Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-29-2019

Rubinstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), NYE party-goers, party animals, party poopers, and party favors. 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 assumed that everyone in the 1970s was colorblind.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

The loose ‘strings’ that run down the outside of a peeled banana are properly called PHLOEM BUNDLES. pic.twitter.com/1eOvTVcKwH
— Haggard Hawks 📚🦅 (@HaggardHawks) December 21, 2019

I never knew they had a name.

(click to enlarge)

"Women Writers Are Victims of Discrimination":

The 10 best selling books of the decade. https://t.co/FVipy3oOpZ pic.twitter.com/m4mKsiUXEj
— Lincoln Michel (@TheLincoln) December 20, 2019

Books By Morons

Sarah Hoyt has a new book out, and this is how she described it to me:

This is a very weird book. I'm not entirely sure where it came from....
Well... I assume it came from the depths of my mind. I just don't want to think about it too closely.

She says it's a humorous short novel, about half as long as the ones she usually writes. Here is the plot:

Like all Private Detectives, Seamus Lebanon [Leb] Magis has often been told to go to Hell. He just never thought he’d actually have to go.

But when an old client asks him to investigate why Death Metal bands are dressing in pink – with butterfly mustache clips – and singing about puppies and kittens in a bad imitation of K-pop bands, Leb knows there’s something foul in the realm of music.

When the something grows to include the woman he fell in love with in kindergarten and a missing six-year-old girl, Leb climbs into his battered Suburban and like a knight of old goes forth to do battles with the legions of Hell.

This is when things become insane…. Or perhaps in the interest of truth we should say more insane.

The novel is called Deep Pink and it can be purchased on Kindle for $2.99.

___________

Moron author Mark Haugen has just published a new book, a mystery novel called Mustang Lang:

A lot of people are trying to find high-end hooker Sara Kay. Last seen in Deadwood, SD, her madame, Ruby, hires local private detective Mustang Lang to find her. Meanwhile, Sara Kay's best customer Clete Stenholm, a Texas cattle tycoon, would like to find her too. He hires Mustang Lang as well. Mustang has no problem double-dipping the customers, reassuring them that beautiful women are easy to find in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It's the ugly ones who blend in...With the help of his long-time girlfriend, who is a local defense attorney, Mustang eventually locates Sara Kay and soon finds himself trying to hide her from those who hired him to find her.

Mark is also the author of Joshua's Ladder and Runaway Trane, a novel about what happens when you just get fed up with it all and need a change:

Bobby Trane surprises his Montana church one Sunday by not showing up. That's usually not a big deal, except when you're the priest. Tired of blank faces, complainers and cell phones ringing during his sermons, Bobby follows the lead of a mysterious letter he receives and takes off to save the world. He is guided to the tiny South Dakota town of Buffalo Gap where sinning is aplenty. With a den of drug-dealing Satanists on one side of town, an outlaw motorcycle gang on the other side, and a pretty, young bar owner trying to make ends meet in the middle, Bobby falls hot on the trail of a local ranch girl who's been missing for almost a year.

Unfortunately an e-version is not available, paperback only.

___________

A lurking moron author, 'Hieronymus Poe' has just published his first novel. But that doesn't mean he wrote it recently. He tells me:

I wrote it 25 years ago, and after the first few rejections trickled in, stowed it away in a drawer. Every now and then I would take the manuscript out and find myself laughing at the ridiculous exploits of my heroes, and wonder why it was never published.

...I gradually woke up to the fact that unknown authors no longer have to submit in silence to the literary gate-keepers.

So I took the time to publish it on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.

It's another comedic reworking of Don Quixote (a sub-genre in itself), placing a Quixotic madman in the modern south. It's a deeply satirical book, terribly "triggering," that pokes fun at contemporary PC culture (25 years before it became woke, and not all that funny anymore).

The Amazon blurb fleshes it out a bit:

The Dixie Don Quixote!

This is the epic tragicomedy of Jubal Quicksot, a poor but proud Southern aristocrat living in the crumbling ruins of his family plantation in the Low Country near Charleston, South Carolina.

An eccentric so obsessed with the romance of the Old South and the glories of the Lost Cause, Quicksot one day goes completely mad and sets out for Atlanta under the lunatic notion that he is a colonel in the Confederate Cavalry on a secret mission to crush Sherman and thus change the course of history.

A hilarious Quixotic misadventure; a Swiftian satire of modern America; a full-throated battle-cry against PC culture—Colonel Quicksot is sure to be enjoyed by all unreconstructed Southerners, both below and above the Mason-Dixon Line.

Colonel Quicksot is available on Kindle or paperback.

___________

Who Dis:

Last week's 'who dis' was, of course, Judy Garland.

Moron Recommendations

Up for some short stories?

87 Just finished STRANGE WORLDS; a bold sci-fi/fantasy anthology by PAUL CLAYTON. A dozen or so politically INCORRECT short stories that are so good it's hard to believe they were conceived by one person.

I will usually read a whole novel in search of one or two good ideas, but in Clayton's STRANGE WORLDS collection each story contains at least one clever nugget that's also wrapped with a sly sense of humor.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: Craig Bodeker at December 22, 2019 09:47 AM (6LTK9)

Strange Worlds is available on Kindle for $2.99. Also paperback.

Here is a description of some of the stories from the Amazon blurb:

In the future, the love of a young man’s life is dying. He would do almost anything to keep her alive…except that! In Dog Man, it turns out that Oscar the tomcat was just misunderstood — with deadly consequences… A love sick young man attempts to tap the power of an ancient religion to secure the affections of a girl on their class trip to Christland… The dead come briefly back to life every year when the astral dimensions align in Day, or Two, of The Dead. A cynical young ‘player’, adrift in the modern, amoral age meets God on a mountain top and his life is changed forever — but not in the way he’d ever imagined.

So I think this is going to be worth the $2.99.

I've mentioned another one of Paul's story collections awhile back, Talk To A Real Live Girl and Other Stories. I notice he has also written a novel about the Walter Raleigh's lost Roanoke Colony, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, the main character of which is one

...17-year-old "wench" Maggie Hagger, whose passage on Raleigh's ship was paid by colony Governor Sir John White so she can serve his pregnant daughter. The ship's stormy passage to the New World -- during which widower White falls for Maggie, who is meanwhile evading unwanted advances from a scalawag -- establishes the many well-wrought characters, some noble (particularly real-life Native Manteo), others evil. The depiction of the colony's physical and moral disintegration between 1587 and 1590 -- as drunken, cannibalistic soldiers mutiny and brutalize the settlers they were meant to protect, and as colonists confront disease, starvation and madness -- evokes a harrowing sense of human fallibility. Readers with more than a nodding familiarity with American colonial history will experience a … déjà vu, but others less hip to what happened in late-16th century times will find this saga, which starts slowly but soon reaches page-turner velocity, to be both a dandy diversion and an entertaining education.

$3.99 on Kindle.

___________

102 I finished "Isaac: Trek to King's Mountain" by J. Wayne Fears. In 1780, teenager Isaac has the skills of anyone living west of the mountains in South Carolina. His father, and a hero to Isaac, is killed by British trrops commiting atrocities during the American Revolution. Isaac joins a militia heading over the mountains to get revenge on the British for their depredations and threats. On the way he is tutored by an older longhunter in what is needed to survive in such an endeavor.

Fears did a good job making the story historically accurate from the attitudes and circumstances of the pioneers to the physical difficulties of the march to the horror and confusion of battle in that time. There is a feel of Louis L'Amour and a Heinlein juvenile which is appealing. Some of the scenes are pretty graphic so I don't consider it a kid's book but it would be an excellent introduction to the place and people of that time.

I can say that when the story ended, Fears left the reader wanting more.

Posted by: JTB at December 22, 2019 09:52 AM (7EjX1)

There's not much to add to this excellent review, other than to emphasize the history the novel is built on:

The trek to, and the Battle of King’s Mountain, is accurately described and based on a true event. Many of the fighters in this historic 300 mile trek, and the resulting one hour and five minute battle, were teenage boys, like Isaac.This often overlooked battle, according to historians, played a major role in turning America’s War for Independence around and was a pivotal point in the birth of what became the United States of America.This is a story of everyday pioneers overcoming great odds to enjoy liberty. Equally it is story about a boy’s rapid adventure into manhood, because of his willingness to risk everything to avenge his father’s death and to assure the freedom the Overmountain settlers wanted so bad.

Isaac - Trek to King's Mountain is $4.99 on Kindle or $9.99 for the paperback edition.

___________

67 Greatly enjoying Nelson De Mille's "The Deserter."

It's the Heart of Darkness but set in the bush of Venezuela.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at December 22, 2019 09:36 AM (+fPHo)

There's high praise for this one on the Amazon page.

An “outstanding” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) blistering thriller featuring a brilliant and unorthodox Army investigator, his enigmatic female partner, and their hunt for the Army’s most notorious—and dangerous—deserter from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille.

When Captain Kyle Mercer of the Army’s elite Delta Force disappeared from his post in Afghanistan, a video released by his Taliban captors made international headlines. But circumstances were murky: Did Mercer desert before he was captured? Then a second video sent to Mercer’s Army commanders leaves no doubt: the trained assassin and keeper of classified Army intelligence has willfully disappeared.

When Mercer is spotted a year later in Caracas, Venezuela, by an old Army buddy, top military brass task Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor of the Criminal Investigation Division to fly to Venezuela and bring Mercer back to America—preferably alive. Brodie knows this is a difficult mission, made more difficult by his new partner’s inexperience, by their undeniable chemistry, and by Brodie’s suspicion that Maggie Taylor is reporting to the CIA.

The Deserter: A Novel by Nelson and Alex DeMille is available on Kindle. Also hardcover and paperback. All of which, surprisingly, are in the $14-$15 price range.

___________

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

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

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning Hordies. Listening to Baroque musick and reading selections from The Psychedelic Review, as one will of a Sunday morn.

Drs Leary, Litwin, and Metzner, "Reactions to Psilocybin Administered in a Supportive Environment".

Test subjects were given 100-200 μg of LSD plus 200-400 mg of mescaline after intensive preparation, which included inhaling a 30% CO2/70% oxygen mixture to "practice surrender" (?). "The subject spends a good portion of the day lying comfortably on a couch listening to music." (I immediately thought of Zonker Harris volunteering)

The majority of subjects reported having a pleasant experience that gave them increased awareness.

Fess up Horde -- were any of you test subjects?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:00 AM (Dc2NZ)

2 !

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:00 AM (arJlL)

3 Still doing the re-read of the WEB Griffin Marine series. On the 4th book now.

Posted by: Vic at December 29, 2019 09:01 AM (mpXpK)

4 I love the picture of the brothers reading, and Henry Fonda just might be who's dis!

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:02 AM (U7k5w)

5 Tolle Lege
Picked up the 3rd of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series Sharpe s Fortress, I'm really likening these.

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 09:02 AM (ZCEU2)

6 Just reading junk books. Too much stress and sadness to try anything enlightening.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:02 AM (JFO2v)

7 Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic by Harvey Oxenhorn

Hrothgar gave me this book to review. It must have some significance to him. It was a smooth, enjoyable, and informative read. I recommend this to the Horde.

This is a multi-leveled book by a poet, writer, teacher, and new PhD in Literature, getting ready for an academic career at Harvard. He is not a young boy, but a man steeped in progressive academia. He signed on as a deckhand in Regina Maris AKA Queen of the Sea. In addition, he was to be the embarked writer, telling the tale of this voyage.

In any tale of the sea, the ship is a protagonist. Regina Maris, built in 1908, had a long and varied career, usually as a break bulk freighter of cod, coal, nitrate, and agricultural commodities. She was a very tall three-masted barquentine rig, 157 feet long, 22 feet wide, with a gross tonnage of 153 tons. Her main masthead height was 95 feet, with a total sail area of 5,200 square feet in 14 sails and 140 individual control lines for those sails. Her crew of 30; 9 women, 21 men, were divided into 10 professional crew, 4 scientists, and 16 apprentice seaman including the author. So a small ship for a crew of 30. The tight quarters are ripe for personality conflicts.

The voyage mission was to catalog humpbacked whales in the far north of Labrador Straits and Baffin Bay near Greenland for two months in late summer and fall.

First, this is a story of personal and spiritual growth. Harvey Oxenhorn arrives on board having read about being a sailor, and has read all the training documents. He owns little practical knowledge, and is a landsman, unused to the ways of the sea. He comes across as entitled, sure of his own worth, and self-centered; absolutely not a team player. He shows his growth in becoming a valuable member of the crew, qualified to stand watch, help with maintenance, and able to go aloft to the topmast in gale winds. He learns about other people, so different than himself, and grounds his understanding of relationships and the meaning of life with this voyage.

The book is second a travelogue of the far north, including Greenland, Labrador, Baffin Island, and Newfoundland, and the adjacent waters from Boston and back. The Northern Seas and the sky-land interface, with occasional savage weather, is a part of the tale. He is a very keen observer of the communities he visited, with good insights.

A key figure in the book is the Captain, Dr. George Nichols. A former Medical School Dean at Harvard, he takes the ship, filled with a disparate group of individuals, and melds them into a crew. Notice how he arrives and stops discord, and watch his decisions lead to mission success.

Oceans challenge those that travel on them, and this is a worthy tale of the sea. This book illuminated the cultural adaptations needed by sailors to stay alive in an indifferent environment.

Thank you, Hrothgar, for loaning me this book.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (u82oZ)

8 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday and a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (7EjX1)

9 Our society is circling the drain if those were the best selling books of the decade!

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (U7k5w)

10 Didn't this year but thinking I need to get Rush's history books for my niece's daughter.

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 09:04 AM (ZCEU2)

11 Well done, Eris !

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:05 AM (arJlL)

12 Camilla Townsend, Fifth Sun, provides a sort of anglo-saxon chronicle of The Nahua-Speaking Peoples: a history of "the Aztecs" based on their own historiography, extending past their conquest by Europeans. It is a good book, and an honest one; but uneven.

