Comments on: More Links For January

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 17:59:46 +0000

Not sure how relevant this is, but the Russian word for ostrich is pronounced “strah-oos” (страус), which could explain the surname Strauss.

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By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 22:48:09 +0000

There’s a proposal that would provide something like a guaranteed income to people who were willing to work that seems like it wouldn’t cost too much. Go read it here. I see a few problems with it, but you really should go read it, because I can’t describe it in many fewer words than the author.

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 11:41:18 +0000

Sorry, I was having a bit of a crazy episode when I typed up those comments and I now realize they were excessive.

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By: Julia

Julia — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:03:33 +0000

St. Rev: Yes, moving would be easier if benefits followed you. But still, people living on very little seem to do so mostly with the help of social ties. People whose life includes college, lots of internet, etc. have more intra-city ties than people whose friends and family are basically all in one town or neighborhood.

I don’t know how much off-the-books work or exchange is because of benefit structure. I believe selling food stamps is pretty common, because it means you can get non-food items like soap and diapers that you need as much as food.

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By: Kaj Sotala

Kaj Sotala — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:11:09 +0000

(And not allowed to have sex lest he lose his powers.)

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By: Kaj Sotala

Kaj Sotala — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:09:14 +0000

b) Definitely not the same story, but the description reminded me of http://www.theferrett.com/ferrettworks/stories/one-hand-tantra-ufo-anthology-1/ , where the main character is a “masturbatician”.

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By: St. Rev

St. Rev — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 07:56:23 +0000

The notion of ‘food insecurity’ is clearly, to some extent, a way of overstating the extent of the problem as a means of advertising a certain approach to policy, and as a means to extend the power of a certain bureaucratic apparatus.

It is also an important way to get a handle on the larger penumbra of a problem for which ‘starving to death’ is simply the most extreme outcome. US society is wealthy enough that most people can resort to dumpster diving long before starving to death; one presumes, however, that dumpster diving is an undesirable behavior on public health grounds if nothing else.

I’m going to point again to my livejournal post (linked below) where I talk about (among other things) the actual definitions of USDA’s terms.

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By: Nancy Lebovitz

Nancy Lebovitz — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 07:49:53 +0000

The discussions about voter registration show that there are a fair number of people without ID– how likely are they to be counted as being among the poor, even though they’re likely to be poor?

I really don’t know. Do you need ID to get government benefits?

Also, there are poor people who aren’t getting benefits– too frightened, too mentally disorganized, too proud. I suspect some of them aren’t getting counted.

Also, if you’re talking about all people in the country rather than limiting your discussion to citizens, you have to include illegal immigrants. (I believe there are some illegal immigrants who died in the 9/11 attacks, but were never counted.)

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By: St. Rev

St. Rev — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 07:48:27 +0000

I eat better than that! Things haven’t gotten that bad for me. I made a little personal project of computing price per 1000 calories for various staples out of curiosity, and just in case; what I found was that $1/day was extremely hard and not really viable long-term, $2/day is tough but doable, $3/day isn’t that bad at all.

Hell, it isn’t hard to get 2500 calories of good quality ice cream for $3.

I have multiple serious medical issues but vitamin deficiency isn’t one.

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By: Nancy Lebovitz

Nancy Lebovitz — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 07:41:08 +0000

I wasn’t expecting an assay, I was wondering whether you ever found yourself showing signs of vitamin deficiency.

It’s quite possible that buying your vitamins in a chain drugstore rather than a dollar store is good enough.

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