Sunday Morning Book Thread 09-27-2015: Sloganeering [OregonMuse]

Oberlausitzische Library Of Science, Gorlitz, Germany .jpg

The Oberlausitzische Library Of Science, Gorlitz, Germany

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.

I hate to read books but a friend said he read the dictionary and that the Zebra did it.
-Stanley Victor Paskavich

On The Chanting of Slogans

OK, so, last week when we were discussing Paul Ehrlich's Amazon review of Mark Steyn's book, I said it wasn't so much of a review as it was just Ehrlich shouting slogans at a protest rally. What's pathetic is not only do they do this, but they are specifically taught to do this by their own language and semantics gurus. Don't believe me? Then behold: The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic by George Lakoff. Ace mentioned this book in a 2012 thread, based on zombie's merciless shellacking of it earlier. It's a dumb book full of dumb crap, and if progs read it, they'll end up believing a bunch of dumb crap that bears no relationship to the real world (which is kind of what they do, anyway). It's also a mystifying book, mysterious because, why does Lakoff think that mindlessly chanting your own talking points to the exclusion of all else would be a good way to get your message out? Zombie pointed out that one of the chief practitioners of this mindless rhetorical style is DNC spokesthing Debbie Wassermsn Schultz. But look at her. Listen to her. She's the queen of buffoons (as zombie says). Does Lakoff really think that she's an effective communicator to anyone but Democrats? The idea is so preposterous that pretty much everyone has concluded that Lakoff's Little Blue Book is not so much an instruction manual for Democratic evangelism, but rather a book of procedures for reassuring and reinforcing the faithful progressive remnant. It's like they take comfort in sitting around smelling their own bad breath.

Not that there's anything new about this. In 1950, Theodore Adorno published the progressive classic book, The Authoritarian Personality (Studies in Prejudice) wherein he attempted to argue "scientifically" that conservative political beliefs are the result of some sort of psychological disorder. Because, you see, nobody could *possibly* believe that stuff. Nobody normal, that is. Which makes Adorno kind of the Pauline Kael of social psychologists.

I found this book recommendation in the comments:

A great backgrounder to Zombie's review is a book on political morality by Jonathan Haidt called "Righteous Mind." It is the most intellectually stimulating book I've read in a decade.

He has questioned almost a quarter a million people and finds that there are six aspects of morality. Liberals only uses two, maybe three moral aspects (caring for others and freedom from tyranny) while conservatives have to balance all six. Obviously, conservatives have a more complex worldview, one that has ensured our species' survival...

Posted by: Whitehall at July 10, 2012 07:24 PM (FmPSC)

Whitehall is referring to Haidt's book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, in which the author, the professor of "Ethical Leadership" (is that even a discipline?) at New York University's Stern School of Business, examines

the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

The prog left is howling mad at Haidt for coming to conclusions they don't like. But he doesn't care which side wins, he just wants to know what the truth is. A quality conspicuously absent from Lakoff's book.

Haidt is also the author of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, and with a title like that, you know that any thoroughgoing prog is most likely going to hate it.

In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world’s philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.

Happiness is actually easier: do you know the 10 Commandments? Keep 'em. And if you fail, keep 'em again. Keep doing this. If you do, you'll be fine, more often then not.

Trifecta

In a morning thread of a few days ago, naturalfake opined thus:

In the 80's we hit the Freedom Trifecta-

Reagan, Thostaer, and JPII

an ass-kicking, take-no-prisoners trio of freedom-loving, free marketeers-

who brought down the Russian empire, made their respective countries as well as the world a freer, richer, more peaceful, happier place.

Naturalfake then went on to point out that the Trifecta of Freedom has since been replaced with the Sultans of Suck: Obama, Francis, and Corbyn (assuming the Brits are dumb enough to elect him). These three stooges are, in many ways, the evil-twin opposites of their illustrious predecessors who did so much to liberate the oppressed. I'm afraid the world will not see their like again. They brought the the Soviet Union to its knees.

And wouldn't you know, somebody wrote a book on this very thing.

The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World by John O'Sullivan, who was a senior policy advisor and speechwriter to Margaret Thostaer. A pretty good summary of this book is available on the Conservative Book Club which starts out:

Who brought down the Soviet Union? According to liberals, it collapsed of its own, with an assist from the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev. But this explanation not only scants the role of Western anti-communists – it implies they had exaggerated its dangers all along. Now, John O’Sullivan gives credit where it’s due. “The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister” is a sweeping, dramatic account of how President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thostaer together took on the most powerful and aggressive foe that liberty has ever known — and won.

Yes, they did. And I think history will eventually acknowledge what they did - but probably not in our lifetimes.

O'Sullivan, by the was, writes for National Review and is also known for "O'Sullivan's First Law", which is the observation that "all organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing."

Poetry Blowback

So ace covered this some days ago, but to recap: Michael Hudson, a white guy with an obvious "white" name, wrote a crap poem, but nobody wanted to publish it, so he submitted his crap poem using a Chinese name and, get this, not only did the crap poem get published, but it was selected to be in the 'Best American Crap Poems of 2015' anthology.

Shades of Alan Sokal!

(Of course, Sokal's prank was fake content, not fake identity, but the butt of the joke (pretentious leftist wankers) was the same)

And you won't believe what happened next.

What happened next was that an organization that calls itself the Asian American Writers' Workshop got all butthurt about it and went into full pout mode:

The Asian American Writers’ Workshop has responded to the controversy around “Chinese” poet “Yi-Fen Chou” (actually Michael Derrick Hudson, who is white) with satire. The organization started the #WhitePenName hashtag and encouraged fellow writers of color to imagine what benefits they could get if they used a stereotypically “white” pen name.

Well, good luck with that. If white guys have some kind of unfair advantage in the crap poem industry, then why did the white guy feel the need to publish his crap poem under a ruse? And, more importantly, why did the ruse succeed?

“Best American Poetry 2015” guest editor Sherman Alexie, who is Native American, explained that he was more amenable to the poem because he thought the author was Chinese. But even after he realized the true identity of the author, he ultimately decided to keep the poem in the collection, as he found it to be a good one.

So the editor basically admits that he excludes crap poems written by white guys so he can publish other crap poems from more acceptable (i.e. is a member of an ethnic minority) authors. Which pretty much confirms the white guy's point, doesn't it?

And then there's this guy who wants to get in on the butthurt before the Asians use it all up:

“Hudson had to have been aware of who the editor was,” writer and Louisiana State University professor Daniel Peña said via phone interview on Thursday. “He had to know that Alexie was trying to correct a years-long pattern of injustice of excluding writers of color. And he consciously tried to exploit it. I’m not sure what statement he thinks he’s making about contemporary poetry, but it’s coming from a really dark place.”

If Peña really doesn't see the point, let me help out: What happened here is that the white guy exposed your selection process for the shabby, racist fraud that it is. He basically pantsed affirmative action racism and put pics of its flabby, pimply butt up on YouTube. So I can understand why you'd be upset. If you were honest, you'd just hang up a "No White Guys Need Apply" sign. Or, publish what the exact quotas are, as percentages, so authors can see it and can make decisions accordingly.

And if you're wondering why I keep calling it a crap poem, go back to ace's link and read the excerpt for yourself. You will agree: it's pretty crappy.

Hard Luck Hank Is Back

Hey, there's a new Hard Luck Hank novel out, Suck My Cosmos. Here's a plot outline:

When the wife a City Councilman approaches him about spying on her husband, Hank worries he's flying too close to the flames for safety. When the husband is assassinated, he's sure of it.

Hank has to keep himself from getting framed for the murder while he finds himself increasingly manipulated by increasingly powerful people as the machinations of the City Council start to spill into his daily life.

This is a sequel to the earlier books in the series:

Screw the Galaxy
Basketful of Crap
Prince of Suck

I just love those titles. Author must be a moron.

Books By Morons

This week, I found a couple of letters in the book thread mailbag from morons I hadn't heard from in a while. Welcome back, boys, and it's good to know you've been busy.

Moron author Dave Dubrow has published a short story he wants you read. How to Fix a Broken World is

a tale of creeping insanity, news obsession, and an angel, of sorts...

It's hard to say much more without spoiling it, but the "hero" is a social justice warrior princess who really learns how to "think globally, act locally".

Dubrow is also the author of The Blessed Man and the Witch, a novel of the Apocalypse. By the way, did you morons knows that the word 'apocalypse' means, simply, 'revelation'? It was never supposed to be shorthand for 'the grand KABOOM at the end of history'. Although I suppose popular usage has made it such. Anyway, Dave's novel is the first of his 'Armageddon' series of which he is finishing up the second volume and it will be out soon.

___________

Lurking across-the-Pond historian Markham Pyle (author of, among other books, an investigation of how progressive politics on both sides of the Atlantic corrupted the investigations of the 'Titanic' sinking) is back after suffering a heart attack and undergoing triple bypass surgery. He has written a small book about this experience, Tonight at the Morpheum: A Hospital Farce in Three Acts, which he described to me as

more a Long Essay than anything else...the account of years of missed diagnoses and misdiagnosis, survival, recovery, gratitude, and such hope as an old cynic can muster.

Having had open heart surgery myself (double bypass + valve replacement), I know something of which he speaks; one's humor gets rather "gallows" as you're forced to consider the inescapability of your own fragile mortality. As the Psalmist says, "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." (Ps. 39:5)

Also available on Smashwords and B&N.

While I was looking at that book on Amazon, I noticed this other one that was written by Mr. Pyle's late father, Claymore: A Story of Texas, about which he tells me:

My late father had always intended to write once he retired...But he did finish Claymore and had some shorts on the hob; and after he died, I edited them - lightly, without too many fixes, pretty much as he'd left them...The titular novella is set in Reconstruction Texas, out around what is clearly Fort Davis just before the US Cav hands over to the Buffalo Soldiers thereof. Houston Chattan, a former Confederate cavalry captain, manages the Claymore Ranch with a rag-tag bunch of misfits, and does some half-compulsory scouting for the bluecoat pony soldiers. Then people start disappearing near the Mexican border.... Turns out that Houston, despite his past, can't help but see them all, when the chips are down, as fellow Americans. The partial shorts and one complete short have a similar setting, and are all pretty rawhide: including the sad fate of a petty criminal who thought he'd outsmarted everyone.

___________

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 08:58 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1

Thank you for the book thread once again, Oregon Muse. I shall read through it when I get back from church. Looks like a good one.

Posted by: grammie winger, waiting for the trumpets at September 27, 2015 08:57 AM (dFi94)

2 Good morning grammie, may your Lord's day be blessed.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 08:58 AM (i5JHj)

3 Jeez! What do you have to do to get a first around this joint --wear pants?

Posted by: That SOB Van Owen at September 27, 2015 08:58 AM (xrET7)

4 Science!

Posted by: WannabeAnglican at September 27, 2015 08:59 AM (vFmT2)

5 I read Prayer of the Dragon by Eliot Pattison. It's the fifth in the Inspector Shan series set it Tibet. I think this is the best work in the series so far. I was interested in the ancient cultural similarities between Tibetans and the Navajo-Dine people that this book points out. I always learn something new reading this mystery series.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 27, 2015 09:00 AM (THsLo)

6 I also read Paw and Order by Spencer Quinn. This is the seventh book in the Chet and Bernie mystery series. Bernie is Bernie Little of the Little Detective Agency and Chet is his partner. Chet is a dog and is the narrator of the story. Chet's foibles and his asides about humans are funny and make the books good, light reading.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 27, 2015 09:04 AM (THsLo)

7 Good morning everyone
Thanks for the extra-hoity-toity Book Thread content

Posted by: chemjeff enjoying blueberry pancakes at September 27, 2015 09:05 AM (uZNvH)

8 I would love to get lost in the library pictured at top.

Christopher Taylor's latest novel about Nazis, a werewolf, and Poland is out.

For those who still want to take a gander at my writing efforts, until Monday the Kindle edition of Golden Isis can be purchased for $1.99. Please go through Ace's AoS bookstore link to Amazon.

Inspired by Ahmed and his Magical Clock, wrote a short story on Liberty Island - http://preview.tinyurl.com/pw93wdn

And of course working on the sequel to Golden Isis.

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:06 AM (i4AI5)

9 Look at this poem I invented!

Posted by: Yi-Fen Chou at September 27, 2015 09:08 AM (sdi6R)

10 I suddenly realized my problem with the Sunday Book Thread (probably stated previously by others, because, see below). Every week I add at least a half dozen titles to my Want to Read list. And yet every week, I find I have read .... about 50 pages....

Posted by: goatexchange at September 27, 2015 09:14 AM (dA7nE)

11 Now for my next trick, my dad is going to gut a King James bible from its cover, stuff it into a folded up paper sack, and I will go to school to declare in every class, "Look what I wrote." Profit.

Deny my claim and you're a racist.

Posted by: Ahmed the Book Boy at September 27, 2015 09:15 AM (bGLSw)

12 Hi Ahmed, come have a photo opp with me at the White House!

Posted by: Obamarama at September 27, 2015 09:18 AM (gFO8N)

13 Hi all. Reading Sherwin Nuland's "The Mysteries Within- A Surgeon Reflects on Medical Myths".

The writer portrays himself as a rationalist and a 'scientist'. Once you get past his notion that science will eventually have an answer for everything and the scoffing at anything remotely religious as the inventions of know-nothings I have found an occasional nugget of truthiness.

Writing of the 17th century Van Helmont's false interpretation of the effects of water on plant growth he says

"What is even more remarkable...is that many of the leading thinkers of the time accepted his statement, based as it was upon 'experimental evidence'. The fact that the evidence was misinterpreted seems not to have been appreciated, and this too is a lesson for our time. The loud clear voice with which authority so often proclaims itself has ever been a danger to the pursuit of truth."

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at September 27, 2015 09:19 AM (NeFrd)

14 ... and I will go to school to declare in every class, "Look what I wrote." ~~Profit~~. ...er...Prophet!

FIFY

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at September 27, 2015 09:22 AM (NeFrd)

15 Book'em, Dano.

Posted by: Jack Lord at September 27, 2015 09:24 AM (ksBbZ)

16 Regarding "Trifecta" look at who just got together this past week to change the world back, link to Mother Jones piece found on Drudge:

"Obama, the Pope, and the President of China Are Teaming Up to Save the World
Something big and strange is happening in the United States this week..."

Posted by: El Polacko at September 27, 2015 09:25 AM (1+p12)

17 Muldoon, a movie you might be interested in. Thunderbolt. William Wyler documentary on a Corsican based P-47 fighter group in WWII. 16mm color. Jimmy Stewart introduction.

https://youtu.be/Da_gbVd6nzM

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:26 AM (i4AI5)

18 I was referring to the latest in Tom Doyle's American craftman series, sort of Jack Bauer crossed with sleepy hollow.

On a more serious note there is winik's 1944, a comprehensive look at the holocaust and the fool's that did nothing to stop it. And there are echoes of current happenings.

Posted by: admiral marcus at September 27, 2015 09:27 AM (0u/CC)

19 Been re-reading the collected short stories of M. R. James. Not nearly as creepy as I remember them from when I first read them as a nipper, but I now can appreciate his very subtle British sense of humor and elegant writing style. However, as an educated man writing in the early 20th Century, he naturally assumed that his readers could not only understand Latin, but get the Classical puns. How times have changed.

