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

Impressed Jacob Handelsman is willing to attach his full name to that comment. I also enjoy his capitalization techniques.

oh man I have never clicked on the wedding section before. good way to make yourself feel awful

haha we should do a 'create a nyt wedding section post' thread

I actually thought about posting that article with a similar take. It's also a very superficial treatment of the subject and she pats herself on the back an awful lot for, like, noticing that there are poor people.

Still, none of that is 1/4 as bad as some of the comments. Peoples' capacity to believe that everything in life is the product of our free will and our character traits is astounding.

it's baked into our culture

really wish we would stop teaching that america is a 'meritocracy' in schools

OTM x2

yeah. the way that plays out given how segregated our schools are by class and race is particularly pernicious.

it also reinforces the invidious "poor people are poor for a REASON" line of thinking which is so utterly abhorrent

I am mostly tired of the "we can't just throw money at failing schools" canard

YES YOU CAN, DUDE

except in DC where apparently the school system is just a money black hole by its nature

that's what i mean. a lot of well-intentioned informal instruction in how to behave middle-class happens in underfunded urban schools ime. as though culture is what's keeping those kids parents poor.

xxp it's not like we ever threw money at poor schools. it would be nice to try it once before turning against it as a measure.

Ha yes. That's my stock response to "we can't throw money at a problem." Let's try once and see!

x-post

Silby, while DC's school system has its problems and has thrown and flushed money away, it still has and had less available to spend per pupil than some nearby suburban districts

hm I had the impression that it was spending close to as much per pupil as Ffx and Arlington lately, will investigate further

ugh finding a lot of hits from some presumably-awful Cato Institute thing

"they spend HOW MUCH!?"

NYC wedding pages are mostly personal mergers.

haha

curious to see if some friends' wedding ends up in the nyt

I dj'd a wedding that made the wedding page a few summers ago. It was a halloween costume party in the prospect park picnic house featuring several burlesque/performance art type performances. It was a friend from college marrying someone who worked for Henson so everyone there was a puppeteer of some sort. They even had puppets of the bride and groom.

I am mostly tired of the "we can't just throw money at failing schools" canard

YES YOU CAN, DUDE

― ilx user 'silby' (silby), Monday, September 26, 2011 1:27 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Well there's a big logical flaw in the argument. I mean yes, throwing money doesn't NECESSARILY fix anything, but that's a poor reason to not spend more or to cut. There is plenty of wasteful spending in some school systems. But the answer is probably to spend more AND spend better. Cutting budgets doesn't mean spending better.

Tax cuts huh? You can't just throw money at a family, jeez!

Cut the corporate tax rate? You can't just throw money at a failing corporation and expect them to create jobs with it! Are you daft?

tbh not even sure what sarcastic point I am trying to make now, have crossed the meta event horizon

Dowd: Killer Yoga?
Friedman: Leadership
Kristof: Raped Babies

hahaha I SAW THAT TOO and thought of this thread

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/nyregion/locker-decorations-growing-in-popularity-in-middle-schools.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&hp

I guess there's not that much agony here, but still: Barf.

This article about the food options at Occupy Wall Street seems right for this thread:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/dining/protesters-at-occupy-wall-street-eat-well.html

I wouldn't underrate the importance of food for morale at this thing!

the toggery

NYT has been quiet on this front so I turn to the food reviews

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/dining/reviews/per-se-nyc-restaurant-review.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Juvenile lol: "Per Se in its early days could be a marvel of pretension and clock-gobbling silliness. "

lol, I also did a double-take at that line

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/no-more-servants/246569/

In effect, we rent servants by the hour, and some of them are mechanical.

http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/D3/7F20B098A856F4B2922AD21CB8DC2.jpg

<3

5. Labor saving devices Servants were often standing in for things that machines now do more cheaply, and without stealing the silver.

Well then.

The Lost Asimov Directive there

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.

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

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.

seeing d'Amore without wine would be completely missing the point of course.

hey, if i could, or had someone who would take me, would love to dine at per se, don't see that as that evil
was, and have been, drooling ever since reading that piece

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/fashion/nose-jobs-arent-for-everyone-the-mirror.html?_r=1

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"

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.”

Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
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Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner