Sunday Morning Book Thread 01-18-2015: Nothing Left To Destroy [OregonMuse]

Because You Can Never Have Too Many Books

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Kilts are OK, too. But not tutus. Unless you're a girl.

Quote Of The Week

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.

–Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

But Not For Thee

An unintended side effect of Paris is the revealing, or perhaps I should say reminder, that the left really has a hard time with this whole "free speech" thing. Right alongside grand and glorious declarations of the absolute right of free speech are inserted codicils that, if followed strictly logically, simply negate all of their olympian sentiments. For example, this idiot says:

On one side is freedom of speech and expression, which must be protected, because without it we are nothing.

So, yay free speech!

Free speech isn't really free if it attempts to endanger others' personal safety or deny them social equality.

Whoops, I mean, boo free speech!

I particularly like that lame "deny them social equality" escape clause. What does that even mean? It seems to me that just by holding someone up for ridicule, which is what satirists do, could be construed as denying that person "social equality." Of course, it as a progressive article of faith that some persons are more deserving of equality than others, and so the question for progressives is, on what basis should those who deserve equality be separated from those who don't?

It is obvious from the article that the author believes that the reasons should be, get this, political ones:

But most popular satirical comedians - Colbert, Jon Stewart, John Oliver - are more comfortable targeting policy and conservative provocateurs than groups of citizens. By contrast, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, though more the target of satire than practitioners, have built careers on offensiveness, gleefully flying in the face of liberal America's most sacred cows - including its devotion to tolerance.

See the contrast? Liberal icons Stewart and Colbert merely "target" conservatives, but Limbaugh and Hannity, when they attack liberals, are "offensive". So, all this really is is merely a restatement of the progressive view that when we do it, it's satire, but when you do it, it's evil h8 speech, you evil h8rs.

And all of this kind of dovetails with this other progressive idiot who complains that satire is dead. He starts out by asking the question, has America turned into a spoof of itself, and blames it on the rise of postmodernism:

Is it coincidence, then, that the rise of postmodernism in the 1970s overlaps almost exactly the decline of satire? Is it coincidence that after the turmoil of the late 1950s and 1960s, a period during which Terry Southern, William S. Burroughs and Joseph Heller (among others) portrayed, with bilious exactitude, the excesses and hypocrisies of empire America, we turned inward, forgoing satire for irony?

And then this idiot spends the remainder of the 1100+ word article completely missing the obvious: that "empire America" as he calls it, is now firmly in the hands of, and is being run by and for the benefit of, the progressive left. I daresay that if satire ever did come back, he's probably not going to like it very much.

Another way we can look at this is to say that I want to tell this fool that if America has turned into a spoof of itself, it's you that did it. Our culture is now pretty much a shambles, thanks to progressives, progressive economic policy is turning our country into an actual shambles, and so now all you're doing now is bombing the rubble. He has high praise for William S. Burroughs, whose wiki entry included a quote from "beat" author Jack Kerouac, who calls him:

...the "greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift", a reputation he owes to his "lifelong subversion" of the moral, political and economic systems of modern American society

So, to recap: you progressives have self-admittedly spent your entire lives subverting the "moral, political and economic systems of modern American society" and now, guess what, it worked. That which you hate has been vanquished. That which you wanted destroyed has now been destroyed. Your enemies have been defeated, and their severed heads are set up on pikes that adorn the battlements.

So what are you complaining about? That it's no fun any more? But why would you think that? Is this not what you've wanted? Is this not what you've been striving for? Is this not what you've been egging on and encouraging and supporting all these years?

Idiot. They've destroyed everything and now there's nothing left to destroy. This is your victory. This is the glorious triumph of progressivism. What's the matter, don't you like the taste?

But he did mention a few authors, and this being the book thread, I should point them out. One of them is the satirist Terry Southern. Coincidentally, commenter 'naturalfake' mentioned last week that he was rereading Southern's novel The Magic Christian, which he describes as "surprisingly well-written with a masterfully simple prose style", and likens it to an British comedy of manners. The main character is not the anti-establishment prankster as the crappy movie version would have it, but rather

...a huge, bored dickweed who's had all the best in life but can find no purpose greater than tearing down the society and morals of those around him...just...because....he....can.

This is actually a pretty good description of the progressive left in general.

I remember once when I was about 13 years old, I somehow got ahold of Southern's Candy which I just thought was pr0n, which it most certainly is, but the larger point, one which horny 13-year-old boys might miss, is that Candy actually a send-up of Voltaire's Candide.

But I didn't see any of that. All I cared about was that Candy was a sex-pot (that's what we called them in those days) and I wished I could meet a girl like her.

William S. Burroughs was a heroin addict who accidentally shot and killed his wife.

He was born to a wealthy family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I, and nephew of public relations manager Ivy Lee.

In other words, he was "a dickweed who's had all the best in life but can find no purpose greater than tearing down the society and morals of those around him". Sounds about right. Burroughs is best known for his novel Naked Lunch, which has been described as "the hallucinogenic ravings of a heroin addict". It was the subject of an obscenity trial in Massachusetts that turned out to be the last obscenity trial against a work of literature in the United States. The hippies liked Burroughs a lot. That alone is enough to give one pause.

The Official Book

So in Mississippi there is legislation in process to make the Bible thee "official" state book:

Democrats Tom Miles and Michael Evans, members of the Mississippi House of Representatives, are proposing a bill that would make the Bible the state book, joining the state's official beverage, water mammal and stone as official state symbols.

So as such, it may not mean much of anything. I mean, it's kind of like a company that, say, makes pooper-scoopers for dog owners that pay the NFL a certain sum of money for permission to call their product "the official pooper-scooper of the NFL" but it doesn't mean that anyone in the NFL actually endorses it, much less uses it.

On the other hand, I wonder if the Paris terror attacks, while obviously not the cause of this proposed legislation, is perhaps giving it some propulsion it would not otherwise have. No doubt the progressive left will no doubt weep and wail, particularly if this catches on in other states (Louisiana pulled a similar bill last year), but in the wake of Paris, their protests sound increasingly discordant and shrill.

E-Book Wars Heats Up

Macmillan wants to get into the act.

Publisher Macmillan will offer 1,000 of its titles through the e-book subscription services Oyster and Scribd. It's the third major publishing company to sign on with the all-you-can-read e-book services.

Everybody wants to be the Netflix of books. Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins are already on board, but Penguin Random House, the world's largest publisher, is still playing hard-to-get:

A representative for Penguin Random House told the Associated Press that the company is "uncommitted at present to offering our books for any subscription services."

Try a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy. Maybe that'll work.

Huck Finn Re-revisited

Now this should be interesting. We've been told over and over again by our betters in leftist academia that Mark Twain's classic Huckleberry Finn is about race and racism, and the controversy among progressive scholars is whether the book is racist or anti-racism.

Neither, says Andrew Levy. No, not THAT Andy Levy, this Andrew Levy is an English professor at Butler University, and author of the new book Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era that Shaped His Masterpiece. In it, he argues that race wasn't Twain's primary concern:

Rather, the novel emerged from and spoke to a society that was obsessed with wayward children, particularly boys, and most typically lower-class boys spurred to delinquency by the violent stories they read in dime novels. The papers were full of "stories of children committing crimes or dying young or killing each other," to a degree that, Levy remarks, a modern reader would find "simply numbing." In response to this perceived crisis, Americans were, for the first time, seriously discussing the establishment of a system of public education.

Seems that Twain had more of a "let boys be boys" attitude:

Twain was needling the attitudes behind this panic. Tom Sawyer is exactly the sort of boy who reads sensational adventure stories and makes them fodder for endless mischief. Twain himself hated school, found it boring, oppressive and claustrophobic...Twain especially despised the pious, moralistic children's literature of his time, and wrote parodies with titles like "The Story of the Bad Little Boy That Bore a Charmed Life" and "The Story of the Good Little Boy Who Did Not Prosper."

The Salon review these extracts are from is a hoot. After elaborating the book's thesis that Huckleberry Finn isn't primarily about race, the author takes up the rest of her review talking about race. I guess she has to, thought, because that's what progressives do.

Moron Recommendations

Ronald Reagan once famously said:

"If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth."

This quote comes to my mind frequently these days as I sit and watch Obama and the progressive left doing their level best to turn their denial of American exceptionalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If America goes, what's left?

In a word, Texas.

Texas is a wonderful place. I've never lived there, but I know that this is so. As our nation slowly sinks into barbarism and decay, I think that somehow Texas will survive the collapse, and it's one lone star will shine out like a beacon, telling the rest of the world no, we're not dead yet, we're still here, there is still hope.

And I take comfort in that.

That's why I'm pleased that moron commenter 'redc1c4' tipped me to the short novel Lone Star Planet by John Joseph McGuire and H. Beam Piper which you can get for FREE on Kindle and also on Gutenberg. First published in 1957, it has been described as "a comedic libertarian rant from the golden age of science fiction." In 1999, the novel won the Prometheus Award for Best Classic Libertarian SF Novel.

One Amazon reviewer says that it's a clear and obvious tribute to H.L. Mencken's classic essay "The Malevolent Jobholder" in which he proposed:

"...that it shall be no longer malum in se for a citizen to pummel, cowhide, kick, gouge, cut, wound, bruise, maim, burn, club, bastinado, flay, or even lynch a [government] jobholder, and that it shall be malum prohibitum only to the extent that the punishment exceeds the jobholder's deserts. The amount of this excess, if any, may be determined very conveniently by a petit jury, as other questions of guilt are now determined."

Just think about that: an entire planet full of Texans. What could be better than that?

___________

Any of you morons ever read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon? It was recommended to Muse Daughter who just started reading it a few days ago. The plot concerns two cousins who want to get into the comic book business. From the Amazon blurb:

Samuel Klayman--self-described little man, city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoves him aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, however unlikely, of a beautiful friendship. In short order, Sam's talent for pulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and a comic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in dark blue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to be known) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age.

Sounds like it might be fun.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as you all know, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:04 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Commies like free speech only until they gain power.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 18, 2015 09:00 AM (V70Uh)

2 Currently working on a redo of the WOT series on the Kindle. I will probably skip some of the ones in the middle where they bogged down.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:00 AM (wlDny)

3 I get to the end of the post and I find... no comments? Foolish me, I might've grabbed First if I had only given a dang.

Whatevereth.

Posted by: mindful webworker - coulda beena contender at January 18, 2015 09:01 AM (lmYrx)

4 Because You Can Never Have Too Many Books

That looks like my living room before I got my e-book reader.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:01 AM (wlDny)

5 "deny them social equality" is the same as social justice. It is the liberal's mantra for communism.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:03 AM (wlDny)

6 Vic,

Ever read anything by Edwin Bearss?

Posted by: 2L at January 18, 2015 09:05 AM (TaO1J)

7 It is only a matter of time before kilts become mandatory.

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at January 18, 2015 09:07 AM (NeFrd)

8 The USSR is alive and well because the enemies of Freedom will never give up and there never will be a shirtage of useful idiots.

Posted by: eman at January 18, 2015 09:08 AM (MQEz6)

9 I always thought of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as little autobiographies of Mark Twain and his life on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:08 AM (wlDny)

10 Regarding Twain, I think one of the big culture wars of his era was "Tom Sawyer versus Little Lord Fauntleroy". Imagine being stuffed into a little velvet suit with foppy lace collar and cuffs and encountering a pack of feral street urchins -- that would scar a lad.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 09:09 AM (KH1sk)

11 6 Ever read anything by Edwin Bearss?

Posted by: 2L at January 18, 2015 09:05 AM (TaO1J)

No never heard of him. What is his genre?

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:11 AM (wlDny)

12 I started Cornwell's Waterloo. So far so good. I'm not a military guy but it is well written and interesting for a person with no military experience or expertise. I am a descendent of a artillery driver sergeant who immigrated to Canada and spent his late teens and twenties in Spain and then Waterloo. He lived to retire and received a pension. He bred and trained horses for a living near Toronto. He was born in Islay.

Posted by: Lester at January 18, 2015 09:11 AM (2UPXV)

13 It all makes sense when you consider that the true and proper use of liberal "free speech" is the prevention of rational discourse!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:13 AM (ftVQq)

14 It all makes sense when you consider that the true and proper use of liberal "free speech" is the prevention of rational discourse!
Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:13 AM (ftVQq)
--
And the propagation of irrational intercourse!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 09:16 AM (KH1sk)

15 I read a good book about whale evolution last week. It is called "The Walking Whales" and is a pretty good summary of current knowledge and how such work is done, but the writer began the book with a chapter devoted to whining about the USA ruining his planned dig in Pakistan back in 1991. The liberation of Kuwait, which he called the invasion of Kuwait, was the US's fault, naughty, and worst of all ruined his scientific expedition.

Dick.

Posted by: eman at January 18, 2015 09:16 AM (MQEz6)

16 OK I have educated myself on Edwin Bearss. Sounds like an interesting guy.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:16 AM (wlDny)

17 I always thought of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as little autobiographies of Mark Twain and his life on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:08 AM (wlDny)

Same here. Many of the tales were very similar to those my father and uncles related to me about their childhood "exploits". In retrospect, it was surprising that they were still around to tell those tales. Now kids can't walk to the park without the nanny state asking the parents for "Your papers please!"

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:17 AM (ftVQq)

18 Vic-

He's an American Civil War historian and retired Marine; he discovered the USS Cairo and ended up the chief historian of the National Parks Service. He appeared in Ken Burns' The Civil War as well.

Posted by: Mahan at January 18, 2015 09:18 AM (8BD8r)

19 And the propagation of irrational intercourse!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 09:16 AM (KH1sk)

But of course! "One hand washes the other!"

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:19 AM (ftVQq)

20 17 I always thought of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as little autobiographies of Mark Twain and his life on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:08 AM (wlDny)

Same here. Many of the tales were very similar to those my father and uncles related to me about their childhood "exploits". In retrospect, it was surprising that they were still around to tell those tales. Now kids can't walk to the park without the nanny state asking the parents for "Your papers please!"
Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:17 AM (ftVQq)

Like many books those two were many things at once.

Posted by: eman at January 18, 2015 09:19 AM (MQEz6)

21

Nothing new in my reading world.

Kindle is recharging this morning, which saddened me, because I wanted to read for a couple hours (when I do most of my reading, early in the morning before the hustle and bustle).

We did watch Foxcatcher last night, based on the book:

Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold

I was disappointed to read this morning that most of the movie was made up, and Mark Schultz was/is furious. The movie is based on his book, and too much was changed, eliminated completely and embellished.

The casting, though, was perfect. This shows a side by side of each main character to the real person.

Steve Carrel was amazing. You did not know it was him if you did not know in advance, or check.

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/foxcatcher/

Very creepy story.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 18, 2015 09:19 AM (IXrOn)

22 BTW, you can download both Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer from Gutenberg for free. They are one of Gutenberg's most popular downloads.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:19 AM (wlDny)

23 I would say not just Texas, but all of the South, except FL, which is NYC South. Southerns are good at protecting their freedoms.

We're the only people that died trying to. We will never forget.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 09:20 AM (0FSuD)

24 I've been on a big Twain jag the last few years. I'm a little bit appalled at how I didn't get Huck Finn in high school, but everyone is an idiot at high school age.

Yes Huck Finn is very much about anti-racism. It's also very much anti-aristocracy, anti-received wisdom, a basic skewering of society as we know it.

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court he breaks the fourth wall and basically says "this is how you should run a government.

