it’s gonna SNOW (maybe) here on tuesday night. i’m about as excited as the chirrens. last time we had a dusting was 19 years ago and the last time we had an accumulation was in december of 1989.
snow. :)
2.
Mike E
‘Morning…a query to the B-J hive mind: what eliminates fresh paint fumes? My new apartment is pretty noxious, and I read that bowls of white vinegar and/or onion slices in cold water and/or just plain cut onions are effective in absorbing this. Also, fabreze candles and/or plain candles, too. Any advice?
3.
Ben Franklin
But this time it was different, as he told Money Box: “When we presented them with the withdrawal slip, they declined to give us the money because we could not provide them with a satisfactory explanation for what the money was for. They wanted a letter from the person involved.”
@Mike E: Dunno about the onion thing, but I don’t think vinegar will work unless applied directly (and the smell probably isn’t much of an improvement). Me, I’d try large open boxes of baking soda, strategically placed around the apartment, and bowls of cut limes. Baking soda and limes are a proven remedy for removing odors from objects – and if all else fails, at least you can crack open the booze, add the limes, and drink to forget the smell.
@Mike E: I don’t mean this to sound flippant, cause I don’t mean it that way. But open your windows. Sure I get this is January, but dress in layers for a day or so and you will find the “fresh” paint smell will go away.
@Mike E: What kind of paint? If it’s plain ol’ latex it’ll fade on its own after a couple of days. Oil is more offensive, but it’s hard to get anymore so I doubt you have that problem.
9.
BudP
Friend with photoshop skills made this at my request.
10.
WaterGirl
@Ben Franklin: My money would not be at that bank for very long.
11.
Ben Franklin
The crisis of confidence cascades. A lot of this is momentum from ACA rollout, but there is a greater longer-term malaise from the voter who is disappointed the leaders he/she has chosen by remote-control has not magically transformed the political landscape in spite of the voter’s supreme sacrifice of showing up at the polls bi-annually. Push-button democracy should work better, in their estimation.
@Poopyman: It’s industry standard flat off-white apartment paint for walls, shelves and trim. Eye watering. Can’t tell if it’s an oil base but I’m guessing latex; mebbe they used an anti-mold/fungal additive? I do plan to air out that beeyotch all this week.
13.
Villago Delenda Est
But Eric Leenders, head of retail at the British Bankers Association, said banks were sensible to ask questions of their customers: “I can understand it’s frustrating for customers. But if you are making the occasional large cash withdrawal, the bank wants to make sure it’s the right way to make the payment.”
Leenders, Lennders
Leenders of the BBA
Leenders, Leenders
Leenders of the BB Leenders of the BB Leenders of the BBA!
It’s a man’s life in the British Bankers Association!
@Ben Franklin:
It certainly seems highhanded of HSBC to pry into customers’ personal business by demanding written explanations for large withdrawals. They already have the same obligation as other banks everywhere to report to bank regulators any unusually large transactions (although I don’t know the threshold amount in Britain). I see no need to impose additional and onerous requirements on customers. One would think that HSBC, perhaps the world’s largest retail bank, would know better.
That bank, no.
That said, a lot of US banks do ask questions of people who withdraw large sums of cash and that don’t have a history of doing so.
Especially older people, who may be victims of some kind of fraud.
Certainly you express a reasonable perspective on business. But what they proscribe is based on survival instincts. Bank runs are inherently dangerous for Banking.
Asking may be ok in certain circumstances. Refusing is a whole other ball of wax.
20.
Comrade Jake
I made it through about five minutes surfing the Sunday morning talking-heads show this AM before turning the teevee off. I’m not sure it’s possible to overstate just how awful they are. I guess my mistake is assuming they might have something worth discussing this week.
21.
Joel
@Mike E: Lots and lots of ventilation. That’s pretty much it.
22.
Glocksman
Since this is another open thread.
Anyone interested in photo editing/special effects should jump on this offer.
