, August 21, 2015
Daily Bafflements
A manufacturer of virtual reality headsets is slurping up venture capital from investors who bet you'd rather not see things quite as they really are. / Nan Palermo
• Today in billionaires: over $1.6 billion has been promised for unbuilt apartments at 220 Central Park South, a building that’s been nicknamed the “Billionaire’s Bunker.” One of these apartments might set you back anywhere from $30 million to $160 million. We suppose it’s better if they congregate, rather than reaching their tentacles into many disparate neighborhoods at once, or—as we learned yesterday—renovating their own places with children’s gravestones.
• Glyph, the maker of a virtual reality headset, has secured $24 million in venture capital to start manufacturing and shipping the product before the end of the year. Why invest money in improving the world, when you can just replace it instead? We can’t wait to learn how many of these puppies are shipped to 220 Central Park South.
• Fast Company brings us news of carefully planned “innovation districts” springing up across America. Will they save our poor cities? Not if they look much like the one that’s already sprung up in The Baffler’s backyard, explored by editor in chief John Summers.