Twain in modern jargon is a libertarian.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 18, 2015 09:20 AM (1xUj/)

25 Cavalier and Klay is a very fun read. Takes some unusual turns.

Posted by: Lincolntf at January 18, 2015 09:21 AM (2cS/G)

26 TEst

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 09:21 AM (0FSuD)

27

Off to read some cookbooks. I have to find a new soup to make for the week.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 18, 2015 09:22 AM (IXrOn)

28 I just finished "Sniper's Honor" the latest Bob the Nailer story and thought it was pretty good. A little different than the usual Bob, and a wee bit implausible here and there, but in the end I enjoyed it. I thought there were some negative comments here a few weeks back but decided to read it anyhoo!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:22 AM (ftVQq)

29 Ever read anything by Edwin Bearss?

-
I've never read him but he is a frequent commenter on Civil War documentaries. I've seen him many times.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 09:23 AM (LImiJ)

30 20
17 I always thought of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as little autobiographies of Mark Twain and his life on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:08 AM (wlDny)

Same here. I blame the local TV news. If you dropped down from outer space and watched, If it bleeds it leads TV, you would think people are killing each other right and left.

The truth is there is very little crime outside LIV havens.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 09:24 AM (0FSuD)

31 I have never seen books arranged in a shelf on the side of stairs like that. Kinda neat.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:24 AM (wlDny)

32 Yes Huck Finn is very much about anti-racism. It's
also very much anti-aristocracy, anti-received wisdom, a basic skewering
of society as we know it.

...

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 18, 2015 09:20 AM (1xUj/)
My take on Huck as well. And to continue a theme from above. I believe the book has been "banned" in most schools for being racist!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:25 AM (ftVQq)

33 Not all of Florida is infected.

Posted by: Sal Hepatica at January 18, 2015 09:25 AM (3g/a8)

34 I have resisted Kavalier and Clay because it was selected as "Rahm Emmanuel's One Book, One Chicago." So, yuck.

But I guess that's not Michael Chabon' s fault. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Posted by: Dollar Store Sock at January 18, 2015 09:27 AM (c+gwp)

35 Just finished "Moriarty" by Anthony Horowitz. This is the second Horowitz book authorized by the Sherlock Holmes estate, following "House of Silk."

I loved both books, even though I'm not a huge Holmes fan. Horowitz applies the same attention to period detail that he employed in his TV series "Foyle's War." A number of minor Conan Doyle characters appear.

I guarantee that you will be surprised by the ending. It is also a setup for follow-on books.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 09:28 AM (Ndsuj)

36 32 My take on Huck as well. And to continue a theme
from above. I believe the book has been "banned" in most schools for
being racist!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:25 AM (ftVQq)

It is not banned, just no longer maintained on school library shelves and probably no longer used in the American Literature classes. They probably use some boring crap like Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness like had my senior year.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:28 AM (wlDny)

37
I think of Texas the way an American or French Jew thinks of Israel. It's not my home. I've not spent any real time there.

But it's comforting to know it's there if I ever need it to be.

Posted by: Secular Texan at January 18, 2015 09:29 AM (4HYng)

38 Audioboks again this week. Got halfway through Disc 1 of "The Pursuit of Happyness", but couldn't get past the whining tone, I'll watch the movie some day. Not much left on the shelves, so I ended up with Martin Short's Autobiography and a Walter Moseley novel "Little Green". So far the Short autobio isn't bad, stories about meeting/hanging out with John Candy, Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, etc.

Posted by: Lincolntf at January 18, 2015 09:30 AM (2cS/G)

39 Unfortunately, this native Texan fears the upcoming Supreme Court nonsense on homo marriage will set us back a bit. Here in Texas, too. Problematic.

Posted by: Nikkolai at January 18, 2015 09:32 AM (aEfC9)

40 The Tom Sawyer book reminds me of Song of the South. Which I need to watch again. It's a fun story, just like Huck and Tom.

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 09:34 AM (JVEJq)

41 They probably use some boring crap like Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness like had my senior year.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:28 AM (wlDny)

Conrad can be a tough slog sometimes. His shorter stuff is better I think. But I'm surprised you didn't like Heart of Darkness.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 18, 2015 09:34 AM (Zu3d9)

42 I believe the book has been "banned" in most schools for being racist

Yes. It's been banned by idiots because of the word "n*gger". One misconception is that Jim is called N*gger Jim. That never happens in the novel. Some critic in the early 20th century called him that.

The moral hinge of Huck Finn is the moment Huck decides he will go to hell (which is a real thing he believes in) rather than betray his friend Jim.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at January 18, 2015 09:35 AM (1xUj/)

43 The main character is not the anti-establishment prankster as the crappy movie version would have it

In fairness, the crappy movie did have Raquel Welch with a whip. So there's that.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/hollywoodplace/5185507330/

John Cleese and Graham Chapman were in it. I did not know that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Christian_(film)#Cast

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 09:36 AM (sdi6R)

44 40
The Tom Sawyer book reminds me of Song of the South. Which I need to watch again. It's a fun story, just like Huck and Tom.

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 09:34 AM (JVEJq)

I have a copy of that movie now that Disney finally released it and essentially told the race-baiters to move on. I had a copy on video disk that I had to order from Japan because for a long time they would not release it in the US. I had to unplug one of the channels on my stereo to hear the English only version.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:36 AM (wlDny)

45 Let me botch and moan pointlessly about something that chaps my ass. That is, the description of Catch 22 as an anti-war novel. Heller, a Jew, could hardly have felt the war against Hitler wasn't worth it. He told Stephen Ambrose that during his WWII career as a bombarded (like Yossarian) he never met a bad officer. So if it's not anti-war, what is it? I think it is anti-bureaucratic. I think it is ridiculing the over regulation of government. Heller may have never met a bad officer but how about a bad petty bureaucrat?

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 09:36 AM (LImiJ)

46
an entire planet full of Texans. What could be better than that?

This:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas-Israeli_War:_1999

An early Howard Waldrop novel from when he was just starting out as a writer. And you have to love the cover of the first edition:

http://tinyurl.com/nsk4y4m

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 18, 2015 09:38 AM (kdS6q)

47 41 Conrad can be a tough slog sometimes. His shorter stuff is better I think. But I'm surprised you didn't like Heart of Darkness.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 18, 2015 09:34 AM (Zu3d9)

I hated it, it went far beyond "didn't like". I got an "F" on my report because I expressed those feelings and it pissed off the English teacher who worshiped it.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:38 AM (wlDny)

48 Borrowed Matthew Dunn's "Dark Spies" based on a guest review on Blackfive. I noticed that the blurbs on the back are the A-list sort that you just can't buy. UK Telegraph: "... a more muscular creation than Smiley, or even Bond... 007 is a cocktail-sipping lush compared with [principal character] Cochrane."

Only through the first three chapters, but I'm impressed. This is Dunn's fifth book and I suspect that I'll be hitting up my library for his earlier stuff.

Author is an SIS (MI6) veteran. So far, no evidence that he is a Le Carre-style lefty.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 09:38 AM (Ndsuj)

49 About halfway through Time to Be in Earnest, an autobiography of P.D. James. My wife read it and gave it to me. P.D. James seems to be a deep, complex, delightful person.

Posted by: Skookumchuk at January 18, 2015 09:38 AM (9tzvc)

50 Apropos of William S. Burroughs: A couple of weeks ago, I found a copy of Naked Lunch at the local free book exchange (a subsidiary of the town dump). Started to read, and my eyes began to cross somewhere around Page Four. Skimmed the rest. Returned the book. It was, to be polite, unreadable crap.

When I was in high school, I bought the line about people like Burroughs, Kerouack, Salinger, et. al. being the Gods of Modern Literature. Later, I was a big fan of Hunter Thompson for a week or two.

Of all the writers who messed with my head when I was a yoot, the only one who remains a favorite to this day is Terry Southern. No pretense, just clean writing and a wicked sense of humor.

If Burroughs were alive today -- and not in a dark room somewhere in a drug-induced haze -- he would have been one of the Boston roadblockers.

Posted by: MrScribbler at January 18, 2015 09:38 AM (yAC3X)

51 Vic- Didn't know Disney had released it again. May have to look. I bought a European VHS of it years ago for Dad and we had it converted to American VHS. Quite pricey, but we didn't know if we would ever see it again.

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 09:40 AM (JVEJq)

52 Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:36 AM (wlDny)

Where did you get a copy? Amazon does not seem to have it available.

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:41 AM (ftVQq)

53 So the progressives - like Burroughs & Kerouac - have made the Empire America into a craptastic failure, destroyed institutions that made us great, and have refused to uphold & transmit decent American values to the next generation, or to immigrants.

But somehow that's all the fault of Rush Limbaugh & Sean Hannity for pointing it out.

Idiots.

Posted by: Boots at January 18, 2015 09:41 AM (l9mF2)

54 007 is a cocktail-sipping lush compared with [principal character] Cochrane."
------
If you've spent time on an ONT I think you know that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 09:42 AM (KH1sk)

55
re: Terry Southern

Read thru all his books in college, there's only half a dozen of them, and probably liked Blue Movie the best. Novel about a porn movie made with real SAG card type actors.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 18, 2015 09:44 AM (kdS6q)

56 Didn't know Disney had released it again. May have
to look. I bought a European VHS of it years ago for Dad and we had it
converted to American VHS. Quite pricey, but we didn't know if we would
ever see it again.

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 09:40 AM (JVEJq)

They had released it and I bought three copies of it because I know how Disney does. My aunt wanted a copy and I got a copy for someone else who I have forgotten.

And no, it is no longer available at Amazon. As part of their policy of keeping all things Disney overpriced they have pulled it back and you can no longer get it.

Someday down the road they will release it again for $25 to $30.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:44 AM (wlDny)

57 1/2 way through the second book in the 'Clovenhoof' series by Goody/Grant... Hilarious, erudite and naughty, this is a winning set of books! Light reading, perfect for snickering over in fancy restaurants, first class seats, and anywhere else your obvious glee will annoy annoying people.

Satan is ejected from hell in a coup and ends up sans powers in a suburb of Manchester. He has a glamour that makes him look like the Dos Equis Guy the morning after, and absolutely no clue how to manage among mortals...

Hilarity ensues!

Posted by: OG Celtic-American at January 18, 2015 09:45 AM (SFpiC)

58 Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 09:42 AM (KH1sk)

Well played! I was trying to craft such a response, but you are much faster, drat it!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:45 AM (ftVQq)

59 52 Where did you get a copy? Amazon does not seem to have it available.

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:41 AM (ftVQq)

It is no longer available. They have pulled it again. See above.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:46 AM (wlDny)

60 Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 09:46 AM (wlDny)

Should have known, thanks!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:47 AM (ftVQq)

61
And a review of The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 and the map from inside the book:

http://tinyurl.com/prcou6a

http://tinyurl.com/mqhcshc

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 18, 2015 09:48 AM (kdS6q)

62 Don't know if there is any interest in amateur radio books, but FWIW: there are two recommended sources for study guides for amateur radio exams -- ARRL and Gordon West. Both are highly regarded and get good reviews.

I used the ARRL book to study for my Technician (entry-level) license. Passed test without difficulty. Probably better used with a class, but I didn't take a class. Lots of material, much of which isn't directly related to the exam, but might be helpful later.

I used the Gordon West book for the Amateur Extra (highest level) test and passed without difficulty. Also did not take a class. I highly recommend West's books over the ARRL books. West reorders topics more logically than ARRL and eliminates any extraneous material. The goal is to teach the material needed to pass the test and he does a brilliant job.

So, unless you are taking a class where the instructor uses ARRL as the class text (many do), I'd recommend using West's books.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 09:48 AM (Ndsuj)

63 Currently reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and kicking myself for not reading him sooner. Cool WWII crypto stuff, *funny* math stuff (you may have to trust me on that part) and, best of all, gleeful mocking of the usual progressive tropes. If he isn't a Moron he should be. Really good writing too -- with the possible exception of the sex scenes which feel a bit perfunctory, like he was told by the publisher to "sex it up" and he did the minimum possible to make them go away.

It is a wonderful thing to discover a new writer you like, and I intend to roll around in it with glee.

And on the ebook subscription front, the real news is legacy publishers like MacMillan made the disturbing realization they are making more money on backlist than on the new-shiny-pushed books now. Meaning stupid readers would rather read old books than the new ones, and also pushing the subscription model where the backlist *is*. (they don't put the new-shiny books in the services). We aren't out of the Wild Times for ebooks yet...

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 18, 2015 09:50 AM (2buaQ)

64 Speaking of spy novels, would recommend the 'Ratcatcher' series by Tim Stevens. VERY much a paen to 'Adam Hall's' Quiller venerable series. The second one is meh but he is back on track after that with excellent action prose and good plotting.

Posted by: OG Celtic-American at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (SFpiC)

65 I thought having James Taylor play in Paris was diplomatic satire of the rarest form.

Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (TETYm)

66 "Children of Men" by P.D. James is excellent.

Whoreywood, of course, effed up the movie.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (V70Uh)

67 @63 You'll probably love "Reamde".

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (Ndsuj)

68 What a really good book thread. Very enjoyable and informative reading, with just the right quantity of links to follow and not get lost. Thanks.

Posted by: goon at January 18, 2015 09:53 AM (gNTQS)

69 ...probably liked Blue Movie the best. Novel about a porn movie made with real SAG card type actors. Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at January 18, 2015 09:44 AM

Absolutely!

A very underrated book. Of course given the subject matter and some of the dialogue between characters, I suppose it couldn't have gained wide acceptance.

Still, there are lines in Blue Movie that could only have come out of the mouths of Morons!

I need to get another copy.

Posted by: MrScribbler at January 18, 2015 09:53 AM (yAC3X)

70 Reading currently:

The Norman Conquest- Marc Morris
Island of The Lost- Joan Druett
The Wehrmacht in Russia- Bob Carruthers
Women Heroes of WWII- Kathryn J. Atwood
Gods of Mars- ERB
The Bourbon Kings of France-Desmond Seward
A Mind Awake: An Anthology of CS Lewis-CS Lewis

College created a habit of reading multiple books at once.

Read recently:

Cor Rotto-About Catherine Knollys who most think was Mary Boleyn and Henry VIII daughter

All 4 Marc Cameron Jericho Quinn books. Which are totally scary considering what is going on today.

Princess of Mars

Flames in the Field- About 4 SOE women who were killed due to their work in France. Very interesting book. Shows the cost of governmental jealousies. At least I think the deaths were partly due to MI5 hating on the SOE and you can add in the need to distract the Germans due to landing in Normandy.

Spain from 1850-1965. Clusterfarking insanity way to govern. Which leads to what Spain is today. Clusterfarked.

On the free speech topic in conjunction with what all I have been reading; I cannot help but wonder what type of government will Americans scream for after the Progs cause our collapse? In the history book about Spain, when the kings were tossed out, the public always clamored for a government which would never give them true freedom. Duh right! Then after the French Revolution, in the Bourbons book, there was a time when the French thought about putting a king back on the throne. It seems to me when Progs totally destroy a nation, the public has a hard time not going from the frying pan back into the fire. So when SMOD hits, what will govern us afterwards? Will we beg for another SMOD? If history is doomed to repeat itself because the public never learns, are we perpetually screwed? Cause it is not like we have some well read skulls full of mush out there who know who Benjamin Rush was or anything. Sarc.

WE LOVE BOOK THREADS!!!!!!

Posted by: freeus at January 18, 2015 09:54 AM (caDgg)

71 If you can find Michael Crighton's early stuff (written as John Lange) at the library, they are good light reads.

Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 09:55 AM (TETYm)

72 Just finished reading The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach, recd by a goodreads group. It's a German sf novel that won some awards several years ago; the translation I borrowed has a foreword by Orson Scott Card.
It's about a weird horror-mystery feeling sf, engrossing. My complaint is that the novel structure doesn't allow for a man character.

