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Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

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Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#261

Post by jleader »

DanBC wrote: post #240
jonhohle wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I leans heavily toward the libertarian side, but I think libraries are one of the most important social services provided by local governments. Unlike other programs, absolutely everyone can get some direct benefit from the library - no matter what age or income level. Libraries, in my opinion, are a model of what social services should look like: universally beneficial, only practical at the community level, little…

> Next time you think of buying a book, seriously check out your local library system. I agree, but there are something like 250,000[1] books published each year. At just $5[2] per book that's $1,250,000 just to buy each year's worth of books, never mind the staff to do the buying and unpacking and cataloguing and stocking and lending etc etc. [1] ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_published_per_country_per... ) (b…

Isn't that what inter-library loan is for?

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#262

Post by vacri »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #238
lemmsjid wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, here you go again. You use vague statistics to make absolute statements that are starkly contradicted by the statistics you started with. I just read the pdf you sent. As expected, it doesn't support your absolute conclusion (that the poor don't work). In my own social circle, I know the following: 1. Poor people who work for a living. 2. Poor people who can't work because they have a felony record. 3. Poor peop…

As expected, it doesn't support your absolute conclusion (that the poor don't work). You clearly didn't read even the first paragraph, which shows that just under 80% of the poor don't work (by choice). You can even read further and discover that a big chunk of the working 20% work only part time (also by choice). In America, we obsess over separating the virtuous from non-virtuous poor... No, we don't. We throw mone…

You clearly didn't read even the first paragraph, which shows that just under 80% of the poor don't work (by choice).

Wow, talk about spin-doctoring. That 80% figure is people outside the labour pool, including children (specifically stated in the first paragraph), sick, and elderly people.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#263

Post by marshray »

8ig8 wrote: post #229
sliverstorm wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you do is co-opt a coffee stand to open shop right outside your front door, or in a secluded corner. That way people can get food and stay longer, but the library doesn't just turn into a coffee shop with a few books. I've seen a few libraries with the just-outside-the-door model, and a Borders with a small Peet's upstairs. Both were well-executed.

The Cameron Village library (Raleigh, NC) has a coffee shop. The best info I could find is from their Facebook page [1]: > Has it been a while since you been to a library? Cameron Village Regional Library is the only library in Wake County that offers coffee bar service to its patrons! Come visit your public library and browse the stacks with a beverage in hand. Or just come and meet up with a friend and catch up bef…

Wow, that used to be my library in high school. Spent many afternoons there.

If they'd served coffee back then I might have spent less of that time sleeping.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#264

Post by losethos »

What's new under water, God?

XCom

God says... no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.

2:10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

2:12 They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers' bosom.

----

God says... sin; he departed not therefrom.

13:3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, all their days.

13:4 And Jehoahaz besought the LORD, and the LORD hearkened unto him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them.

13:5 (And the LORD gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents, as beforetime.

----

Vision, God!

I keep thinking of XCOM.

What do You think of evolution?

hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

3:17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

----

God, what (God's laughing) would an alien invasion be like?

God says... C:\LoseThos\www.losethos.com\text\HUCKFINN.TXT

. Till one o'clock, mind--no longer. If you open your mouth against me only once after that time you can't travel so far but I will find you."

Then he turns and goes in. The crowd looked mighty sober; nobody stirred, and there warn't no more laughing. Boggs rode off blackguarding Sherburn as loud as he could yell, all down the street; and pretty soon back he comes and stops before the store, still keeping it up. Some men crowded around him and tried to get him to shut up, but he wouldn't; the

----

Have aliens ever invaded from one planet to another elsewhere in the Universe?

God says... messengers Permit gods what's_up sanctuary tookest carry pulse tragical fourthly astrophysics bark hairs diminution tradition billion boil insane fourthly otherwhiles unkindled capital dead weeping parental manner rovings searches Ghost tm lieth elders party heaven's emptiness bashfulness zip learned wazz_up_with_that ANY contained forward let's_roll applauded harvest penalties I'll_let_you_know distress down brotherly auditor society fine knock learning Though

----

What's new in Europe? What's Yer favorite country?