In Townsend's insistence on focusing on the Nahuaphones, she doesn't tell the stories of the peoples likely more indigenous to The Valley Now Called Mexican, in particular the Otomi. She also doesn't mark what Tom Servo here considers Cortes' bravest moment, the charge at Otompan.

On the other hand, Townsend doesn't go so far into revisionism as Matthew Restall went. She recognises that the Aztec elite had taken a Mesoamerican society already Roman-level in its obsession with violence, and brought it near the brink of genocide.

Past the Conquest, the book gets uneven again, as she skips past the Mixton and Chichimec wars of 1520-90. Maybe she felt that they involved the frontiers past the Vale. She shows more interest in the unrest of ~1560 in Mexico City. Again, if it didn't happen in Nahuatl it didn't happen.

I recommend this one when it comes out in paperback.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (cyk+3)

13 Didn't this year but thinking I need to get Rush's history books for my niece's daughter.
Posted by: Skip

Great Niece ?

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (arJlL)

14 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.

https://tinyurl.com/t58s5ob

Posted by: Mikey NTH - Measure Your Fury With A Rage-o-Meter from The Outrage Outlet! at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (qobvn)

15 CN

Change my approach to spousal interactions. Nyah. I'm good. B&D is skeevy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (u82oZ)

16 I read The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett. This is the fourth book in The Demon Cycle. The saga continues of humans vs. corelings, demons who rise from the ground each night. In this book there is also plenty of intrigue between the Northern People and the Krassians, a desert-dwelling, Muslim-like people, which leads to war. I'm enjoying the series very much. The series ends with the next book, The Core.

Posted by: Zoltan at December 29, 2019 09:09 AM (PevXk)

17 I got Storm of Steel as a Christmas present, a first person account of WWI trench warfare by a German infrantryman, later officer.

It's well reviewed. Anyone know it?

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:09 AM (ZFdlO)

18 Fess up Horde -- were any of you test subjects?

No, scientific rigor demanded that I do my LSD experiments in the more naturalistic environments of a fraternity house and wanderings about a college town.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:09 AM (gd9RK)

19 Rich, meaty Christian devotional/one-year Bible reading plan. (Start date was Christmas, but you can catch up.) Author has two others with different start dates.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1679942751/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i2

Posted by: Slow Learner at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (hafXH)

20 Have a great book thread. BBL

Chores call.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (u82oZ)

21 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.
---
That was a bracing quote.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

22 Henry Fonda, obviously.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:11 AM (ZFdlO)

23 Thank you, Hrothgar, for loaning me this book.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (u82oZ)

NaCly, you are more than welcome. And you write an excellent book report, I'd give you an A+ if I were grading it.

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar knows that EDKH at December 29, 2019 09:11 AM (BiNEL)

24 No, scientific rigor demanded that I do my LSD experiments in the more naturalistic environments of a fraternity house and wanderings about a college town.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:09 AM (gd9RK)
---
Pleasant environments such as a garden setting were used to stage the experiments. Don't know why meandering around a twee college town wouldn't provide stimulation.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:12 AM (Dc2NZ)

25 Don't blow the margins!

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 09:13 AM (cyk+3)

26 Our society is circling the drain if those were the best selling books of the decade!
Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (U7k5w)

What, you mean you didn't already have enough evidence?

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar knows that EDKH at December 29, 2019 09:13 AM (BiNEL)

27 14 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.

https://tinyurl.com/t58s5ob
Posted by: Mikey NTH - Measure Your Fury With A Rage-o-Meter from The Outrage Outlet! at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (qobvn)

Heh. And used the moniker Mary Poppins Perfect Piercing instead of Mary Poppins Practically Perfect Piercing--which I guess is a promotion.

Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 09:13 AM (55d/e)

28 Diaper soiling meltdowns

ha!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:13 AM (JFO2v)

29 I quit reading Peter Brett when the "good guy" rammed a broomhandle up some dude's butt in the second book. Man has problems.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 09:14 AM (cyk+3)

30 I'm reading the comments field for that article that cited MPPP. He's getting a lot of support and an offer to take him out to dinner!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

31 So is Clarice Feldmn a 'Ette?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (gd9RK)

32 OM, thanks for the tip on "Deep Pink". I think this may be the book I've been waiting for. Downloaded from Amazon.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (XxJt1)

33 Posted by: Slow Learner at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (hafXH)

Margin blower at comment 19.

Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (55d/e)

34 15 CN

Change my approach to spousal interactions. Nyah. I'm good. B&D is skeevy.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (u82oZ)

And there are so few handsome young billionaires with a mind to marry going around for these readers. After these books came out, my former employer (psych hospital) saw and uptick in admissions of men looking to stay out of jail for severe abuse of partners of both genders. No people, reading the book did not telegraph a desire to be beaten bloody.

But I have to question the sanity of the women who fueled this author's "career". Many women have the desire to "tame" a bad boy and live happily ever after, despite the reality of these encounters.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (U7k5w)

35 My reading fell off a lot this week, I've been watching the grandsons and helping with the older kid's mother-in-law who requires lots of attention.

I did download and start Alan Lemay's "The Searchers" as I tend to enjoy Christopher Taylor's suggestions.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (U7k5w)

36 14 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.

https://tinyurl.com/t58s5ob
Posted by: Mikey NTH - Measure Your Fury With A Rage-o-Meter from The Outrage Outlet! at December 29, 2019 09:07 AM (qobvn)

Probably MPPPP at his finest! Definitely worth a click.

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar knows that EDKH at December 29, 2019 09:16 AM (BiNEL)

37 Hank Fonda, of course. I always liked the name Hank. Don't hear it much anymore.

Posted by: Dan Smoot's Apprentice at December 29, 2019 09:16 AM (H8QX8)

38 What, you mean you didn't already have enough evidence?
Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar knows that EDKH at December 29, 2019 09:13 AM (BiNEL)

In a way, I had hoped that the support for much of society's BS was artificial. Actually buying this crap signals deeper decay.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:17 AM (U7k5w)

39 Cuomo literally sickening me today.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 29, 2019 09:18 AM (EZebt)

40

Looks comfy all around,like my trews.I'm reading PEOPLE MAGAZINE ,showed up free in my Mail box, I am enchanted,never knew such erudition existed.

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 09:19 AM (5IHGB)

41 "Women Writers Are Victims of Discrimination"

Look on the bright side: in 50 years - hell, in 10 years - every book on that list is going to be rotting in a library's book sale or dumped into the bowels of a used bookstore's dollar bin.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:20 AM (Ki5SV)

42 Nice Lieberry!

The reading man looks alot like James Comey awaiting for the return of his celly for some afternoon "fun time".

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (Z+IKu)

43 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)

44 Boring Writing Update: I hate editing. 'Nuff said.

Cool Book Stuff: I've reached Rivendell in my LotR re-read.

As mentioned before, this time I'm studying the text more as an author. For example, dialogue. Not just what people say, but how Tolkien attributes it.

I'm also pausing to sound out what is being said. Much of the time we read dialogue for information, but I'm trying to picture the conversation in real time. I've never listened to the audiobook, where this would be automatic.

Description is another focus. Tolkien is very uneven here. Sometimes get into into specific details like the flowers, smell of grass, but otherwise, people are just "fair" or the garments are "rich."

I'm bending this back on my current book, which being set in modern times, I'm tempted to describe minutely. Tolkien is saying "No, use the shorthand," so it's speeding up my editing process as I try to get more to the point.

This was easier in pure fiction like Battle Officer Wolf or the Man of Destiny Series because it's all off-world, so to speak. But do people today really care about tiny details in a living room the reader will never see again?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)

45 Looking at that best seller list, Mommie Porn is a category

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (ZFdlO)

46 I'm continuing with LOTR on CD. It's a slow process compared to reading but very enjoyable and revealing. Hearing the words in someone else's voice, as opposed to my voice when reading, shows different pacing and emphasis from my long time habits.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (7EjX1)

47 14 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.

Well! That's something.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (Ki5SV)

48 Two takeaways from the 10 best selling books of the decade:

1) The top three are all Fifty Shades. For a bunch of supposedly woke feminists, women sure are fantasizing a lot about submitting completely to a manly rich guy.

2) Nine of the top ten were published by 2012, with the tenth in 2015. Reading, writing or both appear to be on the decline.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (UGKMd)

49 Want to learn about Meso-America?
Read the Book of Mormon...

Posted by: Builder Berg at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (lpCmy)

50 Just started reading the Flashman series by George Fraser.

The first one was so fun I went ahead and bought the rest of the books.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 29, 2019 09:23 AM (gjdUI)

51 Is dat Bogart?

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 09:23 AM (XxJt1)

52 33 Posted by: Slow Learner at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (hafXH)

Margin blower at comment 19.
Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (55d/e)

25 bux is 25 bux

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:24 AM (JFO2v)

53 I always liked the name Hank. Don't hear it much anymore.

Boston TV station WHDH had an investigative reporter named Hank Philippi Ryan, whose real first name is Harriet.

She now writes mysteries.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:25 AM (Ki5SV)

54 How do I qualify for that study Eris mentioned?

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 09:25 AM (XxJt1)

55

Go with the Phloem but don't forget the Xylem that got you there.
actually they both SUCK.

Don't know much Botany from way back..I coulda been a Paleoentamologist but the weed was weak.

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 09:26 AM (5IHGB)

56 No, dat Henry Fonda.

I coulda got it first but I got distracted by Eris' emoluments.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:26 AM (gd9RK)

57 A.H. Lloyd, I bought "Battle Officer Wolf" based on your unbiased recommendation. Looks like a good rainy day read.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

58 If you like Flashman try Mr American. Shows that Scot Frazier admired Americans over the upper crust Brits

Also Quartered Safe Out Here, his memoir of serving in the Burma campaign

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (ZFdlO)

59 I picked up an easy read at the library to keep on my nightstand here. Not my usual fare. Never read this author before. Good Grief by Lolly Winston. So far it's kept my attention, and has made me laugh about a not-so-light-hearted theme about being a widow at 36.

Posted by: My life is insanity at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (Z/jzm)

60 54 How do I qualify for that study Eris mentioned?
Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 09:25 AM (XxJt1)

First, you'll need to borrow ace's time machine.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (NWiLs)

61 Morning all. Thanks, OM, your usual amazing job.

Finished Carrier Pilot, which i think i got the lead on from here - thank you all!

Getting back into my book, after a six-week hiatus. Read some post-war letters my grandfather wrote to people, including authors whose accounts were pretty bad. grandfather was exceptionally gracious; i would have been MUCH more harsh concerning their errors. He was an old-school gentleman. He was also inventive at writing around a topic for the censors, figuring they'd never catch his drift. matching the dates with war events is a fun exercise.

Enjoy all!

Posted by: goatexchange at December 29, 2019 09:28 AM (N3vZO)

62 Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (ZFdlO)

....

Thanks!

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 29, 2019 09:28 AM (gjdUI)

63 booken morgen horden

may your new year be filled with many happy pages

Posted by: vmom happy to have college kid home at December 29, 2019 09:28 AM (G546f)

64 First, you'll need to borrow ace's time machine.
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (NWiLs)
---
Is Ace actually Doctor Leary?!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:28 AM (Dc2NZ)

65 I'm also dabbling with The Hidden Origins of Islam.

For Advent, my wife read Luke aloud during dinner, covering a chapter a day.

This was well-timed for my study because it drives home a point I'd previously taken for granted: the historical record of Jesus is far more varied and extensive than that for Mohammed.

My father likes to highlight the conflicts in Biblical accounts, but after I repeatedly noted that modern news accounts by independent reporters are just as conflicting, he's dropped that line of criticism. He worked in newspapers for 35 years and when he brought up one I noted that only pool reports are identical. I particularly zeroed in on sports reporting (he worked a lot on the copy desk covering sports) and how you have the same event, same news conference, same box score, but writers still tease out different things and omit others.

The only time they're identical is when cribbing directly from the Sports Information department.

That's not true in Islam, which is interesting to me. The time gap is also greater in Islam, with hundreds of years elapsing between events and the earliest known account. In fact, one author claims that the closer you get in time, the less detailed things are. It's only later that the minutae gets added in, which flies in the face of all other historical writing. This can only happen if its being embellished.

Anyway, interesting holiday reading.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)

66 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?
Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)

No. But I think he is dead.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (1glZx)

67 This was easier in pure fiction like Battle Officer Wolf or the Man of Destiny Series because it's all off-world, so to speak. But do people today really care about tiny details in a living room the reader will never see again?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)

No, unless the living room's contents figure into the plot (like a missing letter opener that turns out to be the murder weapon, or a painting that shows the relationships between the characters). "Rich" clothing should be open to the imagination of the reader, so I'll go with Tolkien here.

On a similar vein, I am often disappointed in how set designers, casting directors, and wardrobe people treat fictional characters. Having gone through my Bronte phase in junior high, I was appalled to see Lawrence Olivier as Heathcliff and hated the 1940s inspired hairstyles for the women. So, maybe some better description might have helped. Probably not though.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (U7k5w)

68 I gave Rev an Amazon gift certificate for books to download on his paperwhite. 99.5 percent chance he will pick John Sandford's Lucas Davenport or more probably, Virgil Flowers. He loves Virgil Flowers.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (lwiT4)

69 Good morning all - and the best of reading to you all in the new year.
Nothing much here at Chez Hayes - like some of the above commenters, I'm reading light and diversionary.
Oh, and I can recommend "White Seed" - it's very good. I ran across it when there was this scheme organized by one of the major publishers for indy authors to post and read each others' materiel, and upvote the best. Apparently, the author who got the most upvotes for their book would get a look-in by the publisher. I think they pulled the plug on it after a couple of years, but White Seed was one of the very best that I looked at, and I was glad to order a copy when it was published.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 29, 2019 09:31 AM (xnmPy)

70 Que Cuomo es mas estupido?

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 29, 2019 09:31 AM (EZebt)

71 Last Sunday I had a house full of family so I was only able to briefly mention that I finally finished The Histories by Herodotus. Early this morning I finished a companion book, Travels With Herodotus by the late Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish journalist who, unlike our current unfree presstitutes, took his job seriously about figuring out what the fuck is going on in the world and communicating it. Under Stalin, Herodotus was banned because the Georgian gimp wanted to keep people as clueless as a CNN audience so Kapuscinski was fascinated by him and toted a copy to his travels in Asia and Africa and would make references to it when encountering odd things. I highly recommend it for anyone who doesn't feel like slogging through The Histories, even though it's entertaining in its own way, to get an insightful gloss over just what he accomplished and how it relates to the contemporary world.

