Sunday Morning Book Thread 09-06-2015: Drought Conditions [OregonMuse]

Library of Congress

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The Sunday Morning Book Thread is the only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Also, assless chaps don't count. Serious you guys. Kilts are OK, though. But not tutus. Unless you're a girl.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.
-Abraham Lincoln

TRIGGER WARNING this week for pointing out that flushing millions of gallons of water during an extended period of drought is evidence of severe governmental incompetence.

Health warning: reading the book thread excessively may cause your bank account to shrink alarmingly. Just read this sad testimonial from last week's thread:

395 I usually only buy something every now and then after reading the book thread. Most of it goes on my wish list.

But today, after following through on links and recommendations, I've spent over $300 and ignored all the stuff on my to-do list. At least I should be covered until Christmas.

* Next week, I shall lock away my debit card and set a kitchen timer or something.

( . . . Aw, who am I kidding . . . .)

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at August 30, 2015 02:54 PM (NqQAS)

Don't let this happen to you. Read responsibly.

All The Leaves Are Brown

California is currently in its third (or is it fourth?) year of drought, with no relief in site. Water has always been a problem in California, particularly the southern part of the state.

Los Angeles, California is a very unnatural city. There are probably two or three definitions of 'unnatural' that would fit here, and I think I mean them all. But what I primarily had in mind is water. Most large cities are built by large water supplies, i.e. rivers, oceans, and lakes. But Los Angeles has none of these natural sources nearby, it is just stuck out there in the desert, far away from anything. The original settlement was built along the Los Angeles River, but that was proving to be inadequate as early as 1900. That whole part of southern California is mostly semi-arid wasteland, that is, before irrigation.

L.A. may have started out small village, but it got big real fast. From the wikipedia entry:

By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000,[28] putting pressure on the city's water supply.[29] The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city.[30]

And therein lies a tale...

Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles by Les Standiford tells the story of Irish immigrant William Mulholland, who, beginning in 1907

conceived and built one of the greatest civil engineering feats in history: the aqueduct that carried water 223 miles from the Sierra Nevada mountains to Los Angeles - allowing this small, resource-challenged desert city to grow into a modern global metropolis. Drawing on new research, Les Standiford vividly captures the larger-then-life engineer and the breathtaking scope of his six-year, $23 million project that would transform a region, a state, and a nation at the dawn of its greatest century.

Mulholland was quite a man:

[A] penniless Dublin immigrant who made his way west as a stowaway on a passenger ship, personifies the American rags-to-riches tale, working from a position as a ditchdigger to become chief engineer of the Los Angeles Water Company. Confronted with a decade-long drought that threatened his adopted city's future, the self taught Mulholland found the answer in the rushing snow melt from the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, nearly 250 miles away. He proposed to build an aqueduct that would outdo any such ever conceived, one that would carry an entire river from its source to Los Angeles, through mountains, over chasms, and across an alternately freezing and blistering terra incognita, because he believed it was the city's only hope.

But what is good for the city of Los Angeles is not necessarily good for ranching and agriculture in the Owens Valley, from where the aqueduct was taking water. The ensuing conflicts between the City of Los Angeles and the farmers and ranchers of the Owens Valley whose livelihoods were threatened by the aquaduct project, and the political chicanery involved in securing water rights, dubbed The California Water Wars, are legendary. A historically inaccurate version of this formed the backstory of the 1974 movie Chinatown.

Mulholland's career ended in 1928 when the St. Francis Dam collapsed a mere 12 hours after he inspected it. The resulting flood killed an estimated 600 people, over 100 of whom were minors.

I was impressed by how he handled failure:

Mulholland took full responsibility for what has been called the worst U.S. civil engineering disaster of the 20th century and resigned at the end of 1929.[32] During the Los Angeles Coroner's Inquest he said, "this inquest is a very painful for me to have to attend but it is the occasion of that is painful. The only ones I envy about this whole thing are the ones who are dead."[33] In later testimony, after responding to a question he added, "Whether it is good or bad, don't blame anyone else, you just fasten it on me. If there was an error in human judgment, I was the human, I won't try to fasten it on anyone else."[34]

Even though the inquest exonerated him, Mulholland's career was finished. He quietly retired in 1929.

I suspect that if a civil disaster of that magnitude happened today, the man or men in Mulholland's position would be spending the rest of their lives in prison, or bankrupt, or both, regardless of whether or not they were actually culpable. The pressure to punish those in charge would be far greater than any court or politician could resist. And this doesn't take into consideration the sorry state of liability law, which would bring out swarms of class-action lawyers like maggots on roadkill.

Watchman Review - And A New Blog

"Cut. Jib. Newsletter". You see this a lot in the comments on this blog. For you n00bs who may not know what this means or where it came from, it is shorthand for the longer sentence "I like the cut of your jib, and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter", which a moron may post in response to a particularly pithy or trenchant comment by another. It is generally considered a compliment, assuming it's offered unironically.

Anyway, I did not know there was a conservative blog by this name. And not only that, the CJN cobs are well-known morons: CBD, J.J. Sefton, Jay Guevara, and tsrblke. They describe themselves as "opinionated", but:

...those opinions will almost always be informed by the US Constitution, by the concept of individual freedom and responsibility, and by a healthy suspicion of anyone who tells us that “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

As I said, I never knew this blog existed. But then tsrblke e-mailed and told me he'd like me to mention the brief review of the new Harper Lee novel Go Set A Watchman that he wrote a few days ago and that the rest of you morons might like to read. I told him I'd be glad to.

So here it is.

And while you're over there, you should have a look around at some of the other articles written by these fine morons. For example, this piece by Jay Guevara exploring the origins of the "hyphenated-American" phenomenon is where I learned of the book School of Darkness, the autobiography of Bella Dodd, a remarkable woman who in her early years was an ardent communist and a "community organizer" on steroids. Not only was she an apparatchik in the Communist Party, Dodd was also for a time the head of New York State Teachers' Union, which Guevara notes was "pretty much the same thing." Later on, Dodd underwent a political and religious conversion. She became an equally ardent anti-communist, also joined the Roman Catholic Church. The subtitle of her autobiography is "the record of a life and of a conflict between two faiths", which makes her, in Guevara's words, "sort of a distaff version of Whitaker Chambers".

Her wikipedia entry notes:

The New York Times reported on March 8, 1954 that Bella Dodd "...warned yesterday that the 'materialistic philosophy,' [i.e., dialectical materialism] which she said was now guiding public education, would eventually demoralize the nation."[8]

So she was a prophet, too.

The Kindle version of School of Darkness is available for $2.99. Or you can read it for free online here.

[Update: The reason I had never heard of the CJN blog is because it's relatively new. In fact, it's only been around for a few weeks. Now I don't feel so bad.]

Serialization

I've mentioned the books of author Anne Cleeland before, notably her "New Scotland Yard Mystery Series", Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 are all available on Kindle. She's written a new book and has decided to serialize it and make it available on her blog as a freebie. The main character of The Bengal Bridegift is Juno Payne, a timid and shy girl who

has lived an uneventful life growing up in Calcutta--her father's home port during those rare times when he wasn't at sea, trading for the East India Company. But news of her father's death--and the cloud of scandal surrounding it--has suddenly made Juno the center of attention, as various factions attempt to seize her supposed bridegift--a fabulous cache of diamonds.

Miss Payne is forced to flee with an unlikely ally - a Barbary pirate, who may or may not also be after the diamonds himself.

Chapter 1 is already up, more chapters will follow periodically.

Poetry In Motion

I don't think any of you morons are going to be buying this book, and I'm not, either, but I'm just mentioning it because I thought the creative idea behind it was interesting. Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion takes the responses made by professional athletes during post-game interviews, the sad, the silly, the profound, and turns them into poetry.

Like this:

HOW BEAT UP ARE YOU?

Kevin Garnett

I’m beat up,
John. I’m beat up.
I’m beat up.
I’m—
I’m beat up.

I’m out there,
I suit up every night.
I suit up every night.
Banged up, hurt, whatever.

A hundred percent, thirty percent:
Ain’t no numbers.
It’s in my heart
And you can’t measure that.

I’m losing.
I’m losing.
I’m losing.
I’m losing.

Athletes do sometimes say goofy stuff during the post-game. They're mostly bone tired, high on endorphins, and maybe even injured, so I guess the authors of this book figure, hey, why not have a little fun at their expense?

Other examples of this new art form can be found here.

Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion will be released in October.

Fan Mail

I liked this response by author Edgar Rice Burroughs to a young fan who told him his teacher thought that most of Burroughs' books were garbage. It is yet another skirmish in the "popular culture vs. high-brow culture" wars.

Last year I followed the English course prescribed for my two sons, who are in college. The required reading seemed to have been selected for the sole purpose of turning the hearts of young people against books. That, however, seems to be a universal pedagogical complex: to make the acquiring of knowledge a punishment, rather than a pleasure.

The 14-year old fan who wrote to Burroughs was Forrest J Ackerman, who went on to become one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters, as well as accumulating one of the most extraordinary science fiction book and movie memorabilia collections. The plaque on his grave simply reads, "Sci-Fi Was My High."

Books By Morons

Long-time moron commenter (and author, natch) Christopher Taylor has finished his latest novel. Life Unworthy is a supernatural thriller set in WW2 Poland:

When poison gas was delivered to a shower in Birkenau, the camp guards expected death, but what came out of that concrete chamber was far worse. Now the Fuhrer has demanded the monster be tracked down and destroyed, but a German scientist has other ideas for how it may be used for the third Reich. And the Werewolf has plans of his own.

Caught in the middle is the city of Krakow and its citizens striving to survive under the brutal, murderous Nazi regime. In that city is Aniela Wisniewski, a 'pianist' feeding snippets of information to the British. As events unfold, terror spreads over the city with Aniela at its center, a terror racing to an inconceivable conclusion!

I've never heard that lycanthropy was a potential side-effect of exposure to Zyklon-B, but if the Nazis had discovered this, it's not like they would have told anyone, right?

Right?

Life Unworthy is available for pre-order on Amazon. The release date is September 21st. You can also read bits of the book in serialized form on Wattpad, added to twice a week until the release date. Just click here.

What I'm Reading

My church's men's group has started reading C.S. Lewis' book the Abolition of Man, which has been mentioned a number of times in the book thread comments as of late.

The backstory to Abolition is, as Lewis explains at the beginning, that some educational book publisher comped him a copy of one of their English textbooks for students in the "upper forms" (what we would call high school). The authors use an old anecdote involving the poets Wordsworth and Coleridge to attempt to show that nobody can ever really say anything except about his or her own feelings. Lewis brilliantly unpacks this attempt at decconstruction (he calls it 'debunking') to show that (a) what this amounts to, if carried out to its logical end, is the destruction of all values, but also (b) the authors always exempt their own values from the 'debunking' criticism they heartily dish out to everyone else, even though there is no rational reason for this exclusion.

TAOM was first published in 1947, and I think that what Lewis was detecting was the first whiff of the poison gas we now know as postmodernism, and its bastard stepchild, deconstructionism. Lewis spent almost his entire life in academia, where PM first germinated, so naturally he would see it first, like a canary in the coal mine of modern philosophy.

A good intro/synopsis of the book can be read here.

___________

A hard-boiled detective with unresolved issues from his past is drinking in a seedy Los Angeles bar when he is approached by a mysterious and beautiful woman who wants to hire him to prove that her brother's suicide was actually a murder. This is obviously not an original plot, but the year is 2063 and so it's not so much Mickey Spillane as it is Blade Runner. Well, perhaps it's fair to say that Dome City Blues by Jeff Edwards is a bit of both. If you're a fan of the 'noire' detective fiction genre, you'll probably like this book, even though it's set in the near future. Although the chapter where the main character had to track down a lead in a pedophile bar, although not explicit, was pretty creepy, I thought. So I'll issue a warning for that, and also for the R-rated sex scene in the following chapter.

As of today (Saturday), it is available for 99 cents on Kindle.

___________

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 08:59 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I believe this is appropriate for a book thread.

The most creative bookshelves:

http://bit.ly/1UA4IxV

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 06, 2015 08:59 AM (1xUj/)

2 I'm reading a book about Harlan Co. KY mining in the 1930s. The author says that people there are resilient. Not sure how generation upon generation of extreme poverty is resilient. Anyway, full of communism and nonsense, not sure I can finish reading it.

Posted by: NCKate at September 06, 2015 09:00 AM (Oa+Ky)

3 So I guess Leftifornia needs more people to help out the lack of water or something.

Posted by: skip at September 06, 2015 09:02 AM (JghBF)

4 OM, Thanks for the opening photo of the Library of Congress. It is, by far, my favorite building on DC and about the only reason I would ever go into the city again.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 09:02 AM (FvdPb)

5 TRIGGER WARNING this week for pointing out that flushing millions of gallons of water during an extended period of drought is evidence of severe governmental incompetence.

