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Sunday Morning Book Thread 09-29-2019
Augustinian Reading Room, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), bullheads, catheads, chowderheads, chuckleheads, and assorted cheeseheads. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes 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 the only good thing about them is that they'll go great with your 3-wolf moon T-shirt.
Pic Note Muldoon always complains that my library pics never actually show any one reading or otherwise using library resources. OK, fine. Here's a photo of this week's library/reading room that has people in it.
It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®
I knew there had to be a word to describe the Green New Deal. Also, I thought this was the definition of hubris.Word of the Day: ICARIAN (adj.) ambitious but eventually ruinous; describing an act of pride or overconfidence that ends in disaster
— Haggard Hawks 📚🦅 (@HaggardHawks) September 25, 2019
Dan Simmons: lolgf
The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result.What's wrong with that? Well, one prog clown called it "an endless anti-Obama screed." So maybe it's worth reading, just for the sheer novelty. Another Simmons novel held up for left-wing scorn was Olympos, the second installment of his Illium series.
Nick may be a lost soul but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past.
Beneath the gaze of the gods, the mighty armies of Greece and Troy met in fierce and glorious combat, scrupulously following the text set forth in Homer's timeless narrative. But that was before twenty-first-century scholar Thomas Hockenberry stirred the bloody brew, causing an enraged Achilles to join forces with his archenemy Hector and turn his murderous wrath on Zeus and the entire pantheon of divine manipulators; before the swift and terrible mechanical creatures that catered for centuries to the pitiful idle remnants of Earth's human race began massing in the millions, to exterminate rather than serve.This book gets singled out for "Islamophobia", which usually means being insufficiently deferential to Islam, and I'm not sure how that could be, given the above blurb, but in a novel of 900+ pages, I suppose he could find a way to work it in. Although Simmons was already in the left's doghouse for his legendary 'time-traveler' blog post from 2006. They're probably they're just itching to cancel him, but Dan is 71 years old, most of the books he ever will write have already been written, so the best they could do is to dig up his body after he dies, and set it on fire in front of the Trump Tower, and then pee on it. That'll show 'em. Larry Correia did a write-up on this a couple of days ago, and as you might guess, his take his way better than mine. You should stop letting me waste your time and go read the whole thing. It's better written, funnier, and more informative. Correia points out that all of the caterwauling over Dan Simmons has actually helped his book sales. Hyperion, a 30-year old book, is suddenly a #1 best seller on Amazon. His point is that the power of the traditional publishing gatekeepers is failing:
So conservative, libertarian, or hell, anybody to the right of Mao basically had to keep their mouths shut because they were scared of getting articles written about they by wretched shitheels like China Mike, Cameldung Frapington, or Frau Butthurt, proclaiming Author X is a Bad Person And Should Be Shunned. Then the authors would see the internet lynch mob of wokescolds sharing those articles getting out their torches and pitchforks, get scared, and then debase themselves by apologizing even though they’d done nothing wrong.When Correia gets a full head of steam, he makes Kurt Schlichter look like a pansy soy boy. Also, I learned a new word from him, 'wokescold', whcih I am incorporating into my vocabulary, right next to 'crybully'.
Thankfully those days are coming to an end. Rather than being a career threatening bludgeon like they used to be, the wokescolds are so annoying and obnoxious that fans actually go out of their way to thwart them. If a wokescold starts screaming than an author is guilty of badthink, the fans take that as a sign it is probably pretty good, and go check it out.
They Don't Publish Stuff Like This Any More:
Moron Recommendations Received the following recommendation via e-mail:
My book is My Life in the North Woods by Robert Smith...Its a coming of age fiction book about a young man who spent a winter in a Maine logging camp during those two evils - the depression and prohibition.He provides a couple of excerpts to give you a flavor of this memoir:
"Some twenty yards above the bunkhouse, out of sight behind a clump of alders, a pit had been dug, and a lean-to shelter rigged over it, open at the sides, with a long pole stretched across the pit at just the right angle for a man, standing on a narrow strip of planking on the edge of the pit, to lean back and hook his arms over. There was room for three or four men at a time.This was the spot provided for defecation. It stunk to the skies".One of the heroes of the book is Jim Kidder, who relates this interaction with one of the villians of the book, Wallace McCormic, a co-owner of the logging camp:
"He had once, while guiding a bateau along the lakeshore to rescue castaway lengths of pulpwood that had escaped from the boom, found occasion to beat the ass off Wallace, who was given to talking himself up as a man ready to 'intertain' with his fists anywho dared to cross him. This time, Wallace had mistaken Jim Kidder for one of those thoroughly subdued Nova Scocians who came down here every winter to grub for scanty wages. And when Jim did not respond to the hail and bring the bateau in to ferry Wallace across to the storehouse, Wallace had suggested that Jim needed to go back to Nova Sciotia and get his ears cleaned out, Or perhaps, Wallace might clean them out himself.I would think that this would be an old book, but it came out in 1986. Too bad it is OOP. Used copies of My Life in the North Woods are available on Amazon and also AbeBooks. Hardcover prices start at about $5. ___________
Jim Kidder's temper, as I soon learned, lay balanced on the very narrowest ege of his nature. At Wallace's challenge, he changed cource with a surge that very nearly dumped the two men, with pickpoles, into the lake. Jim climbed out before the bateau had grounded and waded up to where Wallace stood among the rocks.
'You hairy-assed herring choker, ' Jim greeted Wallace (or at last this is descriptive Jim remembered offering). 'I'll break your ass in seven places'.
I think I mentioned last time - read and enjoyed Frank Fleming's SideQuest and HellbendersI think Frank's gig at the Bee is relatively recent. And he doesn't so much writing for his IMAO site any more, so he's probably got his hands full writing for his paid gigs. He's married with 4 kids, so he's got to work or else sell the lot for scientific experiments, which is he probably doesn't want to do. The HellBender novel sounds pretty wild:
dud not realize that he is @IMAO who writes for Babylon Bee
as you might expect, his books are very funny
Posted by: vmom happy to have read a good book! at September 22, 2019 09:49 AM (G546)
Doug wasn’t sure whether he should trust Satan.I remember when Fleming's first book, Obama: The Greatest President in the History of Everything, came out. Some of the reviews by dimwitted progs who couldn't figure out from the title that he was being ironic are pretty amusing. ___________
The red flag was that he said he was Satan. But the deal was good: Listen to Satan’s story in exchange for some donuts. And Doug only half-fulfilled his part of the bargain.
But maybe he should have listened better, because during his friend Bryce’s next scheme (theft with light to moderate treason—the usual), Doug and the rest of his friends—Lulu (the fun one) and Charlene (the not fun one)—end up with a powerful artifact, a small metal cube with world-ending power that Lulu decorated with bunnies. And now everyone wants the bunny cube, which means Doug, Bryce, Lulu, and Charlene are being pursued by an insane supermodel general, an army of sadists, a vast criminal organization, a smaller, more-in-startup-mode criminal organization, and an unstoppable killing machine—the worst kind of killing machine.
Finished _We Have No Idea_, which is a fun book about areas of science (physics, mostly) which are still complete blanks on the map. How does gravity work? How big is the Universe? What is dark energy? Etc. I enjoyed it -- it's written for a lay readership and is very jokey, but manages to not talk down to the reader."The more you know, the more you know you don't know" is a quote attributed to Aristotle. But it's true we don't know lots of stuff about a whole lot of stuff:
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 22, 2019 10:11 AM (G02Y7)
Humanity's understanding of the physical world is full of gaps. Not tiny little gaps you can safely ignore —there are huge yawning voids in our basic notions of how the world works. PHD Comics creator Jorge Cham and particle physicist Daniel Whiteson have teamed up to explore everything we don't know about the universe: the enormous holes in our knowledge of the cosmos. Armed with their popular infographics, cartoons, and unusually entertaining and lucid explanations of science, they give us the best answers currently available for a lot of questions that are still perplexing scientists...It turns out the universe is full of weird things that don't make any sense. But Cham and Whiteson make a compelling case that the questions we can't answer are as interesting as the ones we can.The Kindle price for We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe is a not unreasonable $8.99. ___________
Currently reading #5 in David Black's Harry Gilmour series, the adventures of a young RNVR submarine skipper in early WWII. Very good action, believable characters, humor, and a suave villain who is out to scuttle the young captain both literally and figuratively. Free on Kindle unlimited.Hadn't heard of this series before, but it looks interesting. The first installment is Gone to Sea in a Bucket:
Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at September 22, 2019 10:15 AM (wZ9cV)
Like all young men of a certain age, Harry Gilmour had his own notion of how a naval battle should be. This wasn’t it.The best part is that the price of the Kindle edition is only $3.99. And this is not one of those deals where they sell the first one really cheap and then soak you for all of the others. Every one in the 5-book series is < 4.50. Or you can plunk down $21 for the lot. ___________
Norway, 1940: Sub Lieutenant Harry Gilmour’s first encounter with battleship action is not the adventure he had hoped for. Faced with a thankless task and ill equipped to handle it, Gilmour’s inexperience leads to a damning allegation. His future hangs in the balance.
But then Lieutenant Peter Dumaresq steps in to offer him a lifeline—an advanced navigation course that will take him aboard a crack submarine, HMS Pelorus, under the command of a Royal Navy hero. Faced with a possible court martial, Harry chooses life underwater. Once aboard, however, Harry is confronted for the first time by the full horror of submarine warfare. If he can just overcome his fears, it will be the making of him.
Who Dis:
Books By Morons 'Ette right wing yankee has been busy writing:
Last week, I released a regency romance novel called A Small and Inconvenient Disaster. It's short, sweet, and not at all to the usual Moron taste. Some of the 'ettes might like it, though.Here is the Amazon blurb:
Posted by: right wing yankee at September 22, 2019 09:45 AM (zlzYb)
Everywhere she goes, Maria Mason is plagued by little catastrophes. Getting caught in the rain, running from the friendliness of a muddy dog, tripping over her own feet at the worst possible moment- she has been subject to all manner of accidents, and to fend off the worst of them, she has learned to be silent and still.A Small and Inconvenient Disaster, available on Kindle for $3.99, is actually the second book in the Markam Series. The first is The Secret of Seavale, also for $3.99. ___________ Couple three years ago, I mentioned Joseph Courtemanche's debut novel Assault on Saint Agnes. He was kind enough to send me an advance copy and it was quite a thrilling page-turner. I just found out that he published another one last year, Nicholas of Haiti:
Until she accompanies her friend Miss Gordon to London for a season of gaiety and pleasure. Life in Town is full of wonder, and soon Maria has new clothes, new friends, and the attention of the amusing and clever Mr. James Callahan. She begins to wonder if she has outgrown her propensity for falling into disaster, only to find herself embroiled in the worst sort of catastrophe when she is obliged to mediate between her feuding friends. One wrong word, one false step, and she might lose the regard of her friends- or worse, the love of a good man.
Nick Bacon is a life interrupted. When his commercial airline flight explodes over Utah, killing everyone on board but Nick, his miraculous survival draws unwanted attention. The press can't get enough of his story while the FBI is convinced he planted the bomb that took down his plane. All he wants is a place to heal and time to let the world forget him. Unable to return home, Nick accepts an offer to join a missionary medical team and flees to Haiti.Joe's first novel is a political thriller. This one sounds more like an urban fantasy. The Kindle edition is $4.99. ___________ Conservative author Jon Del Arroz has published the first novel of his military sci-fi series, The Saga of the Nano Templar, entitled Justified
But Nick's new life in Haiti is haunted by visions. He's forced to examine his sanity and faith in a world of turmoil and chaos among a people he's never met before. Aided by Andre, his Haitian translator and protector, Nick confronts the dark forces battling for his soul, and the soul of the abused little girl he's only seen in his dreams.
After years of fighting for justice with his deadly nanotech, Templar Drin abandons his post, crash landing on a desert world controlled by a tyrannical alien empire. Its inhabitants are forced into slavery, broken where a once-proud race cultivated its lands.The blurb says fans of Star Wars and Warhammer 40K will especially appreciate this book. Christians, too, I expect, since it starts out "To save a world...he must rely on God." So, Justified is out now, the sequel Sanctified will be released next week followed by Glorified in November. ___________ 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.
For the first time in Drin's life, he has no backup, no support, none of his brothers.
He stands alone against evil.
Drin must face overwhelming odds to liberate millions of slaves from their captors and bring faith to a downtrodden world. But in his way stands the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy.
Can Drin use his Templar training to survive?
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)1
4
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 09:01 AM (ZCEU2)
2
!
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:01 AM (arJlL)
3
Currently re-reading the Tinker series by Wen Spenser (but only the first two books). I thought I has lost them with all that mess with Amazon, but even though they did not show up on the list of content and devices (using search) I was able to re-download them.
Posted by: Vic at September 29, 2019 09:01 AM (mpXpK)
4
Uh-oh
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:01 AM (Z/jzm)
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 09:01 AM (ZCEU2)
6
Still reading George Marshall: Defender of the Republic by David Roll
Marshall listed in Nov of 1920 the qualities that he looked for in promoting officers to lead troops: common sense, physical strength, marked energy, determination, and cheerful optimism.
Marshall valued character over intellect, conservatism over flamboyance, and the loyal team-player over the adventurous individualist. He avoided yes-men and conformists, preferring those who, like himself, to express dissent and open to criticism without taking offense.
I'm to the part where Marshall has been made SecState and is about to announce The Marshall Plan.
Marshall listed in Nov of 1920 the qualities that he looked for in promoting officers to lead troops: common sense, physical strength, marked energy, determination, and cheerful optimism.
Marshall valued character over intellect, conservatism over flamboyance, and the loyal team-player over the adventurous individualist. He avoided yes-men and conformists, preferring those who, like himself, to express dissent and open to criticism without taking offense.
I'm to the part where Marshall has been made SecState and is about to announce The Marshall Plan.
Posted by: Rob at September 29, 2019 09:02 AM (kI+TM)
7
Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was delightful and surprising.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:02 AM (bmdz3)
8
Skip was first because he's closer to the equator !
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:03 AM (arJlL)
9
I have been a naughty boy and haven't read anything but a rule book
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 09:03 AM (ZCEU2)
10
I suppose that last picture she is sleeping on the bible.
Posted by: Vic at September 29, 2019 09:04 AM (mpXpK)
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 29, 2019 09:05 AM (Z+IKu)
12
I'm feeling centered.
Posted by: Ace-Endosed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:05 AM (cfSRQ)
13
How did everything all of a sudden go to centered?
Posted by: Vic at September 29, 2019 09:05 AM (mpXpK)
14
In Pennsylvania that makes me further away, but I am on a roll.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 09:05 AM (ZCEU2)
15
I thought this was the definition of hubris.
Hubris is overweening pride, which is always followed by Nemesis, but Icarian is from a different myth.
Your root word would be Icarus.
Hubris is overweening pride, which is always followed by Nemesis, but Icarian is from a different myth.
Your root word would be Icarus.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 09:07 AM (FNXDu)
16
Who reads Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels? Mom has exhausted them, re-reading ...she doesn't seem to mind, but I'm wondering if there is a similar type series/author I can steer her to on our library day.
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:07 AM (Z/jzm)
17
I love the picture of the lady, asleep on the large book. Reminds me of myself, only I use a paperwhite.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:07 AM (lwiT4)
18
Good Sunday morning, horde! Lovely library, as always. Looks like it's made for studying, NTTAWWT. I like the comfy chair type of liberry.
I have read Flashback--it was a few years ago, so memory of it is hazy, but I do remember liking it.
I'm still working on Catholic reading this week--Rediscover Catholicism has been superceded by A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, by Edward Sri. This is a better place for me to start, since I am discovering (rather than re-discovering) the faith.
I have read Flashback--it was a few years ago, so memory of it is hazy, but I do remember liking it.
I'm still working on Catholic reading this week--Rediscover Catholicism has been superceded by A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, by Edward Sri. This is a better place for me to start, since I am discovering (rather than re-discovering) the faith.
Posted by: April at September 29, 2019 09:08 AM (OX9vb)
19
Did OM put us on Central Time, then go off to church?
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:08 AM (lwiT4)
20
Centerline.
Posted by: Ace-Endosed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:09 AM (cfSRQ)
Posted by: Ace-Endosed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)
22
I tried to read a serious book this week, but instead I read two Agatha Christies. Sometimes you just have to indulge.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:10 AM (lwiT4)
23
The center must hold.
Posted by: General George Meade at September 29, 2019 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:11 AM (G02Y7)
25
Well-centered thread.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 09:11 AM (CDGwz)
26
Currently reading Cardinal Sarah's new book (yes, I'm Jewish, but so what?) and Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow about collectivization. I was discussing the latter with may daughter and her friend and it's amazing how benign the friend believed communism was. She is an ivy grad, so our schools are shit.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:11 AM (U7k5w)
27
I am neither of the left nor right.
Split right down the middle."
Stuck in the middle, I am...
Isn't that whatshername from Firefly?
Morning, y'all, and need coffeve. Bad.
Split right down the middle."
Stuck in the middle, I am...
Isn't that whatshername from Firefly?
Morning, y'all, and need coffeve. Bad.
Posted by: Anon a mouse at September 29, 2019 09:12 AM (6qErC)
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 09:12 AM (CDGwz)
29
>> I tried to read a serious book this week, but instead I read two Agatha Christies. Sometimes you just have to indulge.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:10 AM (lwiT4)
Hi grammie!
I love me some Hercule Poirot
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:10 AM (lwiT4)
Hi grammie!
I love me some Hercule Poirot
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:13 AM (Z/jzm)
30
I'll have to extend my line to anchor the flanks. Not sure I have enough text to do that properly.
Posted by: General George Meade at September 29, 2019 09:13 AM (cfSRQ)
31
After my "I hate Davide Copperfield" diatribe in a recent book thread, I splurged on a good hardcover edition of the book, determined to find out if it was worthy of my abhorance. (The only Dickens I've read til now is A Christmas Carol.) I'm just a few chapters in to a long book but, Holy Stuff, this is damn good! Dickens' writing is spritely! Observant and unexpectedly funny. I generally like Victorian era literature but had avoided Dickens. What a mistake. His ability to establish characters and settings is amazing. Hmmm, maybe there's a reason his books have been so popular for a century and a half.
The edition I'm reading is a hardcover by Nonesuch Press. It's out of print and used copies are usually expensive but I found one at a decent price. It's nicely bound, which is needed with such a large book, the print is a bit larger than is typical these days which helps and it includes the prints used in the original printing. It is a pleasure to handle and read such a well-bound book. I take the same approach with LOTR and a few others.
However, I am now cussing out that lazy cow of a 4th grade teacher who ruined Dickens for me, and probably others, for over fifty years. When I think how easy it would have been to introduce young minds to the value of literature of that period and how entertaining it can be. I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
The edition I'm reading is a hardcover by Nonesuch Press. It's out of print and used copies are usually expensive but I found one at a decent price. It's nicely bound, which is needed with such a large book, the print is a bit larger than is typical these days which helps and it includes the prints used in the original printing. It is a pleasure to handle and read such a well-bound book. I take the same approach with LOTR and a few others.
However, I am now cussing out that lazy cow of a 4th grade teacher who ruined Dickens for me, and probably others, for over fifty years. When I think how easy it would have been to introduce young minds to the value of literature of that period and how entertaining it can be. I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
32
Hubris is overweening pride"
So what's the term for a partial weening pride?
And what's a "weening" anyway?
/I keed, I keed
So what's the term for a partial weening pride?
And what's a "weening" anyway?
/I keed, I keed
Posted by: Anon a mouse at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (6qErC)
33
Haven't had much chance for recreational reading. Too much work-related reading to do. I did mostly polish off a new SF novel, but it was kind of meh.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (G02Y7)
34
Good morning, Book-horde! Be off to our new Ikea outlet for Sunday brunch in their lovely and inexpensive cafeteria in a bit. We think of Ikea as Walmart for people with pretensions to class, but have to admit that a lot of their stuff is rather nifty...
Anyway, did the rounds of shopping yesterday, and broke down and ordered all three volumes of Shelby Foote's Civil War history. Saw a set at Half Price Books, was mightily tempted, but found a better price on Amazon, among the used books. For research, since I am working on the next book. And I only have a few of Bruce Catton's books so far...
BTW, saw a lovely nickname for the annoying Ms Greta Thunburg on an Insty comment thread, this morning, which I would like to popularize: "Scoldilocks".
It falls trippingly off the tongue, does it not?
Anyway, did the rounds of shopping yesterday, and broke down and ordered all three volumes of Shelby Foote's Civil War history. Saw a set at Half Price Books, was mightily tempted, but found a better price on Amazon, among the used books. For research, since I am working on the next book. And I only have a few of Bruce Catton's books so far...
BTW, saw a lovely nickname for the annoying Ms Greta Thunburg on an Insty comment thread, this morning, which I would like to popularize: "Scoldilocks".
It falls trippingly off the tongue, does it not?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (xnmPy)
35
I tried to read a serious book this week, but instead I read two Agatha Christies. Sometimes you just have to indulge.
Posted by: grammie winger
-----
I've commented before that Wodehouse is my bedtime reading. It rinses away the ugly stuff du jour.
Posted by: grammie winger
-----
I've commented before that Wodehouse is my bedtime reading. It rinses away the ugly stuff du jour.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (CDGwz)
36
Hi grammie!
I love me some Hercule Poirot
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:13 AM (Z/jzm)
Hiya! I think I read in the blurb of one of her books that she is second only to the Bible in book sales. Not sure if that's accurate, but impressive if it is.
I love me some Hercule Poirot
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:13 AM (Z/jzm)
Hiya! I think I read in the blurb of one of her books that she is second only to the Bible in book sales. Not sure if that's accurate, but impressive if it is.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (lwiT4)
37
I'll have to extend my line to anchor the flanks. Not sure I have enough text to do that properly.
Don't worry about Big Round Blog, General, they'll never get guns up that anyway. Save your text and anchor the line at Little Round Blog.
Don't worry about Big Round Blog, General, they'll never get guns up that anyway. Save your text and anchor the line at Little Round Blog.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 09:15 AM (FNXDu)
38
That looks more like an upside-down carafe than a saucer to me.
Could be a bad translation from the Italian.
Could be a bad translation from the Italian.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:15 AM (9xVRr)
39
Well, heck.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 09:15 AM (DPI/l)
40
"Scoldilocks".
It falls trippingly off the tongue, does it not?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (xnmPy)
That's a good one, indeed.
It falls trippingly off the tongue, does it not?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (xnmPy)
That's a good one, indeed.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:15 AM (lwiT4)
41
"When Correia gets a full head of steam, he makes Kurt Schlichter look like a pansy soy boy."
OM, Wow! Now I'll have to read that Correia piece. But I'm still giggling about Schlichter the soy boy.
OM, Wow! Now I'll have to read that Correia piece. But I'm still giggling about Schlichter the soy boy.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:16 AM (bmdz3)
42
Off to the zoo with older kid and my grandsons. We always like to squeeze in a fun fall visit.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:17 AM (U7k5w)
43
Last week I was speaking with an older fellow who is does a small stage act as Mark Twain. He's very good, and looks the part.
At any rate, we were talking about books and reading, and he quoted, 'A man who doesn't read is no better off than a man who can't read.'
I looked it up later, expecting it to be a Twain quote, but it is variously attributed.
At any rate, we were talking about books and reading, and he quoted, 'A man who doesn't read is no better off than a man who can't read.'
I looked it up later, expecting it to be a Twain quote, but it is variously attributed.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 09:18 AM (xSo9G)
44
My all-time favorite Sci-Fi is Hyperion -- actually all four books in the Hyperion Cantos (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, The Rise of Endymion). I remember the kerfuffle about Flashback, that's one of the reasons I bought the book. Hullo Book Hordelings!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:18 AM (IttZ7)
45
Hiya! I think I read in the blurb of one of her books that she is second only to the Bible in book sales. Not sure if that's accurate, but impressive if it is.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (lwiT4)
Agatha Christie wrote in the Golden Age of detective/mystery fiction. I never thought she was a particularly good writer, but she is a decent story teller.
I think her best work was her autobiography, which is fascinating. I've read it several times.
Hiya! I think I read in the blurb of one of her books that she is second only to the Bible in book sales. Not sure if that's accurate, but impressive if it is.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (lwiT4)
Agatha Christie wrote in the Golden Age of detective/mystery fiction. I never thought she was a particularly good writer, but she is a decent story teller.
I think her best work was her autobiography, which is fascinating. I've read it several times.
Posted by: Ladyl at September 29, 2019 09:18 AM (TdMsT)
46
*drums fingers on table*
I'm waiting for Eris to show up. I have a book review that's total Eris Bait.
*drums fingers on table*
I'm waiting for Eris to show up. I have a book review that's total Eris Bait.
*drums fingers on table*
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 09:18 AM (FNXDu)
47
> OM, Wow! Now I'll have to read that Correia piece.
Correia writes good fiction as well, assuming one is not offended by an emphasis on "shit blows up" rather than "people sitting around talking about their feelings" or "everything is racist, OMG!".
If the idea of fighting off werewolves using automatic weapons appeals to you, Correia is your man.
Correia writes good fiction as well, assuming one is not offended by an emphasis on "shit blows up" rather than "people sitting around talking about their feelings" or "everything is racist, OMG!".
If the idea of fighting off werewolves using automatic weapons appeals to you, Correia is your man.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:19 AM (9xVRr)
48
Years ago an attractive skirt on the bus, well versed in the classics, defined hubris for me: "Hubris is false pride; Achilles had hubris". Obviously it stuck with me.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 09:20 AM (y7DUB)
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 09:20 AM (xSo9G)
50
Oh, and the pretty lady is Zoe Washburn, goodwife to Hoban, and loyal lieutenant to Mal Reynolds. Gina Torres!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:20 AM (IttZ7)
51
Gina torres from alias firefly suits most recently her own spinoff, name escapes me.
Posted by: Admiral marcus at September 29, 2019 09:20 AM (ep1uZ)
52
I read The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. This is a love story set in occupied Japan after WWII. There are also scenes in China, New Zealand, and the north coast of England. An interesting story, populated with interesting characters. Ms. Hazzard in the author of the classic, The Transit of Venus.
On the Kindle, I read The Event by Nathan Hystad. This is the first book in The Survivors series. The book begins interestingly enough with all but a handful of the people of Earth being beamed up to huge alien space ships surrounding the world. It's up to this handful to save the Earth from becoming the new home of the aliens, and to bring back Earth's human population. The book bogs down near the end, but is interesting enough that I will keep on reading the series.
I also read Thank You For My Service by Mat Best. This is Best's memoir as a Special Operations Ranger, CIA contract operative, and entrepreneur. After his service, he started three companies which employ vets. The most notable being Black Rifle Coffee Company. Warning: For those who dislike graphic language and situations, this book is not for you.
On the Kindle, I read The Event by Nathan Hystad. This is the first book in The Survivors series. The book begins interestingly enough with all but a handful of the people of Earth being beamed up to huge alien space ships surrounding the world. It's up to this handful to save the Earth from becoming the new home of the aliens, and to bring back Earth's human population. The book bogs down near the end, but is interesting enough that I will keep on reading the series.
I also read Thank You For My Service by Mat Best. This is Best's memoir as a Special Operations Ranger, CIA contract operative, and entrepreneur. After his service, he started three companies which employ vets. The most notable being Black Rifle Coffee Company. Warning: For those who dislike graphic language and situations, this book is not for you.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 29, 2019 09:20 AM (xb43q)
53
JTB: I sincerely believe high-school English teachers have done more damage to people's ability to read and enjoy good books than television, movies, the Internet, and video games combined.
There's the constant hunt for "themes" in stories. Here's a protip: themes in novels are there as a crutch for the writer. The book I'm writing right now has memory as one of its themes. That means whenever I need something to happen, it's something involving memories.
It's the fictional equivalent of decorative moldings around doorways and windows: the moldings are there to hide irregularities in the wallboard cuts around the frame. Praising a door because of the molding around it misses the point.
But teachers go after themes like Bill Clinton after interns. This convinces students that "real books" are full of secret hidden knowledge which only educated elites -- like high-school English teachers -- can possibly understand. High school English teachers also like this idea because it's much more flattering to the ego than just being the person who teaches the relatively simple rules of grammar and how to write a five-paragraph essay.
There's the constant hunt for "themes" in stories. Here's a protip: themes in novels are there as a crutch for the writer. The book I'm writing right now has memory as one of its themes. That means whenever I need something to happen, it's something involving memories.
It's the fictional equivalent of decorative moldings around doorways and windows: the moldings are there to hide irregularities in the wallboard cuts around the frame. Praising a door because of the molding around it misses the point.
But teachers go after themes like Bill Clinton after interns. This convinces students that "real books" are full of secret hidden knowledge which only educated elites -- like high-school English teachers -- can possibly understand. High school English teachers also like this idea because it's much more flattering to the ego than just being the person who teaches the relatively simple rules of grammar and how to write a five-paragraph essay.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:21 AM (G02Y7)
54
Sgt. Mom and Senor Lloyd: as fate would have it, I just picked up Foote's first volume again last night. I find I can read that for a bit and start again months later, since I have an idea where the story goes.
Biggest take so far is that it's amazing that any battles were won on either side given the egos and temperaments of the leaders and generals. But they did manage to grind up 600,000 Americans.