This isn't the first book of Ryszard I've read. After the fall of the Soviet Union he traveled to lots of far flung places in what was a huge fucking country and wrote Imperium that described them (with mass use of air travel has come the death of well written travel books). For example he'd heard that some place in Siberia was so fucking cold that if the humidity was high there'd be like a suspended layer of fog that hardy souls walking through would leave tunnels; he pretty much called bullshit on that while pointing out that it was still as cold as an ex wife's heart. So again, he was kind of like Herodotus saying that people north of Scythia reported feathers falling from the sky when it was snowing. Kapuscinski writes like John McPhee as far as being a slightly dry but engaging style capable of making anything sound interesting. Again something to which our unfree presstitutes should aspire but avoid like good personal hygiene.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 09:31 AM (y7DUB)

72 57
A.H. Lloyd, I bought "Battle Officer Wolf" based on your unbiased recommendation. Looks like a good rainy day read.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

---
Thanks! I saw a couple of books sold yesterday and had my suspicions.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:32 AM (cfSRQ)

73 Who Dis

Henry Fonda smokin' near a fiscus and reading Mein Kampf,but wearing appropriately loose pants.

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 09:32 AM (5IHGB)

74 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?
Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)

No. But I think he is dead.
Posted by: Kindltot

An extreme case of penis envy !

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:33 AM (arJlL)

75 So if you recall, I mentioned a new Hitler bio and a book about popular music in New York during the 19th and early 20th centuries on last week's thread.

As it turns out, I gave up on both. The Hitler book is simply way over my head and I don't have the intellectual stamina to keep at it. And the music book was more an academic paper than anything else; I got a few slang terms from it, but nothing more.

So to clear the mind, today I am re-reading a very politically incorrect trash novel from the 70s, Irving Wallace's The Fan Club. It's about a writer named Adam Malone who is obsessed with the movie sex goddess Sharon Fields and cooks up a plan with three other misfits (a violent, misogynistic mechanic, a timid accountant and a failing blowhard insurance salesman) to kidnap her, showing her what "real men" they are and believing she will happily consent to having sex with them.

Which, of course, doesn't end the way Malone believes it will.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:33 AM (Ki5SV)

76 64 First, you'll need to borrow ace's time machine.
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:27 AM (NWiLs)
---
Is Ace actually Doctor Leary?!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:28 AM (Dc2NZ)

Hypertrichosis was an unanticipated side effect...

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:34 AM (NWiLs)

77

Is it Myrna Loy?

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 09:35 AM (w6KZ+)

78 4 I love the picture of the brothers reading, and Henry Fonda just might be who's dis!
Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:02 AM (U7k5w)

You are correct!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 09:36 AM (9QCBn)

79 Morning book threadists.

Finished "Little Ship, Big War" by E. Stafford USN (Retired) this week. A terrific read for me as I was VERY unfamiliar with day to day movements and actions of the smaller ships of the US Navy during WWII.

A note of personal interest, Stafford mentions the DE Whitehurst which took a kamikaze through the CIC off Okinawa killing 34 sailors and injuring scores of others. A great uncle of mine was aboard her at that time serving as a quartermaster.

All he ever said about that was "It was a bad day."

Posted by: Tonypete at December 29, 2019 09:37 AM (Y4EXg)

80 Early this morning I finished a companion book, Travels With Herodotus by the late Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish journalist who, unlike our current unfree presstitutes, took his job seriously about figuring out what the fuck is going on in the world and communicating it.

You might like Tony Perrottet's Pagan Holiday, where he does the ancient Roman "Grand Tour" in modern times:

https://tinyurl.com/rxqgd9j

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:37 AM (Ki5SV)

81 18 Fess up Horde -- were any of you test subjects?
No, scientific rigor demanded that I do my LSD experiments in the more naturalistic environments of a fraternity house and wanderings about a college town.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:09 AM (gd9RK)

Same here, only it was a college dorm instead of a frat house. It was for Science!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (9QCBn)

82 Dammit.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (Ki5SV)

83 Love those paintings OM included this week. The two little boys are adorable. Talk about serenity. And the humor of the 'cliff hanger' story is damn clever. These pictures are a wonderful addition to the book thread.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (7EjX1)

84 No, unless the living room's contents figure into
the plot (like a missing letter opener that turns out to be the murder
weapon, or a painting that shows the relationships between the
characters). "Rich" clothing should be open to the imagination of the
reader, so I'll go with Tolkien here.

On a similar vein, I am often disappointed in how set designers,
casting directors, and wardrobe people treat fictional characters.
Having gone through my Bronte phase in junior high, I was appalled to
see Lawrence Olivier as Heathcliff and hated the 1940s inspired
hairstyles for the women. So, maybe some better description might have
helped. Probably not though.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (U7k5w)

---
The difference for me is that the passenger compartment with a starship is so alien and complex to my experience, I can only "see" what's important, whereas a bedroom? I've seen lots of those.

The other thing I've been cutting out of Vampires of Michigan is graphic sex. There's sex (because vampires! c'mon!), but I don't describe it in any detail.

I wrote the naughty bits long ago when that felt daring (to me at least) but now I find it silly and distracting.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (cfSRQ)

85 Awrite fappers, time for me to interact with the meat world.

Happy reading, and congrats MPPPP on getting a shout-out!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (Dc2NZ)

86 66 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?
Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)

No. But I think he is dead.
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (1glZx)

Are you saying a dead man cannot be a woman??

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:39 AM (JFO2v)

87 82 Dammit.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (Ki5SV)

Don't worry, I took care of it. No Barrel for you!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 09:40 AM (9QCBn)

88 I saw that Kindle Unlimited is offering 3 months for 99c - Hoyt's new book is KU so I might hit that deal

Posted by: vmom happy to have college kid home at December 29, 2019 09:40 AM (G546f)

89 Hypertrichosis was an unanticipated side effect...
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:34 AM (NWiLs)
-----
So, it' surprise hyperthichosis?

Posted by: Otters at December 29, 2019 09:40 AM (mWzQJ)

90 So is Clarice Feldmn a 'Ette?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, mind expanded at December 29, 2019 09:15 AM (gd9RK)

No. I C ampersand Pd it, with full attribution although she erroneously credited me for it earlier on Zuckerberg's data mining software, at the Just One Minute blog.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

91 82 Dammit.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:38 AM (Ki5SV)

Language!

Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 09:40 AM (55d/e)

92 WAIT!

Sarah Hoyt is a moron?!??

I knew it,

[fangirl wave]

Posted by: Flyover at December 29, 2019 09:42 AM (Rbu5d)

93
Stieg Larssen Heiled from many a balcony..............

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 09:42 AM (5IHGB)

94 86 66 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?
Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)
No. But I think he is dead.
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (1glZx)
Are you saying a dead man cannot be a woman??
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:39 AM (JFO2v)

Funny story about his death: He died suddenly of a massive heart attack, which isn't funny, but what's funny is that he and his live-on girlfriend were both hard core commies, so they intentionally did not get married, marriage being an oppressive, bourgeois patriarchal institution, and all of that.

Well, Swedish marriage/inheritance laws are quite conservative, even in this day and age, so girlfriend was not entitled to any of the millions Steig had earned, nor any future royalties. It all went to his parents.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 09:44 AM (9QCBn)

95

YES a deadman cannot be a woman but he can be a GULCH.

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 09:44 AM (5IHGB)

96 Morning Readers!

Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 09:44 AM (MVjcR)

97 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to a groovy barbeque in my back yard.

Posted by: Twiggy at December 29, 2019 09:44 AM (Tnijr)

98 Is there no remedy for the margin issus?
Good morning, book folk.

Posted by: navybrat at large at December 29, 2019 09:45 AM (w7KSn)

99 86 66 Stieg Larsson is a woman ?
Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:21 AM (arJlL)

No. But I think he is dead.
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 09:30 AM (1glZx)

Are you saying a dead man cannot be a woman??
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:39 AM (JFO2v)

Named Loretta

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:45 AM (NWiLs)

100 You might like Tony Perrottet's Pagan Holiday, where he does the ancient Roman "Grand Tour" in modern times:

https://tinyurl.com/rxqgd9j
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 09:37 AM (Ki5SV)

Just added it to the cast of gazillions Want To Read list.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (y7DUB)

101 In any tale of the sea, the ship is a protagonist.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 09:03 AM (u82oZ)

This caught my eye...

Are there any novels of the sea in which the ship (or boat) is not a protagonist? And I'm not talking about the actions of its crew....

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (wYseH)

102 Named Loretta

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:45 AM (NWiLs)

In a low-neck sweatah

Posted by: grammie winger at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (lwiT4)

103 I've got a copy of "Tuning the Rig" coming. It should arrive in a day or two. Between the mentions here and some interesting reviews on Amazon, I ordered a used copy. Thanks to Hrothgar and NaCly Dog for bringing it up.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 09:48 AM (7EjX1)

104 I have never read anything of Stieg Larssen's. Is my life incomplete?

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 09:48 AM (XxJt1)

105 This is kind of bookish...

A friend of mine watch movies Friday night and we've just decided to watch the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.

Both of us love the book and have read it many times, so this is a treat. Sometimes we will pause it at a scene change to discuss how the two differ or (more often) how the scene was perfect for the book. It really is the best adaptation I've ever seen. We talk about book vs movie but here they are perfectly paired.

One area of discussion is how ghey the whole thing is. My wife dislikes the series for that reason, but upon our most recent viewing, we noticed something I've remarked on elsewhere: stuff that was once normal is now considered gay.

This is part of the ongoing culture war to convince people that if they like X they must be Y, but that's simply not true. We've been conditioned over many years and only older people remember when things were unremarkable.

Thus, Charles' obsession with Sebastian is typical male hero-worship. Charles' home life was desolate and money was tight. He sees the Flyte family as everything he wants to be and desperately wishes he had Sebastian's charm and knack for getting attention.

The "tell" of course the line when Julia has Charles light a cigarette for her and he says this was his first squeak of sexuality.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:49 AM (cfSRQ)

106 I got Storm of Steel as a Christmas present, a first person account of WWI trench warfare by a German infrantryman, later officer.

It's well reviewed. Anyone know it?

-
I've read and I thought it was OK but not great. The author, Ernst Junger, was an anti-Nazi bad ass who was courted by the Nazis because of his celebrity but rejected them. He served as an administrative captain in WWII. He was no democrat and in many ways was a radical conservative. He was something of a philosopher/scholar. He was his own man during difficult times.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 09:50 AM (+y/Ru)

107 102 Named Loretta

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 09:45 AM (NWiLs)

In a low-neck sweatah
Posted by: grammie winger at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (lwiT4)

get back!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 09:50 AM (JFO2v)

108 I worked my way through both of the novels "The Ranch" by Sean Liscom, the overview is survival after an EMP. Overall, a decent read, but the story line doesn't flow well in some sections, I'd give it 3.5 stars.

Posted by: Grog at December 29, 2019 09:51 AM (weXmt)

109 In a low-neck sweatah

Posted by: grammie winger at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (lwiT4)

---
Wait, are we talking about Stieg Larsson or Rod Steiger?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:52 AM (cfSRQ)

110 I have never read anything of Stieg Larssen's. Is my life incomplete?

-
I wouldn't go that far. I thought the first book was pretty good but it is a noble courageous journalist finds the Nazi truth about a wealthy industrialist with the help of his girl power friend.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 09:53 AM (+y/Ru)

111 I clearly remember the night our office's cleaning lady recommended 50 Shades to me.She was practically splooging when she described it. Later I found out she was stalking one of the shop guys.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 09:54 AM (weV3+)

112 The 10 best selling books of the decade.

Doesn't take long to get to the Trump bashing in that thread.

But women writers, you're gonna get moonbats.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 09:54 AM (Gz7dA)

113 Finished "With The Old Breed" last night. For the fourth time. Triggered by discussion with the SIL over Christmas about Band of Brothers and The Pacific and my opinion of the two series. Told him to read the source material for the two series and make up his own mind. I volunteered my copy of "With The Old Breed" and decided to read it once more before sending it to him. He's a former Marine and a pretty good SIL.

Posted by: Agitator at December 29, 2019 09:55 AM (dPbYy)

114 Eris my research shows that the experience is enhanced by black lights and fluorescent paint

Posted by: freaked at December 29, 2019 09:56 AM (Tnijr)

115 Being the end of the year, I'm seeing a lot of 'best of the year' lists, especially for books. Just for fun I looked at a few of the lists and learned there isn't one book on them I give a hoot in hell about.

That list of best selling books for the decade, which is REALLY depressing but not surprising, reminded me of the yearly list crap.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (7EjX1)

116 @106. Thanks. Will read it

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (ZFdlO)

117 e read and I thought it was OK but not great. The
author, Ernst Junger, was an anti-Nazi bad ass who was courted by the
Nazis because of his celebrity but rejected them. He served as an
administrative captain in WWII. He was no democrat and in many ways was
a radical conservative. He was something of a philosopher/scholar. He
was his own man during difficult times.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 09:50 AM (+y/Ru)

---
It's interesting to see the old definition of "conservatism" creeping back into play - that is, traditional, aristocratic, nationalist, monarchist.

