Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-17-2019

Nakajima Library, Akita International University, Japan
(click for larger version)

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, and everybody who's holding your beer. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, writing, and publishing by escaped oafs who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which look like they've been used for a very bad art project. Or they an artist's whose cat knocked over all of his paints.

(h/t lurker Scottst for the pants link)

Pic Note

It not only looks good, it also smells good:

Once you step into Nakajima library, you’ll be greeted with the faint scent of cedar wood, which is what the library’s furniture is made of. Not only does it give the library its scent, the Japanese cedar is also native to the university’s prefecture, Akita.

The scent definitely makes the library a relaxing place, but Nakajima library has one more reader friendly trait — its unique Colosseum design. Behind those circular bookshelves are actual work-spaces where you can do some serious reading without being bothered.

As of April 2015, Nakajima library holds more than 75,000 books and over 3,000 CDs and DVDs. If your can’t read a shred of Japanese, don’t worry! More than 60 percent of the books are written in English. That’s more 45,000 books to choose from.

I thought today's photo is a good example of a modern library that is esthetically pleasing rather than some brutalist nightmare. And of course you'll want to click on it to see the larger version. I don't know how this is going to be visible for you morons who are reading this on your phones, though. I don't think Pixy's software has been optimized for mobile viewing.

Reminder

As announced in last week's book thread, The AoSHQ Sunday Morning Book Thread International De-Lurk Day is next Sunday. I hope all you lurkers are busy preparing book reviews to share with the rest of us. Interestingly enough, last week after I made the announcement, a couple of "sooners" de-lurked early and posted some good reviews. NTTAWWT. In fact, it's great. Unlike the historical "sooners", you won't be reviled as a bunch of cheaters.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

A WHIPMEGMORUM is a noisy quarrel about politics.

Usage: Only a masochist would want to descend into the whipmegmorum of Twitter.

Faith and Begorrah!

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'll list a book about the man himself. Saint Patrick Retold: The Legend and History of Ireland's Patron Saint by Roy Flechner is serious history:

Saint Patrick was, by his own admission, a controversial figure. Convicted in a trial by his elders in Britain and hounded by rumors that he settled in Ireland for financial gain, the man who was to become Ireland’s patron saint battled against great odds before succeeding as a missionary. Saint Patrick Retold draws on recent research to offer a fresh assessment of Patrick’s travails and achievements. This is the first biography in nearly fifty years to explore Patrick’s career against the background of historical events in late antique Britain and Ireland.

You can read a comprehensive review of this book here. Patrick really did have a worldwide impact.

Few national saints have the global reach of Patrick: it has been calculated that church bells ring out in 800 worldwide locations to celebrate the feast day of this Roman Briton who brought Christianity to Ireland in the early 5th century. Jewish bakeries in New York sell green bagels and horses run at Cheltenham in his honor.

Fortunately, this is not one of those biographies which aim it is to denigrate and humiliate its subject:

Flechner’s authorial aim is both academic and popular: his biography is certainly filled with densely sourced information about the Roman world, and early and middle medieval Christianity. Yet Patrick does come across as a genuinely interesting personality. He suffered many hardships, he was sincerely holy and he was very knowledgeable about Scripture. His understanding of the Hebrew Bible was such that one scholarly document has suggested he was Jewish — so maybe those green bagels are justified.

From what I've read in other sources, Patrick really was a remarkable man. Or rather, I think it's more accurate to say he became a remarkable man. I wish I had known him.

Moron Recommendations

On the reading front, finally got the chance to start Uncharted by Anderson and Hoyt. Looks like a fun and truly original adventure (and who could not love a dragon-fighting Ben Franklin?)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 03, 2019 11:17 AM (IIV8c)

I agree, Uncharted (Arcane America Book 1) does look like a rollicking good time:

After Halley’s Comet was destroyed in a magical battle in 1759, the backlash separated the entire New World from the Old in an event known as The Sundering. Now isolated from the rest of the globe, America has become a very different place, where magic works and history has been changed forever.

It is 1803—a new 1803. Young Meriwether Lewis, footloose and intrigued, goes to hear a lecture in St. Louis by the venerated old wizard Benjamin Franklin...[who] tells the young man that he knows of a great, growing evil that lurks in the uncharted Arcane Territories west of the Mississippi.

Using his own vast fortune, Franklin commissions Lewis and his own talented partner William Clark to embark on a remarkable voyage of exploration...

Accompanied by the brilliant shape-shifting sorceress Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark set off on an unparalleled adventure across a landscape that no European has ever seen.

You can also buy it from the Baen Books site, but you'll be paying a couple of bucks more.

___________

Lurker 'crisis du jour' is one of those unfortunately morons who is not a lurker by choice:

I can't seem to post at all at Ace these days, for reasons I can't figure out. CBD told me my username at Ace has no restrictions on it for past misbehavior, but even so: when I try to post anything from any of my devices, all that happens is that I get back a stream of red italic code-babble that basically tells me to go play in traffic. So I'm not able to de-lurk, much as I might like to do so.

I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before. You usually get informed that your IP address has been banned, or your comment simply doesn't show up. The ways of Pixy are indeed mysterious. Sigh. But he did send along a book recommendation:

Were I able to post on the 24th, I'd strongly recommend that the entire Moronosphere read Arthur Koestler's novel Darkness At Noon. The plot revolves around a Mr. Rubashov, a former communist revolutionary and exporter of revolution who, when he stepped just this far -->||<-- away from a constantly-shifting party orthodoxy, was imprisoned, tried, and eventually executed. The novel never mentions the Soviet Union or Stalin by name, but that is clearly the setting and the time during which the events of the novel take place. For us in the U.S. 80 years later, the likeness, at least in spirit, between Rubashov's tormentors and our intolerant, almost messianic progressive wannabe-overlords is striking. Unsettling reading, but highly recommended.

You know who might be willing to read this novel now? Alyssa Milano:

1. I learned it doesn’t matter how pure your intentions are, or your 30 yrs of advocacy work & activism, if you use well established poetic license & nuance the very people you passionately fight for will be uspset because you didn’t say it the literal way they’d prefer. https://t.co/zzhPOPvGLn
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) March 12, 2019

Good heavens, the woman has got nothing between her ears but vacuum. I have no idea what she said that set off the howling mob, but what are the odds that she'll learn that no matter how woke you are, you can always get out-woked by the super-woke. When we're all in the camps, It will be amusing to watch her firing off letters to Comrade Commissar Ocasio-Cortez proclaiming the purity of her wokeness.

___________

155 I'm reading "Touched By Fire" about the land war in the South Pacific, particularly (where I am in the text) the fighting in Guadalcanal and New Guinea. Eric Bergerud doesn't conceal his great admiration for the Marines and the Aussies who were hustled back from North Africa to meet the shockingly sudden shock of the Japanese moving south. Besotted with success--later woefully becoming known in Tokyo as Victory Disease--the Japs thought they couldn't be beaten because of their unquenchable spirit and racial superiority. They might have taken New Guinea or Guadalcanal if they had concentrated on one or the other. Muddled thinking and the hatred the army had for the navy--a feeling that was reciprocated with knobs--brought the beginning of their doom. The Marines of that day were farm boys, factory mechanics and other can-do sorts who were thrown into the war with a minimum of training and weapons that had been used against Kaiser Bill. Yet they and the Aussies fought the seasoned Japanese troops, fresh from wins in China and the Malay Peninsula, to a standstill in the worst battle conditions in the history of warfare. Mother Nature was the pitiless enemy of both sides. Each side suffered from supply shortages, most crucially food and medicine. The valiant Japanese--Bergerud is unstinting in their praise, which makes his admiration of the Marines and Aussies all the more impressive--got within view of search lights at Port Moresby before the emerging defeat at Guadalcanal made them turn back, a retreat that turned into a rout. A ripping good read by an author who knows his stuff.

Posted by: Jerry Jay Carroll at March 10, 2019 10:12 AM (SYCeT)

There is no e-book edition of Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud, but there are cheaper used copies available, both hardcover and paperback, on the Amazon page.

___________

Here's a book review from a "sooner":

Yes, I'm a lurker, but since you requested a book review, here goes. I'm recommending "Bellows Falls" by Archer Mayor. Mr. Mayor has written many novels set in and around South Eastern Vermont. This one is named after and set in the actual village in that area that I grew up in. It's a police detective procedural and what I like about it is (of course) that I recognize many of the places and types of people that the novel is set in. The story itself is interesting as well. Vermont for all its natural organic marketing has a very seedy underbelly...

Posted by: Rodent at March 10, 2019 11:17 AM (2Xlz2)

Bellows Falls is the 8th novel in the Joe Gunther Mysteries series:

Joe Gunther is seconded to the neighboring town of Bellows Falls to investigate harassment allegations against a fellow officer. What begins as a seemingly open-and-shut case comes to look more and more like a frame job as Gunther doggedly pursues the truth, and soon he finds himself feeling around the edges of a statewide drug distribution network. As always, Vermont itself is a major character in Mayor's writing, with Bellows Falls standing in for any number of slowly decaying once-proud mill towns.

The Kindle edition is $6.99. Not bad.

I thought the name 'Bellows Falls' sounded familiar, and sure enough, I posted a pic of their public library a few months ago.

___________

Books By Morons

'Ette author right wing yankee has a new novel out, which she describes as a space opera written in a regency-esque style:

Hartington Abroad is the second book in the Hartington series, which follows the adventures of three siblings as they deal with the fallout of their father's death and the loss of their fortune.

“Jeriah Hartington is far from home. Born into a wealthy family, he is now reduced to poverty. In desperation, he signs on to a ship headed for the planet XKF-36. Their mission? To search for colonists who’ve been lost nearly as long as Jeriah has been alive.

Jeriah fully anticipates an adventure as they travel into the unknown wilderness. He never expected to find living people, eager to tell the tale of their sufferings. But their hair-raising account could be the downfall of everyone on the planet, even their rescuers. For a villain lurks within the ship’s crew, and no one can say who he might be.”

Hartington Abroad is the second book in the Hartington series, following three siblings as they deal with the fallout of their father's death and the loss of their fortune.

It's $2.99 to buy, or free with Kindle Unlimited.

But you should probably first read the first book in the series, The Hartington Inheritance. Then you'll be caught up.

___________

Moron author Hans Schantz e-mails to say that his Conservative Libertarian Fiction Alliance 2018 Book of the Year Finalist, A Rambling Wreck, is on sale:

There's no partial credit on a question of life and death!

Off to Georgia Tech for the education he'll need to defeat the guardians of the hidden truth, Peter discovers the battle for the future is being fought right on campus. Now he has to infiltrate a conspiracy, find new allies, and thwart a takeover of the school. Peter's most challenging final exam has only one question:

Can a Rambling Wreck stop the Cabal?
And a failing grade will be his last.

I recommend this series. It reads like some characters from a Heinlein juvenile novel are thrust into the modern era. Lots of action, adventure, and danger.

A Rambling Wreck, the sequel to The Hidden Truth, is on sale for 99 cents this week.

___________

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, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions 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: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Eris Go Bragh!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:02 AM (kQs4Y)

2 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:04 AM (bmdz3)

3 Beautiful library!

Posted by: Rosasharn at March 17, 2019 09:04 AM (PzBTm)

4
Currently doing a re-read of the 1632
series while waiting for the newer ones to drop below my $10 limit.

Posted by: Vic at March 17, 2019 09:04 AM (mpXpK)

5 Morning!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at March 17, 2019 09:05 AM (438dO)

6 And those pants are half off.

Posted by: Rosasharn at March 17, 2019 09:05 AM (PzBTm)

7 Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:06 AM (cfSRQ)

8 What's wrong with those pants?? except for the fact they are shorts?

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at March 17, 2019 09:07 AM (438dO)

9 "I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before. "

https://stoatnet.org/ace/

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:07 AM (t+qrx)

10 I’m reading James Blish’s “The Seedling Stars”, a collection of four short stories in one volume. Blish coined the word “Pantropy” to describe the idea of settling planets by genetically altering humans to fit the environment, rather than terraforming the planet to suit Earthers:

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

In the first story, Sweeney, an Adapted Man created and raised in a domed facility on the Moon, is tasked by the Terran Port Authority to go to Ganymede and bring back a rogue scientist and the colony of people he illegally adapted to survive there. Sweeney is told they are a gang of lawless space marauders pirating ships in the Belt. He learns this is not true, and he finds the freedom of roaming Ganymede in his adapted form seductive after the confines of the Moon.

“Sweeney was an Adapted Man – adapted, in this instance, to the bitter cold, the light gravity, and the thin stink of atmosphere which prevailed on Ganymede. The blood that ran in his veins and the sol substrate of his every cell, was nine-tenths liquid ammonia; his bones were Ice IV; his respiration was a complex hydrogen-to-methane cycle based not upon catalysis by an iron-bearing pigment, but upon locking and unlocking of a double sulfur bond; and he could survive for weeks, if he had to, upon a diet of rock dust.”

My copy is vintage 1957 pulp goodness. Thank you, library sales!

I only knew Blish from his well-written but rather workaday novelizations of the old Star Trek stories (yes, I had every one, including “Spock Must Die!”

. I was not expecting him to have such a poetic way with words.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:07 AM (kQs4Y)

11 "I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before. "

Or more specifically,
https://stoatnet.org/500/

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:08 AM (t+qrx)

12 Regarding Darkness at Noon, I recall reading the book a while back. One of the elements that interested me is that the Communists in the prison were treated more harshly than the Czarist officers.

Presumably because they were merely infidels instead of heretics.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:08 AM (cfSRQ)

13 Read "Wolf Pack" by C.J. Box. This is his newest book about Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. Another outstanding book in this series. Most of his Pickett stories take place near the Big Horn mountains in NE Wyoming, some of the prettiest country in the country.

This August he is scheduled to release "The Bitterroots", the fifth book in his detective Cassie Dewell series that takes place in Montana and North Dakota. This series is every bit as good as his Joe Pickett series.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:09 AM (TDyHc)

14 Just started "The Black Hole Wars" by Leonard Susskind. Described as "My battle with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for quantum mechanics". Supposedly this guy made Hawking admit he was wrong about what happens when something is sucked into a black hole. I expect to be thoroughly confused by the end, but so far it's a heck a lot better than "A Brief History of Time".

Posted by: freaked at March 17, 2019 09:09 AM (UdKB7)

15 All book thread Sooners will receive a complimentary bowl of Oklahoma Chili that's just loaded with yummy carrots!!!

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 09:10 AM (CRRq9)

16 Having binge-watched I, Claudius, I'm now re-reading Tacitus and Suetonius. Thinking of writing a historical novel about the Year of the Four Emperors.

I've been very wishy-washy on my next writing project. Not really feeling a strong pull at the moment. We'll see.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)

17 To the lurker: I get the Red Babble of Doom whenever I use apostrophes, quotation marks, and the like. But only on my stupid IPad. Ye Olde PC is fine.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at March 17, 2019 09:10 AM (/+bwe)

18 I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before.

That sounds like the page you get if you try to post smart quotes or any other character that wasn't in the original cuneiform set.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:10 AM (fuK7c)

19 Will Alyssa Milano ever wake up and realize how much of a fool she makes of herself again and again?

This level of her stupid, it hurts to watch.

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (sy5kK)

20 Eris Go Braghless!

Please

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (fuK7c)

21 Currently reading "Born To Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey" by Mark Dery. Gorey (1925-2000) had a name that was perfect for his chosen profession. Artist, writer, and illustrator of darkly humorous stories. He's like a macabre Charles Addams. An American anglophile his drawings were typically set during Victorian and Edwardian eras.

One of his best known works is "The Gashlycrumb Tinies" an ABC book supposedly written for children (I would have loved getting it as a kid).

http://tinyurl.com/jxzp759

One complaint I have is the author's fixation about Gorey's sexuality. As with most questions asked of him he was evasive. I don't care, I just wish the author would shut up about it as it's irritating.

Gorey was once asked by Vanity Fair, "What or who is the greatest love of your life?" He replied, "Cats."

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (TDyHc)

22 And Hogmartin just gave the instructions so I don't have to.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at March 17, 2019 09:13 AM (/+bwe)

23 From the pants site:

Q: Why are you selling this pair of shorts at a 1/2 price?
A: This is our good deed of the day (and every day).

Um, I am boggled by their conception of a "good deed."

But the pants weren't nearly as bad as they usually are.

Posted by: Art Rondolet of Malmsey at March 17, 2019 09:13 AM (S+f+m)

24 Tolle Lege

Now if only I followed my own advice

Posted by: Skip at March 17, 2019 09:13 AM (BbGew)

25 love that Japanese ribrary

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:14 AM (dm05u)

26 Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:09 AM (TDyHc)

Sounds cool.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 09:14 AM (n13/j)

27 I see a stream of red italic code-babble every time I cut'n'paste some above-ASCII text with, you know, those kinds of characters.

I'd expect hogmartin's amusing instruction to help
Or more specifically,
https://stoatnet.org/500/
Posted by: hogmartin

And good morning. The sun says my computer clock is lying. Seems like every day lately...

Posted by: mindful webworker - THIMK! at March 17, 2019 09:15 AM (w46Mb)

28
I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before.

500 error. Usually smart punctuation is turned on the persons cell phone or they're cut and pasting from somewhere where they are used. Tell him to go ee cummings for a post or two without punctuation.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 17, 2019 09:15 AM (jYje5)

29 19
Will Alyssa Milano ever wake up and realize how much of a fool she makes of herself again and again?

