That's the slogan of Vision 20/20, an online service (using technology called a Mashup) that offers online map-related services. Most notably this includes a geographical search for registered sex offenders in your immediate area. I tried this with our address, just to see how it worked. Not well. The Minnesota Dept. of Corrections (slogan: "Contributing to a Safer Minnesota") lists six Level 3 Offenders in our zip code, including one a block from our house. Vision 20/20 listed five offenders, but none actually in our zip code. There was no overlap between the two lists, so I don't know where they're getting they're information from if not from the DOC. It's certainly not as impressive as ChicagoCrime.org, where you can sign up for a feed of crimes happening near any city address--it's linked to a publicly available police database.
With our house languishing on the market the last few months, I've been thinking about maps like these. I posted a few weeks ago about the foreclosure, or crime maps that Minneapolis has on its city website. There's some value to these--particularly for citizens seeking information about crime patterns in the city. Yet, as Vision 20/20s slogan suggests, they also allow people to steer clear of potentially dangerous people--giving us "peace of mind" about our neighborhood so we can be truly "prosperous." And so, while we live in a great house on a relatively quiet section of a poor neighborhood, people are scared to live here because bad things do occasionally happen around us.
As a Christian, though, my reading of the gospels shows another mindset. Jesus didn't look at the maps to find the safest place to live. He chose the "dangerous" neighborhood. He didn't avoid "dangerous" characters--he sought them out. When all these maps do is instill fear and create segregated communities, they run counter to the purpose of the church: reconciliation and peace-making.
Found this link on Andrew Sullivan's blog--10 quite extravagant home theaters. Even in the last ten years, it seems like home entertainment has become a massive industry. It's the theater experience at home. I can't help but wonder, though, if the novelty wears off when it's your house. Part of the appeal of an extravagant setting like this is the uniqueness of it. It's all feasting and no fasting, so to speak, which makes the feast less feast-like. Still, while the movie was mediocre in my opinion, I like the Titanic theme here...