Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous Rambling Panem. The Hunger Games. Chortle. Stupid sci-fi stuff. Nothing like that massive expropriation of wealth from the hinterlands to the central government could happen here! From the Atlantic: America's Wealth Is Staggeringly Concentrated in the Northeast Corridor [http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/

Alex and Abbie were studying for finals together at the UM grad library. Around midnight, Abbie needed a break, and she didn't care where she took it. Good for Abs! When I'm tired, I lie down and I don't care who knows it. And

BYCU One of the most-interesting beer pieces this year: A Shady Black Market Has Emerged For Hard-To-Find Craft Beers [http://www.businessinsider.com/craft-beer-black-market-2013-12]. The gist? A combination of shipping costs and oppressive alcohol restrictions make high-quality beer unavailable, so people

It's not too often I run across a character that (i) is this colorful, (ii) is from Michigan, and (iii) I'd never even heard of. The following might be the most interesting passage about 20th century history that I've read in a few years.

New documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that the NSA actually spied on people while they played the video game World of Warcraft. I don't know – to me it sounds like some NSA agents had to think quick when they got caught playing World of Warcraft at work.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are among Barbara Walters' "10 most fascinating people of 2013." In a related story, Barbara has been named one of the "10 most easily fascinated people of 2013."

Your patronage of TDE by accessing Amazon through its link (upper-right corner) is appreciated.

H.I.F. Oh man. Expect a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit out of this one: Outcry over Mandela service interpreter. DeafSA says man used 'meaningless' hand signals [http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Outcry-over-Mandela-service-interpreter/-/1719418/23428962/-/neb4vpz/-/index.html?treets=det&tid=26511878194813&

My boys are really into the Rocky movies. This is probably my favorite non-action scene:

H.I.F. I haven't had a chance to review this matter in full yet, but I find this more frightening than encouraging: Pope Francis named Time Person of the Year [http://www.wtae.com/news/entertainment/Pope-Francis-named-Time-Person-of-the-Year/-/9680792/23428330/-/12qpsevz/