A Confederacy of Bachelors [NYT] Meet the brotherhood of Fortress Astoria: Danaher Dempsey, Luke Crane, Rick Brown and Shyaporn Theerakulstit, best friends and artists.
They have no children, no linear career histories, no readily disposable savings. The four men, all heterosexual, approaching 40 and never married, have lived together for 18 years, give or take a revolving guest roommate, cohabitating in spaces like an East Village walk-up, a Chelsea loft and, now, a converted office space in Queens. [more inside]
posted by modernnomad
on Aug 4, 2012 -
115 comments
The Incentive Bubble (
ungated pdf) - "The fraying of the compact of American capitalism by rising income inequality and repeated governance crises is disturbing. But misallocations of financial, real, and human capital arising from the financial-incentive bubble are much more worrisome to those concerned with the competitiveness of the American economy."
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on Apr 3, 2012 -
54 comments
Why Nations Fail -
In a nutshell: "Proximately, prosperity is generated by investment and innovation, but these are acts of faith: investors and innovators must have credible reasons to think that, if successful, they will not be
plundered by the powerful. For the polity to provide such reassurance, two conditions have to hold: power has to be centralised and the institutions of power have to be inclusive."
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on Mar 15, 2012 -
78 comments
Welcome to Vegas Punk House. Don’t break shit! Frontman, Fat Mike, of the punk band NoFX recently opened a "Punk House" available for renting while staying in Vegas. Complete with a mini golf course, 3 bedrooms (one with six bunk beds), punk flyers all over the walls, beer vending machine, and a "paltry" museum, for $400 dollars per 3 day stay, you can maintain you're punk lifestyle, albeit in luxury.
(VIDEO)
posted by Leisure_Muffin
on May 30, 2011 -
72 comments
Residents of
the Fuggerei in Augsburg pay an annual rent of just one Rheinischer Gulden, the same as in 1520. There are a few conditions: one must be poor, Catholic, an Augsburg resident for two years, and
pray thrice daily for the souls of
the Fuggers.
posted by Knappster
on Dec 26, 2008 -
11 comments
Gloria Trembicky is a bad landlord. Ever wish you knew more about your new landlord
before signing the lease? Hopefully Gloria Trembicky won't have any more unsuspecting tenants. This well-documented story of disrepair, deceit and disorder should keep any landlord-Googler away (especially with the growing contributions emailed from former tenants). Also, it provides some great Schadenfreude for those of us not renting in NYC.
posted by davebug
on Jan 17, 2006 -
66 comments
Scary calculation of the day: I spend about $750/mo. on rent in LA, and while I was checking the price range on
apartments in San Francisco, what I wanted was about $2500 per month. So in LA, I spend $9,000 per year on rent (actually it's half that, since I split it with my girlfriend), but in SF, it'd be $30,000 (!!!). For that cost, I could pay for a house in just a handful of years in any other state.
Maybe Salon is right, or
maybe they aren't.
posted by mathowie
on Mar 6, 2000 -
18 comments
