Sunday Morning Book Thread 11-29-2015: Do It Yourself [OregonMuse]

The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA.

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.

‘All words have some power. We feel it instinctively. Some, like magical spells and the true names of the gods, have a great deal. They must be treated with respect. In Klatch there is a mountain with many caves, and in those caves are entombed more than a hundred thousand old books, mostly religious, each one in a white linen shroud. That is perhaps an extreme approach, but intelligent people have always known that some words at least should be disposed of with care and respect...Enough words crammed together can affect time and space.’

--Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

Gimmick

Here is something new. Well, actually, it's not new, it first came out over 50 years ago.

I'm talking about the first "do it yourself" novel:

Composition No. 1 by Marc Saporta was the first-ever do-it-yourself or interactive novel. It was published in French in 1962, and an English translation followed a year later. The novel came in a box, as a set of looseleaf pages. Readers were instructed to "shuffle them like a deck of cards" before reading, so that chance would decide the order of events in the narrative.

You can actually purchase a copy of Composition No. 1 on Amazon.

In fact Saporta's novel has 150 opening paragraphs, because it consists of 150 unbound pages, printed on one side only, which the reader is meant to shuffle and read in any order.

The Guardian review describes the plot as being a bit thin:

How does the randomness work, and how does it affect our perception of the narrative? The story is a flimsy wisp of a thing, really no more than a jumble of fragments. The setting is Paris during the German occupation. The central character is little glimpsed and never named. He has a mistress called Dagmar, a depressed wife (I think) called Marianne, and a young German au pair whom he rapes during the course of the novel, before being injured in a serious car accident.

I suppose the "wispiness" is a necessity, since if too many details are locked down, that would tend to diminish the "DIY" nature of this experimental novel.

The Argentinian author Julio Cortazar did something similar with his experimental novel Hopscotch. There you have a choice of reading the chapters sequentially, or you can "hopscotch" around the chapters at random, and it should make sense either way. As one reviewer says about Hopscotch:

There is an abundance of metaphors, of connections, bridges, symbols, and artistic allusions. There are ejaculations of phrases in foreign languages and an interjection of aphorisms in verse. If history were to rewrite itself and eradicate all traces of Joyce, Hopscotch would have been the equivalent of Ulysses. The language is incredibly vivid, infinitely descriptive, colorful, sensuous, poetic, maddeningly abstract, and psychedelic.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of these experimental-type novels, but as the poet says, de gustibus non est disputandum.

But if you're craving a bit of surrealism in your life, you can do it like my brother once told me he does, on the cheap: If you have a new novel to read, start reading it chapter by chapter backwards, from the last chapter down to the first. Brother swears he gets more out of the novel that way, but I've never tried it, so I don't know. But telling the story backward is a well-known narrativt technique. I think of movies such as Memento and Betrayal as examples of this, and there are others.

Thanks to 'mindful webworker' for this tip

Yet Another E-Book Spotting Service

It's called Early Bird Books:

Each edition of Early Bird Books offers a curated list of titles across many of the genres you enjoy. For a more personalized experience, set your preferences and we’ll deliver a custom selection of ebooks based on your categories of interest!

The interface is a bit clunky, but other than that, I'm curious to see if it gives me different selections other than what I get with the daily BookBub e-mail.

And Here's Another Gimmick

In the movie Idiocracy, which is set in America 500 years in the future where continuing demographic patterns have filled the population with really stupid people. As an example of just how stupid things have become, the narrator mentions that the Oscar for Best Picture that year went to a film called 'Ass', which consisted of a movie-length shot of some guy's butt. Or maybe it was a series of butts, I forget. Point is, the audience is supposed to recognize, along with the main character, recently awoken from 500 years of frozen sleep, that something like this is way stupid.

And in one of his books where he spells out some of his future history, Robert Heinlein mentions a big prize winner during The Crazy Years is a book consisting of nothing but punctuation marks. And we, the audience, are supposed to think, that's just so stupid, how could anyone think that was good?

Well, perhaps we're not quite at that point, not yet. But I'd say that we can see it from here:

Imagine if you told someone you were going to write an entire book -- 150,000 words -- that would be one single sentence.

That's what Mathias Énard did in "Zone," which, despite its avant-garde form, has become the French novelist's best-known work. On Tuesday, Énard was awarded the Prix Goncourt, France's highest literary honor.

This sounds quite decadent, like making a horse a senator, or awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to some slacker who's never done anything constructive in his entire life. But what do I know, maybe this actually is good littrachoor.

There have been "gimmick" novels written before. Such as the 1939 novel Gadsby, that never, not once, in all of its 50,000 words, uses the letter 'e'.

Not nominated for any major prize that I know of, it Gadsby now in the public domain.

Incidentally, I don't think Heinlein went far enough describing the Crazy Years. For example, having a mentally ill man believe he is actually a woman and having the encouragement and celebration of that abnormal behavior rigorously enforced by social and cultural leaders would be beyond even his fertile imagination.

Writing Good And Writing Well

No doubt this list of 25 Books Guaranteed to Make You a Better Writer does not live up to its own hype, but there were a couple that might be of interest.

Like, for example, On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King because, well, Stephen King. Despite what we may think of him, his personal life or political views, the guy knows how to tell a good story, and how to tell it in such a way that causes his bank account to swell prodigiously. So I think anything he has to say about writing would be worth listening to.

And John Gardner's The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers is considered a classic in this genre:

John Gardner was almost as famous as a teacher of creative writing as he was for his own works. In this practical, instructive handbook, based on the courses and seminars that he gave, he explains, simply and cogently, the principles and techniques of good writing. Gardner’s lessons, exemplified with detailed excerpts from classic works of literature, sweep across a complete range of topics—from the nature of aesthetics to the shape of a refined sentence.

In addition to writing novels, Gardner was a professor of medieval literature and a pioneering creative writing teacher.

Another classic is Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots by William Wallace Cook, where he takes his theory, "purpose, opposed by obstacle, yields conflict" and then works it out through hundreds of diagrammed situations and scenarios:

Everyone knows the theory that there are only 36 plots from which all stories derive. But it’s time to get a little more specific. This book is essentially a magic machine, the one you’ve been waiting for: a full-service plot generator which lets you choose your own adventure via the connected plot elements of protagonist, conflict, and resolution.

This sounds like it would be a perfect choice for someone prone to writer's block.

An early edition of The Elements of Style by William Strunk is available on Kindle for FREE.

Script Writing Contest

Not sure if anyone would be interested in this, but I never know who's out there lurking, and I'm talking about aspiring writers, so with that in mind, I'm passing along this announcement that 'ette Anna Puma tipped me to: The Fourth Annual Voltage Script Writing and Illustration Contest is now open:

Voltage Inc. is happy to announce the opening of their 4th Annual International Story Writing and Illustration Contest, as of Thursday, November 19th, 2015. The annual contest is held to find new talented writers and illustrators, to collaborate with Voltage in the production of new visual romance apps. The contest consists of three categories; story writing, graphic-style illustration, and anime-style illustration, with a $5000 grand prize per category.

And not just for Japanese writers:

In recent years, Voltage has been expanding to localizing its apps into English, as well as creating English-language original visual romance apps. As such, Voltage is searching for international writers and illustrators with whom to collaborate.

I had no idea what a "visual romance app" was. But they helpfully provided an explanation:

Visual romance apps are interactive, story-based mobile apps, in which the user can be the heroine of their own romantic story. Users decide how to respond to various scenarios within the app, resulting in different romantic endings dependent on their choices.

When I first saw the words "visual romance app", I was afraid it might turn out to be a euphemism for pr0n. But since the market for these apps seems to pretty much exclusively women, I'm guessing probably not.

And $5000 ain't hay.

Books By Morons

Moron author Mark Robbins has just published his new book WE Republicans on Kindle, which would be of especial interests to you morons living in the great state of Texas. This book contains actual plans to take over the Republican Party of Texas using their rules. Now I'm not familiar with Texas politics enough to know, but I thought Texas was a pretty conservative state already. But maybe not. Mark tells me that his book

leads the reader to construct a formal tool that is used to engage Republican partisans in the Great State of Texas. The book walks the reader through designing a preamble for the Republican Party of Texas, one that candidates must address according to the rules of the Republican Party of Texas, and to enable actual physical processes that would change the way government works in Texas, then the world.

He also asks an this question:

Obama bowed to a Saudi king who probably had slaves until he was 40 (outlawed slavery in 1962) so where is the Pulitzer-worthy reporting on the slaves' opinion of the leader of the free world bowing to their previous slave master?

Well, our elite MSM journalism teams have trained and disciplined themselves for years not to even see such questions, and also, their laziness and incuriosity concerning everything relating to the background and ideology of the Slacker-in-Chief is legendary, so there's your answer to that. But let me indulge in some speculation here, if I were a foreign national who looked at America as a beacon of hope and freedom in the world, and if I saw the leader of that country kowtow obsequiously as he did to the Saudi despot, it would make me very sick at heart.

___________

Moron commenter WannabeAnglican's novel Pilot Point has been marked down to $0.99. I first mentioned this book about a year ago:

Pilot Point is a very Texan novel...With drought, dust, cowboys, and cattle, it could be called a Western except it is set in the late 20th Century and not many get shot up.

At the same time, Pilot Point has a strong Anglican flavor, weaving The Book of Common Prayer and traditional Christian themes through the story...Not many novels have both cowboys and Anglicanism.

The sale price lasts until late Sunday night.

What Morons Are Reading

From a thread earlier this week:

56 Not the book thread but I've got to pimp another of Steven Pressfield's books, The Professional. When I first read it it was good but not my favorite of his works. It read more like a Clancy book with explaining tech detail. With the crap that's going on now in the region I realize how good it really is. Takes place 20 or so years into the future. I think he nails it on how we will be fighting in the future.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 25, 2015 09:44 AM (2d71x)

Actually, I think the book he's referring to is called The Profession, which is:

Pressfield's first book set in the future, where military force is for hire everywhere. Oil companies, multinational corporations and banks employ powerful, cutting-edge mercenary armies to control global chaos and protect their riches.

Don't want to prejudice you all against Pressfield, but whenever I see the phrase "multinational corporations", I immediately think "lefty bullshit".

So I hope that's not the case here.

___________

Not Brand Eccch: I know we have a lot of comic book and graphic novel fans on here, but have any of you morons ever heard of the superheroes Kangaroo Man, Captain Tootsie, Dr. Hormone, or The Legion of Super Pets? No, I'm not making these up, these superheroes actually existed:

222 There's a great book called The League of Regrettable Superheroes about some of the lamest heroes ever created. There are some pretty great duds in there.

Posted by: Turd Ferguson at November 25, 2015 10:57 AM (VAsIq)

The League of Regrettable Superheroes is an encyclopedia of failed superheroes. Each one is allotted one to two pages of a panel of the comic books and some of the history and backstory of each character. And not all of them failed because they were poorly conceived. Some of them just didn't sell enough copies.

Personally, I've always thought that the "Silver Surfer" was a ludicrous superhero. I remember seeing him when he first appeared, and my reaction was, like, 'Wut?'

___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

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 08:28 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Books are good

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 08:25 AM (DUoqb)

2
Black Friday book coupons. Expiring today:

Amazon.com offers an Extra 30% Off One Print Book (up to $10 savings) when you enter promotional code HOLIDAY30 at checkout. The book must be shipped and sold by Amazon to receive the discount. 1 use per account, additional restrictions may apply.Expires 11/29

Barnes Noble is offering 30% Off One Item with coupon code 30BFRIDAY. Shipping is free on orders over $25. Expires 11/29

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 08:26 AM (kdS6q)

3 It's too early.

Posted by: Corona at November 29, 2015 08:26 AM (ragzU)

4 You won't get any argument from me if you were to suggest that Stephen King is a World Class Ass and man who just has to have some major league loose screws upstairs to write the things that he does, but On Writing is a damned fine book, probably his best IMHO.

Even better on audio, read by the author.

Posted by: turfmann at November 29, 2015 08:30 AM (QHOa0)

5 5th?

Posted by: Bruce Boehner at November 29, 2015 08:34 AM (B1TZ/)

6
And per the pic opening this morning's thread, KCET's Socal Connected did a video tour of The Last Bookstore in downtown LA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfZO6tYDN8w

Bookstore/Art project

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 08:34 AM (kdS6q)

7 I'm reading Andersonville by John McElvoy I picked up on Gutenberg.org. I thought it was the same book I already have but isn't. I have a very beat original of Life in A Rebal Prison that was printed around the same time as the on line book in the 1870's.
I have a few books that are over 100 years old including a book from my wife a Webster Dictionary from 1861 that among entry's tells how to make guncotton, and doesn't have a entry on bicycle.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 08:35 AM (XRpjE)

8 Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 08:35 AM (XRpjE)

*types

*deletes

Must not spoil the book thread.

Posted by: Golfman at November 29, 2015 08:39 AM (cdKSG)

9 When paperback books are priced lower than the ebook edition, there is something wrong with the pricing model.

When book buyers will pay more for an ebook edition then they will pay for a paperback edition there is something wrong with the book buyers.

(Google grammar suggests that 'then' is proper and 'than' is not.)

Posted by: Woolford Spaulings at November 29, 2015 08:39 AM (p5f0j)

10 Don't get what I did wrong except I'm not wearing a kilt, but apologize for my indiscretions.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 08:41 AM (XRpjE)

11 Testing -- Win10. What fresh hell is this?

My favorite of King's books is 'Danse Macabre' rather than 'On Writing.'

Posted by: mustbequantum at November 29, 2015 08:43 AM (MIKMs)

12
Make it now: the rise of the present tense in fiction

More and more writers are adopting this way of storytelling to bring immediacy and intimacy to their work

http://tinyurl.com/pa5erkk

Some would say it's reflective of our self-centered "instagram a picture of your lunch" age.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 08:49 AM (kdS6q)

13 I collect as many old reference books as possible. The Latin translations and quotations are very handy in my 1932 Roget's. Isn't it amazing what was considered 'educated' 100 years ago? Have an old Britannica set (the one that was supposed to be definitive -- 18th edition?) that occasionally goes into Greek with the assumption that of course you can read that.

Posted by: mustbequantum at November 29, 2015 08:52 AM (MIKMs)

14 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 November 29, 2015 08:53 AM (LUgeY)

15 Kilts are acceptable, but only if you keep your knees demurely together.

Good morning all.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 08:54 AM (NeFrd)

16 When OM mentions "gimmick" books, he fails to give proper credit to what may well have been the very first "gimmick" book which is, IMO, more charming because of its total lack of pretense. I refer, of course, to "Lord" Timothy Dexter's A pickle For the Knowing Ones, or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress.

First published in 1802, Dexter's work included no punctuation of any kind in its first edition. It was one interminable sentence, riddled with misspelling and jumping from subject to subject without concern for completed thought.

In a subsequent edition, Dexter included a page filled with punctuation marks, so the reader could "peper and solt it as they please."

I was first introduced to Dexter in Irving Wallace's wonderful book The Square Pegs and, after finding a copy of Pickle, became an instant fan. After moving to MA, I immediately made a pilgrimage to Newburyport, visiting Dexter's house (still standing proudly on High Street, though sadly missing the wooden statuary in the yard Dexter commissioned as part of the proposed "Dexter's Mouserum") and his grave, located in a nearby burying ground.

Dexter was a true Moron.

Posted by: MrScribbler at November 29, 2015 08:54 AM (dbC6X)

17 Drafting a manuscript - or anything, including a short, frivolous paragraph under a blog post - and avoiding a particular symbol - why, that's just plain silly.

Posted by: FyrHors at November 29, 2015 08:54 AM (ZnrSf)

18 the Eye (a giant, floating eyeball; just accept it)

Posted by: Corona at November 29, 2015 08:55 AM (ragzU)

19 Morning,

Any thoughts about the James Patterson MasterClass on writing a novel? Has anybody taken the class?

Posted by: Ponderosa at November 29, 2015 08:56 AM (+kk+K)

20 Picking up a comment from last night, and tying it into the book thread, "Lord Of Light" by Roger Zelazny was written backwards and inside out (Roger also wrote the novel that "Damnation Alley" was loosely based on), and it works, sort of.
Roger was an odd but imaginative guy (passed on now), but you have to read well into "Lord of Light" quite a ways to begin to understand just what is going on.
A world populated by human immigrants from Earth (primarily India), who are ruled by an elite named after the pantheon of Hindu gods, who were really human beings with mutated powers, amplified by technology. And technology was largely denied to the rest of the humans (the flush toilet was imvented and repressed several times, I gather). The struggle between repression and the accelerationist faction among the "gods".

Posted by: Bossy Conservative...a rube in America at November 29, 2015 08:57 AM (+1T7c)

21 Don't get what I did wrong except I'm not wearing a kilt, but apologize for my indiscretions.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 08:41 AM (XRpjE)

Not you. It's me.
I nearly wandered down a bad road.

Posted by: Golfman at November 29, 2015 08:58 AM (cdKSG)

22
The death of the open stacks continues. Article reviews the New York Public Library's plans to cart its research collection off to a robot controlled cellar.

Browsing is so 20th Century.....

http://tinyurl.com/nue4u4s

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 08:58 AM (kdS6q)

23 LDC -- Maybe writers are trying to train themselves to get out of passive voice? I think a lot of us find ourselves doing it unconsciously and have to seriously retrain.

Posted by: mustbequantum at November 29, 2015 08:58 AM (MIKMs)

24 Muldoon, is your book in print now?

What is MPPP' s book title?

I've got Taylor'sLife Unworthybut haven't read it yet.

Posted by: FormerlyMountainTurtle at November 29, 2015 09:03 AM (hipNa)

25 It is difficult to construct a paragraph without using a particular major portion of our idioms. Major obstructions of analytic thought allow an author to abhor this activity.

(Wow, writing without 'e' is hard).

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:04 AM (NeFrd)

26 "10
Don't get what I did wrong except I'm not wearing a kilt, but apologize for my indiscretions.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 08:41 AM (XRpjE)"

My guess is that it has something to do with Confederate Apologist shibboleths. I used to enjoy myself arguing with such people for sport but that was back before my country was fundamentally transformed out of existence and the thing that has replaced it does not seem worth the effort it would take to defend it.

Now when watching stuff like "Man in the High Castle", I keep wondering just how much worse would it be if history had worked out that way? I mean the protagonists of the series are attempting to bring down the government and that will certainly bring down the weight of official displeasure in any political system. In many ways, it seems like everyday life in the fictional Nazi occupied America shown in that programs is probably not so bad if you just keep your head down and your mouth shut, kind of the way you have to at work if you want to keep your job today in the real world 2015 America.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 09:05 AM (QHgTq)

27 Muldoon, is your book in print now?

****

Thanks for asking, yes it is. You can click on the link in my nick and there are links to either the Amazon page or the CreateSpace store. I've got it priced down in the lower range of what the publisher allows.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:06 AM (NeFrd)

28 And, yes, NeverGiveUp, books are good.

Right now I'm rereading Daniel Silva because they are easy reads and the good guys win

Posted by: FormerlyMountainTurtle at November 29, 2015 09:08 AM (hipNa)

29 Finished The Forever War last night. Really enjoyed it

Posted by: Zakn at November 29, 2015 09:08 AM (d2pTe)

30 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Reading this week has been a wonderful mix of continuations and new materials. Plus there's a cool rain falling here today, overcast, which is to me the finest kind of reading weather.

