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Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-27-2016: Life Out Of Death [OregonMuse]


cat reading book.jpg
Everybody Likes To Read

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's uuuge, 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. And when I type up the book thread, my pinkies remain elevated the whole time, that's how classy it is.

“‎Since I could only take six books per visit from the library, I had to time it right, or I'd be stuck on Sundays rereading the five Reader's Digest Condensed Books sitting on our red laquered living room shelf.”
― Randy Susan Meyers


A Possible Solution For Pixy-Banning?

For a variety of reasons relating to internet privacy considerations, I decided to fork over the dough for a VPN connection. And for those of you who know even less than I do about internet topography, the internet knows you by your IP address, which is assigned to you by whatever ISP you signed up with. If you point your browser at sites such as whatismyipaddress.com, you may be surprised to see a little map where your home is located and info about what ISP you're with. It's kind of unsettling the first time you see it. So, what a VPN (virtual private network) does is add a layer of security by giving you a completely different IP address than the one your ISP gave to you. So I signed up with https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ and so far, it's working pretty well. It occured to me that this might be a possible solution for those of you who have been pixy-banned. With my VPN, I get a whole new IP address, and not only that, I get to choose what part of the country my IP will be traced to. Right now, if you do an nslookup on my IP address, it thinks I'm using some ISP I've never heard of in New Jersey, which is 3000 miles away from where I actually am.

The downside to this is that if I go to an online retail store and the site attempts to tell me about brick-and-mortar locations near where I live, it won't even be close.

Here's a comparison of the various VPNs that are out there. Competition has driven the price down.

And I know this solution works, because I had to use it myself. I had to restart my computer and the VPN gave me a new IP. I discovered that, oh crap, none of my comments were showing up on the morning thread. I was getting no error messages, no warning, the comments just didn't appear. Pixybanned! So I disconnected the VPN, reconnected, got yet another IP, and now my comments post just fine.

My VPN costs $40 per year. But it has a 30-day trial version for $7. I suggest you do the trial version first, see if it fixes your pixy-banning, and if it doesn't, you can easily cancel and all you're out is $7. But if it does, if you find that you're now able to post comments on AoSHQ that stay put, then you've got a decision to make, whether that's going to be worth $40 per year.


A Rehash Of Grim History

This item was already written and finished before Friday when Obama started yammering about how there's little difference between communism and capitalism.

My church's denomination has sister churches in the former Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe and the Ukraine. I've met pastors from these churches at our annual denominational meeting, and inevitably, the conversation turns to American politics. And to a man, these pastors are all, like, "Why is the most successful country on earth trying to commit suicide by implementing a failed economic system? Listen to us: we've already TRIED socialism. IT DOESN'T WORK!! When are you stupid Americans going to wake up?!"

Also: "You know all that 'it takes a village' rhetoric that Hillary likes to spew? You Americans should know that we used to hear that crap in the Ukraine all the time back in the commie days, and take it from us, it's all bullsh*t."

Now, those who are telling me this are ministers of the Gospel, and they are uniformly kind and gracious men. So I've obviously spiced up the language here a bit. But I wanted to capture their sense of bafflement and incredulity that the most successful country in history is so determined go down a path that they've already learned from bitter experience leads nowhere but to economic ruin.

I was reminded of this when Amazon suggested this book to me, Memories of Poland, Lessons From Growing Up Under Communism by Paylie Roberts, an immigrant from Poland:

The author was born into communism (in Poland) and experienced that life until about the age of six when her family immigrated to the United States. With this background she has a unique perspective on the realities of living in a socialist/communistic society. She discusses the parallels of that life with what is occurring in the United States today. There are numerous examples that describe how and why we are losing our freedoms and hard-fought liberties. The author discusses the consequences and harsh realities of what this will lead to based on history and human nature. At a time when so many believe that socialist solutions are the ideal, this book is a welcome reality check to those notions.

Unlike many who write on this topic, the author offers solutions on how each of us can help to course correct, and also prepare to survive and overcome what she believes is an inevitable economic collapse and dawn of of an oppressive government.

The author is probably more optimistic than I. She may think we've taken a wrong path, one on which we can back up until we can take the right one. Me, I think a better way our current situation is that we're on a burning airplane in a nosedive: 3 engines have failed, the 4th is sputtering, and the attempts to effect fire control and emergency engine repairs are being actively resisted by a good percentage of the passengers as well as some of the flight crew.

By the way, these men I referred to, these ministers of the Gospel, when I hear them tell their stories, I am just astounded by their courage, cheerfulness, and faith under the most adverse circumstances, dealing with daily deprivations, governmental corruption, and hostile scrutiny that I can barely imagine, and I am reminded how much of America's prosperity and security I take for granted. I am not worthy to be in the same room with these guys.

But I am also reminded that out of death comes life. And on that note, happy Easter to all. He. Is. Risen.

The Joys of Abstinence

According to the Church's liturgical calendar, we've just concluded the season of Lent, during which it's a tradition to give something up and avoid it entirely for the duration of its 40 days duration. So author Susan Hill decided to give up buying books for her personal library, not only for Lent, but for an entire year:

Hill, best known for the novel, “The Woman in Black,” tells the story of her year without new books in “Howards End is on the Landing,” a 2009 memoir that just entered my house – yes, as a new book – when I got a copy for my birthday.

The title of Hill’s book was inspired by an autumn afternoon when she went looking for “Howards End” in her sprawling home library – not finding it at first, but coming across all sorts of other volumes on her shelves that she had never read, or forgotten she’d owned, or wanted to read for a second time. Those discoveries prompted a plan: For the next 12 months, Hill would add no new books to her house, focusing instead on reading – or rereading – the books she already owned.

Has that ever happened to you, seeing a book on your shelf and thinking, "now, whenever did I buy THIS book?" I must confess I have dozens of e-books on both of my tablets, and I have no idea how many of them came to be there. Oh, I know most of them were likely from some BookBub freebie or 99 cent deal, and based on some now-forgotten moron recommendation of the book thread, but I have no memory of when I acquired them. I keep telling myself I need to stop this pointless acquisition and just read what I already have, but then I see a deal for yet another "must have" book, and off I go again.

Coming across these "mystery" books in your collection is like finding some long-forgotten item in the back of the refrigerator, only the discovery is a lot less unpleasant.


Matt Helm Is Back In Town

From Friday's good things thread:

731 491 ... They have started releasing the Matt Helm books for e-readers. At least for Kindle. Not sure if the entire series has come out yet. They aren't exactly inexpensive but not bad. I still have all my ancient paperback copies.

Posted by: JTB at March 25, 2016 10:37 PM (FvdPb)

Looks like 20 out of the 27 MH novels are included in this Kindle release. Amazon says:

Originally released in the era of the James Bond novels, these novels have been out of print and unavailable for almost 20 years. They were considered grittier and more realistic than Bond, garnering them critical praise and an ardent audience.

The first in the series is Matt Helm - Death of a Citizen:

Matt Helm, one-time special agent for the American government during the Second World War, has left behind his violent past to raise a family in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When a former colleague turns rogue and kidnaps his daughter, Helm is forced to return to his former life as a deadly and relentless assassin.

The Kindle prices for these reprints are not bad. The first in the series can be purchased for #2.99, but most of the rest go for $7.99. Or, die-hard Matt Helm fans can buy all 20 for $129.80.


Another Genre I've Never Heard Of Before

This book came up in one of my daily BookPerk e-mails and I had to laugh out loud. That cover looks ridiculous. I almost expect to hear that cat say "meow" in Bob Newhart's voice.

It actually looks like a housecat. Maybe it's gone feral:

When a mysterious vision promises a land filled with prey and shelter, a group of brave young cats leave their harsh mountain territory in search of a better home. But great dangers await—and threaten to divide them.

Wait, isn't this just a rehash of Richard Adams' Watership Down, only with felines instead of rabbits?

The story follows a warren of Berkshire rabbits fleeing the destruction of their home by a land developer. As they search for a safe haven, skirting danger at every turn...

Yep, sounds like it. But, there's more:

Adams has crafted a touching, involving world...As much about freedom, ethics, and human nature as it is about a bunch of bunnies looking for a warm hidey-hole and some mates

So Adams was using animals to say stuff about humans. Don't know if these cat books are the same, my guess, probably not, they're most likely just adventure stories. Some other observations:

1. The author of this Warrior Cats series is "Erin Hunter", whose name is attached to dozens of books in this genre. I wondered how a single author could crank out books at such a rate, but one of the publisher reviews remarked that these books are produced by a consortium of writers. Which makes sense. So "Erin Hunter" is just like her more famous nom de plume siblings Carolyn Keene and Franklin W. Dixon.

2. These Kindle books ain't cheap. I'd expect novels in this genre to be in the $1.99-$2.99 range, but these are more like $4.99-$7.99.

3. That's most likely because they aren't being written by indie authors and self-published, rather, this is a product of the behemoth MSM publishing combine, HarperCollins.

4. I'd like to disguise myself as a marketing/sales guy, sneak into HarperCollins HQ, and pitch a series about hunky, shape-shifting bear-men and the BBWs who love them.


Moron Recommendations

'Ette Anna Puma sent me a link to The Tin Lizzie Troop, Glendon Swathout's 1972 novel about the 1916 "Punitive Expedition" against Mexican Revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, who then controlled much of northeastern Mexico"

It was an infamous day when, under a scorching Mexican sun, the United States Cavalry went into action mounted not on fine, sleek horseflesh but in Model T Fords. This is the story of events leading up to and beyond that memorable day when bandits raided a U.S. outpost. The time was 1916, during the Punitive Expedition, when some 100,000 National Guardsmen were mobilized to defend America. Among them were six members of the Philadelphia Light Horse, a men's military club to which only the most well-born and wealthy scions of the most well-born and wealthy were elected.

I think this would have been a fun book to make into a movie, and I'm apparently not the only one:

The Tin Lizzie Troop was almost made into a movie by the late actor Paul Newman, who was set to direct this comic Western for his film production company, First Artists, back in 1979. Anthony Perkins was to play the lead role...and location scouting had been done in Arizona just before Warner Brothers pulled the financing plug.

Oh, well.


___________

Another recommendation I received via e-mail this week is for The Hunting Trip: A Novel of Love and War by William E. Butterworth, who is perhaps better known as W E B Griffin, and this one looks to be a bit different from his usual stuff. I'm just going to copy and paste the e-mail because I'm lazy:

In this, his latest work, self-described as a Tale of Love and War (but probably more accurately described as a Tale of Lust and Cold War), he delves into a far more comedic vein. His protagonist spends time in the Army CIC in Berlin, becomes a expert in every small arm in the Army inventory, and winds up in a sleepy little town in Mississippi after his discharge. The hunting trip itself is a thinly disguised subterfuge for some of the town's elite citizens to spend time with other elite citizens' spouses. Overall, a rollicking good 'tour de farce'.


Books by Morons

Moronette 'votermom' is putting together a list of moron authors over on the Goodreads site which is intended to be accessible to non-members. Here is the list she has compiled so far. Let her know if there's an author she's missing. You can send e-mail to her at votermom at gmail.


___________

Occasional moronette commenter 'delayna' has a book out she'd like you to read. It's called Gone With the Zombies, and despite what the title suggests, it's not a zombie apocalypse/dystopian future story, it's a humorous murder mystery set at a convention of zombie fans. The King of Zombie Fiction gets invited to a snooty literary symposium, and thousands of his fans show up in costume. And it's all fun and games until someone gets murdered, which in this case is the King of Zombie Fiction himself. And it falls on Jamie Oglethorpe, who has just started her new job as a custom tailor and fashion designer, to solve the murder. With thousands of suspects. By Monday.

Available on Kindle for 99 cents.


___________

Lurker 'Patty Jay' has written a short story which she published at the Liberty Island conservative writers' site. The link to the story, about a time not so far into the future, where old Soviet flush toilets are envied in the West, is here.


___________

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 09:02 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning bookworms

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 08:00 AM (fizMZ)

2 Ive been on the fence regarding a VPN for a while now. maybe I will pull the trigger on one soon.

Posted by: Jacob's Step Stool at March 27, 2016 08:01 AM (sqs5K)

3 That cat is trying to keep the boy from reading the book. All cat owners know that.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 27, 2016 08:03 AM (Bc1aB)

4 Goatherder - have a question to ask, I'm wondering what Engineer Battalion your Grandfather was in? My father in law was a Combat engineer from D-day on as well in the 149th battalion. Combat engineers were only by battalion as I read it though they often operated broke down by companies.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 08:05 AM (fizMZ)

5 When I read from my tablet my cat Cinnamon isn't a nudge, but a hard back is another story.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 08:06 AM (fizMZ)

6 Sadly, I'll have to admit that I enjoyed "The Hunting Trip"!

Posted by: Hrothgar at March 27, 2016 08:08 AM (wYnyS)

7 Currently reading church bulletin during Easter service. So much SJW nonsense. No wonder I only attend C & E.

Posted by: Billy Graham Cracker at March 27, 2016 08:09 AM (nckx1)

8 There was a movie back in the 70s called "Charge of The Model Ts". It was a comedy/drama about American soldiers putting down a Mexican uprising instigated by the Germans @ WWI.

Posted by: Elliot at March 27, 2016 08:10 AM (H3ctT)

9 Didn't Dean Martin play Matt Helm and sing about the moon in the sky being a big pizza pie?

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 27, 2016 08:10 AM (1ijHg)

10 Also: "You know all that 'it takes a village' rhetoric that Hillary
likes to spew? You Americans should know that we used to hear that crap
in the Ukraine all the time back in the commie days, and take it from
us, it's all bullsh*t."


... so are you saying the premise for Hillary's book may have come from classified information ?

Posted by: undocumented CIA hooker at March 27, 2016 08:12 AM (e8kgV)

11 Wait, isn't this just a rehash of Richard Adams' Watership Down, only with felines instead of rabbits?

Well, to be fair, there is more ass-licking and coughing up hairballs in "Warriors".

Posted by: naturalfake at March 27, 2016 08:12 AM (2rmvw)

12 Why is that little boy in prison?

Posted by: Giveitup at March 27, 2016 08:13 AM (E6RIJ)

13 G'mornin, Horde !

Almost all my reading last week was utilitarian, i.e. spec sheets, diagrams, technical reference books, and so forth.
Since I require reading matter in the bathroom and before going to sleep I have been re-reading my extensive collection of old (30's - 60's) radio magazines.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 27, 2016 08:13 AM (gUoN4)

14 Good morning fellow Book Thread People and a holy and happy Easter to all.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 08:14 AM (FvdPb)

15 Oh my I've forgotten why I'm here
A few days ago on a thread it mentioned Ted using the "carpet bombing" term. I was screaming at him to read a biography of Arthur "Bomber" Harris. Well I'm taking my own advice and reading The Bomber War, Arthur Harris and the Allied Bomber Offensive 1939-45 by Robin Neillands

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 08:14 AM (fizMZ)

16 Wait a minute!! WEB Griffin co-wrote a bunch of those MASH Goes to someplace books? The complete set of which is sitting on one of my shelves? Now that's a surprise.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 08:17 AM (FvdPb)

17 This book came up in one of my daily BookPerk e-mails and I had to laugh out loud.

The blurb had me thinking "Thundercats, HOOOOOOOO!"

But it looks like Watership Down...with cats.

Seriously, we're a silly people now. Publishing has gone really, really stupid.

Posted by: Kasich the Barbarian, Son of Mailman at March 27, 2016 08:18 AM (uz/Pv)

18 Greatest first line: from Raphael Sabatini's "Scaramouche"--"He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.

Posted by: Libra at March 27, 2016 08:18 AM (GblmV)

19 I read Black Cross by Greg Iles. Previously recommended here, it is a book which grabs one quickly and keeps one riveted throughout. The story is set in January, 1944, just months before D-Day, the Allied invasion of France. The Nazis have developed a new, more powerful nerve gas which Allied leaders fear will be used on the invasion forces causing near 100% fatalities. Two vastly different men are recruited to infiltrate the secret camp in Germany where the gas is being perfected. It is their job to destroy the gas and the people making it. Fast-paced and action-packed throughout.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 27, 2016 08:19 AM (JYer2)

20 Yes it's mash in the cia, time retconned for dramatic purposes, misha glenny shows what the summer Olympics will be like.

Posted by: admiral marcus at March 27, 2016 08:20 AM (nS3Ic)

21 Started Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose. I got a big print version from the most recent library sale. It's easy to read. And get off my lawn, please.

Still rereading the Reluctant King by deCamp. The book is three books stitched into one, a so-called omnibus novel. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. It's still good.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 08:20 AM (u82oZ)

22 Reading the first in the Substrate War series but not too far into it. The good professor has just been convicted of being a grown-up.

Computer book is "Dig Two Graves" for which I volunteered to be a beta reader. Initially I found it mildly off-putting at first simply because it's modern English in 11th (?) century Japan but I just kept going and now I have adapted. Kindle says I have read 3% and I am interested enough in what happens next to keep going.

He is risen! And now I have to go prepare to sing some big fat Alleluias. In the Roman Catholic church, right before the Gospel is read, we sing an Alleluia. There are no Alleluias during Lent and I miss them.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 27, 2016 08:22 AM (LJYIn)

23 Happy Resurrection Day, Horde!

Is it safe in the Book thread?

