3w ago

Benches have been removed for your inconvenience

Stolen from here: https://social.marxist.network/@yogthos/113583918563324620

A Boring Dystopia @lemmy.world

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211 comments

Won't homeless people just sleep on the ground now?
- You seem to assume that any logic or reason was used in the decision making that led to this action. But I assure you, as soon as racism, classism, or any other form of bigotry enters the process, any reason left jumps out of the window.
  
  Marvelously constructed.
- Not if we can get some proper sidewalk spikes.
  
  Hi Jeremy, we're aware your feet are bleeding while trying to catch a train, but homeless people were sleeping on the ground.
  
  Jeremy's at fault for not wearing proper shoes, of course.
  Realistically, it would be little rebar studs sticking a few millimeters out of the concrete. Refer to them as traction devices and suddenly you are a hero.
  
  And if you're Adidas you call it a comfortable massage...
- The bare ground is way colder than a bench, since air is a good thermal insulator.
  
  Homeless people are desperate. They'll sleep outside on the fucking pavement if it has an overhang and nobody bothers them. A place with walls and heating is fucking precious to em.
  
  Is that how that works? I'm not trying to be antagonistic or anything, I just heard the opposite is true when it comes to why bridges develop ice sooner than typical roadways do; because the ground holds more heat than the cold air does
  
  The reason bridges form ice before roads is that they are exposed to cold air on all sides and have lower total thermal mass, so conduction from the bridge to the air allows the temperature of the bridge surface to drop faster. The ground has nearly infinite thermal mass, and it takes a long(er) time for ambient air temperature to affect the surface temperature.
  When you say "the ground holds more heat" you're talking about that thermal mass. The temperature of the air is colder than the temperature of the ground, so yes from that perspective it "holds more heat." But the temperature of a human is much much higher than the ground, and conduction is an extremely effective way to pull heat out of a human.
  
  Yep! Slept on benches, chairs, and the ground when I was homeless. The ground is the worst for temperature (I'm technically homeless again, but at a shelter in a bed).
  
  I hope things turn around for you soon.
  
  You said you're at a shelter, but do you also take advantage of assistance from the government for looking for someplace? If this is too personal i understand.
  
  I do, they have an attached program to help get people into housing.
  
  That's good, glad to hear it. Take advantage of anything they offer. Keep on keeping on
  
  Sleep on the floor of your basement to find out.
  
  Don't have one, lend me yours?
  
  Basements are overrated anyways.
  
  It's essentially the same thing, just on opposite ends. the ground leeches heat from warm bodies because it's big and cool. A bridge freezes first because there isn't ground that also has to freeze. Both are insulated from the ground, but one is hotter and one is colder than the ground temperature.
  
  A bridge will change temperature faster, because the ground had a lot of thermal mass, but concrete will conduct heat away from your body much faster than wood will, assuming both are at the same temperature.

211 comments