Homeless, Unemployed, and Surviving on Bitcoins

[RobJohnson]

It's actually a pretty interesting article. I should of purchased a bunch of bitcoins when they were really cheap! This is also an interesting study that shows how our poor and homeless have laptops, smart phones and play video games all day.

Jesse Angle is homeless, living on the streets of Pensacola, Florida. Sometimes he spends the night at a local church. Other nights, he sleeps behind a building in the heart of the city, underneath a carport that protects him from the rain.

Each morning, he wakes up, grabs some food, and makes his way to Martin Luther King Plaza, a downtown park built where the trolley tracks used to run. He likes this park because his friends hang out there too, and it’s a good place to pick up some spending money. But he doesn’t panhandle. He uses the internet.

The park offers free wireless access, and with his laptop, Angle watches YouTube videos in exchange for bitcoins, the world’s most popular digital currency

The second page of the article I also found fascinating, I like to read about people doing good things.

Some tech guys and nerds like myself who got into it early now have millions. For that group, it’s a very tangible concept to take virtual currencies and help people with it.’

— Jason King

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise...in-homeless/2/

[Novaheart]

This is also an interesting study that shows how our poor and homeless have laptops, smart phones and play video games all day.

That's rather general, simplistic, and superficial. I do see street people (I have no idea if they are actually homeless, part time homeless, or simply publicly poor) with laptops, but I haven't seen one with a Macbook or a shiny new Sony or Toshiba. Like a lot of technology, there are laptops that are so cheap new that people replace them and give away the old one. The Macbook I am using is now five years old and still state of the art as far operating system, it's just bulky compared to the latest Macbook Air. So if I were to become homeless then I guess I would be sitting in a city park with the Apple logo glowing. Family members often give telephones to homeless or wandering relations so they can keep in touch. I don't know how they do it, but some parents simply accept that a family member can't be kept off the streets and can't be trusted in the home.

Let's not be too quick to judge. BTW, I am way OK with homeless people having cell phones. As a 55 year old man who isn't in the greatest of health and who rides his bike on the same trail used by the homeless as a thoroughfare, I have actually had one or two of them ask me if I was OK (as in not dying or having a heart attack or heat stroke) when I was resting. Sure, he could have been wondering if I was going to keel over so he could have my bike, gun, wallet, and phone or he could have simply been a decent person willing to go get help.

[RobJohnson]

That's rather general, simplistic, and superficial. I do see street people (I have no idea if they are actually homeless, part time homeless, or simply publicly poor) with laptops, but I haven't seen one with a Macbook or a shiny new Sony or Toshiba. Like a lot of technology, there are laptops that are so cheap new that people replace them and give away the old one. The Macbook I am using is now five years old and still state of the art as far operating system, it's just bulky compared to the latest Macbook Air. So if I were to become homeless then I guess I would be sitting in a city park with the Apple logo glowing. Family members often give telephones to homeless or wandering relations so they can keep in touch. I don't know how they do it, but some parents simply accept that a family member can't be kept off the streets and can't be trusted in the home.

Let's not be too quick to judge. BTW, I am way OK with homeless people having cell phones. As a 55 year old man who isn't in the greatest of health and who rides his bike on the same trail used by the homeless as a thoroughfare, I have actually had one or two of them ask me if I was OK (as in not dying or having a heart attack or heat stroke) when I was resting. Sure, he could have been wondering if I was going to keel over so he could have my bike, gun, wallet, and phone or he could have simply been a decent person willing to go get help.

They could also be using those laptops to fill out job applications and no longer need state benefits.

[Novaheart]

They could also be using those laptops to fill out job applications and no longer need state benefits.

Haven't we got enough experience with Democratic UNderground to know that there are people who can post on bulletin boards who wouldn't be suitable even for McDonald's? I mean seriously, do you want to work with e ferrari or lavender underground?

[RobJohnson]

Haven't we got enough experience with Democratic UNderground to know that there are people who can post on bulletin boards who wouldn't be suitable even for McDonald's? I mean seriously, do you want to work with e ferrari or lavender underground?

I can't decide if a person is employment worthy based on an internet persona.

I do know that homeless people often are a major nuisance and burden on a city's resources. Those of us that pay taxes are the ones that suffer.

[Novaheart]

I can't decide if a person is employment worthy based on an internet persona.

There are people on DU who do little to disguise the fact that they are mentally ill and on mind altering medications. I'm not going to hire or long tolerate working with someone on medication that makes him moody and unpredictable. I simply refuse to deal with squirrels.

[RobJohnson]

Let's not be too quick to judge. BTW, I am way OK with homeless people having cell phones. As a 55 year old man who isn't in the greatest of health and who rides his bike on the same trail used by the homeless as a thoroughfare, I have actually had one or two of them ask me if I was OK (as in not dying or having a heart attack or heat stroke) when I was resting. Sure, he could have been wondering if I was going to keel over so he could have my bike, gun, wallet, and phone or he could have simply been a decent person willing to go get help.

I do have empathy toward your health issues and if any thing was to happen to you I would hope someone would be close to assist you. I don't think arming America's homeless with cell phones and other comforts is the answer. I know people that work for a living and after they pay rent and utilities are not able to afford a cell phone, let alone a smart phone like the article mentions.

[Novaheart]

I do have empathy toward your health issues and if any thing was to happen to you I would hope someone would be close to assist you. I don't think arming America's homeless with cell phones and other comforts is the answer. I know people that work for a living and after they pay rent and utilities are not able to afford a cell phone, let alone a smart phone like the article mentions.

The basis for my observation about cell phones was because in a couple of documentaries homeless people explained that parents had given them cell phones. Maybe if we still had pay phones we could more easily wonder if cell phones weren't a luxury, but in today's world a cell phone is your communication line and essential to even marginal employment.

Also, not everyone who is "homeless" is completely without a place to live. Some of the homeless people here, especially the homeless seniors, are homeless part time; often occupying a cheap motel room ($135-$175/week) for part of the month.

I'm not playing Devil's Advocate here. It's just that this town is large enough to have a sizable homeless population but small enough to study them more closely in passing.

[RobJohnson]

The basis for my observation about cell phones was because in a couple of documentaries homeless people explained that parents had given them cell phones. .

Big Daddy Obama does hand out a lot of cell phones.

[Novaheart]

Big Daddy Obama does hand out a lot of cell phones.

Yeah, but to get one of those I think you have to have a fixed address.