Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
The Contiguous United States Visualized by Distance to the Nearest McDonald’s
November 9th, 2011Via: DataPointed: To gauge the creep of cookie-cutter commercialism, there’s no better barometer than McDonald’s – ubiquitous fast food chain and inaugural megacorporate colonizer of small towns nationwide. … Behold, a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest domestic McDonald’s!
China: Regime Admits 10% of Farmland Polluted with Heavy Metals
November 7th, 2011Considering the source, I’d start by doubling or tripling the estimate. Via: AFP: About 10 percent of China’s farmland contains excessive levels of heavy metals due to contaminated water and poisonous waste seeping into the soil, state media said Monday, citing a government survey. Pollution from heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cancer-causing cadmium […]
Condo at the End of the World
November 7th, 2011Wow, doombats on afterburner! Lengthy article at link. Via: The Verge:
Foxconn Wants to Build “Intelligent Robotics Kingdom” to Replace Human Workers with Robots
November 7th, 2011I love how they mention that this facility will create jobs! Yeah, 2000 jobs for people who are tasked with figuring out how to eliminate millions of other people’s jobs. This is definitely one for your Arbeit Macht Frei file folder. Via: Cnet: iPhone maker Foxconn aims to manufacture its own robots and automation equipment […]
Most Unemployed No Longer Receive Benefits
November 7th, 2011What became of them? System D might be a partial explanation. Via: CNBC: The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift […]
Fukushima Residents’ Urine Now Radioactive
November 4th, 2011Via: Japan Times / Kyodo: More than 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 Fukushima residents of the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, confirming internal radiation exposure, it was learned Sunday. Both are about 30 to 40 km from the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, which has […]
Big Picture Gallery: Thailand Flood Reaches Bangkok
November 3rd, 2011Via: Boston Globe: Flood waters inundating Thailand north of Bangkok since July have made the journey south and reached the capital. The disaster is responsible for 400 deaths in Thailand and neighboring Cambodia and Vietnam. Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter, but the floods have wiped out over a quarter of the country’s crop. […]
System D: The Shadow Superpower
November 3rd, 2011Via: Foreign Policy: Forget China: the $10 trillion global black market is the world’s fastest growing economy — and its future. … You probably have never heard of System D. Neither had I until I started visiting street markets and unlicensed bazaars around the globe. System D is a slang phrase pirated from French-speaking Africa […]
Fission Detected at Damaged Fukushima Atomic Power Plant
November 2nd, 2011Via: Bloomberg: Tokyo Electric Power Co. detected signs of nuclear fission at its crippled Fukushima atomic power plant, raising the risk of increased radiation emissions. No increase in radiation was found at the site and the situation is under control, officials said. The company, known as Tepco, began spraying boric acid on the No. 2 […]
Fresh Record High for U.S. Food-Stamp Use; 45.8 Million
November 2nd, 2011Via: Bloomberg: The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached a record 45.8 million in August, the government said. … The number of Americans receiving food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has set records every month but one since December 2008.