Posted by: LeftCoast Dawg at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (sy5kK)
---
No.

She was a child star who managed to get a second gig in the 90s working with people even crazier than she is.

Crazy is all she knows and she's a creature of Hollywood where they preen about their virtue and compassion before beating their house servants.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:15 AM (cfSRQ)

30
a white belt?

before Memorial Day?

SMH

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 17, 2019 09:16 AM (KCxzN)

31 Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)

Hmm, I just dusted off my old Penguin Suetonius and Robert Graves' book on the Caesars. Must be in the air.

Now I'm hearing my old Professor Potter shouting "Don't forget your Polybius!" as we filed out of the auditorium. I've forgotten all my Polybius! *hangs head in shame*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:17 AM (kQs4Y)

32 Currently reading "Born To Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey" by Mark Dery. Gorey (1925-2000) had a name that was perfect for his chosen profession. Artist, writer, and illustrator of darkly humorous stories. He's like a macabre Charles Addams. An American anglophile his drawings were typically set during Victorian and Edwardian eras.
Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (TDyHc)

I'll keep an eye out, thank you for that. Has anyone had a chance to read any of his writing? Gorey's art is so distinctive and evocative that I only know him as an illustrator.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:17 AM (t+qrx)

33 The Saint Patrick book looks interesting but I'll wait until the price comes down. The idea that it provides context for his world makes it more attractive.

Sabrina's mention of Uncharted sounds like a great good read. After reading several of Sabrina's books, I trust her judgement on these things. I suspect I'll end up buying a copy but the library has it in the meantime.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:17 AM (bmdz3)

34 But do have advice for Alyssa, go it on a cactus and rotate and quit annoying us.

Posted by: Skip at March 17, 2019 09:18 AM (BbGew)

35 One complaint I have is the author's fixation about
Gorey's sexuality. As with most questions asked of him he was evasive. I
don't care, I just wish the author would shut up about it as it's
irritating.

Gorey was once asked by Vanity Fair, "What or who is the greatest love of your life?" He replied, "Cats."

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:12 AM (TDyHc)

---
Gorey also did the opening credits for "Mystery" on PBS as I recall. They were funny.

As to the sexuality question, modern liberals are all about categorizing people. You have to be sorted so they can decide if you are one of the Good People. Refusal to play along makes them very upset.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:18 AM (cfSRQ)

36 Just finished my last book (but am still reading Churchill's 'History of the English Speaking Peoples' - William the Bastard just landed), and now need a new book to read. I'm thinking something WWII related

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 09:19 AM (Izzlo)

37 ohh - red babble usually means you tried to use a FORBIDDEN character - happens a lot with copy and paste or with iphone "smart punctuation"

lurkers running into this try using hogmartin's "moronify" link to cleanup your post

(delete space before html)

https://www.charset.org/ html-special-characters

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:19 AM (dm05u)

38 I thought St. Patrick was kidnapped from his land and enslaved by Romans?

Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:19 AM (JMkM+)

39 Will Alyssa Milano ever wake up and realize how much of a fool she makes of herself again and again?

Self-awareness is not her strong suit. Read the Tweet again. "I'm a white woman who tried to help you stupid minorities and you're all ungrateful and stuff."

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at March 17, 2019 09:20 AM (/7ON7)

40 never mund - ignore my link on 37, use hogmartin's stoatnet one

*drinks coffee*

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:20 AM (dm05u)

41 I thought St. Patrick was kidnapped from his land and enslaved by Romans?

Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:19 AM (JMkM+)

---
Veggie Tales did a funny bit about St. Patrick. Our family still quotes it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

42 The Red Babble of Doom sounds like a Robert E. Howard horror story.

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 09:21 AM (Izzlo)

43 St. Patrick's Day makes me think naturally of "St. Patrick's Breastplate" which is a rather long but wonderful prayer which you can find here: http://tinyurl.com/y5xzfujq

It's quite common to just pray the last two sections, and I was reminded of it when our cantor last night sang it:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

As to reading, I finished Kurt Schlichter's latest this morning - it was better than the other two, with plotting much improved, but so danged many typos that I was wondering if someone at amazon was sabotaging him. If not, then he really needs to spring for a proof-reader. And now I have to begin reading obsessively about the Blessed Virgin Mary since I am going to teach a class on her at RCIA. I have four weeks to prepare and five books.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (3OrOQ)

44 Wow, nice library.

Reading highlight of the week for me was Heinlein's: Citizen of the Galaxy. I'm really enjoying his 'juveniles', Citizen more than most. Mentorship, responsibility, space travel, math, big business, plenty of timeless topics. Who wouldn't hate slavers? Heinlein understood, people don't change, for good and bad, some themes will always be relevant.

I've decided to cut way back on Audible purchases, the leftist politics have become overwhelming. I'm really tired of the propaganda being pushed in my face. Over the last few years it's been steadily increasing, now it's more than daily. Editors act like a transgender feminist immigrant romance socialist is the only person worth selling to.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (iouK0)

45 Now I'm hearing my old Professor Potter shouting "Don't forget your Polybius!" as we filed out of the auditorium. I've forgotten all my Polybius! *hangs head in shame*
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:17 AM (kQs4Y)

*tugs Eris' sleeve*
*offers Polybius*

I found this. I think it's yours.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (t+qrx)

46 I thought St. Patrick was kidnapped from his land and enslaved by Romans?

Born a Roman in Britain.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (fuK7c)

47 38 I thought St. Patrick was kidnapped from his land and enslaved by Romans?
Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:19 AM (JMkM+)

He was a Roman citizen, kidnapped & enslaved by Irish pagans

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 09:23 AM (Izzlo)

48 42
The Horde versus The Red Babble could be a documentary about the ewokites vs the twatterzi

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:23 AM (dm05u)

49 Self-awareness is not her strong suit. Read the
Tweet again. "I'm a white woman who tried to help you stupid minorities
and you're all ungrateful and stuff."

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at March 17, 2019 09:20 AM (/7ON7)

---
Shorter version: "Listen to your betters, peasants!"

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)

50 When it comes to Irish saints, I'm partial to Saint Brendan, sailing to the New World in his coracle and landing on an island that turned out to be a whale's back:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidochelone#Jasconius

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:24 AM (kQs4Y)

51 Polybius the historian or the alleged psy-ops game?

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (dm05u)

52 "...goes to hear a lecture in St. Louis by the venerated old wizard Benjamin Franklin..."

I think I'll give this one a try.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (t+qrx)

53 Can't remember which moron to thank, but I read "Log of a Cowboy" by Andy Adams in about two sittings. What a gem of a book! Written in the early 20th century, it chronicles a cattle drive from the Rio Grande to Montana in 1882. Sounds like "Lonesome Dove" on the face of it, but vastly different. It's simply fascinating. It's also very non-PC. Reading the reviews on Amazon, I laughed out loud at one genius reviewer who couldn't understand why a character who had been a Confederate soldier wasn't shunned by his fellow drovers. Who were Texans. All of whom would have had relatives that fought for the South. What do they teach in schools these days?

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (wZ9cV)

54 Recommended here some time ago, I read Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U. S. Army to Fight Hitler by Bruce Henderson. The subtitle states what the book is about. Henderson begins by profiling how some of the men escaped Nazi Germany and eventually make it to America. Many are harrowing stories.

When war is declared, these German Jews volunteer to join the army. They become known as the Ritchie boys, named after Camp Ritchie in Maryland where they were trained to interrogate German POW's. Many were assigned to front line units, and the information they gathered saved tens of thousands of Allied lives.

After the war, many tried to find family members left behind. Most had been killed in the concentration camps. One, Werner Angress, reunited with his mother and two brothers in Amsterdam. They met on Mother's Day, 1945.

Recommended here, I also read The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester. This is the exciting, non-stop action story of Commander George Krause, skipper of the American destroyer Keeling assigned to lead the protection screen of thirty-seven merchant ships in convoy to England. All the action takes place in a forty-eight hour period while a wolfpack of German U-boats attack the convoy. The story is beautifully written. It's probably one of the ten best books that I have ever read.

Finally, I read Liberty's Last Stand by Stephen Coontz, which was mentioned here a few weeks ago. Coontz is an AOS Moron on steroids. After three coordinated terrorist attacks, President Barry Soetoro decleares martial law and begins rounding up his political enemies and putting them in FEMA camps. Texas declares its independence and war ensues. Along with the exciting story, Coontz manages to discredit every libtard idea and group. He also manages to impart a lot of conservative ideas and philosophy. A fun exciting read.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (ypj0s)

55 Thanks Hogmartin!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (kQs4Y)

56 March 17 is Evacuation Day in Boston to celebrate when the British left town.

Totally a coincidence that all government workers get St. Patrick's Day off.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:26 AM (fuK7c)

57 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Hogmartin, thanks for the tutorial! I have never been able to post from my phone, and now I know why.

Re: reading--I can't believe we're here in Sunday book thread again, and I still haven't finished what I started two weeks ago.

Posted by: April at March 17, 2019 09:26 AM (OX9vb)

58 Anyone have a review of the third book of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive? I read the first two and am considering getting the third e-book with my birthday money.

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:26 AM (XKZwp)

59 47. oh I had the kidnappers wrong. Well he was a slave, so - down with the struggle.

Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:27 AM (JMkM+)

60 Just turn off smart punctuation in Settings>General>Keyboard>Turn smart punctuation to "off".

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 09:27 AM (UUBmN)

61 Yes Darkness at Noon is very good but by the time I got around to reading it, its reputation was almost too high for it to measure up to. Almost.

This was a good week for reading, only some of which I'll bore you with here. I finally finished Catherine Merridale's Lenin on the Train; I originally started it about a year ago and realized, when I was halfway through, that there was a lot about the Rooski Rebolooshun I didn't understand and put it down and started A People's Tragedy until it got to Lenin's return and then picked up the Merridale book and finished it. The last two chapters were the best of the book imo because it successfully points out just how fucking chaotic everything in Petrograd was as the Provisional government was trying to assemble a working form of government from scratch while people are starving and there's a goddamn world war going on. Throw a crazed lunatic like Lenin into the mix and everything turned to shit. He even had to get the fuck out of Dodge when people suspected GERMAN COLLUSION, which was true, and he was seriously concerned about getting iced. There force of his malignant personality eventually carried the day, unfortunately for everyone else. The last chapter recounted how everyone else on the train got fucked by either Lenin or Stalin (an iconic painting of Lenin greeting the crowd from the train has the Georgian gimp behind him which was 100% made up) including Lenin's wife; either by being executed or Gulagsville. The last two chapters, I thought, were superior to the rest of it, which were somewhat dry recitations about fairly uninteresting people.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 09:28 AM (y7DUB)

62 Mister Gorey's mysterious sexuality
Was Victorian in its practicality
Whatever it was
Whether wieners or fuzz
He was Edwardian in his formality

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 09:28 AM (CRRq9)

63 Greetings! As a dad of two tween / young teen girls, I am always looking for books they might like. I usually read them first if I am unfamiliar with the author. This week I read a YA fantasy novel, Taerith, by Rachel Starr Thomson. Good story, noble hero, plucky herione, themes of redemption and forgiveness. Going to recommend to the 13 year old. This book appears to be part of a series of novels about one family, all by different authors.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at March 17, 2019 09:29 AM (RJscS)

64 So KTY was sick as a dog last week (noro) but on the bright side she did get to do some non-school reading.
She's into some YA fantasy by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows) - no idea if it's woke, but probably is.
Nevertheless I'm happy when she reads a book instead of her phone to relax.

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 09:31 AM (dm05u)

65 Greetings, O Book Thread!
Mmm, a cedar-scented library! It probably also helps keep down the number of book-munching insects, so another plus.
Many thanks to the Morons who promptly went and snabbled up Soul Code. The post-Book Thread sales surge was significant! I just finished setting up the print version, which should be available as soon as the literary robots of Amazon validate it. And a thousand curses on MS Word, which unilaterally decides to remove italic formatting at random, thus turning what should be a one-hour job into five.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at March 17, 2019 09:31 AM (IIV8c)

66 All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

Now there is a First to appreciate. Well done.

Hand Salute.

Two.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 09:31 AM (u82oZ)

67
8
What's wrong with those pants?? except for the fact they are shorts?

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry

Right? They're colorful for sure, and not something I'd feel comfortable wearing, but they're not bad.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 09:31 AM (T6t7i)

68 44, Citizen of the Galaxy is my favorite Heinlein juvenile.

As to Audible, I just signed up for that, and my first two selections were two of Thomas Sowell's BIG books on economics. I wish the reader weren't quite so sonorous, but awesome information to be reminded of at regular intervals. Since I'm listening when I'm driving, I have to stick to non-fiction because I have to stop paying attention frequently on I-5 which is an evil place filled with evil and very stupid people.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 17, 2019 09:31 AM (3OrOQ)

69 Accompanied by the brilliant shape-shifting sorceress Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark set off on an unparalleled adventure across a landscape that no European has ever seen.

I know you white imbeciles think you are paying us a compliment, but making us out to be "exotic" sorcerers is just another way of otherizing and marginalizing us. Making us out to be non-human while pretending to put us on a pedestal.

No thank you. Just stop encroaching on our lands and killing us.

Posted by: Elizabeth Warren at March 17, 2019 09:32 AM (/qEW2)

70 March 19 is the feast of the 'Italian ' saint: Joseph. Have some zeppole!

Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:32 AM (JMkM+)

71 OregonMuse

Great Book Thread. Love the picture of that Japanese library. The use of cedar and the roof support evokes Shinto shrines. Very Japanese melding of tradition and technology. Me likey.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 09:33 AM (u82oZ)

72 This has been a week for history and humor.

I was reading about flintlocks which got me thinking about the history of their use. Out came the latest biography of the Swamp Fox I've mentioned and a book about the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens. Some of this was re-reading but the accounts are fascinating.

The humor: "The Trouble With Nowadays", Cleveland Amory's satire. This book always brings a wry chuckle and smile. And any book that has "I have often wondered where the good, old-fashioned servants have gone. They must be somewhere, they couldn't have ALL died." wins my curmudgeon's heart.

The humor included random pieces by Pat McManus. But I fell heavily the other day. (Surprised there wasn't a seismic news alert.) Let's just say that right now roaring laughter does not agree with my rib muscles. I don't dare try any Wodehouse for a while.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:33 AM (bmdz3)

73 Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 09:28 AM (CRRq9)

Well done!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:33 AM (kQs4Y)

74 Morning, y'all!

Hey - what's wrong w/those shorts? I like 'em. 'specially w/the latest shirt purchase by the missus for me - a bright pinkish golf shirt...

*OMG, I'm Judge Smails*

Coffeve, plz!

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 09:33 AM (6qErC)

75 It's fortunate that Alyssa Milano is around. That way, Olivia Jade has someone to feel superior to.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 09:33 AM (T6t7i)

76 I too think those shorts are fun and whimsical, something you'd wear to play golf and get thoroughly lit.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:35 AM (kQs4Y)

77 I was reading through MLB 2019: America's Pastime about new rule changes for the upcoming baseball season. One of the more interesting is the addition of a fifth member of the officiating crew for all games, who will be positioned (at his own discretion) at any of various locations in the outfield, and can move around at will depending on the game situation. He shall be designated the Wholly Roamin' Umpire.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:36 AM (m45I2)

78 Patrick really was a remarkable man. Or rather, I think it's more accurate to say he became a remarkable man. I wish I had known him.

*hic*

I'm with Hillary. She can drink me under the table any day. What a woman!! *hic* And the wet bar in her private jet. To die for.

Posted by: St. Patrick at March 17, 2019 09:36 AM (/qEW2)

79 I'll keep an eye out, thank you for that. Has anyone had a chance to read any of his writing? Gorey's art is so distinctive and evocative that I only know him as an illustrator.
Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:17 AM (t+qrx)

His writing style is called "literary nonsense". I'm not really sure what that means, I just think they're funny. His books are so short you can read them while in the store (if you can find them), but then that would be wrong.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:39 AM (TDyHc)

80 My library has "Liberty's Last Stand". Am I going to be put on a list for reading it?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:39 AM (kQs4Y)

81 St Patrick's Day is not about dying the Chicago river bright green and getting drunk????

Who knew!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at March 17, 2019 09:41 AM (438dO)

82 My library has "Liberty's Last Stand". Am I going to be put on a list for reading it?
Posted by: All Hail Eris
..........

I just finished reading this a couple weeks ago.. a really fun, fast read!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at March 17, 2019 09:42 AM (438dO)

83 It's fortunate that Alyssa Milano is around. That way, Olivia Jade has someone to feel superior to. "

That whole episode sort of misses the point - these folk are those who wish to lord over the rest of us, and want to nudge *wink wink* us to do as they please.

Yeah, they're that stupid.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 09:42 AM (6qErC)

84 @41- That video has become a St. Patrick's Day staple in our house.
"So you see, God is like a shamrock."

"Oh great shamrock, you are powerful and-"
"No no no no, this is simply a METAPHOR."
"Oh great metaphor, you are powerful and-"
"No no no no, God is LIKE a shamrock, because He is three persons in one."

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:43 AM (XKZwp)

85 The Japanese love the smell of cedar.

If you go to Japan and stay at a classy ryokan,

you may have the privilege of a hot bath in your own cedar tub.*

That's considered a luxury. And the scent really is nice and calming.

