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Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

argusleader.com

281–290 of 405 posts

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#281
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People in the US can afford a 5 gallon container of beans and rice. My suggestion isn’t financially impractical for anyone, this is nonsense. There are plenty of people in the US who can barely scrape together enough to feed themselves for a day. Telling these people to just spend more money isn't helpful.

I am very aware of the poverty here. I have met people on the roads and in the woods with some incredible stories & lifestyles. If you are fortunate enough to have a fixed location and are able to survive in general society, I can assure you, you can find some way to scrape together a rolling supply of beans and rice. If nothing else, these are served in abundance at food banks. I should know because I have friends i…

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Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#282

For some context from someone who's been on that Res, its population is highly vulnerable with no margin for mishaps. It's a place of generational, crushing poverty, crime, illness, genetic-exacerbated substance abuse, broad lack of economic opportunity, cultural isolation, and federal disinvestment. Free federal healthcare is available, but only at an IHS hospital in Rapid City 1.5 hours away in good weather: it's a…

> genetic-exacerbated substance abuse Could you expand on this a bit? Not a concept I am familiar with

Not the OP, but I think a larger factor here is fetal alcohol exposure, not epigenetics.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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What a callous way to look at the world.

A single opinion on a single subject is not a sweeping view of the entire world. Despite being treated as disposable trash by the world I actually have unflattering but overall optimistic view of the world. I believe people are mostly good but more selfish.

All these problems are not from lack of help but lack of personal empowerment. The world has this deranged flow to it lately that people "need" help on the most basic survival aspects of life. It has become profitable to keep the problem rolling. Nothing in the "help" world is about empowering people. Its about keeping people stuck in various stages of "help" but always pulling the rug when they get momentum.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#284
post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good options were available? What if there weren't? What if you were conditioned to not take them? What if you became a child addict? What if literally nobody around you escaped the cycle of addiction and poverty? There's a difference between growing up in an environment where *a fourth-grader in your class is always scrounging for cigarette butts to smoke (that's what my dad grew up with), and your entire community…

>literally nobody around you escaped the cycle of addiction and poverty I guess your righteousness is greater than your reading comprehension. I left home as a minor. I have not spoken to anyone from that time including "family" since then. They were all garbage people that created their own poverty and trouble. > child addict I did drugs given to me by "adults" as a minor. I realized it was not a good path and rejec…

> I guess your righteousness is greater than your reading comprehension

I think that's a more appropriate criticism to levy against you.

Whatever you dealt with, things could have always been worse.

No man is an island, and you could only do what you did because there were opportunities around you. If they didn't work out, or they weren't present, or if you went for them, and got bitten for worse than you gained, you could have well ended up back in that shitty environment, homeless, or dead, or in prison. Sometimes shit just happens, and is too much to deal with. Sometimes the effort required to get out is greater than any one person can put in.

There's no shortage of bums living under the I-5 overpass who also had great plans for leaving their shitty town, and making a better life in the big city. They all have two things on common - nobody they could lean on when things went to shit, and things going to shit for them. When you're born in a shitty environment, the first box gets checked for you at birth, and any man only has partial control over the second one. Tell me your life story, and I'll happily throw a 'but, what if...' that, had it gone the other way, could have put you under that overpass.

The world isn't some deterministic puzzle where if you make the right moves, everything will work out. Sometimes, you can do everything right, and still lose in the short-term. People who have safety buffers to fall back on can bounce back from that. People who don't get to move to that overpass.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article, the community has stockpiled resources, but their plows and skidsteers are all out of commission. They literally cannot get to the firewood, and every time they clear some snow out more blows in. Some people have been completely isolated in their homes for 8 days. I'd say most people, even in rural areas, don't have a supply that'll last longer than that, except for some hardcore preppers.

Most people in rural areas have some kind of food store with canned goods. With things like Soylent and Huel, those can also be used. I had 6 months of Soylent back in the day. 2 bags of Huel can last about 6 days and fits in a small bag — it is one of my hacks for backpacking. If you haven’t already, I recommend having a supply of canned beans, canned tuna, canned meats to preference, canned sardines, bulk rice (you…

> If I was in the position most of you are in (I have opted out of the housing market for ethical reasons), I’d also be powered mostly via solar and a 3 day reserve battery for the house.

