How to Boil a Frog Free Goodie Release 6/24/09 - Sittin' in the Garden Edition

Hi All,

This week we’ve got the first of 2 mini-interviews with David Strahan, author of the excellent book “The Last Oil Shock”. This week David talks about whether the developed world has really become more energy efficient, a key question if we want to hang onto the world-view that technology will save us. (HINT: I’m growing veggies in my backyard.) Check out David’s take on the subject at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#video.

Our Book o’ the Update is “Peak Everything” by Richard Heinberg, a must-read overview of our current situation that goes way beyond just limits to our global oil supply (topping out now) into all energy sources, topsoil, forest, fish, phosphates, you name it, we’re using it up at unsustainable rates. Richard’s work is key to understanding that this is NOT JUST A BUNCH OF ISOLATED PROBLEMS you’re seeing on the news everyday. We’re looking at a systemic problem (too many people, too little planet) and all the symptoms are going to hit us at once: sniffles, aches, fever, insomnia, indigestion, gout, itching, swelling, shrinkage, annoying hair growth and a bunch of other things for which there is no easy remedy. That’s the real Domino Theory we need to learn about, and Richard’s book is a great place to start. Check it out at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#books.

Once again we’re replacing all 5 Essential Articles with new ones, to keep up with those dominoes. Note there’s an emotional progression of these articles – sort of like the flow from “Death Proof” into “Planet Terror” – so read all 5 in one sitting if you can put down the iPod/laptop/TV remote/Crackberry that long.

Up first is “An Inconvenient Talk” by Chris Turner, which tells the story of Calgary-based geoscientist Dave Hughes and his mission of spreading the basic facts about peak oil. Why this article isn’t on the cover of, say, everything, escapes me.

Move on from there to “What You Don’t Know Makes You Nervous” by Daniel Gilbert. You’ll find that, no, it isn’t just you - we’re all stuck in a kind of nervous ambivalence, knowing we should change our behavior but not doing it because maybe – just maybe – we won’t have to. So the question becomes, after you read this article, will you take action? Still not convinced?

Then move on to “Too Big to Fail: Ecological Ignorance and Economic Collapse” by Chip Ward, as he explains the cycles of the economy by looking at Nature…and takes you into your feelings. Continue that journey with…

“Solastalgia” by Sanjay Khanna, who wants to come up with a better name for what we’re feeling than “I-know-I-shouldn’t-drive-and-fly-and-consume-mass-quantities-of-conveniently-packaged-stuff-because-I’m-killing-the-polar-bears-and-my-great-grandchildren-but-it’s-too-hard-to-change-and-we-all-die-anyway-itis.” She got it down to 4 syllables, and came up with some good insights on how to get to action too. So now that you’ve felt your feelings, finish off with…

“Family Farmers: The Return” by Herve Kempf. A good career reminder: the real green jobs of the future are going to be in growing green stuff! Lawns are so 20th century. Zuke flower salads from the backyard are in! All these fine wordsmiths await you at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#articles.

After all that reading, it’s time to move on to our Essential Movie, and not only is it free, but I guarantee it will dazzle you. It’s “The History of Oil”, written and performed by Robert Newman. Witty, beautifully shot and entirely powered by guys on stationary bikes, this is one of the most brilliant pieces of entertainment I’ve seen in a long time. Just click on http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#movies and sit back for an hour of something I wish there were a lot more of. For more on this extraordinary comedian, songwriter & activist, visit http://www.robnewman.com/index.html

Our Essential Funny Web Short is called “Stop Pollution”, an animated featurette with penguins & polar bears, who by the way will soon be indigenous to Cleveland. Waitin’ for you at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#webshorts.

We’ve also replaced all 5 Essential Links because there’s so dang much great stuff happening online right now.

Start with The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, if you’re looking for a new and extraordinary kind of commitment to saving Humanity. HTBAF the Movie advocates a voluntary restriction to one child (and adoption after that) – here’s the next step beyond!

Next is the GrowthBusters website, brought to you by Friend O’ the Frog Dave Gardner. Like HTBAF, this is both a website and an upcoming film!

New Society Publishers is a local publishing house with an amazing catalogue – a must-browse!

