Archive for the 'Collapse' Category
Drunks on St. Mary Street, Cardiff, Wales
April 5th, 2009First of all, I’m no stranger to the bottle. Second of all, I’m not interested in any sort of moral judgment with this. I’ve seen a fair amount of public drunkenness in different parts of the world, but I haven’t seen anything like this. Even in some of the pissups around Dublin, I never saw […]
Gunman Kills Three Police Officers in Pittsburgh
April 5th, 2009Richard Poplawski had a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Marines. This would prevent him from legally owning firearms. It might be interesting to learn how he obtained the weapons. Via: New York Times: In a scene that neighbors described as a four-hour-long war zone, three police officers were fatally shot and two others wounded Saturday […]
The Detroit Public School Supply Building
April 4th, 2009The trees are growing out of piles of composting schoolbooks on the upper floors of the building.
My Manhattan Project: How I Helped Build the Bomb That Blew Up Wall Street
April 4th, 2009Via: New York Magazine: I have been called the devil by strangers and “the Facilitator” by friends. It’s not uncommon for people, when I tell them what I used to do, to ask if I feel guilty. I do, somewhat, and it nags at me. When I put it out of mind, it inevitably resurfaces, […]
U.S. Unemployment Rate Reaches 25-Year High of 8.5%
April 3rd, 2009To find actual rate, multiply the government number by 2 or 3. Via: Bloomberg: The U.S. unemployment rate jumped in March to the highest level since 1983 as the economy lost 663,000 jobs, threatening to keep spending subdued for months and delay any recovery. The jobless rate increased to 8.5 percent from 8.1 percent in […]
Detroit: To Urban Hunter, Next Meal Is Scampering By
April 2nd, 2009Via: Detroit News: When selecting the best raccoon carcass for the special holiday roast, both the connoisseur and the curious should remember this simple guideline: Look for the paw. “The paw is old school,” says Glemie Dean Beasley, a Detroit raccoon hunter and meat salesman. “It lets the customers know it’s not a cat or […]
UN Chief Says Crisis Could Result in Failed States
April 2nd, 2009Parts of the U.S. are nearly there. Look at Flint, Michigan. What’s the solution? A global currency, a New World Order, etc. Yeah, yeah, tell me another one. Via: AFP: UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday that failing to act to halt the global economic crisis could lead to widespread social unrest and failed states, […]
The Vanishing Shopping Mall
April 1st, 2009Via: The Week: Enclosed shopping centers, long the cathedrals of American consumerism, are closing their doors by the hundreds as the recession continues to clobber retail sales. Is America’s love affair with the mall over? Are malls dying? The vital signs are not good. Even before the recession hit, consumers had developed mall fatigue, and […]
California Tent City Residents Required to Wear Wristbands
March 31st, 2009Via: Los Angeles Times: Tent City residents gather as the city of Ontario starts the process of sorting out who may stay and who must leave. The city issued wristbands – blue for Ontario residents, who may stay, orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave. The […]
Home Price Declines Still Accelerating
March 31st, 2009Via: AP: Home prices sank by the sharpest annual rate on record in January, and the pace continues to accelerate, but there were a handful battered metro areas where price declines slowed, according to data released Tuesday. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 major cities tumbled by a record 19 percent […]