A CA Republican lawmaker said months ago that the problem wasn't drought. CA has long had droughts and water shortages. The problem is stupid laws passed by the Democrat controlled legislature.

And this week I am re-reading The Shadow of The Lion by Mercedes Lackey.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 09:05 AM (t2KH5)

6 >>>Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.-Abraham Lincoln

Books to serve man are cookbooks.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 06, 2015 09:07 AM (7OlRf)

7 'Chinatown' is also a documentary re: Los Angeles and water. 'Los Angeles is a desert community'.

Posted by: Jake Gittes at September 06, 2015 09:10 AM (gwG9s)

8 California isn't suffering a drought, it is a DESERT. It was mostly desert where all those people live when they first started settling there. They successfully irrigated for awhile but you can only tell the desert it's not a desert for so long. It got to be a desert in the first place BECAUSE IT GETS LESS RAIN. While they are building the wall down south they need to wall off the western mountain passes too, treat any who leak through like they treated the poor oakies back in the day.

Posted by: Joberg at September 06, 2015 09:12 AM (s79uE)

9 Morning Horde. We got lots of rain here this morning in WA so that means I relax inside and read the weekend edition of the WSJ and comment on AoS! Interesting bit about LA. Reminds me of a saying there is about the Middle East and how when the Arabs run out of oil the sands will reclaim their cities and they'll go back to living in tents.
At what point does LA and its surrounding cities begin to shrink? What will be the trigger point- higher utility bills (such as less, more expensive water?) a moronic city and state government? The giant earthquake that is supposed to strike? I don't know. Just glad I don't live there.

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier- a military sci-fi available on Anazon for $1. Cheap! at September 06, 2015 09:13 AM (eTvJc)

10 Greetings, O Morons of the Stately, etc. Book Thread!

I bring good news to the wallet-compromised. A nice juicy book sale this weekend, all $2.99 or *lower* including my own The Long Way Home for a mere 99 cents. You can find that in your sofa cushions, along with the cat you thought ran away and several remotes. List of the books in the link in my nic.

Recently discovered a highly entertaining YA series by Phillip Reeve, Larklight and sequels. Set in a world where the British Empire never died, it just went into space in aether-ships. Features moon mushrooms, young space pirates, a floating mansion (Larklight of the title) which has a cranky old gravity engine and an ancient secret, (TRIGGER WARNING FOR ATC) evil giant spiders wearing bowler hats, and extremely subtle and funny homages to "War of the Worlds" only from a human perspective. Extremely fun and highly recommended to the Horde.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 06, 2015 09:15 AM (GG9V6)

11 9 ... LA is welcome to shrink back to a semi-desert village. The problem is the stupid voters will just go infest somewhere else.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 09:16 AM (FvdPb)

12 Welcome back my friends to the ~~show that never ends~~ site that never quits loading.

All the leaves are brown
And the skies are gray... thanks to Geo engineering.

Back out
Leofb

Posted by: teej who wants a lab puppy at September 06, 2015 09:17 AM (xL9OZ)

13 10 Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 06, 2015 09:15 AM (GG9V6)

I got The Long Way Home a long time ago. Good book and well worth the 99 cents tag.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 09:21 AM (t2KH5)

14 The moral of the story if you live in a desert and want green lawns, a swimming pool, and millions of neighbors half which shouldn't be there do so at your own peril.

Posted by: skip at September 06, 2015 09:25 AM (JghBF)

15 After my marathon magazine reading phase, I started several books. "Flash" is about family having hard times who find an abandoned donkey on their driveway. (I know, that sounds strange.) But caring for the animal and watching it deal with its life teaches the author lessons about living from a Christian viewpoint. The book is touching and instructive even though not profound. And I have a soft spot for these animals. Years ago I delivered feed to small farms. One of them had a donkey who decided to adopt me. It was a sweet critter who has stayed in my mind for almost 40 years.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 09:30 AM (FvdPb)

16 I suspect that if a civil disaster of that magnitude happened today, the man or men in Mulholland's position would be spending the rest of their lives in prison, or bankrupt, or both, regardless of whether or not they were actually culpable.

I see no evidence whatsoever to support that notion. Nobody in positions of power today are ever held responsible for anything. Prison is for the dumbshit who robs a 7-11, not the guy who steals a billion dollars from a hedge fund.

I have to give Mulholland credit for admitting his culpability. Nobody does that anymore, either.

Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 09:30 AM (sdi6R)

17 reading Vox Day's Summa Elvetica currently, wherein a Christian journeys to the elf kingdoms to settle whether elves have souls or not.

interestingly for the kindle edition, Vox ends with a note that it was originally meant to be a trilogy and then the typical kindle end matter appears - but I'd noticed an end page, and, digging further, there's an easter egg of excerpts from other chapters. Narratives of elf conversions, battles and so forth

Posted by: Bigby's Knuckle Sandwich at September 06, 2015 09:32 AM (Cq0oW)

18 Yay, book thread!

I'm reading Michael Z. Williamson's temporal displacement novel "A Long Time From Now", in which a 10-member convoy in Afghanistan (eight soldiers, one sailor and one airman) is whisked back in time to the Stone Age.

They have enough supplies to last for a while but they are slowly realizing that they may never return to the present time and have to make long-term decisions for their survival. They are determined to remain 21st Century people and maintain discipline. They possess a wide range of skills and interests, as people in these stories always do - medicine, animal husbandry, astronomy, engineering, anthropology, herbal lore, foraging, and comms tech. One thing I love is that a couple of the folks read SF and are mentally prepared for the weird, even discussing possible scenarios. This lends some verite to the story for me as I've had many skiffy discussions on mids.

They've had some interaction with a small group of neolithic hunter-gatherers, but now they've just met a band of soldiers from the Iron Age, supporting speculation that their situation wasn't a random space-time hiccup.

Compulsively readable and I've stayed up way too late the last couple nights. Just one more chapter!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:32 AM (jR7Wy)

19 JTB- WA has been plagued for years by the influx of Californians who sell their 1200 sq ft rambler for $700k then come up here a buy a mansion. All the while voting dem and turning our once red state a deep blue. Oregon suffers the same problem.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 09:33 AM (jI1b1)

20 18
I'm reading Michael Z. Williamson's temporal displacement novel "A Long Time From Now", in which a 10-member convoy in Afghanistan (eight soldiers, one sailor and one airman) is whisked back in time to the Stone Age.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:32 AM (jR7Wy)

Wait. How could they tell?

Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 09:33 AM (sdi6R)

21 I'm going to make a comment before reading because I was late to the party last week and wanted to comment about The Teaching Company Great Courses. I've been through several of the literature, philosophy and Bible ones. Some are leftist, but I don't find that bothersome, because it gives me a different view, but enlightening ask the same. I recommend then highly. I'm watching a DVD series The Renaissance, The Reformation, and The Rise of Nations. Andrew Fix is the lecturer and he is very very good. I find then at the library, but you can also request them from other libraries. Big fan of the Great Courses.

Posted by: Auntie Doodles at September 06, 2015 09:35 AM (teYv/)

22 Wait. How could they tell?
Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 09:33 AM (sdi6R)
---

Ha ha! Many jokes to that effect. But spotting the woolly rhino kind of settled that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:36 AM (jR7Wy)

23 Reading "The Return of the Great Depression" by Vox Day. I didn't know he has a degree in Economics. It's interesting and a pretty easy read for a book on economics.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 06, 2015 09:37 AM (Lqy/e)

24 Jack Du Brul recently released the latest Philip Mercer adventure book, the first one in several years. He's been co-writing the Oregon Files series with Clive Cussler for a decade. (Their styles were always similar and it was a good fit. The Oregon Files books are my favorite of the co-written series.) This one starts, as usual, with an historic aspect, shifts to modern day, and begins the non-stop roller coaster action. And I'm only 30 pages in. I like over the top action thrillers and this looks to be another good one.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 09:37 AM (FvdPb)

25 But spotting the woolly rhino

*whooshing sound as a euphemism goes over my head*

Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 06, 2015 09:38 AM (1xUj/)

26 Library of Congress -- one of the many reasons we hope D.C. just gets hit by an EMP and not a hard blast.

I mean, if those are the choices. Rather than the loss, I'd much rather see Fed Gov moved to north-central Nebraska, and D.C. turned into a museum. Alas, it would probably be the United States of America Memorial Museum.

Milady had a couple of book reviews she wanted to proffer today, but I think the week got too busy for her to write 'em.

Posted by: mindful webworker - self-authorizing at September 06, 2015 09:40 AM (yCZVl)

27 20- ha! Minus the beat up Toyota trucks and half ass soviet concrete buildings, Afghanistan looks about the same as when Alexander the Great tore through there. As for the people? About the same as you can imagine. You know, a humble mix of wife beaters, inbreds, pederasts etc. whose national game is swatting the head of a goat or sheep around a dirt field a la polo style.
Yeah I don't miss that place.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 09:41 AM (jI1b1)

28 Hey all. I just wanted to drop in and say a big thank you to everyone who downloaded Just Another Oppressor last week. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'm thinking of it as a bit of a teaser for a full length book of short stories. Next up Suicide Selifes.

As for what I'm reading...right now a Better Homes and Gardens magazine dedicated to organizational tips. Get off my lawn!

Posted by: Lauren at September 06, 2015 09:42 AM (LzzEz)

29 *whooshing sound as a euphemism goes over my head*
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 06, 2015 09:38 AM (1xUj/)
---
I'm ashamed that I, of all people, didn't even see the possibilities in that one!

*hangs pervy head in shame*

*oh there's another one!*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:42 AM (jR7Wy)

30 I like the cut of my jib.

Posted by: Weasel at September 06, 2015 09:45 AM (e3bId)

31 Watching "Back To School"

Rodney Dangerfield is at least on a par with Shakespeare

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 09:46 AM (DUoqb)

32 31- only advanced divers perform the Triple Lindy

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 09:47 AM (jI1b1)

33 Sabrina, Thanks for mentioning "The Long Way Home" at such a great price. It's now in the Kindle with several of your others awaiting its turn in the barrel.

Do you anticipate any more "Bureau of Substandard" stories? They were a hoot!

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 09:48 AM (FvdPb)

34 The two agreed that the Syrian conflict would continue in New York later this month.

Posted by: James Carville at September 06, 2015 09:48 AM (e8kgV)

35 I suspect that if a civil disaster of that magnitude happened today, the
man or men in Mulholland's position would be spending the rest of their
lives in prison, or bankrupt, or both, regardless of whether or not
they were actually culpable. The pressure to punish those in charge
would be far greater than any court or politician could resist. And this
doesn't take into consideration the sorry state of liability law, which
would bring out swarms of class-action lawyers like maggots on
roadkill.

What a lovely imagination you have.

Posted by: Kathleen Blanco at September 06, 2015 09:49 AM (IN7k+)

36 Watching "Z Nation" on Netflix.

I'll be exposing myself to High Art later today, so it all balances out.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:49 AM (jR7Wy)

37 Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Posted by: Groucho Marx at September 06, 2015 09:51 AM (LUgeY)

38 27
whose national game is swatting the head of a goat or sheep around a dirt field a la polo style.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 09:41 AM (jI1b1)

I think that's actually how polo was invented. I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

In all seriousness, thank you for your service.

Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 09:53 AM (sdi6R)

39 An obviously angered Clark responded, "If you disagree with a decision you are welcome to speak up, you have more than earned the right to do so, but this is out of line and not how we do things here."

That's when Roker made his mistake.

The weatherman intended to reply only to Clark, but instead hit the "reply all" button and sent the following message:

"Really David. You want to try and spank me in front of people. You want to do this?" he wrote.

Realizing his mistake, Roker quickly apologized.

"Folks, I want to apologize if I embarrassed anyone. I didn't mean for this to be a public argument," he wrote. "I replied on a cc: that I didn't mean to. We all want the same thing, best possible product, and a real outcome for our viewers. Hey, the good news is, you all read your emails."

Clark accepted his apology, writing, "Thank you for that Al, respect. We are all on edge right now. Don't mind open dissent when constructive and we want your best thinking on this storm. As you say, let's get focused on making the best product and move forward and thank you for being on the team."

But days later, Roker's show, "Wake Up with Al," was cancelled for what the station said were monetary reasons.

Roker's show was the only one produced in New York, where costs are high.

Posted by: Weather Good Guy at September 06, 2015 09:56 AM (e8kgV)

40 Pet Peeve alert!

"Sierra Nevada Mountains" is redundant.

"Sierra" means mountains or mountain range in Spanish!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 09:56 AM (Zu3d9)

41 I suspect that if a civil disaster of that magnitude happened today, the
man or men in Mulholland's position would be spending the rest of their
lives in prison, or bankrupt, or both,

Really?

Katrina + Army Corp of Engineers + Democrats + Media = Bush's fault.

