A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
The Berlin Wall was torn down 30 years ago sending shock waves across Europe, and sparked hopes for millions of East Germans. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports from Berlin.
Thirty years ago, the Berlin Wall, one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War in Europe, came down piece by piece. That pivotal moment promised a more unified, democratic world, but decades later, that expectation has faded with the rise of nationalism and cracks appearing in the European Union and NATO. Roxana Saberi reports.
The maintenance and expansion of democracy and liberty require constant effort and vigilance; progress will not happen by itself.
I plan on posting one more entry on the subject focusing on the key decision by East German politicians, which East German bureaucrats amplified by mishandling it, at least from the perspective of the politicians. The East German people had other ideas about its implementation. Stay tuned.
Last night, The Weather Channel aired "2020: Race to Save the Planet," which examined how nine current and former candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations for President see the problems and possible solutions regarding climate change. Here is the list of candidates from Deadline Hollywood.
Viewers will hear from Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Senator Cory Booker, former Congressman Joe Walsh, former Governor Bill Weld and former Governor Mark Sanford about how climate change is impacting jobs, the economy, national security, extreme weather, and more.
Dr. Rick Knabb, former director of the National Hurricane Center and the network’s on-air hurricane expert, hosts the program and conducted the majority of the interviews. Meteorologist Stephanie Abrams, co-host of AMHQ, also conducted interviews.
Destination Maternity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday [October 21] as the apparel company hopes to avoid the graveyard of fashion retailers.
The retailer operates stores under several brands, including Destination Maternity, Motherhood Maternity and A Pea in the Pod.
The company had 446 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico as of Aug. 3. It also operated 491 shops-within-a-shop at various department stores and baby specialty retailers.
The company plans to close 183 stores after already shuttering 27 recently, according to a court filing. Bankruptcy allows companies to escape unprofitable leases.
...the company, in a court document, blamed the retail industry's turmoil, declining birth rates, high rents and leadership turnover for faltering. The company has had five CEOs in the last five years.
The declining national birthrate isn't just a sociological concern — it also holds perilous economic implications for several industries, including, most recently, maternity apparel.
US birthrates hit a record 32-year low in 2018 after dropping 2% from 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past two years, the dip has negatively impacted a variety of companies, from Toys R Us and Babies R Us to consumer-packaged-goods companies like Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble that sell diapers and other products for babies.
Now it's coming for Destination Maternity, the largest global maternity company. ... On Thursday, analysts at Demographic Intelligence — a forecasting firm specializing in national marriage and birthrates — said decreasing birthrates have played a direct role in the Destination Maternity bankruptcy.
"While competition from online retailers and other widely discussed factors may have had some role to play, Destination Maternity's declining net sales in recent years have tracked fairly closely with the sharp decline in births in the United States," Lyman Stone, an advisor at Demographic Intelligence advisor, said in a statement.
Once again, I'm being a good environmentalist and recycling.
On the one hand, the U.S. is doing its part to slow down population growth. On the other hand, [this means] a possible shrinking economy in the future, which is bad for business as usual. It's time to be a good environmentalist and recycle what I wrote last year.
I have been in favor of zero population growth for as long as I can remember. However, I'm not sure the U.S. economy is set up for a stable or slowly declining population, a point I made in the Hipcrime Vocab: Why Slowing Population Growth is a Problem. We are going to have to figure how to do so. Otherwise, I might live long enough to experience the wisdom of the saying "Be careful what you wish for; you might get it."
Here's to hoping the U.S. learns how to thread that needle.
A new 5-part CBS News Radio series called "Tearing Down the Wall" recounts the moments leading up to and following the fall of the Berlin Wall nearly 30 years ago. CBS News Radio correspondent Budd Mishkin joined CBSN to discuss his reporting and how the country is fighting to preserve what's left of the wall.
I was amazed to watch the wall start to come down live on CNN in 1989. I honestly thought I might not live to see that day, yet it happened half my life ago. The Cold War was over and the West won! That was the end of a decade of worrying about nuclear war between the superpowers. Not only was it a victory, it was a relief.
Words cannot really express how I felt at the time, but music can. Watch and listen to Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now (Official Music Video), which I think best sums up my thoughts and feelings about the event, even decades later.
The original video for RHRN, with an introduction from the wonderful Annie Nightingale, onstage in Romania. Taken from the Jesus Jones longform, Big in Alaska.