Bonus! If you're in a really good Japanese restaurant and order cold saki (the saki served cold is a better quality than that served hot)-

you'll probably get it served as "masudake", which is-

served in a little cedar box, the volume measurement of which is called a "masu".

If the restaurant is really good and the masu relatively fresh,

you'll get the pleasant aroma of cedar to go along with your sake.

*McGill gets this opportunity in "Wearing the Cat".

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 09:43 AM (CRRq9)

86 Really like Kendra Elliott

on to the 4 book series callahan and Maclane.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 09:43 AM (JFO2v)

87 77 I was reading through MLB 2019: America's Pastime
about new rule changes for the upcoming baseball season. One of the
more interesting is the addition of a fifth member of the officiating
crew for all games, who will be positioned (at his own discretion) at
any of various locations in the outfield, and can move around at will
depending on the game situation. He shall be designated the Wholly
Roamin' Umpire.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:36 AM (m45I2)

If he sits down he is designated The Ottoman Umpire.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 09:44 AM (n13/j)

88 Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 09:43 AM (CRRq9)

Whether or not that was meant to be free-verse, well done.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:45 AM (t+qrx)

89 Dear Crises de Jure. Trying making a comment without using any apostrophes. I do not know why, but I get all the same red stuff when I do. Good luck!

Posted by: Rob at March 17, 2019 09:45 AM (Jm8H5)

90 I might be tempted by "Uncharted" ... sigh, I will be. This week I went and re-read John Biggins "A Sailor of Austria" - and "The Two-Headed Eagle." The Otto Prohaska series was recommended here in the book thread a while ago - and very well worth it, too. Wish there had been more than four, since it seemed that there was enough hinted at of Prohaska's post WWI life ...
I take more recommends for book reading from this thread than any other source these days.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 17, 2019 09:45 AM (xnmPy)

91 St. Paddy's Day limerick:

link in my nick.

Careful where you sit.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:46 AM (m45I2)

92 Comfort reads:

The three books of Grand Central Arena, Spheres of Influence, and Challenges of the Deep are in one of my favorite SF universes. Echos the Lensman series with Campbell's plucky Terrans against the universe. Not really great literature, but good fun. I find it amusing to spot the plot holes and second guess the space opera combat.

The other comfort read is Third Reich Victorious: Alternate Histories of World War II edited by Peter G. Tsouras. You really have to reach into magic realism to make these plausible. But amusing in a way that war-gamers know so well. The more I read, the more I understand why MI-6 and MI-5 did not want Hitler replaced.

Currently I am reading Winston Churchill's History of the English Speaking People. His prose and today's reality is heart wrenching in lost possibilities. Great story telling by someone who really understands how the actions of leaders change a nation. And also how the character and culture of the people can change leaders.

But so sad compared with the Britexit shenanigans of the aristocracy in the UK.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 09:46 AM (u82oZ)

93 Trying making a comment without using any apostrophes"

Indeed.

Requires platinum membership.

Or shelves. I forget which.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 09:46 AM (6qErC)

94 He shall be designated the Wholly Roamin' Umpire.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:36 AM (m45I2)

Ooph!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 09:47 AM (wYseH)

95 "So you see, God is like a shamrock."

"Oh great shamrock, you are powerful and-"
"No no no no, this is simply a METAPHOR."
"Oh great metaphor, you are powerful and-"
"No no no no, God is LIKE a shamrock, because He is three persons in one."

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:43 AM (XKZwp)

---
Yep! Great stuff. Didn't they sell out to a mega-crop which then got rid of the icky Christian stuff?

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

96 After the gentle discussions about Hemingway recently, I thought I would try some of his short stories. Whoa! Even used prices on Amazon aren't cheap and the library copies are all checked out.

To the used book store, right? No. It was closed for renovation last week and didn't reopen until yesterday. (I shudder to think of moving all those books.) Maybe I can get there this week. It will take a few days to get over the shock that it wasn't available when I wanted it. Spoiled? Nope, not me!

BTW, I read a couple of Hemingway novels and didn't care for them. But it was so long ago I can't recall if I didn't like the subjects or the style or both. (Even in high school, I disliked the 'lost generation' attitude.) I hope the short stories are better.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:47 AM (bmdz3)

97 I'm on the 4th book of the Breakthrough series by Micheal Grumley. It's included with Amazon Unlimited subscriptions. Not bad.i was looking for something engaging but not too serious. I just wanted a nice relaxing read to take my mind off the craziness and so far this is doing the trick.
The premise is a scientist and her team develop software that can learn to translate between humans and dolphins, to start. The adventures begin when it actually works. There are also some Navy SEALS involved because the government couldn't let something like this go unnoticed. And Aliens, the space kind not the illegal kind. I guess it's basically a espionage thriller with some sci-fi thrown in.

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 09:48 AM (UUBmN)

98 No worries, All Hail Eris. All Morons in good standing are already on "The List".

Posted by: Zoltan at March 17, 2019 09:48 AM (ypj0s)

99 The more I read, the more I understand why MI-6 and MI-5 did not want Hitler replaced.
---
You mean there was somebody worse?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:48 AM (kQs4Y)

100 Posted by: DIY Daddio at March 17, 2019 09:29 AM (RJscS)

They might like Edgar Rice Burroughs books. His Mars, Venus, and other stories are easy reads with strong characters, especially gals. I've read all of his books except his Tarzan series. Never had any interest with the Tarzan-Jane-Monkey threesome in the jungle nonsense.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 17, 2019 09:48 AM (TDyHc)

101 If he sits down he is designated The Ottoman Umpire.
Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 09:44 AM (n13/j)

If the manager contests a call, the ump can invoke the Umpire Strikes Back rule.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 09:49 AM (gNAIY)

102 It will be amusing to watch her firing off letters to Comrade Commissar Ocasio-Cortez proclaiming the purity of her wokeness.

Idiots like her never rise very high in the party. If she gets too big for her britches, she'll wind up with an ice pick in the head.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 09:49 AM (/qEW2)

103 If you get the red gobbledygook on a relatively short post, you can hit "Back to previous page" on your browser, your comment should show up in the comments box. Within the comments box manually delete and retype any quotation marks, apostrophes and double dashes, then try hitting 'Post' again.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:49 AM (m45I2)

104 crisis du jour

I occasionally see the Red Text of Pixie's Ire. Try a comment with no apostrophes, quotation marks, commas, really anything but letters and periods.

Posted by: motionview at March 17, 2019 09:49 AM (pYQR/)

105
As to reading, I finished Kurt Schlichter's latest this morning - it was better than the other two, with plotting much improved, but so danged many typos that I was wondering if someone at amazon was sabotaging him. If not, then he really needs to spring for a proof-reader.
Posted by: Tonestaple at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (3OrOQ)

One of the big lies of the publishing industry is that it's filled with skilled editors and proof-readers. Nope. Can't tell you how many times I've read a book published in the last 30 years with obvious typos, incorrect word usage (not talking about deliberate incorrectness from the author), lack of continuity with previous books in a series due to sloppiness etc.

And it's across the board, from the big publishers down to the smaller ones. It seems to be worse with the rise of e-books.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 17, 2019 09:50 AM (eXA4G)

106 I mean come on Muldoon, within the minute?

Posted by: motionview at March 17, 2019 09:50 AM (pYQR/)

107 Create a rule that all umpires must watch the instant replay before deciding on a call. It would solve 100% of all controversial calls. It's so obvious I've wondered for years why no one's ever thought of it before.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 09:51 AM (/qEW2)

108 If you get the wall of red text just go to settings and turn off smart punctuation under keyboards.

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 09:52 AM (UUBmN)

109 I get the red shit when I try to cut and paste from other website material.

Posted by: JAS at March 17, 2019 09:53 AM (KOCKb)

110 After the gentle discussions about Hemingway recently,

I still want to punch somebody after last night's fish thread, so if anyone wants to start up with that Che crap I can be in the mood.

Whoa! Even used prices on Amazon aren't cheap and the library copies are all checked out.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:47 AM (bmdz3)

I just checked, I got the (used) stories delivered for $9.25.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:53 AM (fuK7c)

111 The more I read, the more I understand why MI-6 and MI-5 did not want Hitler replaced.
---
Cuz my first thought was "Werewolf Heydrich". That would be worse. Or Zombie Graf von Zeppelin.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:53 AM (kQs4Y)

112 109 I get the red shit when I try to cut and paste from other website material.
Posted by: JAS
---x
This, I have no solution for. I think hogmartin does but I can't remember since I'm 29....

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 09:54 AM (UUBmN)

113 There was a word posted once on the Book Thread that means "someone who takes it upon themselves to complain on behalf of a group of people" (like what liberals do all the time, unasked). Does anyone recall that word?

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 17, 2019 09:55 AM (NMAzL)

114 real headline!!

washingtonpost.com/politics/ as-the-democratic-field-grows-stacey-abrams-weighs-a-presidential-race

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 09:55 AM (JFO2v)

115 The other comfort read is Third Reich Victorious: Alternate Histories of World War II
edited by Peter G. Tsouras. You really have to reach into magic
realism to make these plausible. But amusing in a way that war-gamers
know so well. The more I read, the more I understand why MI-6 and MI-5
did not want Hitler replaced.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 09:46 AM (u82oZ)

---
Like the US Civil War, I thinking the losing side got most of the breaks. I get the whole "what if the other side won," novelty, but there's another possibility which is that the US or Allies won but did so in a very different way.

What if Bull Run was a crushing Union victory? What if the French abandoned the Dyle Plan and instead placed their reserves better?

Lots of interesting alternatives other than changing which side won.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:55 AM (cfSRQ)

116 I get the red shit when I try to cut and paste from other website material.
Posted by: JAS
---x
This, I have no solution for. I think hogmartin does but I can't remember since I'm 29....
Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 09:54 AM (UUBmN)

https://stoatnet.org/ace/

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 09:55 AM (t+qrx)

117 I mean come on Muldoon, within the minute?

*******

This comment confuses me.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:56 AM (m45I2)

118 Thanks to the person who recommended 6 Modern Myths by Philip J Sampson. It also has a great bibliography for further reading.

Posted by: Cn at March 17, 2019 09:57 AM (U7k5w)

119 @113- Do you mean the Chinese word "baizuo?"

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:57 AM (XKZwp)

120 70 March 19 is the feast of the 'Italian ' saint: Joseph. Have some zeppole!
Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 09:32 AM (JMkM+)

I'm named after my dad, Joseph Patrick ___. His parents first thought he was going to be born on St. Patrick's Day, then they thought St. Joseph's Day, but he still held out for another few days.

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 09:58 AM (Izzlo)

121 All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

For the pure quill James Blish, try his Black Easter, The Day After Judgement and A Case of Conscience. Great stuff there. The Milton homage in The Day After Judgement was great. Black Easter was hair raising, and so well done. Yikes.

His Cities in Flight omnibuses had a few great moments and memorable prose. But it struck me as Meh.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 09:58 AM (u82oZ)

122 https://stoatnet.org/ace/

Not books, but I saw it on BBC so it's highfalutin'.

I had only a vague idea of what a stoat is. I just saw a stoat chase down and kill a rabbit that was ten times its size.

Those are feisty little weasels.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:58 AM (fuK7c)

123 somebody after last night's fish thread"

Well, fishing can get a bit heated, but hey now...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 09:58 AM (6qErC)

124 "I wish I could help him, but even as a cob, I have no idea why he can't comment. The 'stream of red italic code-babble' is something I've never seen before. "

I see that with some frequency. Apparently, there's a certain character / set of characters that looks like normal text (including in the articles and comments of THIS WEBSITE) that the comment validator hates with the passion of 1000 suns. The only way I've found to get around it is to paste whatever I want to quote into Notepad or some other flat text editor, then copy paste into the comment block from there. Certainly the error message provides no clue.

Pixy is not providing a resume enhancer here.

Posted by: SDN at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (4IlOG)

125 BTW, I read a couple of Hemingway novels and
didn't care for them. But it was so long ago I can't recall if I didn't
like the subjects or the style or both. (Even in high school, I disliked
the 'lost generation' attitude.) I hope the short stories are better.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 09:47 AM (bmdz3)

---
I liked A Farewell to Arms. Very evocative.

For Whom the Bell Tolls feels like it was written in Spanish and badly translated. A lot of his stuff that takes place in Spain reads that way.

Someone mentioned Patrick McManus upthread. He did some parodies of Hemingway that were amusing.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

126 109 I get the red shit when I try to cut and paste from other website material.
Posted by: JAS at March 17, 2019 09:53 AM (KOCKb)

I get the red shit from Thai food

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (Izzlo)

127 "someone who takes it upon themselves to complain on behalf of a group of people" (like what liberals do all the time, unasked). Does anyone recall that word?
Posted by: Miley

*******

That would be a 'sharpton'.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (m45I2)

128 Joseph Menn

To be clear, I offered @BetoORourke an embargo because it was for a book I was on leave to write, not for my day job

So journalist is a hat. Put it on, tell the truth. Take it off, lie like a rug. Or just make up shit as you you go along. No one cares or will call you out!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (JFO2v)

129 I had only a vague idea of what a stoat is. I just saw a stoat chase down and kill a rabbit that was ten times its size.

Those are feisty little weasels.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 09:58 AM (fuK7c)

Ermines are just froofy stoats.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (t+qrx)

130 washingtonpost.com/politics/ as-the-democratic-field-grows-stacey-abrams-weighs-a-presidential-race
Posted by: rhennigantx
-----
**sigh** I may have to check until after the 2020 elections. I'm voting for Trump short of him .... actually I'm voting for Trump even if he eats a baby on live tv while grabbing p*ssy. I just don't care anymore.... the left has gone off the deep end and it's just a giant sh*t show from here on out. Not good for the blood pressure.

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (UUBmN)

131 35 .. "As to the sexuality question, modern liberals are all about categorizing people. You have to be sorted so they can decide if you are one of the Good People. Refusal to play along makes them very upset."

This drives me crazy. I've seen it with Norman Rockwell (WTF???), Andrew Wyeth, Lewis Carroll, and Kenneth Grahame. Invariably written by some accredited academic and all based on BS and rumor. What the hell kind of mind and cuture is driven to find perversion (not that THEY judge of course) in humor and innocense?

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (bmdz3)

132 What if Bull Run was a crushing Union victory? What if the French
abandoned the Dyle Plan and instead placed their reserves better?

Lots of interesting alternatives other than changing which side won.

What if Mrs. Lincoln wasn't a lunatic little spud? Lincoln might have been too distracted to prosecute the war, IYKWIMAITYD.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (T6t7i)

133 Cuz my first thought was "Werewolf Heydrich". That would be worse. Or Zombie Graf von Zeppelin.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:53 AM (kQs4Y)

---
The movie about Heydrich's assassination is good. I think it would have done better if they named it something besides just "Anthropoid." Heck, even "Codename: Anthropoid" would have been a big improvement.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:01 AM (cfSRQ)

134 Thank you hogmartin!!!!

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (UUBmN)

135 josephistan - The Second World War by A. J. P. Taylor

Posted by: randallm at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (wzDcR)

136 Here y'all are!

No reading to report, other than the maintenance manual for my chipper. Need to change the oil, filter and plugs.

Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (7Jxmz)

137 Last week I recommended William Forsrchens SHTF novels. So, I spent the week rereading the trilogy. Now I think I will read up on St. Patrick!

Posted by: Rob at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (Jm8H5)

138 A.H. Lloyd

Good comment.

115 That assumes the wisdom of hindsight, the ability of people to put aside their own aggrandizement, and a cooperative foe.

And I do not think how the Allies or the Union won, but by a different path, is as good for selling books.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (u82oZ)

139 See y'all after church....

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (UUBmN)

140 Oh, and Happy SPD!

Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:03 AM (7Jxmz)

141 No reading to report, other than the maintenance manual for my chipper. Need to change the oil, filter and plugs.

And, you know, run some bleach through it to destroy any remaining DNA.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:03 AM (fuK7c)

142 stacey-abrams-weighs-a-presidential-race"

That's not all she's weighed...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 10:03 AM (6qErC)

143 Happy Saint Patrick's Day Ya'll!

Now, for a little humor:

Why wasn't Jesus born in Ireland?

He couldn't find 3 wise men or a virgin.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 17, 2019 10:04 AM (Z+IKu)

144 Well, got to go pounce on some spousal maintenance.

Have a great day, and may your intelligence and wisdom stats grow with every book you read.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 17, 2019 10:04 AM (u82oZ)

145
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:03 AM (fuK7c)
-----
Note to Self: need bleach.

Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:04 AM (7Jxmz)

146 Going to poke though my WWII library selection & see what catches my eye

Posted by: josephistan at March 17, 2019 10:05 AM (Izzlo)

147 No reading to report, other than the maintenance manual for my chipper. Need to change the oil, filter and plugs.
Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (7Jxmz)

Hey, Weasel. That reminds me, I need to get the garage back in order so it's not bugging me all week.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 10:05 AM (t+qrx)

148 Muldoon

This comment confuses me.

I searched for crisis du jour to see if anyone had responded, wrote up my answer, posted it, and saw that your response had come up before mine, within the same minute.

or

I wrote a helpful comment
To kill then red text, hell-sent
Muldoon went ahead
And said what I said
Now you can all go get bent.