Continuing with LOTR at a very relaxed pace letting me appreciate more than ever the story and writing craft of Prof. Tolkien. If it takes to February to finish it this time, that's fine.

I can't get enough of "The Everlasting Man" and "Screwtape Letters". The excellent arguments presented with exquisite writing and sharp, sometimes acerbic, wit is such a pleasure. And unlike Lewis' academic books, I don't have to stop and research twelve references for every page.

Between physical books and the Kindle I now have about everything Chesterton wrote. (I'm still collecting more of Lewis' books.) So many years of great reading ahead just from Chesterton.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:13 AM (FvdPb)

31 At the risk of being mocked by fans of REAL SciFi, I'd like to recommend "Saturn Run" by John Sandford and Ctein. I'm halfway through it and really enjoying it. Blackfive.net has a good review and plot summary -- http://bit.ly/1Q6iKs2

From the review article, Sandford says "I hope we get readers from the field of computer programmers, engineers, and scientists that are interested in science fiction but want realism. But we also want to appeal to thriller fans. I think the closest novel like this book is 'The Hunt For Red October' by Tom Clancy. The technology of the submarine is advanced but very possible. It is about the struggle between countries and what must be done to return home."

I was a SciFi fan as a teenager because I loved the science and futurism, but gave it up because of the lame characters and story telling. This book has the science and futurism but also has interesting, believable characters and good story telling.

To my mind, a much better book than Andy Weir's "The Martian." "Saturn Run" avoids getting bogged down in tech, while explaining it clearly. Less predictable, but likely to appeal to the same audience.

Posted by: doug at November 29, 2015 09:13 AM (NjZkV)

32 Finished "Debbie Does Dallas" over the weekend. Man, what an ending.

Posted by: Soona at November 29, 2015 09:13 AM (Fmupd)

33 Posted by: FyrHors at November 29, 2015 08:54 AM (ZnrSf)

****

Were you going for no 'e'? If so you included the word 'under'.

It's tough.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:15 AM (NeFrd)

34
Maybe writers are trying to train themselves to get out of passive voice?
Posted by: mustbequantum

Traditionally, first person, "I walked down the lonely streets", was seen as undeveloped juvenile writing because it limits the author to one viewpoint and all events, emotions and opinions have to be filtered thru that.

Third person, "He walked down the lonely streets", expressed by a personalized or depersonalized narrator, was seen to open up a story to physically and temporally disconnected events, multiple character viewpoints and more inventive book structures and stylistic expression.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 09:17 AM (kdS6q)

35 For those who have mentioned an interest, from my dad's WWII diary on this date in 1943:

Nov 29, 1943--The EZ Dog Diaries
Attended planning meeting for II Corps thrust at Pignataro. Went with General. Met General Baer 71st Brig, Gen. Lewis, Arty Off[icer] 5th Army. Gen Walker, 36th Div CG, and Brigadier Siggers, Arty Off[icer] British 56 Div.

Pignataro is about 25 miles north of Naples, halfway between Naples and Monte Cassino. This was probably about 13 miles behind the actual position of the Allied lines at that time, so I think he means he attended a planning meeting at Pignataro for an upcoming offensive along the Gustav Line.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:18 AM (NeFrd)

36 Washington Free Beacon has a roundup of new books for 2015 with links:

http://tinyurl.com/oxzmozr

20 >> "Lord Of Light" by Roger Zelazny was written backwards and inside out...

My favorite Zelazny book. One of my overall sci-fi favorites as well.

His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be a god.

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2015 09:21 AM (gyKtp)

37 I have a kilt in the closet -- should I go and put it on for the book thread?
Nothing much new this week for us; a break in Christmas marketing events, spent figuring out how to use the Thanksgiving leftovers in ways that don't scream that they are leftovers ... oh, and making massive pans of fudge to give to all of our neighbors for Christmas. Everyone does cookies, so we thought last year we'd be be original and make gourmet fudge assortments in pretty tins.

We did start watching The Man in the High Castle, and it was intriguing, and very well done, but terribly depressing, considering what O-Ahole said at #26. We really didn't need reminding about a malignant dictatorship, of a political opposition being targeted by government operatives and sent for re-education. I can find that every day on the internet.

Posted by: CeliaHayes at November 29, 2015 09:21 AM (95iDF)

38 I'm no fan of Stephen King, the man or most of his books. But "On Writing" may be the best thing he ever published. I was impressed enough to hunt down a hardcover edition.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:22 AM (FvdPb)

39 One of my favorite quotes from LOTR, which I can't remember exactly now was to the effect of " as old and as young as spring."

I'm slowly reading the Father Brown stories, they are entertaining.

I'm also finding that I enjoy a lot of Kipling's poetry.

Posted by: FormerlyMountainTurtle at November 29, 2015 09:22 AM (hipNa)

40
Elementary school cancels reading of book about a transgender child after 'hate group' threatens to sue

The Mount Horeb Primary Center in Wisconsin planned to make I Am Jazz - a book about a transgender student - part of the curriculum

http://goo.gl/b3QDG4

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

I really worry about mixed up kids being pushed to mutilate their bodies. You want to teach tolerance in schools? Teach about being kind to everyone. That's as far as you need to go.

Saw the latest photos of Pitt/Jolie litter. Their 9 y/o daughter now wears a boys suit, shirt, and tie. Why cant they no to her? Sheesh!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 09:23 AM (iQIUe)

41 Finished "Debbie Does Dallas" over the weekend. Man, what an ending.
Posted by: Soona at November 29, 2015 09:13 AM

Oh, interesting. I've often wondered how closely the screenplay followed the book.

Posted by: moron wha reads hustler for the articles at November 29, 2015 09:25 AM (rNeWa)

42 Seamus - I love that stuff.
JTR- I've read TLoTR trilogy a few times in my life that's why the movie's book variations bother me.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 09:25 AM (XRpjE)

43 When paperback books are priced lower than the ebook edition, there is something wrong with the pricing model.

One of the reasons I'm a failure at business is that I always learned that price=cost+(fair)profit.

The truth is that price=cost+whatever the market will bear.

I've
never been able to reconcile mark-up as being 500 times cost. Yet, the
people who are successes in business seem to set price on what they can
get.

Don't have that cutthroat instinct, I guess.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at November 29, 2015 09:25 AM (oVJmc)

44 Yes, I agree, LDC. I really do not like fiction written in first person. However, I do think that use of passive voice has permeated all writing and somehow we have to retrain ourselves.

Posted by: mustbequantum at November 29, 2015 09:26 AM (MIKMs)

45
Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:18 AM (NeFrd)
===========

Cut to the part where he meets Sophia Loren, will ya?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 09:26 AM (iQIUe)

46 Just started the fourth book (The Girl In The Spider's Web) in the Millenium Trilogy by Steig Larsson and somebody else. I'm enjoying it very much, although the liberal Swedish theme is present.

I look forward to seeing how old Steig's protege will be handling the muz invasion of Sweden in Book Five "The Girl in the Black Velvet Burkha".

Posted by: Hrothgar at November 29, 2015 09:28 AM (ftVQq)

47 >>>
When book buyers will pay more for an ebook edition then they will pay for a paperback edition there is something wrong with the book buyers.

(Google grammar suggests that 'then' is proper and 'than' is not.)
Posted by: Woolford Spaulings at November 29, 2015 08:39 AM (p5f0j)
---
Google grammar misread your sentence and missed the comparison aspect.

Posted by: Emmie at November 29, 2015 09:28 AM (PiNvr)

48 Maybe writers are trying to train themselves to get out of passive voice?

Posted by: mustbequantum

Traditionally, first person, "I walked down the lonely streets", was seen as undeveloped juvenile writing because it limits the author to one viewpoint and all events, emotions and opinions have to be filtered thru that.
...
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix

---

The lonely streets were being aalked upon by narcissistic Marxist sociopath. This did very little in the way of improving their mood.

Posted by: Barack Obama at November 29, 2015 09:29 AM (B1TZ/)

49
I wonder where being a GI would be more scenic?

France? Germany? Italy?

I think Italy. You have the coast, the volcanoes which provided spectacular sunsets, ancient ruins...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 09:30 AM (iQIUe)

50 Ditto on Zelazny, may he RIP, wrote some amazing stories. Amber series was great.

A Rose For Ecclesiastes, classic story about a preacher's kid on an expedition to Mars. Classic.

Oh hell, I sound like Trump.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 09:31 AM (WUhLR)

51 It's getting like "Rollerball" when Jonathan goes to the library and they have all the records, books, etc. on one massive computer named Zero and Zero lost all of the 13th century and only gives the answers it wants to give.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at November 29, 2015 09:32 AM (ej1L0)

52 39 ... I think the line goes: "as young and as ancient as Spring". IIRC, it was a reference to Goldberry's voice calling the Hobbits to Bombadil's house.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:32 AM (FvdPb)

53 "For those who have mentioned an interest, from my dad's WWII diary on this date in 1943: "

Being stationed in Gaeta, and having the Gustav line terminate at the next town of Formia, we would often drive up to Casino for the day.

Being at the Abby, and looking at the valley below, it is not hard to understand the importance of that location.

It is worth the trip to visit both the Polish cemetery, and travel across the town to find the German cemetery.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 29, 2015 09:32 AM (ptqRm)

54 O/T

Too funny. Stolen from Insty.

http://tinyurl.com/qjchhse

Posted by: Nip Sip at November 29, 2015 09:34 AM (jJRIy)

55 Kind of a pity, that, about the NYPL .... I've found so many interesting books over the years by just wandering the stacks reading spines.

Bought "Pickle for the Knowing Ones" myself last week.

Nothing else new here; re-reading for the n+1th time the diaries of Samuel Pepys (1665 currently), and Shelby Foote's "The Civil War" (vol1).

Here's a snippet from the latter that seems appropriate for these times (with some paraphrasing); it gives me a good chuckle every time I read it, anyway :
In 1862 (before 2nd Manassas) the Army of the Potomac was discontented with its generals; John Pope was given to bombast, and Irwin McDowell had invented a hat made of canvas and bamboo to keep his head cool, and the saying among the troops was "Pope has his headquarters in the saddle, and McDowell has his head in a basket".

History doesn't copy, but it often rhymes.

Remember reading "Lord of Light" when it first came out, been on the 'reread every few years' list ever since, though I had to buy a new copy a few years ago. Never knew about how it was written.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at November 29, 2015 09:37 AM (+jyzN)

56 Setting Idiocracy 500 years in the future was waaaaay too optimistic.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 09:39 AM (sdi6R)

57 Personally, I've always thought that the "Silver Surfer" was a ludicrous superhero.

BLASPHEMY SIR, BLASPHEMY.

Posted by: I.C.Nielsen at November 29, 2015 09:39 AM (XycsT)

58 15 Kilts are acceptable, but only if you keep your knees demurely together.

That's one of the purposes of a sporran, so that manly men can manspread properly, and still keep things PG rated. It weighs down the front aprons when sitting. And holds your flask, of course.

Posted by: John the Baptist at November 29, 2015 09:41 AM (MPH+3)

59
Plotted: A Literary Atlas

This stunningly illustrated collection of maps by Andrew DeGraff, all of which are inspired by literary classics, from Homers Odyssey to Ursula K. Le Guins The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, allows readers a unique look at their favorite fictional worlds.

The Whale, visually details the anatomy of Herman Melvilles white whale in Moby Dick and compares its enormousness to that of the largest recorded sperm whales. The volume also contains more detailed entries, such as Ebenezer Scrooge: Time Traveler from Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, which includes five different maps, each dedicated to the routes of certain characters like Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, The Charitable Gentlemen, Marleys Ghost, and more. Accompanying each illustration is a thoughtful introduction written by editor Daniel Harmon,

AVClub

Videos:

Andrew DeGraff paints his depiction of Robison Crusoe for "Plotted: A Literary Atlas":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBbMdO9OjGo

And flipping thru the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOOGgt4qY_8

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 09:42 AM (kdS6q)

60 Were you going for no 'e'? If so you included the word 'under'.

It's tough.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:15
________

I was, and I failed, because (as you say) it's hard to do, not that I see the point in it, so maybe I should try the gimmick of posting in one sentence, although I don't see the point of doing that, either -- except, perhaps, to annoy my audience, which is likely as I'm finding this post somewhat irritating to proofread in my effort to make sure I didn't inadvertently write more than one sentence (and by the way, reposting your comment to which I'm replying doesn't count) and it just dawned on me that contempt for one's audience -- not that I bear any for you or anyone else around here, though I am simulating contempt for the purposes of keeping with this stupid gimmick -- might be the key to success in President Obama's post-whatever America.

Posted by: FireHorse at November 29, 2015 09:42 AM (ZnrSf)

61
And the above may remind many of the classic Dell Map Back paperbacks:

http://tinyurl.com/ndfcdxp

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 09:43 AM (kdS6q)

62 Lord Of Light won the Hugo in 1968; oh how far that award has fallen since.

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2015 09:44 AM (gyKtp)

63 Posted by: FireHorse at November 29, 2015 09:42 AM

****

Heh!

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:47 AM (NeFrd)

64 Being stationed in Gaeta, and having the Gustav line terminate at the next town of Formia, we would often drive up to Casino for the day. Being at the Abby, and looking at the valley below, it is not hard to understand the importance of that location. It is worth the trip to visit both the Polish cemetery, and travel across the town to find the German cemetery.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 29, 2015 09:32 AM (ptqRm) Funny how the Italians swear up and down their were no Germans in the Abbey yet there is video the Germans took of them running all over the top of the mountain. It's my understanding the US received permission from the Pope to bomb the mountaintop.

You are so right, the view the Germans had was incredible.

Posted by: DJ Jazzy Mel at November 29, 2015 09:48 AM (22uju)

65 I picked up a copy of Patricia McKilip's "Riddle-Master" trilogy but haven't started it yet. Forget where I heard mention of it, possibly on the thread here.

I am intrigued. It is often compared, favorably, with LOTR both in scope of the story and quality of writing. I'm a sufficient Tolkien geek that I find the comparison hard to believe but I am willing to learn. I'll say one thing: many of the reviews of "Riddle-Master" on Amazon are more lyrical and better written than most books being published these days. The reviews are by men and women both. I have to find out about books that can bring out such a response. Impressive.

Anyone familiar with "Riddle-Master" trilogy?

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:48 AM (FvdPb)

66
Pope's shoes spotted in Paris protest as climate change conference prepares to open under conditions of high security

Hundreds of shoes have been left at Place de la Republique in Paris

Shoe protest against the police's decision to ban climate change march

A pair of Pope Francis's shoes have been spotted at the popular site

http://goo.gl/v314NX

========

He's never going to stop this BS...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 09:49 AM (iQIUe)

67 Muldoon, I love the diary entries I've seen so far (two or three, I guess). Did Dad land at Anzio?

I was there a few years ago. There was some brickwork down by the shore. By the nature of brick and mortar I couldn't tell if it was something that our guys built while under siege or if it were ancient. Turned out to be from Nero's summer palace

I am not traditionally a reader of genre fiction (I have a literary stick up my ass), but I have recently formed an Amazon household with a girl who does so I'm reading some of her books.

"The Rook", by Daniel O'Malley, is sort of a Harry Potter for supernatural spies. Special schools, people with powers, secret organization protecting the UK from the supernatural. It's kind of charming once you get past its essential silliness and the boy who wrote it does a convincing job of creating a girl's frame of mind.

"Free Fall", by Brad Thor. I understand he's popular around here. I only have the first chapter as a sample. I find it hard to believe that there's a world in which insurance companies are allowed to hire mercenaries to parachute onto boats and murder all the Somali pirates.

"Hounded", by Kevin Hearne, is about a 2100 year old Druid hiding from an ancient nemesis and selling crystals to hippies in AZ as a cover. I'm quite enjoying it so far, possibly influenced by the fact that all of his backstory is Irish and I'm a sucker for that. Three chapters in and I'll keep going.

Oh, the part I forgot to mention about The Rook: you'll have a problem with it if you have any sympathy for Redshirts. If it's cool that there are vast swaths of humanity or vaguely human entities that can be killed to advance a plot, then you'll be fine.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 29, 2015 09:49 AM (1xUj/)

68 Extrapolating the current rate, putting "Idiocracy" 50 years in the future would be way optimistic.
Personally I'm betting on something like a mixture of the less attractive features of "1984" and "Brave New World", with "This Perfect Day" thrown in.
The "Idiocracy" world was way too libertarian to be realistic.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at November 29, 2015 09:50 AM (+jyzN)

69 Somewhere in my books there is a story from the late British colonial period a man joining the army wanted to go into any highland unit that didn't have kilts as a uniform. I think they put him in a kilted highlander regiment.
Earlier some highlander units turned their kilts into trews, basically pants from the cloth.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 09:52 AM (XRpjE)

70 It is worth the trip to visit both the Polish cemetery, and travel across the town to find the German cemetery.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice

****

The Poles paid a heavy, heavy price taking that hill. It's sobering to think of the valor and the muck.

I certainly didn't dwell on that aspect of it in the book, and overall the story I spun from Dad's diary was not a somber tale (?uplifting?), but I did try to acknowledge the ground troops who bore the brunt of those battles.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:52 AM (NeFrd)

71 I have noticed previews coming up for "Childhood's End", apparently a mini-series based on the Arthur Clarke novel.

The brief glimpses given of the series does indicate that the story as written has been largely discarded, in favor of some kind of allegory of our present political situation.

I actually thought that "Childhood's End" was one of the most depressing Sci-Fi novels I ever read.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative...a rube in America at November 29, 2015 09:53 AM (+1T7c)

72 I've read exactly one book. The book was "Delaware" by the Delaware Tourism Board. When I unfolded the book is was nothing but road and towns in Delaware. Though the plot was a bit thin. I really liked the pace. I give the book2 jars of paste out of 4.

Posted by: Joey Biden at November 29, 2015 09:53 AM (22uju)

73 For those who have mentioned an interest, from my dad's WWII diary on this date in 1943:

Posted by:Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:18 AM

I'll be reading them as long as you're posting them. Gramps was in Europe but no diary. It's a good thing to read in the morning.

Perspective.

Thanks for posting them.

