The Economist had a couple of articles about this issue a few weeks ago. Interesting read. I thought it addressed well how to deal with the problem of high food prices, but didn't really talk at all about the possibility of an actual worldwide food shortage, which seems a distinct possibility to me.

It could just be to commemorate the Year of the Pig, which is ending in a few weeks. Rat-shaped gadgets on the agenda for next year, maybe?

You know, it would really have been helpful if I had mentioned the city Sam Adams is running for mayor of—Portland, OR.

Curious. Sam Adams is also the name of one of the city commissioners (and now running for mayor). I wonder if he's run up against this as well—surely we would have heard about that. Or maybe he's on the list because he's a bicycle-loving commie.

If the mold/secret room was really that hidden, then it's a latent defect that the seller is under an obligation to disclose, if they are aware of it. But if it would have been able to be discovered by a reasonably careful inspection by a qualified house inspector, it would fall under the doctrine of caveat emptor. If this is the case, either the buyers didn't hire an inspector (in which case they're screwed) or their inspector didn't do their job well (in which case the inspector is liable).

This is why I just use a dustbuster instead of a dustpan.

And I thought the common offering of English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Punjabi, and Italian here in Vancouver was impressive.