Re-reading Shogun by James Clavell.

Posted by: baldilocks at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (ys2UW)

24 Listen to us: we've already TRIED socialism. IT DOESN'T WORK!! When are you stupid Americans going to wake up?!"


You didn't try socialism hard enough. We are all disappointed in you.

Posted by: Bruce at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (8ikIW)

25 Seems kinda odd to ban someone and then tell them how to get around the banning.

Why is there security screening on the window?

And Google Chrome has a pop up that warns when a website wants to know your location. I suspect that your 'location data' in your browser might well be anything you tell it, but you can block the website from accessing that data should you choose to do so.

I have more stories to publish but the lack of interest in what I have published suggests my writing is for my own amusement. No one writes like I do.

Posted by: Skandia Recluse at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (W/ZOJ)

26 Give up buying new books for a year? Hah!! What a piker! I mentioned last week (I think) about finding a ton of physical books on the shelves and in boxes I hadn't read yet or had forgotten. This doesn't include several hundred e-books on Kindle and Nook. Okay, most of them were free or under 2 bucks but I simply don't remember buying them or even why I did. I suspect I could go a decade without buying new books (that ain't a gonna happen) and still not run out of new to me reading material.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 08:24 AM (FvdPb)

27 The current Lefty propaganda defense is to claim Hillary never said ( list of statements maybe one person on the Right may have said) in her Takes A Village book. Typical Lefty misdirection / lies to deflect from what she actually says.

Example of Lefty defense: Hillary never said the government should take children from parents to raise.

No shit Sherlock and no one on the Right ever said she did.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 27, 2016 08:24 AM (Bc1aB)

28 is that we're on a burning airplane in a nosedive: 3 engines have failed, the 4th is sputtering, and the attempts to effect fire control and emergency engine repairs are being actively resisted by a good percentage of the passengers as well as some of the flight crew.


*****

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. I've got a bit of good news. It looks like we'll be on the ground quite a bit earlier than originally projected. So, buckle up, relax and enjoy the rest of the flight. And once again, on behalf of the entire crew I'd like to thank you for flying with us today."

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 27, 2016 08:24 AM (NeFrd)

29 "...Um folks, this is your captain again. For those of you on the right side of the plane, you might be able to make out the slopes of Mt. Princeton, one of the so-called Collegiate Peaks of the central Colorado Rockies, approaching rapidly."

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 27, 2016 08:27 AM (NeFrd)

30 >>>Lurker 'Patty Jay' has written a short story which she published at the Liberty Island conservative writers' site. The link to the story, about a time not so far into the future, where old Soviet flush toilets are envied in the West, is here.

Nice read. And the story includes a hobo reference!

Posted by: m at March 27, 2016 08:27 AM (S/1cF)

31 Re-reading Shogun by James Clavell.

Posted by: baldilocks at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (ys2UW)

Wonderful book.

I have it on my phone, and when I am stuck someplace with nothing else to read i will often open it to a random place and read for a few minutes.

I think it's his best book, although most of his other stuff is excellent as well.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 27, 2016 08:27 AM (Zu3d9)

32 18 Libra

That is a very good opening line to a rollicking story. A fun book to read, for sure.

I'll raise you the opening line in Steel Beach by John Varley: "In five years the penis will become obsolete."

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 08:27 AM (u82oZ)

33
Speaking of making life out of death take a look at the side bar article about the mother in Indianapolis. She caught a burger coming thru her baby's window in broad daylight who shot at her and she returned fire. About a year ago, a young pregnant mother was home alone when 3 yoots came a knocking and raped and murdered her. So good for this mom for being prepared.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 08:29 AM (iQIUe)

34 Speaking of "found" mystery books, thanks to the Sunday book thread I have many books in my Amazon cart/Save for Later that I have no idea why I picked 'em. Heh.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2016 08:29 AM (NOIQH)

35 you know what Socialist / Communist countries have in common with Capitalist countries? They both publish books that show the CIA / FBI in nothing but a crooked , evil incompetent light.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 27, 2016 08:30 AM (Bc1aB)

36 And speaking of our resident punster....

I finished his "To Save Us All From Ruin: A Muldoon Adventure," and it was a fun read.

What I most appreciated was the conspicuous lack of characters who emoted endlessly but did...nothing. His characters represent well our greatest generation and the incredible things they did.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 27, 2016 08:30 AM (Zu3d9)

37 23 Happy Resurrection Day, Horde!

Is it safe in the Book thread?

Re-reading Shogun by James Clavell.
Posted by: baldilocks at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (ys2UW)

Never read Shogun but I will always remember the samurai ?pissing on the back of the white guy when I watched the mini series as a kid.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 27, 2016 08:33 AM (Bc1aB)

38 I will say that the movie of "Watershed Down"-

does a good job on distilling Richard Adam' rather long book into something nearly profound.

Criterion recently released it on blu-ray.

So, I'm sure it's available at amazon or netflix or Hulu.


It's a nice way to spend 90 minutes or so with anthropomorphic rabbits as opposed to several hours with them.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 27, 2016 08:33 AM (2rmvw)

39 Good stuff, OM. Thanks for your efforts.

I too am rarely buying any new books; my dad died 1.5 years ago and he was an avid reader, so I have lots of choices from his collection. He was, among other things, a cop and a fan of The West, so there are lots of choices just along those two lines to pick from.

And funny that you mention WEB Griffin, as I've gotten a few pages into Men In Blue, apparently the first in a series by him. But it is set aside for now as I'm reading Slow Apocalypse, a 2012 John Varley novel about a superbug eating all the oil in the world and what happens next.

As I near the halfway point, I wouldn't call it gripping, but I am reasonably entertained by it. Besides, it suits my current mood.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 27, 2016 08:33 AM (gyKtp)

40 OM, Thanks as always for the Book Thread. Love that picture at the top of the post.

I finished "Surprised By Oxford" by Carolyn Weber. The title is an homage to CS Lewis' 'Surprised BY Joy'. It's an account of the author's gradual acceptance of Christianity while at her first year at Oxford. In some ways it is a bit stereotyped: difficult family situation, a mid-nineties feminist with daddy issues and a sometimes big mouth, meets Mr. Perfect but is too stubborn to realize it, etc.

However, the story is one of hope, acceptance, and the joyful power of conversion. And the lady writes damn well, peppering her descriptions with wonderful quotes from literature. (Those quotes led to other matters noted below.) Not the kind of book I typically read bit well done and rather satisfying.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 08:34 AM (FvdPb)

41 Anyone seen Harvey?

Posted by: Elwood P. Dowd at March 27, 2016 08:36 AM (nckx1)

42 I also read Mandarin Gate, the seventh novel in the Inspector Shan series, by Eliot Pattison. Shan must solve the murders of a German, a Tibetan nun, and a local gang leader who were all murdered at the same time and whose bodies were staged in the courtyard of an old Buddhist temple. The opening paragraph caught my eye.

"The end of time was starting in Tibet. Shan Tao Yun's old friend Lokesh had told him so repeatledly in recent months, reminding him just the day before as he had pointed a crooked finger toward an unnatural cloud lurking on the horizon. More than once during the past year Shan had listened, chilled, to Lokesh and their lama fiends solomnly recount the ancient prophecy. Humans had been given their chance and had failed, had let their civilization become more about inhumanity than humanity. They were spiraling downwards, biding their time until a more intelligent, compassionate species arose. The evidence was everywhere in Tibet, and it seemed perfectly logical to the lamas that the process was starting there, at the top of the world, the land closest to the homes of the deities."

To me, it seems this process has reached the United States, and indeed, Western Civilization. I believe this year will prove me correct.


Posted by: Zoltan at March 27, 2016 08:37 AM (JYer2)

43 The "Warriors" cat adventure series was targeted heavily at 4th, 5th, and 6th graders when my now college aged sons were in grade school.

My youngest son enjoyed them until one of his jerky little classmates intentionally "spoiled" the ending of the one he was currently reading. He never finished that book and never picked up another in the series.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 27, 2016 08:40 AM (NqQAS)

44 Fantastic Easter article by a Jesuit on page one of Saturday's WSJ "reviews" section. A great Easter homily.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at March 27, 2016 08:41 AM (U6f54)

45 What I most appreciated was the conspicuous lack of characters who emoted endlessly but did...nothing. His characters represent well our greatest generation and the incredible things they did.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo


****

Thanks CBD!

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 27, 2016 08:42 AM (NeFrd)

46 Stomped in previous thread:
168 I can rail against the traitorous GOP for its failure to present a viable alternative to totalitarianism, but that doesn't solve anything.

I don't think a "viable alternative" is in the GOPs mind at all. I think the real problem is generational: the Boomers (I was born in '64, so technically I'm looking at me) have fooked us. The "Greatest Generation" has given us the worst generation. There's waaay too much money for the elites to have in the huholy iron triangle of Wall Street, Media and DC. It's a uniparty cabal of elites, dancing the tango while Europe burns. And trust me, they all know where their gilded parachutes are stashed.
Ready to deploy when the system implodes.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 27, 2016 08:42 AM (SeD0w)

47
I'm reading a biography of Catherine the Great and meanwhile I'm checking out images of Empress Elizabeth on google. She was supposed to be gorgeous and vibrant, but all these paintings look to me like a woman without a face. They always do. Pale face disappearing into some pale puffy wig, nary an eyelash to be seen, little mouth in a prim, toothless smile. I've just never been able to "read" these portraits. Maybe I'll invent some software that lets me add some modern hair and makeup and then I'll get it.

I wish I could time-travel, just to see some of that dazzling finery. Also the primitiveness and danger.

Posted by: iforgot at March 27, 2016 08:43 AM (5o5ek)

48 @32 NaCly. I fear that liberals, universities, politicians, feminists, and other ssorted jackasses have already made the penis obsolete. We don't have to wait five years.

Posted by: Libra at March 27, 2016 08:43 AM (GblmV)

49 Well before that cat clans book, Andre Norton wrote Breeds to Come which is about an intelligent band of cats who encounter the return of humans to Earth.
http://www.amazon.com/Breed-Come-Andre-Norton/dp/0441078982

Alan Dean Fosters Kingdoms of Light might be a better fit for those in a fantasy mood.
http://www.amazon.com/Kingdoms-Light-Alan-Dean-Foster/dp/0446610615

Or perhaps his novel Cat-a-lyst whilst be-spelled by science fiction?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/h5ykoll

I hope Gone With the Zombies is as fun as Bimbos of the Death Sun

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM (2s5VM)

50 12 Why is that little boy in prison?
Posted by: Giveitup at March 27, 2016 08:13 AM (E6RIJ)


Why is there security screening on the window?
Posted by: Skandia Recluse at March 27, 2016 08:23 AM (W/ZOJ)


IIRC, the the photo was taken at a homeless shelter.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM (mcEz5)

51 Thanks for another great book thread, OM, and for mentioning the list.

Note to authors, for corrections or additions you can comment on the most recent post on my blog or by emailing me votermom at gmail

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM (nbrY/)

52 >>She caught a burger coming thru her baby's window...

Where is this? Sounds like my kind of neighborhood.

Posted by: Wimpy at March 27, 2016 08:46 AM (c7vUv)

53 A late cop friend of mine, said web really captured the Philly pd in that series.

Posted by: admiral marcus at March 27, 2016 08:48 AM (nS3Ic)

54 ...about an intelligent band of cats...



*****

So, the genre must be fiction-fantasy, eh?

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 27, 2016 08:48 AM (NeFrd)

55
James Agee married a commie. When they divorced, she took the kid to Mexico where she married another commie and then they all moved to the GDR. The son, Joel Agee, wrote a book, A Boyhood In Germany, about his 12 years there. They had a privileged lifestyle but it was still bleak. When his mom divorced again, she took the kids back to America. Now Joel is your garden variety lefty turd.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 08:48 AM (iQIUe)

56 Humans had been given their chance and had failed, had let their civilization become more about inhumanity than humanity. They were spiraling downwards, biding their time until a more intelligent, compassionate species arose.

Fixed. And see you soon. The stars are juuuuuuuust about right.

Posted by: The Great Old Ones at March 27, 2016 08:49 AM (mcEz5)

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

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

- Groucho Marx

#BringBackOurBackwardsBoy

Posted by: olddog in mo at March 27, 2016 08:50 AM (Dhht7)

58 I am beta reading a fantasy set in ancient Japan - very entertaining so far! Looking forward to recommending it when it's published.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 08:50 AM (nbrY/)

59 I fear that liberals, universities, politicians, feminists, and other assorted jackasses have already made the penis obsolete.


*****


When they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 27, 2016 08:51 AM (NeFrd)

60 I hope to get to Dig Two Graves soon, but got sidelined by A. Paying job and B trying to rewrite two chapters while working at A.

Glad people are finding it interesting.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 08:53 AM (2s5VM)

61 IIRC, the the photo was taken at a homeless shelter.
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM

It is a very sweet picture.

Posted by: Skandia Recluse at March 27, 2016 08:53 AM (W/ZOJ)

62 48 Libra

Manliness (in the Victorian Muscular Christianity way) will never be extinct, and will be more useful going forward.

One of my counter-insurgency plans is to return to University when I get a reduced rate. I'd go with some of my older friends, and mock all of the indoctrination with Science. *
Specifically use real science on discrimination, gender issues, and due process. Fun could be had by all except for the weak.

* Foundational books (not an exhaustive list):
The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal by Desmond Morris

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction by Larry Young & Brian Alexander

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 08:53 AM (u82oZ)

63 Non-book announcement: For those of you that are interested, I have a chess thread in the can and ready to go for later on today. I'm hoping it put it up around 5-6pm Eastern Time, assuming I can get a time slot.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:55 AM (mcEz5)

64 Joyous Easter morons!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

High Lutheran mass for Easyer this morning, as I remember from childhood.

Posted by: Conservative Crank's iPhone at March 27, 2016 08:55 AM (Gosad)

65 I'm not a Sci-Fi reader but I am re-reading the first few chapters of Armor by John Steakly. Best opening chapters of any book I've ever read.

Posted by: Joe Hallenbeck at March 27, 2016 08:57 AM (Bc1aB)

66 Happy Easter, fellow bookthreadists! (And Pesach blessings to the Tribe!)

Not an awful lot to contribute this week, as it's finally Spring Break for the college where I teach and I'm taking advantage of it by going into crafting mode. Did get a couple of students hooked on Pilgrim's Progress last week, including one who confessed to preferring non-fiction, so that's a teaching win. One of my projects for this week, though, is an art project inspired by The Dream of the Rood; Lord willing, I'll be using it to launch a CafePress shop for my calligraphy designs. And yes, I'll let the Horde know when it goes live.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 08:58 AM (vRQPU)

67
#BringBackOurBackwardsBoy

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 08:58 AM (iQIUe)

68 #BringBackOurBackwardsBoy

I agree but is Oregon Muse, Destroyer of Threads, really the guy we want messing with the banhammer on/off switch?
We could all get banned, even the hamsters.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:01 AM (nbrY/)

69 >>>IIRC, the the photo was taken at a homeless shelter.
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM (mcEz5)

Taken at an animal shelter. There's a story, and more photos, here (HuffPo warning):

http://tinyurl.com/ncl2fxp

Posted by: m at March 27, 2016 09:01 AM (S/1cF)

70
Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 08:58 AM (vRQPU)

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

I use to dabble in calligraphy. Put it aside and now I doubt I retained any of the skills. Do follow a lot of calligraphers on the internet. I'm a big Ann Hechle fan.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 09:02 AM (iQIUe)

71 I came across a few references in 'Surprised By Oxford' mentioned above from 'Paradise Lost'. The quotes were pertinent to the author and beautifully written. I haven't read Paradise Lost since I was 18 and smug in my agnosticism. I don't recall much of the poem but do recall that I was cheering for Lucifer who seemed to be having more fun and fire. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even remember it was written in blank verse.

Okay. It's a gazillion years later and I picked up a copy. OMG (trying to be hip and up to date with my phrasing), the writing, the imagery, is exquisite. How many decades have I wasted avoiding this poetry because of a teenager's bad impression? (To paraphrase Groucho Marx: I'd horse whip my younger self if I had a horse.)

I thought I would zip through it and be done by today. Nope. I linger on almost every line or stanza, soaking in the words and investigating the allusions. This is going to take a pleasant while.

If anyone has a favorite version or edition of Paradise Lost or about Milton himself, I would appreciate hearing about it.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 09:02 AM (FvdPb)

72 I was reading topaz, an old Leon uris about the missile crisis, that Hitchcock made into a horrible film.

Posted by: admiral marcus at March 27, 2016 09:03 AM (nS3Ic)

73 63 ... OM, hope you can get the chess thread on today. I'll keep an eye open for it. The last one was so pleasant.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 09:07 AM (FvdPb)

74 Reading Death on a Friday Afternoon by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus as in so every Easter.

Best explanation of the "why" of Good Friday and Easter I've read. Lots of wisdom and very profound musings.

God bless the Horde this Easter.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 09:08 AM (QWtgr)

75 Probably the last positive portrayal of angleton as the manque nordstrom, played by John Forsyth.

Posted by: admiral marcus at March 27, 2016 09:10 AM (nS3Ic)

76 Lets see if I can put into words my experiences at work last night.

It was 7pm and things were not going well for the Easter Bunny as he walked the aisles. Heat stroke was the least of his issues this night.

