Flechado

superfuntimedeluxe: “I’m sorry, Ham Rove. One of us is dead...

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:41:49 -0400

superfuntimedeluxe:

“I’m sorry, Ham Rove. One of us is dead meat and you already are.” — Stephen Colbert

p>Current Fox News guest.

Weirdly, he is on a panel with Dennis Kucinich

Just one more. Hearing her sing that beautifully out on the...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:36:31 -0400

Just one more. Hearing her sing that beautifully out on the street just gives me chills.

And her lovely duet with Calexico that led me to her music.

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:11:47 -0400

And her lovely duet with Calexico that led me to her music.

I really love the way she mixes surf, garage, and ’60s...

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:59:27 -0400

I really love the way she mixes surf, garage, and ’60s French pop influences. Her name is Françoiz Breut.

Fox News Update: I was just informed that you can’t be masculine and liberal.

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:19:46 -0400

Fox News Update: I was just informed that you can’t be masculine and liberal.

Staring into the news abyss: Day 1

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:57:00 -0400

I technically have a full undergraduate degree in journalism. To prevent News madness, I might as well draw on those semi-honed instincts

The story of the day is the IRS “targeting” of 501c4 groups. I will let The Economist sum it up:

Facing a surge in campaign groups formed during Mr Obama’s first years in the White House, and worried that many were too political to merit tax-exempt status, inspectors hit upon the shortcut of targeting groups with names containing “tea party” or “patriot”. Later, when that triggered complaints of bias, IRS officials switched to scrutinising groups that wanted to change the size of the government or even criticise it, firing off demands to know who led each group, what they were saying in newsletters or on the internet, and even what their members were reading.

According to the Times today, we now know that some officials who knew this information after an internal inquiry sat on it for a few months before the election.

Here is a pithy bit of judgement on the whole situation, from the same Economist column:

Though the government has a right to police overly political non-profit groups, liberal groups appear to have endured less harassment. Worse than wicked, the IRS’s behaviour was stupid: faced by angry citizens with a Don’t Tread On Me loathing of taxes, the agency sent taxmen to tread on them.

This writer’s take on it seems about right to me. If, at some point, this scandal is tied to higher rungs of the management ladder in the executive branch, it will come to seem more and more Nixonian. More likely, it will emerge as a heavy-handed attempt at problem solving worsened by bureaucratic hemming and hawing.

None of this rudimentary understanding was improved by 8 hours of “news programming.” The hosts instead preferred to turn to make broad, paranoid assertions about the following:

The woman who was the head of the tax-exempt department at the IRS is now in charge of enforcing the tax portions of the Affordable Care Act. Scary because: Death Panels. Alternately, if it is a reward for services rendered, we’re approaching 11 on the Nixon scale. Strangely, they went with option 1. If you are going to speculate wildly about wrongdoings, why not go full moustache-twirl?

Giant-headed Neil Cavuto was angry at the stock market for not being adequately upset about the days events (it went up a smidge). I find this inexplicable.

Former White House press secretary Dana Perino claimed that this was an expression of the inherent liberalism of those in civil service, something which must be rooted out.

Observations

Perhaps civil service would be more conservative if y’all deigned to participate in it.
People tend to side with those that don’t bash them all day.
Why are liberals consistently treated like a tumor on the body politic? They aren’t an illness to be cured. They are half of the population of the United States, and your fellow citizens. If they act like petty, over-political tyrants, call them out for that, not for their position on the social safety net.

So, we spent an entire day speculating on an undeveloped story that may or may not go anywhere, ignoring the actually major and relevant stories about the Russians selling arms to the Syrians like amoral assholes, the sexual assault crisis in the military, and the president’s infrastructure proposal.

Cable news: All light, no heat.

"Disclosure: The two authors of this post are in the same office, sitting about five feet away from..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:50:19 -0400

“Disclosure: The two authors of this post are in the same office, sitting about five feet away from each other.”