Posted by: DaveA at September 06, 2015 09:57 AM (DL2i+)

42 Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 09:56 AM (Zu3d9)
---
Like "Manos: Hands of Fate".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 09:58 AM (jR7Wy)

43 I'll be exposing myself ....
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Pics or it didn't happen!

Posted by: Turd Ferguson at September 06, 2015 09:58 AM (PEFlK)

44 And who's "High Art"?

Posted by: Turd Ferguson at September 06, 2015 10:00 AM (PEFlK)

45 Ah ... I grew up in So Cal - so know about the shenanigans regarding the Owens Valley water, and how LA started as a little settlement on an erratically-flooding river. The joke was that the LA River only has water in it when it rains.
Honestly, I think there was a drought more often than not, when I was growing up. When my parents were building their retirement house in Valley Center (near Escondido) they were doing so in the middle of a six-year long drought, and my mother very sensibly designed the landscaping (which was done long before the house was done) to be low to no additional water use xerioscaping. Only sensible thing to do, in that case.

I haven't gotten around to reading much this week, aside from reviewing a book about how to build custom kitchen cabinetry. Too busy working on two of my own, to be released in time for the Christmas purchasing season. I have sample chapters from "Sunset and Steel Rails" and "Chronicles of Luna City" on my book website. Sunset is the adventures of a young woman coming west in the late 1800s as a Harvey Girl, and Luna City is about the doings of a small South Texas town.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 06, 2015 10:01 AM (95iDF)

46 38- rickl- thanks for the props. Wish I could say my small contribution to the war made a difference, but alas, A. Is about the same as when i went there in 2002. What we don't seem to understand about the culture of the Middle East is that it's all based in tribes and they've never asked for a republican form of government. And the last 14 years have have shown they really don't want a republic be it Iraq or Afghanistan.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 10:02 AM (jI1b1)

47 43 I'll be exposing myself ....
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Pics or it didn't happen!
Posted by: Turd Ferguson at September 06, 2015 09:58 AM (PEFlK)
---
I got an NEA grant!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 10:03 AM (jR7Wy)

48 "Most large cities are built by large water supplies, i.e. rivers, oceans, and lakes. But Los Angeles has none of these natural sources nearby..."

I'm pretty sure there's one of those big ocean thingys quite close to Los Angeles.

Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:06 AM (ydnTo)

49 ynot writes for cut.jib.newletter too, doesn't she?

Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at September 06, 2015 10:07 AM (0O7c5)

50 If any kind of disaster like a dam collapse happened today, those at the tippy top would be saying "I take full responsibility" but not a one of them would have the simple human decency to fall on his sword. They would keep their jobs and minions below would be blamed. But the guys at the top would totally skate. I would not blame investigators for this necessarily, but I would blame the bastards at the top who never ever take real responsibility for anything.

I got a yen to re-read "'Salems Lot" by Stephen King. It's choppy, which I had not recalled, although it's building slowly.

And I'm in the middle of "Don't Make the Black Kids Angry" by Colin Flaherty which is depressing as all get-out. The press tries so hard to hide black crime but they make it so obvious with the race-based version of the "Name That Party" game.

I commented on the paper one time that I wondered if the Hispanic man who was arrested for a string of rapes was here legally or not. I was, of course, called racist. And it turns out he's not legal - he and his wife tried to file a bogus claim for political asylum which was turned down, but this is a sanctuary city so he was still here to rape.

Posted by: Tonestaple at September 06, 2015 10:07 AM (dCTrv)

51 12 - the only post in history to combine Emerson, Lake & Palmer with Mama's and Papa's. That would have been an interesting concert.

Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:10 AM (ydnTo)

52 Afghanistan in Alexander's time?

A very good "historical" novel is "The Afghan Campaign", by Steven Pressfield.
It does not end well, and there is no happy ending possible now, either.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....lost in America at September 06, 2015 10:10 AM (+1T7c)

53 "26
Library of Congress -- one of the many reasons we hope D.C. just gets hit by an EMP and not a hard blast.

I mean, if those are the choices. Rather than the loss, I'd much
rather see Fed Gov moved to north-central Nebraska, and D.C. turned into
a museum. Alas, it would probably be the United States of America
Memorial Museum.

Milady had a couple of book reviews she wanted to proffer today, but I think the week got too busy for her to write 'em.

Posted by: mindful webworker - self-authorizing at September 06, 2015 09:40 AM (yCZVl)"

I actually have a more modest proposal. Because of advances in computers, virtualization and communications, there is no longer any reason for most of the work government does to be concentrated in the DC area. That means that, and I love this part, almost all government work can be done in the congressional districts of powerful congressmen. Robert Byrd was ahead of the curve in getting various large bureaucracies, such as Social Security, moved to West Virginia but Byrd was a remarkable man and not everybody can do that.

My modest proposal would be to outsource that sort of thing to private companies who will lavish massive amounts of money onto Congressmen to get the contracts and the Congressmen just have to extract a commitment to locate the outsourced business in their district. Initially the government workers will be transferred to the private companies at the same salaries and with the same seniority, accumulated sick days and vacation. One crucial difference is, of course, that employees of private companies do not get secure lifetime tenure and it is a whole lot easier to fire them. I expect that within five years after being privatized, fully two thirds of the former government workers will be fired or retired but, hey, government workers could amaze me with their diligence, hard work, creativity and work ethic.

The beauty of this plan is that it puts the baser incentives of the system to work in the interest of the American people. Congressmen taking bribes to empty out DC and bring jobs to their home district is something that everybody ought to find appealing, except for the federal employees who would lose their rent seeker advantage. The only alternative seems to be the nuclear destruction of DC and, as you point out, the loss of the National Archives and the Smithsonian would be tragic.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at September 06, 2015 10:12 AM (QHgTq)

54 This week I read Ted Cruz's campaign book, A Time For Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America. Full disclosure: Ted Cruz is, and always has been, my first choice for the Republican nomination.

In the introduction, Cruz describes the behind the scenes maneuvering in February, 2014 to raise the national debt ceiling. It shows how Washington works, how corrupt it is, and how ineffectual the Republican leadership is. The book is worth reading just for this.

The book has three sections. In the first few chapters, Cruz tells his family's story of living in Cuba and then coming to America. The second part describes his professional career. It shows what ideas and principles Ted fought for and what is important to him. The last chapter describes what must be done to fix the Obama damage and what must be done to win in 2016.

This is an interesting book and serves to introduce Cruz to the electorate without the filter of the MSM.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 06, 2015 10:13 AM (THsLo)

55 A great drought novel, set in Texas, and, I think

recommended on one of the recent top conservative novel lists is:

"The Time It Never Rained" by Elmer Kelton

Here's the blurb from amazon:

"...And Rio Seco, meaning "dry river" in Spanish, symbolizes the biggest enemy of the ranchers and farmers in 1950s Texas, an enemy they can't control: drought. To cranky Charlie Flagg, an honest, decent rancher, the drought of the early 1950s is a battle that he must fight on his own grounds. Refusing the questionable "assistance" of federal aid programs and their bureaucratic regulations, Charlie and his family struggle to make the ranch survive until the time it rains again--if it ever rains again."

It really is a great read.

And if you like it. Kelton has several other very good novels to check out.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 06, 2015 10:13 AM (KUa85)

56 50- tone- called a racist for daring to ask whether someone is a U.S. Citizen. The new lib mantra- just like disagreeing with Obama = racist Kkk.
I gotta hand it to slick Willie when the Motor Voter bill was passed- how many thousands of illegals have registered and voted? How many elections were lost to Dems due to it?

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 10:13 AM (jI1b1)

57 "48
"Most large cities are built by large water supplies, i.e. rivers,
oceans, and lakes. But Los Angeles has none of these natural sources
nearby..."

I'm pretty sure there's one of those big ocean thingys quite close to Los Angeles.

Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:06 AM (ydnTo)"

Let them drink sea water with their cake.

Posted by: Marie Antoinette at September 06, 2015 10:14 AM (QHgTq)

58 ynot writes for cut.jib.newletter too, doesn't she?
Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at September 06, 2015 10:07 AM (0O7c5)

I did not see her name listed on the CJN list of cobs.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 10:15 AM (S+LWk)

59 An unintended consequence of Ace's
comment in Shakespearean English the other day, which was fun to read, was to get me thinking about the Bard. I've seen several of the plays at theaters and in movies these last few years. But, aside from the Sonnets, I haven't just read any of his work as literature since college. Too damn long a time.

I dug out my ancient copy of the "Riverside Shakespeare" which I always preferred to most of the other 'complete works', especially the Oxford edition. Over the next few years I want to work my way through all the plays, taking my time and savoring the words and their effects. And since they were meant to be heard, not read, I may recite passages as the mood strikes. It's only Mrs. JTB and myself in the house and she is used to my weirdness by now so no one will be disturbed. I used to be pretty good at dramatic reading in college. It might be fun to do a bit of it again for my own amusement.

I'm torn as to where to start: Hamlet, Midsummer, the Scottish play, or Much Ado.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 10:15 AM (FvdPb)

60 Finished reading Armada by Cline and Angles of Attack by Kloos.

Currently reading Childhood's End and Seveneves. Why does Stephenson feel the need to describe everything even if it's pointless. Does he get paid by the word?

Posted by: NJRob at September 06, 2015 10:16 AM (SYMCn)

61 Sarah Hoyt has a book promo thread and sale at her site:

Posted by: SDN at September 06, 2015 10:18 AM (p/ktF)

62 Damn this lousy linker.

http://accordingtohoyt.com/2015/09/05/second-annual-labor-day-indie-author-sale

Posted by: SDN at September 06, 2015 10:18 AM (p/ktF)

63 I'm pretty sure there's one of those big ocean thingys quite close to Los Angeles.
Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:06 AM (ydnTo)

Not exactly. Los Angeles itself is not all that close to the ocean, and did not start out as a seaport town.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 10:19 AM (S+LWk)

64 What, no review of the Necrinomicon? Why do you guys hate H.P. Lovecraft?

I have a copy of that bound in human skin and it keeps flying around the room and biting me.

I tried to nail it with my 'Boom Stick" but it's a quick sucker.

BTW they are making a new "Evil Dead Movie" the 4th movie in the former trilogy . I have popcorn waiting to be popped for that.

Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 10:19 AM (Syp+M)

65 52 Afghanistan in Alexander's time?

A very good "historical" novel is "The Afghan Campaign", by Steven Pressfield.
It does not end well, and there is no happy ending possible now, either.

Bossy- I can imagine. Afghanistan isn't called the graveyard of empires for nothing. A great book on the Ghan- one which I read while over there- is called The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. He mentioned that Alexander was so impressed with the mountain tribes ability to fight that he built a commemorative pillar that still stood into the 20th century. The only force to truly conquer that area was good ol Genghis khan. His tactics need no explanation here.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 10:20 AM (eTvJc)

66 I'm reading "Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty" right now. The book seems well-researched. Cobb has long been shunned as a vile racist. Apparently, it's not true (many stories made up or embellished by a previous biographer).

Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:21 AM (ydnTo)

67 If only there were some way to economically distill ocean water into potable water.

But, this would require a reliable economic source of power.

Something along the order of a nuclear reactor.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 06, 2015 10:26 AM (VPLuQ)

68 If anyone would like to write a review of my novel Life Unworthy - even post it on Amazon and other sites once its live - let me know through email and I will send you a free copy. I am not terribly great at this publicity thing but I'm trying to learn.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 10:28 AM (39g3+)

69 67 I saw what you did there.

Posted by: Kate58 at September 06, 2015 10:28 AM (oLZsm)

70 Listened to Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson, a very entertaining YA title similar to a Harry Potter book, but math and drawing with chalk form the basis for magic in this world. Sanderson plans to make it a series but on his blog says the next book will have to wait until he's done more research.

Listened to Dracula by Bram Stoker, which starts strong and has a fine ending, but I found the middle of the book doesn't have enough Dracula. OK but not great.

Read Golden Isis by Anastasia Atelier (Anna Puma), which is based in 1930's NYC. A mystery involving a golden statue of Isis and men willing to kill to get it, it's a fun adventure story, reminding me a bit of Indiana Jones and the Maltese Falcon.

Will have to check out Sabrina Chase's Labor Day sale, though already have her sci-fi trilogy (not yet read).

Posted by: waelse1 at September 06, 2015 10:30 AM (Giuas)

71 The Humongous Idiot rulez the Wasteland (that would be Jerry Brown, natch).

I've been on a slow book journey over the last year to (re)read the first 96 books of The Destroyer series, a journey my dad began but never got to finish. I'm at #92, copyrighted 1993. Each book features one or villains, frequently new but sometimes recycled. One new villain from just a few books back was The Donald, aka Ronald Rumpf. They were not kind to him. Heh.

Former Gubner Moonbeam also makes an appearance in another book a few back from Trump, but he was adjudged by the author as too unlikely to make it to villain level, so he was merely a provider of comic relief as the theme of the book was to have the current gubner/Lt. gubner of CA die so that the villain could win the gubnership. Brown considers tossing his hat in the ring, to resounding laughter from all sides. This was VERY unprophetic, as it turns out.

*waves at CA*

Posted by: GnuBreed at September 06, 2015 10:30 AM (gyKtp)

72 Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 10:15 AM (S+LWk)

Y-not has had a very busy summer, but we hope to have her in the mix soon. I can't wait for her political analysis.

More facts....less vitriol!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 10:31 AM (Zu3d9)

73
The average human body consists o 55-60% water. There will be no water shortage.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 06, 2015 10:33 AM (iQIUe)

74 "46
38- rickl- thanks for the props. Wish I could say my small contribution
to the war made a difference, but alas, A. Is about the same as when i
went there in 2002. What we don't seem to understand about the culture
of the Middle East is that it's all based in tribes and they've never
asked for a republican form of government. And the last 14 years have
have shown they really don't want a republic be it Iraq or Afghanistan.

Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 10:02 AM (jI1b1)"

I look at Afghanistan as yet another lost opportunity. The people and culture of Afghanistan are a lot better adapted to their environment than anything we could introduce. The only way to change the people and culture of Afghanistan is by changing that environment. That is the sort of thing that takes a long term commitment and long term commitment is just not something that the American people are capable of doing. Therefore, the goal of the American presence in Afghanistan should have been to make that place valuable to somebody who can do long term commitment like the Chinese.

Afghanistan has resources but nothing that can't be obtained a lot easier and cheaper somewhere else. The worthlessness of the place is what has allowed the Afghan culture to survive. What Afghanistan has that cannot be obtained anywhere else is its location. A railroad across Afghanistan would allow the Chinese to send goods from western China to the port of Karachi and then on to any other port on earth. Trains could transport oil from the Caspian to western China. If enough Chinese commerce depended on the Afghan trains operating without interruption due to Afghan local political squabbles, the Chinese are ruthless enough to make sure those political squabbles do not interfere with the railroads.

What kind of political system and society would develop in Afghanistan? Who knows? Who cares? The American people are not willing to stay in Afghanistan long enough and invest the effort needed to build the sort of Afghan society they would like to see so let the Chinese handle it the way they want.

Oh, well.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at September 06, 2015 10:36 AM (QHgTq)

75 73

The average human body consists o 55-60% water. There will be no water shortage.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 06, 2015 10:33 AM (iQIUe)

i'm so going to use this.....brilliant!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at September 06, 2015 10:37 AM (0O7c5)

76 I recommend all of C.S. Lewis, but especially the Abolition of Man to all readers, everywhere. His destruction of the education system and explaining how and what happens to mankind explains how we went from rough cowboys to spray-tanned jersey boys that squeal like the princess and the pea about the tag on the back of our shirts.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 10:37 AM (39g3+)

77 5 A CA Republican lawmaker said months ago that the problem wasn't drought. CA has long had droughts and water shortages. The problem is stupid laws passed by the Democrat controlled legislature.
Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 09:05 AM (t2KH5)

Moonbeam, during his first stint as governor, cancelled the what I'll call the final phase of reservoirs pipelines that had been master planned. If they has been built, we'd be fine right now. Including all the illegal aliens that nobody knew would be here draining the system.

Notice also, they're still allowing additional water hookups. Don't have enough water for the people here but hey gotta have more taxpayers move in, so every destroy their toilets & yards by not flushing or watering.

Posted by: bebe's boobs destroy at September 06, 2015 10:38 AM (Vm8WO)

78 @67 Building a nuclear reactor along the San Andreas earthquake fault is an act of folly, especially on the ocean. They wouldn't, would they?

What? They did? Diablo Canyon?

Built to withstand a 7.5. Don't worry about tsunamis. A Fukushima-type event couldn't happen here, could it?

At lest they are decommissioning San Onofre.

I'm not against nukes, except on active faults and in tsunami zones.

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 10:39 AM (wEku6)

79 All tribal areas are familiar with republican governments - they send tribal representatives to the larger meetings, each representing the tribe as a whole. That part of the equation makes perfect sense to them.

The part that doesn't is the democracy - liberty, rights, etc. They can't work that out because its alien to them. It takes generations to grow to understand that.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 10:40 AM (39g3+)

80 73 Bruce-
We need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on amazon at September 06, 2015 10:40 AM (eTvJc)

81 50 >> And I'm in the middle of "Don't Make the Black Kids Angry" by Colin Flaherty which is depressing as all get-out.

Posted by: Tonestaple

Colin also writes for American Thinker. You can get a good sampling of his writings there if you're so inclined.

Posted by: GnuBreed at September 06, 2015 10:40 AM (gyKtp)

82 *waves to all and sundry*

Paperbacks of Loyal Valley: Captives are out: http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/1516830334
(I'm not at all sure whether the cover preview on the site means the front cover image is mis-sized again despite my best efforts--whenever I think I've got it right, CreateSpace messes with it. I'll see when my current order arrives.)

On tap for this week: Chretien de Troyes' Lancelot. Hoping certain students' imaginations will be engaged better than they were in the mythology unit!

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at September 06, 2015 10:41 AM (iuQS7)

83 Controlled water in CA is allocated (roughly) as follows: 10% cosmopolitan, 40% agri, 50% Moonbeam controlled. Usually the pundits do not include the last in their discussions. What could go wrong in an overpopulated state where the delta smelt is an icon? California--- saving the world one Prius at a time.

Posted by: Edmund Burke's Shade at September 06, 2015 10:45 AM (cmBvC)

84 If you're looking for a great version of the Camelot story without all the psychologizing of Once and Future King, check out Steinbeck's The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights. Its a terrific modern retelling of the legends without any modernistic interpretation or attempts to explain anything. Very entertaining and proves that Steinbeck doesn't have to be depressing.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 10:46 AM (39g3+)

85 Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 10:39 AM (wEku6)

Fukushima withstood the natural disasters rather well. It was the profoundly stupid design that caused the problem.

For example, they put the backup generators where they could be flooded by encroaching seawater. That's just short-sighted.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 10:46 AM (Zu3d9)

86 At lest they are decommissioning San Onofre.

I'm not against nukes, except on active faults and in tsunami zones.
Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 10:39 AM (wEku6)

Yeah, I marvel every time I pass San Onofre - was that really a good place to put a reactor?? If God forbid anything bad happened, depending on wind direction, the affected area would be uninhabited mountains.....or Orange County.

Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:47 AM (ydnTo)

87 Very few Californians know what is done with California's fresh water supply.

This is so because the folks in power make sure of it.

If the drought lasts one more year... hoo boy.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 06, 2015 10:48 AM (MQEz6)

88 9 The giant earthquake that is supposed to strike? I don't know. Just glad I don't live there.
Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier- a military sci-fi available on Anazon for $1. Cheap! at September 06, 2015 09:13 AM (eTvJc)

This. It doesn't even have to be THE big one. A lot of people bailed after Northridge and that was "only" a 6.7. Geologists don't know about all the existing faults let alone what the ones they do know about can do. Take the Newport-Inglewood fault for example. They just recently released results of a study showing that deep earth gas is venting gton it, meaning its way deeper than thought. And oh by the way, that's where the plates used to meet. No idea how, why or when that spot jumped to the San Andreas. Conclusion? It's probably capable of generating an 8+ mega quake not just the 7+ they thought & which the historic record says is past due. Oh yeah, & we keep having "small" quakes on the northern the past couple months in which the epic enters are going back & forth north & south.

Posted by: bebe's boobs destroy at September 06, 2015 10:49 AM (Vm8WO)

89 The sale I mentioned and Sarah Hoyt's sale are the same ;-) All good stuff.

I am definitely planning more Bureau of Substandards stories! Pesky day job keeps getting in the way, though...

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at September 06, 2015 10:50 AM (GG9V6)

90 'Abolition of Man' is a gem and, in my opinion, makes a wonderful gateway into Lewis' academic writing. It was my introduction to his works and sparked an interest that continues to grow. Like many of his works, a single reading will give you the gist of his topic but each re-reading brings more rewards. Hope OM's church group finds it of value.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 10:53 AM (FvdPb)

91 I am in a reading slump. I have a lot of ebooks I can't get past the first page, and physical lib books have been returned unread to the library.
I did read The Travelling Vampire Show coz it was mentioned by the horde ladt week. Also read a new PN Elrond book The Hanged Man which was ultimately disappointing.

Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 10:55 AM (cbfNE)

92
Excellent content this week OM.

(although I will agree with the others, no culpability for govt disasters will be had, see EPA - Colorado)

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 06, 2015 10:56 AM (ODxAs)

93 91- votermom may I humbly suggest you pick up my book then?

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on amazon at September 06, 2015 10:57 AM (jI1b1)

94 73
The average human body consists o 55-60% water. There will be no water shortage.

THE WATER SUPPLY..... IT'S PEOPLE!!!!!

Posted by: Weasel at September 06, 2015 10:59 AM (e3bId)

95 85 Fukushima withstood the natural disasters rather well. It was the profoundly stupid design that caused the problem.

For example, they put the backup generators where they could be flooded by encroaching seawater. That's just short-sighted.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 10:46 AM (Zu3d9)

They knew before the event that the sea wall was not of adequate height to protect from an earthquake induced flood wave. But the regulators in Japan are in bed with the politicians and the plant owners and they were too slow to act on improving the wall.
And as expected the first thing that is lost in an earthquake is the power supply lines due to shaking the glass insulators.

And the actual plant design is the same BMW/GE BWR used here in the US.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 11:00 AM (t2KH5)

96 votermom may I humbly suggest you pick up my book then?

Yeah you're safe with moron-written books, no sucker punch leftist trash in them. And usually cheaper than traditionally published novels. Sabrina Chase has one of hers on sale for 99 cents!

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 11:00 AM (39g3+)

97 >>Watching "Z Nation" on Netflix

I watched soapdish

I haven't been reading much lately. I'm slowly slowly going through guests of the ayatollah.

Posted by: Lea at September 06, 2015 11:00 AM (vmMMi)

98 Yep my book is a mere $1 as well! Free for Amazon Prime members!

Posted by: Dana- author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on amazon at September 06, 2015 11:02 AM (eTvJc)

99 This has nothing to do with books, but I still had the ONT tab open and just watched it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXGCyjJh48I

Now that there is funny. Hat tip to Adriane the Movie Critic...

Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 11:02 AM (sdi6R)

100 82 ... Elisabeth, Which translation of Lancelot are you using or do you favor? Alas, I can't read the original French well enough.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 11:02 AM (FvdPb)

101
Commenters with podcasts? Commenters starting blogs? Thats like trying to accomplish stuff, its like I don't even know you people anymore. I think Allen from TX should start a blog sometime though.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 06, 2015 11:03 AM (ODxAs)

102 @85 Short-sighted design might also be confused with the sort of hubris that characterized non-Navy nuclear design, pre-Three Mile Island.

Fukushima Daiichi was a 1971 design.

PG&E says that the 85 foot cliff means that Diablo Canyon tsunami risk is minimal. Note that the much of the plant is between the cliff and the pressure vessels. If a tsunami tops the cliffs, it would appear a Fukushima-style failure is possible.

IIRC, there is still post-Fukushima review being done of the safety of Diablo Canyon.

The California sea coast is clearly non-optimal for nukes, purely from a seismic perspective.

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:03 AM (wEku6)

103 Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 11:00 AM (t2KH5)

Wonderful.

They could have built a reinforced three story building and put the generators and fuel supply on the top floor.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 11:04 AM (Zu3d9)

104 64 BTW they are making a new "Evil Dead Movie" the 4th movie in the former trilogy . I have popcorn waiting to be popped for that.
Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 10:19 AM (Syp+M)

Uh, you forgot about your cable tv series coming this fall. Guess you been whacked on the head by demons a few times too many.

Posted by: bebe's boobs destroy at September 06, 2015 11:05 AM (Vm8WO)

105 In the middle of Werner Keller's "The Etruscans," well translated into english, I plan to follow it up someday with his famous "The Bible as History."

Posted by: derit at September 06, 2015 11:06 AM (jT+gh)

106 They could build the actual reactors quite a ways back into the desert, over the fault then run power lines to whatever was needed. The problem is anywhere you try to build anything involving modern technology or civilization, enviro whackos show up and try to block you over some species or natural feature. One almost gets the impression they're simply anti-progress.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 11:07 AM (39g3+)

107
I listen to Ennio Morricone while doing my Sunday morning chores.

Just thought I'd mention that.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:08 AM (PBIEV)

108 Re: Flaherty's "Don't Make the Black Kids Angry" -- very impressive reviews and blurbs on the Amazon page. Sowell, Hannity, West, Frontpage...

121 reviews, 73% 5-star.

Thanks for the mention, OP.

