i_am_nomad

I agree with you, up to a point. Like you, I'm perplexed by the people who claim that the Bay Area homelessness crisis exists because "there's not enough housing." Yes there is, and it's somewhere else. Often it seems we Bay Area people think this area is some magical place, and not being able to live here is somehow a violation of human rights.

But, homelessness is also a trap. Once one becomes homelessness, life changes very quickly, and it's hard to get out of it - it's almost impossible to wash off the literal and figurative stink of it and find a way out, even when one of those ways might be moving to a cheaper state.

I recommend "On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane" by Emily Guendelsberger.

Proximally, they are. But all too many people point to that as the One True Cause of the homelessness surge, when it is not. The two factors I pointed out - illegal immigration and an increasingly brutal workplace - are topics that news outlets shy away from, for political and business reasons. It's infuriating.

I would take all this a step farther, in fact: the recent surge in illegal immigration is, itself, a proximal cause; that phenomenon is being now driven by climate change. But again, you don't usually hear that mentioned when people and news outlets discuss illegal immigration.

I'm saying that because we have so much unskilled labor supply in the country, businesses can make those jobs horrible if it improves their bottom line - that's just the nature of supply and demand.

These articles keep claiming that high rents, mental illness and substance abuse are the causes of the homelessness surge. But rarely, if ever, are any statistics cited. The HUD report referenced by the article does not discuss causes either.

I can tell you from my experience working in homeless encampments in Oakland that most of the people living there are neither mentally ill, nor abusing drugs. Most of them are people who would ordinarily work on the very bottom rung of the employment ladder, in jobs that 20 years ago would be a good fit for someone undermotivated, or quirky, or otherwise unfit for a more “responsible” job.

But there’s no place for them anymore; automation has replaced some of those jobs, and a combination of plunging wages and a more ruthless Amazon-style workplace has made many of the jobs that are left intolerable. People are choosing a tent in the park in Oakland over working three part-time jobs and being micromanaged by an AI just to barely afford 1/7th of an apartment. And, we have imported tens of millions of unskilled, mostly unauthorized immigrants who are happy to take those jobs - another thing you won’t hear discussed in these articles.

He’s MI6, not that that should make much of a difference.

Perhaps I should force myself to read that, as someone who uses electronics. But I bailed out after the descriptions of injuries and accidents in the second paragraph.

JetBrains products are excellent, I have both personal and work subscriptions. I wish MPS would catch on, though; it’s really exciting technology that way too few people are using, for some reason.

This was much of Northern California last year, and indeed it was awful.

You would expect at least Israel to stand up and say something. All this talk of “never again” and “there was no one left to speak out for me” is starting to ring hollow.

It’s amazing to me, and deeply concerning, that you’re being downvoted for this. Those of us who work in tech are so firmly ensconced in that bubble that we actually think microchips defeated the USSR.

Plus, the author seems not to know the difference between “vulva” and “vagina.”

Thanks, I never knew there was a name for this, though I've seen this kind of house all through the Peninsula - there are also a lot of them in the hills west of San Mateo. And, now that I think of it, Erlich Bachmann's house is one.

"To collect the $10,000, you’ll need to become a MainStreet Member and work out of one of our MainStreet offices for at least 12 months."

This is raising red flags, somehow.

It honestly seems like a Brooklynite's take on urban woes, without understanding that brunch isn't nearly as big a deal in the Bay Area as it is there.

I can tell you that University of California is like this. It’s infuriating.

The problem is that the data obtained via a third party, without a warrant, is admissible in court. And IANALE, but HIPAA has exclusions and exemptions for law enforcement.

Not since Smith vs. Maryland, one of the SCOTUS’ truly awful rulings.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/what-...

Most people using Wish are well aware of what they’re buying and how authentic it is.

Don’t buy supplements.

My semi-educated opinion: there will never, ever be cost-effective fusion power. The unsolvable problem is neutron embrittlement. There just is no reactor wall material that can last long enough to make fusion worth it.

The best way, perhaps the only way, to achieve that goal is with bacteria. Highly pathogenic ones.

They fixed Star Wars the same way the vet fixed my dog. “The Last Jedi” was an atrocious film. “Solo” was excruciating fan service that ironically pleased none of the fans.

We were told back in September that the liquidity injection then was a one-off response to a freak occurrence, nothing to worry about, won’t happen again.

People are downvoting this comment because they are missing the clever jab at the hiring process.

I agree with you in the sense that refined sugar in processed foods should be highly regulated, as society pays an enormous cost for it.

Good question. If he also decides not to rent to black people, certainly, that’s his business, and I have no right to tell him who to rent to. Correct?

Deporting the 11m illegal immigrants here would result in higher wages for low-income citizens and reduce inequality. So you think paying poor people more money is a bad thing? Why? Why do you love income inequality so much?

I can’t answer for sergiotapia, but I will say that you cannot have unconstrained immigration and high-quality public goods at the same time. Also, rapid unconstrained immigration causes equally rapid changes in culture, and it’s not unreasonable at all for existing citizens to object to that.

Good question. I’ll be moving in to your house this evening, thanks.