Sunday Morning Book Thread 10-16-2016: Ride The Decline [OregonMuse]

Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland

(H/T to 'Alienist' for the pic. Click on it for a huuuge version that is so spectacularly detailed, you can even see the wood grain in the shelves)

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, where men are men, all the 'ettes are smokin' hot, safe spaces are underneath your house and are used as protection against actual dangers, like tornados, hurricanes, IRS audits, and getting caught in the path between Bill Clinton and a busty blonde, and special snowflakes are held up for ridicule and contempt. And unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these gawdawful things.

Downhill and Loving It

OK, so here's a refreshing take on what we should be doing while our country is careening off of the cliff of economic insolvency and cultural collapse: have fun!

Enjoy the Decline by Aaron Clarey tells you how to do just that, only how seriously this book should be taken is debateable. As one reviewer sums up:

According to Clarey, the bottom line for how to enjoy the decline is to:

1. work as little as possible, if at all
2. sign up for as many government assistance problems as you possibly can
3. abandon your views on work ethic, right and wrong, family and religion.
4. if things get tough, hey, you can always put a bullet in your head.

Who can live like this? I am reminded of Steal This Book, by that smelly hippie Abbie Hoffman, that purportedly shows how to live in America on $0 per day. First published in 1971, it's not so much a serious how-to manual but more of a spasm of "f*ck the system" virtue signalling. Actually, Hoffman wrote a book 4 years earlier titled, appropriately enough, Fuck the System.

So, America's inevitable decline is a little like being ~~groped by Donald Trump~~ raped by Bill Clinton. It's going to happen, anyway, so we might as will sit back and have a good time.

Here are some different suggestions for modern living posted by longtime moron Grump928(C) awhile back:

1 Stop buying stuff
2 Do only what the government directly compels you to do.
3 Pay in cash with a winkwink
4 Cheat the government whenever possible
5 Steal all your entertainment
6 If you know of tax cheating, keep your mouth shut
7 If called to jury, refuse to convict if you think the law unjust
8 Discriminate in all your private dealings, without openly saying so
9 If you see a CoC sticker on a business, go elsewhere
10 Vote against all tax levies, particularly school levies
11 Buy firearms and ammo. It's not simply a just-in-case, it's a good financial investment of small sums when savings are yielding 1/4 of a percent.

So what's driving this? Grump says: "They have laid down the marker, the law means nothing" and "Obeying the law is no longer a matter of ethics or morality but merely a matter of consequences." I liken it to playing a football team where the referees are wearing the uniform of the other team. At some point, you just have to refuse to play.

Flashpoints

This week I was in Seattle attending one of the denominational meetings of my church. There were ministers there from the United States as well as from Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine. These are all remarkable men, laboring for the gospel under extreme circumstance, and I am not worthy to scrape the dirt of their shoes. One of the Polish ministers gave a presentation of our denomination's work in Eastern Europe. In order to give us a feel for the territory, he first showed us this map, and then this one, and finally this one. And then he said "Enough of this, I must now be objective...like a CNN reporter." He delivered that line absolutely deadpan and it took a second for the irony to punch me in the face. Being forced to live under communism for decades does tend to make your sense of humor rather dry -- especially when saying the wrong thing and pissing off the authorities can result in fines or jail time (totes not like here).

It was an interesting presentation, and at one point, he recommended this book, Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe by George Friedman as a good source of information on what's going on in his part of the world.

Analyzing the most unstable, unexpected, and fascinating borderlands of Europe and Russia—and the fault lines that have existed for centuries and have been ground zero for multiple catastrophic wars—Friedman highlights, in an unprecedentedly personal way, the flashpoints that are smoldering once again.

The modern-day European Union was crafted in large part to minimize built-in geopolitical tensions that historically have torn it apart. As Friedman demonstrates, with a mix of rich history and cultural analysis, that design is failing. Flashpoints narrates a living history of Europe and explains, with great clarity, its most volatile regions: the turbulent and ever-shifting land dividing the West from Russia (a vast area that currently includes Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania); the ancient borderland between France and Germany; and the Mediterranean, which gave rise to Judaism and Christianity and became a center of Islamic life.

And we're following closely behind. Our East European brethren know. They can't believe that America is going down the same road that ruined their own countries, and we persist in doing so even with such a clear and evident track record of failure. It's embarrassing for me to have to admit to them, yes, Americans are idiots, yes, we elected a president who actually hates America, yes, nobody seems to care that we're going off a cliff, and yes, the "opposition" party isn't really in opposition to anything except cutbacks of its own perquisites.

Another Moron(ette) Library

Library of Pookysgirl - Children's Section

Pookysgirl's Daughter Pookette - Taking Advantage of Above Library

Reshelving

Couple three months ago, I posted a photo of the NYC Public Library's Rose Reading Room, and it certainly does look magnificient. What I didn't know is that it was apparently in the middle of refurb/restore project and it reopened on Oct. 5th. This video shows a time-lapse video showing 52,000 books being reshelved before the big reopening:

Books by Morons

The Kindle version of moron author Daniel Humphreys' post-zombie apocalypse novel A Place Outside The Wild, which was pimped on the book thread a few weeks back, will be on sale for the next few days for $1.99.

___________

Jeb Kinnison, moron author of the "Substrate Wars" series (Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3) has written a new book, not a novel, but one that is probably pretty scary. The book is Death by HR: How Affirmative Action Cripples Organizations and Jeb tells me

The book's thesis is that labor regulations (notably affirmative action, but also all the rest of it) has hurt effectiveness at many workplaces, especially those in government or heavily regulated organizations (education, hospitals, banks...) The Eurodisease is coming here, and the HR departments of large companies are the commissars of the regulators, extending political directives into the workplace and losing sight of the goal of excellence and profitable products. Technology is just the latest pressure point.

Can anything be done to fight the fungal rot of progressivism in a corporate setting? Kinnison says yes:

If you’re a manager at a tech company, we’ll suggest some ways to protect your people from HR and its emphasis on credentials and affirmative action (AA) over the best fit for a position. Corporate leaders need to be sure their HR departments are managed to prevent infiltration by staff more interested in correct politics than winning products. And we’ll show why appeasement of diversity activists is a dangerous strategy that may make your organization a target for further extortionate demands.

Maybe we should send a bunch of copies of this book to the NFL front office.

___________

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 08:59 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 OT BUT!!

Gunna be a lot talk abt the WaPo/ABC poll today. Just so you know, it polled

33% - Democrats (D+

25% - Republicans
33% - Independents

Posted by: Evilpens at October 16, 2016 08:57 AM (y3aQB)

2 I had said previously that I would not continue the David Weber series Hell's Gate but I got hooked. I went ahead and got the first two which I had in paperback and read them. Then got the third one which I am on now. I do hope it wraps up in this third book but I am not counting on it. Personally I think authors and publishers are shitting on their fans and customers when they do not wrap up a series after three books. I blame Modesitt for this in his Recluse series. I don't mind them keeping the series universe alive with new tales but endless books in the same series is bad. Ann McCaffrey did it well with her Pern series. The books that started it all ended after the third book and all the rest were prequels AND different tales. But I guess that's why she was so popular.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 08:58 AM (mpXpK)

3 That library is a lot bigger than my old library in Dublin. . . GA.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 08:59 AM (mpXpK)

4 Yay book thread!!!

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 09:01 AM (Om16U)

5 Pookette - Taking Advantage of Above Library

What a darling little girl. A future heart breaker in the making.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 09:03 AM (mpXpK)

6 No politics on book thread please

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 09:05 AM (mpXpK)

7 Always liked that #1 and # 11 contradicted itself.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 09:05 AM (AetST)

8 Gotta scoot to church, but, this week reading 'Onward We Charge', Jeffers. An account of Darby's Rangers. Well written, decent detail.

Also, this week, obtained a copy of 'Bacon's Essays'. Now if I can just make myself read it.

Annnnd, a copy of 'The Forgotten Man' arrived in the mail.

The Trinity library is.... staggering. I have trouble looking away.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 16, 2016 09:06 AM (7H/2n)

9 I plan on gleefully voting against any tax referendums, but especially the meals tax referendum meant to fund FCPS.

Posted by: no good deed at October 16, 2016 09:07 AM (/O5Ax)

10 As to Flashpoints , I would note that in addition to those listed there is now a far expanded list of opportunities for apocalyptic confrontation . A century ago AfPak/India was a colonial police action , now it can easily become a nuclear exchange . The S China Sea was british/ dutch lake , now , ditto . I would love to be able to read the NYT of 1912 as to the flashpoints of that time . To wit , how alarmist were the accounts of the Balkan Wars ? How crisis hyped were the Agadir and similar confrontations? I'm sure the Wise Men in DoS are on top of this , reviewing position papers , war gaming in real time , looking to build on their recent record of failure piled on top of failure .

Posted by: jay hoenemeyer at October 16, 2016 09:08 AM (uvj0z)

11 Great library pics, OM! I could get lost in Trinity Library but would punch any Sherpa who tried to get me out.

As a kid I had fantasies of being locked overnight in great libraries, and I still have book dreams where I stumble on a cache of beautiful old books or walk in on a book sale.
Anybody else have biblioerotic dreams?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 09:08 AM (jR7Wy)

12 Oh, and Pookette is absolutely adorable.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 09:08 AM (jR7Wy)

13 Tolle lege! Tolle lege!

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 09:11 AM (sWbjH)

14 I just read one of the books in the Light in Darkness book set - really good! It was the Sherwood Smith one - Lhind the Thief. Turns out it's a book 1 and I want the rest of the series now, LOL.

Gonna read Sabrina Chase' s book next.

Remember it's 12 book in one for just 99c until Oct 18!

I did a post on it last week here
http://preview.tinyurl.com/hp73u45

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 09:11 AM (Om16U)

15 I may pick up Flashpoints for my husband, if he hasn't already read it.

Posted by: no good deed at October 16, 2016 09:11 AM (/O5Ax)

16 There is a book called we Had Everything But Money about how people survived the Great Depression. I skimmed through it at the book store but didn't purchase it. Lots of stories on how people bartered their way through those times. May have to go back and buy it.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 09:12 AM (AetST)

17 I bought a copy of "With No Apologies" by Barry Goldwater at a used book sale. He wrote it in 1978 and he warned us of what would happen if we didn't cut down on the federal government. He also warned about the Council on Foreign Relations, created by the Elites to "manage" the peasants, aka, today's "Deplorables." Goldwater was a remarkable patriot who kept careful notes of events and meetings he had with political figures. What would have been stoppable if we had listened to him instead of the MSM who smeared him relentlessly, we would still have the United States I enjoyed for most of my long life.

I have been walking precincts wearing sensible shoes and laugh at myself because I have become one of the "little old ladies in tennis shoes" going from house to house warning of communism that I laughed at in the 1950's. SIGH

A friend lent me "Shakedown" by Kenneth Timmerman -- a thoroughly documented account of the rise of Jesse Jackson and his use of thugs and thug tactics to amass a fortune and power. I could not finish the book because it so disgusted me to know that the likes of him and Al Sharpton are still free men -- not to mention that they are part of the cabal controlling us.

Posted by: Margaret at October 16, 2016 09:12 AM (F2qnR)

18 A good friend of mine just completed an interesting project. He set out to read and rank every novel that has won a Nebula Award (52 of them as of 2016). He also included a short blurb saying things like "I would recommend this book to just about anyone" or "I would neither recommend this book nor steer others away".

I myself had read about a dozen of the books on the list. His top 5 were "Annihilation" at 1, "Slow River" at 2, "The Windup Girl" at 3, "American Gods" at 4 and "Ender's Game" at number 5 (He ranked "Dune" at 6, which I thought was kind of low).

So, I'm now curious to try this myself and read the other 40 books I've missed on that list. Has anyone else ever tried something like this? How did it go?

Posted by: Pave Low John at October 16, 2016 09:14 AM (OejZ/)

19 California elected Ahnuld despite the Groppenator allegations against him. Elected him twice. This despite the electable Democrat stalwarts that ran against him.

The press never liked him either.

He had big POC negatives in a half white state.

Take heart. This groping stuff is not a deal breaker.

Settle down and read a book today. It's finally raining out here again!

Posted by: torabora at October 16, 2016 09:14 AM (avZHO)

20 Pookette is absolutely adorable!
What will she dress up as on Halloween?

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 09:15 AM (Om16U)

21 Finished A Sea of Words by Dean King, learned many things like I have cruised through the Skager Rack, and finally know why North Carolinians are called "Tar heals".
No new book this week yet fealing a bit poor after a big bill to get my truck inspection.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 09:18 AM (sWbjH)

22 I know it's a meaningless gesture but I will not acknowledge Hillary Clinton as president. At some point you just have to say no mas,no mas.

Posted by: ting hung lo at October 16, 2016 09:18 AM (xZc4z)

23 Was going to give my son a short story on the revilt of the czech legion and their amazing fight, mostly on the railroads, to make ot from Ukraine to Vladivostok for evacuation and eventual deployment in France. Boy asks so many good questions, it'll be a three volume novel before he's run out of things to ask.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 09:19 AM (9DCXo)

24 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I'll start off with a surprise delight I read this week. "The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen" by WB Laughead. (I don't know if that is the authors real name, but it should be.)

It's a compendium of Paul Bunyan stories written down early in the 1900s. There's a little background on the process and character origins and how the stories were told, especially to green horns. I've loved the Paul Bunyan character since I saw the Disney cartoon as a wee tyke and these stories are even better.

The key is to relate the exploits in a completely matter of fact, dead pan tone. And the author does. His approach makes Jackie Vernon sound manic. It sometimes helps to imagine the teller speaking with a Canuck or Scandihoovian accent.

This was a free Kindle book. It's quite short, less than 50 pages. It only took me a while to read it because I kept laughing and picturing Paul doing the deeds. I kept hearing my grandfather's Quebec accent as I read. Absolutely fun reading.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 09:19 AM (V+03K)

25 Commented first but the little girl is adorable, have to go to my nieces little girls birthday later, saw musical balloons there and going to get one.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (sWbjH)

26 Re-reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn lately. I'm on Cancer Ward just now, and will be moving on to First Circle, Gulag, A Day in the Life. I first got into Solzhenitsyn during the Carter years, then voted for Reagan in my first election at age 17 (permitted in my state since I turned 18 by the end of the year).

Somehow things feel similar now, but up an order of magnitude.

Posted by: Dick Poulin at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (sMt7r)

27 I'm just rolling "biblioerotic dreams" around in my mind.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (mgbwf)

28 I picked up a copy of:

"Running the River
Poleboats, Steamboats & Timber Rafts on the Altamaha, Ocmulgee, Oconee & Ohoopee"

last week at the Hawkinsville Dispatch (one of Ga's oldest newspapers). In the early 1800's they used pole boats to go over 300 miles(!) up river to get to Macon and Milledgeville at the Fall Line and bring cotton and other goods back down Darian at the Atlantic coast. Later they were supplemented with steam boats and ultimately displaced by the railroads and autos.

I've spent some time on those rivers and nowadays it's hard to believe they were ever able to use them for that kind of commerce and travel. Anyway it's an interesting read if you are into history. Those were some tough people back then.

Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (BO/km)

29 I've just reread one of my favorite books, Papillon I cheated a bit since it was part of my Reader's Digest Condensed books Library I inherited from my Father.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (AetST)

30 Readers Digest is reporting that Aaron Clarey was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump and it was free of charge, just like Aaron likes it.

Robert Reich was not available for comment.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 16, 2016 09:22 AM (ej1L0)

31 2. sign up for as many government assistance problems as you possibly can

******

A Typo Most Apropos- a seasonal limerick

At the trough of tax dollars they'll gobble 'em
(These millions of welfare goblins)
Laziness? Or deceit?
'Tis the great "Trick or Treat"
These government assistance problems.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 09:23 AM (wPiJc)

32 And OM sign me up for a spot for the thread picture, will send finished pictures of the reading room been working on tomorrow , The smaller one adjacent is a bit more behind.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 09:23 AM (sWbjH)

33 I read Why I Am Not A Muslim by Ibn Warraq. While having been raised a Muslim, Warraq offers a critical analysis of the life of Mohammand, the Koran, and Islam as a new religion. He relies primarily on the works of others, whom he quotes liberally. What he wants most is freedom of expression in Muslim society and the freedom to criticize the tenets of Islam without the fear of death threats.

On the Kindle, I finished the first three books of Angela White's Life After War series (The Survivors, On the Road and Safe Haven). These are available for free on Amazon. I think that this is an above average dystopian series. The twist is that the main character, Angela, has a witch inside her which gives her supernatural powers. Some other characters have telepathic powers. All these are used as they move across what is left of America, picking up survivors along the way, and staying ahead of a large group of slavers. They hooked me enough to pay $2.51 for book four, Adrian's Eagles.

Posted by: Zoltan at October 16, 2016 09:23 AM (JYer2)

34 "Look at the Spanish Civil War, the wars of liberation in the last century, the whole Marxist-Leninist epoch. There is no honest history of these events because the people involved, especially the educated classes, habitually lied about events, not only to the world but also to themselves... They systematically falsify reality as a matter of keeping faith with their political delusions. They're in their final days - a vanguard elite with a secret agenda who stopped being a popular movement a long time ago and have survived for half a century by lying to the people."

