Combat! - Page 254 of 406 - A blog by Dan Brooks

Friday links! Oh my god, do I try edition

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized August 24, 2012 3 Comments

The three images above are of the 19th-century fresco “Ecce Homo” by Elias Garcia Martinez. The first is the original, the second is a version damaged by moisture, and the third is the botched “restoration” performed by 80 year-old Cecilia Giminez. Dueña Giminez is not a professional art restorer. She was trying to fix the fresco, which was one of her favorites, but it got out of hand. Authorities disagree on whether she did it with permission or what. If you would like to understand the problem of others, take a look at Ecce Bigfoot up there. A nice old Spanish lady who loves Jesus did that. You can’t be mad at her. All you can do is keep trying.

Terrify yourself with charts and graphs!

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government August 23, 2012 4 Comments

United States GDP minus public and privately-held debt for the past 70 years

The graph above comes from Henry Blodget’s convincing if occasionally facile argument about just what is wrong with the United States economy. Notice that the line starts at zero, then start stocking up on canned food. In the years of our so-called decline, gross domestic product has steadily increased. What has increased much more quickly, however—what’s really seen an unprecedented boom since the Carter administration—is debt. We borrow money way better than we make it. We loan money way better than we produce goods and services. By several conventional metrics, the American economy is growing nicely. It’s just not growing as fast as our appetite for free stuff from the future. See what the 70-year growth of GDP and debt look like as separate lines after the jump.

Super 2012 GOP platform rumor roundup!

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government August 22, 2012 0 Comment

Tampa 2012: rectangles

The 2012 Republican National Convention begins Monday in Tampa, and the internet is all a-twitter with leaked planks from the draft version of the party platform. Whatever you do, don’t listen. Party platforms are not legislation; they are by definition grandstand-y and ideological, and they are composed by people who can politely be called true believers. You have to be a special kind of Republican to go to Tampa in August. Party platforms composed at national conventions are like the specific words a crazy man keeps shouting at you on the subway: not a prediction of what’s going to happen, really, but an indication of how somebody thinks.

That was fast

By Dan Brooks in Republican Candidates August 21, 2012 5 Comments

Missouri congressman and Republican senatorial candidate Todd Akin, with novel-tie

On Sunday, Todd Akin (R-MO) opined that if you really hadn’t wanted that man to penetrate you, you wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. By yesterday afternoon, multiple Republican groups had withdrawn their support and asked him to leave the senate race. It turns out you can’t say absolutely anything you want into a microphone in the United States of America, despite the occasional impression to the contrary. Now, approximately 48 hours after he tried to explain why he believes women who have been forcibly impregnated by strangers should have to bear their children, Representative Akin has produced an apology. Forgiveness video after the jump.

I’m not dead

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized August 20, 2012 0 Comment

Hey, dudes. I am just now returned from Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and the beautiful Tetons, all of which are A) majestic and B) partially on fire. Obviously the blog is of little value to anyone today. We’ll be back tomorrow with 15% more wild conjecture.