Cheap Blogging Crutch 09.16

Wall Street Gambles on Old People Dying
Via Matt Taibbi comes this look at how Wall Street continues to make people who pile kittens into burlap sacks in order to drown therm in a river look like decent humans. What have they done this time? They've bundled life insurance settlements together like mortgage back securities and essentially allowing investors to wager on when people will die. This sounds like it'll end well.

DIY Pics From the Edge of Space for Just $150
Ever wanted to take pictures of the curvature of the earth or perhaps make the family gerbil and unwilling traveler into the mesosphere? Thanks to two Asian guys from MIT (was there any ever doubt?) you can now recreate the feat for a mere Benjamin and Grant, which is much less money than it cost those rotten Spanish kids who did the same thing. It costs even less if you're willing to part with your beloved Styrofoam beer cooler and steal a camera.

Dorgan Supports Climate Legislation So Long As It Doesn’t Address Climate Change
Great news for climate change legislation. Senator Byron Dorgan is willing to sign on to any action that aggressively addresses climate change as long as it doesn't aggressively address climate change. Or weakly address climate change for that matter. With leadership like that we'll have effective environmental legislation sometime right after the sun fries our brains at the exact moment we're drowning in pure melted ice cap water.

One in three votes for President Karzai 'was faked', EU observers find
Look at the bright side: that mean 66% of his votes were real. That's over half! Sure it wouldn't have been enough to avoid a runoff, bu he still won....a plurality. Look, even though we condemned vote rigging in Iran (sort of), I think the UN needs to realize that sometimes fraudulent elections can be a good thing. Like when it marginally benefits US interests. Stop being such a stickler on the meaning of "democracy".

Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley's Last Dance
To some people, they will remember Patrick Swayze as the star of Dirty Dancing and Roadhouse. To many, he will always be the bank robbing surfer Bodhi who squared off with Keanu Reeve's Johnny Utah in Point Break. But to everyone that matters, he will be the buy that was dancing next to Chris Farley in the SNL Chippendale's sketch. They're both dead now, and that's kind of depressing.