Over in the section set aside for Easter candy it looked like the Vandals and Visigoths had been there for a chocolate fix while Bomber Harris flew overhead dropping little foiled wrapped chocolate footballs, instead it was merely mothers desperately trying to find that last special candy for the morning Easter baskets.

As the Easter Bunny cruised through the back of the store near electronics and shoes, his travails were far from over. As he kindly waved with his pink mouth smile and large eyes, a young lass of about twelve jack-rabbited away screaming in terror.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 09:11 AM (2s5VM)

77
Remember the scene in "The Sum of All Fears" where some nuclear guys report on the source of the nuclear bomb that just smashed Baltimore?
The standard how-to text of the subject is "Nuclear Forensic Analysis" second edition by three guys at Livermore Labs-Moody, Grant, and Hutcheon.

If I had $160 to spare, I'd snap up a copy.

Posted by: Whitehall at March 27, 2016 09:12 AM (qHRuI)

78 Finishing "Drifter," a debut novel thriller by Nicholas Petrie, who has learned from Lee Childs how to depict a Reacher-like hero at his best, foiling a nasty plot.

Wish Petrie had a whole slew of them out there, but for now, this is it.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at March 27, 2016 09:12 AM (U6f54)

79 @18 On Scaramouchisme. No ideological comparison intended, but for rhetorical similarity here is a beaut:

"I went up the Tigris with one hundred Devon Territorials, young, clean, delightful fellows, full of the power of happiness and of making women and children glad."

Naturally, that's not how any of this works, the corn and oil of Mesopotamia butt in here quickly, and speaking of butting the author turns out to be a kinky perv, but very nice writing just the same.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:13 AM (xq1UY)

80 I wonder what pixy banning means in english ?
(Google it. Ace is the only person in the world using that phrase.)

Posted by: ELD at March 27, 2016 09:13 AM (ca2V+)

81
Boston Police arrest Easter Bunny for lack of permit

https://goo.gl/pBSfLa

The bastards!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 09:13 AM (iQIUe)

82 Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 08:58 AM (vRQPU)

That sounds exciting! Looking forward to seeing your calligraphy.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:13 AM (nbrY/)

83 74 Sharkman

Thank you for the recommendation for Reading Death on a Friday Afternoon. It's on my ever increasing list.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 09:13 AM (u82oZ)

84 Thanks OM for the soccer video yesterday, that was hilarious.

Read Crashlander by Larry Niven, similar to Neutron Star it's a collection of some of his classic sci-fi stories in Known Space with the Kzinti and Puppeteers with Beowolf Schaeffer as the main character. Neutron Star, To The Core and Flatlander are some of the memorable short stories in it, which Niven has written some new material (of lesser quality) to try to knit them into a whole. Love Niven's early material.

Listened to Detroit Christmas, a short story by Larry Correia before the events of the GrimNoir Chronicle series. Stylish and fun though very short, he needs to write some more GrimNoir novels and not just short stories.

Posted by: waelse1 at March 27, 2016 09:14 AM (kZFjr)

85 LOL Anna Puma
Hope you found some good candy

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:16 AM (nbrY/)

86 76 Anna Puma

So your retail experience at Wally World is broadening your appreciation for the human species?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 09:16 AM (u82oZ)

87
Arresting the Easter Bunny was a joke by BPD. It wasnt very funny tho...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 09:16 AM (iQIUe)

88 One thing about Milton I found hilarious when I took a class on him at Baylor: in some of his early Latin poems about the Gunpowder Plot, he posits the idea that gunpowder was the devil's invention. Fast forward to the description of the war in Heaven in PL, and guess what Mammon suggests as a weapon to use against the angels who are still loyal to God?

Other Milton worth reading: Paradise Regained because of its PL echoes; Samson Agonistes; Areopagitica for a good argument against censorship; his essays on education if you favor the classical model; and his sonnets.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 09:17 AM (vRQPU)

89 What, nobody's going to touch that "chess thread in the can" line?
It's like I don't even know you people.

Regards,
Prince Albert


Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:17 AM (xq1UY)

90 79 Stringer Davis

Is that book about the doomed Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, led by General Townshend ? 1915-1916?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 09:20 AM (u82oZ)

91 No way I could give up buying books for 40 days, much less a year. Sometimes you only get one chance to get a book you really want. I had a book on my Amazon wish list for a while, a book about the obscure Chinchas Islands War between Spain & Chile. It was only $20, I kept putting off buying it, but it was only printed in limited numbers & isn't going to be reprinted.

Posted by: Josephistan at March 27, 2016 09:21 AM (7qAYi)

92 I agree but is Oregon Muse, Destroyer of Threads, really the guy we want messing with the banhammer on/off switch?

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:01 AM (nbrY/)


That's a good question. Fortunately for the MoronHorde, the banhammer is a weapon that those of us with 'OpenBlogger' access are not entrusted with. So you may rest easy.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 09:21 AM (mcEz5)

93 60 I hope to get to Dig Two Graves soon, but got sidelined by A. Paying job and B trying to rewrite two chapters while working at A.

--

I was able to get started on it while minding one of the tables at the Kid's karate tournament yesterday. Their karate school hosts a tournament once a year and parents get to volunteer. Not that many kids this year though, probably because of Easter.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:21 AM (nbrY/)

94 77
Remember the scene in "The Sum of All Fears" where some nuclear guys report on the source of the nuclear bomb that just smashed Baltimore?

Baltimore gets nuked? How can you tell?

Posted by: Josephistan at March 27, 2016 09:23 AM (7qAYi)

95 I'm taking my own advice and reading The Bomber War, Arthur Harris and the Allied Bomber Offensive 1939-45 by Robin Neillands

-
If that is a subject you are interested in you might like Martin Middlebrook about specific air battles. I might recommend The Nuremburg Raid, the story of a botched raid leading to the RAF's highest losses of the war, 96 heavy bombers. (The USAAF had a cow when they lost 60 over Schweinfurt in a daylight raid.)

For fiction, you might like Bomber by Len Deighton perhaps best know for his Harry Palmer spy novels. Bomber, which I consider one of the best novels of the 20th century, concerns the June 31, 1943 raid on a Ruhr city that goes wrong. Characters include the bomber crew, a Luftwaffe night fighter pilot disillusioned with the Nazis, a WWI German Ace now a fighter director, and citizens of an unfortunate German village. It's War and Peace in twenty-four hours.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 09:24 AM (Nwg0u)

96 Also: "You know all that 'it takes a village' rhetoric that Hillary
likes to spew? You Americans should know that we used to hear that crap
in the Ukraine all the time back in the commie days, and take it from
us, it's all bullsh*t."

Hilary said it was an African proverb. Cultural appropriation!

Posted by: Josephistan at March 27, 2016 09:24 AM (7qAYi)

97 Reading a tiny (80 pgs) book called Zen in the Art of Archery

It's by a German professor of philosophy who goes to Japan back in the 20's and attempts to approach Zen by going thru years under a Zen archery master. He tries really hard to explain what's going on, and he's SO into it. I like that.

Hmm, turns out the guy came back and become a unabashed Nazi, and never recanted. That should make the rest of the book interesting.

Posted by: t-bird at March 27, 2016 09:25 AM (jO7js)

98 VoterMom had one piece of candy. Salty Dog, in a word: Yes.

It seems Easter is becoming Christmas; parents were buying games, phones, electronics to place in their kids' Easter baskets. 11:30pm just punched out and an Assistant Manager finds me to help a customer find the Steam gift cards.

I don't expect today to be much better when I return at noon because Billy and Suzy will be just out of service or fueled on candy and have gift cards/cash to blow.

*thud*

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 09:27 AM (2s5VM)

99 Heh. I'd like to watch the BPD arrest this Easter bunny:

http://y2u.be/kcrg0B_yJAo

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 09:27 AM (mcEz5)

100 NaCly Dog:

In recommend bumping it to the top of your loser and setting aside some quality time to read, re-read, and ponder. It is well worth the time invested.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 09:27 AM (QWtgr)

101 @65 I have a dim memory of a SF novel with an off-world armor battle so based in real tactics that the author credits his military source. Could be Pournelle's "Janissaries"? It made me wonder how many WWII tankers went into battle with images of the electric tanks of Flash Gordon dancing in their heads, and "rattling around a bit."

It would be hard to overstate how popular (and influential) "Pilgrim's Progress" was in everyday households. As it was taught me, homes that ordinarily would have only the Bible would also have Milton, well into the time of W.Irving.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:28 AM (xq1UY)

102 >>Hilary said it was an African proverb. Cultural appropriation!

Jonah Goldberg wrote a funny column about all of these "African Proverbs" of unknown origin (and unproven success in their homeland) that Dems love to tell us we must follow.

Posted by: Lizzy at March 27, 2016 09:28 AM (NOIQH)

103 Matt Helm: Forget you ever saw those goofy Dean Martin movies, the original novels are some of the best American writing ever. "Hard boiled" doesn't begin to describe the character. If you don't read the first novels in the series, you are missing a treat. Think "what if Robert Heinlein had written secret agent novels instead of science fiction?"

Posted by: IdahoSpudboy at March 27, 2016 09:29 AM (tFWkU)

104 Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 09:21 AM (mcEz5)

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:29 AM (nbrY/)

105 I am reading The Jungle Book again. The first couple of chapters are about Mowgli and the wolves and Shere Khan, and I was taken completely back about the Bandar-Log, the monkeys. The description of them is priceless.

I am half way through it. I was going to give it to a co-worker so she could read it to her son, but I decided to read it first.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 27, 2016 09:29 AM (XQHkt)

106 Been reading The Devils' Pleasure Palace by Michael Walsh recently. So which one of you morons is Michael Walsh? After all the Victorian hoity toity mentioned in the first few chapters it suddenly switches gear and I swear to God I must be reading a cob. 'Clerisy'? Gee, where have I read that word before for the first time ever.

Anyway, so far it's a great stranglehold book. I love it.

Posted by: Corona at March 27, 2016 09:30 AM (ragzU)

107 Some are banned accidentally, if you try to post to an old thread, you're automatically banned. The only one that can fix it by IP address is Pixy & you have to email him.

I think OM was writing about those of us that have been banned accidentally & not banned by Ace or Maetenloch.

I am going to look into that IP address privacy info, I don't like the idea that I can be traced to here.

Thank you, OM for the info.

I should have started off with Happy Easter!

Posted by: Carol at March 27, 2016 09:30 AM (sj3Ax)

108 Oregon Muse, now put Billy Bob Thornton in a bunny suit and would have Bad Bunny.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 09:30 AM (2s5VM)

109 #AfricanProverb

Defeated tribe gets two choices: slavery or dinner.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:31 AM (nbrY/)

110 anna

Happy Easter! how many of these people actually mentioned Easter outside of shopping for the Easter basket?

Posted by: phoenixgirl, i was born a rebel at March 27, 2016 09:31 AM (0O7c5)

111 Morning, glorious fellow offspring of our Creator!



Four books, written at four different times, by four different authors, each with a different purpose. Three of them obviously derive from a common source, either one of the canonicals, or more likely another source, lost to us, but each is unique testimony.

(Fundamentalists, look over there, a squirrel!) Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John don't agree with each other in every detail. They may contain some inaccuracies, and legends. They weren't all written for the same purpose. It's likely only Luke was actually written by the author to whom it's attributed, the rest derived by scribes from oral reports or perhaps notes made by Matthew, Mark, and John. Portions may have been lost, interpolated, mistranslated in repeated transcribing over the centuries.

These four short stories are the best records we've got - practically speaking, the only significant historical records - of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

The records themselves may be fuzzy in places, but the witness to Jesus is clear as can be. He shines through. His character, his wisdom, his nobility, and his sacrifice are blindingly clear in all of them, taken together. Like four different camera angles that project a 3-D image.

His claim to being the Son of God is crucial - it's what they killed him over. Then, there's his resurrection. Mary saw him in the Garden, ran as instructed to tell the dubious apostles. She became the first herald of his rising. Some of the boys were the first to question the veracity of her report. Wonderfully, we have the detailed witness of John, who himself ran to the empty tomb. Even the sending of the two brothers to testify to the apostles - straight-up the style Jesus displayed.

The resurrection is not legend, not vague. This is history. That was my impression when I first read them, over forty years ago. It's still my take on those books. The reader is then left to live with that astonishing knowledge.

Posted by: mindful webworker on an Easter morning at March 27, 2016 09:31 AM (7imgO)

112 #AfricanProverb

When walking with the enemy, try not to lose your head.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:32 AM (nbrY/)

113 Ace has coined the term pixy banning, nice

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 09:33 AM (fizMZ)

114 103 Matt Helm: Forget you ever saw those goofy Dean Martin movies, the original novels are some of the best American writing ever.
Posted by: IdahoSpudboy at March 27, 2016 09:29 AM (tFWkU)

=========

You want me to forget Stella Stevens in tight sweaters?? Get outta here!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 09:33 AM (iQIUe)

115 95 Anonosaurus Wrecks

Goodbye, Mickey Mouse was another 1944 Allied flyer novel by Len Deighton. I still have my copy, so its a good read. IIRC, it was evocative of the time period, but not his best.

SS-GB was his best (IMHO), but some of his non-fiction was also very good.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 09:33 AM (u82oZ)

116 I am reading The Jungle Book again.

I was thinking about that recently, probably because there's going to be another movie. My grandmother gave that to me when I was a little kid. I remember liking it but not really getting it.

I used to think Grandmama was quite literate for always pushing Kipling and Lewis Carrol on me. Now I realize that she was born in 1896 and she was just giving me the popular literature of her day.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 09:33 AM (1xUj/)

117 PG, actually they were pretty nice and wishing me Happy Easter even as they forked over cash for a Fit-bit for their 11yr old daughter.

But I need to get moving and get ready. *thud*

Thankfully I have Monday off. I might sleep the whole day.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 09:33 AM (2s5VM)

118 As a break from 'heavy' literature, I found a book at the library that was fun: 'Learn To Burn' by Simon Easton. It's an introduction to pyrography. The basic instruction is good enough although I've seen better, but the designs he uses as examples are excellent. And like many wood burning projects, the designs would work well for low relief carving or even sketching.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 09:34 AM (FvdPb)

119 Defeated tribe gets two choices: slavery or dinner.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:31 AM (nbrY/)


Death by chi-chi!

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 09:34 AM (mcEz5)

120 @90 Dawg, yes and no. It's from the opening of T.E. Lawrence's variously-titled magnum opus, call it War in The Desert or Seven Pillars of Wisdom, or one or two other things. He was along on that campaign, and to say it disillusioned him would be as succinct as Anonosaurus' masterful pocket-review above, "War and Peace in 24 Hours." By the way, A.W., you win the internet.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:35 AM (xq1UY)

121 To The Great Old Ones:
Bring it.

Posted by: Agent Franks at March 27, 2016 09:38 AM (6zbVX)

122 List, not loser, NaCly Dog.

Stupid phone.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 09:38 AM (QWtgr)

123 Btw, kid is monopolizing the computer and I don't like emailing from mobile if I can help it.
So if you emailed me I will get back to you later today.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 09:40 AM (nbrY/)

124 I know Warrior Cats sounds -- and looks -- ridiculous. But they're great gateway drugs to pleasure reading (I'm a 7th-grade English teacher). They have selective appeal, but they definitely hook some of the kids who otherwise have not yet been lured into books.

Posted by: Jobey in Error at March 27, 2016 09:40 AM (dGWLp)

125 "Sometimes you only get one chance to get a book you really want."

Yeah, this.
A few years ago I found a book I had been looking for:
"Salt as a Factor in the Confederacy", Ella Lonn, University of Alabama Press 1965, typically $40 when available, suddenly on Amazon for $10. Boom.
Ex a community college library in Pennsylvania.
Probably to make room for the growing White Privilege collection.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 27, 2016 09:41 AM (gUoN4)

126 Off to Easter Mass.

Posted by: Josephistan at March 27, 2016 09:41 AM (7qAYi)

127 I'm still cleaning up the coffee spill, Sharkman. AutoCorrect, it's like 'found poetry.' We could have our own Cucumber site on the unintentional wisdom expressed by typos here, except ours would have a body count.

I'm just hoping Wife doesn't find and meditate on your immortal line, "bumping to the top of your loser." That's epic, man.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:42 AM (xq1UY)

128 Nice to see the Matt Helm book is available in audio form

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 09:42 AM (c4yY7)

129 The Mowgli stories talk a lot about the law of the jungle that Baloo was teaching. They are not bit eats small, but instead it is how to find and keep your place, and what your obligations are.
The monkeys show what happens when there is no law.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 27, 2016 09:43 AM (XQHkt)

130 Lawrence spends way, way too much time talking about the "silken limbs" of the Arab boys.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 09:46 AM (btf0A)

131 Matt Helm: Agree about the Dean Martin movies. They were done for laughs and have no real connection to the books.

For those who have read most of the Matt Helm series, Keith Wease wrote "Matt Helm: The War Years" where he culls the brief mention of Helm's WW II missions and fills them out. He got permission from Hamilton's estate for this. If you are a fan, it's fun reading.