Posted by: motionview at March 17, 2019 10:05 AM (pYQR/)

149 Oh, and Happy SPD!"

SPD? Sexually Promiscuous Disease Day?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 10:06 AM (6qErC)

150 What if Mrs. Lincoln wasn't a lunatic little spud? Lincoln might have been too distracted to prosecute the war, IYKWIMAITYD.
Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (T6t7i)

Mrs. Lincoln was a beard. Abe was the original "log cabin" Republican IYKWIMAITYD.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 10:06 AM (/qEW2)

151
Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 10:05 AM (t+qrx)
------
Could use some help here, bro. Pop on down!

Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:06 AM (7Jxmz)

152 this is serious and scholarly and all so i don't have much to offer except - for a good time read the string of tweets from young people describing why pelosi's idea of lowering the voting age 10 16 is a terrible idea over at grabien.com (via drudge) - each describes some stupid stunt they pulled at 16. funny. because it's true.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 10:06 AM (Pg+x7)

153 110 ... Hi Bandersnatch and thanks for the monthly fishing thread.

Question: When I get the Hemingway short story collection, I was going to begin with The Big Two-Hearted River pieces. Would you suggest another story to start with?

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:07 AM (bmdz3)

154 What if Bull Run was a crushing Union victory? What
if the French abandoned the Dyle Plan and instead placed their reserves
better?

Lots of interesting alternatives other than changing which side won.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:55 AM (cfSRQ)

It
is all speculation and that can be fun for sure. But if First Manassas
(Bull Run) was a crushing Union victory, it would likely have changed
nothing. The South wasn't going to give up there.

I think it is more common to wonder what if the South had
followed up on their victory at Bull Run? That is ahistorical even in
theory because both armies proved too green at the time to follow up on
anything.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 10:07 AM (n13/j)

155 The only Hemingway I recommend is the Nick Adams stories.

Posted by: Puddin Head at March 17, 2019 10:08 AM (vV/gB)

156 Finally had time to start (and finish) the latest Peter Ash novel by Nick Petrie, Tear it Down, which is set in Detroit. Petrie wanted to write about Detroit first, but the writing muse put that aside for marijuana business from Light it Up (the previous novel). Did not find this one to be as strong of a novel as Light it Up, but still pretty solid and would recommend for anyone who likes this genre.

Posted by: Charlotte at March 17, 2019 10:08 AM (JwHYp)

157 No reading to report, other than the maintenance manual for my chipper. Need to change the oil, filter and plugs.
Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:02 AM (7Jxmz)

and throw in a hipster before storing over the winter!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 10:08 AM (JFO2v)

158 This drives me crazy. I've seen it with Norman
Rockwell (WTF???), Andrew Wyeth, Lewis Carroll, and Kenneth Grahame.
Invariably written by some accredited academic and all based on BS and
rumor. What the hell kind of mind and cuture is driven to find
perversion (not that THEY judge of course) in humor and innocense?

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (bmdz3)

---
The obvious motivation is to claim more deviants than actually existed and thereby normalize deviant behavior.

It's like the "Boston marriage" being retconned into a formal lesbian relationship. It wasn't. For a variety of reasons (such as the Civil War killing a crapload of young men), it became a thing for unmarried women to share quarters. Why not? There was safety in numbers and also economy in housing and food costs.

Plus, unmarried cohabitation between opposite sexes was socially impossible. So you had male boarding houses and female ones.

These sensible arrangements have to be retrofitted into sexual societies because the modern narrative requires it.

It's one of the reason the field of history is largely crap.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:09 AM (cfSRQ)

159 Willard from last thread....

Were we unwitting subjects of some crazy government
Girlz From Brazil program? Cuz I also have an annoying left wing
sister. They must grow them in a vat at an underground facility.

Posted by: All Hail Eris

!

Who'da thunk ?

Posted by: JT at March 17, 2019 10:09 AM (ZvCy3)

160 155 The only Hemingway I recommend is the Nick Adams stories.
Posted by: Puddin Head at March 17, 2019 10:08 AM (vV/gB)

I liked Islands in the Stream. Sad books but good!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 10:09 AM (JFO2v)

161 When it comes to Irish saints, I'm partial to Saint Brendan, sailing to the New World in his coracle and landing on an island that turned out to be a whale's back:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidochelone#Jasconius

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 09:24 AM (kQs4Y)

Eris, I have The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin that my Grandmother gave me for Christmas in 1978. It used to have a page out of the program, I think for her Soroptomist club, that had Tim Severin speak.

It goes from how they built the two masted coracle to sailing to the new world. There were a lot of issues, from learning how to sew the leather to learning how to sail a boat with no keel, and then doing it in the face of the North Atlantic.

Tim is very positive on his crew and his supporters, praising them regularly for their help and their abilities.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 10:09 AM (mUa7G)

162 ... titled: "young americans hilariously explain why lowering the voting age to 16 is a terrible idea" at news.grabien.com (via drudge)

should be required reading.)

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 10:11 AM (Pg+x7)

163
@113- Do you mean the Chinese word "baizuo?"

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:57 AM (XKZwp)

No - I think it may have been a French word, but I'm not sure.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 17, 2019 10:11 AM (NMAzL)

164 That would be a 'sharpton'.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (m45I2)

Ha! But no.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 17, 2019 10:12 AM (NMAzL)

165

Fur Cryin' Out Loud - a limerick

With weasels it's hard to determine
Is that one a mink? Or an ermine?
A marten's a stoat
With a fine winter coat
But at the end of the day, they're all vermin

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 10:12 AM (m45I2)

166 Could use some help here, bro. Pop on down!
Posted by: Weasel at March 17, 2019 10:06 AM (7Jxmz)

I'd love to, but too much to do here

I got everything off the floor so I could blow out the winter nastiness with the compressor hose and now I have to find homes for all the little bits. If I start now, I can at least get the garage back to how it was. There's no hope of finishing anything I went out there to do on Friday night, the best I can hope for is to get it back together and break even.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 10:12 AM (t+qrx)

167 A used bookstore find was The Conquest of Everest by Sir John Hunt. Published in 1954, it is the narrative of the 1953 British expedition that was the first to successfully reach the summit of Everest. The book is a bit dry at first but gets much more exciting once the expedition gets men up to the South Col (a high shelf located about 3150ft below the 29,000ft summit). I found the appendices giving details of equipment and physiological challenges of high altitude quite interesting. There are some gorgeous photographs (several in color) and the photo taken by Edmund Hillary looking from the summit down along the North face (they scaled the South face) and of the Sherpa, Tenzing, standing on the summit (it's actually small, maybe about 5ft in diameter) are quite striking. Rating = 3.75/5.

Another used bookstore find was Think Fast Mr. Moto! by John Marquand. First published in 1937, mine was in a "Best-in-Books" anthology published by Nelson Doubleday in 1956. Mr. Moto is a Japanese intellegence agent and I knew of the character (he had been a popular character prior to WWII) but had never read any of the stories featuring him. Here, Mr. Moto is in Hawaii investigating a Chinese businessman that is smuggling U.S. currency into China because that is causing problems with Japan's "peaceful" operations in China. It's not much of a mystery and is narrated third-person from the perspective of the heir to an American banking house heavy in the China trade; I found that character likeable and it's more a story of his "trial by fire" and winning the girl. I found it more interesting as a historical document of pre-war Honolulu and the story is very sympathetic to Japan but I found Mr. Moto to be pretty 1-dimensional. Rating = 3.0/5. (I was surprised that this novel would have been republished so recently after WWII but apparently the Rape of Nanking wasn't widely known until the 1970s).

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 17, 2019 10:14 AM (5Yee7)

168 Question: When I get the Hemingway short story collection, I was going to begin with The Big Two-Hearted River pieces.

Unquestionably the best place to start.

I had an interesting discussion about it with the Dildo. When I recommend it to people I give them a spoiler which informs the reading of it. Dildo says that takes away the "aha" pleasure of reading it for the fourth or fifth time and understanding the background.

I don't know if anyone will put four or five readings into it, but as an experiment I will not give the spoiler.

On the surface it's a very simple tale of a guy who goes camping and catches some fish.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:14 AM (fuK7c)

169 But at the end of the day, they're all vermin

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 10:12 AM (m45I

oooh...did you read that, Weasel?

*starts setting up fight ring*

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 10:14 AM (dm05u)

170 Just finished Struggle for the Middle Sea (O'Hara), about the Med in WWII.

Sort of spare, kind of an annotated summary more than in-depth narrative, for the most part. But that's actually fine for those like me whose knowledge of that theater approached bupkis before this.

Surprising to me - the basic stand-off, with substantial losses, between the Brits and Eye-ties, up until Italy dropped out of the war. Italy dominated central basin, prevented Brit through-traffic from Gibraltar to Egypt, and supplied North Africa quite well. Brits barely hung on to Malta, dominated east and west basins, prevented any real Axis control.

As usual of late, with certain books, will copy the bibliography, to make it a gateway drug to other reading on the topic. O'Hara's "Torch" is also worth a read. More detail on the naval aspects of that operation than I had seen before.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 17, 2019 10:15 AM (QDnY+)

171 It
is all speculation and that can be fun for sure. But if First Manassas

(Bull Run) was a crushing Union victory, it would likely have changed

nothing. The South wasn't going to give up there.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 10:07 AM (n13/j)

---
The South was suffering from crippling shortages in weapons and equipment.

If Union forces took Richmond in 1861, the South would have lost its largest weapons facility.

Indeed, a great "what if" is that Buchanan's Secretary of War *doesn't* spend the last few months of 1860 moving arms and cannon into Southern states, effectively providing the core equipment for the Confederate Army. U.S. Grant wanted the man hanged and attributed much of the subsequent slaughter to this. He was not alone.

My point is that the Civil War actually could have ended earlier - say in the Spring of 1862 with McClellan driving to Richmond and then into the Carolinas. He had enough men to do it, just not the will.

So no Emancipation Proclamation and maybe a negotiated settlement.

Who knows? You'd get the same overall result, but history could have been much, much different.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:16 AM (cfSRQ)

172 But at the end of the day, they're all vermin

Nice one.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:16 AM (fuK7c)

173 @148
Posted by: motionview

*******

Ah, now I see...

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 10:17 AM (m45I2)

174 Mornin' Horde!

Not book related, but my wife is watching CBS Sunday Morning. They did a segment on the NZ mosque shooting, and noted that when the shooter was brought into court, he flashed a white power sign.

That sign? The "OK" (or "made you look") sign.

Will this stupidity never die?

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 17, 2019 10:19 AM (8g9zh)

175 Go Bragh Or Go Home!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (+y/Ru)

176 On the surface it's a very simple tale of a guy who goes camping and catches some fish."

No beer?

Fiction, then.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (6qErC)

177 That's an attractive library, but it looks flammable with all that wood.

Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (sdi6R)

178 105
As to reading, I finished Kurt Schlichter's latest this morning - it was better than the other two, with plotting much improved, but so danged many typos that I was wondering if someone at amazon was sabotaging him. If not, then he really needs to spring for a proof-reader.
Posted by: Tonestaple at March 17, 2019 09:22 AM (3OrOQ)

One of the big lies of the publishing industry is that it's filled with skilled editors and proof-readers. Nope. Can't tell you how many times I've read a book published in the last 30 years with obvious typos, incorrect word usage (not talking about deliberate incorrectness from the author), lack of continuity with previous books in a series due to sloppiness etc.

And it's across the board, from the big publishers down to the smaller ones. It seems to be worse with the rise of e-books.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 17, 2019 09:50 AM (eXA4G)

___

It has gotten worse throughout my life. Even serious naval history, where typos used to be very rare, has gotten casual. I don't really get it, unless it's just less educated proofreaders and copy editors. The use of computers may have worsened things.

Another thing I've gotten to hate is the way the utility of indexes has collapsed. Pick up an older history book. Churchill's histories of WWI or II will do. Look at the index entries. They're subdivided, so it's easy to find what you are looking for, e.g., Lord Fisher's switch on Gallipoli, or De Gaul on Dakar.

Then check a newer book. You'll get entries for Fisher and De Gaul, followed by a list of numbers. That's all. Useless for the major players.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (VaN/j)

179 I don't know if anyone will put four or five readings into it, but as an experiment I will not give the spoiler.

On the surface it's a very simple tale of a guy who goes camping and catches some fish.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:14 AM (fuK7c)

---
Of course that's required reading in Michigan schools. "Look, Hemingway wrote a story in Michigan!" And they give the spoiler away up front.

I think some of the Hemingway buffs have found the exact spot of the story as well. It comes up from time to time.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:21 AM (cfSRQ)

180 That's an attractive library, but it looks flammable with all that wood.
Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (sdi6R)

---------------------------

Well, unless your books are made of metal, just about any library is going to be pretty flammable.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at March 17, 2019 10:22 AM (8g9zh)

181 I think some of the Hemingway buffs have found the exact spot of the story as well.

Yes, there is a Two Hearted River in Michigan but the story is set on the Fox River.

And I've never even been to Michigan.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:23 AM (fuK7c)

182 177 That's an attractive library, but it looks flammable with all that wood.
Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (sdi6R)

Sign to top left says Please keep thermostat setting under 450F

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 17, 2019 10:24 AM (JFO2v)

183 It has gotten worse throughout my life."

Check out a textbook lately? Perused a few of jr mouses just a few years back and the quality of writing and editing was simply pathetic.

But hey, it's education...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 10:24 AM (6qErC)

184 They might like Edgar Rice Burroughs books. His Mars, Venus, and other stories are easy reads with strong characters, especially gals.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead

- -

Good suggestion, thanks.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at March 17, 2019 10:24 AM (RJscS)

185 125

For Whom the Bell Tolls feels like it was written in Spanish and badly translated. A lot of his stuff that takes place in Spain reads that way.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

Read that to my wife. She yelled out "Yes! Yes!" She was an English major, and got sick of him. He never did much for me.

OTOH, Waugh, one of my main favorites, admired Hemingway.

(Of course I'm speaking of Earnest. Mollie, I love.)

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:26 AM (VaN/j)

186 It has gotten worse throughout my life. Even serious
naval history, where typos used to be very rare, has gotten casual. I
don't really get it, unless it's just less educated proofreaders and
copy editors. The use of computers may have worsened things.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (VaN/j)

---
They don't teach spelling and grammar any more, so the pool of candidates is drying up. I try to check my own work, but it's hard to catch your own mistakes. I have some friends who do pre-publication reviews and catch errors, but it's hit-or-miss.

Three Weeks with the Coasties was riddled with errors, and I'm not sure why. I did a quick re-re-re-re edit and cleaned it up within a couple of days.

My advice to self-publishing authors is use a hard-copy to edit and then get a proof copy of the book and read that, too. It's funny how when you hold an actual book in your hand, those typos really stand out.

Oh yeah, buy my books! I see some positive reviews on Three Weeks with the Coasties. It's a quick read, too.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:26 AM (cfSRQ)

187 I read "Log of a Cowboy"

Ok, I laughed.

So sue me !

Posted by: JT at March 17, 2019 10:27 AM (ZvCy3)

188 161 ... "I have The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin"

That book is available for 99 cents on Kindle. I have it but haven't read it yet.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:28 AM (bmdz3)

189 I started reading Gustov LeBon's "The Crowd," undoubtedly recommended here.

Pretty early on, one gets the sense that ol' Gus... he don't like them crowds.

But seriously, as I'm reading, the main thing I'm thinking of is twatter and social media. When he wrote this book, I can't imagine he thought it would come to this.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 17, 2019 10:28 AM (cY3LT)

190 Speaking of decline in literacy (in the broad sense), watching WWII training films etc on UToob sort of reminds one of this issue. The language and presentation - which was for "the masses" of conscripts - is often far better than what one sees today. I've even noticed this in reading some instruction manuals for very old stuff I've used or come across. Maybe not as striking as those journals and letters of young Civil War soldiers, but similar.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 17, 2019 10:28 AM (QDnY+)

191 Fur Cryin' Out Loud - a limerick

With weasels it's hard to determine
Is that one a mink? Or an ermine?
A marten's a stoat
With a fine winter coat
But at the end of the day, they're all vermin
Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 10:12 AM (m45I2)

Mustelids aren't vermin. They annihilate vermin.

Happy/sad note: Joseph Carter, the Mink Man is leaving youtube for vimeo, since they silently delete his subscribers and de-monetized him.

He notes in his final video that he will lose the vast majority of his audience, since inertia is a big factor in peoples' viewing habits. But that's what asshole organizations like youtube bank on. Kudos to Joseph for doing his part to help destroy them by supporting alternatives. It would be nice if it could all be solved immediately like that crazy female Iranian bodybuilder thought, but no, they must be deprived bit by bit of their content providers.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 10:29 AM (/qEW2)

192 Well off to empty some brass with an M1 in the nice clear weather. Action rifle match that is usually fun. Only a handful of us using wood and blued steel - mostly those black plastic abominations with all the levers and scopes and thinggies on top.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 17, 2019 10:30 AM (QDnY+)

193
OTOH, Waugh, one of my main favorites, admired Hemingway.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:26 AM (VaN/j)

---
His style was fresh back then. Edwardian writing was very elaborate and here you had this very simple, declarative style. We take it for granted, but I can see how Waugh would enjoy it.