Posted by: @votermom at January 18, 2015 09:56 AM (cbfNE)

73 Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 18, 2015 09:50 AM (2buaQ)

Surprised you hadn't tried him before. I loaned my copy of Cryptonomicon to a friend and he wouldn't give it back (but he did order a new replacement copy for me).

You'd probably like Reamde as well. I'd skip Anathem but that's just me. So far I have read almost everything he's written and enjoyed almost all of that.

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:57 AM (ftVQq)

74 65 I thought having James Taylor play in Paris was diplomatic satire of the rarest form.
Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (TETYm)

Yes, that's it. I'm going with satire.

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 09:58 AM (sdi6R)

75 So, unless you are taking a class where the instructor uses ARRL as the class text (many do), I'd recommend using West's books.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've held my Advanced ticket for many years, and have always wanted to move up to Extra. So I should get off my lazy butt...

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 09:59 AM (4rNus)

76 I'm re-reading old fantasy novels, so I can give them to my kids. The doubles are great - on author from the front, the other from the back.

Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 10:00 AM (TETYm)

77 Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 09:52 AM (TETYm)

You are too kind!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:00 AM (ftVQq)

78 OregonMuse, that was an excellent post. I wish there was some way to get progressives to read it. Might knock some sense into them.

I can dream, anyway.

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 10:03 AM (sdi6R)

79 Thanks, rickl.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 10:03 AM (4rNus)

80 Mojo and the pickle jar.

Very fun book for teens. It's a chase crime story that turns into a horror story but it's a religious themed horror so it is not gross or slasher but scary. It also effectively delivers and anti drug message in the sub text. Not preachy just effective. Good characters and very visual in description. Could easily be a movie.

Posted by: simplemind at January 18, 2015 10:04 AM (hTeQK)

81 Amazon is not the only store in town. Here is a place ith SOTS for $20 on DVD.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:06 AM (wlDny)

82 Oops left out the link

http://reddogvideo.net/song-of-the-south-dvd-bobby-driscoll-james-baskett.html

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:06 AM (wlDny)

83 On the multiple book front, I am currently reading

Bangkok 8 ~ Burdett
Dark of the Moon ~ Sandford
Warbound ~ Correia
Jet (Pre-quel) ~ Blake

Currently trying to get started reading

LOTR ~ Tolkien (actually re-reading)
KJV ~ you know who
Tishomingo Blues ~ Leonard

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:10 AM (ftVQq)

84 Freeus, that is a great reading list! I recently reread the entire Barsoomiad myself (for some, the first since early adolescence) and was pleasantly surprised at how well they've held up. I also have a handful of books I'm reading at any given time, and right now it's:

Illuminatus, by Wilson and Shea (work)
Armor, by John Steakley (purse)
Dorothy Must Die, by Danielle Paige (bedside)
Signals: the Science of Telecommunications, by Pierce and Noll (living room)

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 10:10 AM (KH1sk)

85 Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 09:57 AM (ftVQq)
Surprised you hadn't tried him before.

Me too, and I'm trying to remember why. I think it was because people mentioning Stephenson tended to say "dense" and "complex" which for me is code for "literary and boring". And he's not literary per se, thank Ghu. I don't recall the last time I was laughing so hard reading SF. He really nails the academic mathematician, bless their hearts. I *know* people like that, and they really could go through the attack on Pearl Harbor thinking about harmonics.

Some of his neologisms, like "nerd-de-camp", I'm still giggling about. I will put Reamde on my list.

And to conclude, Yay Book Thread!

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at January 18, 2015 10:12 AM (2buaQ)

86 76 I'm re-reading old fantasy novels, so I can give them to my kids.

I've already given all three daughters a complete set of the Heinlein juveniles for their kids. Tracking down some Asimov and Clarke for when they get a smidge older.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at January 18, 2015 10:12 AM (/A5gb)

87 I linked this yesterday, and also in today's morning thread.

I re-read Ayn Rand's essay, "The Comprachicos" the other night.

https://tinyurl.com/qb338yz

I am convinced that this is one of her most important works, equalling if not exceeding "Atlas Shrugged". It's about the educational system, and it's only 28 pages. She wrote it in 1970, and the situation has only worsened since then.

It's really pretty terrifying. It's as if the whole purpose of "education" is to stunt the development of reason in children. It's one of those "if they were deliberately trying to do that, what would they do differently?" things.

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 10:13 AM (sdi6R)

88 I think it is ridiculing the over regulation of government. Heller may have never met a bad officer but how about a bad petty bureaucrat?

Posted by: The Great White Snark
Sir you have hit the nail on a head I hate to say I never saw, and has bothered me for almost 40 years as well. Thanks for clearing that up.

Posted by: Skip at January 18, 2015 10:14 AM (yl8GI)

89 Trudged through the canticle for Leibovitz, the giver and the professor and the madman. Started pride and prejudice and bridge of San luis Rey.

Posted by: NCKate at January 18, 2015 10:17 AM (EBMYe)

90 Should people consider the potential negative reaction of others in exercising free speech? Are the media outlets cowards for not publishing the cartoon? Would you consider the hostages cowards for not speaking up and saying they liked the cartoons or that Islamic Terrorism is wrong while in the situation? Are they allowed to consider the irrational violent response of the listener? Is it less ok to speak up when it endangers others as well as, or instead of, oneself? Or should this be the one area of life where exercising judgment and restraint is a bad thing? Just asking.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:17 AM (TIgJq)

91 William S. Burroughs was a heroin addict who accidentally shot and killed his wife.

I always thought he was the guy who wrote Tarzan; then I discovered everyone was talking about a rather different Burroughs.

Oh, and I got a failing mark on my 'Heart of Darkness' essay in university, too. I told my professor I'd rather write 3 essays on Shakespeare sonnets than one on Conrad, but he wouldn't let me.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at January 18, 2015 10:17 AM (VBbCO)

92 @75 Go for it. I can't imagine it would be very difficult for an Advanced. I had gotten both Technician and General two months before. I did work hard at the Extra, but had not been using my electronics skills for many years.

Beware question E7G13 -- many study guides and question pools have incorrect versions. I reported the problem to Dan Romanchik KB6NU and he passed it to the NCVEC QC people. They removed their incorrect .txt pool file and left the correct .doc file up. Whatever study materials you use, the correct answer is the current NCVEC .doc file answer.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 10:18 AM (Ndsuj)

93 I've already given all three daughters a complete set of the Heinlein juveniles for their kids. Tracking down some Asimov and Clarke for when they get a smidge older.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at January 18, 2015 10:12 AM (/A5gb)
-----
Starman Jones is a great plan for getting where you want to go and navigating (ha!) officer politics. Tunnel in the Sky is like a primer on setting up government. The complete set would be a great foundation for anyone, not just kids.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 10:19 AM (KH1sk)

94 Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:06 AM (wlDny)

I'll let you know how this worked. Thanks!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:19 AM (ftVQq)

95 Sitting here eating a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup while trying to read these posts. Not a good idea. Dumped half the soup in my lap when it slid across the platter.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:20 AM (wlDny)

96 94 I'll let you know how this worked. Thanks!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:19 AM (ftVQq)

Did you order from that Red Dog site?

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:21 AM (wlDny)

97 Song of the South, 14.95 at Classic Movies Etc.

http://tinyurl.com/pz7dqgt

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 18, 2015 10:21 AM (CT0aZ)

98 Loved Song of the South when growing up in Louisiana, thought everyone read tales by Uncle Remus. More forbidden literature.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 18, 2015 10:24 AM (cmBvC)

99 97
Song of the South, 14.95 at Classic Movies Etc.

http://tinyurl.com/pz7dqgt

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 18, 2015 10:21 AM (CT0aZ)

Hah, $20 at that Red Dog site. I think $15 was cheaper than what I paid for them from Amazon.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:25 AM (wlDny)

100 Amazon is very PC. I am sure that is why SOTS is not listed. You can also buy Amos and Andy, complete set.

I don't know why people got upset about that show, it was just a bad sit com. I had forgotten how bad till I tried to watch a few episodes.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:26 AM (0FSuD)

101 98 More forbidden literature.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 18, 2015 10:24 AM (cmBvC)

Now those pretty much have been banned. I doubt if you can even find them at the public libraries.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:26 AM (wlDny)

102 100 I don't know why people got upset about that show,
it was just a bad sit com. I had forgotten how bad till I tried to watch
a few episodes.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:26 AM (0FSuD)

I liked Amos and Andy on TV.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:27 AM (wlDny)

103 Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:17 AM (TIgJq)

The end result of ever having been alive is always eventually being dead. You can get to the end result standing up, sitting down a la Hebdo, or on your knees.

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:27 AM (ftVQq)

104 Which is sort of weird-- the stories were African/American in origin and just compiled by Chandler (more or less).

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 18, 2015 10:28 AM (cmBvC)

105 Did you order from that Red Dog site?

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:21 AM (wlDny)

Yes, I should have known to wait until the crowd wisdom of the Horde came up with a cheaper site!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:29 AM (ftVQq)

106 I liked Amos and Andy on TV.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:27 AM (wlDny)

It was OK, Little Rascals were funnier, of course, they were made as movie shorts, not sit coms.

I am surprised someone hasn't done a new version of Amos and Andy.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:29 AM (0FSuD)

107 I am surprised someone hasn't done a new version of Amos and Andy.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:29 AM (0FSuD)

I am not at all surprised!
Wouldn't be prudent!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:30 AM (ftVQq)

108 OregonMuse, that was an excellent post. I wish there was some way to get progressives to read it. Might knock some sense into them.

I can dream, anyway.
Posted by: rickl

No, Rick. They are pretty impervious to introspection. Every 'sin' they use to disparage 'conservatives' is actually a projection of their own inner life.
"Tolerance" means tolerate my viewpoint and your view is wrong.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....in the bleak midwinter at January 18, 2015 10:31 AM (+1T7c)

109 Oh how I wish I could figure out Pixy's formatting rules (if there are any)!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:31 AM (ftVQq)

110 Still plowing through Appetite for America - the story of how Fred Harvey's hospitality empire brought good food, excellent service provided by very well-paid waitresses, and luxury hotels to the Southwest. A very interesting read, and rather daring, focusing on how he built a business over decades, and how his son carried on.
This came about because ... after reading a post about the Harvey girls, I had an idea for another Western adventure, and so ... off on another book, this one set in the 1880s. Not certain how the plot will turn, but it involves a proper young Bostonian girl fleeing an abusive family situation and going west ... professional gambler Lottie Deno and the cowboy Pinkerton detective Charlie Siringo will be involved. Maybe the great Galveston Hurricane, too. If I can work it in.

Oh, yes - Texas is a marvelous place ... but very, very hot in the summer. Awfully hot, and the state legislature only meets every two years for a limited term, which minimizes the mischief it can do.

Posted by: Sgt Mom at January 18, 2015 10:32 AM (95iDF)

111 YAY BOOK THREAD!

Not much progress on anything except textbooks and work projects, unfortunately (although my current project is interesting if you happen to be a patristics nerd). But FenelonSpoke, at least, might enjoy one of the textbooks I'm teaching from this semester: Christianity and Literature by David Lyle Jeffrey and Gregory Maillet. Full disclosure: DLJ was one of my mentors at Baylor, so I'm somewhat inclined to like his work anyway; but the department had chosen this textbook long before I was hired. It is enjoyable, though, as is DLJ's People of the Book.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 18, 2015 10:33 AM (iuQS7)

112 I am not at all surprised!
Wouldn't be prudent!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:30 AM (ftVQq)

It could be done by a Black producer. Half the stupid shows on now are more racist than A A ever was.
Make Andy ghey, he wasn't married and he could come out of the closet.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (0FSuD)

113 "Tolerance" means tolerate my viewpoint and your view is wrong.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....in the bleak midwinter at January 18, 2015 10:31 AM (+1T7c)
'All the "reasonable credentialed" people I know agree with me that you are 100% wrong (and probably stupid)!'

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (ftVQq)

114 I wrote books. The only books you'll ever need to read. They will be available/mandatory at my Presidential Library. You're welcome. Back to work serfs.

Posted by: King Queen Barry at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (5voqw)

115 Lots of (cough)bittorrent(cough) links to Song of the South

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (4rNus)

116 No wait, that would be Amos, Andy was married and drove the cab.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (0FSuD)

117 100 I don't know why people got upset about that show,
it was just a bad sit com. I had forgotten how bad till I tried to watch
a few episodes.

Because the original radio show was voiced by two old white guys.

So, racism.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 10:36 AM (4rNus)

118 It could be done by a Black producer. Half the stupid shows on now are more racist than A A ever was.
Make Andy ghey, he wasn't married and he could come out of the closet.

Posted by: Nip Sip at January 18, 2015 10:34 AM (0FSuD)

I do believe that you broke the code. My recollection of the show was that it was quite gentle humor that cut across racial lines and presented humanity in a comic light.

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 10:36 AM (ftVQq)

119 I just checked. Our local library does have the stories compiled by Joel Chandler Harris from which Song of the South was made. I am surprised.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:36 AM (wlDny)

120 Not reading much myself lately. I have however gotten down to regular focused writing on my latest project- a small scale historical novel following three brothers as their paths diverge and cross in WWII, particularly in the Italy campaign in 1943-44, as a tribute to my Dad and his generation. The story arc is shaping up nicely and several chapters have been written. The tone is partly humorous as brothers can be even in the darkest of times, partly along the lines of the Guy Clark song The Randall Knife ("when he went off to World War 2 to save us all from ruin").

P.S.- anybody know a good publisher that might be interested in a project like this?

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at January 18, 2015 10:41 AM (NeFrd)

121 To the comments: Mark me down as another who hated Heart of Darkness and loved Huck Finn. I'm an unabashed Twainiac anyway, but when we read Huck Finn in HS, I got to the point where I just couldn't stick to the reading schedule and read the rest of the book in one go.
As for the stories that have been banned for ridiculous reasons, I know of one that's been un-banned: "Epaminondas," which is basically the South Carolina version of "Foolish Hans" and other stories like that. Someone in the Charleston area got the bright idea of declaring it worth preserving as an example of the Gullah dialect, so you can still find it in print if you look in the right bookstores in Charleston!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 18, 2015 10:42 AM (iuQS7)

122 @119 "I just checked. Our local library does have the stories compiled by Joel Chandler Harris from which Song of the South was made. I am surprised."

Me, too. When I searched my library for Harris, I also got:

"Brer Rabbit & the wonderful tar baby [dvd videorecording]"

I thought that stuff would have been burned by now.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 10:43 AM (Ndsuj)

123 103 Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:17 AM (TIgJq)

The end result of ever having been alive is always eventually being dead. You can get to the end result standing up, sitting down a la Hebdo, or on your knees.

Posted by: Hrothgar

Does is matter if you're helping other people to get dead sooner? And just because one doesn't say every thought that comes into their head they are on their knees. Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:44 AM (TIgJq)

124 There has been a resurgence of interest in Chandler compilation as a reflection of African stories carried through generations.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at January 18, 2015 10:47 AM (cmBvC)

125 Oprah and Whoopi should do a female version of Amos and Andy. Hilarious! Then the Odd Couple. More hilarious!

Posted by: Meathead Reiner at January 18, 2015 10:47 AM (5voqw)

126 >>Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

Yes, my choice though and as long silence is not coerced in any manner. But I don't think that is what you mean.