Locally we’ve had more than one would-be victim of a home improvement scam be saved because the teller called police after asking the questions and the answers fit a scam profile.
They didn’t refuse to give the money over, but asked the people involved if they’d mind talking to the police.
24.
Amir Khalid
@Ben Franklin:
Huh? This has nothing to do with any run on HSBC. Those withdrawals were being made sought by people taking care of their regular financial business.
25.
Ignaz Playel
@Ben Franklin: Yep. That seems to be what they’re afraid of. 5,000 pounds is not actually that much money to withdraw. And I’m certain that a large business client of the bank isn’t having to supply that information to pay it’s bills. It’s as if they’ve changed their retail savings accounts to time deposits without telling their customers.
26.
PsiFighter37
This has to be the coldest winter I’ve experienced in my ~20 years or so living in the NYC area. If this becomes the new normal, I may follow through on my occasional desire to move to a more temperate locale (namely SF). Wind chills in single digits during the day? No thanks.
A little Googling brought up this interesting story about JP Morgan doing something similar, but in that case, the motive was much more clear: JPM wants customers to switch to higher-level accounts (with an accompanying hike in fees, of course) in order to move larger amounts of money around.
Not sure what to say about Ben’s goldbug link to Zero Hedge, except that I think his tinfoil hat needs a few extra layers added to it.
No disagreement here. The new consumer protection laws cut off some of the banks’ more profitable revenue streams in late fees, account fees, etc., so it was probably inevitable that they would try to make up the money elsewhere.
33.
srv
Ted Cruz says this morning that he doesn’t understand why people don’t hold Obama responsible for the Gov’t shutdown, and he should use the SotU address to apologize.
“I think it was a mistake that President Obama and the Democrats shut the government down this fall,”
..
“I didn’t threaten to shut down the government the last time,” Cruz said. “I don’t think we should ever shut down the government.”
34.
srv
@PsiFighter37: You will need to bring heaps of money to SF if you’re under rent control in NYC.
@Mike E: Nothing except for using a zero-VOC paint like Sherwin-Williams’ Harmony. Open the windows and set up fans, and it’ll be gone in a few hours.
37.
Ignaz Playel
@srv: Psi is in his 20s and unless he’s living with his parents, the chances of him having rent stabilized/controlled/a widowed landlady who just wants him lving upstairs in that illegal three for safety reasons, are very, very tiny.
38.
piratedan
@srv: and what is galling, the stenographer’s pool that reported his statement most likely didn’t publish anything else to the contrary indicating that Sen. Cruz is a lying hypocrite and was personally responsible for forcing the teahadi pressure that Boehner capitulated to.
39.
PsiFighter37
@srv: You have no idea how much I wish I had a rent-controlled apartment, but I don’t think I’m old enough to get that kind of luck. My apartment building got sold to a hedge fund that is going to convert it into a condo. They are offering to sell it to me (exclusively!) for $1.9 million. Yes, a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment for north of $2700/square foot.
The real estate market in Manhattan is stupid right now. At least I signed a 2-year lease last time around, so I don’t have to contemplate where to move for another 18 months.
The smell comes from solvents in acrylic & the oils in oil paint. You can make the smell with all kinds of crap but the only thing I found that gets rid of them is lighting candles. I think the flame burns up those other things in the air.
opening windows works but that would cause a different set of problems around here! Good luck
I read a thing about why those Nigerian scam letters are so poorly written and so obviously fake. Its not as you would expect that the author is struggling with the language its that the want to quickly filter out people bright enough to see through the scam so they do’t waste time on people who will catch on half-way through.
Cruz & company are apparently using the same technique. Put out statements that only people stupid enough to fleece will believe and you eliminate those you can’t con. We are plumbing the depths of how really, truely, deeply, stupid the American voter is.
44.
Pogonip
@Ben Franklin: If I recall correctly, in the U.S. the bank has to inform Big Brother if you make a large transaction. It’s to keep us safe. (I haven’t asked to be kept safe, but I’m under this silly rule anyway.)
