Deepwater drilling had an improbable, unbelievable, giddy rise from its birth in 1993. Every well was pushing the envelope, either of depth in the water or the depth of the drillbit beneath the crust. "Every well I did was the deepest ever," an oil industry professional told me, yesterday. "I worked on 20 wells that set records. Every guy that did my job had worked on 20 wells that set records. We were sprinting, breaking records right and left. Everything they did had never been done before." For 17 years the deepwater rigs were jamming on the edge of the envelope.

overview of AIG bailout amounts and conditions

amcham commentary on the proposed labor law reforms, explaining why offering the most basic rights to low-wage workers will destroy China

crazy growth continues despite efforts to cool things down

great photo spread showing how weddings get more fun as you move down the class ladder

another reason i will never join a rock band

excellect wapo summary of the walmart / chinese unions situation

storm's a-comin

excellent essay by Wan Runnan

finally a mention of the very underreported massive Chinese investment in Africa

air monitoring filters in lake tahoe are almost as dark as in urban areas because of Chinese coal burning

funny (unintentionally) defense of walmart as stalwart defender of the poor man's purchasing power

a description of the scandalous working conditions in chinese factories

walmart and carrefour are both out of the south korea market now to seek fortunes in china. S. Korea has a local mini-walmart that dominates its market

far more cogent explanation of the amusing walmart/chinese union dance

article by walmart's China logistics director

very interesting article about supplier experiences dealing with walmart

Reddit is like flypaper to assholes

it's the philosophy of a snotty teen, someone who's read too much Heinlein, absorbed the sordid notion that an intellectual elite should rule the subhuman masses, and convinced himself that reading a few bad novels qualifies him as a member of the elite.

more info on the severe constraints of the shuttle's (discontinued) "getaway special" program

christ what an asshole

beautiful gallery of clipper ship sailing cards, color ads the size of a large postcard

this place is a tourist's paradise because thousands of people lost their life savings. Whee.

some interesting statistics on homicide and cirrhosis rates, as well as price changes for alcohol, during US prohibition

in which we introduce "blather", the new tag for utterly incomprehensible prose

exhaustive site on everything Marx, with long citations

1926 article by Ford. "It is the influence of leisure on consumption which makes the short day and, the short week so necessary. The people who consume the bulk of goods are the people who make them. That is a fact we must never forget -- that is the sec