- Charles McCarry, "Shelley's Heart"

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at October 16, 2016 09:24 AM (J8/9G)

35 23. And so far, his favorite character is ine Yitzakh Rakozski, who crossed paths with the troops in Kazan, and might or might not be the Count of St. Germain...

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 09:24 AM (9DCXo)

36 "The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan As Told in the Camps of the White Pine Lumbermen"

That does sound good JTB. I like old stuff like that too.

Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:25 AM (BO/km)

37 Speaking of tensions, I'm reading Alan Moore's exccellent introduction to Leslie Klinger's Annotated H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft came of age in a period of great turmoil in American history - massive influxes of peoples from eastern and southern Europe, widespread labor unrest, revolutions abroad, and advances in science broadening understanding of the universe but also contributing to a feeling of unease at the pace of progress.

"Painfully acute, Howard Phillips Lovecraft flourished in the two decades between world wars and wrote of his disquiet at what he saw as the most likely future, with the species overwhelmed by its own exponentially accumulating knowledge of itself and of the vast and alien universe about it, fleeing to the reassuring shadow of a new Dark Ages."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (jR7Wy)

38 Great photos today. That library is one to get happily lost in. (Needs some comfy chairs.) And Pookette is beyond adorable. As much as I love reading, it's hard to remember when every written word was new and could lead to adventure. Pookette is a living example of that stage. A little bit of envy here.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (V+03K)

39 - Charles McCarry, "Shelley's Heart"
Posted by: Kodos
-----------

A very good read.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (7H/2n)

40 Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at October 16, 2016 09:24 AM (J8/9G)

The Spanish Civil War is one of the rare times that the victors didn't write the history.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (AetST)

41 1. work as little as possible, if at all
2. sign up for as many government assistance problems as you possibly can
3. abandon your views on work ethic, right and wrong, family and religion.
4. if things get tough, hey, you can always put a bullet in your head.

Aren't those things what the Left wants? (They'll take care of #4 themselves.)

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (sdi6R)

42 I've spent some time on those rivers and nowadays it's hard to believe they were ever able to use them for that kind of commerce and travel. Anyway it's an interesting read if you are into history. Those were some tough people back then.
Posted by: freaked
--------

A lot of log rafts moved down those rivers also.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 16, 2016 09:28 AM (7H/2n)

43 Found a book from the 70s called 'Son-Rise,' about a family dealing with a son with autism.

I caught a TV movie on one of the rerun channels based on it, and couldn't watch the movie but I'll try to read through the book now that I've found it.

Having an autistic child, I'm interested in how much they knew or didn't know about it back in those days before people started treating autism as almost trendy.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at October 16, 2016 09:28 AM (L7t0A)

44 28 Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:21 AM (BO/km)

I'll have to find a copy of that book. I note that it isn't on Amazon. But I have spent a lot of time on the Oconee River and time fishing on the "Hoopee". But the Hoopie isn't good for much except for moccasins.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 09:29 AM (mpXpK)

45 A Typo Most Apropos- a seasonal limerick

At the trough of tax dollars they'll gobble 'em
(These millions of welfare goblins)
Laziness? Or deceit?
'Tis the great "Trick or Treat"
These government assistance problems.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 09:23 AM

Pure genius!!!

Posted by: Dick Poulin at October 16, 2016 09:30 AM (sMt7r)

46 35. Haven't figured out whether it's better tonleave the ambiguity, but have everyone more or less accept the possibility, or have some great reveal. The characters already notice the stranger seems to speak too many languages and know too much about everyone involved in the Czars court and the revolution, both, but all they can verify is what they see and what he tells them. Hmmm....maybe keep the ambiguity.

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 09:31 AM (9DCXo)

47 Aaron Clarey posts as Captain Capitalism at smalldeadanimals dot com, which is a conservative Canadian website. He writes some great articles from an economic perspective.

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at October 16, 2016 09:32 AM (8GN8w)

48 "I liken it to playing a football team where the referees are wearing the uniform of the other team. At some point, you just have to refuse to play."

I think it'd be better to start hitting the referees.

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 09:32 AM (8HxlB)

49 With the approach of Halloween (the fun shakedown), I want to recommend to the Horde something besides / other than the standard tooth rotters:

Comic books.

I culled my collection a few years back, and the enthusiasm was tremendous.

The only drawback is that current comics rarely tell a story in one issue, so you'd need to supply older stuff. If you have a comics shop in your area, go through the cheapo boxes.

Keep in mind the ages of your likely market. For the youngsters, you can't go wrong with Disney, especially Carl Barks' tales (Don Rosa wrote more complex stories; they'd be great for teens). For the others -- flip through the books first. If you could find "Wolff & Byrd, Counselors to the Macabre," later retitled "Supernatural Law," grab those -- they're perfect for the night.

We need to develop the idea that reading is fun.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 16, 2016 09:33 AM (zqUhc)

50 As much as I love reading, it's hard to remember when every written word was new and could lead to adventure. Pookette is a living example of that stage. A little bit of envy here.
Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 09:26 AM (V+03K)
---
So true! Oh, the thrill of happening upon a book and getting lost in it, like you're in some secret walled garden.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 09:33 AM (jR7Wy)

51 It's the tale of the Morons, it seems
These naughty librarian schemes
The acts of book lovers
Take place under cover
of biblioerotic dreams!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 09:33 AM (wPiJc)

52 Wow; found a used paperback copy but $32!!!!

http://amzn.to/2dGdeNU

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 09:34 AM (mpXpK)

53 I think you do Aaron Clarey a disservice. Given what is about to happen in this election, I'd say he's ahead of the learning curve.
If you don't want to read his books, he has quite a few podcasts on youtube. They're definitely entertaining and I'm sure he'd make an honorary moron.

Posted by: rayj at October 16, 2016 09:34 AM (qvdZO)

54 Muldoon, you need to collect these in a volume of verse, maybe with Gorey-esque illustrations.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 09:35 AM (jR7Wy)

55 54 Muldoon, you need to collect these in a volume of verse, maybe with Gorey-esque illustrations.

--

Seconded

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 09:36 AM (Om16U)

56 Motion to compek Muldoon to collect his verse for publication with accompanying artwork on the sryle of Edward Gorey is before the Horde. All in favor?

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 09:38 AM (9DCXo)

57 56 Aye.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at October 16, 2016 09:40 AM (u82oZ)

58 I read The Feast of the Elves by John C Wright, my favorite current author. It's the second book in a trilogy of trilogies. It's pretty quick reading, lighter fare than some of his other stuff. I enjoyed it and finished it the same day it came out. Recommended, like all his stuff.

Also read The Big Black Mark, by Bertam Chandler on Instapundit's suggestion. It was okay, not what I would have called a hard scifi. Possibly worth a read.

Read the whole Lightbringer series, by Brent Weeks on the recommendation of a friend. It's fast paced (mostly) and pretty good fantasy, reminds me of Hard Magic by Larry Correia. The guy apparently went to Hillsdale, but I didn't pick up on that in the writing. It reads like he was raised a Christian (or Morman) and rejected it, but uses it for inspiration.

Probably recomended, if you like action fantasy. It definitely has its flaws, most notably gratuitous world-building. But I just skim over those parts. Does have the women are warriors too and a bit of feminism/politically correct stuff which is annoying.

Posted by: .87c at October 16, 2016 09:40 AM (aG7S8)

59 Love the photos of Pookette and her library. Love of reading comes from being introduced to books early, being given help with reading when you are a very little person, and being allowed to go to the library and pick out your own books you want to read, etc. Not making reading a chore, rather making it a celebration for little kids.

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 09:40 AM (ntZAP)

60 Oh, and I get a hearty laugh every Sunday out of the pants pick.

I can't imagine finding such things, even in a thrift store.

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 09:41 AM (ntZAP)

61
So...are those rope barriers in that fancy library there to keep people away from the books or away from the displays down the middle of the hall?

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at October 16, 2016 09:43 AM (ml2A6)

62 Finished "Rome Sweet Home," the tale of a Presbyterian preacher's conversion to Roman Catholicism. To tell the truth, I just skimmed the last couple of chapters. I hope Hahn's other books are better because I bought a couple, one on the mass, and the other specifically on the Eucharist. I hope they're better. He seems to be a good speaker so I'm guardedly optimistic.

I finished Hollywood Party. The moral is, "Commies suck dead bears." My contempt for them is as boundless as the sea which is undoubtedly why no one reads my "real world" Facebook posts. But although the commies were beaten back in the 40s and 50s a bit, we all know who won in Hollywood which is why I end up watching about five minutes of a modern movie and then saying, "Oh for pity's sake," and turning it off.

Now I have to decide what's next and I have too many books. That's all there is to it.

I think maybe I'll go back to "Hillbilly Elegy" which I read the intro to and got distracted by my embarrassment of riches. And I need a dead tree book but I'll have to go look at the stacks.

Posted by: Tonestaple at October 16, 2016 09:43 AM (VsZJP)

63 Heh! I'm hoping to win a Nobel Prize for Limerick-ature.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 09:44 AM (wPiJc)

64 It's on Amazon Vic but you can get it cheaper and in hardcover from saltmarshpress dot com.

Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:44 AM (BO/km)

65 Ok, the maps of Europe are hilarious satire, because as Rush says, they have a bit of truth to them, as the best satire does.

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 09:45 AM (ntZAP)

66 'A lot of log rafts moved down those rivers also'

Yep. And rafts carrying cotton bales. When they got to the destination they would deliver the cotton and sell the timber.

Some boats would load up with goods though and pole their way back up the river.

Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:47 AM (BO/km)

67 58 I read The Feast of the Elves by John C Wright, my favorite current author. It's the second book in a trilogy of trilogies. It's pretty quick reading, lighter fare than some of his other stuff. I enjoyed it and finished it the same day it came out. Recommended, like all his stuff.

--

I should try that. I tried the Never... something one but it felt too Lovecraft for me.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 09:48 AM (Om16U)

68 Aww Pookette is adorable, I wanna just bundle her up into a ball and hug her all at once. Isn't it interesting how readily and happily children read books? They love it, how do we grow out of that?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 09:49 AM (39g3+)

69 I'll have to check out that "Enjoy the Decline" book. Although I rather like Grump928's list better. There's a feel of 'going Gault' that is appealing at the moment. The part sometimes left out of advise like this is to preserve (skills, materials, and attitudes) what you can.

In line with the above, I had a good trip to the used book store. Paper editions of Chesterton and Lewis I only had as ebooks, the Manchester biographies of Churchill, at 80 cents a volume, and a few others I want to preserve.

This book store offers some great deals. It's interesting that their prices for CS Lewis and Chesterton are rarely cheap. And the stock rotates a lot. Obviously people are buying them.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 09:50 AM (V+03K)

70 Large folios like those in the lower left shelf shouldn't be stored like that, they should be stored lying flat. Librarians are a book's worst friend.

Posted by: josephistan at October 16, 2016 09:51 AM (7qAYi)

71 56 Motion to compek Muldoon to collect his verse for publication with accompanying artwork on the sryle of Edward Gorey is before the Horde. All in favor?
Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 09:38 AM

*stands and waves arm wildly*

Aye! Here in the back!

Posted by: Dick Poulin at October 16, 2016 09:55 AM (sMt7r)

72 I finally read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? PKD just don't do much for me.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at October 16, 2016 09:57 AM (sw0QN)

73 Not much for pleasure reading this week: working on winding up "The Golden Road" and hitting a few research volumes for "corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude" to what I hope will be a fascinating ramble through Gold-rush era California and the southwest. Finished The Triumphs and Trials of Lotta Crabtree, and started on J. Everett Haley's bio of Charles Goodnight ... which version is from the 1940s, and so has the advantage of being close enough in time that some people referred to had real-life connection to Charles Goodnight and his life and times ... and also blissfully free of Politically-Correct Cooties.
And I spent all day Saturday at a local market-day in Blanco, so am slightly sun-burned and exhausted. But if any of the resident 'rons wants to do a quickie beta-read of The Golden Road before I finalize the MS - let me know. (clyahayes-at-gee-mail-dot-com)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 16, 2016 09:58 AM (xnmPy)

74 In my local area, tiny free libraries are springing up. These are outdoor installations that look like giant birdhouses on a post, most of which are quite ornate, resembling farmhouses, buildings, etc. and sit in church parking lots, on street corners, etc. and contain about two dozen books. The idea is that you can borrow books out of it as you like on the honor system and then donate to the library with a book when it seems empty.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 09:59 AM (ntZAP)

75 In the immortal words of Flavor Flav:

We got to fight the powers that be. Lemme hear you say. Fight the power!

Posted by: Grump928(C) Native Texan and Alabama Alumn, twice as smug as you at October 16, 2016 09:59 AM (0F67M)

76 Opposed?

**crickets**

Motion carried by unanimous consent of the Horde.

Get to work, you gifted bastard!

Posted by: Your Decidedly Devious Uncle Palpatine, Still Accepting Harem Applicants at October 16, 2016 10:00 AM (9DCXo)

77 75 In the immortal words of Flavor Flav:

We got to fight the powers that be. Lemme hear you say. Fight the power!
Posted by: Grump928(C) Native Texan and Alabama Alumn, twice as smug as you at October 16, 2016 09:59 AM (0F67M)

Yeah, that only works when the powers that be - a major political party & the entertainment establishment, in Mr. Flav's case - are backing you.

Posted by: josephistan at October 16, 2016 10:01 AM (7qAYi)

78 I'm about 75% of the way through Anselm's book Cur Deus Homo. No, its not about homogenized milk, its "Why the God-Man" about the incarnation of Jesus Christ in a very old style not used much any more, the conversation. It imagines a discussion between two people on a topic, in a way of explaining something in a somewhat more interesting and lively way than the usual dissertation.

I've gotten past the fairly straight forward stuff and its getting deep now, so I can only read it when I have my brain in best working order or I find I've gone through a page without remembering anything that was said.

Its both genius and odd; Anselm's arguments are very well ordered and incredibly exhaustive, but sometimes from very strange places. Overall the teaching on the incarnation is excellent so far.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:02 AM (39g3+)

79 I seek advice, from any of you publishing veterans.

I am in the middle of writing a fantasy trilogy. I have written before, and even for pay, but small scale stuff. This is my magnum opus.

I have finished the first one, at about 170k words. It's good enough that it got selected by an editor after a reading at a writer's conference, progressed through two layers of editors and received a strong review, but was ultimately rejected on the basis that it wasn't "weird" enough for the company's new direction (they were bought by a new owner a few months ahead of my submission, and apparently wants weird shit).

I've since moved onto book 2, but it goes slowly and I have stopped shopping around for a publisher because I figured that acceptance would come with deadlines I won't be able to meet; I'm in electrical engineering school right now.

1) Is that right?, and 2) given my relative success, is pursuing publication the old fashioned way with mass printings of paperbacks and Barnes & Noble distribution, etc. still the way to go?

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 10:03 AM (2ilh7)

80 In my local area, tiny free libraries are springing up.

There are two in my neighborhood. They started out just the books in a box, and have expanded, now they have lighting and a couple of seats and flowers around them each.

I seeded one with my books, but haven't gotten to the other one yet.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:04 AM (39g3+)

81 Busy week so I haven't been able to read much.

I finished "Girl, 20" by Kingsley Amis which was written in 1971.

I am amazed at the constancy of the left because most of what's said by some of the character's and much of their motivation could with very little tweaking come straight out of the mouth of SJWs today.

In fact, the first chapter is titled "Imperialist Racist Fascist", a title, straight out of BLM, applied to the main character by a black guy because he is a white Englishman and thus can be nothing else.

The book is a comedy set in years when the "leftist pop culture" was gaining the upper hand over traditional British culture. And the interesting thing, is that while everyone in their own way in some manner acknowledges the good in traditional Brit culture, they are all throwing it away with both hands due to fashion or personal issues or seeking a "New way" or wanting a third way or personal desires or wanting to be a part of the youth movement.

The part of the culture, which gets the most attention is music, because the main character is classical music critic and his best friend a top second-rate musician/conductor/composer.

Dry British wit abounds, along with sharp characterization. Rather talky but still fun.

Kingsley Amis seems to have a kind of love/hate relationship with culture and that adds a nice edge to his writing.

Anyway, for those of you who like this sort of thing, and you know who you are,

check it out.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 10:04 AM (9q7Dl)

82 In the Dublin library pic, at the extreme left edge, (left of the bust) in Row 'dd' there is a book that looks like "Travels in Peruvia" (The 'via' part looks like it was truncated).

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:06 AM (wPiJc)

83 Poling up-river. Hard for us to even imagine.
Ohio has changed a great deal in just over 100 years. It's practically "the engineered state," as it used to be a dangerous place to be, due to floods.
But even with all the gelded rivers, you find all these ox-bowed, worn out streams wandering all over, some not even running the same direction they did originally (climate changed!), and the little towns along them all have "-port" on the end. Major centers of commerce, they were. And in both directions, too.

In July, I lazily canoed just a few miles down the lovely li'l Pigeon River in Indiana (Mongo). No discernible current, and yet I would not have turned around and paddled back up for a hunnertbucks. But your Voyageurs paddled 12-14 hours a day, in freighters weighing around a ton[ne], and portaged to boot.

