The BBC reports today the official rate of inflation in Zimbabwe is now 2,200,200%. 

The figure is the first official assessment of prices in the troubled African nation since February, when the rate of inflation stood at 165,000%.

Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa, has descended into economic chaos largely blamed on the policies of President Robert Mugabe.

…

In May, the central bank issued a 500m Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth US$2 at the time of issue, to try to ease cash shortages amid the world’s highest rate of inflation.

This is in stark contrast with the situation at independence in 1980 when one Zimbabwe dollar was worth more than US$1.

We’ve heard that prices are changing so fast, if you’re lucky enough to find something on the shelves at the stores, by the time you reach the register to pay for it, the price has doubled.
 

The girls who made the pregnancy pact — some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers — declined to be interviewed.

(via kottke)

While inflation screams upward, the IMF issued a warning citing inflation could reach 100,000% by the end of 2007.

Via NYTimes.com World Briefing. Post title a quote borrowed from Snatch.

In the 1950′s, Alfred Lansing, author of Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, penned 288 of some of the most gripping pages I’ve read. For the uninitiated, the back cover of Lansing’s paperback reads:

In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton set off aboard the Endurance bound for the South Atlantic. The goal of his expedition was to cross the Antarctic overland, but more than a year later, and still half a continent away from the intended base, the Endurance was trapped in ice and eventually was crushed. For five months Shackleton and his crew survived on drifting ice packs in one of the most savage regions of the world before they were finally able to set sail again in one of the ship’s lifeboats. Alfred Lansing’s Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage is a white-knuckle account of this astounding odyssey.

Through the diaries of team members and interviews with survivors, Lansing reconstructs the months of terror and hardship the Endurance crew suffered. In October of 1915, there ‘were no helicopters, no Weasels, no Sno-Cats, no suitable planes. Thus their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity. If they were to get out–they had to get themselves out.’

This book is actually so much more. In fact, leadership training schools and outdoor survivalist training courses use Ernest Shackleton as a model for how to act and react in times of absolute desperation. And how to come out on top or simply alive. “How Shackleton did indeed get them out without the loss of a single life is at the heart of Lansing’s magnificent true-life adventure tale.” Don’t miss a chance to read this; you won’t put it down until you’re done. And when you are finished, you’ll think twice about the things you complain about when it’s cold outside.

Next up: Mark Twain’s tale of his 1895 journey around the world in Following The Equator.

These photos just released by the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Project show the glacier covering Greenland has receeded enough to reveal the world’s newest land mass, Warming Island.

CNET News.com reports “Scientists are concerned because the glacier on Greenland contains enough water to raise global sea levels by about 23 feet.”

I say you are wrong.

“The number of Zimbabwe dollars that bought a three-bedroom house with a swimming pool and tennis court in 1990 will buy a brick today.” BusinessWeek

Zimbabwe’s inflation is now 1,600%. Yes, you read that correctly: one thousand six hundred percent.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC — Mugabe’s only offical opposition party — tried to stage a political rally to announce his candidacy for president in the election due next year, but it was thwarted by tear gas- and water cannon-enabled police officers.

We’re spending $1 billion a day “fighting a war” in the Middle East, but because Zimbabwe doesn’t have any oil, no one will say or do a thing.

Read more. Get angry.

CNN.com: Bush officials misled public on global warming

This news, of course, is actually nothing new. In Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, a few minutes is dedicated to this very topic — and the now famous “recommendations” of a certain senior White House adviser.

“Zimbabwe is facing a food deficit of hundreds of thousands of tons — a third of its requirements — an international monitoring agency warns.” President Robert Mugabe instead blames an international plot to remove him from power.

Wrong again Robert Gabriel.

How true.

Lance is very clear about his cause and his goal. He wants a billion dollars for the fight against cancer and he won’t stop until he gets it.

Others are involved, too. Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach of the National Cancer Institute set a goal of “eliminating cancer as a cause of suffering and death by 2015.”

You should take a few moments to read the article, it’s a pretty damned good one.