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 10:49 AM (3rrMW)

127 I'm a fan of Conrad, read many of his books years ago and plan to read at least Secret Agent this year. He always sent me scrambling for a dictionary at least once per page, now you can just highlight the word on a Kindle.

Listened to Honor Among Enemies, #6 in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. Still enjoying them, haven't noticed a drop off in quality yet. This one involves space pirates and problems among the crew.

Read Pines, first book in the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch. The writing was very good and the scifi story was similar to an episode of The Outer Limits. It has lots of action, good dialogue and I finished it in a day. The series can be borrowed with Amazon Prime so book 2 will probably wait til February. I read Fox is developing a show on it.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 18, 2015 10:50 AM (J9Osj)

128 127 Listened to Honor Among Enemies, #6 in the Honor Harrington
series by David Weber. Still enjoying them, haven't noticed a drop off
in quality yet. This one involves space pirates and problems among the
crew.
-----------------------------

I have ALL of those Honor Harrington books, as well as others by Weber. I have been reacquiring them for the Kindle now.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:54 AM (wlDny)

129 28 I just finished "Sniper's Honor" the latest Bob the Nailer story and thought it was pretty good. A little different than the usual Bob, and a wee bit implausible here and there, but in the end I enjoyed it. I thought there were some negative comments here a few weeks back but decided to read it anyhoo!

----
I really liked it, but then I'm a Bob addict. It was different In focusing on the Soviet and German troops, but I thought they were good characters.

Posted by: stace, in Texas at January 18, 2015 10:56 AM (g7gOM)

130 Re-reading the El Borak stories by Robert E Howard. Needed some more hair on my chest.

Posted by: Achilles at January 18, 2015 10:58 AM (TpeIH)

131 Sadly, Jackie O had a collection of books about her husband fucking everything that moved, that she mistakenly allowed the rest of the Kennedy Clan, kids included, to get into.

Hilarity ensued.

Posted by: Sharkman at January 18, 2015 10:59 AM (rXB/r)

132 I am in the middle of the audio book version of Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt. I have only read a few of his books, but I have found this one to be particularly good and the narrator is truly inspired. As someone who reads and writes from dawn to dusk, the audio books have been a wonderful addition to my life, a way to use lost time productively. As one of those people who hates being trapped in traffic, it has been a godsend. I mix historical fiction with history on my drives, 1945 is also a great read, the mess that was left after World War II. Bloodlands, about the carnage in Poland, Ukraine. Belarus and the Baltic between Stalin and Hitler, 1933-1945 is up next.

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 10:59 AM (OK8G5)

133 I have on my bookshelf W.S. Burroughs' "Exterminator!" and "My Education: A Book of Dreams", which I recall enjoying. Random drug testing indicates I may not have even been high at the time. I am, admittedly, a bit of a freak.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 10:59 AM (KH1sk)

134 You are all welcome on planet Texas as long as you remember one important thing. Cooking burgers outside on a grill is not a bbq.

Posted by: Lauren at January 18, 2015 11:01 AM (MYCIw)

135 Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:44 AM (TIgJq)

Why yes, yes it most certainly does on a personal level. But it also includes a prohibition against denying others the freedom to speak!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:02 AM (ftVQq)

136 re: William S. Burroughs

I don't disagree with anything you had to say about him, but I also think he was great in his small part in Drugstore Cowboy. Here's a clip with all his scenes, coming in at less than 6 minutes:
http://y2u.be/oKPcR3tADXc

And, perhaps even better, his posthumous work in The Sopranos:
http://y2u.be/ZzNB_Y9cXi4

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 18, 2015 11:02 AM (IN7k+)

137 "Free speech isn't really free if it attempts to endanger others' personal safety or deny them social equality."

Still remember when E.O. Wilson, one of the greatest biological scientists America has produced, had been jeered at Harvard by the campus left who were upset over the implications of certain of his theories.

They chanted repeatedly, "No free speech for racists!"

Now, leaving aside the rather dubious allegation of Wilson having cooked up his theories from a starting ground of racism, what is indubitable is that everything after the first three words is redundant.

If racists, genuine or imagined, do not have free speech, then no one else does either. Something which can be said of any group who say anything which anyone else finds offensive or inflammatory.

Posted by: torquewrench at January 18, 2015 11:03 AM (noWW6)

138
Mr. Scribbler, I went through my Beats phase as a yout', and found Naked Lunch to be deeply physically distrubing in parts, in the same way that unedited records of the Holocaust are deeply, physically disturbing.

Reading the various works, which I did in consonance with interviews and biographical material, led me to the conclusion that it was worthwhile to have read them (and in some cases even enjoyable at times), in the same way that I believe it's worthwhile to be exposed to unedited historical testament to the Holocaust.

That may be the problem with "literature" today: some of those who wrote some of that disturbing (and pointless, and self stroking, and often quite mad) stuff have succeeded in redefining those examples of thought and belief as correct, worhty of honor or imitation, of reverence, instead of simply as something that exists, and is perhaps worthy of knowing about if only to guard against its deification.

I don't regret having read Burroughs, Kerouac, Snyder, Ginsburg, Kesey (whose work I enjoy, and whose depiction by Wolfe I enjoy--Kesey wanted the masses to experience LSD...exactly under his control as he thought it should be. Yeah, uh, Ken, you blew it). I am also glad that I read about them--i.e. "society" did not kill Kerouac because it wasn't ready for him. his alcoholism did, and his alcoholism wasn't "society's" fault either.

How many who cite the Beats as greathave actually read them? Much as many who are theresponsible authoritiesfor jettisoning Twain, Dickens, etc from schooling have not read THEM. And what the kids get instead is an ever-changing roster of victim-of-the-month club formula "morality" plays that are nothing but the continuing pap of indoctrination and numbing down.

If any Conrad is "taught" locally, it is more likely watching Apocalypse Now in class for several days, passing through how great it was to protest VietNam just like Conrad would have done, and ending up with a shaky dovetail through Martin Sheen into Mitch Snyder's activism on homelessness.

Some of the stuff I read when my kids were in school was truly depressing, for its cheap and easy formula crap, and its indoctrinational value to the new system.

Posted by: barbarausa at January 18, 2015 11:03 AM (DyGWm)

139 I have ALL of those Honor Harrington books, as well as others by Weber. I have been reacquiring them for the Kindle now.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:54 AM (wlDny)

Darn it, I may have to pick this series up again. I read the first three and got bored and didn't like the story line in the third and quit. Maybe I quit too early?

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:04 AM (ftVQq)

140 Texas bbq -- I was properly trained on a visit to Austin.

Nothing wrong with KC, or NC, whatever, but sloooow-cooked beef brisket, sauce on the side, is sublime.

Posted by: doug at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (Ndsuj)

141 Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 10:59 AM (OK8G5)

I love Bernard Cornwell's stuff, especially the Saxon Tales and the Arthur trilogy, but I can't stand audiobooks. I've tried them and they drive me crazy, because I read faster than anyone can talk. So they seem like a waste of time to me, but I know that if you're spending time stuck in traffic, they're way better than road rage.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (ThxKk)

142 Liberals are very close to becoming book burners

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (nzKvP)

143 Liberals are very close to becoming book burners

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (nzKvP)

Interesting how the carbon footprint of a burning book is of no consequence!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:07 AM (ftVQq)

144 it is a truly glorious day here in Houston

The anti Islamaphobia convention in north Texas was greeted by several hundred Texan free speech supporters protesting with signs like "Don't Cut My Head Off Bro!"

Posted by: ThunderB, Hate Enthusiast at January 18, 2015 11:08 AM (zOTsN)

145 Finished listening to Moby Dick. The ending seemed rushed compared to the loving detail about whales and Meliville's opinions on *everything* earlier in the book. Now listening to Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Got a lot of reading done now that I finally figured out a system to read on my PC using the Kindle reader while spinning. I can generally judge the yarn by feel so don't have to look at it like I do knitting/crocheting. That means I just have to stop the wheel to change pages.

Read Abolition of Man, it's pretty short and generally good, but I'm not sure I entirely followed Lewis' argument. Will probably need to re-read at some point.

Steven Wright's New World (which was recommended here, maybe by Sabrina chase) and it's sequel Hair of the Bear. Enjoyed them. There are a couple of lines, such as the about the delightful fragrance of Absence Of Dragons, that I will remember for a while.

Nest of the Sparrowhawk by Baroness Orcyzy. More of a straight historical romance than her Scarlet Pimpernel series. Set in the time of Cromwell. Big "secret" I saw coming from a mile away, but that could be duetoit's *now* being a trope when it wasn't at the time of writing.

Now reading Memoirs of Phillip Sheridan so I can discuss it with Son. Sheridan seems like a good man and good officer who had , what I would consider, an inordinate faith in Government (his capitalization). I suspect that if the Abolitionists had seceded he would have fought them with equal fervor (which I suppose would make him morally consistent at least.

The Moon's Fire-Eating Daughter by John Meyers-Meyers. I really liked Silverlock but am finding this book to be exhausting somehow.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 18, 2015 11:08 AM (GDulk)

146 I am always curious about what works of historical fiction other readers have come to love. I began reading in earnest at an early age, not because anyone read to me, my parents were too busy to worry about that, but because there were hundreds of them at home. For me Ivanhoe was a life-changing experience, Sir Walter Scott helped to pique my curiosity and charted me on a lifelong interest in history, though my late dad recalled me reading Samuel Elliott Morrison's Two Ocean When I was seven. I love looking at the sea, paintings of the sea, admire sailors and grew up on my father's and his friends tales of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and Murmansk, but never liked the sea or rough ocean. Now, when I look back on all the sacrifices he and his generation made, the thousands, thousands of merchantmen sunk during the war and the fact that Europe and the Sceptered Isle are being handled over to an alien culture, it makes me sick.

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (OK8G5)

147 126 >>Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

Yes, my choice though and as long silence is not coerced in any manner. But I don't think that is what you mean.

Posted by: Aviator

Coerced in any manner, covers a lot of ground.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (TIgJq)

148 I know that if you're spending time stuck in traffic, they're way better than road rage.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (ThxKk)

Same here I'd rather read, but I found audiobooks during a commute or a long trip to be a nice way to break up an otherwise tedious experience and get some literature "read".

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (ftVQq)

149 139 Darn it, I may have to pick this series up again. I
read the first three and got bored and didn't like the story line in the
third and quit. Maybe I quit too early?

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:04 AM (ftVQq)

I have found that when reading a series with a lot of books in it you need to stop at 3 or 4, read something else, and then come back. You get bored if you try to read too many.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 11:10 AM (wlDny)

150 Coerced in any manner, covers a lot of ground.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (TIgJq)

Coerced "for your own good" just about covers it!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:11 AM (ftVQq)

151 Don't Cut My Head Off Bro!"

Haha awesome

Posted by: Lauren at January 18, 2015 11:11 AM (MYCIw)

152 Liberals are very close to becoming book burners
Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:05 AM (nzKvP)

Book burning as a concept horrifies me. To me, it's the destruction of a brain, of someone's thoughts, thoughts that you can never. get. back. All that knowledge, lost. Forever, in some cases. Why would you knowingly try to eradicate a mind? /rhetorical

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:11 AM (ThxKk)

153 Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 18, 2015 11:02 AM (IN7k+)
---
And let's not forget Burrough's singspiel on Laurie Anderson's "Sharkey's Night":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u2yA2Wrtvg

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 11:13 AM (KH1sk)

154 story about the Texas protestors at Gateway pundit. Robert Spencer was there

Posted by: ThunderB, Hate Enthusiast at January 18, 2015 11:13 AM (zOTsN)

155 135 Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 10:44 AM (TIgJq)

Why yes, yes it most certainly does on a personal level. But it also includes a prohibition against denying others the freedom to speak!

Posted by: Hrothgar

Agreed. Absolutely.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:15 AM (TIgJq)

156 the protest was organized by Pamela Geller whose website was attacked and has been down ever since

some day we are going to hear about how these on line attacks of conservative sites were orchestrated by our government

Posted by: ThunderB, Hate Enthusiast at January 18, 2015 11:15 AM (zOTsN)

157 Idiot. They've destroyed everything and now there's nothing left to destroy. This is your victory. This is the glorious triumph of progressivism. What's the matter, don't you like the taste?

What academia really needs is "Critical Critical Theory". Marxist thought is the default in the humanities and social sciences and it deserves its own treatment.

Terms like "false consciousness" roll off the tongue.

And the "bourgeoisie" can be replaced by the "bureaucrats". You can set up a whole new Marxist theory that the Marxists are trying to oppress the people (hell, the "workers").

Posted by: AmishDude at January 18, 2015 11:16 AM (b4b5c)

158 Another question for readers, has anyone else read the prophetic Suicide of the West by James Burnham. I came across a dog-eared copy after my brother died suddenly and found that he seemed to understand what modern liberalism would do. He also wrote a book on the managerial state, I guess the idea that the bureaucracy would eventually run us, not us run it, which is of course where we are. The state, the permanent workers have now consolidated power over the rest of us and that is what we see from the IRS non-scandal. They don't even veil it anymore, they own each and every one of us and if we raise a fuss they can tie us up in red tape or find something to lock us up for.

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:17 AM (OK8G5)

159 I just picked up the Texas Israeli War again. I read it in the 80s and wouldn't have picked it up again unless it had been mentioned here.

And it languishes on my To Be Read pile. *sigh*

Posted by: Kindltot at January 18, 2015 11:17 AM (t//F+)

160 Don't Cut My Head Off Bro!"

Heh. I would have also laughed at "Hands Up, Don't Cut Off My Head!"

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 11:17 AM (4rNus)

161 I love Bernard Cornwell's stuff, especially the
Saxon Tales and the Arthur trilogy Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:05

I just finished "The Empty Throne." I love Bernard Cornwell and will read anything he writes.

Posted by: huerfano at January 18, 2015 11:18 AM (bAGA/)

162 150 Coerced in any manner, covers a lot of ground.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (TIgJq)

Coerced "for your own good" just about covers it!

Posted by: Hrothgar

Not really. People might use discretion to protect others who may be threatened.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:19 AM (TIgJq)

163 I just finished "The Empty Throne." I love Bernard Cornwell and will read anything he writes.

Posted by: huerfano at January 18, 2015 11:18 AM (bAGA/)
That one's on my list. I sense a trip to the bookstore...

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:21 AM (ThxKk)

164 >>Coerced in any manner, covers a lot of ground.
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

And that, my friend, is the point.

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 11:22 AM (3rrMW)

165 I appear to be a lot less hopeful for Texas than the rest of you.

From where I sit, the tide of loony leftism and Big-Ass Gooberment is rising there, too. Nearly as fast as in the rest of the country.

Dallas and Houston are turning into seriously crazy liberal satrapies. Witness the moonbat mayor of Houston actually attempting to go after local church pastors over the content of their sermons.

San Antonio recently enacted a ridiculously aggressive gay rights law that even goes after the private practices of firms which contract or provide services to the city.

Moreover, as a Californian who grew up in Reagan Country, and watched it turn into Commiefornia, with a Democratic supermajority in the Sacramento legislature, I know certain trends favor such changes. Chief among which is uncontrolled immigration. It killed CA's conservativism for all practical purposes, and the same immigrant flood is occurring in TX.

It doesn't matter how staunch and rock-ribbed the conservatism of the locals is when they simply end up submerged in a leftist sea.