Americans fetishize democracy, but we're getting a fresh lesson in the tyranny of the majority. Same with the separation of church and state. In theory, we love it, but in practice, the government is never truly neutral.

Because nature abhors a vacuum, limiting government necessarily empowers someone or something else. In earlier times, it was community organizations or associations. Now mega-corporations are moving into that space.

Who knew Rollerball was a libertarian movie?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (cfSRQ)

118 But women writers, you're gonna get moonbats.

So, some men are Marsbats ?

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (arJlL)

119 Off topic:

Predictably, the UK press is publishing FAR MORE info about the Hanukkah stabber than the MSM here, including a photo of the suspect in custody.

He doesn't look Irish.

Posted by: mnw at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (Cssks)

120 Two takeaways from the 10 best selling books of the decade:

1) The top three are all Fifty Shades. For a bunch of supposedly woke feminists, women sure are fantasizing a lot about submitting completely to a manly rich guy.

2) Nine of the top ten were published by 2012, with the tenth in 2015. Reading, writing or both appear to be on the decline.
Posted by: cool breeze

Is he that manly, or just rich? I'll admit I've only fast forwarded thru the movies for scenes with tits - but my account ant has bigger balls. So, are a large percentage of woman readers submissive, whores, or both.

This needs an NIH study.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 09:58 AM (B7KlG)

121 Mmw, didn't even know it happened

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 09:59 AM (B7KlG)

122 119 Off topic:

Predictably, the UK press is publishing FAR MORE info about the Hanukkah stabber than the MSM here, including a photo of the suspect in custody.

He doesn't look Irish.
Posted by: mnw at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (Cssks)

Maybe he is black irish

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 10:00 AM (JFO2v)

123 Two things to know about 50 Shades.

First, it's Twilight fan fiction. All the characters are based on Twilight and if you know the key (which I'm told is obvious), it's a riff on the previous mega-hit.

Second, the story isn't just naughty, it's also about how a special woman can bring healing to a man. The story arc is one of redemption and the emotional element is very important.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

124 OK, should do some writing of my own. Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (Ki5SV)

125 The 10 best selling books of the decade.

Thread a) laments crap books being big sellers, b) applauds success of women authors, c) ignores that women are the ones buying the crap books that women write.

Although down in the thread, moonbats blame women suffering from 'internalized misogyny.'

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (Gz7dA)

126 My lib sister loved "Fifty Shades". I think that's what put me off it initially. Then, the more I learned about it, the less I wanted to read it. Seems to have been the right decision.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (XxJt1)

127 21 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.
---
That was a bracing quote.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at December 29, 2019 09:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

Indeed.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (9QCBn)

128 I got Storm of Steel as a Christmas present, a first person account of WWI trench warfare by a German infrantryman, later officer...

Try to find: A Blond Knight of Germany

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (B7KlG)

129 Morning! But I will probably go back to bed, and have to say good morning again later.

I have been off of work since the 20th and didn't even know what day of the week it was. I thought it should be Monday!

Wife and I have been binge watching a show on Netflix (yes, I know) called "The Repair Shop".. Brit show where cute Brit people bring their broke crap to a collection of restorers housed in a barn in the English countryside.

Old watches and clocks and old toys (one guy brought in his pair of Daleks toys from the Dr. Who show because they stopped talking), furniture, busted pottery and marred paintings.

Fun! But stayed up way too late.

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 29, 2019 10:04 AM (CjFDo)

130
Joke Biden refers to Mayor Guilliani as a "thug."

Biden says, "...that thug Guilliani" in an interview with fake news in Iowa.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 10:04 AM (w6KZ+)

131 Congratulations on the shout-out, MP4. That truly was a stemwinder.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:05 AM (XxJt1)

132 I got Storm of Steel as a Christmas present, a first person account of WWI trench warfare by a German infrantryman, later officer...

Try to find: A Blond Knight of Germany
Posted by: Jean
...........

Search engines are your friend:

https://tinyurl.com/va2clr7

But it is: The Blond Knight of Germany

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at December 29, 2019 10:06 AM (CjFDo)

133 The new issue of Backwoodsman magazine arrived Friday and I've started my slow reading of the articles. Always enjoyable.

Much of my casual reading this week has been hobby stuff: firearms and fly tying/fishing. It makes a great distraction from political BS.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:06 AM (7EjX1)

134 Dear fellow blog commenters.

I am a lifelong Ace of Spades reader who has never commented previously. Let me take this opportunity to say that I totally enjoy all the lively commentary that I have seen commented on in the comments section since I have been reading here. I am a particular fan of [smart military] blog topics. Oh, did I mention that I wrote a bookon a [smart military] topic? Please buy it. And leave a five-star review if it's not too much trouble.

Signed,

Your long-time friend and totally a member of this blog community who never has commented before, but did read the Kindle Direct Publishing page on how to market your book and promote sales.

Posted by: Your not doing it right at December 29, 2019 10:08 AM (m45I2)

135

I'm still waiting for the latest issue of Homicidal Maniac Today to arrive. I love that magazine.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 10:08 AM (w6KZ+)

136 Second, the story isn't just naughty, it's also about how a special woman can bring healing to a man. The story arc is one of redemption and the emotional element is very important.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

Which is why many women marry, and stay with, abusive, thuggish louts. They think their love can change him.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 10:09 AM (9QCBn)

137 Two things to know about 50 Shades...

The story arc is one of redemption and the emotional element is very important.

Story arc? It had one? I never found out.

At one point every woman I knew and by extension every woman in America was reading 50 Shades. I occasionally make clumsy attempts to understand women, so I thought I'd read this to see what got them all hot and bothered.

Yeah, 49 pages of drivel to get to the first sex scene and then all of her orgasms are her shattering into a million pieces. Her next orgasms were shattering into a million pieces, too. I think the author ran out of metaphors after one.

It was the unsexiest sex scene imaginable, in a fantasy plot that should be no one's fantasy (oh my life will be better if I give it over to this mysteriously sexy quirky millionaire who has chosen me of all people!).

Ptui!

Women are stupid.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, with prurient interest at December 29, 2019 10:10 AM (gd9RK)

138 MPPPP's rant was also linked at American Digest a couple days ago.

Posted by: t-dubya-d at December 29, 2019 10:10 AM (RZWC0)

139 Thread a) laments crap books being big sellers, b)
applauds success of women authors, c) ignores that women are the ones
buying the crap books that women write.

Although down in the thread, moonbats blame women suffering from 'internalized misogyny.'

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 10:03 AM (Gz7dA)

---
I'm pretty sure pulp/vulgar books have had good showings for a long time.

Trashy novels were huge back in the 80s. All the high school girls were running around with V.C. Andrews' Flowers for Algernon in the Attic or whatever.

'Twere ever thus.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:10 AM (cfSRQ)

140 Oops fix sock

Posted by: You're not doing it right at December 29, 2019 10:10 AM (m45I2)

141 Description is another focus. Tolkien is very uneven
here. Sometimes get into into specific details like the flowers, smell
of grass, but otherwise, people are just "fair" or the garments are
"rich."

I'm bending this back on my current book, which being set
in modern times, I'm tempted to describe minutely. Tolkien is saying
"No, use the shorthand," so it's speeding up my editing process as I try
to get more to the point.

[ . . . ] But do people today really care about tiny
details in a living room the reader will never see again?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)

Chandler used to use that technique as well, and some of Chandler's writing is very sparse indeed, but at times he would use descriptions of the scene to provide a sense of time/place/personality, as well as build how his main character - since most of his work was written in first person - perceived the people, the situation, or foreshadow the following actions associated with the scene. It does give a nice anchor for the action to tie into the world. Of course, for Chandler the most important things are people's actions, followed by their motivations.

Also, the Cloisonne-paper-knife-on-a-cluttered-desk gives a tone, especially if it is notable for being out of place, or if it is ground to a wicked point, or looks cheap against the silver inkstand. It doesn't actually have to mean anything, but people build the world they live in, like a caddis fly larva building it's shell out of grit and sand, and we look for those clues in real life as well.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:11 AM (1glZx)

142 jane fonda's father?

Posted by: mjc at December 29, 2019 10:13 AM (Pg+x7)

143 I have never read anything of Stieg Larssen's. Is my life incomplete?
Posted by: creeper

Hiya Creeper !

I read all of his "The Girl with..." books and enjoyed them.

Get the first one and see what ya think ......

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 10:14 AM (arJlL)

144 Which is why many women marry, and stay with, abusive, thuggish louts. They think their love can change him.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 10:09 AM (9QCBn)

---
Other women marry men who haven't reached their potential and help them to get there.

The bondage in Fifty Shades is heavily scripted between the partners, complete with safe words. Consent is a big part of it. In a lot of ways, it's a typical Gothic story about a damaged but good man who hides his feelings behind a mask of cruelty and the one woman who can redeem him.

Beauty and the Beast, basically.

My wife has the books and the prose is downright awful. Not a fan.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:14 AM (cfSRQ)

145 Recruit ratched begins the Crucible today. Please pray for him.

Thank you.

Posted by: Nurse ratched at December 29, 2019 10:14 AM (PkVlr)

146 101 ... "Are there any novels of the sea in which the ship (or boat) is not a protagonist? And I'm not talking about the actions of its crew...."

CBD,
Nothing comes to mind. The only situation I can imagine is if the ship simply serves as an arena or crucible for the action. Something like the space ship in the 'Alien' movies. But no books occur to me.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:15 AM (7EjX1)

147 MP4 do have a way with words.

I hope he's gone off to write another love scene.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:16 AM (XxJt1)

148 50 Shades. The poor theatre janitors had to work overtime with the mops.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:17 AM (NWiLs)

149 "the prose is downright awful..."

two others, though not as bad as 50 shades:

stephen king

dan brown

Posted by: mjc at December 29, 2019 10:17 AM (Pg+x7)

150 Binging on aunt's cookie tray over here, Boss! Dang can that lady bake.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:17 AM (weV3+)

151

Deadman's Gulch whoooshes over heads...Obviously no Cowboys here just itchy Trigger fingers!!! neigh it isn't so ReinX

Posted by: saf at December 29, 2019 10:18 AM (5IHGB)

152 I've read all three Stieg Larsson books and recently finished the latest book, The Girl Who Lived Twice, by his successor David Lagenkrantz.
I found the books diverting enough. I think Lisbeth Salander too brilliant and indestructible to be believable. I do buy into her viciousness, however.
Not exactly ringing endorsement but I was entertained.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at December 29, 2019 10:18 AM (Uu+Jp)

153
Minx eating my posts.

Anyway, a song or two, lyrics NSFW.

https://tinyurl.com/r5f839b

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 10:18 AM (U7V4u)

154 Just to be cantankerous (and for AoS quality control

), I call into question the "phloem bundle" label in bananas. After a little checking, I couldn't verify one way or the other. BUT, the normal term is "vascular bundle" which includes the xylem and other support structure. And the phloem is generally on the outside.

There was a HuffPo article (2017?) that used the term via a chemist working for Dole, who used it loosely. He may have read it somewhere, and I think the term was used in some 2016 book on a more general history of bananas. It doesn't seem anatomically correct to me, but some real plant scientist could weigh in.

I found this ... "A vascular bundle in which a strand c f phloem is present external to
the strand of xylem on the same radius side by side is known as
collateral bundle." There were no links to actual science that used the "phloem bundle" term.

from wiki: "A vascular bundle is a part of the transport system in vascular plants. The transport itself happens in vascular tissue, which exists in two forms: xylem and phloem. Both these tissues are present in a vascular bundle, which in addition will include supporting and protective tissues.

The xylem typically lies adaxial with phloem positioned abaxial. In a stem or root this means that the xylem is closer to the centre of the stem or root while the phloem is closer to the exterior.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 29, 2019 10:19 AM (Cus5s)

155 Dear fellow blog commenters.

I am a lifelong Ace of Spades reader who has never commented previously. Let me take this opportunity to say that I totally enjoy all the lively commentary that I have seen commented on in the comments section since I have been reading here. I am a particular fan of [smart military] blog topics. Oh, did I mention that I wrote a bookon a [smart military] topic? Please buy it. And leave a five-star review if it's not too much trouble.

Signed,

Your long-time friend and totally a member of this blog community who never has commented before, but did read the Kindle Direct Publishing page on how to market your book and promote sales.
Posted by: Your not doing it right at

As soon as I get the Crystal Ball that I ordered from the back of a comic book and figure out how to use it, I'll look you up.

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 10:19 AM (arJlL)

156 The 10 best selling books of the decade

Not shown: any book by Barack Obama (after a $65 million advance), Joe Biden, or Hillary Clinton.

Isn't that curious...?

Posted by: t-bird at December 29, 2019 10:19 AM (Ry8mf)

157 123 ... "Second, the story isn't just naughty, it's also about how a special woman can bring healing to a man. The story arc is one of redemption and the emotional element is very important."

I don't question your analysis but I wonder if many women bought the Fifty Shades books for the story arc. Somehow, I doubt it.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:20 AM (7EjX1)

158 Yeah, 49 pages of drivel to get to the first sex scene and then all of her orgasms are her shattering into a million pieces. Her next orgasms were shattering into a million pieces, too. I think the author ran out of metaphors after one.

Yup....shattering into a million pieces orgasms usually cost you extra.

Anyone have change for a twenty?

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 29, 2019 10:20 AM (Z+IKu)

159 Since that worked, keep your eye o. the guitarist on the left, specially facial expressions. He's a hoot.

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 10:20 AM (U7V4u)

160 *tucks recruit ratched in thought bag for concenting on today*

He'll be fine, Nurse. You raised him right.

Hoping he doesn't mind sharing the thought bag with Hadrian's Leo.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:20 AM (XxJt1)

161 Covfefe time!

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:20 AM (NWiLs)

162 I would read '50 Shades of Christmas Cookies'. Maybe I'll get Auntie to write it.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:21 AM (weV3+)

163 I got Storm of Steel as a Christmas present, a first person account of WWI trench warfare by a German infrantryman, later officer...

