the conqueror worm

fake biologist and byzantium enjoyer. "He is a monstrosity of a man, a dwarf, fat-headed and with tiny mole's eyes ; disfigured by a short, broad, thick beard half going gray ; disgraced by a neck scarcely an inch long ; piglike by reason of the big close bristles on his head ; dressed in a robe made of fine linen, but old, foul smelling, and discoloured by age." facile and uninformed.

[pitbush]

these jerkoffs want a school🙄🙄as far as im concerned the steel foundry is a great place for young children

[gothicprep]

the late senator graham and i disagreed on pretty much everything, but credit where it’s due. this quote of his is an all-timer:

it’s arguably the most honest thing that anyone has said in politics.

[molags-balls]

[javert]

on another note we need to stop fetishizing the physical object of The Book. I like books as much as the next guy, lord knows my house is too full of them, but at the end of the day they are wood pulp and glue and ink, and if the Text is preserved, nothing of great value is lost if an individual copy is destroyed

[theonion]

In response to the holier-than-thou message on their social media feeds, sources reported Friday that a post by local man Jim Boisvert was pretty sanctimonious for someone who had only been sober for a month. “He’s really laying it on thick about not needing alcohol to have fun considering he was absolutely pounding beers as recently as the Fourth of July,” said neighbor Lisa O’Toole, confirming that Boisvert’s comments about how much his skin and physique had improved were obnoxiously premature under the circumstances.

Full Story

[markadoo]

Nice allegory. Unfortunately, I have written a counter-allegory where that doesn’t happen

[tanadrin]

Something about this just freaking bowls me over. like, i don't think i've ever seen a painting that so clearly seems to evoke the sensation of being there, in the sun, looking at the crowd with the sweat on your forehead.

[phantomrose96]

After 13 years of this, it's still funny to me that detailing a full mental breakdown on tumblr is standard fare, but posting a nice selfie is a fraught decision.

[loki-zen]

this is the correct way around and every other social media site is wrong

[doctorwank]

Like taking a baby out of a horses mouth

[the-puffinry]

baby Lilinoe is exploring the new apartment. which mostly seems to be about finding the highest spots she can and then just sitting there.... not ideal because hot water will go through these in winter and I'd prefer if she didn't learn about that by burning her little feet. 😔

[the-puffinry]

I'm trying to work from this desk btw

[horsefigureoftheday]

OP turned off reblogs but I need this on my blog. Sorry you had to learn about bean removal like this.

[oneheadtoanother]

[professorwetware]

"The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one end to the other. The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklins electrical Rod, smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War"

-John Adams

[karis-the-fangirl]

Okay I was like ‘surely that is fake’ so I looked the quote up and not only is it legit, the next bit of the letter is “if this Letter should be preserved, and read an hundred Years hence the Reader will Say “the Envy of this J. A. could not bear to think of the Truth”! [“]He ventured to Scribble to Rush, as envious as himself, Blasphemy that he dared not Speak, when he lived. But Barkers at the sun and Moon are always Silly Curs.” But this my Friend, to be serious, is the Fate of all Ages and Nations. And there is no Resource in human nature for a Cure.”

[facts-i-just-made-up]

What were the biggest bluffs in the history of warfare?

The biggest bluffs in the history of warfare are the cliffs at Thermopylae in Greece:

This is where in the year 300 (I assume), King Leonopteryx battled the forces of Persia under Xerxes the Great, whose name was in fact Khshayarsha but this was too many letters for Greek news reporters to take down while being shot by arrows.

The spartan king managed to push many of the Persian soldiers off of these bluffs, resulting in him triumphantly still losing the battle with such bravado that soldiers in 21st century America still adorn their Ford Trucks with his immortal words, “Horn Broken, See Finger.”

This event was also depicted in Zack Snyder’s magnificent 3D opus, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.” It could sadly not be filmed at the actual location because it is now a parking lot for the biggest McDonalds in Lamia Municipality. The nearby spot where the king died is now occupied by the ice cream machine, which also dies frequently.

[sobotka]

SIMON: One of the arguments of The Wire, season-in, season-out, is that pure capitalism is not a social policy. It can’t substitute for a social policy. "Buy something for a nickel, sell it for a dime" is not a social policy, and the idea of pursuing it as what’s best for most [people] is a fool’s errand.

David Simon, commentary for 3x12, "Mission Accomplished".

[roseredfingers]

It is not true that individuals possess a prescriptive 'natural liberty' in their economic activities. There is no 'compact' conferring perpetual rights on those who Have or on those who Acquire. The world is not so governed from above that private and social interest always coincide. It is not so managed here below that in practice they coincide. It is not a correct deduction from the principles of economics that enlightened self-interest always operates in the public interest. Nor is it true that self‐interest generally is enlightened; more often individuals acting separately to promote their own ends are too ignorant or too weak to attain even these.

—John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire (1926)

[vulpes-aestatis]

Baby sphinx trying to be like mama and waylaying travelers, but all its riddles are completely non-sensical like the ones a 1st grader would tell

[thecactifindahome]

[thelesbianthespianposts]

starting a series I’m calling “Stuff I like in Baseball”

The big stretch the first baseman has to do to catch the ball and remain on base

When a pitch rolls away and the catcher has to look all threatening at the base runners when he gets it

When the batter strikes out so bad and he can tell

When the fielder gives up trying to catch the home run ball

When the second baseman tries to catch a ball twenty feet above him

more to come

[caesarsaladinn]

Tom Lamont is haunting me

[caesarsaladinn]

In its front-page obituary, the Times said that the driving force of Lamont’s life “was an unremitting search for the good, the full and the gracious life.” Indeed, one admires his ambition to lead a beautiful, rounded life and bring poetry into the straitlaced world of banking. He gave a literary gloss and an intellectual richness to the House of Morgan, stretching the sense of what it means to be a banker. He was a man who dealt with the large issues of the day, saw the strategic significance of his actions, and transcended a provincial concern with profit. His vision of banking was remarkably spacious. Yet he resorted to moral shortcuts and political compromises. He was too quick to paper over conflicts with rhetoric and to settle arguments with smiles. The optimism that made him an inspiring leader also contained an element of pure opportunism. He refused to terminate business relationships until force majeure supervened, and his complicity with Japanese militarists and Mussolini are black marks on his record. By the end, he could no longer distinguish policy from public relations or separate means from ends. In trying to please too many people, he lost the habit of truth—a habit, once lost, that can never be regained. Perhaps the most extraordinary figure in Morgan history, Lamont was a dreamer whose reach exceeded his grasp. He fell short of the ideals that he himself articulated. After his death, Wall Street would seem grayer and more bureaucratic. As a confidant of presidents, prime ministers, and kings, he was the last great banker of the Diplomatic Age.

[caesarsaladinn]

In public appearances, Lamont tried to deflect attention from Mussolini’s politics to his economic record. ... Resorting to sophistry, Lamont said he was only praising the Italian economy, not Mussolini or fascism. In a January 1926 speech before the Foreign Policy Association, Lamont extolled Italy’s record in lowering inflation, stopping strikes, and reducing unemployment. He even endorsed Mussolini’s highway and public works projects—measures that would be roundly denounced by Morgan partners during the Roosevelt administration. Lamont’s trump card was his claim that the Italians supported Mussolini: “At this gathering to-day, we all count ourselves liberals, I suppose. Are we sure that we are liberal enough to be willing for the Italian people to have the sort of government which they apparently want?”

oh my god