Sunday Morning Book Thread 04-24-2016: Seeing Red [OregonMuse]

~~An Impressive Library~~
The Great Hall, Trinity College, Dublin

~~(yeah, I don't know which one this is. I copied the image to my hard drive some time ago, and now I can't remember where I got it. Please let me know if you know the name of this library.)~~

Update: Thanks and a year of AoSHQ Premium content to thefritz, anon, Grump928(C), and NaCly Dog for quickly identifying the library pic.

Not sure why we don't just call it the "den" -- an old and good word, and suggestive of a lion's cave. I like calling it a "study". Some shelves filled with books, a big desk, limited access. That's more fitted for a Father and Man of the House.

Posted by: ReactionaryMonster Bravely supporting kittens at April 07, 2016 05:34 PM (uURQL)

A Most Inadequate Solution

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, known non-too-affectionately around these parts as "Poppin' Fresh", has just published a book. Going Red: The Two Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President--and How Conservatives Can Win takes a look at the upcoming presidential election and asks the question, how can ~~conservatives~~ Republicans win this thing?

The answer, conservative columnist and analyst Ed Morrissey says, depends on seven battleground counties in swing states Republicans must win. Each county pulled for Obama in one or both of the last two elections, but after eight years of misadventures under the Obama administration, the door is open for Republicans to win them—and the presidency—once again, making a decisive mandate against progressivism for the generation to come.

Sigh. This blurb contains "what is wrong with this picture?" levels of stupid. The argumment of Morrissey's book apparently is that if we only can swing some voters in Ohio and Florida, then congress will immediately start to zero-out all of the corrupt, redundant, and blatantly unconstitutional federal agencies, reject broad, over-reaching legislation if it has been constitutionally determined to be left to individual states, appoint a Supreme Court full of strict constitutionalists and go back to a foreign policy wherein we help our allies and thwart our enemies (rather than the other way around, which is what we have now).

Oh, and take vigorous action to protect our borders. This conservative policy is based on the radical proposition that the United States has the right to be its own country, separate and distinct from other countries, one whose leaders and legislators decide who is allowed to be a citizen, and who isn't, and who can live here, and who can't. All other countries get to do this, so why isn't the United States of America allowed to do this, also?

No, I'm not hyperbolizing, I don't know how else to interpret the phrase "decisive mandate against progressivism" that Morrissey's book promises. It's either that or whoever wrote this Amazon blurb is blowing smoke up our collective wazoo.

I must confess I no longer have any kind of patience for this Karl Rove-style granular scrambling for votes. If a national election truly does come down to two million voters who are so malleable that they could just as well vote blue instead of red, we're already lost. Electing yet another half-conservative GOPe-approved candidate to the executive will accomplish little.

I don't want to make it sound like I'm just picking on Ed (although I am picking on Ed). I had the same problem with Dick Cheney's book, Exceptional. There is a uuuge focus on politics among mainstream conservatives (like Dick n' Ed), which might have been feasible 30 years ago, but the progressives have so thoroughly rotted out the culture that the downward trajectory is inexorable and even our victories are hollow.

The problem is that the lack of confidence in American values and American civilization brought about by the institutional march of progressivism goes back many years and Americans have the attention span of a gnat. This is why voting feels so much like exchanging one set of deck chairs on the Titanic with another. Nothing is going to get fixed until we, collectively, come to view progressivism as we do phrenology or eugenics.

So yeah, sorry Ed, I think your book is insufficient for the task that is confronting us. There's a raging fire that's destroying our country, and all you've got is a squirt gun.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and ~~Crackerjack~~ Amphetamines

Remember the '86 Mets, how they went out there and kicked everybody's butt, and brought home the pennant? How did they do it? How did they come back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Red Sox in the final game of the World Series?

Answer: They were tanked:

In his new book, former pitcher Ron Darling recounts how the Mets relied on a cocktail of amphetamines and beer between innings to get through a World Series-winning season... In the following excerpt, Darling describes how the Mets' in-game use of amphetamines and alcohol fueled their run through a grueling season.

In the Met's clubhouse, team "chemistry" had a different meaning:

Each pill had its own name. The five-milligram amphetamines were known as white crosses -- and these were passed around like candy, if that was your bag. The heavier doses were black beauties. Remember, this was well before the common use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs; in many ways, you could make an argument that the drugs of choice in our clubhouse were more performance reducing than anything else.

The Amazon blurb for Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life doesn't mention anything about drug use, so maybe the other review I quoted is trying to make a big deal out of a few pages.

Oh wait, 1986. Isn't that the series where the Ghost of the Bambino crept up behind Bill Buckner and kicked him in the butt just as he was reaching for that slow roller for the easy out that would've ended game 6 and given the pennant to the Sox? Maybe Bill should've raided the Mets medicine cabinet beforehand.

By the way, that entire game is available to watch or download on YouTube. And the video quality is not bad, considering it was from almost 30 years ago.

Emergency!

This week, veteran moron Jay Guevara reminded me that Emergency Room doctors sometimes like to give advice, based on cases they've seen that they've had to deal with. Such as:

When your 15yo daughter gives precipitous delivery to a bleating, underweight infant 30 minutes after presenting to triage with "gas pains", you should run around the department loudly yelling, "I don't know what y'all did or who that baby is, but my lil' girl warn't pregnant when she come in here".

And:

Injecting a mixture of wine, Klonopin, and Lidocaine into your veins may seem like a cool idea at the time when you're wasted, but can leave a nasty phlebitis a few days later.

That one sounds moron-worthy. One more:

That broken hand you deliberately smashed with a hammer will get you ONE PRESCRIPTION FOR VICODIN, NO REFILLS. Do not go home and remove the cast and try to return to the ER two hours later to get more. We are busy, but we will remember you.

So then I discovered that there are compilations of these sorts of ER stories available. Like this one: Emergency! True Stories from the Nation's ERs by Mark Brown, MD.

ER personnel confront the entire range of human life from its beginning to its end, but hardest to bear, they find, are crib deaths and futile attempts to resuscitate child and teenage accident victims, not so much because the ERs are traumatized by mortality but because they must deal with the survivors. Among their least favorite patients are unwashed derelicts and near-psychotics high on drugs or liquor. Regarded as a minor annoyance are malingerers and hypochondriacs, who waste the resources of the ERs. There are funny stories here as well, like the one about the doctor who was misunderstood when he requested a stool from a patient, meaning a chair.

Or these:

ER Confessional (Southern Medical Humor Book 1) and Emergency Laughter: Stories of Humor Inside Ambulances and Operating Rooms.

And not just the doctors:

The Rants, Raves and Crazy Days of an ER Nurse: Funny, True Life Stories of Medical Humor from the Emergency Room by Dani Jacobs.

What triggered this was Jay linking to a lengthy thread on the studentdoctors.net site entitled 'Things I learn from my patients.' Here's the first one:

Tonight I learned yet another helpful life lesson from one of my patients. If you're on the street corner selling coke and you see the cops coming to bust you don't eat all your coke. Having been taught this valuable lesson I will now know better than to do this and wind up going to the ER in handcuffs, seizing uncontrollably, aspirating my vomit and doing all of this with a white powder mustache looking like and ad for "Got Coke?"

If you don't want to buy any of the books, this long thread should provide you with enough entertainment.

Emergency rooms are frequently hellish places. Especially on weekends, when they're filled with drunk guys who've set their hair on fire, or shoved a cue ball up their nose, or stapled their own hand, and so you have to wait 2-8 hours to get treated. But I did find out one thing: if you're an old guy complaining of chest pains, you get to go to the front of the line.

Books By Morons

Moronette author Sabrina Chase brutally and with malice aforethought micro-aggressed the AoSHQ mailbox earlier this week, demanding that I let you all know that she's coming out with a new book, One Blood (Argonauts of Space Book 2). This is the sequel to her earlier effort, The Scent of Metal.

Amazon says this about that:

After freeing the AI ship Argo from the ice of Pluto, Lea and her team race for the prison planet Beredul to free the Wiyert trapped there. The planet conceals vital information about the aliens that enslaved the Wiyert--and now threaten Earth. Little time remains to protect humanity.

Sabrina says her new novel has "AI's learning how to serve cats, space Neanderthals, psychotic aliens, and adorable kaiju!" Of course, it's Suitable for Morons™.

It is available for pre-order now, and will be released on April 29.

I didn't know what a "kaiju" was, but after Googling around, I did find this helpful size comparison chart.

___________

Hallow Mass, mentioned here two three weeks ago, will also be released on April 29th. The print version will be available within a week. The trailer for it can be seen here.

I would like to encourage everyone to not only read books by morons but review them, too. Even if it's only a one-sentence review, although hopefully you'll do more. The reason is that if a book gets 50 Amazon reviews it gets more prominent placement on the site.

What I'm Reading

For some reason, in one of the Friday morning threads, I idly clicked on the nic of 'ette commenter Barb The Evil Genius, which took me to her site. From there, I clicked on the link to this site, which appears to be a blog written by a pastor who has been battling depression for a number of years. Come to find out, he has a book. And a .pdf download is available for free. Just click this link.

I Trust When Dark My Road: A Lutheran View of Depression is a 100-page book which

...offers a rare glimpse into one LCMS pastor's personal journey through depression while remaining reliant upon God's grace.

It's a book about depression written by a Christian for other Christians. After reading a chapter or two, I can only say I'm glad I'm not prone to depression. Or, at least, not the endless days of black depression that he talks about here. I remember one time about 20 years ago I had some weird, free-floating depression that almost paralyzed me. It was all I could do to simply sit there at work staring at the computer screen. I felt like I was covered in lead weights. Even the most simplest tasks, like getting my e-mail, took the maximum amount of effort. But then I went home at the end of the day, went to bed, and the next day I was OK. I cannot imagine what it must be like to experience that horrible black pit darkness day after day, month after month, like some people do.

Anyway, if you're a believing Christian and you're suffering from depression, this book may help.

___________

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.

http://www.bookhorde.org/p/aoshq-authors.html

___________

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

___________

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

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

Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:57 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning.

Posted by: HH at April 24, 2016 08:54 AM (DrCtv)

2 Good morning bookworms

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 08:55 AM (Dpy/y)

3 OM I'd like to say it's my house but cant

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 08:56 AM (Dpy/y)

4 The Great Hall, Trinity College, Dublin?

Posted by: thefritz at April 24, 2016 08:59 AM (J1xBd)

5 But I did find out one thing: if you're an old guy complaining of chest pains, you get to go to the front of the line.

A friend found out that if you lie on the floor and twitch, you also go to the head of the line, because they want you out of public spaces stat!

Posted by: Hrothgar at April 24, 2016 09:00 AM (wYnyS)

6 The lead pic is the Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin.

Posted by: anon at April 24, 2016 09:01 AM (JaFtz)

7 Great Hall, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 09:01 AM (u82oZ)

8 Yeh, seemingly "The Long Room" at Trinity College.

Posted by: Grump928(C) has drink taken at April 24, 2016 09:01 AM (rwI+c)

9 I'd like to say I'm going to drop this tablet for the afternoon and go back to my book, but I can't promise that. But do think to many hrs on a bright screen isn't good, that's why I went back to a hard cover.

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 09:01 AM (Dpy/y)

10 Four commenters in the first nine recognize the library.

This is good.

Our host rubs 1986 in our faces.

That is not good.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at April 24, 2016 09:05 AM (1xUj/)

11 I recently got caught up with SJA Turney's Marius' Mules series. This latest one closes out the conquest of Gaul, and sets the stage for skipping a couple of years to hit the civil war over Caesar's rise to power, and assassination. The characters are fun and nuanced, the history and battles are mainly quite correct, and the portrayal of both the Romans and Gauls are fair. Not the books to read for epic romance, but they have adventure, politics, philosophy, violence and drinking, so they should fit nicely here.

Posted by: Graves at April 24, 2016 09:05 AM (beOli)

12 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. This has been a good week for hard cover books, mostly at a discount; the kind I will enjoy handling, often thumb through, and re-read. In no particular order:

The New Complete Hoyle

The Annotated Treasure Island

EB White Essays

Montaigne's Complete Works (Everyman's Library)

The Annotated Pilgrim's Regress by CS Lewis

When I Play With My Cat How Do I Know My Cat Isn't Playing With Me (odd title but it is about Montaigne)

Details in later comments.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 09:07 AM (V+03K)

13 I read John Scalzi's Old Man's War. I didn't know until I finished it that this was his first novel. What a great way to start a career. I'm looking forward to reading The Ghost Brigades.

Posted by: Zoltan at April 24, 2016 09:08 AM (JYer2)

14 Where'd you get a picture of my water closet?

Posted by: Dirks Strewn at April 24, 2016 09:08 AM (QdAXQ)

15 I've actually been in that Library. Very impressive.

Posted by: HH at April 24, 2016 09:09 AM (DrCtv)

16 OM, Thanks for the Book Thread, of course, and that gorgeous photo at the top. Now THAT is my idea of a study/den.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 09:10 AM (V+03K)

17 OT- prayer request-This will be second Sunday serving at the church in pain and conflict, which despite that does wonderful things in ministry with others. We are having a service for hope and healing. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be present and for me to get out of the way. Service at 10;30 EST

I deeply appreciate the prayers. I know they helped last week.

Grace and peace,

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 24, 2016 09:14 AM (w4NZ8)

18 Reading Trouble on Titan by Alan E. Norse. I like Heinlein better. Norse's other stories about medicine in SF were better.

Alan E. Norse was Doctor X, who wrote a very good book Intern about his experiences as an intern. The technology has changed, but not the process. It hold up well today.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 09:16 AM (u82oZ)

19 YAY BOOK THREAD!

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:17 AM (nbrY/)

20 17 FenelonSpoke

Prayers ascending. May your future, and your new church's future, be as bright as your dreams.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 09:18 AM (u82oZ)

21 A friend of mine in my writing group recently published. It's been eye opening seeing the logistical requirements of publicity for a self-published author (via Amazon). I think the author support here is one of the coolest things. I resolve to read more morons.

Cheers gang.

Posted by: Phone of kari at April 24, 2016 09:19 AM (Cnjkt)

22 13 Zoltan

IMHO, John Scalzi's writing peaked with Old Man's War.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 09:20 AM (u82oZ)

23 Most definitely hospital patients can provide some of the best "stranger than fiction" stories!
I work in a diagnostics department and once had a 469 lb man who insisted I bring him to my department in a wheelchair, with oxygen. Upon arrival, needing help getting from the WC to the scanning bed, the patient accused me of kidnapping him and that he was arresting me! Thinking the patient was joking, I said "I don't think you can catch me".
He was not joking, he got more belligerent insisting that since I was not his nurse I had no right to have him in my department... he works for the Sheriffs' department... citizens arrest...
I had to call security, hospital supervisor... they eventually called the hospitalist who released the patient ama.

Posted by: KK at April 24, 2016 09:22 AM (5I05+)

24 I will admit that The Android's Dream by Scalzi was quite amusing.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 09:22 AM (u82oZ)

25 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 24, 2016 09:14 AM (w4NZ

Fenelon, gentle hugs and many prayers.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:22 AM (nbrY/)

26 Oh, my blog post today is a short one about the Hubble telescope.

Tomorrow will be about FTWD probably.