World-changing has a great motto – “Change your thinking” – from that all else flows. The link on our site goes to a page that has a video on urban eco-villages, which turn out to be nothing like what I had in my head. Check it out and then cruise the site for a zillion free resources.

The Green World Campaign. Plant a tree for a quarter! 2 bits! Best bargain on the net! And all of this awaits you at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#links!

We’ve got a couple of different Actions o’ the Week. If you happen to be lucky enough to live in and around lovely Vancouver, BC, check out the summer courses being offered at Langara College by Village Vancouver – just click on http://www.villagevancouver.ca/ to see what’s happening on the skill-building front. (If you live elsewhere, try googling Transition Towns to see what’s available in your area.) Or if you’re in the mood for some trouble-making, try out http://beyondtalk.net/ to sign up for civil disobedience or action offsets!

And don’t forget to check out the first review of HTBAF the movie at http://energybulletin.net/node/49188. Not bad for a movie nobody's allowed to see yet! Thanks to FOF's Bart Anderson at http://www.energybulletin.net/ and Kathy McMahon at http://www.peakoilblues.com/ for spreading the word about the movie!

And, as always, please spread this email to others who are not yet Frog-aware, and discuss with them some of what you see and read here. What you do matters!

Till next time,

Jon & all his friends at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/
Frequent updates on Twitter – follow “howtoboilafrog” for our news haikus!
HTBAF on Facebook!

First Review of How to Boil a Frog the movie!

Thanks to EnergyBulletin.net for reviewing the rough cut of How to Boil a Frog! Now to raise half a million bucks to get it to a theater near you!

Published Jun 11 2009 by Energy Bulletin
How To Boil A Frog (film review)
by Amanda Kovattana

A lively film promoting activism via video that is in itself a sophisticated example of the medium. With a personal narrative from author/activist Jon Cooksey, this is a rapid fire account of five problems that are bringing the human race to the brink of disaster due to ecological deterioration of the planet. Using a available low budget props high in visual humor, Cooksey outlines the impacts of population overshoot, habitat destruction of the natural world, increasing human wealth causing disastrous consumption and further destruction, peak oil and global warming.


[Trailer]



Peppering his demonstration with illustrated factoids, easily understood metaphors and bathroom humor, his change of costumes and local are inter-cut with a series of visual cues referencing boomer culture from pong to disco. The humor keeps the viewer from too much despair at his state of the planet address, yet doesn't flinch from the dreadful facts of our abuse of the oceans with an assault of plastic, the rate of development in China and the disastrous reduction in forest and water supply due to resource depletion. Accompanied with magic marker charts to illustrate the point of overshoot when we should have leveled off our consumption and growth (in 1987), he follows with a "Red Asphalt" attempt at warning us of what will happen if we continue business as usual. Cooksey firmly establishes that we must understand that there are definite limits to what the planet will bear.

He follows with five solutions urging viewers to forget about a techno fix and work on shrinking our consumption to fit these limits starting with ourselves first. Beginning with cultivating a change of heart about how we live, his solutions include reducing energy use, growing food in our own backyards (he demonstrates in his own yard from scratch) and activism using youtube interviews to embarrass corporations that are causing harm into changing their evil ways. Convinced of this David and Goliath approach using nothing more than a digital camera, Cooksey delivers his main message "make friends, make fun, make trouble". And he is infectious in this energy. Everyone can be a youtube star and show and tell what they've done. Such is the appeal of a visual medium, that it can both showcase your personality and your accomplishments. The beauty of How To Boil A Frog is that it appeals to our altruism without seeming holier than thou.

It is worth noting that this is one of the few films of the "change the world" genre that actually states that we can't live as we have been doing and must transition to another way of life. The fast pace of the explanations and quick cultural references may go over the heads of an over 50 audience, but it is perfect for the video generation.

What This Is Not

Frogs are excellent at facing reality. If you jump from one lily pad to another, and you don't quite make it, you're in the water. You don't think to yourself: "Hey, this water is sort of like a lily pad, except it's wet, and blue, and I'm drowning." You swim (breast stroke, of course) and get on the lily pad. Then you eat a fly, because, hey, it's been a long morning.





Also good in fruit shakes.