Also, several more of the Kindle Matt Helm books have dropped to 2.99 instead of 8 bucks. I might get them since some of my original paperbacks are falling apart or getting yellow and crispy.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 09:46 AM (FvdPb)

132 Skip - Hi, sorry, i just got on here.

My grandfather was in the 1111th Engineer Combat Group, which was how the Army organized them. Some Engineer battalions were assigned at the Division level, others were organized at the Army level, as a "Group" instead of a Regiment. His 1111th consisted of 2-3 battalions, that were assigned and re-assigned freely, depending on the job at hand. And the 1111th was under various Armies and Corps too. At the Bulge, his two EC Battalions were the 51st and 291st. Another, the 296th, started the battle out of position and was quickly re-assigned out from the 1111th. After the Bulge, the 291st was 'chopped' to another Group. But for Remagen the 291st was BACK under the 1111th.

Coincidentally, with one of the content items.... my grandfather ALSO was part of the US Army expedition that chased Pancho Villa around after the Columbus, NM raid. His Penna NG unit got nationalized and he was sent with Pershing to the border. Yes, grandpa got around.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 27, 2016 09:48 AM (Nd4YY)

133 130 Lawrence spends way, way too much time talking about the "silken limbs" of the Arab boys.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 09:46 AM (btf0A)

NTTAWWT

Posted by: Hairy Reid at March 27, 2016 09:48 AM (nbrY/)

134 #AfricanProverb

When someone asks you dinner be careful, very careful.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 09:50 AM (aXzL9)

135 130 Lawrence spends way, way too much time talking about the "silken limbs" of the Arab boys.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 09:46 AM (btf0A)


Not surprising, considering that ol' T.E. was a bit light in the loafers.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 09:52 AM (mcEz5)

136 128
Nice to see the Matt Helm book is available in audio form

Gilbert Gottfried? I don't think so.

Posted by: Corona at March 27, 2016 09:53 AM (ragzU)

137 Oh, I had forgotten how much I liked Len Deighton and SS-GB. Thanks for that reminder. I will have to get back into his works.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 09:53 AM (QWtgr)

138 Well I don't presume to know, Trimegistus. Just how much time would you say is appropriate, to discuss the silky limbs of Arab boys? (insert pixy-code for filthy smirk smiley here)

It's entirely possible that Chapman, Shaw, whatever his name was, was just a largely sexless man-of-his-time, trying a little too hard to justify to himself the everyday perversions he saw all around him. With the passage of time and events, we tend to see him as weirder and weirder, and with good reason.

Although it comes later in his life, I'm particularly put off by his relationship with G.B. and Charlotte Shaw. Probably the final word should be Kipling's, who clashed with him a few times and generally found his persona onerous, but when he found out he was illegitimate and cast-out, said, Well, of course, poor fellow, that explains everything.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 09:54 AM (xq1UY)

139 135 Supposedly asexual like J.Edgar Hoover.

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 09:55 AM (B48dK)

140 I am reading "The Love of God" by the great Cistercian monk, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), IMO, one of the greatest figures of the Middle Ages.

I am happy to say that I received from Interlibrary loan the first three volumes (of a total of five) of the Philokalia, great works of devotion by Orthodox writers from many centuries ago. Backwards Boy has read them. I understand BB was banned at some point; I hope he will be allowed to post again. At any rate, I am just getting started on an introduction to the Philokalia.

I don't know if joncelli posts on this thread, but if he does I wanted to tell him ( ? ) that I visited an Eastern Orthodox Church yesterday for the evening liturgy. The entire service was sung or chanted and there are seats but nobody sits down much. They stand they entire time. It was a very lovely service. I really got a sense of the awesomeness and majesty of God. They don't have holy communion in the evening so when I have a chance I'll have to attend an early service. although as a Protestant I an not allowed to partake of the Eucharist.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 09:55 AM (w4NZ8)

141 Lawrence spends way, way too much time talking about the "silken limbs" of the Arab boys.

He doesn't spend a lot of time on it, but he deals with it on the very first page of Seven Pillars. Basically "it was war and we were all scared so everyone f-ed everyone".

I do like to refer to that when people talk about how ghey stuff at Abu Gharaib was so particularly shaming to Arabs who abhor it so much.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 09:55 AM (1xUj/)

142 So the Matt Helm books ate serious?I never liked the campy movies.

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 09:56 AM (B48dK)

143 Posted by: mindful webworker on an Easter morning at March 27, 2016 09:31 AM (7___O)

Nice post, MWW. Thanks and happy Resurrection day to you! :^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 09:57 AM (w4NZ8)

144 My great-uncle was with Pershing when he went after Pancho Villa, but I don't know if he was with that particular raid. I even have his commemorative medal thingy (not an awarded medal, but "in rememberance of Mexico Service" or some such.) Sergeant with a machine gun battalion.

Currently watching a storm over Puget Sound. Saw a Coast Guard helicopter doing a search pattern for some poor sod. I hope they find them. Nasty weather to be out in.

Recently read Strictly Analog, a very nice noir cyberpunk detective story. The hero is unable to connect to the Internet of Things like everyone else due to a war injury, so he can do very discreet analog-only investigations. Fun with some snide comments about PC and California stupid.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 27, 2016 09:58 AM (yCJWD)

145 And as always, thanks for your thread, OM. and for your hard work Truly one of the highlights of the HQ week!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 09:59 AM (w4NZ8)

146 Heh.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 09:59 AM (QWtgr)

147 I've been using PIA VPN for a while now and like the service. If you connect via London you can watch the BBC which blocks parts of it's programming from the US.

Posted by: Vapor at March 27, 2016 10:00 AM (oNw5T)

148 I misread that cat book cover as "Dawn of the Claws".

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 10:01 AM (sdi6R)

149 Not surprising, considering that ol' T.E. was a bit light in the loafers.

-
You can tell because is mother named him Tee Hee.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:02 AM (aXzL9)

150 So a VPN basically just gives you another ip?

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 10:04 AM (nbrY/)

151 If he had been a regular guy instead of some Oxford/Cambridge hoity toity they've had called him Larry of Arabia.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:05 AM (aXzL9)

152 151 If he had been a regular guy instead of some Oxford/Cambridge hoity toity they've had called him Larry of Arabia.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:05 AM (aXzL9)


--

Larry of Araby

Laura of Arabia

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 10:06 AM (nbrY/)

153 Mindful webworker:

I have read somewhere that from a "sourcing and number of specific references to" point of view, which is how historians catalogue and seek to prove the authorship and veracity of ancient documents, the four Gospels are by a factor of 100, by far the most well-sourced and proven documents we have from ancient days.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 10:07 AM (QWtgr)

154 I will give the Matt Helm books a listen, I stay at home with my son and I can only stand soo much Mickey Mouse and kiddy songs so I have some wireless headphones and listen to books.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 10:07 AM (c4yY7)

155 I'll raise you the opening line in Steel Beach by John Varley: "In five years the penis will become obsolete."
Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 27, 2016 08:27 AM (u82oZ)
---
I used to be a big fan of Varley but started to cool on him after Mammoth. It just seemed that he was trading in his pansexual intergalactic freaky-deaky for ideology. Not nearly as fun! Anybody read his more recent stuff? Is Slow Apocalypse worth my time?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 10:07 AM (jR7Wy)

156 Just finished "Yesterday's Hero" by Johnathon Wood. It's the follow-up to "No Hero". It follows much in the vein of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter books. This time a police detective ends up joining MI37, the british secret agency that deals with the supernatural. If you the monster hunter books, you will probably enjoy these.

Posted by: Darth Randall at March 27, 2016 10:07 AM (6n332)

157 Anybody here who did not have a relative in the Expeditionary Force? Six degrees of Pershing! That's how generations work, I guess.

After The War, Pershing was responsible for the still-beautiful US cemeteries in Europe, and received a godlike reverence. Then he was tarred with Haig and "The Generals" for a generation. Now, and I'm afraid largely because of that pigskin thing, he's well-thought-of again. Who has the Pershing biography collection?

He and his command structure certainly did learn from the Mexican adventure, even though it did not pan out, probably some lessons that saved lives and assured victory in The War. Maybe the biggest thing (other than my Big Lesson, that you can't contain an insurgency if you can't backstop it), is that filmic literary character of Villa (see Scaramouche above), a lovable scamp who's been reviva!fied again and again as Sandino, Castro, Che, Abbie, Bernie, ad nauseam. Robin Hood in a Mel Blanc sombrero. Si!

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:09 AM (xq1UY)

158 63 Non-book announcement: For those of you that are interested, I have a chess thread in the can and ready to go for later on today. I'm hoping it put it up around 5-6pm Eastern Time, assuming I can get a time slot.
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:55 AM (mcEz5)


Before you post it, did you see zombie's comment about Go yesterday?

http://acecomments.mu.nu/?blog=86&post=362373#c25058288

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 10:09 AM (sdi6R)

159 152 151 If he had been a regular guy instead of some Oxford/Cambridge hoity toity they've had called him Larry of Arabia.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:05 AM (aXzL9)


--

Larry of Araby

Laura of Arabia

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 10:06 AM (nbrY/)
---
Or, per MAD Magazine, Florence of Arabia.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 10:10 AM (jR7Wy)

160 @142 So the Matt HelmJames Bond books are serious?I never liked the campy movies.
_____________
Fixed like a shelter puppy.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:13 AM (xq1UY)

161 Has anybody read DAY OF WRATH by the guy who wrote ONE SECOND AFTER, I don't know if I can read a book about ISIS attacking schools and Highways across the country.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 10:13 AM (c4yY7)

162 I hope Gone With the Zombies is as fun as Bimbos of the Death Sun


Posted by: Anna Puma at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM (2s5VM)
_________
Add 'Zombies of the Gene Pool' to that hope. Found those two Sharyn McCrumb books in one of my periodic attempted purging of shelves and stacks (why did I keep that book?) in the Spring when I don't need them as much for insulation (cold-weather joke). Will reread those today.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 27, 2016 10:18 AM (MIKMs)

163 OK, so now I'm all off on Brit area bombing. One of the reasons the Nuremburg raid was so costly was a new Kraut weapons configuration. Formerly fighter guns oriented forward so you aimed your plane at the target. This allowed for only a brief burst. The new alignment was forward but upward at perhaps a 75 degree angle. The idea was to shadow a bomber from beneath (where the fighter was very difficult to see against the dark Earth), line up on a wing fuel tank or engine and just hose canon shell in. The Kraut name for this was a pun, Schraege Musick. Krauts called jazz Schraege Musick literally meaning slanted music.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:18 AM (aXzL9)

164 Reading some of the reviews of the Matt Helm books and some people put Warnings about it being Sexist and Racist, so it must be a good book.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 10:19 AM (c4yY7)

165 160 I understood that the Bond books were different.Though the earlier Bond films aren't as campy.

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 10:19 AM (B48dK)

166 Thanks, OregonMuse, for some good stuff we all needed to hear. And Happy Easter.

Posted by: Skookumchuk at March 27, 2016 10:19 AM (/WPPJ)

167 Bomber by Deighton was indeed an epic read.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 10:19 AM (QWtgr)

168 Lately I have been of a slightly apocalyptic bent, since I think regardless of victor this November we are boned. With that in mind, for those of you of a prepper mindset, knowledge is power and a sharp mind is a lethal weapon.

While a bit dated, Rex Applegate spent much of WWII teaching nice older folk to kill people with their bare hands and slit throats and such for the Office of Strategic Services and other government agencies. Kept teaching until old age got him in the 1990s. His book Kill or Get Killed can be had cheaply and is still a good introductory text.

Still, firearms trump hands and knives, so I would recommend the lavishly illustrated Green Eyes and Black Rifles: A Warrior's Guide to the Combat Carbine and the companion volume Stay In The Fight: A Warrior's Guide to the Handgun from Sergeant Major Kyle Lamb. He was an assault section leader for the US Army Combat Applications Group (Airborne), also known as the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta.

The flip side of that, for those of you who know jack and shit about firearms, is one of the best single-volume firearms reference texts ever written. Boston's Gun Bible. I used to correspond with the author a bit and some small improvements I suggested were in the 2005 edition. He's rather burned out on the whole thing now and seems to have dug a hole and pulled it in on himself, but the book is still available. Time and ammo improvements have largely discounted his reliance on the 7.62mm NATO a least in the shorter ranged East, and the .40 SW is fading fast, but there is still a lot of good material for the price.

Posted by: Colonel Kurtz at March 27, 2016 10:20 AM (5KnLL)

169 From all my reading Arabs, Afghans and Turks talk a good game about how being ghey is haram, but in daily practice not so much.
Read The Reaper, the last chapter is a hoot.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 10:20 AM (fizMZ)

170 IIRC, the the photo was taken at a homeless shelter.


Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM


Ugh, boy do I feel like a jerk. I thought it was a Norman Rockwell-like picture...did not know it was an actual photo of a real child.

God bless that little boy, and I hope his life is much happier now.

Posted by: Giveitup at March 27, 2016 10:22 AM (E6RIJ)

171 I have stacks of books on Russian history, most of which I have read. Some I haven't, and sometimes I can't remember which ones I read and which ones I didn't.

Doesn't matter now. It was interesting to me when I was reading about a distant land, with a strange history and culture. Now that it's coming to my own land, I can't see the point in reading about it.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:23 AM (Dj0WE)

172 If you use a VPN you can use public WiFi because it encrypts you signal so other cant snoop on what you're doing.

I use it to get around Sports Blackouts and Popcorntime so I can screw Hollywood wood.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 10:23 AM (c4yY7)

173
Speaking of hoity toity brit names, I always liked the first name, St. John, which is pronounced Sin Gin.

Then there is Harold Philby, aka Kim which is pronounced, Dirty Fkn Commie Asshole.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:23 AM (iQIUe)

174 Posted by: Colonel Kurtz at March 27, 2016 10:20 AM (5KnLL)

You are making me want to start a new book list - Guns, Knives, Bare Hands - books on weapons and killing.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 10:23 AM (nbrY/)

175 My youngest daughter LOVES the Warrior books. I've only read the first six. They have been around for quite a while, but mostly in the older kid genre. "Erin Hunter" is actually a team of writers, not sure how many.

Posted by: Nancy at 7000 feet CO at March 27, 2016 10:24 AM (JreH3)

176 RE: Tin Lizzie Tropp, instead of a comedy, Hollywood did this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053351/

Posted by: setnaffa at March 27, 2016 10:24 AM (1qXzU)

177 BurtTC I've always lived Russian history, mostly as a off shoot of my Napoleoic fascination.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 10:25 AM (fizMZ)

178 In the book, it was Denver.


Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 27, 2016 10:29 AM (1ijHg)

179 When I was book purging a few years ago I found some college books, including "The Communist Parties of Eastern Europe" and "Eastern Europe in the 1980s".

I thought I was just wonky and following the obscure and permanent goings on behind the Iron Curtain. I had no idea that what I was studying wouldn't survive the decade.

It was a funny feeling to look at those books with 30 years of hindsight.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 10:30 AM (1xUj/)

180 Before you post it, did you see zombie's comment about Go yesterday?
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?blog=86post=362373#c25058288

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 10:09 AM (sdi6R)


Thank your for tipping me to this. Zombie provided a wealth of material that I'm not going to have time to comment on, other than to link to it.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 10:30 AM (mcEz5)

181 Mention of the Jungle Book stories reminded me that I'm assembling a collection of classic children's books, preferably with original art and sometimes annotated. Charlotte's Web (EB White apparently could not write poorly), Alice In Wonderland, Winnie The Pooh books, Wind In The Willows, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and others. I dip into them once in a while. They are often just charming, which suits me, and aren't the 'see Spot run' crap we got in kindergarten. Have to add the Jungle Book to the pile.

Never read Watership Down. Is it worth adding to the list?

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 10:31 AM (FvdPb)

182 Since it's Easter I order "Drinking with the Saints"

crawl your way through the sacred seasons with this entertaining and useful collection of cocktail recipes, distilled
spirits, beer, and wine for virtually every occasion on the Catholic liturgical calendar. One part bartender's guide, one part spiritual manual, a dash of irreverence, and mixed with love:

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at March 27, 2016 10:32 AM (c4yY7)

183 Happy Easter! Alleluia!

Posted by: Farmer Bob at March 27, 2016 10:33 AM (sqpGi)

184 Warership Down is excellent.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 10:33 AM (QWtgr)

185 Never read Watership Down. Is it worth adding to the list?

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 10:31 AM (FvdPb)
_______
No. Veeerrrry long adult book.
My favorite is 'Just So Stories' with the woodcuts.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 27, 2016 10:36 AM (MIKMs)

186 >>>184 Warership Down is excellent.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 10:33 AM (QWtgr)

Second this. I didn't read it until I was in my thirties, and was so glad I had found it.

Posted by: m at March 27, 2016 10:37 AM (S/1cF)

187 Or, per MAD Magazine, Florence of Arabia.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 10:10 AM (jR7Wy)

******

I'm not sure whether I should be frightened or encouraged that your comment woke up the little clump of cells in my brain that remembers reading that decades ago.

Now if I can just remember where I put my reading glasses . . . .

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 27, 2016 10:37 AM (NqQAS)

188
Have any of you tackled A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell? It's a 12 volume set. I read one volume and the guide to the full set. It is a gossipy roman a clef of all the 20th cen. brit movers and shakers. Pretty much proves the rich do what they damn please. The BBC made a mini series of it staring James Purfoy and a very naked and very lovely Miranda Richardson. One sad scene is when the hero relates the loses of WW1 by naming all the fathers in his village who died. The names went on and on...