Posted by: That SOB Van Owen at September 27, 2015 09:28 AM (xrET7)

20
IT'S OFFICIAL: GROUND ZERO MOSQUE DEFEATED!

http://goo.gl/Xfl5wa

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 27, 2015 09:28 AM (iQIUe)

21 Thanks for the book thread, OregonMuse!

Reading my first Vince Flynn novel, "Term Limits".

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 09:30 AM (jR7Wy)

22 OM, As always, thanks for the book thread.
This has been a really good week for books for me with new discoveries and a fortunate used book store find. More about that below.

But first a question for the group: Do you have a favorite reading chair? I find my club style chair is more conducive to careful and thoughtful reading than the recliner, comfortable as it is.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 09:30 AM (FvdPb)

23 I have regrettably been reading nothing. The final part of student teaching is kicking my kiester, and I have no idea how I'll be able to do what I am required to do in the hours remaining. The high schools are so terribly different than they were in my day, and I've concluded that the urban, lower socio-economic school I'm teaching at is one I simply cannot deal with due to my hearing damage. When too many of the kids get out of control, I cannot tell what is going on. I intend to do some serious reading for recovery of my serenity in November. Suggestions welcome.

Posted by: Graves at September 27, 2015 09:32 AM (3MEXB)

24
If I were to guess, it sounds like the world's 3 biggest communists were about to impose a massive Cap And Trade scam on billions of people.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 09:32 AM (F1s01)

25 14
... and I will go to school to declare in every class, "Look what I wrote." Profit. ...er...Prophet!

FIFY

* * *

I'm not supposed to say that out loud but...yeah.

Posted by: Ahmed the Book Boy at September 27, 2015 09:32 AM (bGLSw)

26 Hey, Book Thread Morons! I've been reading a lot recently b/c I'm procrastinating (I should be writing but the ideas aren't coming). First, I got stuck in 'The Language of Names' by Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays, a book that hits all the progressive talking points. I thought it would be an interesting study of names and how we react to them, but I think the authors are SJWs, with predictable results.

For a palate cleanser, I ended up with 'Heretic' by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who makes the case that Islam needs its own religious reformation and that people gravitate toward groups like ISIS because their choices are currently limited to extremism or apostasy. A very interesting idea, but I'm not optimistic about its chances of success.

Then I rounded off my reading time with a re-reading of 'Pride and Prejudice', which never gets old; and a novel of Roman Britain called 'Dark North'. I think I need therapy for a reading addiction.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper- quietly rebellious at September 27, 2015 09:37 AM (WFMa0)

27 I've read the first three Hard Luck Hank books, and enjoyed them well enough. But there series feels a little long in the tooth to me. Don't think I'll read the fourth.

But it's certainly worth reading, especially since you can borrow them free if you have Prime (which I get so much benefit out of, I can't see not having).

Posted by: Chupacabras at September 27, 2015 09:38 AM (QFjNO)

28 It seems to me that Progressives are driven almost, to change the definitions of words, and it's weird, too in that the definitions they change start out as 'good' or attractive and are changed to identify some trait of progressivism. For example: The word Progressive itself implies being at the front of, or advanced - haute civilized if you will. Yet a current emblem of progressivism is the savage, brutal and wholly uncivilized practice of dismembering human pre-born babies. Choice in place of pro-abortion is another easy example, but the list is very long - invest in place of raising taxes, is another.

Not only do they ruin the language - the only definition for gay now is homosexual - but they do, in the long run I think, alter the perception of right and wrong.

Wouldn't it be nice to have right and wrong, instead of all this relative BS?

I don't know... It just seems to me that progressivism - socialism at it's root - has really harmed humanity over the last few decades.

And it's insidious. The affects of it appeal even to certain of those on the right - the ruling class, for example. The benefits of progressivism accrue to those mainly at the top while keeping everyone else in a state of "equality" - another word that has been redefined (more accurately - shared misery), so it is attractive to the political class in general, and we can see the effects of in now in our country.

I just think that it is clearer than it ever has been that progressivism and at it's root - socialism, in all of it's forms needs to be eradicated from the earth.

Posted by: Semper In Stercus at September 27, 2015 09:39 AM (BZAd3)

29 Finished The fall of the Roman Empire : a new history of Rome and the Barbarians by Peter Heather.

Very very interesting. Maybe too interesting. I see echoes of Roman decline all over in today's world. The migrant invasion is directly analogous to the barbarian invasions of the Western Roman Empire. Well, armed bands of organized invaders are still in our future.

He points out that the Roman Empire was run for the benefit and protection of the 5% at the top -- the landowning elite. Their decade long and code-worded education made for a tribal marker.

Mostly local control gave way to bureaucrats as the prime career path to prestige in politics as well as in armies. This started a decline Empire wide, but it was not fatal. A cascade of lower tax revenue led to fewer army units, which spiraled down after each attack. Without army units, localities could not defend themselves with local resources. Barbarians ended the Empire.

The saga of The last of the Romans, the general Aetius, was quite compelling. He led the defense of the Roman Empire for about 20 years, and strived mightily to save the Western Empire. Alas.

The landowning elite could not flee their wealth source, so they made deals with the barbarians once overrun. Almost all of Roman culture, usable infrastructure, and manufacturing was gone in 100 years after the barbarians took over an area.

Heather notes that self-interest, vice wider loyalties (like to the Empire), was operational in the Roman governments back in the day.
Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose.

I may not agree with his conclusions, but he has great context.

Also read The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold, as a reward for the slog through the end of the Western Roman Empire. Miles Vorkosigan for the win! Bujold does write a compelling story here.

Currently halfway through Golden Isis by our own Anna Puma.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 27, 2015 09:42 AM (u82oZ)

30 Read Temporary Duty by Ric Locke, where aliens have arrived at Earth and a detachment of the US Navy comes aboard and travels with them through the galaxy. The main characters are a couple of seamen who prep the ship for the arrival of the humans. It's interesting to see how the humans interact with the aliens and seeing how the aliens interact with each other. For me the first third of the book showing the prepping of the ship went on too long, the middle section was a fun adventure and the last third got a bit juvenile. A mixed bag.

Listened to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen where Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett spar with one another. Pretty good though the story is basically about the Bennetts trying to marry off their five daughters, which can get tedious.

Read The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells, a short smartly-written tale of horror. The protagonist is stuck on a desert island with Moreau, his assistant and the creatures. Very entertaining, maybe the best Wells I've read.

Listened to The Republic by Plato, where Socrates discusses justice and outlines his ideal republic. He notes his five forms of government, noting that a democratic government with it's freedoms will change to a tyranny where the freedoms are lost. Sounds familiar. Liked it quite a bit, hadn't read any Plato (or any philosophy) since college, will have to get back into it.

Read Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, which pretty closely tracks the movie except for a few particulars, also there is more science here. Very good though the movie wins out with the excellent performances by the actors.

Posted by: waelse1 at September 27, 2015 09:44 AM (oAK6v)

31 For those of us who enjoy the Liturgical Mystery series by Mark Schweizer, there is a new one out, "The Maestro Wore Mohair". I saw it on his website but it isn't listed on Amazon or B&N yet. I sent an email about that and Mark said it will be available on Amazon eventually. I ordered it through his site anyway. A few more bucks but I'm almost caught up with the series and don't want to wait.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 09:45 AM (FvdPb)

32 #WhteLinesMatter!

Posted by: Michael Derrick Hudson at September 27, 2015 09:45 AM (FcR7P)

33 Man, it feels like forever since I'e read a Miles Vorkosigan book.

Posted by: Chupacabras at September 27, 2015 09:45 AM (QFjNO)

34 I second O'Sullivan's "The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister". It's useful to remember just how batshit crazy the media were in the 70's and 80's. These three were all targets of Derangement Syndrome; Thatcher (Attila the Hen) was an imperialist who stole milk from babies, Reagan was an idiot D-list actor whose nuclear brinkmanship stemmed from his right-wing religious nuttery, and the Pope wanted to send us back to the Middle Ages. The prevailing view of the Left was, If we would just stop provoking the Soviet Union, all of this unpleasantness would go away!

So who knows if we have a Reagan or Thatcher in our midst?

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 09:46 AM (jR7Wy)

35 I suddenly realized my problem with the Sunday Book Thread (probably stated previously by others, because, see below). Every week I add at least a half dozen titles to my Want to Read list. And yet every week, I find I have read .... about 50 pages....

I know, right? I'm lucky if I can read 30 pages at a time, and my Nexus is stuffed to the gills with books I haven't read yet.

Oh wait, here's another book I can download for free...

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 09:47 AM (i5JHj)

36 Did I ever tell you my unified theory of "parenting"? Probably not, so here it is: moms are all about safety and security and dads are all about how to deal with the big bad outside world. This entirely explains why lesbians should be the last choice for couples who want to adopt and the pathology in any community where single-motherhood rules.

And I am reading Zombie's review of The Little Blue Book and the reason the Democrats fuck up absolutely everything they touch is Lakoff's entirely true notion that mommy is a Democrat. Of course she is, but we don't need moms from the government: we have them already. What we need is government to be the dad, and deal with the outside world. We do not need the government to provide safety and security and to keep us all as infants.

Anyway, I'm going to get a used copy of this "Little Blue Book," and see what I can get from it. But used, because who wants to give that piece of crap Lakoff even one penny. Not I, said the Little Red Hen.

I finally finished Shogun and that thing has the longest denouement every, too long by half as half of what is said after Osaka could be dispensed with.

Going back to "'salem's Lot" and yeesh, it is a creepy book.

I got the book someone recommended last week about the Jewish roots of the Eucharist and now I need to start some hard-core studying for my class in December.

And now I have two hours in which to learn a song for choir this morning. Later, gators.

Posted by: Tonestaple at September 27, 2015 09:47 AM (dCTrv)

37 All Hail Eris, the Progressives are lotus eaters. Aeneas could not convince them in his time, so founded his colony elsewhere.

And have you bought the costume yet?

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:49 AM (i4AI5)

38 By ripping pages out of an old phone book and stuffing them in a pencil box, I have invented "The Book".

You're welcome, you filthy infidel suckers.

Posted by: Knob Slobbing Allah Boy at September 27, 2015 09:50 AM (iIVyq)

39 #34 Word. I remember those days. But compared with how psychotic the left has become now, I am tempted look back at the 80s fondly as a time of sobriety and restraint.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 09:50 AM (i5JHj)

40 Ha ha, not yet.

It's times like this I wish I had kids so I could wear it to parent-teacher conferences.

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 09:50 AM (jR7Wy)

41 I've listened to one of the Hard Luck Hank books (screw the galaxy) and liked it quite a bit. It had a good mix of action and humour. Definitely worth a read.

Speaking of authors who could be morons.... I've read a few things by Robert Bevan. His series is the caverns and creatures series (basically a knock off of D&D. If your a fan of lowbrow humour set in a fantasy world... I recommend checking it out. Just a warning though....sometimes it can be pretty gross

Posted by: Confuzzled at September 27, 2015 09:51 AM (DN25J)

42 At Sidwell Fiends, they might hire you.

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:52 AM (i4AI5)

43 GROUND ZERO MOSQUE DEFEATED!

http://goo.gl/Xfl5wa
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang

But liberals never stop. Anyways, this deserves a Flaming Wang.

Posted by: t-bird at September 27, 2015 09:53 AM (FcR7P)

44 The prevailing view of the Left was, If we would just stop provoking the Soviet Union, all of this unpleasantness would go away!

So who knows if we have a Reagan or Thatcher in our midst?
Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 09:46 AM (jR7Wy)

The left, despite any protestations to the contrary, haven't changed (except they may have gotten worse). Collectively they might invoke Reagan or Thatcher on a rare occasion, but individually, if you ask them about either, Reagan is still an idiot and Thatcher is still is even stupider puppet. They may say shit like, "but of course I respect our troops," as a prelude to trashing the military, but they are every bit as hypercritical and condescending to the troops as they were in the Vietnam years. It's just that they were shamed so much during the Reagan years that they don't want that to happen again. They want to be free to profess their faux patriotism with impunity.

Posted by: Semper In Stercus at September 27, 2015 09:53 AM (BZAd3)

45 Reading my first Vince Flynn novel, "Term Limits".

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 09:30 AM (jR7Wy)

Loved those books. Introduced my 87 y.o. dad to the series - whenever some idiot politician or other p.o.s. acts up, dad says he thinks they need some Mitch Rapp "therapy." Vince Flynn, R.I.P.

Posted by: Joanne Cruzbot still hopefull for Jindal at September 27, 2015 09:55 AM (hgBpU)

46 BTW When I visited St. Louis recently, I saw Left Bank Books had "Black Lives Matter" signs all over their windows.

Guess what bookstore I did NOT browse at? And I let them know about it, too.

Posted by: WannabeAnglican at September 27, 2015 09:55 AM (vFmT2)

47 WannaBeAnglican, Left Bank Books was signalling - "Hands up! Don't burn us out!"

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:57 AM (i4AI5)

48 Working away on the layout for a book for a client of the Tiny Publishing Bidness (the third or fourth time I have done this, as the Client keeps wanting MOAR PICTURES! or it not, then those already in to be on a different page which totally screws up the page lay-out) so have not had much time to read anything for enjoyment ... since I was also trying to finish writing the last chapter of "Sunset & Steel Rails" -- which is done and off to the Alpba Reader and Editor. Now I only have to write the other half of "Tales of Luna City" -- but I did get the website for that project started.

I was able to dip into Stephen Freid's "Appetite for America" -- about the Fred Harvey company, which absolutely revolutionized railroad eating houses and was the first national hospitality chain. A curious coincidence - David Benjamin, who was a senior and trusted executive of the company for nearly 40 years, was not only in Galveston on company business during the 1900 Hurricane ... but in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. And -- he and his wife were stranded temporarily in Europe on the outbreak of WWII, when the packet liners stopped running for a time and the national borders were suddenly closed. Talk about a Master of Disaster!

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 27, 2015 09:58 AM (95iDF)

49 Muldoon, a movie you might be interested in. Thunderbolt. William Wyler documentary on a Corsican based P-47 fighter group in WWII. 16mm color. Jimmy Stewart introduction.

****

Sounds interesting.

OBTW, I saw the biggest guns link on the ONT. Leopold (K5) railroad gun was one of them (aka Anzio Annie). It happens that Anzio Annie is the "villain" in my novel that is nearing completion. There were actually two of the big guns outside of Rome helping to keep the Allies pinned down on the Anzio beachhead. My dad was in counterbattery for VI Corps. The novel plays off of that artillery cat-and-mouse.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at September 27, 2015 10:01 AM (NeFrd)

50 One of my great discoveries this week was a CS Lewis book, "Studies In Words". It's a compilation of several of his lectures on the importance of understanding how certain words have changed, or been changed, over millennia and why it's important to realize how and why these changes occurred. He doesn't use the phrase 'thought control' but that is one of the reasons word changes are imposed. Other reason include laziness, incorrect common usage that obliterates the real meaning, and expanding a specific meaning to include a wider world. There are similar themes in "Abolition of Man" and "The Discarded Image".

