In effect, we rent servants by the hour, and some of them are mechanical.
http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/D3/7F20B098A856F4B2922AD21CB8DC2.jpg
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 October 2011 16:22 (twelve years ago) link
<3
― Occupy LOL Street (Phil D.), Thursday, 13 October 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
5. Labor saving devices Servants were often standing in for things that machines now do more cheaply, and without stealing the silver.
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Thursday, 13 October 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
Well then.
― medium rear (silby), Thursday, 13 October 2011 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
The Lost Asimov Directive there
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 13 October 2011 20:45 (twelve years ago) link
Hance (err, sic?) Saki's memorable epigram: "She was a good cook, as cooks go. And as cooks go, she went."
This is great! C'mon, that article was gold.
― WE DO NOT HAVE "SECRET" "MEETINGS." I DO NOT HAVE A SECOND (Laurel), Thursday, 13 October 2011 20:50 (twelve years ago) link
x-post-
Within the last decade, DC spending per pupil has gone up higher than I recalled from the '90s, but according to the Washington Examiner
The greater needs factor helps to explain why D.C. schools appear so lavish in their spending, as well. Compared with the 50 states, and especially its relatively wealthy neighboring states, the District has a far greater percentage of students with needs that require ?-- often by law -- higher staffing levels.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/05/dc-maryland-rank-near-top-pupil-spending#ixzz1amhOAhy2
― curmudgeon, Friday, 14 October 2011 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
Wow, hadn't read that Per Se restaurant review till now:
Dinner for two can scratch at $1,000 — or about the same as the median weekly household income in New York State.
By point of context, though, an aisle orchestra seat at the Metropolitan Opera for Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” runs $330, also excluding wine.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 14 October 2011 19:08 (twelve years ago) link
seeing d'Amore without wine would be completely missing the point of course.
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Friday, 14 October 2011 21:01 (twelve years ago) link
hey, if i could, or had someone who would take me, would love to dine at per se, don't see that as that evilwas, and have been, drooling ever since reading that piece
― H in Addis, Friday, 14 October 2011 22:56 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/fashion/nose-jobs-arent-for-everyone-the-mirror.html?_r=1
― 2001: a based godyssey (dayo), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 23:48 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/nyregion/once-wall-streeters-and-now-cabbies.html?pagewanted=all
Janet was finishing an afternoon shift the other day in her work uniform: a navy blazer, floral scarf and Ralph Lauren sunglasses. She was raised in Manhattan; cab driving was never part of the plan. “I always thought cabdrivers were idiots,” she said. “I still do. If anything, that has been reaffirmed.”
yes but do they know what i mean when i say "myrtle and washington"
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 19 October 2011 23:51 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/realestate/the-hunt-a-high-rise-change-of-plans.html
They had a problem with the refrigerator, which wouldn’t make ice. It took months of attempted repairs to fix the problem, which seemed to be a kink in the water hose, Mr. Fuller said. The situation would have been comical were it not so depressing, he said. For their summer beverages, “we had to make sure to buy a bag of ice, as opposed to using our icemaker,” he said. When the problem was finally resolved, “I never thought I could be so happy over ice.”
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Thursday, 20 October 2011 09:09 (twelve years ago) link
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 20 October 2011 09:13 (twelve years ago) link
Taffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-AknerTaffy Brodesser-Akner
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 20 October 2011 09:14 (twelve years ago) link
They would have to walk their Shih Tzu, Kravitz, near auto body shops and beware-of-dog signs.
I love the poker face that NY Times reporters do with sentences like this one
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 20 October 2011 09:17 (twelve years ago) link
though the circumstances are kinda deplorable, the general tenor applies.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/oct/19/naomi-wolf-arrest-occupy-wall-street"What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the "other" – the "terrorist", the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you – while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law."
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 20 October 2011 13:08 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I was kinda torn on that one between "she's basically right" and "man is she exaggerating."
I mean she compares being taken to a different city jail than the ones protesters thought to extraordinary rendition (where literally NO ONE has any idea where you are for months or years).