Link in nic.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:24 AM (nbrY/)

27 I deeply appreciate the prayers. I know they helped last week.

Grace and peace,
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

Sometimes to wear the crown of peace, is to wear a crown of thorns. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ knew this to be true.

Grace and peace to you also.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....tortured American at April 24, 2016 09:25 AM (+1T7c)

28 Trinity College Library has The Book of Kells. They use to display it, still do, and turn one page a day. I see now they have an exhibition with giant blow up reproductions.

Always enjoyed this modern version with a monk and his cat and a computer mouse:

http://www.quillskill.com/trad/celtic_art_pangur_b.jpg

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 09:25 AM (iQIUe)

29 Hank Aaron has said baseball teams were popping uppers back in the 1950's - and probably before that.

It's tempting to think that pro sports were somehow pure back in the day, but that's an illusion. I was just going to say that now that baseball players are signing contracts for $50 or $100 million, the temptation to cheat is that much greater, but on reflection, I'm not so sure, when you consider the social background of most of the earlier players. They generally came from poor families. Most of the white players now are middle class. What drives one more - the desire to get ridiculously well paid instead of just very well paid, or the desire to escape the mine or the factory or the farm you came from?

Posted by: Donna&&&&V (a white) (whitely brandishing ampersand privilege ) at April 24, 2016 09:26 AM (P8951)

30 Good morning! Following up on last week's thread, I got my copy of Samuel Hawley's "The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China."
And based on the recommendation of sexypig, I started reading Charles Stephenson's "A Box of Sand" about the Italo-Ottoman War of 1911-1912. One passage stood out to me: after the Italians bombarded Tripoli, the population rioted (the Ottoman forces abandoned the city beforehand) & turned their violence on - wait for it - the Jews. Thankfully there were Jewish constables who were armed & able to defend their quarter until the Italians took control.

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

31 Prayers for you Fen.

And now I'm off to see my youngest nephew make his first Communion.

Posted by: Donna&&&&V (a white) (whitely brandishing ampersand privilege ) at April 24, 2016 09:27 AM (P8951)

32 >>> Nothing is going to get fixed until we, collectively, come to view progressivism as we do phrenology or eugenics.

Hitler made eugenics unfashionable. Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong and Chavez did not manage to make progressivism unfashionable, which suggests to me that it might not be doable with ordinary means. There is a certain type of blindness, stupidity that prevents a large percentage of people from seeing the self contadictions and fallacies of progressivism. Maybe we will need a "eugenic" solution in the sense of altering/removing the progressive gene in the fertilized egg, before it divides.

Posted by: angela urkel at April 24, 2016 09:27 AM (GDWqB)

33 Ron Darling went to my high school, definitely the most successful athlete to come out of there. His brother Charlie was closer to my age, starred on the baseball and golf teams, pretty nice kid, I never met Ron.

Posted by: Lincolntf at April 24, 2016 09:28 AM (2cS/G)

34 I've loved Treasure Island since I first read it back in third grade. (It had the NC Wyeth illustrations which I still enjoy.) I wish the annotated version I just got was available back then. The intro and footnotes cover all sorts of things like the history of piracy, social norms of the place and time, how the ships were rigged and why, what's a jolly boat, even demonstrating how to tie knots mentioned in the story. The cover is a painting of a ship in full sail which I would hang on a wall. Worth the price and a lot of fun. If you have a youngster, this would be a great volume for their first reading.

Loved one of the Amazon comments. A mom reads a couple of chapters a night with her kids, by candle light. That sounds so cool. I hope she tries it with 'Hound of the Baskervilles'.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 09:28 AM (V+03K)

35
Thankfully, the Vikings who had their way with kraken's great-great-great-great-great x 10 grandma, did not destroy the Book of Kells.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 09:29 AM (iQIUe)

36 Donna, blessings to the nephew! It's so cute watching first Communion. Love the white dresses and ties on the wee ones.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:33 AM (nbrY/)

37 Not a big surprise about the Mets and amphetamines and booze in '86. Jim Bouton talked about that in baseball in general in Ball Four (still the best sports book ever written) in 1969. Plus look at some of the guys on that team. Strawberry, Gooden, Dykstra, Keith Hernandez. That was probably the least of their problems.And the last thing I will ever watch after the 2008 Super Bowl is Game 6 of the '86 World Series.

Posted by: tu3031 at April 24, 2016 09:34 AM (qJhUV)

38
There is a certain type of blindness, stupidity that
prevents a large percentage of people from seeing the self
contradictions and fallacies of progressivism.

Posted by: angela urkel

I think we all have blind spots. The Progressive Idea is an intellectual manifestation of creating a man-centered paradise on Earth. It stems from our myths about the Garden of Eden, and Man's fall from grace.
The United States was created as an effort to make a more just and fair country, with no lords and ladies, no aristocracy, but freedom and liberty for all.
In that sense, viewing from an 18th century point of view, the United States was a dangerous progressive idea to the rest of Europe.
The biggest problem with the Progressive Idea is they don't know when to stop, and will not really listen to the will of the people. Hence, courts continually over-ruling things the voters decide at the polls, because they violate some sense of the Constitution, usually the 14th Amendment.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....tortured American at April 24, 2016 09:34 AM (+1T7c)

39 "Posted by: Bandersnatch at April 24, 2016 09:05 AM (1xUj/)"

Well, that or they figured out how to use Google Chrome 'Image Search'...brings the answer right up.

Posted by: rc at April 24, 2016 09:34 AM (aUCH1)

40 One guy who worked in an ER got online and expressed how tired he was of hearing the words "amber lance."

Posted by: CrustyB at April 24, 2016 09:35 AM (Hnglq)

41 Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 24, 2016 09:14 AM (w4NZ

Done!

Posted by: Hrothgar at April 24, 2016 09:35 AM (wYnyS)

42 Well, that or they figured out how to use Google Chrome 'Image Search'...brings the answer right up.

Looking things up is cheating.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at April 24, 2016 09:37 AM (1xUj/)

43 I remember reading Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" back in the 70s. There was some talk of players using amphetamines back then as well. I remember one passage about a fielder just missing a close play: "Five more milligrams and he's have had it."

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 09:37 AM (sdi6R)

44 Good morning, readers. I finished the Donna Andrews mystery I was reading and it was OK, not her best. Gave it 3 stars on amazon, which had me wondering about grade inflation there. I suppose its inevitable given what has gone on in the real world, plus young skulls full of mush who are incapable of distinguishing good writing from bad.

Then we have "The Walls Are Talking" written by a former abortion clinic employee. Disturbing. The title is from "If these walls could talk" which was a movie about three women getting abortions and thank God I never saw it.

And I have just started "You Can Understand The Bible" by Peter Kreeft because still looking for context because diving in just seems like a good way to get terribly confused and bored.

Posted by: Tonestaple at April 24, 2016 09:38 AM (x0+e/)

45 Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:33 AM (nbrY/)

Thank you!

Posted by: Donna&&&&V (a white) (whitely brandishing ampersand privilege ) at April 24, 2016 09:38 AM (P8951)

46 Thankfully, the Vikings who had their way with
kraken's great-great-great-great-great x 10 grandma, did not destroy the
Book of Kells.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang!

Given time, the Muslims and Islam will. I fear we are entering a Dark Age, where in times to come, the equivalent of fortified monasteries will be the repository of the Old Knowledge created in the West since the days of the Enlightenment.
In the times to come, owning guns and old books may certainly become a crime.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....tortured American at April 24, 2016 09:40 AM (+1T7c)

47 Posted by: Phone of kari at April 24, 2016 09:19 AM (Cnjkt)

There are some really good story-tellers in the Horde.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:40 AM (nbrY/)

48 BookBub and I have become good, good friends.

This week, I read "Allegiance" by Kermit Roosevelt III, "Panic" and "Shock" by K.R. Griffiths, and "Burn the Dead: Quarantine" by Steven Jenkins. All but the first one are zombie books; I'm getting kind of hooked on a good zombie story, and these are GOOD.
"Allegiance" is a legal thriller set in WWII Washington. Also most excellent.
I started reading "Until Morning Comes" by J.T. Sawyer. Just started it last night, and I'm not crazy about the way the author sets the stage for the characters in the first chapter, but I'm hoping things even out as I progress.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 09:41 AM (9n14Y)

49 FS May God bless your House of Prayer.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 24, 2016 09:43 AM (EZebt)

50 The United States was created as an effort to make a more just and fair country, with no lords and ladies, no aristocracy, but freedom and liberty for all.
In that sense, viewing from an 18th century point of view, the United States was a dangerous progressive idea to the rest of Europe.
...

Posted by: Bossy Conservative

And now we've come full circle, except our new lords lack Louis XIVs sense of style.

Posted by: angela urkel at April 24, 2016 09:47 AM (GDWqB)

51 When I saw the 25 tom swift kindle books for .99, other megapacks sprung up. Plenty of interesting sci fi boy reading that I wish I'd known about when the kid was devouring books.

Posted by: nckate at April 24, 2016 09:47 AM (O46jc)

52 I read a Horde book this week that was a lot of fun. Felt a bit like WEB Griffin. The main characters are very Moron-like.
It's Tampa Star by TS O'Neil. Here's my review

http://www.bookhorde.org/2016/04/tampa-star-by-tsoneil.html

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:48 AM (nbrY/)

53 Just received Democracy in America.

Could take a while to finish it.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 24, 2016 09:48 AM (ptqRm)

54
He he he, Oregon.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:49 AM (nbrY/)

55 53 Just received Democracy in America.

Could take a while to finish it.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 24, 2016 09:48 AM (ptqRm)

Oh, we're almost done with it.

Posted by: The Progressive Left at April 24, 2016 09:49 AM (7qAYi)

56 They generally came from poor families. Most of the white players now are middle class. What drives one more - the desire to get ridiculously well paid instead of just very well paid, or the desire to escape the mine or the factory or the farm you came from?
Posted by: Donna&&&&V (a white) (whitely brandishing ampersand privilege ) at April 24, 2016 09:26 AM (P8951)

Also - these were kids who had never had two nickels to rub together before baseball. We see it today in professional sports. Kids who go from zero to filthy rich in less than a year, and don't have a clue what to do with their new found riches or who to trust for advice. I'm sure it was the same back in he '50's.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 09:50 AM (9n14Y)

57 I have to, once again, sing the praises of Murray Leinster. His career spanned from the Gernsback era to the 80's, and though he did some schlock, he also did a lot of very wonderful SF about people.

Heinlein wrote about creating new worlds, Sprague deCamp wrote about exploring new worlds, but Leinster wrote about living in new worlds, and coping with their problems

I am reading now Invaders of Space, about a shanghaied spaceship engineer.

I also loved Creatures of the Abyss, which is almost a sci-fi horror story based on a Lovecraft plot cycle of picking away at something odd to uncover something horribly vast (what is the link between Noir and Lovecraftian horror by the way?) where odd fish from the deeps are being found for sale in a Philippine market with very odd devices implanted in them.

And of course, Pirates of Ersatz, which could be almost a Stainless Steel Rat story if it wasn't written prior to any of Harrison's books. It has spaceships, brilliant engineering advances, entrenched bureaucracies, pirates, ray-guns, love interests, betrayal, and a fundamentalist sect on a long trek to their new homeland. What's not to like?

Posted by: Kindltot at April 24, 2016 09:50 AM (G0QM9)

58 Still slogging through "Atonement" ... which I swear, is equal to the first four chapters of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe for tedious scene-setting.

Otherwise devoted to slogging away at my own writing, and finishing up preparations for releasing the second Chronicle of Luna City ... officially by the middle of May. This will continue with the resolution of the cliff-hanger at the end of the first book, with a hidden treasure of gold $20 coins somewhere around Luna City, a movie company coming to down to do location shooting ... for a movie which is not entirely above board (necessitating some sneaky sleuthing on the part of several characters), some light romance, and a recipe for mustang grape wine...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at April 24, 2016 09:50 AM (oK6A/)

59 Prayers for you and your church, FenelonSpoke. Your "ministry" here among the Morons is appreciated.

Posted by: Plum Duff (formerly lurker_above) at April 24, 2016 09:50 AM (BUO/v)

60 I was continuing to read 'Paradise Lost' but felt I wasn't getting as much from it as I should have. I was delighted by the words but focusing on the trees kept me from appreciating the forest. And, in this case, the forest is what matters most.

I came across mention of "A Preface to Paradise Lost' by CS Lewis, which I hadn't heard of. The book is based on lectures and writings Lewis did around 1941. It is a revelation. In less than 150 pages, Lewis gives the history of epic poetry from Homer to Milton, how they differ and why, and how that is so important to understanding and appreciating Paradise Lost. In the process he puts the skids under modern critics and teachers (echoes of Abolition of Man) with sharp wit and humor. The stress is placed on what Milton, with his world view, intended. The moderns try to make the poem, and similar writings, fit their personal prejudices, thereby skewing and diminishing a masterpiece. That 'modern' approach is what was used when I studied this material back in 1971 and it definitely lessened the impact and importance of the literature. Pisses me off. Those classes would have ben better spent reading Lewis' and Tolkien's academic works before going on to the specific literature instead of listening to the arrogant droning of the professors. I am pointing specifically at the damn Norton Anthologies that were considered Holy Writ at the time. Phooey!

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 09:51 AM (V+03K)

61 The massive momentary text-strikeout was yuge.

Posted by: m at April 24, 2016 09:51 AM (S/1cF)

62
"O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out. Against the wreckful siege of battering days." Sonnet 65

Man knew how to turn a phrase...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 09:52 AM (iQIUe)

63
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee." Sonnet 18

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 09:52 AM (iQIUe)

64 53 Just received Democracy in America.
Could take a while to finish it.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at April 24, 2016 09:48 AM (ptqRm)

The unabridged DiA is, I think, three volumes. That'll keep you busy.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 09:53 AM (uJ94C)

65 Ghost of Kari, what are you writing?

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:53 AM (nbrY/)

66 When I saw the 25 tom swift kindle books for .99, other megapacks sprung up. Plenty of interesting sci fi boy reading that I wish I'd known about when the kid was devouring books.
Posted by: nckate at April 24, 2016 09:47 AM (O46jc)

I texted my daughter in Washington state and asked her if Grandson 1 of 3 had the kindle app on his tablet. I'm planning to gift him some of the sci fi stuff I find, as well as some of the oldies I enjoyed as a kid.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 09:54 AM (9n14Y)

67 The biggest problem with the Progressive Idea is they don't know when to stop

I see nothing in common with our Founding and today's Progressivism. I don't think the two movements are related at all.

Posted by: t-bird at April 24, 2016 09:55 AM (J3phO)

68 54 He he he, Oregon.
Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:49 AM (nbrY/)

You caught my faux pas, did you?

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 09:55 AM (uJ94C)

69 Nothing is going to get fixed until we, collectively, come to view progressivism as we do phrenology or eugenics.

A cowektiwist sowushion to cowektiwism.

Oh... how ordinawy.