Biggest take so far is that it's amazing that any battles were won on either side given the egos and temperaments of the leaders and generals. But they did manage to grind up 600,000 Americans.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 09:21 AM (DPI/l)
55
I've read that about Christie, too. Started reading her books when I was about 10. Always fun to go back and reread them. My oldest son is a fan, also. He has a few 1st editions.
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:21 AM (Z/jzm)
56
Well, I guess this is how the thread is going to be.
I'm coming down the home stretch of Hugh Thomas' massive book on the Spanish Civil War titled, The Spanish Civil War. Not to be confused with every other book on the topic.
Anyhow, here's another singularly stupid sentence from Thomas:
"Crushed by disaster, the majority of the Spanish Republicans walked erect into exile."
This leads you to think that there was a formal, orderly withdrawal once the front line in Catalonia was breached.
It wasn't. After minimal resistance, the entire army ran as fast its its feet could carry them for the French frontier and thousands scampered along with them.
Basically, it was the exact opposite of what Thomas described. The Republican troops abandoned everything in their haste, didn't even dynamic bridges or road blocks. They "walked erect" in the sense that they weren't literally on all fours, but otherwise, it was a singular and striking display of cowardice, not proud defiance.
And that's the problem with Thomas. He really, really likes the Republic, and while he's a good enough historian to present facts that run counter to the conventional (Communist-inspired) narrative, he can't resist throwing in stupid phrases like this.
There should be no question in any intelligent person's mind that whatever Franco did afterwards, the "Republicans" (who were wholly-owned by Communists by 193
, would have killed far more people had they won.
Like all Communists, they would have first finished off the anarchists and then started in on the Church and Falange before killing all the Marxists, small-holders and shopkeepers. Same as everywhere else.
Yet useful idiots like Thomas keep insisting *despite his own research* that they really were somehow committed to "rule by the people" and respected individual rights, it was just Franco and the damned war that made them kill thousands of innocent people and (literally) decimate the clergy.
I'm coming down the home stretch of Hugh Thomas' massive book on the Spanish Civil War titled, The Spanish Civil War. Not to be confused with every other book on the topic.
Anyhow, here's another singularly stupid sentence from Thomas:
"Crushed by disaster, the majority of the Spanish Republicans walked erect into exile."
This leads you to think that there was a formal, orderly withdrawal once the front line in Catalonia was breached.
It wasn't. After minimal resistance, the entire army ran as fast its its feet could carry them for the French frontier and thousands scampered along with them.
Basically, it was the exact opposite of what Thomas described. The Republican troops abandoned everything in their haste, didn't even dynamic bridges or road blocks. They "walked erect" in the sense that they weren't literally on all fours, but otherwise, it was a singular and striking display of cowardice, not proud defiance.
And that's the problem with Thomas. He really, really likes the Republic, and while he's a good enough historian to present facts that run counter to the conventional (Communist-inspired) narrative, he can't resist throwing in stupid phrases like this.
There should be no question in any intelligent person's mind that whatever Franco did afterwards, the "Republicans" (who were wholly-owned by Communists by 193
, would have killed far more people had they won.Like all Communists, they would have first finished off the anarchists and then started in on the Church and Falange before killing all the Marxists, small-holders and shopkeepers. Same as everywhere else.
Yet useful idiots like Thomas keep insisting *despite his own research* that they really were somehow committed to "rule by the people" and respected individual rights, it was just Franco and the damned war that made them kill thousands of innocent people and (literally) decimate the clergy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)
57
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx, the only person who ever did Marxism the right way.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx, the only person who ever did Marxism the right way.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #PurgeProgressivism at September 29, 2019 09:23 AM (HaL55)
58
Please to remind Muldoon that although he sent us a picture of his "libery," he did not send a picture of himself actually reading in it, either.
Not complaining, mind you.
Not complaining, mind you.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 09:23 AM (aXucN)
59
Speaking of "Icarian", that was the name of a 19th century utopian movement founded by a French dude named Etienne Cabet. He wrote a utopian novel titled "A Voyage to Icaria" in 1840, then he tried to create that utopia himself. He brought his followers to America and they made several attempts at establishing their utopia but none of them lasted more than a few years. One of their settlements was in Nauvoo, Illinois, right after the Mormons moved out in the 1840s; they planted vineyards and established some wineries. The Nauvoo Grape Festival celebrates this phase of local history so maybe it wasn't a total disaster after all....
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 09:23 AM (9WuX0)
60
OM, Like every week, I really enjoy those paintings you put in the post. They are delightful. Thanks.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:24 AM (bmdz3)
61
Read Old Man by Thomas Perry which is about as good of a read on the "don't mess with an old man, he might have more skills than you know" plotline. Protagonist worked for US gov in his youth moving money to aid group of Middle Eastern rebels. They person who was supposed to distribute the millions, kept the money, so our hero stole it back from him leaving a trail of bodies behind. US gov not thrilled with his actions so we went into hiding and lived a long life with wife and daughter. Bad guy finds him, then US spy bunch finds him and off goes the novel. Will have to check out more stuff by this author- seems to have written quite a bit. This one came free with Prime Reads.
Posted by: Charlotte at September 29, 2019 09:25 AM (5t9V6)
62
they made several attempts at establishing their utopia but none of them lasted more than a few years.
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
63
TM (ps.), and Fred Judge Neimand (intro), The Ex/Homologue: A Confessional Palimpsest. Appears to be a (14 year old) tribute to Kierkegaard, in the spirit of ..., in recognition of the 150th anniv. of his attack on Danish Christendom called The Moment (or The Instant). Kind of a rant, but from what I can tell, a far, far healthier one than, and maybe even an antedote to, Bronze Age Mindset. Certainly way more literate. Pricey for a ppb., but funny in its dogged attempt to shun irony and quite beautiful in places.
Posted by: Slow Learner at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (hafXH)
64
Let caesuras in memory not shame us
And forget that before he got famous
That punning little troll
At once daft and droll
Muldoon used to call himself Seamus
And forget that before he got famous
That punning little troll
At once daft and droll
Muldoon used to call himself Seamus
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 09:27 AM (FNXDu)
65
Those pants are fine. I would wear them to a barbeque at Trader Vic's.
Posted by: zombie Warren Zevon at September 29, 2019 09:27 AM (Tnijr)
66
I've been re-reading Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series -- mysteries set in late Republican/early Imperial Rome. Saylor really knows his material, and does a great job of bringing the period to life. They're not bad as mysteries, either.
The protagonist is Gordianus the Finder, who is a hired-gun investigator (sort of an early P.I.).
The protagonist is Gordianus the Finder, who is a hired-gun investigator (sort of an early P.I.).
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:27 AM (9xVRr)
67
I should clarify that the Communists would have killed *dissident* Marxists, i.e. the POUM and Trostky-ites as well as the Socialists.
A big part of why the Republic lost was that its wasn't really a cohesive democratic republic but a loose coalition of radical groups waiting for the moment to kill each other off and take total power.
But hey, their intentions were pure! All of them wanted to kill business owners, clergy and destroy Spain's historical monuments and art, so they had that in common.
A big part of why the Republic lost was that its wasn't really a cohesive democratic republic but a loose coalition of radical groups waiting for the moment to kill each other off and take total power.
But hey, their intentions were pure! All of them wanted to kill business owners, clergy and destroy Spain's historical monuments and art, so they had that in common.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)
68
I finished Taghri's Prize this week. Amateurs study tactics; professionals study logistics. Peter Grant delivers in this Arabian-inspired military tale that brilliantly combines logistics, strategy, tactics, and legend when a veteran tackles raiders and pirates to win the hand of a princess.
I'll also second the recommendation for Jon del Arroz's Justified.
I'll also second the recommendation for Jon del Arroz's Justified.
Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at September 29, 2019 09:28 AM (FXjhj)
Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #PurgeProgressivism at September 29, 2019 09:29 AM (HaL55)
70
Icarian My brother to a T.
Posted by: Infidel on ph at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (OM4Ma)
71
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
---
Narrator Voice: Original sin.
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
---
Narrator Voice: Original sin.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
72
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
I know this one,grammie!
Alec, what is "hubris"?
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
I know this one,grammie!
Alec, what is "hubris"?
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (DPI/l)
73
Who started the Scoldilocks thing? I like it.
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (Tnijr)
74
> whatever Franco did afterwards, the "Republicans" (who were wholly-owned by Communists by 193, would have killed far more people had they won.
To his credit, George Orwell (who was there) recognized what was going on and wasn't afraid to say so, unlike the rest of the "literary" crowd, which continues to fellate communists to this day.
To his credit, George Orwell (who was there) recognized what was going on and wasn't afraid to say so, unlike the rest of the "literary" crowd, which continues to fellate communists to this day.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:31 AM (9xVRr)
Posted by: The Shakers at September 29, 2019 09:31 AM (FNXDu)
76
Narrator Voice: Original sin.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Kind of like people in search of the perfect church. Once they join, it's no longer perfect.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Kind of like people in search of the perfect church. Once they join, it's no longer perfect.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:32 AM (lwiT4)
77
34 ... " broke down and ordered all three volumes of Shelby Foote's Civil War history."
Sgt. Mom, You won't be sorry. Foote's history is excellent. Years ago I splurged on a hardcover set and gave my paperback versions as a gift to a young person. I've re-read them several times. Adding to the enjoyment, I hear the words in Fotte's voice with that great drawl.
Sgt. Mom, You won't be sorry. Foote's history is excellent. Years ago I splurged on a hardcover set and gave my paperback versions as a gift to a young person. I've re-read them several times. Adding to the enjoyment, I hear the words in Fotte's voice with that great drawl.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:33 AM (bmdz3)
78
26
Currently reading Cardinal Sarah's new book (yes, I'm Jewish, but so
what?) and Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow about collectivization. I was
discussing the latter with may daughter and her friend and it's amazing
how benign the friend believed communism was. She is an ivy grad, so our
schools are shit.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:11 AM (U7k5w)
---
In Radical Son, David Horowitz does a really good job of explain the Jewish attachment to Marx and how it persists despite all the evidence of its evil results.
Worth a read if you haven't gotten to it already.
Currently reading Cardinal Sarah's new book (yes, I'm Jewish, but so
what?) and Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow about collectivization. I was
discussing the latter with may daughter and her friend and it's amazing
how benign the friend believed communism was. She is an ivy grad, so our
schools are shit.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:11 AM (U7k5w)
---
In Radical Son, David Horowitz does a really good job of explain the Jewish attachment to Marx and how it persists despite all the evidence of its evil results.
Worth a read if you haven't gotten to it already.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)
79
pr'aps?
Posted by: The Shakers at September 29, 2019 09:34 AM (FNXDu)
80
"I wonder what the common theme to their demise was"
In the case of the Icarians, it seems to have been that Cabet was a control freak who micromanaged everything to the point that most of his followers got fed up with him and started their own community. The splinter community from the one in Nauvoo set up in Iowa and lasted another 40 years; I think it is still preserved as an historic site. Cabet and his loyal followers, meanwhile, decamped to St Louis, where Cabet promptly dropped dead of a stroke in 1856. That community tried to keep going under new management but fizzled out during the Civil War.
In the case of the Icarians, it seems to have been that Cabet was a control freak who micromanaged everything to the point that most of his followers got fed up with him and started their own community. The splinter community from the one in Nauvoo set up in Iowa and lasted another 40 years; I think it is still preserved as an historic site. Cabet and his loyal followers, meanwhile, decamped to St Louis, where Cabet promptly dropped dead of a stroke in 1856. That community tried to keep going under new management but fizzled out during the Civil War.
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 09:34 AM (9WuX0)
81
76 Narrator Voice: Original sin.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Kind of like people in search of the perfect church. Once they join, it's no longer perfect.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:32 AM (lwiT4)
There are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. And if you find yourself in a church that thinks it's perfect, run.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Kind of like people in search of the perfect church. Once they join, it's no longer perfect.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:32 AM (lwiT4)
There are no perfect churches because there are no perfect people. And if you find yourself in a church that thinks it's perfect, run.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:34 AM (FRGnP)
82
62 they made several attempts at establishing their utopia but none of them lasted more than a few years.
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
The Tragedy of the Commons.
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
The Tragedy of the Commons.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 09:35 AM (JFO2v)
83
Not a book but a few days ago my dad brought me a whole bunch of Byte Magazines, including the first edition and the enter first year.
Altair 8800 was $1000 with 8080 CPU and 4k RAM September 1975 was about $1000
Altair 8800 was $1000 with 8080 CPU and 4k RAM September 1975 was about $1000
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:35 AM (Tnijr)
84
That's a 2Mhz 8080 CPU.
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:36 AM (Tnijr)
85
Altair 8800 was $1000 with 8080 CPU and 4k RAM September 1975 was about $1000
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:35 AM (Tnijr)
You said $1000 twice.
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:35 AM (Tnijr)
You said $1000 twice.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:37 AM (FRGnP)
86
Read a book called Citizen of Earth by Joe Kassabian, which is sort of a cross between All Quiet on the Western Front and Starship Troopers. Pretty good war story.
Kassabian is a vet of a bunch of Army tours in Afghanistan, and he has also written Hooligans of Kandahar, which I am going to pick up next week.
Kassabian is a vet of a bunch of Army tours in Afghanistan, and he has also written Hooligans of Kandahar, which I am going to pick up next week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 09:37 AM (Mo1SD)
87
That's Gina Torres (Firefly TV series).
Yesterday, I borrowed from our library Dan Simmons' The Abominable ebook after reading Larry Correia's blog which I visit regularly. He makes me laugh specially when he's angry at something stupid that leftists have written or done. I also own several of his books. Monster Hunter International series and Grimnoir Chronicles are good reads.
Yesterday, I borrowed from our library Dan Simmons' The Abominable ebook after reading Larry Correia's blog which I visit regularly. He makes me laugh specially when he's angry at something stupid that leftists have written or done. I also own several of his books. Monster Hunter International series and Grimnoir Chronicles are good reads.
Posted by: Oggi at September 29, 2019 09:37 AM (Bk5Q+)
88
> The Tragedy of the Commons.
Also known as "The Bernie Sanders Effect". Start a commune, and there's always a bunch of Bernies that show up to freeload.
Also known as "The Bernie Sanders Effect". Start a commune, and there's always a bunch of Bernies that show up to freeload.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:37 AM (9xVRr)
89
So: which Moron is Dan Simmons in disguise?
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:38 AM (G02Y7)
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:39 AM (G02Y7)
91
Earlier this week I got "Snug Harbor Stories" by Will Henry. This is the second collection of comic strips about Wallace the Brave, his family and friends and is just as delightful as the first collection. These are very much in the style of Calvin and Hobbes with a kid's sense of priorities and imagination, but with that 'twist' in the last panel that brings home the humor for all readers. Mrs. JTB knows when I'm reading it because of the sudden roars of laughing that wake up the dog and startle her. This edition has a pull out poster of Wallace's home and all the things that go on in and around it. Again, it is delightful.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (bmdz3)
92
Aw, phooey. We're back to left-aligned and now my magic charm won't work.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (G02Y7)
93
Okay.....
I read Strangers in the Bronx by Andrew O'Toole about the 1951 season of the NY Yankees.
1951 was DiMaggio's last season and Mantle's first.
meh, it was ok.
I read Strangers in the Bronx by Andrew O'Toole about the 1951 season of the NY Yankees.
1951 was DiMaggio's last season and Mantle's first.
meh, it was ok.
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (arJlL)
94
I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
Try "Great Expectations" next! I reread it last year and it was a pleasure. A wonderful glimpse into the social structure of 19th century England.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
Try "Great Expectations" next! I reread it last year and it was a pleasure. A wonderful glimpse into the social structure of 19th century England.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (wYseH)
95
Happy New Year, CBD and all my Jewish friends!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:42 AM (lwiT4)
96
I'm still working on Catholic reading this
week--Rediscover Catholicism has been superceded by A Biblical Walk
Through the Mass, by Edward Sri. This is a better place for me to
start, since I am discovering (rather than re-discovering) the faith.
Posted by: April at September 29, 2019 09:08 AM (OX9vb)
---
I think that's a wise choice.
I've been Catholic for 13 years and I'm still picking up new elements of the faith.
One difficulty is that historically American culture has been overwhelmingly Protestant and reflexively hostile to Catholicism. You're seeing echoes of that today in how the Dems are recycling the old slurs about how Catholics take orders from the pope, can't be expected to think independently, have dual loyalty, etc.
They're pulling these tropes right off the shelf. I was interested to read the judge's opinion regarding St. Vincent Adoption Services in Michigan and how the media has completely bought into the b.s. narrative that the Catholics are using religion as an excuse for bigotry.
The facts of the case tell otherwise. St. Vincent acknowledges that they are not able to certify same-sex or single people for adoption because it goes against their beliefs, so they refer these groups to other agencies.
But once someone HAS been certified, St. Vincent will work with them and has always done so.
The AG (Nessel) ignores this and instead demands that St. Vincent betray its faith or be shut down.
She alleges no actual discrimination, can't outline any "harm" to anyone, but the judge noted that there would be "harm" to children if Nessel had her way because less families would be able to adopt an they wouldn't have St. Vincent's resources to draw on.
It's bigotry, but since it goes against the "right people," the left is for it.
week--Rediscover Catholicism has been superceded by A Biblical Walk
Through the Mass, by Edward Sri. This is a better place for me to
start, since I am discovering (rather than re-discovering) the faith.
Posted by: April at September 29, 2019 09:08 AM (OX9vb)
---
I think that's a wise choice.
I've been Catholic for 13 years and I'm still picking up new elements of the faith.
One difficulty is that historically American culture has been overwhelmingly Protestant and reflexively hostile to Catholicism. You're seeing echoes of that today in how the Dems are recycling the old slurs about how Catholics take orders from the pope, can't be expected to think independently, have dual loyalty, etc.
They're pulling these tropes right off the shelf. I was interested to read the judge's opinion regarding St. Vincent Adoption Services in Michigan and how the media has completely bought into the b.s. narrative that the Catholics are using religion as an excuse for bigotry.
The facts of the case tell otherwise. St. Vincent acknowledges that they are not able to certify same-sex or single people for adoption because it goes against their beliefs, so they refer these groups to other agencies.
But once someone HAS been certified, St. Vincent will work with them and has always done so.
The AG (Nessel) ignores this and instead demands that St. Vincent betray its faith or be shut down.
She alleges no actual discrimination, can't outline any "harm" to anyone, but the judge noted that there would be "harm" to children if Nessel had her way because less families would be able to adopt an they wouldn't have St. Vincent's resources to draw on.
It's bigotry, but since it goes against the "right people," the left is for it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:42 AM (cfSRQ)
97
However, I am now cussing out that lazy cow of a 4th grade teacher who ruined Dickens for me, and probably others, for over fifty years. When I think how easy it would have been to introduce young minds to the value of literature of that period and how entertaining it can be. I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
98
Re: We Have No idea, suggested by Trimegistus, I may pick that up next week as well, after finally finishing Stephen Meyer's Signature in the Cell.
SitCell is all about how impossible it is that Darwin's natural selection by random mutation process could have produced the incredibly complicated, information-rich workings of even the simplest of biological processes.
I would postulate that "science" at present knows maybe one (1) percent of what there is to know in any particular field. In physics and "global" "warming" "science", less than one (1) percent.
SitCell is all about how impossible it is that Darwin's natural selection by random mutation process could have produced the incredibly complicated, information-rich workings of even the simplest of biological processes.
I would postulate that "science" at present knows maybe one (1) percent of what there is to know in any particular field. In physics and "global" "warming" "science", less than one (1) percent.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (Mo1SD)
99
That last picture? That's what happens when I read.
Posted by: Emmie at September 29, 2019 09:44 AM (i/wJA)
100
Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
Amen.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
Amen.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:44 AM (lwiT4)
101
Happy New Year, CBD and all my Jewish friends!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:42 AM (lwiT4)
Shanah tovah to you young lady!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:42 AM (lwiT4)
Shanah tovah to you young lady!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:45 AM (wYseH)
102
Looks like the maid found the booze stash.
Posted by: Burger Chef at September 29, 2019 09:46 AM (RuIsu)
103
I am, unashamedly, a total fangrrl of Larry Correia's rants.
Posted by: sinmi at September 29, 2019 09:46 AM (A5IVt)
104
Another reason Cabet's Icarian utopia failed is that he was Marxist before Marx. Sez Wikipedia:
"Cabet became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appeal to artisans who were being undercut by factories, and his communitarian ideals (based on the Golden Rule) later influenced Karl Marx and others. Cabet published Voyage en Icarie in French in 1839 (and in English in 1840 as Travels in Icaria), in which he proposed replacing capitalist production with workers' cooperatives."
"Cabet became the most popular socialist advocate of his day, with a special appeal to artisans who were being undercut by factories, and his communitarian ideals (based on the Golden Rule) later influenced Karl Marx and others. Cabet published Voyage en Icarie in French in 1839 (and in English in 1840 as Travels in Icaria), in which he proposed replacing capitalist production with workers' cooperatives."
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (9WuX0)
105
Word of the Day: ICARIAN (adj.) ambitious but eventually ruinous; describing an act of pride or overconfidence that ends in disaster
What a stupid word!
Welp, i'm off to fly to the sun on my wings of wax and feathers.
Later, suckaz!
What a stupid word!
Welp, i'm off to fly to the sun on my wings of wax and feathers.
Later, suckaz!
Posted by: Icarus at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (pqyXj)
106
Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
I can count on the fingers of one hand (no thumb, and one finger to spare) the teachers who made literature come alive. And that includes college.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
I can count on the fingers of one hand (no thumb, and one finger to spare) the teachers who made literature come alive. And that includes college.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (wYseH)
107
OK, fine. I'll do my partial book review now anyway. If Eris shows up next week I'll do it again and pretend it's fresh.
I'm reading "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks", a novel jointly written by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs years before either of them was published. They alsternate chapters, each from a different character's point of view.
This is a warning sign. Also, the cover blurb says Dashiell Hammet meets Albert Camus, which is another warning sign as Beat philosophy can't lead anywhere good.
I've never read the Beats much. Howl, that's about it. I was raised by a woman who graduated cum laude in English Literature in 1954 and whose tastes froze in the position of that time and that type of reader.
Anyway, so far the book is awesome. It's way Dashiell Hammet and the only time Beat philosophy comes up it is mocked. ("See, the forward thinking dinosaurs evolved into mammals and the bourgeois dinosaurs went extinct".) It's about a real life murder -- also the basis for the movie "Kill Your Darlings" a few years ago -- in which Burroughs and Kerouac were caught up.
We haven't got to the murder yet but I'm enjoying the gritty WWII life in NYC. Also, I like the Kerouac chapters better than the Burroughs, so I'm going to have to read Kerouac next.
I'm reading "And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks", a novel jointly written by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs years before either of them was published. They alsternate chapters, each from a different character's point of view.
This is a warning sign. Also, the cover blurb says Dashiell Hammet meets Albert Camus, which is another warning sign as Beat philosophy can't lead anywhere good.
I've never read the Beats much. Howl, that's about it. I was raised by a woman who graduated cum laude in English Literature in 1954 and whose tastes froze in the position of that time and that type of reader.
Anyway, so far the book is awesome. It's way Dashiell Hammet and the only time Beat philosophy comes up it is mocked. ("See, the forward thinking dinosaurs evolved into mammals and the bourgeois dinosaurs went extinct".) It's about a real life murder -- also the basis for the movie "Kill Your Darlings" a few years ago -- in which Burroughs and Kerouac were caught up.
We haven't got to the murder yet but I'm enjoying the gritty WWII life in NYC. Also, I like the Kerouac chapters better than the Burroughs, so I'm going to have to read Kerouac next.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (FNXDu)
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (Tnijr)
109
THEN, I started reading The Glory Game by Frank Gifford
about the 1958 Nfl Championship Game.
Its very good.
The 1958 NFL was nothing like the NFL today.
Several teams struggled with solvency.
A player who came to the Giants from the Bears said that if a player needed a jockstrap or a pair of socks, they had a barrel (there's that word again) with used straps and socks in it.
about the 1958 Nfl Championship Game.
Its very good.
The 1958 NFL was nothing like the NFL today.
Several teams struggled with solvency.
A player who came to the Giants from the Bears said that if a player needed a jockstrap or a pair of socks, they had a barrel (there's that word again) with used straps and socks in it.
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:48 AM (arJlL)
110
94 ... "Try "Great Expectations" next! I reread it last year and it was a pleasure. A wonderful glimpse into the social structure of 19th century England."
CBD, Thanks for the recommendation. That goes onto the 'next to read' list. I plan to get good hardcover versions of Dickens' books as I can. They really make the reading more pleasant. I do have the Delphi collection of Dickens on the Kindle for convenience. Delphi does a good job with their collections but I prefer physical books for extended reading.
CBD, Thanks for the recommendation. That goes onto the 'next to read' list. I plan to get good hardcover versions of Dickens' books as I can. They really make the reading more pleasant. I do have the Delphi collection of Dickens on the Kindle for convenience. Delphi does a good job with their collections but I prefer physical books for extended reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:49 AM (bmdz3)
111
>>Earlier this week I got "Snug Harbor Stories" by Will Henry.
Earlier this week I bought a bottle of rum from Will's liquor store. Here is the artist at work in his liquor store.
The place has gotten to popular for him to draw in the store any longer but he still pops in from time to time.
https://tinyurl.com/y3l3j9th
Earlier this week I bought a bottle of rum from Will's liquor store. Here is the artist at work in his liquor store.
The place has gotten to popular for him to draw in the store any longer but he still pops in from time to time.
https://tinyurl.com/y3l3j9th
Posted by: JackStraw at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (ZLI7S)
112
Happy New Year, CBD and all my Jewish friends!
Posted by: grammie winger
Seconded !
Hiya Grammie !
Posted by: grammie winger
Seconded !
Hiya Grammie !
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (arJlL)
113
"...he proposed replacing capitalist production with workers' cooperatives."
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (9WuX0)
I lived in a "workers cooperative" in college. The USCA in Berkeley was a socialist organization that provided room and board to Cal students.
I have first hand knowledge that it does not work.
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 09:47 AM (9WuX0)
I lived in a "workers cooperative" in college. The USCA in Berkeley was a socialist organization that provided room and board to Cal students.
I have first hand knowledge that it does not work.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (wYseH)
114
For a Dickens recommendation, I recently read Bleak House and enjoyed it tremendously. It was apparently the favorite Dickens novel of both G.K. Chesterton and Joseph Conrad. I have the Everyman's Library hardcover edition, which includes a very helpful list of characters in the front.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (IttZ7)
115
Shanah tovah to you young lady!
And I would like to thank the Red Sea Pedestrians for my four day weekend!
Oh, also happy new year.
And I would like to thank the Red Sea Pedestrians for my four day weekend!
Oh, also happy new year.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 09:51 AM (FNXDu)
116
Hiya JT!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:51 AM (lwiT4)
117
I'm frequently amused by the way that atheists continually recycle old Protestant anti-Catholic propaganda. All the bullshit about the medieval Church suppressing science, burning witches, etc. -- that was all made up by Protestants originally. Ditto the "black legend" of Spanish atrocities in the New World.
I love pointing this out to them. I'm an unbeliever myself and the idiocy of so many atheists makes me cringe.
I love pointing this out to them. I'm an unbeliever myself and the idiocy of so many atheists makes me cringe.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (G02Y7)
118
There were lots of attempts, primarily by European idealists, to create utopian communities in Texas. Primary causes for their demise: naivete about self-sufficiency skills, heat, drought, internal dissension.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (S+f+m)
119
Im reading A Century of Grace: Missouri Synod 1847-1947
By Walter A. Baepler
I have not gotten to the jello pot luck chapter I suspect that did not develop until the 50s. Other wise a very interesting read about who were the people involved and why did they leave Germany. Hint it was the state sponsored combination of Lutheranism and Reformism. Its an old edition from my grandfathers collection. An no it is not a scandi plot it was the Saxon Germans and the Hanoverians.
By Walter A. Baepler
I have not gotten to the jello pot luck chapter I suspect that did not develop until the 50s. Other wise a very interesting read about who were the people involved and why did they leave Germany. Hint it was the state sponsored combination of Lutheranism and Reformism. Its an old edition from my grandfathers collection. An no it is not a scandi plot it was the Saxon Germans and the Hanoverians.
Posted by: Dread0 at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (thwGF)
120
Oh, and FYI, I ran into Joe Kassabian on Twitter on a thing called Book Tasters (@booktasters), where you get a free book if you agree to read one of their selection of new, smaller genre/newer author selections and post an honest review on Goodreads and Amazon.
It's a pretty cool little program, but has one drawback: Several times I've selected a book to read, @booktasters lets the author know I am interested, and I follow the author on Twitter in order to make contact and receive the book, but the author never communicates back. This has occurred twice now and it has only happened when the author is extremely liberal and so when they follow me back and see an Evil Conservative wants to read their book, they must balk, thinking they don't want to have an Evil Conservative reviewing their work, because of course we are Evil.
So, I just wait a few weeks, buy and read their book anf render an honest review, NOT mentioning that they very tolerantly didn't send me their book the way they had agreed to do when they joined @Booktasters.
Tsk two, Libs. You can't outsmart us Evil Conservatives.
