Comments on: Numbered

By: Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:52:21 +0000

Hi Angela,
It’s called deregulated, laissez-faire, trickle-down crappism. Just be glad you’re getting some.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:27:29 +0000

Not only do we not mind our executive robber barons crapping on our heads, we also buy their books “How I Did It,” or “[Insert robber baron's name here]: An American Hero.” Even those who have been ousted by scandal, conviction of white-collar crime, or the most heinous examples of corruption get a chance to sell their multi-billion dollar story to the highest bidding publisher, and millions will buy it, leaving literature by say, a master like Borges, rotting on the shelves. Borges who? The score: Robber barons, $770 billion to the 100th power, American citizens: 0.

By: Joseph Hutchison

Joseph Hutchison — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:44:05 +0000

I have a number in my head
Though I don’t know why it’s there
When numbers get serious
You see their shape everywhere
Dividing and multiplying
Exchanging with ease
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers are easy to please
Take my address
Take my phone
Call me if you can
Here’s my address
Here’s my phone
Please don’t give it to some madman
Hey hey, whoa whoa
Complicated life
Numbers swirling thick and curious
You can cut them with a knife
You can cut them with a knife
Two times two is twenty-two
Four times four is forty-four
When numbers get serious
They leave a mark on your door
Urgent. Urgent.
A telephone is ringing in the hallways
When times are mysterious
Serious numbers will speak to us always
That is why a man with numbers
Can put your mind at ease
We’ve got numbers by the trillions
Here and overseas
Hey hey, whoa whoa
Look at the stink about Japan
All those numbers waiting patiently
Don’t you understand?
Don’t you understand?
—from “When Numbers Get Serious”
by Paul Simon