Quick set of links regarding the economy. Both are opinion pieces, however they are written by staff members of familiar and somewhat reputable news sources (Bloomberg and CNBC). I know that this is some real doom-and-gloom stuff, but I honestly think there is truth in these dire articles. I view these articles as warnings and calls for action.

U.S. Debt Crisis May Cause ‘Fall of Rome’ Scenario
US May Face ‘Armageddon’ If China, Japan Don’t Buy Debt

Our nation’s budget is similar to a household budget, meaning that you can’t spend more than you make without going bankrupt. Unfortunately, United States debt is nearly 12 trillion dollars and our deficit is 1.4 trillion dollars. I’m sure you know that debt is the amount of money that you’ve borrowed and that you need to pay back. A deficit is a situation where you’re spending more money that you earn. Our nation’s debt is staggering, but the scariest part is that our budget deficit means that our debt will continue to grow at a damning pace. I am no economist, but the principles of this economic situation are rudimentary. Imagine spending your entire paycheck and then borrowing another $1,000 and spending that too. Could your family afford to spend more than it makes every month? How could any household pay off a massive debt while continuing to spend more money than it earns? It can’t.

I wasn’t feeling well this past Friday, so I stayed home from work. My couch sits in front of the sliding glass patio doors, and the patio extends out into our pond. I had fallen asleep on the couch and I woke at about 10 am to find that I was being stared down by a large sandhill crane. He stared at me for several minutes until I scared him when I tried to reach for my camera. Then yesterday, Saturday, Kelly and I both saw the crane peeking into our living room through the sliding glass doors. We had decided not to go to church this morning due to some scheduling conflicts with Kelly’s family, so I decided to get that crane on film if he came back. I found out there are two of them, probably a mating pair. I saw them fly in at about 8 am. I sat on that couch for over two hours trying to patiently wait and get some footage of that crane. Finally, at about 10:20 am, he strolled up to the patio. If you watch the video, you’ll see that I pan the camera down to show that he is only about two feet from the end of my patio. This Sandhill Crane stands about 3.5 feet tall. According to Wikipedia, they have an average wingspan of five feet. He didn’t stare too long this morning. I think I freaked him out by staring back. The rain dulled his pretty gray feathers a bit, but he’s still a beautiful bird. This morning as I peered out my sliding glass doors I saw two chipmunks, three squirrels, about five ducks, a couple of jumping fish, and a sandhill crane. I like living here.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” - Patrick Henry

I just stumbled across an image of a bust created by Weta Studios for a creature from James Cameron’s new film, “Avatar”. I haven’t see this image anywhere else despite the fact that the original image is on Cameron’s site, so, I’m posting a link to it just in case you haven’t see it either. Behold Weta’s sculpt of a “stugg”.

Also on Cameron’s site, images of the toys and other merchandise produced for Avatar.

How did I miss this? Joss Whedon has produced a very interesting musical/comedy called, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog”. And, I can’t stop humming the tunes. Hit “play” on the video below, and then just watch for a few minutes. But give it time because it starts off a little slowly, and pay attention to what’s being said. The introduction sets the stage for the rest of the film by explaining the motivation for Dr. Horrible’s horrible evil. The embedded video below is a little small, so do yourself a favor and watch it full-screen.

UPDATE: Jason from Orlando writes: “I HIGHLY recommend renting the DVD not only for the making-of feature but for the “musical commentary.” They actually recorded a commentary track and the track itself is a musical, it is sheer brilliance.”