It's a pretty cool little program, but has one drawback: Several times I've selected a book to read, @booktasters lets the author know I am interested, and I follow the author on Twitter in order to make contact and receive the book, but the author never communicates back. This has occurred twice now and it has only happened when the author is extremely liberal and so when they follow me back and see an Evil Conservative wants to read their book, they must balk, thinking they don't want to have an Evil Conservative reviewing their work, because of course we are Evil.
So, I just wait a few weeks, buy and read their book anf render an honest review, NOT mentioning that they very tolerantly didn't send me their book the way they had agreed to do when they joined @Booktasters.
Tsk two, Libs. You can't outsmart us Evil Conservatives.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (Mo1SD)
121
Last week I finished Points North, the last work by Howard Frank Mosher released posthumously. I picked it up because I recently vacationed in White River Junction, Vermont and knew that his work was centered in the state, specifically in the three counties in the northeast called the Northeast Kingdom where my youngest daughter has been and calls it beautiful. Mosher's first two books, Disappearances and Where the Rivers Flow North, were responsible for me being somewhat passionate about contemporary writing by people off the beaten path. They had quirky characters vividly portrayed in a natural manner because between hardy locals, Québécois and Injuns they were all integral to the region. Then he started getting more autobiographical in his work, which was ok in my mind but knocked it down a notch. Then, I might be misreading this but he got a bug up his ass about writing a new "To Kill a Mockingbird". Bringing up that book is a good way to bring on a rant about the immature and underdeveloped nature of American popular tastes. Flannery O'Connor has my eternal gratitude for dismissing it as a children's book. You want to read an adult disquisition about race in the South read Faulkner, otherwise STFU.
Anyway Mosher started bringing blacks into a polar bear in a blizzard setting. Maybe that's realistic because I guess it was a stop on the Underground Railroad into Canada and the point is made, multiple times, that the Northeast Kingdom was specifically a slavery free republic way way in the past. That's fine but the number of AAs I saw on vacation was borderline nonexistent. My point is that it seemed forced and unrealistic.
Anyway my point is that some of the stories were nicely quirky and endearing. But after reading Ron Rash's works set in the sticks of western North Carolina, Mosher's stories were second tier.
Anyway Mosher started bringing blacks into a polar bear in a blizzard setting. Maybe that's realistic because I guess it was a stop on the Underground Railroad into Canada and the point is made, multiple times, that the Northeast Kingdom was specifically a slavery free republic way way in the past. That's fine but the number of AAs I saw on vacation was borderline nonexistent. My point is that it seemed forced and unrealistic.
Anyway my point is that some of the stories were nicely quirky and endearing. But after reading Ron Rash's works set in the sticks of western North Carolina, Mosher's stories were second tier.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (y7DUB)
122
I prefer physical books for extended reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:49 AM (bmdz3)
I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:49 AM (bmdz3)
I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
Posted by: vmom happy to have read a good book! at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (9naWy)
124
Rereading James Blish's Earthman, Come Home. It's part of a big galaxy-spanning saga where, with a star drive that becomes more efficient the more mass it has to drive, Earthmen head out into space -- not in ships, but in entire cities, looking for work. The lead city? Manhattan, NY, naturally. Good space opera, even though some parts of the novel are a little hard to follow; I'm not sure I understand, for example, what the heroes' tricky schemes are, let alone what they are trying to accomplish. But Blish is a good writer all around.
The first two novels in the series establish the creation of the star drive, and then show a young man's education aboard first Scranton and then New York as they travel the stars. The fourth is about the end of the universe or the end of time; it's been a long time since I read it.
The first two novels in the series establish the creation of the star drive, and then show a young man's education aboard first Scranton and then New York as they travel the stars. The fourth is about the end of the universe or the end of time; it's been a long time since I read it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 09:53 AM (UP2XL)
125
71 There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
---
Narrator Voice: Original sin.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Beat me to it.
At the heart of every utopian community is a profound, and even wilful, misunderstanding of human nature.
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
---
Narrator Voice: Original sin.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:30 AM (cfSRQ)
Beat me to it.
At the heart of every utopian community is a profound, and even wilful, misunderstanding of human nature.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 09:54 AM (juqNl)
126
31
However, I am now cussing out that lazy cow of a 4th grade teacher who ruined Dickens for me, and probably others, for over fifty years. When I think how easy it would have been to introduce young minds to the value of literature of that period and how entertaining it can be. I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
_________
Happy as I am to blame my teachers - many of whom sucked - I'm not entirely sure they're really at fault here. I don't think Dickens is a natural for most kids, at least, not for boomer kids. For Victorians, I'd recommend they start with Conan Doyle (now that Twain is verboten). Of course, my 4th grade teacher told my mother to stop me from reading Holmes, so there's that.
However, I am now cussing out that lazy cow of a 4th grade teacher who ruined Dickens for me, and probably others, for over fifty years. When I think how easy it would have been to introduce young minds to the value of literature of that period and how entertaining it can be. I get seriously angry at the lost years of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (bmdz3)
_________
Happy as I am to blame my teachers - many of whom sucked - I'm not entirely sure they're really at fault here. I don't think Dickens is a natural for most kids, at least, not for boomer kids. For Victorians, I'd recommend they start with Conan Doyle (now that Twain is verboten). Of course, my 4th grade teacher told my mother to stop me from reading Holmes, so there's that.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 09:54 AM (ZbwAu)
127
& the word of the day has pulled out
BRAVADO
so seems like I'll have this Rush song stuck in my head all day.
BRAVADO
so seems like I'll have this Rush song stuck in my head all day.
Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at September 29, 2019 09:54 AM (x8Q/V)
128
I'm gonna begin The Bitteroots by C.J. Box
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 09:54 AM (arJlL)
129
Try Knickerless Knickleby, or A Sale of Two Titties, by Edmund Wells, or Stickwick Stapers by Farles Wickens with four M's and a silent Q.
Posted by: Darles Chickens at September 29, 2019 09:55 AM (9xVRr)
130
I think one reason so many of the Utopian communities failed in America is that they were solving problems which didn't exist here.
Example: "We'll own the land communally, that way no landowner will have power over the rest."
"But they're GIVING AWAY land in the territories! Why don't we all just get our own?"
"Um . . . because then we can't have meetings to decide how to manage our communal land? Hey, come back!"
Example: "We'll own the land communally, that way no landowner will have power over the rest."
"But they're GIVING AWAY land in the territories! Why don't we all just get our own?"
"Um . . . because then we can't have meetings to decide how to manage our communal land? Hey, come back!"
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:56 AM (G02Y7)
131
I've never read Dan Simmons ... now I guess I should, in tribute to Greta
Posted by: vmom happy to have read a good book! at September 29, 2019 09:56 AM (9naWy)
132
Muldoon always complains that my library pics never actually show any one reading or otherwise using library resources. OK, fine. Here's a photo of this week's library/reading room that has people in it.
-
Ehh. People are overrated.
-
Ehh. People are overrated.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 09:57 AM (+y/Ru)
133
Rumor has it that Nicholas of Haiti is actually the true backstory of Dr. Nick Riviera of Simpson's fame.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (Mo1SD)
134
Oh, and Gina Torres had a featured role in an episode arc of Angel in its penultimate year.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (UP2XL)
135
78: That attachment to Marx is why I dropped our synagogue. I'll look for that book.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (JaLUs)
136
Rev and I are on stay-cation this week, so I get to hang out here on the Book Thread till I can't hang on no more.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (lwiT4)
137
> There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Many tried and failed. The Mormons, by contrast, succeeded.
A good starting point might be to look at what the Mormons did that the others didn't, or what the others did that the Mormons didn't.
Not polygamy, certainly... there were several other groups that had that (or equivalents, such as the "free love" of the Oneida Community).
community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their
demise was.
Many tried and failed. The Mormons, by contrast, succeeded.
A good starting point might be to look at what the Mormons did that the others didn't, or what the others did that the Mormons didn't.
Not polygamy, certainly... there were several other groups that had that (or equivalents, such as the "free love" of the Oneida Community).
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (9xVRr)
138
I just started "Dubliners," by James Joyce, on the recommendation of a Moron whose name escapes me. I hadn't read it since high school, and it is a lovely glimpse into the lives of the urban Irish.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (wYseH)
139
One reason so many of those gorgeous old libraries in pictures are empty of people is that people are HORRIBLE things to have around antique books or woodwork. We're constantly emitting moisture, leaving oil and salt on everything we touch, bringing in spores and bacteria . . . You can tour the library, but only if you put on this cleansuit.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (G02Y7)
140
131 vmom -*waves at vmom* fair warning about Hyperion. If you start it, also have The Fall of Hyperion ready to go. Hyperion ends on a, shall we say, cliffhanger....
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (IttZ7)
Posted by: Hillary! To 2020! And Beyond! at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (L7hTO)
142
106 ... "Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
I can count on the fingers of one hand (no thumb, and one finger to spare) the teachers who made literature come alive. And that includes college."
Ain't that the truth. I can think of only three teachers who got me excited about good literature and why it was good, important, and fun.
CBD, Please tell Mrs. CBD how much I enjoyed our conversation. It was so pleasant.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
I can count on the fingers of one hand (no thumb, and one finger to spare) the teachers who made literature come alive. And that includes college."
Ain't that the truth. I can think of only three teachers who got me excited about good literature and why it was good, important, and fun.
CBD, Please tell Mrs. CBD how much I enjoyed our conversation. It was so pleasant.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (bmdz3)
143
That attachment to Marx is why I dropped our synagogue. I'll look for that book.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (JaLUs)
You too?
Mine was more "Liberation Theology," but it was probably pretty similar.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (JaLUs)
You too?
Mine was more "Liberation Theology," but it was probably pretty similar.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (wYseH)
144
For a Dickens recommendation, I recently read Bleak House and enjoyed it tremendously. It was apparently the favorite Dickens novel of both G.K. Chesterton and Joseph Conrad. I have the Everyman's Library hardcover edition, which includes a very helpful list of characters in the front.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (IttZ7)
Bleak House was one of the works Nabokov discussed at Cornell in his Lectures on Literature book. Jarndyce v Jarndyce has become a generic touchstone for the cold molasses down a frozen pipe nature of legal proceedings. Ambulance chasers must hate it.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019 09:50 AM (IttZ7)
Bleak House was one of the works Nabokov discussed at Cornell in his Lectures on Literature book. Jarndyce v Jarndyce has become a generic touchstone for the cold molasses down a frozen pipe nature of legal proceedings. Ambulance chasers must hate it.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (y7DUB)
145
Please tell Mrs. CBD how much I enjoyed our conversation. It was so pleasant.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (bmdz3)
I will indeed!
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 09:59 AM (bmdz3)
I will indeed!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (wYseH)
146
reading John Updike's The Coup for my book group. It's a loooong slog. It's billed as a "dark comedy" and maybe it was considered so at the time....but as I read it (for the first time) now, it seems a depressingly prescient inside look at inner workings of the totalitarian state the prog's dream of.
-The public/masses starve while the elites live in luxury
-The ruling class controls the narrative the public sees to keep discontent to a minimum.
-the public/masses say and do anything to get into the elite class
-the elites kill/destroy/ruin the any disruption of the narrative: any outside aid that might disturb their narrative, any person/idea that might represent a rallying point for opposition
-creating a phony enemy or enemies to keep the masses distracted.
I don't find it funny at all.
-The public/masses starve while the elites live in luxury
-The ruling class controls the narrative the public sees to keep discontent to a minimum.
-the public/masses say and do anything to get into the elite class
-the elites kill/destroy/ruin the any disruption of the narrative: any outside aid that might disturb their narrative, any person/idea that might represent a rallying point for opposition
-creating a phony enemy or enemies to keep the masses distracted.
I don't find it funny at all.
Posted by: vivi at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (11H2y)
147
Hubris is overweening pride"
So what's the term for a partial weening pride?
And what's a "weening" anyway?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (6qErC)
Mom sez I was a "Carnation" baby.
So what's the term for a partial weening pride?
And what's a "weening" anyway?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at September 29, 2019 09:14 AM (6qErC)
Mom sez I was a "Carnation" baby.
Posted by: BignJames at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (X/Pw5)
148
Re the ongoing comments about socialism, Marxism, the Spanish civil war - go back to yesterday good morning coffee Thread. In it was a call to read an article about Lenin. I can't find the site now, but it was a clear-eyed explanation of why and how commies, leftists, etc. can hold and believe completely incompatible views and theories at the same time.
It explains so much and is absolutely frightening, because you realize there is no compromise with these people. And the fact that socialism has never worked means nothing to them.
I'll join the plea to read the article and, if I can find it, I'll get the cite.
It explains so much and is absolutely frightening, because you realize there is no compromise with these people. And the fact that socialism has never worked means nothing to them.
I'll join the plea to read the article and, if I can find it, I'll get the cite.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (DPI/l)
149
I just started "Dubliners," by James Joyce, on the recommendation of a Moron whose name escapes me. I hadn't read it since high school, and it is a lovely glimpse into the lives of the urban Irish.
Thanks!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (wYseH)
------------
A literature course I used for my oldest child when she was in high school had that book in it. She started reading it and hated it so much that she asked me if she could stop. In 13 years of homeschooling this kid never complained about any book, so I said sure.
She hated it so much she said "please don't make (next kid in line) read it either." If you knew my kids, you would know how rare that is!
Enjoy it!
Thanks!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (wYseH)
------------
A literature course I used for my oldest child when she was in high school had that book in it. She started reading it and hated it so much that she asked me if she could stop. In 13 years of homeschooling this kid never complained about any book, so I said sure.
She hated it so much she said "please don't make (next kid in line) read it either." If you knew my kids, you would know how rare that is!
Enjoy it!
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:02 AM (aXucN)
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 29, 2019 10:02 AM (oVJmc)
151
I just started Rider's of the Purple Sage. I am used to Louis L'amour
where it is usually some guy who's pa got shot vs a cattle baron. So
far it is Mormon vs Gentile but I am still intrigued.
where it is usually some guy who's pa got shot vs a cattle baron. So
far it is Mormon vs Gentile but I am still intrigued.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:03 AM (n13/j)
152
The Dan Simmons comments are interesting. Relatedly, I'm going through mysteries I picked up and never read over the years (to cull the library). I am almost finished with one, What Rough Beast by John Trench (mid 50s, Brit), which stinks.
I say this despite the fact the author clearly has conservative sympathies. But the writing is very poor, but in a literate way. In fact the most interesting thing about it would be analyzing why it's so poor.
One thing is really a common fault to mystery writers. Straining to come up with a striking simile or other image. (Oddly, it's most common with hard-boiled writers, which this guy isn't.) That can work if not overdone. But when it fails, it just gets int the way. He also tells a lot that doesn't sink in, while leaving out tons. (It's about half way through that you find out the detective has only one hand.) And characterization is zilch. And the action scenes are dead.
Added to that, the setting and story (and era) are right in Michael Gilbert's wheelhouse. I've already said how much I like him.
Total fail.
I say this despite the fact the author clearly has conservative sympathies. But the writing is very poor, but in a literate way. In fact the most interesting thing about it would be analyzing why it's so poor.
One thing is really a common fault to mystery writers. Straining to come up with a striking simile or other image. (Oddly, it's most common with hard-boiled writers, which this guy isn't.) That can work if not overdone. But when it fails, it just gets int the way. He also tells a lot that doesn't sink in, while leaving out tons. (It's about half way through that you find out the detective has only one hand.) And characterization is zilch. And the action scenes are dead.
Added to that, the setting and story (and era) are right in Michael Gilbert's wheelhouse. I've already said how much I like him.
Total fail.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:03 AM (ZbwAu)
153
I thought Liberation Theology was a Latin American Catholic thing?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:03 AM (FNXDu)
154
> Straining to come up with a striking simile or other image.
Trying to be Raymond Chandler without Raymond Chandler's talent.
Trying to be Raymond Chandler without Raymond Chandler's talent.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (9xVRr)
155
Rudy Giuliani on Fox now about the farce, talking about how much the public hates double standards in justice.
Howcome the media isn't asking Hunter Biden about this?
Impeach the MSM.
Howcome the media isn't asking Hunter Biden about this?
Impeach the MSM.
Posted by: vivi at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (11H2y)
156
I don't think Dickens is a natural for most kids, at least, not for boomer kids. For Victorians, I'd recommend they start with Conan Doyle (now that Twain is verboten). Of course, my 4th grade teacher told my mother to stop me from reading Holmes, so there's that.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019
*
*
Dickens' prose is . . . dense, let me put it like that. Perhaps someday soon, when I live in a decent climate with some winter and don't have to work full time, I'll try more than A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities.
As for Doyle, he was remarkably modern in his style. He made scenes move without using more words than he needed. Not a Hammett or a hard-boiled writer, but he didn't waste words. For example (I'm making this snippet up, but I think it captures the flavor):
Holmes to Watson: "Hand me down the Bradshaw, please. Thank you. There is a train from Victoria Station at 10:42. Be sure to pack your revolver; we may have need of it." And boom, they're getting off the train in Sussex or wherever. No words wasted.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019
*
*
Dickens' prose is . . . dense, let me put it like that. Perhaps someday soon, when I live in a decent climate with some winter and don't have to work full time, I'll try more than A Christmas Carol and A Tale of Two Cities.
As for Doyle, he was remarkably modern in his style. He made scenes move without using more words than he needed. Not a Hammett or a hard-boiled writer, but he didn't waste words. For example (I'm making this snippet up, but I think it captures the flavor):
Holmes to Watson: "Hand me down the Bradshaw, please. Thank you. There is a train from Victoria Station at 10:42. Be sure to pack your revolver; we may have need of it." And boom, they're getting off the train in Sussex or wherever. No words wasted.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (UP2XL)
157
Mine was more "Liberation Theology," but it was probably pretty similar.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (wYseH)
I thought "Liberation Theology" was a Catholic thing. There's a Jewish version, too?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (wYseH)
I thought "Liberation Theology" was a Catholic thing. There's a Jewish version, too?
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:05 AM (juqNl)
158
The young maiden fallen asleep on the yuge book reminds me of my life's final goal:
To create a complete Bible that is a translation of the following languages, all in columns on each page in perfect synch:
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
Final column: The Dominant Language of Each Nation (I hope this makes sense).
It will be an extremely girthy Bible, what with six columns on each page.
To create a complete Bible that is a translation of the following languages, all in columns on each page in perfect synch:
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
Final column: The Dominant Language of Each Nation (I hope this makes sense).
It will be an extremely girthy Bible, what with six columns on each page.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:05 AM (Mo1SD)
159
Here it is: (h/t naturalfake!)
57 Holy Cow! Here is a great article in "The New Criterion" about "Leninthink" or the way communists approach the world and all dealing as a zero sum game.
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/10/leninthink
If you want to understand what's been going on since Trump was elected and especially this week.
Read the above article.
It should and will scare the shit out of you.
Read what Lenin thought, taught, and did.
57 Holy Cow! Here is a great article in "The New Criterion" about "Leninthink" or the way communists approach the world and all dealing as a zero sum game.
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2019/10/leninthink
If you want to understand what's been going on since Trump was elected and especially this week.
Read the above article.
It should and will scare the shit out of you.
Read what Lenin thought, taught, and did.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:05 AM (DPI/l)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:06 AM (+y/Ru)
161
I just started Rider's of the Purple Sage.. but I am still intrigued.
Oh, please report back when you're finished. I have Opinions.
Oh, please report back when you're finished. I have Opinions.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:06 AM (FNXDu)
162
It will be an extremely girthy Bible, what with six columns on each page.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:05 AM (Mo1SD)
Yikes. You're going to need another lifetime. Or several seminary slaves.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:05 AM (Mo1SD)
Yikes. You're going to need another lifetime. Or several seminary slaves.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:06 AM (lwiT4)
163
I just started Rider's of the Purple Sage.. but I am still intrigued.
Oh, please report back when you're finished. I have Opinions.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:06 AM (FNXDu)
will do.
I just started Rider's of the Purple Sage.. but I am still intrigued.
Oh, please report back when you're finished. I have Opinions.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:06 AM (FNXDu)
will do.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:07 AM (n13/j)
164
149 I just started "Dubliners," by James Joyce, on the recommendation of a Moron whose name escapes me. I hadn't read it since high school, and it is a lovely glimpse into the lives of the urban Irish.
Thanks!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (wYseH)
------------
A literature course I used for my oldest child when she was in high school had that book in it. She started reading it and hated it so much that she asked me if she could stop. In 13 years of homeschooling this kid never complained about any book, so I said sure.
She hated it so much she said "please don't make (next kid in line) read it either." If you knew my kids, you would know how rare that is!
Enjoy it!
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
*
*
Dubliners was force-fed to me in college. I remember almost nothing about it except one story was called "The Dead," which intrigued me until I found out there were no zombies or vampires in it.
In fairness, I was still drinking at the time. Maybe I'll try it again. I do hate dashes used instead of quotation marks, though.
Thanks!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (wYseH)
------------
A literature course I used for my oldest child when she was in high school had that book in it. She started reading it and hated it so much that she asked me if she could stop. In 13 years of homeschooling this kid never complained about any book, so I said sure.
She hated it so much she said "please don't make (next kid in line) read it either." If you knew my kids, you would know how rare that is!
Enjoy it!
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
*
*
Dubliners was force-fed to me in college. I remember almost nothing about it except one story was called "The Dead," which intrigued me until I found out there were no zombies or vampires in it.
In fairness, I was still drinking at the time. Maybe I'll try it again. I do hate dashes used instead of quotation marks, though.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:07 AM (UP2XL)
165
16 Who reads Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels? Mom has exhausted them, re-reading ...she doesn't seem to mind, but I'm wondering if there is a similar type series/author I can steer her to on our library day.
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:07 AM (Z/jzm)
Introduce her to Stephen Hunter. The man weaves a very tight story. An excellent writer. He writes of the Swagger clan: Bob Lee, his daddy Earl and in one of the novels, all the way back to Earl's daddy. All law enforcement/military men.
I've read them all and enjoyed every one of them, especially his latest, Game of Snipers.
Hunter's written about ten in the Swagger series. Should keep her going a while.
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 09:07 AM (Z/jzm)
Introduce her to Stephen Hunter. The man weaves a very tight story. An excellent writer. He writes of the Swagger clan: Bob Lee, his daddy Earl and in one of the novels, all the way back to Earl's daddy. All law enforcement/military men.
I've read them all and enjoyed every one of them, especially his latest, Game of Snipers.
Hunter's written about ten in the Swagger series. Should keep her going a while.
Posted by: one of the quiet ones at September 29, 2019 10:08 AM (qdQJ5)
166
Gina Torres - especially the part where her legs connect with the rest of her.
Posted by: DaveA at September 29, 2019 10:08 AM (FhXTo)
167
I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
168
Many tried and failed. The Mormons, by contrast, succeeded.
A good starting point might be to look at what the Mormons did that
the others didn't, or what the others did that the Mormons didn't.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (9xVRr)
---
Wait, so Senators like Harry Reid and Mitt Romney are the product of Utopia?
The Mormons didn't attempt to rewrite human nature. They arguably built their faith by catering to known human (particularly) male desires.
And unlike Utopians, they are very much about an afterlife.
A good starting point might be to look at what the Mormons did that
the others didn't, or what the others did that the Mormons didn't.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:58 AM (9xVRr)
---
Wait, so Senators like Harry Reid and Mitt Romney are the product of Utopia?
The Mormons didn't attempt to rewrite human nature. They arguably built their faith by catering to known human (particularly) male desires.
And unlike Utopians, they are very much about an afterlife.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (cfSRQ)
169
>>
Hunter's written about ten in the Swagger series. Should keep her going a while.
Posted by: one of the quiet ones at September 29, 2019 10:08 AM (qdQJ5)
Thank you!
Hunter's written about ten in the Swagger series. Should keep her going a while.
Posted by: one of the quiet ones at September 29, 2019 10:08 AM (qdQJ5)
Thank you!
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (Z/jzm)
170
"She hated it so much she said "please don't make (next kid in line) read it either."
We had a similar instance with "The Dark Frigate".
We had a similar instance with "The Dark Frigate".
Posted by: freaked at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Tnijr)
171
66 I've been re-reading Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series -- mysteries set in late Republican/early Imperial Rome. Saylor really knows his material, and does a great job of bringing the period to life. They're not bad as mysteries, either.
The protagonist is Gordianus the Finder, who is a hired-gun investigator (sort of an early P.I.).
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:27 AM (9xVRr)
_________
Surely you mean hired bow or sling.
Haven't read them, but sounds like the SPQR series, which has been mentioned here. Of course, I have have one in the lot I'm attacking now.
The protagonist is Gordianus the Finder, who is a hired-gun investigator (sort of an early P.I.).
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 09:27 AM (9xVRr)
_________
Surely you mean hired bow or sling.
Haven't read them, but sounds like the SPQR series, which has been mentioned here. Of course, I have have one in the lot I'm attacking now.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (ZbwAu)
172
I'm still working on Catholic reading this week--Rediscover Catholicism has been superceded by A Biblical Walk Through the Mass, by Edward Sri. This is a better place for me to start, since I am discovering (rather than re-discovering) the faith.
Posted by: April
May I suggest to you reading Death on a Friday Afternoon, by the late Fr. Richard H
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: April
May I suggest to you reading Death on a Friday Afternoon, by the late Fr. Richard H
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Mo1SD)
173
And what's a "weening" anyway?
It's something that takes a lot of horseback riding to learn to stop doing.
It's something that takes a lot of horseback riding to learn to stop doing.
Posted by: Carlos Danger at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (L7hTO)
174
For a Dickens recommendation, I recently read Bleak House and enjoyed it tremendously. It was apparently the favorite Dickens novel of both G.K. Chesterton and Joseph Conrad. I have the Everyman's Library hardcover edition, which includes a very helpful list of characters in the front.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019
*
*
Bleak House has an element of what would be the classical mystery in it too, I think -- Inspector Bucket? The PBS adaptation of 2006 or so was one of the best TV programs ever.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes - the Housekeeper at September 29, 2019
*
*
Bleak House has an element of what would be the classical mystery in it too, I think -- Inspector Bucket? The PBS adaptation of 2006 or so was one of the best TV programs ever.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (UP2XL)
Posted by: TANSTAAFL at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (T09ml)
176
D'oh, Kindle has built in definitions.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:11 AM (y7DUB)
177
*taps chin*
Well got percolating a real doozy of an idea for a story. Mashing up some wild myth from the anime Midnight Occult Civil Servants and all the luridness of Life Force to make a really weird vampire tale.
Well got percolating a real doozy of an idea for a story. Mashing up some wild myth from the anime Midnight Occult Civil Servants and all the luridness of Life Force to make a really weird vampire tale.
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:11 AM (/ibaJ)
178
I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:11 AM (n13/j)
179
May I suggest to you reading Death on a Friday Afternoon, by the late Fr. Richard H
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Mo1SD)
That is a very good book.
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Mo1SD)
That is a very good book.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:12 AM (lwiT4)
180
67 I should clarify that the Communists would have killed *dissident* Marxists, i.e. the POUM and Trostky-ites as well as the Socialists.
A big part of why the Republic lost was that its wasn't really a cohesive democratic republic but a loose coalition of radical groups waiting for the moment to kill each other off and take total power.
But hey, their intentions were pure! All of them wanted to kill business owners, clergy and destroy Spain's historical monuments and art, so they had that in common.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)
_________
Orwell gives some of that. But he does somewhat cover for the dissident left. And largely denies Republican atrocities, unless the Commies did them.
Always remember that he was, after all, a lefty, albeit the best of the lot.
A big part of why the Republic lost was that its wasn't really a cohesive democratic republic but a loose coalition of radical groups waiting for the moment to kill each other off and take total power.
But hey, their intentions were pure! All of them wanted to kill business owners, clergy and destroy Spain's historical monuments and art, so they had that in common.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)
_________
Orwell gives some of that. But he does somewhat cover for the dissident left. And largely denies Republican atrocities, unless the Commies did them.
Always remember that he was, after all, a lefty, albeit the best of the lot.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:12 AM (ZbwAu)
181
Came across this by accident. It's "CS Lewis: A Very Short Introduction" by James Como. It's a pocket size book that provides biography and descriptions of Lewis' works and how they combine. There is also a list of all his writings by topic and one of the works that influenced him over his life. This sounds rather dry but Como's writing is lively and informative. There is a lot of good info he includes in only 160 pages. I knew a lot of the material but it was still a good read and would help any newcomer to Lewis. By the way, Como is a founding member of the New York CS Lewis Society.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 10:12 AM (bmdz3)
182
Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.
Properly, my post should have been in TJMs movie thread, but I didn't feel like posting last night. So you can either read this or skip over.
If you enjoy silent movies, or are interested in the history of film, you should watch - or set your DVR - Turner Classic Movies at 12.30 tonight when they show the 1912 version of Cleopatra, directed and starring Helen Gardner.
https://tinyurl.com/y685ha9e
Who she, you ask? Gardner, a NY native, was a multitalented actress, screenwriter, producer, editor and costume designer who, after joining the Vitagraph studio in 1910, quickly saw the possibilities of the emerging media and became the first actor to form her own production company, the "Helen Gardner Picture Players," beating heavyweights like Mary Pickford or Charles Chaplin or even D.W. Griffith by several years. She was, as historian Robert Osborne noted, "one of the most powerful people in the entire filmmaking industry."
