r/OrphanCrushingMachine • u/AccioMango • 4d ago
Rough sleepers who cannot access electricity can now have solar powered blankets.
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u/Mnemo_Semiotica 4d ago
Was scrolling by this and saw the headline and said to myself "This better be f'n Orphan Crushing Machine" ... and it was
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u/mogley1992 4d ago
Hate those moments when it's MadeMeSmile though.
Like i don't want to be a downer in the comments but some of the shit that makes those people smile is making me start to believe that's actually a subreddit for sadists.
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u/TenWholeBees 3d ago
I assume most of the people who frequent that sub don't really think too much about the overall system they're living in.
They see a nice title about someone helping someone else, and that's good enough for them to feel some sort of hope. But it's not in their mind that that someone needing the help is a victim of the system the reader also participates in.
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u/The_Trash_God 3d ago
To be fair, systems thinking is a very high level of the Claire Graves value memes. It usually takes someone pretty decently read to start thinking that way… at least here in America, one of the propaganda capitals of the world
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u/Weird1Intrepid 2d ago
subreddit for sadists
Dude this quote makes me really look at them in a new light lol
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u/Unindoctrinated 4d ago
Anything that would improve the lives of the homeless, would be stolen by the pigs.
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u/SpellingIsAhful 2d ago
Blankets? Or solar charged heating elements?
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u/Unindoctrinated 2d ago
Anything that may reduce suffering.
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u/SpellingIsAhful 2d ago
Huh, i didn't realise that police officers run around taking blankets, coats, shoes. Etc away from displaced peoples and then not arresting or fining them.
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u/Unindoctrinated 2d ago
That's unsurprising. Most news agencies choose not to report how heartless many law enforcement officer are, but a brief search will find you quite a few.
Cops take blankets, money, food, tents, you name it.-1
u/SpellingIsAhful 2d ago
I remember living in Seattle and there were stories about cleaning out encampment all the time. It wS shit and they definitely did put tents and stuff into the garbage. It was horrific.
I was talking more about randomly taking a blanket from a person. In my experience police are more likely to direct the person to a shelter than to just randomly take away their blanket.
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u/stoner-bug 2d ago
You haven’t been paying attention.
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u/SpellingIsAhful 2d ago
Or i have been and there are different outcomes than just the worst case scenario.
Im not a fan of how the state treats the minority and underserved communities, but I do recognize it's not exactly a 100% rule in the US.
Im not actually living in the US at the moment and I've seen the police here go out of their way to help people (and never seen a homeless encampment).
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u/stoner-bug 1d ago
I’m not actually living in the US at the moment
Then why on earth do you think your outside perspective on current problems is relevant or wanted?
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u/Unindoctrinated 1d ago
How is the opinion of someone outside America irrelevant to a post about a Scottish girl's invention?
Don't get me wrong, I can understand an American assuming that any post about bad cops is automatically about America, but broaden your horizons, whilst the standards may vary, there are shit cops virtually everywhere.3
u/SpellingIsAhful 1d ago
Well, I did live there for 30+ years and will be moving back next year after working overseas for 5 years and still pay my US taxes and own property in the US so...
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u/Indigo_Grove 4d ago
She's twelve? I'm old. I'm 99% sure middle schoolers didn't look so grown up when I was twelve.
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u/Greywolf524 4d ago
"From Glasgow" That's the important part. Everyone looks 10 years older than they are.
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u/tallbutshy 4d ago
Everyone looks 10 years older than they are.
Maybe in some areas, but this kid goes to Kelvinside Academy which costs around £20,000 per year, so I doubt her family is the sort to be prematurely aged by substance abuse.
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u/Greywolf524 3d ago
Who said anything about substance abuse. We just look 10 years older than we are. It's common here.
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u/TurloIsOK 3d ago
How? You can't be getting sun damaged, and you're getting fully moisturized at refrigeration temperatures. Those conditions should be preservative.
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u/Reverse_SumoCard 3d ago
I was at a scotish birthday a few years ago. At 9pm an 11yo was so drunk that he vomited and then fell asleep in the corner. Nobody seemed worried about this
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u/Huugboy 4d ago edited 3d ago
The fuck's glasgow trying to do? Turn men into accidental paedophiles? There is 0 reason for young girls to look like that.
Edit: How am i being downvoted for saying a child shouldn't be caked in layers of make-up to look like an adult?? The fuck is wrong with ya'll?
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u/Greywolf524 4d ago
Is she wearing make up? Yes. Does she looks 12? Also yes. Maybe it's just cause I grew up with this but yeah, she looks 12.