Try to find: A Blond Knight of Germany
Posted by: Jean
...........

Search engines are your friend:

https://tinyurl.com/va2clr7

But it is: The Blond Knight of Germany
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry

Sure, buts it's more fulfilling to dig thru stacks of old books

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 10:21 AM (B7KlG)

164 I've been reading Sixteen Ways To Defend a Walked City by K.J. Parker. It's described as a fantasy novel but it is clearly based upon the ancient Roman Empire and there is no magic or dragons or orcs. The "hero", Orhan, is the former slave "milk face"; i.e., cracker, bridge-building commander of a regiment of engineers in an army of the darker complectioned "blue skin" elites who finds himself as the highest ranking officer and even de facto emperor in the capital city surrounded by a mysterious host of enemies. Orhan is not really a combat soldier by training, experience or inclination but he is a tricky, conniving street scrapper who is not overly fond of truth, law or justice.

I guess this is a fantasy novel because the setting is fictitious and nothing like this happened in ancient Roman. This is a first person narrative and is rather snarkily written as, for example, when he complains that his chronic skin condition; i.e., being white, limits his opportunities. He waxes philosophically on such topics as his enemies being more help to him than his friends and the greater utility of lies over truth.

I'm not quite halfway through and am enjoying it.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 10:25 AM (+y/Ru)

165 My book group is about a third of the way through Jamie O'Neill's At Swim Two Boys and, despite having more of a homo content than I'd prefer (like more than Paul Bowles, for example, and one character is presented as a malignant piece of shit), it's extremely well written and an enjoyable read. Even though his online glossary stopped at a point, by then I was conditioned enough to the Mick colloquialisms to pretty much understand what was meant. Lots of Irish resentment of the Brits is bubbling to the surface in the early WW1 times.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 10:25 AM (y7DUB)

166 Anyone else besides me hate that Girl on the Train book? I think I might have railed about it before but I hated it so much I'll do it again. There's not a single sympathetic character in there that I could find. I slogged on for a while because I saw people everywhere proclaim how great this book was. Feh.

I finally couldn't stand it any more, flipped ahead to see the resolution, and then I knew I had made the correct decision not to waste another minute on it.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 10:26 AM (2OTP9)

167 I've been spending a lot of time with children due to my job. It is truly horrifying to me how Disney Inc. has infiltrated their minds. Meet your Future Wine Moms of America.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:28 AM (weV3+)

168 Is the JDL reorganizing?

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 10:28 AM (B7KlG)

169 I must not be much of a modern type girl, haven't read a single one of the 'best sellers' listed.

Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 10:28 AM (MTxDQ)

170 MPPPP got quoted by Clarice Feldman at American Thinker.

https://tinyurl.com/t58s5ob

Not wanting to scare her readers, she gave no information on where MP4 did that.

Posted by: t-bird at December 29, 2019 10:29 AM (EYsyU)

171 Biden says, "...that thug Guilliani" in an interview with fake news in Iowa.

-
50 Shades of Coke, Whores, Adultery and Free Ukranian Money: The Hunter Biden Story.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 10:30 AM (+y/Ru)

172 And finally, I received the Landmark Thucydides for Christmas and started reading VDH's intro just before this thread.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 10:31 AM (y7DUB)

173 bluebell, I read " The Girl On the Train" and was suitably unimpressed. I was left wondering what all the hoopla was about. That seems to happen often these days. It's not all bad, though. I'm learning that you don't have to finish every book you start.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:31 AM (XxJt1)

174 Are there any novels of the sea in which the ship
(or boat) is not a protagonist? And I'm not talking about the actions of
its crew....
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (wYseH)

Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer?

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:32 AM (1glZx)

175 I have never read anything of Stieg Larssen's. Is my life incomplete?

Stieg Larssen is obsessed with Nazis living under every rock in... Sweden. The most self-hating SJW nation on the planet.

I dubbed it "The Girl With The Green Football Tattoo" about a decade back and I don't see any reason to correct that assessment. Although I do chuckle a bit at Stieg (the hypocrite) finding a way around Swedish feminism and basically taking on a live-in whore for the rest of his life.

I expect the Devil is laughing rather louder.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 10:32 AM (xYv9C)

176 Oh, wait! I lied. "The Girl On the Train" was Steig Larssen. Duh.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:32 AM (XxJt1)

177 My boss gave us a heads up that any books that haven't circulated in 5 or 6 years are going to get tossed. Now I have to get busy borrowing titles I want to stay in the collection.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (weV3+)

178 Disney, Inc. is evil

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (CLteG)

179 166 Anyone else besides me hate that Girl on the Train book?

Bluebell, I usually find that when the media are all agog over a book, it's probably some trash that I don't want to read. So I didn't.

Plus, the SCOAMF was carrying it around conspicuously, and call me petty, but that was enough for me to avoid it.

Posted by: April at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (OX9vb)

180 Nice rant MPPPP !

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (arJlL)

181
Thus, Charles' obsession with Sebastian is typical male hero-worship. Charles' home life was desolate and money was tight. He sees the Flyte family as everything he wants to be and desperately wishes he had Sebastian's charm and knack for getting attention.

The "tell" of course the line when Julia has Charles light a cigarette for her and he says this was his first squeak of sexuality.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:49 AM (cfSRQ)

Timely. My husband started watching this last night and I walked in during the recuperating Sebastian part.

John Gieldud was perfect as Charles' father, who in my opinion must have been a hoot.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (U7k5w)

182 Recruit ratched begins the Crucible today. Please pray for him.

Thank you.

Posted by: Nurse ratched at December 29, 2019 10:14 AM (PkVlr)

---
I don't think I ever gave people any clue where I was in basic training because I had none myself.

I know when I was done, because that was on my orders. Specific stuff? No idea.

I'm reminded of a friend's kid who asked me in all earnestness if Marines get paid extra vs Army or Air Force because their job was so much harder.

I laughed and laughed and laughed.

He joined the Marines anyway, and I guess made a go of it.

I'm sure your kid will do fine.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:34 AM (cfSRQ)

183 I'm listening to the Audible version of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. It seems disturbingly prescient.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at December 29, 2019 10:35 AM (Uu+Jp)

184 I guess this is a fantasy novel because the setting is fictitious and nothing like this happened in ancient Roman.

I do wonder if something like it may have happened out in Fezzan among the Garamantes, when they were still a thing. The post-Tuareg, pre-Riffian Berber citizens mostly traded in black slaves but I'm sure they ran a few Romans down south over their tenure. Before the water ran out.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 10:36 AM (xYv9C)

185 Grammie, me too. John Sandford brings characters to life like no one else I've ever read.

Virgil Flowers is one of his best. I personally like Sloan and Marcy Sherrill, and Del. Shrake and Jenkins too - you can just see them in your mind. They are all someone I would love to have coffee with.

Sandford can't write then fast enough for me.

Posted by: one of the quiet ones at December 29, 2019 10:36 AM (2GPSc)

186 So is Clarice Feldmn a 'Ette?
Posted by: Bandersnatch,

Wondered myself this morning, probably just a lurker.

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 10:37 AM (ZCEU2)

187 I would read '50 Shades of Christmas Cookies'. Maybe I'll get Auntie to write it.
Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:21 AM (weV3+)

"and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

188 187 I would read '50 Shades of Christmas Cookies'. Maybe I'll get Auntie to write it.
Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:21 AM (weV3+)

"and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

"Her taste buds shattered into a million pieces."

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:40 AM (NWiLs)

189 The dead tree book I'm about to start is The Gift of Fear. My Kindle book of the moment is Grant Takes Command and The Last Battle is my current Audible book.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at December 29, 2019 10:41 AM (Uu+Jp)

190 Insom @ 188

Thanks for the laugh. Sorely needed at the moment.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:42 AM (XxJt1)

191 187. 'and when the tray was placed on the oven rack, the stove exploded in a million shards of ecstasy and delight!'

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:43 AM (weV3+)

192 190 Insom @ 188

Thanks for the laugh. Sorely needed at the moment.
Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:42 AM (XxJt1)

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:44 AM (NWiLs)

193 Prayers for your soon to be a Marine Nurse!

Posted by: Tonypete at December 29, 2019 10:44 AM (Y4EXg)

194 Plus, the SCOAMF was carrying it around conspicuously, and call me petty, but that was enough for me to avoid it.
Posted by: April at December 29, 2019 10:33 AM (OX9vb)
---------

Ugh, was he? If I had known that I wouldn't have bothered either.

creeper, the train book was by Paula Hawkins. Not that it matters in any way, but in my case I guess it's good to know so I can avoid any future disappointment in that regard.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 10:45 AM (2OTP9)

195 So is Clarice Feldmn a 'Ette?
Posted by: Bandersnatch,

Wondered myself this morning, probably just a lurker.
Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 10:37 AM (ZCEU2)

I regularly c and p what I consider funny comments here, with full attribution, at Just One Minute where she comments.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 10:45 AM (y7DUB)

196 187 I would read '50 Shades of Christmas Cookies'. Maybe I'll get Auntie to write it.
Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:21 AM (weV3+)

"and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

I laughed out loud. Yes, we DO need Fifty Shades of Christmas Cookies.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 10:45 AM (U7k5w)

197 "and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

"Her taste buds shattered into a million pieces."
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:40 AM (NWiLs)

Is it just me, or is it hot in here?

Posted by: April at December 29, 2019 10:46 AM (OX9vb)

198 The Sunday Book Thread slowly unveiled, like the petals of a luscious, ripe flower. Moist leaves strained against the restraints, yearning for more words, to tantalize the thirst for more, more, more books. As the readers ran tender fingers down the spine, lurkers could hold back no more, and exploded into a million comments.

Posted by: goatexchange at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (iUjXP)

199 188: I had the appliance getting all splodey. Then the husband could say- 'Dear, your cookie lust is getting rather expensive.'

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (weV3+)

200 In the best news of the past decade for me...I no longer live in California! I have escaped and brought my family with me.

(Taking a deep breath) Ah...the smell of freedom.

Posted by: DGinID at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (RLjyL)

201 I laughed out loud. Yes, we DO need Fifty Shades of Christmas Cookies.
Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 10:45 AM (U7k5w)
----------

The next Horde cookbook, I guess. But you'll need to find a new editor. That kind of stuff (not the cookies) is way beyond my ken.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (2OTP9)

202 If it were truly sadomasochistic, he'd get her tied to the bed and then tell her there's a shoe sale down the street.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (Gz7dA)

203 bluebell @ 194

Oh. Not Larssen. Thanks. I will avoid both.

Posted by: creeper at December 29, 2019 10:48 AM (XxJt1)

204 197 "and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

"Her taste buds shattered into a million pieces."
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:40 AM (NWiLs)

Is it just me, or is it hot in here?
Posted by: April at December 29, 2019 10:46 AM (OX9vb)

The spatula slid sensuously along the buttery underside of each hot, sugary disc...

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:49 AM (NWiLs)

205 Yes, we DO need Fifty Shades of Christmas Cookies.
Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 10:45 AM

Oh Bluebell.....

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 10:49 AM (ZCEU2)

206 I read a good amount of history, both fiction and non-fiction. I especially like diaries and journals of pioneers' travels/difficulties and observations.

One aspect I use for judging the effectiveness of these books is how well they show the way time is perceived. That was something I should have mentioned in my review of "Isaac" last week. Fears did an excellent job showing how much time was needed to travel or prepare things for everyday living.

I believe one of the greatest divides between people in history and now is how time is perceived and accepted. Many modern folks get bent out of shape from a few seconds delay in a download or if a meal takes more than a few minutes to be available or if a commute takes a couple of extra minutes. Those early settlers had to make almost everything for themselves, grow crops that took months to produce, and be pleased if a day's travel covered ten to twenty miles. It's a completely different appreciation of how time is needed or used to plan or accomplish something.

This was brought home to me years ago when I took a buckbaord ride and realized that the slow, deliberate pace was normal for our ancestors.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:51 AM (7EjX1)

207

The 10 best selling books of the decade.

What a pathetic decade

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 29, 2019 10:52 AM (1cGtv)

208 The next Horde cookbook, I guess. But you'll need to
find a new editor. That kind of stuff (not the cookies) is way beyond
my ken.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (2OTP9)

---
His powerful hands kneaded the dough and she watched helplessly, longingly as his movement brought it closer to completion.

Her inner goddess was screaming that it needed more flour or it stick to the board, but he ignored her flustered gestures, and instead began to pick it up and rhythmically pound it against the countertop.

Again and again, his sinewy limbs worked the mass as sweat stood out on his chiseled chest. She was weak, her apron soaked with sweat, her eyes fluttering...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:53 AM (cfSRQ)

209 I see some peeps have their phloem bundles in a knot over GEOTUS tweeting the whistleblower name. LOLGF!!!

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at December 29, 2019 10:55 AM (CLteG)

210 202 If it were truly sadomasochistic, he'd get her tied to the bed and then tell her there's a shoe sale down the street.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 10:47 AM (Gz7dA)

OK, I laffed.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 10:56 AM (RfT6O)

211 204 197 "and then, carefully placing his thumb in the middle, and vibrating it he made a divot for the jam, repeating for each cookie on the sheet!"
Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 10:39 AM (1glZx)

"Her taste buds shattered into a million pieces."
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:40 AM (NWiLs)

Is it just me, or is it hot in here?
Posted by: April at December 29, 2019 10:46 AM (OX9vb)

The spatula slid sensuously along the buttery underside of each hot, sugary disc...
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 10:49 AM (NWiLs)

Her tongue licked at the underside sweetness as she put it whole into her mouth...

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at December 29, 2019 10:57 AM (CLteG)

212 She was dough in his rough, callused hands. He had kneaded her well and she was down for her second rise. He gently rolled her onto the counter, pounding her down for the second time. She had no doubts she would find a bun in the oven.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 10:57 AM (JFO2v)

213 Who'da thunk it?

California Shocked To Find Bill Decriminalizing Retail Theft Resulted In . . . More Retail Theft

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 10:58 AM (+y/Ru)

214 208. Is this the part where the delivery guy shows up with the pepperoni pizza?