45.
srv
@PsiFighter37: This could be yours, and you’d be under rent control probably:
Non-smoking building and unit
Wonderful natural light with lots of windows
Two indoor only cats neutered and spayed
Coin Op Laundry on the premises
So, wait, does the apartment allow indoor cats that are neutered/spayed, or does it provide cats for you? I am intrigued.
48.
Felonius Monk
@srv: Ted Cruz (R – Canada) is very adept at blowing smoke out of his ass, even on Sunday morning.
49.
trollhattan
Love Aimee Mann, glad to know she’s recording. Also, too, read recently Jenny Lewis has recorded an album now in mastering. Hopes it will be out mid-year.
More high temperature records being set here, so cannot comment on snow nor anything precipitation-related. We’re so far off the charts we need to buy bigger graph paper.
If I wasn’t tied to my current location I’d take a hard look at Detroit. It sucks now but the give-away real estate prices are a sina qua non for a dramatic economic rebound in 20 years or so.
52.
srv
@Mnemosyne: You can have cats or street kids from Haight and a google bus with a masseuse.
53.
Suffern ACE
@Anoniminous: same could be said for Buffalo or Syracuse and no one is trying to steal their art collections.
It doesn’t all suck and the cost of living is dirt cheap. We live 10 miles away, which might as well be a thousand for the difference in real estate costs.
That said, I know 3 people who own homes in the city and two of them are trying to sell. Want a 10 BR 6,500 sq ft 1910 mansion in Indian Village for the cost of an efficiency in the Bronx? You can get that.
I’m writing. Have to finish a project. Then in the am I’m off to Omaha for an unknown span of time. Detroit weather is sucking but the forecast HIGH for Omaha tomorrow is zero. The low is -18.
non sequitur but I need to ask:
Anybody watch the NHL game held at Dodger Stadium last night? I was busy watch a good hockey game but wondered how it went & what the feeling of it was like.
It doesn’t all suck and the cost of living is dirt cheap.
Yup. And those two facts combined mean the city is ready for renewal as people find properties at the edge of non-suck, buy them, fix them up, and expanding the totality of non-suck. Places like Detroit, Buffalo, and Syracuse are going to be the laboratories for the next generation of goods and services production … and the jobs those create. The business Model(s) for, e.g., 3D printing, have yet to be discovered which means these businesses are highly risky thus will have high rates of failure. Lowering rental/ownership (Fixed) costs for business and employees lowers initial capital need and allows the company to put a higher percentage of raised capital into the business — which has all kinds of advantages.
59.
Schlemizel
OMG – I think I killed BJ! Its odd to see that big a gap in comments in the middle of the day. I was worried there for a moment.
Detroit is still sorting itself out. A lot of the housing stock is just gone or will never be occupied again. The city covers a huge area and has high infrastructure costs compared to other cities. Those are negatives.
OTOH, everyone who’s still there pretty much intends to fight it out. The city has 700,000 people. The local area has another 1.5M people. All told, the skills and experience are broad and deep. If it’s possible to make something, we can make it here.
61.
geg6
I am so fucking sick of cold and snow, I could just scream. It was 11F this morning when I ran to the grocery store for a few things. And now it has decided to snow some more. Again. We’ve gotten about 6 or 7 inches since early yesterday. And that 11F is going to look balmy on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday when the highs are going to be in negative digits. I thought I lived in Western PA and not Minnesota. Fuck. Local forecast says no temp moderation until next weekend when we’ll finally crack 20F. If their models are right, that is.
In good news, the pork is in the slow cooker with a nice rub, to be pulled later and then mixed with a chipotle, tomato and adobo bbq sauce. I’m doing mac (actually, penne) and cheese thickened with cauliflower rather than a roux and a Napa slaw with radishes and celery and a buttermilk dressing. The Grammys are on tonight and it is both my and my John’s favorite awards show because music rocks. Cheesecake for dessert, good music and a nice Gewurztraminer. If only I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow, I could enjoy it all, even the snow and cold, mainly because I wouldn’t have to go out in it.