It's Election Day across most of the U.S. as well as being Guy Fawkes Day. To mark the occasion, I am sharing a video of one of my favorite British ex-pats (now an American) on television. Watch Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Voting Machines.
John Oliver discusses how voting machines work, how they don’t, and how we can fix them.
Just the same, those of you with elections in your area, go vote. I already did, thanks to no-excuses absentee voting, which passed last year in Michigan, along with automatic voter registration when renewing driver's licenses, same day voter registration, and the return of straight-ticket voting. Democracy!
I plan on returning tomorrow with election results. Stay tuned.
Nora Zimmett of The Weather Channel accepts the Outstanding Science, Medical or Environmental Report Emmy Award for AMHQ, "Dangers of Tornadoes Depicted Through Immersive Mixed Reality."
I appreciate her explanation of the importance of what The Weather Channel is doing. They don't simply exploit risk for viewers.
From the October 7, 2018 episode of "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver".
I'm pretty sure that The Weather Channel will not "take it down a notch" as long as their use of graphics is winning awards. As I first wrote in Did Hurricane Irene live up to the hype? The numbers say yes eight years ago, "expect more dramatic coverage from The Weather Channel in the future, not less." This award says I was right.
A new poll finds a majority of Americans want to get rid of daylight saving time all together.
70% of Americans are tired of switching the clocks back and forth, while only 30% want to keep doing it. Americans don't agree yet on which time to stay on, Standard or Daylight Saving. However, that hasn't stopped states from trying to please their residents by stopping the back-and-forth. Unfortunately, it literally requires an act of Congress to finish the job. Follow over the jump for reports about three states that have voted to stop the twice-annual changeover and five more that are considering doing so.
I told my readers to "Stay tuned for my annual entry on Daylight Saving Time ending at the end of Bye-bye Beto as O'Rourke drops out. I've decided to have two of these entries with today's about the effects of changing the clocks and tomorrow's about legislative attempts to stop switching back and forth.
Daylight Saving Time ends this weekend. On Sunday we’ll ‘fall back’ which means we set our clocks back by one hour. Now you may be dreaming of sleeping in, but is that a good idea? And how can this annual tradition affect our health?
All of the above are among the reasons why Americans are getting tired of switching back and forth between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time, having decided Daylight Saving Time sucks. I'll explore what Americans and their lawmakers are doing about that sentiment tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Speaking of acknowledging the panel's predictive power, the top six picks in the drop-out draft are now out, leaving Beto O'Rourke, Steve Bullock, and Michael Bennet. Beto is on the bubble for making the next debate, needing two qualifying polls during the next three weeks. He might make it. However, I have my doubts that he will drop out next. I think that's more likely to be Julian Castro, who has no qualifying polls and is behind both Beto and Tulsi Gabbard.* My readers and I will find out in three weeks when the candidates qualifying for the November debate are announced. In the meantime, six down, three to go.
Beto O'Rourke is ending his 2020 presidential bid, saying his campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully.
The reporters mentioned both money and the inability to make this month's debate as factors in O'Rourke's decision as well as what he will will do next. All of that also appeared in CBS News' Beto O'Rourke ends 2020 campaign, which took a more analytical view of the news.
Democrat Beto O'Rourke dropped out of the 2020 presidential campaign, writing on Twitter "let us continue to fearlessly champion the issues and causes that brought us together." Democratic analyst Joel Payne and Republican analyst Leslie Sanchez joined CBSN to discuss.
The analysts mentioned Pete Buttigieg's presence in the contest along with Mayor Pete's criticism of O'Rourke at last month's debate as contributing reasons for O'Rourke's decline. So did the panel at FiveThirtyEight, appearing a few paragraphs in.
geoffrey.skelley [Geoffrey Skelley]: Alright, I think there’s an easy pick that I would take if we had four rounds, but given we only have three picks, I think I’m going to go for my sleeper choice: former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. I think it’s possible that he might actually consider running for Senate again. He’s polling at 2 percent nationally with no obvious path for improvement, and he’s even worse off in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Not to mention, O’Rourke abandoned the campaign trail to go home to El Paso after the mass shooting there. So if I squint, I can see him deciding to drop the presidential bid for a more winnable race — at least in terms of his party’s nomination. At this point I think he would be much, much more likely to win the Democratic nomination for Senate in Texas than the presidency, and given his performance in the 2018 Senate contest, maybe he could even win the general. He’d be an underdog, but he’s been there before.
nrakich [Nathaniel Rakich]: Yesssss. I’m so glad someone chose him!
