This deserves to be read.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

ursus arctos wrote: WOM, it's almost certainly less than that in terms of square area, though considerably more in terms of population. And there is some evidence that it is increasing for the first time ever.

I was looking at a Times article that says there are only 6 US urban centres with the density to support true car-free living. And the Wiki page on US mass transit systems shows shockingly few subways.

Happy 30,000, by the way.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

Reed John wrote: Maybe try something like this?

Hang some bells and a cold box on that and he could earn his way to work.

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

Now we are talking.

I used to say that only New York, Boston and San Francisco (aka the three US cities I've lived in for a meaningful period) had sufficient densities and transport options, but that is overly restrictive. Small towns can actually work, as long as they haven't been Wal-marted, as can denser bits of cities that have given themselves over to sprawl.

On the other hand, there are significant parts of New York (virtually all of Staten Island, for instance), where it may not be impossible to live without a car, but it is damn inconvenient.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

Frankly, I wouldn't want to not have a car. I love cars, and I love driving.

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

I doubt the second part would be true if you lived where we do.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

The low- to mid-level agoraphobia pretty much ensures that's never going to happen.

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

Whereas I am basically the opposite, which is another reason why I'd have difficulty with a remote location anything like full time.

BTW, it appears that Obama may be attending a fundraiser in our old building tonight. Locals are going apeshit over traffic and parking (as they always do).

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

Your old residence or your old office? What's he raising funds for? General Dem coffers?

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

Former residence.

Most likely it is for the Democratic National Committee or the current version of his PAC. There aren't any significant local races this year, and it isn't as if Democratic candidates on the Upper West Side really need help raising money.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

I wonder if history will be kind to him. A whole n'other thread, though.

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

I'm not going to last long enough to find out.

You usually need to wait about 50 years to get a solid read on presidents.

Good on avoiding a depression, not so good on income equality, climate change or foreign policy would be my guess.

Though it is possible that he does better historically given the absolute shitshow that is the US Congress.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

I think the bar of 'hope' was set so high that he'll always be thought of as a bit of a letdown. It may not be fair, but time will tell.

[ursus arctos]

This deserves to be read.

It definitely was, though expectations of that kind tend not to influence historians after the passage of time.

And "first black president" will count for a lot in terms of history.

Then again, if people like Glenn Greenwald end up writing the history, you will see things like this

[Flynnie]

This deserves to be read.

ursus arctos wrote: Now we are talking.

I used to say that only New York, Boston and San Francisco (aka the three US cities I've lived in for a meaningful period) had sufficient densities and transport options, but that is overly restrictive. Small towns can actually work, as long as they haven't been Wal-marted, as can denser bits of cities that have given themselves over to sprawl.

On the other hand, there are significant parts of New York (virtually all of Staten Island, for instance), where it may not be impossible to live without a car, but it is damn inconvenient.

I'd probably throw Chicago and DC into that mix, given their extensive subway networks. I'm curious what the sixth is.

[ad hoc]

This deserves to be read.

Going back a page or two, my house is around 1000 square feet (or in real words, 90 square metres). We - a family of 4- live in it full time and it's easily enough.

Most apartments in Romania are the same size (from the Communist times), with a 3 room place being roughly 65 sq m (700 sq ft), and a 2 room place being about 58 (625). You got given the apartment that fitted your needs in terms of family size. Nobody really needs more than that, unless you want to store loads of things you never use

[Reed John]

This deserves to be read.

When I lived near DC, I lived - and at the end, worked - alone in 700 square feet and found it a bit confining. I own more than I absolutely need but wouldn't say I was storing loads of stuff I didn't ever use.

I'd be curious to know more about the lives of families who live that way. I suspect they spend a lot of time outside their place in other social spaces. That could be socially beneficial, but that would really suck as a teenager especially, I suspect. Teenagers want/need some quiet place to be by themselves.

Now I live in about 1900 sq feet and have some extra space that fills up with stuff that I use rarely - out of sight out of mind. That's not good, I know. But with a lot of stuff, it just seems easier to hold onto it for the few times you need it or may need it rather than the hassle of sorting out borrowing or renting.

