<story><title>75-year-old woman with shovel accidentally took down Armenia&apos;s internet (2011)</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/telecom/internet/georgian-woman-accidentally-brings-down-armenias-internet</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>paxys</author><text>Pennies in your pocket is still preferable over dollars in someone else&amp;#x27;s when your kids haven&amp;#x27;t eaten in a week, which is the reality in a lot of these situations.</text></item><item><author>noelwelsh</author><text>On one level this is a funny story, on another level it is a great example of poverty and lack of opportunity leading to choices that turn dollars into pennies: destroying a resource that can generate a huge amount of value for a much lower value but more accessible use. Same thing with ripping up train tracks to sell for scrap metal, which happens in some parts of the world.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rmason</author><text>In Detroit thieves stripped all the wire and plumbing from abandoned houses, even furnaces were carted off.  When the supply of houses ran thin they started stripping factories.&lt;p&gt;When the freeways of Detroit flooded they found the pumping stations that were supposed to get rid of the excess water had been stripped.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;detroit.cbslocal.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;copper-theft-a-possible-factor-in-metro-detroit-freeway-flooding&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;detroit.cbslocal.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;13&amp;#x2F;copper-theft-a-possi...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally several hapless guys tried to get at the copper wiring in a power substation and were electrocuted.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fox2detroit.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;men-electrocuted-with-24k-volts-trying-to-steal-copper-wire&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.fox2detroit.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;men-electrocuted-with-24k-v...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>75-year-old woman with shovel accidentally took down Armenia&apos;s internet (2011)</title><url>https://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/telecom/internet/georgian-woman-accidentally-brings-down-armenias-internet</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>paxys</author><text>Pennies in your pocket is still preferable over dollars in someone else&amp;#x27;s when your kids haven&amp;#x27;t eaten in a week, which is the reality in a lot of these situations.</text></item><item><author>noelwelsh</author><text>On one level this is a funny story, on another level it is a great example of poverty and lack of opportunity leading to choices that turn dollars into pennies: destroying a resource that can generate a huge amount of value for a much lower value but more accessible use. Same thing with ripping up train tracks to sell for scrap metal, which happens in some parts of the world.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>est31</author><text>In other words, giving people pennies lets others keep their dollars. So even if you are selfish you should support social programs.</text></comment>