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:08 AM (wEku6)

109
(although I will agree with the others, no culpability for govt disasters will be had, see EPA - Colorado)
Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 06, 2015 10:56 AM (ODxAs)

Well, if the "perp" was a private individual (as Mulholland was), and if the disaster could somehow be construed as harmful to progressives (for example, if there were some civic disaster that pretty much wiped out North Hollywood, where many homosexuals live), then the full force of government would come down on him like a ton of bricks.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:08 AM (S+LWk)

110 So you're saying Mulholland had drive?

Posted by: The Great _______ Snark at September 06, 2015 11:08 AM (Nwg0u)

111 No, I think he is saying Mulholland was a fall-guy

Posted by: Kindltot at September 06, 2015 11:10 AM (3pRHP)

112 107
I listen to Ennio Morricone while doing my Sunday morning chores.
Just thought I'd mention that.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:08 AM (PBIEV)

I think you get extra points on your man card for that.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:10 AM (S+LWk)

113 I listen to Ennio Morricone while doing my Sunday morning chores.

-
The Yo-yo Ma does Morricone album is very beautiful.

Posted by: The Great _______ Snark at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (Nwg0u)

114
speaking of nukes...

the very worst person to be making a case against obama's treasonous and terror-supporting Iran-nuke deal was on Fox News this morning. Dick Cheney.

Chris Wallace embarrassed Cheney and destroyed his credibility with a single stat.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (PBIEV)

115 I was reading parts of Daniel Garrison Brinton, "The Maya Chronicles" (1882):
https://books.google.com/books?id=al-IkjNhM3MC

Older books are like modern books: a lot of them are wrong and stupid, but sometimes one runs across a gem. This one explains the (northern) Maya and their literature.

Since 1990ish, most scholars have been concentrating on the southern "Maya" - because that's when their Cholti language was deciphered. But the first natives of that ethnicity to be noticed were those of Yucatan; they were the ones actually *called* Maya.

We also learn here some basics of the (Yucatec) Maya language. I don't know why but few other books have bothered doing this for the popular market. Personally I don't know how I did without, say, knowing how the Maya constructed a sentence. Brinton also thinks it's an easy language to learn: He notes that immigrants learn Maya and speak that before they learn and speak Spanish. He also comments on Yucatan villages where everyone in it is a Spaniard of Spanish descent, but no-one speaks Spanish, instead going with Maya.

Brinton, being not PC, has no problem comparing various ethnic groups amongst each other, but has a high opinion of the Maya - he sees them as naturally literate. He scoffs at Christian missionaries who taught them the Roman alphabet, and to feed their hunger for books then gave them sermons to read.

And Brinton really doesn't like Bishop de Landa, whom I nominate as the Book Thread's Official Worst Catholic. But his famous book-bonfire might not have been fatal. What may have happened instead is that the Maya Chilam-Balams (a chilam-balam meant the village scribe, says Brinton) swiftly copied their codices into Latin script. The bishops didn't care about pagan literature in Maya (or Nahuatl), they just cared about the hieroglyphics... because, as mentioned, all the bishops could understand the language.

As a result there are about seventeen "Chilam Balam" books that have survived. They give us a chronicle of the Yucatan from the "Postclassic" through to the early Spanish years.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (AVEe1)

116 Health warning: reading the book thread excessively may cause your bank account to shrink alarmingly. Just read this sad testimonial from last week's thread:

**********

I am valiantly struggling to maintain discipline this week.

A large chunk of what I spent last week went to purchasing from "The Great Courses".

I've always regretted that I never went past Calculus I when I was in school. Advanced math opens doors to opportunities in the future, but at the time, I just wasn't thinking that far ahead.

I've now decided that I'd like to progress at least through Differential Equations. Because of the decades long lapse in my math studies, I need to go back and brush up on basic Algebra and Trig before I can even begin to look at Calculus again. When I dug out an old Calculus textbook, it was like looking at a foreign language.

I'm kinda looking forward to taking these courses without the pressure of being in a classroom. I got the courses with the DVD hard copies included, so that I don't have to depend on an internet connection (internet access is still included in the DVD price). They also include a hard copy study guide/workbook.

Oh, and I want to promise Anna Puma that even though Golden Isis has been sitting untouched in my Kindle files for a week, I will get to it soon!

Thanks OM and everyone else for so many great Sunday mornings.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (NqQAS)

117 110 So you're saying Mulholland had drive?

Arr Arr! ISWYDT.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (S+LWk)

118
The Yo-yo Ma does Morricone album is very beautiful.

Does this really exist?

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (PBIEV)

119 My nomination for Worst Catholic is El Catolico from Sharpe's Gold. He was a very bad man.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 11:13 AM (39g3+)

120 as I have been saying for years......scatter de-commissioned USN nuke subs along our coastal population centers....take off everything but the reactors, run power to shore. let the power companies manage them. use USN reservists to run them. all coasts and Great lakes. win-win-win.

Posted by: goatexchange at September 06, 2015 11:13 AM (/zWcs)

121 @114 -- What was that credibility-destroying stat?

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:14 AM (wEku6)

122 120 as I have been saying for years......scatter de-commissioned USN nuke subs along our coastal population centers....take off everything but the reactors, run power to shore. let the power companies manage them. use USN reservists to run them. all coasts and Great lakes. win-win-win.

--------

What would this do to the manatee population? We need studies.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at September 06, 2015 11:15 AM (75uvI)

123 I have books.

Posted by: Joe Biden at September 06, 2015 11:15 AM (75uvI)

124 "sub reactors can power a small city." OK then - let 'em. New Nuke builds fight regulations; the USN already HAS the permission, and has for decades.

Posted by: goatexchange at September 06, 2015 11:15 AM (/zWcs)

125 The Yo-yo Ma does Morricone album is very beautiful.

Does this really exist?

-
Yes.

http://tinyurl.com/ogmh77k

Posted by: The Great _______ Snark at September 06, 2015 11:16 AM (Nwg0u)

126
From 2007 to 2009 Iran went from 0 centrifuges to 5000.

(Is that an accurate stat? I dunno.)

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:16 AM (PBIEV)

127 Older books are like modern books: a lot of them are wrong and stupid, but sometimes one runs across a gem.

Hey, I love reading 19th century scholarship. It's so refreshingly clear of modern biases, it's like breathing mountain air after living in a polluted urban area.

And I figure, so what if it's wrong? Not all of it is wrong, I'll learn something from the parts that are right.

I can see how this would not be adequate for a serious scholar, but for amateurs like me, "pretty good" is good enough.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:17 AM (S+LWk)

128 Posted by: goatexchange at September 06, 2015 11:13 AM (/zWcs)

I doubt they could produce enough power to make a dent in their needs.

But the image of a USN nuclear submarine tied up at the Berkeley pier is just awesome.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 11:17 AM (Zu3d9)

129 THE WATER SUPPLY..... IT'S PEOPLE!!!!!

Hah. This line is one of many quoted in the movie "Turbo Kid".

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 06, 2015 11:17 AM (AVEe1)

130 Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (NqQAS)

Have you checked out Kahn Acadamy? They are said to have tests so that you know how far back you need to go to relearn stuff without having to waste time on things you already know.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at September 06, 2015 11:18 AM (QHgTq)

131 "sub reactors can power a small city." OK then - let 'em. New Nuke builds fight regulations; the USN already HAS the permission, and has for decades.
Posted by: goatexchange at September 06, 2015 11:15 AM (/zWcs)

A couple of years ago I was up at Groton Sub Base and the power was out all over because of a storm a few days before. And my room was on the 5th floor. I was pissed and was ranting and raving, as I am prone to do at times, that they should just run a few lines from the Nukes they had tied up on the lower base!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 11:19 AM (DUoqb)

132 JTB, I don't know Chretien well enough to favor one translation. Since this is for an online World Lit class, I'm using W. W. Comfort's, which is free on Project Gutenberg. Next we're looking at Parzival (tr. Hatto, because I already had it) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (tr. Tolkien, because the bookstore already had it--I slightly prefer Borroff for that but Tolkien for Pearl).

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at September 06, 2015 11:19 AM (iuQS7)

133
OM - Didn't Mulholland work for LA? in any event, we'll have to remain in disagreement (unless they found out he was a Christian).

Dana - went over to amazon, read your bio, I always assume that name to be a chick, but a hunter, archer, whiskey drinker sounds like my kind of dude. I'll give you book a try. Thanks for your service too.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 06, 2015 11:19 AM (ODxAs)

134 C.S. Lewis wrote once that we must read old books, because they teach us about biases. He argues that old books are steeped in the culture and ideas of their time without realizing it, and those not living in that culture can see it very clearly. As a result, he argues, we can learn to see our own biases, cultural blindness, and presumptions.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 06, 2015 11:20 AM (39g3+)

135 @128 "But the image of a USN nuclear submarine tied up at the Berkeley pier is just awesome."

Exploding heads throughout the Bay Area.

I remember back when they were proud to host Fleet Week. A different world...

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:20 AM (wEku6)

136 63 I'm pretty sure there's one of those big ocean thingys quite close to Los Angeles.
Posted by: duke at September 06, 2015 10:06 AM (ydnTo)

Not exactly. Los Angeles itself is not all that close to the ocean, and did not start out as a seaport town.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 10:19 AM (S+LWk)

++++

Let me introduce you to Venice Beach. You get one guess on where Venice is located.

http://tinyurl.com/p6b2s44

Posted by: Kathleen Blanco at September 06, 2015 11:21 AM (IN7k+)

137 WA has been plagued for years by the influx of Californians who sell their 1200 sq ft rambler for $700k then come up here a buy a mansion. All the while voting dem and turning our once red state a deep blue. Oregon suffers the same problem.
______________________

And they're not the only ones.

Posted by: The Great State of Arizona at September 06, 2015 11:21 AM (a31sM)

138 Off to an engagement party soon in the City. I hate the City, especially that that commie SOB is in charge. But hell free food...well free except for the presents, so yeah, I am losing money. Sigh
Food better be good

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 11:23 AM (DUoqb)

139 134 C.S. Lewis wrote once that we must read old books, because they teach us about biases. He argues that old books are steeped in the culture and ideas of their time without realizing it, and those not living in that culture can see it very clearly. As a result, he argues, we can learn to see our own biases, cultural blindness, and presumptions.

--

I find this to be very true.

Dana, I put your book on my wishlist as I am in a no-buy phase right now according to my wallet. The blurb is intriguing.

Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 11:23 AM (cbfNE)

140 POPE FRANCIS TELLS EVERY CATHOLIC INSTITUTION IN EUROPE TO TAKE IN ONE REFUGEE FAMILY

Hey Popei, fill up the Vatican first then get back to me

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 11:25 AM (DUoqb)

141 Very quick number crunching. 100 US nuke power plants provide 100k MWatts presently. That's an average of 1000 MW per power plant, presently. So 25 USN sub/surface nukes at around 500 MW per reactor/platform... is not unsubstantial. Check my math and/or wiki stats....?

Posted by: goatexchange at September 06, 2015 11:25 AM (/zWcs)

142 You are going to San Francisco? Seems like a bit of a drive from north Jersey.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at September 06, 2015 11:25 AM (QHgTq)

143 They just recently released results of a study showing that deep earth gas is venting gton it, meaning its way deeper than thought. And oh by the way, that's where the plates used to meet. No idea how, why or when that spot jumped to the San Andreas. Conclusion? It's probably capable of generating an 8+ mega quake not just the 7+ they thought & which the historic record says is past due. Oh yeah, & we keep having "small" quakes on the northern the past couple months in which the epic enters are going back & forth north & south.
Posted by: bebe's boobs

My Dad worked in the oil bidness for many years. In the early '60s the oil company Esso sent some geologists out to LA to survey some leases and write up a general report on the area. The entire group moved their families back to Texas/Oklahoma/Louisiana afterwards citing the inherent danger there.

Posted by: Daybrother Sure, steal my ideas. Why would I mind? at September 06, 2015 11:26 AM (gah5u)

144 Florence King in "With Charity Toward None" devoted a chapter to Ty Cobb. For King, the reason Cobb wasn't a racist was because he hated everybody. Naturally that made him a hero in King's sight.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 06, 2015 11:26 AM (AVEe1)

145 From 2007 to 2009 Iran went from 0 centrifuges to 5000.

(Is that an accurate stat? I dunno.)

If that's the case, it would seem to me they would have plenty of enriched Uranium (Plutonium). I saw a show about the Manhattan Project, and they created enough for 2 bombs in around 18 months, IIRC. I realize nuclear warheads are magnitudes more powerful than 1945, but the technology now for enrichment is magnitudes better. It seems like they should have an arsenal by now.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at September 06, 2015 11:27 AM (5buP8)

146 /old stinky sock

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at September 06, 2015 11:27 AM (IN7k+)

147 I have been reading Hitler's Furies by Wendy Lower, about the hundreds of thousands of women and girls (youngest she mentions is 15) who helped with Holocaust in the east. She makes the point that these mostly young girls were sent to the east usually the first time they were away from their generally socially conservative homes. There were, of course, millions of German boys there so it was a lot like American girls going away to college. Except insgead of flagpole sitting, goldfish swallowing, or seeing how many you can squeeze into a phone booth, they were into Nazi fanaticism and cleansing society of the unworthy. Scary banality of evil stuff.

