I HAD TOO MUCH TO DREAM LAST NIGHT: CROSSFIRE EDITION

Two of my friends are engaging in an elaborate political debate, complete with stage props to make their point.

Friend 1 argues that lower-income people already have it good because there’s all sorts of tips and tricks to save money and still have all the creature comforts that the middle class enjoy – specifically, cheap generic brand products that can be improved with a little creativity to be as good as expensive brand names.

Friend 2 argues that this mentality is anti-capitalist, anti-corporate Socialism and goes against the American principle of freedom of choice. Every American should have the freedom to buy whatever brand they want, and if you make generic brands as good as name brands, it dilutes the value of name brands for everyone, and removes incentive for poor people to work harder to attain the wealth necessary to enjoy them.

And then I woke up.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Both friends are staunch conservative Republicans (both in real life and in the dream).

This tent ain’t big enough for the both of us,

This is dF

HAIL TO THE KING, BABY

His Majesty will see you now.



[Via Coke & Sympathy]

All rise,

This is dF

IT’S SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK

A belated follow-up to my post about Christopher Walken’s evil plan to destroy Silicon Valley:

An economist has rated the plausibility of James Bond villain schemes (or at least the ones that rely on illegal market manipulation to make a fortune).

It’s a pretty interesting example of how so many evil-villain movie plots sound plausible if you don’t actually know how things work in real life.

Also, this is more relevant than it sounds – Bruce Schneier has been pointing out for years that many of the security tactics and policies employed by the US govt to combat terrorism are often designed to counter what he calls “movie plot threats” – a.k.a. specific scenarios that sound plausible if yr watching a Hollywood thriller but extremely unlikely in real life, and regardless of how plausible they are, it's a waste of time spending trillions of dollars to defend against specific attacks, most of which would never work anyway. 

Except for sharks with lasers. That’s definitely possible.

Implausible,

This is dF

JUST LIKE PUNK, EXCEPT IT’S PINBALL

"The saddest day of your life isn't when you decide to sell out. The saddest day of your life is when you decide to sell out and nobody wants to buy." – Norman Spinrad, Bug Jack Barron



[Via Drawn Into Oblivion]

Cashing in,

This is dF