Lurching

It's amazing reading about the continuing financial crisis. While based in the US, it's likely to continue to have global effects.

I never studied economics - ever. My mathematics skills extend to some rudimentary mental calculation abilities. I figure if I can add, subtract, multiply, divide and do percentages then that's most of what I'll need for life. Why I wasted so many hours in maths lessons, I'll never really know. If I could go back to the start of high school that is one of the first things I'd change, along with learning the guitar, working out instead of eating myself into oblivion, and trying not to be such a dork all the time.

I'm especially grateful to the writers that are spending their time cutting through the BS and to write articles that can explain in simple English what's going on, what mistakes are being made, and what should happen (and why it won't).

So, I'll simply submit these articles for your perusal. here, here, here, and here.

Another key indicator of the economic situation, the HEGI (or High End Girlfriend Index) is down severely at the moment.

Amongst the rapid nationalisation of some of America's largest financial and insurance corporations (if the bailing out of these companies with public money is NOT nationalisation, then what is it?) also goes the rapid privatisation of the military. The way the military permeates so much of American culture and life is nothing new, but the economic compass will surely switch back over to the fact that chasing after non-existant money will run its course and eventually the money brokers will have to get back into industries that actually produce real things and generate real money; the easiest being the military. Look for more wars and more arms sales soon - maybe not in that order.

One interesting impact of the continuing economic woes in Japan is that membership of the Communist Party has increased significantly. The article contains some very interesting stats on the situation, especially as it relates to part-time workers.

Remember the food crisis? It hasn't gone away yet - not by a long shot.

So the US presidential campaigns are now firmly fixed in the gutter, it's time to work out why they, especially the Republicans are so keen to do so. Every quip is met by an unequal and opposite overreaction. Could it be the Republicans are trying to distract the public from their plan to dismantle many of the systems in place to help the majority of the American people? Could it be they're trying to cover the idea that Palin really stands against many of the feminist ideals that feminism has fought for, while trumpeting her nomination as a triumph for feminism? Maybe she just doesn't want to be asked questions about her double standards over marijuana (not to mention the others). Maybe she wants to avoid questions over why she's using an easily hackable public e-mail account to conduct state business in violation of several regulations. Could it be that Obama is hoping nobody will notice how his policies don't really help those the Democrats are supposed to traditionally represent?

If you want an idea of what it's like to be a heartbeat away from absolute power, maybe we could take a look at North Korea, where (apparently) Kim Jong Il's nurse is signing off on official documents since he's been bedridden after a stroke.

If you want an idea of what a McCain presidency might look like, you could always look to Canada...

I guess if you always wondered why vegetarians were always so uppity about their lifestyle, you can wonder no longer. It turns out that eating vegetables shrinks the brain. It figures since meat (nourishing meat!) contains abundant supplies of the building blocks of our brains. Now we all know the dangers of an exclusive meat-eating diet (Dr. Atkins, represent!) but now the vegos have been discredited as well, we can finally get on with the fact that we are omnivores, make like the Japanese and eat anything that grows.

When scientists find something that puzzles them, then you know it must be interesting. Take this mysterious object found in deep space, or this planet found orbiting a star 500 light years away.

Ever wondered what it's like to be hit by a proton beam? Ask this former Soviet scientist.

In the wake of Hurrican Ike come these amazing photos of a lone house that was built to withstand a category five storm. If you ever wanted an example to show planning commissions and construction standards committees, here it is. I'm also looking at you, Japan.

Enough. Time to go to work.