You homo sapiens sapiens, however, seem to be having a problem seeing things as they are. For instance, there's been much talk about whether and how much the current financial crash is or could be like the Great Depression of 1929. Here's a hint:

This is not 1929.







Frogs on the fly line.







The Great Depression happened because of a combination of things. The victors of WW1 tried punishing Germany, and rediscovered the Golden Rule. The Bankers orchestrated a crash, taking their money out first. Playing around with the Gold Standard was in there somewhere. And of course, Herbert Hoover's frocks caused a style panic. In other words, people caused the Great Depression.








Hoover posing as the President's wife.











And what "solved" the Great Depression? People running out and buying washing machines? The New Deal? Improved health from eating 5 cent apples? World War 2? No, it was none of these things. It was this:







Black gold. Texas tea. Bush blood.







It was oil production. By 1930, it was starting to spurt out of the Texas dirt with an EROI of 100:1. Production rose exponentially from that point, allowing the US to kick Nazi butt in WW2, while Hitler scrabbled all over Africa trying to find himself some oil he didn't have to make out of Ruhr coal or gay people. FDR could've spent 12 years doing the hula and the US economy would've still recovered because resource throughput is what drives GDP.







Does this shape look familiar?








Frogs don't live long enough for me to repeat all the great work that Friend o' the Frog Charlie Hall has done establishing this fact, but the sum total is that GDP snakes around the oil production line. Example: Oil goes to $147/barrel, economy crashes. Oil demand crashes, oil price falls, economy shows signs of recovery. Sound familiar? But first, what else this is not:

This is not 1979.







Note, this is NOT the kind of bug you can eat.








The temporary dip in oil production in 1979 was a result of the Iran-Iraq War, also called the America-Wins-Either-Way War, but only by Don Rumsfeld. This was purely a result of politics and too many former oil workers now being busy blowing each other up. It bears no relation to the real, permanent, GLOBAL decline we are about to go into.







Plateau extended slightly by economic crash, but you get the idea.









Absurd? The International Energy Agency doesn't think so. France's national oil company Total doesn't think so. And what happens when oil peaks, besides GDP heading downhill?







This is the scary part.







That's right. The so-called "Green Revolution" that allowed exponential growth in the human population, was mainly based on fossil fuel inputs. So as the oil and gas supplies peak and decline (already in progress), our food supply will decline, and so will the supply of humans. (A double tragedy if you're a cannibal.) So, finally, what else is this not?

This is not 1999.








As in time to party like it's.











We're in the midst of a massive onset of sadness and anxiety. That's just the truth. Things aren't working out the way humans imagined, which is sad, even if you guys didn't imagine very well. We can even sense this out on the pond, especially because the water is full of Prozac, which does make missing the lily pad mildly calming. The tendency will be there to cover up all that upset with alcohol, drugs, sex, exercise, work, or, if you're poor, mud.







The Mud People of Bonnaroo. But they're crying on the inside.






Don't run away from this. Go visit the Peak Shrink and come to grips with it. It's not 1929, 1979, or 1999, but it IS 2009. And there's a lot you can do for yourself, your family, and your community if you start taking care of things right there on your own lily pad. Gotta go. My lunch is buzzing.

Bill Rees on "Uneconomic Growth"

How to Boil a Frog is proud to welcome guest blogger Bill Rees, co-creator of the Ecological Footprint, to the lily pad. We supply the flies, he supplies the wise! In the following post, Bill discusses the recent calls for a steady state or even negative growth economy, vs. the conventional wisdom that growth is the universal solution to our problems.

We have to be clear on what we mean by growth and shrinkage. When I refer to growth and the need for retraction, I am referring to energy and material throughput (resource consumption and pollution production). This is what must decrease if we are to achieve sustainability. For example, we need a 95% decline in fossil carbon use by 2050.

Theoretically, of course, one could have continuous income growth even as total throughput declines. This is the dream of those who claim the economy is 'decoupling from the environment' or 'dematerializing' (or in a more restricted case, 'decarbonizing').

The problem is that there are very few data to support the notion that dematerialization is actually taking place. There is some separation of GDP growth from consumption/pollution in rich countries but much of this disappears when trade-corrected to account for the embodied energy/matter in trade goods and the off-shore migration of energy intensive industries.

