Michael

Welcome.

I think you are mistaking homelessness for poverty. Most of the people that you see on the streets are either addicts or have mental problems. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court ruled that a person with mental problems cannot be institutionalized without his consent. That caused the release of about 600,000 mental patients to the streets and the start of a major homeless problem.

Whether they have mental problems or are addicts, they usually get welfare from the government. Many of the addicts don't want to spend their money on a room and many of the people with mental issues, for whatever reason of their own, do not want to live inside.

When the cold weather occurs, charitable and city sponsered organizations roam the streets trying to convince the homeless to come to free shelters. Even though it is cold, many still do not take them up on the offer.

meauxna

Yay, Welcome!


This made me smile; it was one of the humorous parts of my DH's naturalization test studies.

Q: What is the capital of the United States? A: Washington DC

Q: What is the United States Capitol? A: the place where Congress meets.

It's now a household requirement to pronounce it 'Capi-tole' (long 'o')

Are we still the richest after the last 2 weeks?

leviramsey

Given how the USD has been performing of late vs. nearly every other currency this side of the Swiss Franc (and pretty much every commodity), it's probably still true, if only by default.

Of course, a lot of that is due to the short dollar-long commodity trades being unwound as speculators get margin called...

elfman

can we have that again in English please

meauxna

I didn't like to say, myself...

Ray

It means .. I can Bullshit ...

lansbury

Founded in 1776

Taken 232 years to bring the world to the brink of financial disaster.

Probably still the richest as everyone else is in the same boat

meauxna

And even less time for us out West!
I just found out that my land was originally registered (you'd go out to the wilderness and literally 'stake your claim') to a couple with my same family surname---both of us from Ohio originally--- in 1850!
I will have to figure out if I am related to them, wouldn't that be something.

CelticLC

I think for me the honeymoon period is definately drawing to a close and I am starting to dislike quite a few aspects abot living out here. But am making the most of it I am in California, not sure how my observations would differ elsewhere.

Things I noticed when coming out here that were culture shocks were
1. Lack of public transport and the necessity for having a car
2. The road signs and freeway signs, the name of the road given rather than the number and destination.
3. Lack of milage signs, how far to the next city etc.
4. The size of the cars and trucks.
5. The crap mpg rating for all cars, much lower than their equivalents in europe, what is going on there?
6. How friendly and welcoming everyone is.
7. The self promotion, everything is excellent (apart from gas prices) no one has any faults and if they do they are down to someone else's actions.
8. The shocking frequency of burgers on menus and an aparent lack of diversity between places to eat (with a few exceptions and the quality vaires but most menus have very similar items).
9. Drink driving, I find this very shocking
10. The width of the roads.
11. Most people seem to have no idea how to actually drive let alone indicate, the standard of driving is scary, especially on the freeways.
12. The medical adverts on TV, especially all of the side affects being listed i.e. one advert for an asthma medicine warns that it "may increase the risk of asthma related illness". lol
13. Everyone does work pretty hard.
14. The use of sprinklers. I was surprised at how "green", i.e how much greenery there is in L.A., but sprinklers are used everywhere!!! Tremendous lack of care for water usage.
15. Not being able to drink tap water.
16. How expensive basic ingredients are in the supermarkets.

Ray

You go to Jail for a brown lawn in Florida

http://tampabay.com/news/humanintere...icle847365.ece

MrEmjoy

Don't believe that some of the homeless people are actually hungry when they have over $20 in change in there Super Sized soda cup and there's a dollar menu on every corner.

the real hungry people here (in chicago) are the ones who are queing up for food hand outs thanks to Jewel Osco and the people who donate to them, plus a number of large company's who have donated money towards the cause.

This is a real culture shock...people on one side of the city donating to people on the other side, ten miles apart but a million miles away in some respects.

Sorry to rant.

CelticLC

Wow

Tracym

I remember a homeless guy in Chicago, I used to walk past him every day on the way to work.

I gave him a couple bucks each day generally, and sometimes we would chat.

As I got to know him more, I was most disconcerted to learn that he had no desire for a job, was quite happy with his life. This was about 15 years ago - and he said he easily made $80-$100 per day just sitting there - had a nice dinner, and spent the night in the hotel. So why work?

He also told me of some of the homeless, in addition to begging, who made up to a total of $80,000 per year selling the homeless newspapers to folks downtown.

I am not saying all the homeless are like that. I am well aware that many people are in very sad circumstances.

But this fellow looked quite pitiful and destitute - and was perfectly fine, enjoying his free ride.

Steerpike

You are in LA, which is its own unique environment. Where I live, in Northern CA, things are very different.

Much better public transit in San Francisco

The US gallon is 4/5 the size of a UK gallon; 1 gallon=8 pints (both countries); US Pint = 16 fl. oz vs. UK pint = 20 fl oz. So the mileage per gallon is always going to be lower.

whereabouts in LA do you live?!?!? I make frequent trips down there and go to places like Pasadena, Santa Monica, etc - endless variety. Also, Chinatown, Koreatown, Japantown ... ?!?!?

You must know something we don't; people PREFER to drink bottled water, but I wasn't aware that tap water would do you harm! This is not a 3rd world country!

lansbury

With the number of people in Ohio at that time there may well be a good chance you are related, if only slightly. Be interesting to find out and quite a coincidence.