I know I'm a word nerd but I love this kind of material. Especially when it agrees with my approaches.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 10:02 AM (FvdPb)

51 22

When I use my recliner to read, I often find myself reading the insides of my eyelids; especially if it's right after lunch.

Posted by: Zoltan at September 27, 2015 10:06 AM (THsLo)

52 Last night on the ONT, I linked a Bob Dylan song, then went to bobdylan.com to copy & paste some lyrics in my comment.

I found this instead,, which stopped me dead in my tracks:

http://cuttingedge.bobdylan.com/

The title "The Cutting Edge" is putting it mildly. In 1965-66, Dylan was so far above anyone else who was recording music that it isn't even funny. It was absolutely the peak of his career. Those three albums, "Bringing It All Back Home", "Highway 61 Revisited", and Blonde on Blonde" still reverberate to this day. They still influence modern musicians, whether they realize it or not.

I pre-ordered the Collector's Edition. That's $650 that I'll never see again. I'm pretty sure that I won't miss it in the long run.

I've been around long enough to know that what he actually released is better then what he left on the cutting room floor.

But I've also been around long enough to know that there are some real gems to be found there.

Posted by: rickl at September 27, 2015 10:06 AM (sdi6R)

53 Morning, all!
I've bought, but not yet read, Golden ISIS (kindle version).

Got my used copy of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting late this week (not available on kindle-darn!). Nor far in and I'm already marking it up. Such a good book, but scary.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 27, 2015 10:07 AM (NOIQH)

54 Anzio Annie and counter-battery? The Long Toms are a bit out-ranged.

To quote a Bill Mauldin cartoon, "No we haven't found the one who invented the 88 yet."

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 10:09 AM (i4AI5)

55 Ack. "Than", not "then". I also seem to have omitted an " before Blonde on Blonde.

Posted by: rickl at September 27, 2015 10:12 AM (sdi6R)

56 I've been reading a weird one: _Zanoni_, by Sir Edward "Dark and Stormy Night" Bulwer-Lytton. It's hard to describe. The subtitle is "A Rosicrucian Novel," and the title character is a mysterious Rosicrucian Mary Sue dude, but the main focus of the plot is on a young English artist and a young Italian opera singer who are in love. Then the French Revolution happens.

It's slow-ish going; the prose is very heavy and B-L never uses one word where he can use twenty. But the plot bangs along, and Sir Ed certainly knew his mid-19th century crackpot occultism.

Most amusing bit: Nicot, the villainous French revolutionary character who is pretty much exactly a modern SJW. At one point the narrator dryly says "Opinion was to be free as air; and in order to make it so, it was necessary to exterminate those whose opinions were not the same as Mons. Jean Nicot."

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 10:13 AM (BJN55)

57 Don't know if anyone is interested, but I'm about halfway through writing, well, not my FIRST novel, but the first one that I don't re-read and cringe. I'm looking for, pardon the expression, beta readers. My wife has been positive thus far but she's probably not completely unbiased.

It is what I like to jokingly call a post-post apacolypse novel. IE, after all the zombies are cleared away and the rebuilding begins, what next? What sort of impact would that have on a society? (And of course what the 'zombies' are, and the reason behind them, is hopefully a unique twist).

If anyone is interested, hit me up at dhumphreys 5252 at Gmail dot com. Remove the spaces, etc.

Thanks ahead of time . . . Looking forward to getting some feedback.

Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at September 27, 2015 10:13 AM (0x5gJ)

58 Graves, my best wishes to you. I remember student teaching kicking keister all too well. First official year was worse (didn't think it was possible, but it was).

I remember reading James Lee Burke's Rain Gods over Thanksgiving break that first year. Not the world's greatest novel but it's good enough. And it was the first adult fiction I had read in six months, so it felt glorious!

Breath deep, pray, keep at it. Ultimately, you will do as much as you have time to do, and that's what gets done.

And, yeah, consider looking for work in a nice small-town school. Or even a crappy small-town school.

Posted by: Jobey in Error at September 27, 2015 10:15 AM (dGWLp)

59 Anna, You can mark up another sale for "Golden Isis". Just a couple of chapters in so far but I'm enjoying it. In my mind, I keep seeing the descriptions as a black and white 1932 film in New York starring Myrna Loy. I'll certainly leave a review on Amazon when finished.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 10:16 AM (FvdPb)

60 Well... *takes a deep breath while fanning self*

Thank you JTB. Myrna Loy, oh my. I love her in the Thin Man movies.

On that positive motivating note, back to the writing.

Have fun everyone.

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 10:20 AM (i4AI5)

61 I feel somewhat lucky, I would like to read lots of books I cannot afford, but love to read the free books most don't.

Posted by: skip at September 27, 2015 10:20 AM (WcAm2)

62 Oregon, thanks so much for the BT. Man that's a lot of work. I can not imagine how much the ewok must pay you!

ha ha.

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 27, 2015 10:23 AM (jJRIy)

63 Zombie's "shellacking" misses one extremely important point because she assumes the opposite:

She assumes that reason wins over emotion.

This is completely false and it is why "conservatives" always lose.

Posted by: gh at September 27, 2015 10:25 AM (YlqSL)

64 Posted by: rickl at September 27, 2015 10:06 AM (sdi6R)

I learned about it on Facebook a few days ago and also ordered the 18-disc version. I guess things are worth what people will pay for them.

Posted by: waelse1 at September 27, 2015 10:26 AM (oAK6v)

65 I read that Zombie article about "The Little Blue Book," and wow. BTW, where is Zombie nowadays? Fallen off the radar recently.

I tried reading "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride," by Cary Elwes. I quite enjoy Goldman's original book from which the movie was made, and I had heard Elwes's book was an enjoyable insider's view. But I couldn't get past Elwes's awful writing. Even with the help of some ghostwriter, his writing still felt self-serving and lazy. And, well, just horrible writing, really. How can a book about a great book be so awful?

(And I'm sure a lot of people have loved this book, so what am I missing?)

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 10:26 AM (yjhOG)

66 The other old book I've been reading is Aristophanes's _The Wasps_, a satirical play from around 420 BC. It's still funny, and I don't think that's just the translation. It's also still topical and biting.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 10:28 AM (BJN55)

67 "Full pout mode."

THAT is poetry!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 27, 2015 10:29 AM (Zu3d9)

68 You can't reason someone out of an opinion they didn't reason themselves into in the first place.

It's nice to try though. Ultimately, I think we've reached the event horizon of magical thinking. Our only hope is surviving the black hole and popping up in a new universe.

Posted by: Chupacabras at September 27, 2015 10:29 AM (QFjNO)

69 Morning horde.

OT but good news.

Ground Zero mosque is kaput.

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at September 27, 2015 10:33 AM (9jeGC)

70 Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 10:26 AM (yjhOG)

Zombie comments at the HQ on a nearly daily basis. Has a couple other IRL projects that are interfering with blogging time, if I understand correctly.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 27, 2015 10:34 AM (GDulk)

71 Or what Bruce said at 20

Posted by: RWC - Team BOHICA at September 27, 2015 10:34 AM (9jeGC)

72 I read that Zombie article about "The Little Blue Book," and wow. BTW, where is Zombie nowadays? Fallen off the radar recently.

SB, this is not completely accurate. Zombie is an occasional commenter during the weekday threads and even shows up here on the book thread from time to time.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 10:35 AM (i5JHj)

73 why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

This is the key that too many political minded people tend to miss. We need all of the mix, but in careful proportions. Too much of any one and things go wrong. Each checks the other and has strengths (few in some) to help caution each other about their weaknesses (many in some).

Regarding happiness: transient, temporary, and ultimately not very important. Focus on joy and hope instead.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 10:36 AM (39g3+)

74
I Know "Yahtzee" and Seven Other Japanese Words

Affirmative action buffet over.
You go away now.
You been here forty years.

Posted by: Tacky Jorge Takei (nee Albert Bumblefook, Privileged) at September 27, 2015 10:36 AM (WdajP)

75 Posted by: skip at September 27, 2015 10:20 AM (WcAm2)

It's amazing what is available for no charge. Just the Amazon catalog has thousands of great books for free. And there are several other sources too. Gutenberg, etc.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 27, 2015 10:37 AM (Zu3d9)

76 Blubber bluh waah boo hoo. Pope sniff bless wahhh

Posted by: John Boner at September 27, 2015 10:38 AM (ZWRoJ)

77
23 First year always sucks HARD. Key is to recognize that and prioritize sleep and health. Don't try to get fancy and accomplish great things make sure your basics are covered. It's MUCH easier after the 1st year-
Urban schools and districts usually suck. They can be either desperate enough for teachers to be very accomodating or vicious and impersonal enough to be dangerous to you and your career. The usual track is to get your experience and good evals there and then get the hell out asap.
You're very right schools are very different now esp. urban districts. Lots of pretending to teach and pretending to learn.
Find someone who feels like helping you learn the ropes and take good care of them!
God help you if you are a white straight Christian male. In that case don't expect collegiality in time of crisis. Remember most urban teachers are there cuz they got kicked out of better schools or can't get hired anywhere else. It's usually not a nice place to work.

Posted by: MAx, after 2.5 years in Watts and 7 in East L.A. at September 27, 2015 10:38 AM (LAliD)

78 I am assuming someone will post a elbow thread?

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 27, 2015 10:39 AM (jJRIy)

79 Regarding the BLM sign in Left Bank Books, I have always found it interesting that persons employed in selling books, pride themselves as being significantly more socially conscious and knowledgeable about all things, just because they stock shelves and work a cash register.

The only place I have found this to be even remotely believable, was three decades ago at City Lights on Columbus in San Francisco. A cute young lady impressed me to a great degree on all things regarding politics, though she had no idea as to what constituted the periodic table.

These are the times that try on men's shoes.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 10:40 AM (u49WF)

80 Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 10:40 AM (u49WF)

Did she put out?

Posted by: Typical disgusting Moron at September 27, 2015 10:42 AM (Zu3d9)

81 Good morning, fellow 'Rons and 'Ettes!

We're planning a reprise of last year's SW Ohio MoMe:

Saturday evening, October 17, 7-10 (ish), Beavercreek.

Plus, I've booked (SWIDT?) a better venue).

Interested parties please let me know: swohmome @ mail.com (no spaces).

Thanks!

Posted by: speedster1 at September 27, 2015 10:42 AM (1brdf)

82 78 I am assuming someone will post a elbow thread?
Posted by: Nip Sip at September 27, 2015 10:39 AM (jJRIy)

I can see one in the pipe, so, yeah, you'll get your elbows - AND LIKE IT!

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 10:43 AM (i5JHj)

83 Two other lucky finds at the used book store in town. "The Canterbury Tales Complete" which is basically the Riverside Chaucer version of the Tales with all the footnotes but without the other writings and 40 pounds of exposition. The footnotes are necessary as my knowledge of Middle English has degenerated (I'm being generous) since college. Even this edition usually sells for at least 50 dollars and I got a clean copy for a sawbuck. Yaaa, me!

The second find was an inexpensive hardback edition of Merwin's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I mentioned last week that his translation is decent but the best part is the left page has the original and the facing page the translation. I like going back and forth between them.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 10:44 AM (FvdPb)

84
23 Now I teach with the beautiful Pacific ocean 2.5miles from my classroom door. And my teaching day is done at noon.
So take the long view.

Posted by: MAx, after 2.5 years in Watts and 7 in East L.A. at September 27, 2015 10:44 AM (LAliD)

85 If you have not, the audiobook of Hard Luck Hank is really good. I really like that it's read as Hank as the books are funny as hell. I will say I didn't like the third book, but I hate any book that skips 50 years into the Future.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at September 27, 2015 10:44 AM (c4yY7)

86 Just finished 25 Years in the Rifle Brigade by William Surtee Quartermaster in the British 95th rifles. Of Richard Sharpe book fame.

Posted by: skip at September 27, 2015 10:44 AM (WcAm2)

87 SPEAKING OF AUTHORS who might possibly be Morons. Yesterday I sat with my six-year-old daughter, and we watched "My Little Pony," season 5, episodes 1 and 2, "Cutie Markless," parts 1 and 2.

You know what? It was an antiauthoritarian, anticommunist message hidden within a little girls' show. All the ponies have little brands, their "cutie marks," which are external expressions of their individuality. But in one gray little community, all the ponies have gray equal signs instead of their individual marks. And each pony's personality was crushed into conformity. When the good ponies were captured by the creepy-smiling, Stepford ponies, their prison room had loudspeakers blaring messages like, "To excel is to fail. Be the best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free." Eventually, they find the lead mean pony had hidden her real brand under a fake equal sign, meaning that she had forced everyone else into conformity while keeping privilege for herself alone.

I was frankly shocked to find that the "My Little Pony" writing staff had created one of the most effective teaching tools about the nature and evil of socialism, all in the guise of over-the-top adorability.

It's here for your delectation, if you think you have an open enough mind to give it a try.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lsfap

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 10:45 AM (yjhOG)

88 The organization started the #WhitePenName hashtag and encouraged fellow writers of color to imagine what benefits they could get if they used a stereotypically "white" pen name.

Well that's adorable, but in the real world, someone demonstrated - as supported by the statements of people involved - that doing the opposite actually gives tangible, easily predictable results.

So, good luck with that hashtag campaign. We all know how amazingly effective those are. Just ask those forgotten African girls being raped to death by Boko Haram.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 10:46 AM (39g3+)

89 Affirmative action buffet over.
You go away now.
You been here forty years.

"A thing of beauty, Chan-Si Kang. You can have this grant and will be published in our journal"
-Association of leftist publishers

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 10:48 AM (39g3+)

90 Eventually, yes.
But that was one of the great things back when the public bath houses were still open in SF. If you weren't gay, women sought you out.

And as David Bowie sang....she asked for my love and I gave her a dangerous mind.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 10:49 AM (u49WF)

91 I had heard Elwes's book was an enjoyable insider's view. But I couldn't get past Elwes's awful writing. Even with the help of some ghostwriter, his writing still felt self-serving and lazy. And, well, just horrible writing, really.

I've read a lot of places that the writing is just godawful. Which leads me to think that Elwes actually did write it, and I've also read that it gets more tolerable later on in the book so if you keep at it, its rewarding.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 10:51 AM (39g3+)

92 But that was one of the great things back when the public bath houses were still open in SF. If you weren't gay, women sought you out...
Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 10:49 AM (u49WF)

I've heard that that's still true, i.e. young, single men who aren't homosexual are somewhat scarce in SF.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 10:54 AM (i5JHj)

93 The Canterbury Tales Complete

JTB,

Is that the one by Fisher and Allen?

Thas'pensive!

Posted by: naturalfake at September 27, 2015 10:55 AM (KUa85)

94 JTB: This term I'm teaching "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," using the J. R. R. Tolkien version. I like the idea of the face-to-face translation, though I simply have not the time nor the inclination to learn Old English. Though reading Beowulf in the original would be amazing.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 10:56 AM (yjhOG)

95 In addition to the moron books listed, my WW2 supernatural thriller is out and available on Amazon, go take a look if you like that sort of thing:

http://tinyurl.com/nq3yk6q

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 10:57 AM (39g3+)

96 OM, I really appreciate your style of discussion that connects themes and casually incorporates the book links. Almost makes books seem like a normal part of life!