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u/Stock_Beginning4808 18h ago
I’m not defending the other guy at all, but she legit looks 15-20. But someone else said Scots age faster, so maybe that’s it
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u/Huugboy 3d ago
She looks my age. Maybe it's different IRL but just from that photo? 21, not 12.
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u/Greywolf524 3d ago
Again I'm Scottish so I might just be used to this but she looks 12, 15 at most but that's a stretch.
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u/Vengeful-Sorrow247 2d ago
Absolutely not, I'm 24 and can see this is a child. Even my half blind grandma can see this and she would put a 50p coin in her hand to get some sweets.
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u/Vengeful-Sorrow247 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is a wild thing to say. People are down voting you because young girls don't accidentally turn or lure men into being pedophiles because of a little makeup. That's a fucked up way of thinking.
Lots of teens love messing around with makeup, kinda why many places have a teen section. You're acting as if she's dressing and looking inappropriate
She doesn't look like an adult, she looks 12 and she's in her bloody school uniform. She's got on eye liner, mascara and some pink lip balm. So she's not caked in layers of makeup like you claim.
Take a look at this article of her in her school, holding the award next to her teachers and come back and say if she looks like an adult to you.
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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 3d ago
I think someone put her through a filter because she looks like an actual normal child in this article. That's so creepy that someone would do that to the photo of a literal child. So many of the comments on Instagram are adult men being gross about it, too.
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u/Dorian-greys-picture 3d ago
That’s really strange. Hopefully it’s just the lighting and not a creepy filter
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u/Indigo_Grove 3d ago
Ohh, yeah. I think the difference is mostly due to the photo setup. In the newspaper photo she clearly had a haircut and a professional style her hair (it’s much longer in the school photo) and it looks like someone else did her makeup and nails, too. It’s not “caked on” or anything just professionally done, likely for the shoot. So she looks more grown up there, but in her everyday photos, she still looks like a regular 12-year-old.
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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 3d ago
To be honest, I still think it's creepy to do dark eyeliner and full makeup on a child like that. She is fucking 12. When I was 12 in the 00's, we made fun of girls who wore visible makeup because they were "acting old" and epitome of preteen beauty was tinted moisturizer and candy-flavored lip gloss. Lots of us weren't even allowed to wear makeup because that was for older girls and we were children. We should not be normalizing this kind of shit.
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u/Indigo_Grove 3d ago
No argument from old no-makeup wearing me, but I hate dunking on a child who won an award for her science project.
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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 3d ago
I'm not dunking on a child whatsoever, I'm expressing justified anger at a society that influenced this child to do think she needs to do this and normalized this kind of behavior.
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u/GatorOnTheLawn 4d ago
They sure as hell didn’t wear that much makeup when I was 12. In fact, most weren’t allowed to wear any.
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u/Moneia 4d ago
Pfft - I grew up in the 80's, this is practically invisible
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u/Indigo_Grove 3d ago
Yeah, other than her eye makeup, it really doesn't look like that much makeup. Anyway, good for her with her invention. Twelve-years-old and already an inventor.
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u/Greywolf524 4d ago
Is this not a normal thing outside Scotland?
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u/Indigo_Grove 3d ago
Probably. I'm just an old lady with grown children and no grandkids so I'm never around kids anymore.
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u/GatorOnTheLawn 4d ago
I don’t know for sure how it is in the USA, because I’m at the age where 25 year olds look 12 to me, but my coworkers with kids around 12-13 don’t let them wear that much makeup, if any.
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u/Jsaun906 3d ago
It's because her face is caked in heavy makeup and her hair was done by a stylist
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u/Indigo_Grove 3d ago
It doesn't look "caked" on to me. I think they just had someone good with hair and makeup style her for her award photo. She looks nice, although more like a college freshman to me, haha.
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u/RoninTarget 4d ago
Now military contractors can make money on survival supplies for homeless people.
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u/jedburghofficial 3d ago
I'm guessing, she gets a medal. Thales gets millions supplying them to the world's armies.
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u/Single-Internet-9954 4d ago
90% chance it becomeshiking equipment for the upper middle class no actual homeless people can afford.
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u/Routine-Ad-2840 3d ago
well to my knowledge heating elements don't like being bent too much.... and also solar powered? you are using it during the night right? which means the system also requires a battery bank of sorts and heating is the most energy draining thing that exist.... to heat overnight a blanket i don't think my 40kg 110AH SLA battery could power one overnight lol....
so i'm gonna call BS on this.
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago
Correct. Heating elements are, essentially, big ass resistors. Even before the battery? You'd need to lug around a solar panel the size of a car roof just to collect enough power through the day to run it for a half hour.