Amazing how good a river looks when everything else around is swamp-bottom and impassable jungle. Which it was.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 16, 2016 10:06 AM (H5rtT)

84 is pursuing publication the old fashioned way with mass printings of paperbacks and Barnes & Noble distribution, etc. still the way to go?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: ttp://tinyurl.com/o5efwnw

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:07 AM (39g3+)

85 Pookette and cat ears, for the win nyah!

For PC and HR gone awry, there is always Moronette Lauren Pope's own book Just Another Oppressor.
http://astore.amazon.com/aoshq-20/detail/B00PRBME38

And Bandersnatch, careful there. Not only may you go blind but might get stuck between the pages.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 10:08 AM (ZZUgP)

86 I'm continuing my attempt to read the Star Wars books in timeline order & am just about finished "Maul: Lockdown" in which Darth Maul is sent to a gladiatorial prison to find an arms dealer. Pretty bloody, brutal fight scenes, definitely not for kids.

Posted by: josephistan at October 16, 2016 10:08 AM (7qAYi)

87 According to Clarey, the bottom line for how to enjoy the decline is to:

1. work as little as possible, if at all
2. sign up for as many government assistance problems as you possibly can
3. abandon your views on work ethic, right and wrong, family and religion.
4. if things get tough, hey, you can always put a bullet in your head.

-
Move to Colorado and go out with a bong.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 10:10 AM (Nwg0u)

88 Yeah, that only works when the powers that be - a major political party & the entertainment establishment, in Mr. Flav's case - are backing you.

Do the 11 things and we will see.

Btw, those 11 were just off the top of my head because I am striving to do them. They were meant as a starting point for other suggestions. The preface was 'There are ways to fight Leviathan without even sticking your neck out ..'.

Posted by: Grump928(C) Native Texan and Alabama Alumn, twice as smug as you at October 16, 2016 10:10 AM (0F67M)

89 Heh! I'm hoping to win a Nobel Prize for Limerick-ature.

Muldoon spun doggerel so thrillin'
He thought he could pull off a Dylan
When the fad for blank verse
Took a turn for the worse
His Nobel dreams took a chillin'

Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 10:11 AM (mgbwf)

90 If you didn't get your preorder of Light in the Darkness for .99, it is now, alas up to $1.99. STILL a good deal for 12 books!

(It's all very complicated. Because the file is so big Amazon doesn't let us have a .99 price once the full thing is uploaded. And you have to upload the final file 10 days or so before the go-live date. I'm telling you, it isn't easy being indie...)

And Votermom the Deplorable got her copy early because reviews and I'm trying to butter her up. I still have some review copies available, for any literary Morons willing to read at least one of the 12 books and leave an honest review when it goes live. Ping me in the comments.

Finished reading Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole of CTRL ALT REVOLT fame. Also really good. He does have fading, wistful endings but it's not a bad thing.

Of course I have biblioerotic dreams. I though everyone did. Mine are in color, with soundtracks.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 16, 2016 10:11 AM (SuJIo)

91 Oh, and I finished "People's Republic." I just gave it 3 stars on amazon because it just wasn't that original. It was a very fast read, but I pretty much knew what was going to happen. I was a little hopeful that Schlichter would let the hero die but no, it's all set up for a series.

Posted by: Tonestaple at October 16, 2016 10:12 AM (VsZJP)

92 Apostate, been through two edits? Give it a final look over then format for Kindle and Nook. Unless you want to try to get Baen to notice your book

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 10:14 AM (ZZUgP)

93 While at the coast the previous week and a half, I read quite a few books. Not only am I not an enormous fan of the ocean (I prefer mountains), it was very stormy and there wasn't much else to do there, plus I needed the rest.

One of the books I read was another of the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. I enjoyed the first season of the TV show, and parts of later seasons, so much I wanted to read the books, and this is my third.

They're... okay. When he sticks to the police work and the state, Johnson has my attention. Walt Longmire is very likable, as is Henry Long Horse. The rest of the characters I don't care much about, although Vic is entertaining. The TV show and books diverge significantly after that, few characters are the same. Many have been blended or swapped around, some are completely invented for the TV show.

Most of the books so far is not about detective work or Wyoming so much as Walt Longmire going through some horrendous experience involving endurance beyond human conception, damage that would force the retirement of anyone mortal, and circumstances that continue to pile up with mountainous threat and difficulty until you figure its just not possible. Then things get worse.

I could buy a single novel like this, but each time its been something incredibly unsurvivable and Walt walks away little scathed to face his next marathon up the side of K2 carrying three grown men on his back on foot during a blizzard while being attacked by grizzly bears.

So far every book has been during snow in winter, as if Wyoming has nothing but nonstop blizzards. I'm going to give one more book a shot and see if its different.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:14 AM (39g3+)

94 I picked up a copy of The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graham, for a friend's daughter, and read it ahead of time to make sure it was understandable.

Disney did a version of this, I think it was focused on Toad's motor-car obsession, but the book is actually focused around the friendship between Mole and Water Rat.

It has Mole discovering that the Spring is a wonderful thing, and boating is even more fun, it had Mr Toad's varying obsessions, it had Badgers kindness, it has the chapter "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" which is very lovely and has Pan appearing (and is the source of the name of a Pink Floyd album), and has the three friends helping Mr Toad get his house back from the weasels and stoats that had invaded it.

It was written in 1908, and is part of the genre that is pooh-pooh'd as "appropriate literature for deserving children" which I suppose it is, but this one is exceptionally well written, fun, happy and feels like an afternoon where the adults left and forgot to lock up the dangerous playthings and weren't around to tell you to not run and to wear the floaties and helmet.

Oh, and in reading it I realized the Miles Vorkosigan is Mr Toad of Toad Hall. I wonder if Ms. Bujold realizes this.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 10:16 AM (ddJyp)

95 Apostate, that is a question on which writers themselves still debate.
Are you in any writer networking / support groups? I think they can probably help a lot with talking about stuff like this

Two I know of are the CLFA on FB
https://conservativelibertarianfictionalliance.com/

And Cinder Writers on Talnexus
http://talnexus.com/cwg/

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:16 AM (Om16U)

96 74 In my local area, tiny free libraries are springing up. These are outdoor installations that look like giant birdhouses on a post, most of which are quite ornate, resembling farmhouses, buildings, etc. and sit in church parking lots, on street corners, etc. and contain about two dozen books. The idea is that you can borrow books out of it as you like on the honor system and then donate to the library with a book when it seems empty.

https://littlefreelibrary.org/

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 09:59 AM (ntZAP)
---
Ooh, thanks for reminding me -- I need to drop something off. I joked about putting in a copy of Guderian's "Panzer Leader" but I may need it in the Burning Times. Think I'll sacrifice Goldberg's "The Tyranny of Cliches" which, if it isn't burned outright, should make some heads explode merely by exposure. Hope the hutch has plexiglass!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:16 AM (jR7Wy)

97 Lovecraft? I've got yuge lovecraft.

- Donald J. Trump

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 10:17 AM (Nwg0u)

98 64
It's on Amazon Vic but you can get it cheaper and in hardcover from saltmarshpress dot com.

Posted by: freaked at October 16, 2016 09:44 AM (BO/km)

Amazon had it available in hardback for the same price as Saltmarshpress (actually ships from there). Since I already have an account with Amazon I ordered it through them. Says it will be here on the 21st.

The paperback costs more on Amazon than the hardback. Sometimes they amaze me.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 10:17 AM (mpXpK)

99 The one book I might want to read at the Dublin Library, would probably be at the top shelf, on the edge...and I'd have to go get it! I don't like the nose bleed height of football stadiums, like the Tampa stadium, so I just have to pass.

Posted by: Colin at October 16, 2016 10:19 AM (9FAf7)

100 82 In the Dublin library pic, at the extreme left edge, (left of the bust) in Row 'dd' there is a book that looks like "Travels in Peruvia" (The 'via' part looks like it was truncated).
Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:06 AM (wPiJc)
---
That's the first thing my eye landed on in the travels section. It must be Burton's unexpurgated version, hence the ropes to keep out the youths and the wimmins.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:20 AM (jR7Wy)

101 The bust on the extreme left is Samuel Kyle. According to Wiki he was provost of Trinity College in the 1820s when he would have been in his fifties. Later Bishop of Cork. Looks rather young and foppish in that likeness.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:20 AM (wPiJc)

102 Great Book for Moron parents of young children;

Go the F**k to Sleep

A laugh-out-loud, adults-only bedtime story for parents familiar with the age-old struggle of putting their kids to bed

http://tinyurl.com/jxk44zq

Posted by: kbdabear at October 16, 2016 10:21 AM (Ya7zs)

103 Too bad no Kindle version available. I struggle with dead tree books now. I guess I will have to break out my 2.5x glasses to put over normal glasses.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 10:21 AM (mpXpK)

104 103 Too bad no Kindle version available. I struggle with dead tree books now. I guess I will have to break out my 2.5x glasses to put over normal glasses.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 10:21 AM (mpXpK)

Now I'm imagining Vic as the old guy in Toy Story who repairs toys.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:23 AM (Om16U)

105 *falls over*

Are there any trees worth saving in this screed forest?

http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781476781617/9781476781617.htm

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 10:24 AM (ZZUgP)

106 Next weekend will hopefully be a good book buying weekend. The local used book store will be having their monthly warehouse sale, then I'll be going to NY & should be able to stop by The Strand. And there should be a new B&N coupon waiting for me in my inbox. And a few books I've ordered should arrive next week.

Posted by: josephistan at October 16, 2016 10:24 AM (7qAYi)

107 Another series I've been reading is the Jack Reacher books. As others and I have noted here, the film was pretty good but Tom Cruise is tiny and Jack Reacher is a mountain of a man, well over 6 feet and broad as a barn door. But the spirit of the books was well captured in the film, and hopefully it will be in the upcoming one.

The books are entertaining enough, but suffer from two flaws.

First, there are only two kinds of people in Jack Reacher's world: Stupid thugs and intellectual reasoning machines. Reacher is the second, and its an interesting and fun change from the tough thug action hero. He's analytical and thoughtful and intelligent.

However, he's a bit too flawless and perfect: he almost never misses, he almost never is hit, he never loses a fight, he's almost always exactly right, he always figures everthing out, he is Doc Savage but in a non-pulp setting, which is a bit difficult to buy since the rest of the world is presented as fairly logical and realistic.

The books are still enjoyable, but they require a pretty heavy dose of suspension of disbelief.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:24 AM (39g3+)

108 Apostate, as others have said go indie. Hang out in the BookMorons Goodreads group, pester us author types. It really isn't hard. It sounds like you are ready.

The sad truth is Barnes Ampersand Noble is hanging on by its fingertips over the edge of the abyss. They are selling lifestyle pasta, for heaven's sake, and taking the floor space *away* from books. The traditional publishers don't do midlist any more; they want blockbusters or nothing and they pay laughable advances when they do. (Seriously. I was offered a real contract once, and I have already earned WELL over the full offered advance going indie and I'm still earning. Plus I didn't have to give my agent 15% of that.)

Don't get an agent, get an IP lawyer. The contracts offered now are really, really bad. Don't sign up with any of the shady book packagers like Author Services or any of their evil clones. Or, better yet, go indie

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 16, 2016 10:25 AM (SuJIo)

109
Just finished "Night in Bombay" by Louis Bromfield...pretty good read....his "The Rains Came" is next on my list...

...found both in Dad's library...which is a great place to find good books....cause if you say you liked it....you keep it....due to the fact that Dad's library has close to three thousand books and he's more than happy to let some go....

...yes, there will be a nightmare firesale or mass donations in my future...hopefully not for 10/15 plus years yet.....far too many books etc etc on my Dad's side and my Mother's side....

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (ml2A6)

110 I started a free bookshelf in my old company. I wonder if they still have it going.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (Om16U)

111 It's fun to peruse the stacks. I see Diodorus Siculus, who wrote a history of the world and its people, who were all savages:

"The Gauls are terrifying in aspect and their voices are deep and altogether harsh; when they meet together they converse with few words and in riddles, hinting darkly at things for the most part and using one word when they mean another; and they like to talk in superlatives, to the end that they may extol themselves and depreciate all other men. They are also boasters and threateners and are fond of pompous language, and yet they have sharp wits and are not without cleverness at learning." (Book 5)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (jR7Wy)

112 I struggle with dead tree books now.

-
I've got a bad case of Kindle thumb from balancing my Kindle between the thumb and index finger of my left hand. It hurts.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (Nwg0u)

113 Not a book, but-

Since I wasn't able to read much this week, I decided to check out an anime which gets a lot of love on crunchy roll right before I slept each night.

The title is "Anohana: The Flower We Saw On That Day", an 11 episode series.

It concerns a group of childhood friends who have drifted apart after one of the group, a girl named Menma, drowned one summer's day.

In one way or another, the friends who are teenagers now, have not been able to move past that day until Menma appears to one of the boys as a kind of ghost.

She says she can't move on to reincarnation until he grants her wish, which unfortunately she can't remember.

"Anohana", while it has some of the usual Japanese anime tropes, is a very sweet and sad and surprisingly sophisticated and ultimately uplifting exploration of death.

You may cry. I admit shedding a manly tear or two. If you've had anyone around you die relatively recently, you will definitely cry. But, it's the good kind.

I was impressed enough with the writing to attempt to get a used copy on Amazon. Ha ha ha! Used copies of the series sell for a couple of hundred dollars.

It appears the only place you can currently see "Anohana" is on crunchyroll.

So, if you have crunchyroll, check it out.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (9q7Dl)

114 I picked up a copy of The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graham, for a friend's daughter, and read it ahead of time to make sure it was understandable.

"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 10:26 AM (mgbwf)

115 Regarding buying books on Amazon, its strange to me but most published, big name books are cheaper used in print than on kindle. Because big publishers charge WAY too much for Kindle books, and you can get good used copies for as little as a penny. Its ridiculous, but makes me happy because if I want a book, I want it in print.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (39g3+)

116 Bad publishing contracts and warning signs?
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

Shady publishers who bilk you?
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (ZZUgP)

117 Move to Colorado and go out with a bong.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 10:10 AM (Nwg0u)

Word.

Posted by: Gary 'Bloody Stupid' Johnson at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (7AFlY)

118 Apostate, my advice is to set up your own Teeny Publishing House, get an account with LSI, and either hire someone or learn how to format the text, the same for the cover. Then go to town, full-frontal indy writer. And if anyone gives you stick about being self-published, look down your nose and drawl, lazily, "I OWN the publishing company."

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (xnmPy)

119 Are there any trees worth saving in this screed forest?
---
This is why you are a writer.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:28 AM (jR7Wy)

120 I've got a few books that were published in the 1790's, one is still in great shape, I think of all the history that has passed since those books were printed.

Posted by: Colin at October 16, 2016 10:28 AM (9FAf7)

121 When the fad for blank verse
Took a turn for the worse
His Nobel dreams took a chillin'

Posted by: Bandersnatch

******

You made my wife laugh, and she's a tough audience.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:28 AM (wPiJc)

122 89
Muldoon spun doggerel so thrillin'
He thought he could pull off a Dylan
When the fad for blank verse
Took a turn for the worse
His Nobel dreams took a chillin'
Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 10:11 AM (mgbwf)

Excellent!

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at October 16, 2016 10:28 AM (sdi6R)

123 Sgt Mom, what's LSI?

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:29 AM (Om16U)

124 Can someone kindly, and please forgive me if I am coming across as a very naive person, point to me any ground game in South Florida for Trump?

If such a thing exists I want to volunteer....
Anyone knows office locations??

Posted by: Martell at October 16, 2016 10:29 AM (fubZp)

125 The books are still enjoyable, but they require a pretty heavy dose of suspension of disbelief.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:24 AM (39g3+)

As does the series. Don't get me wrong, I like the series quite a lot, but come on, in a rural Wyoming county, the only thing Walt would be doing would be helping some farmer chase down a lost sheep. But every episode, one or more people are murdered, and you'd think Absaroka County was Chicago.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:30 AM (7AFlY)

126

"I've got a bad case of Kindle thumb from balancing my Kindle between the thumb and index finger of my left hand. It hurts."

LOL, golf clap.

We should start a club. Or better yet, a website selling magnetic/herbal/crystal cures... could be YUGE!

Posted by: In Vino Veritits at October 16, 2016 10:31 AM (/p3r9)

127 Here's my experience with a small company that "helps independent writers"

http://ctinscribed.blogspot.com/2014/06/published-in-america.html

Avoid guys like this. You can publish your own stuff for cheap and while the learning curve is rough, you can do it. Its worth putting a few hundred into editing an a few more into the cover, but don't rely on one editor. Get at least 2 others plus your own editing to go through over and over.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:31 AM (39g3+)

128 But every episode, one or more people are murdered, and you'd think Absaroka County was Chicago.
Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:30 AM (7AFlY)

Did Jessica Fletcher move there?

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:32 AM (Om16U)

129 off, stoner sock

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:32 AM (7AFlY)

130 And I add my huzzah to the clamour: The Wind in the Willows is a delight. My favorite version was illustrated by Michael Hague:

http://tinyurl.com/jgh94us

I foolishly gave my copy as a Christmas present, but it was received with pleasure so there is that.

William Horwood wrote sequels to TWitW that I thought captured the feel of the original. I love the title Toad Triumphant.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:34 AM (jR7Wy)

131 Did Jessica Fletcher move there?
Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 10:32 AM (Om16U)

Ha! Yeah, and she brought those guys from 'Midsomer Murders' with her. So now we've got half the town scheming to murder the other half.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:35 AM (7AFlY)

132 All Hail Eris, yep there is that little matter to consider. Which I should forthwith endeavour to continue once I have satiated the capricious appetite of the thing called a stomach that I seem to possess right now.