Posted by: jow at November 29, 2015 09:55 AM (3aJrl)

74 The "Idiocracy" world was way too libertarian to be realistic.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at November 29, 2015 09:50 AM (+jyzN)

Yeah, this is a good point. Whenever I look at the future (at least the near future), all I see are expanding police states and boots stamping on human faces.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 09:56 AM (WUhLR)

75 Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:48 AM (FvdPb)

The trilogy was mentioned here recently, but I don't remember who by. I read it about twenty years ago, so don't remember much except that I enjoyed it.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at November 29, 2015 09:57 AM (GDulk)

76 Muldoon, I love the diary entries I've seen so far (two or three, I guess). Did Dad land at Anzio?

****

Yeah, his unit was transferred from the mainland to the Anzio beachhead a couple weeks after the initial landings. He was involved in counterbattery artillery during the 'Sitzkrieg' phase and the breakout from the beachhead. That's the setting for the story. The Allies really did some extensive underground excavating on the beachhead. For several months it was like a flashback to WWI trench style warfare. An artillery duel with small excursions of ground troops here and there.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 09:57 AM (NeFrd)

77 Going to start working my way through the Zelazny canon again. I was quite taken by his work as a child, and wonder if it will hold up.

Posted by: redclay at November 29, 2015 09:59 AM (n5+7R)

78 Shire! Mah fahvrit Berk!

Posted by: Warrern Burffertt at November 29, 2015 09:59 AM (B1TZ/)

79 "Funny how the Italians swear up and down their were no Germans in the Abbey yet there is video the Germans took of them running all over the top of the mountain. It's my understanding the US received permission from the Pope to bomb the mountaintop. "

Depends on who you ask.

We were there for seven years, so we got to know the area and people to some degree.

Most local understanding is that the Germans agreed to not occupy the undamaged Abby, but after the bombing of it, they then used the rubble.

There are stories of the treasures of the Abby being removed to the Vatican using German military trucks before the fighting began.

Fortunately, the Abby is rebuilt, and beautiful.
And the town, which looked like a lunar landscape in 1945 is rebuilt as well.
Interestingly, even though it resembles many other towns, it is one of the most modern, as far as integrating things like electrical service, street layout to accommodate motor vehicles, modern plumbing and even things such as air conditioning, and forced air heating.
All technologies which did not exist at the time of the original building of the city.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 29, 2015 10:00 AM (ptqRm)

80
I actually thought that "Childhood's End" was one of the most depressing Sci-Fi novels I ever read.
Posted by: Bossy Conservative.

Especially if you're a kid.

Especially-especially if you're a kid over at Arthur C Clarke's house and he wants you to sit in his lap as he reads it to you.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 10:00 AM (kdS6q)

81 he first millennium regarding the century of 1,000 a.d. It was assumed that the world would end and that things should be brought right in anticipation of the second coming. A time span from the Battle of Hastings until the 1st Crusade.

"God's Battalions"--Rodney Stark. For all the bad-mouthing of the Crusades it is largely overlooked that their origin was a reaction to the Islamic incursions in formerly held Christian lands. Stark's book sets that bit of mythology straight.

There are more, of course. but for all you easy chair historians, you can't go wrong with the above.

Posted by: Libra at November 29, 2015 10:00 AM (GblmV)

82 Same here. And with hella technology to cement it firmly in place, beyond the wildest dreams of Stalin or Mao.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at November 29, 2015 10:01 AM (+jyzN)

83 Personally I'm betting on something like a mixture
of the less attractive features of "1984" and "Brave New World", with
"This Perfect Day" thrown in.

The "Idiocracy" world was way too libertarian to be realistic.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez

I think we get "Brave New World" when we behave, and "1984" in the background, to keep the veiled threat of tyranny from harshing the mellow of the sedated masses.

The context will be "Idiocracy", because ignorant and stupid people are easier to rule. Easier to conquer, too.

There was in interesting interview on TV last night, as John Stossel interviewed the Chairman of Whole Foods. He was talking about fighting the government's attempts to regulate the market (and prevent monopolies - ha!). He got a big hand from the crowd when he remarked that the monopoly that need to be broken was public education.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative...a rube in America at November 29, 2015 10:01 AM (+1T7c)

84 Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 09:56 AM (WUhLR)

"Bad Luck!"

Posted by: Zombie RAH at November 29, 2015 10:02 AM (ftVQq)

85 I would like to publicly thank moron "Laurie David's Cervix" for posting a bunch of book-related links, thus providing me with material for future book threads.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:04 AM (WUhLR)

86 Just as a change of pace, I'm reading "Doc Savage: The Desert Demons". It is the first of a recent series bringing back the pulp hero of the '30s and '40s. It is wonderfully over the top, Saturday matinee fare. The authors have kept the story in the 1930s to maintain the wonder of the 'latest' scientific possibilities and society of the time, giving a nice, nostalgic feel. I expect I'll read more of the series eventually. This kind of book is just plain fun.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 10:04 AM (FvdPb)

87 Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma University, This is Not a Day Care. It's a University! is a good one. Thank God. All it takes is for a few of these folks to be leaders. Can't wait for the reaction. I'm staying positive and looking forward to a "huzzah!" from students and alumni.

Posted by: jow at November 29, 2015 10:04 AM (3aJrl)

88 It's getting like "Rollerball" when Jonathan goes to the library and
they have all the records, books, etc. on one massive computer named
Zero and Zero lost all of the 13th century and only gives the answers it
wants to give.

Much like the remake of "The Time Machine" (2002) He enters the library of the future, Looks like a library, but life like projections can answer any questions. . ( No real books, except a few in a case, they are turning to dust)

Posted by: Colin at November 29, 2015 10:06 AM (T3Tpd)

89 "Just as a change of pace, I'm reading "Doc Savage: The Desert Demons"

As a kid, that series made for some of the best adventure reading there was.

I can't believe they brought out some new stories.
I need to check it out.
Thanks!

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at November 29, 2015 10:06 AM (ptqRm)

90 In my quest for a fun, easy read, I picked up Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International a few days ago. I'm about 3/4 done, and so far it has been just what I was looking for. It's nice to read a book without having to worry about the author spoiling it at the end with a bunch of PC / lefty nonsense.

Posted by: PabloD at November 29, 2015 10:06 AM (eOnMX)

91 Chuck Todd is really pushing the idea that the lunatic in Colorado was targeting PP today surprising exactly nobody.

Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:08 AM (/tuJf)

92 I visited the Last Bookstore the past year. Hipster as hell.

But books are books, and you can't beat that curved display.

Posted by: Jobey in Error at November 29, 2015 10:09 AM (dGWLp)

93 During our Thanksgiving trip this week, we have been listening, and are halfway through, the sequel to The Shining.

I'm fairly creeped out and only halfway through.

Posted by: Grump928(C) has drink taken at November 29, 2015 10:10 AM (rwI+c)

94 jow: Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma University...

Correction: Oklahoma Wesleyan University, located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, me birthplace.

And yes, Piper is good.

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, me reading? at November 29, 2015 10:12 AM (PCof0)

95 >>Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma University, This is Not a Day Care. It's a University! is a good one. Thank God. All it takes is for a few of these folks to be leaders. Can't wait for the reaction. I'm staying positive and looking forward to a "huzzah!" from students and alumni.
Posted by: jow

Actually that is Oklahoma Wesleyan University, not OU. The OU president is a liberal.

Posted by: Aviator at November 29, 2015 10:12 AM (c7vUv)

96 Heh, beat Aviator to it by one.

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, me reading? at November 29, 2015 10:13 AM (PCof0)

97 Correction: Oklahoma Wesleyan University, located in Bartlesville,
Oklahoma, me birthplace.

And yes, Piper is good.
Posted by: mindful webworker - what, me reading? at November 29, 2015 10:12 AM (PCof0)

An important correction. Thanks.

Posted by: jow at November 29, 2015 10:14 AM (3aJrl)

98 >>Heh, beat Aviator to it by one.

Apparently, I need more coffee this morning.

Posted by: Aviator at November 29, 2015 10:15 AM (c7vUv)

99 "In the movie Idiocracy, which is set in America 500 years in the future where continuing demographic patterns have filled the population with really stupid people. "

I didn't know they even made movies 500 years ago.

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at November 29, 2015 10:15 AM (QdAXQ)

100 Considering the source, it shouldn't be surprising. Still a refreshing read these days.

Posted by: jow at November 29, 2015 10:18 AM (3aJrl)

101 "and the boy who wrote it does a convincing job of creating a girl's frame of mind. "

He thought of a boy, then took away reason and accountability?

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:19 AM (kpqmD)

102
Some state that Clarke moved from the UK to Sri Lanka because the country was more tolerant of gays. But half the pop of the UK is gay. And unless you are arrested for trolling in public mens rooms or are shacking up with a minor, I dont see how the UK was intolerant.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 10:19 AM (iQIUe)

103 CS Lewis, "Out of the Silent Planet"

This is space fiction, not science; Lewis himself said he tried to get the physics only as right enough to convince Lewis, who was after all an English professor and not a physicist. Also by his time everyone already knew that his planet "Malacandra" was near-vacuum at least in its highlands.

It's a *bit* of a spoiler, perhaps, that Malacandra is Mars. But honestly, most readers of Burroughs and Wells will figure it out nearly immediately. Lewis admits his debt to Wells in the foreword, if not to Burroughs.

Lewis chose to use "Malacandra" as a commentary on the true Noble Savage, in a world without sin; and also to critique Wilsonian Progressivism. So he creates a cosmology in which the solar system is ruled by God, and each planet by an angel. Earth's angel, unfortunately, was Lucifer. So now Lucifer rules Earth and has locked out the rest of the universe - hence, Thulcandra: the Silent Planet. (Venus is Peralandra - Lewis will change its spelling in the sequel.) Several races live on Malacandra, watched over by eldil who in turn answer to the Oyarsa (=archangel). The eldil ensure that the valleys retain oxygen and air-pressure.

The protagonist is Ransom, who is - accordingly - captured on Earth. The villains are Weston and Devine: in their hearts Weston is a progressive, and Devine is a mercenary.

Because Malacandra is still Vintage SF Mars, it is going to die in the nearish future. Everyone on the planet suspects that and concentrates on living full lives. Weston, the progressive, wants to conquer it for humanity. The idea is to use Malacandra / Mars as a staging-ground for the *real* new age of exploration. And to loot it for raw material.

At the end, the Oyarsa of Malacandra hauls in Weston for an interrogation. Ransom is called in to translate Weston's thuggish rhetoric into clear Malacandran, which - to us - turns out as plain English. It becomes clear that Progressivism is just will-to-power, with no care for how human the next generation will end up.

* thoughts *

The world-building is quite good; Lewis was always good at this - not Tolkien-good or even Dungeons-and-Dragons good, but better than most of the crap out there to this day. Since the world is the star character of this shaggy dog tale, the plot is at base the same as that in "Gulliver's Travels", or "Pilgrim's Progress": going from A to B in hope of getting to some destination (here, the Oyarsa, for Earth).

However - I disagree with Lewis's moral standpoint. I don't think it right for the Malacandrans to accept their coming death. Therefore I don't think that Malacandran Oyarsa is a good guide for his people. The Bent Oyarsa of Thulcandra, whom some here know as Stan, is superior in that he at least struggles for human life.

So if Lewis was out to convert me, he's done a better job converting me to Satanism than to Christianity. (Or at least to the Peacock Angel.)

It might not be possible for good Christians to write science-fiction.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:20 AM (6FqZa)

104 Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:21 AM (kpqmD)

105 . And unless you are arrested for trolling in public mens rooms or are shacking up with a minor, I dont see how the UK was intolerant.

What's a little chemical castration between friends?

Posted by: Alan Turing at November 29, 2015 10:22 AM (1xUj/)

106 Still reading "The Africans." It's my bathroom book which is why it is taking so long. I am wondering if Africa is still the oh-so-strange place it was in 1980, only now with more terrorism.

I have read about a third of "The Girl's Guide to Predators" and I have to say I'm really not getting much new out of it. Between fiction and mostly non-fiction, I have read enough about psychopaths that this book is mostly recycled. So if you've read Michaud and Aynsworth on Ted Bundy - The Only Living Witness - and maybe even read forensic psychologist Anna P. Salter's mysteries, you're probably pretty well versed in the subject matter already.

I have mentioned "Caliphate" by Tom Kratman a few times lately on my FB page to explain what's going on in Europe. My brother-in-law picked up a free copy (Baen Books and amazon) so I'm revisiting it so we can discuss it when he's read it. He's a pretty typical NY/Beltway liberal who thinks Mrs. B.J. Clinton will make a heck of a president, so this should be interesting.

Posted by: Tonestaple at November 29, 2015 10:23 AM (dCTrv)

107 From time to time, I've set out to write about The Urantia Book (UB) for the book thread. This seems the perfect venue to talk about the book's reported origins, how the publisher lost its copyright, about supposed "revelations" and their adherants. You know, not preaching the teachings but talking about it as a book. On the book thread.

Those attempted comments of mine keep ending up as Ace movie review-length treatises, so I file them away without posting, thinking I'll try to whittle them down some time.

This is not any of those.

Instead, my "hook" is a Breitbart article that ticks me off for several reasons. Alas, I keep running into the same problem of not being comment-concise. So, in my next two comments, I'll hit my topic, with apologies in advance for the wall of text. At least I waited 'til after 100 comments to blast you with this.

Why is it false assertions can be so brief, but refutations involve so many words? Or is it just me?

*

Mainly, keep in mind Gell-Mann, the "amnesia effect" with which regulars here should be familiar. If not, look it up. Here:
http://bit.ly/1P7JKZv

My own authority, so to speak, is having read the UB several times, and studied parts of it in depth repeatedly, having hung around with folks in the Urantia "movement" in the past, and having read a lot about the book and its adherents and opponents. I even have a whole section of my website about the UB, which includes my "UB Comix," many of which, I'd like to think, can be appreciated even without familiarity with the book.
http://mindfulwebworks.com/urantiana/ub-comix

#1 of 3

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, you be? at November 29, 2015 10:23 AM (PCof0)

108 102
Some state that Clarke moved from the UK to Sri Lanka because the country was more tolerant of gays. But half the pop of the UK is gay. And unless you are arrested for trolling in public mens rooms or are shacking up with a minor, I dont see how the UK was intolerant.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 10:19 AM (iQIUe)

My understanding is that he moved there because he got it up for the touch of the younger kind.

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:23 AM (kpqmD)

109 OK went to the Kosher Deli, To the Bagel Store, To Fairway market...I have done my duty for G-D, Country, and Family and now I can eat drink and watch Foot- a - ball.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:24 AM (DUoqb)

110 >>Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

Well they didn't do such a good job with the food supply which was why Not Sure became such a hero for putting water on the crops instead of Brawndo.

Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:24 AM (/tuJf)

111 #2 of 3

"Hillary Clinton Fundraises with Leader of Alien Religious Group"
http://bit.ly/1I9DwWo

Breitbart misrepresents the book and the Urantia movement.

1.

The "religious group" is a diverse menagerie of folks ranging from casual readers of, to raving fanatics about, The Urantia Book.

The Urantia Foundation is the original publisher of the book, and it has an associated official "Brotherhood." There's an unofficial "Fellowship." And there are all manner of private study groups.

There are many other different groups of adherents, some of whom claim all manner of things, including their own channeled "extensions" to the book and bizarre re-interpretations. Meh. Humans, right?

And there's a "silent majority" of individuals who just read the book and aren't joiners or cultists or give a fig about the moovement.

2.

The Foreword and 126 "papers" which comprise the UB purport to be written by higher types of beings. These orders are all described in the books. but from our perspective, for non-students of the book, you might as well call them all "angels."

Anyway, certainly not by "aliens," which suggests little green ET's. It's a religious revelation. Not "how to serve humans." (Twilight Zone reference, in case you don't recognize it.)

3.

The article asserts, "In all likelihood, the book was written at least in part by Chicago doctor William Sadler in the 1920s and might have been based to some degree on the ravings of a lunatic patient."

Siiigh. No and no.

Although "contact" was supposedly first initiated in the late 1920s, the papers were "indicted" and "transcribed into the English language" gradually, from the mid-1930s up through just before WW2.

I'm personally assured it was not "written by" eminent psychologist Dr. Sadler. He was an interesting fellow, respected in his day, but supposedly his interest in the "revelation" was academic, initially. He was a debunker of mystic phenomena, intrigued by one inexplicable case that obliquely led to the appearance of the papers. He is said not to have "believed" the book until very late in the papers' appearance. If Sadler was a genius huckster faking all that, he fooled his closest friends.

That one strange case, described in the Breitbart article as a "lunatic patient" - that's the worst kind of prejudicial propaganda. The individual was reportedly a quite normal fellow by day, but he spouted strange things in his sleep, a condition with which he was unconcerned, but which caused his wife to take him to Dr Sadler. Long story about the "sleeping subject" associated with the book's conception, but the UB's mysterious and complicated origins are beyond the scope of this rant. "Lunatic" is just trash talk.

4.

If you have to categorize this unique work, it would be more part of the spiritual revivalism of first quarter of the last century, not the "New Age" stuff of later decades. Many "New Agers" have certainly taken it up, often with what I consider less than desirable consequences. I'll just leave it at that.

5.

A third of the book is the "Life and Teachings of Jesus,." Non-Christians would call it "Christian," therefore, but many Christians would object to that because the UB does differ with some fundamental Christian doctrines.

Naturally, these doctrinal differences are the closest the Breitbart article comes to accuracy, and which it harps on the most! Hardly a new thing. Some Fundamentalists insist it's the "work of the Devil." (Folks said the same about Jesus; you might recall his response.) It's just especially sad to see such a slanted screed in an article from Andrew's legacy site.

In general, the thrust of the UB's teaching can be simply put: living a life according to what Jesus called the first and greatest commandment and the second like unto it. But the larger content of it is beyond my rant's purposes here.

#2 of 3

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, you be? at November 29, 2015 10:26 AM (PCof0)

112 CNN Wipes Israel Off The Map

CNN, that unbiased accurate reporting again

Weasel Zippers

Sigh

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:26 AM (DUoqb)

113 Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma University, This is Not a Day Care. It's a University! is a good one. Thank God. All it takes is for a few of these folks to be leaders. Can't wait for the reaction. I'm staying positive and looking forward to a "huzzah!" from students and alumni.

I predict: students throw yuuge tantrums, professional crybullies force Piper to issue a grovelling apology followed by his resignation.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:27 AM (WUhLR)

114 I like that 'gimmick' do it yourself novel. I don't know if the creator applied it, but it seems to me that it would be the perfect exercise for Game theory.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:27 AM (+Q9b4)

115 Neat hallway in the pic but it looks like they ruined a lot of books.

Posted by: Dang at November 29, 2015 10:28 AM (2oWD2)

116 Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper, President, Oklahoma University, This is Not a Day Care. It's a University! is a good one. Thank God. All it takes is for a few of these folks to be leaders. Can't wait for the reaction. I'm staying positive and looking forward to a "huzzah!" from students and alumni.