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 10:58 AM (weV3+)

215 Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:51 AM (7EjX1)

Most have no ability to delay gratification or build something. As I age, I have become more interested in time consuming efforts, like gardening, crafting, and I love sharing these with my grandsons.

It's hard to imagine now, but when the growing season was over, stores just didn't have the fresh fruits and produce available year long. I remember, very fondly, the canning frenzy that my grandmother and her daughters (except my mom) experienced at the end of the summer.

Maybe that's why so many books and artworks are shit these days, speed is of the essence.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 10:59 AM (U7k5w)

216 How many of the top 10 books of the decade have I read?

None.

Posted by: Vendette at December 29, 2019 10:59 AM (un8gM)

217 Dear Penthouse,

I was working the cookie late shift...

Posted by: jsg at December 29, 2019 10:59 AM (kfNIA)

218 Chuck Todd is dedicating his hour to "debunking" False News. How Trump and the Right Media and the Russians are manipulating us. Very Meta.m

Opened with the head editors of NYT and WaPo

Now using Crowdstrike as a case study. No mention that they were the only ones to have a look at the DNC server that now sleeps with the fishes.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 11:00 AM (ZFdlO)

219 legalinsurrection.com democrat privilege wapo reverses own call for ralph northam to resign over blackface kkk photo

As a good card carrying gun stealing Leftist, we forgive you

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 11:01 AM (ZCEU2)

220 Re comment 68. And what, pray tell, is wrong with Virgil Flowers? I even got my wife to read the entire series---and now she is re-reading.

Posted by: Semilitterate at December 29, 2019 11:01 AM (58lSV)

221 I actually did some reading.

I discovered that one of my old fantasy writers, Juliet Marillier, had a series out I'd missed - Blackthorn & Grim - s I read the first 2 books. Third and last is next
At her age I don't know if she will be publishing any more

Posted by: Vmom's phone at December 29, 2019 11:01 AM (dduId)

222 All of this cookie porn is stirring up my appetite, iykwim

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:03 AM (RfT6O)

223 Wanting to put a little extra something into the mix, her fingers wandered to the anise.

Posted by: Rock Girthpounder at December 29, 2019 11:05 AM (CLteG)

224 Trashy novels were huge back in the 80s. All the high school girls were running around with V.C. Andrews' Flowers for Algernon in the Attic or whatever.

'Twere ever thus.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 10:10 AM (cfSRQ)

Maybe, but the original Flowers For Algernon science fiction short story was actually pretty good.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:05 AM (RfT6O)

225 Who knew Rollerball was a libertarian movie?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 29, 2019 09:57 AM (cfSRQ)

There were a lot of dystopian '70's sci-fi movies, but it's looking like Rollerball is going to turn out to be the most eerily prophetic of all of them.

Mega Corps run the world, and the population just watches sports and does drugs. Everyone is happy! No one asks any questions. Asking questions is dangerous.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:06 AM (V2Yro)

226 "I don't care if it isn't baked yet. Give it to me. Give it to me raw."

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 11:06 AM (NWiLs)

227 OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar

Thank you for the book thread. The effort shows, and your post shines.

You are correct. Life is too short for bad books.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 29, 2019 11:07 AM (u82oZ)

228 Well thanks for the great book thread, OM.

I invited the family over for an end of Hanukah lunch (salmon, latkes, root vegetables and salad) and better get to work.

The 50 Shades of Christmas cookies parodies really brightened the morning. If you can't beat stupid trends with a baseball bat, at least you can give them the ridicule they deserve.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 11:07 AM (U7k5w)

229 Two takeaways from the 10 best selling books of the decade:
1) The top three are all Fifty Shades. For a bunch of supposedly woke feminists, women sure are fantasizing a lot about submitting completely to a manly rich guy.
Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM

John "Gor" Norman has always said that the majority of his readers were female.

Posted by: Chuck C at December 29, 2019 11:08 AM (r6GXX)

230 I think the 50 shades of cookie idea is a bestseller, honestly

Posted by: Vmom's phone at December 29, 2019 11:09 AM (dduId)

231 Yes, women dominate publishing and writing now. Look at the hugest print phenomena of the last few decades: Twilight, Harry Potter, etc. All women. Women control most of publishing, dominate editing and literary agencies, and they specifically are looking for books by and about women.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:09 AM (KZzsI)

232 The 10 best selling books of the decade.

What a pathetic decade
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 29, 2019 10:52 AM (1cGtv)

It's pretty much a given, no matter what subject matter is involved, a top 10 list is going to be shite, whether it's books or movies or music or youtube channels, or anything else.

Most things that are popular... most, but not all, are garbage because most people are nitwits.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (hku12)

233
Mega Corps run the world, and the population just watches sports and does drugs. Everyone is happy! No one asks any questions. Asking questions is dangerous.
Posted by: Tom Servo

Huxleyville

biblioklept.org/2010/12/14/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webcomic/

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (aKsyK)

234 Henry Fonda was a lefty squish, but even he had his limits to the madness.

He referred to Hanoi Jane "My alleged daughter". It really was beyond intolerable what those bitches did. Vietnam was a mistake (in that they should have invaded Ann Arbor, Columbia, Madison, Berkely, etc) but to let those pinkos get away with that shit set the stage for the Late Unpleasantness. Ayers and his ilk and the oh so trendy fashionista fascists, the limousine liberals, Cadillac communists, should have been dealt with.

QED

Posted by: Common Tater at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (tQASX)

235 And yet if you ask women they definitely say they are discriminated against in publishing, that men dominate the field, and that we need more women writers and publishers.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

236 226. yes the sportsball obsession is ruinous. I hope there are at least some dads out there teaching their sons how to build and repair things.

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 11:11 AM (weV3+)

237 Pointed out to the James Madison life is to short to watch bad movies also.

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 11:11 AM (ZCEU2)

238 The loose 'strings' that run down the outside of a peeled banana are properly called PHLOEM BUNDLES.

*********

They are called PHLOEMS because frozen banana treats are covered with rime.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:11 AM (m45I2)

239 I think the 50 shades of cookie idea is a bestseller, honestly
Posted by: Vmom's phone at December 29, 2019 11:09 AM (dduId)

I had a GF who loved the "cozy" mysteries where halfway through or so there is a recipe.
She would write the recipes out for me to try since she didn't cook much.

Mmmmm. "cozy erotica"?

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 11:12 AM (1glZx)

240 Phloem bundles reminds me that I have been meaning to publish another limerick anthology.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:13 AM (m45I2)

241 Biden Says He'll Nominate Obama to SCOTUS

-
He's flailing.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:14 AM (+y/Ru)

242 Of the top 10 list, I've only read Hunger Games
Did watch the movie versions of 50 Shades to appreciate ace's review, and saw Divergent and Girl on a Train and the Dragon Tattoo

Posted by: Vmom's phone at December 29, 2019 11:14 AM (dduId)

243 By the way, most of those "life hacks" and "you've been doing it wrong" bits on the internet are crap, but the one that says to peel the banana from the other end, opposite the stem, is actually correct

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:14 AM (KZzsI)

244 I'm coming down the home stretch (volume IV) of Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Whew. If you like history, I'd certainly recommend it. It's a bit of a slog in places but Sir Winston had a gift for making the mundane rather interesting.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at December 29, 2019 11:15 AM (EgshT)

245 Q: How is PHLOEM like a limerick?

A: They are both a badly written 'poem'.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:15 AM (m45I2)

246 The "phloem bundle" thing is an example of how an internet wrong term can take on a life of its own, especially when someone goes on twitter with a picture and a term, to "enlighten" the world.

I'd put global warming in that class, along with Trump/Russia. Those of course had more malicious beginnings, but have been carried to the public by the army of SJWs pushing the Narrative. And Rush has shown how a few people (that were trashing him) can appear to be "popular opinion".

The vascular bundle is the xylem/phloem/support ... when phloem is unbundled, it is just phloem. But I think the strings aren't even phloem, I kinda think they are the xylem. But someone on the internet claimed to put some knowledge to us, and included a picture ... so it must be true. just like that dossier ... heh.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 29, 2019 11:16 AM (Cus5s)

247 218 Chuck Todd is dedicating his hour to "debunking" False News. How Trump and the Right Media and the Russians are manipulating us. Very Meta.m
Opened with the head editors of NYT and WaPo
Now using Crowdstrike as a case study. No mention that they were the only ones to have a look at the DNC server that now sleeps with the fishes.
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 11:00 AM (ZFdlO)

no one watches that crappy anymore except leftists and hard core political junkies; look at the viewership numbers and maybe only 1 or 2% of the voting public is aware of anything that is said here.

I can tell that among all of the people I know and talk to, impeachment is already just a big bad joke.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:16 AM (V2Yro)

248 peel the banana from the other end, opposite the stem, is actually correct
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

******

Oh, this ought to be good. Would you care to elaborate?

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (m45I2)

249 Ayers and his ilk and the oh so trendy fashionista fascists, the limousine liberals, Cadillac communists, should have been dealt with.

QED
Posted by: Common Tater at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (tQASX)

Ayers might have been in jail except for that worthless pile of FBI shit, Mark Felt, using entrapment and getting caught. He then further fucked up the country by lying to Woodward and fat shit Bernstein about Nixon. A more worthless turd is hard to find.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (y7DUB)

250 I'm coming down the home stretch (volume IV) of Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Whew. If you like history, I'd certainly recommend it. It's a bit of a slog in places but Sir Winston had a gift for making the mundane rather interesting.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at December 29, 2019 11:15 AM (EgshT)
-----------

We have the set, but only my husband has read it so far. I would like to. I got it off eBay about 12 or 13 years ago and there was a bidding war at the last second. Somehow I came out on top, but I was amazed it was so popular.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (2OTP9)

251 Well, I certainly don't understand this!

California Simultaneously Leads Nation in Strict Gun Laws and Mass Killings

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (+y/Ru)

252 I believe one of the greatest divides between people in history and now is how time is perceived and accepted. Many modern folks get bent out of shape from a few seconds delay in a download or if a meal takes more than a few minutes to be available or if a commute takes a couple of extra minutes. Those early settlers had to make almost everything for themselves, grow crops that took months to produce, and be pleased if a day's travel covered ten to twenty miles. It's a completely different appreciation of how time is needed or used to plan or accomplish something.

This was brought home to me years ago when I took a buckbaord ride and realized that the slow, deliberate pace was normal for our ancestors.
Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:51 AM (7EjX1)

In the examples you use though, there's an aspect of this beyond time, which I believe is another important factor in the perception of humans today, that life is unbearable.

That is the fact that so much of the waiting people do, is due to the dependence on others. Think about traffic, as a prime example. If I'm stuck on an interstate, waiting for the vast field of vehicles in front of me to move, I am completely powerless.

If I'm riding on the back of an oxcart, it is by my own hand that the oxen are led, and the deliberate slowness is neither good or bad, because it just is.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:18 AM (hku12)

253 230: 'Fifty Shades of Tray'

Posted by: kallisto at December 29, 2019 11:18 AM (weV3+)

254 Ayers might have been in jail except for that worthless pile of FBI shit, Mark Felt, using entrapment and getting caught. He then further fucked up the country by lying to Woodward and fat shit Bernstein about Nixon. A more worthless turd is hard to find.

Every time you malign the good and pure FBI, another Putin gets his wings.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at December 29, 2019 11:19 AM (Gz7dA)

255 Oh, this ought to be good. Would you care to elaborate?

It just makes fewer of those string thingies, whatever they're supposed to be called, cling to the nanner. Gives you a cleaner peel.

But just about every "you've been doing it wrong" bit on the internet is lies and nonsense. No, the handle of the cutting board is not a spout to shove stuff through, its a handle. No, the hole in the handle of your pot isn't meant to hold a spoon handle, its to hang things from.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:19 AM (KZzsI)

256 Regarding the closing artwork. Why is Taylor Swift trying to read a yuuuge book?

Posted by: TxMarko at December 29, 2019 11:20 AM (Pw3eY)

257 If you have phloem in the back of your throat it's not very a-peeling.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:22 AM (m45I2)

258 I read 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 on that list.
My rating 1- goose egg, the worst book [originally written as fan fiction for Twilight novel] I read my entire life; 4 - 3 stars; 6 - half star; 7 - 4 stars; 9 - goose egg.

Colonel Quicksot looks interesting and fun. 602 pages...

Posted by: Oggi at December 29, 2019 11:22 AM (Bk5Q+)

259
peel the banana from the other end, opposite the stem, is actually correct
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

They always say "there's more than one way to skin a cat" but nobody every tells me the other ways.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 29, 2019 11:23 AM (aKsyK)

260 And yet if you ask women they definitely say they are discriminated against in publishing, that men dominate the field, and that we need more women writers and publishers.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

Frankly, I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:23 AM (hku12)

261 Not sure she is reading it as hanging on to dear life with it

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 11:24 AM (ZCEU2)

262 They always say "there's more than one way to skin a cat" but nobody every tells me the other ways.

*********

MRI

(better than scanning a CAT)

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:24 AM (m45I2)

263 The Sunday Shows including Todd's are a first look at how the Narrative is being developed.

Next twist is how Trump supporters have been manipulated. Russians are to blame. Fox is the enemy. Lots of Projection by Media.

Ironically our Media are Putin's best puppets. Quite a ROI for Putin's buying $1 million of FaceBook ads

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 11:24 AM (ja9NL)

264 peel the banana from the other end, opposite the stem, is actually correct
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor
------------------------
They always say "there's more than one way to skin a cat" but nobody every tells me the other ways.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 29, 2019 11:23 AM (aKsyK)

The other way is, STOP SKINNING CATS, YA MANIACS!!

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:25 AM (hku12)

265 Nothing comes to mind. The only situation I can
imagine is if the ship simply serves as an arena or crucible for the
action.