Posted by: Lilly von Schtupp at April 24, 2016 09:56 AM (F6RKd)

70 You caught my faux pas, did you?
Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 09:55 AM (uJ94C)

It was a quick recovery, though.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 09:56 AM (nbrY/)

71 Hmm, I "studied" literature and literati for some years, and it just smacked me in the face that Cervantes and Shakespeare died on [just about] the same day.

Something going around? (It was 1616--what the hell wasn't?)
Really bad literary agent?
Toughest critics evah? (actually there's some truth in that one).

Posted by: Stringer Davis at April 24, 2016 09:58 AM (xq1UY)

72 antisocialist, if you look at tom swift on amazon and then scroll thru the "customers who bought this item also bought" books, there are some pretty interesting collections. I just bought the 12 boy scouts novels.

Posted by: nckate at April 24, 2016 09:59 AM (O46jc)

73 71 Hmm, I "studied" literature and literati for some years, and it just smacked me in the face that Cervantes and Shakespeare died on [just about] the same day.

Something going around? (It was 1616--what the hell wasn't?)

Posted by: Stringer Davis at April 24, 2016 09:58 AM (xq1UY)

The 17th-century equivalent to 2016 - they were the Bowie & Prince of their times.

Posted by: Josephistan at April 24, 2016 10:01 AM (7qAYi)

74 Finally found my The Complete Chess Player by Fred Reinfeld, I need to brush up a lot.

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 10:02 AM (Dpy/y)

75 Oh, and I read "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Firsthand Account" by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli. He was a prisoner at Auschwitz who, because he had been a physician and medical examiner prior to being sent there, was assigned to the sonderkommando at the specific request of Mengele.
It's a tough book to get through. I have mixed feelings about Dr. Nyiszli - on the one hand, I do understand that he didn't have much choice in the matter, nor did he have a say in what he was asked to do. (And what he was asked to do was pretty gruesome.) However...well, it just makes you think about how far you'd go to save yourself, and potentially your family, under the same set of conditions.
I recommend it, but don't expect a feel-good story.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:03 AM (9n14Y)

76 I enjoyed the short stories of Murray Leinster more than his novels. I own his collection A Logic Named Joe.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 10:03 AM (u82oZ)

77 Posted by: nckate at April 24, 2016 09:59 AM (O46jc)

Cool! Thanks!

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:04 AM (9n14Y)

78 A cowektiwist sowushion to cowektiwism.

Oh... how ordinawy.
Posted by: Lilly von Schtupp at April 24, 2016 09:56 AM (F6RKd)

Simplicity and elegance is the hallmark of a mature understanding.

I would like to thank this sock, truly and without any sarcasm, for both distilling the salient points down to the bare essentials, and delivering it in a way that resembles a 11 lb bowling ball delivered overhand with pin-point accuracy.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 24, 2016 10:05 AM (G0QM9)

79 Hi

Posted by: seamrog at April 24, 2016 10:08 AM (yISK6)

80 "Reading Trouble on Titan by Alan E. Norse. I like Heinlein better. Norse's other stories about medicine in SF were better. Alan E. Norse was Doctor X, who wrote a very good book Intern about his experiences as an intern. The technology has changed, but not the process. It hold up well today."

Nourse, surely.

Autocucumber?

Posted by: torquewrench at April 24, 2016 10:08 AM (noWW6)

81 Small grandson (20mos) has never let me read to him. But he sits down with his board books and turns pages. He studies a picture, and then turns it right side up. I just thought it was cool that he had gotten to the point where he could see and judge the pictures by himself. Kid is bound and determined to do it himself.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 10:09 AM (MIKMs)

82 Bowie and Prince.
[sigh]
OK I'm going to just go spray poisons for a while.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at April 24, 2016 10:10 AM (xq1UY)

83 I'm still ambling aimlessly through my dad's extensive paperback collection; this week it was a Max Brand novel titled The Mustang Herder.

Max Brand is the most recognized pen name of Frederick Faust. Under that pseudonym, he wrote a ton of westerns and also created the Dr. Kildare series. But he had many more pen names and wrote in all kinds of genres. The only time he used his actual name, though, was for his poetry volumes.

The easiest way to review the book is quote wiki:

Faust had trained himself to do exactly 14 pages of work a day, every day, come what may and did them in two hours, starting at nine thirty in the morning. That added up to a million and a half words a year, for thirty years. Faust's work was all about "originals". He never mastered the technique of adapting an original into a screenplay, which was written by others. This meant he was not a great success in Hollywood. Faust wrote under 15 pseudonyms in all. He told Gruber that though he had written 300 books, they all had the same plot. The good man becomes bad and the bad man becomes good. That way you have conflict.

One other interesting thing about Faust is that he was killed in Italy on May 12, 1944 by German shrapnel at the age of 51. He was there as a war correspondent for Harper's Magazine.

I wonder if Seamus Muldoon's father and Faust met.

Posted by: GnuBreed at April 24, 2016 10:11 AM (gyKtp)

84 As for Ed Morrissey's book, perhaps it would be better to look for advice on winning elections from someone other than a guy who couldn't even manage to sustain the comments section of his own blog.

Posted by: torquewrench at April 24, 2016 10:14 AM (noWW6)

85 Yes the idea that the GOP needs to focus on 7 counties...sigh. We should have some moron write something like the way to win is win a bunch more votes than the other side.

Posted by: blaster at April 24, 2016 10:14 AM (2Ocf1)

86 75 Oh, and I read "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Firsthand Account" by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli. He was a prisoner at Auschwitz who, because he had been a physician and medical examiner prior to being sent there, was assigned to the sonderkommando at the specific request of Mengele.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:03 AM (9n14Y)

===========
The best approach is to thank God that we did not have to make those types of choices.

One of the creepiest things are the JPL enhanced aerial photos of Birkenau where you can see a crematorium being prepared for an arriving train, the selection, and the people being led down into the underground dressing room.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:16 AM (iQIUe)

87 I discovered Tom Swift at the library when I was about 10 I think. Read every one in the library, must have been 30 or so.

Posted by: blaster at April 24, 2016 10:17 AM (2Ocf1)

88 85 Yes the idea that the GOP needs to focus on 7 counties...sigh. We should have some moron write something like the way to win is win a bunch more votes than the other side.

Posted by: blaster at April 24, 2016 10:14 AM (2Ocf1)

The John Madden school of politics.

Posted by: Insomniac at April 24, 2016 10:18 AM (0mRoj)

89 g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at April 24, 2016 10:18 AM (KCxzN)

90 A couple corrections: The Mets were NOT down 3-0 in that series. They weren't even down 3-1. By game 6 they were down 3-2, came back to win that game and then take game 7.

And when the ball rolled through Buckner's legs, the game had already been tied in extra innings, so even if Buckner had recorded the out, the game would have simply gone to the next inning (the 11th?).

Posted by: BurtTC at April 24, 2016 10:20 AM (Dj0WE)

91 FenelonSpoke, I'm sending up prayers for Godly wisdom, Godly hands, and a Godly heart for you to minister to your congregation this morning. Off to church myself -- will be back later on!

Posted by: DynamiteDan at April 24, 2016 10:20 AM (BaDMP)

92 I remember reading Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" back in the 70s. There was some talk of players using amphetamines back then as well. I remember one passage about a fielder just missing a close play: "Five more milligrams and he's have had it."
Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 09:37 AM (sdi6R)

Personally, I think the amphetamine usage was never quite as bad as Bouton (and now Darling) made it out to be. I'm sure it was there, but there's a certain glorification about it, and it serves as a useful (and completely erroneous) means of saying "hey, steroid usage in sports these days isn't so bad, look at all the amphetamines they took back then."

Posted by: BurtTC at April 24, 2016 10:25 AM (Dj0WE)

93 Going Red: The Two Million Voters Who Will Elect the Next President--and How Conservatives Can Win

I still find it annoying that so many conservatives accept and use the leftist media's labels without a fight. Obviously it's the Democrats who should properly be called the "red" party.

When you allow the Left to define the terms of debate, don't be surprised when they keep on winning.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:25 AM (sdi6R)

94 80 torquewrench

Thanks for the catch. No technology was involved in my mistake. Brain fart all the way.

Have a great rest of the book thread. I'm going to take my widowed up-the-hill neighbor her Sunday paper. We talk literature and more.

She likes the title for my first planned book "My First Day at Work I Made a Kindergartner Cry".

Posted by: NaCly Dog at April 24, 2016 10:27 AM (u82oZ)

95 Dick Cheney and Ed Pop N' Fresh should write a new book about their collective history of BS.

They could call it "Never Was So Little Accomplished By Those Who Were Given So Much".

But being too long of a title they could just call it "Failure". Simple and to the point.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 24, 2016 10:28 AM (ej1L0)

96 For funny courtroom moments:

http://tinyurl.com/h6ao95m

Posted by: PJ at April 24, 2016 10:29 AM (cHuNI)

97 Because of OM's Chess Thread, I got thinking about other classic board games and card games. That's when I realized I couldn't remember how to play checkers, Parcheesi, gin rummy, cribbage, poker, dominoes and a bunch of others I used to play as a kid. The best compilation of rules, and a little history, I could find is 'The New Complete Hoyle'. Since I've been amassing non-digital games, mostly classics, I wanted a one stop place to learn the rules and this volume seems to be it. Certainly it gets the best overall ratings on Amazon.

BTW, I saw on the Chess Thread yesterday that the Moron subgroup on chess.com is up to 60 members. In a few weeks I hope to be able to play some of them and have a game that goes beyond five moves to lose. :-) If you have any interest in the game at all, including stone cold beginner, the chess thread is fun.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 10:30 AM (V+03K)

98
Serial puddle splasher 'who purposely soaks people in a 4x4' is hunted by police

http://dailym.ai/1Wk7LOJ

============
Mean tweeters and serial puddle splashers given high priority - rapists and terrorists not so much...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:31 AM (iQIUe)

99 "I must confess I no longer have any kind of patience for this Karl Rove-style granular scrambling for votes."

I always wondered why the GOP just didn't take the Reagan approach and run on a joyful, full-throated conservatism. He had landslides, attracted voters to the GOP, brought the economy back to life!

Then I figured it out: they are happy with the status quo, their safe seats, their earmarks for the gang over at K Street, the cocktail parties and retreats.

Posted by: PJ at April 24, 2016 10:32 AM (cHuNI)

100 74 Finally found my The Complete Chess Player by Fred Reinfeld, I need to brush up a lot.
Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 10:02 AM (Dpy/y

You can do a lot better than Reinfeld.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 10:35 AM (uJ94C)

101 "71
Hmm, I "studied" literature and literati for some years, and it just
smacked me in the face that Cervantes and Shakespeare died on [just
about] the same day.

Something going around? (It was 1616--what the hell wasn't?)
Really bad literary agent?
Toughest critics evah? (actually there's some truth in that one).

Posted by: Stringer Davis at April 24, 2016 09:58 AM (xq1UY)"

Or time travelers from the future kidnapping literary figures and replacing them with synthetic corpses that could fool the examiners of a pre-technical age.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at April 24, 2016 10:35 AM (QHgTq)

102 #44 Tonestaple, My husband managed a Christian bookstore for most of his working life. His recommendations for those who were new to the Bible included a good study bible. The Quest Study Bible was his favorite by far.

We gave it to many new Christians-- always got very positive feedback because it addressed the most common questions most people have when they first read the Bible.

A good Bible Handbook is also useful, as well Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

Posted by: girldog at April 24, 2016 10:36 AM (PF5o6)

103 >>>This is why voting feels so much like exchanging one set of deck chairs on the Titanic with another.

Voting is like trying to prepare a meal, but instead of the ingredients the recipe calls for, principled individuals, we have to substitute crap, crap and more crap since that's all that's available, and rearranging crap still produces a shit sandwich.

Posted by: angela urkel at April 24, 2016 10:36 AM (GDWqB)

104 One of the creepiest things are the JPL enhanced aerial photos of Birkenau where you can see a crematorium being prepared for an arriving train, the selection, and the people being led down into the underground dressing room.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:16 AM (iQIUe)

Look up "Birkenau Revolt 1944". The guy who wrote this book was supposed to take part in it but they started earlier than planned. Anyway, one of the crematoriums was blown all to hell by the sonderkommndo, who had stockpiled explosives and some guns and ammo.
That's about all the good that came from it, though. The few who were able to escape were found and shot.

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:39 AM (9n14Y)

105 The best compilation of rules, and a little history, I could find is 'The New Complete Hoyle'. Since I've been amassing non-digital games, mostly classics, I wanted a one stop place to learn the rules and this volume seems to be it. Certainly it gets the best overall ratings on Amazon.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 10:30 AM (V+03K)

I gave a copy of The New Complete Hoyle to Mrs. Muse as a Christmas present. It is truly an impressive compendium of games.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 10:40 AM (uJ94C)

106 97
In a few weeks I hope to be able to play some of them and have a game that goes beyond five moves to lose. :-)
Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 10:30 AM (V+03K)

The shortest possible chess game is two moves:

1. g4 e5
2. f3 Qh4#

I think that's pretty neat. The game is over and all of the pieces are still on the board.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:40 AM (sdi6R)

107 "I still find it annoying that so many conservatives
accept and use the leftist media's labels without a fight. Obviously
it's the Democrats who should properly be called the "red" party.

When you allow the Left to define the terms of debate, don't be surprised when they keep on winning.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:25 AM (sdi6R)"

Would you be happier with a "Matrix" reference? Call the Democrat states Blue Pill Areas and the Republican areas Red Pill Areas.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at April 24, 2016 10:41 AM (QHgTq)

108 I can't deal with these 'how to do it' political books. These fools keep looking for some magic pill that will eke out a marginal victory. (God, I hate Karl Rove!) How about proudly and constantly proclaiming what conservatism has accomplished FOR ALL AMERICANS, not accepting the lies of the Dems and the media (sorry for the redundancy) and spend less time attacking your base. You listening, John McCain?

On the other hand, think of all the time I save for important matters by ignoring Rove, Hannity, and the rest of these self-anointed pundits.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 10:42 AM (V+03K)

109 re: politics I'll quote Lilli - "I'm tired!"

Good luck Sabrina with new book.

Back to my writing because yet another thread overrun like kudzu with politics will surely strangle any joy I might otherwise experience...

http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/B014BTSEYO

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 24, 2016 10:42 AM (5Innn)

110 I must confess I no longer have any kind of patience for this Karl Rove-style granular scrambling for votes. If a national election truly does come down to two million voters who are so malleable that they could just as well vote blue instead of red, we're already lost. Electing yet another half-conservative GOPe-approved candidate to the executive will accomplish little.

----That's how it's done. Micro-targeting blocs is the way to go

Posted by: Tradd at April 24, 2016 10:45 AM (EQcBC)

111 >>>Would you be happier with a "Matrix" reference? Call the Democrat states Blue Pill Areas and the Republican areas Red Pill Areas.

What if I told you...the Wachowskis are color blind and took the wrong pills by mistake?

