Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Half of Nation’s Foreclosed Homes Still Occupied
October 24th, 2013Via: CNN: Foreclosure sounds like the end of the line, but actual eviction can take months or years — even after the bank has repossessed a home. RealtyTrac estimates that 47% of the nation’s foreclosed homes are currently occupied. The percentage actually tops 60% in some hot housing markets, like Miami and Los Angeles. Those […]
Fukushima Readies for Dangerous Operation to Remove 400 Tons of Spent Fuel
October 24th, 2013Via: Russia Today: Fukushima operator TEPCO is getting ready for its toughest and the most dangerous clean-up operation. In November it will try to remove 400 tons of spent fuel from plant’s Reactor No. 4. But even a little mistake may result in a new nuclear disaster. The operation is scheduled to start in the […]
We’ve Reached “The End of Antibiotics, Period”
October 24th, 2013If you’re looking for a way to brighten up your Thursday morning, man, this aint it. Via: NPR: What do you mean? A lot of Gram-negative bacteria, they come out of the box, if you will, resistant to a number of important antibiotics that we might use to treat them. We’re talking about agents with […]
“I met two otaku, who believe themselves to be in relationships with virtual girlfriends.”
October 23rd, 2013Via: BBC: Unless something happens to boost Japan’s birth rate, its population will shrink by a third between now and 2060. One reason for the lack of babies is the emergence of a new breed of Japanese men – the otaku, who love manga, anime and computers more than sex. Tokyo is the world’s largest […]
Meet CGI Federal, the Company Behind the Botched Launch of HealthCare.gov
October 23rd, 2013Via: Washington Post: Over the past few weeks, if you’ve been paying attention at all to the unfolding disaster of people trying and failing to sign up for Obamacare online, one name keeps coming up: CGI Federal, the IT contractor that has orchestrated most of the Healthcare.gov Web site. By most accounts, it’s been a […]
The Sixth Stage of Collapse
October 23rd, 2013Dmitry We’re-Fucked-No-Matter-What Orlov outlines how the light at the end of the civilization tunnel is the train. Via: Club Orlov: A solution for avoiding the sixth stage must be found, but I don’t know what that solution would look like. I do find it unsafe to blithely assume that collapse will simply take care of […]
How to Lose $172,222 a Second for 45 Minutes
October 21st, 2013Via: python sweetness: This is probably the most painful bug report I’ve ever read, describing in glorious technicolor the steps leading to Knight Capital’s $465m trading loss due to a software bug that struck late last year, effectively bankrupting the company. The tale has all the hallmarks of technical debt in a huge, unmaintained, bitrotten […]
China: Smog Emergency Shuts City of 11 Million People
October 20th, 2013Via: Reuters: Choking smog all but shut down one of northeastern China’s largest cities on Monday, forcing schools to suspended classes, snarling traffic and closing the airport, in the country’s first major air pollution crisis of the winter. An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading […]
Japan: Celibacy Syndrome
October 20th, 2013Via: Guardian: 45% of Japanese women aged 16-24 are ‘not interested in or despise sexual contact’. More than a quarter of men feel the same way. … Japan’s under-40s appear to be losing interest in conventional relationships. Millions aren’t even dating, and increasing numbers can’t be bothered with sex. For their government, “celibacy syndrome” is […]
JPMorgan Agrees to Tentative $13 Billion Settlement with U.S. Over Bad Mortgages
October 19th, 2013Woh. It they are agreeing to a $13 billion settlement, one has to wonder about the true magnitude of the damage caused by JPM’s behavior. These settlements typically represent pennies-on-the-dollar wrist slaps which seem to encourage companies to attempt even greater frauds. Via: Washington Post: JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, has reached a tentative […]
