Quantum Theology

The soul of man is the lamp of God. Man is a weak and miserable creature when God’s light is not burning in his soul. But when it burns, man becomes the most powerful creature in this world. And it cannot be otherwise, for what then works in him is not his own strength, but the strength of God. This then is what religion is and what its essence consists of.

Tolstoy

The subprime shoe is dropping, and the next shoe is in the pipeline. It’s called the Option ARM. This clever mortgage is structured so that you have some options on how much to pay each month. The minimum payment is lower than the interest due. The difference between the interest due and the payment is added to the total loan amount each month. Typically there is a cap on the total Loan-to-Value ratio and when that cap is reached, the minimum payment option goes away.

This mortgage is great for people with an unstable income. However, it turned out to be a great way for squatters to live in a house for a while. 80 percent of people with these Option ARMs make only the minimum payment.

oops.

To read between the lines, it means that not only do the IDIOTS innocent people who got these loans face interest rate resets in the next two years, their loan amount will be much greater than the value of their home. I see … more foreclosures! Yay!!!

I am watching the foreclosure mess with a large amount of glee. That’s right, glee! I like it when stupid decisions result disaster. Otherwise, what benefit is there in making smart decisions? It is a bit of self validation to see the disaster unfolding. The greater the disaster, the greater the self-validation. It’s great to know that the law of gravity was NOT suspended.
To be clear, I don’t like disaster for the sake of disaster. It would have much preferred that house prices in San Diego and elsewhere continued their slow and steady appreciation in line with inflation. The amount of volatility we have seen in a basic and yet huge asset such as housing is BAD, BAD, BAD.

From the news reports it looks like FEMA didn’t drop the ball with response to the wildfires in SoCal. I thought that perhaps the agency had managed to purge the monkeys that ran it before Katrina.

I was wrong. Some monkey do linger.

The main U.S. disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a news briefing on California’s wildfires that no journalists attended.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, still struggling to restore its image after the bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing.

“We can and must do better, and apologize for this error in judgment,” FEMA deputy administrator Harvey Johnson, who conducted the briefing, said in a statement. “Our intent was to provide useful information and be responsive to the many questions we have received.”

No actual reporter attended the hastily called news conference in person, although some camera crews arrived late to film incidental shots, officials said.

Can you believe this? Someone needs to fire that Harvey Monkey-Johnson before he gets someone killed.

Why is it that some of the great artists of recent times are nuts? Does it have to be this way? The author of the Harry Potter books announced that Dumbledore is gay. But … Dumbledore is a fictional character, right? And … there was no mention of his sexual orientation in ANY of the Potter books.

The point is that Ms. Rowley is still living in an alternate universe even after completing the series.

*sigh*

While my imagination is running, I imagine that Dumbledore is the quintessential melancholic introvert who just never had things work out with the right girl.

I don’t remember why I got there, but I visited a social security online calculator. Found out that the Social Security Tax is progressive in the ratio of dollars contributed vs dollars received.

Here is a chart:

So long as you don’t make more than the average You will at least get back the money you put into the system. The middle class gets screwed because their money they put in does not grow with investment. Meaning they would be much better off if they could invest their money in something that at least beats inflation, which is NOT HARD!!! If you happen to be in the top quintile (I’m getting close myself), then you are royally screwed! Well, not really screwed. Life can’t be all that hard at the top.

“I’m not trashing your book, I’m trashing your philosophy of life!”

Hahahahaaa!!!! Exactly!!!!!!!

…

and now, after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climatic battle to slay the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution … no longer to be poisoned by the civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.

Months later, the author died in the Alaskan wilderness. The guy didn’t know the meaning of moderation. Nonetheless I sympathize greatly with battle to slay the false being within and the poisoning of civilization. I am not done walking alone upon the land, and it is unknown if I will ever slay the false being within.

There was a mentally insane guy in Seattle who took a liking to me. He was quite concerned about the world ending up in a nuclear explosion and went on about some CIA conspiracy. He was clearly nuts, but there was still someone home so to speak. I asked him if he lived in fear, and without hesitation he said, ‘no, I live in love.’

Right on crazy man! I can’t think of a better answer than that.

I don’t think I would have answered so well if someone posed that question to me. Would you?

Yay!!! I got my bike to successfully pass the dang Texas inspection. Now, I just need to get the thing registered on Monday. It’s been about 5 solid months since I’ve taken a substantial ride on my bike, and the time has taken its toll. My baby felt like a stranger! I felt like I was risking my life by my incompetence in handling the bike. I’m just glad I didn’t crash! I think next weekend will see a road trip! Joy!

Obviously there are no mountain roads in Texas. Hmmmm, but there are lots of straight roads. Muahaha…. Just how fast will me bike go?