even more quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a new rolling new york times thread

speaking truth to power there, ruth la ferla

Have we talked about this?
http://www.alternet.org/media/ny-times-columnist-laments-woes-rich-kids-tells-readers-how-avoid-living-near-black-people

Holeeeeeeeee cow. Not surprised that the 1% think like that, but surprised that it slipped out in print, by accident in a major newspaper.

She and her husband treated their eight-year search for the right suburb the way she would research a value stock

Specialists in a single area don’t have much incentive to offer the warts-and-all download

Surely he doesn't really think the term is "download".

"Are the local children garden-variety pot smokers who have a little sex and a bit of angst at a reasonable age, or is something more troubling going on?"

Yeah have you see White Ribbon? Woah dude.

So amazing. "How much sex are the local children having? Does their angst start at a reasonable age?" Something troubling going on, indeed.

Could've been shortened from 43 Questions to 14 Words.

Heyooo.

Are the local children garden-variety pot smokers, or are they into the hydro shit?

If you don’t know anyone in town, find a way to invite yourself to homes of friends of friends. What are they reading? Are there any books at all? What about books for the children?

I love that one. If friends of friends of yours are living in the community, visit them and ask questions visit them specifically to gather bookshelf data.

I bet some of my neighbors own A Purpose Driven Life, The Secret, Dianetics, and a box set of Chicken Soup books - should I move?

Yes.

23 bathrooms...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/business/home-the-ultimate-investment.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/business/dollar3-tip-on-a-dollar4-cup-of-coffee-gratuities-grow-automatically.html

Take it to one of the many ilx tipping threads, where this subject can be flogged, flayed and boiled in oil at our leisure.

Could also go in the IA thread -- I hate those "suggested tip" boxes on screens (this is an issue in cabs too -- minimum suggested is 20%)

oh ffs

^mumbled under breath, *ghosts*

It's pretty quid/ag in that it's told entirely from the perspective of the tippers, business owners, and impenetrable venture-capital concepts rather than the conditions of tipped labor, etc., but yeah.

i always assumed it would be a good thing for tipped labor but idk.

dunno what the "it" is there, but just to clarify, I was just saying that the article, in not really speaking to that perspective, leaves itself open to be used by the quid/ag crowd as fuel for outrage against tipping on their $4 coffee drinks, etc. Pretty minor by the standards of these things.

sure. i meant that it seems like the auto-tipping checkbox might make it harder to not leave a tip. i'd be interested in seeing if there was any net effect or improvement on tipping amounts. not going to actually read through that article to see if it's covered because it's so obviously from the polish-my-shoes-bitch pov.

Hard to say really, it's also dealing with places that have the resources/clientele to install special devices, separate from the register, where you can swipe your credit card to tip an amount you pre-set? which just seems so weird and redundant that i have to assume this whole thing is definitely not about People Like Me, and makes total sense in some other universe beyond my ken.

lots of small start-ups here are opting for it instead of the usual register so there has to be some cost appeal i would imagine.

def some cost appeal to square up I'd imagine. touch screen cash registers are $600.

places that have the resources/clientele to install special devices, separate from the register, where you can swipe your credit card to tip an amount you pre-set

chichi places like, i dunno, taxicabs?

Taxicabs are relatively chichi but I'm not sure I take your meaning; ime they have one device where you swipe your card for the fare and then get the option to tip, not two separate gizmos for two separate swipes which is what I understood the article to describe. I don't see how two devices could fail to be more expensive. Maybe I'm missing something.

electronic tips also make me nervous because I'm never 100% convinced the worker gets it, although even with tip jars you can wind up with places that have shady management who skims off the tips.

If anything, you can be sure that the tips are well documented if received electronically

Suppose that's true, doesn't mean baristas/cab drivers/whoever gets the records though

But it's something that they or a lawyer could request. So I think that would add incentive for the business owner to make the right decision. I don't know exactly how it's documented, though, so maybe not. Either way, I am tipping the full amount because it's out of my hands.

the guardian can't help itself:

Why the hottest new arts venue is your living room
http://gu.com/p/45gxq

Instead of posting the article from the RE section, I'm just going to post the photo:

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/02/08/realestate/08HUNT-MAIN/08HUNT-MAIN-articleLarge.jpg

L to R, fuck you and fuck you

I like that dude's style. Let's all get drunk at noon.

idgi
that's them having an arts venue in their living room? a guy solo drinking and a woman on a laptop?

jealous of that quilted throw draped on her recliner

this is the article with that picture
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/realestate/in-williamsburg-brooklyn-room-for-a-baby.html

“I was not going to move to Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not New York; it is so far away from everything,” said Mr. Moran Moya

The pair, who blog about food and travel at SpanishHipster.com, hoped for an open kitchen and outdoor space for their frequent entertaining.
Their top price of up to $1 million rose to around $1.5 million when Mr. Moran Moya, who works as a business consultant for consumer goods, received an inheritance.

The owner was eager to sell, and they were able to buy the apartment for $1.465 million, arriving in late fall. The process seemed too easy.
“Did we go too high because we were so used to being shot down?” Ms. Porter said. She felt better when Mr. Modica told them that another offer had arrived late in the game.
In what Ms. Porter calls their “kitchen-centric” apartment, they have played host to as many as 16 people. “That is a very big part of our life, the love of food,” she said. “Everyone can gather around the island. We have all this floor space where we can dance around the kitchen and laugh at the plight of the foolish proletariat. All shall kneel before Zod.”

that's a paraphrase but i think it captures the spirit

“We decided to get out of the city and were happy with the decision,” said Ms. Porter, who, like her husband, is in her 30s.

THEY WENT TO WILLIAMSBURG.

and then allowed someone to write an article about it!

Clearly its the revenue from spanishhipster.com that enables them to afford a $1.5 million apartment

To which, btw, their most recent posting appears to have been July 28, 2014.

OIC the dude actually has a job and also inherited half a mil, they do point that out.

“I was not going to move to Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not New York; it is so far away from everything,” said Mr. Moran Moya

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/001/296/morans.jpg

loool

The most offensive thing about that photo is Ms Spanish Hipster wearing her shoes on the chair