Back on April 9 we described the latest example of how criminal Wall Street behavior leads to zero prison time and just more slaps on the wrist, when Warren Buffett's favorite bank, Wells Fargo, admitted to "deceiving" the U.S. government into insuring thousands of risky mortgages.  According to the settlement, Wells Fargo "admits, acknowledges, and accepts responsibility" for having from 2001 to 2008 falsely certified that many of its home loans qualified for Federal Housing Administration insurance.

A bag purporting to contain air from Kobe Bryant’s last NBA game reached a bid of $15,000 on an eBay auction. Kobe Bryant played his last game of a 20-year NBA career on Thursday helping the Lakers beat the Jazz 101-96. Kobe scored 60 points and a career high record of 50 field goal attempts.   The Daily Dot reports: But if you weren’t at the game, there is still a chance to breathe the rarified air that Bryant exhaled during his finale. No, literally. You can buy and then breathe the air. Air from Kobe’s last game for sale on eBay.

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky.

The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport or even walking, if necessary.

If you've ever been to Houston, you know that the city has decided not to limit expansion with restrictive zoning laws. The city sprawls as far as the eye can see, with apartments next to restaurants, which are next to gentleman's clubs, which are next to luxury hotels. While not the "norm", this type of model has actually led to declining home prices since 1980.

Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

It’s not an easy time to be a construction worker in China. In some cases, economic frustration bubbles over into the streets such as the other day, when workers from rival companies used their bulldozers as battle tanks.

The AP reports:

BEIJING (AP) — Police in northern China say an argument between construction workers escalated into a demolition derby-style clash of heavy machinery that left at least two bulldozers flipped over in a street.