Addiction was simply an example of why a homeless person might not be able to handle money reponsibly. It was not an assumption about what made them homeless, nor was it a judgement on their character. I don’t disagree with anything your saying, so I don’t see the problem. And I don’t refuse giving any aid. I just think giving to an organization is more likely to help a person than giving to them directly. Maybe if I was handing out in volumes of $1k it’d be enough to change soneone’s like, but obvioualy most can’t afford to do that.

Acknowledging crippling dependence != judgement

Do you know how addiction works?

I am not responding to all this but I cannot let this slide:

So this is another disengenous oversimplification. You will take the position that a homeless person can sustain a hard drug addiction from panhandling, yet they would not be able to afford a motel room for the night, or an extended stay, and begin their climb back into society. This is purely a moral judgement on your part.

You acknowledge that dependence is a need (which I agree with!) but you think that an addict will magically overcome their addiction when handed the money they could use to sustain the addiction? The justification you’re using for handing them money (i.e. relieving withdrawal) is the same reason I don’t expect an addict to buy a night at the motel over their drugs. The reasons are biological not moral. You must be operating on another definition of moral or something.

That’s kind of an impossible question to answer because the “they” is unknowable in your question.

Exactly. The easiest thing to do is ask them what they want. Personally when they ask for money, I tell them I don’t hand out money and ask them if there’s something else they need. It is a good way to actually have a conversation with them and get them something they need.

I also want to be clear, I’m not going to judge anyone for giving money to someone in need. It is better than not trying to help at all. I just personally believe it is better not to give homeless persons money.

What world do you live in that a fiver can buy someone a substantive quantity of hard, addictive drugs?

I never claimed this. The accumulation of multiple fivers from different people can eventually get you drugs. You’re also neglecting cheaper substances like alcohol. Basically the money you accumulate from asking for money will get you alcohol/drugs faster than it will get you shelter.

You’re being completely disengenious here and asserting more moral policing.

Where have I inserted my morals here? I do not think people don’t deserve help because they are addicts. I merely acknowledge that they need a different kind of assistance than my pocket change will provide.

Offering food is fine, if they are hungry and they want it. But if they decline food when that is not the type of help they need is not some admission of guilt, as it is so often portrayed to be. Often, they’re rightly skeptical of food from a stranger. Some will accept it to be polite but throw it out for their own safety. It only takes me and ~9 or so other people offering them that fiver to pay for a night’s stay in a cheap motel. Offering supplies if they refuse your food is also great to help them with urban camping, but too many supplies is also a liability where they now need to be concerned about theft. Packing light is just as much a survival tactic.

What a tangent dude. Everything I offer is always based on what they request. I do not ever give them anything they didn’t ask for. If they got something that’s a burden to them, it’s because they asked for it. I’m not shoving food down their throat or forcing socks on their feet.

Nobody has ever gotten a home from food and supplies, but they sure as hell do with money.

Show me the story of the homeless person who accumulated enough fivers to afford rent.

My philosophy only acknowledges my help in passing as what it is: a short term relief for a complicated issue. If they use it for food, it will only last them a few meals at best. The food, however will not harm them. If they use it for socks, they will eventually wear out. Again, the socks will not harm them. If they use it for drugs/alcohol, sure it might give them relief for a while, but it might also just allow their addiction to persist. I just choose not to gamble on the last point by sending my money to nonprofits instead of leaving it up to people who are probably not in the right headspace for responsible decisions. If you want to give them money, fine. But don’t chastise me having conversations with people and need and trying to help them in a way I’m comfortable with.

That is generally true, but not in this context. If you are an addict, having $50 doesn’t enable you to improve your life. It just enables you to buy your next fix. I don’t say this to demonize anyone, but the point is that many homeless have mental or physiological issues that make it very hard for them to spend money wisely. Handing out money is slapping a bandaid on the issue or possibly worsening their situation. Chronic homelessness cannot be fixed by a few good natured individual’s pocket change. It requires actual rehabilitation, which is incredibly hard.

OK, what do you think they can do with the $50 that they manage to accumulate that will seriously benefit them?

They likely can’t buy shelter with a fiver or whatever you decide to give them either. The truth is that charities, food banks, and churches are much better equipped to supply the homeless with what they need because it isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, which is why I donate to those organizations instead of trying to hand out money.

Let’s also be real: not wanting to enable addictions is not about policing morality. It’s about harm prevention. The drugs and alcohol they may buy with your money is likely to do more harm than good in a very practical sense and has nothing to do with my personal beliefs.

At the end of the day, your money won’t help them a majority of the time. Offering food or supplies gives them the opportunity to tell me what they need short term rather than me guessing or leaving things up to chance. Long term solutions are provided by other organizations, and your money is better spent there.

If someone asks, I’ll offer to buy them food or other supplies. My wife hands out handwarmers during the winter. We used to put together care packages for people, but lost the habit. I don’t give out money because I don’t want to enable addictions. When you offer something other than money, you are able to more easily separate people who want a fix over people who want to improve their situation. Your resources go farther when you help the latter.

edit: One thing that helps people out a lot is buying them public transit passes. It gives them mobility to get to shelter/services they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

And technically you can still do that, but it’s super laggy. Playing a game through X11 forwarding would be horrendous

I remember easily getting gems for free. Also the streak basically doesn’t matter at all. What made me uninstall is the slow pace m. It felt like I was stuck on the same words and topics forever. It felt like I was not actually learning anything, which if you’ve ever started learning a language if a formal setting, is very apparent.

Guaranteed that several of the best pizzas you have eaten had oil and sugar, unless you’ve only ever eaten neapolitan.

Just cook your rice with less water. Achieves a very similar effect.

Sure, it meets the technical requirements to be a comic. But it doesn’t meet the practical requirements to be a good one.

Yeah but comics are also supposed to be creative. This is a essentially a lemmy comment with illustration.

Isn’t that how all physical media works?

What are your metrics for “effective?” As someone who is both teaching and taking classes currently, I can tell you engagement is pitifully low in online formats. Education is not just about memorizing facts and going through the motions to get a good grade. There’d have to be some amazing innovation in online education practices to convince me it will be the default anytime soon.

This genZ-bait soundtrack is making what looks like pretty cool gameplay look incredibly lame. Too many of these GaaS titles that inevitably enshittify use this same marketing to the point where it gives a Pavlovian signal to stay away.

I don’t think I’m interested in an NVIDIA Shield since if I like the idea of running any Linux app in case I want to use it for another purpose in the future.

An RPi could be a choice. I forgot that the 5s have hardware decoding. Assuming the 4GB model is suitable, then $60 + cost of a case isn’t too bad. I assume the hardware decoding could keep up with 4k60?

No, I just was under the impression that Moonlight was the best solution