The book also has the painter, Augustus John, as a character. John is said to have 100 illegitimate children, including one by Ian Fleming's mom. His portraits are famous, including the one of TE Lawrence. Great painter - randy old bastard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_John

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:38 AM (iQIUe)

189 In my opinion, Len Deighton's best work is his 10-book Bernard Samson series (Game/Set/Match, Hook/Line/Sinker, Faith/Hope/Charity plus the prequel Winter). It's some of the best literary espionage writing ever.

Posted by: cool breeze at March 27, 2016 10:39 AM (ckvus)

190 Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 27, 2016 10:37 AM (NaqQAS)
---
To this day I can see Florence twirling around in his flouncy white robes singing "I fell pretty, oh so pretty"...

I've tried finding a link to the MAD article but no success.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 10:40 AM (jR7Wy)

191
If medieval housewives could make lots of ale by just pouring hot water thru barley and allowing it to ferment overnight (saw it on Time Team), I dont see why we cant do the same.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:40 AM (iQIUe)

192 Reading The Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole-- highly entertaining, especially for gamers-- folloe it with his Wasteland Series and Ctl Alt Del-- fantastic writer and highly recommended

Posted by: tomc at March 27, 2016 10:41 AM (2SwnW)

193 @173 Yes!
And Lawrence, of all people, called SinJin Philby (Kim's dad) the most amoral man he had ever met. Imagine that.

Look, I know Michener is not real Literature, but I had to wade through The Source in high school, so, this. Among many! other things, Michener asserted that the underlying cause of Brit pro-Muslim bias in "The Palestine" was that those silky limbs and flimsy burnooses (burneese?) were far more attractive to a certain bent of English officers than your average Jew boy. A shocker at the time, and clearly Michener had never met the better class of Jewish gays.

Seven Faces of Islam, there's little doubt that "sympathy" for that "culture" began first with "officers of a certain bent," more than merely ironic when you look at who's getting off-roofed these days. Things you just don't see coming.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:41 AM (xq1UY)

194
Dont make fun of TE! How many of you attacked Turks with nothing but a rifle and a camel?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:42 AM (iQIUe)

195 BurtTC I've always lived Russian history, mostly as a off shoot of my Napoleoic fascination.
Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 10:25 AM (fizMZ)


I got started because I thought the story of the Czar and his family was so fascinating.


There is so much one can delve into, I think if I was to recommend a starting point for someone with little knowledge of Russians history, it would be Peter the Great, by Robert K. Massie.


Such a massive undertaking, to characterize ol' Pete's efforts to drag Russia, kicking and screaming, into Europe. It is the bridge between an old medieval culture, and whatever the heck Russia became, in its commie days and now.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:42 AM (Dj0WE)

196 I got started because I thought the story of the Czar and his family was so fascinating.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:42 AM (Dj0WE)


I mean the last one, the guy who was lined up with his family and shot by the savages who ruled (and more or less still rule) that land after the the Czars.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (Dj0WE)

197
Maybe the biggest thing (other than my Big Lesson, that you can't contain an insurgency if you can't backstop it), is that filmic literary character of Villa (see Scaramouche above), a lovable scamp who's been reviva!fied again and again as Sandino, Castro, Che, Abbie, Bernie, ad nauseam. Robin Hood in a Mel Blanc sombrero. Si!

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:09 AM (xq1UY)








Villa was nothing but a gang thug who latched onto the Revolution early on because he recognized the potential for power and personal profit in the chaos.

On my Mom's side of the family, my great-great-grandfather died early in the Revolution, in 1910. A widower at that time, he had sent his children across the border into Texas about a month before his death, while he worked and watched the family holdings in Durango (he worked for the railroad, and owned a small silver mine). Yeah, I'm pretty sure he knew what was coming.

Anyway, Pancho Villa's men came through Durango on a raiding campaign, and family legend was always that Villa himself shot my GGGF while he was checking on the family mine. I've since found out the family legend was somewhat exaggerated, as Villa himself was far to the north in Chihuahua at the time. But the raids were true. Apparently, Villa joined the Revolution under another leader in Chihuahua, but he wanted to be El Jefe. So the raids were sent down south to embarrass the leader who couldn't control his own troops.

Stories differ on how my GGGF really died, but the now accepted version in the family is that he was gutshot by raiders at the mine, barricaded himself inside and died horribly and alone several days later of pneumonia or peritonitis.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (o98Jz)

198 To this day I can see Florence twirling around in his flouncy white robes singing "I fell pretty, oh so pretty"...

I've tried finding a link to the MAD article but no success.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 10:40 AM (jR7Wy)

****

Yes! That's exactly the scene that sticks in my mind, too!

I may have to do some digging about. Seems like I remember that there's a MAD magazine archive somewhere on the interwebs.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (NqQAS)

199 Just finished the post and heading into comments.

Most memorable line from the post:

I'm just going to copy and paste the e-mail because I'm lazy...

Yup. Just another jam-packed lazy post today.

Posted by: mindful webworker on an Easter morning at March 27, 2016 10:46 AM (7imgO)

200 Just saying "Hi" so I can join the goodreads group. Thanks!

Posted by: crockett54 at March 27, 2016 10:46 AM (8lQkB)

201 Two possibly related Easter stories.

From Drudge: A free Easter egg hunt turns violent when adults storm the field stealing eggs and trampling children.

From WZ: AG Loretta Lynch threatens courts if they continue to enforce the law in minority communities.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:47 AM (/qW5H)

202 @194 It was a Webley and a camel, and in all the excitement, he shot his own camel square through the head. Pitched off, knocked out, awoke to victory.

And then quoted Burton.
"For Lord, I was free of all thy flowers,
But I chose the world's sad roses
Wherefore my feet are torn and bloody
And mine eyes grow dim with sweat."

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:48 AM (xq1UY)

203 I mean the last one, the guy who was lined up with his family and shot by the savages who ruled (and more or less still rule) that land after the the Czars.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (Dj0WE)


Nicholas II.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/nicholas.htm

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 10:48 AM (mcEz5)

204 I saw this video the other night linked at Transterrestrial Musings. It's apparently been around for awhile, but I've never seen it before. David and Ben Crystal performing Shakespeare in the pronunciation that was common in Elizabethan England, which they call Original Pronunciation, or OP. It's about ten minutes long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

To my untrained ear, it does indeed sound like it's about halfway between the English of Chaucer and modern English. Which makes perfect sense, given the time frame.

Then I found this 1 1/2 hour video on YouTube of Ben giving a lecture on Shakespeare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FF5K8VlcRI

I was never an English or theater major, but I found it nearly riveting. As he mentions, it does sound a bit like pirate talk.

On the other hand, he says that Shakespeare was never intended to be read in the pages of a book, but spoken and heard. So maybe this doesn't belong on the book thread after all.

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 10:49 AM (sdi6R)

205 Hi, ya'll.

I read Patty Jay's short story. Now I'm depressed.

Posted by: Captain Whitebread On The All-Night Request Line at March 27, 2016 10:51 AM (rJUlF)

206 No regrets rickl, there will be a Drama thread along any minute.
They are all Drama threads now.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 10:53 AM (xq1UY)

207 Thanks for mentioning my story, Oregon Muse, and thanks for reading it. Yes, there is a hobo reference!

Posted by: Patty Jay at March 27, 2016 10:54 AM (cHuNI)

208

On the other hand, he says that Shakespeare was never intended to be read in the pages of a book, but spoken and heard.

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 10:49 AM (sdi6R)







I've always liked the idea that Will was actually writing for the masses, strictly as pop culture entertainment for the stage, with no thought given to the plays' ultimate role in human history, he just wanted to show his audience a good time. Essentially, it's saying that William Shakespeare was the Michael Bay of his time.

Which certainly twists lefty academic douchebags into a knot.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 27, 2016 10:54 AM (o98Jz)

209 Good morning morons and happy Easter!

He is risen indeed!

Didn't even read the news this week, just stories about Jesus. But it kept getting all dusty and hard to read.

Plans with family and friends today. That's a good thing.

Be off good cheer!
Love each other!

... eat little chocolate eggs!

Posted by: Sugar Plum Fairy #176-671 at March 27, 2016 10:55 AM (9f3NM)

210 One of my favorite books, perhaps the one I enjoy the most, is Ross Lockridge, Jr.'s "Raintree County". A day in the life John Shawnessy, interspersed with a series of flashbacks revealing the important events of his life. A wild, somewhat chaotic novel, like the 19th century America in which the story unfolds.

Forget the movie.

On another note, this article from the NY Post popped up on my Yahoo News page. Worth a post tomorrow, I think. Pure hell for retailers, for sure.
LINK: http://preview.tinyurl.com/jn6ovw6

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 10:56 AM (JBggj)

211 I mean the last one, the guy who was lined up with his family and shot by the savages who ruled (and more or less still rule) that land after the the Czars.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (Dj0WE)

Nicholas II.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/nicholas.htm
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 10:48 AM (mcEz5)


I think it is Massie's '96 book, The Romanovs, where he describes in gruesome detail how they were buried, and discovered some several decades later, by a person who had to wait another 20 years or so before he could say anything.


Or that may have been another source. I have read a ton on this stuff, hard to keep track of it.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:56 AM (Dj0WE)

212 Damn, that Erin Hunter wiki makes it very clear this was a remarkably cynical enterprise to cash in on the 'too many cats' people out there in growing numbers. Why should Petsmart get all of the action?

Posted by: Epobirs at March 27, 2016 10:58 AM (IdCqF)

213 I was never an English or theater major, but I found it nearly riveting. As he mentions, it does sound a bit like pirate talk.

-
Are you sure it's not just that he talks like a fag and his shits all retarded?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 10:59 AM (/qW5H)

214 I've always liked the idea that Will was actually writing for the masses, strictly as pop culture entertainment for the stage, with no thought given to the plays' ultimate role in human history, he just wanted to show his audience a good time. Essentially, it's saying that William Shakespeare was the Michael Bay of his time.

Which certainly twists lefty academic douchebags into a knot.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 27, 2016 10:54 AM (o98Jz)


Heh... I just might have to give Pearl Harbor, the movie, a go. I wouldn't to miss out on the most culturally significant butchering of history, in our own time.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:59 AM (Dj0WE)

215 The Romanovs would have survived if the Brits had taken them in.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:59 AM (iQIUe)

216 Will go back and read the comments. But wanted to mention Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner. She was brought up Jewish but converted to Christianity. She talks about the structures of community that she finds lacking in Christian life. It's interesting. She clearly loves both religions and I can understand how the Jewish community has been able to survive so well.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 27, 2016 10:59 AM (Lqy/e)

217 I hate these stupid conspiracy stories that Shakespeare did not write his material.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:00 AM (iQIUe)

218 There's a reason why the democrats don't like immigrants from former communist countries, and why south and central america are so attractive to them.

They know that those from south of the border still believe in communism, and will vote it in.

Posted by: Brendan at March 27, 2016 11:00 AM (gkvx9)

219 Since both TE Lawrence and St.-John Philby have been mentioned, I now feel honor-bound to bring up Tim Powers's novel _Declare_. It's a supernatural spy thriller involving Kim Philby and the ongoing Russian vs. British secret occult war in the Middle East. Absolutely brilliant and refreshingly non-revisionist: the Soviets are absolutely the bad guys

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:00 AM (btf0A)

220 #204

When Kenneth Branagh cast one of his Shakespeare movies with mostly American actors, he said it was a conscious decision after he learned that modern American pronunciation was actually closer to Elizabethan era English than that of modern Brits.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 27, 2016 11:01 AM (IdCqF)

221 In the vein of your "The Tin Lizzie Troop" I recommend looking for "Tom Mix and Pancho Villa"
by Clifford Irving. I read that years ago and thought it was a well done quasi-historical Western. For a while it was on Kindle at a great price, but I haven't researched it lately.


http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/0312808879

Posted by: Hrothgar at March 27, 2016 11:03 AM (wYnyS)

222 When Kenneth Branagh cast one of his Shakespeare movies with mostly American actors, he said it was a conscious decision after he learned that modern American pronunciation was actually closer to Elizabethan era English than that of modern Brits.
Posted by: Epobirs at March 27, 2016 11:01 AM (IdCqF)


I can't fake a non-American accent to save my life. My attempts at sounding "British" tend to occur when I clench my teeth, and try to talk like someone who is getting a prostate exam.


It never occurred to me before, that might be somewhat accurate. We might be onto something here.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:04 AM (Dj0WE)

223 LOL... apparently i'm poasting form north central Kansas, near the Nebraska boarder...

which is totally far enough away from The Valley, fer sure, security wise.

as for reading, i'm pretty sure i've suggested this one before, but Heights of Courage, the story of how Oz 77 saved the state and people of Israel at the start of the Yom Kippur war is a helluva read, IMHO.


http://archive.org/stream/heightsofcourage007500mbp#page/n3/mode/2up

Posted by: redc1c4 at March 27, 2016 11:05 AM (U+dIE)

224 >>>Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:45 AM

Ugh, boy do I feel like a jerk. I thought it was a Norman Rockwell-like picture...did not know it was an actual photo of a real child.

God bless that little boy, and I hope his life is much happier now.
Posted by: Giveitup at March 27, 2016 10:22 AM (E6RIJ)

No worries, G! It IS a Norman-Rockwell0like picture. *Animal* shelter, not *homeless* shelter:

http://tinyurl.com/ncl2fxp

Posted by: m at March 27, 2016 11:05 AM (S/1cF)

225 218 There's a reason why the democrats don't like immigrants from former communist countries, and why south and central america are so attractive to them.

They know that those from south of the border still believe in communism, and will vote it in.

Posted by: Brendan at March 27, 2016 11:00 AM (gkvx9)


Excellent point. And so obvious.

Off to Easter service, bbl. He is risen indeed!

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 11:05 AM (mcEz5)

226 Once you've done the Whan That Aprille drill and overcome the Great Vowel Shift, you can speak everyday modern English and baffle almost anyone. I had a drama prof who'd trod the boards with Barrymore, and did a great imitation of him, drunk, ad-libbing Elizabethan nonsense when he'd forgotten his lines. It had no meaning whatever, and when he was done you'd swear you'd heard something profound.

FWIW the best line you can know from the General Prologue is "Bifel that in that seasoun, on a day, In Southwark at The Tabard, as I lay..."

Because everybody knows it up to there (That hem hath holpen whan that they were sicke). They stop, you do that one set, and then say, "What? You don't know the other 17000 lines?" And they're all like, Dude.

No doubt someone here does know the other 17000.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:05 AM (xq1UY)

227 I mean the last one, the guy who was lined up with his family and shot by the savages who ruled (and more or less still rule) that land after the the Czars.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 10:44 AM (Dj0WE)


Well, it's Russia. Whaddya gonna do. The execution of the last tsar and his family was only one act in about 1100 years or so of murder, mayhem and massacres. Sometimes it was the people who got it in the neck, sometimes it was their rulers. Sometimes both. The Romanovs were pretty brutal, but their predecessors (the House of Rurik) were no bunch of choirboys either, and their successors (the House of Lenin) have actually been worse.

Posted by: HTL at March 27, 2016 11:05 AM (NAWno)

228 Whenever someone starts blathering about how Marlowe or Bacon or the Earl of Oxford "really" wrote Shakespeare's plays I like to counter with the suggestion that maybe those people simply hired Will Shakespeare to ghostwrite their own stuff. That explains any similarities and is considerably more plausible. (Though anyone who thinks Marlowe = Shakespeare needs to read _The Jew of Malta_ and _The Merchant of Venice_ back to back.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:07 AM (btf0A)

229 The Romanovs would have survived if the Brits had taken them in.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:59 AM (iQIUe)


Some fault the British royals for not working on taking them in. I think the short-sightedness of that attitude is that no one, no matter how brutal their thinking, thought the Russian commies would be that ruthless and actually kill them. It was always assumed there was time for them to be allowed to quietly leave.


Unfortunately for the family, their fate just happened to be in the hands of unmitigated evil.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:07 AM (Dj0WE)

230 OM - never thought of that about no love for East Euro's

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 11:08 AM (fizMZ)

231
From WZ: AG Loretta Lynch threatens courts if they continue to enforce the law in minority communities.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks


It's like the restorative justice/no punishment for infractions in public schools. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at March 27, 2016 11:09 AM (FkBIv)

232 This week I must replenish the kindle. Power was off middle of last week and the pickings on hand were slim. I ended up reading a freebie I had downloaded long ago by Grace Livingston-Hill. I'm not sure how to describe it, maybe an early version of Christian romance. It occupied a few hours and I would not harshly pan the author but I'm not going to get any more of her books.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 27, 2016 11:09 AM (3kUGE)

233 From everything I've read about Nicholas II and his mulish stupidity, I can't really work up much indignation that the Bolsheviks buried him in a shallow grave. That's about the only thing the commies got right.

How bad was he? As the commies proceeded to demonstrate, a self-destructive oligarchy of fanatics, gangsters, and lunatics was actually a more effective government than the Romanov monarchy.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:09 AM (btf0A)

234 The alternate authorship of Shakspr has largely fallen away as incontrovertible evidence has arisen that he was gay. Now he's as real as Julius Caesar, also gay.