Posted by: JTB at December 29, 2019 10:15 AM (7EjX1)

Yup. I am wracking my brain trying to come up with a ship as antagonist, and I can't.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 29, 2019 11:25 AM (wYseH)

266 I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.

It all comes down to human nature. People want everything to be wonderful and great for us and when its not we complain as if we were owed constant happiness. So we look for excuses as to why our royal greatness isn't being adequately attended to by life.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:25 AM (KZzsI)

267 262 They always say "there's more than one way to skin a cat" but nobody every tells me the other ways.

*********

MRI

(better than scanning a CAT)
Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:24 AM (m45I2)

PET the CAT, don't skin it...

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 11:26 AM (NWiLs)

268 Not sure she is reading it as hanging on to dear life with it

It looks like she's trying to pull it down on top of her. Someone is yelling "don't, you'll get crushed" and she looks over.

That's my interpretation at least.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:26 AM (KZzsI)

269
Well, I certainly don't understand this!

California Simultaneously Leads Nation in Strict Gun Laws and Mass Killings
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler

The guns are transported in from Indiana in a giant flying Zardoz head.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at December 29, 2019 11:26 AM (aKsyK)

270
I never realized how cute Wilma and Betty are.
The animators did a great job with their expressions, even with Wilma's black dots for eyes.

I never noticed Wilma's eyes before; they're just black dots. Barney's eyes are just black circles.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 11:26 AM (w6KZ+)

271 266: this is true and I am pretty sick of the mindset.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 29, 2019 11:26 AM (v089B)

272 It all comes down to human nature. People want everything to be wonderful and great for us and when its not we complain as if we were owed constant happiness. So we look for excuses as to why our royal greatness isn't being adequately attended to by life.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:25

aka whining.

Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 11:27 AM (MTxDQ)

273 Frankly, I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:23 AM (hku12)

Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:28 AM (V2Yro)

274

Yeah, Fake News told me today that 2019 was worst year for "mass killings." 41, all but 8 used a gun.

Fake News says a "mass killing" is when 4 people are killed, not including the killer.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (w6KZ+)

275 For women the workplace is just a rapefest. Rape rape and more rape, with only a 15 minute morning break and 30 minutes for lunch. And they only get paid 74 cents for each man's dollar!

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (NWiLs)

276 We have the set, but only my husband has read it so far. I would like
to. I got it off eBay about 12 or 13 years ago and there was a bidding
war at the last second. Somehow I came out on top, but I was amazed it
was so popular.

Good morning! As I implied, it takes some determination and commitment to give it a go but I really did find it enjoyable. It's not really a "history" in the true academic sense but maybe that's what makes it work.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (EgshT)

277 Ayers might have been in jail except for that worthless pile of FBI shit, Mark Felt, using entrapment and getting caught. He then further fucked up the country by lying to Woodward and fat shit Bernstein about Nixon. A more worthless turd is hard to find.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (y7DUB)

"James Comey reporting for duty."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (RfT6O)

278 I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.
---------------------------
It all comes down to human nature. People want everything to be wonderful and great for us and when its not we complain as if we were owed constant happiness. So we look for excuses as to why our royal greatness isn't being adequately attended to by life.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:25 AM (KZzsI)

Yeah, and if we're keeping it real, most workplaces, most of the women aren't that good looking, and nobody is sexually harassing them, but they listen to their "sisters" telling them they should be furious that the patriarchy is holding them down, and they should be able to have it all, and their unhappiness is due to men being men... and again, nobody is sexually harassing them. Which is possibly sadder than having all those fellas wanting to sleep with them.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (hku12)

279 Frankly, I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.
Posted by: BurtTC

Women should wear something when they want to left alone sexually, maybe a pink pussy hat. When to look and not look, let alone talk tomorrow touch is too confusing for us guys. Blame it on us, we arent programmed to pick up subtle clues.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (B7KlG)

280 Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.

And who showers here with gifts and elegant dinners. Especially the elegant dinners.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:31 AM (KZzsI)

281 California Simultaneously Leads Nation in Strict Gun Laws and Mass Killings

Mass killings are great for splashy headlines, but it takes hard work to amass a steady rate of about 350 murders a year while dropping from a population of 730,000 in 1990 to 600,000 today.

Posted by: Baltimore at December 29, 2019 11:32 AM (VP1E6)

282 262 They always say "there's more than one way to skin a cat" but nobody every tells me the other ways.

*********

MRI

(better than scanning a CAT)
Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:24 AM (m45I2)

It scanned differently for my Saudi interpreter.

"There is more than one way to peel the cat."

Enough smirks and suppressed chuckles that we never corrected him.

Same guy was not pleased with the name I gave him.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at December 29, 2019 11:32 AM (di1hb)

283 Good morning! As I implied, it takes some determination and commitment to give it a go but I really did find it enjoyable. It's not really a "history" in the true academic sense but maybe that's what makes it work.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (EgshT)
----------

I want to read it mainly because it's by Churchill. The older I get, the more fascinated I am by him.

Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 11:32 AM (2OTP9)

284 For women the workplace is just a rapefest. Rape rape and more rape, with only a 15 minute morning break and 30 minutes for lunch. And they only get paid 74 cents for each man's dollar!
Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (NWiLs)

Which makes one wonder, if the menfolk are doing all this rapin' and the wimminzfolk are being raped... then they're not doing the same job!

The pay inequality is a myth.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:33 AM (hku12)

285 Cruising thru the content.
I gotta say. Mrs D used to have those pants. She looked good in them too!

Then I saw the bananas. Damnit.

**looks down at cereal**

Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:33 AM (axyOa)

286 An alarming secret Pentagon report to the White House! From 2004.

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

-
OMGOMGOMG!!! IT'S ONLY THREE DAYS AWAY!!!

https://bit.ly/39hsEWl

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:33 AM (+y/Ru)

287 "50 Ways to Skin a Cat" is an emotional roller coaster that will leave you with bare, raw felines.

Whoa, whoa, whoa felines...

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:33 AM (m45I2)

288 Ironically our Media are Putin's best puppets. Quite a ROI for Putin's buying $1 million of FaceBook ads
Posted by: Ignoramus

The Spike is full of dirty hippie sex, but it describes the western media's capture by the Russian secret services quite well. Accurate up until the Saudis bought out the AP/UPI whores.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:34 AM (B7KlG)

289 Bananas are Satan's turds.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 29, 2019 11:34 AM (NWiLs)

290 I just purchased Steven Pressfield's newest release, 36 Righteous Men.

Looking forward to starting another book adventure.

On that note, Barnes and Nobels definitely reduced the inventory of books they carry. While I was there I also looked for books on the saxophone and tennis. Zero books on the saxophone and two books on tennis of which I already had one , Jimmy Connors bio.

Posted by: Easy Andy at December 29, 2019 11:34 AM (2DOZq)

291 Feeling like hell, so I slept in.

I took A H Lloyd's advice, and got Payne's Spanish Civil War for Christmas. One thing that jumps out is how much the Democrat left of today is channeling the Spanish Left in the years leading up to the war. For example, the notion that law does not protect those on the right, and even the idea of openly excluding the right from politics. Also, the way they won (that is, stole) the election preceding the war makes today's Dems look like pikers.

Unfortunately, I think the D's are going to go farther in 2020. They certainly know that there is absolutely NO excess the MFM won't cover for.

Other books received:

Scheer's High Seas Fleet (Will go next to Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. The two had planned to meet and talk over the war, but Scheer died preventing that.)

Buxton's Big Gun Monitors (Very good. Norman Friedman has called it the best design history. Which is true, if you don't count Friedman's own.)

Hexter's Judeao Christian Tradition (a disappointment; neither the writing nor the insights are up to his usual level)

Posted by: Eeyore at December 29, 2019 11:35 AM (ZbwAu)

292 Women should wear something when they want to left alone sexually, maybe a pink pussy hat. When to look and not look, let alone talk tomorrow touch is too confusing for us guys. Blame it on us, we arent programmed to pick up subtle clues.
Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (B7KlG)

the real problem is that women are programmed to be desperate for attention of any kind. The only thing worse for them than being harassed is being ignored, by everyone. (that's not a defense of harassment, but a reason why so many still court it while they decry it)

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:35 AM (V2Yro)

293 but they listen to their "sisters" telling them they should be furious that the patriarchy is holding them down, and they should be able to have it all, and their unhappiness is due to men being men

I read a great article by Asa Baber a while back in which he postulated that women are angry and miserable at work because they expect too much.

They were told their whole lives that they will be independent and fulfilled and that men are self confident and capable because we're at the job rather than at home. So they went to work to get all that and found out that its just as depressing and grinding as working at home, except you also have to put up with lousy antagonistic bosses, coworkers, and customers on top of that.

So they came to the conclusion that men are keeping something from them, some secret about work that is being hidden away that men alone get to understand and enjoy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:36 AM (KZzsI)

294 Yup. I am wracking my brain trying to come up with a ship as antagonist, and I can't.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 29, 2019 11:25 AM (wYseH)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0870334336/

Some of the reviews are hilarious.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:36 AM (RfT6O)

295 Ayers might have been in jail except for that worthless pile of FBI shit, Mark Felt, using entrapment and getting caught. He then further fucked up the country by lying to Woodward and fat shit Bernstein about Nixon. A more worthless turd is hard to find.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 29, 2019 11:17 AM (y7DUB)

"James Comey reporting for duty."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (RfT6O)

Both pale imitators of the master, J. Edna Hoover

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 11:37 AM (UGKMd)

296
'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

I'm ready

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:37 AM (B7KlG)

297 283
I want to read it mainly because it's by Churchill. The older I get, the more fascinated I am by him.
Posted by: bluebell at December 29, 2019 11:32 AM (2OTP9)
_____

As a friend put it, "It's scary how well he writes." Churchill can create suspense about battles you already know well. Somehow, he has you worried about the English at Cressy, and thinking that maybe this time the Hood will win.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 29, 2019 11:38 AM (ZbwAu)

298 skinning cats was a very important skill back in the day ... they even named a mountain range for it ... Cat Skill Mountains ...

Posted by: illiniwek at December 29, 2019 11:39 AM (Cus5s)

299 Frankly, I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.
Posted by: BurtTC

Women should wear something when they want to left alone sexually, maybe a pink pussy hat. When to look and not look, let alone talk tomorrow touch is too confusing for us guys. Blame it on us, we arent programmed to pick up subtle clues.
Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:30 AM (B7KlG)

I'll never forget the time I was in a courtroom (not as a participant), when this female defense attorney comes in, she's in her 40s, in GREAT shape, wearing a plungy pink dress, with F-me pumps... and bobby-socks!

She was a sight to behold.

The prosecutors, the other defense attorneys, the clerk, the judge, the bailiff, the probation officers... every swinging richard in the place was treating her like the Queen of Podunkville. Which I suppose she was.

I kinda sorta suspect the attention she got was not unplanned by her, and was used to her advantage. But maybe I don't know. Maybe she went home every night, crying her eyes out about the patriarchy being mean to her.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:39 AM (hku12)

300 the real problem is that women are programmed to be desperate for attention of any kind. The only thing worse for them than being harassed is being ignored,
Posted by: Tom Servo

I'm programmed to be left alone, nature should have gifted me with black and yellow striped hair.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:39 AM (B7KlG)

301
Pointed out to the James Madison life is to short to watch bad movies also.
Posted by: Skip

Oh really?

*fires up Dollman vs Demonic Toys*

Look away, mere mortal! I dare you to avoid the sticky, ooey gooey, pure and unadulterated PURE CHEESE awfulness that is a Full Moon cinematic product! Behold the dreadful sets! Gasp at the inane dalogue!
THOU SHALT NOT ESCAPE!
Not even the wretchedness that is Prometheus can save thee, heretic!

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (U7V4u)

302 About half-way through Wages of Destruction/Alan Tooze, an economic history of the Third Reich. Very good.

There are many specific points of contention with other historians that he pursues mostly in the extensive notes, these are primarily financial and economic issues and often narrow, the references are predominantly in German and from journals, so not much pursuit down those rabbit holes.

Not yet far enough to see, but have the sense the mobilization and distortion of the economy to build the Wehrmacht, the juggling act with the hopeless balance of payments problem [the Anschluss provided one last unexpected bit of temporary relief there thru acquisition of Austria's foreign exchange reserves, as well as those of its expropriated Jewish population], and the rest were just about maxed out by the time Hitler finally decided to start the big party.

Posted by: rhomboid at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (El6T/)

303 Just stumbled on an episode of hoarders. Yikes, we need to open up some insane asylums.

Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (MTxDQ)

304 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0870334336/

Some of the reviews are hilarious.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:36 AM (RfT6O)

I think Muldoon wrote this review:

I wish I'd read this highly informative title in the late 90s. My husband and I both suffer from PTHSCD (post-traumatic huge ship collision disorder) which we acquired while piloting our own huge ship. I remember it like it was yesterday -- we were carrying over 3 million gallons of blue paint to Morocco when, wouldn't you know it, we collided with our competitors. They had about 4 million gallons of red-brown on board, and before we knew it, we were all marooned

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:41 AM (RfT6O)

305 Churchill banged out English Speaking Peoples for the money, which he really needed at the time

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 11:42 AM (ja9NL)

306 They had about 4 million gallons of red-brown on board, and before we knew it, we were all marooned

******

Heh. I read the reviews down to that point, then realized it was the review threadwinner and stopped.

(I would claim it as my own, but I don't have a husband)

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:43 AM (m45I2)

307 I am impressed by the great diversity of the users in the picture of the Duke Library. Have to love those liberal institutions of higher edumecation.

