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Spread some Christmas cheer (pg. 7)
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View this Thread in Original format
| Halcyon+On+On |
| I was trying to make this a Christmas spite thread but you ing ruined it with your power to rainbows made of sour skittles and newborn kittens. Great work, . |
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| Silky Johnson |
| You're just jealous you don't kittens. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| Only because the adults give me hemorrhoids. |
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| euphoria |
Very commendable Theresa!
I always donate clothing every year and I also donate unwrapped toys to my company which organizes gifts for the toys for tots program. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
4/10 |
3.5/10 |
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| Dervish |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
Some of you talk of changing individual behaviour like it's as simple as flipping a light switch. When in reality, you can't change individual behaviour without changing the world that we live in. Not the type of people we're talking about, anyway. |
Darwin said:
| quote: | | In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment. |
Which to me says adapt, prevail, or die.
Suppose he also said:
| quote: | | Man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system- with all these exalted powers- Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. |
But really to me I reckon Adam Smith put it the best way for this situation:
| quote: | | Man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. |
What he's saying is that when you help those less fortunate and you see that beautiful grateful smile, deep inside you want them to whisper "analingus?". |
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| mdamon7278 |
| I just tea bag Rose and jennypie :D |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Echo of Silence
Is junk food or food that is not good for you really cheaper? |
Yes. Surprising, isn't it?
| quote: | Originally posted by Echo of Silence
Bags of chips, boxes of cookies, and processed foods are all quite expensive. Fresh veggies and fresh fruits are not expensive if you buy what's in season; at least in California this is true. I never bought groceries at home. Maybe fresh veggies and fruits are so much less expensive in California because they are grown nearby? |
Maybe. Where I live it is definitely true. Ever since I decided to go a nutritionist and watch my diet closely, I noticed the amount of money I now spend on food sky-rocketed, even though I'm ingesting way less calories.
It really breaks my heart to know that soda is often 50% cheaper than juice around here. Often times even bottled water is more expensive than the cheapest sugary drinks.
| quote: | Originally posted by Arbiter
That doesn't really follow.
Weight gain is a relatively simple matter of caloric intake versus expenditure. If the foods most economically available to you happen to be particularly calorie-dense, as is the case for the poor here in the west, then you can simply consume less of them, saving money while still still staving off hunger.
Those with such a surplus of resources that they can afford to waste money by purchasing a greater quantity of food than they need can hardly claim to fall into the category of people who cannot afford their basic needs. In such a case, providing them with even more resources that they can squander with their inefficient behavior seems to me to be an act of dubious value. |
The problem is that nutrition is not just about caloric intake: the human body needs a lot more than just raw power to keep it going. Try living off Coca-cola for more than a week, making sure you're ingesting all the calories you need (neither more, nor less). Sure enough, you'll become frail and week very quickly - not to mention the fact that you'll probably feel hungry most of the time.
Most people eat because they're hungry, and it's only natural to eat until you're full (if you can). In that sense, junk food is the cheapest ultra-caloric fodder you can buy... and, to make things worse, it's also tasty. |
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| R!CH |
| quote: | Originally posted by jennypie
Some of you talk of changing individual behaviour like it's as simple as flipping a light switch. When in reality, you can't change individual behaviour without changing the world that we live in. Not the type of people we're talking about, anyway.
It's easy for advantaged people of relatively sound mind and body, with strong social supports and decent socioeconomic status to make such change...because we have the necessary resources and have grown up with a different lifestyle. Whereas the type of people we're talking about typically come from a long line of upbringing, support systems, coping skills, etc. When that's all you've ever known and you are constantly bombarded with different images of what it means to be happy, it's a lot harder to "just appreciate what you've got".
