25 years old and deep in debt

[citizen k]

I prefer to characterize it as government inaction.

That's your diagnosis of everything.   

[citizen k]

http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2013/08/15/report-half-of-all-homes-are-being-purchased-with-cash/?mod=e2tw

[Ideologue]

There's no exact way to know who is responsible for all of these cash purchases, though they are likely to include some combination of investors, foreign buyers, and wealthy homeowners that don't want to go through the hassle of getting a mortgage before closing on a sale.

And three-quarters of all Americans will rent by 2015.  Or maybe they already do.

[MadImmortalMan]

Be the owners.

[CountDeMoney]

Be the owners.

Sometimes that's easier said than done, Daddy Slumbucks.

[CountDeMoney]

Looks like even some vets are having trouble.

Hero Drone Finds GI Bill Doesn't Cover Software Upgrades

WASHINGTON, DC – In its seven years with the Air Force's 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, MQ-1B Predator, Tail Number 07-001211 flew more than 18,000 hours of combat support and strike missions over Afghanistan and Pakistan. This qualifies it as one of the most experienced drones in the military's inventory but not apparently for the software upgrades it will need to find a job back home.

"I call my VA rep, and the son of a bitch tells me I'm only eligible for software packages priced at the Windows 98 level or equivalent," the unmanned aerial platform said from its hangar in Northern Virginia. "Like I'm some fucking Hewlett-Packard."

Indeed, the Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the Post-9/11 GI Bill, stipulates that only living, breathing human beings can qualify for full benefits of the program. Unmanned vehicles and robots, on the other hand, fall into a slimmer, more vaguely worded category of coverage in which software and some hardware upgrades are available but only from the lowest bidding companies and manufacturers.

This leaves pricier options – often the only upgrades actually compatible with the member in question's build – out of reach for veteran machines like 07-001211 who sacrificed so much for their country and say they're only looking for a sincere return on that investment.

"Can you believe it? I spend years risking life and wing, getting dicked around by some 19-year-old on a joystick in god-knows-where Nevada, dropping bombs on god-knows-what kinds of hospitals and schools – I'm telling you, man, I've seen some shit," said 07-001211. "But did I ever say no? Did I ever refuse to fly? Not once. You think that'd be worth something to these bozos at the VA, but I guess to them I'm just another piece of paperwork in a blue folder."

Without a significant overhaul of its software suite, 07-001211 says it doesn't stand a chance in the jobs market against newer model UAVs.

"Local law enforcement, the parks service – they're all only interested in these hotshot young birds with their high-def sensors and their fancy motion and change-detecting technology," said 07-00211. "I tell 'em I got day-in, day-out reliability, but you think they give a shit? I even called for a job flying sandwich shop banners over Rehoboth Beach but got turned away cause I don't have any seaside experience."

07-001211 says that if it doesn't get some kind of help from the government soon, it will almost certainly fall on hard times in the months and years ahead. The increasingly destitute UAV suffers from mechanical issues including a squeaky wheel and a recurring oil leak that are harsh reminders of tough years spent overseas. Further, without a job, bankers are threatening to foreclose on its hangar. On both of these issues, the country that 07-001211 served so bravely has been nowhere.

The worst of it, though, 07-001211 says, is that its manufacturers at Boeing don't even recognize the happy-go-lucky drone they say they knew before the war.

"The recruiters, they told me 'Aim high,' 'Be all you can be.' You know I actually believed that nonsense?" 07-001211 said. "More like 'Do your time and then go fuck yourself.' Thanks, Obama!"

At press time, 07-001211 was spotted drunk, catcalling middle school-aged girls on the National Mall.

"God, DC would be so lovely if weren't for all these bum death machines," said a passing tourist. "Why doesn't it just get a job?"

[garbon]

Lame.

[Ideologue]

Drone should've been written as a robot.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Its not a robot though.

[derspiess]

I thought it was pretty good.  Possibly a little long-ish, but still funny.