Cleopatra is the first version of the classic Caesar-Cleopatra-Mark Antony romance that later came to its lushest fruition in the 1963 Burton-Taylor version. It was budgeted at $45,000, (which would translate to over $1 million today) and shot in Tappan, NY, home to Gardner's company.
https://tinyurl.com/yygjplns
It was a successful film at the time and was re-released with new scenes in 1917 after the triumph of Theda Bara's own (now lost) Cleopatra, of which only 17 seconds of what was probably a costume test has survived.
https://tinyurl.com/y3aomxax (go to 39 seconds to start)
In 2000, TCM had the print restored and commissioned a new music score for the channel. The score, by the team of Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida is. . .unique. I don't really know how to characterize it except as "trance," if you know what I mean. I found it incredibly annoying at the beginning, but surprisingly, their music combined with Gardner's sumptuous settings, carries you along into an almost hypnotic state.
Gardner's Queen of the Nile is fleshy to modern eyes, and in my never-to-be-finished novel The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, I had Theda Bara dismiss her as "an old frump with cardboard sets," but the film, IMO, is well worth watching.
And that's my recommendation for the day. Now back to your regularly scheduled book talk.
Properly, my post should have been in TJMs movie thread, but I didn't feel like posting last night. So you can either read this or skip over.
If you enjoy silent movies, or are interested in the history of film, you should watch - or set your DVR - Turner Classic Movies at 12.30 tonight when they show the 1912 version of Cleopatra, directed and starring Helen Gardner.
https://tinyurl.com/y685ha9e
Who she, you ask? Gardner, a NY native, was a multitalented actress, screenwriter, producer, editor and costume designer who, after joining the Vitagraph studio in 1910, quickly saw the possibilities of the emerging media and became the first actor to form her own production company, the "Helen Gardner Picture Players," beating heavyweights like Mary Pickford or Charles Chaplin or even D.W. Griffith by several years. She was, as historian Robert Osborne noted, "one of the most powerful people in the entire filmmaking industry."
Cleopatra is the first version of the classic Caesar-Cleopatra-Mark Antony romance that later came to its lushest fruition in the 1963 Burton-Taylor version. It was budgeted at $45,000, (which would translate to over $1 million today) and shot in Tappan, NY, home to Gardner's company.
https://tinyurl.com/yygjplns
It was a successful film at the time and was re-released with new scenes in 1917 after the triumph of Theda Bara's own (now lost) Cleopatra, of which only 17 seconds of what was probably a costume test has survived.
https://tinyurl.com/y3aomxax (go to 39 seconds to start)
In 2000, TCM had the print restored and commissioned a new music score for the channel. The score, by the team of Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida is. . .unique. I don't really know how to characterize it except as "trance," if you know what I mean. I found it incredibly annoying at the beginning, but surprisingly, their music combined with Gardner's sumptuous settings, carries you along into an almost hypnotic state.
Gardner's Queen of the Nile is fleshy to modern eyes, and in my never-to-be-finished novel The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, I had Theda Bara dismiss her as "an old frump with cardboard sets," but the film, IMO, is well worth watching.
And that's my recommendation for the day. Now back to your regularly scheduled book talk.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2019 10:13 AM (Ki5SV)
183
The center must hold.
Posted by: General George Meade
Indeed, sir, but a wild bayonet charge down a thickly treed hill on the left flank makes for better cinema.
Posted by: General George Meade
Indeed, sir, but a wild bayonet charge down a thickly treed hill on the left flank makes for better cinema.
Posted by: Col. J. Lawrence Chamberlain at September 29, 2019 10:13 AM (Mo1SD)
184
It explains so much and is absolutely frightening, because you realize there is no compromise with these people. And the fact that socialism has never worked means nothing to them.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (DPI/l)
Yup.....communism is not supposed to work. If it did, there would be no need for the Party and no need for the Party bosses after it finally "worked".
It is a simple means to power, which is why it attracts the worst of humanity.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (DPI/l)
Yup.....communism is not supposed to work. If it did, there would be no need for the Party and no need for the Party bosses after it finally "worked".
It is a simple means to power, which is why it attracts the worst of humanity.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 29, 2019 10:14 AM (Z+IKu)
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at September 29, 2019 10:15 AM (nkjP1)
186
178 I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019
*
*
I guess I'm not literary enough to like McCarthy. HIs deal with the no quotation marks at all is very disturbing -- it gives his text a claustrophobic quality.
No Country For Old Men at least has the great killer character, the one Javier Bardem played in the film version. Which was a very faithful adaptation, including leaving you with a "WTF just happened?" reaction.
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019
*
*
I guess I'm not literary enough to like McCarthy. HIs deal with the no quotation marks at all is very disturbing -- it gives his text a claustrophobic quality.
No Country For Old Men at least has the great killer character, the one Javier Bardem played in the film version. Which was a very faithful adaptation, including leaving you with a "WTF just happened?" reaction.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:15 AM (UP2XL)
187
May I suggest to you reading Death on a Friday Afternoon, by the late Fr. Richard H
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Mo1SD)
----------
Another excellent (and short) book on the same theme is The Seven Last Words by Fulton J. Sheen.
That's the one I reread every year during Holy Week.
John Neuhaus?
He muses at length on the meaning of the last seven phrases Jesus spoke from the Cross.
The book has had a profound affect on me over the years and I reread it every Easter week.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (Mo1SD)
----------
Another excellent (and short) book on the same theme is The Seven Last Words by Fulton J. Sheen.
That's the one I reread every year during Holy Week.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:16 AM (aXucN)
188
Surely you mean hired bow or sling.
----
I think the Style Guide would be in favor of "hired catapult".
----
I think the Style Guide would be in favor of "hired catapult".
Posted by: Captain Obvious at September 29, 2019 10:16 AM (4Ii/Q)
189
Yep, hairybackguy, you get it. Excellent distillation. Orwell got it, too.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (DPI/l)
190
Dubliners was force-fed to me in college. I remember almost nothing about it except one story was called "The Dead," which intrigued me until I found out there were no zombies or vampires in it.
In fairness, I was still drinking at the time. Maybe I'll try it again. I do hate dashes used instead of quotation marks, though.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:07 AM (UP2XL
Read a story from 'Dubliners' in a college lit class, about a guy who sneaks off from his job early at the risk of being fired because he wants to get sloppy drunk, doesn't have enough money, pawns his watch, but only has enough money to get a little tipsy, not enough to get falling down sloppy drunk, then goes home to beat his wife, but she's not there, so he beats one of his kids. The story ends with the little boy pleading with his father that he'll pray for him if he doesn't beat him.
It was the most depressing story I have ever read. I could not face any of the other stories in 'Dubliners' after that.
In fairness, I was still drinking at the time. Maybe I'll try it again. I do hate dashes used instead of quotation marks, though.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:07 AM (UP2XL
Read a story from 'Dubliners' in a college lit class, about a guy who sneaks off from his job early at the risk of being fired because he wants to get sloppy drunk, doesn't have enough money, pawns his watch, but only has enough money to get a little tipsy, not enough to get falling down sloppy drunk, then goes home to beat his wife, but she's not there, so he beats one of his kids. The story ends with the little boy pleading with his father that he'll pray for him if he doesn't beat him.
It was the most depressing story I have ever read. I could not face any of the other stories in 'Dubliners' after that.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (juqNl)
Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid. at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (Vy7tf)
192
The center must hold.
Posted by: General George Meade
Indeed, sir, but a wild bayonet charge down a thickly treed hill on the left flank makes for better cinema.
Posted by: Col. J. Lawrence Chamberlain at September 29, 2019 10:13 AM (Mo1SD)
and no director or novelist even mentioned us. But the men know.
Posted by: General George Meade
Indeed, sir, but a wild bayonet charge down a thickly treed hill on the left flank makes for better cinema.
Posted by: Col. J. Lawrence Chamberlain at September 29, 2019 10:13 AM (Mo1SD)
and no director or novelist even mentioned us. But the men know.
Posted by: Warren, O'Rouke, Vincent et al at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (n13/j)
193
That's the one I reread every year during Holy Week.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:16 AM (aXucN)
Hey, bluebell. My ten-year old granddaughter is getting baptized this evening. We've been practice-dunking this last week. I think she's got it
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:16 AM (aXucN)
Hey, bluebell. My ten-year old granddaughter is getting baptized this evening. We've been practice-dunking this last week. I think she's got it
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (lwiT4)
194
My ten-year old granddaughter is getting baptized this evening. We've been practice-dunking this last week.
So does she float?
So does she float?
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:19 AM (/ibaJ)
195
Read a story from 'Dubliners' in a college lit class, about a guy who sneaks off from his job early at the risk of being fired because he wants to get sloppy drunk, doesn't have enough money, pawns his watch, but only has enough money to get a little tipsy, not enough to get falling down sloppy drunk, then goes home to beat his wife, but she's not there, so he beats one of his kids. The story ends with the little boy pleading with his father that he'll pray for him if he doesn't beat him.
It was the most depressing story I have ever read. I could not face any of the other stories in 'Dubliners' after that.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019
*
*
OM, all my hormone levels dropped significantly just reading that. Maybe Joyce will never be my cup of hemlock.
It was the most depressing story I have ever read. I could not face any of the other stories in 'Dubliners' after that.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019
*
*
OM, all my hormone levels dropped significantly just reading that. Maybe Joyce will never be my cup of hemlock.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:19 AM (UP2XL)
196
"Welp, i'm off to fly to the sun on my wings of wax and feathers.
Later, suckaz!
Posted by: Icarus"
Duh, (does V-8 head smack) I didn't realize that "Icarian" as a term for "ambitious effort that ends in disaster" might be referring to him. Which raises the question of why Cabet called his utopia "Icaria" given that he probably knew about the legend of Icarus as most educated people of the day would have. It would be kinda like naming a ship "Titanic" or writing a play or movie script titled "Heaven's Gate".
Later, suckaz!
Posted by: Icarus"
Duh, (does V-8 head smack) I didn't realize that "Icarian" as a term for "ambitious effort that ends in disaster" might be referring to him. Which raises the question of why Cabet called his utopia "Icaria" given that he probably knew about the legend of Icarus as most educated people of the day would have. It would be kinda like naming a ship "Titanic" or writing a play or movie script titled "Heaven's Gate".
Posted by: Secret Square at September 29, 2019 10:19 AM (9WuX0)
197
Okay, another look at Hyperion.
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 29, 2019 10:20 AM (c1yAg)
198
I just finished Dan Simmons's The Terror recently and it was the best book I've enjoyed in a long time. It's not his usual sci-fi, this one is suspenseful historical fiction about the two ships The Terror and Erebus, who got stuck in the ice in a North Pole expedition in the 1800s, what the sailors have to do to try to survive, while meanwhile an unearthly predator starts picking them off. Really well written, great characters that stay with you when you're finished.
Posted by: Average Jen at September 29, 2019 10:20 AM (hGNrS)
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:20 AM (FNXDu)
200
Cheeseheads?
Fact: In Green Bay strip clubs, it is acceptable to tuck cheese slices.
Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid. at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (Vy7tf)
This calls for a response....I just can't come up w/one.
Fact: In Green Bay strip clubs, it is acceptable to tuck cheese slices.
Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid. at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (Vy7tf)
This calls for a response....I just can't come up w/one.
Posted by: BignJames at September 29, 2019 10:20 AM (X/Pw5)
201
So does she float?
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:19 AM (/ibaJ)
She's sweet as sugar. I'm just hoping she doesn't dissolve.
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:19 AM (/ibaJ)
She's sweet as sugar. I'm just hoping she doesn't dissolve.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:20 AM (lwiT4)
202
Bleak House has an element of what would be the classical mystery in it too, I think -- Inspector Bucket? The PBS adaptation of 2006 or so was one of the best TV programs ever.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (UP2XL)
Very much this. Found a used copy of the 2006 version on ebay recently, a 3-DVD set for something like $8.00. It truly is an excellent adaptation.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:10 AM (UP2XL)
Very much this. Found a used copy of the 2006 version on ebay recently, a 3-DVD set for something like $8.00. It truly is an excellent adaptation.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:21 AM (juqNl)
203
Mormons also point up one of the other motives for Utopian communities: places where the rest of society's rules about marriage and sex don't apply. The Mormons are kind of an outlier, since polygamy was still marriage and they ultimately ditched the idea, but a lot of Utopian groups wound up as standard-issue L.Ron Hubbard outfits where the glorious leader gets to bang all the girls. That isn't a recipe for long-term stability.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 10:21 AM (G02Y7)
204
I saw Liberation Theology open for Bad Religion in the Thunderdome in '89.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:21 AM (+y/Ru)
205
198 I just finished Dan Simmons's The Terror recently and it was the best book I've enjoyed in a long time. It's not his usual sci-fi, this one is suspenseful historical fiction about the two ships The Terror and Erebus, who got stuck in the ice in a North Pole expedition in the 1800s, what the sailors have to do to try to survive, while meanwhile an unearthly predator starts picking them off. Really well written, great characters that stay with you when you're finished.
Posted by: Average Jen at September 29, 2019
*
*
That does sound terrific Is Simmons the author I'm thinking of, the author of a werewolf novel set during WWII -- the hero is a werewolf who is a secret agent battling the Germans?
Posted by: Average Jen at September 29, 2019
*
*
That does sound terrific Is Simmons the author I'm thinking of, the author of a werewolf novel set during WWII -- the hero is a werewolf who is a secret agent battling the Germans?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
206
Duh, (does V-8 head smack) I didn't realize that "Icarian" as a term for "ambitious effort that ends in disaster" might be referring to him
Comment #15. Do keep up.
Comment #15. Do keep up.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (FNXDu)
207
178 I just finished a Cormac McCarthey book (All The
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus.
No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if
it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019
*
*
I guess I'm not literary enough to like McCarthy. HIs deal with the
no quotation marks at all is very disturbing -- it gives his text a
claustrophobic quality.
No Country For Old Men at least has the great killer
character, the one Javier Bardem played in the film version. Which was a
very faithful adaptation, including leaving you with a "WTF just
happened?" reaction.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:15 AM (UP2XL)
He is not everyone's taste and i understand the criticisms. I found No Country to be his most straight forward novel that I have read. It is pretty much reads like the movie script. I found All the Pretty Horses to be the most accessible of his great novels. The second in the Border Trilogy, The Crossing, can get really weird. It is still good though.
Pretty Horses) in hardcover, and I would have preferred a Kindle version
because he used so much Spanish, which I do not speak.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (wYseH)
I don't even think it's pure Spanish so much as a local vernacular
specific for the area. I've heard the only dictionary that is useful
for his books set in the Southwest is an American Heritage which a
DuckDuckGo search might include.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:09 AM (y7DUB)
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus.
No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if
it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019
*
*
I guess I'm not literary enough to like McCarthy. HIs deal with the
no quotation marks at all is very disturbing -- it gives his text a
claustrophobic quality.
No Country For Old Men at least has the great killer
character, the one Javier Bardem played in the film version. Which was a
very faithful adaptation, including leaving you with a "WTF just
happened?" reaction.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:15 AM (UP2XL)
He is not everyone's taste and i understand the criticisms. I found No Country to be his most straight forward novel that I have read. It is pretty much reads like the movie script. I found All the Pretty Horses to be the most accessible of his great novels. The second in the Border Trilogy, The Crossing, can get really weird. It is still good though.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (n13/j)
208
Moron writer Christopher Taylor has a book about a werewolf in WWII Poland.
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (/ibaJ)
209
Hey, bluebell. My ten-year old granddaughter is getting baptized this evening. We've been practice-dunking this last week. I think she's got it
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (lwiT4)
You going for full immersion? In a Lutheran churcch? I thought Lutherans were sprinklers.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (lwiT4)
You going for full immersion? In a Lutheran churcch? I thought Lutherans were sprinklers.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (juqNl)
210
Posted by: Warren, O'Rouke, Vincent et al at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (n13/j)
-----!
Pfff. You think *you* got short shrift...
-----!
Pfff. You think *you* got short shrift...
Posted by: The boys who fell at Culp's Hill at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (4Ii/Q)
211
And, since I had to drive much of yesterday, I had a lot of time to ruminate about the Leninist approach and how it fits into the war on Trump (and us).
The impeachment thing is the logical next step. And why our belief that the legal system still works for us is foolish. They Have No Rules.
And with that bit of screed, I'm gonna go do other stuff. Probably Weasel-oriented.
The impeachment thing is the logical next step. And why our belief that the legal system still works for us is foolish. They Have No Rules.
And with that bit of screed, I'm gonna go do other stuff. Probably Weasel-oriented.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:24 AM (DPI/l)
212
...But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives.
---
Sooooo... it's "Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy."
---
Sooooo... it's "Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy."
Posted by: RKae at September 29, 2019 10:24 AM (RJZhY)
213
I thought Liberation Theology was a Latin American Catholic thing?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:03 AM (FNXDu)
It is, but the philosophical underpinnings are similar to many of the reform Jewish organizations in America.
I thought Liberation Theology was a Latin American Catholic thing?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:03 AM (FNXDu)
It is, but the philosophical underpinnings are similar to many of the reform Jewish organizations in America.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (wYseH)
214
Posted by: Warren, O'Rouke, Vincent et al at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (n13/j)
-----!
Pfff. You think *you* got short shrift...
Posted by: The boys who fell at Culp's Hill at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (4Ii/Q)
touche.
-----!
Pfff. You think *you* got short shrift...
Posted by: The boys who fell at Culp's Hill at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (4Ii/Q)
touche.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (n13/j)
215
You going for full immersion? In a Lutheran churcch? I thought Lutherans were sprinklers.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (juqNl)
Granddaughter is Evangelical Non-Denom (same as me). She's in the same church as I was before marrying Rev. We do full-dunk believer's baptism. I'm so happy for her. Wonderful day.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (juqNl)
Granddaughter is Evangelical Non-Denom (same as me). She's in the same church as I was before marrying Rev. We do full-dunk believer's baptism. I'm so happy for her. Wonderful day.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (lwiT4)
216
Here I am Bander! I'm lazing in the Executive Suite of my resort hotel watching Food Network. Buiscuit making is oddly relaxing.
I'm in flux so it's been fluff lately to tame the jitters about moving. The Wisteria Witches series is a delight.
I'm in flux so it's been fluff lately to tame the jitters about moving. The Wisteria Witches series is a delight.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (SAV4V)
217
Tom Jones is thoroughly enjoyable despite having some of the most ungodly long sentences this side of Proust; but as with Marcel they're just chock fulla insight once you figure out WTF he means. Does anyone know how this book was received at the time? He makes lots of references to people like Chesterton and not always in a complimentary manner. I can see why this had a movie made about it at the start of the "sexual revolution" here because there's a whole lotta rutting going on but with severe consequences included. Planned Genocide should've probably given out free copies if their clients weren't such irresponsible illiterates with minuscule attention spans. The abundant usage of terms like slut and whore by women describing others of their sex is delightfully pre feminazi.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (y7DUB)
218
I'm working on a short story myself, SF instead of my usual fantasy -- though it's set so far in the future that the engineering might as well be magic. I'm about halfway through it, I think. Though I can see places where I could eventually expand the story into a short-ish novel like a Heinlein juvenile.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (UP2XL)
219
That does sound terrific Is Simmons the author I'm thinking of, the author of a werewolf novel set during WWII -- the hero is a werewolf who is a secret agent battling the Germans?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
That sounds like moron Christopher Taylor's novel, Life Unworthy.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
That sounds like moron Christopher Taylor's novel, Life Unworthy.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (juqNl)
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (/ibaJ)
221
119 Im reading A Century of Grace: Missouri Synod 1847-1947
By Walter A. Baepler
I have not gotten to the jello pot luck chapter I suspect that did not develop until the 50s. Other wise a very interesting read about who were the people involved and why did they leave Germany. Hint it was the state sponsored combination of Lutheranism and Reformism. Its an old edition from my grandfathers collection. An no it is not a scandi plot it was the Saxon Germans and the Hanoverians.
Posted by: Dread0 at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (thwGF)
_________
There may even be a copy in this house. I have a friend who rents a spare bedroom, mostly for book storage, and he's LCMS.
It wouldn't be the Skandis, if it involved "Reformism", which normally means Calvinism. That didn't make headway in Scandinavia the way it did in Germany. (Odd fact that Germany was where the Reformation started, but was the one place that no church won out nationwide.)
Anyway, LCMS is pretty strongly anti-Calvinist, I've noticed. Hell, they usually speak better of us Papists, despite our following the Anti-Christ and all.
It's OT for this thread, but I recommend to all that they search online for Hans Fiene's Lutheran Satire. Many of them are laugh out loud funny. (Paul sold out for a goat salad sandwich while in prison.)
By Walter A. Baepler
I have not gotten to the jello pot luck chapter I suspect that did not develop until the 50s. Other wise a very interesting read about who were the people involved and why did they leave Germany. Hint it was the state sponsored combination of Lutheranism and Reformism. Its an old edition from my grandfathers collection. An no it is not a scandi plot it was the Saxon Germans and the Hanoverians.
Posted by: Dread0 at September 29, 2019 09:52 AM (thwGF)
_________
There may even be a copy in this house. I have a friend who rents a spare bedroom, mostly for book storage, and he's LCMS.
It wouldn't be the Skandis, if it involved "Reformism", which normally means Calvinism. That didn't make headway in Scandinavia the way it did in Germany. (Odd fact that Germany was where the Reformation started, but was the one place that no church won out nationwide.)
Anyway, LCMS is pretty strongly anti-Calvinist, I've noticed. Hell, they usually speak better of us Papists, despite our following the Anti-Christ and all.
It's OT for this thread, but I recommend to all that they search online for Hans Fiene's Lutheran Satire. Many of them are laugh out loud funny. (Paul sold out for a goat salad sandwich while in prison.)
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (ZbwAu)
222
It was the most depressing story I have ever read. I could not face any of the other stories in 'Dubliners' after that.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (juqNl)
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"Depressing" is exactly the way my daughter described it.
My late mother-in-law loved Flannery O'Connor. I picked up "A Good Man is Hard to Find" at her house once and read the short story of the same name. Talk about depressing (spoiler alert: a whole family on vacation gets shot by runaway convicts). I closed the book and thought I don't need to be bumming myself out by reading anything more like that.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:17 AM (juqNl)
--------
"Depressing" is exactly the way my daughter described it.
My late mother-in-law loved Flannery O'Connor. I picked up "A Good Man is Hard to Find" at her house once and read the short story of the same name. Talk about depressing (spoiler alert: a whole family on vacation gets shot by runaway convicts). I closed the book and thought I don't need to be bumming myself out by reading anything more like that.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:27 AM (aXucN)
223
Granddaughter is Evangelical Non-Denom (same as me). She's in the same church as I was before marrying Rev. We do full-dunk believer's baptism. I'm so happy for her. Wonderful day.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (lwiT4)
What a happy day. Be sure and get photos.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (lwiT4)
What a happy day. Be sure and get photos.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:28 AM (juqNl)
224
Thanks OM - I will!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:28 AM (lwiT4)
225
219 That does sound terrific Is Simmons the author I'm thinking of, the author of a werewolf novel set during WWII -- the hero is a werewolf who is a secret agent battling the Germans?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
That sounds like moron Christopher Taylor's novel, Life Unworthy.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019
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That title doesn't sound familiar, and I read this book more than 20 years ago in hardcover.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
That sounds like moron Christopher Taylor's novel, Life Unworthy.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019
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That title doesn't sound familiar, and I read this book more than 20 years ago in hardcover.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:28 AM (UP2XL)
226
Icarian
8 Years Under Barry McFucksticks
8 Years Under Barry McFucksticks
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 10:28 AM (JFO2v)
227
Icky - the life and times of Bo the dog...
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (/ibaJ)
228
> Wait, so Senators like Harry Reid and Mitt Romney are the product of Utopia?
Reid and Romney are far from typical Mormons.
> They arguably built their faith by catering to known human (particularly) male desires.
Polygamy's been gone from mainstream Mormonism for close to a hundred years, yet Salt Lake City is still one of the cleanest, safest, most literate cities in the country.
While I do not accept their scriptures, neither am I going to pretend that their culture isn't admirable in many ways.
Larry Correia (mentioned several times in this thread) is a Mormon.
Reid and Romney are far from typical Mormons.
> They arguably built their faith by catering to known human (particularly) male desires.
Polygamy's been gone from mainstream Mormonism for close to a hundred years, yet Salt Lake City is still one of the cleanest, safest, most literate cities in the country.
While I do not accept their scriptures, neither am I going to pretend that their culture isn't admirable in many ways.
Larry Correia (mentioned several times in this thread) is a Mormon.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (9xVRr)
229
"Big Damn Hero" by James Lovegrove and Nancy Holder. I got it half price so yay.
One of a growing set of stories set between the end of the series and the beginning of the "Those Left Behind"-"Serenity" arc. This allows the full crew to be still on the ship.
Mostly its about Malcolm Reynolds' past in the rustic planet Shadow catching up with him. Like in King's "Wizard and Glass".
Editor fail: in this book, Reynolds lost his (Christian) faith back in Shadow. But we know from the series it happened at Serenity Valley.
Zoe and Mal get beat up... a lot. So does Shepherd Book. This book doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is, a Western in space.
One of a growing set of stories set between the end of the series and the beginning of the "Those Left Behind"-"Serenity" arc. This allows the full crew to be still on the ship.
Mostly its about Malcolm Reynolds' past in the rustic planet Shadow catching up with him. Like in King's "Wizard and Glass".
Editor fail: in this book, Reynolds lost his (Christian) faith back in Shadow. But we know from the series it happened at Serenity Valley.
Zoe and Mal get beat up... a lot. So does Shepherd Book. This book doesn't pretend to be anything but what it is, a Western in space.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (ykYG2)
230
Many thanks for all the suggestions for other Charles Dickens books to read and why they are worth the time. Clearly, I'm starting a new chapter (pun intended) in my reading career.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (bmdz3)
231
Hey, bluebell. My ten-year old granddaughter is getting baptized this evening. We've been practice-dunking this last week. I think she's got it
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (lwiT4)
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Hey grammie! That's wonderful! Congratulations to her and the whole family. Did she get all her questions answered?
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (lwiT4)
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Hey grammie! That's wonderful! Congratulations to her and the whole family. Did she get all her questions answered?
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (aXucN)
232
Flashback by Dan Simmons is a great book. And very conservative, anti-Obama.
Posted by: Panchito Pistoles at September 29, 2019 10:30 AM (OeoF8)
233
Granddaughter is Evangelical Non-Denom
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (lwiT4)
I read that as "Non-Demon". My wife was raised Pentecostal Holiness, and all kinds of thoughts went thru my head.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:25 AM (lwiT4)
I read that as "Non-Demon". My wife was raised Pentecostal Holiness, and all kinds of thoughts went thru my head.
Posted by: BignJames at September 29, 2019 10:30 AM (X/Pw5)
234
and no director or novelist even mentioned us. But the men know.
Posted by: Warren, O'Rouke, Vincent et al at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (n13/j)
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The Killer Angels is from Chamberlain's perspective, and there's talk about what's happening around them.
I hate the movie version, which totally wrecked the feel of the book. It was so personal, and really brought out the sensations of a hot summer day, how the troops ache, have the trots, etc.
One of my favorite books and worth revisiting next summer. One of the few historical novels that really summons a sense of the unknown, that history has not yet been written and gives a sense for what it was like as it happened.
It's best read during June, when the smell of fresh summer rain is in the air and the armies were on the march.
Posted by: Warren, O'Rouke, Vincent et al at September 29, 2019 10:18 AM (n13/j)
---
The Killer Angels is from Chamberlain's perspective, and there's talk about what's happening around them.
I hate the movie version, which totally wrecked the feel of the book. It was so personal, and really brought out the sensations of a hot summer day, how the troops ache, have the trots, etc.
One of my favorite books and worth revisiting next summer. One of the few historical novels that really summons a sense of the unknown, that history has not yet been written and gives a sense for what it was like as it happened.
It's best read during June, when the smell of fresh summer rain is in the air and the armies were on the march.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (cfSRQ)
235
My late mother-in-law loved Flannery O'Connor. I picked up "A Good Man is Hard to Find" at her house once and read the short story of the same name. Talk about depressing (spoiler alert: a whole family on vacation gets shot by runaway convicts). I closed the book and thought I don't need to be bumming myself out by reading anything more like that.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
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O'Connor is supposed to be one of the great Southern short story writers. Her stuff has never grabbed me, and despite my scruffy reading tastes, I like "literary" as long as something actually happens.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
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O'Connor is supposed to be one of the great Southern short story writers. Her stuff has never grabbed me, and despite my scruffy reading tastes, I like "literary" as long as something actually happens.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (UP2XL)
236
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:27 AM (aXucN)
That is one of the greatest short stories in American literature! It is marvelous!
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:27 AM (aXucN)
That is one of the greatest short stories in American literature! It is marvelous!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (wYseH)
237
144
Bleak House was one of the works Nabokov discussed at Cornell in his Lectures on Literature book. Jarndyce v Jarndyce has become a generic touchstone for the cold molasses down a frozen pipe nature of legal proceedings. Ambulance chasers must hate it.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (y7DUB)
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It does somewhat contradict Steyn's argument that the prolonged Mann v Steyn is a uniquely American thing. Hell, Hamlet included "the law's delays" as one reason for suicide.
