READING FOR THE WEEKEND (May 16, 2014)

Do you have pleasant memories of that ice cream truck coming down the road, playing that distinctive music? You might not after reading this (NPR).

Christopher Columbus' 500 year-old shipwreck discovered off Haiti coast (The Guardian).

Social Security at 62? Let's run the numbers (NY Times).

Top 5 reasons why immigration means more tax revenue (Center for American Progress).


FINANCIALS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Number of the week: Total world debt load at 313% of GDP (WSJ Blog).

Gross World Product for 2012 was about $72.6 trillion (World Bank).

Amount of daily currency trading done every day is over $5.3 trillion (Bank for International Settlements / Bloomberg).


WHEN NATURE CALLS
It's begun ... A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable (NY Times / The Guardian).

Ground water depletion in California's central valley 'may be increasing chance of earthquakes' (The Guardian).

This could have been on a "Family Guy" episode ... Grey wolf appears in Iowa for the first time in 89 years and is shot dead (The Guardian).


JUST POLITICS
Is the south waking up? Senate Democrats leading in Red State polling (Daily Kos).

Why Karl Rove uses dirty tricks: They work (The Atlantic).

The Republican advantage among older voters won't last (David Frum / The Atlantic).

America's most gerrymandered districts, with cool interactive (Washington Post).


JUST PLAIN STUPID ... AMERICA'S QUOTA PROFIT INDUSTRY 
Infographic: Subsidized immigration detention centers are making big bucks off of you and me while running for-profit prisons (Center for American Progress).

Related, detained immigrants are kept in for-profit prisons to meet industry guaranteed quotas (Center for American Progress).

Congress' immigration bed quota (Center for American Progress).


MISCELLANEOUS
A wealth management site for the 99% of us who don't have millions to invest (Business Insider).

George Bush is painting ... and at least one critic isn't impressed (The Guardian).

Meanwhile, in the real world ... New Hampshire police commissioner refers to President Obama with the N-word (The Big Story).

Five habits of emotionally intelligent people (Business Insider).

- Mark