So, Walter White may have been in North Korea as opposed to Albuquerque

$60K per kilogram, from North Korea to NYC. The total haul was 100 kilograms, and the root of it is sketchy — North Korea purportedly burned all their meth labs, but are still producing and the new levels are extremely pure, Heisenberg-level -ish… Continue Reading

So, “selfie” is the Oxford Word of the Year for 2013. Thanks, Australia.

Yes, that happened — and according to Oxford, the decision was “with little if any argument.” Oxford had it as a ‘word on the radar’ back in June 2012 (the Oxford Dictionaries blog is surprisingly pretty interesting), but as they themselves… Continue Reading

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World Toilet Day is a good time to look at the state of running water and plumbing in the world

Today is World Toilet Day, as designated by the United Nations. The basic idea is improving sanitation for 2.5 billion people, or — phrased another way — if you’re reading this in a nice apartment building/home somewhere in America right… Continue Reading

This one quote might summarize some of what’s wrong with the world

Via an NPR article on opium trading: “We understand that opium is bad,” he says. “All drugs are bad. But, it’s difficult for us seeing a neighbor with a new car when we are riding bicycles. So, we have to… Continue Reading

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Maybe it’s time to walk back the Thailand rice subsidy

Here was the plan: the government of Thailand would buy rice at a higher-than-market rate — say, 40 to 50 percent — then store it, wait for the global adjustment in demand (because of how much rice Thailand exports), and… Continue Reading

Pedro Quezada is another in a long line of awkward lottery winner stories

Pedro Quezada won $338 million in New Jersey’s Powerball last spring; now he’s in court because his ex-girlfriend (they broke up after the winning) wants a share of it. Probably the best line written about the Quezada situation is at the… Continue Reading

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China’s going to spend about $5 billion on the web today, KTHXBYE

Today is ‘Singles Day’ in China; for better or worse, that’s their equivalent of Cyber Monday. ‘Singles Day’ is November 11 each year — 11.11 — because the ‘ones’ (1s) in 11.11 represent bare branches, or Chinese slang for bachelors. Around… Continue Reading

Super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan isn’t going to be good, but might not be super awful

Here’s a good breakdown of what’s approaching Thailand right now; a ‘super typhoon’ is based on wind speed in terms of classification, typically — over 120 mph would be ‘super.’ It’s likely going to hit an area recently affected by… Continue Reading