I predict: students throw yuuge tantrums, professional crybullies force Piper to issue a grovelling apology followed by his resignation.
Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:27 AM (WUhLR)

Ah this is Oklahoma everyone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE&list=RD-iYY2FQHFwE#t=15

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:28 AM (DUoqb)

117 I found this this morning: a link to the USMC professional reading list for all ranks:

http://tinyurl.com/hls5kes

Posted by: Tonestaple at November 29, 2015 10:29 AM (dCTrv)

118 #3 of 3

6. The so-called "leader" is just Celestial Seasonings mogul Mo Siegle.

The first time I met any group of Urantia readers was at a gathering near Chicago in 1974. At the time, the only other folks I knew who had ever even heard of the book were my older brother who introduced the book to me and, separately, to my childhood chum Tom. Tom was excited to find out about the Urantia "Brotherhood," and proposed we travel to their meeting. I was more wary - I didn't want to find out there was some Divine Light Mission or Scientology-like cult ruining this intriguing book. (I mostly saw a chance to visit a gal I'd met in college, she who is today my beloved companion of over four decades and mother of our three offspring.)

The folks at that early gathering mostly looked like anyone I'd meet at the local Episcopal Church (in the old days). Businessmen and homemakers. Seigel's flowered van-full of Colorado hippies were about the only other long-hair and blue-jeans types at that gathering - besides myself.

The general idea back then was of promoting the book by slow growth: basically individual-to-individual ("have you heard of this?") and small living-room study groups. Later generations of UB fans were not so sedate about popularizing the book, with results that I don't consider entirely welcome. As the Breitbart article exemplifies.

Mo was a funny guy. He told this joke... well, another time for that.

In short, in subsequent decades, after some internal clashes among fans of the book, and problems among the official "Brotherhood" and other clots of readers, Mo bought his way onto the board of directors of the publisher, the Urantia Foundation. Not knocking that. Foundations need money.

As he has always been a Colorado hipster, I'm not all that surprised Mo's a Hillary supporter, although I am disappointed, as I am in most of the moovement's latter generations' politics and social attitudes. You know that saying about any organization not specifically geared toward conservatism becomes liberal? Yeah.

You can see, perhaps, why I resent Mo's associating his progressive politics with this great work. However, Mo is hardly the worst of those who pretend to "leadership" while wielding a UB. An apocalyptic sub-cult many years ago, fortunately, ended with disappointment and bitterness, not newsmaking suicides. There's a guy in the Southwest who has headed up one of the better-known cults waving the UB. As I said, humans. Meh.

*

On the whole, I just find this kind of publicity for the UB distorting, misleading, and unpleasant. It seems to me that it encourages the liberal-ish flakey blare-about-it factions and discourages many more thoughtful and quiet folks who might genuinely appreciate the book, one way or another.

In conclusion (at last): as with with the Bible... or anything... remember Gell-Mann. Don't believe the articles, pro or con, don't listen to the cultists, and certainly don't buy Breitbart writer Patrick Howley about it.

If you really want to know what it's about, you can read the book, free online and downloadable, at Urantia.org.

Apologies again for the wall-o-text. Someday, I'll write that book thread article about it I really wanted to. Not today.

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, you be? at November 29, 2015 10:29 AM (PCof0)

119 Clarke was into young men. As in, pre-age-of-consent in Britain at the time which was 21 for teh ghey. The Independent in 1998(?) wrote an article "The Strange World of Arthur C Clarke" which observed, a lot younger than 21... he'd be arrested in most countries.

So, that's why Sri Lanka.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:30 AM (6FqZa)

120
Yet, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean were flamers and everyone looked the other way.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 10:31 AM (iQIUe)

121 110 >>Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

Well they didn't do such a good job with the food supply which was why Not Sure became such a hero for putting water on the crops instead of Brawndo.
Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:24 AM (/tuJf)

Which raises another question: how did a country entirely populated with idiots continue to manufacture Brawndo in massive quantities, distribute it, and continue to pump it through working plumbing systems?

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:32 AM (kpqmD)

122 MWW- you forgot your /urantia off tag

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 10:32 AM (NeFrd)

123 Am now 1/4 way into City on Fire, a fat one.

Set in NYC and Long Island in the 60s 70s and 80s, it has the feel of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities.

Fantastic writing.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at November 29, 2015 10:33 AM (U6f54)

124 Yes I screwed up. It's The Profession. The multi-national corporation angle is more of a back drop for the plot rather than the focus. Actually it's more of an indictment of the government when looking through the Right's eyes. But as with all of Pressfield's books, it's focus is on an individual who is affected by the big picture.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:33 AM (+Q9b4)

125 19, Isn't Patterson dead? Who's going to answer questions? I was never a Patterson fan so I would not pay for that.

Posted by: Tonestaple at November 29, 2015 10:34 AM (dCTrv)

126 I am an infrequent commenter here, but I like the blog, and the this weekly book thread is one of my favorite features.

I'm not a big sci-fi guy, so the frequent Heinlein references are generally lost on me. But there has been some mention of Dune, so, for whatever reason I picked it up a few weeks ago. I'm about 80% finished. Frankly, I'd rate it as quite good, though not great so far.

It is, of course, very obvious that the Fremen represent the Arabs, and Paul represents T.E. Lawrence, though I'm not sure what, if any, overriding message I'm supposed to pull from this.

I'm interested in exploring the author and series further, not so much because I love the book (I don't), but just to see where it all goes.

Posted by: I Work for Dick Jones at November 29, 2015 10:34 AM (uqqRG)

127 (I mostly saw a chance to visit a gal I'd met in college, she who is today my beloved companion of over four decades and mother of our three offspring.)

Way to bury the lede!

That's cool.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 29, 2015 10:34 AM (1xUj/)

128 Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

A lot of automation: coded at a time when the people were getting to be stupid, but still smart enough to get the machinery to work - sort of.

This machinery was decaying at the time of the movie, contributing to the crisis.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:35 AM (6FqZa)

129 The gimmick novel thing just reminds me of the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid. They were fun.

Posted by: Lea at November 29, 2015 10:36 AM (vmMMi)

130
I actually thought that "Childhood's End" was one of the most depressing
Sci-Fi novels I ever read.
Posted by: Bossy Conservative.

Especially if you're a kid.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 10:00 AM

Yeah. It was the first Sci-Fi book I ever read. I was 10.

Posted by: jow at November 29, 2015 10:36 AM (3aJrl)

131 128 Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

A lot of automation: coded at a time when the people were getting to be stupid, but still smart enough to get the machinery to work - sort of.

This machinery was decaying at the time of the movie, contributing to the crisis.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:35 AM (6FqZa)

Reasonable explanation. I've seen the movie I just don't recall them explaining how anything worked at all anymore.

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:37 AM (kpqmD)

132 Somehow a book stack doesn't seem a good material for an arch.

Posted by: DaveA at November 29, 2015 10:37 AM (DL2i+)

133 Morning all. Anyone know of a free comic strip drawing app? really just want to draw stick figure type strip as an idea/scene development tool and motivation to finishing a couple of books in the works. I enjoy drawing to relax. Thanks.

Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:37 AM (3va6W)

134

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }

Rad a couple of work related books and starting on a book for Linux. I dumped Windows 10 on one machine to play around with Linux with the hope that it would be easy to get rid of the bug-ridden bilge from Redmond. Loving Linux enough to kill the Windows on all my machines.
Started reading The Long Way Home by Sabrina Chase. It has a main character I can like, good guys versus bad guys, and an old-fashioned sci-fi feel in the hold of Heinlein - telling adventure stories in a plausible future. Really enjoying it so far.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at November 29, 2015 10:39 AM (L0bUn)

135 p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }

Lucky miss with the Barrel, mate.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:41 AM (6FqZa)

136 Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:37 AM (kpqmD)

I thought the lesson in Idiocracy was that everyone was stupid because of all the fapping.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:42 AM (+Q9b4)

137 Anyone know if the the barrel is decorated for the holidays?

Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:42 AM (3va6W)

138 Gimmick books reminded me of Mad-Libs™

It was a (adjective) and (adjective) night.

It was the (superlative adjective of times, it was the (superlative adjective) of times.

Of course as pre-teens we usually devolved to "poopy" as the preferred adjective and "booger" as the preferred noun for all Mad-Libs.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 10:43 AM (NeFrd)

139 Finished "Debbie Does Dallas" over the weekend. Man, what an ending.

Eh, good stuff, but Mr. Greenfeld's beneficence spoils the enterprising spirit of Debbie's teammates. Now the ending of "Babyface" is ripe for a dissertation.

Posted by: derit at November 29, 2015 10:43 AM (jT+gh)

140 You all do know that over analyzing Idiocracy is Idiotic right?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:44 AM (DUoqb)

141 *wakes suddenly*

*shifty eyes*

*grumbles*

Posted by: The Barrel at November 29, 2015 10:45 AM (IUmkB)

142 Commenting is lame.

Posted by: Rhett at November 29, 2015 10:45 AM (XOGWL)

143 Whats your point Nevergiveup?

Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:45 AM (3va6W)

144 >>Which raises another question: how did a country entirely populated with idiots continue to manufacture Brawndo in massive quantities, distribute it, and continue to pump it through working plumbing systems?

You ask a lot of questions, citizen. Perhaps you would like to compete in a monster truck rally.

Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:46 AM (/tuJf)

145 Whats your point Nevergiveup?
Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:45 AM (3va6W)

Point about what?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:46 AM (DUoqb)

146 The guy Turning was shacked up with was 19. He too was arrested but appears to have been given probation.

Turning had to take the drug for a year. I would think that after stopping, most if of the side effects would go away. He was found dead 2 years after his sentence. I think losing his job and being unable to travel probably depressed him to hell.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 10:47 AM (iQIUe)

147 Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:44 AM (DUoqb)

You talk like a fag and your shit's all retarded.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:47 AM (+Q9b4)

148 Seamus... heh! Right.

/uRANTia off!

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, you be? at November 29, 2015 10:47 AM (PCof0)

149 Gold fabric is lamé.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 10:48 AM (NeFrd)

150 I checked in on the Goodreads group last night, but rarely comment here, so saying "Hi!" to confirm my join request.

Finished Farside[\i] last week. A great read and SMOD is a featured character.Plus the villains are the ones the world is facing today. I put a request in to the podcast to have the author, Patrick Clines, on as a guest. If anyone has greater pull with Ace, Gabe, et. al., please put in a word to get him on.

Posted by: Bishop Wash at November 29, 2015 10:50 AM (6k2Ri)

151 103 ... It bugged me that Lewis (and Tolkien) created worlds where the results of evil can't be undone, or at least are not reversed. There is a theme that individuals must strive to prevent ongoing evil and the hope that those efforts will bring improvement to their world.

That Malacondra/Mars will die echoes the old question from King Lear "why did Cordelia have to die?". Shakespeare was illustrating the results of pride, folly and greed. Lewis shows that the higher purpose is to have a 'perfected' humanity even though delayed by evil. In both stories there is injustice that doesn't sit well.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 10:51 AM (FvdPb)

152 Off-the-court incidents continue to mount for Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jahlil Okafor.

Okafor was stopped by police on the Ben Franklin Bridge about three weeks ago for going 108 mph, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Going over 40 mph on the bridge, which spans the Delaware River and connects Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, is considered reckless driving, according to the report.

This is not Okafors only run-in this season.

Boston police announced this weekend that a man filed a report claiming that he was the victim in a fight with Okafor outside a nightclub early Thursday morning. That department had said Friday that it wouldnt investigate the incident unless someone came forward.

And in October, a heckler pointed a gun at Okafors head following a verbal exchange at a Philadelphia club, the Inquirer reported.

Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, is averaging 18.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

Yeah I mean, give an uneducated kid millions and what could possibly go wrong?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:51 AM (DUoqb)

153 NGU. It was just an obtuse (lame) joke about a bunch of morons not being able to stop themselves from overanalyzing Idicoracy. Unless you were making a joke by asking Point about what? and i need moar cawfee.

Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:52 AM (3va6W)

154 NGU. It was just an obtuse (lame) joke about a bunch of morons not being able to stop themselves from overanalyzing Idicoracy. Unless you were making a joke by asking Point about what? and i need moar cawfee.
Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:52 AM (3va6W)

I get that...it's just I post more than once and unless you reference which post of mine you are commenting about, I am not sure what your making reference to...but we both probably need more coffee with something in it also

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:54 AM (DUoqb)

155 I see that NBC will be showing The Wiz this week. Isn't that a cultural appropriation or some sort of other micro aggression against one of the classic American tales?

It sure does suck.

Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:55 AM (/tuJf)

156 Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:55 AM (/tuJf)

It even has a subset of micro aggression since the Wizard will be played by a large lesbian.

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:56 AM (+Q9b4)

157 "102

Some state that Clarke moved from the UK to Sri Lanka because the
country was more tolerant of gays. But half the pop of the UK is gay.
And unless you are arrested for trolling in public mens rooms or are
shacking up with a minor, I dont see how the UK was intolerant.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 10:19 AM (iQIUe)"

I believe that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in the late 1950s or early 1960s when sodomy was still a crime in Great Britain.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (QHgTq)

158 137 Anyone know if the the barrel is decorated for the holidays?
Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 10:42 AM (3va6W)

Oh, I don't know. Why don't you post a wall of ill-formatted text and find out?

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (WUhLR)

159 Also listened to the audiobook of Stuart Hill's "The Cry of the Icemark", during my roadtrip. It was predictable and boring; a perfect female lead character, and a lot of Mother Earth paganism.

The lead's dad, the King, is yet another of those hearty, overlarge warriors who get played by Brian Blessed. He is such a trope by now that George Martin cooked up Robert Baratheon expressly to critique how such a man rules a real kingdom.

The villainous southern kingdom is Rome, and Byzantium, and Alexander's Empire. But somehow their medical skills are inferior to those of the witches of the pagan north.

Did Not Finish.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (6FqZa)

160 Well time to go commit an atrocity on brunch. Have a good one all.

Posted by: JackStraw at November 29, 2015 10:58 AM (/tuJf)

161 Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (QHgTq)

I like the trivia that the most famous sodomy trial in Britain is connected to boxing history. Anyone know what that would be?

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:59 AM (+Q9b4)

162 Anyone familiar with "Riddle-Master" trilogy?

One of my favorite fantasy stories. Oddly for a fantasy writer, I don't really care for much fantasy fiction. Almost none of it satisfies me, and I end up wanting to edit and rewrite most books I try to read.

But McKillip's books, the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books, and most of the eternal champion books by Moorcock are worth reading.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 10:59 AM (39g3+)

163 NGU. havent figure how to copy and paste on my Ipad yet. lol. oh wait. tap the screen and select all perhaps.

Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 11:00 AM (3va6W)

164 Oregon Muse-

I don't always mention it, but I appreciate the effort you put into the Book Thread. One of the best regular features of the HQ. Thanks on behalf of all of us.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 11:00 AM (NeFrd)

165 Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 11:00 AM (NeFrd)

Ditto

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 11:01 AM (+Q9b4)

166 NGU. havent figure how to copy and paste on my Ipad yet. lol. oh wait. tap the screen and select all perhaps.
Posted by: Badda Bing at November 29, 2015 11:00 AM (3va6W)

Me either...LOL

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:02 AM (DUoqb)

167 Too many fantasy novels, I find, are about the fantasy rather than about the story. Instead of setting out to write a book, they set out to write a fantasy, so they spend 90% of their time on worldbuilding and the perfect spell system and all that and maybe 10% on character, plot, story, and writing.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:02 AM (39g3+)

168 The left seems hell bent on blaming the right, the videos ( they loves blaming videos), and guns for the actions of a derange non-affiliated idiot?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:03 AM (DUoqb)

169 I believe that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in the late 1950s or early 1960s when sodomy was still a crime in Great Britain.

I wonder if the new Tom Hardy vehicle on the Kray Twins will derail itself like Eastwood's "J. Edgar" did.

Posted by: derit at November 29, 2015 11:03 AM (jT+gh)

170 It bugged me that Lewis (and Tolkien) created worlds where the results of evil can't be undone, or at least are not reversed.

To me, that's part of their strength. Neither author wanted to create a world where everything turns out all right. They wanted to create a world that was compelling and true. Bad stuff happens all the time, and while it can be gotten through, the evil will not go away until kingdom come.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:04 AM (39g3+)

171 I agree, Oregonmuse, thank you for this thread each week. I look forward to it, and what it contains, as well as the comments. Salute.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:05 AM (39g3+)

172 I like the trivia that the most famous sodomy trial in Britain is connected to boxing history. Anyone know what that would be?

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 10:59 AM (+Q9b4)

The court recommended that Turing be punched in the nuts?

(I denounce myself...)

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:05 AM (WUhLR)

173 I think everyone needs more coffee.

Yes, yes, more coffee, that's the ticket.

Posted by: Juan Valdez at November 29, 2015 11:06 AM (ftJ4J)

174 ...the most famous sodomy trial in Britain is connected to boxing history. Anyone know what that would be...

****

The bobbies busted into the room to find Tyson whispering sweet nothings and nibbling on Holyfield's ear?

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 11:06 AM (NeFrd)

175
Eh, good stuff, but Mr. Greenfeld's beneficence spoils the enterprising spirit of Debbie's teammates.

Come now, it was positivey Austen-esque.

Posted by: Pappy O'Daniel at November 29, 2015 11:07 AM (oVJmc)

176 BTW, Seamus, I've been meaning to mention that the other day, after reading the sample chapter on your website, I ordered To Save Us All From Ruin while it was, ahem, within our budget range.

Unfortunately, to "pick it up," Milady has to use the in-town computer, and what with the holiday running-around, on top of our usual distracted lifestyle, we haven't done that yet. Looking forward to it, though.

That was my first experience ordering a book online, and my first time "buying" a Moron's book. Maybe now that I've got the hang of it...

Confessing to crazy: Mostly, I got out of the long-form reading habit after the brain trauma (a/k/a ADHD caused by reading too many comments online) - which makes reading the book thread with all its great suggestions kind of weird - and Milady mostly buys what she finds at the thrift store. Stacks of books everywhere in the house, though.

Posted by: mindful webworker - what, me reader? at November 29, 2015 11:07 AM (PCof0)

177 Would that be the trial of Oscar "Butch" Wilde? Light heavyweight boxing champion of England, father of 140 illegitimate children, and author of the pamphlet "Why I Like to do it with Girls? Sent up for being a whoopsie, as I recall...

Posted by: PabloD at November 29, 2015 11:08 AM (eOnMX)

178 Thank you all for your kind words. I enjoy doing the book thread and I love all you knowledgeable, erudite, and whip-smart moron commenters who add so much more to the thread than I possibly could.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:09 AM (WUhLR)

179 135 boulder terlit hobo: Lucky miss with the Barrel, mate.
I should know by now that cutting/pasting in the comments pisses off Pixie.

Changing the subject from my incompetence, I've read about half that list of writer how-to's. King, Zinsser, Gardiner, and Bradbury are all excellent. Le Guin's I just finished and enjoyed. She has an excellent discussion regarding present and past tense story-telling as well as a good section on passive voice.