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Thursday, 20 October 2011 13:40 (twelve years ago) link
also as others have pointed out she is wearing a cocktail dress not an evening dress
― max, Thursday, 20 October 2011 13:43 (twelve years ago) link
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Thursday, October 20, 2011 9:40 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
ladies and gentlemen... naomi wolfe
― ice cr?m, Thursday, 20 October 2011 14:13 (twelve years ago) link
The cop in that video is absolutely not screaming at her. There are not twenty policemen taking her away. There are about twenty photographers on hand though and press shouting questions at her.
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 20 October 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/in-his-last-days-qaddafi-wearied-of-fugitives-life.html?pagewanted=all
Under siege by the former rebels for weeks, Colonel Qaddafi grew impatient with life on the run in the city of Surt, said the official, Mansour Dhao Ibrahim, the leader of the feared People’s Guard, a network of loyalists, volunteers and informants. “He would say: ‘Why is there no electricity? Why is there no water?’ ”
― dayo, Sunday, 23 October 2011 13:21 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/us/personal-eco-concierges-ease-challenges-of-going-green.html?_r=1&hp
― buzza, Sunday, 23 October 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/realestate/childhood-homes-the-toys-are-gone-but-its-still-home.html
“I’m still very ambivalent,” said Mr. Geist, whose mother lives in Greenwich Village and whose father died in 2005. “I appreciate how much space I have compared to many people, but it’s an odd mix of cozy and entrapment. I look out the bedroom window and see the same view I’ve seen for as long as I could remember. I can alter the space, I can rearrange the furniture, but there’s very little I can do about the view.”
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 October 2011 05:01 (twelve years ago) link
dayo - A+
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, 24 October 2011 08:49 (twelve years ago) link
Emoticons can produce another layer of confusion, however: they don’t always read the same way across different technical interfaces. “In the text function of my BlackBerry there is a sidebar menu of emoticons (how ridiculous is that?) that shows the yellow smiley faces, except they are also crying and raging, and winking and blowing kisses, etc.,” Dr. Bates wrote. “I sent a fairly new acquaintance a ‘big hug’ emoticon — which, for the record, was ironic. But anyway, on his iPhone it came up with the symbols, not the smiley face, which don’t look anything like a big hug. From his perspective they look like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({}).“He then ran around his lab showing colleagues excitedly what I had just sent him. Half (mostly men) concurred with his interpretation, and the others (mostly women) didn’t and probably thought he was kind of a desperate perv.”
― James Mitchell, Monday, 24 October 2011 09:20 (twelve years ago) link
like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})like a view of, er, splayed lady parts: ({})
― loads of personality, loved to chase chickens (forksclovetofu), Monday, 24 October 2011 13:42 (twelve years ago) link
the new york times printed that.
The great splayed lady
― joygoat, Monday, 24 October 2011 14:10 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/24/can_a_portlandia_comedy_sketch_destroy_a_fashion_trend/
― Waxahachie Swap (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 24 October 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
"I made a mental inventory of my own birded totes and T-shirts and saw them as trite for the first time. Ashamed, I recognized myself. "
― Waxahachie Swap (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 24 October 2011 16:52 (twelve years ago) link
Ha, about a month ago a coworker of my wife's stopped by with what was apparently (I found out later) a very expensive limited edition marc jacobs bag with these gold-plated birds on it. I pointed at it and said "Put a bird on it!" She got the reference. My wife wondered later if she was going to stop wearing the bag now.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Monday, 24 October 2011 17:27 (twelve years ago) link
You have a v expensive marc jacobs bag you wear it. it's now a very expensive ironic joke *head explodes*
― Waxahachie Swap (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 24 October 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
Man, I hope people never figure out that stuff with SKULLS are trite. Entire segments of products are just going to die off
― avant-garde heterosexuals (mh), Monday, 24 October 2011 21:12 (twelve years ago) link
On the plus side it would mean Ed Hardy would kill himself,
― Food! Trends! Men! Hate! (Phil D.), Monday, 24 October 2011 22:20 (twelve years ago) link
Ed Hardy is dead
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:11 (twelve years ago) link
It worked!
― Food! Trends! Men! Hate! (Phil D.), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:49 (twelve years ago) link
Actually he's alive. Maybe I was thinking von Dutch? But he's just an old school tattoo artist who sold his name and rights to some douchebag designer.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 25 October 2011 01:00 (twelve years ago) link
Ed Hardy the dude seems ok, just old.