Also, Oberlausitzische Library Of Science? That's a magnificent place. If we could un-box and un-stack all our books, I think we'd need about that much shelf space...!

For those who might've seen my morning messages the other day, we were hoping, but not expecting, to get to Chicago before Milady's brother died, and we almost made it; he gave up the ghost last night while we were on the road in the middle of Illinois. My thoughts about Vince from the other morning:
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?blog=86&post=359102#c24218900

And just so's this isn't off-topic, and I've meant to do this for months, here's an Amazon link to Vince's book, The Confidants (which link, if I did it right, should kickback to Ace). Milady says it's a fun, Chicago-based mystery.
http://bit.ly/Vince-Clark-Confidants

Carry on, readers.

Posted by: mindful webworker, in a funk at September 27, 2015 10:57 AM (dmWPe)

97 Smallish Bees

There is a Cartoon Movie on Netflix JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR
All knight are banned, and replaced by Laws or bureaucrats, What's funny is that a Princess gets kidnapped and instead of looking for her you have to file a Missing Person report firs, but there is nobody that can look for her because they banned the Knights..

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at September 27, 2015 10:57 AM (c4yY7)

98 OT, sort of. I've mentioned in the past about learning chess and some of the books I'm using. That effort is on hold for the time being while I get other matters settled. But I got an email from The Great Courses company about a new offering that teaches the fundamentals of chess by Jeremy Silman. The order should arrive next week. Don't know if others would be interested but thought I would mention it.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 10:58 AM (FvdPb)

99 Screw the Galaxy
Basketful of Crap
Prince of Suck
----------------

Isn't that some sort of free form verse?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 10:59 AM (9mTYi)

100 Christopher Taylor: That I couldn't read it is saying something. I read insatiably, and I can put up with a pretty high crap quotient (though that is diminishing as I get older and read better and better stuff), so if I can't read something because I think it's crap, then it's most likely crap indeed.

Maybe I'll have to try it again, skipping the atrocious opening chapters, and just look for stories about Andre the Giant and whatnot.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 11:00 AM (yjhOG)

101 I'm at OBX this week, so adjust to the fact that I will be making seemingly casual remarks calculated to inspire some envy. BTW, did I mention that the ocean is angry this morning?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 11:01 AM (9mTYi)

102 I think in the abstract, libertarianism appeals to everyone, and the giant tentacled bureaucracy is repellent to everyone. Its just when you get down to actually taking action and practical results that people start to squeal because their favorite program gets touched. You notice this even with conservatives: cut the government! But not that part!

I just finished The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian again. This second read through of the series has been more from an author's perspective so I'm seeing what he did and why more than just enjoying the stories for what they are.

Some people say his later books were not as good but I think that's just because they are less about action and ship battles and more about people and events. There's still thrilling action, but as Aubrey moves up the ranks of the Navy he is less a dashing frigate captain and more the guy directing the frigates.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:02 AM (39g3+)

103 I've been reading some of the writings of 19th century naturalist John Muir. (Free on Kindle.)
I struggle at times with his wordiness, a style common to his era, but then I get rewarded with pure, lyrical outbursts of joy that capture me.
To be clear with Muir this is not about Gaia worshipping but worship of the Living God whose glory is reflected in nature and I love those moments.
His style brings to mind Gerard Manley Hopkins and his poem about the heavens reflecting the grandeur of God like light from shook foil.

Just thought I'd share. Thanks for allowing me the pixel space.

Posted by: Northernlurker, feeling grumpy today at September 27, 2015 11:02 AM (4rzL1)

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

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

-Groucho Marx

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at September 27, 2015 11:02 AM (LUgeY)

105 >>>> 92 I've heard that that's still true, i.e. young, single men who aren't homosexual are somewhat scarce in SF.
Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 10:54 AM

------

I left in '91, but I remember going to see a vintage showing of the original "Beauty and the Beast" at the Castro theater, and at the end when Beauty kisses the Beast, the crowd erupted in a chorus of hisses and boos.

I'm pretty sure that's still the case.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (u49WF)

106 The Oberlausitzische Library Of Science looks amazing, until I think about how all those books are filled with graphs, numbers, and equations. Kind of ruins it for me.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (yjhOG)

107 Screw the Galaxy

Basketful of Crap

Prince of Suck

Now give me poetry award!

Posted by: Ching Chung Wong at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (uZNvH)

108 My friends you don't have to be afraid of the preeminent young scientIst of our time, Ahmed, being invited to the White House.

Posted by: John McCain at September 27, 2015 11:04 AM (sI4OA)

109 when Beauty kisses the Beast, the crowd erupted in a chorus of hisses and boos.

...did they not know the ending, or something?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:06 AM (39g3+)

110
You Work For Me, George and Tina

"Gimme! Gimme!"
Always gets.
If you don't believe this,
You're all wet,
Anchor babies.

Posted by: Popo Gigio, A Dedicated Follower of Fascism at September 27, 2015 11:06 AM (WdajP)

111 106
The Oberlausitzische Library Of Science looks amazing, until I think
about how all those books are filled with graphs, numbers, and
equations. Kind of ruins it for me.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (yjhOG)

nah, they're probably just filled with Nazi phrenology experiments

Posted by: chemjeff at September 27, 2015 11:06 AM (uZNvH)

112 "My friends you don't have to be afraid of the preeminent young scientIst of our time, Ahmed, being invited to the White House."

He's a regular Steve Jobs of the timekeeping world.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 27, 2015 11:06 AM (VPLuQ)

113 Now give me poetry award!
Posted by: Ching Chung Wong at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (uZNvH)

Rosie, is that you?

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 11:07 AM (i5JHj)

114 Posted by: Popo Gigio, A Dedicated Follower of Fascism

OK, this made me laugh. Well played, sir.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 11:08 AM (i5JHj)

115 93 ... Naturalfake, That isn't the Fisher and Allen version although The Riverside Chaucer is in the same cost area. I don't remember text books being so expensive but my experience, and memory, is decades out of date.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 11:08 AM (FvdPb)

116 For light reading, I like the mystery genre, and prefer authors who write a reoccurring character series. Originally from Arizona, I love the Tony Hillerman books about Navajo Tribal Policemen Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. A couple of movies were made but never quite hit the mark, IMO. If you've lived around Indian culture, you will love these books.

Other faves: Stuart Kamninsky with Inspector Porfiry Rostnikov - who loves to read detective novels by Ed McBain. Kaminsky passed away in 2009 and it was noted at the time that he had never visited Russia, something you would never know after reading his books. Great, great reading, covers the Soviet era to present.

Michael Connelly with LAPD Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. Wrote Blood Work, later directed/starred Clint Eastwood.

Posted by: Joanne Cruzbot still hopefull for Jindal at September 27, 2015 11:09 AM (hgBpU)

117 101�I'm at OBX this week, so adjust to the fact that I will be making seemingly casual remarks calculated to inspire some envy.

Prime time for hurricane season. But wait a minute there aren't any anymore. Global warming sure does some amazing stuff.

Posted by: se pa moron at September 27, 2015 11:09 AM (sI4OA)

118 Fun mystery for chicks, super-sleuth Agatha Raisin, Constable Hamish Macbeth series by M.C. Beaton, aka Marion Chesney.

And Martha Grimes' Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard and cohorts (Melrose Plant in particular) - titles like "The Man with a Load of Mischief" - ha! The books are all named after pubs.

Posted by: Joanne Cruzbot still hopefull for Jindal at September 27, 2015 11:09 AM (hgBpU)

119 I didn't know you'd had a CABG2, OM. Welcome to the club.

The list of things I care about was pretty short before mine, it's almost non-existent today. I'm perfectly content to be a curmudgeonly PIA to everyone I don't know for my remaining time on this Godforsaken hunk of rock. Gallows humor indeed.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at September 27, 2015 11:10 AM (LUgeY)

120 The Great Courses company about a new offering that teaches the fundamentals of chess by Jeremy Silman. The order should arrive next week. Don't know if others would be interested but thought I would mention it.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 10:58 AM (FvdPb)

Yes, I'd be interested to hear your review of this material. Most chess instructional videos are expensive as all get-out, but they've got these marked down to a reasonable price.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 11:10 AM (i5JHj)

121 Off topic but so hilarious I had to share:

"My mission every day is to fight for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government."
-Speaker Boehner on his twitter account

Man. He sucked at his mission, if that's the case.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:13 AM (39g3+)

122 Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to ISIS

Here's another book on how Baghdadi's caliphate works and thinks. Spencer hasn't been to Raqqa lately and isn't plugged in to journalist or ISIS-survivor networks. He works with propaganda. This isn't necessarily bad here, as that means he has to battle Islamic State and generally-Islamic propaganda published in English. So this book's primary angle is on what the caliph says, as a means to what the caliphate wants to do.

Spencer's audience isn't the Umma. This book has no interest in absolving Sunni Islam, nor Islam generally, for how ISIS speaks or behaves. This book appeals more to people here: non-Muslims who are Christian or at least pro-Christian, especially those who might stand to get a sympathetic ear with our political and policy-making class(es).

This book's primary job is to discuss how Islamic State propaganda and Islamic State recruits intersect. After all, nobody here, not even Hector, is tempted to join the Islamic State. We're not in the State's recruitment pool. The State's pool is, instead, the Sunni Umma. So the State's language is Sunni Islamic.

The book is divided into nine chapters with a tenth on policy prescriptions. The chapters mainly read as independent essays. Some summarise the history of this caliphate so far in Iraq and Syria. (Libya and Yemen are sideshows for this purpose.) Some are basically book reports on ISIS propaganda: the chapter on what the caliphate means reviews "This Is The Promise of Allah" (which I'd also read - I think I linked it here at the time) and the inaugural Baghdadi sermon (which I hadn't read), and the ninth chapter on the Islamic state's to-do list reviews the "Black Flags" series. There's also an overview of other caliphates' histories, like the Umayyads and 'Abbasids.

The index is weak: it lacks entries on Muslim apocalyptic, which is vital to the State, and also on Grenada, whose 1066 pogrom / race-riot is mentioned in p. 213. This report, itself, is a leyenda negra unsuited to make the case for antiJudaism in Muslim Spain. (I'm going to comment more on this below.)

For a book which reviews so much "black flag" apocalyptic, I was surprised not to see references to The Atlantic's instant-classic articles on Sunni apocalyptic generally. Maybe they're there but I missed them, and I don't find them in the index. Or maybe Spencer thought they didn't have much to add. But I think that a spin through David Cook's books would only have helped this part of the book.

Besides that, someone had to provide a Sunnite commentary on caliphal texts for the common infidel. The book does a fine job reading ISIS so you don't have to. Also to the extent its case is that ISIS is bad news drawing from a vast pool of young Sunnis, and that Sunni imams have thus far failed to argue against ISIS from the basis of Sunnism - the book successfully makes that case.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 11:13 AM (aLXXe)

123 It's here for your delectation, if you think you have an open enough mind to give it a try.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2lsfap
Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 10:45 AM (yjhOG)
---
"No pony left behind!"

How did this get made?

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 11:15 AM (jR7Wy)

124 "My mission every day is to fight for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government."
-Speaker Boehner on his twitter account
----------------

You had one job John...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 11:18 AM (9mTYi)

125 94 ... Smallish Bees, I have read the Tolkien version and like it. He was able to retain the pace and alliteration of the original. The only problem was some of his 'modern' words are still rather dated by today's standards. It's only a few, though, so you just might have to explain a few more words to your class. My course work reading Beowulf in OE is far enough back that it wasn't so out of date. One of the joys of being retired is being able to take time with the original and modern versions.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 11:19 AM (FvdPb)

126 Posted by: Joanne Cruzbot still hopefull for Jindal at September 27, 2015 11:09 AM (hgBpU)

I want to like Marion Chesney's books because the stories are usually interesting and well written. She seems to really hate humanity in general and her characters in particular (whether romance or mystery) so I've given up on them.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 27, 2015 11:20 AM (GDulk)

127 To whichever Moron suggested 'Shelley's Heart', I brought it with me as a vacation read. Thanks, I think. It is seriously creeping me out.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 11:21 AM (9mTYi)

128 I left in '91, but I remember going to see a vintage showing of the original "Beauty and the Beast" at the Castro theater, and at the end when Beauty kisses the Beast, the crowd erupted in a chorus of hisses and boos.
I'm pretty sure that's still the case.
Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (u49WF)

Well, if that was the 1932 version by Jean Cocteau, who I heard was a flagrantly "out" homosexual, has the "beast" turn back into a man, the "man" looked very much, uh, "light in the loafers" so I'll bet the crowd in that theater was very disappointed when he left with Belle.

When Mrs. Muse saw that movie, she was enjoying it very much up to that point. After the beast turns into a man and sort of minces around the screen, she was, like, "But.. but... he looks like such a fag". When I told her of Cocteau's orientation, she understood a little better.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 27, 2015 11:23 AM (i5JHj)

129 The other old book I've been reading is Aristophanes's _The Wasps_, a satirical play from around 420 BC. It's still funny, and I don't think that's just the translation. It's also still topical and biting.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 10:28 AM (BJN55)

I love Aristophanes.

I first read "The Frogs" because it was assigned in a college course, but-

enjoyed it so much that I plowed through his remaining plays.

I guess I'll make those part of my Retro Re-reading Assignment to myself for the Fall and Winter.

Which translation do you have?

Posted by: naturalfake at September 27, 2015 11:24 AM (KUa85)

130 "The prevailing view of the Left was, If we would just stop provoking the
Soviet Union, all of this unpleasantness would go away!"

And now, ex post facto, the retroactive view of the Cold War by the Left is the one expressed by Barack Obama in his big speech in Berlin in 2008.

To wit, that the Cold War wasn't won by, or a victory for, the free West (which would imply that Communism was a monstrous failure and that the Western left were dingbats and dupes for trusting it).

Oh no! Instead, the Cold War "came to an end".

Posted by: torquewrench at September 27, 2015 11:28 AM (noWW6)

131 If you want a real ground level look at daily life in the USSR read Ayn Rand's "We The Living" about her life in Russia right after the end of the Civil War up until she hauled ass out of the country. It has sex, politics, intrigue, more sex all against the backdrop of the commies coming to power and really showing their hand. Kinda like the last 7 years.....and it is a better read than "Atlas Farted".

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 27, 2015 11:31 AM (ej1L0)

132 120 ... OM, It will take a couple of weeks, at least, but I'll be glad to report on the chess course.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 11:31 AM (FvdPb)

133 George Lakoff...rhymes with whackoff is used to whip their voters into a frenzy...

if you haven't read it do so...guy is like an unreformed Orwell.

Posted by: Sven S Blade a.k.a. El Assassin@sven10077 at September 27, 2015 11:33 AM (g8Hfr)

134 Last week I picked up fellow-Boulderite Brian Catlos's book on the Crusades, Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors. Its first "part" concerns the failure of Muslim Spain. The first chapter handles the fall of the Umayyad caliphate there in 1031 AD; the second chapter focuses on Grenada up to that infamous "pogrom" 1066 AD.

We have a "black legend" in non-Muslim circles, that this riot attempted to run the Jews out of the city and that it should be listed alongside the Cossack rampages in Russia. Spencer refers to it too. Catlos argues that it shouldn't be overplayed.

