It seems to me that this chart pr0n indicates a problem of modern times:
Paul Kedrosky used the timeline feature under the tools of Google search to generate this.
Category: History
A Neat Piece of History
An article from Time magazine from June 5, 1933 about the creation of deposit insurance:
Through the great banking houses of Manhattan last week ran wild-eyed alarm. Big bankers stared at one another in anger and astonishment. A bill just passed by both houses of Congress would rivet upon their institutions what they considered a monstrous system of guaranteeing bank deposits. Such a system, they felt, would not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U. S. banking to its lowest level. They saw their deposits which they had spent a lifetime to build up and protect with their good names confiscated by the Government to pay for the mistakes and dishonesty of every smalltown bankster.
Don’t think that our masters of the universe believe anything different than that these masters of the universe believed.
They always believe that they are good, and noble, and brilliant, and that it’s always someone else’s fault.
The Ultimate Hitler/Downfall Parody
I was thinking about putting up the Youtube (link), but by the time most of my readers saw this, it would be taken down.
There should be penalties for misusing takedown notices, something statutory, on an escalating scale, since this is only 3:50 of a movie, and a parody, and as such it should be fair use.
I am not suggesting that Youtube be sued, but I am suggesting that Constantin Film AG is breaking the law, and should be subject to sanctions, by issuing clearly illegal take-down notices.
In an interesting irony, this may be the best Hitler Parody ever.
George Washington’s Body to be Exhumed by Irate Librarians
Yes, it’s in my anxiety closet too.
Archivists have discovered that George Washington borrowed books from the New York Library when he was President, and now owes the equivalent of $300,000.00 in overdue fines:
Founder of a nation, trouncer of the English, God-fearing family man: all in all, George Washington has enjoyed a pretty decent reputation. Until now, that is.
The hero who crossed the Delaware river may not have been quite so squeaky clean when it came to borrowing library books.
The New York Society Library, the city’s only lender of books at the time of Washington’s presidency, has revealed that the first American president took out two volumes and pointedly failed to return them.
At today’s prices, adjusted for inflation, he would face a late fine of $300,000.
So, Mrs. McGreevey is coming after him.
Apologies to Berkeley Breathed for rearranging the frames friom his horizontal format to a vertical one.
It’s Marijuana Day
And Marijuana hour.
I’ve set this up to post at 4:20 pm on 4/20.
As to how 420 came to mean pot, see here.
Conservatives Feel Entitled to Their Own Facts
As evidenced by the recent assault on history by conservatives.
Cases in point, arguing that:
- Alexander Hamilton, the most vociferous supporter of a strong government and against the powers of the states amongst the Federalists, who themselves supported a strong central government, opposed a strong central government.
- Texas text books rewriting history.
- That the deaths at Jamestown in its first years were because it was a socialist endeavor.
- The truth is that, “The Jamestown settlement was a capitalist venture financed by the Virginia Company of London — a joint stock corporation — to make a profit.
- Teddy Roosevelt was a socialist.
We could go on and on, but the lesson to be learned is that when talking to conservatives, you need to confirm if they say that milk is white.
Deep Thought
H/t Driftglass.
Interesting Picture
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H/t Barry Ritholtz
He wonders about what caused stock market capitalization to grow so much relative to GDP starting in the late 1980s.
I think that the answer is simple: The US government started to subsidize stock purchases, specifically the IRA and the 401(K), and it drew more money in to the markets, and that money bid up asset prices.
Of course, I like simple answers, and I am not a stock broker or an economist, so I would appreciate hearing alternate theories.
What I Did This Afternoon
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The Enola Gay
SR-71 Blackbird
A rear view of the Blackbird, illustrating how flat it is
The Boeing 707 prototype, the Dash 80, in the fugliest color scheme I’ve ever seen
Gemini capsule
Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome
Bell-Boeing XV-15 tilt rotor demonstrator
Concorde
Space shuttle prototype Enterprise
Spotted on the tail of an F-14, Felix the Cat from VFA-6
I went to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located right next to Dulles Airport in Chantilly, VA.
Charlie’s Cub Scout Pack went there for an outing.
While is is a most impressive collection of aircraft, as a museum, it left me a bit cold.
Unlike the branch on the Mall in Washington, DC, this was basically just a shed full of aircraft, and the exhibits, such as they were, were basically just afterthoughts.
I enjoyed myself, but I would much rather go to the DC museum.
10 Years Ago Today
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H/t DC at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS
The dot com crash began.
The excesses, and the damage was legion, and I thought that it would be something that one would regale our grand children about.
Needless to say, the financial meltdown made that conflagration look like a damp match.
Greenspan Calls Meltdown “Greatest Financial Crisis”
Normally, I don’t listen to Alan Greenspan, but when he says the the financial meltdown is worse than the Great Depression, it bears noting:
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the U.S. economic recovery was ‘extremely unbalanced,’ driven largely by high earners benefiting from recovering stock markets and large corporations.
Small businesses and the jobless are still suffering from the aftermath of a credit crunch that was ‘by far the greatest financial crisis, globally, ever’ — including the 1930s Great Depression, said Greenspan in an address to a Credit Union National Association conference.
(emphasis mine)
While I have very little confidence in judgment of Andrea Mitchell’s husband, the time that any economist of any note says “worse than the Great Depression,” it’s time to think about why we aren’t fixing this.
Yes, This is the Rolling Stones
And, yes, they are selling Rice Crispies in 1963:
The Original Swiss Army Knive
Turns out that it was Roman, this example dates from around 200 CE:
It appears that even the Roman Legions needed a toothpick.
This is Wicked Cool
It’s a P-38 training film, from 1943:
It’s 34 minutes long, but worth it.
Howard Zinn 1922-2010
He was a liberal, some say radical, historian with a gift for polemics.
He will be missed.
1995
See this article, “Iran May Be Able to Build an Atomic Bomb in 5 Years, U.S. and Israeli Officials Fear? Its from the January 3 issues of The New York Times.
That would be January 3 of 1995, that is.
Iran has been around 5 years away from a nuke for a very long time.
Kabul 40 Years Ago Vs. Kabul Today
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If you wonder why the Afghans hate us, understand what they were like before Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brezinski decided to buy a civil war there.
It’s pretty much the same for a lot of Pakistan, where much of the country has been awash in drugs, weapons, and violence since we decided to screw with the Afghans in order to screw with the Soviets by proxy.
The Real Ronald Reagan, as Portrayed by Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman, back when SNL was still good.
Obyekt 279 Soviet Tank Photos
I was looking at Pravda article about Libyan arms purchases, and and came across a photo gallery for the Soviet obyekt 279 heavy tank, which they mischaracterized as the T-10.
It comes in at about 60 metric tons in the late 1950s, which makes it a very heavy tank for its day, as does the 130mm rifled gun it sported, along with twin treads on either side to improve mobility.
Interesting, but by the time it hit test, the ATGM had largely eclipsed the heavy tank, which was replaced by the by the MBT, the T-54s on the WarPac side, and M-60, Leopard I, and the AMX-30, which were all at least 10 tonnes lighter, and the Centurion/Chieftain which was at least 10t lighter.
Same as it Ever Was
Read this headline, “NATO Says Afghan Battle Proved Costly for Militant Attackers.”
Doesn’t this sound like Vietnam body counts?
Yeah, Tet really sucked for the VC too.