You are getting a lot of flak for this, but I completely agree. For the salaries many on HN take home (well into the six figures) this should be far more of a priority. There is almost no excuse to not do it in any semi-rural setting - I see it as outright negligence if you make that sort of money and have a living situation that allows it.

You mentioned $75k previously - that would be for an extremely small house. I've also ran the numbers, and for $250-500k (depending on climate) you can basically live in a normal sized house and be completely off-grid indefinitely. That's a ton of money, but almost nothing when compared with a FAANG salary over a decade.

If that is a bit too crazy for you, you can get back to the ~$150k number by the simple addition of a backup generator fueled by on-site propane. Get a few tanks on-site and it's pretty easy to have a 60 day supply on-hand at all times when combined with your solar generation during the day. Propane doesn't go bad so you can basically store it indefinitely. Add in a wood stove and you really can go as long as your food and medical supplies last.

It's strange to me more folks in this position do not make this a priority. Just adding rooftop solar+batteries+roll-up generator seems to be too far "out there" for most people to even consider.

I've noticed since COVID these attitudes are slowly shifting, so we'll see what the future brings. The sheer number of friends I know who have less than a week's worth of food in the house and not even a little Honda 2000w generator is uncomfortable to me.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> For example, your grandmother from your moms side technically made the egg cells that you were born from. That can't be right. Grandma gave mom a single cell. Mom's ovaries with grandpa's DNA too produced the egg leading to me. Or is there some element I'm not aware of that make it more like stated above?

Look into epigenetic inheritance. This is a mechanism by which environmental factors cause inheritable modulation of genes, which themselves are unchanged. Methylation (attachment of methyl groups) of DNA is one such mechanism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetic_i... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41437-018-0113-y

Yeah but it has absolutely no explanatory power for sociological phenomenon. People want it to be true, but there's just no there there.

https://razib.substack.com/p/you-cant-take-it-with-you-strai...

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes, why aren't these people self sufficient after we took away all their means of self sufficiency? This sounds very much like "racism of low expectations". "These people" are just as self-sufficient as any other group of modern people of similar socioeconomic background. It's been 100+ years since they were mistreated in any serious fashion. I come from eastern Europe and 150 years ago most of my ancestors were se…

I come from eastern Europe and 150 years ago most of my ancestors were serfs, only a rung or two above chattel slaves on the ladder of human condition. 50 years ago a lot of their descendants in the Eastern Bloc countries were probably still in that condition or in the USSR factory worker equivalent.

Lol you should learn a bit about the history of these countries. 50 years ago was the seventies. While not as confortable as in the west, its was far to be at the level of serfs.

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can answer this as a dude that started off life at 11 homeless and went from there. Live in unquestionable poverty along with your support network of $4000 a year earners? Or take a bus to any random American city and get ready for your how many days can a green recruit last in Nam scenario?

>green recruit last in Nam scenario How is it any different where you came from? Once you become a teenager the gangs and predatory "adults" start closing in on you to either join/serve or be an outsider they abuse for amusement. I say this from similar situation as you but I was 16. Much easier since I could legally work in restaurants (which is what I did). I have no idea how you would make it without the ability t…

Where are they going to go where they won't be at a severe disadvantage due to racism and lack of both money and connections?

Re: Thousands trapped on Pine Ridge burn clothes for warmth in wake of storm

#290
post #82

Modern people really has lost the old skill to analyze problems creatively https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-t-sh... And I'm not dismissing the situation or laughing about other's misery, but it looks like a poor solution

So what your solution is some idiotic record stunt instead? Put so many shirts that you can’t see and barely move? Nah I’ll just burn shit. Also that record is from 2019. In what delusional universe is 2019 not “modern people”.

> Put so many shirts that you can’t see and barely move?

Don't argue the metaphor. I know that you understand the general idea.

Yep, "My" solution is "put this clothes in your own body instead to burn them, and will warm you for a much much, longer time". Hardly original or controversial.

If the options are ridiculous but alive or stilish and frozen, seems an easy choice

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