Kara looked skyward to see the Moon still playing Peek-a-boo through a jig-saw of clouds.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 10:35 AM (ZZUgP)

133 "As does the series. Don't get me wrong, I like the series quite a lot, but come on, in a rural Wyoming county, the only thing Walt would be doing would be helping some farmer chase down a lost sheep. But every week, one or more people are murdered, and you'd think Absaroka County was Chicago"

Like the "Inspector Morse" series in Oxford. Deduct the number of Oxford dons murdered and there shouldn't be anyone left to instruct the students.

Posted by: Tuna at October 16, 2016 10:35 AM (JSovD)

134 A skill I want to develop (in the face of absolutely no talent) is learning to draw and paint. Flowers and birds, in particular, are my main interest at the moment. I just got a copy of "Botanical Drawing In Color" by Wendy Hollender. Her color medium is colored pencils: effective, affordable, and portable. Different from the Low Country artists I enjoy so much but the floral illustration is similar.

There are some excellent books on the topic, and I have some of them, but I'm finding Hollender's instructions and exercises are more helpful than most. I can completely lose track of time doing this. It's as bad as whittling, fly tying, or working out a new song on guitar. And I'm always calm and relaxed after a session. Good and cheap therapy.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 10:36 AM (V+03K)

135 Sgt. Mom, have you looked at Gen. WT Sherman's autobiography? He was serving in CA when the gold strike started, and describes living conditions. He also talked to Fremont after his near mutiny and was not impressed.
I think you said once you were reading Sheridan's autobiography too, but the California section focuses on his trip inland up to Oregon past Klamath Lake.

Or maybe I suggested it to you once.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 10:36 AM (ddJyp)

136 Did Jessica Fletcher move there?

I would love to write a book series, maybe a trilogy, about a little old lady who cleverly solves murder after murder, several a book with astounding deductive reasoning and a chain of evidence only she is smart enough to uncover...

then in the final book reveal she's a serial killer framing people for her crimes.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:37 AM (39g3+)

137 115 Regarding buying books on Amazon, its strange to me but most published, big name books are cheaper used in print than on kindle. Because big publishers charge WAY too much for Kindle books, and you can get good used copies for as little as a penny. Its ridiculous, but makes me happy because if I want a book, I want it in print.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (39g3+)
-----------
I almost always look for used copies on Amazon, especially text books if I'm interested in a particular subject. HUGE savings.

Posted by: Weasel at October 16, 2016 10:37 AM (Sfs6o)

138 This election is stressing me to the max. Had to try to recapture the innocence of childhood. Reread a book I bought through Scholastic Book Services. I must have been around 8 or 9 when I bought it at school. Pure fantasy and I absolutely loved it.
I'm just shy of 61 and have kept it all of these years. Had hoped to pass it down to a granddaughter. Alas, only have step grands. They're not worthy.

Posted by: never enough caffeine at October 16, 2016 10:39 AM (wV8s/)

139 And I add my huzzah to the clamour: The Wind in the Willows is a delight. My favorite version was illustrated by Michael Hague:

http://tinyurl.com/jgh94us

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:34 AM (jR7Wy)

This is the version I have. Absolutely gorgeous.

Fun fact: C.S. Lewis ripped off WitW like crazy for the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:39 AM (7AFlY)

140 Pave Low John -- serial reading:

For years I read only scholarly and technical books. Decided to try something new, for a break -- read as many Agatha Christie books as possible. Made it to over a hundred (she wrote more than just mysteries).

There was one that was published only once, in 1924. Found a copy in a used book store in Appleton, Wisconsin.

You have to be careful that the 'project' does not become more important to you than the books themselves. But, this variation of a hobby does allow you to accomplish two goals at once.

Good luck on your quest.

Posted by: French Jeton at October 16, 2016 10:40 AM (WMvHw)

141 OT. Whoever mentioned the Brave browser. Thanks. Screaming fast. And since I'm on Uverse and 2 miles from the main AT&T hub I can use all of the speed I can get.

Posted by: never enough caffeine at October 16, 2016 10:41 AM (wV8s/)

142 108 Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 16, 2016 10:25 AM (SuJIo)

The last time I was in a Barnes and Nobles store it was at a mall in Columbia, SC. It was a huge store nut few books. They were selling mostly junk toys and gee gaws. It was sad. Before I got my Kindle if I went into a BnN I could not get out for less than $100.00. I didn't buy anything on that trip.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 10:42 AM (mpXpK)

143 Regarding HR, the problem extends beyond the diversity racket and over-regulation. At many companies the HR department has taken banalities such as "our people are our most important resource" or "the hiring decision is the most important decision you will make" as license to set themselves up as the final arbiters of all hiring decisions. Even though most of them have minimal levels of competence and sometimes don't even understand the product or service that their company sells. And so they basically look for the traits that they think make good employees in HR, regardless of whether those traits matter for the job in question.

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at October 16, 2016 10:43 AM (nFdGS)

144 Regarding buying books on Amazon, its strange to me but most published, big name books are cheaper used in print than on kindle. Because big publishers charge WAY too much for Kindle books, and you can get good used copies for as little as a penny. Its ridiculous, but makes me happy because if I want a book, I want it in print.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:27 AM (39g3+)
-----------
I almost always look for used copies on Amazon, especially text books if I'm interested in a particular subject. HUGE savings.
Posted by: Weasel at October 16, 2016 10:37 AM (Sfs6o)

I'm with you guys on the whole $0.01 book buy from amazon..

Though I have to admit, more and more, I'm leaning toward paying the extra for the kindle-

especially, and this is weird, if I think I may want to read it again.

I've slowly but surely been purging my bookshelves.

Too. Many. Books.

Way. Too. Many. Books.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 10:43 AM (9q7Dl)

145 OM, I just bought a copy of Hague's WitW for a penny (plus shipping)!

"...and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice snug dwelling-place it would make for an animal with few wants and fond of a bijoux riverside residence..."

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:44 AM (jR7Wy)

146 Votormom - LSI is Lightening Source, International. They're an associate of Ingram, the distributors. LSI also runs Ingram Spark, which is oriented more toward writers.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 16, 2016 10:46 AM (xnmPy)

147 I have the "too many books" thing under control by only buying books I really REALLY like and want to read more than once. This usually means specific authors or series rather than individual books. I still want a Kindle at some point, but its not a high priority for me. Mostly I want it because indy writers usually put out their stuff as ebooks only and I can't stand reading on the computer.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:46 AM (39g3+)

148 Reading a pre-publication copy of The Long Road to Boston, just finished Bear Island by McLean, and plan on starting Stansbury's Elementary Catechism on the Constitution of the United States as research.

Could someone educate me on what the hell a CoC sticker is? My cultural illiteracy is showing . . .

Posted by: Long Running Fool at October 16, 2016 10:47 AM (L0bUn)

149
As a kid I had fantasies of being locked overnight in great libraries, and I still have book dreams where I stumble on a cache of beautiful old books or walk in on a book sale.
Anybody else have biblioerotic dreams?

Not sure about the 'erotic' suffix there but I've had many, many dreams about browsing through libraries, used book sales, and even the occasional book liquidators sale. Never new book stores, at least as I can recall.

With all that I'm surprised at this notion out there that one can't read when you're dreaming. I've read the titles of the books I was excited to find. Anyone else?

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (C9lNt)

150 Could someone educate me on what the hell a CoC sticker is? My cultural illiteracy is showing . . .

Posted by: Long Running Fool at October 16, 2016 10:47 AM (L0bUn)

Chamber of Commerce

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (nFdGS)

151 Lots of the books I read aren't available on Kindle - they're mostly history books that fall in that gap between public domain which are almost always available in PDF & the last 15 or so years when everything gets a digital version.

Posted by: josephistan at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (7qAYi)

152 I'd say as a matter of course
(Though I don't want to beat a dead horse)
If you're a killer and British
You'd better be skittish
Of Barnaby, Marple and Morse

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (wPiJc)

153 Anne Cleeland checks in on this book thread and her latest Acton & Doyle mystery is just out -- Murder in Containment. Start with Murder in Thrall if you haven't read this series.

Posted by: Sutton Hoo at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (NiIyH)

154
Too. Many. Books.

Way. Too. Many. Books.
Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 10:43 AM (9q7Dl)

This phrase, though grammatically correct actually has no meaning.

I think you mean "far too little shelf space"

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (ddJyp)

155 Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 10:42 AM (mpXpK)

Same with my local one. Huge store, but there is a snack bar and a coffee shop and a toy section and.....

One good thing is in the back they have a fairly big used book section.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (Zu3d9)

156 145 OM, I just bought a copy of Hague's WitW for a penny (plus shipping)!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:44 AM (jR7Wy)

Nice. I hope you find it's in as good a condition as the seller advertised.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (7AFlY)

157 thanks for the pix of the NYPL's Rose Room transformation. However, it took concerted and prolonged public efforts to prevent Developers and NYC Corruptocrats from destroying that beautiful landmarked building. http://www.savenypl.org/the-plan/the-truth-about-the-central-library-plan-2/

Posted by: Vivi at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (11H2y)

158 I've read the titles of the books I was excited to find. Anyone else?
Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (C9lNt)
---
Yes! I've been able to read in dreams. I've even remembered the passages briefly upon waking.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (jR7Wy)

159 A lot has been said of late about the Hugo awards, and the takeover of same by the SJW cockholsters. Truth be known, this is nothing new. I just finished rereading "The Mote in God's Eye", by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, considered by many to be one of the best hard SF novels ever written. I remember when I first came across this book, and had noted that it was indeed nominated for a Hugo, but didn't win that year (1974). Thinking as good as "Mote" was, whatever had beaten it must be a real barn burner, I went out and got it. That book was "The Dispossessed", by Ursula K. LeGuin.

So I start reading this thing, and quickly discovered that the winner of the Hugo that year was the most puerile Communist polemic I'd ever seen, not to mention as boring to read as watching paint dry. I got about a third of the way through the book and threw it in the trash, something I'd never done before.

Clearly the lefties had started to move in on the SF world 40+ years ago, and the groundwork for the inanities we see there today was laid long ago.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Deplorable Source of all SMODs at October 16, 2016 10:50 AM (2pIEi)

160 Thanks for all the responses, folks. I have a forest of links tabbed open to peruse.

Couple of followups: 1) What's LSI and what is an account for it? A quick googling didn't render it clear.

2) What if I think I might have a blockbuster? Early reader response has been extremely positive and I'm occasionally badgered about when the next book might be done. One woman said I ruined George Martin for her (a compliment I'm carrying with me for the rest of my life).

3) Why was Baen suggested in particular?

I put in an application to the Goodreads group.

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 10:50 AM (2ilh7)

161 Big box book stores like Barnes & Noble are being slaughtered by online book buying. In fact, they survive largely by selling their books online. Some stuff you're a fool to buy online like clothing and cars, but books you can rarely go wrong with an online purchase from a trustworthy source.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 10:52 AM (39g3+)

162 Thanks, OregonMuse, for putting up my pictures! There's so many different places she stashes her books.......

Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 10:53 AM (ar2KI)

163 That huge collection of books, I am struck by the vast difference between when must be the collected wisdom there, and the basis, the foundation on which current civilization is founded.

They are not the same things. Those books would represent an accumulation that served a practical purpose, in that you could not even remotely pretend to have something to offer to your people, if you were not pursuing the knowledge to be found at your fingertips there.

Now, we've effectively burned those libraries to the ground, because they say nothing about gay marriage, and now the pigs are killing blacks on the streets for no reason.

Libraries that remain standing today, are an anachronism. They exist like a museum, or a statue of some old dead guy that nobody remembers. What bearing do those books have on OUR world. None. They might as well not exist. We might as well blow them up, like our Wahabbist pals do, with all the artifacts that don't serve their agenda.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 10:53 AM (Pz4pT)

164 Emmett Milbarge - Thanks!

Posted by: Long Running Fool at October 16, 2016 10:53 AM (L0bUn)

165 With all that I'm surprised at this notion out there that one can't read when you're dreaming. I've read the titles of the books I was excited to find. Anyone else?

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 16, 2016 10:48 AM (C9lNt)

I hate the dream where you go to a library, get a bunch of books to read, take them to the check-out, and they tell you "sorry sir, your library card expired months ago."

Or you don't have a library card.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:54 AM (7AFlY)

166 A couple typos, easily decipherable, but otherwise a fine screed on my part, if I do say so me-self.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 10:55 AM (Pz4pT)

167 Thanks, OregonMuse, for putting up my pictures! There's so many different places she stashes her books.......
Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 10:53 AM (ar2KI)

And everybody here has fallen in love with Pookette.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:56 AM (7AFlY)

168
Libraries that remain standing today, are an anachronism. They exist like a museum, or a statue of some old dead guy that nobody remembers.

Posted by: BurtTC

*****

Looking at that Dublin library, I had a similar thought. It seems more like a shrine to the books themselves, rather than a living repository of the knowledge and lore within the books.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:57 AM (wPiJc)

169 "They have laid down the marker, the law means nothing" and "Obeying the law is no longer a matter of ethics or morality but merely a matter of consequences." I liken it to playing a football team where the referees are wearing the uniform of the other team. At some point, you just have to refuse to play.

This way leads to darkness, not that it isn't twilight now. But I get it.

I remember years ago there were sometimes rowdy discussions here (so to speak) about Social Security and whether senior conservatives should agree to SS cutbacks to help balance the budget. Sort of a duty to the greater good.

Wonder how these discussions would go now.

Posted by: RM at October 16, 2016 10:57 AM (U3LtS)

170 I hate the dream where you go to a library, get a bunch of books to read, take them to the check-out, and they tell you "sorry sir, your library card expired months ago."

Or you don't have a library card.
Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:54 AM (7AFlY)

I hate the dream where I go to the library, check out the books, read and understand them, take them back on time... and a big giant bug monster comes and destroys the town.

I think it means I should be reading more Zane Gray.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 10:58 AM (Pz4pT)

171 Just got "The Watchful Mind" by an anonymous monk of Mt. Ethos written in 1851 and the book is theological reflections on the Jesus Prayer, "Lord, Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner". Looking forward to reading it although I told the Orthodox Priest that they should not be selling new books at their flea market. I brought books to give away. i didn't need more! but several of us agreed that the addiction to books isn't as unhealthy as an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Whether it's less expensive I couldn't say. ;^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (EnGQE)

172 Anybody else old enough to remember 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler'? Kids run away from home and stay at the Met. That book and 'Boxcar Children' were my fantasy getaways. Reminds me that I should get Mixed-Up for my 12yo stepgrand kid.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (MIKMs)

173 Here are some different suggestions for modern living posted by longtime moron Grump928(C) awhile back:

This is subversive on a Smart Milblog but I'm betting a lot of people inside the military think the same;

If you're not in the military, don't sign up. If you're in, don't re-up and if you're an officer resign your commission.

National Guard units will be ordered to do multiple Waco's on fellow Americans as "defending against enemies both foreign and DOMESTIC". Who's the "domestic" enemy under Cankles? It ain't the commies or muzzies.

Neocons and Globalists led by Soros have serious jonesin' for wars in the Middle East and with Russia. You're no longer fighting and dying for "freedom", you're providing armed security for elitists and multinational conglomerates who detest ordinary American citizens who don't fit into preferred victims groups. Top that off with the military has gone so LGBTBLM that if the Russians and Chinese have effective countermeasures to our high tech toys, our troops are fucked.

Posted by: kbdabear at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (Ya7zs)

174 At many companies the HR department has taken banalities such as "our people are our most important resource" or "the hiring decision is the most important decision you will make" as license to set themselves up as the final arbiters of all hiring decisions. Even though most of them have minimal levels of competence and sometimes don't even understand the product or service that their company sells. And so they basically look for the traits that they think make good employees in HR, regardless of whether those traits matter for the job in question.

I agree with, but it's not like they went off and did that on their own without someone signing off on it. It's just bad management by companies. There have been many very bad management decisions by companies throughout history, so, it's probably hard to pinpoint it to one reason or another--but whatever the reason, in the last few decades, companies have handed a ton of vital responsibilities to some of their least knowledgeable, least qualified, least paid people who inevitably just use it an as excuse to go on a power trip (the only perk they have).

American businesses operated well for decades without HR at all.

Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (924j6)

175 Pookette knows she's adorable. It's how she gets out of trouble!

She wears the cat ears almost every day, along with cat shoes her grandma got for her.

We don't celebrate Halloween for religious and practical reasons, but here she is in her Rin Kagamine costume: https://sli.mg/4j5mxI

Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (ar2KI)

176 I agree with, but it's not like they went off and did that on their own without someone signing off on it. It's just bad management by companies. There have been many very bad management decisions by companies throughout history, so, it's probably hard to pinpoint it to one reason or another--but whatever the reason, in the last few decades, companies have handed a ton of vital responsibilities to some of their least knowledgeable, least qualified, least paid people who inevitably just use it an as excuse to go on a power trip (the only perk they have).

American businesses operated well for decades without HR at all.
Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (924j6

And I probably should watch for typos before criticizing the stupidity of others. Oh well, it's early Sunday, and I stand by it.

Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:01 AM (924j6)

177
Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 10:43 AM (9q7Dl)

Where are you purging them to? I have way too many books and don't know how to get rid of them without selling them online.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:02 AM (EnGQE)

178 I've been building a collection of children's classic books: The Oz stories, Winnie The Pooh, and others. Wind In the Willows is a favorite. The incongruity of a guy in his sixties who is the size of an NFL lineman reading WitW or Beatrix Potter doesn't bother me. I'm both indifferent to peoples' opinions and well armed. :-) And I love those old illustrations. Much better than the Disney versions.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (V+03K)

179 I think you mean "far too little shelf space"

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 10:49 AM (ddJyp)

Well, yes. There is that.

In an alternate universe, or assuming we move into a new house at some point,

I will have a room with vast ceiling high bookshelves.

Then when I croak, my kids can all curse me as they unload cartons and cartons and cartons of books,

and wonder why I didn't have all of those olde-fashioned paper things downloaded to the Kindle Chip (TM) in my brain.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (9q7Dl)

180 "...but books you can rarely go wrong with an online purchase from a trustworthy source."

Agreed. For as many books as I buy, I've had few bad experiences. Kindle has changed my reading life for the better.

Problems such as ridiculous prices for older books set by publishers, lack of availability of some out of circulation books you have to get from AbeBooks, and terrible photographs in the online editions will hopefully be worked through over time.

Posted by: RM at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (U3LtS)

181 Read Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, which takes place when the triumvir of Octavius Caesar, Lepidus and Mark Antony rule the Roman Empire. Antony runs off to be with Cleopatra in Egypt but returns to help fight Pompey and other pirates. Things fall apart and soon enough Caesar is at war with Antony and Cleopatra. Beautifully written and does a good job showing the tensions between these leaders. Very good characters too though it really comes alive when Cleopatra is on stage.

Also read his All's Well That Ends Well, where a orphan girl raised in the family of a Spanish Countess falls in love with her son. She pretty much forces him to be her husband. Think Gone Girl, at least that's the way I take it. Didn't enjoy it much.

Listened to the scifi novel Cibola Burn (Expanse #4), where settlers and corporate security forces clash on a new planet and James Holden is sent in to help resolve it peaceably. The hand of the aliens reaches out and soon everyone is fighting to survive. I was disappointed by book 3 of the series but enjoyed this one a lot.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (RcW/b)

182 Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (RcW/b)

I'm always happy to hear that people read Shakespeare.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:04 AM (EnGQE)

183 Libraries that remain standing today, are an anachronism. They exist like a museum, or a statue of some old dead guy that nobody remembers.

Posted by: BurtTC

*****

Looking at that Dublin library, I had a similar thought. It seems more like a shrine to the books themselves, rather than a living repository of the knowledge and lore within the books.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 10:57 AM (wPiJc)

I'm not even pointing any fingers at anyone else that I'm not point at myself. I mostly read these days to entertain myself, or read up on some particular topic that has my interest at the moment.

I don't know what purpose it would serve my life to read the Greek classicists, or the endless, dull and boring line of Engrish poets.

What happened in the polly-phonetic wars of ancient Gaul? How the heck would I know, and why in the wide wide world of sports should I care to know?

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:05 AM (Pz4pT)

184 question to all as a semi-aspiring writer, I have an idea, a few characters, and parts of a plot worked out in my head and on some notes, I know I need to just sit down and write, but is there any quick/easy/cheap/free online writing tutorial to go over about story structure etc that anyone else would recommend? gotta get back to my weekend job, I will check in later for any responses thank you

Posted by: chelsea danger at October 16, 2016 11:06 AM (kFRTd)

185 J. Random Dude--reading in your sleep

I read in my sleep frequently. Write in my sleep, also. Write far higher quality asleep than awake. This was useful in college.

Posted by: French Jeton at October 16, 2016 11:06 AM (WMvHw)

186 And everybody here has fallen in love with Pookette.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 10:56 AM (7AFlY)

And I would be willing to bet that she has Daddypooky tied around her little fingers.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 11:07 AM (mpXpK)

187 Its time to go all John Galt on their asses. Stop the engine of the world, by refusing to play their rigged game. Refuse to participate willingly in your own enslavement. Allow their corrupt society and culture to crash and burn.

As they said in the Watchmen

'The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout Save us... and I'll look down and whisper No. '

Posted by: W.E. Coyote at October 16, 2016 11:07 AM (80GjT)

188 Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Deplorable Source of all SMODs at October 16, 2016 10:50 AM (2pIEi)

I was in a Goodreads Scifi/Fantasy group that read Mote in God's Eye once, the SJWs (including moderator) were having a cow over it. I was surprised they even allowed a Niven book to be read.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:07 AM (RcW/b)

189 Looking at that Dublin library, I had a similar thought. It seems more like a shrine to the books themselves, rather than a living repository of the knowledge and lore within the books.

I agree, these old beautiful libraries look more like museums or shrines than active, working libraries. You get the feeling nobody actually checks out and reads those, they're just up there for display of a vanished age.

I read a lot of library books, because mom goes every few weeks and gets more for me. I've discovered a lot of authors that way, and recommend it extremely highly to everyone. Don't buy books you'll regret, get them at the library, see if you like, then get them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:08 AM (39g3+)

190 "...especially, and this is weird, if I think I may want to read it again.

I've slowly but surely been purging my bookshelves.

Too. Many. Books.

Way. Too. Many. Books."

Roger this. Other than the "surely" part of the equation. And I read many of my books multiple times.

Posted by: RM at October 16, 2016 11:08 AM (U3LtS)

191 And I would be willing to bet that she has Daddypooky tied around her little fingers.

I think the toughest part of being daddy to a girl is falling totally in love with her and then having to give her away to some dubious pimpled douchebag at a wedding.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:09 AM (39g3+)

192 Yes Pookette, is absolutely adorable! What is "Rin Kagamine"?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:09 AM (EnGQE)

193 That might be an interesting book thread sometime.
Aside from the Bible (for those people who read it) what books do people read again and again and why?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:10 AM (EnGQE)

194 I always read a little fiction before I start writing again. My most recent conquests are the first 7 or so books in Black Library's "Horus Heresy" series, except 'Fulgrim,' which was awful; Ender's Game (never read it before), by Orson Scott Card; the Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch; and I'm on A Wizard of Earthsea, byt Ursula LeGuin.

The Lies of Locke Lamora was pretty good. Characterization and dialogue were pretty strong, and it's an example of 'lazy world building' done right. By that I mean obvious historical analogs, from bastardized Italian to feudal titles that make no contextual sense, but with enough original additions it wasn't horrible.

I liked Ender's Game more while I was reading it. Afterward, I realized it was just wish fulfillment for nerds.

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 11:10 AM (2ilh7)

195 Neocons and Globalists led by Soros have serious jonesin' for wars in the Middle East and with Russia.

Posted by: kbdabear at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (Ya7zs)

This is the part that bothers me the most. I think we'll have plenty of people in the military, police, even the FBfreakinI who will not tolerate a domestic jackbooting.

But right now, we are in an endless war for Middle Earth, somewhere "over there" fighting... somebody. For something.

Nobody... and I mean NOBODY really knows who or what. There is something monumentally disturbing about living in a land with collective amnesia about why we fight wars. That's us though. We forgot. It snuck up on us, but we forgot we the people were supposed to agree on this kind of thing. And we were supposed to be the "good guys."

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (Pz4pT)

196 Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:04 AM (EnGQE)

He died 400 years ago last April, which I'm using as an excuse to read all his works this year. Should be done before Thanksgiving. Have enjoyed it a lot.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (RcW/b)

197 I don't know what purpose it would serve my life to read the Greek classicists, or the endless, dull and boring line of Engrish poets.

See, we disagree. Some of those old English poets were pretty damn good, not just if you're looking at it as an academic, but good. If you want to be eloquent, you should know that stuff.

Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (YxUZt)

198 Posted by: waelse1

Am I the only one who read that as weasel1?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (mgbwf)

199
Where are you purging them to? I have way too many books and don't know how to get rid of them without selling them online.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:02 AM (EnGQE)

It sort of depends where you live.

There's always places like Half-Price Books though you may cry at the pittance given you in exchange.

When I was overseas, I really appreciated the library on base, so you can donate books to the military.

The Salvation Army in some areas takes books. They're a great charity.

Some libraries, some churches and schools too, will accept donations.

I usually try to get them to someone who might read them rather than pulp them.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (9q7Dl)

200 191 I think the toughest part of being daddy to a girl
is falling totally in love with her and then having to give her away to
some dubious pimpled douchebag at a wedding.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:09 AM (39g3+)

You got that right, especially when he turns out to be a worthless troll.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (mpXpK)

201 What is "Rin Kagamine"?

Ask Anna Puma

I liked Ender's Game more while I was reading it. Afterward, I realized it was just wish fulfillment for nerds.

The parts about changing the world through internet posts, definitely, that was kind of adorable how naive and silly it was. I liked the book quite a bit, but the last, fifth or so? When he got into this bizarre alien religion and ran about trying to redeem himself for destroying an entire species, didn't care for.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (39g3+)

202 and wonder why I didn't have all of those olde-fashioned paper things downloaded to the Kindle Chip (TM) in my brain.

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 11:03 AM (9q7Dl)

Tell then to read Johnny Memnotic or to read Memory by L.M Bujold. (snigger)

I worked for a while in a medical imaging lab where in-use patient files were kept on this amazing rolling file system that took up one end of the main room.

It looked exactly like this:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/jcx95lp

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (ddJyp)

203 I bought a copy of "With No Apologies" by Barry Goldwater at a used book sale. He wrote it in 1978 and he warned us of what would happen if we didn't cut down on the federal government.
-------------------------------------------------
Good find that is a good read and more insightful than the later "Goldwater".

Regarding collapse, he (or someone in his name) also wrote "The Coming Breakpoint" (1976) postulating imminent collapse (around turn of the century) of the system as well. Well, the spending and government expansion he warned about has only increased since. No break or collapse has occurred yet. Which makes the book and many others something akin to "Limits to Growth" or "The Population Bomb" from the same era.

The problem is not the plan to enjoy the collapse but rather the timing of implementation. Don't get caught in a Millerite disappointment.

Posted by: RioBravo at October 16, 2016 11:14 AM (NUqwG)

204 I don't know what purpose it would serve my life to read the Greek classicists, or the endless, dull and boring line of Engrish poets.
----------------------------
See, we disagree. Some of those old English poets were pretty damn good, not just if you're looking at it as an academic, but good. If you want to be eloquent, you should know that stuff.
Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (YxUZt)

We don't disagree, I just have no interest.

And I'm already gots all the ellokwents I need. I got it coming out the wazoo.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:16 AM (Pz4pT)

205 what books do people read again and again and why?

The Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forrester sea novels, Sharpe's series by Bernard Cornwell, my Louis L'Amour books, My Dashiell Hammett, Loren Estleman, and Raymond Chandler collections, and the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series.

They're all like old friends that I find more in every time, all well-written and fascinating books that also are deeply entertaining.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:17 AM (39g3+)

206 Posted by: waelse1

-----------------
Am I the only one who read that as weasel1?
Posted by: Bandersnatch at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (mgbwf)

I always see "Lech Walesa."

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:17 AM (Pz4pT)

207 Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (RcW/b)

That's great that you're doing all that!. Mt mother and father both taught Shakespeare to college students so I began hearing his language from the time I was little, and then I went to acting in and directing some of his plays. Just saw "Coriolanus" a few months ago which you don't see performed too often (with my friend who hadn't read the play and loved it) and am looking forward to seeing "Richard 111" (Propaganda history, but good show.) You've written on some other's Shakespeare you've read and I've enjoyed your comments. What have been your favorite plays so far?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:17 AM (EnGQE)

208 Any author looking for a story idea? A play on the ancient Aliens history channel series. There are aliens and when they witness the space race they get nervous about the humans. Conscience + knowing how humans have jumped in technology from push of war they decide another route is needed and they infiltrate society and push the self esteem movement and various bs education theories etc. causing people to regress in capability. Maybe the protagonist decides this is a danger to their own future and collapses the wormhole leaving everyone to wonder if earthlings will pull out of the regressive spiral or not.

Posted by: PaleRider at October 16, 2016 11:18 AM (Jen0I)

209 Rin Kagamine is one of the vocaloids from the video game Project Mirai. Basically, fans use the free software the company puts out, program the vocaloid to sing a song (in Japanese), and send it to the company. The company then uses the song (with attribution) in a video rhythm game, with the characters singing and dancing. This is why Pookette knows more Japanese than me or Pooky-she spends at least an hour every day watching these videos. Miku Hatsune is the most famous vocaloid, but we had a Rin costume made for Pookette because she's a dead ringer for her:

http://tinyurl.com/2dz84zx

Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 11:19 AM (ar2KI)

210 Best sci fi story pitched I've read on Ace is the plot where young Hitler has to survive so many bizarre and unexpected assassination attempts from Jewish time travelers he goes insane and begins to hate Jews. Its such a classic time travel twist of irony its classic, but such an awful concept (Jews are responsible for their fate???) I could never even try to write it. But the plot is brilliant.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:21 AM (39g3+)

211 I don't know what purpose it would serve my life
to read the Greek classicists, or the endless, dull and boring line of
Engrish poets.

See, we disagree. Some of those old English poets were pretty damn
good, not just if you're looking at it as an academic, but good. If you
want to be eloquent, you should know that stuff.

Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (YxUZt)
=====
Alexander Pope.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 11:21 AM (MIKMs)

212 My favorites to re-read are Jane Austen, "The Portrait Of A Lady" by Henry James, some of the romance novels of Georgette Heyer (No, they're not bodice rippers ) and books about the Christian faith including "The Practice of the Presence of God" by brother Lawrence. Henry James does great stuff with characters and their thoughts. I am amazed at how clever and witty Austen is with language, Georgette Heyer amuses and diverts me (They're fun books) and the books about the Christian faith bring me back to timeless truths which are always good to be reminded of--particularly in challenging times

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:23 AM (EnGQE)

213 BurtTC, I got interested in bronze and started wondering where the Bronze age sources of Tin were outside of Cornwall, and then got interested in Mycenea and Minoa, I wound up starting to read about the Hittites, and from there, to Indo-European languages and from there the Luwians . . .

If I had advice to give to children, it would be to be interested in things, because that way you always have something fun to do.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 11:24 AM (ddJyp)

214 Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 11:19 AM (ar2KI)

Thanks for the explanation. It's all Greek- or rather Japanese- to me. :^) Sounds like a good way for a child to learn a language.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:25 AM (EnGQE)

215 The problem is not the plan to enjoy the collapse but rather the timing of implementation. Don't get caught in a Millerite disappointment.

Posted by: RioBravo

I know what you mean. Sometimes, when I'm thirsty, a Miller Lite tastes good, bit usually Miller Lite is a big disappointment.

Wait, wut?

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at October 16, 2016 11:25 AM (S6Pax)

216 Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:11 AM (YxUZt)
=====
Alexander Pope.
Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 11:21 AM (MIKMs)

I've heard the name. Means nothing to me. Why should it?

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:27 AM (Pz4pT)

217 We don't celebrate Halloween for religious and practical reasons, but here she is in her Rin Kagamine costume: https://sli.mg/4j5mxI
Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (ar2KI)

---

Awwwww!!!!!!!!!!

I asked about Halloween costumes coz I was out of things to post about and threw it up on the blog (picked a Lego costume).

Kid the younger is 15 and hasn't decided yet if she will still trick or treat. I'm sad if she won't.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:27 AM (Om16U)

218 1 Stop buying stuff

Don't even have to stop buying stuff, just buy less than is habitual. A drop of 5 percent in buying nationwide would send the elite into a mass panic. They'd punish saving for sure, and do everything to "stimulate" the economy by handing your own money back to you in order to get you to consume shit. Especially perishable shit.

If the government hands you money to stimulate the economy or forces you through confiscation or taxation to spend it or lose it, spend it on long lasting nonperishables, things you'll need in the long run anyway. Avoid spending on things like iPhones with intentional short term obsolescence.

Posted by: kbdabear at October 16, 2016 11:28 AM (Ya7zs)

219 Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at October 16, 2016 11:25 AM (S6Pax)
---------------------
But always less fulfilling.

Posted by: RioBravo at October 16, 2016 11:28 AM (NUqwG)

220 Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:17 AM (EnGQE)

Funny you should say that, planning on reading Coriolanus later this week. The plays I've given 5 stars on Goodreads are (predictably) MacBeth, Othello, Hamlet and Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, King Henry IV Part I, Richard II and Richard III. Most are at least pretty good.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:29 AM (RcW/b)

221 Re: rereading books.

Have read Gone With the Wind and Shadow of the Moon by MM Kaye amilliontimes since high school and het domething new out of them everytime. Just started Shadow again thisweek after finishing an Audibles course on the tisr and fall of the British Empire, and as the story is around the 1857 Mutiny I am already picking up historicalfacts I never noticed before.

Also have reread andreread A Secret History byDonnaTartt a million times because the setting, story and writing style kills me. Same with Atonement by Ian M.

