There is a fair bit of quality that can go into making a GOOD purely fun thing, and even when it's pure schlock there's no shame in that. Some times you want a steak, sometimes you want a burger. Both can be good or bad in their own ways, and neither is better than the other.
That's a whole other set of problems, I know I've read articles about that too but a 15 second google didn't find it.
If I remember right, the main issue isn't the building shape like with skyscrapers, it has to do with power and plumbing. They're only set up for a certain amount of usage of both, and residential is massively higher so you'd basically need to ripe it all out and do it from scratch. And considering malls are predomenantly just in the middle of empty land anyway, at that point you might as well just get the next bit over of empty land and do it from the get go with the appropriate infrastructure.
With housing in short supply, developers are converting more empty offices into apartments. But not all buildings are candidates for reuse, even as more than on
A video article covering some of the complications that come from converting empty offices into usable apartments.
In a divided country, a clean look and a neutral color palette is the aesthetic comforting communities around the country.
Fairly interesting overview of what's become the "trendy" home decor style from things like HGTV and design magazines, as well a quick look at some other style trends we've gone through.
The gap between real-estate appraisals and construction costs is getting wider, holding back entrepreneurs and the revitalization of rural communities.
The article is about a kind of niche problem that I hadn't ever considered before, appraisals for buildings in rural areas are either low because there are less people who might want them (especially for specialized new commerical construction) while building costs keep rising OR the price of land in touristy areas is so high no one can afford to buy for local businesses. Either way, it complicates actually growing or starting businesses in those places.
WSJ tends to have a paywall, so feel free to use https://archive.ph/ if you don't already have a preferred way of bypassing that.
As addiction becomes more visible in cities like Porto, authorities and citizens groups debate whether to undo Portugal's landmark tolerance for drug use.
Not at all to say the net balance on the pros/cons for decriminalization has tipped, especially since one of the main points the article mentions is that the funding that was supposed to social services and rehabilitation programs that went hand in hand with decriminalization has absolutely cratered over the last decade, but flubbing the execution on programs like this is why they don't catch on more and one of the main (and to be fair valid) points of contention about spreading ideas like this further.
The fact this is still a thing in some places is such a weird archaic throwback. After this it'll just be New Jersey left, so at least it's slowly getting more normal.
I'm currently working on Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price, an indepth dive on Vikings covering history, archeology, mythology, and so on. It's decently well reviewed and at least seems really comprehensive but I have to admit I'm having trouble getting into it and I'm mostly just grinding out 10-20 page chunks at a time before I end up dropping it to do something else.
That was the last book I finished, and it was solid. The "getting the gang back together" part was fun, and the latter half just picked up from there. Without getting too spoilery I think the last character from her past showing up, and the more fantastical shift from there on, really added a lot to the enjoyment factor.
I do end up loving Friday and it seems like it's totally under everyone's radar. It's not revelutionary or anything, but it's straight forward fun and for whatever reason I always end up tickled by how the gameplay and theme were integrated.
Clank Legacy has been an absolute blast for my wife and I (we each play two characters). I've been a big Penny Arcade fan for ages so the humor hits my sweet spot, and the legacy aspect of keeping the gameplay light and steadily adding a bit more complexity each round as you "earn" it was perfect for my wife who's a much more casual gamer.
I backed the 2nd season on kickstarter just recently and it looks like they're leaning even more into the story aspect of legacy gameplay so I'm hoping it still hits the right balance for us.
I think that was close to inevitable when they got bought out, though it is a huge shame. Even with an incredibly strong internal cutlure, they are under Disney's corporate leadership and the fact they aren't completely independent in terms of leadership, picking projects, and internal promotions means they'd tend to converge and be absorbed for all intents and purposes.
The Great on Hulu is shockingly entertaining. My wife started watching it because she enjoys that mildly anachronistic and gorgeous/well produced trend lately and it sucked me in way more than I'd have expected.
I wish I could find the specific article about it, but it's like a decade+ old and google isn't cooperating. If I recall right though, Brave was the first film idea that Pixar put out which had entirely been conceived without the original core team at Pixar's input. All the other stuff, even if it hadn't come out when those people left yet, had been brainstormed by that group and their lack of involvement is why from that point on it all feels so much lesser than Pixar's golden age.
Unless it's a bargain basement brand and quality control is absolutely horrible I'd be shocked if there was much variation at all within the exact same model of shoe. If a particular style and year model of shoe works for you, any off the rack version of that shoe (barring major defects) is going to work for you.
If nothing else I'd expect whatever miniscule material differences there might be are going to get completely overriden by differences in wear from your specific running and terrain pretty quickly.