Internal Monologue

Via Matthew Yglesias' blog .

From what I've been reading over the past few days, it seems like the Obama administration doesn't get it on the banking crisis. Here's Krugman : [...]on the question of fixing the banks, many of us are feeling a growing sense of despair. Obama and Geithner say the right things. But Simon Johnson nails it : How long can you say, “we are being bold” when in fact you are not? Obama and Geithner say things like, If you underestimate the problem; if you do too little, too late; if you don’t move aggressively enough; if you are not open and honest in trying to assess the true cost of this; then you will face a deeper, long lasting crisis. But what they’re actually doing is underestimating the problem, doing too little too late, and not being open and honest in trying to assess the true cost. The actual plan seems to be to keep the banks semi-alive by implicitly guaranteeing their liabilities and dribbling in money as necessary, all the while proclaiming that they’re adequa

I use the misnamed "darkroom" app (the free version) to take the picture. It uses the iPhone accelerometers to wait until the camera is steady before clicking the shutter, this avoiding some of the blur that plagues much iPhone photography.

Internal Monologue is about to generate its third payment of ad revenue for its author. Thanks to all my readers/people who stumble in randomly from search engines.

How many people are killed every year trying to re-create the cover of Abbey Road ? Question inspired by this video of people attempting to do so: There's a live webcam of the crossing here .

Nate Silver graphs some "legalize weed" polls : I agree with him that this is one of those things that's going to take a while, but in a few decades I bet we're going to see some kind of decriminalization at the federal level. A lot of money and years of people's lives will be wasted in the meantime, though. Let's minimize the stupidity time as much as possible.

This guy is trying to find out: RiffTrax boss Michael J. Nelson is about to prove forever the health benefits of cured pork products. Or, he should be preparing his will. The former Mystery Science Theater 3000 writer and performer has pledged to eat only bacon throughout February. A long-time fan of salt and nitrates, the RiffTrax head writer chose the unique regimen because "several doubters on the RiffTrax staff had the unmitigated gall to insult bacon by making the outrageous claim that, as good as it is, no one could eat very much of it and live." To avoid dehydration, Nelson will allow non-bacon fluids such as beer, wine, martinis and water. Along the way, Nelson's blog will feature bacon-related updates and possible estimates on heart attack dates and times. Under the terms of a no-lose bet with RiffTrax co-star Bill Corbett, if Nelson should survive the month, he will receive a prize of five pounds of bacon. If he should not survive, Nelson gets a cremation tha