h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

simulpost, Tumsup. You're in Windsor? Did I know that?

I'm in Essex, about twenty minutes down Hwy 3. It's so flat here that friends from Sask are amazed. I watch the Freedom Festival fireworks from my roof.

As you probably figured, I used to live in Windsor (about twenty minutes up Hwy 3.)

$50

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8055-Mettetal-St_Detroit_MI_48228_1104168692

I remember following the Hudson through NY a few years ago and passing through almost totally abandoned townships. I was told that when the mills closed,the people just up and left. In America it seems there's always somewhere else to move to.

TOWNS

Thanks, guys.

In the UK people tend to stay in the ghost towns, with some of the next generation moving on. The legendary Jarrow March in the thirties was made up of people marching to London to demand jobs for their home town, rather than abandoning it.

Mind you, I think you're ahead of us in this cycle. We're shedding jobs, but retail sales seem to be holding up.

Interesting background to the Detroit story here - http://www.safehaven.com/article-10420.htm

Financial meltdown?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b54rB64fXY4

Also sampled here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nga2_XK3kmE&feature=related

(The pictures are better than the words in that one)

Wow thanks Ed. I am quite shocked and moved by that clip

just heard BBC news announce that police are beginning a huge man hunt.....





what do they want a huge man for?

'Leave God a message at his Dutch answering service'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090302/od_nm/us_dutch_god_odd

Yet more funny faces: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4929620/Fish-with-human-faces-spotted-in-South-Korea.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/business/03medschool.html?em

Harvard Medical School in Ethics Quandary

Have you noticed that every recognizable part of human existence is a symptom of some disorder that you never knew about until a drug ad pointed it out? Do you think something should be done about the avaricious drug cartels driving up the cost of health care?

You may be suffering from non selective attention disorder. Ask your doctor if Amnesiol(TM) is right for you.

You sound like you're suffering from a bit of paranoia there - perhaps a case of non-schizoid paranoic anxiety disorder? We have a drug for that!!


On a lighter note (sort of)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7923356.stm

A Mexican illegal immigrant was stopped as he entered the UK when a search of his luggage uncovered a good luck card for his "new life in the UK".

well, here's a bit of unintended consequence:

'Questions are being raised about whether so-called energy saving light bulbs might cause cold-weather Canadians to burn more energy to heat their homes than if they were to use regular light bulbs.

CBC News has found that in some cases compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) can have the adverse effect of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, depending on how consumers heat their homes.

Physics professor Peter Blunden at the University of Manitoba said CFL bulbs are certainly more energy efficient than older incandescent bulbs.

But in cold-weather climates such as Canada's, Blunden said older incandescent bulbs do more than just light our homes. During the long winter months, they also generate heat. The new CFL bulbs on the other hand produce minimal heat so the loss has to be made up by fossil-fuel burning gas, oil or wood to heat your home.

"To some extent, the case [in favour of CFL bulbs] has been oversold" because of the offset in higher heating costs, he said.

In fact, a recent report by BC Hydro estimates new lighting regulations will increase annual greenhouse gas emissions in British Columbia by 45,000 tonnes annually as consumers use more energy to heat their homes after switching to more energy efficient — but cooler — lighting.'

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/03/04/mb-light-bulbs.html


You can't win.

I'd say that's rubbish - never heard of anyone using light bulbs to heat their home. And I imagine Canadian winters are a lot like the Swedish ones - below freezing point and snow.

Living in a flat where the level of heating is set by an automatic system adjusting it after the outdoor temperature I can't say I noticed any difference in indoor temperature when I started using energy saving light bulbs.

Tea candles on the other hand have sometimes been used as a heat source. Several years ago, a person died after her bed had caught fire while she was sleeping, and it appeared that the reason was that she had lighted several tea candles and placed them beneath her bed after the heating had broken down.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7925009.stm

I'd buy a lottery ticket if I were him.