Posted by: The Great _______ Snark at September 06, 2015 11:28 AM (Nwg0u)

148
We are at a point in our world's history when we are back to having worldly and un-Holy popes.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:29 AM (PBIEV)

149 Anyone who thinks Iran does not have both Nuclear Material and Centrifuges ...and new ones...hidden away is a fuckin idiot or democrat.

Most of the centrifuges Iran is getting rid of are the old and inefficient ones.

Iran is still working with North Korea IN NORTH KOREA on a bomb.

Iran will have a bomb and sooner than anyone things

THIS agreement is as worthless as the one that fuck clinton signed with North Korea.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 11:30 AM (DUoqb)

150 I knew a woman once who I think had some Mayan ancestry. She had the distinctive nose. *sigh* She was beautiful.

Posted by: rickl at September 06, 2015 11:31 AM (sdi6R)

151 ". Scary banality of evil stuff"

Women can be far more evil than men. One story that's always stuck out to me is the woman who found the run away Jewish children hiding in her forest. She took them home, gave them a meal and brought them in from the cold.

Then she lined them up and shot them one by one.

Posted by: Lauren at September 06, 2015 11:31 AM (bYGAR)

152 We are at a point in our world's history when we are back to having worldly and un-Holy popes.

Fin du Siecle.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at September 06, 2015 11:31 AM (5buP8)

153
real quick, I'm a fan of Tebow the man, but look at pic on Drudge and compare it to the famous video of "Big Foot" when he looks back. Tim Tebow is Big Foot.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at September 06, 2015 11:31 AM (ODxAs)

154 Pope Francis is a putz.

I consider Benedict to be the real pope, in exile.

Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 11:33 AM (cbfNE)

155 Pope Francis is a putz.

I consider Benedict to be the real pope, in exile.
Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 11:33 AM (cbfNE)

Well technically a "Putz" is Jewish, and we have our now problems, but I get your point

Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 06, 2015 11:34 AM (DUoqb)

156 Have you checked out Kahn Acadamy?

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at September 06, 2015 11:18 AM (QHgTq)

*****

Khan Academy has some great stuff and I've gone through a lot of their videos.

I like the organization of the Great Courses, though. And I don't mind taking the time to go back over things I already know (or supposedly already know).

I need to "wake up" the math portion of my brain. About the only math I do day in and day out is purchasing and accounts payable at work, and the program really does most of that. I just have to enter the numbers correctly.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at September 06, 2015 11:35 AM (NqQAS)

157 132 ... Thanks Elisabeth. That gives me a starting point. It would be interesting to try to read the original but only in a farcical way.

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 11:36 AM (FvdPb)

158 I'd ventures to say the Mayans had the most beautiful written language, maybe not the most practical.

http://tinyurl.com/7bf8a9m

Posted by: The Great _______ Snark at September 06, 2015 11:36 AM (Nwg0u)

159
And now we know why the Democrats left Mary Landrieu swinging in the wind.

Reid must've called obama and said not to worry, he's got at least 50 Republican senators in his pocket.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 11:36 AM (PBIEV)

160 Happy to say the 11th and penultimate "Worlds Apart" book is on Bookcountry, and soon Amazon. Again, thanks to Polli for the prffreeading and for pointing out a few spots that didn't work as well as I otherwise would have thought.

Posted by: V the K at September 06, 2015 11:41 AM (V8qfV)

161 Let me introduce you to Venice Beach. You get one guess on where Venice is located.
http://tinyurl.com/p6b2s44
Posted by: Kathleen Blanco at September 06, 2015 11:21 AM (IN7k+)

I figured someone was going to bring this up, or Santa Monica, or any of the other coastal communities.

But they all came later. In Mulholland's day, they barely existed (VB was founded by a tobacco tycoon in 1905), and the 1910 population was just over 3,000.

So this counter-example doesn't really work.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (S+LWk)

162 @104, Bebes Boobs ..I'm in Commie land (China and my VPN ceased to function thanks to the hard working Red Army hacking unit 69318 up Shanghai way ) . So my only option sugartits, is to go to Hong Kong to have unblocked access to cable. I'm too busy to do that right now.

But if you have any ideas that could help me in my current situation, I'm all freaking ears.

Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (Syp+M)

163 94 73
The average human body consists o 55-60% water. There will be no water shortage.

THE WATER SUPPLY..... IT'S PEOPLE!!!!!

Death stills!

Posted by: Fox2! at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (brIR5)

164 Ummm.... enriched uranium is not plutonium. Plutonium is plutonium. Natural Uranium can be enriched so that the material has a (much) higher percentage of 'splodey isotopes.... and that's a uranium bomb. Plutonium is man-made out of uranium that has had its nucleus altered into a new element - plutonium.

Posted by: ummm... at September 06, 2015 11:45 AM (Roc6B)

165 Anyone reading Walsh's "The Devil's Pleasure Palace?"

Thoughts or comments?

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:46 AM (wEku6)

166 Plutonium is man-made out of uranium that has had its nucleus altered into a new element - plutonium.

Heh. "Here at the Atomic Energy Commission, we make our plutonium the old-fashioned way: one atom at a time."

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:47 AM (S+LWk)

167 I finished Anna's little novel, which I enjoyed, and I'm looking forward to to the next installment. Get busy, Anna P.! Opened up a moron recommendation, " To Honor You Call Us " by H. Paul Honslinger, and am liking it very much. I could have bet the author was an ex military guy. Ha, ha, nope. Former lawyer who loves military sci fi and does his research. I know I'm going to spring for the complete triology.

Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 11:49 AM (JSovD)

168 Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (S+LWk)

If you (well, not you specifically, OregonMuse) look at a map of the Los Angeles area you will see exactly why the beach lagged behind the rest of LA. It's just a beach! You have to go all the way to Long Beach in the South to find anything resembling a natural harbor.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 06, 2015 11:49 AM (Zu3d9)

169 Well technically a "Putz" is Jewish, and we have our now problems, but I get your point

--

Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 11:50 AM (cbfNE)

170 165 Anyone reading Walsh's "The Devil's Pleasure Palace?"
Thoughts or comments?
Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 11:46 AM (wEku6)

Somebody mentioned this book last week. I meant to talk about it in today's thread, but never got to it. Hopefully next week.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:51 AM (S+LWk)

171 Another vote for 19th century books, both fiction and nonfiction. I have no problem with period biases as long as I know what they are. (Frankly, I suspect they were often less smothering than the PC shit that permeates everything to day.) And I really believe the quality of the writing is often superior to much modern stuff. There could still be a sense of wonder, as a true attitude, that is refreshing, like a cool breeze on a humid day.

For an appreciation of what we can learn, and enjoy, from older books, check out CS Lewis' "The Discarded Image".

Posted by: JTB at September 06, 2015 11:51 AM (FvdPb)

172 good morning
ugh

Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 11:52 AM (2XMpf)

173 162. But if you have any ideas that could help me in my current situation, I'm all freaking ears.
Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (Syp+M)

Guess you're going to have to wait for the season to be released on DVD and then binge watch it

Posted by: bebe's boobs destroy at September 06, 2015 11:52 AM (Vm8WO)

174 I had a 6 hour drive this last week and so I looked for an audible SciFi to listen to. I found a promising work about a noir detective who gets sucked into the secret ET program run by the military. I don't really like the UFO books but was intrigued because one of the reviewers said it was a nearly worthless book written only for people that thought with their penis. She went on to say she gave it a two star instead of a one because it had a good story and was fairly well written. Well, this sounded like my kind of book. Unfortunately, after an hour on the road I realized it was horrible. It was a teen Book, either not meant for adults or the author was such an idiot that he could not tell the difference. The writing went from so-so to good to horrible while the story stunk. The dialogue actually had people saying, "You have omega clearance' and 'We now have a device called a psychlotron" and even, "The professor clutched his photographs of crop circles". And another thing: What is with everyone writing about a chapter of dialogue around food? "She looked at her cheeseburger with admiring eyes." "What's up sister?" he said while eying her lunch choice. He really wished he had ordered one. "She took a bite. it was really good" he watched as she chewed thoughtfully. "So how are you? He said around mouthfuls of disappointing meatloaf?"

I almost drove my car off a bridge to make it stop. Shutting it off didn't erase it from my mind. God would forgive me.

Posted by: Daybrother; Sure, steal my ideas. Why would I mind? at September 06, 2015 11:54 AM (gah5u)

175 Chemmie!

Ok time for coffee & the Sunday papers. Ttfn

Posted by: bebe's boobs destroy at September 06, 2015 11:55 AM (Vm8WO)

176 Hi bebe's boobs
have fun with the coffee and the paper

Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 11:56 AM (2XMpf)

177 147
I viewed a collection of photos of some of those girls on a site( could have been Retronaut but I'm not sure) a couple of months ago. They didn't have good ends. The last photo was of them hanging by the neck in a group execution.

Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 11:57 AM (JSovD)

178 Posted by: Daybrother; Sure, steal my ideas. Why would I mind? at September 06, 2015 11:54 AM (gah5u)

They say your writing reflects your experiences, right?

So evidently their experiences revolve around food

Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 11:58 AM (2XMpf)

179 @173, Bebes Boobs,

Thanks. heh. I was hoping for a hacking solution but I guess that's as good as it's going to get.

I will wait for my triumphant return to the US to view all that (after I kiss the ground, that sweet US soil).

Anyway, thanks for answering.

Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 12:00 PM (Syp+M)

180 19 JTB- WA has been plagued for years by the influx of Californians who sell their 1200 sq ft rambler for $700k then come up here a buy a mansion. All the while voting dem and turning our once red state a deep blue. Oregon suffers the same problem.
Posted by: Dana author of Outward Frontier a military sci-fi novel available on Amazon. at September 06, 2015 09:33 AM (jI1b1)

Sorry, I have to point out that those liberals coming from California for the most part are NOT Californians; they're primarily Northeasteners (and some Chicago types) that stopped off in California, infested it with liberal crap, and are now moving on, locust-style.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at September 06, 2015 12:00 PM (oKE6c)

181 18
Been thinking about purchasing that one. Thanks for the recommendation. My first book thread purchase of the day.

Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 12:01 PM (JSovD)

182 Not up totally on metallurgy but depleted uranium is used in cores for shells for guns and is different than titanium

Posted by: skip at September 06, 2015 12:01 PM (JghBF)

183 Posted by: Daybrother; Sure, steal my ideas. Why would I mind? at September 06, 2015 11:54 AM (gah5u)

They say your writing reflects your experiences, right?

So evidently their experiences revolve around food
Posted by: chemjeff

Hey chemjeff! Yeah, I'm pretty sure the author is fat and stupid.

Posted by: Daybrother; Sure, steal my ideas. Why would I mind? at September 06, 2015 12:02 PM (gah5u)

184 I've been reading and memorizing a list of names this week. It hasn't been easy, and I don't know how or when I will ever use the information, but I want to be prepared for the debates just in case. I'd like to hear Hillary rattle off 10 of these, with a little background on each, just to prove that she is ready to rule.
Click the "Show All" link for the full scope of the effort.
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists

Posted by: goon at September 06, 2015 12:02 PM (gy5kE)

185 Lauren, I liked "Just Another Oppressor" - would be good in a longer form.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 06, 2015 12:03 PM (NOIQH)

186 @ 163 94.73,

"THE WATER SUPPLY

Soylent water, it's people!

I hope they don't distill the illegal mexicans. I never could drink the water down there without intestinal repercussions. heh.

Posted by: Ash_who_Works_at_S_ Mart at September 06, 2015 12:06 PM (Syp+M)

187 Greetings:

I heard that Governor (Bullet Head) Brown was going to use his memorial Bullet Trains to bring in water, once the trains are manufactured and the rails are laid.

It shouldn't be much of a problem because ridership is expected to build rather slowly from zero to well below minimum. As my Urban Economic professor taught us, there are two important concepts in Mass Transit. One is the Transit and the other is the Mass.

Posted by: 11B40 at September 06, 2015 12:07 PM (abx5/)

188 "I suspect that if a civil disaster of that magnitude happened today, the man or men in Mulholland's position would be spending the rest of their lives in prison, or bankrupt, or both, regardless of whether or not they were actually culpable."

I don't know what world you live in.

Who went to jail for Katrina? For the VA scandal?

If it happened today, everyone would blame everyone else and no one would be held accountable. I just don't see our government working the same way you do if you think there's too much accountability and too many civil servants in jail.

Posted by: Severely Conservative at September 06, 2015 12:08 PM (p6UPL)

189 I recently finished Rituals of Initiation by Robert Moore. The book wasn't as good as King, Warrior, Magician, Lover, but it was still an interesting read on the way initiation rituals are important to society.