Posted by: Goldilocks at October 16, 2016 11:29 AM (eBbgD)

222 Kid the younger is 15 and hasn't decided yet if she will still trick or treat. I'm sad if she won't.

That's kinda pushing the outer limits of what people will tolerate in trick or treating. I mean, its fun to see teens dressed up in cool costumes and all but a lot of folks see that as unreasonable, since they can buy their own candy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:30 AM (39g3+)

223 BurtTC, I got interested in bronze and started wondering where the Bronze age sources of Tin were outside of Cornwall, and then got interested in Mycenea and Minoa, I wound up starting to read about the Hittites, and from there, to Indo-European languages and from there the Luwians . . .

If I had advice to give to children, it would be to be interested in things, because that way you always have something fun to do.
Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 11:24 AM (ddJyp)

Good point. When I have delved into particular topics, it wasn't because of anything anyone in school told me should interest me. It was the stuff that I thought "hey, that's something I want to read more about!" So I did.

If... and I realize I"m just fantasizing here, if we were to encourage children to read, it should be guiding them within the areas that interest them, instead of assigning books en masse to whole ages of students.

If your kid wants to read Zane Gray instead of Jane Austin, let him! Or her... I don't want to sound sexy here.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:31 AM (Pz4pT)

224 We don't celebrate Halloween for religious and practical reasons, but here she is in her Rin Kagamine costume: https://sli.mg/4j5mxI
Posted by: pookysgirl at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (ar2KI)
---
Kawaii overload! Systems failings! Shatner...mode...initiating...

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:31 AM (jR7Wy)

225 I read a lot of library books, because mom goes every few weeks and gets more for me. I've discovered a lot of authors that way, and recommend it extremely highly to everyone. Don't buy books you'll regret, get them at the library, see if you like, then get them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:08 AM (39g3+)

I've complained about this here before but the local libraries here keep reducing the floor space allocated to books in favor of vast rows of computers mainly used by kids to play Minecraft or whatever. The internet may hold most of humanities knowledge but the libraries computers seem to be used almost exclusively for games. Thankfully no bums perusing porn though I wouldn't bet against that downtown.

In light of that I'm continually violating my resolution to stop buying books because I can't seem to find the damn things at the library. If I'm honest I've probably been influenced on a subconscious level by A Canticle for Leibowitz and Lucifer's Hammer and am trying to hoard knowledge for the Burning Times, coming Dark Age or just overbearing PC culture.

Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 16, 2016 11:32 AM (C9lNt)

226 Measure for Measure was always one of my favorites and I performed Isabella-decades ago-when I was younger and thinner. I also directed Much Ado About Northing. Such fun! Thanks for helping to bring back those memories. :^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:32 AM (EnGQE)

227 Heh, CNN claims its illegal to read the emails leaked on Wikileaks "its different for the news" so you have to get your information from them:

https://twitter.com/WDFx2EU7/status/787621383274573824

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:33 AM (39g3+)

228 Kid the younger is 15 and hasn't decided yet if she will still trick or treat. I'm sad if she won't.
---------------------------------------
That's kinda pushing the outer limits of what people will tolerate in trick or treating. I mean, its fun to see teens dressed up in cool costumes and all but a lot of folks see that as unreasonable, since they can buy their own candy.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:30 AM (39g3+)

There is also significant amount of pressure on 15 year old girls (and younger) to dress up like sluts on Hollowween.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)

229 If your kid wants to read Zane Gray instead of Jane Austin, let him! Or her... I don't want to sound sexy here.
Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:31 AM (Pz4pT)
---
Yes. A thousand times yes.

I loved Snoopy, MAD Magazine, fantasy, and science fiction, and you learn a tonne just through osmosis.

Nibbling on the periphery of greatness will yield a banquet over time.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:35 AM (jR7Wy)

230 222
Kid the younger is 15 and hasn't decided yet if she will still trick or treat. I'm sad if she won't.

That's kinda pushing the outer limits of what people will tolerate
in trick or treating. I mean, its fun to see teens dressed up in cool
costumes and all but a lot of folks see that as unreasonable, since they
can buy their own candy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:30 AM (39g3+)

That reminds me of this!Larry David, "felony or treat" and "cutoffs":
https://youtu.be/8AQPOoTlIlA

Posted by: Ian R.R. Galt the deplorable at October 16, 2016 11:35 AM (8iiMU)

231 Before I moved to ID, I was reading Keith Houston's, "The Book." I only made it through about half of the book, but I would recommend it to any Moron interested in the history of books.

Posted by: scrood at October 16, 2016 11:36 AM (BbkFr)

232 There is also significant amount of pressure on 15 year old girls (and younger) to dress up like sluts on Halloween.

Yeah that's the other thing :/ Especially for parties, dress up as "naughty (insert job or personage here)."

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:36 AM (39g3+)

233 Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing have a lot of humor, both of them are terrific.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 11:36 AM (RcW/b)

234 If you are interested in the history of Rome, try this...

The Reach of Rome: A Journey Through the Lands of the Ancient Empire, Following a Coin
Alberto Angela

Excellent and interesting book. Did you know the Romans, during mining operations, could make water explode like dynamite?

Did you know the Romans had draw bridges?

Just a few of the many topics in this highly readable book.

Posted by: Anchovy at October 16, 2016 11:37 AM (c86/W)

235
If you want to be eloquent, you should know that stuff.

*****

The Dilemma of Shared Culture In A World With Billions of Books- a limerick

At the peril of sounding inelegant
There's a problem with getting too eloquent
It should be no surprise
(Like those Indian guys)
There are multiple views of an elephant.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 16, 2016 11:37 AM (wPiJc)

236 In light of that I'm continually violating my resolution to stop buying books because I can't seem to find the damn things at the library. If I'm honest I've probably been influenced on a subconscious level by A Canticle for Leibowitz and Lucifer's Hammer and am trying to hoard knowledge for the Burning Times, coming Dark Age or just overbearing PC culture.
Posted by: J. Random Dude at October 16, 2016 11:32 AM (C9lNt)
---
Rickl and I and others have had this discussion many times on this venerable thread.

I was looking for something to stash in our local wee free library and it was hard parting with anything. I really regret very few of my purchases, even the light reading.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:37 AM (jR7Wy)

237 There is also significant amount of pressure on 15 year old girls (and younger) to dress up like sluts on Hollowween.
Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)
-------------------------------------------
That could be treat for trick then.

Posted by: RioBravo at October 16, 2016 11:39 AM (NUqwG)

238 Muldoon you are en fuego!

(That's a compliment.)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:39 AM (jR7Wy)

239
That reminds me of this!Larry David, "felony or treat" and "cutoffs":

That reminds me of why I didn't like Curb Your Enthusiasm nearly as much as Seinfeld. Instead of being humorous and endearing, its just bitter and angry. They don't engage in witty repartee with character, they yell at each other. Its the same kid of humor and situational observation, just delivered without Jerry Seinfeld's warm sense of humor.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:39 AM (39g3+)

240 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:33 AM (39g3+)

The government and its media arm will tell you what to read and think!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:40 AM (EnGQE)

241
I read a lot of library books, because mom goes every few weeks and
gets more for me. I've discovered a lot of authors that way, and
recommend it extremely highly to everyone. Don't buy books you'll
regret, get them at the library, see if you like, then get them.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:08 AM (39g3+)
=====

One of the great services that libraries offer is ordering titles from other libraries. Some of them work online, and that is one of my favorite services -- as long as you have someone willing to pick up at your cardholder primary location. One of the few (D) politicians who has really made some good things happen is old Jesse White in Illinois (as SoS, he is also State Librarian). Aside from being a good retail politician, he somehow dragged Illinois into the 20-21st century with online services. He might be the ONLY (D) politician I would ever consider voting for.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 11:40 AM (MIKMs)

242 #194, most of the Horus Heresy series from BL is pretty good. Some of it is irrelevant side plots. My favorite is naturally "Prospero Burns" by the mighty Dan Abnett, but then I have been collecting and playing Sixth Legion ever since I was too lazy to go with Games Workshop's retcon that the Dark Angels now wore green armor rather than black. The last one I read was #39, "Praetorian of Dorn."

As usual, as we slide toward uncertain times, I would advise any of the Horde who has invested or is thinking of investing in an AR15 rifle to pick up a copy of SGM Kyle Lamb's treatise "Green Eyes and Black Rifles: A Warrior's Guide to the Combat Carbine."

Posted by: Colonel Kurtz at October 16, 2016 11:41 AM (v68hm)

243 Thankfully the local library has a huge, huge collection of books still but they are shuffling the older stuff down to the basement or to other libraries so they're harder to get. Some real classic stuff like Zorro is almost impossible to find these days

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:41 AM (39g3+)

244 That's kinda pushing the outer limits of what people will tolerate in trick or treating. I mean, its fun to see teens dressed up in cool costumes and all but a lot of folks see that as unreasonable, since they can buy their own candy.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:30 AM (39g3+)

Yeah, luckily she is short and skinny so ppl never believe she is 15. LOL.
Although last year I think she dressed up, walked around a bit, then stayed home and gave out candy. Iirc it was cold. The dressing up part is what's fun to see - she did a really cool skull makeup on herself.

She just told me she will dress up as 11 from Stranger Things. Apparently we need an Eggo box.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:41 AM (Om16U)

245 I wonder if damage by "homeless" people is the reason the NY public library needed refurbishing.

Happening all over.

http://tinyurl.com/z8tfo2r

Posted by: PJ at October 16, 2016 11:43 AM (cHuNI)

246 Washington Post article, the title says it all:

Why we trust Donald Trump's accusers but didn't believe Bill Clinton's

http://tinyurl.com/z6hmym5

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:43 AM (39g3+)

247 Alexander Pope.
Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 11:21 AM (MIKMs)
---
The Rape of the Lock, illustrated by Beardsley.

I haves it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:45 AM (jR7Wy)

248 I worked for a while in a medical imaging lab where in-use patient files were kept on this amazing rolling file system that took up one end of the main room.

It looked exactly like this:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/jcx95lp

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 11:12 AM (ddJyp)

Back in my mainframe data center days, we had something very similar in the tape library for storing the tapes.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Deplorable Source of all SMODs at October 16, 2016 11:45 AM (2pIEi)

249 Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 11:40 AM (MIKMs)

My son ordered so many books through interlibrary last year that they cut him off by June. It reminded me of something you'd say to someone at the bar. "You've had one too many, Sir. I'm not going to give you another drink" ;^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:45 AM (EnGQE)

250 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:39 AM (39g3+)

I thought just the opposite. But I guess George would have to be your favorite character in Seinfeld to like CYE better.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 11:47 AM (AetST)

251 I agree with, but it's not like they went off and did that on their own without someone signing off on it. It's just bad management by companies. There have been many very bad management decisions by companies throughout history, so, it's probably hard to pinpoint it to one reason or another--but whatever the reason, in the last few decades, companies have handed a ton of vital responsibilities to some of their least knowledgeable, least qualified, least paid people who inevitably just use it an as excuse to go on a power trip (the only perk they have).

American businesses operated well for decades without HR at all.
Posted by: AD at October 16, 2016 11:00 AM (924j6)

And all that comes from either government mandates or from court awards to lawsuits. Just like medicine has been reduced to practicing defensive medicine rather than enlightened and forward thinking medicine, so have companies in the US been reduced to defensive employment practices.

It's all about diversity, sexual harrassment prevention that goes beyond prevention into paralyzing fear of the slightest offense, equality among all employees regardless of ability or contribution or inventiveness.

And all of that kills competitiveness, ideas, and incentive to take risks. All of which is required to bring products to market and be successful.

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 11:47 AM (ntZAP)

252 My son ordered so many books through interlibrary last year that they cut him off by June. It reminded me of something you'd say to someone at the bar.

--

LOL Fenelon.
I can tell my local lib doesn't like doing interlibrary loans because that's one form you still have to fill out on paper.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:48 AM (Om16U)

253
Yeah, luckily she is short and skinny so ppl never believe she is 15.

My cousin's daughters are the same way, they look 3 years younger than they really are. The oldest one is 14 but looks like she's starting Junior High. Smart as a whip, and sarcastic as one as well but I bet she gets hell in school from the other girls.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:48 AM (39g3+)

254 193 ... "Aside from the Bible (for those people who read it) what books do people read again and again and why?"

Fenelon, I re-read some books like LOTR and Shakespeare because I get something new from them every time. Some because I'm in the mood for a particular style like Nero Wolfe, H. Rider Haggard, even a few sections of Atlas Shrugged. Others are sheer nostalgia from my childhood such as Hound of the Baskervilles or the Lensman and Skylark series.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 11:48 AM (V+03K)

255 I re-read just about all of my books. If I don't want to re-read I'm disappointed (maybe that should have been a library book only). New books I will sometimes go back the next day and read them again.

.... of course I also would play new tunes over and over when I bought them.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at October 16, 2016 11:49 AM (e7pP4)

256 @249 "Go home, FenelonSon. You've thunk."
--barmaid at the Library at The End of The World

Posted by: Stringer Davis at October 16, 2016 11:50 AM (H5rtT)

257 Michael Bonner, Jihad in Islamic History

This is the author's update and translation of a book he'd published in France. The book is current up to the mid 2000s; not much has changed in this field since then.

In it Bonner demonstrates that jihad is, in effect, Islamic piety. The business of Islam is to enforce and to safeguard the supremacy of His religion. Jihad is that process, by whatever means necessary.

One interesting point is one already raised in Khadduri's 1966 "The Islamic Law of Nations": the Syrian frontier called Jazira, under the last Umayyads, was violent to the extent it did not accept the authority of the caliph. For the north Syrian Muslim, jihad was a command of God and the caliph had no authority to control it. (It further follows that the Byzantines couldn't trust a single promise any Muslim might make about this frontier.) It all reminds this Brit of the Scottish / English border marches. As it happens, the 'Abbasids never did solve the problem. So their caliphs sometimes took the field in person to prove to the local thugs that they still followed God's path (so the thugs didn't do it themselves). Finally in the tenth century AD the Byzantines got strong enough the Muslims lost a lot of northern Syria to them.

In several footnotes, culminating at the conclusion, Bonner judges his predecessors: extreme - like the "dhimmitude" thesis of Bat Yeor - against "nuance" such as he finds in Bernard Lewis. This is fine as far as it goes, and I do like that Bonner does not dismiss the revisionists out of hand (or spitefully attack moderates like Lewis, like Edward Said did). He also doesn't leak the slur "Islamophobe" here. Still, I should have liked to have seen him take a more forceful side. One reviewer David Cook has already complained as much, that Bonner doesn't raise enough of a stink about others' poor scholarship.

It's not like Bonner doesn't have opinions. The conclusion spits a particularly nasty aside against America. It smelled like a demonstration of intellectual and moral superiority against simplisme. This is a pernicious European-academic disease, endemic among the French in particular.

I don't think that Bonner's book has earned its author the right to such snideness. I also cannot support David Cook's compliment (twice!) that this book's scholarship is "first-rate". The book fails its own argument; there is no "nuance" here. That argument can only lead to the conclusion the Muslims already know: jihad means war, war until all non-Muslims are conquered thralls.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at October 16, 2016 11:51 AM (97CoO)

258 Washington Post article, the title says it all:

Why we trust Donald Trump's accusers but didn't believe Bill Clinton's

http://tinyurl.com/z6hmym5
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:43 AM (39g3+)
------------------------------------------
One could actually interpret that article as subversive to the editorial interests of the Post though I realize it is probably not. Interesting content choice. I suppose just another sloppy piece or assume their readers are generally not perceptive.

Posted by: RioBravo at October 16, 2016 11:51 AM (NUqwG)

259 Tow of the tomes in the central display case in the Long Room of the Trinity University Library are the Book of Kells, and the Book of the Dun Cow, illustrated manuscripts of the Bible. Both stolen by the English from the Irish.

Posted by: Smoking Man at October 16, 2016 11:51 AM (brIR5)

260 Aside from the Bible (for those people who read it) what books do people read again and again and why?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 11:10 AM (EnGQE)

I like to reread old favorites as comfort reads, an escape that I know will refresh me.

They tend to be classics I read when younger, or fantasy that I really enjoyed but don't remember so well anymore. Or I will reread books that I have forgotten most of the plot.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:52 AM (Om16U)

261 216---I've heard the name. Means nothing to me. Why should it?
Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:27 AM (Pz4pT)
--------------------------------------
This is why schools teach garbage like Nicki Giovanni's "Kill, N*****, Kill" instead of Pope's "Essay on Man."
As you say, why not?

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at October 16, 2016 11:52 AM (Nox3c)

262 In fact one of my criteria for buying a book is - will I probably want to reread it? If not I just borrow it from the library.

Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (Om16U)

263 Ken Bone
Ben Cohen
Glen Sloan
Men moan

Posted by: William Shakespeare at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (dtWKK)

264 If you are interested in the history of Rome, try this...

The Reach of Rome: A Journey Through the Lands of the Ancient Empire, Following a Coin
Alberto Angela

Excellent and interesting book. Did you know the Romans, during mining operations, could make water explode like dynamite?

Did you know the Romans had draw bridges?

Just a few of the many topics in this highly readable book.
Posted by: Anchovy at October 16, 2016 11:37 AM (c86/W)

The Romans were amazing. Their construction projects such as aqueducts lasted for centuries and everyone knows that their roads were still the best ones in Europe 1,000 years after the Empire "fell".* Moderns highways such as parts of the Autobahn were laid over them.

* there's a theory that the Empire didn't really "fall"--as in collapse--and that it just broke up into various tribal fiefdoms and entities that eventually became the countries of modern Europe, North Africa and the Roman Catholic Church, all of which absorbed Roman culture to one degree or another.....

