October 31, 2003

More Americans have now died after the war in Iraq than died during it. At least it was a short war, eh? I'd hate to see what the post-war period of a long war would look like.

Some dude lost his cell phone down a toilet, stuck his hand down there to retrieve it and got it stuck in the lou. Now that's not even worth linking to.

And if you've heard that farmed salmon is bad but don't know why, check out FarmedAndDangerous.org.

October 2, 2003

More bad news from China.... The NYT had an article today about two girls who went to work in an eyelash making factory. They were paid $24/month (minus a $13 charge for room and board) to place inch-long human hairs along a piece of sticky tape in an intricate criss cross pattern. It would take them about an hour to make each eyelash. All of the doors were locked and all but one window in the factory had bars. The girls jumped out of a third story window in hopes of escaping but managed to break their legs instead. Their families had to pick up the medical costs. The girls are now back home, poorer than they were before.


And the eyelashes? They sell for only 50 cents. In our "cheaper is better" economy, its the poor who get pinched.