You got a fabulous deal on your mortgage because China’s workers were prevented from spending the money they had earned.
The Chinese government is having to walk a really fine line between pressure for continued job growth and economic reality. Without that double digit growth, the lack of freedoms given by the “communist” party start to look pretty unsustainable. I think the next few years are going to be very interesting in China.
]]>What interests me is that the Yahoo story that broke it generated over 1700 comments in a couple of days. It now has nearly 1900 comments!
I never imagined someone as low-key as Joe would generate such a reaction despite occasional fireworks such as this.
So many of the comments focus on what a ridiculous contract this is for someone who kind of choked in the second round of the playoffs last season, and is really good, but not at the Wade-Bryant-James level.
That’s a fair criticism, though Joe is also one of the few players who can claim to have led his team to more wins in each of five consecutive seasons while never getting into trouble off the court… I think that kind of consistency leading into this season’s playoffs built up a reserve a goodwill with the Atlanta franchise that 5 or 6 bad subpar games weren’t enough to erode.
But there’s another stream of vitriol running through the comments: the absurdity of professional athletes being paid tens of millions per season for playing games. I think the recession has only stirred the cauldron for those who see seemingly more dollars and media attention going to “pampered” athletes while the middle-class wages relative to cost-of-living have dwindled through the last few decades.
With the increasing chatter about this free-agent class in the preceding weeks, I believe a reserve of animosity was welling up in some of the general (internet-using) public, and news of Joe’s megadeal broke the dam. Unfortunately, Arkansas’ finest was the first to face the torrent.
Amid all the talk about the insane money being thrown around, the Boston Globe ran an interesting piece about a former NBA champion who’s now living out of his car. This player, Ray Williams, says he believes that players such as Joe Johnson should be sharing their new-found wealth with him since he helped blaze the golden trail upon which their Air Jordans tread.
Based on the majority of the 200+ comments, though, I’m not sure if Williams will get any help.
I don’t really know if this incident qualifies as a “spill” as much a geyser spewing oil from the earth, but it still conveys the message: They be oorrl all over the Guf, y’all.
]]>And as if to better illustrate their point, the threats have started:
The commentary at the end of the piece is worth the wait.
Second, I strongly recommend watching Drunk History at YouTube, this has been around for a while but they finally have some new stuff. Go and educate thyself.
Also, I took a vacation to Japan a few weeks ago, if you guys want to see some pictures they are here or on the glorious FB.
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Last Night I went to go see Nordwand at the Mayan. Holy shit, this movie is ridiculously intense. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it exactly and it was probably about 30 minutes too long, but it had 4 great things going for it:
- The most intense 45 minutes of movie-watching I’ve ever experienced (this is not an exageration)
- Really accurate depiction of the gear and techniques used by alpinists in the 30s
- Amazing cinematography
- A good depiction of a real, tragic event as tragic in the literary sense
If you’re into mountaineering, it’s definitely worth seeing.
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