Bleak House was one of the works Nabokov discussed at Cornell in his Lectures on Literature book. Jarndyce v Jarndyce has become a generic touchstone for the cold molasses down a frozen pipe nature of legal proceedings. Ambulance chasers must hate it.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:00 AM (y7DUB)
_________
It does somewhat contradict Steyn's argument that the prolonged Mann v Steyn is a uniquely American thing. Hell, Hamlet included "the law's delays" as one reason for suicide.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (ZbwAu)
238
> but a lot of Utopian groups wound up as standard-issue L.Ron Hubbard outfits where the glorious leader gets to bang all the girls.
The early Mormon leaders did get plenty, but they didn't attempt to hog all of it.
They got away with it mainly by recruiting hordes of single women from the UK, left spouseless due to so many British men having gone off to die gloriously for the Empire.
The early Mormon leaders did get plenty, but they didn't attempt to hog all of it.
They got away with it mainly by recruiting hordes of single women from the UK, left spouseless due to so many British men having gone off to die gloriously for the Empire.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (9xVRr)
239
Did she get all her questions answered?
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (aXucN)
Yes - I was able to find two short books on baptism written for young people, with questions and answers. We went over them and she gave me the thumbs up when I asked her if she understood the step she was about to take. I bought her a ring with her birthstone in it, to commemorate.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (aXucN)
Yes - I was able to find two short books on baptism written for young people, with questions and answers. We went over them and she gave me the thumbs up when I asked her if she understood the step she was about to take. I bought her a ring with her birthstone in it, to commemorate.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (lwiT4)
240
That is one of the greatest short stories in American literature! It is marvelous!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (wYseH)
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You'll definitely enjoy Dubliners.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (wYseH)
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You'll definitely enjoy Dubliners.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (aXucN)
241
148
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (DPI/l)
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Might that be the one now linked at Powerline? Saw the link, but came here first.
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 10:01 AM (DPI/l)
_______
Might that be the one now linked at Powerline? Saw the link, but came here first.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (ZbwAu)
242
Read Esau by Phillip Kerr. I bought it years ago, remaindered, and it has been occupying shelf space since then. It has 3/5 stars on Amazon, and is definitely not worth that. Paper cut out characters, bad science, average quality plotline, and a stupid deus ex machina in the form of Hindu mystic to wrap it all up. Stay far, far away.
Also read Mat Best's Thank You for my Service. Kind of fun. Quick read. I am moved to put in another order at Black Rifle Coffee Company and buy a T-shirt (I think the eagle flag) from Ranger Up.
Still plodding my way through Zafon's The Prince of Mist. The book (YA fantasy) is good, but I'm doing it in Spanish. Hence plod.
Also read Mat Best's Thank You for my Service. Kind of fun. Quick read. I am moved to put in another order at Black Rifle Coffee Company and buy a T-shirt (I think the eagle flag) from Ranger Up.
Still plodding my way through Zafon's The Prince of Mist. The book (YA fantasy) is good, but I'm doing it in Spanish. Hence plod.
Posted by: sinmi at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (A5IVt)
243
@199 So does she float?
So, if she ... weighs the same as a duck ...
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That reminds me, she turned me into a newt!
...I got better.
So, if she ... weighs the same as a duck ...
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That reminds me, she turned me into a newt!
...I got better.
Posted by: John Taloni at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (/Nhc5)
244
Depressing stories where really bad things happen to nice people?
So Game of Thrones is about the Irish?
So Game of Thrones is about the Irish?
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (/ibaJ)
245
My late mother-in-law loved Flannery O'Connor. I picked up "A Good Man is Hard to Find" at her house once and read the short story of the same name. Talk about depressing (spoiler alert: a whole family on vacation gets shot by runaway convicts). I closed the book and thought I don't need to be bumming myself out by reading anything more like that.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:27 AM (aXucN)
That's the only of hers I understand, I think. The entire family was completely clueless, walked to their deaths clueless, and the only guy who had a clue about anything, even about Christ, was the head psychotic bad guy. His speech to the clueless grandma was this (paraphrased) "Look, if Christ was who he said he was, you need to throw your entire life away for Him, otherwise the faith you say you have is BS."
A statement that is profoundly true.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:27 AM (aXucN)
That's the only of hers I understand, I think. The entire family was completely clueless, walked to their deaths clueless, and the only guy who had a clue about anything, even about Christ, was the head psychotic bad guy. His speech to the clueless grandma was this (paraphrased) "Look, if Christ was who he said he was, you need to throw your entire life away for Him, otherwise the faith you say you have is BS."
A statement that is profoundly true.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (juqNl)
246
1. re the photo of the library with people in it: doesn't count - white privilege.
2. funny you should discuss dickens. sotheby's just had a sale of the lawrence drizen collection, "the most comprehensive and important collection of dickens in private hands." it includes first editions, of course, signed presentation copies, notated copies from dickens' speaking tours, original illustrations, but also original serial publications and books i've never heard of, e.g. "the village coquettes" (1836), "the strange gentleman" (1837), "master humphrey's clock" (1840), "the chimes" (1845), "the haunted man" (184, "is she his wife?" (1860?). interesting too see many of these in their original formats.
2. funny you should discuss dickens. sotheby's just had a sale of the lawrence drizen collection, "the most comprehensive and important collection of dickens in private hands." it includes first editions, of course, signed presentation copies, notated copies from dickens' speaking tours, original illustrations, but also original serial publications and books i've never heard of, e.g. "the village coquettes" (1836), "the strange gentleman" (1837), "master humphrey's clock" (1840), "the chimes" (1845), "the haunted man" (184
, "is she his wife?" (1860?). interesting too see many of these in their original formats.Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (Pg+x7)
247
That's wonderful, grammie. God bless your sweet granddaughter - and her sweet grammie.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (aXucN)
248
Yikes. You're going to need another lifetime. Or several seminary slaves.
Posted by: grammie winger
Yep.
Posted by: grammie winger
Yep.
Posted by: Sharkman at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (Mo1SD)
249
Many thanks for all the suggestions for other Charles Dickens books to read and why they are worth the time. Clearly, I'm starting a new chapter (pun intended) in my reading career.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (bmdz3)
JTB, if you haven't read Sketches by Boz, it's well worth your time. It's a collection of vignettes and short stories Dickens wrote for various magazines before he hit it big with The Pickwick Papers (which I also recommend).
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (bmdz3)
JTB, if you haven't read Sketches by Boz, it's well worth your time. It's a collection of vignettes and short stories Dickens wrote for various magazines before he hit it big with The Pickwick Papers (which I also recommend).
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (Ki5SV)
250
ICARIAN not for that library,the lil totties on top are a giveaway that that was Epsteins' Bed Time Banging Budoir. The Tomes were all Porn Hub scripts.............
Mein Pants are half off at Target ,can I proceed to read
and thence to Walmart to me mates?
Who Dis : Oprah before I made her my famous SAMMICHES...lil doggies onna stick.....
ICARIAN not for that library,the lil totties on top are a giveaway that that was Epsteins' Bed Time Banging Budoir. The Tomes were all Porn Hub scripts.............
Mein Pants are half off at Target ,can I proceed to read
and thence to Walmart to me mates?
Who Dis : Oprah before I made her my famous SAMMICHES...lil doggies onna stick.....
Posted by: saf at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (5IHGB)
251
I visited my parents recently, and my mom had gone through the family closets to find old kids books for the grandkids / my nieces and nephews. She had every book she found in a boxtop, and I actually remembered a few covers. However, there was no Redwall or Pern books to be found. I'm genuinely curious as to what happened to my old collections...
The standout of the box was a novelization-for-kids of the new hit movie.......Stargate. I hadn't realized how long its been since that movie came out.
The standout of the box was a novelization-for-kids of the new hit movie.......Stargate. I hadn't realized how long its been since that movie came out.
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (Lhaco)
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (Pg+x7)
253
It's best read during June, when the smell of fresh summer rain is in the air and the armies were on the march.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (cfSRQ)
It is in my top five novels of all time and I read it as a teen. There is no doubt Shaara was a huge Chamberlain fan (as was Chamberlain) and a huge Longstreet fan. He got a lot of his history from those two sources. That does not change anything, it is a great novel. And I am not bashing Chamberlain. He was a war hero. He was not unsung though.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:31 AM (cfSRQ)
It is in my top five novels of all time and I read it as a teen. There is no doubt Shaara was a huge Chamberlain fan (as was Chamberlain) and a huge Longstreet fan. He got a lot of his history from those two sources. That does not change anything, it is a great novel. And I am not bashing Chamberlain. He was a war hero. He was not unsung though.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (n13/j)
254
It was so personal, and really brought out the sensations of a hot summer day, how the troops ache, have the trots, etc.
Took a battlefield tour on horseback a few years ago. The bits that made the biggest impact were the fact that everyone is wearing wool uniforms in July and the simple math the guide did. There were this many horses, they ate that many tons of grass per day which means they shat this many tons of shit per day.
Took a battlefield tour on horseback a few years ago. The bits that made the biggest impact were the fact that everyone is wearing wool uniforms in July and the simple math the guide did. There were this many horses, they ate that many tons of grass per day which means they shat this many tons of shit per day.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (FNXDu)
255
Thanks bluebell.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (lwiT4)
256
> Haven't read them, but sounds like the SPQR series, which has been mentioned here. Of course, I have have one in the lot I'm attacking now.
I have heard good things about SPQR, but haven't gotten around to trying it yet.
I have heard good things about SPQR, but haven't gotten around to trying it yet.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (9xVRr)
257
He is not everyone's taste and i understand the criticisms. I found No Country to be his most straight forward novel that I have read. It is pretty much reads like the movie script. I found All the Pretty Horses to be the most accessible of his great novels. The second in the Border Trilogy, The Crossing, can get really weird. It is still good though.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (n13/j)
The Road is an oxymoronic McCarthy page turner. My daughter recommended it as his most accessible book. That said I otherwise agree on No Country for Old Men.
All the Pretty Horses was likewise the first thing of his I read and, even though it planted the bug, I consider it the least satisfactory of his works. He's very clunky in writing about romantic interactions. Sadistic fiends with no conscience are much more in his wheelhouse. Or quirky loners like Suttree, which rarely gets talked about but is very good.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:23 AM (n13/j)
The Road is an oxymoronic McCarthy page turner. My daughter recommended it as his most accessible book. That said I otherwise agree on No Country for Old Men.
All the Pretty Horses was likewise the first thing of his I read and, even though it planted the bug, I consider it the least satisfactory of his works. He's very clunky in writing about romantic interactions. Sadistic fiends with no conscience are much more in his wheelhouse. Or quirky loners like Suttree, which rarely gets talked about but is very good.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (y7DUB)
258
aha! 8 + ) =
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (Pg+x7)
259
You'll definitely enjoy Dubliners.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (aXucN)
I read it a long time ago, so I know what to expect.
But...the human condition isn't just fresh cut flowers and requited love and fresh biscuits and a wonderful life...
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (aXucN)
I read it a long time ago, so I know what to expect.
But...the human condition isn't just fresh cut flowers and requited love and fresh biscuits and a wonderful life...
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (wYseH)
260
>>. I bought her a ring with her birthstone in it, to commemorate.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (lwiT4)
Very sweet, grammie! My grandma gave me a silver Chalice necklace when I made my 1st Communion. 50+ years later I still cherish it!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:32 AM (lwiT4)
Very sweet, grammie! My grandma gave me a silver Chalice necklace when I made my 1st Communion. 50+ years later I still cherish it!
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 10:37 AM (Z/jzm)
261
The Chimes and The Haunted Man were follow-ups to A Christmas Carol. The popularity of Carol was so great that Dickens felt he had a responsibility to put out a Christmas story every year and followed it up with The Cricket On the Hearth.
But don't bother with any of them. Even Dickens himself, later in life, realized they were only pale shadows of Carol and were best forgotten.
But don't bother with any of them. Even Dickens himself, later in life, realized they were only pale shadows of Carol and were best forgotten.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2019 10:37 AM (Ki5SV)
262
Polygamy's been gone from mainstream Mormonism for
close to a hundred years, yet Salt Lake City is still one of the
cleanest, safest, most literate cities in the country.
While I do not accept their scriptures, neither am I going to pretend that their culture isn't admirable in many ways.
Larry Correia (mentioned several times in this thread) is a Mormon.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (9xVRr)
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The term I was disputing was "a Utopia that worked."
It isn't. It wasn't. It was a religion that survived precisely because it did not deny human nature but instead catered to certain aspects of it.
close to a hundred years, yet Salt Lake City is still one of the
cleanest, safest, most literate cities in the country.
While I do not accept their scriptures, neither am I going to pretend that their culture isn't admirable in many ways.
Larry Correia (mentioned several times in this thread) is a Mormon.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:29 AM (9xVRr)
---
The term I was disputing was "a Utopia that worked."
It isn't. It wasn't. It was a religion that survived precisely because it did not deny human nature but instead catered to certain aspects of it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:37 AM (cfSRQ)
263
> Reid and Romney are far from typical Mormons.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but judging Mormons by Reid and Romney is like judging Catholics by Joe Biden or the Kennedy clan, or Southern Baptists by Jimmy Carter, or Jews by Cuck Schemer, or...
Not to put too fine a point on it, but judging Mormons by Reid and Romney is like judging Catholics by Joe Biden or the Kennedy clan, or Southern Baptists by Jimmy Carter, or Jews by Cuck Schemer, or...
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (9xVRr)
264
A statement that is profoundly true.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (juqNl)
--------
All true, but I don't need an entire family blown away just to take the point. I guess some people respond well to such negativity but I just don't.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (juqNl)
--------
All true, but I don't need an entire family blown away just to take the point. I guess some people respond well to such negativity but I just don't.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (aXucN)
265
> It was a religion that survived precisely because it did not deny human nature but instead catered to certain aspects of it.
You're engaging in circular reasoning here.
You're engaging in circular reasoning here.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (9xVRr)
266
Took a battlefield tour on horseback a few years ago. The bits that made the biggest impact were the fact that everyone is wearing wool uniforms in July and the simple math the guide did. There were this many horses, they ate that many tons of grass per day which means they shat this many tons of shit per day.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (FNXDu)
I haven't done that in years. I hate you.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (FNXDu)
I haven't done that in years. I hate you.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (Ki5SV)
267
That looks more like an upside-down carafe than a saucer to me. Could be a bad translation from the Italian.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia
************
Saucer Over Italy - a limerick
In the hills overlooking Avigno
Two lovers, Maria and Gino
Saw the pre-orbital burn
Of an interstellar urn
From the galaxy Il Cappuccino
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia
************
Saucer Over Italy - a limerick
In the hills overlooking Avigno
Two lovers, Maria and Gino
Saw the pre-orbital burn
Of an interstellar urn
From the galaxy Il Cappuccino
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (mvenn)
268
I don't know Who Dis? lady but I like her shirt.
Posted by: kallisto at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (tFdF9)
269
Re-reading A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell just because..
Posted by: NALNAMSAM - not as lean, not as mean, still a Marine at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (e6s3c)
270
Very sweet, grammie! My grandma gave me a silver
Chalice necklace when I made my 1st Communion. 50+ years later I still
cherish it!
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 10:37 AM (Z/jzm)
Isn't it wonderful to have such special tokens of the milestones in our lives.
Chalice necklace when I made my 1st Communion. 50+ years later I still
cherish it!
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 10:37 AM (Z/jzm)
Isn't it wonderful to have such special tokens of the milestones in our lives.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (lwiT4)
271
217 ... I have a memory from college that "Tom Jones" was popular when it was published. But I don't remember where that information came from.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 10:40 AM (bmdz3)
272
178
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:11 AM (n13/j)
__________
There is such a book for Patrick O'Brian, A Sea of Words. Invaluable.
I loved Hornblower as a teen, but after reading the Aubreys, I tried once again, and am not going back. T S Eliot opined that a great genius will kill an literary form, by doing it so well as to make the others look weak. I think O'Brian did so to all the Hornblowers, Ramages, and Bolithos. At least, I can't read them any more.
I do think Forrester's Sky and the Forest is still worth reading though. Read it just before 1984, and between them they hit me with the way limitations of language can limit thought.
I love that book. I agree there should be some McCarthy thesaurus. No doubt he goes out of his way to throw out some obscure terms. Even if it is Spanish, it is likely colloquial
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:11 AM (n13/j)
__________
There is such a book for Patrick O'Brian, A Sea of Words. Invaluable.
I loved Hornblower as a teen, but after reading the Aubreys, I tried once again, and am not going back. T S Eliot opined that a great genius will kill an literary form, by doing it so well as to make the others look weak. I think O'Brian did so to all the Hornblowers, Ramages, and Bolithos. At least, I can't read them any more.
I do think Forrester's Sky and the Forest is still worth reading though. Read it just before 1984, and between them they hit me with the way limitations of language can limit thought.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:40 AM (ZbwAu)
273
>>Isn't it wonderful to have such special tokens of the milestones in our lives.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (lwiT4)
Especially from the people we hold dear!
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 10:39 AM (lwiT4)
Especially from the people we hold dear!
Posted by: My life is insanity at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (Z/jzm)
274
So Game of Thrones is about the Irish?
I don't really have any connections with the Old Sod except that my name is Irish and I married a girl with that kind of name and we named our kids super-Irish names. And I'm a drunk. Other than that it's just a name.
But I read "Angela's Ashes" when my kids were little. I'd tried to be Good Nutrition Dad, but I took them to the supermarket in the middle of reading that book and they wanted Chocolate Sugar Caffeine Pops cereal, and I was like sure, don't you want any meth with that?
I was ready to give them anything.
I don't really have any connections with the Old Sod except that my name is Irish and I married a girl with that kind of name and we named our kids super-Irish names. And I'm a drunk. Other than that it's just a name.
But I read "Angela's Ashes" when my kids were little. I'd tried to be Good Nutrition Dad, but I took them to the supermarket in the middle of reading that book and they wanted Chocolate Sugar Caffeine Pops cereal, and I was like sure, don't you want any meth with that?
I was ready to give them anything.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (FNXDu)
275
ll the Pretty Horses was likewise the first thing of
his I read and, even though it planted the bug, I consider it the least
satisfactory of his works. He's very clunky in writing about romantic
interactions. Sadistic fiends with no conscience are much more in his
wheelhouse. Or quirky loners like Suttree, which rarely gets talked
about but is very good.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (y7DUB)
Yeah, I have heard he simply doesn't write women well full stop. I have only read Blood Meridien, The Border Trilology, and No Country so far. I started The Road but it was not the right time for me. I have always heard good stuff about Sutree. That one will be next for sure. Supposedly it has a decent amount of comedy. Child of God just sounds too weird for me.
his I read and, even though it planted the bug, I consider it the least
satisfactory of his works. He's very clunky in writing about romantic
interactions. Sadistic fiends with no conscience are much more in his
wheelhouse. Or quirky loners like Suttree, which rarely gets talked
about but is very good.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (y7DUB)
Yeah, I have heard he simply doesn't write women well full stop. I have only read Blood Meridien, The Border Trilology, and No Country so far. I started The Road but it was not the right time for me. I have always heard good stuff about Sutree. That one will be next for sure. Supposedly it has a decent amount of comedy. Child of God just sounds too weird for me.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (n13/j)
276
So what were the 3 words from the end of the Time Traveler post?
Posted by: SSBN 656 (G) at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (5AVMW)
277
She's always Gina Torres of Cleopatra 2525 to me.
Posted by: Downcast at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (zuuRN)
278
But...the human condition isn't just fresh cut flowers and requited love and fresh biscuits and a wonderful life...
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (wYseH)
--------
I understand. I see plenty of the underside of humanity every single day in the news. I am full up with the underside of humanity, you might say.
When I read in my free time I'd rather avoid things that make me feel worse about the world than when I first started. It doesn't mean I don't know that there are awful things happening in the world at all times - I do know that. But I appreciate a little hope now and then.
That story gave me no hope. Zero.
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (wYseH)
--------
I understand. I see plenty of the underside of humanity every single day in the news. I am full up with the underside of humanity, you might say.
When I read in my free time I'd rather avoid things that make me feel worse about the world than when I first started. It doesn't mean I don't know that there are awful things happening in the world at all times - I do know that. But I appreciate a little hope now and then.
That story gave me no hope. Zero.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:42 AM (aXucN)
Posted by: saf at September 29, 2019 10:42 AM (5IHGB)
280
Last nite on C2C a caller asked the psychic medium if Obama was the reincarnation of Abe Lincoln.
Posted by: kallisto at September 29, 2019 10:42 AM (tFdF9)
281
Unz.com recently wrote a looonnng summary of "revisionist" books on the runup to Second World War. I read Arthur Bryant's "Unfinished Victory" on his site; I found AJP Taylor's "The Origins of the Second World War" used for five bucks so I just bought that one.
Bryant focuses on public opinion in Germany; Taylor, on how the Allies screwed around while Schicklgruber did whatever he pleased in Central Europe. Taken together, it appears there was a popular mandate in Germany for vicious antiSemitism and for making Deutschland, er, great again. There was not, however, a mandate for going to war for it.
Hitler got as far as he did because the Allies let him, and because the German people(s) were pleased that his strategy was working. Until it didn't. As for why the Allies let him: 'appeasement' was nothing more or less than Britain's strategy over the 1920s to build Germany back up as a bulwark against the Soviets, simply carried forward. If some Chancellor was mouthing off about Jews and about Vaterland Ueber Alles, that wasn't anything new in Germany or, honestly, in France. How were Baldwin and Chamberlain to know that this guy actually meant it??
... like I said, the Allies were stupid.
Bryant focuses on public opinion in Germany; Taylor, on how the Allies screwed around while Schicklgruber did whatever he pleased in Central Europe. Taken together, it appears there was a popular mandate in Germany for vicious antiSemitism and for making Deutschland, er, great again. There was not, however, a mandate for going to war for it.
Hitler got as far as he did because the Allies let him, and because the German people(s) were pleased that his strategy was working. Until it didn't. As for why the Allies let him: 'appeasement' was nothing more or less than Britain's strategy over the 1920s to build Germany back up as a bulwark against the Soviets, simply carried forward. If some Chancellor was mouthing off about Jews and about Vaterland Ueber Alles, that wasn't anything new in Germany or, honestly, in France. How were Baldwin and Chamberlain to know that this guy actually meant it??
... like I said, the Allies were stupid.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:42 AM (ykYG2)
282
All true, but I don't need an entire family blown away just to take the point. I guess some people respond well to such negativity but I just don't.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
*
*
"A Good Man . . ." leaves me a little flat too. I like reading about seaminess and even pure evil. But as OM said, the family were clueless, not evil.
The characters were well-drawn, so much so that we remember them and react to them, and their fate, as if they were real. That's true literary skill. But it doesn't drive me to find and read everything O'Connor wrote.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019
*
*
"A Good Man . . ." leaves me a little flat too. I like reading about seaminess and even pure evil. But as OM said, the family were clueless, not evil.
The characters were well-drawn, so much so that we remember them and react to them, and their fate, as if they were real. That's true literary skill. But it doesn't drive me to find and read everything O'Connor wrote.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:43 AM (UP2XL)
Posted by: jadoc at September 29, 2019 10:44 AM (WX+x0)
284
I haven't done that in years. I hate you.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing
You were specifically invited, dillweed.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing
You were specifically invited, dillweed.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:44 AM (FNXDu)
285
It is in my top five novels of all time and I read
it as a teen. There is no doubt Shaara was a huge Chamberlain fan (as
was Chamberlain) and a huge Longstreet fan. He got a lot of his history
from those two sources. That does not change anything, it is a great
novel. And I am not bashing Chamberlain. He was a war hero. He was not
unsung though.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (n13/j)"
---
It's tough to get a read on historical figures that didn't leave much of a footprint.
IIRC, Vincent was killed that day. Hard to write his story. I thought Shaara did a great job with Reynolds, giving a sense of what was lost when he was killed.
Fremantle was fun, and unexpected.
Another great aspect is the life in the camps, particularly among the southern leaders. You get a sense of why people would be drawn to war and why they would return to it - why it would dominate their lives.
The fighting was really a minor part of a soldier's life back then. What bound them was the time in camp, on the march, holding things together. Shaara does a great job of showing that.
it as a teen. There is no doubt Shaara was a huge Chamberlain fan (as
was Chamberlain) and a huge Longstreet fan. He got a lot of his history
from those two sources. That does not change anything, it is a great
novel. And I am not bashing Chamberlain. He was a war hero. He was not
unsung though.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:34 AM (n13/j)"
---
It's tough to get a read on historical figures that didn't leave much of a footprint.
IIRC, Vincent was killed that day. Hard to write his story. I thought Shaara did a great job with Reynolds, giving a sense of what was lost when he was killed.
Fremantle was fun, and unexpected.
Another great aspect is the life in the camps, particularly among the southern leaders. You get a sense of why people would be drawn to war and why they would return to it - why it would dominate their lives.
The fighting was really a minor part of a soldier's life back then. What bound them was the time in camp, on the march, holding things together. Shaara does a great job of showing that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:45 AM (cfSRQ)
286
"the human condition isn't just fresh cut flowers and requited love and fresh biscuits and a wonderful life..."
it is for gwyneth paltrow. what's yer problem?
it is for gwyneth paltrow. what's yer problem?
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 10:45 AM (Pg+x7)
287
"Crushed by disaster, the majority of the Spanish Republicans walked erect into exile."
This leads you to think that there was a formal, orderly withdrawal once the front line in Catalonia was breached.
That's some hilarious prose, right there. So it's true that The Thing's Got A Mind Of Its Own. ArooOOO!
This leads you to think that there was a formal, orderly withdrawal once the front line in Catalonia was breached.
That's some hilarious prose, right there. So it's true that The Thing's Got A Mind Of Its Own. ArooOOO!
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (ykYG2)
288
Read Simple Grifts by Max Cossack after it got mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It is a novel in which a sociopathic, Commie (is there any other kind) professor is swindled and ultimately destroyed personally and professionally. Pretty good yarn and the author provides some good criticisms of Communism. This is the 3rd in a series and needed a bit more character development and background for readers that haven't read the preceding books. Rating = 4.0/5.
Highly recommend Joseph Courtemaunch's Assault.... Taut thriller and he gives us the terrorist's perspective besides that of the protagonist trying to thwart the bad guys. Rating =4.5/5. I was hoping he would write a sequel because he ended on a cliff-hanger.
Highly recommend Joseph Courtemaunch's Assault.... Taut thriller and he gives us the terrorist's perspective besides that of the protagonist trying to thwart the bad guys. Rating =4.5/5. I was hoping he would write a sequel because he ended on a cliff-hanger.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (5Yee7)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (+y/Ru)
290
I'm off to help Miss Linda find some product called "Pioneer Woman" at Wally-Mart. Some frozen food concoction she's supposed to use, eat, and then write a review of. Then I'll have lunch, a nap, do some chores, and some writing to wind up the day.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (UP2XL)
291
@288 sigh ... I do wish we had a preview function.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (5Yee7)
292
Years ago, at a library sale, I picked up "Flannery O'Connor: Voice of the Peacock" by Sister Kathleen Feely which contains the most comprehensive explication of her work from a Catholic perspective. It's probably OOP but it's one of the most articulate discussion of literary works I've ever read and highly recommended to any fans.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (y7DUB)
293
Fremantle was fun, and unexpected
-----
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think and it is a quick read.
-----
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
294
243 @199 So does she float?
So, if she ... weighs the same as a duck ...
-------------
That reminds me, she turned me into a newt!
...I got better.
Posted by: John Taloni at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (/Nhc5)
________
I understand why a newt, but why a duck?
So, if she ... weighs the same as a duck ...
-------------
That reminds me, she turned me into a newt!
...I got better.
Posted by: John Taloni at September 29, 2019 10:33 AM (/Nhc5)
________
I understand why a newt, but why a duck?
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (ZbwAu)
295
So Meth Corn Pops was the Crip Joey Bidet faced down?
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (/ibaJ)
296
You're engaging in circular reasoning here.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (9xVRr)
---
Take a chill pill.
You're engaging in circular reasoning here.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (9xVRr)
---
Take a chill pill.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:49 AM (cfSRQ)
297
The only good love thing that Cormac wrote was between Billy and the wolf in The Crossing
Posted by: Ignoramus at September 29, 2019 10:49 AM (1UZdv)
298
He's very clunky in writing about romantic interactions.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (y7DUB)
I wouldn't describe it as clunky, but I did see Ernest Hemingway's influence in his romantic interludes.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:35 AM (y7DUB)
I wouldn't describe it as clunky, but I did see Ernest Hemingway's influence in his romantic interludes.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:50 AM (wYseH)
299
The fighting was really a minor part of a soldier's life back then. What bound them was the time in camp, on the march, holding things together. Shaara does a great job of showing that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:45 AM (cfSRQ)
------
If you want a really good (and funny) novel about the life of the soldier in the Civil War, try "Corporal Si Klegg and his Pard", by Wilbur Hinman.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:45 AM (cfSRQ)
------
If you want a really good (and funny) novel about the life of the soldier in the Civil War, try "Corporal Si Klegg and his Pard", by Wilbur Hinman.