Posted by: torquewrench at January 18, 2015 11:22 AM (noWW6)

166 CBS reported a drive by shooting involving Joe Biden's location

Posted by: #BringBackOurHumVees at January 18, 2015 11:22 AM (e8kgV)

167 Book burning as a concept horrifies me. To me, it's the destruction of a brain, of someone's thoughts, thoughts that you can never. get. back. All that knowledge, lost. Forever, in some cases. Why would you knowingly try to eradicate a mind? /rhetorical
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:11 AM (ThxKk)

Ask muslims and liberals. They are the ones that love to ban thought

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:24 AM (nzKvP)

168 126 >>Does the freedom to speak not include the freedom not to speak?
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

Yes, my choice though and as long silence is not coerced in any manner. But I don't think that is what you mean.

Posted by: Aviator

What considerations would figure in making such choices?

BTW, this present discussion is an excellent example of being able have a conversation on a serious topic without someone getting nasty. I'm not sure you could find this on any other comment section. I'm not surprised. This is one of the reasons this is my favourite blog and the morons rock.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:24 AM (TIgJq)

169 Maybe Joe Biden shot off that shot gun of his off his balcony?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:24 AM (nzKvP)

170
So, what am I reading this week? Finally, in my seventh decade, I've taken up the King James Bible. I am told by Biblical scholars that the translations are flawed; but as an example of English prose, it is superb. Now I see why it has been read and treasured over the centuries.

Posted by: Brown Line at January 18, 2015 11:25 AM (a5bF3)

171 >>Not really. People might use discretion to protect others who may be threatened.
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

So it's OK that I should feel compelled to use my "discretion" and self censor my speech to protect my family from being killed by someone who might find my speech offensive?

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 11:25 AM (3rrMW)

172 Liberal comedians are upset because once the conservatives go away - what is left is Muslims... and they will kill you.

The comedians will sorely miss making fun of conservatives as they get their heads chopped off.

Posted by: reality man at January 18, 2015 11:25 AM (Cs9Ps)

173 The left has never been for free speech. The 1st Amendment was only a convenient device, is only convenient until they consolidate power. That is why the "hate crimes" nonsense was the nose under the tent. Who cares whether someone who shoots me says he loves me or hates me because I am a bald headed white bastard? My late dad got into a big row with the so-called "Free Speech Movement" at Berkeley in the 1960s when they demanded the book store stop handling his wares, so they have always been about surpassing any other point of view, they are all totalitarians under the skin. They are all about dividing society up into little pieces, pitting one group against another, non-smokers against smokers if just a lightweight example, but they have made lower class smokers into social pariahs. Blacks v.s Whites, Women v.s Men, divide and create chaos seems to be the plan, from which UTOPIA!

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:25 AM (OK8G5)

174 And speaking of Cornwell, I've heard the BBC is making a tv series version of the Saxon Tales. I fully admit, I squealed like a little kid when I heard that bit of news.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:26 AM (ThxKk)

175 Moronettes rock as well if not better of course.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:26 AM (TIgJq)

176 CBS reported a drive by shooting involving Joe Biden's location

His Delaware family home. No one was there.

Posted by: AmishDude at January 18, 2015 11:27 AM (b4b5c)

177 >>Maybe Joe Biden shot off that shot gun of his off his balcony?
Posted by: Nevergiveup

Through the front door.

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 11:27 AM (3rrMW)

178 146 Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (OK8G5)

I liked Bernard Cornwell but other authors who are not known for historical fiction have some scattered in their works.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 11:28 AM (wlDny)

179 156 the protest was organized by Pamela Geller whose website was attacked and has been down ever since

some day we are going to hear about how these on line attacks of conservative sites were orchestrated by our government

Posted by: ThunderB, Hate Enthusiast at January 18, 2015 11:15 AM (zOTsN)

++++

I just tried her site, and it's up. Was a bit slow to load, but it's there.
http://pamelageller.com/

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at January 18, 2015 11:28 AM (IN7k+)

180 156
some day we are going to hear about how these on line attacks of conservative sites were orchestrated by our government

Posted by: ThunderB, Hate Enthusiast at January 18, 2015 11:15 AM (zOTsN)

No, we're pretty sure you'll never hear about that.

Posted by: The NSA, the FBI, and the MSM at January 18, 2015 11:28 AM (sdi6R)

181 Thank for the shout out, OregonMuse!

Laurie David's Cervix
MrScribbler

Yes.

I remember liking "Blue Movie" quite a bit.
So, this week I'm rereading it.

For those who don't know "Blue Movie":

The novel concerns a great director, Boris or King B as he's referred to, attempting to make a porno movie with top stars, a high budget, a great script, and, of course, directed by himself.

Southern mirrors the novel's plot by attempting to write a literary novel along the lines of "Vanity Fair" filled with the crass, broken, exploited, greedy, and exploiting people of Hollywood. And, of course, a lot of the action and dialogue is graphic and pornographic.

The prose is a bit denser than in "The Magic Christian" but still very clean and crisp.

Southern really was a damn fine humorist. The humor in the book runs the gamut finely drawn character humor to very low and crass one-linerssuch as the producer Sid asking a waitress, "How is the Deep Dish Beaver Pie today?"

The interesting thing about "Blue Movie" is that King B is very closely based on Stanley Kubrick and his, apparently real life ambition to make a high-quality, high dollar, sexually-graphic flick using top Hollywood actors.

In real life, that movie is Kubrick's last flick, "Eyes Wide Shut". So....you know....maybe satire doesn't always beat reality.

I imagine if you know a bit about late 50s-early 70s Hollywood you'll get more out of "Blue Movie" as you'll probably recognize some of the people in the book.

I doubt "Blue Movie" would be written today with all the leftard-PC nonsense about.

Plus, it probably falls into the category of dangerous satire as this truly was Southern biting the hand that fed him.

After "Blue Movie" was published, Southern fell out of the top tier of writers. Though to be fair, that may have been due to his excessive drug use.

Anywho i'll probably finish it this week and give a wrap up if anything changes about my view of it.

And since this thread has a latent Texas theme-

Terry Southern was a native Texan.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 18, 2015 11:28 AM (0cMkb)

182 I don't regret having read Burroughs, Kerouac,
Snyder, Ginsburg, Kesey (whose work I enjoy, and whose depiction by
Wolfe I enjoy--Kesey wanted the masses to experience LSD...exactly under
his control as he thought it should be. Yeah, uh, Ken, you blew it). I
am also glad that I read about them--i.e. "society" did not kill Kerouac
because it wasn't ready for him. his alcoholism did, and his alcoholism
wasn't "society's" fault either. Posted by: barbarausa at January 18, 2015 11:03 AM

I don't regret reading any of them either.

It's possible my current view is somewhat skewed. Not by politics or morals, but by the many years I spent writing for money. As a result of making writing a craft rather than a "means of expression," the thing that jumped out at me about the "beat" writers is that they had no discipline. They spewed words, which were then accepted by readers because Socially Significant or some such thing.

As was true of Ayn Rand, what these people needed was a good EDITOR who could run the red pencil through the mountains of bullshit, the repetitions and the unnecessary expostulation.

Weed out the crap, and I'd guess each of them had valid things to say. They just didn't need to say them over and over, or get stuck in a groove of words-as-random-noise.

Posted by: MrScribbler at January 18, 2015 11:29 AM (yAC3X)

183 Ask muslims and liberals. They are the ones that love to ban thought

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:24 AM (nzKvP)
I prefer not to talk to those idiots if I can help it. Since I live in a blue state, I spend a lot of time listening quietly and rolling my eyes.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:29 AM (ThxKk)

184 That teenaged girl won't take my calls! *hic* I'll shoot my gun! *hic* When does the football start!

Posted by: Joe Biden at January 18, 2015 11:31 AM (5voqw)

185 >>His Delaware family home. No one was there.
Posted by: AmishDude

Isn't this the story of Joe Biden? Wherever he is the lights are on, but no one is home.

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 11:31 AM (3rrMW)

186 The King James Bible was of course written in the time of the bard and once you grow up with it, everything else sounds lame for good reason. It is magisterial, poetic and epic, an inspired - and to some of us - divine work of great literature. The problem with atheism in the end is that they have nothing to replace the Judeo-Christian framework with. We can survive with deists, we can survive with a certain number of unbelievers, but when almost no one believes, when you turn churches into skateboard parks, you have nothing left to stop those who do believe in something, which is what is happening in Holland, Germany, France, the U.K. "Tolerance" is not a framework for a civilization.

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:31 AM (OK8G5)

187 I prefer not to talk to those idiots if I can help it. Since I live in a blue state, I spend a lot of time listening quietly and rolling my eyes.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:29 AM (ThxKk)

I live in a Blue State also- a very Blue State. Wanna trade?
But anyway I don't roll my eyes anymore, I tell them to go F themselves. Of course I have very few friends left outside of the Military

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:32 AM (nzKvP)

188 I am reading "Titan", the biography of John D Rockefeller Sr. I've never read anything about him before, other than what I picked up in history classes.

The biography is fascinating. Chernow is an excellent writer and tries to be fair. Rockefeller's father was a scoundrel and a bigamist. Much of Rockefeller's personality was shaped in reaction to his father's influence on the family. And, the best historians and biographers have the ability to put aside the view of that successful person and see them before they were successful. There's a passage about the 16 year old Rockefeller hunting for his first job. He goes about it systematically, spending 8 hours a day knocking on doors. When he finally gets hired, he leaves the building quietly, then skips around the corner out of pure joy.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 18, 2015 11:32 AM (Lqy/e)

189 Posted by: naturalfake at January 18, 2015 11:28 AM

Damn right. Sid Krassman was one of the great characters in literature!

IMO, Southern was damn near as good in Candy. Who could ever forget the scene in the hospital auditorium between the "tense" hospital administrator and Dr. Irving Krankeit?

Oh, for the days of yore when I would ask my girlfriends "are you ready for your little count-down?

Posted by: MrScribbler at January 18, 2015 11:34 AM (yAC3X)

190 The semester I took Lit Crit, Stanley Fish came to speak at Baylor and requested a meeting with the TAs and Writing Center tutors to tell us all about his wonderful new method of teaching freshman comp by not teaching composition at all (a tactic that I think I recently heard he's abandoned). One of my colleagues brought up some point about reader response theory from Fish's book Is There a Text in This Class? and asked a relevant question about it.

Fish's dismayed response? "Oh, that was the '70s! I don't believe that anymore!"

And this happened the exact same week we'd studied reader response theory in Lit Crit.

That, to me, exposes a good part of the problem with lit theory as it's propagated in most English departments. Theorists like Fish renounce their own work, yet it keeps getting taught in lit theory classes Because. Some critical theories have genuine merit, but C. S. Lewis was pretty dead on when he called modern criticism "the discovery of the mare's nest by pursuit of the red herring."

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at January 18, 2015 11:34 AM (iuQS7)

191 171 >>Not really. People might use discretion to protect others who may be threatened.
Posted by: Dirks Strewn

So it's OK that I should feel compelled to use my "discretion" and self censor my speech to protect my family from being killed by someone who might find my speech offensive?

Posted by: Aviator

No, it would not be OK, but you wouldn't be a coward living on our knees if you did. Might also depend on how important what had to be said.

Also people don't have to be at risk of being killed to use discretion. I had a friend who's girlfriend got him punched a lot (well twice that I'm aware of) by her stupid insulting comments. She got away with a talking to.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:35 AM (TIgJq)

192 Skunk is gone, I think. The end of my foyer looks like a scene from Les Miserables. Door's been open since 3, and I fell asleep on the chair behind the barricade. Door sill is smeared with chorizo to lure him out from behind the dryer, so la angel de la muerte should pass me by if nothing else.

Posted by: Bob's House of Flannel Shirts and Wallet Chains at January 18, 2015 11:36 AM (yxw0r)

193 NYC may yank terrorism report to appease mosque spying critics

And NYC and more specifically DeCommio are stripping the anti-terrorist unit to guards his cronies.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:36 AM (nzKvP)

194 >>What considerations would figure in making such choices?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn

So here is the thing: Speech is either free or not. As soon as "except" or "but" is added to the end of "Freedom of speech" it is no longer free.

Objectionable speech, is in many ways, the most important speech.

"The best answer for bad speech is more speech" - Godwin

Posted by: Aviator at January 18, 2015 11:36 AM (3rrMW)

195 I'm also wending my way through the Stoic Epictetus' "Enchiridion" on my Kindle. I read somewhere that as VADM Stockdale was ejecting from his plane, he realized "I'm leaving behind the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus."

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 11:37 AM (KH1sk)

196 In re Michael Chabon:

He and his wife Ayelet Waldman live here in the SF Bay Area, in the trendy-literati part of Berserkeley, and I have talked with some longtime locals there whose social circle overlaps with theirs, and Waldman was described by them as being an absolutely hugely arrogant and entitled limousine liberal.

"Ultra pushy bitch," was the summation from one of them, a person who is not normally given to the use of such language.

Chabon himself is apparently only slightly better than his wife.

YMMV.

Posted by: torquewrench at January 18, 2015 11:38 AM (noWW6)

197 178 146 Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:09 AM (OK8G5)

I liked Bernard Cornwell but other authors who are not known for historical fiction have some scattered in their works.

Posted by: Vic

I went through all the Sharpe's, and Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels and had a great time. The O'Brien books were particularly well done on the nautical accuracy.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:38 AM (TIgJq)

198 Mr. Scribbler, you could not be more right about the beats. Self-indulgence is one of the worst sins for a writer. The notion that as a 20 year old you should write an autobiography. The notion that you should just spew words like you have diarrhea of the typewriter. I knew an English teacher who carried a dog-eared copy of Faulkner's Nobel Prize speech everywhere with her. He though a great book should be about universal themes, like a great Winslow Homer painting or a Jean-Francois Millet painting or Moby Dick or the Scarlet Letter. So much of what passes for brilliance is just self-indulgence, like a turgid turd of a Danish "Art Film" that I would have to be Malcom McDowelled into watching!

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:38 AM (OK8G5)

199 I live in a Blue State also- a very Blue State. Wanna trade?

But anyway I don't roll my eyes anymore, I tell them to go F
themselves. Of course I have very few friends left outside of the
Military

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:32 AM (nzKvP)

Heh. I think people around me would die of shock if I started telling the idiots to F off, etc. I've always been the soft spoken, nerdy type, so dropping f-bombs would be a change for me.
And I don't think I want to trade states. The rural* part of CT is bad enough.*Rural means 200 people per square mile in this case. Not exactly the wide open plains.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:40 AM (ThxKk)

200 "CBS reported a drive by shooting involving Joe Biden's location"

Joey Choo-Choo attempted to return fire but his water pistol jammed.

Posted by: torquewrench at January 18, 2015 11:40 AM (noWW6)

201 On speech "denying equality":

Is ridicule actually DENYING you something?

If I said, "Those shoes make you look like a clown," did I just deny you the ability to purchase those stupid shoes?

Posted by: RKae at January 18, 2015 11:42 AM (cBh+e)

202 188There's a passage about the 16 year old Rockefeller hunting for his first job. He goes about it systematically, spending 8 hours a day knocking on doors. When he finally gets hired, he leaves the building quietly, then skips around the corner out of pure joy.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 18, 2015 11:32 AM (Lqy/e)

But he was an evil capitalist exploiter. That's all the kids today need to know.

Posted by: The NSA, the FBI, and the MSM at January 18, 2015 11:42 AM (sdi6R)

203 Darn those socks.

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 11:42 AM (sdi6R)

204 You know what was funny about O'Brian? My father, who went to sea from sixteen in 1941, to twenty-four in 1947, hated the one he read. He felt it was implausible. Perhaps there was something about a sea rescue, I can't recall and he explained to be how they never would have been able to even see someone in the waves, then tack back to the same place, my memory is faded, but he came across a number of things that he just felt were unrealistic as someone who had grown up sailing, then sailed in gales and ice and all that.

Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:43 AM (OK8G5)

205 And I don't think I want to trade states. The rural* part of CT is bad enough.*Rural means 200 people per square mile in this case. Not exactly the wide open plains.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:40 AM (ThxKk)

Yeah i got you. I live in NJ. I have spent considerable time in your fine Sate, but that was mostly at Groton or passing thru on the way to RI. Although as I youngin I did spent some time at the Jai Alia Fronton in Bridgeport. Lovely City?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:43 AM (nzKvP)

206 2nd of John Ringo's zombie apocalypse read.
Good enough to keep reading but he needs a better editor to tell him when he's getting repetitive, not making sense or throwing a lot of numbers around that don't seem to add up.

Posted by: DaveA at January 18, 2015 11:44 AM (DL2i+)

207 C. S. Lewis was pretty dead on when he called modern criticism "the discovery of the mare's nest by pursuit of the red herring."

...and the whole thing turns into a dog's breakfast.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 11:46 AM (4rNus)

208 206
2nd of John Ringo's zombie apocalypse read.
Good enough to keep
reading but he needs a better editor to tell him when he's getting
repetitive, not making sense or throwing a lot of numbers around that
don't seem to add up.

Posted by: DaveA at January 18, 2015 11:44 AM (DL2i+)

I thought the first one in that series was pretty good. I have been waiting for the price to cone down for the second.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 11:47 AM (wlDny)

209 Posted by: USS USO at January 18, 2015 11:38 AM

Some people write as if they are being paid by the word.

And don't forget that Kerouac was into "new writing." Form and "style" should never be more important than content. As one of my editors used to say: "When you have nothing more to say, STOP!

That lesson would have saved millions of trees....

Posted by: MrScribbler at January 18, 2015 11:48 AM (yAC3X)

210 Speaking of Joe Biden, what does he actually do? Even for a VP he's a non-entity.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 18, 2015 11:49 AM (swPYF)

211 209 Some people write as if they are being paid by the word.

Someone should have told Ayn Rand that.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 11:49 AM (wlDny)

212 Picked up a few books for le kindle:
Shake hand with the devil; about the Rwandan genocide
Miracles: what they are and why they happen
Consider the fork: book about the history of cooking
The Destroyer: a Remo Williams adventure
Am reading them all simultaneously except for Shake Hands w the Devil- will read that last

Posted by: Secret squirrel at January 18, 2015 11:49 AM (0SmH0)

213
Joey Choo-Choo attempted to return fire but his water pistol jammed.

Posted by: torquewrench at January 18, 2015 11:40 AM (noWW6)

Newer reports are that as he attempted to fire through the door, the Nerf darts bounced back.

Posted by: HH at January 18, 2015 11:50 AM (Ce4DF)

214 Five members of Hezbollah, including a commander were killed in an Israeli strike in Syria on Sunday, Lebanese security sources said.

An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles in the Syrian province of Quneitra near the Golan Heights, Lebanese sources close to Hezbollah said.

Two sources close to Hezbollah said that the son of former Hezbollah military leader Imad Mughniyeh was killed in the strike.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:50 AM (nzKvP)

215 Reagan: "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth."

http://youtu.be/qXBswFfh6AY

( He was addressing a Goldwater crowd, with a large number of Goldwater kids in it ... people that formed the core of the Libertarian Party after Bill Buckley kicked them ( the "lazy fairies" ) out of the YAF. An opportunity to keep libertarianism sane was missed here ... )

Posted by: Kristophr at January 18, 2015 11:51 AM (6ROe1)

216 Irregular intercourse or irrational intercourse?

Lets not ask the champions of such, we will probably need 55 gallons of brain bleach.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 11:51 AM (Tq8df)

217 Saw American Sniper, amazing man Chris Kyle was.

Clint is without a doubt one of the finest directors and was pretty much the only director that could direct this film.

End credits montage literally left the theatre in tears.

Go see this film.

Posted by: Kreplach at January 18, 2015 11:51 AM (DDFkt)

218 Also reading the Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. Enjoyable so far. Lewis was a brilliant writer who can pack a lot of meaningful insight into a single sentence

Posted by: Secret squirrel at January 18, 2015 11:52 AM (0SmH0)

219 Sadly, I have found I can't really do audiobooks. Too much chance I'll actually get interested in something while driving and either pay too much attention to the non-immediately life threatening task or start to think about something in the story and then realize I've lost the thread.

Posted by: Graves at January 18, 2015 11:53 AM (3MEXB)

220 Texas?

Well, if hunting over bait and behind fences is your thing...

Posted by: Garrett at January 18, 2015 11:53 AM (BwSnW)

221 A friend of mine is a Mergers and Acquisitions corporate lawyer. She said Titan was part of her schooling curriculum. And then when she landed her jobs with the firm that merged Exxon and the others, they used to joke that there were merely 'puttin' Standard Oil back together'......

Posted by: goatexchange at January 18, 2015 11:54 AM (GT6qA)

222 194 >>What considerations would figure in making such choices?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn

So here is the thing: Speech is either free or not. As soon as "except" or "but" is added to the end of "Freedom of speech" it is no longer free.

Objectionable speech, is in many ways, the most important speech.

"The best answer for bad speech is more speech" - Godwin

Posted by: Aviator

You Me and Godwin are agreed that the answer to objectionable speech is more speech.

I disagree that speech is free or not. Like all human rights, absolutes don't work.

Gratuitously shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre is generally accepted as being out of bounds, as is incitement to violence--"Someone should kill that guy." Could other gratuitous speech fall in this category?-- which might get back to the question of what considerations would factor in speech choices.

I have to clear snow now. Its been good discussing this with you. Thank you for being thoughtful and courteous. Have a great day.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:54 AM (TIgJq)

223 And Oregon Muse tis a dog's breakfast one finds spread across the seat of yon reading chair and without a batman to come to clean the mess up.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 11:54 AM (Tq8df)

224 My current reading crisis is that my kindle has decided it can't do wifi anymore, and since I'm going back to college, I can't afford a replacement and I don't want to send what is now my main reading source off for repair for an unknown time. Whimper.

Posted by: Graves at January 18, 2015 11:55 AM (3MEXB)

225 Kerouac, meh.
Brautigan is where it's at.

Posted by: Garrett at January 18, 2015 11:56 AM (BwSnW)

226 Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 11:43 AM (nzKvP)

Were you at the sub base in Groton? I've heard that's not too bad, but most other CT cities are not fun places to be. Not that I'm a city person, anyway. I lived in a Dublin (Ireland) suburb for a few months and that cured me of any desire to live in close proximity to strangers.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:56 AM (ThxKk)

227 I just tried her site, and it's up. Was a bit slow to load, but it's there.
http://pamelageller.com/

The site loads, but if I clicked on any of her 'Read More' links to read an entire article, I got '520' timeout errors

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 11:56 AM (4rNus)

228 I have been waiting for the price to cone down for the second.

He must have a fan in the local library because everything gets here (NW Indiana).

Posted by: DaveA at January 18, 2015 11:57 AM (DL2i+)

229 Speaking of verbal diarrhea that has an an appalling spell upon some of the reading populace, the movie adaption of Fifty Shades comes out on Valentine's Day Feb 14th.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 11:58 AM (Tq8df)

230 Not really. People might use discretion to protect others who may be threatened.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at January 18, 2015 11:19 AM (TIgJq)

Personal discretion is not coercion, it is judgement. Coercion comes from "others" who know better than you what you should do or say and any situation and have the power to enforce their "judgement"!

BRB, someone is pounding on the front door!

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 11:58 AM (ftVQq)

231 @224,
Have you rebooted it by holding down the start button for 20 seconds? I've had that fix that problem before.

Posted by: waelse1 at January 18, 2015 11:58 AM (x5cWD)

232 My current reading crisis is that my kindle has decided it can't do wifi anymore, and since I'm going back to college, I can't afford a replacement and I don't want to send what is now my main reading source off for repair for an unknown time. Whimper.
Posted by: Graves at January 18, 2015 11:55 AM (3MEXB)

hook it up for updates?

cold reboot? (hard reset)

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 18, 2015 11:59 AM (IXrOn)

233 I love Lone Star Planet, and H. Beam Piper's works as a whole. He probably had the first comprehensive Future History, decades before Heinlein and Asimov. Perhaps his most prominent theme was the struggle between the creative, bold individual and the forces of civil-service conformity. He saw the future as cycles of bold new governments that would, over time, be subsumed by the medicore (and outspoken socialist) and collapse. It was probably the precursor fro Motie society (Jerry Pournelle was named the executor of Piper's literary works).

One of his greatest works, from a individualist-fantasy point of view, is Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. It deals with an modern, bright individual, who is transported into an alterntive Earth, where the technology has just developed gunpowder. The gunpowder is also controlled by a religious cartel, and the state he landed in has just been banned by the that order. At a dinner, Kalvan remembers Gustavus Adolphus' recipe for gunpowder and on the spot, comes up with a more effective mix. And away the story goes.

I highly recommend them. You won't get bonus points from the English faculty lounge, but then why would any self-respecting moron want that?

Posted by: calbadger at January 18, 2015 11:59 AM (Bco6Z)

234 Go see this film.
Posted by: Kreplach at January 18, 2015 11:51 AM (DDFkt)

and don't read the atlantic

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 18, 2015 12:00 PM (IXrOn)

235 My current reading crisis is that my kindle has decided it can't do wifi

Get calibre and manage your library from your PC.
http://calibre-ebook.com/

Posted by: DaveA at January 18, 2015 12:01 PM (DL2i+)

236 H. Beam Piper was self educated, as he once said of going to college, "why should I spend four years in a racoon coat?"

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:01 PM (Tq8df)

237 Speaking of verbal diarrhea that has an an appalling spell upon some of the reading populace, the movie adaption of Fifty Shades comes out on Valentine's Day Feb 14th.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 11:58 AM (Tq8df)
You couldn't pay me to read that book or see the film. I'm astonished that people actually admit to reading/ liking it.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 12:02 PM (ThxKk)

238 217 Saw American Sniper, amazing man Chris Kyle was.

Clint is without a doubt one of the finest directors and was pretty much the only director that could direct this film.

End credits montage literally left the theatre in tears.

Go see this film.
Posted by: Kreplach at January 18, 2015 11:51 AM (DDFkt)

I bet Spielberg, the original director, would've effed it up. I'm making the pilgrimage tomorrow. From what I read it's on track to break the record for this weekend. I'm rereading parts of the book today.

Posted by: stace at January 18, 2015 12:03 PM (ImzkZ)

239 Any kindle paper white 3G users here?

I can't figure out howbtonturn the 3G off on this model. I dropped my old 3G keyboard edition and fucked up the screen. Upgraded, but am unable to shut off the 3G on the new model.

Posted by: Garrett at January 18, 2015 12:03 PM (BwSnW)

240 Now those pretty much have been banned. I doubt if you can even find them at the public libraries.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 10:26 AM (wlDny)

********************
Which means expressions like "tar baby" and "whatever you do, don't throw me in that briar patch" now make no sense to almost anyone.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at January 18, 2015 12:04 PM (5f5bM)

241 When you have nothing more to say, STOP!

-
I can't. I'm an attorney.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 12:04 PM (LImiJ)

242 Were you at the sub base in Groton? I've heard that's not too bad, but most other CT cities are not fun places to be. Not that I'm a city person, anyway. I lived in a Dublin (Ireland) suburb for a few months and that cured me of any desire to live in close proximity to strangers.
Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 11:56 AM (ThxKk)

Yes for a couple of years. Nice place.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 12:04 PM (nzKvP)

243 Two big reasons why Texas will never become California:

1. No state income tax

2. Legislature only meets for 6 months every other year and is paid a pittance, which limits the harm it can do and means that legislators generally have to have real jobs.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at January 18, 2015 12:05 PM (5f5bM)

244 Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 11:58 AM (Tq8df)

Uggh; Didn't read it. Won't be seeing it. Not my idea of St Valentine;'s Day fun . I'll be performing in a scene from a Neil Simon Play. Poor FenelonSpouse is obligated to attend. And the funniest review of FSOG was by P.J. O Rourke. If I had wanted to read it that would have out me off entirely.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 18, 2015 12:05 PM (DXzRD)

245 I just finished Plain, honest men : the making of the American Constitution By Richard Beeman. Very good. The last three chapters were especially illuminating.

I'm using this as one of my sources for my Constitution Bee questions.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 18, 2015 12:06 PM (u82oZ)

246 the movie adaption of Fifty Shades comes out on Valentine's Day Feb 14th.

-
Old and busted: Candy and flowers.

New hotness: Whips and chains.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 12:06 PM (LImiJ)

247 "put" me off.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 18, 2015 12:07 PM (DXzRD)

248 @238

Spielberg is a great director in his own right but he would have made the film more of a spectacle than this brilliantly laconicly styled film.

Posted by: Kreplach at January 18, 2015 12:08 PM (DDFkt)

249 A Israeli beauty queens selfie has caused a stir in Lebanon, with some Lebanese saying their countrys contestant at the Miss Universe pageant should be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy.
Miss Israel Doron Matalon posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon Saly Greige smiling together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25.

Yeah Arabs/Muslims are just like us?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 12:09 PM (nzKvP)

250 American sniper was a great book and I'm excited to see the movie. It's good to see that it's doing so well; gives me hope that America hasn't totally lost its collective mind what with the shit churned out such as 50 Shades or Girls.

Posted by: Secret squirrel at January 18, 2015 12:09 PM (0SmH0)

251 About Clint Eastwood.

The best indicator that the 2012 Romney/Ryan ticket was doomed to lose was the candidates' queasily uncomfortable reactions to Clint Eastwood's brilliant 'Obama-as-empty chair' routine at the convention.

I thought about it often later, viewed their discomfiture as a kind of foreshadowing: no way would these genteel, stick-up-their-ass prigs be able to take it to Obama.

Posted by: troyriser at January 18, 2015 12:11 PM (ptcFO)

252 Back when I was a sex offense prosecutor, I had a case in which a minor was accused of sexually assaulting his cousin in his bedroom. A search warrant was executed on his parent's house and they found whips, chains and a bunch of other S and M stuff. Immediately after the son's case was resolved, the parents were down at my office demanding that their toys be returned.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 12:12 PM (LImiJ)

253 "And a review of The Texas-Israeli War: 1999 and the map from inside the book"

"Which means expressions like "tar baby" and "whatever you do, don't
throw me in that briar patch" now make no sense to almost anyone."

Did any of you look closely at the map? Part of it shows a 2-prong attack into Texas. One prong is named "Uncle Remus", and the other "Tar Baby". Amazing how things fit together here on the book thread.

Posted by: HH at January 18, 2015 12:13 PM (Ce4DF)

254 Calbadger, Piper wrote a Terro-Future Human version of Lord Kalvan. A down on their luck crew in a spaceship almost on its last legs find a planet. Its their last hope to start a Company or be forced back to live mundane lives amongst the placid humans. And there is a 'religion' which controls the production of gunpowder.

The short story is called "When in the Course" and it was printed in the Ace Science Fiction Piper anthology Federation in 1982.

Jerry Pournelle writes an introduction in which he talks of knowing the man and finding he was gifted by Piper with permission to write in a universe populated by Fuzzies. He gives a one word description at the end of how he viewed the man, Piper was a cavalier.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:14 PM (Tq8df)

255 Immediately after the son's case was resolved, the parents were down at my office demanding that their toys be returned.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 12:12 PM (LImiJ)
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"

Posted by: Copybook Heading God # 69r at January 18, 2015 12:14 PM (ftVQq)

256 Rand Paul=

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 12:17 PM (JVEJq)

257 Let's get to the core of the left's censorship advocacy. It's an elementary error (idiocy). It's well epitomized in the quotation you cite: "Free speech isn't really free if it attempts to endanger others' personal safety or deny them social equality."