Plus, he was just a guy back then, trying to make a name, not an Important Writer You Need to Read. I think that causes people to be more critical.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:31 AM (cfSRQ)

194 Good morning Horde!
I have some of those cedar sake boxes.
Hard to drink from them due to the right angles.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at March 17, 2019 10:31 AM (w7KSn)

195 Who knows? You'd get the same overall result, but history could have been much, much different.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:16 AM (cfSRQ)

The point is valid, I agree. For whatever reason, popular history more often talks about the things that went wrong for the Confederates. There have always been more Confederate "what if's" than USA what ifs. I am not saying Mclellan should have won though he certainly could have. But I still don't think a Union victory at Bull Run would have won the war. Just like the Brits taking Philly didn't win the Revolution and just like Lincoln told Hooker forget Richmond, Lee's Army is your goal.
I think if anything the general public over estimates the inevitability of USA victory. That is a disservice to the history and sacrifice. The lame old industrial defeats agrarian argument does not hold water Tell that to the Brits and even look at more recent wars. . Having said all the above, I agree that the North had many things go wrong, For every Southern lost opportunity, there was one lost for the North.

The USA won that war because the population stood by it and refused to quit.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 10:31 AM (n13/j)

196 As for Alyssa Milano and whatever she did to piss off the sisterhood, it has occurred to me, modern feminism appears to be led by her and Stormy Daniels. Those are the two with the loudest voices these days.

And you know, it seems to me if we want to get a bigger picture of womanhood in the modern world, we don't hear enough from Charo. Or Barbie Benton. I'd really like to know what Bo Derek has to say on these matters, and without a whole chorus voices of these strong women, poor Alyssa must feel like she's a monkey to an organ grinder.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 17, 2019 10:32 AM (cY3LT)

197 washingtonpost.com/politics/ as-the-democratic-field-grows-stacey-abrams-weighs-a-presidential-race

-
If she weighs anymore she won't be able to cross bridges.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 10:33 AM (+y/Ru)

198 Do you mean the Chinese word "baizuo?"

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 17, 2019 09:57 AM (XKZwp)

No - I think it may have been a French word, but I'm not sure.
Posted by: Miley, the Duchess

Baizuoaire ?

Posted by: JT at March 17, 2019 10:34 AM (ZvCy3)

199
Mustelids aren't vermin. They annihilate vermin. Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear

********

Thanks for your input.

Re-furbished - a limerick

With weasels it's hard to determine
Is that one a mink? Or an ermine?
A marten's a stoat
With a fine winter coat
But God love 'em, they annihilate vermin

Posted by: Muldoon at March 17, 2019 10:35 AM (m45I2)

200 What's the difference between a Republican fairy tale, and a Democrat one?

Republican ones start "Once upon a time, we did..."

Democrat ones start "Someday, we will..."

Posted by: Because the old Soviet jokes are new again. Might as well laugh. at March 17, 2019 10:35 AM (5aX2M)

201 For the pure quill James Blish, try his Black Easter, The Day After Judgement and A Case of Conscience. Great stuff there. The Milton homage in The Day After Judgement was great. Black Easter was hair raising, and so well done. Yikes.
-----
Dammit, Salty, none of these are available in my library system. They will go down on my reading list though. I read that "Easter" and "Judgement" were printed in a single volume as Blish intended, entitled "The Devil's Day".

Not going to buy it, I am really trying to read what I already have and not expand my library further.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 10:35 AM (kQs4Y)

202 192
Well off to empty some brass with an M1 in the nice clear weather.
Action rifle match that is usually fun. Only a handful of us using wood
and blued steel - mostly those black plastic abominations with all the
levers and scopes and thinggies on top.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 17, 2019 10:30 AM (QDnY+)

---
This will make you weep:

Only a few weeks ago, they were going through the storage at my National Guard base and tucked in a corner were some vintage M-1s packed in cosmoline. No one knows how or why they were there, but they were of course sent to some arsenal or other where they will continue to languish.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:35 AM (cfSRQ)

203 I am not saying Mclellan should have won though he certainly could have.

-
McClellan should have won the war at Antietam, given Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson noogies, and taken the rest of the week off.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 10:36 AM (+y/Ru)

204 I've been tiying with a novella about the body bomber plot of 2012, that brennan burned thr lead asset inside al queda. The narrative structure is a little like the departed thr protagonist Is actually his handler in mi6 I guess he corresponds to walbergs character who share a family history going back to the Aden emergency in 67, of course there is a character like diamons who is inside the company.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 17, 2019 10:36 AM (UvvFD)

205 168 ... Bander, Thanks for the recommendation as to where to start.

And I like your 'on the surface' plot description: "a guy who goes camping and catches some fish." Given my 'druthers, that sounds like a fine beginning.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:37 AM (bmdz3)

206 158 This drives me crazy. I've seen it with Norman
Rockwell (WTF???), Andrew Wyeth, Lewis Carroll, and Kenneth Grahame.
Invariably written by some accredited academic and all based on BS and
rumor. What the hell kind of mind and cuture is driven to find
perversion (not that THEY judge of course) in humor and innocense?

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 10:00 AM (bmdz3)

---
The obvious motivation is to claim more deviants than actually existed and thereby normalize deviant behavior.

It's like the "Boston marriage" being retconned into a formal lesbian relationship. It wasn't. For a variety of reasons (such as the Civil War killing a crapload of young men), it became a thing for unmarried women to share quarters. Why not? There was safety in numbers and also economy in housing and food costs.

Plus, unmarried cohabitation between opposite sexes was socially impossible. So you had male boarding houses and female ones.

These sensible arrangements have to be retrofitted into sexual societies because the modern narrative requires it.

It's one of the reason the field of history is largely crap.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:09 AM (cfSRQ)
____

Much of it comes from the extremely narrow and present-centered perspective they teach nowadays. I've heard of kids reading Pride and Prejudice asking "So their sister's a slut. So what. And can't they just get jobs?"

That's one reason for their belief in muzzies. They just cannot get their heads around the idea of radically different ways of seeing the world.

And that's not all that new. I had a teacher in the 60s who, when we read The Lottery, was simply clueless about the sacrificial scapegoat aspect. Well, that was in NY, always one of the early birds in stupid. But my wife, in rural VA had the same experience. One of the kids asked "Were they having a bad harvest?" and the teacher couldn't deal with the question.

They also cannot deal with the Victorian style of lavish expressions of sentiment. Read Churchill on his relation with Fisher in the World Crisis. It's only a matter of time before someone will claim they were homos. If that hasn't already happened.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:40 AM (VaN/j)

207 oh gawd Beta is on tv whhhhyyyy

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 10:41 AM (dm05u)

208 But I still don't think a Union victory at Bull Run
would have won the war.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 10:31 AM (n13/j)

---
Of course not, but it would have changed things quite a bit.

If Richmond falls in 1861, talk of European recognition vanishes. The Southern armies have lost one of their most important weapon-producing facilities.

You also haven't had attitudes harden yet, so border states might look to walk back secession.

I think the South got most of the breaks, as did Germany.

I mean, it's almost impossible to wargame these things without making special rules that require the North/Allies to do really stupid things.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:41 AM (cfSRQ)

209 Muldoon mustela had to ferret out a limerick rewrite due to pressure from Big Weasel.

Posted by: freaked at March 17, 2019 10:41 AM (UdKB7)

210 That's an attractive library, but it looks flammable with all that wood.

Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (sdi6R)

Yikes. My own library is a room lined with unfinished (well, un-stained anyway) cedar shiplap planks (walls and ceiling; the floor is more durable wood meant to match the exterior decking). The shelves are also unfinished cedar. I can report that it does smell great (even after 15 years) and hasn't burned down yet. Besides, wouldn't the books be flammable anyway? You did inspire me to move a fire extinguisher down the hallway anyway, just in case.

Posted by: HTL at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (3oh1r)

211 I also read The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester.
[...] The story is beautifully written.
It's probably one of the ten best books that I have ever read.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 17, 2019 09:25 AM (ypj0s)

And a buck on Amazon! Thanks for the recommendation!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (wYseH)

212 Regarding vermin-on-vermin violence, was watching some BBC animal thing. A fluffy bunny was out frolicking in a field and suddenly a weasel (or weasel-like critter) took him down like a cheetah bringing down a gazelle. Vicious! I had no idea they were such deadly hunters.

Bra-a-a-ave Sir Waesel!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (kQs4Y)

213 I second the recommendation for Darkness at noon. It seems eerily relevant. The imbeciles of media and college are endlessly shrieking about the imminent threat of Naziism but Stalinism seems, to me at least, the much greater threat.

The Mueller witch hunt appears Stalinist to me. All that's missing is the midnight bullet.

Ah what do I know?

Posted by: Northern Lurker, irritable, so very irritable. Have I mentioned I'm irritable? at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (JgA4k)

214 186 My advice to self-publishing authors is use a hard-copy to edit and then get a proof copy of the book and read that, too. It's funny how when you hold an actual book in your hand, those typos really stand out.

my buddy the logic professor used to read his books backwards when proofreading.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (0NzJ9)

215 now it's Amy Klobitcher
taking shots at Beta Born To Run

hmm could be fun

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (dm05u)

216 hemingway once said dorothy kilgallen was the best writer in america.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 10:43 AM (Pg+x7)

217 Lenin is like Fidel who was the bastard son of weyler man a d his Lebanese made, he wasnt really Russian he was chuvash which is a turkic subgroup, but he came from money his brother went all weatherman and got blown up like Ayers associates in the greenwhich village townhouse

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 17, 2019 10:43 AM (UvvFD)

218 177 That's an attractive library, but it looks flammable with all that wood.
Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:20 AM (sdi6R)
____

I noticed that. Godzilla will enjoy his visit.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:44 AM (VaN/j)

219 216
hemingway once said dorothy kilgallen was the best writer in america.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 10:43 AM (Pg+x7)
---
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that Hemingway never sent anyone running for a dictionary.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:44 AM (cfSRQ)

220 Like Ayers after him he discovered political action and propaganda was more effective. He benefited from kerensky misstep re kornilov as I mentioned last week

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 17, 2019 10:45 AM (UvvFD)

221 my buddy the logic professor used to read his books backwards when proofreading.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (0NzJ9)

---
Reading aloud helps, but I only do that for shorter pieces. Takes quite a while and the family finds it annoying.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:45 AM (cfSRQ)

222 I thought today's photo is a good example of a modern library that is esthetically pleasing rather than some brutalist nightmare.
Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Not about books but apropos, Mrs. Cop and I went to the Dayton Art Institute yesterday (they have a temporary loan of art from the National Academy). The 19th and early 20th C. paintings were stunning; we get to the room with the Modern "Art" and what a bunch of garbage. Obviously intentionally dehumanizing and grotesque, these poseurs attempt to obfuscate their lack of skill by making some [Leftist] political statement. Curiously, it was the only room with a place to sit -- apparently for other poseurs to pretend they see some merit in the inferior works of charlatans unfit to clean the paintbrushes of the giants that went before them.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 17, 2019 10:46 AM (5Yee7)

223 212 Regarding vermin-on-vermin violence, was watching some BBC animal thing. A fluffy bunny was out frolicking in a field and suddenly a weasel (or weasel-like critter) took him down like a cheetah bringing down a gazelle. Vicious! I had no idea they were such deadly hunters.

Bra-a-a-ave Sir Waesel!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 10:42 AM (kQs4Y)

Comment #112. We watch the same television.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:46 AM (fuK7c)

224 Well poo, I had a formatting error. Why can't we have a "Preview" function?

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 17, 2019 10:47 AM (5Yee7)

225 My local paper (commie) is looking to AOC for the okie-dokie on which donks to back for Alderpersons.

Good morning!

Posted by: Burger Chef at March 17, 2019 10:47 AM (RuIsu)

226 Italicans attack!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:48 AM (cfSRQ)

227 My library has "Liberty's Last Stand". Am I going to be put on a list for reading it?

Haha. No, of course not.

Posted by: Phil at the NSA, Bob has that stomach bug that's been going around at March 17, 2019 10:49 AM (qc+VF)

228 225 My local paper (commie) is looking to AOC for the okie-dokie on which donks to back for Alderpersons.

Any recommendations made by Loopy would be stupid. Why doesn't this trouble them?

Posted by: Northern Lurker, irritable, so very irritable. Have I mentioned I'm irritable? at March 17, 2019 10:50 AM (JgA4k)

229 Pipes who was Reagan's sebastian gorka properly described Lenin mo.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 17, 2019 10:51 AM (UvvFD)

230 My local paper (commie)

---------

Question: is that phrase untrue anywhere in America.

In my rural home county, there are fewer than twenty liberals, and every one works at our commie paper.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 10:52 AM (5aX2M)

231 This is book related so don't jump ugly with me book nerds.

It seems that Reuters had the information about Bob O'Rourke being in a teenage hacking group before his senate race with Cruz but agreed to sit on it until after the election. This author of this twitter thread took exception with that and then Tater jumped in to defend Reuters. His justification? It was all cool because the reporter wanted to save the information for a book he was writing.

Hilarity ensued. Some of the comments are moron worthy.

https://bit.ly/2TOg103

Posted by: JackStraw at March 17, 2019 10:52 AM (/tuJf)

232 I like spreading peanut butter on my ass and letting the dog lick it off....

Posted by: Kurt at March 17, 2019 10:52 AM (RUrvp)

233 On the decline in education, here's an example of how things used to be which always humbles me. It's the first sentence of the Prologue to the Summa:

Because the doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle: As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat -- 1 Cor. 3:1-2), we purpose in this book to treat of whatever belongs to the Christian religion, in such a way as may tend to the instruction of beginners.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:53 AM (VaN/j)

234 My favorite word I learned today is "firehawk". See the end of the EMT.

Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 10:55 AM (sdi6R)

235 Please don't troll the book thread. It's a happy fun place. There are troll-friendly threads.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:55 AM (fuK7c)

236 I have some of those cedar sake boxes.
Hard to drink from them due to the right angles.
Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at March 17, 2019 10:31 AM (w7KSn)

Drink at the right angles.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 10:55 AM (9X624)

237 that full screen view of the library (on a full sized screen) is impressive. thanks

Posted by: thrint in hiding at March 17, 2019 10:56 AM (1XtI9)

238 I picked up and finished The Fall of Northwall by Paul O Williams (the Illinois college professor, not the award winning songwriter)

It is a way-past-post apocalypse story, about the various societies that have emerged along the Mississippi and the plains after the cataclysm that destroyed the modern world, the "time of fire" and left North America almost completely depopulated.

Pelbar is a series of walled cities along the Heart (Mississippi) river, where the rulers are women, the population is very controlled and the entire society is based around the defense of the cities from the outside tribes.
The outside tribes are the Sentani, who travel the river seasonally, hunting, fishing and harvesting and transporting wild rice and other crops to their southern wintering grounds; and the Shumai who follow the migrating herds of wild cattle.

The Pelbar trade raw products with the Shumai and Sentani during truce fairs, and otherwise try not to engage them since they cannot afford the losses in battle.

The story is about Jestak, of Pelbar, who had been sent as part of an embassy to open trade with the Eastern seaboard cities, and was being punished for both failing and for being the only survivor.

Under threat of a raid into the Heart River area by another group, the Peshtak, who have developed cannon and are looking for slaves, Jestak becomes the pin in creating an alliance between the Pelbar, the Sentani and the Shumai.
(There is a lot of plotting around the elements of control, social organization, ruling, and leaders forgetting that ultimately they need the consent, or at least the support of the people they lead)

Very nice read, very well written. A bit sad since there is a feeling of great loss and of no support throughout, but a lot of joy also in running free.

Oh, and apparently Paul O Williams also wrote a book of Cat Haiku, and invented the term "Tontoism" for those who exclude articles (like A and The) from their Haiku to preserve the syllable count, and wind up sounding like the Lone Ranger's Indian sidekick.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 10:56 AM (mUa7G)

239 Please don't troll the book thread. It's a happy fun place. There are troll-friendly threads.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:55 AM (fuK7c)

At least try to be creative about it. That one was garbage haiku. Doesn't even fit the scheme.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 10:57 AM (t+qrx)

240 Please don't troll the book thread. It's a happy fun place. There are troll-friendly threads."

Yeah.

Calling Senator Juan a "dead horse" is beyond, man...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 17, 2019 10:57 AM (6qErC)

241 Another library with a pleasing internal layout is the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library. If you want to see what it's like on the inside, just check out the Bruce Willis movie "Red". Of course, it's masquerading as a New York library. Similarly, Spadina Ave is a stand in for NYC Chinatown, the Royal York is a Chicago hotel, and Nathan Phillips Square is a similar downtown Chicago location.

Posted by: MichiCanuck at March 17, 2019 10:58 AM (OxpGy)

242 that full screen view of the library (on a full sized screen) is impressive. thanks
Posted by: thrint in hiding at March 17, 2019 10:56 AM (1XtI9)

I love the little doorways on the lower floor that lead to collections behind the main room. What do they keep down there? Who knows!

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:00 AM (t+qrx)

243 Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 10:44 AM (cfSRQ)

I think Faulkner said that...

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 11:00 AM (wYseH)

244 Meagan McCain should worry less about PDT and more about her weight

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 17, 2019 11:01 AM (Y+V3r)

245 230. and the local commie rag is required to publish content delivered by their NWO commie masters. Philly's all news radio station has gone to shit. I tune in for local weather - which WAS their claim to fame. Instead treated to the incoherent douchebag Michael Smerconish talk show.

