Why Honolulu police can have illegal sex in the name of law enforcement, how one L.A. neighbourhood has chosen to destroy America, and who might actually be responsible for destroying the planet (spoiler: it’s us). It’s a rather depressing What’s Ruining Our Cities!
Hollywood is ruining America
It’s not in the way you’d think Hollywood would be ruining America… you know, with its loose values and drug addictions. No, the film industry is actually ruining America, more specifically the disaster film industry, which loves to attack various cities across the country with everything from viral infections to deep space meteors. Now there’s a map for you to helpfully discern which parts of the country have been destroyed by what kind of disaster. Weirdly enough, Hollywood seems to love destroying itself the most. [The Concourse]
Having sex with prostitutes is almost certainly going to ruin Honolulu’s police force
The Honolulu police lobby has asked lawmakers to keep an exemption on the books that says it’s probably ok for undercover police officers to have sex with prostitutes as long as it’s part of their investigation. This isn’t a new thing: The state law dates to 1972 and was created to protect officers whose true identities might be revealed if they didn’t have sex while on the job. Advocates say that police take advantage of the law and end up sexually abusing the prostitutes. At the very least this will make a great plotline on an upcoming Hawaii 5-0. [Star-Advertiser]
Our insatiable consumption of resources is ruining the planet
Well, it’s been a good ride. A new study says the world’s industrial societies are poised to collapse under the weight of their own unsustainable appetites for resources. Even the technology we invented to save us from ourselves is contributing to our decline, according to the study: “Technological change can raise the efficiency of resource use, but it also tends to raise both per capita resource consumption and the scale of resource extraction, so that, absent policy effects, the increases in consumption often compensate for the increased efficiency of resource use.” It’s bleak, but the study offers some ideas for how to turn the world around. Will we listen? [Gizmodo]