First world problems, for sure. I want to live a simple life, and I do mostly, but I've found that so often, paradoxically, the simplest solution to a problem is to just buy the thing you need at the time - whatever that thing is - and store it and worry about it later.

All of those smug people life-hacking and living in 50 square feet and so forth seem to be putting a lot of effort - both mental and sometimes physical - into living "simple." That feels stressful to me. I've lived in small spaces and I recall that the key to not feeling boxed in was organization and stuff-management. That actually took up a lot of brain space. For me, at least.
I also found that, while living in an apartment, I wanted to fill the place with stuff I like - even if it's really worthless crap - just to make the place feel like mine instead of an anonymous white box with tan-carpet.

I have trouble throwing things away if they seem like they should have value. But ultimately, if everything were on fire, the only "thing" I'd save is my dog and the only stuff I'd really feel bad about losing would be all the artwork by my grandmother.

I should buy a pick-up truck. That would make it easier to start unloading stuff.

[Reed John]

This deserves to be read.

Not for this thread, but the headline of that Greenwald piece kinda bugs me. I'm a pacifist and yet the "empire bombs more countries in the middle east" strikes me as a lazy, simplistic, and unhelpful way to look at it even though it's technically true.

It's one of those, not-only-not-right-it's-not-even-wrong sort of things.

[caja-dglh]

This deserves to be read.

Reed - have you watched this by any chance? It is kind of enlightening, though left me with similar thoughts to you that it would drive me crazy.

That said, we lived for 3 years in about 300 square feet while in New York. It was a bedbug infestation that finally made us get the hell out.

[Reed John]

This deserves to be read.

I may look at that.

I lived in a single my last year at W&M - about 70 sq feet at most, but that doesn't really count because the bathrooms down the hall were fine and regularly cleaned by a professional and I ate at the dining halls so I didn't "live" there so much as sleep there (I actually did a lot of my school work there too, because I had my not-at-all portable 486 computer there.) These days, kids can just take there laptops anywhere and don't need so many physical books. Luxury...

The smallest space I ever really "lived" in was in my first year at BU, I lived in what I guess you'd call a bedsit. It was a 6 ft by 15 ft room and I shared the bathroom and the kitchen with the occupants of four other rooms on the floor, although most of those were bigger than mine. $300 a month in 1997. Owned by the University. Good location, but tons of cockroaches and they never turned the heat down despite lots of complaints. So in winter, to keep it tolerable - this is Boston, mind - I wrapped the radiator in sweatshirts and towels and kept the window ajar. A package of mine - a phone my dad sent after mine died (a real one, not a mobile) - got stolen out of the common area where the mail for the whole building was thrown carelessly. The kitchen had so many bugs that I just kept my food sealed in my room and only used the microwave.

That really sucked on many levels.

[linus]

This deserves to be read.

I lived in a slightly smaller room one summer in southside Berkeley in my starving student phase. I wasn't really starving though because there were a lot of good cheap food options around. I had a single bed in the corner, it was a bit challenging to get the fitted sheet on as the matress was tightly wedged between three walls.

That two-story square stone house is a very poor design, energy wise at least, with windows all around (including the northern side), its design serves the function of a watchtower well but as a living space it's far from optimal.

Tiny houses don't make much sense, except as treehouses.

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

James Stewart passed away yesterday at 73.

http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=13699

[Reed John]

This deserves to be read.

What happened with his house?

[WOM]

This deserves to be read.

It just sold to a 'famous musical couple' for @ $19 million. Maybe less.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/toronto/which-high-profile-musical-couple-now-owns-rosedales-curvy-castle-of-calculus/article31983170/

[WOM]

It's for sale again. Asking $21.5 million.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real...or-sale-again/

And here's the real estate listing, for lookie-loos.

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/2...ale-moore-park

[Hot Pepsi]

“Ms. Lindsay says the luxury segment has suffered from a lack of listings in Toronto, but recently the Rosedale market has sprung to life.”

Really stretching the definition of “suffered” there.