Kinda (well, completely) off topic, but as long as you’re here, Broomstick, I wonder if you can field a personal(-ish) question: What’s the typical renewal drill for a pilot’s license? Is it something that requires a substantial outlay of funds every year, or two years, or something?
In short, are your current difficulties placing your pilot’s license in any jeopardy, in the near term?
ETA: If my inquiry is out of line, please feel free to tell me so.
I’ve seen carwashes; talent shows; bake sales; walkathons; bikeathons . . . ok that’s 5 , not a million.
But any way, I agree. Approaching people who are driving cars is dangerous and rude. If a school needs to have students do this in order to get classroom supplies (which I highly doubt), then that school should make do without classroom supplies.
The license is actually for life (assuming you don’t screw up badly enough for the Feds to yank your privileges). It’s the medical and your currency that expires.
Since I’m over 40 I need to renew my medical every two years to keep flying. Mine expired at the end of January and, needless to say, my current situation means it is not cost-effective to renew it at this time. All I have to do is schedule an appointment with an Aviation Medical Examiner and, assuming I’m still healthy, I’ll walk out an hour or two later with a new one, no penalty.
The currency just means you’ve flown X hours in X days. Every two years I need a biennial flight review. Mine expires in June, and I’m not expecting to renew it immediately. All I need to do is schedule some time with a flight instructor, demonstrate I still know how to fly, and I’ll be good again.
So… there’s no penalty for shelving the wings until my economic situation improves. If several years go by I might need several hours with an instructor to review changes in regs and to get my skills back up to an acceptable level, but I’ve seen people get back into flying after 10 or 20 years get back up to that level in under 5 hours so this is not an overwhelming situation.
Nope, no jeopardy either short or long term. It will cost me a few bucks to get authorized to fly solo or with passengers again, but then flying always costs money.
The only people in my area walking around in traffic soliciting donations are firefighters raising money for the MDA, which of course is a once a year thing.
I’d like to think I’m not a completely terrible person for giving $5 because I think the MDA is a very important cause, and also because the firefighters are really cute.
I hate Streetwise. It is such a terrible fucking newspaper. How is it more legitimate for those people to sell something that nobody wants (have you read it?) rather than asking for a dollar? So I just give them a dollar, and tell them to keep their piece-of-shit newspaper.
Also, they only get 65 or 70 cents on the dollar for selling Streetwise, which would be a legitimate job if anyone actually bought the product for any reason other than charity.
Yeah, actually I have. I have even liked some of it on occassion.
The idea behind Streetwise is that their vendors are vetted - you have some assurance it’s not a scam and at least some of your money is going to someone in genuine need. A lot of people choose to simply give a dollar rather than accept the newspaper, and that is your choice. The vendors certainly don’t object to money.
There is also the aspect that offering to sell something is more dignified than begging for money. Being homeless is shitty enough - feeling like you have to humiliate yourself just to get a meal or a new pair of shoes or whatever just makes it worse.
I guess that’s what gets to me about Streetwise. It offers only a farce of dignity. The people who run the organization would be better to employ their vendors to do something useful.
As for liking the paper, I must admit I only read it a few times between 1998-02, when I lived in Chicago. It might be better nowadays.
Like what?
It’s not intended to be a long-term career, just a step up. And they ARE selling something, even if you personally don’t like it.
A few years ago, there was a news story from … maybe Seattle? About someone who was paying homeless to stand around at key intersections and act as human billboards.
Pick up trash off the streets/beaches? Landscape the parks? Build a bonfire out of Streetwises?
I understand that. It was my impression that the paper was bad enough that no one really bought it because they wanted to read it, but because they wanted to help some homeless person. In this case isn’t the paper a farce? Why not just ‘sell’ rocks you find on the ground? The whole thing seemed rather condescending to the homeless person.
ETA: Look, if SW does really help people out of homelessness/poverty, then more power to them. How should I know if it really works? Does anyone have stats on them?
How does that get the homeless money?
I’m glad this pitting took place; I’ve been considering doing it myself. I drive a little over 100 miles per day trying to make a living and it bugs the hell out of me to be hassled by people with no ID asking for money for some charity I’ve never heard of while I’m stopped at a red light. It bugs me even worse when there several of these people strung out across the entire intersection. The traffic light turns green and people have to wait while these jerks straggle back to the relative safety of the median. Some days it seems like there are different groups at each and every traffic light; driving on US19 in Pinellas County is stressful enough without being hassled at red lights. I refuse to make eye contact with these jerks but that doesn’t prevent them tapping on my window like some fucking raven in the rain; I’d like to croak ‘nevermore’ at them just before running over a few.
Except I have already stated that I got some enjoyment out of it (admittedly the quality varies a great deal). Therefore, at least one person finds it better than worthless. I hardly think I am the only one, so although you do not like it some people do.
Giving homeless people an opportunity to earn money is condescending? I don’t see your reasoning here. Because the vendors choose their own selling times it is also possible for them to work odd jobs/day labor AND sell the paper, improving their income.
And it’s not just selling papers - they also have an educational center for their clients that provide instruction on things like resume building and computer skills. This is supported by the charity’s portion of sales (35 cents of every dollar) and people who just simply donate to the charity.
When I have had hard times the thing I have most needed is A JOB. A source of MONEY. It’s condescending to think otherwise. Homeless people are often homeless from lack of money. They go hungry from lack of money. I fail to see how giving them a legal means to make money - a job - is “condescending”.
I think the point is to pay the homeless for doing these things, which aren’t being done either because the city doesn’t have enough employees to do them, or can’t afford what they’d have to pay to have city employees to do them.
Heh, and to get money to pay for this, you’d have to raise taxes, which people would hate. You’d have to hire people, which would largely end up being teenagers or low-income poor who are not homeless. In order to hire homeless to do such things, you’d have to have people raising money for the charity that will hire them.
Have any of you considered simply calling the police to report people blocking the intersection? If enough people did it, the police would do something.
I don’t know about other cities but in our city the garbage clean up is done by people that have broken the law and were given community service. We see them every weekend with the correction van parked on the side of the road while 25 people walk around with garbage bags and trash pokers.
They still have to pay at least one maybe two employees to over see the project but the majority of the work is done by the criminals.
Jamaika a jamaikaiaké, what I don’t get is why you think selling newspapers for money is somehow more degrading than picking up garbage for money.
This assertion was based on the notion that nobody actually read the paper. (The idea was that picking up garbage actually did some public good, while selling Streetwise didn’t.) You said that you do sometimes read it Therefore I retract my assertion.
Thanks for the response. I hope things improve right quick for you, and you’re back in the air soon!
When they claim they are selling for basketball camp or whatever, it’s definitely a lie.
I’m not sure I would call it a scam, exactly, because you do get the candy at the end of the transaction. The other day, I was on a train that was very, very delayed and I was crossing my fingers that one of the candy guys would come through the car. No such luck, though.