Top ten "unliveable" cities: not my kind fun facts!

I was in my local coffee shop the other day when I spotted the above 'fun facts' style "article" in the glossy magazine that comes with the weekend national paper. I looked around the page and found no related article dealing with the issues raised by this set of 'fun facts'. I found this disturbing, cynical, and in a way macabre.
The Economist magazine makes a big deal of it's yearly liveability rankings with most attention given to the top ten most liveable cities. The article published by the The Economist does not list the top unliveable cities just the liveable top ten. The Economist links you to the Economist Intelligence Unit where the top ten and bottom ten are provided. If you want any more from the list you will have to buy the information.
This list is made offensive by the lack of attention paid to the human experience of living in these cities and the historical colonial contexts that have delivered them to us in such a parlous state. The list reeks of British and French colonial exploits. Some of these cities represent hot beds of cultural production and adaption with their denizens being shining examples of resilience amid catastrophic circumstances. There is much that is fascinating, important, and eminently readable about these cities. It would have been quite possible to put a positive spin on the list but it seems that the fashion for 'fun facts' and the apparent cynicism of editorial staff put a stop to that.
I am fascinated by these cities and take a keen interest in their culture, and history. Every part of their tortuous existence has helped to create peoples and cultures that celebrate survival. It is a sad shame that some editors living in the rarefied air of their office blocks feel that the experience of so many struggling and suffering people can be over looked. They say these places are unliveable, but for whom? Certainly not the people who live there!

Check this link for an article on Port Moresby

The Road, some thoughts and a list of meals

Last night I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' and then went and saw the movie. This was the right thing to do because in my mind the both are part of one experience.
While I have some issues with the screen play and it's adherence to the detail of the novel and the subsequent effects on the narrative development and certain key themes, I think the movie was effective.
My great point of difference with 'The Road' is in the nature of the special world created by the writer. By this I refer to Joseph Campbell's notion of the hero/protagonist and the rules governing the special world where the hero and the audience finds themselves and makes their journey. In 'The Road' we find that the world is a place where almost all but a few humans and possibly a pet dog have survived some sort of cataclysm. It is but one of many scenarios of human destruction that may precipitate the Age of Warlords.
The choice of the destruction of most life is a device that places the focus on preserved food. There are no opportunities to hunt or farm and the world is seemingly heading towards sterility. This is a clever device that allows the writer to focus on many of the fears of 'preppers' and survivalists. It is the most dramatic of Age of Warlords scenarios as desolation, personal violence, and cannibalism are a day to day issue.
I have made the most of Cormac McCarthy's dramatic focus and made a list of all meals (eating events) in 'The Road' (the book). The list bears out the true nature of the foods we are likely to rely on at the most desperate stages of the Age of Warlords.

Pg 3 corn meal cakes and syrup
Pg 8 a poor meal, cold
Pg 16 smokehouse ham and tin of beans
Pg 26 a can of coke from a vending machine
Pg 29 cold rice and cold beans
Pg 31 last of the cocoa
Pg 34 crackers and a tin of sausage, last half packet of cocoa
Pg 40 colony of dried morels
Pg 41 morels and fat pork, can of beans, tea and tinned pears
Pg 49 last of the morels and a can of spinach
Pg 72 a can of white beans
Pg 76 a can of sausages and a can of corn
Pg 79 a can of beets
Pg 80 last tin of food, pork and beans
Pg 88 corn cakes-sans rat turds
Pg 91 two corn cakes each
Pg 92 a handful of raisins
Pg 94 grain and dust from a hopper
Pg 107 handfuls of dirty snow
Pg 125 dusty hayseeds
Pg 127 dried up apples with seeds
Pg 131 dried up apples, grape flavoured drink
Pg 133 dried up apples, water
Pg 141 a can of pears, a can of peaches
Pg 151 a bar of chocolate
Pg 153 ham, eggs, beans, coffee, biscuits
Pg 162 ham, green beans, mashed potato, gravy, peaches and cream, coffee
Pg 165 canned ham and crackers with mustard and apple sauce, tea
Pg 174 with the old man-tin of fruit cocktail
Pg 178 with the old man-beef, crackers, coffee
Pg 185 a cold lunch
Pg 187 corn bread, beans, franks from a tin
Pg 193 curbside crackers
Pg 204 leftover skillett bread. last can of tuna fish, a can of prunes
-205
Pg 212 the last of their provisions
Pg 224 preserved green beans and potatos
Pg 254 a can of peaches alone
Pg 269 a can of apple juice for the boy
Pg 278 cans warmed over the burner
Pg 296 half tin of peaches for the boy