Listen, "Pearl Harbor" is nothing compared to what Slick Willy did with Hollinshed's Chronicles. If you look up "Fawning Courtier," he's about third on the list, of the English ones anyway. And he kept his head on his shoulders.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:10 AM (xq1UY)

235 One of the Romanov clan made it to my little hamlet in the early 1900's and was a shoe repair man, he's buried near my great grandfather.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 11:10 AM (fizMZ)

236 Since both TE Lawrence and St.-John Philby have been mentioned, I now feel honor-bound to bring up Tim Powers's novel _Declare_. It's a supernatural spy thriller involving Kim Philby and the ongoing Russian vs. British secret occult war in the Middle East. Absolutely brilliant and refreshingly non-revisionist: the Soviets are absolutely the bad guys

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:00 AM (btf0A)


I agree. Tim Powers' Declare is great. Highly recommended.

Posted by: cool breeze at March 27, 2016 11:11 AM (ckvus)

237 Whenever someone starts blathering about how Marlowe or Bacon or the Earl of Oxford "really" wrote Shakespeare's plays I like to counter with the suggestion that maybe those people simply hired Will Shakespeare to ghostwrite their own stuff. That explains any similarities and is considerably more plausible. (Though anyone who thinks Marlowe = Shakespeare needs to read _The Jew of Malta_ and _The Merchant of Venice_ back to back.)
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:07 AM (btf0A)


I don't get into any of that nonsense, and tend to figure it comes from the notion that Willy couldn't possibly have been a literary genius, because he didn't go to any of the best schools.


Same sort of elitist crep that permeates so much of what passes for wisdom, now and then.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:11 AM (Dj0WE)

238 158
63 Non-book announcement: For those of you that are interested, I
have a chess thread in the can and ready to go for later on today. I'm
hoping it put it up around 5-6pm Eastern Time, assuming I can get a time
slot.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 08:55 AM (mcEz5)



Before you post it, did you see zombie's comment about Go yesterday?


Back in the day, there was in interesting article in the Mathematical Recreations column of Scientific American about a variant of chess played on a go board called gess.

Gess is kind of a reduced instruction set chess. Each piece is made up of a 3x3 square of the go board. The location of the stones within that 3x3 square indicates in which direction the piece can move and by how far (if the center square holds a stone, the piece can move as far as possible; if it's empty, the piece can move one square).

Making a move in gess involves selecting the piece you want to move (the 3x3 squares are not rigidly defined), then moving it. To win, you have to capture all the opponents king (and the opponent can make more of them).

I've forgotten how capturing works and have completely lost my copy of the issue. Google was fruitless last time I tried.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 27, 2016 11:12 AM (B1rg0)

239 For 'All Hail Eris' and 'Elinor':


It's 'Flawrence of Arabia', not Florence.


http://preview.tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp

Posted by: Zombie T.E. Lawrence at March 27, 2016 11:13 AM (vz3Qd)

240 I'm mixed on the Czars faults, Russia was such a backward empire it was ripe for change, it turned out the change was worse.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 11:13 AM (fizMZ)

241 I think I mentioned before that I picked up The Well Educated Mind. I'm using it to guide my reading a bit. I feel like there are too many classic books that I have missed out on. I started with Surprised by Joy by Lewis.

But I wanted to thank the person that mentioned the Iliad, Lattimore translation. I'd never heard of this translation and it's wonderful. In fact, I think it would be great for a teenage boy, as there's lots of action and fighting. It's next up on my list.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 27, 2016 11:13 AM (Lqy/e)

242 From everything I've read about Nicholas II and his mulish stupidity, I can't really work up much indignation that the Bolsheviks buried him in a shallow grave. That's about the only thing the commies got right.

How bad was he? As the commies proceeded to demonstrate, a self-destructive oligarchy of fanatics, gangsters, and lunatics was actually a more effective government than the Romanov monarchy.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:09 AM (btf0A)


I can understand having no sympathy for him, but it's nowhere near fair to compare the detached brutality of Czarist Russia from the active, in your face, micromanaging evil that was/is Russian communism.


It's really the difference between an uncle who occasionally shows up on holidays and beats or rapes you, and living in a household where not only your father, but your older brothers beat and rape you, and your sisters all tell them where you are hiding.


Not excusing the uncle, but good grief, it's not the same thing.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:15 AM (Dj0WE)

243 #201

From WZ: AG Loretta Lynch threatens courts if they continue to enforce the law in minority communities.
==============

That's the story (NY Post), I linked in #210. Eye popping.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:16 AM (JBggj)

244 Another look at Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind"?

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:18 AM (JBggj)

245 Lurker on the Sunday morning book thread, but I would like to plug my own publication on the end of Communism called 1989: Dawn of Freedom. It is a board game not a book, but it is sold in bookstores. It has been published in 6 languages, including in Poland by the Institute of National Remembrance. It is a fun game and a useful teaching tool. It has been used as course materials in university courses on the subject, but it can be played by kids. Please check it out.

Posted by: Ted Torgerson at March 27, 2016 11:18 AM (LeofH)

246 Didn't Dean Martin play Matt Helm and sing about the moon in the sky being a big pizza pie?

Posted by: Grampa Jimbo at March 27, 2016 08:10 AM (1ijHg)



Yes, he was America's Number One Loaded Weapon.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 27, 2016 11:19 AM (45oDG)

247 I did a post a couple of weeks ago on Tsar Alexander II who was the last reformer tsar. He was assassinated by proto-commies and succeeded by a Tsar who reversed most of his reforms.

http://www.bookhorde.org/2016/03/Tsar-Alexander-2.html

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 11:20 AM (nbrY/)

248 As for me, and I say this as a former protestant, I could never imagine again living without the unimaginable gift of receiving Jesus Christ Body Blood Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. There is no Christian belief more strongly supported in Scripture and Tradition. All the early Church Fathers unanimously attest to the Real Presence.

It is a tragedy beyond measure that the Church of the past five decades has failed to communicate this vital Truth, and so many others, in a foolish attempt to placate the world through the eschewing of "hard sayings." The Church has been thoroughly penetrated by leftists and the cost to souls has been incalculable. The present pope is simply the apoth of this phenomenon. Thank God our Blessed Lord warned us of such times, and is always present for us in the tabernacle.

These are the times that try men's souls. As Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, OCD said, however, it is easy to have faith when all is well. It is the true measure of faith to remain when the skies darken and all seems, if not lost, at least trending very badly.

Resurrexit Sicut Dixit, Alleluia!
Quia Surrexit Dominus Vere, Alleluia!

Posted by: Tantumblogo at March 27, 2016 11:20 AM (neool)

249
The tzar's SIL who gave it all up, joined a convent and fed the poor, also ended up being thrown down a mine shaft and left to die.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:22 AM (iQIUe)

250 Thanks to those who recommended Watership Down. I'll pick up a copy but not for the children's lit pile. I have a very vague memory that the book and cartoon movie were popular with the later Hippie types. Sort of the same way they latched onto Hobbits in the 1960s. Or maybe not.

Posted by: JTB at March 27, 2016 11:23 AM (FvdPb)

251 "For fiction, you might like Bomber by Len Deighton"

Let me also echo this endorsement.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 27, 2016 11:25 AM (noWW6)

252 The tzar's SIL who gave it all up, joined a convent and fed the poor, also ended up being thrown down a mine shaft and left to die.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:22 AM (iQIUe)


Well sure, it's that icky religion stuff. We can't have that now, can we.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:25 AM (Dj0WE)

253 It's 'Flawrence of Arabia', not Florence.


http://preview.tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp
Posted by: Zombie T.E. Lawrence



OMG that was fantastic. 1964 is about six years before I found Mad Magazine. The style of movie parody remained, but I don't remember artwork quite that exact. The 70s were more charicature.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 11:25 AM (1xUj/)

254 #233

How bad was he? As the commies proceeded to demonstrate, a
self-destructive oligarchy of fanatics, gangsters, and lunatics was
actually a more effective government than the Romanov monarchy.
==============

Most of the historians I read made the point that the 9 years from 1905-1914 witnessed a strong expansion of the Russian economy, accompanied by an expansion of the Russian middle class.

The outbreak of world war in 1914 put an end to that.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:26 AM (JBggj)

255 whatismyipaddress put me in the middle of Graceland Cemetery. Is it trying to tell me something?

Posted by: CrustyB at March 27, 2016 11:26 AM (Hnglq)

256 Posted by: Zombie T.E. Lawrence at March 27, 2016 11:13 AM (vz3Qd)
---
Thank you thank you thank you, Zombie T.E. Lawrence! I will send two of my most limber and accommodating pool boys over with pitchers of ice cold lemon squash!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 11:26 AM (jR7Wy)

257 Posted by: Trimegistus at March 27, 2016 11:07 AM (btf0A)

I had a friend who is convinced Shakespeare was really the Earl of Oxford, and he has some good arguments, but as he notes-there's no smoking gun on this/ I just continue to enjoy Shakespeare's plays and poemsy whoever wrote them. My son is reading "Julius Caesar" for his 10th grade English class. My mother was an English professor so I was exposed to Shakespeare from an early age. 10th grade, however, was the first time I read parts of a play outloud to a group. I played Cassius. That's what started my interest in acting and I performed in several Shakespeare plays and directed some. My son has NOT inherited the acting gene. Ah well!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (w4NZ8)

258

Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow.

Highly recommended. Not his typical work.

http://alturl.com/2y758

Posted by: Frankly at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (VYjW8)

259 whatismyipaddress put me in the middle of Graceland Cemetery. Is it trying to tell me something?

-
Stay away from fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (/qW5H)

260 Remember Anastasia? In the 60's there was a cult of Romanov trivia, including a pretender survivor. It was non-partisan: conservatives liked the idea, and Readers Digest picked up any number of articles about the whole folderol. Anastasia became a meme-name, like for the dark-circle-eyed proto-barista beatnik chicks in Jules Feiffer cartoons.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (xq1UY)

261 Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 11:25 AM (1xUj/)
---
Mort Drucker is a personal god of mine. MAD used to do reprints so I was well read in the compleat MAD canon.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 11:29 AM (jR7Wy)

262 Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:22 AM (iQIUe)

Yes; I've been reading about her. An Orthodox church in NJ I saw the other day on my travels is named after her.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:29 AM (w4NZ8)

263 A lot of westerners rushed off to St Petersburg bc it was a big commie adventure. Emma Goldman saw the bolshies slaughter the anarchists and got the hell out of dodge. That plus the civil war with mass slaughters and the disease killing even more, what a hell hole.

A lot of it was about sex. Churchill's cousin, Clare Sheridan, a sculptress, rushed over there and did sculptures of all the leaders and boinked them, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Sheridan

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:31 AM (iQIUe)

264 Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (xq1UY)

Yes, it's a play and was made into a movie with Ingrid Bergman. When I was in high school in the 70's Ii read a book my a man who thought the person really was Anastasia,, but since then DNA testing has proved she was not. They were all wiped out by the Communists.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:32 AM (w4NZ8)

265

What a depressing day.

Posted by: This IS Hell at March 27, 2016 11:32 AM (KId5h)

266 is this the place i should mention this? ... i don't really know... it doesn't matter one way or the other of course... but

an original hand written manuscript by arthur conan doyle, "the adventure of the greek interpreter", which has the first appearance of sherlock holmes' brother mycroft, is coming up at bonham's auction house next month with a number of other unique doyle works.

he has a remarkably fine script.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 27, 2016 11:33 AM (WTSFk)

267 ... i bring it up because holmes has been mentioned here before and he has a dedicated following.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 27, 2016 11:34 AM (WTSFk)

268 Happy Easter back atcha, FenelonSpoke.

Just noticed my hash contains verboten phrase i-m-g, so when quoted back it comes out 7___O - never saw that one before.

Sharkman: ...the four Gospels are by a factor of 100, by far the most well-sourced and proven documents we have from ancient days.

I believe it. Having been raised on snippets of Gospel in church growing up, I was astonished, really, when I finally read them all through for myself at, I think, 19.

As I've said before, I had two reactions: one, Oh, now I get why folks have been so excited about this for all these centuries; and, two, Why didn't anybody tell me about this? Which is funny-ironic, what with my being raised going to church every Sunday, and here in the buckle of the Bible belt with Billy Graham and Oral Roberts on the teevee.

I've read some apocrypha, and that gave me a good appreciation for the committee that selected only M,M,L,& J for the final cut.

That we have these books at all is... kind of a miracle.

Posted by: mindful webworker on an Easter morning at March 27, 2016 11:34 AM (7imgO)

269 >>I've tried finding a link to the MAD article but no success.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage

Try this:
http://tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp

Posted by: Aviator at March 27, 2016 11:34 AM (c7vUv)

270 Mort Drucker is a personal god of mine. MAD used to do reprints so I was well read in the compleat MAD canon.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage



As always, you have exquisite taste.

I actually kind of resent you for having refined passions for artists I'm barely familiar with, you flaunting that better brain of yours.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 11:35 AM (1xUj/)

271 >>>253 It's 'Flawrence of Arabia', not Florence.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp
Posted by: Zombie T.E. Lawrence

Hilarious!

Posted by: m at March 27, 2016 11:35 AM (S/1cF)

272 239 For 'All Hail Eris' and 'Elinor':


It's 'Flawrence of Arabia', not Florence.


http://preview.tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp

Posted by: Zombie T.E. Lawrence at March 27, 2016 11:13 AM (vz3Qd)

*****

Oh, many, many thanks! I have been off tracking the down the issue, but couldn't find the content.

Now to settle down for a little lite reading . . . .

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 27, 2016 11:36 AM (NqQAS)

273 >>>Me, I think a better way our current situation is that we're on a burning airplane in a nosedive: 3 engines have failed, the 4th is sputtering, and the attempts to effect fire control and emergency engine repairs are being actively resisted by a good percentage of the passengers as well as some of the flight crew.

The Takers have managed to run up a $20 Trillion debt, that the Makers are expected to pay.

Good luck with that.

Posted by: franksalterego at March 27, 2016 11:37 AM (Cd+Fa)

274
All you had to do is look at photos of the poseur and the real Anastasia. The impostor had that pronounced brow ridge and no lip cleft. Not sure why anyone thought they were the same plus the idea that she could have escaped was ridiculous.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:38 AM (iQIUe)

275 The outbreak of world war in 1914 put an end to that.

-
Prior to WWI, there was a very popular book entitled The Great Illusion by Norman Angell which proposed that given the industrial society war was impossible since everybody would lose far more than anybody could hope to win. He was absolutely right and completely wrong.

P.S. The movie La Grande Illusion by Jean Renoir is named after this book but is a completely different story.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 11:38 AM (/qW5H)

276 I actually kind of resent you for having refined passions for artists I'm barely familiar with, you flaunting that better brain of yours.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 11:35 AM (1xUj/)
----
I love that oxymoron "refined passions".

A favorite blog of mine is Illustration Art wherein the writer spotlights influential commercial, comic, and book illustration artists. Here's his entry on Mort Drucker:

http://tinyurl.com/gktg5z5

He is spot-on about Drucker's ability to make the most throwaway background character distinct.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 11:41 AM (jR7Wy)

277 Yes, it's a play and was made into a movie with Ingrid Bergman. When I
was in high school in the 70's Ii read a book my a man who thought the
person really was Anastasia,, but since then DNA testing has proved she
was not. They were all wiped out by the Communists.
======================

My personal opinion is that the slaughter of the Romanovs had a direct bearing on the Polish government's foreign policy dance with the Western powers during the 1930s. During the Czech crisis, the French and British put enormous pressure on the Poles that they allow Soviet troops access through Poland in the case that Hitler attempted an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Poland adamantly refused. Churchill fussed and fumed that the Czechs just didn't understand how important it was for the Russians to play a role in Czecho's defense. I think the Poles understood all too well how important it was to keep the Soviet Army out of Poland for its own survival.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:42 AM (JBggj)

278 The Fall of Eagles is a pretty decent mini series about the fall of the royal houses of Austria, Germany, and Russia. It was written by the same guy who wrote Reilly, Ace of Spies.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:42 AM (iQIUe)

279 Good book thread everyone

OT ; I made our Easter meal yesterday so we would have leftovers today. I didn't feel like cooking much. I got up early and we had our church service this morning. Now I have to take a nap so we can get our son packed up and ready for his European trip tomorrow. I don't know if anyone else has this experience with their loved ones, but FenelonSpouse (Who normally has a very even temper) gets irritable before a trip and then I get irritable too. I said, "Why are you irritable?; We're not even going on this trip." He said, "That's why I'm irritable. ;^)

So prayers for our preparation and for the Hs orchestra/choir trip would be much appreciated. Thx.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:43 AM (w4NZ8)

280 Why did someone put a kid and a cat in the monkey cage at the zoo?

Posted by: eleven at March 27, 2016 11:43 AM (qUNWi)

281 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:28 AM (w4NZ

I read a book many years ago arguing for the 16th Earl of Oxford, looking in the plays and poems for evidence. The author was interviewed on PBS and was in tears that the Earl hadn't received credit for Shakespeare's works. Made me think the author was too emotionally tied to the idea to think straight about it.