― avant-garde heterosexuals (mh), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 04:02 (twelve years ago) link
Their only complaint is the small size of the garbage and recycling closet in the hallway. It fills quickly, so they must either call the porter or take their boxes to the trash room off the lobby.
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Friday, 28 October 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
call the what now
― j., Saturday, 29 October 2011 01:56 (twelve years ago) link
hey porter
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Saturday, 29 October 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
This could go in any number of threads, but since there's a rolling NYT thread, here we are: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?_r=1&hp
The party is the firm’s big annual bash. Employees wear Halloween costumes to the office, where they party until around noon, and then return to work, still in costume. I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s.That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose. I told her I wanted to post the photos on The Times’s Web site so that readers could see them. She agreed, but asked to remain anonymous because she said she fears retaliation.Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source.A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. My source told me that not every Baum department used the party to make fun of the troubled homeowners they made their living suing. But some clearly did. The adjective she’d used when she sent them to me — “appalling” — struck me as exactly right.These pictures are hardly the first piece of evidence that the Baum firm treats homeowners shabbily — or that it uses dubious legal practices to do so. It is under investigation by the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. It recently agreed to pay $2 million to resolve an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the firm had “filed misleading pleadings, affidavits, and mortgage assignments in the state and federal courts in New York.” (In the press release announcing the settlement, Baum acknowledged only that “it occasionally made inadvertent errors.”)
That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.
When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose. I told her I wanted to post the photos on The Times’s Web site so that readers could see them. She agreed, but asked to remain anonymous because she said she fears retaliation.
Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.
A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source.
A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. My source told me that not every Baum department used the party to make fun of the troubled homeowners they made their living suing. But some clearly did. The adjective she’d used when she sent them to me — “appalling” — struck me as exactly right.
These pictures are hardly the first piece of evidence that the Baum firm treats homeowners shabbily — or that it uses dubious legal practices to do so. It is under investigation by the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. It recently agreed to pay $2 million to resolve an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the firm had “filed misleading pleadings, affidavits, and mortgage assignments in the state and federal courts in New York.” (In the press release announcing the settlement, Baum acknowledged only that “it occasionally made inadvertent errors.”)
― Food! Trends! Men! Hate! (Phil D.), Saturday, 29 October 2011 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
wooooooooow
― google sluething so hard right now (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 29 October 2011 23:08 (twelve years ago) link
just a bit of fun
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 30 October 2011 21:10 (twelve years ago) link
I can kind of get behind the 'technology is replacing jobs' part of this op-ed but the author is really tone-deaf. the by-line is a nice punchline too
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/our-unpaid-extra-shadow-work.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=all
There was a time when a gas station attendant would routinely fill your tank and even check your oil and clean your windshield and rear window without charge, then settle your bill. Today, all those jobs have been transferred to the customer: we pump our own gas, squeegee our own windshield, and pay our own bill by swiping a credit card. Where customers once received service from the service station, they now provide “self-service” — a synonym for “no service.” Technology enables this sleight of hand, which lets gas stations cut their payrolls, having co-opted their patrons into doing these jobs without pay.
― dayo, Sunday, 30 October 2011 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
Reminds me of a line in the New Yorker's otherwise mostly good Ikea feature -- something to the effect of "Ikea has stealthily scored a massive coup by shifting labor to the customer." I mean it's not like everyone used to just get pre-assembled, delivered furniture at Ikea prices.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Sunday, 30 October 2011 23:55 (twelve years ago) link
Half of that article belongs in our "society is in the gutter" thread, seriously.
I understand the whole "shadow work" thing but I've heard it applied much more effectively to modern living than the examples given. These are basically the "why must I move things with my hands" complaints. The parts where they complain about the end of travel agents and the like is especially lulzy
― mh, Monday, 31 October 2011 00:34 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah I'm kind of split on this one between being sorry that this kills jobs for people but also just feeling like "Come on, I can pump my own goddamned gas." I do hate self-checkouts though, those are for suckers.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Monday, 31 October 2011 00:43 (twelve years ago) link