@Anoniminous: I like the cut of your jib but I doubt this is really true, or not immiediatly. Rent is only one of the things startups need to care about in terms of capital costs. Infrastructure, a working city, a dependable trained work force are all important too–to get people to move into the city from outside you need to have everything in place from the get go to attract workers with families so you have to have excellent schools or nearby top quality affordable private schools. If thats the kind of workers you are attracting then, by definition, they aren’t resettling the burned out core of an inner city. If you are relying on local labor and not planning on improving their working/living conditions then you aren’t really revitalizing the city, you are just relying on low cost land/labor to essentially outsource your project from one high cost area to a low cost area like moving something overseas or to the ununionized south.
I mean, I like your idea but do you really think its going to work?
64.
Ash Can
@Schlemizel: I saw some of it. At the end of the first period they were interviewing a Ducks player on his way to his locker room and he mentioned that the ice was a bit “sticky.” I didn’t watch the third period, but I can’t imagine the ice got any better. It seemed like a decent game, though. The strangest thing was seeing an outdoor ice rink surrounded by green grass. That ain’t natural.
Now, an outdoor hockey game at that big-ass stadium in Ann Arbor, with wind chills and a snow storm and everyone bundled up — that’s more like it. :)
There is no doubt in my mind Detroit is set up to make a come-back. Everything needed is present. All it takes is the willingness to deal with the realities, e.g., the automotive industry is never going to return as it was, and grab the opportunities.
I wish I was that optimistic, but it’s pretty complex. The city has huge problems, for instance infrastructure costs of a city of 2M serving only 700,000 taxpayers. The school system is terrible. The last mayor is in prison and he wasn’t the only crook.
Detroit will always be there, and it will be something but what it will end up being remains to be seen.
Not going to happen immediately. I’m in a 20 to 50 years time frame.
Even Silicon Valley, as The Example, didn’t happen over night. It took 20 years from the time Stanford University provost Frederick Terman started pushing professors and graduate students to go out and start businesses to turn the valley from hundreds of square miles of apricot groves into a high-tech development and business hub. And part of the reason it happened is the Valley was able to attract tens of thousands of trained engineers from all over the country; California didn’t pay to educate those people, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, & etc. paid to educate them. Also, Silicon Valley “incubated” on military contracts. The CW it did it by Free Market bootstrapping is a bunch of bullshit. Also, Silicon Valley – as we know it – happened because it was a low-cost area compared to San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angles at the time the microcomputer became technically possible.
I am only saying Detroit has the basis conditions necessary to re-group and re-develop. I am not saying it WILL happen.
68.
Elizabelle
Really interesting discussion on Detroit. Glad to see it.
She takes with her a fetus at 23 weeks of development, with grave abnormalities. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth had forced her to remain on life support these past 8 weeks, on a misreading of Texas law that ignores a woman’s advance directive, when pregnant.
Rest in peace, and may Erik Munoz and Marlise’s parents and loved ones have peace in which to grieve. They were courageous in fighting for her rights, and their own.
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tybee
it’s gonna SNOW (maybe) here on tuesday night. i’m about as excited as the chirrens. last time we had a dusting was 19 years ago and the last time we had an accumulation was in december of 1989.
snow. :)
Mike E
‘Morning…a query to the B-J hive mind: what eliminates fresh paint fumes? My new apartment is pretty noxious, and I read that bowls of white vinegar and/or onion slices in cold water and/or just plain cut onions are effective in absorbing this. Also, fabreze candles and/or plain candles, too. Any advice?
Ben Franklin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25861717
I need an affadavit to get my money?
Aji
@Mike E: Dunno about the onion thing, but I don’t think vinegar will work unless applied directly (and the smell probably isn’t much of an improvement). Me, I’d try large open boxes of baking soda, strategically placed around the apartment, and bowls of cut limes. Baking soda and limes are a proven remedy for removing odors from objects – and if all else fails, at least you can crack open the booze, add the limes, and drink to forget the smell.