Posted by: waelse1 at March 27, 2016 11:43 AM (kZFjr)

282 It's 'Flawrence of Arabia', not Florence.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/zrzjdlp

-
In a somewhat similar vein the page by page (including ads) of the introduction of Superman in Action Comics # 1.

http://tinyurl.com/hhcmmf4

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 11:43 AM (/qW5H)

283 Sounds like the later McDonalds Hypothesis that noted that no two countries with a McDonalds restaurant in each had ever gone to war with each other. The premise being that the cost in infrastructure damage was too great for either side to allow things to go that far.

There have since been exceptions to the rule but it was true for a long time.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (IdCqF)

284 Ackkk ... I meant to type "Churchill fussed and fume that the POLES just didn't understand" oh well.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (JBggj)

285 Reading the Gospel of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Where Mark captures Jesus's humanity, John captures His divinity. Of course they are inextricably entwined, but of all the four, the Gospel of John is the one I am most drawn to. "In the beginning".... The same introduction of God's revelation in the Old Testament reaches forward into the New.


Today is a bittersweet Easter to me, as I realized this morning in Easter service, that this may possibly be the last one where I can worship with reckless abandon.



Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (dFi94)

286 Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:42 AM (iQIUe)
---
Plus, Picard plays Lenin!

This is a great series indeed.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 11:45 AM (jR7Wy)

287
I read a book many years ago arguing for the 16th Earl of Oxford, looking in the plays and poems for evidence. The author was interviewed on PBS and was in tears that the Earl hadn't received credit for Shakespeare's works. Made me think the author was too emotionally tied to the idea to think straight about it.


I've seen that guy. Man I wish Shakespeare moved me that much.

Posted by: eleven at March 27, 2016 11:46 AM (qUNWi)

288 Posted by: waelse1 at March 27, 2016 11:43 AM (kZFjr)

Yes; People do get tied to these theories. Back when my mother was alive-She died in the 80's- the Earl of Oxford wasn't discussed as much, I believe; Marlowe or Francis Bacon were considered possible candidates. She always pooh-poled those theories. I'm sorry she's not around for me to ask her about the Earl of Oxford.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:46 AM (w4NZ8)

289 Posted by: Aviator at March 27, 2016 11:34 AM (c7vUv)


Some classics stand the test of time!

Posted by: Hrothgar at March 27, 2016 11:47 AM (wYnyS)

290 ... oh and on shakespeare... for what it's worth... was just reading about will geer who played grandpa walton. geer founded a theater that does a lot of shakespeare, the theatricum boticum in california on land he owned. it has examples of all the plants mentioned in the plays.

he bought the land in the 50's when he was blacklisted so he could grow vegetables apparently. yeah. he was a red. real thing. communist party member, proselytizer, recruiter. woody guthrie had a shack on his land. he was also gay despite having been married with children.

the theater is still going on. seems worthwhile. a shit, an idiot advocate of a murderous tyranny and a really interesting and nice guy. that stuff happens, too.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 27, 2016 11:47 AM (WTSFk)

291 My son has NOT inherited the acting gene. Ah well!

or maybe, he's acting like he can't / won't act to see how good of an actor he is ...

Posted by: Adriane the Acting Critic ... at March 27, 2016 11:48 AM (AoK0a)

292 FS, On Loving God is one of my favorites of Bernard's works. But I love most everything I've read of his.

Speaking of Shakespeare! The Horrible Histories movie BILL, about Shakespeare's Lost Years, will be in select theaters for *one night only* on April 11, which is a Monday. It looks hilarious, and I'm hoping to get to go see it.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 11:48 AM (vRQPU)

293 All you had to do is look at photos of the poseur and the real Anastasia. The impostor had that pronounced brow ridge and no lip cleft. Not sure why anyone thought they were the same plus the idea that she could have escaped was ridiculous.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:38 AM (iQIUe)


The remains that have been pulled, about 20 or so years ago, out of their mine shaft grave, there was some question as to whether they identified all the members of the family, if I recall correctly, but there was no question they found Anastasia's remains among them.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 11:49 AM (Dj0WE)

294 Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (dFi94)

Perhaps the future Mr. Winger ;^) will allow you to allow you to engage in reckless abandon at other times? ;^) How about a service Saturday evening? Do they have any livelier ones at that time around you?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:49 AM (w4NZ8)

295 286 Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:42 AM (iQIUe)
---
Plus, Picard plays Lenin!

This is a great series indeed.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 11:45 AM (jR7Wy)

==========
Right! And a young Michael Kitchen (Foyle's War) played Trotsky. I loved all the spying and spies and double crosses of the time.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:51 AM (iQIUe)

296 Churchill is just about to get whacked by a new wave of revisionism. He was the one who was willing to treat with the Soviets, despite all the inspiring things he said against them. Poor Neville wasn't cowardly, you see, just realistic in the face of what it would have meant to oppose You-Know-Whom without selling out to Stalin. Knowing (or not knowing) what we do now, it is very hard to put yourself accurately into the mindset of Between The Wars.

It will be interesting, with a lot of sound and fury. I've personally felt for a long time that perhaps Chamberlain wasn't the mewling quim we see him as being, and merely buying time to stick-up the Territorials and get those Spitfires churning out. And this done at the everlasting cost of his reputation and honour.

The best part will be watching the liberals dance. They're going to have to be on both sides at once, as usual.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:52 AM (xq1UY)

297 I've watched Branagh's "Henry V" Good stuff.

I really enjoyed the Burton-Taylor "The Taming of the Shrew". That was fun.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:54 AM (JBggj)

298 ? Do they have any livelier ones at that time around you?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:49 AM (w4NZ
=================================================

No Sunday evening services at soon-to-be Mister' church, but there is an Evangelical Free Church around the corner from where we are contemplating a condo. I was in the Free Church for twenty-odd years so that would be okay with me. They used to do Sunday nights and Wednesday nights when I belonged years ago. Maybe they still do. One problem is that the area is almost completely white. I'm white, but other having other ethnicities really does add to worship.

Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 11:55 AM (dFi94)

299 Pope Benedict is not doing too well. I suspect he will die soon.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:56 AM (iQIUe)

300 Horrible Histories movie BILL, about Shakespeare's Lost Years,

I don't know that movie; I'll have to look around for that.

"The Love of God" and "Spiritual Friendship" has a great introduction by someone named by James Houston who was a chancellor of Regent's College. He talks about the charismatic, loving personality of Bernard (That comes through his works and from people that knew Bernard) in a way that sounds like the editor knew him too. I expect that they editor may have gone to his eternal reward by now. He hope he got/ gets to meet Bernard. :^)

Both "The Philokalia" which I got from interlibrary loan along with St Bernard work look like books students haven't read for a very long time. I wish I could keep them.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:56 AM (w4NZ8)

301 @299 I'm waiting for NE to tell-all, about the injection from the $2K/night hooker...

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 11:57 AM (xq1UY)

302 Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 11:55 AM (dFi94)

Yes, it does add to the experience having different ethnicities worship since many of them have a livelier music style. I will part your find a place that meet the charismatic said of your spiritual nature.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 11:58 AM (w4NZ8)

303 That cat is doing it wrong. It's supposed to be sitting ON the book, not next to the reader.

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 11:59 AM (rRHdN)

304 I finished the 3 volume set of "The Last Lion", the biography of Winston Churchill. Definitely worth the time to read about this great man and gain a British perspective on both World Wars. Chamberlain was eviscerated in Volume 2 and parts of Volume 3.

Posted by: scrood at March 27, 2016 12:01 PM (3b9U4)

305 A note about VPN software. Sometimes over at BleepingComputer, vendors will offer lifetime subscriptions to VPN services for $60 or so. Might want to keep a watch.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 27, 2016 12:01 PM (AroJD)

306 Typo- I will "pray" Sigh

I really have to take a nap now. It won't improve my typing but it may help with my energy when we try to get all this stuff together for FenelonSprout's trip.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 12:01 PM (w4NZ8)

307 I knew exactly what you meant to type, Fenelon, and I thank you. I hope your son has a blast. Within limits of course.

Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 12:04 PM (dFi94)

308 I go to my wife's Catholic Church now and again, even though I'm not Catholic. She sings and plays the piano for the choir, so I go hear her on special occasions. This past Christmas, the priest performing the (near) midnight mass made reference to the journey Mary and Joseph had to make for the census.

No fooling, the priest then made an aside comment on how Mary and Joseph were essentially refugees. At another mass a couple months later, there was a subtle comment about biblical figures as "immigrants" and "migrants". It is subtle, but except for abortion, the Catholic Church is strongly leftist.

OK, maybe it isn't that subtle. This Easter season, it interests me how often Catholic leadership both high and low wakes up in bed with Democratic agendas and seems to roll over to them and mutter "you said WHAT?"

Posted by: Advo at March 27, 2016 12:04 PM (7hUS8)

309 169 From all my reading Arabs, Afghans and Turks talk a good game about how being ghey is haram, but in daily practice not so much.
Read The Reaper, the last chapter is a hoot.
Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 10:20 AM (fizMZ)

I've read it, and that incident was hilarious and extremely weird. Good book.

Posted by: stace at March 27, 2016 12:05 PM (sIhFA)

310 "the charismatic, loving personality of Bernard"--that's a very accurate description. His love of God really is infectious, and his personality does shine through in his works. One collection that's out of print but might be available through Interlibrary Loan is the three-volume Priest of Mount Melleray translation of his Sermons for the Seasons and Principal Feasts of the Year; there are some amazing sermons in there, including his Lenten series on Psalm 91.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 12:05 PM (vRQPU)

311 299 Pope Benedict is not doing too well. I suspect he will die soon.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 11:56 AM (iQIUe)

--



What is the news?

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 12:06 PM (nbrY/)

312 Library asks patrons to check out lots of books before it moves.

http://tinyurl.com/ho8nnzs

Posted by: creeper at March 27, 2016 12:06 PM (CL5j3)

313 Interesting about the VPN. I get Pixy banned when I use our beachtown condo building's wifi. Maybe that means there's another moron in the building who was banned.

Posted by: stace at March 27, 2016 12:08 PM (sIhFA)

314

Listened to the first 5 'Inspector Rebus' books by Ian Rankin on last weeks road trip. Quite good.

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 27, 2016 12:08 PM (KId5h)

315
Nazi salutes on the streets of Brussels: Riot police use water cannon on far-right protesters who hijacked 'peace' march organized in wake of terror attacks in Belgium which left 34 dead

=============
Why wd they have a peace march? Wouldnt that be pro terrorist march?

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 12:08 PM (iQIUe)

316
I think the Poles understood all too well how important it was to keep the Soviet Army out of Poland for its own survival.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 11:42 AM (JBggj)








Well, the Poles knew that the commie cocksuckers in Moscow held a grudge over getting their asses kicked at the gates of Warsaw back in 1920.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_%281920%29

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 27, 2016 12:10 PM (o98Jz)

317 A favorite blog of mine is Illustration Art wherein the writer spotlights influential commercial, comic, and book illustration artists. Here's his entry on Mort Drucker:

http://tinyurl.com/gktg5z5

He is spot-on about Drucker's ability to make the most throwaway background character distinct.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage



Thank you. I read all of that, lovingly.

Shit, there is still so much to learn and explore.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 27, 2016 12:10 PM (1xUj/)

318 This "far right" bullshit.Anyone who wants to shut the door to invaders is a "fascist".

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 12:11 PM (B48dK)

319 This is a test, I'm visiting

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 12:11 PM (EX5wM)

320 Thanks; I think I posted that he found a video on the internet of about ten minutes "Most horrible school trip disasters ever" . and wanted me to watch it. One portion said, "Teacher allows students in Europe to go to a bar. Kid brings girl to his hotel room and teacher secretly films them having sex." (They didnt show the film, just noted that's what happened)' He said "What do you think of that?" I said, "The teachers/chaperones sound like irresponsible;e ignoramuses. I really doubt this is going to happen on your trip." What I didn't say was "Com'on, kid. Do you even talk to girls much? In order o ask them to come back to your room-which, BTW, you're sharing with two others boys) you'd have to talk to them first. His school counselor seems surprised that we would let a kid on the autism spectrum ()High auctioning) go on such a trip without us, but I think it will be good thing for him and he has gone away to camp for two weeks at a time.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 12:12 PM (w4NZ8)

321 I go to my wife's Catholic Church now and again, even though I'm not Catholic. She sings and plays the piano for the choir, so I go hear her on special occasions. This past Christmas, the priest performing the (near) midnight mass made reference to the journey Mary and Joseph had to make for the census.

No fooling, the priest then made an aside comment on how Mary and Joseph were essentially refugees. At another mass a couple months later, there was a subtle comment about biblical figures as "immigrants" and "migrants". It is subtle, but except for abortion, the Catholic Church is strongly leftist.

OK, maybe it isn't that subtle. This Easter season, it interests me how often Catholic leadership both high and low wakes up in bed with Democratic agendas and seems to roll over to them and mutter "you said WHAT?"
Posted by: Advo at March 27, 2016 12:04 PM (7hUS


Yeah, it's really not so subtle. Leftism exists in the Church, and it is sometimes overt, sometimes covert in that there is a real divide coming.


This fresh Pope, the one who likes to stick his foot in other people's mouths, is not so much a revolutionary, but a reflection of the leftist bent that exists throughout much of the Church. Less now than pre-JPII, in this country, at least, but still there, and still active with much of the clergy.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 12:12 PM (Dj0WE)

322 This is only book-related by tying in with the Gospels, but it's Easter, and later in the thread, and our host announced he was off to church, so... from a comment I made on the ONT:



Documentary | Jesus and the Shroud of Turin
Daniel Bilodeau / YouTube 51:50
https://youtu.be/XTtDhvk_aw4

I've read about the Shroud for over 40 years, but learned a lot from this, including about biology (flowers & pollen on the Shroud), chemistry (limestone from the tomb), its history, and why the 1980s carbon dating "refutation" was invalid.

It's always tough to watch or read about analysis of the image on the Shroud. Uncontrollable dusty-eyed-ness for those of us who love Jesus.



Here's an article about the Shroud & facecloth:
Two Old Cloths
Binky, steynian
http://bit.ly/1Rw4Pvp

...If these two relics are original and authentic, they reveal to us a snapshot of two related moments from Good Friday, Jerusalem, most likely on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33. They show us the image of a body which has been tortured, crucified and killed, but a body which did not decay, and which somehow vanished from the burial cloths leaving a very unusual image on the Shroud, by means yet unknown and undiscovered....

Posted by: mindful webworker on an Easter morning at March 27, 2016 12:13 PM (7imgO)

323 Obama says fuck you to anyone concerned about Syrian "refugees".

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 12:14 PM (B48dK)

324 osted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 27, 2016 12:05 PM (vRQPU)

Thanks for the recommendation. Elizabeth; I'll look for that.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at March 27, 2016 12:14 PM (w4NZ8)

325 Joseph and Mary were not "refugees" except in the sense that their government made an unreasonable demand upon them as regards taxation, for which they attempted to comply despite her pregnancy.

Posted by: navybrat at March 27, 2016 12:14 PM (8QGte)

326 323 Oops forgot the link.

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/230088/

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 12:15 PM (B48dK)

327 #308 Yes, the RCC is a reliably leftist organization except for one or two social issues

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 27, 2016 12:15 PM (ng8d1)

328 318 This "far right" bullshit.Anyone who wants to shut the door to invaders is a "fascist".
Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 12:11 PM (B48dK)


Yep. I'm white, and I'm a nationalist.

So if that makes me a "White Nationalist", then so be it. I don't fucking care anymore.

Posted by: rickl at March 27, 2016 12:16 PM (sdi6R)

329 What is the news?
Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 12:06 PM (nbrY/)

========
His personal secretary says he's fading fast while the Vatican says he's doing just fine.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 12:17 PM (iQIUe)

330 Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message

http://goo.gl/bpY1Rb

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 12:19 PM (iQIUe)

331
Reading the Gospel of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Where Mark
captures Jesus's humanity, John captures His divinity. Of course they
are inextricably entwined, but of all the four, the Gospel of John is
the one I am most drawn to. "In the beginning".... The same introduction
of God's revelation in the Old Testament reaches forward into the New.
Today
is a bittersweet Easter to me, as I realized this morning in Easter
service, that this may possibly be the last one where I can worship with
reckless abandon.
Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (dFi94
________

A lot of people laugh at me, but I really enjoyed listening to Godspell for just that reason. John was the herald -- prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Good listening for this season: 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Godspell' are excellent music. I don't like the movies, but listening to the music is wonderful.

I am so happy that the Alleluia is back now.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 27, 2016 12:19 PM (MIKMs)

332 Joseph and Mary were not "refugees" except in the sense that their government made an unreasonable demand upon them as regards taxation, for which they attempted to comply despite her pregnancy.
Posted by: navybrat at March 27, 2016 12:14 PM (8QGte)


Silly and juvenile to compare modern day "refugees" with the movement of peoples long before national boundaries existed.


They had no meaning eons ago because they didn't need to. Now, we do. For all the reasons we do.


As you suggest though, the forced movement of peoples, all throughout history, reflects more the over-arching oppressiveness of governments, rather than the desire of people to freely move.


In our lifetimes, leftism is the overwhelmingly more common cause of this.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 12:23 PM (Dj0WE)

333 >>Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message

Do flaming clown boners count?

