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

“My parents are subtly pointing out that beyond room and board, they are also paying other expenses for me, like my cellphone charges and the premiums on a life insurance policy.”

i wonder if it's a data plan, and i wonder if other types of insurance are being taken care of, too.

http://www.slate.com/id/2259817/

late pass for jack shafer

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/business/economy/09rich.html?_r=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/your-money/10money.html?src=me&ref=business

haha, I was just coming here to post that

My wife handled it better, noting that if we had spent money on a second home, our daughter wouldn’t have been able to go to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival this year or on a beach vacation.

He has not yet answered his oldest child’s question [about his salary] directly. Why not? “The honest answer is my own fear about my son sharing it with his friends and it creating pain for them or emotional shame for their parents,” he said. “Why is Brent telling my kid that he makes that much? Does Brent’s ego really need to rub it in?”

Doug Garr, who lives in Manhattan, said that once his son was old enough to understand that the family had two homes, his son suggested giving one to a homeless person. “His logic was sound,” Mr. Garr recalled. “Why should we live in two homes when so many live in none? I had no answer for that one.

Garr's children obviously needed to be shouted at by "no free lemonade" dude:

http://www.suntimes.com/business/savage/2464546,CST-NWS-savage05.savagearticle

lol @ his logic was sound

Love the no free lemonade guy because he expects us to sympathize with the idea of shouting at small girls giving away lemonade on the side of the road. Even the most wacked out libertarian will scratch their head at this one.

"Three girls giving away free lemonade isn't cute, it's indicative of the lack of economic responsibility we're passing on to future generations."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjMutF_jnrU

^ Terry and his Brother

DEAD

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/realestate/18cov.html

where will the duke-grad ibankers live in this bleak new world?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/realestate/18habi.html?hp

By CONSTANCE ROSENBLUM

come on now

artistic types all live together, story at 11

ffff, max beat me

On the first floor are Morgan Jones, an artist; Jackie Oberman, a magazine graphic designer who plays bass in a punk band called the Homewreckers; and Lauren Denitzio, a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. Also on the first floor are Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, the moving force behind Liturgy, a band that Mr. Shapiro describes as “one of my favorites in Bushwick,” and Mr. Shapiro, whose room features David Wojnarowicz’s famous photograph of buffalo being driven off a cliff, along with leather-bound copies of Balzac from an old girlfriend and, like nearly all the other bedrooms, lots of vinyl.

...Hunter Hunt-Hendrix?

"Honey, I have the perfect name!"

"Divorce."

Bushwick may not be East Williamsburg. But for those seeking the newest Bohemia, this neighborhood is arguably the coolest place on the planet

i died

Those Liturgy dudes are pretty endless self promoters; there's been like 4 or 5 articles in the Times on their nuts.

Yeah that was one of several lines I found it hard to believe a New York Times journalist could write with a straight face (xpost)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/nyregion/20interns.html?_r=2&hp

not really style section frippery but fits into the thread

i read this and have never wanted to punch a person more.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/complaint-box-the-pigeon-menace/?ref=nyregion

Louise Dreier lives on the Upper West Side near Columbia University, where she recently completed a master’s degree in urban planning.

I tried feeding some pigeons in NYC once but, no lie, the pizza crusts only bounced once before sparrows zoomed in and swiped them

poor pigeons

I take it everything to do with a certain marriage yesterday was so obviously belonging in this thread that we collectively accepted that and moved on.

I love this comment.

I had a pigeon lay an egg on my windowsill.

I had two pigeons enter my apartment and sit on my couch. I found them there watching tv when i returned from the shower.

I saw a pigeon eating an entire slice of pizza.
— dave

I found the article a little overblown, but generally I agree. Pigeons suck.

haha that's a great comment

lol i think he's going for a tracy jordan parody or something

It reminds me of he Chuck Norris and Mr. T joke "facts." http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/20/us/20oklahoma_337-span/OKLAHOMA-1-articleLarge.jpg

has anybody ever mentioned on this thread the number of nytimes photographs that look like they were taken by accident. is this like their house style?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/07/18/us/18bai_span/bai-articleLarge.jpg

chosen for ~immediacy~, i guess?

i cant believe this question for 'The Ethicist' from the magazine a few weeks ago never made it into the thread:

We put our paper, plastic and other recyclables in city-issued containers in our backyard and move them to the curb for weekly pickup through our town’s recycling program. A scavenger regularly removes cans and bottles, presumably to redeem for cash. I say that by depriving the city of these items, he adds to our recycling costs. I want to ask the police to apprehend the “thief.” My wife says I lack compassion. You? J.M., BURLINGAME, CALIF.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20FOB-Ethicist-t.html

Wow. I think we have a winner.

You've never lived in Southwest Florida, I see. People here regularly do get pissed off at people who gather cans out of recycling bins on the street, and they do call the cops.

he's phrasing it like a dick cause he is a dick, but it's actually an issue that's worth talking about. people who do this generally leave garbage + non-redeemable but stil recyclable objects everywhere - puts a dent in the actual efficacy of recycling. in some places it's getting organized w/ fleets of pickup trucks driving around at night. a few days ago I actually saw one with her little 5 year old kid helping her out, sorta heartbreaking.

California has a weird thing pitting their govt-run recycling programs where you just give them all your trash against the private ones that are set up in the Vons parking lot and give you cash.

I'll admit that when I lived there, I felt conflicted about the homeless guys scavenging through my recycling bin. They spent all their time going from bin to bin with grocery carts hauling bags and bags and bags of the stuff. It's like "well, this person isn't going to be doing anything else with their day, like getting job training or whatever." It's likely though, that if you're reduced to going through trash all day in the heat, you probably have something going on that might impair your chances at gainful employment anyway.

In the end though, I have no idea about whether their collecting had a deleterious effect on the local government recycling program, so I can only shrug my shoulders.

Given the uselessness of Chicago's absurdly limited recycling program, I am all for people making a few bucks by going through our recycling.

that ethicist one was amazing. his response was ice cold iirc.

You should also ask how this fellow is to live if you thwart his pilfering recyclables. Rob liquor stores? Perform liposuction?

has anybody ever mentioned on this thread the number of nytimes photographs that look like they were taken by accident. is this like their house style?

― plax (ico), Thursday, August 5, 2010 7:09 AM Bookmark

I think it's sort of the goal of a certain school of contemporary photography to get something that is simultaneously well-composed and focused and has good color and yet deceptively looks like a bad candid snapshot so you get that sense of "immediacy" and "realness" or something. The above example is a particularly sloppy looking one though.

I've been reading this book:

http://www.aperture.org/exposures/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/s09-gefter-photography-after-frank-cover.jpg

which is a collection of articles by the NYT photo editor. the cover photo is by ryan mcginley who fits pretty well into the aesthetic hurting just described

ryan mcginley does extensive shoots for the NYT magazine sometimes -- they are all awesome

yeah he actually is really good

^^^ that is the use of the word "actually" i hate