After the Umayyads failed, southern Spain was dotted with city-states (taifas) all at war with one another and with the Berbers, and with Christians too but as a distinct third. All these cities had large Jewish populations. Grenada was headed up by a Berber named Badis and this man, not trusting Arabs or Christians for some reason, nor for that matter trusting Berbers much, installed as chief vizier a Jew, Isma'il bin Naghrilla. Isma'il did a good job maintaining Grenada's position, allowing for some arrogance on his part, and for a taste for bisexual orgies.

Among Isma'il's less-good ideas was his notion to have his son Yusuf succeed him. This smelled like dynasty-making to everyone there, and to some outsiders as well - the rival state Seville smelled weakness and prepared attack. The local Jews advised Yusuf that his position was untenable and that perhaps he should consider moving to Long Island, cousin Murray has a nice Volvo dealership there. (I'm paraphrasing.)

Yusuf, being ... not quite as wise as daddy, weighed the options and sent a secret message to another amir, Ibn Sumadih of Almeria. Yusuf would send Grenada's army out to guard against Seville. Meanwhile Ibn Sumadih would send Almeria's own army to occupy Grenada. This cunning plan, of course, did not work: Almeria's army marched to Grenada, saw the fortifications, and turned back.

So: riot. Yusuf and his main supporters were the targets, and - rioters being rioters - the local Jews took one on the chin.

First, one should keep in mind that *all* the cities involved had long-standing Jewish populations, and *all* the cities involves were Muslim. Also, although there were certainly some Arab anti-Jewish poems celebrating the attack, they weren't nearly as bad as contemporary poems spurring Arabs against Berbers. A city that wiped out its Jews in those days was going to cripple itself - which, I know, doesn't always stop nations from doing it, but the Muslim Andalusis were (usually) smarter than that.

There's additionally no evidence that the pogrom rose to the level of ethnic-cleansing. Catlos notes that Grenada still had a sizeable Jewish population afterward.

It should be viewed more like the race-riot of Tulsa in 1925 at worst. It doesn't even rise to say, late 1960s-Detroit (which did upend that city's character); certainly not to the Iraqi Farhud of the 1940s. As for attempts to relate it to the Nazis' deliberate liquidation of Eastern European ghettos, just... don't.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 11:38 AM (aLXXe)

135 As I'm doing something a bit leading-edgy with geochemistry and radiometry in my field (oil and gas exploration) in a rather unexplored part of Texas (gotta find something big to overcome today's crappy oil prices!) I'm reviewing a lot of my old University science training. As a lark, I started by rereading several of my original science textbooks from the 1970's.
How the world has changed!
But the funny thing is how much I'm relearning and how much more interesting and essential they seem now. Science textooks today are bloated with extraneous and irrelevant factoids.
One more thing: average price per book in 1973: under 11 bucks. Current equivalent price: over $185 per book.

Posted by: TexasJew at September 27, 2015 11:38 AM (rNruR)

136 There was a fellow, George Price, who was a scientist interested in evolution and altruism. He allegedly mathematically proved that altruism doesn't exist and that we're all just selfish bastards. It drove him crazy and eventually to suicide as he became obsessed with disproving his own proof. Several books have been written about him including

http://tinyurl.com/ns52h7n

I haven't read any because 1) I think you have to be smart n shit to understand what's going on and 2) I don't want to slit my own throat.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 11:38 AM (Nwg0u)

137 Hi Horde!

Just finished re-"reading" an audio version of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity via the LAPL. I needing a reminder of why I'm a Christian.

Getting ready to listen to Robert Ferrigno's Sins of the Assassin, the second part (I think) in his Assassin series. For those who don't know, it's a dystopic saga of a fragmented USA, with the largest part being Muslim. Prophecy?

Posted by: baldilocks at September 27, 2015 11:39 AM (ys2UW)

138 I think you're spot on there OM. Really the best part was that the theater had the old style concert organ and so very few theaters still do that. No double entendres intended.

A few weeks after that, I was fortunate enough to see Kurt Vonnegut give a lecture at the Berkeley Community Center on plot lines. Strangely, he focused a great deal on Shakespeare. I realized later that many so called left wingers are only pandering to what is popular at the moment just to stay in the moment of cultural acceptability.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:40 AM (u49WF)

139 I expect if Robert Spencer were to go to Raqqa, the goatfuckers would murder him.

If ISIS is so centrally-controlled by Baghdadi, and his HQ is in Raqqa, why not simply drop a nuke on it, and turn him and all his followers to plasma? I would assume that, by now, anyone not aligned with ISIS has fled the city.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 11:42 AM (0yhH4)

140 There's additionally no evidence that the pogrom rose to the level of ethnic-cleansing. Catlos notes that Grenada still had a sizeable Jewish population afterward.

It took the Roman Catholics to just about wipe Jews out of Spain in the late 15th century, really. Around the time of Columbus Isabella and Ferdinand decided they didn't want any around any more.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:42 AM (39g3+)

141
This weekend I received my copy of "Heaven, How I Got Here", by Colin Smith. It is an account of the last day in the life of the thief on the cross who was crucified next to Jesus. It is written by a Scottish pastor who serves in a suburban Chicago church with which I have some ties. It's written in the first person by a sinner who wakes up one morning realizing that by the end of that day, he will be dead. Then, Jesus. Oh my. Then Jesus.

From the blurb:

"What if you woke up one morning knowing
that it was your last day on earth? That's what happened to the thief
on the cross, who died a few feet from Jesus.

This is his story, told in his own words, as he looks back from Heaven on the day that changed his eternity, and the faith that can change yours"

Besides a Kindle version or dead tree book, there is also an audiobook version that is read by the conservative actor Stephen Baldwin.

It's available on Amazon or google "Heaven, How I Got Here", and follow links that take you to Pastor Colin's website (Unlocking the Bible) or to the Orchard Church in Arlington Heights.

Posted by: grammie winger, waiting for the trumpets at September 27, 2015 11:44 AM (dFi94)

142 Duh. The goad to altruism is for personal reasons.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 27, 2015 11:45 AM (3pRHP)

143 Do you have a favorite reading chair?

-
Mrs. Snark has banned me to a certain chair because of a certain, uh, gravity problem I have.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 11:45 AM (Nwg0u)

144
100th anniversary of the Battle of Loos -- 9/25 thru 9/28 close to 60,000 killed.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 27, 2015 11:47 AM (iQIUe)

145 "He basically pantsed affirmative action racism and put pics of its flabby, pimply butt up on YouTube."

Thanks for the morning LOL.

Posted by: baldilocks at September 27, 2015 11:48 AM (ys2UW)

146 re The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World by John O'Sullivan,

I usually suggest reading this alongside Christian Caryl, Strange Rebels: which adds Deng Xiaoping and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They changed their parts of the world during approximately the same year, 1979 (Reagan came to office later).

Khomeini also did his part in bringing down the Soviets - he wasn't going to let Commies through to the Gulf, which some of his anti-American rivals certainly would. Khomeini was betting that worldwide communism was a loser, at least in its Muscovite form, and that (his form of) Shiism might become a world-power through its leadership of Islam.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 11:48 AM (aLXXe)

147 Read "Catch The Jew", by Tuvia Tenenbom. This is truly an enlightening and disturbing descent into the world of Israeli NGO's, anti-Semitism and the "Palestinian cause".

Posted by: jimveejr at September 27, 2015 11:48 AM (JNrWe)

148 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 27, 2015 11:20 AM (GDulk)

I can understand that, Agatha Raisin is a deeply flawed character.

Posted by: Joanne Cruzbot still hopefull for Jindal at September 27, 2015 11:48 AM (hgBpU)

149 >>>> 131 Ayn Rand's "We The Living"

-----

Truly awesome read.

And years ahead of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", and without the bowler hat and mirror.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:49 AM (u49WF)

150 Let's get them elbow up! I have to go to the Panther's game in the rain!

Posted by: Nip Sip at September 27, 2015 11:50 AM (jJRIy)

151 Pro PP ads at the top of the page. I know Ace doesn't control the ads, but good grief.

Really?

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 11:50 AM (Dj0WE)

152 He allegedly mathematically proved that altruism doesn't exist and that we're all just selfish bastards.

Original sin, but he refused to think in those categories not out of lack of evidence or reason but because he was a determined naturalist who refused the possibility that anything supernatural could exist.

When you start out refusing entire categories, your conclusions will be lacking.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:51 AM (39g3+)

153 Cardinal Eris:

"No pony left behind!" I don't know how the writers of My Little Pony are allowed out in decent company, being creative-class traitors and all.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 11:52 AM (yjhOG)

154 Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

A simply stunning scifi work. I can't believe I never heard of it. Probably the only one here who never read it. Aliens stranded in Medieval Germany. Historically 90% accurate by a real scholar. Reads so well it inspired me to not be a writer.
Can't recommend it enough.

Posted by: Daybrother at September 27, 2015 11:53 AM (22NtR)

155 One of the books I have been trying to read is called Spain and the Jews, which is a series of historical essays about the Jews in Spain around 1492 and after.

I've been trying to read it for 2 years.

Anyhow, there is a Spanish saying that "Converts eat pork three times a day"
(it doesn't add that's because the Inquisition is watching and will burn them at the stake if they don't)

Posted by: Kindltot at September 27, 2015 11:53 AM (3pRHP)

156 143 ... Oh man, I understand. The recliner and the reading chair were chosen specifically for my height and gravitational requirements. When I use them they look normal. Anyone else sitting in them looks like Lily Tomlin and her Edith Ann routine from Laugh-In.

Posted by: JTB at September 27, 2015 11:55 AM (FvdPb)

157 Regarding the BLM sign in Left Bank Books,

-
Well, I'm sure the BLM crowd are big book buyers.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 11:55 AM (Nwg0u)

158
Shouldn't that be the President, the Pope, the Prime Minister, and the Pole?

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 11:55 AM (F1s01)

159 Everything I have read from Robert Spencer was worth the time. When it comes to explaining Islam, he does an excellent job of calling a spade a shovel.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:55 AM (u49WF)

160
154 Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

A simply stunning scifi work. I can't believe I never heard of it. Probably the only one here who never read it. Aliens stranded in Medieval Germany. Historically 90% accurate by a real scholar. Reads so well it inspired me to not be a writer.
Can't recommend it enough.
Posted by: Daybrother at September 27, 2015 11:53 AM (22NtR)

It is one of my very favorite books.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 11:56 AM (MQEz6)

161 Pro PP ads at the top of the page. I know Ace doesn't control the ads, but good grief.

Really?

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 11:50 AM (Dj0WE)

Don't read too much into it. I think the ads that you see (I don't.) are served by bots that simply note how often certain words or phrases are mentioned, and then link ads that promote related stuff. I don't think the bots are smart enough to distinguish between pro and con commentary.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 11:56 AM (0yhH4)

162 A simply stunning scifi work. I can't believe I never heard of it. Probably the only one here who never read it. Aliens stranded in Medieval Germany. Historically 90% accurate by a real scholar. Reads so well it inspired me to not be a writer.
Can't recommend it enough.

Posted by: Daybrother at September 27, 2015 11:53 AM (22NtR)

Hey, what was the outcome of that shooting incident at your neighbors' place that reported on a few evenings ago? I'm not the only one curious to hear.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 11:58 AM (0yhH4)

163
152 He allegedly mathematically proved that altruism doesn't exist and that we're all just selfish bastards.

Original sin, but he refused to think in those categories not out of lack of evidence or reason but because he was a determined naturalist who refused the possibility that anything supernatural could exist.

When you start out refusing entire categories, your conclusions will be lacking.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 11:51 AM (39g3+)

If you include the supernatural, then your explanation is irrational and non-scientific.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (MQEz6)

164 Often overlooked in the trio of freedom is the 4th guy....Canadian PM Brian Mulroney. While not on par with Reagan/Thatcher, for Canada he was the equivalent of a Ted Cruz after 25 years of Trudeauism. He won 2 majority elections in the 80s. And the Canadian left hated him, one of the main reasons was he didn't hate America.

Posted by: Your betters at GOPe HQ at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (0LHZx)

165 Completely OT: I have a wild turkey in my back yard. The cats are quietly going bonkers watching it.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (3pRHP)

166 Pro PP ads at the top of the page. I know Ace doesn't control the ads, but good grief.

Really?

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 11:50 AM (Dj0WE)

Don't read too much into it. I think the ads that you see (I don't.) are served by bots that simply note how often certain words or phrases are mentioned, and then link ads that promote related stuff. I don't think the bots are smart enough to distinguish between pro and con commentary.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 11:56 AM (0yhH4)

Yes, I know.

I don't care. This is still Ace's site, and these ads are coming here. I know how the internet works, and I understand advertising, but something is wrong, if this is how it works.

And clearly there are ads that are relentlessly, consistently pasted up there, as a couple weeks ago everyone was talking about the Spanish language tampon ads.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 12:00 PM (Dj0WE)

167
Thanks Jobey, I have opened a tab on
the amazon page to look at later. I am retired military, and I've
reached the conclusion that whatever else I may be able to learn, my
hearing damage is going to mean that I can't teach in this kind of
high school. Too many kids making noise at once and I can't tell
what is happening, and nothing good happens after that.

Trying to get done the things I'll be
graded on, but I have been prioritizing instead trying to actually
teach, and I don't think to any good effect. My high school time was
in the 80s, in what was a bad school for that era, which is nothing
like now. I am indeed everything the class has been taught to hate
in one package, Max, and I'm currently dreaming that I'll be able to
take advantage of a local shortage of teachers to look for a lower
paying private school and try to survive there, assuming I make it to
the end of the trimester.

Posted by: Graves at September 27, 2015 12:00 PM (3MEXB)

168 Robert Ferrigno's first book in that series was excellent. I wrote a review on it in 2006 which called it "the most important book published since 9/11". Part of me thought that might be a bit much but, I had a gut feeling, that the post-Christian West isn't strong enough for the ideological argument of Islam.

Sometimes being proven right sucks.

Ferrigno used to be a regular here, before our term "moron" took off. I expect he still lurks...

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 12:01 PM (aLXXe)

169 Perhaps we should talk about topless archery, then?

Posted by: Kindltot at September 27, 2015 12:01 PM (3pRHP)

170 161 Pro PP ads at the top of the page. I know Ace doesn't control the ads, but good grief.

Really?

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 11:50 AM (Dj0WE)

Don't read too much into it. I think the ads that you see (I don't.) are served by bots that simply note how often certain words or phrases are mentioned,
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 11:56 AM (0yhH4)

__________

Yeah for a while everyone was seeing Tampax ads in Spanish here after several immigration related posts.

Posted by: Monsieur Mew Mew at September 27, 2015 12:01 PM (0LHZx)

171 the President, the Pope, the Prime Minister, and the Pole?

Walesa, indeed. But if not for the Prime Minister and the President - and we can add Helmut Kohl in Germany - Walesa would have ended his days in a Siberian camp. In fact he might have just gritted his teeth and not even tried.

The other Pole, the one in the Papacy, helped make Walesa possible.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 12:04 PM (aLXXe)

172 If you include the supernatural, then your explanation is irrational and non-scientific.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (MQEz6)
===============================

I'm okay with that.