Posted by: Morpheus at April 24, 2016 10:47 AM (GDWqB)

112 The shortest possible chess game is two moves:

1. g4 e5
2. f3 Qh4#

I think that's pretty neat. The game is over and all of the pieces are still on the board.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:40 AM (sdi6R)

I've been looking for a good book to learn chess - I'm starting to think that "Chess for Kids" is my best bet...

Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:47 AM (9n14Y)

113
----That's how it's done. Micro-targeting blocs is the way to go
Posted by: Tradd at April 24, 2016 10:45 AM (EQcBC)

Yes. That's how it's done. And that's why nothing ever changes, because you're switching shitty Democrats for shitty Republicans. Which only really matters to the shitty people who make their livings in politics.

Posted by: BurtTC at April 24, 2016 10:48 AM (Dj0WE)

114 Re-read the Necronomicon (197

this week. It was funnier than I remembered. My appreciation was enhanced by having recently re-watched The Ninth Gate, (a movie made from the book El Club Dumas) which uses the same techniques, albeit without humorous intent.

Posted by: HTL at April 24, 2016 10:48 AM (gVyJ+)

115 Look up "Birkenau Revolt 1944". The guy who wrote this book was supposed to take part in it but they started earlier than planned. Anyway, one of the crematoriums was blown all to hell by the sonderkommndo, who had stockpiled explosives and some guns and ammo.
That's about all the good that came from it, though. The few who were able to escape were found and shot.
Posted by: antisocialist at April 24, 2016 10:39 AM (9n14Y)

=========
Yes, his book was the basis for the play and later the movie, The Gray Zone, which is depressing as hell. The revolt happened in Oct, the soviets were advancing but didnt arrive until January. Blowing up a crematorium saved people but how many I have no idea. But it doesnt matter. Some people is better than no people.

For years I did battle on the Holocaust and Holocaust denier forums (yech). Unfortunately, most of my comrades in arms went full SJW lefty loon. Now the action is on twitter - less overt deniers but plenty of joo hatred and Israel demonizing.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:49 AM (iQIUe)

116 Kid is bound and determined to do it himself.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 10:09 AM (MIKMs)

Our daughter is like that. She kept telling us "me do it", no matter how hard or difficult the task, ever since she was about age 2. "Me do it" has been her attitude toward life her entire life. It's a great strength, but also a great weakness.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 10:50 AM (uJ94C)

117 106 ... Thanks a lot, rickl. Now I have to set up the board again! :-)
Have to admit, your solution is more elegant than pulling a gun on my opponent!

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 10:50 AM (V+03K)

118
"We few, we happy few, we band of morons..."

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:53 AM (iQIUe)

119 106
I think that's pretty neat. The game is over and all of the pieces are still on the board.
Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:40 AM (sdi6R)

For a game as complex as chess, it's pretty remarkable that a legal game can be so quick, abrupt, and decisive. Is such a short game possible with checkers, go, or poker? I suspect not.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:54 AM (sdi6R)

120 For a game as complex as chess, it's pretty remarkable that a legal game can be so quick, abrupt, and decisive. Is such a short game possible with checkers, go, or poker? I suspect not.
Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 10:54 AM (sdi6R)

============
Sure. Whips game piece at opponent, flips board, runs out of room.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:57 AM (iQIUe)

121 It's a great strength, but also a great weakness.
Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 10:50 AM (uJ94C)

==========
Then there is "I'll help!" which means it will now take 3x as long...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:59 AM (iQIUe)

122 Sure. Whips game piece at opponent, flips board, runs out of room.
Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 10:57 AM (iQIUe)

Either that or you could play "moron chess" where the pieces are shot glasses filled with various adult beverages and you play the game as you normally do with the addition of this rule:

Capture a piece -- do a shot!

And be sure to write down your moves. They will no doubt be very entertaining.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:01 AM (uJ94C)

123 I must confess I no longer have any kind of patience for this Karl Rove-style granular scrambling for votes.

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Posted by: Samuel Adams at April 24, 2016 11:01 AM (vBeA5)

124 >>>Micro-targeting blocs is the way to go

The fact that people are so ill informed and apathetic as to need phone calls and ads to make up their minds is the problem. After the past 7 years, reality should have solidified their opinions.

Posted by: angela urkel at April 24, 2016 11:03 AM (GDWqB)

125 Uh, dewd.......

Hover over image, right click on mouse, left click on 'Search Google for this image'

You're welcome

Posted by: Uncle Rick at April 24, 2016 11:08 AM (gugzg)

126 As I was thumbing through some essays by EB White, it got me thinking about the origin of the genre, which leads back to Montaigne in the latter 1500s. Turns out he was an interesting guy. As I knew almost nothing about him I am starting with a biography. How To Live: Or A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell is available on Kindle for 1.99 and is a recent biography. I am often wary about modern writers 'interpreting' attitudes and mores from 500 years ago. But so far, so good. And the lady writes well.

At a used book store (dangerous places) I found a bilingual section of Montaigne's essays, French on one page and the English translation on the facing page. For a whole dollar it was worth getting just for entertainment. I figure I'm getting 30 to 40 percent of the French, which is better than expected. Maybe I was just having a good day. Hardly a great success but not without humor.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:09 AM (V+03K)

127 It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Posted by: Samuel Adams at April 24, 2016 11:01 AM (vBeA5)

Word.

Posted by: V.I. Lenin at April 24, 2016 11:10 AM (uJ94C)

128 I thought if Buckner had made the play the inning would have ended tied.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:10 AM (MQEz6)

129 @121 But gird your patience, because the "I'll help" is such a good sign. Use simple words, but explain what you are doing as though you are talking to another adult. You won't have to do it twice.

And as to the current election, and the Rove/Morrissey theories, it looks like the electorate was just like every electorate since the beginning of time; they are longing for at least the appearance of testosterone. (And that applies to women candidates, too)

Posted by: artemis at April 24, 2016 11:11 AM (AwPyG)

130 It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Posted by: Samuel Adams at April 24, 2016 11:01 AM (vBeA5)

Preach it, brother.

Posted by: Homos at April 24, 2016 11:12 AM (uJ94C)

131 is it bard time or was that last week?

there's a first folio coming up at sotheby's. they're rare. one weird thing is that there are libraries that own multiple copies (the folger in washington has 82, about 1/3 of the extant copies).

good luck!

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at April 24, 2016 11:13 AM (WTSFk)

132 It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Posted by: Samuel Adams at April 24, 2016 11:01 AM (vBeA5)

Oh, we're living proof of that.

Posted by: a few mentally ill men wearing dresses at April 24, 2016 11:13 AM (uJ94C)

133 Good post on Rove's political strategy and the problems with it.

I have not read Morrissey's book so I won't judge it unless I do, however I can assume it is not much different from Rove's view. I get that impression at least from seeing what Morrissey and AP post at Hotair.

The best analogy I can come up with is WWI vs. WWII. A WWI general is obsessed on taking a few trenches and making a few moderate gains at a great cost. A WWII general is thinking about completely dislocating the enemy at a minimal cost.

So the cost to win that small segment of voters is so high that you will lose a great portion of your loyal voters in the process. Hence the Trump phenomenon, who I think is simply the beginning of finding a way to break the deadlock, not the ultimate solution.

We need to revision what this fight is about. If you are stuck in a conservative vs. liberal mindset you are fighting the wrong war. Instead the battle is between extreme internationalism vs. nationalism. The progressives are simply one form of internationalism, but there is a conservative form of internationalism as well.

This is why Paul Ryan and Obama seem to agree on issues involving trade, immigration, international institutions and laws. Their only disagreement seems to be the economic system for this radical internationalist world.

Both Conservative and Progressive internationalist policies, even if Ryan does not understand it, would lead to a further loss of American sovereignty and thus losing all the liberties found in the constitution.

By changing the dynamic of the fight from Conservative vs. Liberal to Nationalist vs. Internationalist we can maybe dislocate progressives by painting them as the tool of wealthy internationalist cronies who hate America and wish to destroy our freedom. That the progressives wish to submit all Americans to a wealthy international aristocratic elite for which many of them belong.

That argument is harder to use if we stay confined to the current conservative principles of free trade, cheap labor, and never attacking wealthy people or wall street.

Posted by: William Eaton at April 24, 2016 11:14 AM (KhJh8)

134 At a used book store (dangerous places) I found a
bilingual section of Montaigne's essays, French on one page and the
English translation on the facing page. For a whole dollar it was worth
getting just for entertainment. I figure I'm getting 30 to 40 percent of
the French, which is better than expected. Maybe I was just having a
good day. Hardly a great success but not without humor. Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:09 AM (V+03K)
=====

When I was in school, the facing pages were common, and I thought they were practical and valuable for learning. I usually saw them with Latin and Greek texts but I saw them with other languages as well. Is there any modern series that uses that method? Penguin Classics maybe?

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 11:14 AM (MIKMs)

135 There is a telling bideo of Poppin Fresh made during a TEA Party rally in DC.

There he was on stage in front of thousands of Americans peacefully assembled.

He looked really uncomfortable.

Stage fright?

Maybe.

I think it was something else.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:16 AM (MQEz6)

136 And when the ball rolled through Buckner's legs, the game had already been tied in extra innings, so even if Buckner had recorded the out, the game would have simply gone to the next inning (the 11th?).

Posted by: BurtTC at April 24, 2016 10:20 AM (Dj0WE)

Buckner was playing behind the bag and had two bad knees. Even had he caught the slow roller he wouldn't have beaten the speedy Mookie Wilson to the bag. It would have kept the winning run from scoring on that error but it would still have been two outs and not ending the inning.

Game 6 for a Mets fan like me is like asking where you were on 9-11 or the JFK Assassination

Posted by: kbdabear at April 24, 2016 11:17 AM (TxLR8)

137 I happened to stumble upon this "Bad Poetry Slam" from 2005. Ace, hopped up on red bull and Val-U-Rite channels Trump and Aquaman. Seems prescient now.

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/129828.php

Don't forget that comments on old posts get a pixy-ban.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 24, 2016 11:17 AM (VdICR)

138 video, not bideo, although I'm sure bideo is a fine assembly of letters

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:18 AM (MQEz6)

139 Yeah, Poppin fresh Ed's books sounds useless.
Just had a friend insist that I take her copy of Charles Murray's "Coming Apart" - she could not recommend it enough. From Amazon. So, I will report back...unless any Morons here have reviews.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2016 11:20 AM (NOIQH)

140 That's how it's done. Micro-targeting blocs is the way to go
-----
Kneel before me and weep.

Posted by: ORCA at April 24, 2016 11:21 AM (jVvcc)

141 "I must confess I no longer have any kind of patience for this Karl Rove-style granular scrambling for votes."

It's likely that the 2016 race will come down to who wins FL and OH and a few other swing states. That's a result of how the Electoral College works, which is in our beloved Constitution.

They're called swing states because the vote is expected to be close, say within 5%. So yes, scrambling for votes using wedge issues in just a few states can mean the difference.

And I hate Karl Rove with a passion.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 24, 2016 11:21 AM (bQxkN)

142 >>Game 6 for a Mets fan like me is like asking where you were on 9-11 or the JFK Assassination

Heh, Red Sox fan here, and I remember exactly where I was at that moment.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2016 11:23 AM (NOIQH)

143 I bought a copy of "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes at a local library sale for $1. It's a very well regarded epic of the brutality of the founding of Australia. In Georgian England there were 187 crimes, many trivial thefts, that carried the death penalty. In acts of "mercy" the government shipped off thousands of felons in prison ships to Australia, the worst place they could think of. The brutality of their treatment, IMO, surpassed that of the gulags. Prisoners getting 500 lashes with the cat-of-nine tails for the most trifling offenses, "Lay it on so their backbone is bare". Varied other punishments, all inhuman in the extreme. What a hell-hole.

Anyway, a hellava good book, very well written, can understand why Aussies aren't always crazy about "the Poms".

Posted by: JHW at April 24, 2016 11:24 AM (kn0BL)

144
142 >>Game 6 for a Mets fan like me is like asking where you were on 9-11 or the JFK Assassination

Heh, Red Sox fan here, and I remember exactly where I was at that moment.
Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2016 11:23 AM (NOIQH)

As a Red Sox fan it was kaka poo poo.

As a baseball fan it was great.

Bob Stanley lost that game. He had been giving me heart attacks all season. Wild pitch throwing fat ass. NTTAWWT.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:26 AM (MQEz6)

145 I've been immersed in James Joyce's book of short stories, "Dubliners."

This is the guy who wrote the densest, most impenetrable book in the English language, "Finnegan's Wake," which he confessed he wrote to give literature professors something to write about for the next 300 years.

In "Dubliners," we read a bunch of short, easy-to-read vignettes in Dublin circa 1900 or so. The stories are stunning. Language is simple, but ideas are insightful and rich on a level I've rarely seen before. I'm besotted. And I get to teach this to my private school's juniors and seniors, which is an absurd privilege. The kids love the stories, because they're darkish without being emo or nostalgic, and they're cutting and wry without being mean. Joyce brings dignity to the humble, and with astonishing command

"Dubliners" is obviously written by the same puzzle-making mind that created "Finnegan's Wake," as you can see in the clever way he works the independent stories together by sort of rhyming them with one another rather than directly relating to one another.

Anyway, if you haven't had the pleasure of reading this thin volume of short stories, please read them post haste. They can be found online (for example, here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm), but it's best to have the physical book so you can mark it up.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:27 AM (YPgXi)

146 they are longing for at least the appearance of testosterone.

That explains the stuff on my chin...

Posted by: Barry, bowing oh, so deeply in Saudi Arabia at April 24, 2016 11:28 AM (RrDm2)

147 I wish Pixy allowed us to edit our ramblings. I would edit the above for paragraph order, fix the missing half-sentence, and just clean it up. I really must resist hitting "Post" until I've had the chance to edit my work. Embarrassing.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:29 AM (YPgXi)

148 They're called swing states because the vote is expected to be close, say within 5%. So yes, scrambling for votes using wedge issues in just a few states can mean the difference.

And I hate Karl Rove with a passion.
Posted by: Ignoramus at April 24, 2016 11:21 AM (bQxkN)

These plans rely on good knowledge of the population fistribution in a State and on campaigns and other things not being able to shift things very much.

Your campaign is really there to maintain a steady state condition.

It's really quite disgusting.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:29 AM (MQEz6)

149 It's likely that the 2016 race will come down to who wins FL and OH and a few other swing states. That's a result of how the Electoral College works, which is in our beloved Constitution.

I'm not denying the validity of the Rovian vote-counting. What I'm railing against is that idea that that kind of success, as Poppin' Fresh would have it, will be a "decisive mandate against progressivism."

It will be no such thing. The very idea is a sick joke.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:30 AM (uJ94C)

150 fistribution, also a fine thing, little used these days

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:30 AM (MQEz6)

151 And sorry, I have nothing to say about books on modern politics. I'd rather dig into a good novel than someone's analysis of microaggressions any day.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:31 AM (YPgXi)

152 Fatal Shore is great.

Humorous bit about when the naked Aborigines first encountered clothed Englishmen in the flesh. To show the Aborigines that they were in fact men, "the first white cock was flashed on Bondi Beach."

