Has been going on for 17 years now. It's part prank (advertising for it on CNN for example) part protest (zombie hordes carrying picket signs) and partly an excuse to to anything OTHER than wander into a shopping temple on one of the busiest shopping weekends across the planet. It's also meant as a way to spread the message that it might be a good idea to consume a little less. A little less fuel, a little less food, a little less mass produced gimmicks and do-dads.
Is it ineffective? Most likely. Meaningless? Well, if you consider the fact that The U.S. has develoed into an economy supported by people whowere encouraged to live beyond their means, probably not. We have already seen the results of people not being able to pay back their mortgages, and things might just get even more interesting once masses of people have to default on their credit card debt.
So it's a perfect excuse to get people thinking about some things they might prefer to push to the back of their brains.
who are following the develoments in Mumbai, I'm sure you have already realized that the net is your friend. It has been the best and fastest way of getting the information out so far.
To get a quick overview of some of the best english language resources I would suggest a posting on Metafliter. The comments in the post are adding links to sites and stories as they are found.
And for a quick view frmo the ground try the Mumbai metblogs site:
mumbai.metblogs.com
I just fell into a Barrel of Bizarreness
and I don't know how to get out. It's a bit like quicksand. The more I struggle, the deeper I get pulled into it.
The Abominable Charles Christopher is a webcomic about, well I think it's about, a snowman. As in the furry, big-foot type. It features a cast of forest critters who do things like party, get drunk, and advertise. And there is a moon bear. And some other stuff.
I thought I would just quickly skim through a couple of the comics in order to figure out what was going on so I could give you a summary, but I fear that plan isn't going to work. I will probably end up spending the rest of my free time today trying to figure it out. So, while I am doing that, you can go figger it out for yourselves.
several times. The most recent stretch has about 12 years ago. It sucked, but it has it's upside.
It freed me from fear.
Well, it freed me from the fear of complete and utter financial ruin at least. I'm still not crazy about the thought of ending up riding public transportation all day suffering from sleep deprivation and hunger induced hallucinations. That sort of sucks.
I guess you could say I was one of the lucky ones. I was homeless, but still physically and mentally healthy. That makes things much much easier. That also made me one of the invisible homeless. There are a lot more people that fit that description than you might think. And I have been thinking about it a lot lately.
Which is why I stumbled across a site called "A Survival Guide to Homelessness". It is an incredibly well written guide to getting by without a roof over your head. It's also an interesting look into a side of homelessness that rarely makes it into the media. The working poor, students, and victims of circumstance (or bad decisions) who do their best to reamin invisible. The comments on this blog are an important aspect of it's value. I suggest taking the time to read them as well.
is cool. Cool in that old school, grown up, bond kind of way.
A japanese producer of canned coffee must think so too. That's probably why they gave the go-ahead to produce a series of advertisements featuring Mr. Jones. They are actually pretty entertaining, even if you don't understand Japanese, but I'm linking to the versions with english sub-titles anyway. It's a bit more fun to have SOME idea of what is going on.
Wien | 29.11.2008 | 14:30 