Just started Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child and the Making of Make Me. Curious to see how this experiment unfolds and wondering what it would be like to have someone parked on my shoulder, questioning each comma.

The list should have included Dwight Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at November 29, 2015 11:09 AM (L0bUn)

180 I love all you knowledgeable, erudite, and whip-smart moron commenters who add so much more to the thread than I possibly could.

So that would be all the other guys, then.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:10 AM (39g3+)

181 Sent up for being a whoopsie, as I recall...

Posted by: PabloD at November 29, 2015 11:08 AM (eOnMX)

Whoopsie? That's a new one on me.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:11 AM (WUhLR)

182 .the most famous sodomy trial in Britain is connected to boxing history. Anyone know what that would be...

Connected with Oscar Wilde?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:12 AM (No/ki)

183 Shamelessly stolen from Black Adder, for those of you who didn't catch the reference.

Posted by: PabloD at November 29, 2015 11:12 AM (eOnMX)

184 ...I've been meaning to mention that the other day, after reading the sample chapter on your website, I ordered To Save Us All From Ruin while it was, ahem, within our budget range.

Posted by: mindful webworker

****

Cool! Thanks. Hope you enjoy it. Throw a couple bucks in Ace's tip jar when you can.

One of my Dad's best friends read it and really enjoyed it. He 'got' what I was going for. That meant a lot to me.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at November 29, 2015 11:13 AM (NeFrd)

185 >>>>Connected with Oscar Wilde?<<<<<

Wilde was dorking the Marquiss of Queensbury's son.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at November 29, 2015 11:14 AM (tEDMc)

186 Morning, all!

I like that Pratchett excerpt - made me think of the movie "The Book of Eli".
One word I would like to stop seeing so often is "curate". Blog-sellers now say they 'curate' their collection of wares for sale, 'curate' their collection of recipes, etc..Ugh!
* * *

Since I did some shopping this weekend, would like to pass on a tip:
At Amazon through 11/30 you can get 30% off (up to $10) off a printed book - just scroll down to the 'Sales and Promotions' section for details and the code. I used it to purchase an awesome DK Reference World Atlas for my geography-obsessed son.

What books are you giving or hope to receive as a present this year?

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 11:14 AM (NOIQH)

187 Oscar "Butch" Wilde? Light heavyweight boxing champion of England, father of 140 illegitimate children...

Wow. For someone who got busted for poofterism, Wilde looks like he got more action from women than Captain Kirk.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:15 AM (WUhLR)

188 Also from Blackadder, "ducky" as in:

BLACKADDER [looks at prescription]: You're just an old quack, aren't you?
DOCTOR: I'd rather be a quack than a ducky. Good day.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:15 AM (39g3+)

189 I believe that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in the late 1950s or early 1960s when sodomy was still a crime in Great Britain.
Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (QHgTq)

=========
Yes, it was. But there were still a large number of gays in the UK and no one gave a crap unless they were caught in a sex act or as in Turning's case living with an underage male (19) and admitting to it.

I guess if Clarke wanted to live with a male less than 21, best to split from the UK. But how hard is it to not indulge in or solicit in public gay sex acts? Do it at home. Then again, that is a whole new compulsion.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (iQIUe)

190 OregonMuse: I predict: students throw yuuge tantrums, professional crybullies force Piper to issue a grovelling apology followed by his resignation.

Heh... not likely at OkWU!!

They advertise online courses, btw. Since I already know everything, I haven't looked into it, but if anyone's interested...
http://www.okwu.edu/online/

Posted by: mindful webworker - ejimicatid at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (PCof0)

191 >>>>the old question from King Lear "why did Cordelia have to die?".
Shakespeare was illustrating the results of pride, folly and greed.<<<<

It was all Cordelia's fault anyway. All she had to do was kiss the old man's ass for five minutes and she would have gotten her share of the kingdom.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (tEDMc)

192 I don't think Oscar Wilde was so much a poof as a Sheen. He'd do anything, anywhere, at any time.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (39g3+)

193 Blog-sellers now say they 'curate' their collection of wares for sale, 'curate' their collection of recipes, etc..Ugh!
* * *

What does the curate do=perform evensong services in which three aged Anglican women attend? ;^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:17 AM (No/ki)

194 The left seems hell bent on blaming the right, the videos ( they loves blaming videos), and guns for the actions of a derange non-affiliated idiot?

The Left is all projection, all the time. "We" do what they would do if they had the balls.

Posted by: Grump928(C) has drink taken at November 29, 2015 11:17 AM (rwI+c)

195 I'm always a bit late to these threads, living on the West Coast, (near Olympic Nat'l Park in Washington), and wanted to post earlier this month remembering the 50th anniversary of the Ia Drang battle. I was in basic at Ft. Ord at the time, we all knew then that a lot of us were going to end up in a war that seemed somewhat irrelevant and small for most of us earlier.

Anyway I'd like to recommend some very good books about the earlier part of the war, by S.L.A. Marshall. He interviewed the men who took part in the various battles and some of it is chilling.
"West to Cambodia", covers a lot of company and platoon size actions by troops of the 4th I.D. and others. Many ambushes and desperate fights.

"Fields of Bamboo", ditto, 1st Cavalry Division, actions near the coast,

"Battles in the Monsoon" , 1st Cav.,and 101st Airborne, includind a particularly harrowing account of LZ Hereford where one company was nearly wiped out.

"Anbush", title describes it. 1st Infantry Division. Battle of Dau Tieng , Nov. 1966 196th Light Inf. Brigade.

These guys fought like lions,I hope they'll always be remembered.

Posted by: JHW at November 29, 2015 11:18 AM (w+zdY)

196 What books are you giving or hope to receive as a present this year?

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 11:14 AM (NOIQH)

Shhh! Don't tell Mrs. Muse, but I'm giving her The New Complete Hoyle: The Authoritative Guide to the Official Rules of All Popular Games of Skill and Chance, Revised Edition.

Because games, she loves.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:19 AM (WUhLR)

197
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (39g3+)

Wilde has one of my favorite quotes.

The only thing I can't resist is temptation

Posted by: Max Rockatansky at November 29, 2015 11:20 AM (+Q9b4)

198 Pulled out "Be Here Now" this last week for a friend who was having a bit of life trouble. One of my favorite religious type books, the beginning which describes the transformation gone throb by Dr. Richard Alpert after his psychedelic experiences is amazing both spiritually and psychologically. But i being it up because this bit really struck me this time through �

"For example, we had a Negro psychiatrist, Madison Presnell, working with us, and I had been trained to be a very liberal person about Negroes, which meant that you didn't have feelings. It was a phony kind of liberal thing. I went out of my way to be liberal. You know, that very self-conscious kind of equality. And Madison and I turned on together and I looked at Madison, and there we were, the same human beings. It was just that he was wearing that skin and I was wearing this skin. And it was no more or less than that. It was that shirt and this shirt and it had no more relevance than that. And I looked at that, and suddenly there we were, whereas before I had been so busy with my super-liberal reaction to color of skin, that I couldn't relax enough to share this unitive place."
beherenow.dc7.us/hisstory00.htm

Posted by: sugar plum fairy - you are tutu kind! at November 29, 2015 11:20 AM (hnCis)

199 "131
128 Regarding Idiocracy, if everyone really was that stupid, how were they able to maintain a food supply and a power grid?

A lot of automation: coded at a time when the people were getting to
be stupid, but still smart enough to get the machinery to work - sort
of.

This machinery was decaying at the time of the movie, contributing to the crisis.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:35 AM (6FqZa)

Reasonable explanation. I've seen the movie I just don't recall them explaining how anything worked at all anymore.

Posted by: Insomniac - Pale Horse/Death 2016 at November 29, 2015 10:37 AM (kpqmD)"

There were clues like when Joe goes into the hospital and the woman is having a hard time trying to decide which of the picture coded buttons to press or the guy with the three wired probes, "This goes in your mouth. This goes in your ear and this goes in your butt. No wait, this one goes in you mouth. This goes in your ear and this one goes in your butt."

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 11:20 AM (QHgTq)

200 Childhood's End was my favorite Clarke book as a teen, and I just read it again to prep myself for the upcoming special on SyFy. It's being done by Ridley Scott, so I'm hoping with will be decent.

That being said, as an adult who has not picked up the book in 30+ years, it disappointed me. I think the concept is intriguing, but the way Clarke gets there is a bit... underwhelming.

One of my favorite books that I read as a teen and several times as an adult is That Hideous Strength from C.S. Lewis. LOVED his Narnia books as a child. Not quite sure why, but the first two books in Lewis' space series never resonated with me as much as the last.

Sigh.

Perhaps I've just read too much strange "European fiction." BTW, Hopscotch is underwhelming. Interesting in concept. Just like electing as half black communist with no experience as president is interesting in concept.

If you're world fiction curious, try Kunderas "The Joke." Seems... appropriate for the political climate right now.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at November 29, 2015 11:21 AM (9JJgN)

201 This is Not a Day Care. It's a University!

That's a good read. Best line: "if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere)...}

C'mon out and de-lurk, Dr. Piper!

Posted by: t-bird at November 29, 2015 11:21 AM (yddCj)

202 >>>Dune.....I'm interested in exploring the author and series further, not so
much because I love the book (I don't), but just to see where it all
goes.<<<<

I liked Dune, I kind of vaguely remember enjoying Dune Messiah and I made it through Children of Dune but I lost interest about a third of the way into God Emperor of Dune.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at November 29, 2015 11:22 AM (tEDMc)

203 Greetings:

Only my last library excursion, I took out Nathan Philbrick's "Mayflower" mostly because I had enjoyed his "The Last Stand" previously (great maps but iffy basic premise). I'm only several chapters into the former but it certainly includes a good deal of detail about that ship's excursion to the New World and the subsequent results.

While I was certainly prepared for some cultural diminishment of that great adventure, I was surprised to find that the Progressive (n�e Public) Broadcasting System had scheduled one of its "American Experience" programs that closely followed Mr. Philbrick's work buttressed by a couple of talking historians and a couple of talking "writers".

And, as if two hours of Pilgramtic tribulations didn't anchor PBS's intended teaching, the program was followed by one of its "Secrets of the Dead" episodes about what was scientifically established as the murder and cannibalization of a teenage girl at the Jamestown Plantation. So, overall, it was a kind of all your history belongs to us." kind of evening.

Among the many things that I had to be thankful for this Thanksgiving is that I'm not one of those people.

Posted by: 11B40 at November 29, 2015 11:22 AM (evgyj)

204 Fairies are not so good at proofreading

Posted by: sugar plum fairy - you are tutu kind! at November 29, 2015 11:23 AM (hnCis)

205 170 ... It bugged me that Lewis (and Tolkien) created worlds where the results of evil can't be undone, or at least are not reversed."

"To me, that's part of their strength. Neither author wanted to create a world where everything turns out all right. They wanted to create a world that was compelling and true. Bad stuff happens all the time, and while it can be gotten through, the evil will not go away until kingdom come."

Hi Christopher, I agree with you, the stories are better and stronger because of how they deal with the results of evil. But that disquieting whisper of injustice never completely fades for me. Apparently, I am not a 'higher purpose' kind of guy. :-)

(Cue the music to "If I Ruled the World".)

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 11:23 AM (FvdPb)

206 I recommend Brennan's War by Matthew Brennan for a first-handa ccount of Vietnam from the perspective of an arty guy in 1st air cav. Its a bit depressing as his enthusiasm for America and the war is corroded by the horrors around him and what happens to the quality of soldiers etc but its very informative. He wrote a second book Hunter Killer Squadron about the chopper pilots as well.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:23 AM (39g3+)

207 >>Don't tell Mrs. Muse, but I'm giving her The New Complete Hoyle....

Oh, that looks good! I grew up playing cards - our family had epic Hearts games, but also gin rummy, poker, even some very competitive backgammon. That would be a great way to get my son interested in cards and board games (hubby doesn't play cards)....

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 11:25 AM (NOIQH)

208 OT-Happy to see that some erudite and rational students at Princeton are pushing back against the campus idiocy too:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/qj6an6b

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:25 AM (No/ki)

209 Well, some cheery news on the eve of the Gerbil Worming confab in Paris. Maurice Strong, Canada's answer to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has gone to rotate upon the barbed cock of Satan. Exact time and place of his death unknown, but he had been living in China of late.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2015 11:26 AM (7MWCL)

210 CNN Wipes Israel Off The Map

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 10:26 AM (DUoqb)

what?

insomniac, if you want to have peasants to manipulate and bend to your will, some must remain alive.

Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:27 AM (jOumW)

211 OT-Happy to see that some erudite and rational students at Princeton are pushing back against the campus idiocy too:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/qj6an6b
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:25 AM (No/ki)

Yeah but how much coverage did the MSM give to them? And will the University support them?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:27 AM (DUoqb)

212 I liked Dune, I kind of vaguely remember enjoying Dune Messiah and I made it through Children of Dune but I lost interest about a third of the way into God Emperor of Dune.

I agree, I had the same experience. The first book was amazing, the second pretty cool, then my interest just went downhill after that. He really didn't even need to write any more but I guess he had a vision of a story. The whole thing is a fantasy of eugenics and selective breeding, of course. Herbert's entire worldview was that you use circumstances and genetics to produce perfect humans, eventually breeding the bad stuff out.

The 'prequel' books by his son are like eleven steps down in talent and writing quality. I was not impressed.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:28 AM (39g3+)

213
Remember, Wilde sued Queensbury for calling him a sodomite. Boy, did that backfire. I still like Wilde and little Bosie denied to the day he died that they were schutpping.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:29 AM (iQIUe)

214 CNN Wipes Israel Off The Map

what?

They used a map for a graphic that labeled Israel as "palestine"

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:29 AM (39g3+)

215 I'm always a bit late to these threads, living on the West Coast

Tell me about it. I have to post the book thread by 6am Pacific time so the east morons have something to read while they prepare their morning ValuRite, bacon, and coffee.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:30 AM (WUhLR)

216 I don't thin k the MSM will give them much exposure but they are out there on the net as well as the comments of some Professor at Princeton-originally from Romania, I think, who said that the atmosphere on campuses resembled the curtailment of free speech found in his former country.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:32 AM (No/ki)

217 CNN Wipes Israel Off The Map

what?

They used a map for a graphic that labeled Israel as "palestine"
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:29 AM (39g3+)

wth, has this become all the rage showing solidarity with the scum murderous regimes of the world.

nevermind, i know the answer, i really thought being american was safe and sane .

Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:33 AM (jOumW)

218 so the east morons have something to read while they prepare their morning ValuRite, bacon, and coffee.

Check. Check. Oops.

*scurries to find bacon*

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 29, 2015 11:33 AM (1xUj/)

219 that was supposed to be a question.

i realize i already know the answer , but not a very good excuse.

Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (jOumW)

220 Heh... not likely at OkWU!!

Posted by: mindful webworker - ejimicatid at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (PCof0)

I don't think that firm rejection is a given. The pussification of higher ed has affected Christian colleges as well. I suppose it depends how much that bleating little lamb Piper mentioned in his article is representative of the student body as a whole.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (WUhLR)

221 Well, I'm grateful that you get up so early Oregon Muse, these threads are my favorites here, lots of good book recommendations.

Posted by: JHW at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (w+zdY)

222 "189
I believe that Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in the late 1950s or early 1960s when sodomy was still a crime in Great Britain.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (QHgTq)

=========

Yes, it was. But there were still a large number of gays in the UK
and no one gave a crap unless they were caught in a sex act or as in
Turning's case living with an underage male (19) and admitting to it.

I guess if Clarke wanted to live with a male less than 21, best to
split from the UK. But how hard is it to not indulge in or solicit in
public gay sex acts? Do it at home. Then again, that is a whole new
compulsion.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:16 AM (iQIUe)"

I think it might have had something to do with Clarke's income from writing (which can be done anywhere) going a lot farther in Sri Lanka than in Great Britain as well as the taxes in Britain being amazingly high in those pre Margaret Thatcher days. Rich people don't seem to be subject to as strict a version of enforced law as the poor or middle class and Clarke's writing royalties made him a rich man in Sri Lanka. And the weather is better.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (QHgTq)

223
Ewok love (ohhh ohhh ohhh)
Ewok love (ohhh ohhh ohhh)
Once I ran to you
Now I'll run from you
This Ewok love you've given
I give you all a reader could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Ewok love
Ewok love ...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (iQIUe)

224 I don't thin k the MSM will give them much exposure but they are out there on the net as well as the comments of some Professor at Princeton-originally from Romania, I think, who said that the atmosphere on campuses resembled the curtailment of free speech found in his former country.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 11:32 AM (No/ki)

As long as the Dems and the 52% cater to these fuckin buttercups, not much will be done about them or the BLM scum either. PC is still strong

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (DUoqb)

225 CNN has done this at least twice now.

http://tinyurl.com/hgatbpp

Like the way they kept having "technical glitches" and accidents flashing images and words about people in the Bush administration. Its like the place is run by 13 year old giggling at the word "scrotum."

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:35 AM (39g3+)

226 John Gardner--not to be confused with the British spy novelist who authored several later "James Bond" novels--was certainly interesting, but his novels were better in theory than in practice. He could be very evocative and I read a weird novel by him called Mickleson's Ghosts that had passages of sheer beauty. His short stories were interesting.
He was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after the book came out in 1982/83, and years later was posthumously accused of plagiarism and his reputation never recovered.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 29, 2015 11:37 AM (8N8Aa)

227 Nevergiveup, although i blame the students for being so gullible i blame the Profs and Parents more.

If they don't care that their children are being turned into robots and are actually funding their being turned into ideological tools ..

Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:37 AM (jOumW)

228 I think it might have had something to do with Clarke's income from writing (which can be done anywhere) going a lot farther in Sri Lanka than in Great Britain as well as the taxes in Britain being amazingly high in those pre Margaret Thatcher days. Rich people don't seem to be subject to as strict a version of enforced law as the poor or middle class and Clarke's writing royalties made him a rich man in Sri Lanka. And the weather is better.
Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 11:34 AM (QHgTq)

===========
Hmmm. He left in the early 50s, did he not? Not sure about the tax situation then but since they were still trying to recover from the war and life was dreary as hell, I'm sure taxes were high and on their way to going higher.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:38 AM (iQIUe)

229 I almost stood and applauded in my living room after reading that sidebar link from the OKWU president.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 29, 2015 11:38 AM (Wckf4)

230 I'm sure taxes were high and on their way to going higher.

When even the Beatles were complaining about it, yeah. They were awful. Thatcher managed to fix some of that, but there was only so much even she could accomplish.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:39 AM (39g3+)

231 Nevergiveup, although i blame the students for being so gullible i blame the Profs and Parents more.

If they don't care that their children are being turned into robots and are actually funding their being turned into ideological tools ..
Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:37 AM (jOumW)

I agree with you 100%.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:39 AM (DUoqb)

232 Per wiki, Clarke moved in 1956.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 11:39 AM (iQIUe)

233 ty Christopher, i guess they thought no one would notice.
bastards.

