Gaza Needs "People Pods"

People Pods

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Interlocking insulated panels that make triangular beds that keep in body heat.

Having just heard Dr. Oaken on Diane Rehm, I am thinking of people pods that could be set, like the storage pods are, where they are needed, designed for subsistence living. With a little help from the city, Porta-Johns could be emptied regularly, and perhaps electricity hooked up, for a George Foreman grill. Food storage bins could keep out the mice. I want a giant 3-D printer to crank these out, with a front and back door, roofs good against the rain, and some way of heat that wont burn down the house or asphyxiate the residents. Habitat For Humanity might like this idea, and be able to work with it. My sister saw a documentary where small houses were attempted when people were moved from under an overpass, maybe in Nashville. Mine would have roofs that are white in summer and then black in winter. These collect rainwater and store it, maybe in the wall, except that it would freeze: so it must be in a freezable bag. A way to wash, as in a deep sink with a high spout, might be one of the minimal features, along with a bed slab and desk by the window that folds out of the wall. But each of the basic necessities could be addressed in the simplest way possible as part of the people pod, then mass produced, the way a modern Henry Ford would do it. Gleaners and the food gatherers would know where to find those most in need, and the problem that keeps the homeless out of shelters would be overcome. New problems of policing these little villages would of course arise, but these would be less expensive than the current problems, as Dr. Oaken points out. These folks would then have an address. And if the government can refrain from their rights and manage to secure these, protecting them rather than imprisoning them, the system might work to cut homelessness in half. We believe that special rights become activated at the subsistence level, because of the right to life. For example, income taxes below the level of subsistence are uniquely questionable, and restrictions on the homeless from setting up minimal housing somewhere are contrary to the Declaration and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The simplest people pod would be an insulated sleeping box, even with a sleeping bag inside. If the box is not too large, ones own body heat can heat it. These could be put inside the hut sized people pods, so that even if these can not be heated, our homeless sleepers might stay warm. These might be triangles hinged and folded for shipping, as to refugee camps. Two triangles could be joined into a rectangle or large triangle, better in rain, and then two could stay warmer together, so long as they get along. Send along long johns, and these would have four layers of defense to keep in the body heat. The boards could be made of an insulation plastic, like Next wood, only made for the purpose, interlocking, with a layer of insulation board in between. These manufactured planks or sheets (I like 4X8 or 3X7) would be as mitered so that black side out is the tighter, white side out the looser fitting, though the top must keep out rain. The triangles for the end and two scraps come out of the fourth sheet. The door triangle would be fringed, with some way of permanent ventilation. We hold that this would be less expensive than either what is being done or what is not being done to defend the looped and windowed raggedness from seasons such as these.