I've started in on The Emergence of Christian Culture in the West, but I'm thinking about taking a break and reading something light. Perhaps the last Discworld book, or one of the Dresden books.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at September 06, 2015 12:10 PM (fC9RO)

190 161 Let me introduce you to Venice Beach. You get one guess on where Venice is located.
http://tinyurl.com/p6b2s44
Posted by: Kathleen Blanco at September 06, 2015 11:21 AM (IN7k+)

I figured someone was going to bring this up, or Santa Monica, or any of the other coastal communities.

But they all came later. In Mulholland's day, they barely existed (VB was founded by a tobacco tycoon in 1905), and the 1910 population was just over 3,000.

So this counter-example doesn't really work.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 11:42 AM (S+LWk)

++++

Santa Monica, while right next door to LA, is not part of the city of LA, so I didn't mention that one. But Venice was incorporated into the city of LA in 1926. Mulholland resigned in 1929. It was part of LA in Mulholland's time. But, of course, you can't drink or irrigate with salt water, so they did not look to the ocean that they sat right on top of for their water supply.

And then there is the Port of Los Angeles, opened in 1907:
http://tinyurl.com/pbjb7og

That is part of the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, which joined LA in 1909.

Los Angeles might not have been on the ocean right at its founding, but as it grew, it added territory that included lots of oceanfront land. It has been on the ocean for more than a century.

I think that as far as the "ocean" part of your statement, you might want to revise.

Most large cities are built by large water supplies, i.e. rivers,
oceans, and lakes. But Los Angeles has none of these natural sources
nearby, it is just stuck out there in the desert, far away from
anything.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at September 06, 2015 12:10 PM (IN7k+)

191 I'm trying to read Levin's 'Plunder and Deceit'; it is a tough slough. Obviously, I'm not the target reader, and haven't gotten very far. One or two pages at a time is about all I can handle. It reads like it was written for an academic, and I'm not finding it very persuasive, yet.

Posted by: Garoute Trimble at September 06, 2015 12:12 PM (tv3ZO)

192 58
New filmed version of "Macbeth" coming out soon with Micheal Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Mr. And Mrs. Macbeth.

Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 12:12 PM (JSovD)

193 Goon, I remember back in the day when the FBI Ten Most wanted wasn't all towel-heads.

Posted by: Infidel at September 06, 2015 12:13 PM (AQwir)

194 Is the Presidency a Standardized Test? http://pointsandfigures.com/2015/09/06/is-the-presidency-a-standardized-test/

Posted by: pointsnfigures at September 06, 2015 12:14 PM (LnE5F)

195 Yeah I am kinda with Severely Conservative here.

If the dam had collapsed today, either one of two things would have happened:

1. If Mulholland was a Democrat, then Republicans would have been blamed for lack of funding.

2. If Mulholland was a Republican, then Mulholland himself along with all other Republicans would have been blamed for being evil people.

Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 12:15 PM (2XMpf)

196 192 58
New filmed version of "Macbeth" coming out soon with Micheal Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Mr. And Mrs. Macbeth.
Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 12:12 PM (JSovD)

Mrs. Muse and I watched a very interesting modern version of MacBeth starring Patrick Stewart, and the military setting looked very repressive and Nazi-ish. I thought that overall, the effect worked.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 12:16 PM (S+LWk)

197 Late as usual.

Finished Ministers At War : Winston Churchill And His War Cabinet by Jonathan Schneer.

This explores areas I was not familiar with. A very good overview. I particularly likes the explanations on how England turned socialist after the war, and how Churchill was turned out of office at the end of the war. A must for examining the sources of policy for the UK in WWII.

Reading Churchill's War Lab : Code-Breakers, Scientists, And The Mavericks Churchill Led To Victory by Taylor Downing.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 06, 2015 12:16 PM (u82oZ)

198 CBD, Fort MacArthur, out by Long Beach CA before WWII had railway guns. I wish I could remember the memoir I read from one of the men on the project. LA really didn't have a harbor, and doctrine said you put in shore batteries to protect harbors, so it was pretty much ignored as far as coastal arillery was considered, but they figured that some sort of defense was needed, and they realized that with that area to defend they couldn't just build another immobile coastal fortification
They installed track and brought in 14 inch railway guns. I think it was supposed to be the initial step in a larger network of railway guns.

There was initially some problem with getting civilian craft out of the impact area for the initial test firing, so in typical pre-war behavior, the officer in charge told the battery to fire one round to see if the pleasure boats would pay attention to that.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 06, 2015 12:17 PM (3pRHP)

199 2. If Mulholland was a Republican, then Mulholland himself along with all other Republicans would have been blamed for being evil people.
Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 12:15 PM (2XMpf)

And this is pretty much what I had in mind. A proper progressive victim or group would be identified, and then, in the name of "social justice" (i.e. government-instigated revenge for political crimes), the correct fall guy would be given a show trial, and that fall guy would have been Mullholland.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 12:20 PM (S+LWk)

200 The average human body consists o 55-60% water. There will be no water shortage.�THE WATER SUPPLY..... IT'S PEOPLE!!!!!
------
They can be freeze dried and reconstituted, once the crisis is over.

We owe it to the delta smelt.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 06, 2015 12:21 PM (7OlRf)

201 193 Goon, I remember back in the day when the FBI Ten Most wanted wasn't all towel-heads

I remember when Ayers and adorn were on it.

Posted by: Fox2! at September 06, 2015 12:26 PM (brIR5)

202 Earlier this week a friend was telling me about the Watchman book, which he is now reading. He described the characters as if I knew who they were.

I watched the Mockingbird movie, eons ago. Was I supposed to know who these people are? I recall the basic story, I remember the name Atticus Finch.

This was another reminder that we really have no shared culture anymore. Does anyone in school today get assigned Mockingbird as essential reading? I sure didn't when I was in school.

Maybe it's not entirely a bad thing, but I think the lack of a shared culture means, at its very least, that we aren't really talking to each other in a language we all understand. We think we are, but we're not.

I read the review of Watchman, on the CJN blog, and I think that's the gist of it. Reactions vary, mostly depending on one's cultural perspective, and the lines of difference are not just racial.

Which is an important reason why we can't talk to each other about this stuff today. We don't speak a common language anymore in this country. And yeah, I guess to a large extent that's literally true; we're not speaking the same language.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:27 PM (Dj0WE)

203 "Last year I followed the English course prescribed for my two sons, who
are in college. The required reading seemed to have been selected for
the sole purpose of turning the hearts of young people against books."

I don't think this is the way that it works now.

Rather, today, lefty educators, in the name of Grrrrrl Power, have feminized the reading curriculum so extensively that instead of "turning the hearts of young people against books", what it's doing is ruining young men as readers, with apparently permanent effect.

Posted by: torquewrench at September 06, 2015 12:31 PM (noWW6)

204 New filmed version of "Macbeth" coming out soon with Micheal Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Mr. And Mrs. Macbeth.
Posted by: Tuna at September 06, 2015 12:12 PM (JSovD)

Mrs. Muse and I watched a very interesting modern version of MacBeth starring Patrick Stewart, and the military setting looked very repressive and Nazi-ish. I thought that overall, the effect worked.
Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 12:16 PM (S+LWk)

There's a fairly recent version of Richard III set with a modern nazi theme, with Ian Mckellan as Rich. I don't recall being wowed by it, but I'm not entirely sure why.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:32 PM (Dj0WE)

205 Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:27 PM (Dj0WE)

90% of the characters in Watchman existed in Mockingbird in some way, shape or form (as it's more of an "alternate history" than a direct sequel, some of them have changed a bit.)

Posted by: tsrlbke PhD(c), rogue bioethicist at September 06, 2015 12:33 PM (tM4uk)

206 Are all the weekend COBs on strike?

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 12:35 PM (t2KH5)

207
You need your hot dog thread, Vic?

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:36 PM (PBIEV)

208 What's also funny about Commiefornia and water is the huge infestation of liberal New Age cosmic muffins who have convinced themselves they're living in some sort of holistic natural paradise, when in reality, their lives are being sustained by a huge engineering effort that's invisible to them.

You have no idea how many Southern California twinkletoes I've asked about the Edmonston pump station, only to be greeted with a totally blank stare. But if that thing were ever to be even shut down for a few months, life in most of SoCal would become VERY different, VERY rapidly.

Posted by: torquewrench at September 06, 2015 12:36 PM (noWW6)

209 Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:27 PM (Dj0WE)

90% of the characters in Watchman existed in Mockingbird in some way, shape or form (as it's more of an "alternate history" than a direct sequel, some of them have changed a bit.)
Posted by: tsrlbke PhD(c), rogue bioethicist at September 06, 2015 12:33 PM (tM4uk)

Yeah, that's one reason why I was confused. I only recall the basic story of Mockingbird, and my friend was telling me about the racist Finch character (my friend is black, btw). I was scratching my head, not being able to quite wrap my mind around how this was suppose to be reconciled with the Mockingbird character.

Ultimately, I guess I don't care, but as a larger issue, as you said, this is something of a Rorschach test for us, culturally.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:37 PM (Dj0WE)

210
speaking of which...

are we "doing" labor day this year?
it is, after all, a Communist holy-day

If we were smart, we on the Right would call tomorrow National Day Off From Work day.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:38 PM (PBIEV)

211
Since only, what, 53% of the People actually work today, why should everyone get to enjoy "labor" day?

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:39 PM (PBIEV)

212 Yeah I am kinda with Severely Conservative here.

If the dam had collapsed today, either one of two things would have happened:

Posted by: chemjeff at September 06, 2015 12:15 PM

It was an accident. No one could have predicted or prevented it. No one's fault, really, but we take full responsibility. The yellow is gone, so you can drink it now.

Posted by: EPA on the Animas River at September 06, 2015 12:39 PM (bynk/)

213
*work and 'want to' work, that is

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:39 PM (PBIEV)

214
We need a Corvette vs Mustang vs Mustard vs Catsup thread!

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:40 PM (PBIEV)

215 What's also funny about Commiefornia and water is the huge infestation of liberal New Age cosmic muffins who have convinced themselves they're living in some sort of holistic natural paradise, when in reality, their lives are being sustained by a huge engineering effort that's invisible to them.

You have no idea how many Southern California twinkletoes I've asked about the Edmonston pump station, only to be greeted with a totally blank stare. But if that thing were ever to be even shut down for a few months, life in most of SoCal would become VERY different, VERY rapidly.

Posted by: torquewrench at September 06, 2015 12:36 PM (noWW6)

And what is very annoying for the rest of us in the country, where water IS plentiful, cheap and easy to bring into one's home, is to be told by a bunch of left coast nitwits how we're supposed to conserve water.

Shut the hell up, already. I want my toilet to whoosh all the crep away in one flush, you stupid Californica mush-heads.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:41 PM (Dj0WE)

216 Posted by: BurtTC at September 06, 2015 12:37 PM (Dj0WE)

Yeah, everyone is freaking out over "racist Atticus" although as I tried to lay out in my post: he's not even par for the course given the time period and the foil is the NAACP who's stoking up even more racial tensions (some thing never change.)

Posted by: tsrlbke PhD(c), rogue bioethicist at September 06, 2015 12:42 PM (tM4uk)

217 214

We need a Corvette vs Mustang vs Mustard vs Catsup thread!

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:40 PM (PBIEV)

Mustard AND catsup with onions. Or alternate is chilli and cheese.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 12:43 PM (t2KH5)

218 More than halfway (75% according to the Kindle meter) through Anna's book and have enjoyed it so far.

OM pointed out the $$ investment quandary you get into by reading the Book Thread, but there is a time investment problem as well. Within in sight of my computer there are more than twenty physical books just waiting to be read, and at least the same number lurking on the Kindle. I am thinking I'll have plenty to do in the depths of winter when the days are short.

Posted by: Hrothgar at September 06, 2015 12:44 PM (ftVQq)

219 Just dropping in for an OT friendly reminder:

Moron League draft is tonight at 10 Eastern!

I don't wanna see a draft room with half a dozen robo-drafters!

Posted by: logprof, Moron author at September 06, 2015 12:44 PM (vsbNu)

220
I don't dig the onions.
All you taste is the onions. On pizza, on steak, on everything.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:45 PM (PBIEV)

221 216 Yeah, everyone is freaking out over "racist Atticus"
although as I tried to lay out in my post: he's not even par for the
course given the time period and the foil is the NAACP who's stoking up
even more racial tensions (some thing never change.)

Posted by: tsrlbke PhD(c), rogue bioethicist at September 06, 2015 12:42 PM (tM4uk)

I have been saying for years how the NAACP and the CBC are the two most racist organizations in the US.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 12:45 PM (t2KH5)

222
nood gum post!

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:46 PM (PBIEV)

223 >>>C.S. Lewis' book�the Abolition of Man...

