'The trillions squandered on "stabilization" is not leading to "recovery" of the real economy; it is only life support keeping a sick economy from imploding. The stock market rally rests on rapidly crumbling sand.

'I'm not saying the stock market will crash, only that if it had any relation to the real U.S. economy that it should crash, and soon.

'The current politics of experience is so warped by misleading statistics and orchestrated propaganda that it feels strange to state the obvious and find it is "that which cannot be spoken": the credit-dependent, consumer-dependent U.S. economy is going down, and going down hard, and the trillions of dollars borrowed and spent by the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to crank up a recovery have failed completely, utterly and totally.' (Of Two Minds article).

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'Overweight people are fucking abhorrent, which seems like an obvious and uncontroversial statement, but you cannot turn your head these days without gawking at the vile cascades of shapeless distended flesh that ubiquitously engulf your grotesque countrymen.

'The horrendous bovine masses cost the rest of us $147 billion per year, twice as much as a decade ago, which is more than enough to cover a universal health care system for people who do not plan on dying from a heart attack by the time they reach the ripe old age of thirty-six. These repulsive fat fucks require 41 percent higher medical costs on average, which screws everybody who does not get horny at the thought of KFC’s unholy Double Down sandwich. (No bread! Just fried chicken, cheese and bacon! As fatty as three Big Macs! This is exactly why George Washington and Thomas Jefferson risked their fucking lives to give Americans freedom!)

'We are squandering the precious remnants of our broken economy to keep these worthless sacks of shit alive; it’s not as if they cover their disproportionate share of the tab, which would require actually getting off their colossal asses. Public health experts have proposed taxes on soda and unhealthy food to curb this epidemic, but their “solutions” are a load of ineffective, half-assed bullshit. Zoning restrictions on fast food “restaurants” and mandatory nutrition labeling have likewise failed; you cannot save people from themselves, especially when they have zero respect for their physical appearance and estimated lifespan.

'We are Rome in decadent, self-indulgent decline. The corpulent hordes are never going to willingly sacrifice their extravagant caloric intake - even if it costs a few cents more - which leaves a solitary, mildly objectionable option:

'We need to kill the fatties. We need to kill the fatties as soon as humanly possible.' (Marty Beckerman article).

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'Old people still write letters the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a biro, folding up the letter into an envelope, writing the address on the front before adding the stamp. Mostly they don’t have email, and while they often have a mobile phone - bought by the family ‘just in case’ - they usually have no idea how to send a text. So Peter Mandelson wasn’t referring to them when he went on TV in May to press for the part-privatisation of the Royal Mail, saying that figures were down due to competition from emails and texts.

'I spluttered into my tea when I heard him say that. ‘Figures are down.’ We hear that sentence almost every day at work when management are trying to implement some new initiative which involves postal workers like me working longer hours for no extra pay, carrying more weight, having more duties.

'It’s the joke at the delivery office. ‘Figures are down,’ we say, and laugh as we pile the fifth or sixth bag of mail onto the scales and write down the weight in the log-book. It’s our daily exercise in fiction-writing. We’re only supposed to carry a maximum of 16 kilos per bag, on a reducing scale: 16 kilos the first bag, 13 kilos the last. If we did that we’d be taking out ten bags a day and wouldn’t be finished till three in the afternoon.' (LRB article).

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'It takes an infinite amount of resources to create a continuous reality, but a finite amount to create a quantized reality. By resources, I refer to bits, the information that it takes to model reality. In order to program a virtual reality, there must be quantization. It is impossible to develop a program with unlimited resolution. So the very fact that our reality is quantized may be considered strong evidence that reality is programmed.' (The Universe Solved weblog).

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'A man of many names, Aleister Crowley through his life was know as "the magus", "the guru" and also the "The Wickedest Man In the World". He has been parodied as Hugo Rune by Robert Rankin, had Alan Moore devote entire comics to his deck of tarot cards (Promoethea), had Ozzy Osbourne singing his praises, and even appeared on a Beatles album cover (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band).

'Aleister Crowley was a man that certainly people have heard of but probably know very little about.

'Although a movie was recently released called Chemical Wedding, that had Crowley as the main protagonist (written by Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson no less), the film was a B-movie affair at best and, for all the gratuity, along with Simon Callow and John Shrapnel's hamming, it did not really do the character of Crowley any favours, failing to appease both the mainstream and geek audience. However, there is a great deal that could be developed to make the character appeal to those looking for an alternative to the underwhelming blockbusters of this summer or the drab dramas currently churned out on ITV and BBC.' (Den Of Geek article).

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'Think we understand that big object in the night sky? Guess again. The moon is full of mysteries, some of which baffle scientists more the more we learn about it. Admittedly, the source of many of these reports has not been fully verified, and I don't have the time to do the full research. But hey, this is a blog and by definition, I can take liberties with my sources and talk about whatever I want, right?

'For example, rocks from the moon and the earth reportedly have very different minerals; the earth has high concentrations of iron, the moon does not. This implies that they were not formed from the same source, nor was the moon once part of the earth, as previously thought.' (The Universed Solved weblog).

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Obama's "good cop" routine has masked the reality that his administration has followed the same policy paths in finance and geopolitics as "bad cop" George W. Bush.

'I finally understand the fundamental analogy of American politics, and of course it's drawn from film/television: good cop, bad cop. You know the scenario: Bad Cop enters the room and recalcitrant suspect/perp gazes up in hostile, stony silence.

'Bad Cop "softens up" the suspect/perp with a "we're going to kick derriere and take names later" speech and then moves on to hardnosed "persuasion:" It'll be a lot easier on you if you cooperate, tough guy, but if you want to play tough, then fine, play tough; we'll play tougher.

'After a round or two of this, Bad Cop appears to lose control and is either restrained from assaulting the suspect/perp or goes ballistic in a spittle-flecked tirade a few inches from the suspect/perp's face which communicates this sobering message: "You think you're crazy? Well, I'm crazier."

'Bad Cop then lunges at the suspect/perp, only to be restrained by polite Good Cop, who forcefully pushes Bad Cop out of the room and apologizes to the suspect/perp. Good cop speaks in a reasonable, sonorous tone, the exact opposite of the swaggering, aggressive Bad Cop. Good Cop just wants to reach an understanding with the suspect/perp, and just wants to hear him out.' (Of Two Minds article).

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