In this way, I became a familiar of two of the unfortunates who lived in the basement dormitory under the care of Dr. Sondervan.

NEWYORKER: Wakefield

To the contrary, those unfortunates who wind up on the wrong side of a market correction often see their net worth wiped out in a devastatingly short period.

FORBES: Extraordinary Popular Delusions Lead All The Way To Adam

These two excellent new books provide ample evidence of the chief benefits of such technology: man's ever-improving knowledge of such invisible nasties as viruses has debunked ignorant superstitions and eased the suffering of countless unfortunates.

ECONOMIST: Small things often hold big secrets

While sub-prime has morphed into a naughty word, a near clone has stealthily infiltrated the mortgage markets, choking the breath out of many unfortunates ensnared by its enervating tentacles.

FORBES: Meet The New Subprime: It Will Cost Us Billions

Today, when almost every pleasure is identified as addictive, a name has been coined for those unfortunates who cannot get enough of the stuff: chocoholics.

ECONOMIST: History of chocolate

Javier Bardem, his menace half-masked by a comical haircut, plays a calm, unstoppable psychopath on the trail of a stolen two million dollars. (His presence is both frightening and entertaining, if never wholly credible.) Various unfortunates cross his path and suffer the consequences, but his principal target is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a passing hunter who took the money.

NEWYORKER: No Country for Old Men