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

Bart Simpson was adopted?

not nytimes but in ny

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/yaliens-among-us

my head was shaked

just reading the 1st paragraph made me feel bad

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oJ1idzuym4U/SHKiJl42ByI/AAAAAAAAALE/trSN1PZwLEU/s400/The+French+Revolution.jpg

save america, kill a yalie

I kind of thought NYObserver was known to be on some next-level unabashed ruling class trolling, but I never really read it so I might be wrong.

Jesus, has Manhattan ALWAYS been a mega-strength Ivy League douchebag magnet?!?

i sort of love the observer because it's completely honest about being obsessed with what celebrity is buying which $2 million tribeca loft or whatever

also they hardly ever try to spin any of that shit into a Penetrating Statement on the World Today a la the nytimes

also their mandate is completely different obv

Manhattan is an EVERYTHING-magnet, no?

lol

The New York Observer asserts to advertisers that it delivers Manhattan’s most affluent, educated and influential consumers, with the average net worth of its readership exceeding $1.7 million and 96% of readers being college graduates. It has a paid circulation of 51,000.

from wikipedia, a description of both the founder and the current owner of the observer -- kind of an interesting commentary on how the composition of the city's elite has changed when you think of it:

The publisher and original owner, Arthur Carter has had other publishing interests in the past including the Litchfield County Times. At one time, he was a part-owner in The East Hampton Star. Carter received an A.B. in French literature from Brown University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He spent twenty-five years in investment banking until 1981, when he founded the Litchfield County Times in New Milford, Connecticut. He owned it for twenty years until selling to Journal Register Company, later also selling his 50-percent interest in The East Hampton Star in 2003. He has been an adjunct professor of philosophy and journalism at New York University and is currently a trustee. He is also a sculptor. Despite his "registered opportunist" political beliefs, from 1985 to 1995 he owned The Nation.

In July 2006, Jared Kushner, a 25-year-old law student and son of a wealthy New Jersey developer, Charles Kushner, purchased the paper for just under $10 million. In April 2007 Bob Sommer became president.

+

Kushner is the son of the New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner.[1] Jared graduated from the Frisch School, a private, coed yeshiva high school in Paramus, New Jersey. He graduated from Harvard College in 2003. Prior to his admission, his father had donated $2.5 million to the university, in what The Boston Globe claimed was an "egregious example of pay-for-Crimson" [2]. In 2007, Kushner graduated from the New York University Stern School of Business and the New York University School of Law where he earned both JD and MBA degrees. [3]. Prior to admission, the family donated money to create NYU's Seryl Kushner Deanship, named after his mother.[4]
Kushner married Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald Trump, on 25 October, 2009. Kushner is an observant Jew[5] and Trump had converted to Judaism at the time of the engagement.[6]

Charles Kushner is also the guy who was accused of giving Jim McGreevey illegal campaign contributions ... which was of course overlooked after McGreevey came outta the closet.

First sentence is a new low in blithe ignorance, even for the Style section. Seriously, fuck whoever allowed that to go to print: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/fashion/25yoga.html

ha. i have a manduka yoga mat, but i only paid $20 for mine (clearance sale).

I do too. It's lasted for 5 years and counting and I've started to wear grooves in it.

The part that ticks me off is the flippant equation of Zen and yoga in the lede. Author and editor have done their readers no favors, and should both be embarrassed.

yes. that made my toes curl. everything zen? i don't think so.

it read like one of those pat little carrie bradshaw quips.

ALRIGHT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/fashion/06noticed.html

"HEY LADY, GIVE ME THE LESBIAN"

"aren't you 13?"

"-_-"

that's a fun article but I don't think it's about the ruling class?

it mentions a barber cutting a child's hair for $175 -- i think it's about the ruling class

article is worth it for this:

“It’s kind of frustrating sometimes. I’m trying to skateboard and they want to touch my hair.”

to back up for a second though, basically if you find yourself writing this sentence:

Yoga is definitely big business these days.

you just need to quit, go back to school for something else. retrain. move to another country, i don't give a shit, but stop writing newspaper articles.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/05/06/business/20100506-rebound-span/20100506-rebound-span-articleLarge-v2.jpg

Oh god that is some sweet, sweet stock photography.