Mike E
@Ben Franklin: Your check is in the mail!
Tommy
@Mike E: I don’t mean this to sound flippant, cause I don’t mean it that way. But open your windows. Sure I get this is January, but dress in layers for a day or so and you will find the “fresh” paint smell will go away.
Ben Franklin
@Mike E:
Heh..postage due.
Poopyman
@Mike E: What kind of paint? If it’s plain ol’ latex it’ll fade on its own after a couple of days. Oil is more offensive, but it’s hard to get anymore so I doubt you have that problem.
BudP
Friend with photoshop skills made this at my request.
WaterGirl
@Ben Franklin: My money would not be at that bank for very long.
Ben Franklin
The crisis of confidence cascades. A lot of this is momentum from ACA rollout, but there is a greater longer-term malaise from the voter who is disappointed the leaders he/she has chosen by remote-control has not magically transformed the political landscape in spite of the voter’s supreme sacrifice of showing up at the polls bi-annually. Push-button democracy should work better, in their estimation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-finds-little-faith-in-nations-leaders/2014/01/25/a94d69c4-8534-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html
Mike E
@Poopyman: It’s industry standard flat off-white apartment paint for walls, shelves and trim. Eye watering. Can’t tell if it’s an oil base but I’m guessing latex; mebbe they used an anti-mold/fungal additive? I do plan to air out that beeyotch all this week.
Villago Delenda Est
Leenders, Lennders
Leenders of the BBA
Leenders, Leenders
Leenders of the BB Leenders of the BB Leenders of the BBA!
It’s a man’s life in the British Bankers Association!
Ben Franklin
@WaterGirl:
I wish it were limited to the EU.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-25/guest-post-big-reset-part-2
Amir Khalid
@Ben Franklin:
It certainly seems highhanded of HSBC to pry into customers’ personal business by demanding written explanations for large withdrawals. They already have the same obligation as other banks everywhere to report to bank regulators any unusually large transactions (although I don’t know the threshold amount in Britain). I see no need to impose additional and onerous requirements on customers. One would think that HSBC, perhaps the world’s largest retail bank, would know better.
Glocksman
@WaterGirl:
That bank, no.
That said, a lot of US banks do ask questions of people who withdraw large sums of cash and that don’t have a history of doing so.
Especially older people, who may be victims of some kind of fraud.
Ben Franklin
@Amir Khalid:
Certainly you express a reasonable perspective on business. But what they proscribe is based on survival instincts. Bank runs are inherently dangerous for Banking.
Bob
Ms Mann on Portlandia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIQcPUh6te0
Baud
@Glocksman:
Asking may be ok in certain circumstances. Refusing is a whole other ball of wax.
Comrade Jake
I made it through about five minutes surfing the Sunday morning talking-heads show this AM before turning the teevee off. I’m not sure it’s possible to overstate just how awful they are. I guess my mistake is assuming they might have something worth discussing this week.
Joel
@Mike E: Lots and lots of ventilation. That’s pretty much it.
Glocksman
Since this is another open thread.
Anyone interested in photo editing/special effects should jump on this offer.
Perfect Effects 8 Premium Edition for free.
I’ve played with it a bit, and it’s pretty powerful.
That said, it does have pretty hefty system requirements:
System Requirements.
Glocksman
@Baud:
True.
Locally we’ve had more than one would-be victim of a home improvement scam be saved because the teller called police after asking the questions and the answers fit a scam profile.
They didn’t refuse to give the money over, but asked the people involved if they’d mind talking to the police.
Amir Khalid
@Ben Franklin:
Huh? This has nothing to do with any run on HSBC. Those withdrawals were being
madesought by people taking care of their regular financial business.Ignaz Playel
@Ben Franklin: Yep. That seems to be what they’re afraid of. 5,000 pounds is not actually that much money to withdraw. And I’m certain that a large business client of the bank isn’t having to supply that information to pay it’s bills. It’s as if they’ve changed their retail savings accounts to time deposits without telling their customers.