Mostly so I wouldn’t be tempted to waste my own pick on him ;-p
But I totally agree. O’Rourke has been home in El Paso helping his community heal. And that’s the kind of campaign break that leads to self-reflection — maybe the people at home are the ones you’d rather be trying to help.
To be more crassly political, it might also be a chance to step back and see that your campaign has been a pretty big flop so far — after you entered the presidential race expecting to be one of the four or five front-runners.
sarahf [Sarah Frostenson]: Right, has anyone experienced a bigger flop in the polls?
nrakich: At one point, O’Rourke registered in the double digits — sometimes in third place! — in some polls right after his announcement. Now he’s at 2 points in the Real Clear Politics average.
geoffrey.skelley: Pete Buttigieg’s campaign really stepped all over O’Rourke.
sarahf: Right, and Nate wrote about this last month, but something tricky about O’Rourke is that his base (young, white, moderate Democrats) is smaller than you’d expect, so he’s running to attract a segment of the party that isn’t all that big to begin with. It doesn’t help that he’s faced stiff competition in candidates like Buttigieg or Warren in trying to diversify his appeal.
nrakich: O’Rourke also seems to be a guy prone to a lot of soul-searching. So if any candidate who has already made the September debate (as he has) is going to drop out for personal reasons before then, I bet it would be him.
geoffrey.skelley: And while he’s not leading in most Texas presidential primary polls, he still does OK, so I think he could successfully pivot to the Senate race. Anyway, I wouldn’t take it to the bank, but his leaving to go to El Paso really made me wonder if he might drop out.
sarahf: Good pick.
It was. Congratulations!
Right now, their picks stand at seven down, two to go. Now to see if my pick of Julian Castro drops out before or after Steve Bullock and Michael Bennet. My readers and I should find out shortly after the November 13 deadline for the next debate.
Follow over the jump for the drinks and memes I'm retiring now that O'Rourke is out of the race.
I've decided to lean into today (and tomorrow) by sharing National Geographic's What is Day of the Dead?*
DÃa de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration of life and death. While the holiday originated in Mexico, it is celebrated all over Latin America with colorful calaveras (skulls) and calacas (skeletons). Learn how the Day of the Dead started and the traditions that make it unique.
The Mexican holiday surrounds death, but it’s a time to celebrate life with loved ones. Learn more about the holiday that’s gaining traction in the U.S.
Both of the videos are accurate as far as they go. I have my own personal experience with the celebration, which I recounted five years ago.
I spent the week of Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico during October and November, 2011. It was an eye-opening experience. I'll just concentrate on the public celebrations I observed.
First, I toured a cemetary during the night of Halloween. In the U.S., only the thrillseekers and vandals would be there. In Oaxaca, entire families were having picnics on the family plots. The atmosphere was festive with the local orchestra playing, fireworks, and vendors just outside the gates of the cemetary. Kids were trick-or-treating inside the cemetary, just as mentioned in the article. While they were wearing costumes, like American kids, they weren't going door to door asking for candy. Instead, they were begging strangers for coins. That's certainly an adaptation of an American tradition that makes it distinct.
The next night, I joined a grownup version of trick-or-treating. My hostess and her friend invited me to a parade of sorts. A bunch of revelers, most in costume, lined up in an alley behind a brass band. We then strolled down the street, stopped at a house, and asked for treats. We got tortas, Mexican sandwiches, which were passed out on a platter the size of a small door. I managed to get one of them. It was delicious. Also, plastic shot glasses of mezcal were being passed around. That made for a very entertaining evening, and is the reason I often describe the holiday as a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras.
While waiting for that parade to form up, I watched another pass by. It was led by three young men in costume, a devil, a grim reaper, and a Mesoamerican death god. That image perfectly summed up the Mexican heritage of being a fusion of European and native elements. I wish Americans could be as comfortable with our hybrid origins.
¡Feliz DÃa de los Muertos!
*Yes, I know the holiday is officially tomorrow, but as the USA Today video notes and I experienced, it's celebrated over three days, including yesterday and today. Also tomorrow is time to fall back as Daylight Saving Time ends. I have my own priorities and traditions to keep!
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