Honestly I think some of you need to get out more, lol. Go volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter and put your money where your mouth is. |
i get out plenty. you think you have a homeless problem? i live in san francisco. i know the homeless probably more than anyone here. there are 2 types of homeless, the ones you can feel sorry for and the ones who do it to themselves. most of them are the ones that do it to themselves. these are people who had a job, family, car, house, but became so alcoholic they lost it all. some of them have a rap sheet of over 40 drunk in publics and 10 emergency room visits. sros are below-market single room occupancies established by the city for low wage workers. 80% of the panhandlers on the streets live in sros. that's an actual statistic i read in the paper. i would say an even higher percentage are alcoholics and drug addicts. they've been high so long they've developed mental disorders. you give them 2 pennies to rub together and they will cross the street and buy a hit of crack with it. i see it every week. i recognize the same faces in different towns even. they may spend most of their week on the streets of sf, but sometimes they'll ride the train to oakland to panhandle in front of the warriors games because of the high foot traffic. they are brilliant at manipulating guilt out of people, but all the locals see right through the broken plea for money. when they go on dry spells of charity, they will resort to breaking into cars for whatever change they see in the open. this is the face of homelessness in san francisco.
then there are the ones who genuinely try and fall out on their luck. typically good people with a bad handle on their money. victims of self-inflicted wounds, but i still feel for them. you don't see much of them because they are the minority and they keep to themselves. they live in their cars or in a meadow the park and they don't beg for anything. a lot of these people were laid off and had a mountain of debt with no savings, or their business venture was a disaster and they never recovered. rather than leaving the area and starting over, they've chosen to struggle on the margin until the storm passes. you can tell the type because they still have teeth and their skin doesn't look all nasty from the drugs. some have marginal jobs and make enough money to get by as they are. others actually just prefer to remain living off the grid. how do i know all these things? like i said i live in the homeless mecca of the americas and our police and our journalists document these profiles every year.
other people who are just poor, but working, maybe because they are first generation immigrants, barely speak the language and can't land much more than minimum wage and housing the bad part of town. they may look like they need help from your perspective, but it's arrogant for you to assume they are miserable and need your charity to be happy. those who are poor as a result of their lifestyle will always be poor because of their circumstances and unwillingness to change them. if you want to help them, become a social workers and convince them to change. if you want to help yourself feel better about the obvious disparity between you, give them money. because that's what giving to the poor ultimately boils down to, making yourself feel good about the way things are.
you think my problem is that i don't understand other people's problems, i think your problem is you take the most heart-wrenching of circumstances and project it onto everyone who calls himself homeless or poor. i guess i encounter too many lost souls to see things that way. |
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| R!CH |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lira
Yes. Surprising, isn't it?
Maybe. Where I live it is definitely true. Ever since I decided to go a nutritionist and watch my diet closely, I noticed the amount of money I now spend on food sky-rocketed, even though I'm ingesting way less calories.
It really breaks my heart to know that soda is often 50% cheaper than juice around here. Often times even bottled water is more expensive than the cheapest sugary drinks.
The problem is that nutrition is not just about caloric intake: the human body needs a lot more than just raw power to keep it going. Try living off Coca-cola for more than a week, making sure you're ingesting all the calories you need (neither more, nor less). Sure enough, you'll become frail and week very quickly - not to mention the fact that you'll probably feel hungry most of the time.
Most people eat because they're hungry, and it's only natural to eat until you're full (if you can). In that sense, junk food is the cheapest ultra-caloric fodder you can buy... and, to make things worse, it's also tasty. |
well the other problem with poor people and nutrition is the lack of choices in the ghetto. in college i rented an apartment in a ghetto ass part of town. the only options were pizza hut, jack in the box, mcds, etc, etc, all over town, some incredibly redundantly, and the only grocery stores were 'food source' and other generic spots that were like 5% produce section and 95% processed foods in bulk. i wasn't poor, but at the time my options were. i fed on the most unhealthy crap for over a year and it was pretty much a matter of convenience. if there was a a trader joe's, whole foods or deli within 15 miles, i would have eaten there more often. even the closest safeway was merchandised completely differently from what i was used to. |
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| DJ Mikey Mike |
Poverty is just another word for lazy.
Third world countries excluded, of course. |
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