Thus, until there is real decoupling, the best way to reduce throughput is through a planned equitable descent.

Even in a planned decline, it is possible to have growth industries and sectors--e.g., as we phase out cars, the construction of rapid-transit vehicles takes off; as we dump carbon-energy technologies, we create a future for renewable alternatives. In short, forward-looking entrepreneurs and investors might still buy into this. (Most resistance to change comes from those with the greatest stake in the status quo).

As ecological economist Herman Daly emphasizes, we should distinguish between development and growth. Development is getting better; growth is simply getting bigger.

If something sucks, there is no point in growing it.

On the other hand, moving forward by shrinking equitably, creating a secure (but smaller) economy for all and a stable ecosphere is clearly development, but it is development without material growth.

Corollary: It is arguable that, globally, throughput growth is actually creating more unaccounted costs than benefits, in which case we are in a period of uneconomic growth. In other words, today's form of growth is counterproductive--it is actually disdevelopment that destroys the ecosphere while increasing inequity.

The problem is that 'we' (the already rich) pretend not to notice because we receive most of the benefits and the poor are suffering the costs. The rich also make the decisions, so uneconomic growth remains the flavour of the era.

There are two approaches to addressing the potential catastrophe on the horizon. Approach 1 anticipates the problem and gets a head start on remediation and adaptation. Approach 2 is more reactive to catastrophe as it unfolds. The assumption of Approach 2 is that we can bring more people on side to cope with change as it occurs. This is post hoc remediation and adaptation.

I am less comfortable with Approach 2 because it invites uncertainty and tipping points, pushing systems to the point of no return while society is unprepared. In other words, I'm not convinced that approach 2 would allow for the accumulation of resilence in the socio-political system.

It makes more sense to me to be proactive.

Bill

Today's Scariest Graph ever

Sub-Headline: “HUBBERT’S CURVE ABSURDLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE FUTURE.”

Click to enlarge








This is Nate Hagen's graph of the future of net energy returned to us from oil production. The whole volume is the oil we'll get...but the green part is the stuff we actually get to keep after subtracting the energy we used to get it. Sort of like deciding to stop looking at gross sales as an indicator of how well your business is doing, and instead looking at net profits. And discovering your net profits will fall off a cliff in 10 years, and be zero in 14 years.

But that's not net profits. That's our energy supply. The same energy supply we're planning to use to run almost everything we do and ALSO use to build a new, alternative energy supply. Eventually. Except, 14 years from now (or a bit sooner? a bit later?), we won't have much left to do it with.

Read this post and tell me why this net energy curve isn't the number one topic of discussion for anyone who likes Civilization As We Know It. I can't figure it out.

ADDENDUM: A response from Nate Hagens:

People in [the] science community don't like conclusions or speculation not based on data. These are interpretations, based on firm principles but no data. The fact that we cannot afford the price that natural gas drillers need to procure supply in future and that drilling rigs have dropped more than 50% and counting IS concerning people a great deal, but they are more concerned about their own jobs and own companies' prospects. Electricity/diaper shortages in 2014 are so far in the future [as] to not be on folks' front burner.

And most in [the] energy/policy community look at resource - theoildrum and ASPO and others have at least forced the dialogue to go beyond that to flow rates (resource per unit time), but net vs gross is still an esoteric discussion - primarily because it's complicated and has no swift incorporation into a decision. There is still a (rather large?) camp that believes technology is NOT losing [the] battle with depletion and that EROI could increase again in future (certainly for coal). Current break even prices for main 3 fossil fuels would suggest it a great deal sooner than even I originally thought.

The reality is that nat gas and oil will probably have 'fat tails' meaning there will be a sharp drop in production followed by long period of leveling off - EROI will not be too meaningful in this environment because the majority of costs for this oil will have been spent, just lifting and transport remaining. But on NEW oil and gas is where the problem lies. I could write pages and pages on the issues involved, but in a sentence - yes it's scary. Because these decline curves don't occur in a vacuum - real human reactions will accelerate (or hopefully slow) them.

Cheers

Nate

NOTE: Nate & Charlie Hall are continuing work on this issue. Charlie supplies global EROI figures, which are declining over time. See also Charlie's article on the minimum EROI needed to maintain civilization in the HTBAF Essential Articles section.