Posted by: Captain Obvious at September 29, 2019 10:50 AM (4Ii/Q)
300
Child of God just sounds too weird for me.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (n13/j)
It's probably his weirdest.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:41 AM (n13/j)
It's probably his weirdest.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:50 AM (y7DUB)
301
Look, there's fiction and there's fantasy but this is just too far out there for me to suspend disbelief.
Pelosi 'heartbroken, prayerful' as Dems move forward with impeachment inquiry
Pelosi 'heartbroken, prayerful' as Dems move forward with impeachment inquiry
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:51 AM (+y/Ru)
302
All true, but I don't need an entire family blown away just to take the point. I guess some people respond well to such negativity but I just don't.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (aXucN)
O'Connor once said we were living in a blind and deaf age and so she needed to shout in order to make herself heard. Her stories aren't easy reads, and full of symbolism. She's definitely an acquired taste.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:38 AM (aXucN)
O'Connor once said we were living in a blind and deaf age and so she needed to shout in order to make herself heard. Her stories aren't easy reads, and full of symbolism. She's definitely an acquired taste.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:51 AM (juqNl)
303
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)
304
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (5Yee7)
All fixed!
All fixed!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (wYseH)
305
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo
********
Let me put it this way:
Utopi-ain't - a limerick
I learned from my father when I was a lad
"Every day of your life you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found as life unfurled
It's an imperfect world
Yet I couldn't be happy if I'd never been sad
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo
********
Let me put it this way:
Utopi-ain't - a limerick
I learned from my father when I was a lad
"Every day of your life you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found as life unfurled
It's an imperfect world
Yet I couldn't be happy if I'd never been sad
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 10:53 AM (mvenn)
306
wth kind of name is 'Flannery' anyway? It sounds like a winter nightie. Or nuns eating flan in a convent.
Posted by: kallisto at September 29, 2019 10:53 AM (tFdF9)
307
IIRC, Vincent was killed that day. Hard to write his story. I thought
Shaara did a great job with Reynolds, giving a sense of what was lost
when he was killed. ----
well said. But Vincent, Warren, and O'rourke (I get the irony in 2019) have monuments on Little Round Top, Chamberlain does not. There is a 20th Maine monument that was rarely visited until The Killer Angels came out. That is a good thing mind you, that book has sent a ton of people to Gettysburg to learn about all of them.
Shaara did a great job with Reynolds, giving a sense of what was lost
when he was killed. ----
well said. But Vincent, Warren, and O'rourke (I get the irony in 2019) have monuments on Little Round Top, Chamberlain does not. There is a 20th Maine monument that was rarely visited until The Killer Angels came out. That is a good thing mind you, that book has sent a ton of people to Gettysburg to learn about all of them.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:54 AM (n13/j)
308
wth kind of name is 'Flannery' anyway? It sounds like a winter nightie. Or nuns eating flan in a convent.
Posted by: kallisto at September 29, 2019 10:53 AM (tFdF9)
-----
Mmmmm. Flan...
Posted by: kallisto at September 29, 2019 10:53 AM (tFdF9)
-----
Mmmmm. Flan...
Posted by: Brian Stelter at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (4Ii/Q)
309
The man made climate change cultists remind me of 1984 and all of the terms and phrases from it.
Specifically doublethink.
We have always been in danger of an ice age. We have always been danger of an ice age. We have always been in danger of global warming . We have always been in danger of global warming.
Specifically doublethink.
We have always been in danger of an ice age. We have always been danger of an ice age. We have always been in danger of global warming . We have always been in danger of global warming.
Posted by: Pig to man dreaming of lions at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (2DOZq)
310
If you want a really good (and funny) novel about the life of the soldier in the Civil War, try "Corporal Si Klegg and his Pard", by Wilbur Hinman.
-
I tried to look this up on Amazon and it appears Amazon is down! What's next? The Earth spins off its axis?
-
I tried to look this up on Amazon and it appears Amazon is down! What's next? The Earth spins off its axis?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (+y/Ru)
311
217 Tom Jones is thoroughly enjoyable despite having some of the most ungodly long sentences this side of Proust; but as with Marcel they're just chock fulla insight once you figure out WTF he means. Does anyone know how this book was received at the time? He makes lots of references to people like Chesterton and not always in a complimentary manner.
.........
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (y7DUB)
Chesterton? I think that's backward.
Did I mention that, in Waugh's letters, there's a reference to Proust? (From memory, so beware):
"So nice that you are reading Proust in his own lingo. I tried it in Scottish but didn't get on at all."
.........
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:26 AM (y7DUB)
Chesterton? I think that's backward.
Did I mention that, in Waugh's letters, there's a reference to Proust? (From memory, so beware):
"So nice that you are reading Proust in his own lingo. I tried it in Scottish but didn't get on at all."
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZbwAu)
312
I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
313
I love the way McCarthy brings the dust and the heat and the beauty of the west into reality. I truly get lost in his novels. And I also started with All the pretty Horses.
Posted by: Nurse ratched at September 29, 2019 10:56 AM (PkVlr)
314
Greetings:
Like that old mule between the two bales of hay, every time I see Eco-Greta's image, I can't decide whether I should breast-beat or genuflect.
Like that old mule between the two bales of hay, every time I see Eco-Greta's image, I can't decide whether I should breast-beat or genuflect.
Posted by: 11B40 at September 29, 2019 10:56 AM (evgyj)
Posted by: JT at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (arJlL)
316
I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
Surely you jest!!!!
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
Surely you jest!!!!
Posted by: SSBN 656 (G) at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (5AVMW)
317
A big part of why the Republic lost was that its wasn't really a cohesive democratic republic but a loose coalition of radical groups waiting for the moment to kill each other off and take total power.
The French government had a Popular Front too at the time, under Leon Blum. It wasn't murderous; it was just ineffective. Blum's Cabinet wanted to support the Republic but, as usual, they didn't want to do anything concrete unless the Brits were okay with it. The Brits weren't okay with it.
Mussolini supported the Fascists of course but didn't much trust Franco, so he sent a token force over. Hitler meanwhile just enjoyed watching all his rivals dither. Some Luftwaffe prototypes saw "action" - read, testing - but weren't decisive in any battles.
In the end, nothing happened, except in Spain.
The French government had a Popular Front too at the time, under Leon Blum. It wasn't murderous; it was just ineffective. Blum's Cabinet wanted to support the Republic but, as usual, they didn't want to do anything concrete unless the Brits were okay with it. The Brits weren't okay with it.
Mussolini supported the Fascists of course but didn't much trust Franco, so he sent a token force over. Hitler meanwhile just enjoyed watching all his rivals dither. Some Luftwaffe prototypes saw "action" - read, testing - but weren't decisive in any battles.
In the end, nothing happened, except in Spain.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (ykYG2)
318
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the
time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania
returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)
you could do it in a day.
I missed out on getting a pristine set of Battles and Leaders for $20 at the local library. I hesitated for some reason and lost it. That was a huge mistake. Even the dust covers were in perfect condition.
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the
time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania
returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)
you could do it in a day.
I missed out on getting a pristine set of Battles and Leaders for $20 at the local library. I hesitated for some reason and lost it. That was a huge mistake. Even the dust covers were in perfect condition.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (n13/j)
319
I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
---------
My father told me that (in disgust) on Friday. I thought he was kidding.
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
---------
My father told me that (in disgust) on Friday. I thought he was kidding.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (aXucN)
320
289
TV Premiere Week Sinks to Record Low Ratings...
-
Not enough alternative lifestyle?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (+y/Ru)
---
I got home last night from the football game and decided to fry up a burger and have a beer while watching whatever football was on.
ABC was it and they broke for commercial. The break must have lasted five minutes and was nothing but promos for the fall schedule. Finally they had a car dealership on.
I'm looking at this crap and wondering who actually watches it? And when they say "top rated", I'm pretty sure that means that it gets like 7 percent of the viewing audience since it's so fragmented these days.
When I was growing up, a number one show would draw 40 million viewers. Week after week. What's considered good today? 10 million?
I know the original Battlestar Galactica had 60 million viewers when it first aired, though the audience faced over time. The reboot got 400,000, yet was considered a "critical success."
I'm guessing the new one will draw 300,000.
TV Premiere Week Sinks to Record Low Ratings...
-
Not enough alternative lifestyle?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:47 AM (+y/Ru)
---
I got home last night from the football game and decided to fry up a burger and have a beer while watching whatever football was on.
ABC was it and they broke for commercial. The break must have lasted five minutes and was nothing but promos for the fall schedule. Finally they had a car dealership on.
I'm looking at this crap and wondering who actually watches it? And when they say "top rated", I'm pretty sure that means that it gets like 7 percent of the viewing audience since it's so fragmented these days.
When I was growing up, a number one show would draw 40 million viewers. Week after week. What's considered good today? 10 million?
I know the original Battlestar Galactica had 60 million viewers when it first aired, though the audience faced over time. The reboot got 400,000, yet was considered a "critical success."
I'm guessing the new one will draw 300,000.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (cfSRQ)
321
I should go back to McCarthy. I read All the Pretty Horses decades ago when I thought I was slumming it and reading a horse opera. I didn't understand what I'd gotten into.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (FNXDu)
322
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 10:53 AM (mvenn)
Exactly.
Although I certainly understand the desire of many to be transported by their reading to a wonderful world where all is great and beautiful and kind.
Exactly.
Although I certainly understand the desire of many to be transported by their reading to a wonderful world where all is great and beautiful and kind.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (wYseH)
323
Flashback is a really good, well-written sci-fi detective novel written in the vein of Bladerunner
The thing that got leftists panties twisted is that there is a 'Global Caliphate' entity in the novel, as well as 'Aztlan Reconquista' going on.
which totally isn't believable, you guys. and probably a little rayciss.
The thing that got leftists panties twisted is that there is a 'Global Caliphate' entity in the novel, as well as 'Aztlan Reconquista' going on.
which totally isn't believable, you guys. and probably a little rayciss.
Posted by: Retard Strength Trumps Smart Power at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (wtZBx)
324
I'm to the point in "A People's Tragedy" where Lenin has decided to come down hard on the peasants by taking all their grain and sending to the shithole cities. Pretty ironic since the youthful rebbolooshunaries considered their communal setups fairly utopian other than them getting drunk and tossing the wimmenfolk off the walls and beating the fuck outta them for shits and giggles. Anyway the peasants have figured out that they're good and truly fucked under the chief cocksucker. But the snowflakes say it will be different next time...
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (y7DUB)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (+y/Ru)
326
312 I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
The Nobel Prize Committee must be thinking that after giving the Peace Prize to Barack Obama, they just haven't beclowned themselves enough.
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
The Nobel Prize Committee must be thinking that after giving the Peace Prize to Barack Obama, they just haven't beclowned themselves enough.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 10:59 AM (juqNl)
327
Although I certainly understand the desire of many to be transported by their reading to a wonderful world where all is great and beautiful and kind.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (wYseH)
--------
If by that you mean me, that's certainly not what I read, unless you count P. G. Wodehouse.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 10:58 AM (wYseH)
--------
If by that you mean me, that's certainly not what I read, unless you count P. G. Wodehouse.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 10:59 AM (aXucN)
328
Posted by: RI Red at September 29, 2019 09:21 AM
Being I read mostly military history I can and often pick up a volume and start anywhere within that.
Being I read mostly military history I can and often pick up a volume and start anywhere within that.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:00 AM (ZCEU2)
329
Off flan gnome sock.
Posted by: Captain Obvious at September 29, 2019 11:00 AM (4Ii/Q)
330
There were a lot of attempts at creating a Utopian community here in America. I wonder what the common theme to their demise was.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
Not having read deeply on the subject, so for what it's worth, my impression was that these Utopian communities tended to be communal although not formally Communist (i.e., Marxist). Thus the productive got tired of supporting the lazy and (who'd a thunk?) Utopia falls apart.
Posted by: grammie winger at September 29, 2019 09:26 AM (lwiT4)
Not having read deeply on the subject, so for what it's worth, my impression was that these Utopian communities tended to be communal although not formally Communist (i.e., Marxist). Thus the productive got tired of supporting the lazy and (who'd a thunk?) Utopia falls apart.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at September 29, 2019 11:01 AM (5Yee7)
331
Trimegistus : I strongly recommend the "History for Atheists" blog. It is what it says it is - a resource for atheists who are tired of receiving shoulder-high wedgies when they debate Catholics who know what we're f---ng talking about.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:02 AM (ykYG2)
332
Daniel Flynn's "A Conservative History of the American Left" is a great resource on the Utopian communities here in America.
Posted by: Dan Smoot's Apprentice at September 29, 2019 11:02 AM (H8QX8)
333
>>I love the way McCarthy brings the dust and the heat and the beauty of the west into reality. I truly get lost in his novels. And I also started with All the pretty Horses.
Which is pretty ironic given that he grew up in Providence, RI.
McCarthy is one of my favorites but unlike the critics I found Blood Meridian to be ponderous and a slog.
Which is pretty ironic given that he grew up in Providence, RI.
McCarthy is one of my favorites but unlike the critics I found Blood Meridian to be ponderous and a slog.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 29, 2019 11:03 AM (ZLI7S)
334
That's no saucer.
Posted by: Obi Wan Baloney at September 29, 2019 11:03 AM (ZYB2s)
335
I am going to put in my truck The Hundred Days of the Aubry/ Maturin series from Patrick O'Brien, my coworkers are slackers and take very long lunch breaks .
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:05 AM (ZCEU2)
336
Chesterton? I think that's backward.
I'm sure you're right; I was going from flawed memory and that name just appeared for some obtuse reason. Pope, Donne and Burke are just on one page of footnotes.
I'm sure you're right; I was going from flawed memory and that name just appeared for some obtuse reason. Pope, Donne and Burke are just on one page of footnotes.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 11:05 AM (y7DUB)
337
312 I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
---------
Physics?
Hah! I kill myself
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
---------
Physics?
Hah! I kill myself
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at September 29, 2019 11:06 AM (ZYB2s)
338
Also spied a used book store that I need to stop at and see what's there on the way home.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:06 AM (ZCEU2)
339
To create a complete Bible that is a translation of the following languages, all in columns on each page in perfect synch:
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
That's origenal.
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
That's origenal.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:06 AM (ykYG2)
340
Mussolini supported the Fascists of course but didn't much trust Franco,
so he sent a token force over. Hitler meanwhile just enjoyed watching
all his rivals dither. Some Luftwaffe prototypes saw "action" - read,
testing - but weren't decisive in any battles.
In the end, nothing happened, except in Spain.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (ykYG2)
---
I'm going to dispute that Mussolini's force was "token." He sent four divisions of troops with ample artillery, tankettes and air power. The Fiat CR.32 was the workhorse fighter of the war for the Nationalists. (The ME 109 gets more screen time, but the Condor Legion never had more than 100 aircraft in theater at a time).
Il Duce was heavily invested in Spain. Franco took his help, but as with Hitler, didn't feel any real obligation for it.
You are correct that the French Popular Front was a total mess. It was also democratic, which is used to conflate the Spanish version with it. This was a deliberate propaganda exercise, which is why Thomas saying "polls showed most Brits/Americans supported the Republic" are stupid.
It was based on lies. Communist agitprop. That doesn't mean the lies were true, just that the West was cunningly duped.
so he sent a token force over. Hitler meanwhile just enjoyed watching
all his rivals dither. Some Luftwaffe prototypes saw "action" - read,
testing - but weren't decisive in any battles.
In the end, nothing happened, except in Spain.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 10:57 AM (ykYG2)
---
I'm going to dispute that Mussolini's force was "token." He sent four divisions of troops with ample artillery, tankettes and air power. The Fiat CR.32 was the workhorse fighter of the war for the Nationalists. (The ME 109 gets more screen time, but the Condor Legion never had more than 100 aircraft in theater at a time).
Il Duce was heavily invested in Spain. Franco took his help, but as with Hitler, didn't feel any real obligation for it.
You are correct that the French Popular Front was a total mess. It was also democratic, which is used to conflate the Spanish version with it. This was a deliberate propaganda exercise, which is why Thomas saying "polls showed most Brits/Americans supported the Republic" are stupid.
It was based on lies. Communist agitprop. That doesn't mean the lies were true, just that the West was cunningly duped.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:07 AM (cfSRQ)
341
They Don't Publish Stuff Like This Any More:
What? Stuff so outlandishly farfetched that one can reasonably and correctly dismiss it at first sight?
Of course not.
See: "Scholarly endeavors" on the ONT, which is not far off the mark from reality.
What? Stuff so outlandishly farfetched that one can reasonably and correctly dismiss it at first sight?
Of course not.
See: "Scholarly endeavors" on the ONT, which is not far off the mark from reality.
Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at September 29, 2019 11:07 AM (di1hb)
342
Are the book reports due today?
Posted by: Sock Monkey...squirrel whisperer at September 29, 2019 11:08 AM (QXtnC)
343
Can you imagine a 16 year old today being the protagonist in All The Pretty Horses?
Posted by: Pig to man dreaming of lions at September 29, 2019 11:09 AM (2DOZq)
344
I'm not Mormon myself, but I've probably known more Mormons than most here, except for those who are Mormons. I have always found them great people, wonderful to get along with, better at living their faith than most Christians are. My argument is not with Mormons, but with the Leadership in Salt Lake City, which is all-in for Open Borders. That's who is represented by Mitt Romney, Mike Lee, Jeff Flake, and Harry Reid.
To be fair, I also despise the leadership of the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Episcopal, the Roman Catholic Church under the Red Pope, and the Lutheran Church - ELCA. That's not all, but it's the first that come to mind.
I've come to think that the only churches that should be trusted are those that remain unafilliated with any "denomination" and answer only to themselves. If nothing else, they're the easiest to walk away from if they go wrong.
To be fair, I also despise the leadership of the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Episcopal, the Roman Catholic Church under the Red Pope, and the Lutheran Church - ELCA. That's not all, but it's the first that come to mind.
I've come to think that the only churches that should be trusted are those that remain unafilliated with any "denomination" and answer only to themselves. If nothing else, they're the easiest to walk away from if they go wrong.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:09 AM (V2Yro)
345
339
To create a complete Bible that is a translation of the following languages, all in columns on each page in perfect synch:
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
That's origenal.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:06 AM (ykYG2)
---
My grandmother had the Concurrent Bible that set out four different English translations in each page for comparison.
To create a complete Bible that is a translation of the following languages, all in columns on each page in perfect synch:
Aramaic
Hebrew
Greek
Latin
English
That's origenal.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:06 AM (ykYG2)
---
My grandmother had the Concurrent Bible that set out four different English translations in each page for comparison.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (cfSRQ)
346
>I love the way McCarthy brings the dust and the heat and the beauty of the west into reality. I truly get lost in his novels. And I also started with All the pretty Horses.
Which is pretty ironic given that he grew up in Providence, RI.
McCarthy is one of my favorites but unlike the critics I found Blood Meridian to be ponderous and a slog.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 29, 2019 11:03 AM (ZLI7S)
His earliest works are set in the Southeast before moving west. He has a blog, at least he used to, where he'll answer questions about his works. From his interactions with people he seems like a funny guy.
Which is pretty ironic given that he grew up in Providence, RI.
McCarthy is one of my favorites but unlike the critics I found Blood Meridian to be ponderous and a slog.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 29, 2019 11:03 AM (ZLI7S)
His earliest works are set in the Southeast before moving west. He has a blog, at least he used to, where he'll answer questions about his works. From his interactions with people he seems like a funny guy.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (y7DUB)
Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (di1hb)
348
335 I am going to put in my truck The Hundred Days of the Aubry/ Maturin series from Patrick O'Brien, my coworkers are slackers and take very long lunch breaks .
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:05 AM (ZCEU2)
_______
Sorry to be a spoiler, but Napoleon loses.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:05 AM (ZCEU2)
_______
Sorry to be a spoiler, but Napoleon loses.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (ZbwAu)
349
Straining to come up with a striking simile or other image.
Trying to be Raymond Chandler without Raymond Chandler's talent.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (9xVRr)
Chandler was a genius in that regard. I seem to recall him using the simile, "quiet as a Southern Senator asking for another serving of mush,' (or something like that) in order to imply how nearly silent the event was.
Trying to be Raymond Chandler without Raymond Chandler's talent.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (9xVRr)
Chandler was a genius in that regard. I seem to recall him using the simile, "quiet as a Southern Senator asking for another serving of mush,' (or something like that) in order to imply how nearly silent the event was.
Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at September 29, 2019 11:11 AM (5Yee7)
350
I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
I would give her a Nobel In Literary Fiction.
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
I would give her a Nobel In Literary Fiction.
Posted by: Pig to man dreaming of lions at September 29, 2019 11:11 AM (2DOZq)
351
Have to run an errand. BBL.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2019 11:12 AM (bmdz3)
352
The Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed The Nobel Prize of Virtuous Posturing, because that's all it is.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at September 29, 2019 11:12 AM (ZYB2s)
353
Have you read his short book, "Three Months in the
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the
time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania
returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)
Three Months in the Southern States is a straightforward account of Freemantle's time in the CSA. He was here three months and saw pretty much everything. He crossed over from Mexico, traversed Texas, the Trans Mississippi Theater, the Western Theater and ended up at Gettysburg when the battle commenced. After the battle, he crossed into Union lines and I think left from New York back to the UK. That was a hell of three month vacay.
Southern States"? If not, check it out, you can get it on kindle I think
and it is a quick read.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (n13/j)
---
No, I haven't. I'm totally all Spanish Civil War all the
time, at the moment, but maybe when my American Civil War mania
returns, I'll check it out.
I do have Battles and Leaders, and it's fun seeing some of the items Shaara drew upon for his work.
And everyone else. Serious source material there and I got it super-cheap used.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)
Three Months in the Southern States is a straightforward account of Freemantle's time in the CSA. He was here three months and saw pretty much everything. He crossed over from Mexico, traversed Texas, the Trans Mississippi Theater, the Western Theater and ended up at Gettysburg when the battle commenced. After the battle, he crossed into Union lines and I think left from New York back to the UK. That was a hell of three month vacay.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 11:13 AM (n13/j)
354
Are the book reports due today?
Don't bother. You've failed. To ask the question is to answer it. You care about obligations and grades. You do not love the literarture.
As far as that goes, I have failed too. But my hands are tied. I tell myself and my peers that I teach you but I don't. The taxpayers insist that you be babysat. They know they're wasting their money. I don't know why they bother except maybe to make themselves feel better.
Or they think property values would go down if they didn't make an effort.
But no, the book reports aren't due. You don't have to read anything. Just do sit still please and try not to be a bother.
Don't bother. You've failed. To ask the question is to answer it. You care about obligations and grades. You do not love the literarture.
As far as that goes, I have failed too. But my hands are tied. I tell myself and my peers that I teach you but I don't. The taxpayers insist that you be babysat. They know they're wasting their money. I don't know why they bother except maybe to make themselves feel better.
Or they think property values would go down if they didn't make an effort.
But no, the book reports aren't due. You don't have to read anything. Just do sit still please and try not to be a bother.
Posted by: Your Teacher at September 29, 2019 11:13 AM (FNXDu)
355
Lloyd: you're right about Eel Douche making a real effort in Spain. D'oh.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:14 AM (ykYG2)
356
It hardly took second sight to foresee Rhoda Veruca Thunberg's nomination. That's been in the cards all along.
My own view is that the "disturbed abused child" is the correct way to respond, as Harsanyi noted. Of course, you'll get purged from FOX for that.
My own view is that the "disturbed abused child" is the correct way to respond, as Harsanyi noted. Of course, you'll get purged from FOX for that.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:14 AM (ZbwAu)
357
His earliest works are set in the Southeast before
moving west. He has a blog, at least he used to, where he'll answer
questions about his works. From his interactions with people he seems
like a funny guy.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (y7DUB)
He is well known as a recluse if that is not an oxymoron. He did an interview with Oprah years ago that I believe is still on youtube. The general consensus is Oprah did a poor job of it but there are not many other options to hear from him. And who cares about the general consensus really?
moving west. He has a blog, at least he used to, where he'll answer
questions about his works. From his interactions with people he seems
like a funny guy.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 11:10 AM (y7DUB)
He is well known as a recluse if that is not an oxymoron. He did an interview with Oprah years ago that I believe is still on youtube. The general consensus is Oprah did a poor job of it but there are not many other options to hear from him. And who cares about the general consensus really?
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 11:16 AM (n13/j)
358
BYW, I think that naming a Brit naval officer Dumaresq is pushing it. What are the other officers' names, Scott, Dreyer, and Pollen? All fire control guys.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:17 AM (ZbwAu)
359
OK, fine. Here's a photo of this week's library/reading room that has people in it.
********
Thanks OM. I'll try to keep the kvetching to a minimum.
A library without people
Is like a church without a steeple
OK, fine. Here's a photo of this week's library/reading room that has people in it.
********
Thanks OM. I'll try to keep the kvetching to a minimum.
A library without people
Is like a church without a steeple
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:17 AM (mvenn)
360
After the battle, he crossed into Union lines and I
think left from New York back to the UK. That was a hell of three month
vacay.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 11:13 AM (n13/j)
I think he saw the draft riots too.
think left from New York back to the UK. That was a hell of three month
vacay.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 11:13 AM (n13/j)
I think he saw the draft riots too.
Posted by: Quint at September 29, 2019 11:17 AM (n13/j)
361
Re-read Call of The Wild for the first time in probably 35 years. It's even better than I remembered.
I've recently started re-reading all of the classics of western literature. Highly recommend it.
I've recently started re-reading all of the classics of western literature. Highly recommend it.
Posted by: Gossamer Penguin at September 29, 2019 11:19 AM (RKOTZ)
362
Greta needs to learn to masturbate -- AND -- I need a Greta Halloween mask.
Posted by: Marooned at September 29, 2019 11:19 AM (sYeYs)
363
307 IIRC, Vincent was killed that day. Hard to write his story. I thought Shaara did a great job with Reynolds, giving a sense of what was lost when he was killed. ----
It's always fascinating to ponder who events would have changed if certain people had lived or died at different times. Much is said about Stonewall Jackson; but at the outset, the entire War in the West would have changed if Albert Sidney Johnston would have lived and gone on to defeat Grant at Shiloh. Not only would the Confederacy have won the War in the West, but Grant's career would have been over before it began.
It's always fascinating to ponder who events would have changed if certain people had lived or died at different times. Much is said about Stonewall Jackson; but at the outset, the entire War in the West would have changed if Albert Sidney Johnston would have lived and gone on to defeat Grant at Shiloh. Not only would the Confederacy have won the War in the West, but Grant's career would have been over before it began.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (V2Yro)
364
361 Re-read Call of The Wild for the first time in probably 35 years. It's even better than I remembered.
I've recently started re-reading all of the classics of western literature. Highly recommend it.
Posted by: Gossamer Penguin at September 29, 2019 11:19 AM (RKOTZ)
________
My wife says that when she read it as a girl, she cried so hard she's never read London again.
I've recently started re-reading all of the classics of western literature. Highly recommend it.
Posted by: Gossamer Penguin at September 29, 2019 11:19 AM (RKOTZ)
________
My wife says that when she read it as a girl, she cried so hard she's never read London again.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (ZbwAu)
365
Limericks traditionally involve word play and are a little naughty, so:
Book Thread Compliant Doggerel - a limerick
The epic hero, Conan. A Sumerian.
As a youth was a bookish contrarian
As portrayed by Robert Howard
He was a horny little coward
In a prequel titled "Bonin' The Librarian
Book Thread Compliant Doggerel - a limerick
The epic hero, Conan. A Sumerian.
As a youth was a bookish contrarian
As portrayed by Robert Howard
He was a horny little coward
In a prequel titled "Bonin' The Librarian
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:22 AM (mvenn)
366
361 Re-read Call of The Wild for the first time in probably 35 years. It's even better than I remembered."
Random thought - I'd like to see a version of "To Build a Fire" with Greta as the main character. I'd enjoy seeing her howl with rage as the tree dumped it's snow on her.
Random thought - I'd like to see a version of "To Build a Fire" with Greta as the main character. I'd enjoy seeing her howl with rage as the tree dumped it's snow on her.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:23 AM (V2Yro)
367
363
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (V2Yro)
______
How many times could Churchill have been killed young? Or Napoleon, or Nelson? For that matter, there's a theory that the battle of Granicus was really just an attempt by the Persians to kill Alexander.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (V2Yro)
______
How many times could Churchill have been killed young? Or Napoleon, or Nelson? For that matter, there's a theory that the battle of Granicus was really just an attempt by the Persians to kill Alexander.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:23 AM (ZbwAu)
368
Hobo: I'm a huge fan of the History for Atheists 'blog. Although I come at it as someone who just likes to see people getting history RIGHT.
I don't see the point in "debating" Catholics. That's one thing which disappoints me so much about atheists -- their Jehovah's Witness level of evangelism. For some reason too many atheists can't be content with not believing in God; they have to make sure nobody else does, either. And the reasons they cite to justify their evangelism are usually based on false information (as, for example, the whole canard about religion being anti-science).
My analogy is unicorns. I know unicorns don't exist, but I see no need to tear down someone's unicorn poster or try to get rainbow unicorn cereal banned.
It's hard to avoid the suspicion that a lot of "atheists" are scared of God hiding under their beds at night. They aren't angry because they think religion is false, but because they're afraid it's true.