PsiFighter37
This has to be the coldest winter I’ve experienced in my ~20 years or so living in the NYC area. If this becomes the new normal, I may follow through on my occasional desire to move to a more temperate locale (namely SF). Wind chills in single digits during the day? No thanks.
Ben Franklin
@PsiFighter37:
Don’t forget Samuel Clemons. “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” Just sayin’
Ignaz Playel
@PsiFighter37: What are you planning to drink when you get to San Francisco?. At least our snow will melt so we can shower for another year.
Mnemosyne
@Ignaz Playel:
A little Googling brought up this interesting story about JP Morgan doing something similar, but in that case, the motive was much more clear: JPM wants customers to switch to higher-level accounts (with an accompanying hike in fees, of course) in order to move larger amounts of money around.
Not sure what to say about Ben’s goldbug link to Zero Hedge, except that I think his tinfoil hat needs a few extra layers added to it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne:
We really need to do something about the parasitical scum that run our banking industry.
Mnemosyne
@Glocksman:
Also, sums over $10,000 are required to be reported to the federal government, and have been since 1986. It’s an anti-money laundering measure.
Mnemosyne
@Villago Delenda Est:
No disagreement here. The new consumer protection laws cut off some of the banks’ more profitable revenue streams in late fees, account fees, etc., so it was probably inevitable that they would try to make up the money elsewhere.
srv
Ted Cruz says this morning that he doesn’t understand why people don’t hold Obama responsible for the Gov’t shutdown, and he should use the SotU address to apologize.
srv
@PsiFighter37: You will need to bring heaps of money to SF if you’re under rent control in NYC.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv:
Ted Cruz is…
How shall I say this?
A fuckwit.
Suzanne
@Mike E: Nothing except for using a zero-VOC paint like Sherwin-Williams’ Harmony. Open the windows and set up fans, and it’ll be gone in a few hours.
Ignaz Playel
@srv: Psi is in his 20s and unless he’s living with his parents, the chances of him having rent stabilized/controlled/a widowed landlady who just wants him lving upstairs in that illegal three for safety reasons, are very, very tiny.
piratedan
@srv: and what is galling, the stenographer’s pool that reported his statement most likely didn’t publish anything else to the contrary indicating that Sen. Cruz is a lying hypocrite and was personally responsible for forcing the teahadi pressure that Boehner capitulated to.
PsiFighter37
@srv: You have no idea how much I wish I had a rent-controlled apartment, but I don’t think I’m old enough to get that kind of luck. My apartment building got sold to a hedge fund that is going to convert it into a condo. They are offering to sell it to me (exclusively!) for $1.9 million. Yes, a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment for north of $2700/square foot.
The real estate market in Manhattan is stupid right now. At least I signed a 2-year lease last time around, so I don’t have to contemplate where to move for another 18 months.
Schlemizel
@Mike E:
The smell comes from solvents in acrylic & the oils in oil paint. You can make the smell with all kinds of crap but the only thing I found that gets rid of them is lighting candles. I think the flame burns up those other things in the air.
opening windows works but that would cause a different set of problems around here! Good luck
the Conster
@piratedan:
Unless some high profile Dem tells me that Ted is full of shit whom I can directly quote, that isn’t my job.
/David Gregory’s hairdo
Anoniminous
@Mike E:
Need to get those chemicals out. Open windows and stick a box fan in one to vent the fumes out. The only thing your list does is mask the problem.
Schlemizel
@srv:
I read a thing about why those Nigerian scam letters are so poorly written and so obviously fake. Its not as you would expect that the author is struggling with the language its that the want to quickly filter out people bright enough to see through the scam so they do’t waste time on people who will catch on half-way through.
Cruz & company are apparently using the same technique. Put out statements that only people stupid enough to fleece will believe and you eliminate those you can’t con. We are plumbing the depths of how really, truely, deeply, stupid the American voter is.
