On We Must Build An Enormous McWorld In Times Square, A Xanadu Representing A McDonald's From Every Nation
Cool story, bro.
So I guess you are really into Gothamist comments.
You know, since I said this here.
1
On The Rent Is Too Damn Hilarious
Yes, well now that half of Manhattan has been downzoned to the shortest little buildings possible, as well as a good portion of Brooklyn, there simply isn't enough housing. If buildings can't go up, rents will.
0
On The Two Things You're Supposed to Read Today on Internet Culture
If content sites are earning money through subscription fees, then eliminating comments might not make much of a difference.
But assuming that a revenue model for a content site is selling ad impressions, eliminating comments means eliminating page impressions and hence ad impressions. A site that doesn't care about page impressions better have invented a new business model outside the traditional revenue from ads system or concede a portion of revenue to sites outside their own where discussions continue.
Sites where user generated comments are a burden are probably over thinking their entire system. Instead, let the internet community police messages boards, introduce better filtering options, and apply game theory to an automated comment moderation system that requires little more than computer processing power rather than a live human being.
0
On How To Write The Great American Novel
@Shaun Robinson@facebook Sure, but that also means that the culture of the MFA program is having an increasingly profound influence on serious writers and that the people in the position to judge things like the Pulitzer Prize are taking their cues from that culture. Maybe writing cannot be taught. But what can be taught is a certain type of style, certain types of expectations within a narrative. There are a number of common themes in MFA holding authors' novels, like ambiguity in narrative, intertextuality, dialogic themes, and awareness of linguistic, critical, and historical reactions to the writing.
Maybe its a chicken-egg-chicken problem. And yes, the idea of entering in debt to participate in this discourse, particularly in light of how few job positions there are available at the university level for MFA holders, is problematic to say the least. But MFA holders are rapidly forming a hegemonic control over literary culture, as evidenced by recent past Pulitzers, positions in high paying cultural media, and university systems.
0
On How To Write The Great American Novel
Despite what you think about MFA programs, the vast majority of pulitzer prize novels from the last two decades are written by authors that hold MFAs. That rate also increases, so that over the last ten years, the frequency is greater than the ten years before, suggesting that MFA programs are influencing the literary discourse as they grow in popularity.
0
On Where Do Liberals Say They'll Move Now if Obama Loses?
Actually, Spain's bankruptcy makes it a great place to run away too since they are desperate to grow their economy. What better way than to take American dollars and exchange them for European memories?
0
On How Much More Does Crossing The Holland Tunnel Cost Today?
@Lockheed Ventura The Port Authority's stated mission is regional economic development. In fact they can make community investments within 25 miles of the Statue of Liberty and often do.
The toll bridge operator oversees airports because in part the fees collected from the airports and seaports are used to offset costs in other areas like operating the PATH and investing in capital projects like the new ARC tunnel. Transportation is regional and relying on two states to form a comprehensive plan independently simply doesn't work.
Tolls don't impact working class residents. A working class resident is not paying $500 a month to park in Manhattan; a working class resident is taking mass transit subsidized by tolls, port fees, and airport fees.
Yes, the Port Authority needs to raise capital for short term funding of its current investment project, but don't blame the agency, blame the puppet masters. The cash shortage the Port Authority is experiencing now stems directly from demands made by governors of the states of New York and New Jersey. Particularly blameworthy is Governor Christie who took office three years ago and oversaw the ballooning budget of the 9/11 memorial and his insistence that he and other elected officials be able to wave their little hats on the 10th anniversary beside a gleaming new memorial.
The Port Authority is also spending money on much needed capital projects like upgrading the PATH system with new signals, longer platforms, and more rail cars. Other projects include rebuilding the Lincoln tunnel helix and extending the PATH to Newark Airport.
0
On How Much More Does Crossing The Holland Tunnel Cost Today?
Tolls also serve as a public policy position, a form of congestion pricing to limit cars in the densest part of the city and encourage and offset the cost of providing mass transit. PATH isn't self sufficient without subsidies from the Port Authority, which is to say, without collected tolls spent on maintaining the rail system that carries an average of 260,000 people per day. Imagine the cost of maintaining the tunnels and bridges with another 260,000 single occupancy vehicles, the cost of parking or the number of gridlock alert days.
Tolls are unpopular because they internalize the cost of car ownership. Most expenses are externalized. Interstate highways are maintained through federal tax dollars and the state budgets of New York and New Jersey through taxes that everyone pays regardless of how much they drive; this is an externalized cost for drivers who never see a bill itemizing the cost of paving and maintaining the road they drive on for free. A driver never thinks twice about the cost of maintaining the free roadways they are driving on but constantly begrudges mass transit for failing to be financially self sufficient.
Tolls of course also ultimately reduce costs by reducing demand for the services. The bridges and tunnels between New York and New Jersey are jammed at rush hour even with a $12 toll. But raising the cost discourages some drivers, meaning instead of spending billions for a new bridge or a new tunnel, some drivers are making their trip by mass transit or rerouting around New York City altogether. This shift in travel means that everyone benefits by reducing demand for a finite service.
1
On The Unverified
Is now a good time to stand up and admit I hate twitter almost as much as I hate buzzfeed?