Posted by: grammie winger, sweetly irrational and victoriously non-scientific at September 27, 2015 12:04 PM (dFi94)

173 Often overlooked in the trio of freedom is the 4th guy....Canadian PM Brian Mulroney. While not on par with Reagan/Thatcher, for Canada he was the equivalent of a Ted Cruz after 25 years of Trudeauism. He won 2 majority elections in the 80s. And the Canadian left hated him, one of the main reasons was he didn't hate America.

Posted by: Your betters at GOPe HQ at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (0LHZx)

Kind of ironic that you should use that sock for this post, because Mulroney is just about as much hated by the Canadian right as Boehner is here. Very much the big-government Progressive Conservative, although he was very friendly with Reagan. And his conservative party was indeed called the "Progressive Conservatives", although that was not his doing.

After being nearly wiped out at the polls, the Progressive Conservatives merged with the then-surging Reform party, and they united under the banner of "Conservative Party of Canada" and presently form the government. Perhaps there is a lesson in this?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 12:06 PM (0yhH4)

174 52, I'm real excited about Dylan's The Cutting Edge as well, but I'm only going to go with the 6 CD version which I hope comes down to around $100 by the time it comes out. The 18 CD version you ordered seems a bit much, but more power to you.
Those three albums that Dylan put out in '65-'66 are so extraordinary that even Dylan-haters have to admit that he simply turned the pop music world inside out and upside down with them, and everything that came after them is all related to what he did in that 12 or 13 month period.
Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde hold up well 50 years after the came out and still sound fresh. Can't wait to hear the other stuff.

Posted by: JoeF. at September 27, 2015 12:06 PM (7p1Jn)

175 Last night in the old guys music thread, we got ads for amplifier and guitar parts. So yes. Absolutely.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:07 PM (u49WF)

176
So, Frances, God is not a "magician?"

As asked in Star Trek, what does God need with a starship?

Frances, what does God need with a pope??

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 12:08 PM (F1s01)

177 For the tiny handful who might not already know, "We The Living" was made into a tolerable-enough movie by Italian fascists. It pretty much makes Zhivago pee down its leg. Decades pass, and that's how Ayn Rand got her mink coat.

For a little mood music, Ralph-that's-Rafe Vaughan Williams wrote a witty overture to "The Wasps," and, kind of a Tolkien type, got a huge thrill treading the boards with the collegian dramaturgy crowd at Trinity. Fun li'l thing, worth a listen.

I mean, it's no "My Little Pony," but back in the day it's all we had.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 27, 2015 12:10 PM (xq1UY)

178 Kind of ironic that you should use that sock for this post, because Mulroney is just about as much hated by the Canadian right as Boehner is here. Very much the big-government Progressive Conservative, although he was very friendly with Reagan. And his conservative party was indeed called the "Progressive Conservatives", although that was not his doing.

After being nearly wiped out at the polls, the Progressive Conservatives merged with the then-surging Reform party, and they united under the banner of "Conservative Party of Canada" and presently form the government. Perhaps there is a lesson in this?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 27, 2015 12:06 PM (0yhH4)

__________

Oh I know all that. But come on compared to Trudeau, Mulroney was "right wing". He brought Canada free trade with the US which helped both countries. He was a solid ally to Thatcher and Reagan as well.

And yeah the PCs were wiped out in 1993. Just the nature of politics. Every now and then there's a wipeot of all political parties. My point is that if we're talking about the Freedom Trio, Mulroney deserves honorable mention.

Posted by: Monsieur Mew Mew at September 27, 2015 12:11 PM (0LHZx)

179 "Coverts eat pork three times a day."

And I say, why not?

Posted by: JoeF. at September 27, 2015 12:11 PM (7p1Jn)

180 @169 Depends. Long or cross?

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 27, 2015 12:13 PM (xq1UY)

181 Reagan gave billions to the jihadis to fight the Russians in Astan
He also allowed the pakis to build an atomic bomb they then gave that knowledge yo th Iranians
I wish the Russians were still in Afghanistan
Reagan called the mujahadin freedom fighters

Posted by: Righter at September 27, 2015 12:13 PM (F+8iM)

182 And yet it sure seems like the gains in the '80's are gone. Look at the current shape of Canada and the U.S.

Time for the GOPe to be replaced with the Conservative party.

But enough politics, back to books.

Brave New World anyone?

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:13 PM (u49WF)

183 If you include the supernatural, then your explanation is irrational and non-scientific.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (MQEz6)
===============================

I'm okay with that.
Posted by: grammie winger, sweetly irrational and victoriously non-scientific at September 27, 2015 12:04 PM (dFi94)

Yeah, if science and reason are the "gods" you worship, you do end up missing a lot of truth.

They are tools, and like all tools in the wrong hands, they can be dishonest and deadly.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 12:14 PM (Dj0WE)

184 Oh yeah Reagan also backed Saddam and sold arms including missiles to Iran
Thatcher fought to keep Northern Ireland a British colony

Posted by: Righter at September 27, 2015 12:15 PM (F+8iM)

185 >>>"The Asian American Writers' Workshop has responded to the controversy around "Chinese" poet "Yi-Fen Chou" (actually Michael Derrick Hudson, who is white) with satire. The organization started the #WhitePenName hashtag and encouraged fellow writers of color..."

I've never heard of asians being referred to as ppl of color before, but I guess yellow is a color.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 27, 2015 12:15 PM (1Zmfg)

186

Oh gee I just found two library books that are due this week and I haven't even opened them yet. I hate when that happens.

Posted by: grammie winger, back to watching the fig tree at September 27, 2015 12:16 PM (dFi94)

187 "the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures."

Which is the very essence of Christianity; that there is more to life than simply eating your neighbor.

Posted by: Hayfield Volkovski at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (AA3VL)

188 Oh I know all that. But come on compared to Trudeau, Mulroney was "right wing". He brought Canada free trade with the US which helped both countries. He was a solid ally to Thatcher and Reagan as well.

And yeah the PCs were wiped out in 1993. Just the nature of politics. Every now and then there's a wipeot of all political parties. My point is that if we're talking about the Freedom Trio, Mulroney deserves honorable mention.
Posted by: Monsieur Mew Mew at September 27, 2015 12:11 PM (0LHZx)

No offense to our friends up there in America's hat, but trying to follow the intrigue of Canadia's politics is sorta like trying to follow the intrigue of middle school girls' social groupings.

It might not be all that complicated, but why should I care?

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (Dj0WE)

189
Posted by: Righter

STFU, dunce.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (F1s01)

190 If you include the supernatural, then your explanation is irrational and non-scientific.

Not irrational, and not non-scientific, its merely not limited to science. Everyone sane knows the world consists of more than what we can measure, test, and sense. Limiting your efforts to only that is like testing music with your eyes.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (39g3+)

191 troooooolll in the book-thread!

Posted by: Professor Quirinus Quirrell at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (aLXXe)

192 Comverts eat pork three times a day.

Hard to imagine a world with no bacon.

Posted by: t-bird at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (FcR7P)

193 I AM RAYKON HEAR ME TROLL

Posted by: RAYKON at September 27, 2015 12:19 PM (uZNvH)

194 Topless archery would be a great Amazonian topic. Since archeological evidence would neither confirm nor eliminate the removal of certain....encumbrances, would that be the correct phrasing?

Circular arguments all around.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:20 PM (u49WF)

195 Limiting your efforts to only that is like testing music with your eyes.

=========================================

Perfect. I like that a lot.

Posted by: grammie winger, back to watching the fig tree at September 27, 2015 12:20 PM (dFi94)

196 troooooolll in the book-thread!
Posted by: Professor Quirinus Quirrell at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (aLXXe)

I couldn't tell if it was THE troll, or just a profoundly silly person who needs more years of edjummukation than can occur in a Sunday Morning Book thread.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 12:20 PM (Dj0WE)

197 Things nobody expects from the Spanish Inquisition: the real "test meat" to uncover secret Jooos was...eel. Tasty, chewy, non-kosher eel. Spaniards love 'em!

Posted by: Stringer Davis at September 27, 2015 12:20 PM (xq1UY)

198 We need ads for "troll-be-gone".

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:21 PM (u49WF)

199 Topless archery would be a great Amazonian topic. Since archeological evidence would neither confirm nor eliminate the removal of certain....encumbrances, would that be the correct phrasing?

-
Yeah, that's a big argument for the crossbow.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 12:22 PM (Nwg0u)

200
holy cats!

I just realized that "nickless" hasn't been here in a long time.

or "zzzzzzz"

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 12:22 PM (F1s01)

201 I've never heard of asians being referred to as ppl of color before, but I guess yellow is a color.
Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 27, 2015 12:15 PM (1Zmfg)
---
So is fishbelly white, which is why I can legitimately refer to myself as a proud Latina of color.

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 12:22 PM (jR7Wy)

202 Ferrigno used to be a regular here, before our term "moron" took off. I expect he still lurks...
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 12:01 PM (aLXXe)

He's written a couple of conservative essays here and there and I've had a couple of email exchanges with him. Seems like a nice, regular guy.

Posted by: baldilocks at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (ys2UW)

203 RE: Ground Zero mosque, good news, sort of. The guy is building a huge condo there instead.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (39g3+)

204 No offense to our friends up there in America's hat, but trying to follow the intrigue of Canadia's politics is sorta like trying to follow the intrigue of middle school girls' social groupings.

It might not be all that complicated, but why should I care?
Posted by: BurtTC at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (Dj0WE)

_________

Well aside from the fact Canada shares 4k miles of unguarded border, Canada provides about 50% of all imported oil into the US and Canada is our largest trading partner....yeah probably no need to care what happens there.

Posted by: Monsieur Mew Mew at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (0LHZx)

205 The version of _The Wasps_ I'm reading is the Barrett translation, published by Penguin.

I'm not much of a connoisseur of translations. Typically I just grab the cheapest, or use whatever I had to buy for college.

The one exception is Borges. I have the old Penguin/New Directions edition of Labyrinths, translated by Yates & Irby, and the Penguin Collected Fictions edition, translated by Hurley. They hardly seem like they're translating the same author. This is particularly weird since Borges was exceedingly fluent in English (to the point where he told Paul Theroux once that he composed in English and then translated into Spanish as he wrote) -- and was alive at the time both translators were working! They literally could have called him up to ask what was right, but didn't.

Ever since I discovered that, I've been more aware that the old Italian saying Traditorre, tradutorre (translator, traitor) is real truth.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (BJN55)

206 Hey, what was the outcome of that shooting incident at your neighbors' place that reported on a few evenings ago? I'm not the only one curious to hear.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

OH, Sorry I didn't get back on that. Turned out to be wild pigs in the yard. It took a day to find out because instead of driving over I walked over and just as I got near their drive access to the main road their pickup roared out onto the blacktop and lurched away. I think they killed one and took it into town for processing. However, at the time I was more interested in walking up the drive, nosing around and seeing nothing unusual or actual scene of crime worthy. Then I walked home and tried to decide how concerned I was before driving to an appointment. That was a process: Do I call the sheriff? Should I have banged on the door? Was it a good idea that I was carrying my pistol under my shirt? Am I out of coffee? I heard from a different neighbor the next day what the story was. BTW I'm now in negotiations to buy some property on the other side of my cabin to move a little further away from all those folks. It was not the first splatter of sudden gunfire from their place.

Posted by: Daybrother at September 27, 2015 12:24 PM (22NtR)

207 Yeah, that's a big argument for the crossbow.
Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 12:22 PM (Nwg0u)
---
Sir, I do believe you have finally driven the last coffin nail into that debate!

Aahhhh, who am i kidding?

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 12:24 PM (jR7Wy)

208 The enemy of my enemy is my friend...

Sounds like trollboy is a fan of the iranians. lol

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 27, 2015 12:24 PM (iQIUe)

209 I've never eaten eel, but from what I understand, they taste like whatever they've been living in, so... mud, mostly.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:25 PM (39g3+)

210
167 Graves just remember nothing that happens at school is as hard as what you were used to in the military.
I can instill military-style discipline in my classroom cuz I teach the most masculine subject, auto. It's taken me 26 years to get this good at it tho-
The fundamental dynamic you need to recognise impo is that you're dealing with a bunch of young men who lack fathers and are hungry for a father-type. I'll bet half your students don't have an adult male in the home. Both boys AND girls need one.
Be that male role model. You must be the Alpha dog in your classroom. You already know how to lead from your NCO/Leadership training. Command presence. Use it.
The feminization of our schools has had a raft of neg effects but one of the most profound is that young men looking for preparation for manhood legitimately rebel against it, which in itself causes the majority of their clasroom issues. Be an island of refuge in your school.
I make constant reference to becoming a successful adult because that's a universal longing of high-school students, if not their main obsession. Be the one who shows them how, using your classroom interactions as the means.
What's your subject?

Posted by: MAx at September 27, 2015 12:25 PM (LAliD)

211 Speaking of iranians, I dont see how they could manage the hajj any better. They have to do this pilgrmadge in the time period and there are too many people. Unless they deny access which may start a riot or against what ever dumb relgious laws they have, you cant stop crowds from acting like crowds.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at September 27, 2015 12:26 PM (iQIUe)

212 Posted by: JoeF. at September 27, 2015 12:06 PM (7p1Jn)

The 6-CD Basement Tapes last year dropped from $150 to $120 by the time it was released, so it probably will drop by Nov 6.

Posted by: waelse1 at September 27, 2015 12:26 PM (oAK6v)

213 Thanks for pointing out Markham Pyle's book on the 'Titanic' to me. Just ordered a copy.

Posted by: RNB at September 27, 2015 12:28 PM (AJrjg)

214
190 If you include the supernatural, then your explanation is irrational and non-scientific.

Not irrational, and not non-scientific, its merely not limited to science. Everyone sane knows the world consists of more than what we can measure, test, and sense. Limiting your efforts to only that is like testing music with your eyes.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (39g3+)

Scientific explanations cannot include the supernatural.

Certainly, people are free to offer any combination of ingredients they want, but as soon as they add the supernatural to the mix the explanation is non-scientific.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 12:28 PM (MQEz6)

215
It might not be all that complicated, but why should I care?

Because the Maritimes would have been knock, knock, knocking on Washington's door for admission to the Union. There really would have been 57 states.

And it would become a hate crime to tell Newfie jokes, eh,

Posted by: Fox2! at September 27, 2015 12:28 PM (brIR5)

216 Conversation about topless archery:

"Twang!"
"OW!"
"Twang!"
"OW!"
"Twang!"
"OW!"

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 12:28 PM (BJN55)

217 Well, supposedly the Amazons would burn out the "bud" in their daughters' right breast as an infant to keep it from developing, like burning out the horn buds in polled cattle, but Classical and Roman era pottery show Amazons with two breasts. However potters mostly liked selling pots, and who wants to look at just one?

It would call for some sort of archery bracer for the torso - a boob-stall or whatever you call it, but then it wouldn't really be topless archery, would it?

Posted by: Kindltot at September 27, 2015 12:29 PM (3pRHP)

218 Speaking of iranians, I dont see how they could manage the hajj any better.

Maybe they can claim that little Timmy the mahdi has sent a message up from his well that the major pilgrimage can be done more times a year. And that if you've done it once you are never to do it again.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 12:30 PM (aLXXe)

219 >>>Liberals only uses two, maybe three moral aspects (caring for others and freedom from tyranny)

"freedom from tyranny"?

