if you're trying to use string theory to argue the existence of god, you're merely demonstrating that mathematics is a human construction.

the god you're perceiving is us.

which isn't that ironic, really. it's more just expected.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/do-we-have-free-will-because-god-committed-suicide

ugh. it's going to get ugly down here when the humidity picks up. i'm going to drive the temperature down here up to 35, and hope he keels over.

it's may 5th - a good seven weeks before summer. the high today is 12 degrees, with a cool wind from the north. it's gloomy and overcast. it's a cold, yucky day. and, yet the air conditioner is on upstairs, seemingly set to around 10.

the result is that i have the heat set to 25, i'm wearing two sweaters and yet i'm still cold.

i've been trying to understand how the thermostat can say 25 degrees, and yet i'm shivering. it has to just be what a/c units do to the air. they suck all the good parts out, leaving the no good parts. the thermostat might say something, but it doesn't reflect the actual air quality. i mean, there's a difference between 25 with a cool wind, 25 with humidity and 25 with a dry, bright sun, right? the thermostat says the same thing in all cases, but it can run the spectrum from 'need a sweater' to 'sweating profusely'.

air conditioners are a special kind of evil in what they do to the air, though. they'd steal the oxygen right out of it if they could - vampires. you get one of these units running, and there's just nothing good left in what you're living in.

the frustrating thing is that it's actually too cold outside to open the window. i have no option but to crank the heat.

well, it might seem surreal to hear it in 2015 2014, but fordism has definitely proven itself better than it's considered alternatives. it's maybe a set of low expectations, but it's about as good as reformism is going to get. and it would help a lot. seriously.

ok, i like his rejection of trickle down, and promotion of tax cuts for law wage workers. that's something you don't hear enough. considering it's the most fucking obvious thing in the world.

this is such a joke...

the germans have been aware of this for decades - it's why they want into the core of the system. and exactly why the american's will not let them into the core: the americans would be daft to not spy on them, and even dafter to fully trust them.

the germans are sneaky, run the only serious competition to the dollar, and appear to be involved in more of the events we see happening around us than we realize.

and, despite the optics here, germany will eventually step in line: because they couldn't begin to pretend that the spying isn't necessary.

no. no. germany is not an ally of america. it is a tributary of america. a client state.

it would prefer sovereignty.

he demonstrates a lot of respect for the tactical nature of zia's leadership, but he lets on that this is a myth: if zia's ultimate plan was to move into india (and this does appear to be true), invading afghanistan in the first place was not a smart choice.

1) large loss of resources, money, etc.
2) if successful, it would have eliminated the buffer zone between pakistan and the soviets, virtually guaranteeing catastrophic (to pakistan) soviet interference in an indo-pakistani conflict.

if he was actually smart, tactically, he would have left afghanistan as an unstable mess as he focused further to the south. and, if i were india, coercing him into afghanistan would actually be something i'd actively aim towards.

the web of intercontinental alliances surrounding the conflict on the subcontinent has created a sort of MAD scenario. the mutual deterrents are actually very stabilizing, in terms of deescalating clashes between official military arms. i wouldn't expect these covert "terrorist" operations to cease any time soon, but the idea that they could ever lead to large scale war is just a misunderstanding of what these tactics are; terrorism and insurgency are the conventional workaround to the impossibilities of actual war in the nuclear era. when you see these tactics increase, it signals that the nuclear option is understood to be off the table.....