The Sub-Prime Solution...

I've just had a weird flash of insight... I've been worried about the 'bubble' that national and consumer debt has built up for months. How can I best defend myself against the mess that will follow when that finally bursts?

Well, I still don't have any good answers to that... but I'm suddenly feeling less worried and here's why:

Banks sell their bad debts to collection agencies. Those agencies collect what they can and then write off the rest. They pretty much treat it as "high risk investments".

I'm feeling certain that somewhere along the way, someone had the brilliant idea to dress up those bad debt "High Risk Investments" as good credit... and found a way to sell them off to foreign nations and companies.

I would not be at all surprised if our own government was complicit in this considering the influence of the money lobbyists.

Q: What kind of securities did we promise China in return for the money our government has borrowed?
A: The revenue from all these sub-prime mortgages, of course.

What a perfect Enron-esque scam!
That is... until China decides to come collect on that bad debt, of course. Hmm.

p.s.: Apparently I'm not the first to think this up 60 Minutes made mention of it too.

Zen and Sniglets

How's this for Zen: Last night while I slept, I dreamed that I did NOT dream something.

(well, actually, I was dreaming that I woke up unable to remember how I had gotten home from a party I dreamed I was at earlier, and then realized, (while still dreaming) that I hadn't forgotten or blanked it out... it had never happened at all).

Very disorienting. It's like forgetting something you never knew in the first place.

Anyway. Today's post was brought to you by the words 'Scriptard' and 'mobiopath'

Scriptard, (like Blingtard) is derived from 'retard'. Which to me not only means a discernible mental deficiency, but it also means "slow". Blingtards wear so much digital-glitter that it makes computers struggle to render it all. Scriptards... are poor scripters that cut-n-paste other people's scripts together into a big lag-tastic monster, and then wonder why their virtual world is so sluggish. ;)

Mobiopath... a more 'gang' oriented form of sociopath. Someone who thinks it's okay to ignore laws, ethics, morality, common decency, etc... so long as they loyal supporters to back them up and help them lie their way out of trouble.

Whoops...

How do you blog? Do you make outlines, notes, plans... do you save and hash out a draft and when all is perfect finally hit that 'Publish' button?

Or... are you more like me, an unformed idea just insists on being let OUT! You dash some words together, think it looks good enough and so you just slap that 'Publish' button the moment you're done? And then, of course, you re-read the drivel you just typed, now that it's out there for everyone to see, and panic. You whack that 'Edit' button as fast as possible, correcting punctuation, removing duplicate words, changing entire sentences, etc.... all with manic urgency.

The (obsolete) term "posthaste" seems all too appropriate, I think.

And... thanks to Adam Marker in Second Life, for both the discussion that sparked this entry... and for pointing me at a very silly YouTube clip spoofing 'current issues' in Second Life, called: Hitler Explains SecondLife

Team Fortress 2

I've been enjoying rounds of Team Fortress 2 enough to look into tossing together a map or two... here's a snapshot of my very first tf2 map in action (I only started playing with 'Hammer' the world editor this evening). Oooo dramatic spooky lighting. ;)

It'll get better, I promise.

Row vs. Wade

This week marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, and there's been a modicum of newsy things about the issue. From pro-lifers complaining that Bush and the GOP candidates only gave them lip service, no real support during the annual protest to rather amusing youtube clips of interviewers asking passionate pro-life demonstrators "If abortion is illegal, what should be the punishment for a woman that has an illegal abortion?" (Nothing quite like seeing activists who've been crusading for years stumped with a simple question. Answers ranged from "Uh, never thought about it!" to "I think they've suffered enough")

Anyway. No child should be brought into the world by a mother that does not want it.

Life without love is not worth living... and forcing someone to be born unloved should be a crime.

... and ... for the obligatory Nifty-Link-du-Jour: "The ZoomQuit II" (drag the slider on the top right left or right to zoom in/out!)

Well darn.

Heath Ledger died today? =(

That rather bums me out.

Trunk Monkey! come cheer me up!

Usury Suspect

I couldn't resist. After watching "Maxed Out" and "In Debt We Trust", both of which seem to have the same very obvious message, I'm just amazed at the number of people that still let themselves be lured in by the temptation of easy money. Even when I was in my 'poor' phase, sharing a one bedroom apartment with four guys and surviving on ramen and peanut butter, I still managed to avoid depending on credit to get by.

Looking at consumer lending in America today, I get the impression that the mafia and the banks have joined together and bribed/pressured law makers to their will. It's just sick, and building a new kind of bubble that will burst in ways that will make the Enron scandal look mild.

"Never trust anyone trying to sell you free money." -- me.
(Google doesn't list the quote anywhere, so I'm gonna say it's mine!)

(and, no, I did not use "Helvetica" in the image in this post. ;)

4th Rez Day!

Fun with photoshop, I love how the font (Viva Std) looks like thick printer's ink on my name. Harrington was used for the rest, still far and away my favorite font. =)

If it works out, I'll post a picture or two of the gondolas later on. =)
(drop by and bring friends if you like!) Make sure you use the WindLight client for SecondLife for best effect, and feel free to teleport over for a visit! =)

Failure

I've been trying to be positive & upbeat lately. Negativity doesn't help anything right?

Watching "No End in Sight" however just blew that right out the window.

Many of the facts and opinions presented I was already somewhat aware of, having read "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq".

If even half of the material covered in "No End in Sight" is accurate or only marginally exaggerated I am still overwhelmingly ashamed and embarrassed by the actions of my country.

Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice, Bremer, Slocombe... your decisions and actions have only weakened our country and given birth to people who will now stop at nothing to do us harm.

You are the terrorists that patriotic Americans should have been fighting to stop.

I hope some day you understand the full extent of the shame and harm you have done to this country.

Freedom from Reality

Oh come ON! Huckabee?!

Hasn't 8 years of Pro-Armageddon politics been enough? @&$(@*#(*#@$%)!!!!

On a much happier note, I was recently interviewed for a very nice entry on the NPIRL blog!
(Not Possible In Real Life).

Very nicely done!