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 24, 2016 11:31 AM (bQxkN)

153 I see where Charles Koch said Hilldog would be a better president than any of the Repubs.

Posted by: Velvet Ambition at April 24, 2016 11:32 AM (QPdNE)

154 These plans rely on good knowledge of the population fistribution in a State

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:29 AM (MQEz6)

Ia "fistribution" like "distribution" only with extra sauce?

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:32 AM (uJ94C)

155 The Karl Rove/Morrisey types, which includes the Virginia and national GOPe are the reason Virginia has POS Dems for governor and attorney general. They couldn't be bothered to support serious conservative candidates for those offices. I only hope I'm approached, in person, to contribute to the GOP. It will give me a chance to stuff it back down their throats. If I sound bitter and pissed, I am.

Trying not to dwell on this kind of thing helps me keep reading the classics.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:33 AM (V+03K)

156 I just finished "The Unsubstantial Air: American Flyers in the First World War", by Samuel Hynes. It contrasts the initial enthusiasm of the largely Ivy League first wave of pilots with the complete CF of the overall American air effort, particularly from the point of view of logistics and training.

A substantial fraction is devoted to the pilot's life at the front. It was usually brief, whether we're discussing the American war effort or the pilot's lives.

Hynes is a professor of literature emeritus at Princeton, and it shows. His writing is spectacularly good: concise, descriptive and evocative.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: pep at April 24, 2016 11:34 AM (LAe3v)

157
154 These plans rely on good knowledge of the population fistribution in a State

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:29 AM (MQEz6)

Ia "fistribution" like "distribution" only with extra sauce?
Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:32 AM (uJ94C)

It may have originated in talk regarding certain sexual practices.

Add it to the Lexicon of Typos.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:35 AM (MQEz6)

158 Anyway, if you haven't had the pleasure of reading
this thin volume of short stories, please read them post haste. They can
be found online (for example, here:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm), but it's best
to have the physical book so you can mark it up.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:27 AM (YPgXi)
=====
Haven't read Dubliners (yet, I guess it is now on my list). My admiration for 'Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man' is unbounded. As the only member of my family to ever wear glasses (bad case of measles), Joyce's view of the world was a revelation. I always remember some saying about having to master the rules before you can break them -- applies to other artists as well.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 11:37 AM (MIKMs)

159 Anyway, if you haven't had the pleasure of reading this thin volume of short stories, please read them post haste. They can be found online (for example, here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm), but it's best to have the physical book so you can mark it up.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:27 AM (YPgXi)

I will always remember one of the stories from that collection about a guy who cuts out early from work to get drunk, but doesn't have quite the money he needs for a good binge, even after pawning his watch, but goes out to the pub anyway, doesn't get drunk the way he wants, comes home intending to beat up on his wife, but she's not there, so he beats up on his kid.

Probably one of the most depressing stories I have ever read in my life.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:37 AM (uJ94C)

160 Ia "fistribution" like "distribution" only with extra sauce?
Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:32 AM (uJ94C)

And a new horde meme is born.

Fistribution, it's what's not for dinner.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at April 24, 2016 11:38 AM (tSbH3)

161 fistribution
It may have originated in talk regarding certain sexual practices.
Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:35 AM (MQEz6)

Heh. Right. In homo bath-houses.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:39 AM (uJ94C)

162
161 fistribution
It may have originated in talk regarding certain sexual practices.
Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:35 AM (MQEz6)

Heh. Right. In homo bath-houses.
Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 11:39 AM (uJ94C)

Or in the House of Representatives.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:40 AM (MQEz6)

163 I just read John C. Wright's "Awake in the Night Land". Fans of great literature rejoice - Wright is the Shakespeare of our time.

Posted by: GolfBoy at April 24, 2016 11:40 AM (moQX0)

164 Here is a fun Alien invasion book, a novel: Impact Earth by Timothy Long.

Posted by: eman at April 24, 2016 11:42 AM (MQEz6)

165 The Washington Free Beacon site has occasional book reviews. A few days ago they had one on Izaak Walton's 'The Compleat Angler'. The reviewer didn't care for the latest Oxford University Press version with too many unimportant details and non-sequitors. But he understood why the book itself is still such a treasure and has been for centuries. Made me dig out my copy for future re-reading.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:42 AM (V+03K)

166 And sorry, I have nothing to say about books on
modern politics. I'd rather dig into a good novel than someone's
analysis of microaggressions any day.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 11:31 AM (YPgXi)
=====
Okay, but can we have a discussion about Jane Austen's microaggressions in her descriptors of shawl choices? (I was actually trying to be humorous here. Sorry.)

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 11:43 AM (MIKMs)

167 Praying Fenelon

Posted by: Northernlurker, muzungo at April 24, 2016 11:45 AM (4rzL1)

168 Wright is the Shakespeare of our time.
Posted by: GolfBoy at April 24, 2016 11:40 AM (moQX0)

Wow. That comparison shouldn't be too difficult to live up to.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at April 24, 2016 11:46 AM (tSbH3)

169 The Washington Free Beacon site has occasional book
reviews. A few days ago they had one on Izaak Walton's 'The Compleat
Angler'. The reviewer didn't care for the latest Oxford University Press
version with too many unimportant details and non-sequitors. But he
understood why the book itself is still such a treasure and has been for
centuries. Made me dig out my copy for future re-reading. Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:42 AM (V+03K)
=====

Connie Willis, 'To Say Nothing of the Dog' is supposed to be modeled after Compleat Angler (using her previous Domesday Book). Whatever her politics, both are excellent.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 11:47 AM (MIKMs)

170 Buckner was playing behind the bag and had two bad knees. Even had he
caught the slow roller he wouldn't have beaten the speedy Mookie Wilson
to the bag. It would have kept the winning run from scoring on that
error but it would still have been two outs and not ending the inning.

John MacNamara had replaced him with Dave Stapleton for late inning defense in every game of the series. Except that one. Buckner supposedly said he wanted to be on the field for the celebration when they won it all.

Posted by: tu3031 at April 24, 2016 11:48 AM (qJhUV)

171 >>Okay, but can we have a discussion about Jane Austen's microaggressions in her descriptors of shawl choices?

Oh, there are so many micro-aggressions in Austen's books, almost delivered with a polite smile.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2016 11:48 AM (NOIQH)

172 I started to listen to THE EMPIRE'S CORPS, a captain and his men get exiled after he pisses off the Grand Senate by telling them the truth, it's a blessing because the Empire is dying with too much welfare for the lower class and crony capitalism, bribes and red tape. He mentions how the police force is more worried with being PC than dealing with crime. So they get sent to the ass end of the Galaxy knowing that they might be abandoned by the Empire, and they will have to fix a Corrupt Government, bandits and later Pirates.

It was 2.99 kindle and add 1.99 for audio.

I like it.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 11:49 AM (c4yY7)

173 Read Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis, where he argues progressive educators are teaching children in the new approved way, which in the end breeds generations of men without the moral resolve to defend their country. It's a short piece but dense and I'm sure there's more I didn't get.

Listened to The Hangman's Daughter (Hangman's Daughter #1) by Oliver Potzch, a murder mystery in 17th century Germany. Someone has killed some orphans in the town and a midwife is accused of witchcraft. The hangman likes her and investigates the crimes. Some aspects I found tiresome but has really good action and characters, enjoyed it.

Posted by: waelse1 at April 24, 2016 11:50 AM (0r4Ru)

174
Oh, there are so many micro-aggressions in Austen's books, almost delivered with a polite smile. Posted by: Lizzy at April 24, 2016 11:48 AM (NOIQH)
=====

Yeah, she pretty much has the market cornered. Wonder how most moderns would react when reminded how it was done so much more completely by a single white woman in England over 200 years ago?

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 11:52 AM (MIKMs)

175 I'm reading a free Kindle book called The Way Things Are by Amy Carmichael.
She was an English missionary to India who served some 120 years ago (this book was published in 1905).
The book was apparently quite controversial in missionary circles at the time because the tendency was for people to write glowing reports of success in news letters to their supporters back.
This book told the truth that the word was hard, often discouraging and successes were not particularly common.
It's a well written book.

Posted by: Northernlurker at April 24, 2016 11:54 AM (4rzL1)

176 169 ... mustbequantum, Thanks for mentioning the Connie Willis book. It's one I have on Kindle but never got around to. Looks like it will go higher on the list.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 11:55 AM (V+03K)

177 29
It's tempting to think that pro sports were somehow pure back in the day, but that's an illusion. I was just going to say that now that baseball players are signing contracts for $50 or $100 million, the temptation to cheat is that much greater, but on reflection, I'm not so sure, when you consider the social background of most of the earlier players. They generally came from poor families. Most of the white players now are middle class. What drives one more - the desire to get ridiculously well paid instead of just very well paid, or the desire to escape the mine or the factory or the farm you came from?
Posted by: Donna&&&&V (a white) (whitely brandishing ampersand privilege ) at April 24, 2016 09:26 AM (P8951)

That's a good point. Back 100 years ago, most ballplayers weren't all that well paid. Playing baseball wasn't so much a way to get rich as it was a way to escape the farm, mine, or factory, as you said.

Like actors and musicians, ballplayers were considered disreputable by polite society. They tended to hang around saloons and whorehouses, and associated with gamblers. Since they didn't make much money, the temptation to throw games for a payoff was there.

Many books have been written about the Chicago "Black Sox" of 1919, in which several players conspired to throw the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. I haven't read it, but there is a book that makes the case that the 1918 Chicago Cubs threw that year's World Series to the Boston Red Sox:

https://tinyurl.com/h7bfche

There are no books about it that I know of, but I have read that dark rumors circulated after the 1914 World Series as well. The Philadelphia Athletics were a juggernaut at the time. They had won the Series in 1910, 1911, and 1913, and were once again heavy favorites. But they were swept by the Boston Braves, who came out of nowhere to win the National League pennant. It's possible that A's owner Connie Mack believed the rumors, because he proceeded to sell most of his star players in the off-season, consigning his team to the cellar for a generation. Maybe he decided that he could no longer trust them.

So rather than a one-off, maybe the problem with players and gamblers had become so egregious by 1919 that the team owners decided that examples must be made.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 11:55 AM (sdi6R)

178

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 11:56 AM (sdi6R)

179 143 I bought a copy of "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes at a local library sale for $1. It's a very well regarded epic of the brutality of the founding of Australia. In Georgian England there were 187 crimes, many trivial thefts, that carried the death penalty. In acts of "mercy" the government shipped off thousands of felons in prison ships to Australia, the worst place they could think of. The brutality of their treatment, IMO, surpassed that of the gulags. Prisoners getting 500 lashes with the cat-of-nine tails for the most trifling offenses, "Lay it on so their backbone is bare". Varied other punishments, all inhuman in the extreme. What a hell-hole.

Anyway, a hellava good book, very well written, can understand why Aussies aren't always crazy about "the Poms".
Posted by: JHW at April 24, 2016 11:24 AM (kn0BL)
==============
A few years ago, the brits opened an online archive of old criminal cases. Browsing thru them, you would have gotten the impression that England was the most just, fair, racially unbiased country evah!

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 11:56 AM (iQIUe)

180 Barrel, I scoff at thee!

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 11:57 AM (sdi6R)

181 I got a mention on Ace's front page! I'm famous! I can die happy.

Seriously, I Trust When Dark My Road is a great book. It's especially interesting because the author is a pastor, who is supposed to have it all together in relation to God, and yet he still felt like ending it all. Having been there myself, he described how it feels quite accurately.

Posted by: Barb the Evil Genius at April 24, 2016 11:58 AM (FQKBL)

182 13 I read John Scalzi's Old Man's War. I didn't know until I finished it that this was his first novel. What a great way to start a career. I'm looking forward to reading The Ghost Brigades.
Posted by: Zoltan at April 24, 2016 09:08 AM (JYer2)

He went full SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR and he hates conservatives don't buy his shit.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:01 PM (c4yY7)

183 There's a difference between reading a well-delivered microaggression, and reading *about* it. I read all that stuff in blogs every day, but for long-form books, I pretty much stick to stories I can immerse myself in.

OregonMuse:
That short story was called, "Counterparts," found here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm#link2H_4_0009

And yes, holy crap, it's stunning. Joyce himself was a serious alcoholic who apparently was found outside a pub, unconscious and in a puddle of his own urine, while writing this volume of stories. His unstinting, cold-eyed gaze upon the effect of alcohol on the Irish family spared no punches, that's for sure.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 12:01 PM (YPgXi)

184 >>>The book was apparently quite controversial in missionary circles at the time because the tendency was for people to write glowing reports of success in news letters to their supporters back.

And the new policy of importing indigenous people into western lands doesn't seem to be going any better, except in reverse.

Posted by: angela urkel at April 24, 2016 12:02 PM (GDWqB)

185 Hello everyone. My name is RockyMtnGirl, and I'm a library porn addict.

I lurk at this site all week but make a point to come here on Sundays to get enough of a fix to keep things under control. I never know what the posted picture will be, but I always know it will be glorious, satisfying and enough to keep me from frantically googling images of libraries and book stores all day, every day.

Thank you, OM, for giving me my fix. ;-) And...

84 As for Ed Morrissey's book, perhaps it would be better to look for advice on winning elections from someone other than a guy who couldn't even manage to sustain the comments section of his own blog.
Posted by: torquewrench at April 24, 2016 10:14 AM (noWW6)

THIS.

Posted by: RockyMtnGirl at April 24, 2016 12:03 PM (NX1L+)

186 MustBeQuantum:

I've not studied "Ulyusses" yet, but it's on my list for summer reading, and I'm excited to crack that nut. I don't know if even my upper-level students would be able to get through that with pleasure, but who knows.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 12:04 PM (YPgXi)

187 So rather than a one-off, maybe the problem with
players and gamblers had become so egregious by 1919 that the team
owners decided that examples must be made.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 11:55 AM (sdi6R)
=====
I keep wondering about how much gambling has an influence on modern sports because during playoff season, any sport, there are vague charges (domestic violence, rude names, rape allegations, etc) that distract star players and teams.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:05 PM (MIKMs)

188 For me, libraries feel more like this one than that museum to beautiful books that you highlighted above:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/65705/alice-wonderland-esque-library-slowly-disappears-darkness

Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 12:05 PM (YPgXi)

189 Slogging throu "Alexander Hamilton" after being a tad obsessed with the musical streaming for free on Amazon Music. Incredible story-but suffice to say that ALL of the Founding Fathers had gigantic faults-we are so very lucky that they were ALL around and in the mix at the same time, and that the resulting politcal system was the result of a lot of nastiness and fighting-politics was really ugly then, too.. Hamilton was a fascinating guy, though. I said 'slogging' because its more my attention span than the quality of the writing -the book is great.

To the person upthread reading Atonement-an obsession of mine, but be forewarned it is not an action filled book-a lot happens but not a lot happens is book time-Much is the narrator's recollection and memory, which is a big part of the overall 'story'. I won.t give anything else away but it is a powerful book (I have thought more about that story than any other book I have everread) but the story ends up being quite different at the end. Keep with it, its worth it.