This is the source of the error, and if you read any of the last couple weeks' censorship advocates - or the many who advocated censorship after the Mohammed video was blamed for the Benghazi attacks - you'll find it right out front. These idiots speak of "free speech" as a category of subjects of speech. Thus, "Free speech isn't free if it is offensive."

Free speech isn't a type of speech or a group of speech topics, with offensive speech not really being free speech. Free is the legal status of speech, specifically speech uncontrolled by government censorship. If speech is controlled, censored, prohibited by topic or emotional impact on hearers or readers, then speech is not free.

Speech that endangers others' personal safety is free if it is not prohibited by government; it is free even if it endangers. Speech that "denies others social equality" is, first off, impossible, as speech cannot stop someone from being "socially equal." To make that phrase make more sense, speech that urges denial of social equality is free if not prohibited by government; it is free even if it urges inequalities.

The First Amendment does not protect free speech and prohibit or fail to protect unfree speech that is unfree because it offends someone (in practice, Muslims, or feminists) or leftists disagree with it. It says "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." All speech. Not some speech. Not "free speech" as a body of unoffensive content.

There is speech leftists wish to prohibit. Instead of saying so, they say they are for "free speech," but those things they don't think you should be able to say or publish are just not free speech. They are some other kind of speech - hate speech, offensive speech, provocative speech. They are trying to deny social equality to those whose ideas they disagree with. And they are trying to claim they support free speech, when in reality they do not - they support government-controlled speech, with topics or substance they disagree with prohibited. They support prior restraint on speech.

Speech should be free - it is a right of every individual. Even if it endangers, and even if it urges denial of social equality, each of us has a right to speak freely, not to be muzzled by government. Not by control of permissible topics or viewpoints.

Posted by: D1st at January 18, 2015 12:18 PM (BvcFD)

258 I haven't read the comments, but has anyone mentioned one of the more ... interesting ... aspects of "Lone Star Planet" that it was not necessarily illegal to assassinate a politician? If that politician did an act, as a politician, that endangered the liberties of the people, that politician could be legally murdered. As part of the setting the stage, Piper shows us a man being absolved of murder because he assassinated a politician that passed a bill to create a standing army.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 18, 2015 12:18 PM (wQYNW)

259 Old and busted: Candy and flowers.

New hotness: Whips and chains.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at January 18, 2015 12:06 PM (LImiJ)When someone even mentions whips, I think of the seven foot bullwhips hanging on my kitchen wall, which sound like gunfire when you crack them; or my polo whip, which is made of fiberglass and will tear the skin right off anyone who is stupid enough to accidentally hit themselves with it. As you can see, I don't 'get' masochists. Even if you're trying to be gentle, that would hurt like a bitch.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 12:18 PM (ThxKk)

260 @ #146 USS USO- On the historical fiction line, before it was on Kindle Unlimited Editor Choice deal, I read, "War Brides" by Helen Bryan. A light and good read to mix in with the heavy stuff.

"Cor Rotto" is historical fiction as well but is based on all the historical records the author could find. It is fiction because of the dialogue between the characters, but the rest is based on solid historical records.

Both of these books are about womenz who had decide to buck up, and suck it up. Life was not a bowl full of cherries. Most of the womez around me are zombies. With the exception of the daughters, which were homeschooled and not allowed to be zombies. They are reading "Blenheim" by Spencer, and about 5 other books as well. We are not Fifty Shades of Shit gals here. LOL!

I plan on checking out Allison Weir at some point. I have read where some people like her, and some hate her.

Posted by: freeus at January 18, 2015 12:18 PM (caDgg)

261 I plan on checking out Allison Weir at some point. I have read where some people like her, and some hate her.

Posted by: freeus at January 18, 2015 12:18 PM (caDgg)
Alison Weir's stuff is pretty good, but it does read a bit like a history book- not much imagination. Which is okay, because the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty were amazing enough on their own. A literal case of the truth being stranger than fiction.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 12:22 PM (ThxKk)

262 224 My current reading crisis is that my kindle has decided it can't do wifi anymore, and since I'm going back to college, I can't afford a replacement and I don't want to send what is now my main reading source off for repair for an unknown time. Whimper.

Posted by: Graves at January 18, 2015 11:55 AM (3MEXB)

You might look into refurbs. We routinely buy refurbished electronics (e.g., recently Samsung tablets), and couldn't be happier with them, or with the price.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:22 PM (oKE6c)

263 Yes, I've done the hard reboot, best troubleshooting is that there is a hardware failure on the kindle, going to have to send it in for repair. Thanks though.

Posted by: Graves at January 18, 2015 12:23 PM (3MEXB)

264 1 Commies like free speech only until they gain power.

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at January 18, 2015 09:00 AM (V70Uh)

"Of course we believe in free speech. You're free to tell the truth. You're just not free to tell lies." - Angela Davis

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:23 PM (oKE6c)

265 243 Two big reasons why Texas will never become California

How I hope you're right. At one time I thought California would never become California, either.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:26 PM (oKE6c)

266 Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:23 PM (oKE6c)

She conveniently forgot to add the standard liberal disclaimer "unless you are advancing the cause!"

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 12:26 PM (ftVQq)

267 and don't read the atlantic

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at January 18, 2015 12:00 PM (IXrOn)

Always sound advice.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:28 PM (oKE6c)

268 Actually Retired Buckeye Cop in "Lone Star Planet" which was an Ace double with another Piper story "Four Day Planet" it was not for trying to raise an army.

On New Texas the raising of a planetary army would be redundant due to each rancher having to keep things like tanks on inventory to herd New Texas' biggest export - Super Cow.

The late and unlamented S. Austin Maverick tried to ram through the Finance and Revenue Committee a bill titled - 'An Act for the Taxing of Personal Income and for the Levying of a Withholding Tax.'

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:30 PM (Tq8df)

269 She conveniently forgot to add the standard liberal disclaimer "unless you are advancing the cause!"

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 12:26 PM (ftVQq)
No wonder lefties and devout muslims get along so well. They both have versions of taqiyya.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper at January 18, 2015 12:31 PM (ThxKk)

270 So here is the thing: Speech is either free or not. As soon as "except" or "but" is added to the end of "Freedom of speech" it is no longer free.

Objectionable speech, is in many ways, the most important speech.

"The best answer for bad speech is more speech" - Godwin

Now try that substituting "religion" for "speech". Either there is freedom of religion for all, or there is freedom of religion for no one.

This presents a dilemma.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 18, 2015 12:31 PM (dFi94)

271 I picked up Daniel Silva's "the Heist" this week. Looking forward to reading it as I really have enjoyed his other works.

I keep saying that this is the year I will read a chapter of the Bible ever day. As in previous years, I continue to fail.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 18, 2015 12:34 PM (dFi94)

272 She conveniently forgot to add the standard liberal disclaimer "unless you are advancing the cause!"

Posted by: Hrothgar at January 18, 2015 12:26 PM (ftVQq)

That was understood. And Angela Davis wasn't/isn't a liberal. She's a straight-up, no-sh*t, full-on, in your face Communist.
The above quote came in response to my point that her plan to disrupt others' commentary infringed their right to free speech on some issue (which I've now forgotten). She had preceded that quote by saying (with a look and tone of "grow up already"), "The Party doesn't care about the issue. The issue is merely a vehicle for agitation, to build a mass movement."
Even as an earnest late-teen college lefty I was shocked. That comment reverberated inside me for two years, troubling me, until I pupated at Berkeley and became the curmudgeonly conservative I am today.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 18, 2015 12:34 PM (oKE6c)

273 I prefer the full on Commies, they make the 9-lines easier to write.

Posted by: Jean at January 18, 2015 12:37 PM (fbXoS)

274 Ugh the tyranny of the intellectual! Other dickweeds that grew up with everything and only tear society and the country down:

Noam Chomsky - from a wealthy, educated family, written lots of books

Bill Ayers - from a wealthy, educated family, written lots of books

Posted by: Mistress Overdone at January 18, 2015 12:41 PM (2/oBD)

275 Noam Chomsky - from a wealthy, educated family, written lots of books

Bill Ayers - from a wealthy, educated family, written lots of books

Isn't this the story of Obama?

Posted by: Infidel at January 18, 2015 12:46 PM (JVEJq)

276
There is an old story about a wealthy English gentleman driving his carriage through Texas, exploring the countryside. He comes upon a rancher mucking out his corral, sweat pouring, knee deep in mud and manure.

The well-dressed gentleman assumes the man to be a laborer. He pulls to a stop and calls out, "Good Day Sirrah, where is your Master?"

The rancher looks up, leans on his shovel and replies, "THAT sumbitch ain't been born yet."

Posted by: Meremortal at January 18, 2015 12:46 PM (1Y+hH)

277 This song and video is dedicated to Great White Snark, his SM legal case, and well those who will go see Fifty Shades.

http://youtu.be/aLGbXHc-Ce0

For the weak of stomach, you may want to skip viewing it.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:48 PM (Tq8df)

278 235
My current reading crisis is that my kindle has decided it can't do wifi

Get calibre and manage your library from your PC.
http://calibre-ebook.com/

Posted by: DaveA at January 18, 2015 12:01 PM (DL2i+)

Thanks for this. You lose access to your kindle books on computer after about a month of not accessing the interwebs.

Posted by: redclay at January 18, 2015 12:48 PM (GM8B7)

279 The late and unlamented S. Austin Maverick tried to ram through the Finance and Revenue Committee a bill titled - 'An Act for the Taxing of Personal Income and for the Levying of a Withholding Tax.'

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:30 PM (Tq8df)

Thanks, for the correction. It has been so many years since I last read the novella, I mis-remembered the miscreant's transgression. I shall have to re-read Piper; it's been too long and he is a good (under-appreciated) author.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 18, 2015 12:49 PM (wQYNW)

280 Er Hullo:
Kerouac ended up as a Hippie hating Right Wing Republican...and sadly an alcoholic. He hated the Left. He was for FREEDOM!

Had dinner with Terry Southern once. Quel disappointment. No wit. Very boring guy. Couldn't believe he was the same guy who wrote Candy. Only funny on the page. Stiff as a teenage hardon in person.

Posted by: HULAGU at January 18, 2015 12:51 PM (VSm85)

281 I love this thread, because it goes right along with my little sister's "books are pretentious" complaint.

It's giving me some great quotes.

Posted by: TickledPink at January 18, 2015 12:52 PM (RLev8)

282 "Everybody wants to be the Netflix of books."

I thought Amazon was already the Netflix of books.

Wait, maybe Netflix is the Amazon of film.

Posted by: Hurricane LaFawnduh at January 18, 2015 12:53 PM (21Cwq)

283
*sniff*

Posted by: Meremortal at January 18, 2015 12:54 PM (1Y+hH)

284 Not a problem Buckeye Cop. Piper has always suffered under appreciation. Until someone stumbles across his writings and go 'whoah! this guy tells a good story that leaves one's mind chock-a-block with stuff newly learned, even if its fictional. In Space Viking the reader is always stumbling across new planets, new situations, but lots of real history.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:57 PM (Tq8df)

285 For the weak of stomach, you may want to skip viewing it.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:48 PM (Tq8df)
---
Challenge accepted!
::watches:
Pfft, that's my Saturday ONT before my Sunday Book Thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 12:57 PM (KH1sk)

286 LOL All Hail Eris. Of course for you tis a mere bagatelle. You forget, I have seen the boots in your closet.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:59 PM (Tq8df)

287 That's a nice photo. Unfortunately all I can think of when I see nice photos like that is "book mites" and dust. Reminds me of too many days spent in the stacks at Low Library, from which my sinuses have yet to recover. One more reason why I love my Kindle.

Posted by: Caliban at January 18, 2015 01:00 PM (3GFMN)

288 Had dinner with Terry Southern once. Quel disappointment. No wit. Very boring guy. Couldn't believe he was the same guy who wrote Candy. Only funny on the page. Stiff as a teenage hardon in person.

Posted by: HULAGU at January 18, 2015 12:51 PM (VSm85)

In fairness to Southern, writing (and painting et al) are solitary pursuits, which means endless hours of, well, solitude. Too much time in one's own head makes for terrible social skills. My own family and friends save me from becoming too hermit-like and strange by dragging me out of the studio and out into the world from time to time. Others, perhaps like Southern, aren't so lucky.

Lastly, on the page is where it matters. Sparkling dinner conversation is nice but it sure as hell doesn't pay bills.

Posted by: troyriser at January 18, 2015 01:00 PM (ptcFO)

289 I read The Sea Chase by Andrew Geer. I became curious about the book because, while I was reading about the horse Sergeant Reckless, the Marine Corps officer that publicized the horse's exploit was Andrew Geer. The book was later made into a movie starring John Wayne.

I tracked down an old copy (published in 1949) and my verdict is "meh." The book is about a German freighter attempting to get back to Germany from Australia at the outbreak of WWII. The sea scenes are pretty good, but there are so few of them. Most of the book is while the Germans are on the island cutting wood because they don't have coal (WTF?). The dialog is not particularly compelling and the Germans become pretty unsympathetic (understandable, so soon after the war) and I finished the book just waiting for them to get killed.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 18, 2015 01:01 PM (wQYNW)

290 Had dinner with Terry Southern once. Quel disappointment. No wit. Very boring guy. Couldn't believe he was the same guy who wrote Candy. Only funny on the page. Stiff as a teenage hardon in person.

Posted by: HULAGU at January 18, 2015 12:51 PM (VSm85)

Interesting.

PG Wodehouse, who was funny as hell on the page, had the same reputation in person.

He was often described as the most boring person so-and-so had ever met. Pleasant, but a bore.

So, maybe great humorists aren't created but made through hard work....

Posted by: naturalfake at January 18, 2015 01:03 PM (KBvAm)

291 I finished the book just waiting for them to get killed.

I finish a lot of books that way.

Posted by: grammie winger at January 18, 2015 01:03 PM (dFi94)

292 ... Piper has always suffered under appreciation. Until someone stumbles across his writings and go 'whoah! this guy tells a good story ... the reader is always stumbling across new planets, new situations, but lots of real history.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:57 PM (Tq8df)

It's not just Space Viking. Uller Uprising is the Sepoy Mutiny and the "System States War" was the American Civil War. One of the little gems is a post-nuclear war short story (unfortunately, I forget the title) that features a community that practices Sherlockian deduction because the lieutenant that commanded the garrison had a copy of Doyle's Holmes stories and read them to the troops to take their minds off the aftermath of the war

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at January 18, 2015 01:11 PM (wQYNW)

293 NOOD

Posted by: Y-not at January 18, 2015 01:13 PM (9BRsg)

294 re: The Sea Chase. After WWI Germany lost all its Pacific possessions. Which meant no coaling stations. Unless the ship wanted to visit Japanese islands or risk neutral America - which would not have been wise after what happened to the Kommerant in WWI off Guam. Or allegedly neutral countries of South America. All other possible coaling stations were controlled by Germany's enemies.

And for a coal fired ship, one needs something to burn to turn the water in the boilers into steam to drive the engines. So wood will do. And I bet a ship would require plenty of cordage.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:13 PM (Tq8df)

295 "One of the little gems is a post-nuclear war short story (unfortunately,
I forget the title) that features a community that practices
Sherlockian deduction because the lieutenant that commanded the garrison
had a copy of Doyle's Holmes stories and read them to the troops to
take their minds off the aftermath of the war"

That is one of the stories in "Federation" let me look through my books and I'll tell you what the title is.