Posted by: JoeF. at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (UVhiN)

265 I started "The Far Arena" - recommended here a couple of weeks ago. So far so good - I'm less than half through.

Book I would recommend - particularly if you are wanting to keep your sanity while the world falls down around you - is a devotional of sorts written by Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, "The Book of Mysteries." Excellent and uplifting book. I'm just reading one or two short chapters a day- find that they are helping me to keep my eye on what is really important.

Posted by: Jade Sea at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (mDx7A)

266 Why we trust Donald Trump's accusers but didn't believe Bill Clinton's
http://tinyurl.com/z6hmym5

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:43 AM (39g3+)

So they're finally admitting their partisan political hackery, virtue-signalling, and blatant tribalism?

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (7AFlY)

267 172 Anybody else old enough to remember 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler'? Kids run away from home and stay at the Met. That book and 'Boxcar Children' were my fantasy getaways. Reminds me that I should get Mixed-Up for my 12yo stepgrand kid.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (MIKMs)

****

Thank you for mentioning this title! I read this back in the '60s, but could never recall the title to look it up. I may have to get it again for my own pleasure (no grand kids yet!)

Posted by: Deplorable Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at October 16, 2016 11:56 AM (NqQAS)

268 252---I can tell my local lib doesn't like doing interlibrary loans because that's one form you still have to fill out on paper.
Posted by: Votermom the deplorable @vm on gab at October 16, 2016 11:48 AM (Om16U)
-----------------------------
Hah!
Well, at least they don't have to use cursive!

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at October 16, 2016 11:56 AM (Nox3c)

269 I do re-read all of Arthur Conan Doyle's work regularly as well. Particularly his Sherlock Holmes tales, but all of his superior non-Sherlock work as well such as The White Company and The Tragedy of the Korosko.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:57 AM (39g3+)

270 there's a theory that the Empire didn't really "fall"--as in collapse--and that it just broke up into various tribal fiefdoms and entities that eventually became the countries of modern Europe, North Africa and the Roman Catholic Church, all of which absorbed Roman culture to one degree or another...

Peter Heather, "The Restoration of Rome".

Personally, I don't buy it. Western Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa all went Colander Face Mask, and the lands between Syria and Anatolia became a war zone.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at October 16, 2016 11:57 AM (97CoO)

271 The legend of King Arthur is another example of Roman reach into the literary realm.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 11:58 AM (AetST)

272 By the by, there was a Sharpe's novel and Ben Carson's America the Beautiful in the little free library, so somebody else is trying to "freak out the squares".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Imperatrix Siculus at October 16, 2016 11:59 AM (jR7Wy)

273 what books do people read again and again and why?

-
I first read Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men in high school and loved it. I've since read it several times. Although it is billed as a political novel and does having a political setting, it is not. (I'm in good company holding this minority opinion; Robert Penn Warren thought so, too.) It has twice been made into movies, both of which I hated. The book has heavy religious overtones and the main theme is accepting personal responsibility. (Hint: the book begins with a brief quote from Dante's Purgatorio and the opening paragraph concerns some drivers who suffer road hypnosis driving on straight Louisiana roads and midway upon the journey of our life found themselves with the straightforward pathway lost.

My only concern is that life has changed so much in the 70 years since this book was written that contemporary readers may fail to realize the significance of one of the main plot points, adultery.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 11:59 AM (Nwg0u)

274 Boxcar Children, I vaguely remember that from grade school, one of the books my disturbingly hot 4th and 5th grade teacher with the gold 1972 Camaro read to us. Half Magic and a book about a boy who had to eat a worm every day for a bet stick in my memory as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:59 AM (39g3+)

275 gun thread.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at October 16, 2016 12:00 PM (OkKDg)

276 CRT - "How To Eat Fried Worms". That was a great book, really funny and with good characters.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at October 16, 2016 12:00 PM (97CoO)

277 I've heard the name. Means nothing to me. Why should it?
Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 11:27 AM (Pz4pT)
--------------------------------------
This is why schools teach garbage like Nicki Giovanni's "Kill, N*****, Kill" instead of Pope's "Essay on Man."
As you say, why not?
Posted by: Margarita DeVille at October 16, 2016 11:52 AM (Nox3c)

And of course, you didn't answer the question.

If you WANT people to listen to you, or follow your recommendations, you have to give them a reason.

Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 12:01 PM (Pz4pT)

278 Yeah, luckily she is short and skinny so ppl never believe she is 15. My cousin's daughters are the same way, they look 3 years younger
than they really are. The oldest one is 14 but looks like she's
starting Junior High. Smart as a whip, and sarcastic as one as well but
I bet she gets hell in school from the other girls. Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 11:48 AM (39g3+)
=====

As long as effort went into the costume, I ooh and aah just as I do over toddlers. Youngest kidlet t-r-t thru senior year hs and my kidlets are all Clydesdale types. She got so much candy she had to stop home and empty her pillowcase halfway through to make sure she didn't make anyone too jealous. Plain white t-shirts for blank slates are always the best.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 12:02 PM (MIKMs)

279 So I am Loving the HARD LUCK HANK series, very funny and it's even better as an Audiobook. I can't recommend this book enough. It's SciFi but it's a fun read, I laughed reading through the book and series.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at October 16, 2016 12:02 PM (dKiJG)

280 the Irish have always admired intellectuals; they just ignore them

works. every. time.

Posted by: Billy Occam at October 16, 2016 12:02 PM (/542q)

281 Good books are not just informative, they help form and grow your mind and are uplifting, like good music, good art, etc. That doesn't make folk stuff bad. I love both Camile Saint-Saens and Doc Watson. Its just that true high art has a positive effect on culture and individuals that fun, simple stuff does not.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:03 PM (39g3+)

282 I've read the Gates Of Fire three times. Usually I only re-read a book of fiction once. In that case , it is a historical fiction book that is pretty inspiring.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 12:03 PM (AetST)

283 The Romans were amazing. Their construction projects such as aqueducts lasted for centuries and everyone knows that their roads were still the best ones in Europe 1,000 years after the Empire "fell".* Moderns highways such as parts of the Autobahn were laid over them.

Well the roads go without saying. The Roman roads are probably in better shape than the roads we have here. Of course they weren't using union labor who do a half assed job so the road will need repaving in two years

Posted by: TheQuietMan at October 16, 2016 12:04 PM (auHtY)

284 264----JoeF
"The Romans were amazing. Their construction projects such as aqueducts lasted for centuries and everyone knows that their roads were still the best ones in Europe 1,000 years after the Empire "fell".* Moderns highways such as parts of the Autobahn were laid over them. "
--------------------------------------
I lived briefly in Salamanca, Spain some years ago.
They had two bridges over the river, one modern and one Roman. The modern one was for cars only; the Roman one was for heavier vehicles.

Posted by: Margarita DeVille at October 16, 2016 12:04 PM (Nox3c)

285 No, Romans used mostly slave labor, with Greek engineers, and Roman soldiers guarding them with Roman government to drive the project.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:05 PM (39g3+)

286 Anybody else old enough to remember 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler'? Kids run away from home and stay at the Met. That book and 'Boxcar Children' were my fantasy getaways. Reminds me that I should get Mixed-Up for my 12yo stepgrand kid.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 10:59 AM (MIKMs)

Loved that book - read it probably 5-6 times when I was a kid. Thanks for the memories!

Posted by: Jade Sea at October 16, 2016 12:06 PM (mDx7A)

287 BurtTC, I read classic poets such as Pope, Chaucer or Tennyson for sheer love of their word use. It's a feast of language. Ancient histories are interesting in themselves, Herodotus and Caesar for instance, and serve as a springboard to endless related matters of history and culture.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 12:07 PM (V+03K)

288 There's a theory that the Empire didn't really "fall"--as in collapse--and that it just broke up into various tribal fiefdoms and entities that eventually became the countries of modern Europe, North Africa and the Roman Catholic Church, all of which absorbed Roman culture to one degree or another...

Peter Heather, "The Restoration of Rome".

Personally, I don't buy it. Western Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa all went Colander Face Mask, and the lands between Syria and Anatolia became a war zone.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at October 16, 2016 11:57 AM (97CoO)

I don't totally buy into Heather's interesting theory, but it I find it amazing that so much of what the Roman's accomplished is still with us. I'm nit talking about their physical works--the various ruins that dot Europe and North Africa-- but their floor plan and footprint on which so much of Western Civilization is built.

Posted by: JoeF. at October 16, 2016 12:07 PM (UVhiN)

289 Muldoon you are en fuego!

(That's a compliment.)

-
And Milo is flaming but that's a completely different thing.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 12:07 PM (Nwg0u)

290 So Pookette is a Vocaloid? Kawaii desu!

PaleRider, you should read James P. Hogan's novel Giant's Star.

Instead of writing, finished binge watching Birdy the Mighty. First Decode Season 1 and the 1996 four OVAs. Both are remarkably good even with doing different takes on the same subject of Federation police officer Birdy Cipher accidentally killing a high school student named Senkawa while pursuing alien criminals on Earth. Because she was responsible and until they fix up a new body for Senkawa, he and Birdy have to share HER body while solving these cases. So got teen romance issues, passing high school exams, and saving the world from destruction.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 16, 2016 12:08 PM (ZZUgP)

291 The Rape of the Lock

What are you looking at?

Posted by: Lock fucker at October 16, 2016 12:08 PM (sdi6R)

292 since the theme of the burning times came up today -

Does anyone have their favorite "how to" or other information book or reference library they would not want to go through the coming dark age without?

I have quite a medical library and a bit of chemistry from college, but more thinking about survival, fix-it/jerry-rig it skills.

Posted by: Jade Sea at October 16, 2016 12:10 PM (mDx7A)

293 There is a thinker and musician named Donald Carson that wrote about culture and he divided it up into three categories:

High - classical music, great artists, works of timeless literature, etc
Folk - bluegrass, folk art, dance, etc
Pop - whatever the culture considers hot and exciting with no content or durability, such as Rhianna's latest hit

He argued that High culture is uplifting, but cold and insufficient for a society, Folk culture is the fabric that ties a society together and is valuable for a future, and Pop is merely corrosive and destructive but okay in small doses, like candy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:10 PM (39g3+)

294 "Romans used mostly slave labor, with Greek engineers, and Roman soldiers guarding them"

It was my understanding that they were built by the legions themselves, to military standards for military purposes.

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 12:11 PM (2ilh7)

295
Off topic but if you want a laugh or lose your appetite Drudge's pic of the Beast could do both

Posted by: TheQuietMan at October 16, 2016 12:14 PM (auHtY)

296 It was my understanding that they were built by the legions themselves, to military standards for military purposes.

Probably some were, maybe most. But Rome ran on slave labor; they had more slaves than citizens by a large margin. Part of Rome's great success was that they used Greek ideas and Greek thinkers. Greeks had a culture that thought physical things and labor was beneath them, so they'd come up with wonderful ideas and technology not to use, but to demonstrate ideas and show how very smart they were.

Rome used them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:14 PM (39g3+)

297 I've complained about this here before but the local libraries here keep reducing the floor space allocated to books...

Thankfully, at least around here, the libraries have been getting much better networked with other local/regional libraries in terms of print books. So floor space doesn't matter all that much.

A book I want to read has only a few percent chance of being on the shelves of my local library, but a nearly 100% chance of being available through my regional library network. You request it online and it is delivered to your local library in a matter of days. The only books I haven't been able to get through the library are ones by indie authors that aren't in any libraries.anywhere. Otherwise, if there are more than a couple of copies in libraries anywhere in the US, I can get it.

Posted by: cool breeze at October 16, 2016 12:16 PM (StZrq)

298 If you WANT people to listen to you, or follow your recommendations, you have to give them a reason.
Posted by: BurtTC at October 16, 2016 12:01 PM (Pz4pT)

Well there really isn't any reason that would work if you're not interested. You have top want to read something. But we're adults here.
But it's different when it comes to schools and filling young skulls full of mush. The "good old" stuff should be taught--even if it only reaches few students. This stuff needs to be exposed to them.

Posted by: JoeF. at October 16, 2016 12:19 PM (UVhiN)

299 Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at October 16, 2016 12:02 PM (dKiJG)

They are fun reads. I thought I'd read a few pages of book 2 Basketful of Crap and got pulled in, now about half-finished.

Posted by: waelse1 at October 16, 2016 12:20 PM (RcW/b)

300 Pop - whatever the culture considers hot and exciting with no content or durability, such as Rhianna's latest hit

-
Speaking of the decline and fall of the American empire, check the biography section of your local library or book store. It's dominated by the life stories of (male and female) pop star bimbos.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 12:23 PM (Nwg0u)

301 The legend of King Arthur is another example of Roman reach into the literary realm.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at October 16, 2016 11:58 AM (AetST)

Yes, and no. One theory is that it is a resistance tale with its own "returning saviour" (the prototype for later ones I believe) for the Celtic natives in England who were being subjugated by the Saxon invaders: and in part it was the Celtic refugees who fled to Brittany who later carried a lot of that story with them into exile where it survived in fuller telling.

The last part of this podcast covers the Arthur legend:

Start at minute 48.00 where he is talking about survivals of Celtic language and culture under the invading Saxons

http://content.blubrry.com/historyofenglish/Ep30-Celtic-Legacy.mp3

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 12:24 PM (ddJyp)

302 Oh, and Arthurian legend is similar to Robin Hood, who was adopted as a resistance tale of the Saxons under Norman subjugation.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 16, 2016 12:25 PM (ddJyp)

303 @Votermom the Deplorable:

Neverwhither is definitely one of my least favorite Wright books.

It's not his best work.
For his fantasy, Everness and Titans of Chaos series are great.

Posted by: .87c at October 16, 2016 12:28 PM (APdPY)

304 Yes it's true that the Roman Empire ran on slave labor, but only in the sense that the Modern world is run on energy from fossil fuels.
It sounds cruel, but the problem I have with the "yeah, but the slaves really did the heavy- lifting" theory of history is that it dismisses the culture that conceived the historical achievements of the ancient world.
"Slaves" should--in theory--be no more credited for the great things than you would "credit" gasoline or electricity or indoor plumbing for cars, lights and modern homes.

Posted by: JoeF. at October 16, 2016 12:29 PM (UVhiN)

305 High - classical music, great artists, works of timeless literature, etc

Folk - bluegrass, folk art, dance, etc

Pop - whatever the culture considers hot and exciting with no content or durability, such as Rhianna's latest hit
=====

One of my enduring joys is finding period instrument versions of 'high' culture classical music. Rough, high-energy, and very homemade. I love the small ensemble groups, using 'period' sensibilities because I do remember the older folks around me who would meet twice a week for barbershop, string quartet, or local bandshell stuff -- and their volunteer teaching was a beautiful part of old Americana. But I lived out in the hinterlands.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 12:29 PM (MIKMs)

306 One of my least favorite modern trends in writing is to take an old mythological or legendary classic and retell it in a "gritty, realistic, historical" style that takes all the charm and wonder out of the tale. Ordinarily I really like Bernard Cornwell but his King Arthur stories I could not stand. I have a book about Robin Hood from the library that looks to be much the same.

Like the line from The Man who Shot Liberty Valance: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:30 PM (39g3+)

307 "Slaves" should--in theory--be no more credited for the great things than you would "credit" gasoline or electricity or indoor plumbing for cars, lights and modern homes.

I agree, they were ground into dust by the civilizations they ran, but they didn't build or accomplish anything. They just were the fuel that made things work - gasoline is a good analogy, and helps understand how dehumanizing the practice is.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 12:33 PM (39g3+)

308 I brought up little free librarys I think last week, love to see them, now just have tofind on near me to drop off a book.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 12:34 PM (sWbjH)

309 Heh. At Sunday School I mentioned the photo of the Trinity Library to a bookish friend and he said, "Oh yes, I've been there."

Arrrrrrgh!

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at October 16, 2016 12:37 PM (OL8DM)

310 Just got back from walking the Old Pooch.

She's starting to show signs of dog senility but at almost 15 I guess she's got the right.

Did I miss anything?

Posted by: H D Woodard - "Wearing the Cat - Part Four: The Black Room" at October 16, 2016 12:47 PM (9q7Dl)

311 Oooh, before I forget --

2yo grandkid is having fun with books, mostly 'eat this book' type stuff, but he always makes sure the text and pictures are facing the right way. In one of my resale shop finds, there was a teachers' book about ABCs. Unfortunately, it is an easel-type where you turn pages on the top. Makes him nuts because he knows that it is the 'wrong' way. Pages are missing now, but it is funny to watch him try to figure it out.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 12:52 PM (MIKMs)

312 305 ... "One of my enduring joys is finding period instrument versions of 'high' culture classical music."

You and me both. String quartets and chamber ensembles with period correct instruments in appropriate settings makes a huge, and beneficial, difference.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 12:53 PM (V+03K)

313 Morning/Afternoon all-

Gorgeous library-both Dublin and Pookysgirl baby's!!

Forgive my ignorance, but could someone explain was CoC is? I'm blanking on that sticker on buildings that I should avoid!

Also-read Zimler's Warsaw Anagrams, which is a murder mystery set in the Warsaw Ghetto. Apparently taken from an actual diary of the protagonist, found in an attic in Poland in the 80's-it's interesting.

