spread. Bodies weren’t dumped and were soon found.
Hill-side Strangler - Again, a relatively small hunting ground, again people who weren’t expendable, again the public knew that there was someone operating in the area and that “good people” weren’t safe. It was the media that gave them the name. Bodies were dumped but not really concealed.
Zodiac - same pattern as Son of Sam but fewer survivors.
Contrast with:
Ted Bundy - Keeps with the pattern in that the victims were “good people”. Breaks the pattern in that the killing ground considerably more spread out and the media [therefore the public] didn’t know that there was one assailant behind all the missing people. 30 people over 7 states over 4 years with no discernible connection other than raped and strangled. I’d bet a non-insignificant number of female murder victims are strangled. I’ve known two personally. No one killer, no name to attach, no reason to think they weren’t random events until his arrest.
Green River Killer - A decent sized range, connections were made early on and a name given but the victims were disposable people - prostitutes and drug addicts. Non prostitutes and non-drug addicts don’t care what happen to prostitutes and drug addicts and so no public fear.
Robert Pickton - Small hunting ground but it was the slum of Vancouver again the victims were prostitutes and drug addicts. A disappearance or murder of someone in East Hastings would not be noticed or remarked upon by “good people.” Bodies were buried on site. Media did not publicize the connections if they were aware of them, no need for public alarm.
I am asking specifically about the economic effect of the Son of Sam category; anyone can be a victim, easily defined territory, public awareness of “a monster”
Picunurse I’m glad that your roommate’s sister survived but…ummmm… not really relevant. She got the sense that something was off but wasn’t aware that she was in the presence of a serial killer until AFTER the fact. Was she aware at the time that there was a serial killer active in the area?
Ted Bundy wasn’t in the news weekly until his arrest. I wonder how many after-the-fact near-victims appeared once he was arrested.
I am unaware of a general realization at the time that there was a single person kidnapping and killing coeds. I repeat; 30 dead in 4 years in 7 states.
Gary Ridgeway wasn’t in the news weekly until he was caught. There were brief mentions as each victim was found but since they were disposable no one cared (except* Unsolved Mysteries* which is where I first heard about the Green River Killer.)
In any case, it seems as if your keyboard is configured to be able to switch between two different configurations; you can eliminate any you don’t want or change the key combination in the Control Panel under “Regional Configuration”. Don’t ask me who was the genius who put it there rather than under “Hardware/Keyboards”.
Of course, not by name, but the fact that women were being routinely murdered was, in fact in the news weekly or bi-weekly, in both cases. Ridgway was not careful in his body dumps, and was very prolific. Maybe you didn’t hear about the Green River Killer until some national TV show aired it, but I lived here.
The same task-force worked both cases.
To answer your original question, I suppose bars lost some business, because women didn’t go out at night as much.