Pogonip
@Ben Franklin: If I recall correctly, in the U.S. the bank has to inform Big Brother if you make a large transaction. It’s to keep us safe. (I haven’t asked to be kept safe, but I’m under this silly rule anyway.)
srv
@PsiFighter37: This could be yours, and you’d be under rent control probably:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/4304956242.html
shelly
Sweet Jesus, is the daytime temps ever gonna get above freezing? And can we just skip the month of February and go straight to March?
Mnemosyne
@srv:
So, wait, does the apartment allow indoor cats that are neutered/spayed, or does it provide cats for you? I am intrigued.
Felonius Monk
@srv: Ted Cruz (R – Canada) is very adept at blowing smoke out of his ass, even on Sunday morning.
trollhattan
Love Aimee Mann, glad to know she’s recording. Also, too, read recently Jenny Lewis has recorded an album now in mastering. Hopes it will be out mid-year.
More high temperature records being set here, so cannot comment on snow nor anything precipitation-related. We’re so far off the charts we need to buy bigger graph paper.
trollhattan
@Mnemosyne:
From the ad: “Hot and cold running cats.”
Anoniminous
@PsiFighter37:
If I wasn’t tied to my current location I’d take a hard look at Detroit. It sucks now but the give-away real estate prices are a sina qua non for a dramatic economic rebound in 20 years or so.
srv
@Mnemosyne: You can have cats or street kids from Haight and a google bus with a masseuse.
Suffern ACE
@Anoniminous: same could be said for Buffalo or Syracuse and no one is trying to steal their art collections.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Anoniminous:
It doesn’t all suck and the cost of living is dirt cheap. We live 10 miles away, which might as well be a thousand for the difference in real estate costs.
That said, I know 3 people who own homes in the city and two of them are trying to sell. Want a 10 BR 6,500 sq ft 1910 mansion in Indian Village for the cost of an efficiency in the Bronx? You can get that.
I’m writing. Have to finish a project. Then in the am I’m off to Omaha for an unknown span of time. Detroit weather is sucking but the forecast HIGH for Omaha tomorrow is zero. The low is -18.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Ben Franklin:
Thanks for the fucking goldbug link. Can you show me Ron Paul’s newsletter archive as well?
Ben Franklin
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
You and memo should get a room, lowjam.
Schlemizel
non sequitur but I need to ask:
Anybody watch the NHL game held at Dodger Stadium last night? I was busy watch a good hockey game but wondered how it went & what the feeling of it was like.
Anoniminous
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Yup. And those two facts combined mean the city is ready for renewal as people find properties at the edge of non-suck, buy them, fix them up, and expanding the totality of non-suck. Places like Detroit, Buffalo, and Syracuse are going to be the laboratories for the next generation of goods and services production … and the jobs those create. The business Model(s) for, e.g., 3D printing, have yet to be discovered which means these businesses are highly risky thus will have high rates of failure. Lowering rental/ownership (Fixed) costs for business and employees lowers initial capital need and allows the company to put a higher percentage of raised capital into the business — which has all kinds of advantages.
Schlemizel
OMG – I think I killed BJ! Its odd to see that big a gap in comments in the middle of the day. I was worried there for a moment.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Anoniminous:
Detroit is still sorting itself out. A lot of the housing stock is just gone or will never be occupied again. The city covers a huge area and has high infrastructure costs compared to other cities. Those are negatives.
OTOH, everyone who’s still there pretty much intends to fight it out. The city has 700,000 people. The local area has another 1.5M people. All told, the skills and experience are broad and deep. If it’s possible to make something, we can make it here.
geg6
I am so fucking sick of cold and snow, I could just scream. It was 11F this morning when I ran to the grocery store for a few things. And now it has decided to snow some more. Again. We’ve gotten about 6 or 7 inches since early yesterday. And that 11F is going to look balmy on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday when the highs are going to be in negative digits. I thought I lived in Western PA and not Minnesota. Fuck. Local forecast says no temp moderation until next weekend when we’ll finally crack 20F. If their models are right, that is.