God says... smurfs Iran test_pilot Morocco Colombia Sweden high_five The_good_stuff Ireland Russia I'm_good_you_good dance Rwanda ba_ha break_some_woopass_on_you prosperity

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#265

Post by vacri »

xenophanes wrote: post #185
nimblegorilla wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting points, although I respectfully disagree. It's pretty silly to talk about economics if you don't believe in rational economic actors. A public list is a nice theory, but then you would still have people trying to get on the list for the minimum amount possible and hoping that others would donate more to be higher on the list of donors. And what happens when you have 60 local farmers and 40 corporation far…

> Point #2 goes both ways. If the project becomes a net benefit then the dissenters get the benefit and win even though their judgement was incorrect. Lots of people dissented from the iPhone. Now they benefit. Their benefitting doesn't hurt Apple or prevent Apple from having funded the project themselves and from making plenty of profit. Apple got what they paid for and then some. Other people come out ahead too but…

The same point could be made more broadly about computers as a whole. Funded by a minority initially, now hugely benefitting many people who didn't take any of the initial risk.

Libertarian selectivenes again. Government grants have always had a large part to play in computer development, but aside from that, what's really benefitting people is the internet, which was most definitely a government project, 'funded by all US taxpayers' rather than 'funded by a minority'.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#266

Post by marshray »

skymt wrote: post #33
[deleted] wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

Now you have a situation where a large part of the population is forced to pay a private middleman for the privilege of interacting with their government. That's not an improvement.

I'm not saying this is a good thing by any stretch, but clearly most people are paying middlemen already for "the privilege of interacting with their government".

E.g., Intuit or private accountants just to pay their taxes, lawyers, and so on.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#268

Post by yummyfajitas »

vacri wrote: post #260
yummyfajitas wrote: post #35

I'm going to reject one of the premises of the article, namely the premise that he is helping people who are "barely surviving". Let's consider people who are receiving cash or non-cash benefits, as the article described. Among these people, 67% have cable or satellite TV. 38% have a playstation. 47% own a computer. 23% have a big screen TV. Only 14% of people receiving government benefits lacked all of these luxurie…

6 months ago, I wandered through the Mekong delta, in swampland where half the houses were palm shacks. Standing swamp water all around, no running water (clean or otherwise), shoddy power cables... and yet I still saw the occasional home with a big-screen TV. Sure, older models, CRTs for the most part, but people don't seem too keen on comparing what kind of TVs are around. So some of these incredibly poor swamp-dwe…

You know, the poor in the US don't lack clean water, cooking gas, electricity, etc. Their houses are often climate controlled, and they usually have cars to travel with. Malaria is also a minor issue, as are most infectious diseases. From what I've seen (and statistics seem to bear this out), the "poor" in the US lack virtually no essential goods and services and they have many luxuries.

If you disagree, please tell me which essential goods and services you feel the US "poor" lack.

Note that I live in India right now, so I'm likely to laugh at you if you start mentioning consumer goods that even the upper middle class over here don't have.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#269

Post by urbanjunkie »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #231
urbanjunkie wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You stated that "The sole benefit you describe, namely the ability to borrow books, is a private benefit. I borrow a book, read it and enjoy it. What benefit does this create for anyone besides me?" Do we have different definitions of "sole" and "private" - those words feel fairly absolute to me. Sure it may not be a massive positive and direct benefit to you, but I find it hard to understand how you think there's no…

You are correct, I should have been more careful with my language. Mea culpa.

Or be prepared to concede with slightly more grace when your argument gets destroyed.

Re: Every day at my job I helped people just barely survive

#270

Post by ontoillogical »

tptacek wrote: post #121

Can I add to this one little point, which is a counterintuitive thing you can do to help your local library: Use your local library . During the year we started Matasano our Chicago team spent about 40%-50% of our time working from the Oak Park Public Library, sometimes in meeting rooms we booked, more often at study desks. It was great. The Internet access wasn't amazing but it was totally functional and we could VP…

I've never heard of anyone starting a company from a library. Was that something that was commonly done in the 90s (I'm assuming the Chicago office is that old)?

If you were starting again in 2012, would you pick a library over a hackerspace or a shared office type deal for any reason other than cost?

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