One of my favorite Stories is First Cycle. Two civs go nuke on each other.

Posted by: Luap Nor's last brain cell at January 18, 2015 01:17 PM (Vyg9x)

296 I know that short story, its called The Return.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:18 PM (Tq8df)

297 It's too bad Piper offed himself. The Paratime series was just starting to get some real attention. I would have loved to read a sequel by him of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.

Posted by: Luap Nor's last brain cell at January 18, 2015 01:20 PM (Vyg9x)

298 To clarify, liberals have trashed American heritage/history, society, culture, economy and defenses (esp military). After demorats getting their way, nearly blank check for DECADES, they now attempt to blame shift the results away from themselves. With America changed to leaning heavily marxist/muslim, they turn and tell us to BLAME SHIFT and blame America that hardly exists anymore. After all, getting their way with Detroit and collapsing California, who would want to take credit for that kind of success. Lets not forget their success in forcing our borders open and keeping them that way, with plagues diseases and importation of terrorists.

Posted by: ron n. at January 18, 2015 01:21 PM (YVQn/)

299 You forget, I have seen the boots in your closet.
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 12:59 PM (Tq8df)
------------
Merely the antechamber to my shoe dungeon.

Oh sh*t, the 'ettes have turned this into a shoe thread!
::rifles through closest bookshelf::

Anybody read the magazine Garden and Gun? Its tagline is "soul of the south". Now, I'm as northern as you can get and not tear up at a Molsen commercial, but I love this mag. My current issue has articles on hunting, cooking, and etiquette, and devotes three pages to collecting absinthe spoons.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 01:21 PM (KH1sk)

300 Well Piper was reduced to shooting birds from his apartment window to feed himself. His agent had died and because of that, several sales that had happened he was not aware of. So thinking he was a failure and destitute he did what he thought was the only solution to the mess he found himself in.

Father, a minister, was long dead. So was his mother whom he had supported when he worked for the Pennsy railroad. Long divorced from his French wife who even got the dog in the proceedings. So what was Piper supposed to do when it seemed as a writer he was a failure?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:25 PM (Tq8df)

301 300!

Posted by: OregnMuse at January 18, 2015 01:25 PM (UXqdN)

302 Dang.

Posted by: OregnMuse at January 18, 2015 01:26 PM (UXqdN)

303 absinthe spoons or merely absent spoons?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:27 PM (Tq8df)

304 Can't type worth poo.

Posted by: OregonMuse at January 18, 2015 01:29 PM (UXqdN)

305 absinthe spoons or merely absent spoons?
Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:27 PM (Tq8df)
------
Here's to absynthe friends ::sips Death in the Afternoon cocktail, takes drag on cig::

Posted by: All Hail Eris at January 18, 2015 01:29 PM (KH1sk)

306 So what was Piper supposed to do when it seemed as a writer he was a failure?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:25 PM (Tq8df)

How about keep on keeping on? Was that an option?

Posted by: Luap Nor's last brain cell at January 18, 2015 01:30 PM (Vyg9x)

307 To fully answer that would have to know Piper's complete state of mind. But there he was at the age of 61 living in an apartment. A self-taught man very abhorrent to the concept of hand-outs. Long retired from the Pennsy railroad. And for the past decade been relying solely upon story sales for income. Then your agent dies leaving you in limbo and no income. And no family to speak of to hurt with his own actions.

Salut All Hail Eris, speaking of which I should get back to writing. Managed to write an opening one friend said was 'good and disturbing.' So that is promising.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:36 PM (Tq8df)

308 1. Am about half way thru The Quivera Trail, one of Sgt. Mom's books. Learning something new about Texas' history. Good story, too.
2. One do the books I re-read very year or two is Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey, an account of the Richard III whodunit, solved (?) by a modern English detective.
3. My favorite Twain book is Life on the Mississippi, chock full of fascinating info about riverboat, er, life of the Mississippi.
Was a PBS show 30 yrs. ago, one of the good ones.

Posted by: Susanamantha at January 18, 2015 01:47 PM (VOMks)

309 249 A Israeli beauty queens selfie has caused a stir in Lebanon, with some Lebanese saying their countrys contestant at the Miss Universe pageant should be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy.
Miss Israel Doron Matalon posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon Saly Greige smiling together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25.

Yeah Arabs/Muslims are just like us?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at January 18, 2015 12:09 PM (nzKvP)

I'm not seeing a link to pics in your comment. FAIL.

Posted by: rickl at January 18, 2015 01:49 PM (sdi6R)

310 Why would either side need or care to annex the Lone Star Planet after the z'Shrauff were almost completely destroyed?

Enjoyable little story, by the way, thanks for posting the Gutenberg link.

Posted by: t-bird at January 18, 2015 01:50 PM (FcR7P)

311 And if you truly want to overdose on H Beam Piper

http://www.zarthani.net/terro-human_future_history.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 01:51 PM (Tq8df)

312 I once proposed to some leftist friends that Texas was the shining economic example of what this country should aspire to, just to see their reaction. Of course it was sneers, snorts, and insistence that the only good thing about Texas is Austin. They didn't want to hear anything that might interfere with their precious little worldview.

I read Kavalier and Klay years ago after hearing how fantastic it was, and I was a fan of the early comic era of Siegel and Shuster, Kirby, etc. I don't remember much about the book, thought it was quite overrated.

Currently reading The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and finding myself highlighting things on every other page. Campbell strikes me as a bit of a libertarian and in his discussions with Bill Moyers points out societal flaws from the 80s that are still prevalent today. Also listening to In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides. Nice little historical nonfiction about the voyage of the USS Jeanette to the arctic circle in the late 1800's.

Also considering tackling a bit of the Koran after arguing with some leftist twats online who insist that it is a book of peaceful verses when I cut and pasted plenty of quotes I found that show otherwise. But I figure to be honest I should at least check out the source material.

Posted by: Hudson21 at January 18, 2015 01:54 PM (tt+yC)

313 "Because You Can Never Have Too Many Books"

You can if you don't know how to shelve them properly. I am curious about the picture. Where did it come from? That collection seems more like a hoard than a library. I'm pretty sure it's not yours, because you described it as "disorganized" in the file name of the photo.

Anyway. Over the holidays, I hit a few of the less fancy antique stores looking for some additional shelving to reorganize my own collection, and was not having any luck until, on my way out of the last store (more of a warehouse, really) I spotted the top of something that turned out to be almost exactly what I was looking for. 4 feet long and three shelves high, made out of solid mahogany and only $225. You can't even get plywood veneer shelving for that price these days. The shelves are 3/4" thick, and show no signs of sagging. Also, I was able to re-shelve all of the books that I wanted to move, with about 8" of space to spare. So I guess in the future I won't be buying any more Chinese history.

There were also lots and lots and lots of barrister bookcases, but they were very very very expensive. There was one set (again in mahogany) that I could have found a use for, but not at $850. I don't remember them being that overpriced in the past...did they somehow become super-fashionable?

Posted by: CQD at January 18, 2015 01:54 PM (2dzsA)

314 I loved Kavalier and Klay - a very engrossing book.

I've finished my big knitting project, so I have more time to read now. Currently reading The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's sort of a Jane Austen plot with university students set in the 1980's. I'm liking it so far.

Posted by: biancaneve at January 18, 2015 02:09 PM (6Turu)

315 There was one set (again in mahogany) that I could
have found a use for, but not at $850. I don't remember them being that
overpriced in the past...did they somehow become super-fashionable?

Posted by: CQD at January 18, 2015 01:54 PM (2dzsA)

If they were solid mahogany and not a veneer that is a damn good price.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 02:14 PM (wlDny)

316 From John F. Carr's biography of H. Beam Piper - "The Last Cavalier"

"... Piper was a 19th Century Liberal, a creature whom neither conservatives nor libertarians can be completely comfortable; and like their creator, he (Piper) did not believe that anyone had a right to automatic sustenance. Throughout his career, he remained a 19th Century Liberal and a Citizen in the Campbellian sense-quite firmly dedicated to the ideal of Civilization and individual self-reliance."

In many ways H. Beam Piper epitomized Campbell's Citizen: "The fully developed Citizen actually seems to be every bit as hard-headed, ruthless and dangerous a fighter as any barbarian - he just uses his ruthless determination wisely instead of egocentrically." The essence of the Piper hero is best described by himself in Oomphel in the Sky, as a person who "actually knows what has to be done and how to do it, without holding a dozen conferences and round-table discussions and giving everybody a fair and equal chance to foul things up for him."

http://www.hostigos.com/downloads/The_Last_Cavalier.pdf

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at January 18, 2015 02:37 PM (Tq8df)

317 Mary Mcnamara is one of the reasons I have no respect for the Los Angeles Times. She is the perfect example of a leftist who accuses her chosen enemy of a failing she knows her side to be guilty.

Posted by: Epobirs at January 18, 2015 02:52 PM (IdCqF)

318 If they were solid mahogany and not a veneer that is a damn good price.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 02:14 PM (wlDny)

Hmm. Maybe I've just been out of the market for too long, or that the unit I bought was so much less expensive for pretty much the same amount of shelving. They were definitely solid mahogany, not veneer. I will have to go look at them again the next time I am in the neighborhood of that particular store.

Posted by: CQD at January 18, 2015 03:12 PM (2dzsA)

319 Hmm. Maybe I've just been out of the market for too
long, or that the unit I bought was so much less expensive for pretty
much the same amount of shelving. They were definitely solid mahogany,
not veneer. I will have to go look at them again the next time I am in
the neighborhood of that particular store.

Posted by: CQD at January 18, 2015 03:12 PM (2dzsA)

Depends on how big they are. Small ones start around $300 and then they go on up to $3K for long ones made from multiple cases.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 03:17 PM (wlDny)

320 BTW, I have some large bookcases made from particle board with a veneer on them. They were $350 each and had to order them special.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 03:18 PM (wlDny)

321 Books might make JackieO feel good in her sanctimony, or might make a tea partier understand what needs to be done to maintain freedom. Self reliance spoken of does little, unless one lives the a year on Walden's Pond, which itself has little to do with real world conflict.

Without experience in running a business, or a family, or a Boy Scout Troop, or volunteering to help the homeless, to perhaps understand the logistical dilemmas .. without hands on applications ... books can lead people into fantasy with subsistence on government cheese. And yes, even the elite receive "government cheese", when they obtain riches by government graft.

Books ... concept only ... practical application counts. As Ben Franklin allegedly said ... you have a republic ... IF you can keep it. We have NOT done well at keeping it ... much learning hath made us "mad".

Posted by: Illiniwek at January 18, 2015 03:23 PM (JWHJX)

322 Posted by: Illiniwek at January 18, 2015 03:23 PM (JWHJX)

One thing I've been impressed with in Uncle Tom's Cabin is that Stowe acknowledged that there were serious logistical and societal problems that would be created if a large group of people were suddenly free to do what they chose after having been trained not to even *think* about choosing. She clearly believed that slavery was a great evil, but she also believed there was plenty of guilt to go around not that "the South" was uniquely guilty.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at January 18, 2015 03:56 PM (GDulk)

323 Depends on how big they are. Small ones start around $300 and then they go on up to $3K for long ones made from multiple cases.

Posted by: Vic at January 18, 2015 03:17 PM (wlDny)

This one was (or, rather, is) four units vertically, about 32" wide, with some fairly tall legs and the obligatory crown top. There was another one, shorter (3 units) but a bit wider, that was $1050. The larger, standard oak cases (just one shelf taller) were around $1250 each.

Most of my shelving is built-in, made out of cedar. Durable and not terribly expensive (at least in terms of the amount of storage space it provides). The nice thing about some of the stand-alone units that I have been able to pick up over the years to fill in the walls without built-in shelves is the quality of the materials, craftsmanship and detail work that you just don't see anymore.

Years ago I bought a couple of tall units from a store that sold unfinished solid pine furniture and would then finish it for you for a price. About the price that you mentioned, if I remember correctly. They did good work, but for some reason went out of business. And then the building they were in was torn down and replaced by...a vacant lot? Somebody needs to tell me how that makes economic sense. It's been vacant for at least 10 years, so it's not like there were any definite plans for its immediate re-use. Oh well.

Posted by: CQD at January 18, 2015 04:00 PM (2dzsA)

324 Best Conservative book I've read in a long time is 'The Giver' by Lois Lowery.
Yeah they made it into a movie starring Jeff Bridges.
The book brings out the nuances of Liberal Society carried to it's ultimate fruition.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: Retired Geezer at January 18, 2015 04:02 PM (Jhu5R)

325 Lowery = Lowry

Posted by: Retired Geezer at January 18, 2015 04:03 PM (Jhu5R)

326 yeah Polliwog ... I could learn much more by reading .. but only hands on experience allows us to understand. Those that use the "Uncle Tom" accusation (for Sowell, Rice, or Justice Thomas, for example) are clueless. Much of Christianity has a basis in "slavery" to God. My old group from decades ago used to want to be a "doulos" (slave) for God.

And now real world use of lawyers to make gun producers submit, or the left's boycotts or kneecapping to make "freedom fighters" submit ... is real world "slavery". We don't see that as forced submission, as we only know the evil PC version of slavery ... bad masters that beat their slaves. But the harsh realities of even a few centuries back have popes torturing souls into submission, so how enslaved were those good Catholics? This continues today in the unreformed Islamic community, or perhaps Putin's war against the Ukraine.

Books can enlighten and they can brainwash. While I don't believe the Bible is "God breathed", our western culture needs to learn much from those roots and historic foundations. But differentiating a top down "Biblical culture" (or commie core culture), from a hands on decentralized government, where practical men in with in the field experience rule ... is essential. We can be more free than ever, if we can learn to think independently of PC domination.

The young guys blogging need to listen to the "generals" in the field ... for whatever that's worth.

When I figure it out I'll write my epistle and all will be well. lol

Posted by: Illiniwek at January 18, 2015 04:26 PM (JWHJX)

327 "decentralized government, where practical men in with in the field experience rule"

screwed that up ...

I mean ... decentralized government ... practical "Daniel Boones" need to rule, not top down government, whether Christian (popes) or PC religion commies. Being well read is half the battle ... thank God for our founders. Academia has proven that books alone lead to fantasy and communism, but we need souls with executive experience, not community organizers.

Even the well read lawyers/opinion folks of FOX have little experience in real life, more in litigation. That is helpful, but is still not sufficient. O'Reilly is a news guy, others have legal experience ... how many small business types?

Sunday beer rant ...

Posted by: Illiniwek at January 18, 2015 04:39 PM (JWHJX)

328 295
One of my favorite Stories is First Cycle. Two civs go nuke on each other.

Grassheads vs the kittens. Gave my copy away many years ago, wish I hadn't.

Posted by: Anachronda at January 18, 2015 06:26 PM (o78gS)

329
Mr Scribbler, just popped back by after the Green Bay/Seattle game.

Definitely agree Rand should have had an editor that talked her into publishing "A is A" as a separate non fiction offering!

Kerouac, Ginsburg and the like, weren't they too busy deliberately playingjazz with words? The 50s/early 60s version of a Joycean stream?

Posted by: barbarausa at January 18, 2015 06:50 PM (DyGWm)

330 I read Kavalier and Klay a long time ago and though I don't remember it exactly, it was a great book.

Posted by: JeanAbbas at January 19, 2015 04:19 PM (EKyBx)

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