[Ideologue]

Its not a robot though.

It's a self-aware machine.

[garbon]

Here's an article going around on my facebook about a black kid from South LA who despite having a 4.0 at his high school, had a 1.7 his first semester that Berkeley because apparently he didn't have basic writing skills*.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-c1-cal-freshmen-20130816-dto,0,4673807.htmlstory

Part of the article that interested me was this:

Yet he did everything he could to fit in. He lived at the African-American Theme Program — two floors in Christian Hall housing roughly 50 black freshmen, an effort to build bonds among a community whose numbers have dwindled over the last two decades.

He filled his dorm room with Cal posters, and wore clothes emblazoned with the school's name. Each morning the gawky, bone-thin teen energetically reminded his dorm mates to "have a Caltastic day!"

"It was clear that Kashawn was someone who didn't know about, or maybe care about, social norms," said one of his friends. "A lot of people would laugh at first. They didn't understand how someone could be that enthusiastic."

But as the semester got going, he began to stumble. The first essay for the writing class that accounted for half of his course load was so bad his teacher gave him a "No Pass." Same for the second essay.

"It's like a different planet here," he said one day, walking down Telegraph Avenue through a mash of humanity he'd never been exposed to before: white kids, Asian kids, rich kids, bearded hipsters and burnt-out hippies. Many of them jaywalked. Not Kashawn. Just as he'd been taught, he only used crosswalks, only stepped onto the street when the coast was clear or a light flashed green. His shoulders slumped.

"I'm not used to the people. Not used to the type of buildings. Definitely not used to the pressure I feel."

Part of the pressure came from race. After peaking at 7% in the late 1980s and early '90s, the undergraduate African American population at Cal had been declining for years, especially since Proposition 209 had banned affirmative action in admissions to California public colleges. When Kashawn arrived, 3% of Berkeley undergraduates were African American.

The low numbers were the source of constant talk on the theme program floors, the symbolic center of black life for Cal freshmen.

"Sometimes we feel like we're not wanted on campus," Kashawn said, surrounded at a dinner table by several of his dorm mates, all of them nodding in agreement. "It's usually subtle things, glances or not being invited to study groups. Little, constant aggressions."

I wonder to what extent his alienation stemmed from his race and what was just from him not being particularly knowledgeable of social norms as his one friend said.  Maybe Cal is different but I don't recall ever feeling like people were against black people being on campus at Stanford - except for perhaps from other black people who had deemed you not black enough (typically those living at the theme program house).

*which must have been pretty bad as freshmen generally don't have any writing skills!

[CountDeMoney]

I dunno...from their reputation Cal always seemed to strike me as one of the big bastions of embracing diversity, regardless of the law changes...but, considering what's involved in surviving South Central as a kid--to be insulated, cut off and downright isolated by your parents Mom in order to simply keep you alive--I'd say on the surface it appears that it's more about where he's coming from than where he wound up.

And yeah, kids can't write these days anyway, but you magnify that with the simple fact of the quality of public education in South L.A., well, we all know what that's about.  You have any semblance of skills in such a shitty public school system, you get moved forward and damn the details.  NO CHILLINS LEF BEHIND

"Little, constant aggressions."  I like that.  Great sentence, kid.

[garbon]

And yeah, kids can't write these days anyway, but you magnify that with the simple fact of the quality of public education in South L.A., well, we all know what that's about.  You have any semblance of skills in such a shitty public school system, you get moved forward and damn the details.  NO CHILLINS LEF BEHIND

Yeah that's likely true. I mean even when I was in high school that had funding, most efforts were directed towards state tests / book report type essays.

"Little, constant aggressions."  I like that.  Great sentence, kid.

Maybe but it really just sounds like paranoia given what he's describing.

[Ideologue]

Each morning the gawky, bone-thin teen energetically reminded his dorm mates to "have a Caltastic day!"

Gee, I wonder why nobody liked him.