Posted by: willow at November 29, 2015 11:39 AM (jOumW)

234 209 Well, some cheery news on the eve of the Gerbil Worming confab in Paris. Maurice Strong, Canada's answer to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has gone to rotate upon the barbed cock of Satan. Exact time and place of his death unknown, but he had been living in China of late.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2015 11:26 AM (7MWCL)

Now if only Soros would join him.

This is probably in poor taste, but if ISIS were to mount a major attack at the global warming conference, I would have a hard time rooting against them.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 11:41 AM (sdi6R)

235 "If you're world fiction curious, try Kunderas "The Joke." Seems... appropriate for the political climate right now.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at November 29, 2015 11:21 AM (9JJgN)"

I saw a black and white movie in Czech with subtitles made from that book years ago and I have always meant to get around to reading the book.

Yes. The Left is always the same. They are not all that good about making omlettes but they are world class at breaking eggs.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 11:42 AM (QHgTq)

236 "Who are you on AoSHQ? If you are a strict lurker, please say Hi on the Sunday Morning Book thread. Thanks!"

Hi! I've been lurking here for over a decade and just submitted a request to join Goodreads group. Thanks!

Posted by: Tulip at November 29, 2015 11:43 AM (Abkm+)

237 Composition No. 1 sounds suspiciously like Ace Open Thread No. 1 in which Ace shuffles together a random number of single word open post with accompanying thought and then posts whichever one comes up first.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 11:44 AM (4ErVI)

238 To IWDJ who hasn't yet finished Dune - in case you're not yet aware - Herbert died before finishing it, so it reads like a lot of stuff that was finished by someone else. It's a big fat "WTF Was That And Where The Hell Did It Come From" ending.

I read it fairly young but do remember that about midway through the third book it started philosophically meandering about and never really tightened back up. Overall good read though.

Except for that ending.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 29, 2015 11:44 AM (Wckf4)

239 Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 11:41 AM (sdi6R)

Two Our Fathers and one Hail Mary and it's all good brother.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 29, 2015 11:47 AM (Wckf4)

240 Mizzou Assistant Prof Arrested For Abuse Of 14 Yr Old Relative For Not Wearing Hijab

This is what he does in public. Imagine what he would do in private.

Weasel Zippers

Yeah let's let more muslims in????

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:48 AM (DUoqb)

241 Why would anyone hire at least an immigrant Muslim? All they seem to do is bitch, cause trouble, and refuse to do certain jobs. The attitude of these guys is so often massive arrogance: how dare you not grovel to me, subcreature???

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:50 AM (39g3+)

242 Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press, after an interview in which Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump strongly stood by his claims thousands of American Muslims celebrated on 9/11, veteran chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News Andrea Mitchell accused Trump of turning people against people.

So says the woman who thinks it is fine that Fredo thinks his b biggest enemies are Republicans?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 11:50 AM (DUoqb)

243 Sidebar link to letter from Dr. Everett Piper,
President, Oklahoma University, This is Not a Day Care. It's a
University! is a good one. Thank God. All it takes is for a few of these
folks to be leaders. Can't wait for the reaction. I'm staying positive
and looking forward to a "huzzah!" from students and alumni.

I
predict: students throw yuuge tantrums, professional crybullies force
Piper to issue a grovelling apology followed by his resignation.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:27 AM (WUhLR)

Dr. Piper is a good dose of what's needed in today's crybaby world. And any snowflakes who throw a fit should be met with a grow the hell up

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2015 11:50 AM (45oDG)

244 Elementary school cancels reading of book about a transgender child after 'hate group' threatens to sue

The Mount Horeb Primary Center in Wisconsin planned to make I Am
Jazz - a book about a transgender student - part of the curriculum

http://goo.gl/b3QDG4

A hate group = sane people

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2015 11:52 AM (45oDG)

245 Drudge has a link to a story about Democrat rising star Tulsi Gabbard.

She's got some nice junk in the trunk so there's that.

Unfortunately she picked up some bad habits from her time in the military, mainly the idea Muslims are fucking dangerous and keeping them out is probably a good thing. She's been hitting Barry about the Syrians.

THIS IS WHY WOMEN SHOULDN'T SERVE IN THE MILITARY!!11!

ERR, WAIT MUSLIMS ARE GOOD??!?

SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO SAY MY HEAD HURTS!!!

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 11:53 AM (4ErVI)

246 "230
I'm sure taxes were high and on their way to going higher.

When even the Beatles were complaining about it, yeah. They were
awful. Thatcher managed to fix some of that, but there was only so much
even she could accomplish.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:39 AM (39g3+)"

Let me tell you how it will be
It's one for you, nineteen for me...

If five percent appears too small

Be grateful I don't take it all

By any kind of standard, a 95% tax rate seems excessive but that is probably just because I am an unenlightened troglodyte. Sweden was even worse. The highest tax rate was something like 102% and a zealous tax official hounded Ingmar Bergman out of the country.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 11:54 AM (QHgTq)

247 Herbert died after he wrote Chapterhouse of Dune (which I haven't read), so the first six (?) books were all his work.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living... at November 29, 2015 11:54 AM (tEDMc)

248 Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 09:48 AM (FvdPb)

I finished part 2 of the trilogy a few weeks ago, it's beautifully written, reminds me a bit of Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin in its mood and use of language. Read the whole thing decades ago and look forward to reading part 3 soon. Never have read anything else by McKillip but hope to look into her other works.

Posted by: waelse1 at November 29, 2015 11:54 AM (oAK6v)

249 "The attitude of these guys is so often massive arrogance: how dare you not grovel to me, subcreature???"

Their religion teaches them that they are above all others, in every way. All other creeds are to be frowned upon, taxed unfairly, enslaved, converted, and, failing that, killed.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with importing multitudes of these assholes...

Posted by: navybrat at November 29, 2015 11:56 AM (ETxiG)

250 By the way, when I visit my mom on Sunday for lunch, I stay the afternoon while she naps and read. She goes to the library and loads me up with like 15 books of which I read 10 or so because she's always trying new authors to see if I like them and its not always successful.

One we both have gotten and liked is a series of Victorian-era mysteries by Barbara Cleverley featuring a detective named Joe Sandilands. He gets by mostly by method and dogged persistence, but is quite bright and perceptive. I'm on book 10, Not My Blood but the first few books are actually set in India not long after the rebellion and its fascinating reading about the time and events.

These books are great in terms of setting and history, with lots of details and interesting bits.

Less successful are the Alex Grecian "murder Squad" books of which I've only read The Devil's Workshop which was just awful and C.S. Harris Sebastian St Cyr books. The St Cyr books are okay, but as the series progresses, she seems to have fallen in love with her protagonist (something I've seen happen several times with female authors) and gushes a bit too much about his "wolf-like" golden and/or yellow eyes and loses the plot when he's around like a schoolgirl meeting a celebrity crush. Her historical bits are a bit less convincing and she has too many "strong" females that break the mold and defy conventions for my tastes.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 11:57 AM (39g3+)

251 TheQuietMan

imagine:

https://www.lc.org/

a group that is for religious freedom, sanctity of life and protecting marriage and family is a "hate group"

Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at November 29, 2015 11:58 AM (0O7c5)

252 Posted by: Bossy Conservative...a rube in America at November 29, 2015 09:53 AM (+1T7c)

I liked Clarke's Childhood's End a lot, as the evolutionary end of Mankind as some sort of super hive-mind. Also to me 2001 had the same story but told in a more cryptic manner. Now if they've screwed with it to make it politically relevant today then I'll pass.

Posted by: waelse1 at November 29, 2015 11:58 AM (oAK6v)

253 Why would anyone hire at least an immigrant Muslim? All they seem to do is bitch, cause trouble, and refuse to do certain jobs.

My local gas station convenience store has had a succession of Moslems for years. Shop has changed ownership a couple of times, but that seems to be who gets hired. I get to know them.

One was Paki, one Egyptian. There's a guy from Guinea on in the mornings now. Various others.

They're generally good guys who want to do a job and have a life in America as far as I can tell.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 29, 2015 11:58 AM (1xUj/)

254 One successful novel that played with the "randomness" concept is Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five". The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is kidnapped by four-dimensional aliens from the planet Tralfamadore and has to live the events of his life in random order.

It's partly autobiographical in that Vonnegut was a U.S. POW and survived the bombing of Dresden by being kept in an underground slaughterhouse, while many citizens who took refuge in conventional bomb shelters were incinerated in the firestorm. That experience probably contributed to his keenly-developed sense of irony.

I've read that he was very pleased with the movie adaptation of his book.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 11:59 AM (sdi6R)

255 I still like Wilde and little Bosie denied to the day he died that they were schutpping.

-
Last week the book It Ended Badly was featured. It is about the worst break ups in history. Wilde's romance with Bosie is one of them.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at November 29, 2015 12:00 PM (Nwg0u)

256 ever notice the actor James Woods is not in much anymore since he starting speaking out. Sigh

Assholes in Holywood.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:01 PM (DUoqb)

257 Dr. Piper is a good dose of what's needed in today's crybaby world. And any snowflakes who throw a fit should be met with a grow the hell up

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 29, 2015 11:50 AM (45oDG)

Yup. Should. But will they? Unfortunately, the crybully contingent wields undue influence, and it may even extend to OkWU.

There was another case like this that ace mentioned on a weekday thread a week or three ago, where some academic publicly questioned why universities had to have 'safe spaces' and calling out the crybullies.

This was followed shortly by The Grovelling Apology and then chapter 3, the Abrupt Resignation.

It was Very Depressing.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 12:02 PM (WUhLR)

258 SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT TO SAY MY HEAD HURTS!!!

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 11:53 AM

Just nod in apparent agreement a lot.

If you are forced to speak, say "really."

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at November 29, 2015 12:05 PM (9JJgN)

259 >>>One we both have gotten and liked is a series of Victorian-era mysteries by Barbara Cleverley featuring a detective named Joe Sandilands. He gets by mostly by method and dogged persistence, but is quite bright and perceptive. I'm on book 10, Not My Blood but the first few books are actually set in India not long after the rebellion and its fascinating reading about the time and events.

I picked up a book at the library about a British detective in India...I think an opera singer died? I think that was one of these. I liked it ok but not enough to read the whole series I guess.

I did just download the book on Ted bundy mentioned above because it's only 3 dollars on kindle.

Posted by: Lea at November 29, 2015 12:06 PM (vmMMi)

260 I guess that I can put Oklahoma Wesleyan on a list of possible schools to send my son to, which is a good thing, because the number of schools I won't send him to keeps growing by the day!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at November 29, 2015 12:06 PM (No/ki)

261 253
Why would anyone hire at least an immigrant Muslim? All they seem to do is bitch, cause trouble, and refuse to do certain jobs.
---

If you don't hire a Muslim and you're a liberal, you're a "racist," at least in your own mind.

If you don't hire a Muslim and you're conservative, you can get sued for "racial discrimination" even though Muslim is not a race.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at November 29, 2015 12:07 PM (9JJgN)

262 re Clarke, there is something else going on, and I never understood it. There are authors who have been convicted and confessed to child molestation, but never got the concentrated hatred the Clarke did.
These accusations were going on in a (pay) forum that was going full vile-prog as some sort of moral positioning coda that came up from time to time, but if some prog darling came up doing the same thing, it would have been allowed to drop immediately after the first rush of poop jokes.

So, the accusations are the tool and pretext, not the actual reason. I still don't know why he merited the rush of hatred and attacks.
Was he also a conservative? Was he a free-market proponent that also had a major, paradigm-shifting movie? Late in life did he reject Socialism?

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 12:07 PM (q2o38)

263 Listened to A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick, which centers around a group of people indulging in rec drug use, a matter dear to his heart. He's a talented writer and I found it sporadically interesting but mostly was a waste of time.

Read Loyal Valley: Assassination, first in the Loyal Valley series by Elizabeth Wolfe. Set in Civil War-era Texas it starts as a historical Western but turns to a conspiracy-laden mystery with shadowy murderous forces looking to run Texas. Fun book, plan to continue the series soon.

Posted by: waelse1 at November 29, 2015 12:07 PM (oAK6v)

264 The Left is always the same. They are not all that good about making omlettes but they are world class at breaking eggs.

This bears repeating, its perhaps the best encaptualization of leftist thought in action I've ever seen.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 12:08 PM (39g3+)

265 The left seems hell bent on blaming the right, the videos ( they loves blaming videos), and guns for the actions of a derange non-affiliated idiot?

-
The narrative is settled. The truth does not matter. They've had a lot of success with that. Remember Matthew Shepard?

Posted by: The Great White Snark at November 29, 2015 12:10 PM (Nwg0u)

266 245 Drudge has a link to a story about Democrat rising star Tulsi Gabbard.

She's got some nice junk in the trunk so there's that.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 11:53 AM (4ErVI)

Why yes, yes she does.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:10 PM (sdi6R)

267 Wow. Tulsi Gabbard sounds like a Republican, at least on immigration/foreign policy.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 12:11 PM (WUhLR)

268 I hate blooper reels. They looks stupid and have the time they are doing it on purpose. But I found myself watching The Tudors bloopers on youtube and they were pretty good. You had these huge casts and huge sets and you got more of a feel what acting was like. Their dialogue was pretty difficult which didnt help. And tho there were a lot of flubs, I enjoyed the ones were something popped off (eyepatch) or prince Edward not being able to recite his lines properly bc he lost his two front teeth, or when princess Mary was suppose to great the Spanish ambassador in Spanish but started talking in Italian instead. My favorite was a scene where Henry is thrown off his horse into a pond and comes out of the water with mud in his mouth. They had the actor standing in the water while someone on the side fed him with a spoon from a large bowl of chocolate pudding. I guess that was to simulate mud.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:12 PM (iQIUe)

269 [...]The lead's dad, the King, is yet another of those
hearty, overlarge warriors who get played by Brian Blessed. He is such a
trope by now that George Martin cooked up Robert Baratheon expressly to
critique how such a man rules a real kingdom.

[...]
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 10:57 AM (6FqZa)

CHISWICK! FRESH HORSES!

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 12:13 PM (q2o38)

270 Why would anyone hire at least an immigrant Muslim? All they seem to do is bitch, cause trouble, and refuse to do certain jobs. The attitude of these guys is so often massive arrogance: how dare you not grovel to me, subcreature???

And yet I'm still waiting for your answer...

Posted by: Barack Hussein Obama at November 29, 2015 12:13 PM (yddCj)

271 267
Wow. Tulsi Gabbard sounds like a Republican, at least on immigration/foreign policy.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 12:11 PM (WUhLR)

She can surf and she looks good doing it.
Get her away from the Democrats, somebody!

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 12:13 PM (4ErVI)

272
Oh, and Sam Neill looked like he was going to punch Jeremy Northam bc he wouldnt stop pretending to puke.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:14 PM (iQIUe)

273 Incidental reading this week:

1. To go with my recent CMP purchase, I've been reading up on the history, maintenance and reloading details of the M1 Garand. (It won't handle modern high power ammo without modification and I want it in 'as issued' condition. Fortunately, there's tons of information for it.)

2. Mrs. JTB ordered a Great Courses 'How to Draw' DVD course. Learning to draw or sketch is something that interests both of us. I've been going through some basic how to draw books collected over the years while waiting for the DVDs to arrive. If I can eventually turn out a drawing that is recognizable it will be a moral, but probably not artistic, victory.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:14 PM (FvdPb)

274 This is probably in poor taste, but if ISIS were to
mount a major attack at the global warming conference, I would have a
hard time rooting against them.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 11:41 AM (sdi6R)

One can always dream, can't one? Don't know if even ISIS is stupid enough to want kill a bunch of their enablers.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2015 12:16 PM (7MWCL)

275 boulder terlit hobo wrote:

"However - I disagree with Lewis's moral standpoint. I don't think it right for the Malacandrans to accept their coming death. Therefore I don't think that Malacandran Oyarsa is a good guide for his people. The Bent Oyarsa of Thulcandra, whom some here know as Stan, is superior in that he at least struggles for human life."

Yes, that Stan is truly a problem.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at November 29, 2015 12:17 PM (YPgXi)

276 They're generally good guys who want to do a job and have a life in America as far as I can tell.

Yeah and that's true. For all the bad press and annoyances, most Muslims in America just are guys doing a job who work hard. I think most of those guys are Muslim the way a lot of Roman Catholics are Catholic: they go through the motions on special occasions.

But for every few of those guys, there's that lunatic that won't handle pork in the meat packing plant and demands special treatment.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 12:18 PM (39g3+)

277 Heh Tulsi Gabbard was home schooled...with a mother who was a former member of the State Board of Education.

Ignore what they say and watch what they do...

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 12:19 PM (4ErVI)

278 >>.. but if ISIS were to mount a major attack at the global warming conference, I would have a
hard time rooting against them.

Let's just say that if ISIS does manage to pull off an attack in the US (which I don't want), I am hoping it is a place of political or cultural consequence, and not some flyover or red state, so that our leaders and press can no longer pretend it's not a risk. They've managed to completely ignore the two ISIS guys who wanted to kill Pam Gellar, and have been so quiet about the US Merced stabber and Chatanooga shooter that I'm wondering if these guys were ISIS-affiliated.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 12:20 PM (NOIQH)

279 ***"Herbert died after he wrote Chapterhouse of Dune (which I haven't read), so the first six (?) books were all his work."***

Guess I remembered that wrong.

That makes the ending even worse then.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at November 29, 2015 12:20 PM (Wckf4)

280 I think James Woods is partially retired, he basically made enough money and only works on stuff he's particularly interested in rather than working for a living now. Which is why he started being open and honest about his politics.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 12:21 PM (39g3+)

281 WannabeAnglican comments here? Like Dr. Mabuse, he used to hang out at themcj.com and standfirminfath.com.

Never seen him here, though. Hello wannabe, if you're reading, I was Smurf Breath on Midwest Conservative Journal. Haven't been there in a while.

Posted by: Bruce Boehner at November 29, 2015 12:22 PM (B1TZ/)

282 Perhaps I've just read too much strange "European fiction." BTW, Hopscotch is underwhelming. Interesting in concept. Just like electing as half black communist with no experience as president is interesting in concept.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at November 29, 2015 11:21 AM (9JJgN)

Cortazar is one of those guys who is a great short story writer, but-

his longer fiction takes a pretty large drop in quality.

I, too, really wanted to like "Hopscotch" and thought Cortazar's short story skills would really benefit in that format but meh.

It's okay.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2015 12:23 PM (KUa85)

283 For all the bad press and annoyances, most Muslims in America just are guys doing a job who work hard. I think most of those guys are Muslim the way a lot of Roman Catholics are Catholic: they go through the motions on special occasions.

