I am loving VICE on HBO. The last episode explored “China’s Ghost Towns.” Apparently, an alarmingly high percentage of China’s booming economy is based on real estate development. The government seized farmlands and started to erect huge residential towers. The problem? NO ONE IS LIVING THERE. It is completely bizarre — entire “cities” are pretty much vacant, with half-built high-rises dotting the sky. Some are fashioned to be replicas of London, Paris and Manhattan’s Financial District, and are now mainly serving as backdrops for wedding photos. VICE never really explained WHY China chose the areas it razed and built up. According to the program, at the peak of the United States’ housing bubble, construction amounted to 16 percent of the entire GDP. China’s is 50 PERCENT of its economy. And now, if China fails, we all fail.
Literally telling everyone you’re a douchebag: $63.
Actually being a douchebag: Priceless.
shortformblog:
breakingnews:
Titanic 2?
NBC News: Just over a century after the Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic, an Australian billionaire has officially floated plans to build a successor.
Clive Palmer, chairman of Brisbane-based Blue Star Line, revealed blueprints for Titanic II, a ‘full-scale re-creation’ of the illustrious, if ill-fated, ship at a press conference on the Intrepid Air, Sea & Space Museum in New York.
Photo: This handout provided by Blue Star Line shows a computer-generated image of Australian mining tycoon Clive Palmer’s plans for a “Titanic II” near-replica cruise ship. (Handout / Getty Images)
I saw “Titanic 2” already. No need to remake.
I can see nothing wrong with this foolproof plan.
Cocaine was taken out of Coca-Cola because of racism
Also,
“The Coca-Cola we know today still contains coca — but the ecgonine alkaloid is removed from it. Perfecting that extraction took until 1929, so before that there were still trace amounts of coca’s psychoactive elements in Coca-Cola. As Dominic Streatfield describes in Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography, the extraction is now done at a New Jersey chemical processing facility by a company called Stepan. In 2003, Stepan imported 175,000 kilograms of coca for Coca-Cola. That’s enough to make more than $200 million worth of cocaine. They refer to the coca leaf extract simply as ‘Merchandise No. 5.’
The facility is guarded.”
Whoa.
![theatlantic:
A Photographic Guide to Looking Concerned While Meeting with the President
But if you find yourself in a meeting with him, don’t even think about slouching, let alone taking your feet off the floor. Even Cabinet-level officials know that you have got to show your concern. Here’s John Kerry (as a Senator) returning the favor.
Just remember that when meeting in the Situation Room, you can never be concerned enough.
The relaxed posture doesn’t mean Obama’s not concerned. In fact, when he leans back, he might be the most concerned guy in the room:
This is a concern contest (that John Boehner has lost.)
Finally, the pièce de résistance: The rarely seen, hand-on-face, foot-on-desk, knee-in-the-air, chair-off-the-floor, ultra-concerned leanback.
See more. [Images: Pete Souza]
Well, yes, they all SHOULD look concerned. Since they are leading this country and all.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/8f9712b0249ec0278650f0db3369091e/tumblr_mhx7l9wTcE1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
theatlantic:
A Photographic Guide to Looking Concerned While Meeting with the President
But if you find yourself in a meeting with him, don’t even think about slouching, let alone taking your feet off the floor. Even Cabinet-level officials know that you have got to show your concern. Here’s John Kerry (as a Senator) returning the favor.
Just remember that when meeting in the Situation Room, you can never be concerned enough.
The relaxed posture doesn’t mean Obama’s not concerned. In fact, when he leans back, he might be the most concerned guy in the room:
This is a concern contest (that John Boehner has lost.)
Finally, the pièce de résistance: The rarely seen, hand-on-face, foot-on-desk, knee-in-the-air, chair-off-the-floor, ultra-concerned leanback.
See more. [Images: Pete Souza]
Well, yes, they all SHOULD look concerned. Since they are leading this country and all.
