Subscribe to this blogIt’s not the animators fault. Sometimes this software has a mind of its own. However, while our crew works out all the bugs, you can get a good chuckle from the funny trip-ups that were found this week:
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Sh*t People Say Contest!
January 27th, 2012
There’s this meme floating around on YouTube. There’s these videos satirizing the ridiculous things people say, usually broken down by demographic. Shit white people say. Shit black people say. Shit rich people say. Shit hipsters say. Shit zombies say. Just a whole lot of Shit. I found a lot of them pretty racist, or at least collectivist by design. I don’t usually go for that sort of humor, but then I found one that tickled my prejudices right where I like it.
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State of the Union: Ten Economic Graphs That Should Scare The Hell Out Of You
January 25th, 2012
“Crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -MIT economist Rudiger Dornbusch
At President Obama’s State of the Union Address this year, which was heavy on recycled platitudes and light on substance, the president did more to prepare for the upcoming general election than actually give a genuine assessment of the state of the union, but that’s pretty par for the course. A sincere state of the union by the President of the United States may be more than most Americans are ready for yet– the horror of listening to the president describe the true economic realities we face might be more than many people could handle. I hope I’m wrong and most Americans would welcome an honest word from a major politician as a breath of fresh air.
What would a sincere state of the union address look like? The president could just show us graphs of economic data and leave it at that. It would be the most radical truth-telling we have heard from the White House in a long time. If you really want to know the state of union and you have the stomach for it, here are ten economic graphs that show just how precarious the state of the union really is and just how long our current economic troubles are likely to last:
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Rebel of the Week: Bernard von NotHaus requests your help
January 25th, 2012
Bernard von NotHaus is the monetary architect of The Liberty Dollar which was a privately minted silver medallion that was at one time the most popular barter currency among precious metal enthusiasts. In 2007, after 10 years of legitimate business, the headquarters and mint of the Liberty Dollar was raided by the FBI. Heroically Von NotHaus fought the charges to defend the right of free people to exchange goods and services in the medium of their choice. He was ultimately convicted on multiple counterfeiting related charges (interestingly nothing related to fraud), and conspiracy against the United States. This week he is facing sentencing of up to 22 years, which at his age is a life sentence. Now he is requesting your help to defend honest currency.
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What is money? (Part I)
January 24th, 2012
Photo: BreakTheMatrix.com
Oh yes, we’re tackling the big question today. No more subtly alluding to a certain view of money and economics while assuming you “get it” too. I’m going to break it down to the fundamentals here and do so as painlessly and simply as possible. If you’re an advocate of “sound money” or “honest money” and you want to understand your own views better or find an easier way to explain them to others, read on! If you have a friend who is new to this kind of economic thinking, this might be a good article to share with them. Economic thinking isn’t hard. In fact, it’s quite natural and intuitive in a lot of ways. People who make it more complicated than it really is are doing so to keep you from thinking about it and to convince you that you can’t really understand it like they can. Knowledge is power. So the less honest stewards of economic thought have decided to keep that power to themselves by making the knowledge seem unattainable to people without advanced degrees or Nobel Prizes. Don’t be intimidated! Finance and economics are for everyone.
Here are just a few of the basics:
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Supreme Court requires warrant for GPS tracking… sort of… not really
January 23rd, 2012
In the case of US v. Jones the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement required a warrant to install a GPS tracking device on nightclub owner Antoine Jones’ car. In doing so they tossed out his drug conspiracy conviction and life sentence. But before we celebrate we have to ask, why does all the coverage of the story read like, “law enforcement might need a probable-cause warrant” and “law enforcement in most instances must get a search warrant.” Well, because that’s the language used by the Supreme Court Justices in what’s being called the most important Fourth Amendment case in the computer era.
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#MovieMonday – Sundance 2012
January 23rd, 2012
Sundance president and founder Robert Redford says this year's festival reflects hard times in America. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty Images
We were certainly disappointed not to get the nod from Sundance for our submission of footage from our upcoming animated film, Silver Circle as a work in progress, but not too disappointed, especially after seeing from the playlist that animation wasn’t so much Sundance’s focus this year. Though with its focus and narrative commentary on economics, the recent housing crash, and monetary policy, it sounds like Silver Circle would have been right at home with other Sundance films this year.
A Guardian piece entitled “Sundance 2012 reflects on hard times and paradises lost,” notes how topical this year’s film festival was:
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Anonymous is Awesome!
January 23rd, 2012
How cool of a name is the “Low Orbit Ion Canon” for a hacker weapon? The name apparently comes from the strategy video game Command & Conquer, but now the hacker collective Anonymous has used the hacker version to take down the websites of the Department of Justice, the FBI, The US Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and a half dozen other organizations that support the current intellectual property regime.
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Bernanke Proposes a Federal Land Bank
January 20th, 2012
One of the more ingenious of future authoritarian innovations imagined in the Silver Circle Movie is an agency called the Department of Housing Stability, or “HouStab,” which is a division of the Federal Reserve in the film. Just as the Federal Reserve allegedly provides stability to the market by regulating the money supply, the HouStab holds a “Strategic Housing Reserve” and purports to provide stability to home prices by managing the supply of homes. And the HouStab botches this task just as royally. Now it seems the Strategic Housing Reserve may become a reality.
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Ye Olde Rebel of the Week: Lysander Spooner
January 19th, 2012
It’s been an unorthodox week here at Silver Underground because it just so happened that the SOPA Protest Blackout yesterday fell on the same day we normally announce the Rebel of the Week. Since we participated in the blackout we made the announcement a day early. But today also happens to be the birthday of one of my all time favorite rebels. So, I thought I’d take us back in time and declare Lysander Spooner the rebel of this week in 1808.
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