But for every few of those guys, there's that lunatic that won't handle pork in the meat packing plant and demands special treatment.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 12:18 PM (39g3+)

Well yes and no...Unfortunately many still send their kids to "Muslim" schools or muslim after school/Sunday schools and they do teach JIHAD and hatred of the West/Christians and Jews there. And THAT is a huge problem, which is why even if the parents are not radical, many of their kids become radicalized.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:24 PM (DUoqb)

284 Those book arches look dangerous, like if you removed one book the whole thing would collapse.

Posted by: Bruce Boehner at November 29, 2015 12:24 PM (B1TZ/)

285 This is probably in poor taste, but if ISIS were to
mount a major attack at the global warming conference, I would have a
hard time rooting against them.
Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 11:41 AM (sdi6R)

No, to that. Think of the security forces, most of whom by dint of struggle and will got to be the best and brightest, and most strack and wound up doing something that mostly requires an enormous bladder and wearing oversized coats.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 12:25 PM (q2o38)

286 276,

Until they rise up and protest CAIR and ISIS and all the other Muslims terrorists as they should have done long ago, I will regard all of them as sitting in the same boat.

Posted by: eman at November 29, 2015 12:25 PM (MQEz6)

287 Why yes, yes she does.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:10 PM (sdi6R)

Searched images, seems to me that if what appear to be wedding pictures are to be believed, the woman is a Hindu, and Hindus have good reason to not be charitably disposed towards muzzies. And she is cute.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 29, 2015 12:26 PM (7MWCL)

288 278
and have been so quiet about the US Merced stabber and Chatanooga shooter that I'm wondering if these guys were ISIS-affiliated.
Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 12:20 PM (NOIQH)

And the Oregon community college shooter. Half a dozen Federal agencies were on the scene almost immediately for a school shooting, but that one sure dropped off the media's radar screen in a hurry.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:26 PM (sdi6R)

289 There have been dozens of Muslim terror attacks on the US since Obama took office alone, yet people are largely unaware of it. Its insane.

Hell, the DC Sniper was a Muslim terrorist, shooting people at random for his faith, but you never hear about that particular aspect.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 12:28 PM (39g3+)

290 OregonMuse,

Actually, you kicked up a wordstone in the sentence-

But what do I know, maybe this actually is good littrachoor.

that comes close to describing my experience with "Hopscotch"-

"Literachore".

which I guess would be the reading of a tiresome but necessary book.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2015 12:31 PM (KUa85)

291 If Tulsi plays her cards right she could move up really fast due to the enormous losses Dems have been taking these last few years.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 12:31 PM (4ErVI)

292 >>>In the movie Idiocracy, which is set in America 500 years in the future where continuing demographic patterns have filled the population with really stupid people.

Waiting for a reform minded moderate Muzzie filmmaker to do Sadistocracy about the ME in 500 years. Or perhaps that should have been written 500 years ago.

>>>As an example of just how stupid things have become, the narrator mentions that the Oscar for Best Picture that year went to a film called 'Ass', which consisted of a movie-length shot of some guy's butt.

Warhol already did stuff like this: man sleeping 8 hours, etc.This culture was all ready beyond parody. John Cage, etc.

Posted by: Bruce Boehner at November 29, 2015 12:31 PM (B1TZ/)

293 After 33 years of loyal service, the IDFs Armored Corps has begun retiring the Merkava Mark II tank from service by its conscripted brigades.

The tank will now be used only by reserve forces for border patrols during times of conflict, while the newer Merkava Mark III (which entered service in 1990) and the new generation Merkava Mark IV (2004) will handle all battlefield missions.

Many Merkava II tanks will be converted into an armored personnel carrier that will serve soldiers on the battlefield, or be used to transport the wounded off the battlefield.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:32 PM (DUoqb)

294 273 Incidental reading this week:

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:14 PM (FvdPb)

1. Is there any modern .30-06 ammo that is designed to be used in the Garand? (I denounce myself in advance for turning this into a gun thread.)

2. On one of the art threads this week, someone mentioned Jon Gnagy, who did a TV show for many years and sold millions of his "Learn to Draw" kits in the 50s and 60s.

http://jongnagyart.com/Jon_Gnagy_Art/Kits.html

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:34 PM (sdi6R)

295 What nevergiveup said. The Islamic schools in Britain are particularly bad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_Mosque

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 12:35 PM (6FqZa)

296 What nevergiveup said. The Islamic schools in Britain are particularly bad.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercover_Mosque
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 12:35 PM (6FqZa)

The dirty little secret in the USA is that they are not much better here.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:36 PM (DUoqb)

297 I liked Dune, I kind of vaguely remember enjoying Dune Messiah and I made it through Children of Dune but I lost interest about a third of the way into God Emperor of Dune.

I agree, I had the same experience.

Same here.

If i'm remembering correctly, it was about the time Paul Atreides(sp?) became a giant Sand Worm that I thought-

"Welp, I'm out."

Posted by: naturalfake at November 29, 2015 12:36 PM (KUa85)

298 >>Lizzy

There were more potential attacks that were stopped too. I read a list the other day and many of them I had never heard of.

I can't wish for a more successful attack, but I am tired of the constant barrage of 'news' articles trying to convince me this isn't a threat.

Posted by: Lea at November 29, 2015 12:36 PM (vmMMi)

299 1. Is there any modern .30-06 ammo that is designed to be used in the Garand?

Whoops. I forgot to add "Asking for a friend".

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:37 PM (sdi6R)

300 289 ... Thanks for reminding folks about the DC Sniper and the Islamic terrorism aspect. One of his murders happened less than 2 miles from our house. It was an 'interesting' time around here.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:38 PM (FvdPb)

301 278 ...I am hoping it is a place of political or cultural consequence, and not
some flyover or red state, so that our leaders and press can no longer
pretend it's not a risk.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Like maybe a couple of Chechen Islamic refugees bombing the Boston Marathon?

We coined a particularly stern hashtag for that - #BostonStrong

Posted by: Your leaders and the press at November 29, 2015 12:39 PM (6Cu7i)

302 "The Islamic schools in Britain are particularly bad. "

No different than the ones operating here in the USA.
The mosque in Boston encouraged the marathon bombers, the list grows long pretty fast.

Posted by: navybrat at November 29, 2015 12:40 PM (Xodlv)

303 >>>For example, having a mentally ill man believe he is actually a woman and having the encouragement and celebration of that abnormal behavior rigorously enforced by social and cultural leaders would be beyond even his fertile imagination.

We need to be careful to distinguish between mentally ill men who believe they are women, and women like me who were born biologically male. I admit they can be difficult to spot.

Posted by: Caitlyn Jenner at November 29, 2015 12:40 PM (B1TZ/)

304 If Tulsi plays her cards right she could move up really fast

Huma! My loins quiver...

Posted by: Hillary, Now More Than Ever! at November 29, 2015 12:40 PM (yddCj)

305 almost off topic, I have been trying to learn bookbinding for the last 5 or so years, off and on. I am just getting to the level of almost looking saleable.

Typing paper, dental floss, paste and salvaged three ring binders can make art, if you do it right.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 12:40 PM (q2o38)

306 >>I can't wish for a more successful attack, but I am tired of the constant barrage of 'news' articles trying to convince me this isn't a threat.

Exactly. They'll be a brief story about a 15 year old caught plotting to kill the Pope during his US visit and then --poof!-- down the memory hole.

I was so disgusted yesterday with the wall-to-wall coverage of the PP nutter vs. the drive-by treatment of the UC Merced stabber. That dominated the news for one day, then inconvenient details started to emerge, then off to the next tv news 'squirrel' ASAP.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 12:41 PM (NOIQH)

307 I live in northern NJ and most of you know we have a largest Muslim population this side of Dearborn. They started coming here in the late '70's-- following the path of Arab Christians who had been streaming here since the late 1800's to work the silk looms in the textile mills of Paterson. So I can tell you that when there were only a few of them (Muslims) here, the women DID NOT wear head scarves--let alone burquas; they were easy to get along with; they sent their kids to Catholic schools and they pretty much kept their mouths shut about politics--unless challenged (my brother, the wiseguy, would always bust balls and say things like "Fuck Mohamed!!" to their faces; good times).
My point is, there is nothing wrong with a FEW. As I can tell you from personal experience, all that changed when they started getting a foothold. Now the women mostly are covered; they have their own schools teaching God-knows-what; and they are cocky and arrogant to a man. Oh, and unlike in France, they are not kept in a ghetto; most of them do well, and they are forever speeding up and down residential streets in their BMW's, Audis and Mercedes.
There is no point in letting 200,000 more -- or whatever Obama has in mind---in here.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 29, 2015 12:41 PM (DlWqy)

308 For what it is worth, the NFL is dissing the NY area by putting both the Jets and Giants on TV at 1:00 PM.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:43 PM (DUoqb)

309 300 289 ... Thanks for reminding folks about the DC Sniper and the Islamic terrorism aspect. One of his murders happened less than 2 miles from our house. It was an 'interesting' time around here.
Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:38 PM (FvdPb)

I remember saying at the time that a dozen such sniper teams would shut the whole country down, at a cost of almost nothing for the terrorists.

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:46 PM (sdi6R)

310

Shark! NSFW calm sees; big fkg shark.

https://goo.gl/aj7eC

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:46 PM (iQIUe)

311 And in one of his books where he spells out some of his future history, Robert Heinlein mentions a big prize winner during The Crazy Years is a book consisting of nothing but punctuation marks. And we, the audience, are supposed to think, that's just so stupid, how could anyone think that was good?

To be honest, we passed that sort of stupidity long, long ago. it was the artists and the gullible fools who buy their stuff who did it. Once you have a urinal presented as a piece of "art" ... you've pretty much hit rock bottom. Even the plethora of blank canvases afterwards were a step up from the pisser. I remember going through the Philadelphia Museum of Art and seeing a huge canvas with nothing but a little red ball painted on it. Idioartracy, writ large.

Well, perhaps we're not quite at that point, not yet. But I'd say that we can see it from here:

Imagine if you told someone you were going to write an entire book -- 150,000 words -- that would be one single sentence.

I would say that one great advantage to this ridiculous "book" is that it is unreadable. No one even has to pretend to try since that "sentence" can't be finished in one go over ... so everyone is exempted from even trying. But this book would come in handy on cold days. It still burns pretty well, I'm sure - unless the author used some sort of poison ink to sabotage any possibility of his work having an actual function.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at November 29, 2015 12:46 PM (zc3Db)

312 seas seas seas calm seas!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:46 PM (iQIUe)

313 "249
"The attitude of these guys is so often massive arrogance: how dare you not grovel to me, subcreature???"

Their religion teaches them that they are above all others, in every
way. All other creeds are to be frowned upon, taxed unfairly, enslaved,
converted, and, failing that, killed.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong with importing multitudes of these assholes...

Posted by: navybrat at November 29, 2015 11:56 AM (ETxiG)"

One of the things to keep in mind is that the Mafia originated in Sicily which had been conquered and converted by Muslims after the island was invaded and conquered by Christianized Normans. A whole lot of the concepts such as forcing small businesses to pay taxes to Mafiosi and the idea that, in a quote from "Goodfellas", a made man could fuck with anybody but nobody could fuck with a made man seem to be transferred directly from the practices of Islam and jihadis. I am not saying that the Mafia are Muslims but that they have carried over the practices and attitudes of Muslims towards those outside their group.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 12:47 PM (QHgTq)

314 If we don't energy-cripple the Western economies, the terrorists have won...

Posted by: An Indonesian In Paris at November 29, 2015 12:48 PM (yddCj)

315 Mmm. Pudding.

Posted by: andycanuck at November 29, 2015 12:48 PM (xodPA)

316 294 ... rickl, Most of the ammo makers, American Eagle comes to mind, make 30-06 ammo designed for Garand pressure requirements. The boxes always say 'for M1 Garand' or words to that effect.

I got a load of the CMP Greek surplus ammo with the rifle. Decently accurate and the brass is boxer primed so it can be reloaded. I reload both for economy and as part of the shooting hobby so I keep a sizable collection of reloading manuals handy.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:49 PM (FvdPb)

317 CLAM SEATS?

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 12:49 PM (q2o38)

318 I think James Woods is partially retired, he
basically made enough money and only works on stuff he's particularly
interested in rather than working for a living now. Which is why he
started being open and honest about his politics.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor

James Woods had a terrifying revelation in 2001. He was on a flight prior to 9/11 that was a dry run for some of our visitors from Over There. After 9/11, Woods contacted the FBI to communicate his experience, as he realized what he had witnessed. It changed his mind about a lot of things, as he realized he was lucky now to be alive.

Woods was always exceptionally smart (I think he attended MIT) for the acting profession, but was always pretty liberal. But he did think for himself. I think he finally came to a conclusion about life, based on a lot of things, that changed a lot of his accepted beliefs before. And for the Left, that's an a apostasy.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative...a rube in America at November 29, 2015 12:53 PM (+1T7c)

319 >>Imagine if you told someone you were going to write an entire book -- 150,000 words -- that would be one single sentence.

I'd read it *only* if they diagrammed the sentence first.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 12:54 PM (NOIQH)

320 310

Shark! NSFW calm sees; big fkg shark.

https://goo.gl/aj7eC
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:46 PM (iQIUe)

"I like how he's been circling us for ten minutes. He must know something we don't."

ROTFLMAO!

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:54 PM (sdi6R)

321 I always look at the picture on the book thread as I love libraries. But the arch has me wanting to see this in person. Are they fastened, if so how, I think it could be done without anything but how stable in a public place. What books are in there. Shame I've been to LA once and doubt I'll ever get there again.

Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 12:56 PM (XRpjE)

322 313-- I see your point, you're off a little with your history though. Sicily went from Temples to Jupiter to the Greek Orthodox faith. Then the Saracens created the Emirate of Sicily, a Muslim country. But they lasted less than two centuries before the Normans invaded, reconquered the island, converted everyone to Roman Catholicism--and kicked out or killed the rest. They did such a good job that there were virtually no Muslims on the island a century later. And while it's true that the Muslims left behind evidence of their presence--mostly architecture and place-names--Mafia "culture" probably predates them, and owes more to the Roman Empire's ways of doing business.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 29, 2015 12:57 PM (CE/mU)

323 I haven't had time to read the comments yet, so someone may have already mentioned it, but my favorite gimmick novel is A Void, by Georges Perec. The entire book is written without the letter 'e' and is a mystery about the disappearance of Mr. Vowl. It took a number of years before it was translated into English, without any e's. At one point in the book the main characters come across some clues which are famous poems rewritten without any e's. My favorite is "That Black Bird" with the well-known line, "Saith that black bird, 'not again'".

Another gimmick novel is Ella Minnow Pea, which is written as a serious of letters. One of the correspondents lives in a town where the letters of the alphabet are falling off, one by one, the statue in the town square. As the letters fall off, each chapter is written without that letter so that by the end of the novel only a few letters are left.

In general I don't like gimmick novels. While I can appreciate and admire the effort and creativity that goes into writing such a novel, I don't think the gimmick improves the story and characters, which is what I read a novel for.

Posted by: biancaneve at November 29, 2015 12:58 PM (37TvV)

324 305 ... Kindltot, Have you seen the book "Hand Bookbinding" by Aldren A. Watson? I remember it from the library and it was interesting. Taught book repair and binding using commercial and home made tools. He also wrote one of the best books I've seen on the use of hand tools for wood working.

Posted by: JTB at November 29, 2015 12:58 PM (FvdPb)

325 "293
After 33 years of loyal service, the IDFs Armored Corps has begun
retiring the Merkava Mark II tank from service by its conscripted
brigades.

The tank will now be used only by reserve forces for border patrols
during times of conflict, while the newer Merkava Mark III (which
entered service in 1990) and the new generation Merkava Mark IV (2004)
will handle all battlefield missions.

Many Merkava II tanks will be converted into an armored personnel
carrier that will serve soldiers on the battlefield, or be used to
transport the wounded off the battlefield.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 29, 2015 12:32 PM (DUoqb)"

I remember reading about how the original Merkava was designed by people who had fought in tanks and they put crew survival much higher up on the priority list than previous tank designers had. That is why they put the engine in the front to absorb bullets if things get that bad. That decision allowed them to have a ramp at the rear that made it a lot easier to load ammunition and supplies and even to pick up or ferry a few infantry inside the tank if necessary.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at November 29, 2015 12:59 PM (QHgTq)

326 321 I always look at the picture on the book thread as I love libraries. But the arch has me wanting to see this in person. Are they fastened, if so how, I think it could be done without anything but how stable in a public place. What books are in there. Shame I've been to LA once and doubt I'll ever get there again.
Posted by: Skip at November 29, 2015 12:56 PM (XRpjE)

================
LA is the land of shake, rattle, and roll. Of course they are attached.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at November 29, 2015 12:59 PM (iQIUe)

327 And we, the audience, are supposed to think, that's just so stupid, how could anyone think that was good?
---------------------

And yet, John Cage's 4' 33", which has had paying audiences. I expect that in Manhattan a performance would be SRO.

Given Jackson Pollock's success, I figure Cage realized that he had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. He was right.

We are well into The Post-Rational Age.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 01:03 PM (9mTYi)

328 There are always the novels of Ronald Sukenick.

Or maybe not. They're horrible.

Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at November 29, 2015 01:09 PM (4ErVI)

329
"I like how he's been circling us for ten minutes. He must know something we don't."

ROTFLMAO!
Posted by: rickl
---------------------------

When I was in my early teens, a friend and I spent an entire summer shark fishing, in a 14' open boat. We were *always* armed.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 01:11 PM (9mTYi)

330 Binding books by hand is quite an art.
For one thing, the pages are 2 up, double sided, and printed in groups of 8, these are called quires.
In these quires, page one is connected to page 16, page 3 is connected to page 14, and so on, until you reach the center pages, which run consecutively.
These are laid on top of one another, in order, then stitched thru the middle with thread.
The bound quires are then further stitched together to make the book. The binding covers the stitched quires.

Posted by: navybrat at November 29, 2015 01:13 PM (ETxiG)

331 I'll look at Watson's books, JTB. I have been looking at youtube videos which take me so far, and then I decide I want to do something different.

Which makes things that look like hell, but I do learn things.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 01:13 PM (q2o38)

332 The scrambled chapters and plot sequence serve author Aldous Huxley's purpose in __Eyeless in Gaza__, to bring the central character and the reader to the climactic moment of decision at the end.
Run-on sentences add to the humor in David Feinberg's __Spontaneous Combustion__. Very funny and courageous fictional memoir of the AIDS epidemic among gay men in New York in the early days of the epidemic. Queer but no sissy, HIV + while he wrote it, the author died of AIDS at 37.
What have I read recently? I just finished Brian Fagan's __The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History__. In (approximately) chronological sequence the author discusses dogs, goats and sheep, pigs, donkeys, cattle, horses, cats, and chickens. Fagan omits elephants, reindeer, and llamas. Fagan wildly overstates the range of the bow. He claims 6000 meters (nearly four miles). No typo, since the unit conversion errs by the same factor of ten. The record is more like 500 meters. I had to look that up.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at November 29, 2015 01:14 PM (IbUUZ)

333 Book thread?

Wait, that means it's Sunday?