Posted by: Goldilocks at April 24, 2016 12:08 PM (pOgVG)

190 I've not studied "Ulyusses" yet, but it's on my list
for summer reading, and I'm excited to crack that nut. I don't know if
even my upper-level students would be able to get through that with
pleasure, but who knows. Posted by: Smallish Bees at April 24, 2016 12:04 PM (YPgXi)
=====

My own recommendation is to start students on 'Portrait of the Artist' and just mention 'Ulysses' as further reading. One of my old profs thanked me for the recommendation because it was much more accessible. No, I haven't made it through 'Ulysses' either.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:09 PM (MIKMs)

191 175 I'm reading a free Kindle book called The Way Things Are by Amy Carmichael.
She was an English missionary to India who served some 120 years ago (this book was published in 1905).
The book was apparently quite controversial in missionary circles at the time because the tendency was for people to write glowing reports of success in n- 40sews letters to their supporters back.
This book told the truth that the word was hard, often discouraging and successes were not particularly common.
It's a well written book.
Posted by: Northernlurker at April 24, 2016 11:54 AM (4rzL1)
=============
Then you may enjoy the Raj Quartet by Paul Scott where English missionaries in India in the 30s - 40s are also portrayed as hardworking and without much success. And as often happens, the Brit missionaries go a bit native.

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 12:12 PM (iQIUe)

192 Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog is hilarious and one of the few time-travel novels I will tolerate. It is riffing on Two Men in a Boat which is also funny but takes more effort to get into, being a Product of its Time.

Thanks O trembling OregonMuse for the mention. If you think that was a microaggression I really need to step up my game. Nothing but full-size aggression for this bunch! Also, I am *almost* as much a delicate flower of femininity as AtC so the insinuation that I am even capable of a microagression is a base canard.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (GG9V6)

193 Posted by: Northernlurker at April 24, 2016 11:54 AM (4rzL1)

Thank for the Amy Carmichael recommendation, I have downloaded the free Kindle version.

I've heard that India has always been a tough, tough missionary field, and I guess Miss Carmichael would agree.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (uJ94C)

194 The baseball book is one reason why I am annoyed with the sudden turn against steroids. Not that using steroids is a great thing, just ask Lyle Alzado or my ripped weight lifting cousin who now has brain cancer. Its that it was just one more drug in a long line of drug use that goes back way into early baseball (and booze) but nobody kept someone out of the record books or hall of fame for it before.

Barry Bonds is objectively one of the best players of all time, steroids or not. Why does his steroid use prevent him from going to the hall but the use of cocaine, speed, and all the rest not keep previous players out? How can you realistically argue that Mark MaGwire doesn't belong in the hall, just because he used performance enhancing drugs? If the batters and pitchers are both using them, who has an unfair advantage?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (39g3+)

195 I just read Amy Carmichael's wiki page. What an amazing woman.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 12:16 PM (uJ94C)

196 Off to church, bbl.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 12:16 PM (uJ94C)

197 Personally, I think the amphetamine usage was
never quite as bad as Bouton (and now Darling) made it out to be.
I'm sure it was there, but there's a certain glorification about it,
and it serves as a useful (and completely erroneous) means of
saying "hey, steroid usage in sports these days isn't so bad, look at
all the amphetamines they took back then."

Posted by: BurtTC at April 24, 2016 10:25 AM (Dj0WE)
Ballplayers (at least at the lower levels, i.e., college and lower minors) still take uppers ("greenies). Those who don't want to worry about getting caught get prescriptions for drugs to treat their "ADHD." Among other things, it is thought to help players see the ball better (constriction of pupils, maybe?).

This is pretty well-known in baseball circles.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:17 PM (oKE6c)

198 Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog is hilarious and one of the few time-travel novels I will tolerate. It is riffing on Two Men in a Boat which is also funny but takes more effort to get into, being a Product of its Time. Posted by: Sabrina Chase at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (GG9V6)
=====

Aaaaagh! You are probably right. But I also think Angler and Two Men are conflated with a lot of us.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:21 PM (MIKMs)

199 My 81 year old Dad is winding down his life in a lot of pain and confusion (severe Alzheimer's and Dementia) so I am in an existential and philosophical frame of mind.

Finishing up Dr. Robert Lanza's "Biocentrism", and flipping back and forth randomly between:

"The End of Darwinism" by Eugene Windchy, "Darwin's Doubt" by Stephen Meyer (author of "Signature in the Cell"), "The Edge of Evolution", by Michael Behe (author of "Darwin's Black Box"), and "Bankrupting Physics", by Alexander Unzicker and Sheilla Jones.

Not a trained scientist or physicist. Just an ex litigation attorney now working as a real estate broker.

I have always throught it a good idea to stretch and challenge my mind, especially during times of emotional distress and loss.

God bless the Horde. Hope you are all doing well today.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (QWtgr)

200 Here's the thing. In the 40s-60s, uppers were considered perfectly acceptable medical options. They handed those things out to soldiers to keep them rolling, spies to keep them alert, astronauts to help keep them away, they gave downers to housewives to calm them down on a crime scene, on and on. They didn't really know how the long term effects would run, just that they were useful modern science to control emotion and help give an edge.

So yeah, baseball players were popping uppers to get an edge before a game, pitchers in particular. Its not a good idea, its stupid and destructive. But again: why do steroids ban someone from the hall?

The huge neon elephant in the middle of the room here, though, is football. Football players are jacked up on painkillers, steroids, uppers, and god knows what else when they hit the field. And nobody ever talks about it. Its one of those open secrets. If they banned performance enhancing drugs in football players would be half the size and play half as long in a career.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (39g3+)

201 Thanks for fixing my close tag, OM!

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 12:23 PM (sdi6R)

202 "The best analogy I can come up with is WWI vs. WWII. A WWI general is
obsessed on taking a few trenches and making a few moderate gains at a
great cost. A WWII general is thinking about completely dislocating the
enemy at a minimal cost.

...

Posted by: William Eaton at April 24, 2016 11:14 AM (KhJh

"

You talk like you think that the generals in WW I wanted to fight the kind of war that they did. They all grew up during the 19th century and were ready to fight a war of maneuver like they did in the first few months in 1914. A lot of their planning went into how they were going to exploit the breakthrough that they were always expecting if they tried this new tactic or that new weapon. They maintained their cavalries ready to ride through the gaps that they were never able to punch all the way through all the lines of trenches.

There were a number of issues that made WW I on the western front the bloody and inconclusive affair that it became. Of one thing, the richest countries in the world deployed enormous resources into a very small area. That sort of stalemate was not really seen in the east where Germany and Austria clashed with Russia.

The land transportation resources available before the 1920s were basically railroads or what could be carried on the backs of animals or people. Motor vehicles were underpowered and unreliable. That includes the early tanks, most of which broke down before reaching their own front line of trenches. Compare the power to weight ratio of WW I era tanks to modern tanks or WW II tanks. What that meant is that defenders could rush troops, artillery and supplies by train to any part of their lines that were threatened but attackers had to carry everything with them on their backs or possibly on the backs of mules across territory that was broken up by trenches and shell holes.

Another big issue was that radio transmitters were too big and heavy to be carried. By WW II, forward artillery observers could advance with the infantry and when they encountered enemy strong points, they could call in a fire mission to destroy it. In WW I, they had to rely on time tables to coordinate infantry advances with artillery but that just didn't work all that well. They tried all sorts of alternative communication methods but none of them worked all that well or reliably. Field telephones, heliographs, signal lamps, carrier pigeons all were tried.

Then there were the advances in aircraft. The Japanese build a very competent WW I type trench line on Okinawa. Aircraft carrier based planes dropping napalm on the Japanese trenches made them far less effective.

The bottom line is that your analysis of WW I wrt WW II is just wrong.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at April 24, 2016 12:24 PM (QHgTq)

203 No, I haven't made it through 'Ulysses' either.
Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:09 PM (MIKMs)

Neither have I.

I tried to read it.

It comes across to me as an incoherent stream of consciousness yammering.

Obviously it's written for someone smarter than me because I didn't "get it". At all.

Too bad for me I guess.

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at April 24, 2016 12:24 PM (tSbH3)

204 Prayers for your dad, and you, Sharkman

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 12:25 PM (nbrY/)

205 I keep wondering about how much gambling has an influence on modern sports because during playoff season, any sport, there are vague charges (domestic violence, rude names, rape allegations, etc) that distract star players and teams.

My favorite spots gambling story is one involving Henry Hill (from Goodfellas). Its mentioned in passing in the movie, but basically he and some other guys tried to fix Boston College basketball games. They found out that not only were basketball players willing to throw a game incredibly unstable, but the entire game and process was so unpredictable it was basically a huge waste. And they couldn't lean on the players or hurt them or they wouldn't be able to play, ruining the entire point.

The funniest part is that the feds, when they yanked Hill in, found out the coked up idiot couldn't stop running his mouth. So every time they'd ask him about something, he'd bring up some other crime in the process, and the Boston College thing was one of those stream of consciousness bragging stupidly things.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:25 PM (39g3+)

206 God bless the Horde. Hope you are all doing well today.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (QWtgr)
=====
For my parents, it helped them a lot for some reason to play the Brandenburg 6, Mozart and Haydn. For some reason, the order helped them cope (and helped me as well). It really worked for them and me. I wish you strength.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:27 PM (MIKMs)

207 My own recommendation is to start students on 'Portrait of the Artist' and just mention 'Ulysses' as further reading. One of my old profs thanked me for the recommendation because it was much more accessible. No, I haven't made it through 'Ulysses' either.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:09 PM (MIKMs)

First 3/4 of "Portrait" was decent enough, but the last 1/4 was horrid.

I have no inclination to read "Ulysses".

Posted by: The Odyssian Hat at April 24, 2016 12:28 PM (vBeA5)

208 All I have to say is Pete Rose, the man was a jerk but I never heard of him ever taking any drugs to gain an advantage.

I do wish I could remember the book that deals with cheating in sports, how to steal signals, hiring lip readers for football.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:28 PM (c4yY7)

209 They found out that not only were basketball players willing to throw a game incredibly unstable

I suspect that that's true of criminals in general, which makes conspiracy theories involving the silence of hundreds all the more risible.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:29 PM (oKE6c)

210 The baseball book is one reason why I am annoyed with the sudden turn against steroids. Not that using steroids is a great thing, just ask Lyle Alzado or my ripped weight lifting cousin who now has brain cancer. Its that it was just one more drug in a long line of drug use that goes back way into early baseball (and booze) but nobody kept someone out of the record books or hall of fame for it before.

Aside from a few bad cases (and they are few, given the huge numbers of people taking steroids, HGH, and all the other stuff) one thing that athletes taking these performance enhancing drugs proves is that they certainly do enhance performance and that they are extremely useful for older men to recapture some youth.

Barry Bonds is objectively one of the best players of all time, steroids or not. Why does his steroid use prevent him from going to the hall but the use of cocaine, speed, and all the rest not keep previous players out?

Coke and speed and pot and the rest of the recreational drugs do not enhance performance. If anything they degrade performance. People don't take those drugs to play better, they take them to have fun.

How can you realistically argue that Mark MaGwire doesn't belong in the hall, just because he used performance enhancing drugs? If the batters and pitchers are both using them, who has an unfair advantage?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (39g3+)

It's more a matter of them being cheaters - given the rules of the time. They are cheaters, without any doubt, and cheaters don't deserve any accolades. Now, Pete Rose also broke the rules but he didn't cheat. He deserves to be in the Hall.

Personally, I think that steroids and performance enhancers should be allowed. A professional athlete's whole life is little more than working to enhance his performance (in ways that non-professionals could not even begin to contemplate, having to work at jobs to support themselves) and taking drugs to further their performances should just be part of it. If there is a rsik then that is just part of the job - as there are major physical risks to running your body at the limit for years to get your best performance, anyway. People should have the opportunity to augment their physiology to compete with those who were born with better genetics for that sport.

But, until those drugs are allowed as part of the game, those who take them are cheaters, and there's nothing lower than a cheater.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:30 PM (zc3Db)

211 There's a thread in the Goodreads group about classic books that are overrated or just actually suck. That includes nearly everything from the 20th century, so much crap written then (and still today) so overrated and considered so great.

Then there are forgotten gems like Mary Poppins that used to be beloved and are pretty well gone at this point from reading. A lot of those older books you can't even get at the local library because they have to shoehorn in the latest Oprah recommendation.

I sympathize somewhat; they want books people will check out and read, not just a collection of old books like a museum. But how can a library not have classics in them?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:31 PM (39g3+)

212 Does anyone know how much, if any, the manager of a Barnes and Noble store has on the books offered in that store? I know I have eclectic tastes but often the local B and N, about a mile away, doesn't have books I'm interested in but the store 14 miles and a lot of traffic away and closer to DC does. I know they can transfer a book from one to the other but that messes with casual browsing that I enjoy.

A minor annoyance but I already have plenty of those. And from what I've seen, the local manager does a sucky job anyway, so I'm inclined to blame him.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 12:34 PM (V+03K)

213 Coke and speed and pot and the rest of the recreational drugs do not
enhance performance. If anything they degrade performance. People
don't take those drugs to play better, they take them to have fun.

I don't think that's true of speed, which was used (IIRC) to help pilots stay focused on long (read: boring) flights over the Pacific to bomb Japan.

Don't know about coke and pot. I'd thought the former was an upper as well; the latter, certainly not.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:35 PM (oKE6c)

214 It's more a matter of them being cheaters - given the rules of the time.

Here's the thing: steroids weren't illegal at the time. They weren't even banned in baseball. Nobody was cheating, they were just using something to get an edge, that suddenly (when Canseco's book came out) everyone threw a Captain Renault-style huffing fit of outrage; shocked, shocked that people might be doing this!!!

Canseco's book came out because he was effectively banned from baseball by the way. He was still a strong and capable guy, he could have DH'd somewhere. But they refused to take him anywhere and he basically tried to blackmail the league: "take me on a team or I'm gonna tell all."

They didn't take him on a team. He told all.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:36 PM (39g3+)

215 given the rules of the time.

If I recall, he was openly using Andro, which wasn't banned at the time because it was considered a pre-steroid- or something like that. I just remember that it didn't have the full negative connotation of a steroid. A little later on he became a Bad Person.

Posted by: t-bird at April 24, 2016 12:36 PM (Z58Xa)

216 I have no inclination to read "Ulysses". Posted by: The Odyssian Hat at April 24, 2016 12:28 PM (vBeA5)
=====

Neither do I, but sometimes we have to bite the bullet. My nightmares from school all revolve around Anna Karenina and The Red and the Black. Had to do Sorrows of Young Werther as well, but that was short enough to tolerate.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:37 PM (MIKMs)

217 Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (39g3+)

In his autobiography, Waylon Jennings talks about once doing coke with the Oakland Raiders. In the locker room. At halftime. He tells it that Oakland was down 6-0 to the Chiefs. After the halftime coke snorts, the Raiders allegedly went out and scored 54 in the second half. I can't find any records or box scores to support that account, though.