Haha! Go pull the other one. And was about "caring for others" in the case of, say, women, gays or Christians in Muslim majority countries?

More and more I think liberals don't believe in abstract moral principles. They just choose certain preferred groups PC groups and unconditionally support them, like the racists they decry.

They just side

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 27, 2015 12:30 PM (1Zmfg)

220
210 And remember most of your faculty colleagues and the admin are your sworn enemies ideologically. Don't assume your professional colleagues will act professionally. Watch your six and be sure to find an ally in the faculty if you can.
Read the faculty manual on discipline so many times you can quote it. The students aren't really as awful as it may seem, you're first-year so they're testing you to see what they can get away with.
Sleep when you can. So much of what you need to know you've already learned-

Posted by: MAx at September 27, 2015 12:30 PM (LAliD)

221 Just found that many of the recent books published by the Navy's history section are available both in print and in PDF format. and PDFs are free. here's a link http://www.history.navy.mil/research/publications/recent-publications.html

Posted by: john Pomeroy at September 27, 2015 12:31 PM (3uWw7)

222 as soon as they add the supernatural to the mix the explanation is non-scientific.

No, its not exclusively scientific. Science is merely one tool for exploring reality. If you refuse to even consider anything outside that, you're the guy with only a hammer trying to make everything look like a nail.

Its why people that tackle topics such as morality using only science end up so confused... like the fellow in question.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:31 PM (39g3+)

223 I really liked Ferrigno's LA noir stories with journalist Jimmy Gage. Lots of gallows humor. They kind of reminded me of the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben.

Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 12:31 PM (jR7Wy)

224 Would not the Amazons removing the right breast have seriously messed up the associated muscles necessary to preform as an efficient archer?

And yet when crossbows came about, the then Pope called them an abomination and called for them to illegal.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:33 PM (u49WF)

225 Liberals often show a strangely redirected sense of empathy.

For eample, when they hear of a murder, their concern is directed at the killer, not the victim.

If fact, the victim is treated with contempt, as if he or she had caused the poor killer to do what he or she did.

I think it is a defense mechanism for the memes that control their minds.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 12:35 PM (MQEz6)

226 The version of _The Wasps_ I'm reading is the Barrett translation, published by Penguin.

I'm not much of a connoisseur of translations. Typically I just grab the cheapest, or use whatever I had to buy for college.

The one exception is Borges. I have the old Penguin/New Directions edition of Labyrinths, translated by Yates & Irby, and the Penguin Collected Fictions edition, translated by Hurley. They hardly seem like they're translating the same author. This is particularly weird since Borges was exceedingly fluent in English (to the point where he told Paul Theroux once that he composed in English and then translated into Spanish as he wrote) -- and was alive at the time both translators were working! They literally could have called him up to ask what was right, but didn't.

Ever since I discovered that, I've been more aware that the old Italian saying Traditorre, tradutorre (translator, traitor) is real truth.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (BJN55)

The reason I ask is that I read the Arrowsmith and Lattimore translations in college.

Both of those guys brought the humor home pretty effectively, but hey, who knows - you might have the superior translation.

You're right about translators. I learned that with "The Master and Margarita".

Posted by: naturalfake at September 27, 2015 12:35 PM (KUa85)

227 And yet when crossbows came about, the then Pope called them an abomination and called for them to illegal.

That was pressure from knights. Any idiot can fire a crossbow, but it takes years of training to be any good with a bow. It was too leveling, and too dangerous for the rich, powerful folks that could afford armor and a horse.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:35 PM (39g3+)

228 Certainly, people are free to offer any combination of ingredients they
want, but as soon as they add the supernatural to the mix the
explanation is non-scientific.
===========================

So does the word scientific speak to that which can be measured, observed, tested, and replicated? Are those the correct ingredients of scientific?

Posted by: grammie winger, back to watching the fig tree at September 27, 2015 12:36 PM (dFi94)

229 If fact, the victim is treated with contempt, as if he or she had caused the poor killer to do what he or she did.

I think it is a defense mechanism for the memes that control their minds.

It depends on the identities involved more than the action. Again, if you think everyone is equal and successful people are only that way because they are cheating or oppressing others, then an "oppressed class" murdering an "oppressor" is just fighting back and that cheating tyrant got what he had coming.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:37 PM (39g3+)

230 Well aside from the fact Canada shares 4k miles of unguarded border, Canada provides about 50% of all imported oil into the US and Canada is our largest trading partner....yeah probably no need to care what happens there.
Posted by: Monsieur Mew Mew at September 27, 2015 12:23 PM (0LHZx)

Yeah, but it's... you know, Canada. And it's populated by... you know... Canadians.

ewwww.

Posted by: Semper In Stercus at September 27, 2015 12:37 PM (BZAd3)

231
When a Leftist first hears of a murder, s/he immediately looks to ways to politicize it. They find "root causes" which, uncannily, are always Western-Judeo-Christian culture, and then the Leftists demands remedies, which, uncannily, are always Marxist/Totalitarian.

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 12:38 PM (F1s01)

232
222 as soon as they add the supernatural to the mix the explanation is non-scientific.

No, its not exclusively scientific. Science is merely one tool for exploring reality. If you refuse to even consider anything outside that, you're the guy with only a hammer trying to make everything look like a nail.

Its why people that tackle topics such as morality using only science end up so confused... like the fellow in question.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:31 PM (39g3+)

Who said the supernatural should not be considered?

Just don't pretend that doing so keeps you within the boundaries of science or logic.

It doesn't.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 12:41 PM (MQEz6)

233
Re: 210I have joked, to my friends, that if
they were shooting at me I'd know better what to do.

The boys respond well, some of them are
just incorrigible, but several are distinctly better behaving than
they were a month ago. The girls think they have the absolute right
to chat by voice or cell phone no matter what else is going on. I am
doing fairly well in all but one class, but that one has too many
trouble spots, and it overwhelms my ability to distinguish sounds
from one another multiple times a week. I get frustrated, and
nothing good comes after that. I do harp on life skills, things like
even if you are zoning out, you have to have your head up and look
like you are reading, because otherwise your first boss will fire
you.

I'm pursuing a social studies license,
which here means teaching US, World and State history, Geography,
Economics, US and State government and Psychology, even though I
don't know of any high schools around here with psych classes. They
put me into a classroom of sophomores who are all getting world
history from the Age of Reason to today. One of their sillier
complaints is that I'm moving too fast, trying to actually get to
today by the end of the trimester. It doesn't occur to them that
slower means they'd be expected to show more depth of understanding,
and they hate nothing in the universe more than writing.

Posted by: Graves at September 27, 2015 12:44 PM (3MEXB)

234 *looks*

Hmm. Today's Book thread has taken a turn to the political, or is it the philosophical?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 12:46 PM (OLNwX)

235 228 Certainly, people are free to offer any combination of ingredients they
want, but as soon as they add the supernatural to the mix the
explanation is non-scientific.
===========================

So does the word scientific speak to that which can be measured, observed, tested, and replicated? Are those the correct ingredients of scientific?
Posted by: grammie winger, back to watching the fig tree at September 27, 2015 12:36 PM (dFi94)

Pretty much, yes.

Other things ma also exist, but they are outside the boundaries of science.

The realm of the supernatural is unlimited because it comes from the human imagination or agreement among groups of humans that tales of the supernatural are true.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 12:46 PM (MQEz6)

236 Tris at 205: Long as you're listening to RVW as you read, it doesn't much matter.

And, speaking of music, cue "Ah Sweet Muse of Oregon, At Last I've Found You." It's good to be back. After a triple bypass, it's good to be anywhere.

One small clarification for potential readers. The Firm lurks on the other side of the Pond. My business partner and repeat co-author, GMW Wemyss, lurks on the other side of the Pond.

I lurk on the other side of the Red, the Sabine, the Trinity, and the Brazos.

Thanks to all of you once more, and OM especially, for all your kindnesses.

Posted by: Markham Shaw Pyle at September 27, 2015 12:46 PM (WlkUc)

237 Today's Book thread has taken a turn to the political, or is it the philosophical?
Posted by: Mike Hammer
-----------------

Hold it, that's a 'Library of Science'.
So, continue.

One wonders if any of the theories/observations/conclusions in all of those tomes are in conflict.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 12:48 PM (OLNwX)

238
nood deflated balls

Posted by: Soothsayer, now with a low profile tip and ergonomical handle at September 27, 2015 12:48 PM (F1s01)

239 Okay, moving back to books, the audio version of Effelheim is very good. The reader does a good job grasping the mood and tone, and nicely jumps from male to female voices without getting cartoonish.

Posted by: Positive Waves at September 27, 2015 12:49 PM (MQEz6)

240 223 I really liked Ferrigno's LA noir stories with journalist Jimmy Gage. Lots of gallows humor. They kind of reminded me of the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben.
Posted by: Cardinal Eris (weapons: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, fanatical devotion to the Pope) at September 27, 2015 12:31 PM (jR7Wy)

Will get to those...eventually. Just put about five books from this thread on my LAPL wishlist. Thank God for audiobooks, else I'd never get anything done.

Posted by: baldilocks at September 27, 2015 12:49 PM (ys2UW)

241 Heh!
Science and the supra natural.
The whole point of science is an attempt to explain the inexplicable. Once the explanation is understood it is no longer supernatural.

To say otherwise, to claim that science and logic can only apply to what is already known is the same as the authorities telling Galileo that the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around it.

Posted by: Hayfield Volkovski at September 27, 2015 12:50 PM (AA3VL)

242 >>>According to liberals, it collapsed of its own,�

How does this help the liberal case? Communism sucks so bad, it falls down on its face without outside assistance.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at September 27, 2015 12:50 PM (1Zmfg)

243 Who said the supernatural should not be considered?

That guy. He ignored it completely.

Just don't pretend that doing so keeps you within the boundaries of science or logic.

A common mistaken assertion. Logic applies in the supernatural as well, just not scientific method. The supernatural is reasonable as well, but the reason sometimes is a bit beyond human comprehension. Supernatural does not equal irrational.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 27, 2015 12:50 PM (39g3+)

244 I lurk on the other side of the Red, the Sabine, the Trinity, and the Brazos.
----------

I lurk on the east side of the French Broad.

You have no idea how long I have waited for the setup for that comment.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 12:50 PM (eeTCA)

245 #91

It works better as an audio book, especially with the various quoted people being reproduced in the original. So you hear Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, etc. The best bits are the stories about Andre the Giant.

Posted by: Epobirs at September 27, 2015 12:52 PM (IdCqF)

246 How does this help the liberal case? Communism sucks so bad, it falls down on its face without outside assistance.
---------------

Ahhh. But, you see, it always failed because 'The wrong people were in charge'. This time will be different, they say.

See: Claims that Stalin would have succeeded if only social media had been around then.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 12:55 PM (OLNwX)

247 >>> 225 If fact, the victim is treated with contempt, as if he or she had caused the poor killer to do what he or she did.

------

Only if it fits the current fluid narrative. They rarely acknowledge the classic standards of symbolism and myth. Up and down, left and right. Light and dark.

Oppressed and oppressors. Though you will be implied as guilty because some distant relative merely lived while slavery existed and therefore presumably allowed it to happen.

Reparations they will scream. Though no one alive today was a slave or ever owned one.

Much like the term "fair share"; they'll never put a number on it because that would imply some end at a point.

Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 12:55 PM (u49WF)

248 My coming documentary book on the moron horde will be audiobook release only. AtC will have a squeaky little voice, Mike Hammer a sarcastic robot voice ala hitchhiker's guide, Maetenloch a thick angry brogue that cannot be understood, Soothsayer, Baldilocks, etc. all will have voices that force me to go into hiding.
Well, at least that is the pitch. Profits go toward construction costs for the resort in Peruvia.

Posted by: Daybrother at September 27, 2015 12:59 PM (UaqQW)

249 26
Author's name for "Dark North" ? Can't seem to find it on Amazon

Re Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast: I think it was released in the mid 40's not 1932. It is a visually stunning movie to be sure and as beautiful as the actress who played Belle was, she didn't hold a candle to the transformed Beast. I read an article many years ago that advised that said actor was Cocteau's life long " domestic partner". "No wonder the director made him look so pretty." said I to myself.

Posted by: Tuna at September 27, 2015 01:06 PM (JSovD)

250 I downloaded the Kindle sampler for "Eifelheim," on the Horde recommendation. (Will have to wait for $$ to support my reading habit.)

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 01:08 PM (yjhOG)

251 TRIMEGISTUS, NATURALFAKE:

Imagine, if you will, that I have a rather incomplete and spotty education, and thus the only Borges I know is "A Course on English Literature," but none of his fiction. How do I get started getting to know his work?

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 01:12 PM (yjhOG)

252
Has anyone read the Haidt book such that they can provide examples of "the insights of liberals" that we all benefit from? Serious question - I mean WTF, what exactly is he referring to? Given the complete transformation in what "liberal" denotes, in just one generation, it almost seems like a hopelessly meaningless formulation anyway.

And on the Soviet collapse thing, it really is disappointing (though not surprising) that almost nobody can rise above the most simplistic thinking. Well, "progressives" and "liberals", there hasn't been much thinking there of any sort for a very long time.

But among "conservatives", why is it so hard to recognize thatthe Soviet system was both doomed, and incredibly dangerous? The old joke of the era captured Soviet decrepitude and menace perfectly: the Soviets are incapable of anything - except conquering the world.

The policies of the 80s/early 90s were exactly the right ones,maximum pressure and opposition on all fronts (moral, ideologicaland material), and probably hastened an end that was extremely likely anyway.

No contradiction at all here. Those whose lives were largely focused on the Soviet problem saw the thing rotting from within, and usually understood how it was unsustainable (not to mention evil and dangerous) from the outset. But there was no way to know when things would unravel, it certainly seemed like it was a multi-generational thing, and the only rational course was to oppose them full-force in the mean time.

The whole framework of "80s policies the right ones, OR inevitable Soviet collapse" is a false one to start with.

I don't know if he ever set out any predictions, but there was an eccentric Commerce Dept. demographer named Murray Feshbach who, through data acquired from an amazing network of connections with mid-level Soviet counterparts, developed demographic data that painted a picture of a society in collapse. This was mid-80s on. Sadly many of the pathologies live on in post-Soviet Russia/Ukraine etc: epidemic alcoholism and depression, astonishing levels of abortion, low birth rates.

Posted by: rhomboid at September 27, 2015 01:20 PM (QDnY+)

253 BEES!

I discovered Borges through the collection "Labyrinths", which is the Yates translation I mentioned earlier. I had heard of JLB but never read anything, so I picked it up -- and was utterly blown away. That's my gateway drug and I recommend it highly.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 27, 2015 01:22 PM (BJN55)

254
Daybrother, there has been a recurring theme of "what happened to Daybrother?" in the threads in recent days. Something about you heading off to investigate "shots heard" in your 'hood.

Obviously you came back from that, but it's funny how people keep asking.

