Als ik het verhaal over witwassen in de Amsterdamse binnenstad hier lees, denk ik dat het hier in Berlijn zonder overdrijven tien keer zo erg is (decennia armoede, corruptie en geen enkele prioriteit bij de lokale overheid).
https://www.groene.nl/artikel/ze-zijn-hier-zo-lekker-aan-het-witwassen
A fair part of my childhood was spent in gecekondu buildings exactly as the ones depicted here.
The government has made it clear that its main purpose is not to save lives or protect the vulnerable. It exists to ensure that assets never depreciate and that wealth is never redistributed downward. Capital has never seemed so fictitious.
https://rhizome.org/editorial/2020/apr/22/notes-from-quar-daniel-keller/
Fuck Manhattan. This (Jackson Heights) is the real New York: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/27/arts/design/jackson-heights-queens-virtual-walk-tour.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
Reading this account by the former COO Francoise Brougher, I’m disappointed to learn how badly Pinterest failed at Diversity and Inclusion.
I think there was another study about psychopathy in high status car drivers but for now this is good enough.
The answers were unambiguous: self-centred men who are argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic are much more likely to own a high-status car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes.
The Zendesk story of how they built a globally distributed company is quite amazing, but there are many more like this by now.
Crucially, at street scale, on-street parking is not allowed, which opens up the streetscape for people, on foot and on bike, for conversation and activities, and yes, for moving goods and people around but as a secondary ‘enabling’ activity to the life of the street itself.
https://medium.com/slowdown-papers/18-from-lockdown-to-slowdown-tokyo-as-slowdown-city-822dc0b6f3cc
“There must be agreement on a coalition between labor and capital, whose interests are aligned in seeking taxation from landowners rather than workers or productive activity.”
Fixing the housing problem will require radical new coalitions to break existing deadlocks.
An excellent overview of the issues around Slate Star Codex without having to read a single word of the blog yourself. That’s an excellent service.