Sovereign-debt theories: Domino theory | The Economist

Dubai’s sovereign credit-default-swap spreads soared to their highest level in a year this week, amid concern about the terms of a debt restructuring by a state-owned conglomerate. There is increasingly shrill commentary arguing that Greece is the start of a far bigger problem. “A Greek crisis is coming to America”, blared the headline on a recent Financial Times article by Niall Ferguson, a financial historian.

via Sovereign-debt theories: Domino theory | The Economist.

The Government’s Prohibition Poison Program

It was Christmas Eve 1926, the streets aglitter with snow and lights, when the man afraid of Santa Claus stumbled into the emergency room at New York City's Bellevue Hospital. He was flushed, gasping with fear: Santa Claus, he kept telling the nurses, was just behind him, wielding a baseball bat.

via The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition. – By Deborah Blum – Slate Magazine.

Dim Sum Truck in West LA

I was in Little Osaka earlier today when I got a mobile alert from Twitter. I’d started following @dimsumtruck a few days earlier. The tweet stated,”We’re soft-opening in West LA! Free dumplings for whoever finds us!!” I was walking back to my car as I read this and thought, “Where in West LA would the Dim Sum Truck park?”

I turned around and saw this. What luck!