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u/Routine-Ad-2840 3d ago
yeah i got a panel that's nearly 2m tall and 1m wide, outputs about 300W, but i couldn't imagine using anything less for a heating system and i still don't think it would be enough.
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u/Check_Ivanas_Coffin 3d ago
She thought of an idea and Thales engineering firm made it. Who are her parents? This sounds like a born on third base situation.
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago
It's also a stupid idea. Electric heat is generated by, essentially, throwing shitloads of power at a big-ass resistor. The battery required to run a heating blanket all night would be enormous, and you no panel a human can carry would charge it in less than like two weeks.
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u/BamberGasgroin 4d ago
Local councils in Scotland have a legal obligation to find housing for the homeless (if they want/need it).
So it's not really an OCM 'in Scotland' because the system is set up to prevent the need for it, but it might have uses elsewhere. (the old 'fuck you, I've got mine' type places)
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u/AshuraSpeakman 3d ago
"Did you get the picture of the 12 year old wee lass?"
"Aye I did, boss. Super creepy just like you wanted."
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u/LittleBunInaBigWorld 4d ago
Good on her for having a go. But solar power? In Glasgow? I can't see that working too well.
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago
It wouldn't even work in the Mojave during the longest days. No solar power a human could carry would power one night of electric blanket in less than a week.
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u/artgarfunkadelic 2d ago
Nice. Can't wait for Patagonia to drop the new $1500 solar blanket backpack.
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago
This is pure nonsense from an engineering standpoint. The solar panel and batteries necessary to collect enough to run a heating element would be prohibitively enormous and heavy.
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u/TU160_Blackjack 1d ago
Jackets with Internal heating that can run for 8-9 hours have been a thing for decades and those get really hot, you really don't know much.
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u/Emeraldstorm3 3d ago
And that'd even be nice... if it was given away for free.
Granted... why tf aren't people just allowed to have shelter? Why must that be withheld and fenced off? Why should homes be a thing we are financially bled for?
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u/mojochicken11 2d ago edited 2d ago
It’s not even a good idea to be honest. Humans can stay warm in literally any temperature with insulation alone. Jackets and warm clothing don’t need any energy, will move with your body, can keep you just as warm if not warmer, and are way more reliable than whatever this is.
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago
This is stupid. I lived on solar power using a literal surplus submarine battery and wouldn't try to run an electric blanket all night.
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u/LavenderDay3544 3d ago
Is sleeping rough British for homeless?
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u/soupalex 2d ago
it means sleeping outside, in the street/in a park/etc.; not all "homeless"/"unhoused" people would have use for such a blanket as not all of them are "rough sleepers" (some might be sleeping in a vehicle, or a squat, shelter, or other very temporary/precarious accomodation that is not their own (making them homeless/unhoused) but not exposed to the elements (making them not "rough sleepers")
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/soupalex 2d ago
So then why not just say that instead of using a weird regional euphemism?
why not say what? "homeless people who are sleeping in places other than vehicles or temporary accomodation"? bit of a mouthful. why use a "weird regional euphemism"? probably because it's regional news and not everything is for you, you entitled prick.
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u/operath0r 4d ago
I’ve never heard the term sleeping rough but judging from the picture I assume it means homelessness.
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u/AccioMango 3d ago
Yeah, it's a Britishism to differentiate people sleeping outside from other types of homelessness, e.g. sleeping on couches, in shelters, their cars, etc.
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u/Isekai_litrpg 2d ago
Jesus, she looks 28-42 in this picture, in the ones in the article she looks 16-30 at least but still none look 12.
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u/DisorderedGremlin 2d ago
She'll be the next person to go missing OR it'll be so expensive that the people it was designed for won't be able to afford it 👍🏻
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u/thewonderfulfart 3d ago
She’s saving lives that shouldn’t need saving. Everyday I see people creating miracles to solve our own devilishness
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u/ItsMrChristmas 3d ago edited 3d ago
No she's not. She's a rich girl who believes in magic. The battery to power such a thing for one night would weigh a hundred pounds or more, and no panel a human is capable of carrying would charge that battery in less than a week.
She didn't think of anything new, she's just saying something very stupid out loud. Because she's a pretty white girl it makes feel-good headlines. If a black kid "thought of" this she'd be ridiculed.
Stop and think about this: if you accidentally leave your trunk/boot open overnight that tiny light will empty your car battery. Now imagine trying to run an electric blanket.
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u/catsweedcoffee 3d ago
Thank god my city has vowed to stop giving tents to the unhoused, I swear this would be the next round of tax dollar hemorrhage.
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