I don't see the point in "debating" Catholics. That's one thing which disappoints me so much about atheists -- their Jehovah's Witness level of evangelism. For some reason too many atheists can't be content with not believing in God; they have to make sure nobody else does, either. And the reasons they cite to justify their evangelism are usually based on false information (as, for example, the whole canard about religion being anti-science).
My analogy is unicorns. I know unicorns don't exist, but I see no need to tear down someone's unicorn poster or try to get rainbow unicorn cereal banned.
It's hard to avoid the suspicion that a lot of "atheists" are scared of God hiding under their beds at night. They aren't angry because they think religion is false, but because they're afraid it's true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 11:23 AM (G02Y7)
369
Fortunately I didn't have Mark Twain spoiled for me by teachers. Bought The Family Mark Twain some decades back. A hardback at least three inches thick. There were great stories in there. 20 year old me was amazed at the two stories that included Congressional corruption, which I had somehow assumed was a new phenomenon.
Posted by: John Taloni at September 29, 2019 11:25 AM (/Nhc5)
370
I recently finished "Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila." It's about the liberation of Manila from the Japanese Imperial Army in in 1945, a battle I knew nothing about before reading. It's well written and I recommend it to anyone with a taste for history, especially WWII history. I can admire MacArthur's accomplishments while still believing him to be an arrogant person, and both those elements are on display in this account. But it's not so much about him, as it is about the human toll of this awful battle.
Here's the caveat: I have NEVER had a non-fiction book give me nightmares before. I'm well past my 29th birthday, and know that the world can be a very brutal place. But Rampage. It is meticulously documented by journalists who were present, post-battle war crimes investigators, and the testimony of survivors taken from transcripts at the trial of Yamashita. The detail and intimacy with which the wholesale slaughter of over 62,000 human beings is described was harrowing to me.
I recommend it.
Here's the caveat: I have NEVER had a non-fiction book give me nightmares before. I'm well past my 29th birthday, and know that the world can be a very brutal place. But Rampage. It is meticulously documented by journalists who were present, post-battle war crimes investigators, and the testimony of survivors taken from transcripts at the trial of Yamashita. The detail and intimacy with which the wholesale slaughter of over 62,000 human beings is described was harrowing to me.
I recommend it.
Posted by: MarkW at September 29, 2019 11:26 AM (JOf5Q)
371
45 outside. Kitteh howled to go out on the deck. She's all fluffed out and chattering at the bush tits.
Happy little kitteh.
Happy little kitteh.
Posted by: Nurse ratched at September 29, 2019 11:26 AM (PkVlr)
372
re: The photo of this weeks' Library with actual people using it. I can tell you that the couple in the back need to be told to SHHH !!!!
Posted by: TxMarko at September 29, 2019 11:27 AM (wdmOW)
373
It's hard to avoid the suspicion that a lot of
"atheists" are scared of God hiding under their beds at night. They
aren't angry because they think religion is false, but because they're
afraid it's true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 11:23 AM (G02Y7)
---
Don't leave out the element of spite.
A lot of unhappy people find their only pleasure in life making other people even more unhappy.
Social media has been a huge gift to these miserable creatures, who awaken each day with the hope of wrecking another person they don't know.
It doesn't cure the emptiness within their souls, but it does satiate the beast for a while.
"atheists" are scared of God hiding under their beds at night. They
aren't angry because they think religion is false, but because they're
afraid it's true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2019 11:23 AM (G02Y7)
---
Don't leave out the element of spite.
A lot of unhappy people find their only pleasure in life making other people even more unhappy.
Social media has been a huge gift to these miserable creatures, who awaken each day with the hope of wrecking another person they don't know.
It doesn't cure the emptiness within their souls, but it does satiate the beast for a while.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:27 AM (cfSRQ)
374
Greta may be abused. But she's an enthusiastic abuser, herself. She deserves no sympathy.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:28 AM (5aX2M)
375
Late to the book party!
Brilliant comment from Larry Correia on Greta the Grouch,
Oh yeah, and we all stole her childhood.
Now, personally, my childhood was spent milking cows, so it was not all that awesome to begin with, and we lived down the road from a SAC base that had dozens of Soviet nukes aimed at it for the inevitable upcoming End Of The World As We Know It and we still managed to be happy and hopeful. So I am gonna go out on a limb and say Gretas parents are really really shitty at their job. And it is really cruel to fuck over your kids like that, just so the wokescolds (who never actually change their lifestyles) can feel superior to you for not changing your lifestyles, per the commandments of their unimpeachable climate gods.
Brilliant comment from Larry Correia on Greta the Grouch,
Oh yeah, and we all stole her childhood.
Now, personally, my childhood was spent milking cows, so it was not all that awesome to begin with, and we lived down the road from a SAC base that had dozens of Soviet nukes aimed at it for the inevitable upcoming End Of The World As We Know It and we still managed to be happy and hopeful. So I am gonna go out on a limb and say Gretas parents are really really shitty at their job. And it is really cruel to fuck over your kids like that, just so the wokescolds (who never actually change their lifestyles) can feel superior to you for not changing your lifestyles, per the commandments of their unimpeachable climate gods.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 11:29 AM (C+R83)
376
It's funny to me that these very same people who are boo-hooing over the "poor child" are the same ones that believe 16-year olds are adult enough to vote.
Posted by: Grannymimi at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (u5LFV)
377
Rudy Giuliani on Fox now about the farce, talking about how much the public hates double standards in justice.
Howcome the media isn't asking Hunter Biden about this?
Impeach the MSM.
Posted by: vivi at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (11H2y)
I just read a Bezo's Post story about Hunter Biden and Ukraine. It was all on the up and up. No funny business at all so let's impeach Trump.
Howcome the media isn't asking Hunter Biden about this?
Impeach the MSM.
Posted by: vivi at September 29, 2019 10:04 AM (11H2y)
I just read a Bezo's Post story about Hunter Biden and Ukraine. It was all on the up and up. No funny business at all so let's impeach Trump.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (hHd/F)
378
Greta wants to watch the world burn.
Posted by: Alfred the butler at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (WX+x0)
379
Il Duce was heavily invested in Spain. Franco took his help, but as with Hitler, didn't feel any real obligation for it.
Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:07 AM (cfSRQ)
Correct!....and when the Eyeties left they left loads of equipment behind. Much of it obsolete but still left in Spain.
When WW2 broke out, shortly after the end of fighting in Spain, Italy was pretty much exhausted after their Spanish and African adventures but Mussolini charged forward in 1940 much to the dismay of his generals.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:07 AM (cfSRQ)
Correct!....and when the Eyeties left they left loads of equipment behind. Much of it obsolete but still left in Spain.
When WW2 broke out, shortly after the end of fighting in Spain, Italy was pretty much exhausted after their Spanish and African adventures but Mussolini charged forward in 1940 much to the dismay of his generals.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 29, 2019 11:33 AM (Z+IKu)
380
Greta may be abused. But she's an enthusiastic abuser, herself. She deserves no sympathy.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:28 AM (5aX2M)
She's a Swedish Commissar Hogg. Little Red Guards that would gladly wipe us all out
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:28 AM (5aX2M)
She's a Swedish Commissar Hogg. Little Red Guards that would gladly wipe us all out
Posted by: TheQuietMan at September 29, 2019 11:33 AM (hHd/F)
381
It's always fascinating to ponder who events would
have changed if certain people had lived or died at different times.
Much is said about Stonewall Jackson; but at the outset, the entire War
in the West would have changed if Albert Sidney Johnston would have
lived and gone on to defeat Grant at Shiloh. Not only would the
Confederacy have won the War in the West, but Grant's career would have
been over before it began.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (V2Yro)
---
A.S. Johnston was a pretty lousy field commander. He set up a cordon that was quickly breached and his big attack at Shiloh was a command and control nightmare.
Regarding people dying, I think there's an inherent bias in alternative history of assuming the other side wins. But what if the losing side got about as good as it could have gotten?
You talk about Grant, but if McClellan had been any kind of commander, he'd have occupied Richmond in the spring of 1862. Or destroyed Lee at Antietam that September.
The same is true in WW II. The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership. A few minor calls and the war would have gone very differently for them.
have changed if certain people had lived or died at different times.
Much is said about Stonewall Jackson; but at the outset, the entire War
in the West would have changed if Albert Sidney Johnston would have
lived and gone on to defeat Grant at Shiloh. Not only would the
Confederacy have won the War in the West, but Grant's career would have
been over before it began.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 29, 2019 11:21 AM (V2Yro)
---
A.S. Johnston was a pretty lousy field commander. He set up a cordon that was quickly breached and his big attack at Shiloh was a command and control nightmare.
Regarding people dying, I think there's an inherent bias in alternative history of assuming the other side wins. But what if the losing side got about as good as it could have gotten?
You talk about Grant, but if McClellan had been any kind of commander, he'd have occupied Richmond in the spring of 1862. Or destroyed Lee at Antietam that September.
The same is true in WW II. The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership. A few minor calls and the war would have gone very differently for them.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)
382
I love seeing all the names people come op with for people who deserve it, especially because I am certain it bugs them and hurts their wee feelz. My current fave for Greta is Scoldilocks, which I saw written here.
I now offer up Greta van Bleat. Someone else may have come up with it, but it's original to me.
I now offer up Greta van Bleat. Someone else may have come up with it, but it's original to me.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish at September 29, 2019 11:36 AM (x8Wzq)
383
Greta wants to watch the world burn.
Posted by: Alfred the butler at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (WX+x0)
Brain the size of a tangerine...
Posted by: Alfred the butler at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (WX+x0)
Brain the size of a tangerine...
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish at September 29, 2019 11:37 AM (x8Wzq)
384
"The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership."
Jerry would never try that trick of invading us through Belgium, again. Even though they have better equipment and some veterans who remember how they successfully did it the first time...
I mean, that wouldn't be sporting.
Jerry would never try that trick of invading us through Belgium, again. Even though they have better equipment and some veterans who remember how they successfully did it the first time...
I mean, that wouldn't be sporting.
Posted by: the Maginot Line at September 29, 2019 11:38 AM (ykYG2)
385
How DARE you!
Posted by: Newest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize at September 29, 2019 11:39 AM (PkVlr)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:39 AM (85Gof)
387
The Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed The Nobel Prize of Virtuous Posturing, because that's all it is.
-
That's a bingo.
-
That's a bingo.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (+y/Ru)
388
I now offer up Greta van Bleat. Someone else may have come up with it, but it's original to me.
Posted by: Pug Maho
*********
I like the rhythm of it. Am I missing a connotation or lcultural wordplay of some sort? (I can be dim-witted at times)
Posted by: Pug Maho
*********
I like the rhythm of it. Am I missing a connotation or lcultural wordplay of some sort? (I can be dim-witted at times)
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (mvenn)
389
She's a Swedish Commissar Hogg. Little Red Guards that would gladly wipe us all out
Posted by: TheQuietMan at September 29, 2019 11:33 AM (hHd/F)
-----
Yep, a little monster, that one.
Whenever she's talking, I half expect her eyes to turn black as she issues forth a guttural roar of "My name is Legion!"
I have no idea how people sympathize with her... she sets off every instinctive "Oh, shit!" alarm I have.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at September 29, 2019 11:33 AM (hHd/F)
-----
Yep, a little monster, that one.
Whenever she's talking, I half expect her eyes to turn black as she issues forth a guttural roar of "My name is Legion!"
I have no idea how people sympathize with her... she sets off every instinctive "Oh, shit!" alarm I have.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (5aX2M)
390
I vote Scoldilocks
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (ZCEU2)
391
Hmm, pencilneck traveled to Ukraine Aug 24-31.
I'm sure it's nothing. Was sponsored by The Atlantic Council. Seems legit.
I'm sure it's nothing. Was sponsored by The Atlantic Council. Seems legit.
Posted by: jehdoc at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (WX+x0)
392
If that Saucer Over Italy lands anywhere near Naples, the Camorra will strip it down and sell its parts in a minute.
If that Saucer Over Italy lands anywhere near Naples, the Camorra will strip it down and sell its parts in a minute.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (7rVsF)
393
Still inching my way through Hornblower.
The idiot's married Maria.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 29, 2019 10:02 AM (oVJmc)
Just got done with Ship of the Line, which was the first Hornblower book written, CS Forrester went back and wrote the previous books afterwards.
It does have the wonderful element of a ship of the line bombarding a French army traveling on a coastal road, but it is the eternal pissing of Hornblower's self doubt.
The idiot's married Maria.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at September 29, 2019 10:02 AM (oVJmc)
Just got done with Ship of the Line, which was the first Hornblower book written, CS Forrester went back and wrote the previous books afterwards.
It does have the wonderful element of a ship of the line bombarding a French army traveling on a coastal road, but it is the eternal pissing of Hornblower's self doubt.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (xG/b0)
394
The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership. A few minor calls and the war would have gone very differently for them.
-
And then Rommel went on to be senator from Utah.
-
And then Rommel went on to be senator from Utah.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (+y/Ru)
395
Greta Van Munchausen
Posted by: Nurse ratched at September 29, 2019 11:44 AM (PkVlr)
396
Back from exercising...
Lessee here...
Dan Simmons is a great writer. Just about everything he's written is a good read.
His crowning achievement IMHO is the "Hyperion Cantos".
Don't be concerned ab0out committing yourself to a long series.
You can read "Hyperion", which comes to a sort of ending without moving directly onto the next book.
But, you'll probably want to move onto the next book
Flannery O'Connor is just a flat-out great short story writer in the Southern Gothic mode.
She isn't just the writer of "A Good Man is Hard to Find".
Though you might be forgiven for finding her novel, "Wise Blood" a bit of a drag.
Harry Crews is a different sort of animal philosophically, but he clearly learned at the feet of O'Conner.
Lessee here...
Dan Simmons is a great writer. Just about everything he's written is a good read.
His crowning achievement IMHO is the "Hyperion Cantos".
Don't be concerned ab0out committing yourself to a long series.
You can read "Hyperion", which comes to a sort of ending without moving directly onto the next book.
But, you'll probably want to move onto the next book
Flannery O'Connor is just a flat-out great short story writer in the Southern Gothic mode.
She isn't just the writer of "A Good Man is Hard to Find".
Though you might be forgiven for finding her novel, "Wise Blood" a bit of a drag.
Harry Crews is a different sort of animal philosophically, but he clearly learned at the feet of O'Conner.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2019 11:45 AM (pqyXj)
397
The Wikipedia Jack London entry is outstanding. Never said that before about a Wikipedia article.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 11:45 AM (C+R83)
398
381
The same is true in WW II. The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership. A few minor calls and the war would have gone very differently for them.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)
________
I'm not convinced about "amazingly inept". OK, Gamelin was pretty bad. But most of the Brits just didn't have the wherewithal to fight Germany. You don't remake an army overnight.
Yes, there are embarrassments. But then, those happened to Germany, too, and get forgotten. Before Norway, the LW managed to drive a division of German DDs into a minefield, sinking two. If the Brits or Italians had done that, it would have become legend.
One of the more plausible reasons to support appeasement, by the Brit military, was simply that they were not ready. The 10-Year Rule had ensured that. And Churchill, too, had his fingerprints on that. His influence between the war was not all for the good, especially for the Navy.
The same is true in WW II. The Germans basically got almost every break thanks to amazingly inept Allied leadership. A few minor calls and the war would have gone very differently for them.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)
________
I'm not convinced about "amazingly inept". OK, Gamelin was pretty bad. But most of the Brits just didn't have the wherewithal to fight Germany. You don't remake an army overnight.
Yes, there are embarrassments. But then, those happened to Germany, too, and get forgotten. Before Norway, the LW managed to drive a division of German DDs into a minefield, sinking two. If the Brits or Italians had done that, it would have become legend.
One of the more plausible reasons to support appeasement, by the Brit military, was simply that they were not ready. The 10-Year Rule had ensured that. And Churchill, too, had his fingerprints on that. His influence between the war was not all for the good, especially for the Navy.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:45 AM (ZbwAu)
399
Yep, a little monster, that one.
Whenever she's talking, I half expect her eyes to turn black as she issues forth a guttural roar of "My name is Legion!"
I have no idea how people sympathize with her... she sets off every instinctive "Oh, shit!" alarm I have.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (5aX2M)
I've heard that Scoldilocks' parents are actors or performance artists or some such. So her tirade at the UN is just theater.
There is no evidence that anything she said wasn't put into her head by others.
If you run into people who are impressed by her performance, you should ask them if they believe that the WWE is real, too.
Whenever she's talking, I half expect her eyes to turn black as she issues forth a guttural roar of "My name is Legion!"
I have no idea how people sympathize with her... she sets off every instinctive "Oh, shit!" alarm I have.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (5aX2M)
I've heard that Scoldilocks' parents are actors or performance artists or some such. So her tirade at the UN is just theater.
There is no evidence that anything she said wasn't put into her head by others.
If you run into people who are impressed by her performance, you should ask them if they believe that the WWE is real, too.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (juqNl)
400
>>I'm sure it's nothing. Was sponsored by The Atlantic Council. Seems legit.
One of my biggest hopes is that The Atlantic Council gets exposed for it's role in this shit show. It needs to be shutdown.
One of my biggest hopes is that The Atlantic Council gets exposed for it's role in this shit show. It needs to be shutdown.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (ZLI7S)
401
Vivi,
If you like "dark comedies", check out mine here:
https://www.amazon.com/Wearing-Cat-Complete-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B06XKQVKH8
Amazon gives a very generous sample, so you can try before you buy.
Best regards.
Vivi,
If you like "dark comedies", check out mine here:
https://www.amazon.com/Wearing-Cat-Complete-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B06XKQVKH8
Amazon gives a very generous sample, so you can try before you buy.
Best regards.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (pqyXj)
402
I kinda like those wolf pants. I probably should see a doctor.
Posted by: 40 miles north at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (o2vOl)
403
376
It's funny to me that these very same people who are boo-hooing over the
"poor child" are the same ones that believe 16-year olds are adult
enough to vote.
Posted by: Grannymimi at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (u5LFV)
---
Pointing out the double standard is of limited utility these days. Yes, it helps bring over undecideds and demoralizes the few Dems who care about consistency.
The real use if to hammer home fair play and use language like "equality" against the Dems. They've made a fetish out of inequality for so long it's hard for them to pivot away from it.
Stupid twitter fights with blue checkmarks accomplish nothing.
It's funny to me that these very same people who are boo-hooing over the
"poor child" are the same ones that believe 16-year olds are adult
enough to vote.
Posted by: Grannymimi at September 29, 2019 11:32 AM (u5LFV)
---
Pointing out the double standard is of limited utility these days. Yes, it helps bring over undecideds and demoralizes the few Dems who care about consistency.
The real use if to hammer home fair play and use language like "equality" against the Dems. They've made a fetish out of inequality for so long it's hard for them to pivot away from it.
Stupid twitter fights with blue checkmarks accomplish nothing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:47 AM (cfSRQ)
404
The Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed The Nobel Prize of Virtuous Posturing, because that's all it is.
=====
I think that Europe has a European Idol program where people audition to be the new 'pop idol' and us poor idiot Americans made the same type of show.
From what I recall, the European Idol just had a bearded lady as the winner. Nobel nonsense seems similar.
The Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed The Nobel Prize of Virtuous Posturing, because that's all it is.
=====
I think that Europe has a European Idol program where people audition to be the new 'pop idol' and us poor idiot Americans made the same type of show.
From what I recall, the European Idol just had a bearded lady as the winner. Nobel nonsense seems similar.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 29, 2019 11:48 AM (MIKMs)
405
Mussolini charged forward in 1940 much to the dismay of his generals.
-
He thought Uncle Adolph had won the war for him and he wanted in on the spoils but the Brits were tougher than the Big Meatball thought.
-
He thought Uncle Adolph had won the war for him and he wanted in on the spoils but the Brits were tougher than the Big Meatball thought.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (+y/Ru)
406
With a few rare exceptions, every real politician in Government ( which PDT is not) is a corrupt cock sucking traitor and they should all hang.
Well at least that is how I feel
Well at least that is how I feel
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
407
393
It does have the wonderful element of a ship of the line bombarding a French army traveling on a coastal road, but it is the eternal pissing of Hornblower's self doubt.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (xG/b0)
________
That's part of my problem with Hornblower. It even was when I was young. Forrester was being very up-to-date emphasizing his neuroses. And that doesn't date well, plus it's not really that plausible for the era. O'Brian, OTOH, can come up with lines that might have been written by Jane Austin.
Both authors did draw very heavily on Thomas Cochrane's exploits. Cochrane was NOT a reliable source, but for fiction, who cares? If it makes a good story, that's enough. O'Brian wrote a later forward to Reverse of the Medal admitting that the case against Cochrane was much stronger than that brought against Aubrey.
It does have the wonderful element of a ship of the line bombarding a French army traveling on a coastal road, but it is the eternal pissing of Hornblower's self doubt.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2019 11:43 AM (xG/b0)
________
That's part of my problem with Hornblower. It even was when I was young. Forrester was being very up-to-date emphasizing his neuroses. And that doesn't date well, plus it's not really that plausible for the era. O'Brian, OTOH, can come up with lines that might have been written by Jane Austin.
Both authors did draw very heavily on Thomas Cochrane's exploits. Cochrane was NOT a reliable source, but for fiction, who cares? If it makes a good story, that's enough. O'Brian wrote a later forward to Reverse of the Medal admitting that the case against Cochrane was much stronger than that brought against Aubrey.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:51 AM (ZbwAu)
408
I'm not convinced about "amazingly inept". OK,
Gamelin was pretty bad. But most of the Brits just didn't have the
wherewithal to fight Germany. You don't remake an army overnight.
Yes, there are embarrassments. But then, those happened to Germany,
too, and get forgotten. Before Norway, the LW managed to drive a
division of German DDs into a minefield, sinking two. If the Brits or
Italians had done that, it would have become legend.
One of the more plausible reasons to support appeasement, by the
Brit military, was simply that they were not ready. The 10-Year Rule had
ensured that. And Churchill, too, had his fingerprints on that. His
influence between the war was not all for the good, especially for the
Navy.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:45 AM (ZbwAu)
---
It depends on how far you want to go back. In 1936 the French could have resisted the Rhineland occupation without difficulty. German troops were under orders not to fight. The Brits held them back.
Speaking of Norway, how about the pin-headed decision to forget about the actual war with Germany and start worrying about how to help "pluckly little Finland?"
The Allies did nothing for the first nine months other than take passive measures. You do that, you're asking for trouble. It goes beyond Gamelin to overt defeatism. Almost any kind of aggressive action - mining German waterways, picking a plan on Belgium and the Netherlands - and you get better results.
Gamelin was pretty bad. But most of the Brits just didn't have the
wherewithal to fight Germany. You don't remake an army overnight.
Yes, there are embarrassments. But then, those happened to Germany,
too, and get forgotten. Before Norway, the LW managed to drive a
division of German DDs into a minefield, sinking two. If the Brits or
Italians had done that, it would have become legend.
One of the more plausible reasons to support appeasement, by the
Brit military, was simply that they were not ready. The 10-Year Rule had
ensured that. And Churchill, too, had his fingerprints on that. His
influence between the war was not all for the good, especially for the
Navy.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:45 AM (ZbwAu)
---
It depends on how far you want to go back. In 1936 the French could have resisted the Rhineland occupation without difficulty. German troops were under orders not to fight. The Brits held them back.
Speaking of Norway, how about the pin-headed decision to forget about the actual war with Germany and start worrying about how to help "pluckly little Finland?"
The Allies did nothing for the first nine months other than take passive measures. You do that, you're asking for trouble. It goes beyond Gamelin to overt defeatism. Almost any kind of aggressive action - mining German waterways, picking a plan on Belgium and the Netherlands - and you get better results.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:52 AM (cfSRQ)
409
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
Your views interest me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Your views interest me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 11:52 AM (C+R83)
410
There is no evidence that anything she said wasn't put into her head by others.
If you run into people who are impressed by her performance, you should ask them if they believe that the WWE is real, too.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (juqNl)
Nice!
I want to see Scoldilocks put the Iron Claw on her next interviewer.
Maybe swat him or her with a folding chair.
If you run into people who are impressed by her performance, you should ask them if they believe that the WWE is real, too.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 11:46 AM (juqNl)
Nice!
I want to see Scoldilocks put the Iron Claw on her next interviewer.
Maybe swat him or her with a folding chair.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (pqyXj)
411
In keeping with the Dickensian theme I kind of liked "Greta Expectations"
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
412
Well at least that is how I feel
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
-------
+1.
There are a vanishing handful of decent ones (Nunes comes to mind). But there are more surviving North American crocodiles than there are patriots in politics, across the board.
The US political system is an unmitigated disaster.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
-------
+1.
There are a vanishing handful of decent ones (Nunes comes to mind). But there are more surviving North American crocodiles than there are patriots in politics, across the board.
The US political system is an unmitigated disaster.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:54 AM (5aX2M)
413
Mussolini charged forward to the dismay of his generals. He failed because the TRAIN was late.
Posted by: needs more shots at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (WX+x0)
414
Greta wants to watch the world burn.
Posted by: Alfred the butler
Brain the size of a tangerine...
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish
Sounds like a kid's taunt.
Greta. Greta. She's so mean.
Brain the size of a tangerine.
Greta wants to watch the world burn.
Posted by: Alfred the butler
Brain the size of a tangerine...
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish
Sounds like a kid's taunt.
Greta. Greta. She's so mean.
Brain the size of a tangerine.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (aKsyK)
415
Just got an email from a friend, about the NYT:
"Yes, the New York Times has really screwed the pooch. I wish I could say that this will be the death of the rag, but I doubt that will happen. The problem won't get solved until we replace that pussy Trump with someone like Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who really knew how to deal with that kind of troublemaker."
He and I met on the college registration line our first year, and hit it off immediately. The same sort of reactionary mindset. That was 1971.
"Yes, the New York Times has really screwed the pooch. I wish I could say that this will be the death of the rag, but I doubt that will happen. The problem won't get solved until we replace that pussy Trump with someone like Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who really knew how to deal with that kind of troublemaker."
He and I met on the college registration line our first year, and hit it off immediately. The same sort of reactionary mindset. That was 1971.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (ZbwAu)
416
411
In keeping with the Dickensian theme I kind of liked "Greta Expectations"
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
---
Paula Broadwell is one of the most Dickensian names in recent memory. Perfect for a femme fatale.
In keeping with the Dickensian theme I kind of liked "Greta Expectations"
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
---
Paula Broadwell is one of the most Dickensian names in recent memory. Perfect for a femme fatale.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (cfSRQ)
417
I vote Scoldilocks
-
Scoldilocks and the Three Fears. The world ending in 100 years was too small. The world ending tomorrow is too big. But the world ending in 18 months is juuuuuust right!
-
Scoldilocks and the Three Fears. The world ending in 100 years was too small. The world ending tomorrow is too big. But the world ending in 18 months is juuuuuust right!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (+y/Ru)
418
The pretty woman in the 'Who Dis' picture reminded me of JP Morgan's librarian because of the background. She was a black woman and became one of the most powerful forces in buying/selling rare books and collections in the world. Belle daCosta Greene.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 29, 2019 11:55 AM (MIKMs)
419
387 The Nobel Peace Prize should be renamed The Nobel Prize of Virtuous Posturing, because that's all it is.
-
That's a bingo.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (+y/Ru)
The Bee said Trumps nomination was suspended as he has stopped most drone bombings.
-
That's a bingo.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (+y/Ru)
The Bee said Trumps nomination was suspended as he has stopped most drone bombings.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 11:56 AM (JFO2v)
420
Headed over to see the g-babies and read to them while the rest of the grown ups do some farmwork.
I have the best job.
I have the best job.
Posted by: SMH at September 29, 2019 11:57 AM (RU4sa)
421
One of the more plausible reasons to support appeasement, by the Brit military, was simply that they were not ready.
Well, so the British Admiralty thought. Taylor points out that the British Navy was more ready than the old farts in command let on. The RAF was getting pretty good too as the Battle of Britain would prove.
And Hitler hadn't planned on a fight either. As of 1939 it could fight Poland but there was every reason to believe he would lose if he attacked France - which was (on paper) prepared.
Well, so the British Admiralty thought. Taylor points out that the British Navy was more ready than the old farts in command let on. The RAF was getting pretty good too as the Battle of Britain would prove.
And Hitler hadn't planned on a fight either. As of 1939 it could fight Poland but there was every reason to believe he would lose if he attacked France - which was (on paper) prepared.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:58 AM (ykYG2)
422
In keeping with the Dickensian theme I kind of liked "Greta Expectations"
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
-
Brilliant! As usual.
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
-
Brilliant! As usual.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 11:58 AM (+y/Ru)
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at September 29, 2019 11:59 AM (ykYG2)
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (aXucN)
425
Prager thinks Leftist treat children like adults in among other ways they should vote and have national saying,
and adults like children to be protected from themselves like no swimsuits at the Miss America and banning vices.
and adults like children to be protected from themselves like no swimsuits at the Miss America and banning vices.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (ZCEU2)
426
Sulla can offer great historical lessons to Trump. Reading Roman history for fun and profit!