- Nancy Grace and Ashleigh Banfield Hold Split-Screen Interview in Same Parking Lot - Dashiell Bennett and Philip Bump - The Atlantic Wire

Do not miss. Easily the funniest thing I’ve seen this week.

Again. Please. Keep always reminding me about all the Important Things I miss out on by deliberately not ““keeping up”” with ““the news.””

Yikes.

[via]

(via merlin)

centuriespast: Histoire Naturelle des IndesIllustrated...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:13:41 -0400

centuriespast:

Histoire Naturelle des Indes
Illustrated manuscript, ca. 1586

This work has been informally dubbed the Drake manuscript because the English explorer Sir Francis Drake is twice mentioned in the text and some thirty geographical references match his ports of call.

The Morgan Library

hodgman: browsethestacks: Muhammad Ali, Hulk Hogan, Cyndi...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:04:13 -0400

hodgman:

browsethestacks:

Muhammad Ali, Hulk Hogan, Cyndi Lauper, Liberace And Wendi Richter

Your first look at @JossActual ‘s new prequel series “Avengers: 1984”

Headed to north Georgia to visit my parents. (Gonna hear soooo much Fox News over the next few...

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:55:38 -0400

Headed to north Georgia to visit my parents.

(Gonna hear soooo much Fox News over the next few days)

chrisgaffey: Sensuous Steel : Art Deco Automobiles: The...

Wed, 15 May 2013 23:28:46 -0400

chrisgaffey:

Sensuous Steel : Art Deco Automobiles: The magnificent 1937 Delahaye 135MS Roadster, described as a ‘Paris Gown on wheels’ was designed by Figoni & Falaschi, a ‘Couturier of the automobile’ and featured a stunning leather interior by Hermés.

Currently on show at at the Frist Centre for the Visual Arts, Nashville.

Photograph © 2013 Peter Harholdt

"Any time you identify by what you are not, for myself, when you determine your politics and rights..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:58:12 -0400

““Any time you identify by what you are not, for myself, when you determine your politics and rights based on what you are not, I think you’re not on the road to empowerment. I think you’re on the road to systematically, mindfully marginalizing yourself.””

- Merlin Mann, Roderick On The Line (via dlheidemann)

Tumblr does not have a ‘like’ button powerful enough for this bit of wisdom from Merlin.

(via roderickin)

muchastyle: Art Nouveau Carved Settee (1880). Source.

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:57:55 -0400

muchastyle:

Art Nouveau Carved Settee (1880).

Source.

ancientpeoples: Calcite Statue of a Man 2600 BC Iraq Early...

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:19:18 -0400

ancientpeoples:

Calcite Statue of a Man

2600 BC

Iraq

Early Dynastic II

(Source: The British Museum)

nevver: I’ll take Manhattan

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:09:26 -0400

nevver:

I’ll take Manhattan

zeezrom: El Greco Annunciation (detail)

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:42:15 -0400

zeezrom:

El Greco
Annunciation (detail)

nataliakoptseva: El Greco (Spanish) Adoration of the Shepherds...

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:36:50 -0400

nataliakoptseva:

El Greco (Spanish) Adoration of the Shepherds (detail)

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (Detail), El Greco...

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:35:33 -0400

The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (Detail), El Greco (1586-1588)

christycase: Lady in a Fur Wrap, El Greco This gets me every...

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:31:24 -0400

christycase:

Lady in a Fur Wrap, El Greco

This gets me every time. One of my favourites.

ancientart: Female Portrait Mask from Egypt, 2nd century (Roman...

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:47:08 -0400

ancientart:

Female Portrait Mask from Egypt, 2nd century (Roman Imperial), made of encaustic (wax, pigments) on wood, cloth.

Hairstyles can be used to date female portrait masks. Here, the braids wound over the top of the head place the mask close to the period of the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98-117). The painting of a portrait was an occasion for all finery to be displayed, and this woman is seen wearing a pearl and emerald necklace and earrings.

Courtesy & currently located at the Walters Art Museum, USA.