Posted by: Moki at October 16, 2016 12:56 PM (VnCI9)

314 Just got to read the thread opening and remember Abby Hoffman well as he was a Philadelphia icon when I was a teenager with the whole girlfriend missing, then found resting in a trunk in a closet for a year.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 12:57 PM (sWbjH)

315 Looked through the Wolf's Lair site linked above.

Not sure how I feel about the place being turned into a tourist center that includes a hotel in one of the bunkers that includes a bar, restaurant, and offers corporate retreats , extreme sports venue, etc. Airsoft rifles shooting in another bunker.

People died here. Here is a UK newspaper interview with the last surviving food taster for Hitler who was forced into service and whose experience was a horror show that lasted her entire life. Not just her forced service to the Nazi's but the rapes she endured, some at that location.

The place permeates evilness.

http://tinyurl.com/hqb2dk2

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 12:57 PM (ntZAP)

316 Apologize, I posted on the wrong thread.

Posted by: Jen the original at October 16, 2016 12:58 PM (ntZAP)

317 Nikki Giovanni was one of the instructors of the Virginia Tech shooter.

She claimed that she warned the school that the dude was unstable based on his writings, but given the crap that comes out, how could they distinguish?

Therein lies the failure of the academie.

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at October 16, 2016 12:58 PM (ODkrH)

318 Posted by: Jade Sea at October 16, 2016 11:54 AM (mDx7A)

Thanks for the recommendation!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke, redeemed and redeemable at October 16, 2016 01:00 PM (EnGQE)

319 312
305 ... "One of my enduring joys is finding period instrument versions of 'high' culture classical music."
You and me both. String quartets and chamber ensembles with period
correct instruments in appropriate settings makes a huge, and
beneficial, difference. Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 12:53 PM (V+03K)
=====

Charlie Daniels Band 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' -- tough, rough, and classical.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 01:03 PM (MIKMs)

320 160 Apostate
1) What's LSI and what is an account for it?
Lightning Source. Amazon has Createspace, which is pretty much equivalent. You can make your own print books. Setting the book up costs nothing if you do it yourself, and you can get into the Ingrams catalog (that bookstores use to order from) for free. I have had bookstores order my Createspace books, and even a library!

2) What if I think I might have a blockbuster?
That's great, and I'm not being sarcastic. The problem is the traditional publisher a) may not agree, and b) they have lousy luck picking blockbusters, and c) they *want* all the SJW stuff to be blockbusters and push it beyond sense. Further, d) they will still try to get you to sign an atrocious, rights-grabbing contract ESPECIALLY if they think it is a blockbuster. Really. Read Kristine Rusch's blog about contracts if you don't believe me. (She's a longtime pro, and she has sworn off tradpub because of the contract issue).

3) Why was Baen suggested in particular?
Baen is the virgin in the whorehouse. They aren't based in NYC, so their overhead is much, much lower. They were headed originally by one guy with a clear vision, which is "sell the books people want to read" and they DO NOT CARE about anything else. That includes virtue signalling, SJW nonsense, and sometimes the laws of physics if they get in the way of a riproaring yarn

They have a reputation of being conservative, mostly because conservatives can publish with them, but they make boatloads of money off Eric Flint's alt-history books and he's a card-carrying Trotskyite. (And a nice guy in real life, you just have to nod, smile, and ignore anything he says connected with unions.)

Furthermore, Baen doesn't care if you publish indie first. That is what one of their *other* major moneymakers, Larry Correia, did with Monster Hunter International. He sold that by hand at gun stores until Baen picked him up. He now owns a mountain.

(Also completely adorable in real life, even if he is the SIZE of a mountain.)

So. If you've got something good, put it up for sale as an indie and see what happens. If it takes off and gets noticed, you have a lot more leverage to get good contract terms. (This is what happened with Wool by Hugh Howey--he got a print only deal, just like he wanted. Also The Martian--it was originally full indie and went viral. Now it is a major motion picture.)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at October 16, 2016 01:08 PM (SuJIo)

321 314 Just got to read the thread opening and remember Abby Hoffman well as he was a Philadelphia icon when I was a teenager with the whole girlfriend missing, then found resting in a trunk in a closet for a year.
Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 12:57 PM (sWbjH)

You're thinking of Ira Einhorn.

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at October 16, 2016 01:14 PM (sdi6R)

322 Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 16, 2016 09:58 AM (xnmPy)

Sarge, your Mikado references made me very, very happy, as in 'oh rapture!'

Posted by: sinmi at October 16, 2016 01:23 PM (4F/vU)

323 Heh. Thought I would port over a recommendation from the gun thread for the Foxfire books for prepping. I remember those and endorsed.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 01:26 PM (MIKMs)

324 Last week I got a copy of Foxfire 2 for two bits. Great reading. Now to start getting at least the first five volumes. I've read they are the best of the series.

Posted by: JTB at October 16, 2016 01:37 PM (V+03K)

325 ricki you are so right. A big dummy I am.

Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 01:44 PM (sWbjH)

326 While I love the super hi-res photo of Trinity College Library, Dublin, it is not a library. It is a library in the sense that it has books. But when I see ropes to keep patrons away and no empty slots in the stacks what I'm seeing is a museum... and not one of the fun kind. The kind where you probably don't get in the door without an invitation, an invitation where you have to be a professor at some college or on some board somewhere.

Impressive, but not a library. At least to me.

Posted by: ZilWerks at October 16, 2016 01:46 PM (/+HIc)

327 While I'm delurkinating briefly, I'd like to take the chance to shamelessly plug my own stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Jay-Slater/e/B01FEC33J8 (You can also find me on BN, Kobo, iBooks, etc., etc.)

I only have one story out right now: We Sail Off To War, a science fiction naval war story with a Hornblower/Aubrey feeling. More are coming, and I'm in the process of shopping around a short story to magazines, too.

Posted by: Fishbreath at October 16, 2016 01:47 PM (L+wVJ)

328 Oh, for preppers -- find an old edition of 'Joy of Cooking' because it also has old-fashioned skinning and preparation instructions.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 16, 2016 01:49 PM (MIKMs)

329 @Sabrina 320. Thanks very much for your explanations. Knowing the indie pass has been successfully blazed before makes it seem less reckless. My primary concern was being stuck on the little e-reader cart, where my gem would be buried in a mountain of dross forever, but knowing that paper copies are also an option is reassuring.

I'm not scared of evil contract negotiators, however. My second career was attorney, and I now know that publishers need high quality writers like me more than I need them.

Thanks also to everyone else!

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 01:54 PM (2ilh7)

330 I only have one story out right now: We Sail Off To War

Lots of opportunities there, sounds really interesting. I've toyed with trying to do a fantasy version, but the mind boggles at how combat and tactics would vary with magic in the mix.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at October 16, 2016 01:57 PM (39g3+)

331 My area is getting a beautiful, brand new library. Unfortunately, they are setting up a lot of the new space for "maker spaces" rather than books. It makes me sad. They argue that many books can be found on Overdrive so they aren't really losing titles. However, there really is something about having a book in your hand.

Side note for all the bookworms...Overdrive and OneClickDigital are pretty good resources if you are looking for an older titles. If you have a decent library system, your library should have access. They also have a great selection of audio books.

Posted by: Quirky bookworm at October 16, 2016 02:06 PM (gppsv)

332 "but the mind boggles at how combat and tactics would vary with magic in the mix."

Yes. This is, in my opinion, a major problem with many fantasy settings; not following through on the implications of the fantastic. Fantasy elements are put in their little slots, whatever slot is effective for the story, and that's it.

I think for most people that's fine. They don't even notice. But it used to drive me crazy.

Aside, what ever happened to that Dedicated Tenther fellow, Allen something. He was talking about being published for a while. Still around?

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 02:10 PM (2ilh7)

333 Well. Someone linked this on the morning thread. It's Jack Cashill on CSPAN's Book TV talking about his book about the Flight 800 cover-up:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?414407-1/jack-cashill-discusses-twa-800

Trump ought to get this guy to speak at one of his rallies. Because at one point he mentions that Bill Clinton replaced an eminently qualified NTSB director with a political hack who had no qualifications.

Also, the FBI and CIA were already corrupted 20 years ago. It's definitely worth watching.

Posted by: rickl the deplorable at October 16, 2016 02:15 PM (sdi6R)

334 All Hail Eris, many times! And I often dream I'm reading a book or a comic book or something that has never been written before, and...I wake up, sad that I didn't get to the end!

Posted by: Quint&Jessel, Sea of Azof, Bly, UK at October 16, 2016 02:17 PM (Rn3Rw)

335 "And I often dream I'm reading a book or a comic book or something that has never been written before, and...I wake up, sad that I didn't get to the end!"

A metaphor for life. 'I was reading something unwritten, but awoke before the end.'

I wonder if I could use that...

Posted by: Apostate at October 16, 2016 02:21 PM (2ilh7)

336 Lots of opportunities there, sounds really interesting. I've toyed with
trying to do a fantasy version, but the mind boggles at how combat and
tactics would vary with magic in the mix.

Space Nelsonian is a genre with some legs (see David Weber), but I tried to come at it from a more grounded perspective. I wasn't trying to build broadside combat, and in a lot of ways, the way my space warfare ended up was in between sailing warfare (you can see your target well before you can engage) and the First World War (engagements are decisive and shattering). The Age of Sail-iness of the naval personnel is the particular conditioning of that subculture.

I don't know if anyone's done it with fantasy stuff, but as far as historical analogues go, you might look at Japanese sea warfare in the Sengoku period. There are probably some similarities there. Weapon-wise, before cannon, the Japanese had archers, which could engage at any angle, and boarding parties, which are by necessity short-range broadside weapons.

Posted by: Fishbreath at October 16, 2016 02:24 PM (L+wVJ)

337 Just a thought; Why not, for once, get off our collective asses and actually fight the decline rather than letting the country burn like lazy fat slobs who are totally unworthy of the freedom we have been handed by better men?
Meh. MAGA or something.

Posted by: Poor ace. at October 16, 2016 02:49 PM (p8YKk)

338 Troll alert @p8YKk

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at October 16, 2016 03:06 PM (6FqZa)

339 Whoa. Look at this.
I've been a lurker forever and didn't know the rest of the morons read. Awesome.

Posted by: 12thMonkey at October 16, 2016 03:27 PM (EpW1S)

340 The "steal this book" where true advice and satire blending together reminds me of a book we had growing up called "the preppy handbook." Young brains don't quite get satire, so I did not get the tongue in cheek humor till I was older. Then I found it hilarious. Lots of Muffys and Buffys if I recall.

And I'll be in NYC first week in December, I'll have to check out the library!!

Posted by: LizLem at October 16, 2016 03:31 PM (63IFd)

341 I just started 'The Six' about the Mitford sisters. One a commie, one a fascist, one a Nazi. But I had to put it down and go to my Happy Place with the collection of Christmas recipe cookbooks I got from the library. That's my go-to for stressful times, think about the holidays coming up and plan menus. (For the 3rd year in a row I will be making the Brandy Alexander Pie featured on this site in 2014. It's now A Tradition.)

Posted by: JuJuBee at October 16, 2016 03:35 PM (kma8f)

342 As long as we're talking Shakespeare:

The Comedy of Errors with the Flying Karamazov Brothers.

http://youtu.be/dwYyrbX9LUY

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at October 16, 2016 03:37 PM (dIc3Q)

343 Apostate-- People are making good livings on that little e-reader cart. Do not blow it off.

Posted by: Richard McEnroe at October 16, 2016 04:03 PM (Kucy5)

344 I'm stealing Grumpy's quote. It's too good not to be spread around.

Posted by: natasha333 at October 16, 2016 04:09 PM (1zkLv)

345 Just got to read the thread opening and remember Abby Hoffman well as he was a Philadelphia icon when I was a teenager with the whole girlfriend missing, then found resting in a trunk in a closet for a year.
Posted by: Skip at October 16, 2016 12:57 PM (sWbjH)

You're thinking of Ira Einhorn.

-
Eh. They both smelled the same.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With More Je Ne Sais Quoi! at October 16, 2016 04:39 PM (Nwg0u)

346 A Place Outside the Wild is a good book, but there must be a sequel.

Posted by: Deplorable GGE at October 16, 2016 05:25 PM (vbvxt)

347 That photo is amazing! Thanks for posting it.

It reminds me how wonderful it is to be in Oxford libraries and see all the OLD books. But I don't think I've ever been in a room with *that* many old books!

Posted by: WannabeAnglican at October 16, 2016 06:41 PM (vFmT2)

348 You're thinking of Ira Einhorn.

Ugh. When I managed a call center years ago, he used to place mail orders for books, from his jail cell. I would put them aside, then he'd send a complaint letter. Finally the owner of my company got wind of it. I explained to her, a lesbian feminist moveon.org kind of gal, that he murdered his girlfriend Holly and left her rotting in a trunk, fled to Europe, and finally got extradited and convicted. Her response: "He's a good customer, process his orders!"

Posted by: JuJuBee at October 16, 2016 06:44 PM (kma8f)

349 Both of my parents were born and raised in Ireland. In 1976, I went there for the first time to see all the relatives.

I went to the library at Trinity. It's called the "Long Room" I think. Anyway, except for the security guard, I was the only person there. And to top it off, at that time the Book of Kells was shown there. No muss, no fuss, no entrance fee! I just walked in and marveled at the insane beauty of that illuminated text.

Times have changed. If you're been to Trinity to see the Book recently, you know what I'm talking about.

Posted by: RobertM at October 16, 2016 06:46 PM (vbUQw)

350 Ayy, too late, too late.

I desperately wish I had gone to a British school with a lovely library, and I could swan about alluding to my days at Oxford. Instead, I went to University of Illinois, and I didn't major in anything useful or interesting.

I'm reconfiguring my English curriculum for the ninety-ninth time, and I'm going to teach my freshmen and sophomores "The Talisman," by Sir Walter Scott.

We usually think of Prince John as the bad guy and King Richard the Lion-heart as the good guy.

But our idea of a good guys is not exactly what the early English would call a good king. In "Beowulf," (Tolkien's translation) we see the following:

"Lo! the glory of the kings of the people of the Spear-Danes in days of old we have heard tell, how those princes did deeds of valour. Oft Scyld Scefing robbed the hosts of foemen, many peoples, of the seats where they drank their mead, laid fear upon men, he who first was found forlorn; comfort for that he lived to know, mighty grew under heaven, throve in honour, until all that dwelt nigh about, over the sea where the whale rides, must hearken to him and yield him tribute--a good king was he!"

So a good king (Phaet waes god cyning!) is the man who drives the borders of his kingdom back into the lands of his foemen, and he takes their cities, wealth, and women. In short, the English pagan view of kingship was nothing like the Frenchified view of kingship we have today.

So the story goes that King Richard, on Crusade, found that the Saracens were trying to cut off his supply lines. During a battle, he captured a number of the noblemen of the foes. An exchange of prisoners was in the offing, and the ambassadors of the Saracens were invited to dinner. . .

"The invitation was gratefully accepted. Richard, in the meantime, gave secret orders to his marshal that he should repair to the prison, select a certain number of the most distinguished captives, and, after carefully noting their names on a roll of parchment, cause their heads to be instantly struck off; that these heads should be delivered to the cook, with instructions to clear away the hair, and, after boiling them in a cauldron, to distribute them on several platters, one to each guest, observing to fasten on the forehead of each the piece of parchment expressing the name and family of the victim . . . This horrible order was punctually executed. At noon the guests were summoned to wash by the music of the waits. The king took his seat attended by the principal officers of his court, at the high table, and the rest of the company were marshalled at a long table below him. On the cloth were placed portions of salt at the usual distances, but neither bread, wine, nor water. The ambassadors, rather surprised at this omission, but still free from apprehension, awaited in silence the arrival of the dinner, which was announced by the sound of pipes, trumpets, and tabours; and beheld, with horror and dismay, the unnatural banquet introduced by the steward and his officers. Yet their sentiments of disgust and abhorrence, and even their fears, were for a time suspended by their curiosity. Their eyes were fixed on the king, who, without the slightest change of countenance, swallowed the morsels as fast as they could be supplied by the knight who carved them. Every man then poked other; They said, 'This is the devil's brother, That slays our men, and thus he eats!'"
------------

In short, I think we're going too easy on ISIS.

Posted by: Smallish Bees at October 16, 2016 08:03 PM (vlPC7)

351 Ugh. When I managed a call center years ago, he used to place mail orders for books, from his jail cell. I would put them aside, then he'd send a complaint letter. Finally the owner of my company got wind of it. I explained to her, a lesbian feminist moveon.org kind of gal, that he murdered his girlfriend Holly and left her rotting in a trunk, fled to Europe, and finally got extradited and convicted. Her response: "He's a good customer, process his orders!"

Posted by: JuJuBee at October 16, 2016 06:44 PM (kma8f)

I'm curious as to why you would refuse to fulfill Einhorn's order. Unless your company had a policy not to serve creepy a-hole murderers placing orders from their jail cells, I'm not sure you had sufficient reason not to.

Posted by: OregonMuse, deplorable since 2004 at October 16, 2016 09:40 PM (OjQlC)

352 Why the Trinity library have no people No Irish wanted?
and they have dem Green tings stoppin folk gettin' to da books
do they hide tha GUINESS in book cut outs 'eh.....Bibliophiistines need ta know

Posted by: saf at October 17, 2016 07:55 AM (+zN6H)

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