kottke.org

...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.

3 kottke.org posts about homeless

 

How panhandlers use free credit cards

A reporter for the Toronto Star handed out prepaid credit cards to panhandlers and waited to see what happened.

"Can I trust you with this?" I said, handing him a $50 card and telling him to buy what he needs, but that I need it back when he was done. He nodded and scrambled to his feet. He said he would be back in a half-hour.

He came back right on time, slurping from a large McDonald's soft drink cup -- root beer -- and with sweat on his brow. He wanted to have pork and rice from a Vietnamese noodle joint on Spadina but they wouldn't take the card. So, he scrambled to McDonald's. Lunch was a double quarter-pounder with cheese.

The reporter's offer was frequently declined, which seems surprising at first. But panhandlers are savvy businesspeople. They didn't want a short-term and potentially risky venture interfering with their main panhandling income stream. Eyes on the prize. (via the browser)

By Jason Kottke  •  Aug 31, 2010  •  business   homeless

When Terry Gilliam checked out of a

When Terry Gilliam checked out of a NYC hotel a few minutes late, they charged him for a whole extra day. To get back at the hotel and do a good deed, he tried to find a homeless person to stay in his stead but couldn't locate one. (via gf)

By Jason Kottke  •  Aug 16, 2005  •  homeless   NYC   terrygilliam

Jorn Barger, homeless in SF?

Jorn Barger, homeless in SF?. Barger denies this version of the story; he's the editor of the still-excellent Robotwisdom.

By Jason Kottke  •  Jul 5, 2005  •  homeless   jornbarger   weblogs

kottke.org, quickly...

The best way to get a sense of what kottke.org is all about is to head to the front page or check out some random entries from the archives.

Looking for work?

See more on the Job Board.

Tags, tags, tags

Many posts on kottke.org have been "tagged" with keywords, which activity results in collections of related posts like sports, infoviz, or best of.

Recently popular tags (last 3 weeks)

parenting (60)  •  post updates (139)  •  video (1203)  •  design (760)  •  art (501)  •  movies (1355)  •  TV (493)  •  Apple (305)  •  food (846)  •  sports (630)  •  lists (765)  •  photography (1026)  • 

All-time popular tags

movies (1355)  •  video (1203)  •  photography (1026)  •  books (904)  •  food (846)  •  NYC (832)  •  science (805)  •  lists (765)  •  design (760)  •  sports (630)  •  music (547)  •  art (501)  •  TV (493)  •  business (450)  •  best of (445)

Useful favorites

photography (1026)  •  economics (239)  •  lists (765)  •  best of (445)  •  infoviz (214)  •  food (846)  •  NYC (832)  •  firstworldproblems (4)  •  cities (162)  •  restaurants (226)  •  video (1203)  •  timelapse (9)  •  interviews (305)  •  language (333)  •  maps (287)  •  fashion (207)  •  NSFW (70)  •  remix (319)

Random tags

Edward Tufte (41)  •  Ben Affleck (3)  •  headlines (14)  •  Not The Onion (6)  •  cigarettes (5)  •  weblogs (411)  •  books (904)  •  design (760)  •  Beautiful Evidence (8)  •  .com (20)  •  Michael Lewis (50)  •  photography (1026)  •  this is a metaphor for something (6)  •  Rainy Day Fun and Games for Toddler and Total Bastard (2)  •  Greg Knauss (8)