Posted by: John Kerry at March 27, 2016 12:24 PM (c7vUv)

334 Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message

http://goo.gl/bpY1Rb
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 12:19 PM (iQIUe)


He probably means sexually. No thanks.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 12:24 PM (Dj0WE)

335 So if you want to know what Duckie from NCIS looks like as the fifth Beatle:

http://www.200words.com/auntie.html

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 12:25 PM (jR7Wy)

336

I see the Religion of Peace blew up an Easter service in Lahore. 60 KIA and climbing.

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 27, 2016 12:25 PM (KId5h)

337 Nazi salutes on the streets of Brussels:

--

I saw the photo - the "Nazi salutes" were people with their arms up because they were holding up banners.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 12:26 PM (nbrY/)

338

'FTP' to quote the Ulstermen...

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at March 27, 2016 12:26 PM (KId5h)

339 Weapons of love? Sounds an awful lot like make love not war. The left really needs some new material.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2016 12:26 PM (kTF2Z)

340 330 Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message
---
Missile-cone bras?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at March 27, 2016 12:26 PM (jR7Wy)

341 >>Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message


The Pope is a fucking idiot.

Posted by: Jesus at March 27, 2016 12:27 PM (c84p5)

342 Whoops, sorry. Forgot to desock.

Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:27 PM (c84p5)

343 Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message
============================================



Is he planning a missions trip?

Posted by: grammie winger, clinging to the old rugged cross at March 27, 2016 12:27 PM (dFi94)

344 342 It had more authority coming from Him.

Posted by: steevy at March 27, 2016 12:28 PM (B48dK)

345 Navybrat, maybe they're referring to the family's flight to Egypt when Herod went on his killing spree?

Still, the "refugees" everyone talks about these days can't really be compared to the Holy Family, who I doubt mistreated and plundered their hosts. Joseph and family were more like the refugees the U.S. tends to deport, you know, the parents who don't want to undergo forced abortions in China or have their kids taken away for homeschooling in Germany.

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:28 PM (rRHdN)

346 The song "Weapons of Love" was playing when the evil alien killed the store clerk in "The Hidden." Maybe that's what the pope meant.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 27, 2016 12:29 PM (AroJD)

347 Bernie won WA, Hawaii and Alaska by 50%+ in each state.

Yeah I'd say we're less than a generation away from implementing full blown socialism in these here United States.

Posted by: Monsieur Moo Moo at March 27, 2016 12:29 PM (0LHZx)

348 >>The Pope is a fucking idiot.
Posted by: Jesus

Yup

Posted by: God at March 27, 2016 12:29 PM (c7vUv)

349 "Navybrat, maybe they're referring to the family's flight to Egypt when Herod went on his killing spree?"

Possibly.

Posted by: navybrat at March 27, 2016 12:30 PM (8QGte)

350

Would the Pope like to borrow my Love Gun?

Posted by: Gene Simmons at March 27, 2016 12:30 PM (c84p5)

351 >>Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message

-----------------
The Pope is a fucking idiot.
Posted by: Jesus at March 27, 2016 12:27 PM (c84p5)

342 Whoops, sorry. Forgot to desock.
Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:27 PM (c84p5)


Hmmm, it is very possible the Lord was/is indeed, with you.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 27, 2016 12:31 PM (Dj0WE)

352 This pope just does not get it. At all.

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:32 PM (rRHdN)

353 Just a drive-by to wish everyone a Happy Easter.

Posted by: Chi at March 27, 2016 12:33 PM (idmwx)

354 Thread's probably dead but Happy Resurrection Day anyway!

I have a friend here who would get out of school, see a line forming outside a small shop and would instinctively get in back. She didn't know what everyone was waiting for but she knew that she and her family needed it. Feminine hygiene products were like gold.

Another friend never ate pineapple till she was 25.

We hate communism/socialism.

Oh, and I'm reading Narnia books with my non-reading 12 year old.

Posted by: polish pilgrim at March 27, 2016 12:33 PM (YMwXk)

355 @325 Well that priest missed a lick. Joseph and Mary certainly were refugees, but that was the Flight into Egypt, not the census trip. Poor scholar.

I have to take back what I said earlier ("bumping the loser") about having an AutoCucumber site on just what unintentional wisdom all of us have said.
I now propose one just for Fenelon. And, first bids on the high-auctioning autism spectrum. Found humor, found poetry. It...just happens, and it's beautiful.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 12:34 PM (xq1UY)

356
Are the reports of nazi salutes backed up with video evidence?

Posted by: cucumbah watah for customah only! at March 27, 2016 12:34 PM (imIws)

357 283 Sounds like the later McDonalds Hypothesis that noted that no two countries with a McDonalds restaurant in each had ever gone to war with each other. The premise being that the cost in infrastructure damage was too great for either side to allow things to go that far.

There have since been exceptions to the rule but it was true for a long time.
Posted by: Epobirs at March 27, 2016 11:44 AM (IdCqF)

_____

Pakistan and India both had McDs in 1999 when they had a mini-war.

Posted by: Monsieur Moo Moo at March 27, 2016 12:34 PM (0LHZx)

358 >>
Pakistan and India both had McDs in 1999 when they had a mini-war.



That war pre-dates McDonald's.

Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:36 PM (c84p5)

359 Pakistan and India both had McDs in 1999 when they had a mini-war.



That war pre-dates McDonald's.
Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:36 PM (c84p5)

____

Nope.

India got its first McDs in 1996, Pakistan in 1998.

Posted by: Monsieur Moo Moo at March 27, 2016 12:36 PM (0LHZx)

360 Posted by: God at March 27, 2016

Sock fail turns into Moron opportunity.

Posted by: Golfman at March 27, 2016 12:37 PM (48QDY)

361 Pope Francis says defeat Islamic State 'with weapons of love' during Easter message

-
I think he meant French ticklers.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 12:37 PM (Nwg0u)

362 I am ashamed that the head pastor of the denomination I grew up in was in attendance at the Sanford, FL demonstrations helping to violate the ninth commandment (don't bear false witness) against Zimmerman.

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:37 PM (rRHdN)

363 Sock fail turns into Moron opportunity.

- Confucius

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 12:38 PM (Nwg0u)

364 Congratulations, Delayna -- O Suzerain of The Dark!

Posted by: RNB at March 27, 2016 12:39 PM (DjjZJ)

365 >>India got its first McDs in 1996, Pakistan in 1998.


And India and Pakistan have been fighting the same war since they came into being, was my point.

Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:39 PM (c84p5)

366 Sock fail turns into Moron opportunity.

- Confucius
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 12:38 PM (Nwg0u)


Confucius or confused... sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference.

Posted by: Stuff Jefferson Said Vol 18 at March 27, 2016 12:40 PM (Dj0WE)

367 Mary and Joseph were, by any measure, refugees when they made the Flight to Egypt. The murder of the Innocents makes that clear.

Caritas, in its Christian formulation IS the most powerful weapon in this world. Faith and Hope are right in there, too

I see the rise of ISIS and the other violent Islamic sects as vicious elements of of an Islam in crisis with modernity. A modernity with both a Judeo-Christian heritage and a debilitating atheistic/agnostic component where Faith and Hope go to die.

One thing I've seen over and over is the radical Islamist unwillingness to admit there is anything outside of their version of Islam that is worth dying for. For to do that would diminish their belief that suicide attacks against infidels is a form of worship.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 12:40 PM (JBggj)

368 AutoCucumber site on just what unintentional wisdom all of us have said.

-
AutoCucumber: high tech Mad Libs.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 12:41 PM (Nwg0u)

369 The Flight to Egypt does not appear in the Gospel of Luke.

Posted by: navybrat at March 27, 2016 12:42 PM (8QGte)

370 I would like a leftist Christian to show me where Jesus said to help the poor by confiscating other people's property. Also, how does it nurture peoples' spiritual health to teach them they do not have rights to the fruits of their own labor but they DO have rights to the fruits of other peoples' labor ?

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:43 PM (rRHdN)

371 >> I would like a leftist Christian to show me where Jesus said to help the poor by confiscating other people's property


It's in the book of Marx.

Posted by: Barack Hussein Obama at March 27, 2016 12:45 PM (c84p5)

372 And India and Pakistan have been fighting the same war since they came into being, was my point.

Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:39 PM (c84p5)

_____

Yeah and the McDonald's theory says that once they get a McDonald's, the countries stop fighting because they've advanced to an economic level where going to war with a neighbor is a bad idea. India and Pakistan don't subscribe to that theory.

Posted by: Monsieur Moo Moo at March 27, 2016 12:45 PM (0LHZx)

373 Got young'uns that need books?

http://tinyurl.com/zvtblt2

Posted by: Country Singer at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (GUBah)

374 Prager often talks how the Christian Church has been corrupted by the leftists.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (EX5wM)

375 Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 10:40 AM (iQIUe)

Son and I saw that episode recently. I strongly suspect that there is more to making *good* ale, but getting stuff to ferment in general isn't difficult.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (GDulk)

376 371 Heh. Good answer.

Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (rRHdN)

377 Just proselytizin' here. I'm a Pentanglist.
A tale of the journey of Joseph and Mary, with Events.
It's a Christmas song. Sorry. Powerful fable, though.
Plus, Bert, John, Jacqui. And a hell of a bass player.
http://tinyurl.com/hoamux6

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (xq1UY)

378 I know this is the book thread but I just read about the attack on the women and children at the park in Pakistan. My heart can't take much more of this.

Posted by: Lauren at March 27, 2016 12:47 PM (MlG/I)

379 Posted by: Emmie at March 27, 2016 12:43 PM (rRHdN)

---------

I also like when lefties use the judge not quote, always leaving out the go and sin no more. It was a lesson on hypocrisy, not an admonishment to not judge others.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at March 27, 2016 12:48 PM (kTF2Z)

380 378 I know this is the book thread but I just read about the attack on the women and children at the park in Pakistan. My heart can't take much more of this.
Posted by: Lauren
--------------------
It's absolutely horrific, isn't it?
Barbarians.

Posted by: Chi at March 27, 2016 12:51 PM (idmwx)

381 getting stuff to ferment in general isn't difficult.
Right you are. Hard to prevent it, in truth.

Friend of mine in a Brewers' Guild once had a list of all the things that had been used in beer recipes before the advent of hops. It was...thought-provoking.
You've probably seen it, but one from Shakespeare's time called for a liberal dollop of bullshit. No, really, for the chemical content. It's "basic."

I have dealt with with the brewing brotherhood now for nigh-on 40 years, and, whether they admit it or not, their mash-bills are still Elizabethan in that regard.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 12:52 PM (xq1UY)

382 The next time the lefties start preaching about Christianity, asked them what happened before the cock crowed. If they don't know, punch them in the throat.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at March 27, 2016 12:57 PM (Nwg0u)

383 @382 They'll deny it.
Three times.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 27, 2016 12:58 PM (xq1UY)

384 >> I know this is the book thread but I just read about the attack on the women and children at the park in Pakistan.


ISIS may not an existential threat to us, but Islam sure as fuck is.

Posted by: garrett at March 27, 2016 12:58 PM (c84p5)

385 Nood.

Posted by: HH at March 27, 2016 12:59 PM (DrCtv)

386 May God fill all good people with the resolve to never let a cowardly evil that targets women and children and seeks to stamp out the truly peaceful religion prevail.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 27, 2016 01:01 PM (3kUGE)

387 Tantumblogo:

Thank you for your post. You have absolutely nailed it.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 27, 2016 01:03 PM (5tT9a)

388 I am starting to get rid of some books. They'll either go to Salvation Army or the Library bookstore. I think it's time to get rid of my homesteading books. Health wise, I don't see me doing much beyond gardening in the future. I'll keep my Carla Emery mimeographed version, as I can find anything I might need in that. I'm also getting rid of my small collection of hippie era books and likely most of my old SpinOff magazines. At some point, you just have to accept that you've learned all you can from those books and it's time to pass them on.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 27, 2016 01:09 PM (Lqy/e)

389 Friend of mine in a Brewers' Guild once had a list of all the things that had been used in beer recipes before the advent of hops. It was...thought-provoking.
You've
probably seen it, but one from Shakespeare's time called for a liberal
dollop of bullshit. No, really, for the chemical content. It's "basic."
=========================

That reminds me of something I read in J. C. Furnas' "The Americans: A Social History of the United States 1587-1914" (a great, and I mean GREAT read).

"In 1835 it was shown in a libel case tried in Albany, New York, that the largest local brewery, famous for the rich flavor of its beer and ale, drew its water from a pond into which drained the sweepings from a slaughterhouse and a glue-works, the effluvia of several privies - and the gradual disintegrations of cats and hogs found dead in the streets."

I love that book. Furnas writes with the lively narrative of an old-time professional reporter. He was one.

Posted by: mrp at March 27, 2016 01:10 PM (JBggj)

390 I've read that any real online anonymity one might achieve with a VPN may be insufficient since one's ISP easily can (and possibly does) track and log all one's internet use - URLs, logins, every single bit, sent or received, really... Even connecting somewhere else may be futile since each of one's devices apparently also has a unique "digital footprint" that can be traced back to the user!

Posted by: Zettai "Hasn't Read A Bleeding Book Since University" Ryoiki at March 27, 2016 01:28 PM (5csB/)

391 Son and I saw that episode recently. I strongly suspect that there is more to making *good* ale, but getting stuff to ferment in general isn't difficult.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 27, 2016 12:46 PM (GDulk)

===========
I dont care about taste - that can be fiddled with later. I care about the alcohol content for medicinal purposes. Free booze! I wonder how much the grain costs? Bet that adds up.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at March 27, 2016 01:30 PM (iQIUe)

392 ?

Posted by: MathMom at March 27, 2016 01:47 PM (L4G9B)

393 I don't use the VPN much but I have Slick VPN. Stupid easy to use. Got it on sale one year around Christmas for 20/yr so I keep it. it's now $48/yr current rate but they offers lots of non-year options for people who want to try it or only need it when they travel (like when you go out of country but don't want all your accounts freaking out when you suddenly log in from another country). They have a very good reputation for honoring client privacy.

Posted by: Jennifer at March 27, 2016 01:58 PM (JOEEZ)

394 Updated my list of Horde writers with 4 more Morons.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 02:05 PM (nbrY/)

395 Jim Harrison has passed away....author of "Legends of Fall" and several Michigan-based novels...RIP

Posted by: scrood at March 27, 2016 02:42 PM (3b9U4)

396 Talking over books I've read with my mom is couldn't find Anna's book at Amazon

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 03:07 PM (EX5wM)

397 #233, I read Heights of Courage when it was mentioned in the foreword/acknowledgements to Harold Coyle's first novel Team Yankee, and looked up the review in Armor Journal. I think my next copy will be my third, they keep walking away.

Posted by: Colonel Kurtz at March 27, 2016 03:11 PM (5KnLL)

398 Skip, I hope you will find my list of lists convenient for locating Horde writers.

http://www.bookhorde.org/p/lists.html

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 03:19 PM (nbrY/)

399 So wondering is is a anomaly on Golden Iris for me searching?

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 03:19 PM (EX5wM)

400 Votermom- I was looking directly at Amazon, then nothing showed up so I want to your list and that link didn't go through.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 03:32 PM (EX5wM)

401 Was cruising through YouTube for some good Alleluia takes and ran into this one from Vallodid (Spain?) Library and enjoyed it very much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsPDY606Joo

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 27, 2016 03:52 PM (MIKMs)

402 Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 03:19 PM (EX5wM)

Shows up for me. Golden Isis by Anastasia Atelier.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 27, 2016 03:54 PM (GDulk)

403 He is risen indeed.

Blessings on all of you, pants and pantsless alike.

Posted by: whatmeworry? at March 27, 2016 03:58 PM (dZGNV)

404 Oh, forgot to put the title -- 'Library Singing'

Appropriate on many levels for this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsPDY606Joo

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 27, 2016 04:04 PM (MIKMs)

405 I know sometimes someone would be able to get some website and I'll try it and it's fine. Just wanted to be sure it wasn't yanked.
Thanks Polliwog'Ette

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 04:22 PM (EX5wM)

406 Skip, thanks for catching that bad link. I'll fix it.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 04:32 PM (nbrY/)

407 Fixed the link.

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 04:35 PM (nbrY/)

408 "The author is probably more optimistic than I. She may think we've taken a wrong path, one on which we can back up until we can take the right one. "
------------------

Waaay late to the thread, but I am reminded of this quote from C.S. Lewis. It's worth recollecting when speaking to a Progressive:

“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer.
If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 27, 2016 06:03 PM (9mTYi)

409 My mother has always been a avid reader and was wondering what I'm reading. So I was trying to find Anna's book and show her and also she looked at my carousel, nothing but war Napoleoic to WWII and just got a ugh from her.

Posted by: Skip at March 27, 2016 06:39 PM (fizMZ)

410 Heh. What sort of books does your Mom like, Skip?

Posted by: @votermom at March 27, 2016 06:44 PM (nbrY/)

411 Back from MIL's house. My cat likes to sit on my book when I am trying to read.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 27, 2016 07:24 PM (vvmPQ)

412
When I was a kid, just moved from the Midwest to the Deep South, our school teacher asked us to go home and count the number of books in our house.

I won! We had 121 or so.

Today, I've got 81 just on my Kindle Paperwhite..

Posted by: Whitehall at March 27, 2016 07:41 PM (A1pol)

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