In good news, the pork is in the slow cooker with a nice rub, to be pulled later and then mixed with a chipotle, tomato and adobo bbq sauce. I’m doing mac (actually, penne) and cheese thickened with cauliflower rather than a roux and a Napa slaw with radishes and celery and a buttermilk dressing. The Grammys are on tonight and it is both my and my John’s favorite awards show because music rocks. Cheesecake for dessert, good music and a nice Gewurztraminer. If only I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow, I could enjoy it all, even the snow and cold, mainly because I wouldn’t have to go out in it.
aimai
@Ignaz Playel: Isn’t that the totally believable plot of White Collar?
aimai
@Anoniminous: I like the cut of your jib but I doubt this is really true, or not immiediatly. Rent is only one of the things startups need to care about in terms of capital costs. Infrastructure, a working city, a dependable trained work force are all important too–to get people to move into the city from outside you need to have everything in place from the get go to attract workers with families so you have to have excellent schools or nearby top quality affordable private schools. If thats the kind of workers you are attracting then, by definition, they aren’t resettling the burned out core of an inner city. If you are relying on local labor and not planning on improving their working/living conditions then you aren’t really revitalizing the city, you are just relying on low cost land/labor to essentially outsource your project from one high cost area to a low cost area like moving something overseas or to the ununionized south.
I mean, I like your idea but do you really think its going to work?
Ash Can
@Schlemizel: I saw some of it. At the end of the first period they were interviewing a Ducks player on his way to his locker room and he mentioned that the ice was a bit “sticky.” I didn’t watch the third period, but I can’t imagine the ice got any better. It seemed like a decent game, though. The strangest thing was seeing an outdoor ice rink surrounded by green grass. That ain’t natural.
Now, an outdoor hockey game at that big-ass stadium in Ann Arbor, with wind chills and a snow storm and everyone bundled up — that’s more like it. :)
Anoniminous
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
There is no doubt in my mind Detroit is set up to make a come-back. Everything needed is present. All it takes is the willingness to deal with the realities, e.g., the automotive industry is never going to return as it was, and grab the opportunities.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Anoniminous:
I wish I was that optimistic, but it’s pretty complex. The city has huge problems, for instance infrastructure costs of a city of 2M serving only 700,000 taxpayers. The school system is terrible. The last mayor is in prison and he wasn’t the only crook.
Detroit will always be there, and it will be something but what it will end up being remains to be seen.
Anoniminous
@aimai:
Very quickly, as I have to go.
Not going to happen immediately. I’m in a 20 to 50 years time frame.
Even Silicon Valley, as The Example, didn’t happen over night. It took 20 years from the time Stanford University provost Frederick Terman started pushing professors and graduate students to go out and start businesses to turn the valley from hundreds of square miles of apricot groves into a high-tech development and business hub. And part of the reason it happened is the Valley was able to attract tens of thousands of trained engineers from all over the country; California didn’t pay to educate those people, Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, & etc. paid to educate them. Also, Silicon Valley “incubated” on military contracts. The CW it did it by Free Market bootstrapping is a bunch of bullshit. Also, Silicon Valley – as we know it – happened because it was a low-cost area compared to San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angles at the time the microcomputer became technically possible.
I am only saying Detroit has the basis conditions necessary to re-group and re-develop. I am not saying it WILL happen.
Elizabelle
Really interesting discussion on Detroit. Glad to see it.
In other news, that Texas hospital said “uncle.”
They will not fight Friday’s judge’s ruling that Marlise Munoz is dead, legally and medically, and that her family has the right to have her removed from life support.
She takes with her a fetus at 23 weeks of development, with grave abnormalities. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth had forced her to remain on life support these past 8 weeks, on a misreading of Texas law that ignores a woman’s advance directive, when pregnant.
Rest in peace, and may Erik Munoz and Marlise’s parents and loved ones have peace in which to grieve. They were courageous in fighting for her rights, and their own.