Results for “potty” 9 found
Samuelson-Stolper, writ anew
At Sansan Chicken in Long Island City, Queens, the cashier beamed a wide smile and recommended the fried chicken sandwich.
Or maybe she suggested the tonkatsu — it was hard to tell, because the internet connection from her home in the Philippines was spotty.
Romy, who declined to give her last name, is one of 12 virtual assistants greeting customers at a handful of restaurants in New York City, from halfway across the world.
The virtual hosts could be the vanguard of a rapidly changing restaurant industry, as small-business owners seek relief from rising commercial rents and high inflation. Others see a model ripe for abuse: The remote workers are paid $3 an hour, according to their management company, while the minimum wage in the city is $16.
Here is more from the NYT, via the excellent Kevin Lewis.
San Francisco fact of the day
…the city of San Francisco is upping its toilet game and is prepared to spend up to $1.7 million to build a single commode in one neighborhood plaza.
City leaders are slated to gather Wednesday afternoon at the Noe Valley Town Square to officially announce a “$1.7 Million state budget win” to build a toilet there, according to an online event schedule. The proposed facility would include just one toilet in a 150-foot space, according to a new report by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight.
The city’s Recreation and Parks Department and the Department of Public Works, which will work together to build the pricey potty, expect it will take three years to complete.
Here is the full story, via Fernand.
Can Uber make it in India?
From Farhad Manjoo at the New York Times:
India’s cellular networks can be spotty and slow, and banking, credit cards and other financial mainstays cannot be taken for granted. More than that, vast differences in education and wealth create a social dynamic between riders and drivers that cannot be smoothed over by improving an app interface.
Not only are many of Uber’s drivers here unfamiliar with smartphones, some are illiterate. Often, drivers and riders don’t speak the same language. Many drivers need financial help to purchase or lease cars, and then require continuing help to manage their finances and other details of their small businesses.
On top of all this is competition. Uber faces an aggressive and well-funded Indian rival, Ola Cabs, which operates in 100 cities and offers a wider range of services than Uber does.
…The companies must also spend time educating drivers on the social dynamics of working for themselves. Many drivers arrive after working as private drivers for middle- and upper-class Indians; those jobs can be grueling — drivers work long hours, are expected to be constantly on call, and often aren’t accorded much respect for their work. When they come to Uber and Ola, the same drivers have to adjust to a job in which they finally have some agency, and the change can be terrifying.
Those are all good points, but I don’t think they get at the two main reasons why Uber will continue to have a hard time making money in India. First, in major cities you never will know when your ride actually is coming. The vehicle could be around the bloc, but still take thirty minutes to arrive. In the meantime, should you just wait? Second, if it is immediacy you value, there is almost always an auto-rickshaw nearby.
By the way, it turns out that about 80 percent of Uber transactions in India are cash-based.
Food consumption now has higher entry barriers than does music consumption
Marco Bresba emails me:
I loved your post on how Food has displaced Music in pop culture (March 29)
I’ve been thinking about the topic for years, and I believe complacency is pertinent.
Musical taste (like one’s taste in wine, food, books, etc.) provides a measure of social currency. It’s a way into a clique you want to join but admittance requires work.
Music no longer provides much of an effort barrier. Mention the most obscure band and I can become an expert in a few hours.
This was not always the case. Rewind to 1985: a classmate mocks me with “I bet you never heard of The Smiths.” He’s right. How do I get up to speed and become cool?
None of my radio stations play the Smiths. One channel teases me with a 3-hour alternative block every Sunday. The cool indie store is a bus ride away. And their inventory is spotty. The good stuff is imported form the UK. A domestic compilation is rumored for next year. Until then, would I be interested in the latest Cure single? They have one copy left. Only $9.99. I pick up the NME instead.
I hit a bunch of used record stores. Every second day. Two weeks later, I find one of the Smiths’ less popular singles. At this rate, I’ll be a fan by the time I graduate high school.
In our age of convenience, food still requires long term planning. At least the stuff foodies value. Will anyone care if I order Massaman Curry on Uber Eats? No. In order to become an elite foodie, I have to leave the house. I must shed my complacency in various ways:
- I accept a 90 mins line-up to nab a seat at a Celebrity Chef Pop Up.
- I have to befriend an annoying waiter at a hipster party just to find out how to secretly order raw pork at a suburban joint 45 mins away.
- I worry I don’t have enough referrals to get invited to the newest alternative supper club.
- I depend on the cheesemonger that only works on Saturdays to point out the best seasonal stinky varieties.
- I stay up till midnight that one night Pied de Cochon accepts resos for their Sugar Shack months away.
- I scold myself for not planning my Italian trip a year in advance – my bucket list meal at Osteria Francescana now in jeopardy.
In addition to the reasons you mentioned, food obsession will always hold currency because it still requires plenty of legwork. Music just needs an internet connection.