Posted by: kallisto at March 17, 2019 11:01 AM (b0Mq7)

246 Is it a rule that trolls must use a single name?

Posted by: Northern Lurker, irritable, so very irritable. Have I mentioned I'm irritable? at March 17, 2019 11:02 AM (JgA4k)

247 Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 10:55 AM (fuK7c)

Oh ye of little faith.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 11:02 AM (wYseH)

248 Drink from the right angles.
If only I had triangular shaped lips...

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at March 17, 2019 11:02 AM (w7KSn)

249 re: library organization, MSU alumni will remember:

http://tinyurl.com/y2gb5mvq

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:04 AM (t+qrx)

250 224 Well poo, I had a formatting error. Why can't we have a "Preview" function?

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 17, 2019 10:47 AM (5Yee7)

Fixed. You're welcome.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:04 AM (gNAIY)

251 Oh ye of little faith.

I didn't know anyone with the Power of Smiting was paying attention.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 11:05 AM (fuK7c)

252 Are there any Harry Crews fans here? He should be a Horde fave imo. I'm reading Blood and Grits, a collection of essays that were originally in Esquire and Playboy way back when. At least a couple of them are about his adventures hiking the Appalachian trail with two other uniquely interesting people. In this one, they're off the trail drinking beer in some shack when this crazed attorney approaches them and wants to show them a place where something happened to make him lose his mind. He takes them to a railroad bed while narrating about how the circus came to town with an elephant, Alice, which was usually gentle and everyone liked. One day, for whatever reason, Alice snapped, grabbed a little girl with her trunk, threw her on the ground and stomped on her before going back to eating and minding her business. The town knew they had to do something. They didn't have a rifle large enough to guarantee a clean kill so that was out. So they took her to the tracks where there was a derrick they used for track repairs. I used to work summers for the B&O and those suckers can lift a 200 ton engine that's derailed with no problem. So they put a logging chain around Alice's neck and hung her until she croaked.

The cruelty and barbarity of that small vignette of a much larger (and equally strange) story has stayed with me for weeks. But it also raises the question "what were they supposed to do?" It also brings to mind the much more civilized Sea World where occasionally there are stories about the "tame" orcas turning on their trainers. Wild animals, even the more intelligent ones, are still wild and prone to do things that aren't human centric. Dogs and cats like people and choose to live with them; wolves and bobcats not so much.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:06 AM (y7DUB)

253 Proofreading trick: do your final proofing pass starting on the LAST page working forward. This helps for two reasons:

First, you probably miss more things as you get tired and bored, so there will be more uncorrected errors at the end of the manuscript.

Second, you won't start reading the story and forget to proofread.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 17, 2019 11:07 AM (RN1kr)

254 A great way to proofread for spelling is to read the book from back to front.

Posted by: SnailRacer at March 17, 2019 11:09 AM (pcHrT)

255 Just dusted off the Clannad LPs. First up - Dulaman

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:10 AM (Pqytn)

256 Go braless!

That has to have been said by now.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 17, 2019 11:11 AM (9oE3U)

257 A good day for listening to the Pogues.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:11 AM (y7DUB)

258 Way late to the thread, as usual, but thanks for pimping Hartington Abroad! Today's writing related task is to look over the third book so I can publish it in the next few weeks.

Posted by: right wing yankee at March 17, 2019 11:12 AM (zlzYb)

259
Well, unless your books are made of metal, just about any library is going to be pretty flammable.

Posted by: No One of Consequence

It's not the only option, you know.

Posted by: Moses at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (T6t7i)

260 So I subscribed to Amazon Unlimited Music a while back, maybe 3 months ago.
Now I get emails from them saying I need to listen to newer music. You know, the music where they play on all the white keys of the piano and sing using auto tune with a tessitura of about a fifth or a sixth.
Screw you, I paid my money I'll listen to what I want.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (w7KSn)

261 Go braless!

That has to have been said by now.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob

Dude.

Posted by: Comment #20 at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (fuK7c)

262 Btw. I take the COBS for granted and shouldnt. OM you bring it all the time and its very much appreciated.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (9oE3U)

263 A good day for listening to the Pogues.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:11 AM (y7DUB)

*checks collection*
*cues up The Tossers*

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (t+qrx)

264 249
re: library organization, MSU alumni will remember:

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:04 AM (t+qrx)

---
Oh yeah. In my day they were just starting to phase in Magic and get rid of the card catalog. They still had them set up, but new books weren't being added.

I remember using microfilm to look up old periodicals.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:14 AM (cfSRQ)

265 252
Dogs and cats like people and choose to live with them
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:06 AM (y7DUB)

Cats tolerate people. I sort of suspect that when cats sleep, they are dreaming about getting revenge on their human captors.

Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 11:14 AM (sdi6R)

266 A good day for listening to the Pogues.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:11 AM (y7DUB)

*checks collection*
*cues up The Tossers*
Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (t+qrx)

The Business and Sham 69 over here.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:15 AM (5aX2M)

267
I think Faulkner said that...

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 11:00 AM (wYseH)

---
Either way, it's true.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:15 AM (cfSRQ)

268 Dude.

Posted by: Comment #20 at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (fuK7c)

Lol!!! Well then...yay! Everyone's Irish!

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 17, 2019 11:15 AM (9oE3U)

269 237 that full screen view of the library (on a full sized screen) is impressive. thanks

I was wondering how come such a beautiful place only had one person using it. Then I found another person. I finally found a total of six!

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at March 17, 2019 11:16 AM (QjYYR)

270 A good day for listening to the Pogues.

I sometimes post "Thousands are Sailing" on St. Pat's. It's the quintessential Irish immigrant song.

In fact:

https://youtu.be/PSYkKpii1kc

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 17, 2019 11:16 AM (fuK7c)

271 232 I like spreading peanut butter on my ass and letting the dog lick it off....
Posted by: Kurt at March 17, 2019 10:52 AM (RUrvp)

See, that's some first-class troll-busting right there. Much better than I can do. The only insult I can think of is 'I like to gargle with horse semen' but that's only because I stole it from another cob.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:16 AM (gNAIY)

272 Re CW alternate histories, there are some good ones over at the Alternate History Forum that are premised on what if certain generals had not been killed, or had been switched to different commands. The final outcome of the war doesn't change but there are some significant ripple effects.

There are at least two timelines on AHF that speculate on what would have happened if Union Gen. Nathaniel Lyon -- the first Union general to die in battle, at Wilson's Creek, MO, on Aug. 10, 1861 -- had survived the battle or had been posted elsewhere. Lyon gets hardly any mention in most Civil War histories, as does the battle in which he died (which I had never heard of until about 5 years ago, even though it was comparable in scale to Bull Run/Manassas). Yet the ripple effects from him either not getting killed or not being there in the first place are significant; he was, after all, largely responsible for keeping MO out of the Confederacy, albeit by some very heavy-handed tactics that didn't exactly win the hearts and minds of the people. In any event, that would be an example of "the North still wins but in a different way" kind of scenario.

Posted by: Secret Square at March 17, 2019 11:16 AM (9WuX0)

273 266 A good day for listening to the Pogues.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:11 AM (y7DUB)
*checks collection*

*cues up The Tossers*
Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:13 AM (t+qrx)

The Business and Sham 69 over here.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:15 AM (5aX2M)

No love for the Cranberries?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (gNAIY)

274 Welp, I have completed the rearrangement of my library, and shelved all of the loose books on top of properly shelved ones, and reestablished a bit of chronology / topic area order. This is very pleasing to me.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (T6t7i)

275 Oh yeah. In my day they were just starting to phase in Magic and get rid of the card catalog. They still had them set up, but new books weren't being added.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:14 AM (cfSRQ)

The Fine Arts library on the 4th floor East was the last one that still had a physical card catalog, last I checked.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (t+qrx)

276 So I never took a typing purse which is one of my life's regrets so I typr lie a retarded monkey with broken fingers. Somehow I write and write.

Question, is there anyone her that uses a speeech to text? If so which one? Thanks.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 17, 2019 11:20 AM (9oE3U)

277 Are there any Harry Crews fans here? He should be a Horde fave imo...

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:06 AM (y7DUB)

Love Harry Crews.

We may have discussed this here before.

I'm more of a fan of his early work. He sort of reminds me of Flannery O'Conner if she was male, godless, and just plain meaner. Similar sense of humor though.

Most of his novels are hard to find outside of collections of his stuff.

Try (to find):

Karate is a Thing of the Spirit
The Gypsy's Curse ( a fave)
Car
A Feast of Snakes (another fave)

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 11:20 AM (9X624)

278 Is it a rule that trolls must use a single name?

More of a guideline than an actual rule.

Posted by: The Troll Code at March 17, 2019 11:20 AM (qc+VF)

279 274 Welp, I have completed the rearrangement of my library, and shelved all of the loose books on top of properly shelved ones, and reestablished a bit of chronology / topic area order. This is very pleasing to me.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (T6t7i)

Heh. Pics or it didn't happen.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:20 AM (gNAIY)

280 Meagan McCain should worry less about PDT and more about her weight
==========================
Absolutely. She's blowing up like a tic. Maybe a side effect of RiNO disease.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 17, 2019 11:21 AM (ty7RM)

281 My wife is doing that Japanese house cleaning thing and I'm being dragooned into helping.

I generally and pretty ruthless in managing my collections, though, so there's not much to do.

But one area I'm working on is thinning my library. Over the past few years I've noticed that a lot of my books on military equipment and firearms are pretty much garbage.

Yeah, they have pictures and technical data, but the narrative descriptions are ignorant nonsense. You know, the usual stuff about how German tanks were the bestest, most perfect vehicles ever, it took 5 Shermans to kill a Panther, etc. when in fact they had lots of issues.

Same with firearms. Maybe it's because some of the books come from the 70s and 80s, but the way they are written, I wonder if the authors ever actually fired a gun. Given that a number of them are English, I think that may be the case.

Anyway, it's one area where I feel fine about making space. These books are supposed to be for reference and since they're failing, I have no qualms about getting rid of them and making room for better stuff.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)

282 No love for the Cranberries?
==================
"Dreams" and "Linger" are on the store's proprietary satellite feed. I've heard those two songs hundreds of times.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:21 AM (Pqytn)

283 No love for the Cranberries?
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (gNAIY)

-------

LOL. I heard Dolores on the radio yesterday and I missed her.

But today's a "Generation No Mercy For You" kinda Sunday.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:22 AM (5aX2M)

284 Heh. Pics or it didn't happen.

Careful, I just might do it.

Posted by: pep at March 17, 2019 11:22 AM (T6t7i)

285 Cats tolerate people. I sort of suspect that when cats sleep, they are dreaming about getting revenge on their human captors.
Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 11:14 AM (sdi6R)

Sailor knows better than to fuck with me because I've sent him flying when he's just moderately pissed me off. He'll sometimes claw Mrs. H out of pure spite because she won't fire back in an appropriate manner. Sailor will still want to cuddle when I'm up reading and/or listening to music so it's not like he hates me.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:23 AM (y7DUB)

286 Daniel Pipes wrote a nifty little book called "Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From". JFK, the CIA hooking ghetto denizens on crack/ infecting them with AIDS, the Jooooos, etc.

He makes the point over and over that the very real and obvious machinations and baldly stated goals of the Communists and Fascists were given little credence but all sorts of complicated baroque plots are ascribed to the usual scapegoats.

"Right and Left engage in similar forms of conspiracism because they share much with each other -- a temperament of hatred, a tendency toward violence, a suspiciousness that encourages conspiracism -- and little with the political center."

Any time Pipes was on C-SPAN or Katrina van den Heuvel's blabfest, the nuts came out.

(Also, per Wiki: In the 2016 presidential election, vanden Heuvel praised Senator Bernie Sanders as "the realist we should elect")

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 11:23 AM (kQs4Y)

287 Cannibal Bob,
I can't type by touch either.... yay us!

Posted by: lin-duh at March 17, 2019 11:23 AM (UUBmN)

288 No love for the Cranberries?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:17 AM (gNAIY)

---
Ah, one of the musical highlights of the 90s.

Love the video for "Zombie."

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:24 AM (cfSRQ)

289 But one area I'm working on is thinning my library.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)

I do not understand these words.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:25 AM (gNAIY)

290 "I have too many books.
Said no one ever."

Actually, my wife has been pushing this. She's got a point; we've reached the level where we cannot find anything.

But her "willing to discard" pile just dwarfs mine. Partly because she reads a lot of recent fiction, and I don't.

But also because I am a natural packrat, got that from my father. A few years ago there was a show (or maybe more than one) about "hoarders". I wanted to give the other side: "Say Yes to the Mess."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:26 AM (VaN/j)

291 I do not understand these words.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:25 AM (gNAIY)

---
Well, if I get rid of useless, inaccurate books, that makes more room for useful, informative ones.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:27 AM (cfSRQ)

292 Okay...I admit it...I like those pants! I would wear them in the backyard while grilling and drinking beer.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 11:27 AM (wYseH)

293 Ah, one of the musical highlights of the 90s.
Love the video for "Zombie."
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:24 AM (cfSRQ)

Yes. Also, 'The Icicle Melts'. It's about that little boy who was murdered by those teen-aged psychopaths in an abandoned train tunnel in London, but the way it's written, it sounds very much like a pro-life, anti-abortion song.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:28 AM (gNAIY)

294 I've been reading Death In Londinium by John Drake. A former Greek aristocrat and soldier, now reduced to slavery in Roman Britain, drowns his guilt and sorrow in wine and intellectual challenges. His guilt arises from his failure to commit suicide after killing his family that they might avoid slavery. His wealthy owner is murdered, apparently by his barber/slave which invokes the Roman law that all of a victim's slaves must die if any of them kill their master. If he is to save his 400 fellow slaves, he must find the murderer and it must not be a slave.

I'm quite enjoying this (although I have noticed several typos which, as mentioned above, is a feature of contemporary publishing). And I learned something. I knew that the Romans did not use soap and I thought that was because soap was not known. So when our hero uses soap I thought it was an anachronism. So I looked it up. Soap existed long before the Romans; they just preferred oils and strigiles.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 11:29 AM (+y/Ru)

295 Well, if I get rid of useless, inaccurate books, that makes more room for useful, informative ones.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:27 AM (cfSRQ)

( *thinks* )

OK, I'll allow it.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 11:29 AM (gNAIY)

296 the reason there are bumps on the f and j keys on a typewriter keyboard is so that a typist can locate one's hands on the keyboard without looking.

i type with 2 fingers so it doesn't matter.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 11:29 AM (Pg+x7)

297 Try (to find):

Karate is a Thing of the Spirit
The Gypsy's Curse ( a fave)
Car
A Feast of Snakes (another fave)
Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 11:20 AM (9X624)

A Feast of Snakes is just flat out incredible. All We Need of Hell is almost as good; it was my intro to him. The Knockout Artist might be too weird for me plus there's one about body building too. I'll check out what you recommend in time.

Crews has an incredible range of appeal because lots of my lib friends dote on his every word. You're probably right that we've discussed him before.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:30 AM (y7DUB)

298 Cats tolerate people. I sort of suspect that when cats sleep, they are dreaming about getting revenge on their human captors.

Posted by: rickl at March 17, 2019 11:14 AM (sdi6R)

---
Our cats are extremely needy. The elder one expects breakfast at the same time every day and will bang on the bedroom door if it's late. On weekends I'll add an extra scoop to they'll let me sleep in.

And when they need petting or a warm place to sit, the keyboard seems to be a magnet to them.

Not very combative at all.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:30 AM (cfSRQ)

299 Is it a rule that trolls must use a single name?
Posted by: Northern Lurker, irritable, so very irritable. Have I mentioned I'm irritable? at March 17, 2019 11:02 AM (JgA4k)

Ummmmmmmmm....Yes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 17, 2019 11:31 AM (Z+IKu)

300 One of the problems with thinning out my books is having multiple translations. Homer is a good example. When the time comes I will probably just stay with the Fagles versions since I have them in hardcover and on CDs. But I'm always wondering if I'm missing something important by not keeping all of them. SIGH!

The same can be said for the Aeneid, Arabian Nights, classic Greek philosophers, even Jules Verne. A lot of 'standard' translations of Verne are crap (see Disney) but some careful, well researched versions have come out in the last decade or so. It is worth finding these editions.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 11:33 AM (bmdz3)

301 But her "willing to discard" pile just dwarfs mine. Partly because she reads a lot of recent fiction, and I don't.

But also because I am a natural packrat, got that from my father. A
few years ago there was a show (or maybe more than one) about
"hoarders". I wanted to give the other side: "Say Yes to the Mess."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:26 AM (VaN/j)

---
I think one of the reasons my parents divorced is that my dad is a tremendous collector of books whereas my mother was all about the library or cheap paperbacks.

When I was in high school, I realized that her romance novels were worth 50 cents apiece on the used book market, so we set up a brown paper back and when it got full, I'd take it to the store, sell what I could and use the proceeds to buy used books for me.

I try to keep my collection limited, choosing books with care and discernment, partly because I've seen what happens when you don't.

I despair about cleaning out my dad's house when he dies. Full basement, stacked floor to ceiling with books and vinyl LPs. That's on top of his "library" and the bookcases throughout the house.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:35 AM (cfSRQ)

302 Harry Harrison wrote a trilogy about an alternate history of the Civil war. The first book is The Stars and Stripes Forever that hinged on a couple of timely incidents, one of them being the head of the army procurement who determined that the only correct firearm was the rifled musket, and the death of Queen Victoria's husband Albert, which freed Victoria to send troops in invade on behalf of the South.