BONUS: A reply from Charlie to Nate's inquiry about how it's going on coming up with new global EROI figures:

World EROI for oil and gas is calculated but not yet published. It was (roughly) 36:1 in the 1990s dropping to 19:1 in 2006. We have the first draft of our North American gas paper with Murphy/Friese done. I have papers on these things and things related to it in press in BioScience and American Scientist.

The problem with what you say Nate H for gas is that new wells tail off so enormously in first 1 or 2 years.

God protected us by making oil hard to extract. But not gas. So evidence for existence of God from petroleum sector is mixed.

Charlie

Free Goodie Release from How to Boil a Frog - Viva La Revolucion edition!

Hi all,

The updates have been sparse lately as we work on the rough cut of the How to Boil a Frog movie, but we’re back with the Big Picture overview! As always, the updates are free, but we’re now debuting our HTBAF Bake Sale for those who would like to support the cause and get some yummy virtual cupcakes in return! Follow that delicious smell to www.howtoboilafrog.com!

This week’s mini-interview is with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ross Gelbspan (“The Heat is On” and “Boiling Point”), who talks about a subject very close to our hearts: what’s gonna happen to our kids. A bit of this will be in the movie, but you can hear Ross’ whole thought on the matter exclusively at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#video.

Our Essential Book of the Week comes to us from Friend o’ the Frog Andrea Peloso in Toronto. It’s “All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!” by Mel Bartholomew. The most direct path to remembering that Earth is actually our source of life is to grow a bit of your own food, and it’s not a bad backup skill to have in case of alien invasion, global warming, peak oil, or other theoretical possibilities. And Bartholomew’s system radically reduces the amount of soil, water, space, time, and labor needed. In fact, if you genetically modify the radishes, they’ll water the carrots and bring you your slippers! Find links to both the new and used editions at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#books.

In keeping with the exponential rate of change in the news, we’re once again replacing all 5 of our Essential Articles with new ones. And since the news is generally less-than-whimsical, we’re starting out with 10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy by Jen Angel. Read this one first and let a smile be your umbrella as you dive into…

Beyond The Bailout: Agenda for a New Economy by David Korten. Korten has long been focused on accounting for stuff not counted in the GDP figures, like fresh water and happiness. He’s the sort of economist Obama might want to consider if the warranty ever runs out on the Clinton/Bush re-treads currently shoveling trillions down the rathole. Check out this article for a 5 part plan to use the current financial crisis to jump to a new and better kind of sustainable economy. Then move on to…

Parched: Australia Faces Collapse as Climate Change Kicks In by Geoffrey Lean & Kathy Marks. The title says it all. If Australia is the canary in the climate mine, we might end up with some empty continents we could lease out when that alien invasion happens. Heck, everything has to be some kind of economic opportunity, right? Next hop back into the solution with…

A 50-Year Farm Bill by Wes Jackson & Wendell Berry. Thanks to FOF Albert Bates down at The Farm in Tennessee for this one – a little reminder that while it might be a little scary not to be able to get the Blackberry Storm before the guy in the next cubicle, there’s still the little matter of making sure we have enough food. And with droughts like the one in Australia adding up to a possible global food shortage this summer, it’s time to start paying attention to Old MacDonald again. But like all issues, growing food is tied up with energy, so finish up with…

Minimum EROI necessary to maintain civilization by Charles A. Hall and his band of Merry Grad Students. As you dig into the peak oil issue, you realize that it doesn’t really matter whether we’re halfway through the oil, or a third, or a quarter, because we’ve used up all the good stuff first – it’s much like digging in the cupboard for a snack after you’ve eaten the Pringles and finding all you’ve got left is 10 boxes of stale Ritz crackers. Globally we’re down to getting back somewhere around 15 barrels of oil for every barrel we use to dig or drill, on the average – down from 100 when we first struck black gold – and much of the new “oil” we’re finding (tar sands and shale oil being somewhat closer to library paste than actual oil) only gives us 4 barrels or even less than the 1 we’re spending. Problem is, we need a certain number of barrels back to maintain our TV-watchin’, drivin’-to-the-store lifestyle…and it’s more than 4. Find out the real number by reading this future-Nobel-winner of an article, along with the others, at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#articles