My proposed solution: whoever gets "first!!" should append a standard message - "Buzzion is still dead, and Daybrother lives"

Posted by: rhomboid at September 27, 2015 01:24 PM (QDnY+)

255
233 The girls think they can get away with anything cuz they can always play the victim. Treat them as you would your female subordinates in the service. Beware cuz there are plenty of real twisted ones. In one-on-ones meet where others can see you but not hear what's said.
When you enforce rules always explain that their the school's, not yours, and you're gonna be evealuated on how well you enforce them, which you will.
So celphones are not a problemto you, they're a problem to the SCHOOL. Nothing personal, it's business. Part of what you have to teach about becoming successful adults is following orders even tho you might not agree or see the reason.
You're gonna find that a stint in the military is gonna be the best possible future for many of the kids. They need it after all their poor parenting and dysfunctional schooling.
Your primary tool is the seating chart- use it.
"It's great if you can sit next to your friends, but if you can't do it and get your production out then you'll have to sit somewhere else." Memorize this line...
I always tell the students that the economy is terrible no matter what they hear and if they want to succeed they're gonna have to step up their game. AND I'M HERE TO SHOW THEM HOW, IF THEY JUST LET YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. Avoid conflict by becoming the conduit of their hope.
I'll help you any way I can-

Posted by: MAx at September 27, 2015 01:25 PM (LAliD)

256 Daybrother's ALIVE?!!

Posted by: King Vultan at September 27, 2015 01:27 PM (BJN55)

257 Smallish Bees,

Love the name. Does it have any meaning/

I got started with Borges thru:

"A Personal Anthology"

which is a collection of Borges put together by Borges himself.

I figured if he's happy with this set of his stories and translation as representative of his work-

that should be where I start.

Also, available on kindle.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 27, 2015 01:35 PM (KUa85)

258 Tuna @ 249:

Dark North is by Gillian Bradshaw. I warn you, it gets confusing in places, mostly because the Romans all have 3+ names and they get called different things depending on who's doing the talking.

Bradshaw also wrote Island of Ghosts, also about Roman Britain and, to my mind, a better book. The story flows better and doesn't meander as much as the plot of Dark North.

Posted by: right wing whippersnapper- quietly rebellious at September 27, 2015 01:36 PM (WFMa0)

259 Damn MAx, that's a good post of advice.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 01:44 PM (tlqam)

260 rhomboid: yeah, that's why I keep bringing up the ayatollah whenever we have yay, go-go-Thatch and Ronnie threads in here.

The ayatollah also called b.s. on Brezhnevism. He wiped out his commies, and the Russians couldn't do anything to save them any more than Carter could save the Shah.

Brezhnevism was going to destroy the Soviet Union sooner or later, if they didn't conquer the world first. And when they invaded Afghanistan this gave Carter and Charlie Wilson and, later, Reagan their opening.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 01:49 PM (tlqam)

261 #252

It wasn't an either/or situation. The question was when and how many million more lives would be ground under foot before that day came?

There was always huge disagreements within the government and consultancies as to what was really going on. The CIA would insist the Vietnam was never costing them more than 15% of GDP while others estimated it as high as 30%. This in turn figured into arguments over the value of the war for our side.

It later became clear that the cost was far higher for them than for us but their investment in financing antiwar protesters paid off.

Posted by: Epobirs at September 27, 2015 02:00 PM (IdCqF)

262 252

Murray Feshbach! Thank you for this. I have been trying to remember his last name for about the last 3 months or so. I think of him when I consider our love affair with unassimilated forced multi culturalism.

Posted by: gracepc at September 27, 2015 02:01 PM (DMQhB)

263 Max that is indeed excellent advice. I'm about to drop off of the internet for a few hours of grading papers, making sure I have the right things printed out for tomorrow and a trip to get food, since I'm pretty sure I should be eating. Lord willing and the Creek don't rise, I'll have everything which must happen today done before I sleep, so I can get up early to print things off at school before the pre-school meeting which lasts until my first period. Can't afford to print that at home with the way ink costs.

I know the next few days will be a struggle as I'm throwing away my lesson plans because the school has a new format and they just told me that there is a mandatory, comprehensive, two day nine weeks exam I need to insert. However, I have somebody from the state's military museum visiting on Thursday to show them uniforms and memorabilia as we are starting WWI. Hopefully that'll be interesting to some of them.

Posted by: Graves at September 27, 2015 02:09 PM (3MEXB)

264 "The Oberlausitzische Library Of Science, Gorlitz, Germany "

What's the over / under of when the invading Muzzies burn it down?

Posted by: AshevilleRobert at September 27, 2015 02:14 PM (Wo9OY)

265 Apropos of nothing, I've been power-watching the HBO Rome series and am really enjoying it. It you really want to see the future after the burning, look to Rome during the Republic-to-Empire period. Basically you have Gangsters fighting it out for control of a nation state. Justice and protection are a subscription service for those who can afford it.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at September 27, 2015 02:16 PM (rwI+c)

266 Book thread check in!
Read the thread. Added 3 books to the to-read pile.
Thanks Oregon & regulars!

Posted by: @votermom at September 27, 2015 02:32 PM (cbfNE)

267 Rome was a great series, very well made. It was originally going to be ongoing like The Sopranos--and end after the birth of Christ- but it was so expensive to film, they pulled the plug after only two seasons. Very good cast. Ciaran Hinds as Caesar especially.

Much gratuitous nudity too.

Posted by: JoeF. at September 27, 2015 02:34 PM (EKXRv)

268 1950, Theodore Adorno published the progressive classic book, The Authoritarian Personality (Studies in Prejudice) wherein he attempted to argue "scientifically" that conservative political beliefs are the result of some sort of psychological disorder.

Don't know if anyone pointed this out already, but Adorno was a member of the Frankfurt School.

'Nuff said.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at September 27, 2015 02:35 PM (oKE6c)

269 Currently reading Occult Assassin #1: Damnation Code, a free download, about a SF tech corporation that owes its success to literal deals with the devil, who expects (and receives) blood sacrifices.

All proceeds as planned until the cult murders the reporter GF of an ex-special forces soldier.

All in all, 'taint bad.

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 02:53 PM (/NEnw)

270 Christopher Taylor's latest novel about Nazis, a werewolf, and Poland is out.

Posted by: Anna Puma at September 27, 2015 09:06 AM (i4AI5)

Which reminded me. Do you know the story of the Polish doctors who created a sham typhus epidemic to save an entire town from the camps? (No werewolves in this one, though.)

http://bit.ly/1jm85Nu

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 02:58 PM (/NEnw)

271 (Will have to wait for $$ to support my reading habit.)

-
I haven't got a problem. I can quit anytime I want.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 02:58 PM (Nwg0u)

272 Not only do they ruin the language - the only definition for gay now is homosexual - but they do, in the long run I think, alter the perception of right and wrong.

Posted by: Semper In Stercus at September 27, 2015 09:39 AM (BZAd3)

That's why I always make a point to refer to it as "homosexual marriage." Seems to strike more of a recoil than the benign-sounding "gay marriage."

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 03:05 PM (/NEnw)

273 Article on George Price.

http://tinyurl.com/ptlytxw

Posted by: The Great White Snark at September 27, 2015 03:14 PM (Nwg0u)

274 254
My proposed solution: whoever gets "first!!" should append a standard message - "Buzzion is still dead, and Daybrother lives"

But what about Abe Vigoda?

Posted by: Anachronda at September 27, 2015 03:16 PM (o78gS)

275 That's why I always make a point to refer to it as "homosexual marriage." Seems to strike more of a recoil than the benign-sounding "gay marriage."
Posted by: RushBabe

Shouldn't it be "same sex marriage?" A homosexual man could have married a homosexual woman before.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at September 27, 2015 03:25 PM (W5DcG)

276 I'm at OBX this week, so adjust to the fact that I will be making seemingly casual remarks calculated to inspire some envy. BTW, did I mention that the ocean is angry this morning?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 11:01 AM (9mTYi)

I've witnessed a few moons over the ocean at OBX, but if the Harvest/Blood moon is visible tonight, I'm envious indeed!

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 03:42 PM (/NEnw)

277 " ... but rather a book of procedures for reassuring and reinforcing the faithful progressive remnant."
________

I learned once upon a time that 75% of persuasion is reinforcement. Getting someone to change an opinion or behavior is in the other 25%.

Posted by: FireHorse at September 27, 2015 03:43 PM (UTSH4)

278 Shouldn't it be "same sex marriage?" A homosexual man could have married a homosexual woman before.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at September 27, 2015 03:25 PM (W5DcG)

For goodness sakes, we should be culturally sensitive to the lesbian contingent craving marriage.
I wonder though about how to specify "otherkin" marriage, "non-classical marriage" is the first thing that comes to mind!

Posted by: Hrothgar at September 27, 2015 03:46 PM (ftVQq)

279 I left in '91, but I remember going to see a vintage showing of the original "Beauty and the Beast" at the Castro theater, and at the end when Beauty kisses the Beast, the crowd erupted in a chorus of hisses and boos.

I'm pretty sure that's still the case.
Posted by: GBruno at September 27, 2015 11:03 AM (u49WF)

I LOL'd.

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 03:51 PM (/NEnw)

280 I've been hearing it called gmarriage, for government marriage

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 04:10 PM (ziyGX)

281 Often overlooked in the trio of freedom is the 4th guy....Canadian PM Brian Mulroney. While not on par with Reagan/Thatcher, for Canada he was the equivalent of a Ted Cruz after 25 years of Trudeauism. He won 2 majority elections in the 80s. And the Canadian left hated him, one of the main reasons was he didn't hate America.

Posted by: Your betters at GOPe HQ at September 27, 2015 11:59 AM (0LHZx)

Likewise, Levin has lately taken to including Helmut Kohl with the first three notables.

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 04:17 PM (/NEnw)

282 250 I downloaded the Kindle sampler for "Eifelheim," on the Horde recommendation. (Will have to wait for $$ to support my reading habit.)
Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 01:08 PM (yjhOG)

When broke, support your local library.

Posted by: baldilocks at September 27, 2015 04:21 PM (ys2UW)

283 Converts eat pork three times a day.

Hard to imagine a world with no bacon.

Posted by: t-bird at September 27, 2015 12:17 PM (FcR7P)

So you're saying you're good with vaporizing pig fat in jumbo jet engines over America? I'm down with it. Could our salvation be as simple as that?

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 04:29 PM (/NEnw)

284 I learned once upon a time that 75% of persuasion is reinforcement.
---------------

That is the fundamental tool used (successfully) by Progressives. Repeat the lies/propaganda/POV starting in the schools, in the news media, in the popular media, and soon 75% of your job is done. Once the various institutions are populated with people who have been exposed long-term to the cant, it is all over.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 27, 2015 04:50 PM (OLNwX)

285 259 Damn MAx, that's a good post of advice.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at September 27, 2015 01:44 PM (tlqam)

I'll say. I'm not even a teacher and it has motivated me!

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 04:57 PM (/NEnw)

286 Paskavich? Does he claim authorship? I'm guessing it's actually Steven Wright. It's got his fingerprints all over it. I'm going with Steven Wright.

Posted by: Brian McKim at September 27, 2015 04:58 PM (21wQW)

287 NATURALFAKE: My moniker comes from this quote, out of Seuss's "The Lorax."

SLUPP

Down slupps the Whisper-ma-Phone to your ear

and the old Once-ler's whispers are not very clear,

since they have to come down

through a snergelly hose,

and he sounds

as if he had

smallish bees up his nose.

Now I'll tell you, he says, with his teeth sounding gray,

how the Lorax got lifted and taken away...

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 05:00 PM (yjhOG)

288 Shouldn't it be "same sex marriage?" A homosexual man could have married a homosexual woman before.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at September 27, 2015 03:25 PM (W5DcG)

That's making my head hurt.

Posted by: RushBabe at September 27, 2015 05:02 PM (/NEnw)

289 BALDILOCKS: Right you are, and I will attempt to listen to the audiobook available from my library downloader. I don't dare borrow actual, physical books, because I only end up paying exorbitant fees when I never, *never* return them on time. I'm a terrible citizen.

JTB: Tolkien's "Green Knight" is such an easy read, my students can devour it with nary a complaint.

PATRICK FROM OHIO: Thanks for recommendation. I've got it queued into Netflix so I don't forget.

TRIMEGISTUS, NATURALFAKE: I love, love Borges's take on Old English, and if you haven't read his "Course on English Literature," do yourselves a favor and pick it up. His insights really enrich my understanding of the books I love.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at September 27, 2015 05:09 PM (yjhOG)

290 258Thanks. I've read Island of Ghosts. I'll look for the other. If you like Romans in Britain tales, Ruth Downie's Medicus series is fun.

Posted by: Tuna at September 27, 2015 05:14 PM (JSovD)

291 The Authoritarian Personality: like Merkel?

Posted by: bruce at September 27, 2015 07:43 PM (X86uj)

292 I'm honored to have one of my earlier comments quoted (favorably.)

Since conservatives have to balance all moral angles, the contribution of liberals is just to skew policy towards an accent on their preferred values. Haidt is covering his tenure by giving liberals some credit.

One example is charity. Conservatives believe in helping "the deserving poor" and the creation of a social safety net. Heck, I've depended on it during hard times in my life. But liberals have abused it so much that our "safety net" buys votes for liberal politicians (Obamaphones anyone? Everyone?) AND bankrupts the government.

There is the argument that the liberal New Deal prevented the US from becoming a dictatorship. My grandfather had a job with the WPA that my father remembers fondly and with thanks. Of course, as Amity Schlaes, Milton Friedman, and many others have pointed out, the New Deal prolonged the Depression and made it deeper and more hurtful.

Just finished Cheney's "Exceptional" - the guy may have a bad heart but he's got one expressive spleen! The first third is America's positive record as world hegemon from WWII to Obama. Lots on the Bush Administration's efforts after 9/11. The middle third is about Obama's destruction of American power and world peace. The last section is a set of foreign and military policy initiatives the next administration must follow to recover from Obama.

I love Dick Cheney! He's one straight talker and a hard-nosed SOB. My kinda guy!

Posted by: Whitehall at September 27, 2015 08:12 PM (dF1gg)

293 Nobody seem to have noticed, but the Frankfrurt School were more-or-less all European Jews. Who are traditionally paranoid about European conservatives and always have been. Just why this would have come as such a revelation to 1950s Americans is the real question. They found a niche market for what they were selling. Jews in Europe may well have good cause to be traditionally paranoid, but why did boomer Americans suddenly flock to their cliched teachings?

Posted by: bruce at September 27, 2015 08:27 PM (X86uj)

294 It's so nice you got a picture of a library before the Muslims burn down all of them!

Posted by: WarEagle82 at September 27, 2015 10:31 PM (JNEGu)

295 Finished up "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" by Amity Shlaes and "Fear City" (Repairman Jack: The Early Years, #3 ) by F. Paul Wilson this past week.

The Forgotten Man was hugely informative. Almost everything in there was new information to me.

I really got into the three Repairman Jack: The Early Years novels. I just plowed through them.

Now I'm reading something from my favorite author, Tim Powers. "On Stranger Tides" was Pirates of the Caribbean before Pirates of the Caribbean was a thing. Also a much deeper and well thought out world that makes up this secret history.

Posted by: BornLib at September 28, 2015 07:18 PM (zpNwC)

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