Touring the Chuquicamata Copper Mining Pit

Though Lonely Planet describes Calama as a “shithole”, the Chilean mining town is one of my favorite stops in all of South America. I arrived late last night and unnecessarily walked briskly to my hotel. I say unnecessarily because the town was perfectly safe, orderly, and pleasant.

There’s a lot of money here because of the copper mine. Like any boom town based on oil or minerals, you’ve got lots of overpriced yet austere looking hotels, and a skewed male to female population ratio. Continue reading →

Radio Crass: Fun with the GOP Edition

Editor’s Note: This is a repost of this week’s episode-We figured a lot of folks might have not had the opportunity to listen during the week, and thought Labor Day was the perfect opportunity to share it with you again.

Welcome to another edition of Radio Crass. This week Burning River and I discuss the Republican National Convention. Continue reading →

Breaking Bad Open Thread: “Gliding Over All”


This is it, kids: the last new episode of Breaking Bad we’ll see this year. I’m sure we’re all happy we have more to look forward to, but this first half has gone by too quickly! You know the drill: hit the jump as long as you’re watching along with us or don’t mind spoilers! Continue reading →

Making Homemade V8-Style Tomato Juice From Summer’s Tomato Harvest

There are some things that you can only make once or twice a year because of availability or cost. In this case, homemade tomato juice fills both those slots. It takes a LOT of tomatoes to make, so it would be cost-prohibitive to make any other season. Also, the tomatoes need to be really ripe to the point of being almost over ripe, so the end of summer crop is perfect for this amazing juice. Continue reading →

This Labor Day Weekend: Five Films About (Not) Working in America

America doesn’t officially celebrate International Workers’ Day with the rest of the world on May 1. Instead Americans need their own fancy Labor Day. Though it tends not to be celebrated in the same spirit as International Workers’ Day, just play along with me, okay? If you don’t spend the weekend barbecuing, sun-cooking your flesh or laying face down in a puddle of your own sick, you could get into the Labor Day spirit by watching some work(er)-themed films!
Continue reading →