And now that you’re in fighting trim, you’re ready for our most challenging Essential Movie so far! This is actually a series of short videos called The Crash Course, chronicling a series of presentations by Chris Martenson. This is a Triple E (environment/energy/economics) explanation of the Big Picture in a free course with 20 chapters, totaling 3 hours and 23 minutes, but you can watch it in 10 minute chunks. Suggestions would be to either a) set up a laptop in your bathroom so you can learn something new every time you do your business, and/or b) use it as a focus for your own Boiling Frogs study group, a concept sent in to us by FOF Warren C, who’s starting one in his hometown of Whitby, Ontario. Go Whitby! When I say “study group”, of course, I mean a great potluck with the social lubricant(s) of your choice, combining new and old friends, great conversation, live music, and a Hair o’ the Frog that bit you! Check out Martenson’s series at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#movies!

While you’re setting all that up, check out our Essential Funny Web Short: the Alien Invasion Advert – maybe this isn’t just a theory after all! (Then…what about global warming and peak oil…?) Short and sweet and available at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#webshorts.

We have not one but 2 Essential Links for you this week. The first is a new blog by FOF Tzeporah Berman (of here, there and everywhere) who’s now at PowerUP Canada. PUC (such a Canadian acronym!) is working on turning Canada from a laggard to a leader on stopping climate change – join Tzep in giving the toad a kiss and seeing if we can turn it into RuPaul!

The second Link is to a summary of Donella Meadows’ “Twelve Leverage Points”. Donella (who died a few years ago) was one of three visionary authors who wrote “The Limits to Growth” back in 1972, warning of a coming era of declining resources, bubbling atmosphere and economic difficulties. Huh. Who knew? Donella, her husband Dennis, and co-author Jorgen Randers were all “systems” thinkers, meaning they were more inclined to think about how the thermostat works than bash it with a hammer, when it stops working. In addition to her many other gifts, Donella left behind this wisdom on how to create change in any complex system. A must-read for all you present and future revolutionaries…and I hope that’s all of you! Check out both links at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#links

Lastly, we have a new Essential Visual that’s in perfect tune with “The Limits to Growth” report, which will be updated by Dennis and Jorgen right at the end of the Mayan calendar. (That has to be a coincidence. Really.) It’s a Peak Everything chart, showing when we’ll be running out of this, than and the other thing. Sooner than you think! Check it out at http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/#visuals

That’s it for now. As always, we’d appreciate it if you’d forward this email on to at least one person who hasn’t gotten the HTBAF news, and feel free to post comments on the HTBAF Facebook page!

But the main Action of the Week is to read and watch your way through this update! It may seem like a lot, but it’s time better spent than trying to keep up with the Daily Chaos thrown your way by the news media. You’ve got plenty of data – time now to work on understanding the Big Picture…and taking action.

Cheers!

Jon & all his friends at www.howtoboilafrog.com

PS If you’re jonesing for more frequent HTBAF communiques, you can now follow Howtoboilafrog on Twitter! A few sample twits:

SF court splits hairs over gay marriage on anniversary of Dred Scott decision. Perfect. Separate but unequal. Where is Gay Guevara? http://tinyurl.com/cw28ok

The biggest news story of 2011: China owns most of the world's resources. The Shock Doctrine in reverse: http://tinyurl.com/abx6lc

Droughts in all the places we grow food. 2009 is the year to stock up on Twinkies - catastrophe in the oven? http://tinyurl.com/ap588k

Poppy growers in slump as heroin demand drops. But where will the drug come from when addiction spikes again? http://tinyurl.com/dcutwe

Climate scientists panicked enough to call an emergency meeting in Copenhagen to sound alarm on global warming - http://tinyurl.com/d35j6k

The world is moving too fast even for blogs! Soon: psychic news implants. Program your neurons to HTBAF!

Howtoboilafrog on Twitter!

Recent twits:

Ghandi claimed that you can judge a society by the way it treats its animals. What does this say about us? http://tinyurl.com/b8u9qe

Gateway financing has crashed. Premier Madoff puts BC'ers on hook for $3.3 billion. Take that, Olympic Village! http://tinyurl.com/dy3faz