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (NVYyb)
427
411 In keeping with the Dickensian theme I kind of liked "Greta Expectations"
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
great Mul. as always
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
great Mul. as always
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:01 PM (JFO2v)
428
Finally, I think, Xerxes is massing the forces against Athens somewhere in Asia Minor south of what became Constantinople (was it known as Byzantium then?). Hard to see how the Greeks stood a chance against such overwhelming numbers but, as they say in sports, that's why you play the game.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 12:02 PM (y7DUB)
429
@ Trimegistus 368
I think that's really well said.
And I also disagree with your earlier comment about themes in books, but I agree that they have to be subtle to work.
I think that's really well said.
And I also disagree with your earlier comment about themes in books, but I agree that they have to be subtle to work.
Posted by: artemis at September 29, 2019 12:02 PM (AwPyG)
430
Gina Torres was a brilliant piece of casting by the scumbag, Joss Whedon
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:03 PM (NVYyb)
431
Bluebell, you mentioned your husband liking Christmas Carol and wanting to find a copy of his speaker's version. I checked ebay for you. I didn't find that one, but there's another that might interest him. One page is the printed version, the facing page is his manuscript with changes marked. It's a Levinger book and that's where I looked on ebay. You might keep watch there.
Posted by: Wenda (sic) at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (aPc3n)
432
408
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:52 AM (cfSRQ)
________
Well, a lot of that was simply the political effects of democratic government. THAT kind of ineptitude I won't dispute. But it's kind of built in. Both we and the Brits almost always get kicked at the beginning of a war. In the case of WWII, though, I will semi-defend Chamberlain. He was left a pile of shit by Baldwin, who was the real villain. Neville didn't play
the hand he was dealt very well, but it was a bad hand. The British armaments industry had been crippled by the interwar era.
I will point out that the mining of German waterways WAS adopted, but it took time to prepare. France fell before it could be adopted, though.
Also that the "passive measures" included convoy and blockade. Which, contra Churchill's attitude, are extremely effective and in fact ultimately offensive, strategically. Much better than the waste that was RAF bombing in the early war. There's somewhere that mining would have been effective.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 11:52 AM (cfSRQ)
________
Well, a lot of that was simply the political effects of democratic government. THAT kind of ineptitude I won't dispute. But it's kind of built in. Both we and the Brits almost always get kicked at the beginning of a war. In the case of WWII, though, I will semi-defend Chamberlain. He was left a pile of shit by Baldwin, who was the real villain. Neville didn't play
the hand he was dealt very well, but it was a bad hand. The British armaments industry had been crippled by the interwar era.
I will point out that the mining of German waterways WAS adopted, but it took time to prepare. France fell before it could be adopted, though.
Also that the "passive measures" included convoy and blockade. Which, contra Churchill's attitude, are extremely effective and in fact ultimately offensive, strategically. Much better than the waste that was RAF bombing in the early war. There's somewhere that mining would have been effective.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (ZbwAu)
433
Gina Torres took her pants off in an episode of The Shield.
This thread forced me, I say forced me, to look that up.
This thread forced me, I say forced me, to look that up.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (FNXDu)
434
425 Prager thinks Leftist treat children like adults in among other ways they should vote and have national saying,
and adults like children to be protected from themselves like no swimsuits at the Miss America and banning vices.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (ZCEU2)
Progressive women used children to start the prohibition bandwagons. Now (semi moron) children are paraded to sell globullwarming. I find it interesting that feminist women only love children when they can be used as weapons against others.
and adults like children to be protected from themselves like no swimsuits at the Miss America and banning vices.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (ZCEU2)
Progressive women used children to start the prohibition bandwagons. Now (semi moron) children are paraded to sell globullwarming. I find it interesting that feminist women only love children when they can be used as weapons against others.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (JFO2v)
Posted by: Diogenes at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (usgok)
436
https://tinyurl.com/y2jzegu2
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
great Mul. as always
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:01 PM (JFO2v)
Seconded.
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:53 AM (mvenn)
great Mul. as always
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:01 PM (JFO2v)
Seconded.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:06 PM (juqNl)
437
My reading list is boring this week, being a rerrad of HMS Surprise but teed up next is Hyperion, which I just bought.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:06 PM (NVYyb)
438
The problem won't get solved until we replace that pussy Trump with someone like Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who really knew how to deal with that kind of troublemakers.
Crucifixions inTimes Square? Gladiators combat in The Meadowlands?
Crucifixions inTimes Square? Gladiators combat in The Meadowlands?
Posted by: Fox2! at September 29, 2019 12:06 PM (KaupC)
439
424 OMuse, don't forget to send me your fez size for President Trump's second inaugural parade.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (aXucN)
Size: Fat.
Posted by: bluebell at September 29, 2019 12:00 PM (aXucN)
Size: Fat.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:07 PM (juqNl)
440
433 Gina Torres took her pants off in an episode of The Shield.
This thread forced me, I say forced me, to look that up.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (FNXDu)
do you see panties or hinnie?
This thread forced me, I say forced me, to look that up.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (FNXDu)
do you see panties or hinnie?
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:07 PM (JFO2v)
441
I like the rhythm of it. Am I missing a connotation or lcultural wordplay of some sort? (I can be dim-witted at times)
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (mvenn)
A pretty good rock band called Great van Fleet. Talented bunch of kids.
I like the rhythm of it. Am I missing a connotation or lcultural wordplay of some sort? (I can be dim-witted at times)
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 11:41 AM (mvenn)
A pretty good rock band called Great van Fleet. Talented bunch of kids.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish at September 29, 2019 12:07 PM (x8Wzq)
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 12:08 PM (mvenn)
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:08 PM (NVYyb)
444
I'm liking those pants!
Posted by: Diogenes at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (usgok)
You're not supposed to like them! You're supposed to laugh at them and shake your head slowly out of pity for them.
Each week, I try to find the Greta Thunberg of pants.
Posted by: Diogenes at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (usgok)
You're not supposed to like them! You're supposed to laugh at them and shake your head slowly out of pity for them.
Each week, I try to find the Greta Thunberg of pants.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:08 PM (juqNl)
445
FU audible i am not buying Sophia Chang it looks like a terrible.
I just finished the 2 Book of the Reckoners so far so good. I like the take these books have on Super Powered people and that it would be a post apocalyptic because the government couldn't handle them and just fell apart and cities are run like city States. So ordinary people must Kill these monsters
I just finished the 2 Book of the Reckoners so far so good. I like the take these books have on Super Powered people and that it would be a post apocalyptic because the government couldn't handle them and just fell apart and cities are run like city States. So ordinary people must Kill these monsters
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at September 29, 2019 12:09 PM (dKiJG)
446
So one thing that confused me. Some, if not many, in the intel community are obviosly conspiring with the dems in congress and the media to get PDT. Where are the real americans, conservative in the intel community ratting them out and fighting back? WTF? I s this a one sided fight?
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 12:09 PM (85Gof)
447
A pretty good rock band called Great van Fleet. Talented bunch of kids.
Posted by: Pug Mahon,
********
Ah. Thanks! I figured there had to be something.
Posted by: Pug Mahon,
********
Ah. Thanks! I figured there had to be something.
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 12:09 PM (mvenn)
448
443 Gina Torres had her pants off, you say?
Happily, I have mad research skillz!
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:08 PM (NVYyb)
She got nood in an episode of The Shield, if I remember correctly.
Happily, I have mad research skillz!
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:08 PM (NVYyb)
She got nood in an episode of The Shield, if I remember correctly.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:10 PM (juqNl)
449
Greta. Keep spelling that fat-fingerishly.
Posted by: Pug Mahon, Not Actually Irish at September 29, 2019 12:10 PM (x8Wzq)
450
The Germans also had no coordinated plan of attack when it came to England.
They should have used the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF, the Royal Navy and the one lone radar installation the Brits had while the U-Boats and the rest of the German Navy should have concentrated on Royal Navy ships and ports in conjunction with small raiding parties blowing up railways and airfields and fuel supplies, while assassinating Brit politicians.
But Russia was the main target so the Adolf went East.
They should have used the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF, the Royal Navy and the one lone radar installation the Brits had while the U-Boats and the rest of the German Navy should have concentrated on Royal Navy ships and ports in conjunction with small raiding parties blowing up railways and airfields and fuel supplies, while assassinating Brit politicians.
But Russia was the main target so the Adolf went East.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (Z+IKu)
451
I understand why a newt, but why a duck?
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (ZbwAu)
Because if it was a chicken, it would sink.
(if this didn't make sense go watch Cocoanuts by the Marx Brothers)
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 10:48 AM (ZbwAu)
Because if it was a chicken, it would sink.
(if this didn't make sense go watch Cocoanuts by the Marx Brothers)
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (xG/b0)
452
Amazon thanks you OM for the book linkage you give me each week. Lord Bezos asked me to pass that on to you.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (NVYyb)
453
When the Ukraine shit first hit the fan, I had hoped that at last they'd set up a leak to incriminate one of the traitors. But hope is slipping away.
Or am I just being childish, saying, like Greta, "I want it NOW!"?
Or am I just being childish, saying, like Greta, "I want it NOW!"?
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (ZbwAu)
Posted by: needs more shots at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (WX+x0)
455
Given who and what her parents are
I would love love for Gremlin Thunberg to be giving her usual "how dare you adult scumbags live in the modern world. How dare You! Bow to my ignorance."
and her audience of progtards is all weepy and masochistically enjoying their Shame Bath, when suddenly-
Gremlin smiles then says:
"And that! Ladies and Gentlemen, is Acting!!!"
Given who and what her parents are
I would love love for Gremlin Thunberg to be giving her usual "how dare you adult scumbags live in the modern world. How dare You! Bow to my ignorance."
and her audience of progtards is all weepy and masochistically enjoying their Shame Bath, when suddenly-
Gremlin smiles then says:
"And that! Ladies and Gentlemen, is Acting!!!"
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2019 12:14 PM (pqyXj)
456
452 Amazon thanks you OM for the book linkage you give me each week. Lord Bezos asked me to pass that on to you.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (NVYyb)
Heh. What does your bank account think about it?
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:12 PM (NVYyb)
Heh. What does your bank account think about it?
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:14 PM (juqNl)
457
We quit Amazon earlier this year, and not regrets at all. Made them close both our accounts.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (ZbwAu)
458
Jason and the Cocoanauts: The Search For the Golden Ticket To the Chocolate Factory.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (+y/Ru)
459
September 26, 1969 - do you know what happened on this date?
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (Pg+x7)
460
1st GUN NOOD of the DAY
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (ZCEU2)
461
Each week, I try to find the Greta Thunberg of pants.
********
Full of tears?
Unable to cover the subject effectively?
A model who is too big for her britches?
Falling apart at the seams?
Each week, I try to find the Greta Thunberg of pants.
********
Full of tears?
Unable to cover the subject effectively?
A model who is too big for her britches?
Falling apart at the seams?
Posted by: Muldoon at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (mvenn)
462
And speaking of noods, I guess there is one.
Thank you all for making this a great book thread today. Lots of bookish discussion.
Only downside: No Eris.
Thank you all for making this a great book thread today. Lots of bookish discussion.
Only downside: No Eris.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:17 PM (juqNl)
463
Well at least that is how I feel
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
-------
+1.
There are a vanishing handful of decent ones (Nunes comes to mind). But there are more surviving North American crocodiles than there are patriots in politics, across the board.
The US political system is an unmitigated disaster.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:54 AM (5aX2M)
The money people don't like spending money foolishly, so they spend it on reliable whores and simpletons who will do their bidding. So it's usually just a question of which money people got their whore into which seat.
For those of us who vote, and occasionally give pennies to candidates here and there, we get a show. The pols mouth words we either like or we don't like, and then if they get elected by our votes, they go to work... doing the bidding of the money people.
Simple as that.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 11:50 AM (85Gof)
-------
+1.
There are a vanishing handful of decent ones (Nunes comes to mind). But there are more surviving North American crocodiles than there are patriots in politics, across the board.
The US political system is an unmitigated disaster.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 11:54 AM (5aX2M)
The money people don't like spending money foolishly, so they spend it on reliable whores and simpletons who will do their bidding. So it's usually just a question of which money people got their whore into which seat.
For those of us who vote, and occasionally give pennies to candidates here and there, we get a show. The pols mouth words we either like or we don't like, and then if they get elected by our votes, they go to work... doing the bidding of the money people.
Simple as that.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2019 12:17 PM (hku12)
464
Progressive women used children to start the prohibition bandwagons. Now (semi moron) children are paraded to sell globullwarming. I find it interesting that feminist women only love children when they can be used as weapons against others.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (JFO2v)
Progs view people as tools to be used for their utopian fantasies which always lead to tyranny. Conservatives, real ones not GOPe fakes, value freedom above all.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (JFO2v)
Progs view people as tools to be used for their utopian fantasies which always lead to tyranny. Conservatives, real ones not GOPe fakes, value freedom above all.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 12:17 PM (y7DUB)
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 12:18 PM (Pg+x7)
466
And speaking of noods, I guess there is one.
Thank you all for making this a great book thread today. Lots of bookish discussion.
Only downside: No Eris.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:17 PM (juqNl)
Main downside of moving west. One less hour on Sunday mornings to "waste" on the book thread.
Thank you all for making this a great book thread today. Lots of bookish discussion.
Only downside: No Eris.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:17 PM (juqNl)
Main downside of moving west. One less hour on Sunday mornings to "waste" on the book thread.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2019 12:19 PM (hku12)
467
To the young 'girl' I say; "sod off swampy".
Posted by: Eric (the OC Tanker) at September 29, 2019 12:19 PM (P8UvY)
468
Where are the real americans, conservative in the intel community ratting them out and fighting back? WTF? I s this a one sided fight?
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 12:09 PM (85Gof)
--------
It started under Bush. For better or worse, the guy repeatedly pushed back on the corrupt IC, by appointing Doug Feith, by building up the DIA, by publicly renouncing the IC assessment on Iran, etc.
And Bush was a Machine man, himself. Just not Machine enough. He still had some patriotism that held sway above his uniparty allegiance.
During his administration they decided they'd had enough of elected people having a say. The Plame affair was the beginning. From there forward, it's been a Deep State takeover. Any honest men in their ranks are long since purged.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at September 29, 2019 12:09 PM (85Gof)
--------
It started under Bush. For better or worse, the guy repeatedly pushed back on the corrupt IC, by appointing Doug Feith, by building up the DIA, by publicly renouncing the IC assessment on Iran, etc.
And Bush was a Machine man, himself. Just not Machine enough. He still had some patriotism that held sway above his uniparty allegiance.
During his administration they decided they'd had enough of elected people having a say. The Plame affair was the beginning. From there forward, it's been a Deep State takeover. Any honest men in their ranks are long since purged.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2019 12:19 PM (5aX2M)
469
Thank you for this weekly thread, OM; I try to give as good as I get and have gotten some great recs from the Horde.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 12:20 PM (y7DUB)
470
Gina Torres is in my circle of trust now! Her pictures have been filed away for safekeeping. That is correct, foul minded people of the horde, safekeeping!
Posted by: Huck Follywood at September 29, 2019 12:20 PM (NVYyb)
471
I'm sure it's already been asked, but are the books in that library pictured at the top all in Austrian?
Posted by: rhomboid at September 29, 2019 12:20 PM (QDnY+)
Posted by: Bandersnatch at September 29, 2019 12:21 PM (FNXDu)
473
Well, a lot of that was simply the political effects
of democratic government. THAT kind of ineptitude I won't dispute. But
it's kind of built in. Both we and the Brits almost always get kicked at
the beginning of a war. In the case of WWII, though, I will
semi-defend Chamberlain. He was left a pile of shit by Baldwin, who was
the real villain. Neville didn't play
the hand he was dealt very well, but it was a bad hand. The British armaments industry had been crippled by the interwar era.
I will point out that the mining of German waterways WAS adopted,
but it took time to prepare. France fell before it could be adopted,
though.
Also that the "passive measures" included convoy and blockade.
Which, contra Churchill's attitude, are extremely effective and in fact
ultimately offensive, strategically. Much better than the waste that was
RAF bombing in the early war. There's somewhere that mining would have
been effective.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (ZbwAu)
---
The point stands, though. There was more the Allies could have done if they had the will to do it.
Their plan for the Low Countries was insane.
"We're going to strongly fortify a line we intend to abandon so as to have a meeting engagement on unfamiliar terrain that will leave us at a huge disadvantage."
It was comically inept.
of democratic government. THAT kind of ineptitude I won't dispute. But
it's kind of built in. Both we and the Brits almost always get kicked at
the beginning of a war. In the case of WWII, though, I will
semi-defend Chamberlain. He was left a pile of shit by Baldwin, who was
the real villain. Neville didn't play
the hand he was dealt very well, but it was a bad hand. The British armaments industry had been crippled by the interwar era.
I will point out that the mining of German waterways WAS adopted,
but it took time to prepare. France fell before it could be adopted,
though.
Also that the "passive measures" included convoy and blockade.
Which, contra Churchill's attitude, are extremely effective and in fact
ultimately offensive, strategically. Much better than the waste that was
RAF bombing in the early war. There's somewhere that mining would have
been effective.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 29, 2019 12:04 PM (ZbwAu)
---
The point stands, though. There was more the Allies could have done if they had the will to do it.
Their plan for the Low Countries was insane.
"We're going to strongly fortify a line we intend to abandon so as to have a meeting engagement on unfamiliar terrain that will leave us at a huge disadvantage."
It was comically inept.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2019 12:23 PM (cfSRQ)
474
I downloaded Henry G. J. Moseley's paper of 1913, where he "called the roll" of the periodic table. I had read about this achievement from many sources. I wanted to see what Moseley himself said about it, in "The High-Frequency Spectra of the Elements".
To get it, I downloaded The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, July-December 1913. It contains papers by Bohr, Rutherford, and several of Rutherford's students, at the time they were figuring out how atoms are constructed.
Moseley was one of many young physicists working with Rutherford at Manchester.
His experiment measured the charge of the nucleus of elements 20-30 on the Periodic Table (except 21 -- he couldn't afford any scandium). He made an X-ray tube that held all those elements in a movable holder. He brought each element in turn under the electron beam, generating X-rays. . He used the techniques of William Lawrence Bragg to diffract the X-rays from a crystal of known atomic spacing. He could measure the diffraction angle, and calculate the X-ray frequency.
He used Bohr's quantization formula to find the energies of the element's inner electrons that would generate those X-rays. From those energies, he could calculate the charge of the nucleus in terms of e, the electron's elementary charge.
He found that calcium, element 20, had a nuclear charge of 20e; titanium, element 22, of 22e; vanadium, element 23, of 23e; and so on to zinc, element 30, of 30e. He paid attention to cobalt and nickel, which seemed to be out of order according to atomic weight. He found cobalt's nuclear charge to be 27e and nickel's to be 28e, even though cobalt's atomic weight is a little greater than nickel's.
Moseley wrote clearly and concisely, and clearly understood the importance of his results.
Remarkabley, the Wikipedia articles on Moseley's work say thet he does not mention Bohr. In fact, this paper mentions Bohr in the first paragraph: "These results ... strongly support the views of Rutherford and of Bohr." Moseley is impressed thet Bohr's theory explaining hydrogen's ultraviolet spectrum applies so well to the heavier elements' X-ray spectra, with frequencies 2000 times as great. He writes: "Thus we have an experimental verification of the principle of the constancy of angular momentum which ... is the basis of Bohr's theory of the atom."
On 10 August 1915, serving as a signals officer in the British army, Moseley was killed by a Turkish sniper at Gallipoli.
To get it, I downloaded The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, July-December 1913. It contains papers by Bohr, Rutherford, and several of Rutherford's students, at the time they were figuring out how atoms are constructed.
Moseley was one of many young physicists working with Rutherford at Manchester.
His experiment measured the charge of the nucleus of elements 20-30 on the Periodic Table (except 21 -- he couldn't afford any scandium). He made an X-ray tube that held all those elements in a movable holder. He brought each element in turn under the electron beam, generating X-rays. . He used the techniques of William Lawrence Bragg to diffract the X-rays from a crystal of known atomic spacing. He could measure the diffraction angle, and calculate the X-ray frequency.
He used Bohr's quantization formula to find the energies of the element's inner electrons that would generate those X-rays. From those energies, he could calculate the charge of the nucleus in terms of e, the electron's elementary charge.
He found that calcium, element 20, had a nuclear charge of 20e; titanium, element 22, of 22e; vanadium, element 23, of 23e; and so on to zinc, element 30, of 30e. He paid attention to cobalt and nickel, which seemed to be out of order according to atomic weight. He found cobalt's nuclear charge to be 27e and nickel's to be 28e, even though cobalt's atomic weight is a little greater than nickel's.
Moseley wrote clearly and concisely, and clearly understood the importance of his results.
Remarkabley, the Wikipedia articles on Moseley's work say thet he does not mention Bohr. In fact, this paper mentions Bohr in the first paragraph: "These results ... strongly support the views of Rutherford and of Bohr." Moseley is impressed thet Bohr's theory explaining hydrogen's ultraviolet spectrum applies so well to the heavier elements' X-ray spectra, with frequencies 2000 times as great. He writes: "Thus we have an experimental verification of the principle of the constancy of angular momentum which ... is the basis of Bohr's theory of the atom."
On 10 August 1915, serving as a signals officer in the British army, Moseley was killed by a Turkish sniper at Gallipoli.
Posted by: Whiggish Boffin at September 29, 2019 12:24 PM (btMc0)
Posted by: Whiggish Boffin at September 29, 2019 12:30 PM (btMc0)
476
469 Thank you for this weekly thread, OM; I try to give as good as I get and have gotten some great recs from the Horde.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 12:20 PM (y7DUB)
I look forward every week to your thoughtful book reviews. They are always worth reading.
Posted by: Captain Hate at September 29, 2019 12:20 PM (y7DUB)
I look forward every week to your thoughtful book reviews. They are always worth reading.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at September 29, 2019 12:31 PM (juqNl)
477
I called it
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
Well, it's worthless anymore, since they gave it to Barky.
Greta is nominated for the Nobel prize
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2019 10:55 AM (ZCEU2)
Well, it's worthless anymore, since they gave it to Barky.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 29, 2019 12:39 PM (jEgzt)
478
September 26, 1969 - do you know what happened on this date?
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (Pg+x7)
Our b elloved predisnet was 8 years old, and learning how to make the the world safe for the world.
Posted by: mjc at September 29, 2019 12:16 PM (Pg+x7)
Our b elloved predisnet was 8 years old, and learning how to make the the world safe for the world.
Posted by: Mary Cloggenstien at September 29, 2019 12:41 PM (xG/b0)
479
Your Teacher
Everything has changed everything remains the same. Had most of my teachers in high school beat if a comparison of the breadth and depth of my literary explorations was the contest. Besides that point, the squirrels used my homework for nest liner.
Everything has changed everything remains the same. Had most of my teachers in high school beat if a comparison of the breadth and depth of my literary explorations was the contest. Besides that point, the squirrels used my homework for nest liner.
Posted by: Sock Monkey...squirrel whisperer at September 29, 2019 12:42 PM (QXtnC)
480
Vic! I really like Wen Spencer. Have you ever read her Dog Warrior series?
Posted by: VMom's phone at September 29, 2019 12:50 PM (BMAz0)
481
U had a chance to read Biker off a SMBT recommendation. Fantastic, a Sam Spade for 2019. Highly recommended.
Posted by: motionview at September 29, 2019 01:06 PM (0oJui)
482
Posted by: Whiggish Boffin at September 29, 2019 12:24 PM
------------
- This is a good place to mention that I continue to work on 'The Makinging of the Atomic Bomb', which is a terrific book. It (so far) is really something of a rolling biography of the physicists (mostly), chemists, and mathematicians.
Lots of detailed personal information and anecdotes for all of them, interactions, notes and letters to each other.
At any rate, checking the Index, I find roughly 16 page-references to Mosley.
------------
- This is a good place to mention that I continue to work on 'The Makinging of the Atomic Bomb', which is a terrific book. It (so far) is really something of a rolling biography of the physicists (mostly), chemists, and mathematicians.
Lots of detailed personal information and anecdotes for all of them, interactions, notes and letters to each other.
At any rate, checking the Index, I find roughly 16 page-references to Mosley.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 01:58 PM (xSo9G)
483
I suspect the werewolf/Nazi hunter book mentioned earlier is "The Wolf's Hour" by Robert McCammon (1989).
Posted by: ExCopyEditor at September 29, 2019 02:03 PM (IL1cq)
484
482 "I continue to work on 'The Makinging of the Atomic Bomb', which is a terrific book."Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at September 29, 2019 01:58 PM
Thanks, Mike! I'll put that on my list.
Thanks, Mike! I'll put that on my list.
Posted by: Whiggish Boffin at September 29, 2019 02:29 PM (btMc0)
485
All I gotta say about the Swedish girl:
It's proof that Greg Stillson is alive and well.
(I figured there was no better place to say that than on this thread.)
It's proof that Greg Stillson is alive and well.
(I figured there was no better place to say that than on this thread.)
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at September 29, 2019 02:54 PM (CaOBJ)
486
Sharkman, I will look for Death on a Friday Afternoon, thanks!
Posted by: April at September 29, 2019 03:00 PM (OX9vb)
487
Try "Great Expectations" next! I reread it last year and it was a pleasure. A wonderful glimpse into the social structure of 19th century England.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (wYseH)
I absolutely hated this book. YMMV.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2019 09:40 AM (wYseH)
I absolutely hated this book. YMMV.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at September 29, 2019 03:08 PM (CaOBJ)
488
106 Nothing kills love for reading and thirst for knowledge quicker than school.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
Very late entry. I had the best 3rd grade teacher, she read Nathaniel Hawthorne stories to us and discussed the meanings she found. After her I was hooked on classics. I was very fortunate I see.
Posted by: Insomniac at September 29, 2019 09:43 AM (FRGnP)
Very late entry. I had the best 3rd grade teacher, she read Nathaniel Hawthorne stories to us and discussed the meanings she found. After her I was hooked on classics. I was very fortunate I see.
Posted by: CN at September 29, 2019 04:49 PM (U7k5w)
489
I like seeing the underside of humanity as much as the pretty side.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo
********
Let me put it this way:
Utopi-ain't - a limerick
I learned from my father when I was a lad
"Every day of your life you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found as life unfurled
It's an imperfect world
Yet I couldn't be happy if I'd never been sad
------------------
Muldoon, I love ya and envy your talent, but occasionally your limericks lack the musical quality a good limerick needs. My respectful edited version follows:
I learned from my pa when a lad
"Every day you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found life, unfurled,
Is an imperfect world
I've been happy 'cause first I've been sad.
That last line took me a long time to write; I think that's my seventh attempt, at least. Hope I got your meaning across.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo
********
Let me put it this way:
Utopi-ain't - a limerick
I learned from my father when I was a lad
"Every day of your life you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found as life unfurled
It's an imperfect world
Yet I couldn't be happy if I'd never been sad
------------------
Muldoon, I love ya and envy your talent, but occasionally your limericks lack the musical quality a good limerick needs. My respectful edited version follows:
I learned from my pa when a lad
"Every day you'll see good, you'll see bad."
I found life, unfurled,
Is an imperfect world
I've been happy 'cause first I've been sad.
That last line took me a long time to write; I think that's my seventh attempt, at least. Hope I got your meaning across.
Posted by: DynamiteDan at September 29, 2019 04:57 PM (jMtvt)
490
That cover of Fate magazine is hilarious: "Omigosh! An intergalactic travel mug!"
Posted by: DynamiteDan at September 29, 2019 05:26 PM (jMtvt)
491
It's been a long time since I read Illium and the Hyperion stuff. As I recall there is not one bit of Islamophobia in Olympos. None. It's a goofy take on Homer mixed with human-evening-culture and aliens.
.
The two book series is a lot of fun. Recommend!
It's been a long time since I read Illium and the Hyperion stuff. As I recall there is not one bit of Islamophobia in Olympos. None. It's a goofy take on Homer mixed with human-evening-culture and aliens.
.
The two book series is a lot of fun. Recommend!
Posted by: 13times at September 29, 2019 07:42 PM (K3B2k)
492
No way is the Green New Deal Icarian. This word also conveys a meaning of nobility and pride.
Apollo and the space shuttle were Icarian. The Green New Deal is stupid.
Apollo and the space shuttle were Icarian. The Green New Deal is stupid.
Posted by: PG at September 30, 2019 12:47 AM (iqCkn)
493
That does sound terrific Is Simmons the author I'm thinking of, the author of a werewolf novel set during WWII -- the hero is a werewolf who is a secret agent battling the Germans?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
-----
Sounds like "The Wolf's Hour" by Robert McCammon.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 29, 2019 10:22 AM (UP2XL)
-----
Sounds like "The Wolf's Hour" by Robert McCammon.
Posted by: Darth Randall at September 30, 2019 05:43 AM (QD9b6)
494
That's definitely The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon.
Simmons has a big library and he's written in every genre. I've been a fan since the early 90s.
Simmons has a big library and he's written in every genre. I've been a fan since the early 90s.
Posted by: Chris W at September 30, 2019 11:29 AM (HPcI7)
495
With it storming outside lets tell a nice little GHOST STORY about the Ghost of the deep deep well
Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at September 30, 2019 05:08 PM (wGqjj)
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