Shanghai notes
Very good dumplings and noodle soups can be had on the streets in small restaurants for a dollar or two. When you look further afield I can recommend Yi Long Court, a very fine Cantonese restaurant in the Peninsula Hotel. Lost Heaven is a very good Yunnanese restaurant, get the Ti dishes, I enjoyed both branches of this place. For Shanghai dishes, go to Jesse.
The more developed parts of Shanghai feel much more like the United States than any part of Beijing does, yet many traditional neighborhoods remain and there is plenty of good architecture from the early 20th century. If not for the air pollution, this would be one of the best cities in the world. It’s not that cheap, though, once you get past food and taxis.
The long, tree-lined alleys of Chinese neighborhoods have led to a superior reconceptualization of the outdoor shopping mall.
There are policemen who seem to be there to teach drivers how to back into spots using parallel parking.
For eleven years I’ve been writing about “Markets in Everything,” but here in Shanghai I transacted in one of those markets for the first time. I went to “More Than Toilet,” a cafe/restaurant with a toilets theme. Your chair is designed to look like a potty, and I was served my watermelon juice in a model of a urinal, with an elaborate straw, $6 for the experience. (Who knows what I will try next?) The food that was passing by looked horrible, like Chinese Denny’s on steroids. I had blogged the original Taiwan branch of the place some time ago.
The luxury malls do not seem to have benches to sit down on and check your email. But since hardly anyone is shopping in most of those malls, perhaps that doesn’t matter very much.
Assorted links
2. MIE: upscale potty for $5000 a night, that is Canadian dollars perhaps.
3. “They told us giving a talk after that was a federal crime…”
4. Is Greece considering a confiscation of private assets?
Assorted links
1. There is no great stagnation, toddler edition.
2. Michael Gibson is now blogging at Forbes, including on education and tech stagnation.
3. By Philip Wallach, what really to do about the debt ceiling.
4. Wade Davis reviews Jared Diamond.
6. Long and very good Economist piece on whether there is a great stagnation in technology.
My favorite things Arizona
There is Barbara Eden and Linda Ronstadt but what other directions can I find? I’ll try not to resort to retirees, such as Joe Garagiola. Here goes:
1. Jazz: Charles Mingus’s Ah Um is one of the ten jazz albums that everyone should own.
2. Country and Western: Marty Robbins is good but otherwise I draw a blank.
3. Movie director: Steven Spielberg. In case you don’t already know them, Duel and Sugarland Express are two of his best movies. I’m also an advocate of Artificial Intelligence, a brilliant movie about the moral superficiality of human beings. E.T. was his nadir.
4. Real business cycle theorist: Ed Prescott teaches at Arizona State (which by the way was just rated as having the hottest students of any school). If you think through his oeuvre, Prescott has at least three major contributions: time consistency (1977 with Kydland), real business cycle theory, and his work on the equity premium with Mehra. That’s impressive.
5. Painter and European emigre: Max Ernst lived for twelve years in Sedona.
6. Textiles: Navajo blankets from the 1880-1910 period rank among America’s greatest artistic contributions. You can buy a first-rate piece for no more than $60,000.
7. Author: Zane Grey fits the category but he doesn’t count as a favorite. Am I missing anyone important or is this simply not a literary state?
8. Movie, set in: You have some real winners, including Psycho, Raising Arizona, and the still underrated Tombstone. 3:10 to Yuma I haven’t seen yet.
The bottom line: The list is spotty in parts but the peaks are very high. I’m also of the opinion that the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon is the single best sight I’ve seen, ever. I also love The Biltmore Hotel but alas I am not at that particular lodging right now…
The N word
No, not that N word, the other N word. Nationalize. As in nationalize a financial institution here and there.
Do you know how Paul Krugman is following the TED spread as an indicator of current financial troubles? I’ll be following how many times the N word pops up in Google News. Right now the top mentions all concern other countries, of course including Northern Rock in Great Britain. So far this is the closest I’ve found to hints of nationalization for the United States; in the blogosphere Nouriel Roubini is saying nationalization is better than bailouts.
The Swedes, of course, nationalized Nordbanken, their #2 bank at the time, in the early 1990s, during their financial crisis. They also nationalized Gotabanken and supplied funds to several other institutions. The belief at the time was that loan liquidation would have been even worse. And since Nordbanken was on life support anyway, and the government had to limit systematic risk by paying off creditors anyway, why not just control the bank directly? The bank was subsequently re-privatized. You’ll find more background on the Swedish experience here. Of course in these situations none of the options are pretty. But keep in mind that the Fed (and ultimately, the taxpayer) is already residual claimant on the Bear Stearns deal and then read Mises on the dynamics of interventionism.
There are many things we do not do as well as the Swedes. In any case, if use of the N word remains spotty or non-existent in the U.S., you’ll know that things are going OK, at least relative to what might have happened.
Addendum: Brad DeLong has much to add, including some policy recommendations. Arnold Kling doesn’t agree.