On my way home tonight, an elderly homeless man stopped me in the street and asked if he could sleep on my floor because it was cold and rainy. To my shame, I said I couldn't help him, although I could offer him some money, which he declined.
He told me that he had been an actor, and had been in a movie with Lucille Ball. He said that he had been in a version of the Threepenny Opera directed by Jack Nicholson. And he said that nobody would give him the time of day, let alone a roof over his head, because they don't want to say they know a homeless man.
Here, by which I mean in America, homelessness is particularly pronounced. I've read that it's 1000% what it is in the UK. The real 10X. At least in the San Francisco Bay Area they're allowed to exist; in some other cities they're routinely arrested and deposited elsewhere. Out of sight, out of mind.
There is a strain of particularly harmful thought that says it's their fault. Because received wisdom says that anyone can make it here if they try hard enough, they must be lazy, or broken, or sick, and they deserve at least a little bit of what they get. Bullshit. There should be a safety net. This shouldn't be allowed to happen. There but for the grace of God go all of us.
I'm a startup founder. I don't think I have it in me to be Travis Kalanick: society matters. People matter. Ruthless individualism pales in comparison to the power of people who work together. I want to find ways to throw my support behind the experts and great secular organizations who are already fighting homelessness. I want to find ways to motivate other people to do it. We talk about disruption; I wish we could disrupt the culture of greed and individuality above all else. In a part of the world with so much wealth, nobody should have to beg for shelter.
As I walked to my front steps, I saw an older woman use a flashlight to hunt in the bushes for empty cans and bottles that she could redeem for pennies.
I hope the gentleman I spoke to tonight will be okay.
Open source startup founder, technology leader, mission-driven investor, and engineer. I just want to help.
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DC is much colder than SF. Probably shouldn't have worn my shorts.
Music from Algeria, hosted on Known: http://ftlm92.withknown.com/
@ccarfi @fmbillwatt Would love to. Jumping on a plane but will send you a quick email.
@ccarfi Great description. We're really interested in integration into cpanel etc so that this can be one-click.
Sad to miss #opened14, but team @withknown is on our way to the #reclaimyourdomain hackathon at University of Mary Washington. Excited!
.@MarkMorvant Awesome! If anyone at #opened14 wants to know more about Known, we'd love to talk: https://withknown.com/
How appropriate; you fight like a cow. http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/21/the-guys-behind-maniac-mansion-and-monkey-island-are-making-a-brand...
Really great to see @julien51 today. I strongly agree with his ideas around open following: https://www.ouvre-boite.com/shrinking-rss-pie/
My Known site is an archive of me. Here's every time I've ever mentioned Matter, anywhere: http://werd.io/content/all?q=matter.vc
@emilybell STRONGLY believe that a better solution to this is for readers to comment on their own sites. A lot of what @withknown is about.
@johannes_ernst That was fun! We'll definitely do it again. Thanks for joining us! @erinjo
Some great questions so far in our office hours: https://plus.google.com/u/1/events/cato9chtopjo3lqtr6hphcjh8j8
Known office hours are starting on Hangouts On Air in just a few minutes. Join us! https://plus.google.com/u/1/events/cato9chtopjo3lqtr6hphcjh8j8
@mapkyca Although the issue there is that GPS is a bigger battery drain?
@sb_io It was pointed out to me that really phones should remember the geolocation of a hotspot and use that to help decide to reconnect.
Phones really need to make an exception for attwifi etc. Not a fan of connecting to every single Starbucks.
International Transgender Day of Remembrance is important. All those people who faced hatred, even losing their lives. Empathy matters.
Surely we can do better than this
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