<soapbox rant_value= "rightIndign" content= "economic">

DISCLAIMER: I have virtually no aptitude for economics, so please take this rather unsophisticated rant with a grain of salt.

I've mentioned before that I tend towards the laissez-faire when it comes to economic issues, and so I've felt pretty ambivalent about the whole Wall-Street Rescue-Package(TM) drama. I do think there's a (limited) role for government regulation of the economy, but I think it's far too late for that now, and I also wonder how much good it would have done in the first place. From what I can tell, this whole mess boils down to overzealous financiers making bad loans to people who couldn't afford them, and this seems to violate the principles of week 1 of Banking 101: don't loan money to people who will never be able to afford to pay you back. Granted, this is an obscene oversimplification of a very complex series of events, but it all seems based on lenders making poorly-advised loans to lendees who could ill afford them (see that? Both sides are to blame...). I don't see why the government should get involved here, because a) lenders, loss is the price of profit sometimes, and b) borrowers, caveat emptor. True, this thing is now so big that it looks like it will thump the whole economy, but part of me thinks well, thems the breaks; welcome to capitalism folks. We ought to be prepared to take the bitter with the sweet.
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Arachnophilia

From dmtheory

I think spiders are cool. My dad captured this beauty on film in my garden a couple of months ago, and even spider-haters have to admit that it's fascinating to look at. Spiders are unbelievable engineers with their web-making, and most species' status near the top of their food chains means that they take care of far more annoying and dangerous pests (e.g., mosquitoes). Finally, the chances of getting seriously injured by a spider are woefully overrated. If you see one, don't kill it; just take it outside!

Fire in the Garden

As you might know, I enjoy gardening. I added a new crop this year: the fiery and delicious habanero chili. These bad boys are HOT (>100,000 Scoville Units), but they also have a nice citrusy tang to their heat, making them a great supplement to Mexican food. The best way to preserve them is in sauce form, and so far I've made 60 oz. of sauce from my 3 plants. Yum!