JustThinking.us

The Wiffer, upon hearing about the clamor for a more uplifting posting, heartily agreed and sarcastically suggested the following for the new JustThinking.us logo.

I thought that was a bit harsh, but it did get me thinking.

From Merriam-Webster, among the definitions for the noun bond are the following:

Bond - something that binds or restrains : Fetter

A binding agreement : Covenant

A band or cord used to tie something.

One who acts as bail or surety. 

An interest-bearing certificate of public or private indebtedness.

The etymology for the word bond is shared with that for the noun Bondage, a synonym for Slavery.

Mortgage - A temporary, conditional pledge of property to a creditor as security for performance of an obligation or repayment of a debt.

From Middle English - morgage, and from Old French : mort - dead,

from Vulgar Latin - mortus, from Latin - mortuus, past participle of mori - to die;

plus gage - pledge (of Germanic origin).

Word History: The great jurist Sir Edward Coke, who lived from 1552 to 1634, has explained why the term mortgage comes from the Old French words mort, "dead," and gage, "pledge."

It seemed to him that it had to do with the doubtfulness of whether or not the mortgagor will pay the debt.

If the mortgagor does not, then the land pledged to the mortgagee as security for the debt "is taken from him forever, and so dead to him upon condition.

And if he doth pay the money, then the pledge is dead as to the mortgagee.

I keep wondering, who is us in this conversation?

This one doesn't take a rocket scientist to grasp.

US monthly surplus/deficit.

The US just set a record for the largest monthly deficit in it's long history.

From Zero Hedge

Chris H. had never heard of the "Slowly I Turned" bit which doesn't even seem possible to me, but then I suppose you have to be of a certain age to have had this one pounded into your cultural frame of reference.

He asked if we knew of any other "old comedy bits".

Well, I guess if your gonna post "Slowly I Turned", might as well bring in the Dead Parrott.

The first time I read this quote, I thought it was bonehead.

As I got a little older, maybe a bit more mature and learned a little about meditation, I decided that Mr. Thomson gets it right and have come to the conclusion that a little internal silence today will frequently result in a little blinding revelation tomorrow.

While not one of my favorite musicians ... I'm giving it a 32 Dick, you can't dance to it ... his film scores always feel very warm and very American to me.

Click on the photo for the famed 1937 documentory The Plow that Broke the Plains which along with The River is widely regarded as an American film treasure, both of these films were scored by Virgil Thomson.

Recommended.

Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

The ideal form of government is democracy tempered with assassination.

Or.

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.

Or.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Divorce is probably of nearly the same date as marriage. I believe, however, that marriage is some weeks the more ancient.

He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.

Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

The true triumph of reason is that it enables us to get along with those who do not possess it.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so also.

Prejudices are what fools use for reason.

When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Oopsies, I was supposed to post this two nights ago.

Alas, I got caught up listening to old records with an old friend and forgot to do it.

Anyway, not much has changed, Mars hasn't moved much.

Go out and look.

From spaceweather.com

Mars is at its closest to Earth for 2012. The Red Planet is only 101 million km away and shines about six times brighter than a 1st magnitude star. Look for it in the eastern sky at sunset. The burnt-orange color of Mars is very distinctive, especially when seen from rural areas with clear skies.

Photo by Luis Argerich, taken March 3, 2012 in Veronica, Bueonos Aires, Argentina

On the night of March the 3rd Mars reached opposition. At even this unfavorable opposition Mars was really bright and high in the sky shining with a crimson red hue. I took this image at the town of Veronica, Argentina. A star filter was used, straight from the camera without processing.

Physical gold held by ETFs, at 2,469 metric tons, is now the world’s 4^th largest gold stash, behind the US, Germany and the IMF.

Iceland is considering adopting the Canadian dollar, “the loonie”, as its currency.

Every $10 increase in the price of crude oil reduces US GDP by 1%.

A record 46.5 million Americans are on food stamps, 15% of the US population, over 22 million US households.

TSA’s VIPR teams conducted 9,300 unannounced checkpoint and frisking operations in the US in 2011 on highways, subways, train stations, ferry terminals, all mass transit locations.

Windows 8 will have a “kill switch” that will have the capability to arbitrarily access your computer and delete “dangerous software”.

The yield on the 10-year bond issued by Portugal jumped by 70 basis points last week coming close to a 14 percent yield. The Greek 10-year bonds jumped to a yield of more than 38 percent.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), obtained hundreds of documents from the Department of Homeland Security through the Freedom of Information Act and found details of an arrangement with General Dynamics in which DHS has been paying the defense contractor to monitor social media websites and other Internet communications to find criticisms of the department’s policies and actions. The company was contracted to monitor the Web for ‘reports that reflect adversely on DHS,’ including sub-agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”