Posted by: Country Singer at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (GUBah)

218 Lesson #137 on why Hot Air absolutely sucks.

Posted by: La Frontera at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (HPpjZ)

219 Today is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

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

Posted by: The Remembering Hat at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (vBeA5)

220 Just read an article in my paper about how the Chinese love driving SUV's. Hardest hit is Tom Friedman, maybe he can call for a dollar a gallon tax there as well to find something really stupid and left wing as well.

Posted by: Picric at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (QnQ+g)

221 The bottom line is that your analysis of WW I wrt WW II is just wrong.
Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at April 24, 2016 12:24 PM (QHgTq)

Correct....and the Devil's Paintbrush swung the odds in favor of the defense early in the war until the tank and economic and social exhaustion took out the German Army's will to fight in 1918.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (ej1L0)

222 Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:36 PM (39g3+)

I was responding to your post about McGwire, not Canseco. You didn't mention Canseco anywhere in that post.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:40 PM (zc3Db)

223 I have no inclination to read "Ulysses". Posted by: The Odyssian Hat at April 24, 2016 12:28 PM (vBeA5)
=====

Neither do I, but sometimes we have to bite the bullet. My nightmares from school all revolve around Anna Karenina and The Red and the Black. Had to do Sorrows of Young Werther as well, but that was short enough to tolerate.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:37 PM (MIKMs)

I'd rather spend my time reading books by authors that I enjoy reading.

Posted by: The Readin' Hat at April 24, 2016 12:41 PM (vBeA5)

224 208 All I have to say is Pete Rose, the man was a jerk but I never heard of him ever taking any drugs to gain an advantage.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:28 PM (c4yY7)

It's been a long time since I read it, but I think he was specifically mentioned in Bouton's "Ball Four" as using amphetamines.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 12:41 PM (sdi6R)

225 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide_Remembrance_Day Posted by: The Remembering Hat at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (vBeA5)
=====

Thank you. Old neighbors (40some years ago) were refugees and my parents were always upset that it was never taught in our schools.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 12:43 PM (MIKMs)

226 Pot can help you relax, and be more controlled and even in a game. Coke makes you feel invincible and overcome nerves. People use all sorts of drugs to get an edge. All steroids do is help you heal faster so you can get huge faster and be ready for the next game sooner - you don't tire out, get worn down, etc. It helps you heal from minor injuries sooner.

I'm not arguing for taking drugs. I'm arguing for consistency and logic. There's such an anti-steroid sentiment out there its driving people to be just stupid.

Pete Rose probably gambled on his own team, when playing and managing, and you don't have to bet against your team to adjust play to hit that point spread. Gamblers gamble on everything, from the next at bat to whether the ball lands in what part of the stands on the next home run. That's incredibly bad for baseball. I get him being banned.

But effectively banning someone for trying to be better? When it wasn't even against the rules?

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:43 PM (39g3+)

227 Wasn't the Armenian Genocide just jihad?

Posted by: jake at April 24, 2016 12:45 PM (bl96H)

228 217 Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (39g3+)

In his autobiography, Waylon Jennings talks about once doing coke with the Oakland Raiders. In the locker room. At halftime. He tells it that Oakland was down 6-0 to the Chiefs. After the halftime coke snorts, the Raiders allegedly went out and scored 54 in the second half. I can't find any records or box scores to support that account, though.
Posted by: Country Singer at April 24, 2016 12:39 PM (GUBah)

I can't remember the player but he would have his own Oxygen tank that was mixed with coke.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:46 PM (c4yY7)

229 I don't think that's true of speed, which was used (IIRC) to help pilots stay focused on long (read: boring) flights over the Pacific to bomb Japan.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:35 PM (oKE6c)

Speed certainly keeps you awake but I can't say that it does much for concentration. Of course, awake is clearly better than asleep.

As to performance enhancing, I think there's little doubt that pain medication is much more performance enhancing than any of the recreational drugs possibly could be. The difference, though, is that the pain medications enhance what would be degraded performances rather than ratcheting up normal performances to the stratosphere. Still, the advantage with pain meds is clear. Not to mention the advantages modern athletes get from operations and other procedures that allow them to play on when in years past people would have been out of the game with those same injuries.

The desire to keep static comparisons with past performances are impossible, even without steroids and the like. It's just that opposition to steroids has become some sort of "for the children!!!!" effort, which has been both stupid and useless, anyway.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:47 PM (zc3Db)

230 OM - The chess book I have will get me back playing, and I'll start playing now I have a app every day.

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 12:47 PM (Dpy/y)

231 Thank you, @votermom

Posted by: Sharkman at April 24, 2016 12:50 PM (QWtgr)

232 I can't remember the player but he would have his own Oxygen tank that was mixed with coke.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:46 PM (c4yY7)
How could you possibly do that? Cocaine is a solid. How could you mix it with oxygen? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? (Entirely possible.)

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:50 PM (oKE6c)

233 I also recommend Marius' Mule series. It's 8 full books with a short volume inserted just before the great Gaul revolt. Plus more books promised. Lots of fun and an eye opener on the Roman, Gaulish, and Germanic worlds of 52 BC.

Posted by: Octiparan at April 24, 2016 12:53 PM (GZEnf)

234 The stuf they take for ADHD gives you better consternation, I know it's not a sport but E-Sports teams use them when they play thier games and they are considering drug testing for the tournaments. Thier is some big money to be won at these tournaments,

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:54 PM (c4yY7)

235 Speed certainly keeps you awake but I can't say that it does much for concentration. Of course, awake is clearly better than asleep.

I should amend that by conceding that Ritalin-type compounds (which are meth related) do enhance directed concentration.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:55 PM (zc3Db)

236 A ginormous melon is usually a good indicator that something is amiss.

Posted by: That unnamed recently retired QB at April 24, 2016 12:55 PM (Dwehj)

237 Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:54 PM (c4yY7)

You beat me to it. Was that a Ritalin-enhanced post?

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:56 PM (zc3Db)

238 Yeah Barry Bond's hat size went up by several sizes when he started juicing, its a bit silly.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:56 PM (39g3+)

239 A honest to goodness gun thread

NOOD

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 12:56 PM (Dpy/y)

240 "My favorite spots gambling story is one involving Henry Hill (from Goodfellas)."

It's the subject of one of the 30 for 30 ESPN documentaries. One of the best is "You Don't Know Bo" about Bo Jackson.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 24, 2016 12:57 PM (r1fLd)

241 Along the line of tales of the ER...probably not a good idea to lop your forearm off with a chainsaw because your S/O has a kink about amputees.

Posted by: Fish at April 24, 2016 12:58 PM (jJt7b)

242 232 I can't remember the player but he would have his own Oxygen tank that was mixed with coke.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:46 PM (c4yY7)
How could you possibly do that? Cocaine is a solid. How could you mix it with oxygen? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? (Entirely possible.)
Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 12:50 PM (oKE6c)

Yes you heard
I have no idea how he did it, but he talked about how he would go take in some "oxygen" after some plays.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 01:00 PM (c4yY7)

243 I have no idea how he did it, but he talked about how he would go take in some "oxygen" after some plays.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 01:00 PM (c4yY7)
Ah.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 01:01 PM (oKE6c)

244 Jake:

The Armenian genocide was indeed jihad.

As has been every other war and/or invasion by the muzzies in the last 1500 years.

Posted by: Sharkman at April 24, 2016 01:02 PM (QWtgr)

245 On The Fatal Shore and Australia.
When England turned a continent into a giant penal colony, concerns were voiced that the new native-born white Australians -- offspring of English sheep stealers, Fenian rebels and the like -- would be a race of super-predator criminals.

There's a really good Australian flick The Proposition (2005) on this topic.

Posted by: Ignoramus at April 24, 2016 01:02 PM (r1fLd)

246 I don't know about oxygen masks, but Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, an NFL linebacker in the Seventies used to put cocaine in his nasal spray container, snort out of it right on the sideline, in front of everybody.

Posted by: Lincolntf at April 24, 2016 01:03 PM (2cS/G)

247 Just finished Tank warfare on the Eastern Front, 1941-42 Schwerpunkt by Robert Forczyk.

He goes into great detail on the first 18 months of the war in Russia. If you're interested in this time period then this is the book for you. He dispels a lot of the myths surrounding the panzers and Soviet tanks including the actions of famous generals.

The early part of the war was way different than what I learned over the years and I've always had a fascination with the war in the East.

Posted by: Octiparan at April 24, 2016 01:05 PM (GZEnf)

248 237 Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 12:54 PM (c4yY7)

You beat me to it. Was that a Ritalin-enhanced post?
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at April 24, 2016 12:56 PM (zc3Db)

More like I have to rush my son to the potty post.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at April 24, 2016 01:07 PM (c4yY7)

249 When England turned a continent into a giant penal colony

I saw a comment somewhere that Australia wasn't the only continent to be given the penal treatment...

Posted by: t-bird at April 24, 2016 01:07 PM (mxCgt)

250 249 When England turned a continent into a giant penal colony
I saw a comment somewhere that Australia wasn't the only continent to be given the penal treatment...
Posted by: t-bird at April 24, 2016 01:07 PM (mxCgt)

Lessee, Australia first used as a penal colony in 1788 ... hmmmm.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at April 24, 2016 01:12 PM (oKE6c)

251 Yep, Jay Guevara - the British took to shipping their prisoners to Australia once they could no longer dump them into Georgia and the other American colonies as indentured servants.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at April 24, 2016 01:18 PM (oK6A/)

252 About those Republicans fixing things...

Great empires like Babylon, Rome, and America don't fall. They crumble from within.

Posted by: Valiant at April 24, 2016 01:19 PM (3MiF8)

253 Trinity College, Dublin. According to Wikipedia, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Becket, and many others walked down that hall as students.

Posted by: LochLomondFarms at April 24, 2016 01:21 PM (j2Gq9)

254 They crumble from within.
Posted by: Valiant at April 24, 2016 01:19 PM (3MiF

Fundamentally transformed

Posted by: weirdflunkyonatablet at April 24, 2016 01:22 PM (tSbH3)

255 Doc Gooden, famously, watched the 86 Mets World Series parade the day after they won...on TV...in a crack house, according to his interviews.

Posted by: Oschisms at April 24, 2016 01:23 PM (ZsN9X)

256 I've heard that India has always been a tough, tough missionary field, and I guess Miss Carmichael would agree.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 12:15 PM (uJ94C)

Why would it not be so? It has established, in every sense of the word, religions. Religions whose followers already believe to be the One True Religion, since they are quite aware of the other False Religions of their neighbors. Such people are going to be a much harder "sell" than savages who maybe did a little worship of hunt gods or something.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at April 24, 2016 01:23 PM (UsLZp)

257 Oh, this is the book thread, so I should mention that Doc was plugging his autobiography when he said that.

Posted by: Oschisms at April 24, 2016 01:24 PM (ZsN9X)

258 So we have Turkey attempting to recreate the Ottoman Empire; Iran attempting to recreate the Persian Empire; and the Sauds sitting on a bunch of oil who are now a new Empire. All of them will kill Christians for any reason, or no reason, and we are somehow supposed to be 'tolerant' of these nasty creeps? Heh.

Posted by: mustbequantum at April 24, 2016 01:26 PM (MIKMs)

259 230 ... Skip, I've found the 'For Dummies' and 'Complete Idiot' books on chess to be helpful for a start from scratch beginner. (That's me for sure.) I lucked out and got my copies at a library sale for fifty cents each but chances are your local library has copies for circulation. Might be worth a look.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 01:27 PM (V+03K)

260 Finished listening to "Runner" by Patrick Lee. Basic premise: 12-year-old girl has abilities of Charles Xavier. High-octane thriller. Recommended.

Wrung out after that, I came upon "Kerplunk!", a collection of stories by the incomparable Patrick F. McManus. I needed humor, and he provided. Loved his work in Field & Stream in the '70s. Will see which of his other works the library has.

Shifting gears, I'm listening to "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth." Astronaut offers lessons for life through relating his experiences. I'm enjoying it.

Now to read the thread.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 24, 2016 01:28 PM (LDRZc)

261 Astronaut book is by Col. Chris Hadfield of Canadian Space Agency.

Posted by: Weak Geek at April 24, 2016 01:33 PM (nZrEY)

262 Weak Geek, I haven't read Pat McManus since his magazine columns in the 80s. The were laugh out loud funny and sometimes touching. Any idea if his newer stuff is as good?

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 01:36 PM (V+03K)

263 Hi, Horde.

Thanks for posting the link to "When Dark Is My Road". It's a topic on which I am unfortunately, painfully familiar.

Posted by: Captain Whitebread On The All-Night Request Line at April 24, 2016 01:44 PM (rJUlF)

264 Yesterday was St George's Day. It use to be a big celebration in the UK. Now, not so much...

Posted by: Bruce With a Wang! at April 24, 2016 01:48 PM (iQIUe)

265 200 Here's the thing. In the 40s-60s, uppers were considered perfectly acceptable medical options. They handed those things out to soldiers to keep them rolling, spies to keep them alert, astronauts to help keep them away, they gave downers to housewives to calm them down on a crime scene, on and on. They didn't really know how the long term effects would run, just that they were useful modern science to control emotion and help give an edge.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (39g3+)

Yes. See the Rolling Stones' song "Mother's Little Helper" which was a snarky song about fine upstanding members of society using perfectly legal drugs.

See also the movie "The Starfighters", in which the USAF gave "pep pills" to F-104 pilots to keep them awake and alert during a long flight.

That also happens to be one of my very favorite MST3K episodes.

Posted by: rickl at April 24, 2016 01:48 PM (sdi6R)

266 There's a raging fire that's destroying our country, and all you've got is a squirt gun.

**********

Still superior to the let it all burn, lay back and beat your meat to Phylis Shafley crowd.

Posted by: Homestyle at April 24, 2016 01:59 PM (mcm0N)

267 I have to, once again, sing the praises of Murray Leinster. His career spanned from the Gernsback era to the 80's, and though he did some schlock, he also did a lot of very wonderful SF about people.

Oh yes. I remember him well. There was a short lived SF TV show, one of Irwin Allen's efforts, back in the 1960s called "The Time Tunnel". Turns out Murray Leinster wrote two novels based on that show. The books were actually pretty good. As you say, Leinster was good with character development, and he did know how to spin a yarn. I'd wondered how it was that Fox, ABC or whomever got him to write the books to start with, and it turned out that Leinster had written a novel called "Time Tunnel" a few years before (totally different story, but certainly had all the Leinster hallmarks). I always figured that was why Leinster wrote the TV show-based novels.

Indeed, Leinster was not the only big name SF writer to do "novelizations" of this or that popular (at the time) SF TV show or movie. None other that Theodore Sturgeon did a novel based on the movie and later TV show "Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea" (another Irwin Allen show). The book came out during the heyday of the TV show, although it was based on the movie of the same name, which had been released a few years before. And it was a damned good story, after Sturgeon got through with it.

Another was Isaac Asimov, who did a novel based on another popular SF flick from the 60s, "Fantastic Voyage". He even wrote a sequel to the first book several years later (to me at least, the second book was not nearly as good as the first).

Interesting...