Who then made an error in navigation and invaded a Southern garrison and port, giving the Confederates and the Union governments a reason to stop fighting and start fighting the British

It was entertaining when I read it, may need to read it again.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 11:36 AM (mUa7G)

303 281 My wife is doing that Japanese house cleaning thing and I'm being dragooned into helping.

....

Over the past few years I've noticed that a lot of my books on military equipment and firearms are pretty much garbage.

Yeah, they have pictures and technical data, but the narrative descriptions are ignorant nonsense. You know, the usual stuff about how German tanks were the bestest, most perfect vehicles ever, it took 5 Shermans to kill a Panther, etc. when in fact they had lots of issues.

....

Anyway, it's one area where I feel fine about making space. These books are supposed to be for reference and since they're failing, I have no qualms about getting rid of them and making room for better stuff.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)
______

Yes. There's a letter by C S Lewis (I think to Warnie) in which he says that the longer one studies something, the more one notices that most new books that come out on it are worthless. Either too elementary for where you are (at best) or pure garbage (at worst.)

I've certainly found that true of naval history.

Also, though I'm less well read on land war, I know what you mean about Sherman/Panther. It's a survival of the dominant view of the 60s when I started on the subject. Germans could do anything. I even saw the claim that Bismarck could take more damage than Yamato. Really.

Then in the 70s that changed, at least about warships. But in pop history, it's a burr stuck in writers' minds, and won't go away.

Of course, this happens in all history; the classic case is the Flat Earth. A friend once point out to me that, though it has a bad name, "revisionist history" can be very valuable. The key to whether it is, is whether it is just the iconoclast or "bloody idiots" variety, so beloved of popular authors, or whether it reconstructs the actual reasons for why people acted as they did. The latter is what you want.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:37 AM (VaN/j)

304 More Stalinism. Greenpeace cofounder Patrick Moore has been unpersoned by Google for noticing that Donkey Chompers is a twit and that her green new deal is a fraud.

https://bit.ly/2Y2jmI6

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 11:37 AM (+y/Ru)

305 He makes the point over and over that the very real and obvious machinations and baldly stated goals of the Communists and Fascists were given little credence but all sorts of complicated baroque plots are ascribed to the usual scapegoats.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 11:23 AM (kQs4Y)

I went to a presentation once - Oleg Kalugin, maybe? - in 1999 at the Kellogg Center and he said something similar. I wish I'd been paying more attention, but I didn't realize who he was at the time.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 17, 2019 11:37 AM (t+qrx)

306 All We Need of Hell is almost as good; it was my intro to him.
========================
I haven't read it. Is the rest of the poem referenced?

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:39 AM (Pqytn)

307 300 One of the problems with thinning out my books is having multiple translations. Homer is a good example. When the time comes I will probably just stay with the Fagles versions since I have them in hardcover and on CDs. But I'm always wondering if I'm missing something important by not keeping all of them. SIGH!

The same can be said for the Aeneid, Arabian Nights, classic Greek philosophers, even Jules Verne. A lot of 'standard' translations of Verne are crap (see Disney) but some careful, well researched versions have come out in the last decade or so. It is worth finding these editions.
Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 11:33 AM (bmdz3)
______

I remember one of my professors in a seminar on Plato (in which no particular book was assigned; he just assumed we'd have them all), he blurted out "You can't trust Jowett."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:40 AM (VaN/j)

308 Posted by: Secret Square at March 17, 2019 11:16 AM (9WuX0)

Good info, I will check him out.

Texans wonder what would have happened if A.S. Johnson had checked on his boot full of blood.

And
the real biggie, what if Joe Johnston wasn't injured and replaced by
the military advisor General Lee? An argument can be made, that in the
end, it was Lee himsel, through his victories, that brought on the total war, and Emancipation
as a US strategic goal Hell, you could say the South brought this whole thing on just by seceding. And there is some truth to that.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:40 AM (n13/j)

309 Hell, you could say the South brought this whole thing on just by seceding. And there is some truth to that.

==================
"some"?

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:44 AM (Pqytn)

310
I despair about cleaning out my dad's house when he dies. Full basement, stacked floor to ceiling with books and vinyl LPs. That's on top of his "library" and the bookcases throughout

I finally got the rolltop desk cleaned out yesterday. Book shelves are next in that room. I think most of those books will stay. Classic history books.

Posted by: Infidel at March 17, 2019 11:45 AM (9L2du)

311 Man, every time I listen to "No Mercy For You," the album time warps me back to being 18. I just wanna shave my head, lace up some cleats and go kill somebody on a rugby pitch.

Then I remember I'm middle aged now, and they'd kill me.

*sigh*

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:45 AM (5aX2M)

312 302 The first book is The Stars and Stripes Forever that hinged on a couple
of timely incidents, one of them being the head of the army procurement
who determined that the only correct firearm was the rifled musket--------
That one is not far fetched. A union armorer/administrator did shun the repeating rifle early in the war. He had his reasons and they could have been correct. I think he wondered about being able to provide enough ammo, training, and mass production of the new arms. Whether he was right or wrong is way above my pay grade.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:45 AM (n13/j)

313 Also, though I'm less well read on land war, I know
what you mean about Sherman/Panther. It's a survival of the dominant
view of the 60s when I started on the subject. Germans could do
anything. I even saw the claim that Bismarck could take more damage
than Yamato. Really.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:37 AM (VaN/j)

---
I think that part of that came from veterans who were doing what combat troops often do: wish they had better stuff.

If you have to try to knock out a Panther, you recognize that its armor is really, really tough and their gun is very powerful. And you can get lots of veterans to say that on the record. So it becomes received wisdom that the Panther was better than the Sherman.

But if you talk to the Germans, they will tell you that Panthers broke down all the time, were hell to maintain and burned through fuel and spare parts. What THEY really wanted was a tank that ran like a Sherman and was easy to maintain.

There are some good revised looks at this and how the Sherman got such a bad name.

I'm sure some of the naval warfare nonsense comes from wargaming. Most tactical wargames have German tanks absolutely dominant.

My friends still joke that anyone who's ever played micro-armor knows Germany won WW II easily.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:46 AM (cfSRQ)

314 I wanted to give the other side: "Say Yes to the Mess."
Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 11:26 AM (VaN/j)
---
I can be the hostess! Who wants to be my even bitchier co-host?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 11:46 AM (kQs4Y)

315 I use to get newspaper at least on Sunday, if something big ( sports mostly)during week but years ago gave up funding Communists.

Posted by: Skip at March 17, 2019 11:46 AM (BbGew)

316 "now look, oddball, the trade for the uniforms i can understand. but to buy this tank you've got to be crazy.

it's a beautiful tank!

it's a piece of junk. the fuel system leaks all over the place.

always with the negative waves, mortarty. always with the negative waves.

crap!"

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (Pg+x7)

317 All We Need of Hell is almost as good; it was my intro to him.
========================
I haven't read it. Is the rest of the poem referenced?
Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:39 AM (Pqytn)

Not sure, it may have come out before the poem.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (y7DUB)

318 as a US strategic goal Hell, you could say the South
brought this whole thing on just by seceding. And there is some truth
to that.
Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:40 AM (n13/j)

This is true, however it has been pointed out by people more knowledgeable than me, Kevin Gutzman for one, that one of the standard texts at West Point at the time pointed out that secession was a valid and legal position

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (mUa7G)

319 "some"?

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:44 AM (Pqytn)

---
Clearly you've never heard of The War of Northern Aggression.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:48 AM (cfSRQ)

320 311
Man, every time I listen to "No Mercy For You," the album time warps me
back to being 18. I just wanna shave my head, lace up some cleats and go
kill somebody on a rugby pitch.

Then I remember I'm middle aged now, and they'd kill me.

*sigh*

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:45 AM (5aX2M)

---
Have you seen the soyboys of today? You could take them easily.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:49 AM (cfSRQ)

321 Hell, you could say the South brought this whole thing on just by seceding. And there is some truth to that.

==================
"some"?

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:44 AM (Pqytn)

heh, it is the 2019 thing, even I get infected by the mealy mouth disease sometimes. What I mean is they brought on the the demise of slavery, of their entire system.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:50 AM (n13/j)

322 I'm not going to thin my books -- that's size-ist book shaming! -- but I will take a time-out to put them back on their shelves.

Later book fags!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 17, 2019 11:52 AM (kQs4Y)

323 The M4-Panther-M26 dynamic remains fascinating. One factor that apparently prevented earlier production of the M26 was the logistical equation of shipping the much heavier M26 via rail to the ports. Fewer M26s per flat car compared to the Shermans. And then limited facilities at the ports for loading the M26s aboard the freighters. And then something like 1.5 Shermans per M26 weight and dimensional differences. And then the same limitations from the UK to France. And then fewer bridges on the continent that could carry a column of M26s. Not to mention adjustments needed by the CEs to carry M26s on pontoon bridges. Pretty complicated stuff until the Battle of the North Atlantic was won and the actual need for the M26 was recognized and worth immediate production.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:53 AM (Pqytn)

324 New York Times reporter Julie Hirschfeld Davis noted on CNN that many Democrats are already "fed up" with Democrat Beto O'Rourke only a few days into his campaign.

-
Buncha Johnnie Come Latelies!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 11:55 AM (+y/Ru)

325 Greetings:

In recognition of Women's History Month, I read "Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men" by Harald Schechter. Somewhat interestingly, Harald has a wife and two (count 'em) daughters who obviously didn't come up with that subtitle.

In recognition of a bit of my personal history, today's reading includes "God, War, and Providence" by James A. Warren. It's about Roger Williams' establishment of the colony and how the Puritans tried to disestablish it again and again.

While "Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations" is certainly a mouthful of proper name, it will always be "Little Rhody" to me.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 17, 2019 11:55 AM (evgyj)

326 Found a new sea novel series I'd never heard of by John Drake. The Fletcher series is about a young magistrate's apprentice who is taken in the press gang despite having immunity by nature of his work. Why? Well not only did press gangs sometimes do that, but also he has very vicious and powerful enemies he's not even aware of. Turns out he's the bastard of a very VERY rich and powerful noble who disowned his other family for excessive perversion and filthy behavior. And they are trying to keep him from inheriting by making him vanish.

I'm only halfway through book one but it reads something like the Lord Flashman books mixed with Horatio Hornblower.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 11:56 AM (39g3+)

327
I despair about cleaning out my dad's house when he dies. Full basement, stacked floor to ceiling with books and vinyl LPs. That's on top of his "library" and the bookcases throughout the house.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:35 AM

I had the nightmare experience of cleaning out my wife's parents house. She and other family members who had hoarding and indecision tendencies themselves. What could have taken a couple of weekends turned into a nine month long ordeal of lost weekends.

If I could offer any advice to others in the matter, I would. I don't know how it got so terribly wrong but it did. It was like people couldn't let go of anything. People couldn't divide anything. All decisions got kicked down the road until the 'next time', again and again.

The only good to come out of it was my wife let go of a ton of stuff she had hoarded herself over the years, vowing not to 'want to do that to my children'. I think reminding her that on the day of our marriage I picked up her single solitary suitcase and we drove away, but now it would take two tractor trailers to take away her accumulated possessions. She reacted like a cold slap to the face when she realized I was right.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 17, 2019 11:57 AM (jYje5)

328 Have you seen the soyboys of today? You could take them easily.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:49 AM (cfSR

------

I don't know... youth rugby is a traditionally soy-free zone. I'm pretty sure the boys still grind human bones to make their bread.

I'm now a slightly pudgy old guy with numerous old injuries.

I don't think I'd fare well, hahaha.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 11:57 AM (5aX2M)

329 This is true, however it has been pointed out by
people more knowledgeable than me, Kevin Gutzman for one, that one of
the standard texts at West Point at the time pointed out that secession
was a valid and legal position

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (mUa7G)

Like you, I learned from those more knowledgeable than I. I guess that is what learning is about. The historians I follow agree with what you said. G. Gallagher being one of the most influential. They say that secession was decided on the battlefield and then later ratified by the courts, after the fact.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:58 AM (n13/j)

330 I'm sure some of the naval warfare nonsense comes from wargaming. Most tactical wargames have German tanks absolutely dominant.

They were tougher and hit harder than US tanks, but had serious flaws and the Soviet tanks were much better overall.

Another book I'm reading right now is Ice Station Zebra, which I was hesitant to try because the film was not that great. But the book is really good and fairly short. And you can almost never go wrong with an Alistair MacLean book. Sometimes they are a bit dated, but they're always well written.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 11:59 AM (39g3+)

331 This week I finished two books: Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours, the selection for my IRL book club for March. It was a decent book, based on the story of the Tennessee Children's Home scandal. Rich people buying babies stolen from poor people. Well, I guess the more things change the more they stay the same......

Also read a short novel called Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell. Recommended to me by a friend, it is a fable about a deal with the devil and its consequences. It was good Lenten reading and well done.

Posted by: SummaMamaT at March 17, 2019 12:00 PM (FowyX)

332 The M4-Panther-M26 dynamic remains fascinating. One
factor that apparently prevented earlier production of the M26 was the
logistical equation of shipping the much heavier M26 via rail to the
ports. Fewer M26s per flat car compared to the Shermans. And then
limited facilities at the ports for loading the M26s aboard the
freighters. And then something like 1.5 Shermans per M26 weight and
dimensional differences. And then the same limitations from the UK to
France. And then fewer bridges on the continent that could carry a
column of M26s. Not to mention adjustments needed by the CEs to carry
M26s on pontoon bridges. Pretty complicated stuff until the Battle of
the North Atlantic was won and the actual need for the M26 was
recognized and worth immediate production.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:53 AM (Pqytn)

---
Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.

You could argue that the British had more freedom to experiment with tank design because their supply line was so short.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:00 PM (cfSRQ)

333 313
My friends still joke that anyone who's ever played micro-armor knows Germany won WW II easily.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 11:46 AM (cfSRQ)
____

In N A M Rodger's Command of the Ocean, he refers to the common claim of the superiority of French and Spanish ships. As he says, this is essentially an explanation of how France and Spain won the naval wars of the 18th and early 19th Cs. But unfortunately, this is not what we have to explain.

Yes, I used to play board wargames. (Never had the money or space for miniatures.) Avalon Hill was often the worst. (GDW was the best; low on playability, it's true, but works of art at their best.)

When computer games came out, that continued. I actually saw one in which a 1914 German light cruiser was the heavy favorite against a British armored cruiser. Really. Spee's squadron at the Falklands was much better than Sturdee's.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 12:01 PM (VaN/j)

334
This is true, however it has been pointed out by

people more knowledgeable than me, Kevin Gutzman for one, that one of

the standard texts at West Point at the time pointed out that secession

was a valid and legal position

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (mUa7G)

===============================
I think that case case was heard in the Court of Artillery And Musketry.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 12:01 PM (Pqytn)

335 Thanks for this weekly thread, OM. I've gotten more useful reading recs than any other source.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 12:01 PM (y7DUB)

336 I had the nightmare experience of cleaning out my wife's parents house.

George Carlin has a bit about that: we move to bigger houses so we have a place to put all our stuff. You don't even have to be a hoarder to pile up things over the years as you get older, and eventually unless you are in a very large house, it starts to get full of stuff. Mom tries really hard to cut back on the things in her house, but much of it she has no where to put.

She's giving things away like crafting supplies she sadly no longer has the strength and energy to continue, but its still pretty full. I stop giving gifts of things to people past a certain age, because the last thing anyone needs at 80 is another nick knack to put on a shelf.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:02 PM (39g3+)

337 John Drake. The Fletcher series

-
Same author as I mentioned above in 294.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 17, 2019 12:03 PM (+y/Ru)

338 i thought the delay in production of the heavy tank was the obstinate objection of gen. macnair.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 12:04 PM (Pg+x7)

339 I don't know... youth rugby is a traditionally soy-free zone. I'm pretty sure the boys still grind human bones to make their bread.

I'm now a slightly pudgy old guy with numerous old injuries.

I don't think I'd fare well, hahaha."

I have a seven year old grandson that I greatly enjoy taking places - but it shames me to realize that he already runs faster than I can anymore. If we do "chase" games, I gotta make sure we do it in a confined space where I can cut him off. Open ground? fuggadeboudit.

on the bright side, he really is a fast little bugger.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 17, 2019 12:05 PM (V2Yro)

340 Same author as I mentioned above in 294.

Yeah I guess that's his most current series, and once I finish with the Fletcher books (which are super cheap right now on Amazon for ebook) I'll look into those. Always nice to discover a new author

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:05 PM (39g3+)

341 I'm a SF'r myself...

John Ringo
David Webster
Aaannnndd, sometimers strikes again......

Posted by: MarcusZ1967 at March 17, 2019 12:05 PM (PWL8Y)

342 321 Hell, you could say the South brought this whole thing on just by seceding. And there is some truth to that.
==================

"some"?
Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 11:44 AM (Pqytn)

...and that's when the fight started, Officer.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 12:06 PM (gNAIY)

343 Also, rugby is the only sport where if you're performing at a high level, you can't really lose...

If they humiliate you on the pitch, you track them down several hours later when they're drunk and you beat them up in front of their girls and steal their beer.

