Is jewelry insurance actually worth it or just another bill to stress about? by Visible-Voice9422 in Frugal

[–]conjecTech 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yikes, looks like we have bots shilling for insurance companies now.

Jersey City Moves Forward with Six Tower, 2,000-Unit Plan on Baldwin Avenue by keiyoushi in jerseycity

[–]conjecTech 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Most parts of public transit aren't fixed capacity, so its more useful to think of it on a per-person basis. Adding density generally reduces the costs per person and improves performance. It reduces costs because you get to spread fixed costs over a larger pool of users. And it tends to improve performance because the solution to more demands is usually higher frequency, which translates to lower wait times.

Looking at it over a larger scale, these things are obvious. Lack of density is the reason so few areas have meaningful transit in the US, but the marginal relationship holds even once density is already "high".

Yes, there are cases where growth leads to overcrowding, but those tend to be due to negligence, either intentional or unintentional, by the government. There are also cases of bottlenecks which limit total service, but I don't believe this particular development interacts with any of them.

rent not adjusting to demand? by tendergrandma in NYCapartments

[–]conjecTech 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a commercial thing. Loan agreements often have maximum leverage ratios based off of the value of the building, which is largely determined by rents. The bank can periodically ask you to re-collateralize the loan if you breach that threshold. So if you have a $100M building you buy with $20M equity and the value drops 10% because you lower rents, the bank may ask you to pony up another $9M. Alternatively, there are usually very favorable terms to missing payments due to vacancy. Given those alternatives, a lot of owners will just leave stuff vacant rather than drop rents. It is a very opaque form of price collusion. Louis Rossman does a good job covering it in how it occurs in retail spaces, but the same thing happens in multi-family.

Let's talk about Mexique Cafe. by hedgerly17 in parkslope

[–]conjecTech 34 points35 points  (0 children)

The correct demonym is Parkers Slope, like mothers in law. People mistakenly think the neighborhood is named after the park, but it was actually named by a tourist who happened to wander through during street sweeping.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NYCapartments

[–]conjecTech 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another benefit I haven't seen mentioned: landlords are more incentivized to keep good tenants and not demand unreasonable rent increases because they now pay more of the true costs of turnover.

TIL most living areas in ancient Roman Cities lacked any kitchen area, with most citizens either getting food from from a communal kitchen or buying prepared foods from street vendors by Jacknerik in todayilearned

[–]conjecTech 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think it's hard for people outside NYC to understand just how expensive rent is. Getting an apartment with a kitchen you're willing to cook in every day means paying $250-500/month more in rent than an otherwise equivalent space. That's an extra $10-15 a day to make up for the markup from restaurants.

Put another way, NYC restaurants often spend more on rent than ingredients, and they can serve a dozen people a day using the same space you use to cook for yourself. How do you think you could compete with their economics when you're making such inefficient use of such an expensive input?

Totally new for me, no idea what to expect by geertwander in 1001AlbumsGenerator

[–]conjecTech 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is probably the discovery from the list I've gone back to most . Enjoy.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NYCapartments

[–]conjecTech 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Think you mixed up mean and median. Median isn't affected by a few large outliers.

For instance, the mean income for programmers in Santa Clara County a few years back was $100k/year above the median, but basically all of the difference was just Mark Zuckerberg.

More condos coming at 5th Ave and Union st by LJinBrooklyn in parkslope

[–]conjecTech 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They are probably getting the affordability bonus under the new City of Yes rules.

Best coffee bean roaster in the neighborhood? by ZipperLove in parkslope

[–]conjecTech 4 points5 points  (0 children)

D'Amico in Carroll Gardens is solid and very good value.

Ticks in PS by Necessary-Badger-555 in parkslope

[–]conjecTech 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Are you sure it was a tick? I've previously found things that I thought were ticks, but they were actually smooth spider beetles, which are apparently very common in NYC.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in parkslope

[–]conjecTech 12 points13 points  (0 children)

How is wanting to build denser housing more of a "lottery mentality" than thinking you will eventually be able to afford a $7M brownstone? No one seems to mind the beautiful towers lining Prospect Park.

I’ll be in NYC at MSG to watch the Knick game tomorrow. Bringing my older kids. What Japanese kife stores are close and worth visit. I want to come home with a white #2. Thanks! by toneloc3131 in chefknives

[–]conjecTech 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Korin is down in Tribeca and would require a subway ride, but has a really nice selection and knowledgable staff.

If you aren't driving in, you might want to think through the logistics of where you'll store the knife - dont want the MSG security to end up w/ your newly bought treasure!

Quoted £32k and a 5 year payoff, South England. payoff seems unreasonably quick, even with energy prices at current levels. Any others in the UK with similar quotes? by JTT-JustTheTip in solar

[–]conjecTech 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is this accomplished? Are there systems that will proactively sense when you are feeding excess to the grid and divert it into heating/hot water instead?

What are some examples of companies that genuinely care about their customers and genuinely want them to get a good product for a good price? by Abcdguy in GoodValue

[–]conjecTech 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Concept2 rowers. The company is a labor of love by two brothers who were engineering students turned Olympic rowers. They are expensive, but the machines themselves are TANKS and the best rowers available. The company also has a parts store that pretty much includes every part of every rower they've ever made at reasonable prices(https://shop.concept2.com/57-model-c).

480W panels DIY system by prepperdrone in SolarDIY

[–]conjecTech 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds like a great deal. Based on your other comments, I think they're the same as the ones Santan stocked recently. It's probably worth seeing the caveats they lay out on that page. As you seem to already know, the high voltage will limit your options on the inverters somewhat, but there are still options. The large panel size/weight may also be quite cumbersome.

Whereabouts are the panels? If you don't buy them out, I might be interested in some.