May 25, 2014

Real Estate Goes Global

We’re all familiar with the stories of Russian oligarchs buying up mansions in London, but this is a much broader phenomenon. A torrent of capital from wealthy people in emerging markets—from China, above all, but also from Latin America, Russia, and the Middle East—has flowed into the real-estate markets of big cities in other countries, driving up prices and causing a luxury-construction boom. ... The globalization of real estate upends some of our basic assumptions about housing prices. We expect them to reflect local fundamentals—above all, how much people earn. In a truly global market, that may not be the case.
James Surowiecki writing in the New Yorker on the rise of a truly global market in real estate.
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear at 11:18 PM PST - 87 comments

2014 European Election Results - No Left Turn at Albuquerque

The results are in for the 2014 elections. While the EPP and S&D retain the lion's share of the seats, the shocking results have been in Britain, where the UKIP have scooped up a plurailty with 27.5% of the vote and in France, where the similarly veined far-right National Front came in first. The two combined would present a 48 seat anti-EU block within the European Parliament and when figured with the EFD's other gains (of which National Front are not currently a part of) a total of 61 eurosceptics will be seated in total.
posted by Talez at 9:46 PM PST - 106 comments

Wojciech Jaruzelski, 1923-2014

Wojciech Jarzelski, Poland's last Communist leader, has died from complications following a stroke. [more inside]
posted by orrnyereg at 8:52 PM PST - 8 comments

Number Sense

Five reasons not to share that Common Core worksheet on Facebook [more inside]
posted by eviemath at 8:00 PM PST - 205 comments

“I thought I was in control of my own destiny,” he said dejectedly.

This is your brain while videogaming stoned.
posted by Sebmojo at 6:45 PM PST - 23 comments

"...Soon I'll find repose..."

George Harrison passed away on the 29th of November, 2001. Though a simple private ceremony was held shortly after where his ashes were scattered over the Ganges river, a more public memorial occurred at Royal Albert Hall exactly one year after his death. [more inside]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:14 PM PST - 26 comments

$(framework).stop();

Stop Writing JavaScript Frameworks! And stop using them too!
posted by blue_beetle at 6:08 PM PST - 45 comments

except of Montana

Johnny Cash Has Been Everywhere (Man) [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 3:50 PM PST - 47 comments

RIP

Knowlton Nash, former long-time host of CBC's flagship news program The National, died yesterday, aged 86. [more inside]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 2:20 PM PST - 25 comments

Possibly more exacting in detail then Andersons work itself

Last year, Saturday Night Live aired a Wes Anderson parody [previously]. This is the amount of work it took.
posted by mediocre at 2:00 PM PST - 17 comments

The Moby Dick Variations

Where does one novel end and another one begin? One day not too long ago, I was thinking about this as I considered what sort of message to send next to my little email list. I decided to do a little research. Gather just a bit of data.
[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 1:03 PM PST - 22 comments

Matthew Weiner, The Art of Screenwriting No. 4

Fourth in a series on screen writing in the Paris Review, an interview with Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men.
posted by ShooBoo at 12:05 PM PST - 3 comments

Ever wonder what "The Last Waltz" sounded like

before Robbie Roberston got his filthy paws on it and overdubbed the hell out of it? Now you can hear it, untouched, in order, as it was played. [more inside]
posted by old_growler at 12:04 PM PST - 36 comments

Either Way, You Might Get Famous!

Ever wonder if you could take down a famous rapper in a fight? Grantland offers a thoughtful analysis. "You’d likely win this fight if it managed to come off, but I’d sidestep it because let’s say you trip over Puff’s teeny-tiny teeth and fall and hit your head on the concrete and knock yourself out or whatever, he is absolutely going to celebrate by doing that Diddy Bop dance he’s done for the last 60 years. You can’t risk that. There’s no recovering from that. There’s no recovering from being the guy in the WSHH knockout Puff Daddy Diddy Bop dance video."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:51 AM PST - 29 comments

Recreational Music Destruction

Sure, you like your mp3s well enough; you just wish they would steadily collapse into a wall of distortion and white noise. Good news: The Disintegrator is here to help. [via mefi projects]
posted by cortex at 9:05 AM PST - 29 comments

"The point has come to make the decision"

US Men's National Soccer Team coach Jürgen Klinsmann on Thursday announced the final 23 man roster for the upcoming World Cup. The roster did not include Landon Donovan (NYT)). Donovan, the USMNT's all-time scoring and assists leader and widely regarded as the best ever men's American footballer, has responded: "I think if I’m being judged based solely on what happened in camp then I absolutely deserve to be going to Brazil." Klinsmann says "I just see some other players slightly ahead of him." [more inside]
posted by davidjmcgee at 9:04 AM PST - 74 comments

The problem is too many games

Indie gaming started out as games written with passion for people who embraced and loved them. Now too much of it is about churning out giant mounds of decent but undifferentiated product to be bought for pennies by people who don't give a crap either way.

It's not sustainable.
Veteran indie game developer Jeff Vogel says the indie game bubble is popping.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:38 AM PST - 87 comments

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