It's closer to gang warfare than a sport.

Maybe ghetto basketball is close.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 17, 2019 12:06 PM (5aX2M)

344 Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 11:47 AM (mUa7G)

Like
you, I learned from those more knowledgeable than I. I guess that is
what learning is about. The historians I follow agree with what you
said. G. Gallagher being one of the most influential. They say that
secession was decided on the battlefield and then later ratified by the
courts, after the fact.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 11:58 AM (n13/j)

---
There was a lot of hostility towards West Point because of the disloyalty of its graduates.

Contemporaries also noted that enlisted men put up with considerable hardship in order to get back to US territory during the secession crisis. Most of the Army was in Texas and they had a heck of time getting out. But despite that, the enlisted men stayed loyal and made it back.

Deserting to the enemy while leaving your troops far from home was not a good look.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:06 PM (cfSRQ)

345 he really is a fast little bugger.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 17, 2019 12:05 PM (V2Yro)

You just have to lead him a bit more...

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 17, 2019 12:07 PM (wYseH)

346 Looking forward to some salt hake cakes for lunch, and then to cut up windfalls. Life can be good when you shut off all the noise.

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at March 17, 2019 12:07 PM (smQOA)

347 And my mistake, the bad guys in the Breaking of Northwall by Paul O Williams are the Tantal, not the Peshtak.

Peshtak are another group.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 17, 2019 12:08 PM (mUa7G)

348 ... macnair insisted that everyone knew the sherman was the best tank on the battlefield, even the german's.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 12:09 PM (Pg+x7)

349 Looking forward to some salt hake cakes for lunch

Are those related to hate shakes?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:10 PM (39g3+)

350 borrowing Death in Londinium now on KU, thanks for the rec, Anonosaurus Wrecks

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 17, 2019 12:10 PM (dm05u)

351 Clannad 2 is up.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 12:11 PM (Pqytn)

352 One of the big lies of the publishing industry is that it's filled with skilled editors and proof-readers. Nope. Can't tell you how many times I've read a book published in the last 30 years with obvious typos, incorrect word usage (not talking about deliberate incorrectness from the author), lack of continuity with previous books in a series due to sloppiness etc.

And it's across the board, from the big publishers down to the smaller ones. It seems to be worse with the rise of e-books.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 17, 2019 09:50 AM (eXA4G)

Oh yes. Upthread someone mentioned the James Blish "Star Trek" books, including the very first Star Trek novel, written by Blish, "Spock Must Die". I had all those books also, and noticed a rather glaring error in Spock Must Die, in that Blish had Kirk referring to McCoy as "Doc", rather than "Bones".

Clearly I was not the only person to notice that, and it seems Blish got a boatload of letters from other readers about this. He put in the forward of one of his later ST anthologies that he was aware of the mistake and would certainly have never made such an error, but that "a book passes through a lot of editorial hands before it gets to the printer" and it was those editors who had made that rather ham-handed change in the novel.

Posted by: The Oort Cloud - Source of all SMODs at March 17, 2019 12:12 PM (p0pYQ)

353 Since it's Lent, I'm trying to read serious stuff. But every year, Aquinas gets tougher, and I turn to CSL and GKC earlier. That's a bit dispriting.

On the bright side, I now have Knox's NT, so the accursed NAB is not in play. That's one example of scripture that should be kept from the hands of the laity. Or the hierarchy, for that matter. (OT, I use RSV.)

Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (VaN/j)

354 A hate shake would be great later, but Sunday ........

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (smQOA)

355 A Feast of Snakes is just flat out incredible. All We Need of Hell is almost as good; it was my intro to him. The Knockout Artist might be too weird for me plus there's one about body building too. I'll check out what you recommend in time.

Crews has an incredible range of appeal because lots of my lib friends dote on his every word. You're probably right that we've discussed him before.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 11:30 AM (y7DUB)

Work, work, work....

Anywho, Crews definitely needs someone to bring his works to the Kindle.

They're hard as hell to find and when you do, usually way too pricey.

An American Original for sure. And well worth reading.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (9X624)

356 On the decline in education, here's an example of how things used to be which always humbles me. It's the first sentence of the Prologue to the Summa:

Because the doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but also to instruct beginners (according to the Apostle: As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat -- 1 Cor. 3:1-2), we purpose in this book to treat of whatever belongs to the Christian religion, in such a way as may tend to the instruction of beginners.
Posted by: Eeyore at March 17, 2019 10:53 AM (VaN/j)

There's a similar metaphor in Heb 5:12-14. Maybe you've discovered proof that Hebrews was in fact written by Paul. No one doubts 1 Corinthians was written by him.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (/qEW2)

357 I went through that nightmare of cleaning out in laws, luckily was on disabled list and wasn't working a couple of months and could do light stuff like burning a ton of paperwork.

Posted by: Skip at March 17, 2019 12:14 PM (BbGew)

358 Thanks for the shout out for the Hidden Truth series and the $0.99 sale on A Rambling Wreck.

This week, I finished Megan Fox's excellent Believe Evidence: The Death of Due Process from Salome to#Metoo. It's a fascinating look at historical and recent hoaxes, along with practical advice for avoiding getting caught up in the hysteria.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at March 17, 2019 12:15 PM (pYBqT)

359 What a segue
Nood about burning

Posted by: Skip at March 17, 2019 12:15 PM (BbGew)

360 macnair insisted that everyone knew the sherman was the best tank on the battlefield, even the german's.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 12:09 PM (Pg+x7)

---
Steven Zaloga has done a number of books exploring myths about WW II tanks. In a lot of ways, the Sherman was better than the competition.

As for McNair, again it comes down to your perspective. If you switch models, you lose time due to retooling and disrupt the supply chain. You also get fewer vehicles (and spare parts) into theater.

The late war Shermans weren't as bad as myth makes them out to be.

Too many books assume that tanks fought like knights at a joust. In fact tank on tank engagements were relatively rare. US tanks were mostly used to hammer infantry because by 1945, Germany didn't have many tanks left.

Interesting to note that Shermans continued to be used long after WW II. Very flexible platform.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:16 PM (cfSRQ)

361 $6 (used) book recommendation:

The New Book of Optical Illusions

https://amzn.to/2Hz7szH

I guess it's kind of a coffee table style book, but it's really fascinating. Most of that is because it tries to explain why your brain is seeing what it's seeing, I think.

It addresses some through history, too, like the tricks the Greeks used in their architecture to fool the eye into seeing perfection, uniformity, and straight lines on really long structures.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - wrong it hat say bullets interpretation means nothing. at March 17, 2019 12:16 PM (xyung)

362 There was a lot of hostility towards West Point because of the disloyalty of its graduates.

Contemporaries
also noted that enlisted men put up with considerable hardship in order
to get back to US territory during the secession crisis. Most of the
Army was in Texas and they had a heck of time getting out. But despite
that, the enlisted men stayed loyal and made it back.

Deserting to the enemy while leaving your troops far from home was not a good look.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:06 PM (cfSRQ)

That is one way of looking at if for sure. I believe Lee was the only army Colonel to leave. But he did not resign his commission in Texas. If he was not the only one, he was one of the few. But these men did resign and they mainly were allowed to do so. This was a very unusual situation in a very different time. Hell, Confederate veterans and their spouses drew veteran pay from from their states after the war. And in the 1930s the USA began paying Confederate veteran pensions. If that doesn't show that this was an unusual civil war, I don't know what does.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 12:20 PM (n13/j)

363 Good heavens, the woman has got nothing between her ears but vacuum. I have no idea what she said that set off the howling mob

---

Didn't she say she was a physically unattractive paraplegic transvestite homosexual man when she's a millionaire TV/movie star?

And then she complains when the alligator she raised from birth doesn't eat her last.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - wrong it hat say bullets interpretation means nothing. at March 17, 2019 12:20 PM (xyung)

364
... macnair insisted that everyone knew the sherman was the best tank on the battlefield, even the german's.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at March 17, 2019 12:09 PM (Pg+x7)
=======================
The US and Brits learned pretty damn fast that the German 75mm and 88mm high-velocity rifles were murder on Shermans in open ground and at medium and long range. Tactics were changed to account for that, somewhat. Tactical air power, outstanding motorized artillery battalions, and better radio communications helped, too. The US took blitzkrieg to heart and out-blitzed the Germans in France and Belgium. The US armored divisions were the most lethal military forces on the planet.

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 12:21 PM (Pqytn)

365 There's a similar metaphor in Heb 5:12-14. Maybe you've discovered proof that Hebrews was in fact written by Paul. No one doubts 1 Corinthians was written by him.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (/qEW2

Mrs. Muse says, "It's obvious that Paul wrote Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews."

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 17, 2019 12:24 PM (gNAIY)

366 Mrs. Muse says, "It's obvious that Paul wrote Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews."

Different style, my money is on Apollos.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:28 PM (39g3+)

367 The Youtube tank guy "The Chieftan" had an interesting point about Shermans vs. Panzers in one of his videos. Shermans had a reputation for catching fire, exploding, etc. -- because Sherman crews could get out and tell everyone about it afterwards. Panzer crews just died, so the only stories that got told were about victories.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 17, 2019 12:28 PM (RN1kr)

368 That is one way of looking at if for sure. I believe Lee was the only
army Colonel to leave. But he did not resign his commission in Texas.
If he was not the only one, he was one of the few. But these men did
resign and they mainly were allowed to do so.
---
Lee had already been recalled to Washington when Texas voted to leave. Texas tried to induce desertions among the enlisted ranks without success.

The officers were much more willing to listen.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:33 PM (cfSRQ)

369 I believe Lee was the only army Colonel to leave.
I think he was the only full US Army Colonel from Virginia to leave. I could be wrong, but the not all top ranking Southerners left the US Army. Of course General Scott was a Virginian and so was the Thomas. At the lower officer ranks, it was pretty rare to go against your state.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 12:33 PM (n13/j)

370 Had to shelve "Flashman" for now because the library finally sent out "Ice Station Zebra." Glad it arrived now instead of the middle of winter. The description of Arctic ice storms are bone-chilling (humor attempt).

With luck, I'll be done with it in time for Review Day.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 17, 2019 12:41 PM (PWPy3)

371 Our library has all the Flashman books except Flashman and the Dragon, which is very frustrating.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:43 PM (39g3+)

372 Lee had already been recalled to Washington when
Texas voted to leave. Texas tried to induce desertions among the
enlisted ranks without success.

The officers were much more willing to listen.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 17, 2019 12:33 PM (cfSRQ)

That is good info. There is probably a good book on those enlisted men who had to make it back. I can offer a book recommendation in quasi similar vein. "Three Months in the Southern States" by Arthur Fremantle.
Fremantle was a UK observer who traveled on his own from Mexico, across Texas and the entire South during the war. He ended up at Gettysburg right when the battle began. After the battle, he crossed US lines and went home via New York I believe. He is portrayed in the book "The Killer Angels" and the movie "Gettysburg".
The story is not very long and is a quick read as I recall. The guy saw a lot in a short period.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 12:44 PM (n13/j)

373 One of the problems with thinning out my books is having multiple translations. Homer is a good example. When the time comes I will probably just stay with the Fagles versions since I have them in hardcover and on CDs. But I'm always wondering if I'm missing something important by not keeping all of them. SIGH!

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 11:33 AM (bmdz3)

JTB,

Have you read Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

It's awfully good and the (more) archaic poetic style gives you a feeling of reading an ancient tale.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 12:44 PM (9X624)

374 366 Mrs. Muse says, "It's obvious that Paul wrote Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews."

Different style, my money is on Apollos.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:28 PM

Or another chap named Clement. It's kind of foolish to claim Paul wrote it, since none of the ancient Church authorities, much closer in time than we are, made that claim.

As far as the use of a similar metaphor - it's not really much of a stretch to think that one Christian preacher, having listened to a bunch of other preachers in his life, reused a metaphor that he'd heard before. Paul was the Billy Graham of his day, everyone in that world had heard or read his stuff.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 17, 2019 12:48 PM (V2Yro)

375 Its always possible one of the very wise women that Paul mentions in his letters wrote the letter to the Hebrews as well, but its not very likely in a cultural sense

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 12:51 PM (39g3+)

376 The US Navy took a hit with Southern resignations in 1861. Here is a link to an online version of William S. Dudley's article "Going South: US Navy Officer Resignations and Dismissals On the Eve of the Civil War".

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 12:54 PM (Pqytn)

377 #376:
Here is the link (sorry) to the Dudley article :
LINK: https://preview.tinyurl.com/y26o349y

Posted by: mrp at March 17, 2019 12:55 PM (Pqytn)

378 Anywho, Crews definitely needs someone to bring his works to the Kindle.

They're hard as hell to find and when you do, usually way too pricey.

An American Original for sure. And well worth reading.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 17, 2019 12:13 PM (9X624)

You're right; it's extremely hard to find his stuff and libraries have been dumping his books like civil servant fuckheads. Publishers are by and large economic retards and cocksuckers who are incapable of doing anything intelligent. Maybe a small publisher like New York Review of Books, which has a surprisingly good selection of things that inexplicably went OOP or fell through the cracks, will pick them up.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 17, 2019 01:00 PM (y7DUB)

379 Thanks for the link. I recall reading that the Navy officers mostly went with their states. The only Civil War naval book I have read remotely recently was about the last CSN ship to surrender, the Shenandoah. They were captured long after the war ended.

Posted by: Quint at March 17, 2019 01:02 PM (n13/j)

380 326 ... Oh Hell, Christopher! You had to mention the John Drake Fletcher series. And Anonosaurus Wrecks recommended Drake's Londinium books. They all get excellent reviews and cover areas of interest to me. My list for the used book store just got a lot bigger. I hope I can find another deal where I got most of the Patrick O'Brian books for a buck apiece.

Then I learn Drake enjoys shooting muzzleloaders which, as we all know, makes him a superior human being of exceptional moral standing. (Looks fondly at his flintlock and makes plans to go to the range this week.)

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 01:09 PM (bmdz3)

381 I can't afford the physical books but the kindle books are really low cost right now so you can at least read them

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 17, 2019 01:14 PM (39g3+)

382 373 ... "Have you read Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey."

Hi naturalfake, I read the Pope translations back in college. That's so long ago I don't recall anything about them. Chances are I still have the text books. I generally enjoy Pope's poetry so it's worth a look. Thanks for reminding me.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 01:26 PM (bmdz3)

383 Daily reader but mostly a lurker with a handful of posts over the past ten years. Finally joined Goodreads. Never miss the Book thread. My wish list has a lot of great suggestions from the horde. So hope to join the group at Goodreads

Posted by: Ken at March 17, 2019 01:40 PM (oTB5N)

384 BTW, those interested in the John Drake Fletcher series, the first in the series, "Fletcher's Fortune", is on Kindle for 99 cents. Just downloaded it.

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 01:43 PM (bmdz3)

385 Ref Bergerund's "Touched with Fire"
He also wrote "Fire in sky" covering the air war in the same area/time period. About 5% of it is repeated in both books.

They're both quite good. "Fire in the Sky" has an overall "arc" as well - the reduction of the major Japanese air base at Rabaul.

He was going to do a 3rd book covering naval combat but I haven't heard anything about that in a long time.

Posted by: ArthurK at March 17, 2019 02:05 PM (KbaGy)

386 Cheater?
CHEATER?!
Sir, I will have you know that I am "regulatory non-binary"!
Expect a visit from the Grievance Authority forthwith!

Posted by: Captain Comic at March 17, 2019 02:12 PM (gWlmI)

387 One of the problems with thinning out my books is having multiple translations. Homer is a good example. When the time comes I will probably just stay with the Fagles versions since I have them in hardcover and on CDs. But I'm always wondering if I'm missing something important by not keeping all of them. SIGH!

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 11:33 AM (bmdz3)
Fagles is excellent, but Lattimore is equally good. And somebody recently recommended Lombardo, which I am now reading and enjoying. But I will always keep all three versions, because which one I pick to read depends somewhat on my mood. Also it is fun to compare and contrast

I only have one favorite version of Njal, however. The Dasent translation is just...perfect.

Posted by: HTL at March 17, 2019 02:18 PM (3oh1r)

388 I'm reading Walter Isaacson's _Leonardo Da Vinci_

Posted by: goodluckduck at March 17, 2019 03:23 PM (V8zw+)

389 388 ... I've seen that one. How is it so far?

Posted by: JTB at March 17, 2019 03:28 PM (bmdz3)

390 Lynn has been featured before on AoS.

Here she is, building her own library:

https://tinyurl.com/y6tfxl82

Posted by: franksalterego at March 17, 2019 04:03 PM (3cq8T)

391 Greetings:

Civil War Navy = "War on the Waters" by McPherson ???

Posted by: 11B40 at March 17, 2019 04:33 PM (evgyj)

392 I love the little doorways on the lower floor that lead to collections behind the main room. What do they keep down there? Who knows!
Posted by: hogmartin

Beer !

Posted by: JT at March 17, 2019 04:59 PM (HbLZX)

393 "389
388 ... I've seen that one. How is it so far?"

I've learned a lot, and I'm only 1/4th of the way in. The book is really well made. It has slick pages to show the color images. The downside of learning about the legends is that they were flawed people. I'll just leave it at that for right now.

Posted by: goodluckduck at March 17, 2019 05:57 PM (V8zw+)

394 test outré

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 18, 2019 07:04 PM (iY0O+)

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