I'd settle for the abolition of manhood. Seriously, that articulated misgivings I've had about public education. Namely, they were more about conditioning and indoctrinating, than, say, a family passing along values and traditions that they treasure. All very cynical and self serving.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 06, 2015 12:46 PM (7OlRf)

224 gun thread up

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 12:47 PM (t2KH5)

225
Get your ass to Mars'...gun thread!

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 06, 2015 12:48 PM (PBIEV)

226 Posted by: torquewrench at September 06, 2015 12:36 PM (noWW6)

It's not just California and water. So many features of our pampered civilized life are based on layers upon layers of very good time-tested design and engineering, mostly invisible and thus unthought of by the majority of the population.

Posted by: Hrothgar at September 06, 2015 12:49 PM (ftVQq)

227 So many features of our pampered civilized life are based on layers upon layers of very good time-tested design and engineering, mostly invisible and thus unthought of by the majority of the population.

Someone should write a book about that.

Posted by: Edward Gibbon at September 06, 2015 12:52 PM (y9ZKC)

228 Heh.

Spent the morning surfing around, wound up at the website of Robert Llewellyn, the British actor who plays Kryten on 'Red Dwarf.' Interesting guy, but a big lib (shocker), and big on electric cars and windmills--very anti-coal. Yes, I say, roll my eyes, and move on.

Wind up over here and first thing I see is the sidebar article about the UK running out of electricity because of the very things he advocates. I'm certain, of course, that reality will not intrude on the righteous right-think.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at September 06, 2015 12:58 PM (oVJmc)

229 227 So many features of our pampered civilized life are based on layers upon layers of very good time-tested design and engineering, mostly invisible and thus unthought of by the majority of the population.

Someone should write a book about that.

Posted by: Edward Gibbon at September 06, 2015 12:52 PM (y9ZKC)

I'm on it.

Posted by: G.K. Chesterton at September 06, 2015 01:00 PM (S+LWk)

230 For all librarians out there, please don't opt for Axis 360 ebooks. To analogize, if the Overdrive/Kindle ebook loan process is like a Chevrolet, the Axis 360/Axis reader/Blio reader/Adobe DRM process is like a Yugo. Maybe that's too nice -- a Trabant.

Disregarding DRM, I've never seen such rotten human factors on a modern web site or an Android app since Obamacare. These folks must have a hidden agenda -- help the purchase of paper books and the destruction of the ebook market.

I'm not an Amazon fanboi, but Overdrive/Amazon is straightforward and usable. The Axis 360 process is mind-numbingly convoluted, slow, and restrictive.

http://www.btol.com/axis360.cfm

Posted by: doug at September 06, 2015 01:07 PM (wEku6)

231 Off to watch Ant Man with the kidlet

Posted by: @votermom at September 06, 2015 01:16 PM (cbfNE)

232 Been listening to Shlae's The Forgotten Man. It's pretty clear that O is working almost directly from FDR's playbook. Also fascinating is that Trump appears to be filling the role of Willie (who was never mentioned in history in school and was very different from what I'd been led to assume). The show trials of political enemies and regular schlubs who ran afoul of the alphabet agencies is looking very familiar as well.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 06, 2015 01:28 PM (U3h1u)

233 232 It's pretty clear that O is working almost directly from FDR's playbook.

That was a good book. And yes, Obama is a non-closeted commie who is just more FDR with some racism added to spice things up.

But the libs sure love commie FDR and Obama has been just as successful with the economy. It has never recovered from the crash of 2009 because of the same reasons the crash of 29 turned into the great depression with FDR's methods.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 01:40 PM (t2KH5)

234 Stupid AutoCucumber. I should know to check by now. Trump is *Wendell Wilkie* in this version, which looks to have skipped over farce and gone straight back to tragedy.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 06, 2015 01:44 PM (ekKg9)

235 BTW, the big difference between FDR's socialist programs is that other than SS, FDR's spending went largely into infrastructure. Obama's programs have largely went to inner city cronies and crooks as well as so-called green cronies of JarJar. There will be no long term benefits from anything Obama has done.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 01:53 PM (t2KH5)

236 Elinor's comment (amount too much spent on books) made me smile in understanding. When I actually had any money I frequently spent too much on books, but I figured in the long run it's a less deleterious addiction than drugs or alcohol. However the thought of moving all of these books when I will have to move makes my muscles and bones hurt already.

Where can you send old books you don't want?

I hope that Elinor has enjoyed what she's read so far.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 06, 2015 02:38 PM (OSs/l)

237 Still have to get through all the comments -

I spent a lot of time waiting around this week so I got a lot of reading done. Finished Gorky Park - very good.

Read George MacDonald Fraser's "The Reavers", which is a spoof of swashbuckling tales, albeit set in the Scottish borderlands. Think of the "The Princess Bride" with a Scottish accent. They story was clever, but the written dialect was annoying. I have friends who absolutely will not read books with dialect. I'm usually okay with it, but it seemed a bit excessive in Reavers. So it'd rate is just okay - but maybe that was just the mood I was in that day.

Also read Gail Tsukiyama's "The Hundred Flowers", about a family in China in 1958. The father has been taken away for reeducation, and the mother, son and father-in-law try to cope, each in his own way. A quick read - I liked the story. What strikes me now as I read about life under communism is how destructive it is to families when you worry about how much you can trust other family members. Communism is truly evil.

I'm reading now "The Woman Who Can't Forget", by Jill Price, who has an amazing memory and can recall every day of her life from age 11 on (and most days from age 8 to 11, plus a lot more of her early childhood than the average person). Brain scans have revealed that her brain is structured differently from most people, and the memories can be debilitating because they are constantly flashing through mind and carry with them their original emotional impact. Interesting - much of the book is a discussion of recent research on memory and forgetting.

Posted by: biancaneve at September 06, 2015 02:40 PM (kBiy2)

238 Where can you send old books you don't want?

I hope that Elinor has enjoyed what she's read so far.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 06, 2015 02:38 PM (OSs/l)

I take mine to the local library. If they already have them they can always sell them at their periodic book sales.

Posted by: Vic-we have no party at September 06, 2015 02:43 PM (t2KH5)

239 boobs don't destroy people

people destroy people

Posted by: je suis un sockpuppet at September 06, 2015 02:56 PM (8CdUx)

240 I haven't been reading much this week aside from regular devotional reading (which is made up of the Bible, Francois Fenelon and the prayers/refections of various Saints and religious figures) except that I am re-reading "Behold Your Life" by Macrina Wiederkehr which is subtitled "A Pilgrimage through your memories" which is a 40 day pilgrimage of guided memories on our memories so that we can be aware of the touch of God. Wiederkehr is a Benedictine nun in Arkansas.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 06, 2015 03:04 PM (OSs/l)

241 The whole reason LA exists is because of an illegal alien? Figures.

Posted by: Leonero at September 06, 2015 03:35 PM (zSLqp)

242 Recently one hath revisited C S Lewis' Space Trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength. Three very different works, though connected. Out of the Silent Planet is a bit talky as sci fi, but that goes with the period, and while a riproaring yarn serves to set the theoretical stage. Perelandra is a bit lush and imagery laden - Lewis waxeth poetical, and goes deeper into themes not quite parallel to Narnia.

That Hideous Strength - AHH!. I am a lifelong academic. This is my world he is talking about. Lewis, from the vantage point of literary studies in a university more closely bound to Europe, anticipates the rotting of the university I have witnessed here and details the in-crowd's intentions and tactics for society at large.

It IS hideous. All too real. A warning we may pray is not too late.

Of course he also builds in some fun worthy of Michael Innes at his best.

Academics of a certain age aware of the world will benefit from the read.

Posted by: Ben Boble at September 06, 2015 04:20 PM (CNua6)

243 So I mistyped the name. Sue me.

"morons"? Has that to do with the well-known angel?

Posted by: Ben Noble at September 06, 2015 04:23 PM (CNua6)

244 Re Shakespeare - I saw an excellent production of A Midsummer's Night Dream last night at the National Shakespeare Theatre. It was set in the 1940's/1950's in a theater. Balcony boxes had been created on the front sides of the stage, with a curtain behind that, and the first act, which sets up the story of royal wedding and the lovers, took place in front of the curtain. Then the curtain dropped and the Mechanicals entered from the back of the stage onto a set dressed like a backstage to begin their play rehearsal. When they left the fairies popped out of trapdoors and the rest of the action took place on the 'backstage' until the final scene when everything was wrapped up, which again took place in front of the curtain. Okay, that doesn't make it sound very revolutionary, but it was incredibly funny and integrated the Mechanicals into the action of the play better than most productions.

Re books and Kindle - I've been buying Kindle books but not reading them because I'm trying to read my paper books. I'm planning on installing new floors and will need to pack up all my books. I'll probably purge a number of books, which will go to the Friends of the Library store. Not looking forward to it. It's so hard to part with books!

Posted by: biancaneve at September 06, 2015 04:34 PM (kBiy2)

245 IIRC, the St. Francis was an old earth dam, of the sort Fremont threw up all over.

Posted by: mojo at September 06, 2015 04:39 PM (OmBeX)

246 Hospitals often like donated books the volunteers can distribute to bored patients. I've done that several times to thin my collection.

Posted by: Graves at September 06, 2015 04:55 PM (3MEXB)

247 "Jerk" comes from the Peruvian (!) word charqui, a word for -- get this -- jerky, or dried strips of meat. It was "verbized" to mean poking holes in the meat while preparing it to let the spices permeate the meat.

The more you know...

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 04:57 PM (jR7Wy)

248 Re: Manhattans, I've added a touch of Mathilde Orange X.O. to good effect, and it seems mellower than Cointreau to my uneducated palate.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 05:03 PM (jR7Wy)

249 Whoops, wrong thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at September 06, 2015 05:03 PM (jR7Wy)

250 247
"Jerk" comes from the Peruvian (!) word charqui, a word for -- get this
-- jerky, or dried strips of meat. It was "verbized" to mean poking
holes in the meat while preparing it to let the spices permeate the
meat.

Ah. So a soda jerk, then, is the fellow that pokes the holes in the syrup so it can be filled with fizz.

Posted by: Anachronda at September 06, 2015 05:47 PM (o78gS)

251 Anna Puma is visiting family (and presumably is lacking internet access), so she wants me to thank everyone for buying her book.

Also, she is working on the sequel.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 06, 2015 06:27 PM (S+LWk)

252 That dam was a huge mistake. I've hiked all over San Francisquito Canyon and the ruins of the dam. The dam was built with shoulders of shale and soft unstable deposits. I don;t understand how he made that mistake. He was a great engineer.

Posted by: Mike K at September 06, 2015 06:36 PM (5namt)

253 "64 What, no review of the Necrinomicon? Why do you guys hate H.P. Lovecraft?

I have a copy of that bound in human skin and it keeps flying around the room and biting me.

I tried to nail it with my 'Boom Stick" but it's a quick sucker."

When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words?

Posted by: RGallegos at September 06, 2015 07:58 PM (49Jfq)

254 Just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation of Dan Simmons novel Flashback! Saw it mentioned several times in the book thread and finally managed to pick it up at the library and enjoyed it immensely!

Thanks again!

Posted by: Chefjake at September 06, 2015 08:42 PM (8W4CM)

255 116 I've now decided that I'd like to progress at least through Differential Equations.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at September 06, 2015 11:11 AM (NqQAS)

I'd recommend "Elementary Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems" by William E. Boyce and Richard C. DiPrima when you get there. I have the third edition, younger son has the 10th and it's still an excellent book. Used copies from version 7 on back are cheap. I'm partial to the third version and it's lack of gratuitous pictures or computer crap. :-)

Posted by: gingeroni at September 07, 2015 12:52 PM (baKy9)

256 An excellent book on western water issues is "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner: well-written, it discusses the pork-barrel shenanigans behind a lot of Western reclamation projects.

Posted by: norrin radd, wielder of the power cosmic at September 07, 2015 09:43 PM (/2uuu)

257 232 "Been listening to Shlaes' The Forgotten Man. It's pretty clear that O is working almost directly from FDR's playbook. Also fascinating is that Trump appears to be filling the role of Willie (who was never mentioned in history in school and was very different from what I'd been led to assume). The show trials of political enemies and regular schlubs who ran afoul of the alphabet agencies is looking very familiar as well."
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 06, 2015 01:28 PM (U3h1u)

I'm listening to that same audiobook while I drive around. I'm trying to listen to every chapter twice to try and catch anything I miss because I'm focused on the road.

I do like how Shlaes made a point of talking about what the other big players were doing before the Crash. It's good to be able to see how all the pieces went together. Recommended.

On the fiction side I'm almost done reading "Adapt and Overcome" by Peter Grant, his third Maxwell Saga space opera novel. This one has a different kind of plot from the first two books, which was a good call. I like these books as easy, light, enjoyable reading but I need variety to spice things up. Recommended.

I'm also reading "Kushiel's Chosen" by Jacqueline Carey, her second Kushiel's Legacy fantasy novel. Her work is like GRRM's but with fully realized plots and not every character is a complete bastard and there is more kinky sex but less rape/incest/etc. Basically a step up in every respect. Recommended.

Posted by: BornLib at September 09, 2015 10:15 AM (zpNwC)

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