haha i can only imagine the tag cloud that accompanies that photo

blackberry hobo bindle well-dressed man in suit good-looking businessman phone professional stubble stick unemployed

haha i can only imagine the tag cloud that accompanies that photo

― max, Thursday, May 6, 2010 4:23 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hahaha

the bieber cut is the haircut of savages imo, anyone who's been in high school the past 5 years can tell u

remember that mtv reality football show where all those confused dudes on the football team had this cut?

http://wadeonbirmingham.smugmug.com/photos/96834104-O.jpg

bama bangs

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/garden/06kenny.html?pagewanted=1

“I used to be really afraid to fly, Mr. White says. “My palms would sweat for days, thinking about it. After I made my first record, in 2001, my fear was half of what it used to be, and I think it was because I accomplished some of the things I wanted to do. I think you’re only fearful of dying if you haven’t lived.”

Corndog! This guy sounds like such a tool.

ok this is not from NYT, but definitely agonies of ruling class: squatters with advanced degrees (found in salon's irritating "pinched" recession stories column)

"This is definitely one of the nicest places I've squatted," said Pete, a baby-faced 25-year-old who declined to give his last name because he faces charges for civil disobedience. His fellow squatter, Rob Freeman, 34, a former anthropology professor at the University of Florida with thick black-rimmed glasses and elfin features, agreed. "This place is a real find," he said.

http://www.salon.com/life/pinched/index.html?story=/mwt/pinched/2010/05/12/squatters

they're planning on using a black bucket on the second floor as their toilet fyi

"liz, i claim squatter's rights"

while we're posting NYT articles I need to repost this one from ned

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexa-von-tobel/financial-challenge-go-a_b_566492.html

*not posting

looks like they realized how retarded that was and took it down?

Hahah that wouldn't surprise me at all.

haha... well here's a cache

this woman basically needs to die

Alexa von Tobel is the Founder and CEO of LearnVest. Alexa received an A.B. in Psychology Honors with a citation in Romance Languages and Literature at Harvard College. She was awarded Magna Cum Laude Plus for Harvard’s first ever senior thesis on Bhutan. Upon graduation, she worked as a trader at Morgan Stanley in New York in their Global Proprietary Credit Group. Alexa went on to become the Head of Business Development at Drop.io, a technology focused-start up, backed by RRE ventures and DFJ Gotham Ventures. In the fall of 2008, Alexa enrolled in Harvard Business School. When LearnVest received national recognition and was selected as an Astia 2008-2009 company, she took a leave of absence from Harvard Business School in order to launch LearnVest. The concept of LearnVest came to her when she realized she was graduating from Harvard College without ever having taken a single class on the topic of personal finance. In 2009, LearnVest raised $1.1 million in seed funding and was selected as a TechCrunch50 Company for 2009. Despite the recession, Alexa was able to get LearnVest off the ground and in April of 2010, LearnVest raised $4.5 million from Accel Venture Partners, the same investors in Facebook, Etsy, Kayak, Groupon, and more.

The concept of LearnVest came to her when she realized she was graduating from Harvard College without ever having taken a single class on the topic of personal finance.

nice

from the LearnVest comments:

I go to town once every 1-2 weeks to do all shopping. The other days I spend no money, although I have a tendency to give modest donations online, so I do spend some on those days.

Since town's an hour away, there's no sense in going back for that thing you forgot. You learn to plan ahead and do without when you fail. You make lists, even of obvious things.

I outright own my property, and hand-built my house from alternative recycled materials (papercrete) paying as I went. No mortgage, no rent, no debt. I live on a solar system. I harvest rainwater and grow some of my own food. I have satellite connections. My fixed monthly expenses (food, gas, insurance, phone, net) amount to under $1000/month. I live very well.

This is almost more annoying than the article itself. "I'm a desert hermit. My life is ideal, I can't believe all you suckers who don't want to live an hour from your nearest neighbor haven't caught on yet."

What would be it like to go a day without spending any money? How would I get from A to B? What about food? Turns out, a day of living expense free is very easy to do.

actually kill yourself

A self-proclaimed female A.J. Jacobs

go step in front of a train

I knew I had a coffee maker and some Holder's House Blend coffee in my cupboard somewhere so it was about time I tried it out. Honestly, the coffee wasn't so bad. I was so used to my morning corner-coffee shop routine that I forgot how much I enjoyed a simple cup of joe in my apartment before I left for work.

take this pot of coffee and pour it on your face