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at April 24, 2016 02:04 PM (AJdlq)

268 247 - Just read the preview of Schwerpunkt, does look good

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 02:14 PM (Dpy/y)

269
See also the movie "The Starfighters", in which the USAF gave "pep pills" to F-104 pilots to keep them awake and alert during a long flight.

That also happens to be one of my very favorite MST3K episodes.

Posted by: rickl

That movie stars former congressman Robert Dornan.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at April 24, 2016 02:19 PM (k4M/B)

270 I remembered it last year but didn't this year about Remembers Day, last year I read everything I could find on it.There are lots of photos and personal accounts on the web.

Posted by: Skip at April 24, 2016 02:35 PM (Dpy/y)

271 The Progressive Idea is an intellectual manifestation of creating a man-centered paradise on Earth.

-
Tower of Babel.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 02:39 PM (Nwg0u)

272 Popping in to thank the people who offered prayer for our worship service today. I am exhausted but I appreciate the prayers; It went well.

I am reading "Healing The Heart" by Joan Hunter overcoming betrayal in your life. So far, it is a very good book.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 24, 2016 02:49 PM (w4NZ8)

273 Dick Cheney and Ed Pop N' Fresh

-
Here's my solution. We change politics to sports so we can cheer for the home team but the real power that runs the country is a shadow government made up of people who can distinguish Shinola.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 02:50 PM (Nwg0u)

274 Continuing to nick-name someone "Poppin' Fresh", and you know the reason why, is ad-hominem, and should be below our standards.
He's not TFG, or SCFOAMF; he is just another blogger/writer that's about to learn that its very, very hard to make any dough!

Posted by: MoJoTee at April 24, 2016 02:50 PM (aR8Ih)

275 #267

During a time of serious financial drought, Jerry Pournelle did the novelization of the movie 'Escape From the Planet of the Apes.' He made an effort to insert little things to make the story more believable to himself, especially in regard to how the apes came to be so greatly evolved in the span of just a few centuries.

Posted by: Epobirs at April 24, 2016 02:51 PM (IdCqF)

276 D'oh!

Posted by: Homer Simpson at April 24, 2016 02:53 PM (aR8Ih)

277 who purposely soaks people in a 4x4'

Remarkably poorly written phrase, especially for a professional writer.

Throw the cow over the fence some hay.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 02:54 PM (Nwg0u)

278 "Birkenau Revolt 1944"

-
There were only a handful of actual death camps, perhaps a half dozen (although there were hundreds, if not thousands, of work camps where the conditions amounted to murder). There were serious revolts in at least three, Birkenau/Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Sobibor. Of these, only Birkenau survived the revolts.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 03:05 PM (Nwg0u)

279 Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at April 24, 2016

Hmm, Murray Leinster...it seems like something he wrote was a great favorite of mine in my teens. Maybe it was one of the Time Tunnel books, I loved stuff like that.
I still have some old paperbacks, I'll have to take a look and see if I can find his book I liked so much.

Posted by: Farmer at April 24, 2016 03:12 PM (3hlFs)

280 Posted by: Sharkman at April 24, 2016 12:22 PM (QWtgr)

Prayers for you and your dad. Sharman.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at April 24, 2016 03:20 PM (w4NZ8)

281 Oregon Muse, this might amuse you and others.

Solicitation for short stories along the lines of "People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror!"

Submissions are open to anybody who self-identifies as a person of color.

Deadline is May 15th.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/z7jlso8

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 24, 2016 03:20 PM (5Innn)

282 Solicitation for short stories along the lines of "People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror!"

Submissions are open to anybody who self-identifies as a person of color.

Deadline is May 15th.

-
Damn! I self identify as Napoleon and he's a cracker.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 03:27 PM (Nwg0u)

283 Tried to read "Staked", the newest Iron Druid book, but couldn't finish it. While I understand that a druid would want to protect the earth, it was a bit much when Granule (The "Fierce Druid") wanted to go around destroying oil rigs and coal plants to force everyone to use solar and wind energy.

One thing that I would point out to those types would be that oil and coal are NATURAL resources; the earth intended us to use them.

Posted by: DaveKinNC at April 24, 2016 03:29 PM (/NgNT)

284 Posted by: Anna Puma at April 24, 2016 03:20 PM (5Innn)

If you're Irish you're color green.

Posted by: @votermom at April 24, 2016 03:31 PM (nbrY/)

285 I knew you humans would enjoy riffing on that.

I find it very hard to take them very seriously but at 8 cents a word for a max of $600...

Posted by: Anna Puma at April 24, 2016 03:33 PM (5Innn)

286 I self identify Hillary as a witch.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 03:34 PM (Nwg0u)

287 (Sharkman, 199): "My 81 year old Dad is winding down his life in a lot of pain and confusion (severe Alzheimer's and Dementia) so I am in an existential and philosophical frame of mind."
Been there. Done that. Read __The Epic of Gilgamesh__, mankind's oldest literature. It meditates on loss and grief. Somehow it helps to know that people had the same problems 4000 years ago.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at April 24, 2016 03:35 PM (IbUUZ)

288 Prayers up for you and your Dad, Sharkman.
T

Posted by: Farmer at April 24, 2016 03:43 PM (3hlFs)

289 Speaking of Shakespeare and witches, incidentally, my favorite of the Bard's plays in probably Macbeth. I like the three witches who lie while telling the truth. That got me to thinking about our contemporary witches, say Feinkenstein, Pelosi, and Babs Boxer.

FIRST WITCH
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SECOND WITCH
When the hurly-burly's done,
When Obamacare's lost and won.

THIRD WITCH: When premiums have been halved
And your plan and doctor are still on staff.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks at April 24, 2016 03:44 PM (Nwg0u)

290 (Muse, 122): "And be sure to write down your moves. They will no doubt be very entertaining."
Exercise for the novice tournament player: compare the notation of your wins and losses for errors in recording (omissions, transpositions, etc.) and handwriting. You record much better when you win. When you lose, much more goes wrong than just putting pieces on the wrong square. Your brain has sand in the gears and water in the fuel, and it shows. Collect the score sheets that people toss in the wastebasket after a club tournament. Losers toss the games. I once published an article I titled "Found Chess" from the discarded score sheets. Funny.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at April 24, 2016 03:49 PM (IbUUZ)

291 Weak Geek, I haven't read Pat McManus since his
magazine columns in the 80s. The were laugh out loud funny and sometimes
touching. Any idea if his newer stuff is as good?
Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 01:36 PM (V+03K)

His recent books are detective novels of a small town chief of police, the son of the corrupt old, womanizing, chief of police.
Pretty good stuff

Posted by: Kindltot at April 24, 2016 04:15 PM (G0QM9)

292 Ed Morrissey backed Santorum in 2012 and Rubio in 2016. He's a putz who is way more Catholic than conservative.

Posted by: s at April 24, 2016 04:26 PM (HCXGq)

293 Thanks Kindltot. I'll check them out. I'm curious about McManus writing in a long form instead of a column.

Posted by: JTB at April 24, 2016 04:27 PM (V+03K)

294 I've been reading human evolution and Human Biodiversity blogs lately (The zeman, jayman, HBD Chick).
Wrangham, R., __Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human__. Done. Humans controlled fire before they were sapiens.
Cochran, G. and Harpeming, H., __The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution__. Done. 500 generations of separation allows measurable divergence.
Mitterauer, M. __Why Europe? The Medieval Origins of Europe's Special Path__. Currently. HBD Chick insists.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at April 24, 2016 04:33 PM (IbUUZ)

295 The best chess book? Fischer, R. __My 60 Memorable Games__. I lent my copy and it never returned.

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at April 24, 2016 04:36 PM (IbUUZ)

296 I finished Calumet "K" by Samuel Merwin & Henry Francis Webster a while back, and reading it in its original serialized form in the Saturday Evening Post in 1901 was a gas. Suspenseful story of the construction of a grain elevator near Chicago to prevent a corner in the December wheat market. The protagonist, Charley Bannon, has to stare down union bosses, mobilize farmers, work around stubborn railroad men, and inspire disillusioned workers to get the job done. This was Ayn Rand's favorite novel, and I see a lot of Howard Roark and Hank Reardon in Charley Bannon. If you admire Rand's work, read Calumet "K" and see where it all began.

With spring and baseball keeping hope alive, I dived back into my old magazine files and am now reading Twenty Years a Big League Umpire by Gene Evans, as serialized in Liberty magazine in 1925. I actually read part of this back in 2009, when I was still missing three or four of the 13 installments. Now that I have the whole series, I'm going back to read everything in context. Gene Evans started his umpiring career in 1905, and he left umpiring to become general manager of the Cleveland Indians about two years after he wrote this account. (In fact, he thought up the title of "general manager" himself.) He was the third umpire to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. I had a lot of fun reading this, and I'm eager to go back to it and see what I missed the first time around.

Posted by: DynamiteDan at April 24, 2016 05:17 PM (BaDMP)

297 I need to thank someone and I don't know who. Way upthread someone mentioned the book behind The Ninth Gate. My husband knows that movie frame by frame. (God knows why. I surely don't.) I went immediately to Amazon and ordered it. Bless you, whoever you are.

Posted by: Wenda (sic) at April 24, 2016 05:54 PM (pZEKq)

298 Hell, if you read Dashiell Hammett, his heroes send to the pharmacist for morphine.

(To wean the chick off the smack slowly. Homemade detox.)

Posted by: Oschisms at April 24, 2016 06:43 PM (ZsN9X)

299
Delphi Complete Works of Charles Dickens (Illustrated) for a buck forty. How can you not buy that?

Hell, I might even try to read some of it.

Posted by: Skandia Recluse at April 24, 2016 07:15 PM (X7P6j)

300 Late to the party here, something new and different.

In regards to ER/EMS war story books, one of the better ones to come out recently was written by Kevin Hazard, "A Thousand Naked Strangers," about the wild and woolly Grady EMS in Atlanta. I spent three years at The Gradys in the early 1980s, and can vouch for both Hazard and the truth of his stories. We worth the read:

http://tinyurl.com/j826ym3

I spent over twenty years as an EMT, then Paramedic, then Firefighter-Paramedic, before retiring out as a firefighting and EMS instructor and turning to the civilian education world, where I started writing and researching local history. Since retiring (again) from that world, I never thought I would take up writing again, but after talking about Hazard's book and a few others with so many interested in the topic, I've decided to start work on an EMS memoir of my own. Instead of a "been there, done that" traditional memoir, it's going to be (at this point, at least) a collection of "war stories" organized around various themes, with the working title of, "36 Naked Swedish Women, And Other Semi-True EMS Stories From the Gradys."

The titular story is completely true, and the most epic one evar you could possibly have imagined.

Posted by: John the Baptist at April 24, 2016 07:36 PM (MPH+3)

301 The Cheneys preface their book with this Reagan quote from his 1983 Star Wars speech:

"It's up to us in our time to choose and choose wisely between the hard but necessary task of preserving peace and freedom and the temptation to ignore our duty and blindly hope for the best while the enemies of freedom grow stronger day by day."

Reagan was speaking of foreign enemies, but it also applies domestically as all Constitutional oaths affirm.

And Reagan knew all about that. In the 40's and 50's he fought in street fights with Communist union thugs, as Kirk Douglas recalled, with knifes, chains, brass knuckles and battery cables. The union leader was a Soviet agent.

In '57 he gave a commencement address and told the students "Don't be deceived because you are not hearing the sound of gunfire, because even so you are fighting for your lives. And you're fighting against the best organized and the most capable enemy of freedom and of right and decency that has ever been abroad in the world." He meant both foreign and domestic.

In the 60's and 70's he sent Guardsmen against student radicals. In the 80's he faced down the Nuclear Freeze movement, some of whom were Soviet agents leading mobs of hippie dupes. Again, both foreign and domestic.

So this is not new, although we have never had a communist president until now. And it has fragmented and damaged us deeply.

In some ways we've been fighting a rearguard action for a century, since Wilson Progressives and FDR New Dealers. Now we've got a whole lot of kids who don't know we tried socialism at Jamestown and Plymouth and nearly starved.

I pray it doesn't come to conflict. Civil wars and revolutions are horrible things. Somehow we've got to get a grip on education. We've got to make inroads in the culture. We've got to argue from first principles again. And stand up and fight--hopefully with those principles, not battery cables.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at April 24, 2016 07:43 PM (Ndje9)

302 'tis an honor to receive a prominent quote up top.

Though I need to point out that the first sentence is part of someone else's comment that I was responding to.

Posted by: ReactionaryMonster at April 24, 2016 08:29 PM (94O4R)

303 Buckner would not have ended game six if he fielded the ball cleanly. The game was tied at the time. Bob Stanly's wild pitch prior to the groundball allowed the tying run to score.

Posted by: Slaphead at April 24, 2016 10:07 PM (IXTGx)

304 This week's reading; down to a couple of pages left of 'The Lynmara Legacy'. It fell into my lap, so I read it. Entertaining. A good time-passer.

At a used book shop this week, I picked up a Brad Thor novel ('Full Black'), as I have seen him mentioned here previously. Also a copy of 'Generation Kill', both for $1 each.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, late to the party at April 24, 2016 10:20 PM (J3phO)

305 In the 60's and 70's [Reagan] sent Guardsmen against student radicals. In the 80's he faced down the Nuclear Freeze movement, some of whom were Soviet agents leading mobs of hippie dupes. Again, both foreign and domestic.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at April 24, 2016 07:43 PM (Ndje9)

I think it's been established that the "peace" movement entire, as well as the "nuclear disarmament" movement insofar as it was a separate entity, were scam operations run from the Kremlin.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 24, 2016 10:38 PM (wdivZ)

306 @202

The Late response is due to the lack of hitting by the Nationals against a crappy Twins team. It is late so here is a simple reply...

1. You are right at the beginning of the war both sides wanted to fight a war of movement, which they did in 1914 and got to do again in 1918 due to the German summer offensive.

2. Cavalry had already been shown to be useless outside of screening, intelligence, and raiding since the American Civil War. So why did the idiot Euros keep those mighty lancers with those stupid hats? Why keep them as part of a battle plan for which they would not play the part that was desired?

3. The stalemate was not due to transportation because both sides could mass and reinforce huge numbers of men and resources for battles such as the Somme, Verdun, etc. The problem was how to organize and use new weapons and transportation correctly in a war of movement, a war that did at last re-appear in 1918.

3. By 1915 WWI generals in the west did not have a clue how to win the war. So instead of figuring out new ways to overcome the stalemate they kept fighting Verdun and Somme over and over again. They had limited objectives that they knew would not win the war, and would be costly for their armies. Too costly for the objective even if won. Those losses could have changed the war in 1918 before the Americans had arrived in significant numbers. I am sure the British, French and Germans wished they had those troops in 1918 that they blew in 1915-17. Otherwise why were both sides obsessing on when the Americans would arrive in significant numbers?

Conclusion: So the WWI generals of 1915-17 did think in a limited way. If you are stuck in that kind of war, you need to find a way out of it. You just don't beat your head on a brick wall trying to squeeze some little success that will cost you down the road when things change as they always will.

Posted by: William Eaton at April 24, 2016 11:47 PM (KhJh8)

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