Oh shit, that means I have to go to work tomorrow...

Posted by: chemjeff at November 29, 2015 01:14 PM (uZNvH)

334 Fagan omits elephants, reindeer, and llamas.

Llamaphobe!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Animal Justice Warrior at November 29, 2015 01:15 PM (uZNvH)

335 267 Wow. Tulsi Gabbard sounds like a Republican, at least on immigration/foreign policy.
Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 12:11 PM (WUhLR)

You misspelled "conservative".

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 01:16 PM (sdi6R)

336 Cameloidphobe.

I notice that he neglected camels too.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 29, 2015 01:17 PM (q2o38)

337 Is there any modern .30-06 ammo that is designed to be used in the Garand? (I denounce myself in advance for turning this into a gun thread.)

PPU makes an affordable M2 Ball cartridge. I have it to be clean enough and just very slightly less consistent than the LC68 I have a ton of.

Posted by: Grump928(C) has drink taken at November 29, 2015 01:19 PM (rwI+c)

338 "If you have a new novel to read, start reading it chapter by chapter backwards, from the last chapter down to the first."

I read Stephen King's "Carrie" that way. only 1 did 1 or 2 pages instead of entire chapters. Enthralling!

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at November 29, 2015 01:26 PM (h53OH)

339 I continue to read through the ~800 pages of 'A Winter's Tale', and continue to be amazed by Helprin's mind, and his sheer craftsmanship with words.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 01:30 PM (9mTYi)

340 292
Warhol already did stuff like this: man sleeping 8 hours, etc.
Posted by: Bruce Boehner at November 29, 2015 12:31 PM (B1TZ/)

294
On one of the art threads this week, someone mentioned Jon Gnagy, who did a TV show for many years and sold millions of his "Learn to Draw" kits in the 50s and 60s.
Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 12:34 PM (sdi6R)

Oops. I seem to have crossed the streams:

http://jongnagyart.com/Jon_Gnagy_Art/New_Book.html

Posted by: rickl at November 29, 2015 01:31 PM (sdi6R)

341 339, have you read Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War? Awesome.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 29, 2015 01:36 PM (CE/mU)

342 Imagine if you told someone you were going to write an entire book -- 150,000 words -- that would be one single sentence.

Perhaps that was Stewart Ashen's inspiration for his novel, "50,000 Shades of Grey," which also clocks in at 150,000 words.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at November 29, 2015 01:38 PM (EHU9F)

343 For what its worth, all three of my novels are on sale right now: 2.49 ebook and 13.49 in print. You can get the print version from on Lulu for 30% off with coupon code SATSAVERS as well.

Life Unworthy is the WW2 horror/urban fantasy tale of a werewolf caught in the showers at Auschwitz, who escapes to carve a bloody trail through Poland as he's hunted by Nazis.

Snowberry's Veil is a fantasy novel about a King's Ranger who is separated from the caravan he was leading to new lands and struggles against the harsh environment and monsters to rejoin his lady love.

Old Habits is about a street thief who lost the gems he stole and is hunted by assassins as he tracks them down, becoming entangled in a strange plot in a castle far from home.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 01:39 PM (39g3+)

344 It's getting like "Rollerball" when Jonathan goes to the library and they have all the records, books, etc. on one massive computer named Zero and Zero lost all of the 13th century and only gives the answers it wants to give.
Posted by: Hairyback
---------------

Yesterday, I stopped by a MacDonalds to purchase a large iced tea. The woman rung up the sale, I automatically gave her $1.10, because I know the prices is $1.00 plus .07 in sales tax.

She said, "That's $1.85..". I looked at the receipt, and sure enough, it said $1.85. "But", sez I, pointing at the posted prices, "The menu says $1.00".

The woman tells me that she just has to collect whatever the register tells her to collect.

There follows the delay of fetching the 'manager', and a very odd exchange wherein I get back pennies and change, and yet hand over pennies and change.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 01:47 PM (9mTYi)

345 >>Don't tell Mrs. Muse, but I'm giving her The New Complete Hoyle....

It occurs to me that a Moron, in possession of this book in the camps to come, would be a sort of Referee God. Oh Oracle Of The Rules, give us your ruling.

(I'm imagining a camp with no internet, no or few books, no computers or TV, etc.)

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 29, 2015 01:50 PM (gyKtp)

346 >>The woman tells me that she just has to collect whatever the register tells her to collect.

*sigh*
I recall in high school working as a cashier in a hardware store, and not only did we have to type in the price manually (number keys!) but we had to count back the change as we handed it to the customer. I kinda loved to sound the cashier made when you keyed the price and then hammered the 'enter' key (like the return on a typewriter).

Electronic scanning and fancy "fries" and "nuggets" buttons on cashiers sure make it easy to stay dumb, huh?

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 01:54 PM (NOIQH)

347 Evil microaggressions not allowed at UCLA any longer:
"There is only one race: the human race"
"America is a melting pot"
"America is the land of opportunity"

http://tinyurl.com/pwfqlpl

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at November 29, 2015 01:54 PM (39g3+)

348 336 Cameloidphobe. "I notice that he neglected camels too."

My mistake. --I-- forgot to include camels, not Fagan.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at November 29, 2015 02:03 PM (IbUUZ)

349
Speaking of "Idiocracy", I'm almost done with Mick Fleetwood's auto-ghosted-biography.
What a mush head!
I'm reminded that scientists have estimated that of the 33 forms of human achievement, 32 correlate high performance with high intelligence.

The sole exception is drumming.

Mick Fleetwood was the drummer of Fleetwood Mac.

Posted by: Whitehall at November 29, 2015 02:10 PM (Sm9Dv)

350 235, I looked that up at amazon and found this under "Editorial Review:" "All too often, this brilliant novel of thwarted love and revenge miscarried has been read for its political implications. Now, a quarter century after The Joke was first published and several years after the collapse of the Soviet-imposed Czechoslovak regime, it becomes easier to put such implications into perspective in favor of valuing the book (and all Kundera 's work) as what it truly is: great, stirring literature that sheds new light on the eternal themes of human existence."

It's truly pathetic how desperate lefties are to pretend that communism was never a problem, almost certainly never existed at all, was entirely made up by those eeeevil right-wingers, and had nothing to do with art under a system of total oppression.

Posted by: Tonestaple at November 29, 2015 02:11 PM (dCTrv)

351 Whoever posted the Marine Corps reading list up above, Thanks ! Very interesting.

Thanks to you, Oregon Muse, for doing this thread every week !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at November 29, 2015 02:12 PM (+jyzN)

352 >>...it becomes easier to put such implications into perspective...

Aaaaand thanks for reinforcing the theme of Kundera's "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting," Amazon idiot.

Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 02:14 PM (NOIQH)

353 277 "Heh Tulsi Gabbard was home schooled...with a mother who was a former member of the State Board of Education.

Ignore what they say and watch what they do..."

Tulsi runs as a Democrat because you have to run as a Democrat to get elected in the People's Republic of Hawaii (--one-- Republican serves in the Hawaii Senate). Her parents had some connection to a Hari Krishna offshoot group with an interest in political reform (corruption permeates the Hawaii political establishment), the Citizens for Godly Government. Her mother Carol tried to make changes in the Hawaii DOE but the NEA/AFSCME cartel dominates, so homeschooling offers the only way out. Decent people.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at November 29, 2015 02:20 PM (IbUUZ)

354 341
339, have you read Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War? Awesome.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 29, 2015 01:36 PM (CE/mU)

It really is.

Posted by: redclay at November 29, 2015 02:24 PM (n5+7R)

355 FenelonSpoke: I guess that I can put Oklahoma Wesleyan on a list of possible schools to send my son to...

FS, If you're still monitoring - Milady Webworker was just saying she saw a woman from OkWU jogging in the park one day and thought, if we had a kid in college, it would be a great comfort to know the kid wouldn't be coming home full of Communism and craziness, and safe physically as well. Bartlesville, pop. ~35,000, is hardly free from the criminals and crazies of any town, but proportionally it's a very safe place. And folks are mostly very nice. Even at Wal-Mart and the DMV!

Oregon Muse: I appreciate your pessimism, but, really, it's a solid Christian establishment with fine students, and I expect Dr Piper's position is solid. Any SJW's would be laughed off campus.

Posted by: mindful webworker - an ejimicatid man at November 29, 2015 02:26 PM (PCof0)

356 I found this this morning: a link to the USMC professional reading list for all ranks:
http://tinyurl.com/hls5kes
--------------------

Damn your eyes.

Crap! My "To Read" list just expanded into years worth of books.

I am appalled by how few of those I have read. Pleased to see 'Rifleman Dodd' on the list.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 02:30 PM (9mTYi)

357 OM, thanks for the thread - it is a must read for me every Sunday.

I just finished The Last Resort - cannot remember who recommended it, but thank you. A very enjoyable book and surprisingly funny.

I just started reading The Gift of Rain (another Sunday Book Thread rec) and am enjoying it. Thanks for the recommendation.

While I am at it - thanks to whoever suggested the Hazel Holt mysteries and the Longmire books. I've pretty much worked my way through both series (still have the last Holt book and the last two Craig Johnson books to go).

Posted by: Suz at November 29, 2015 02:36 PM (v782u)

358 Since it appears that nobody else has mentioned another joke or experimental book, I nominate "Ulysses" by James Joyce.

Posted by: mustbequantum at November 29, 2015 02:43 PM (MIKMs)

359 Why is it false assertions can be so brief, but refutations involve so many words? Or is it just me?
--------------

It certainly isn't 'just you'.

William McAdoo observed, "It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument".

That is generally the circumstance that one confronts with Liberals/Left/Progressives. Moreover, their ignorance is has been armor-plated with indoctrination.

When someone's mind is co-opted by Liberal/Left philosophy, there is been installed a set of shaping filters which distorts everything that they perceive.

It is no longer possible to have a rational discussion based on cited evidence, logic, or even self-evident truth.

We try, of course, and that is what leads to your question. We believe that a rational presentation of reality should suffice, and when it fails, we assume that we simply have been lacking in our effort, and try again.

There is the terrible fact that "Liberals are all at least just slightly insane" is not hyperbole, but a fact.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 02:48 PM (9mTYi)

360 Okay - finally finished reading the comments!

I recently finished "A Death in Vienna" by Frank Tallis. It's set in Vienna in 1902 and the amateur detective is a psychiatrist who is a follower of Freud's new psychoanalysis. His best friend is a police detective and Liebermann, the psychiatrist, consults on a locked room murder. I liked the book - lots of period detail - and the novelty of psychoanalysis was interesting. This is the first of a series. I think Tallis, who is a practicing psychologist in London, is up to six books in the series.

Lately I'll start a new mystery series, read three or four books, then get bored with it. We'll see how this series holds up, but I really enjoyed the start.

Posted by: biancaneve at November 29, 2015 02:50 PM (37TvV)

361
I actually thought that "Childhood's End" was one of the most depressing
Sci-Fi novels I ever read.
Posted by: Bossy Conservative.

Especially if you're a kid.

Yeah. It was the first Sci-Fi book I ever read. I was 10.
Posted by: jow

Checking it out from the library because you liked A Fall of Moondust and the Deep Range, then -- surprise.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 03:18 PM (kdS6q)

362 They used a map for a graphic that labeled Israel as "palestine"
Posted by: Christopher
----------------

Not entirely unrelated, National Geographic shrinking the Arctic ice cap on their map.

"Shrinking ice caps forced National Geographic to make the biggest change in its atlas since the Soviet Union broke apart,..." - Obama.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 03:23 PM (9mTYi)

363 #355 - thank you for the reassurances re: OK Wesleyan. It's good to know the cult of the crybullies isn't ascendant everywhere.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 03:23 PM (js4/U)

364 #102

At the time Clarke went to live in Sri Lanka there were still UK laws in force that could lead to prosecution for homosexuality. Keep in mind it was only two years after Alan Turing had been driven to suicide in 1954 following his prosecution for homosexual acts in 1952 and consequent chemical castration.

There is also some suggestion that Clarke wasn't just gay but also preferred them very young. Such predilections was also supposedly what compelled John Maynard Keynes to travel to certain regions.

Posted by: Epobirs at November 29, 2015 03:29 PM (IdCqF)

365 I write real good myself.

Hey, OM, thanks for the mention.

I've given my FB followers a much deserved recommendation of your weekly thread:
https://www.facebook.com/PilotPointNovel/

I know I am usually quiet, but I do look forward to reading it every week.

---Mark

Posted by: wannabeanglican at November 29, 2015 03:43 PM (hjp5Z)

366 And hi, Bruce Boehner! (281)

Yeah, I still go to MCJ and StandFirm. Just not as often and not as noisily.

Posted by: WannabeAnglican at November 29, 2015 03:49 PM (hjp5Z)

367
And a backgrounder on Arthur C Clarke's homosexuality and accusations of pedophilia*:

http://tinyurl.com/lh4nvvn

*Guilty. This article is an argument from the defense.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 03:58 PM (kdS6q)

368 I'm on book 10, Not My Blood but the first few books are actually set in India not long after the rebellion and its fascinating reading about the time and events.
-----------------

I recommend both John Masters novels 'Nightrunners of Bengal', and 'Bhowani Junction'

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at November 29, 2015 05:23 PM (9mTYi)

369 Re this business about Sir Arthur C. Clarke being teh Ghey; yes. That started to become clear in some of his later works; he'd drop little hints here and there in some of his stories which indicated that. But unlike a lot of the gays nowadays, he didn't feel the need to rub everyone's nose in it, even up to the time of his death.

As for this business of his being a pedophile, nonsense. One has to keep in mind that there are parts of the UK media that make outfits like CNN and MSDNC look like paragons of reportorial rectitude. There is a huge difference between being a rather closeted homosexual, which Clarke was, and a damned pedophile, and there is no evidence that he was. All that came out because he was about to receive a knighthood, and the usual media assholes decided to muddy his waters just because they could.

I would also maintain his reasons for moving to Sri Lanka was more about his love of SCUBA diving than anything. Clarke had been seriously into that since the 1950s, and Sri Lanka is known for being a great place to indulge in that activity. Indeed, he owned a storefront business in Colombo as recently as the 1980s, where he sold and rented SCUBA gear. (Used to work with a guy who visited Colombo while in the Navy, stumbled across the place while sightseeing, and met Clarke there.) Sometimes a SCUBA tank is just a SCUBA tank...

Whatever idiosyncrasies Sir Arthur may have had, he was and remains one of the Triumvirate of science fiction, along with Asimov and Heinlein; the best of the best, and always will be.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at November 29, 2015 05:50 PM (AYY6Y)

370 Oort: for non-pedo homosexuals, we tend to read about adult "partners", or longtime companions / livein friends (for instance: Cherryh - lesbian - who notes her partner on her website). If they don't think their home country is tolerant enough, and they speak English, they move to America.

Clarke didn't quite fit in that category, did he?

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 29, 2015 06:00 PM (6FqZa)

371 Love the book thread. Seldom around when it posts.

Posted by: KT at November 29, 2015 06:24 PM (qahv/)

372
As for this business of his being a pedophile, nonsense.
Posted by: The Oort Cloud

"He liked young men, say 20, 25, but the idea of him with children...no, no," said one friend, who did not want to be named.

Now, mind you this is a guy in his 80s who fits the chicken hawk m.o., getting grabby with young men in their early 20's -- best case and said as a defense.

Guilty.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 06:48 PM (kdS6q)

373 Now, mind you this is a guy in his 80s who fits the chicken hawk m.o., getting grabby with young men in their early 20's -- best case and said as a defense.

Guilty.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at November 29, 2015 06:48 PM (kdS6q)

In your opinion. The man has been dead for some years now. If he was the "grabby chickenhawk" you think he was, most likely the stories would have leaked out by now. They haven't. Furthermore, as you say, the guy was in his 80s, and in poor health to boot. From what I heard, Clarke could barely grab his own dick, let alone anyone else's. And this makes him a pedophile? Riiiight. Like I said, you have your opinion, I have mine.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at November 29, 2015 07:20 PM (AYY6Y)

374 The answer to 161's boxing-sodomy riddle:
Oscar Wilde prosecuted the Marquess of Queensberry for libel when he left a card at Oscar's club that read "posing as a Somdomite [sic]". The Marquess was the main promoter of what are still called Queensberry rules and always went around with a bodyguard of prizefighters. His very effeminate son, Lord Alfred Douglas, was Wilde's lover. Q. defended himself from the libel charge by showing evidence that Wilde was in fact a "Somdomite", which meant a second trial, of Wilde for sodomy, with a hung jury, and then a third, at which Wilde was convicted.

Oddly enough, that's very much like Alger Hiss went to jail. He sued Whittaker Chambers for saying he was a Soviet spy, when he could have just ignored him. (I believe the statute of limitations on espionage charges had passed.) Chambers got himself acquitted by showing evidence that Hiss was in fact a traitor, and he was then prosecuted for perjury twice - once with a hung jury, again with a conviction and jail term.

This is all from memory, but I believe I'm correct. What's my prize?

Posted by: Dr Weevil at November 29, 2015 07:21 PM (nX1i+)

375 Posted by: Lizzy at November 29, 2015 11:14 AM (NOIQH)

Lucky boy, your son. Love the DK books!

Oregon Muse, usually come to the thread late, but if you see this Thanks ever so much for this Book Thread. It is a must read for me and I really look forward to it.

Posted by: gracepc at November 29, 2015 08:01 PM (OU4q6)

376 I re-read Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" today. What a great book. Yes, it's a fascinating introduction into the world of the mafia, but it's mostly a book about people, why they do they things they do, and how powerful the understanding of people can be.

Posted by: Gem at November 29, 2015 09:43 PM (c+gwp)

377 'One word I would like to stop seeing so often is "curate".'

What about "rector" and "vicar"? "Archdeacon"? "Rural dean"? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Oh, and the Highland regiment story? I think you'll find that was David Niven, who asked to be assigned to any Scots regiment except the HLI, because he hated trews and preferred kilts. Guess where they put him....

Posted by: Markham Shaw Pyle at November 29, 2015 10:30 PM (WlkUc)

378 #375 Thank you for your kind words, gracepc.

Posted by: OregonMuse at November 29, 2015 10:36 PM (qn7af)

379 Hi. I lurk a lot and comment rarely, so here's my proof that i exist for the goodreads group.

Posted by: Ticklebee at November 29, 2015 10:54 PM (+DC8d)

380 Mostly a lurker, but commenting for access to the goodreads group.

Posted by: sulla at November 30, 2015 03:22 AM (k3k65)

381 When I had jury duty in downtown Los Angeles, one of my fellow jurors took me to The Last Bookstore. That's how I found out about it. Love the place.

Posted by: microcosme at November 30, 2015 06:07 PM (8QCtS)

382 also mostly a lurker, but I need me some sweet sweet goodreads - the troll crap amazon kindle store keeps suggesting is making me lose faith in humanity!

Posted by: sixoh1 at November 30, 2015 07:05 PM (8yNan)

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