The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.

- Carl Sagan

What is the debt ceiling?

The debt ceiling is the legal limit on how much the US government is allowed to borrow.

Why does it exist?

The debt ceiling was originally created to make life easier for congress, not harder. Up until WWI, when the US government needed to borrow money, congress would debate and approve the terms of sale for treasury bonds themselves. During WWI, this proved to be too time-consuming so congress delegated these activities to the Treasury Department.

Not wanting to cede too much power, congress also voted to set a limit on how much the Treasury Department could borrow.

What doesn’t the debt ceiling do?

The debt ceiling itself does not set spending or revenue levels. That is done through the budget process.

But doesn’t spending and revenue levels dictate how much the US government has to borrow?

Therein lies the problem with the debt ceiling. Congress knows how much debt will be incurred when they pass the annual budget. If they didn’t want the Treasury Department to borrow more funds, they would pass a budget that didn’t require the Treasury Department to do so.

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Every week, we list our recommendations of new music, books, comics, movies and TV to check out. This is Recs in Effect:

New Music

The Book of Mormon

Who's Responsible? Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez

What Is It? The broadway musical by South Park's Parker & Stone and Avenue Q's Lopez focuses on the pros and cons of faith by examining two Mormon missionaries' exploits in Uganda. Hilarity Ensues?

Why's It Worth Noting? Firstly, Parker & Stone have proven their musical chops many times previously (Orgazmo, South Park, Team America) and paired with the more playful (and less dark) Lopez, they deliver a great musical that craps all over religion - but it also highlights the functions that religion can serve; basically stating that religion is dumb but can provide meaning and direction. The album was released on iTunes a couple of weeks ago, but the CD comes out on Tuesday and is definitely worth picking up. The songs are infectious, hilarious and brilliantly vulgar. Here's a sample (semi-NSFW, language):

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Today's word of the day is perturbed:

Via 4GIFs.com

HBS from Eric Fensler on Vimeo.

Via Fuck Yeah Steve Zisso

Let's head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch...

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I began plotting novels at about the time I learned to read. The story of my childhood is the usual bleak fantasy, and we can dismiss it with the restrained observation that I certainly would not consider living it again.

- James Baldwin

Via She Walks SoftlyIt's been said that heroes are only as good as their villains. In order to have an interesting hero, he or she must face an interesting and truly threatening adversary. In genre fiction, this is usually done by one of two ways. Either having the villain be a threat so large that it seems unlikely anyone can stop it. Or else have the threat be of a complimentary nature, the flip side of the coin of the hero (dark vs. light, etc.). In either case, when the villain reveals his or her potential for destruction and true horror, it makes the heroes seem even mightier and their (inevitable victories) that much sweeter.

Unfortunately, that doesn't always work out. This can be especially true when the budget limitations of films are coupled with the imagination limitations of most film producers. Toss in the need to adhere to certain formulas (or to create another line of toys), and suddenly you have an impotent villain who is not the definition of threatening but instead the definition of wasted potential. These are the top 5 worst offenders, the supervillains who seemed cool but were just...just awful.

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Keith Doughty discusses songs, albums and artists that are unappreciated, unknown, and/or unfairly-maligned by the general public. This is Hidden Tracks.

Beck - "Halo of Gold"

“Have you got a fine place to slip to when you're feeling down?”

Although I don’t think Beck is an underappreciated artist, there is a song of his I’ve always liked that is not very well known. Originally released on the Cold Brains EP, Beck’s cover of the Skip Spence song “Halo of Gold” stands out to me particularly when compared to the original version.

Unlike the Beck cover, the original Skip Spence song sounds sloppy and unfinished (for good reason- learn more about Skip Spence here). Spence’s delivery is halting and out of rhythm; the instrumentation is very sparse, just drums and bass.  Beck takes the original melody and lyrics, adds typical Beck instrumentation (while retaining much of the prominent bass line), and performs it in his usual style.

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Today's word of the day is Aggro:

(via SenorGif)

Cyanide & Happiness presents "Dogs"

You know what? I AM saying she's a gold digger.

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Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.

- Sarah Vowell

Image from Who What Wear

Here is a way to bring some color into your wardrobe (and new life to last year's wedges) with only a few $$$!

You will need:

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