Posted by: greatUnknown at December 29, 2019 11:43 AM (SaxwV)

308 I kinda sorta suspect the attention she got was not unplanned by her, and was used to her advantage. But maybe I don't know. Maybe she went home every night, crying her eyes out about the patriarchy being mean to her.
Posted by: BurtTC

Did she win

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (B7KlG)

309 303 Just stumbled on an episode of hoarders. Yikes, we need to open up some insane asylums.
Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (MTxDQ)

The number of uninstitutionalized crazy people out wandering around is truly disturbing.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (RfT6O)

310 Besides, truly huge ships are unavoidable.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (m45I2)

311 273 Frankly, I think you could boil down almost all female complaints about the unfairness of the workplace, to the fact they get tired of being leered at and pawed and hit on and yes, sometimes sexually assaulted in the workplace.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:23 AM (hku12)

Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:28 AM (V2Yro)

and bang her like a rented drum

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:45 AM (JFO2v)

312
The number of uninstitutionalized crazy people out wandering around is truly disturbing.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (RfT6O)
----
This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 11:45 AM (MVjcR)

313 (I would claim it as my own, but I don't have a husband)
Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:43 AM (m45I2)

Well, maybe you should stop playing hard-to-get.

Also, would it kill you to wear a little make-up now and them? And stop wearing those stretch pants, they make your ass look fat.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:46 AM (RfT6O)

314 About half-way through Wages of Destruction/Alan Tooze, an economic history of the Third Reich. Very good.

There
are many specific points of contention with other historians that he
pursues mostly in the extensive notes, these are primarily financial and
economic issues and often narrow, the references are predominantly in
German and from journals, so not much pursuit down those rabbit holes.
[. . .]
Posted by: rhomboid at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (El6T/)

there is a book out called The Vampire Economy, doing business under Fascism by Gunter Reimann, published in 1939

PDFs are available online

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 11:46 AM (1glZx)

315 Churchill banged ~~out~~ English Speaking Peoples for the money, which he really needed at the time.

*********

Haven't we all.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 29, 2019 11:46 AM (m45I2)

316 String. It's not just a theory.

Posted by: Phloem Bundles at December 29, 2019 11:46 AM (DR7Up)

317 309 303 Just stumbled on an episode of hoarders. Yikes, we need to open up some insane asylums.
Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 11:40 AM (MTxDQ)

The number of uninstitutionalized crazy people out wandering around is truly disturbing.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (RfT6O)

Probably about 75% of the homeless

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:47 AM (JFO2v)

318 Diversity didn't help Jim Watt.

Posted by: klaftern at December 29, 2019 11:47 AM (RuIsu)

319 I kinda sorta suspect the attention she got was not unplanned by her, and was used to her advantage. But maybe I don't know. Maybe she went home every night, crying her eyes out about the patriarchy being mean to her.
Posted by: BurtTC

Did she win
Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:44 AM (B7KlG)

I think she was presenting a motion or whatever they call it... I was gonna make a joke about that, but it's too obvious. So she just sorta breezed into the courtroom, all other action stopped, she did what she was needing to do, and left.

Then the proceedings continued as usual.

I suspect it was the highlight of the day for the regular participants.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:48 AM (hku12)

320 Are there any novels of the sea in which the ship
(or boat) is not a protagonist? And I'm not talking about the actions of
its crew....
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 29, 2019 09:47 AM (wYseH)
_______

Men Against the Sea, surely.

And really, Moby Dick would qualify. The Pequod isn't a protagonist, that I can see.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 29, 2019 11:48 AM (ZbwAu)

321 The only thing worse for them than being harassed is being ignored,
Posted by: Tom Servo

I'm programmed to be left alone, nature should have gifted me with black and yellow striped hair.
Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019

My mom taught me years ago the only way to really piss off a girl (and get her to notice you) is ignore her.
Damn she was right.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:48 AM (axyOa)

322 This is about me, isn't it?
Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 11:45 AM (MVjcR)

Heh. No, it's about the guy caught on video taking a dump in the aisle of a Safeway store in San Francisco, and a Los Angeles homeless couple taking the Beatles' advice to do it in the road. On the sidewalk. In front of everybody. Also caught on camera.

There is something seriously wrong with our country.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:49 AM (RfT6O)

323 The Spike is full of dirty hippie sex, but it describes the western media's capture by the Russian secret services quite well. Accurate up until the Saudis bought out the AP/UPI whores.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:34 AM (B7KlG)

I am also a big fan of The Spike. It is a "Roman a clef", a novel with a key, and all the fictional characters have real-life counterparts. They were fictionalized to avoid libel lawsuits.

Unfortunately, I think you and I are practically the only people to have read it.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (UGKMd)

324 Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:28 AM (V2Yro)

and bang her like a rented drum
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:45 AM (JFO2v)

AoSHQ style guide says the phrase is: Bang her like a rented red-headed stepdrum.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (hku12)

325 My mom taught me years ago the only way to really piss off a girl (and get her to notice you) is ignore her.
Damn she was right.
Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:48 AM (axyOa)

Well, I don't know. I ignored women for years, and damn if they didn't return the favor.

So I must've been doing it wrong.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (RfT6O)

326 "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money."

- Samuel Johnson

Posted by: Eeyore at December 29, 2019 11:51 AM (ZbwAu)

327 322 This is about me, isn't it?
Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 11:45 AM (MVjcR)

Heh. No, it's about the guy caught on video taking a dump in the aisle of a Safeway store in San Francisco, and a Los Angeles homeless couple taking the Beatles' advice to do it in the road. On the sidewalk. In front of everybody. Also caught on camera.

There is something seriously wrong with our country.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:49 AM (RfT6O)
-----
'Cause I can get crazier!

Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 11:51 AM (MVjcR)

328 "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachment's."

There's not a word in the Constitution that the Left doesn't seek to undermine.

And that includes We.The.People

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 29, 2019 11:51 AM (ja9NL)

329 Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.
Posted by: Tom Servo

and bang her like a rented drum
Posted by: rhennigantx

From casual observation its more like "treat her like crap" to get her to really like you.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:52 AM (KZzsI)

330 I am also a big fan of The Spike. It is a "Roman a clef", a novel with a key, and all the fictional characters have real-life counterparts. They were fictionalized to avoid libel lawsuits.
Unfortunately, I think you and I are practically the only

This is one of those books I really need to read.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:52 AM (RfT6O)

331 For some reason I stopped reading after "Churchill banged out English Speaking Peoples."

Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:52 AM (axyOa)

332 Speaking of attention seeking women.

At my local watering hole a gal came in to show off her Christmas titties. They were storebought and pretty good sized. She seemed to be wearing a bra that either had nipple cutouts or was very thin. Her shirt must have been double sided carpet taped so that her areolas were almost visible. Best part was I was watching the door as she walked in looked around and then gave the them old hike up.

About 10 of us guys talking and cutting up. Then......silence!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:53 AM (JFO2v)

333 My mom taught me years ago the only way to really piss off a girl (and get her to notice you) is ignore her.
Damn she was right.
Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:48 AM (axyOa)

Well, I don't know. I ignored women for years, and damn if they didn't return the favor.

So I must've been doing it wrong.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (RfT6O)

See above:

Are you a sexy, introverted millionaire?

You're not?

Oh well then, ignoring her won't work all that well for you.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 11:53 AM (hku12)

334 The number of uninstitutionalized crazy people out wandering around is truly disturbing.

-
My progressive sister from Olympia WA was telling me last night that she has twice been accosted ( or is that Acostad?) by street crazies. One was convinced that my sister was her mother whom she hated. The other self identified as Queen of the Streets and felt she could tell people where they could and could not go.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:54 AM (+y/Ru)

335 'Cause I can get crazier!
Posted by: Weasel at December 29, 2019 11:51 AM (MVjcR)

I think you have a ways to go.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:54 AM (RfT6O)

336
Unfortunately, I think you and I are practically the only people to have read it.
Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (UGKMd)

There is a locally written book here. Can't remember the name of it. A friend's mother had a copy of the manuscript that was in a 3 ring binder. Notes in the front had the real names of the characters in the book. It was truly fascinating. Wish I could remember the name. Sadly, they are both gone now.

Posted by: Infidel at December 29, 2019 11:54 AM (MTxDQ)

337 And who showers here with gifts and elegant dinners. Especially the elegant dinners.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:31 AM (KZzsI)

Nope. Diamonds are a girl's best friend. A lot of physically obsessed women either pick at the dinners or go puke them up. This goes hand in glove with the masochistic part that played a part in those trashy books. They probably left the bulimia out, but it's important in the "hurt me good, but love me" group.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 11:55 AM (U7k5w)

338 Work, work, work.

Late to the Book Thread again. *sigh*

This year has been a real ass-kicker., unfortunately.

And it slowed my writing wa-a-a-a-ay down, so I'm hoping to finish eliminating all of the ass-kicking aspects of this year before the new year starts.

So far, it looks like this will happen.

Yay!

What i really need is a three to six month vacay in a beachside shack in Okinawa.

But, for some reason, this never seems within the realm of possibility.

Ah, well. Life is a funny old thing, ain't it?

Posted by: naturalfake at December 29, 2019 11:55 AM (XGA+D)

339 Well, I don't know. I ignored women for years, and damn if they didn't return the favor.

So I must've been doing it wrong.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (RfT6O)

To be honest I thought she was wrong...for years. But then I figured it out.
But give it a try. Ignore Mrs Muse for the afternoon. I bet you'll really get her attention!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 29, 2019 11:56 AM (axyOa)

340 Cookie porn! How delightful!

Re 50 Shades, I made it through the first one but it just was not my thing. Not even kidding when I say that I find the infinite possible combinations of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs more exciting.

Posted by: MMcK at December 29, 2019 11:56 AM (1Zpx7)

341 From casual observation its more like "treat her like crap" to get her to really like you.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 11:52 AM (KZzsI)

It's called a "challenge". Let the women think they've reeled in a shark and turned it into a cuddlebear.

Posted by: CN at December 29, 2019 11:57 AM (U7k5w)

342 50 Shades of Ghey Life on the campaign trail with Mayor Pete.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:58 AM (JFO2v)

343 337

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

But a mans best friend is a dog!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:58 AM (JFO2v)

344 String. It's not ~~just~~ EVEN a theory

there ya go

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at December 29, 2019 11:58 AM (xNs+e)

345 The Spike is full of dirty hippie sex, but it describes the western media's capture by the Russian secret services quite well. Accurate up until the Saudis bought out the AP/UPI whores.

Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:34 AM (B7KlG)

I am also a big fan of The Spike. It is a "Roman a clef", a novel with a key, and all the fictional characters have real-life counterparts. They were fictionalized to avoid libel lawsuits.

Unfortunately, I think you and I are practically the only people to have read it.
Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 11:50 AM (UGKMd)

"The Spike"'s a fun book. And eye-opening.

But, man, is it old. Published in the late 70s or early 80s, right?

It seems simultaneously relevant and prehistoric.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 29, 2019 11:59 AM (XGA+D)

346
just letting youtube roll on and it's playing a band called Ghoultown. I detect a theme here.
Drinking With the Dead.
Really. A whole c&w sub-genre.
Zombies. Thumbs up, morons.

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 12:00 PM (U7V4u)

347 I'm programmed to be left alone, nature should have gifted me with black and yellow striped hair.
Posted by: Jean at December 29, 2019 11:39 AM (B7KlG)

nature's signals - black with a couple of big white stripes is the most effective for that purpose.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 12:00 PM (V2Yro)

348 A lot of physically obsessed women either pick at the dinners or go puke them up.

Well I was riffing on Ace's real time review of Fifty Shades of Gray, with all the elegant dinners. Every scene seemed to have one.

My progressive sister from Olympia WA was telling me last night that she has twice been accosted ( or is that Acostad?) by street crazies

Our town used to find the really troublesome loons and arrest them for public nuisance/harrassment then ship them out, tell them to not come back. They stopped doing that. Now there's freaky crazy people all over doing their thing. It used to be illegal to camp in public, now they're being allowed.

You get more of what you subsidize and endorse. So we get more homeless crazies.

I think at least part of it is driven by leftists in power wanting to make things look dire and horrible because Trump is in power.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 12:01 PM (KZzsI)

349 giving crazy homeless people the "right" to poop anywhere, or to shoplift, as long as it is under $300 ... is enemy action to destroy the country, as we love it.
In some cases, like expensive programs to build expensive housing for the homeless, it may just be another way to siphon off funds. But disparate impact, and multiple other destructive policies, are to break down the social fabric ... engineered by ?? Soros types I suppose.

Many "socialists", such as in Europe, think the USA is why their concepts of totalitarianism aren't successful ... the masses see our lamp of liberty shining (dimmer now maybe, brighter with Trump) ... and they want that liberty. The commies want their to be no such hope, no such shining city on the hill.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 29, 2019 12:01 PM (Cus5s)

350 Hail Eris,
LSD pioneer Baba Ram Dass just died. Now we know who put the Ram in the ramalamadingdong...

Posted by: Kazi at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (0x00j)

351 It's called a "challenge". Let the women think they've reeled in a shark and turned it into a cuddlebear.

Yeah women definitely seem to want to "fix" men, make them into their ideal image. He's cute but terrible fashion sense, and I can fix him!

Saw a cartoon once, guy with a girl. She tells him how to dress, cut his hair, behave with her etc. At the end she dumps him because he's boring and is with some slovenly tatooed jerk she can fix again.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (KZzsI)

352 But a mans best friend is a dog!
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:58 AM (JFO2v)

as the old saying goes, if you want to see who loves you most, the gf or the dog, lock them in a car trunk for an hour and see which one is the most happy when you open it.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (V2Yro)

353 But a mans best friend is a dog!
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 29, 2019 11:58 AM (JFO2v)

as the old saying goes, if you want to see who loves you most, the gf or the dog, lock them in a car trunk for an hour and see which one is the most happy when you open it.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (V2Yro)

Yikes! I would never do that to a dog.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 12:04 PM (hku12)

354 Book nerds!

Posted by: Ogre at December 29, 2019 12:05 PM (1CjJc)

355
We've had a migrant hippie group called the Rainbow People camp out on an annual basis hereabouts, but the problems started to outweigh the comedy. Haven't heard about em in a few years.

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 12:06 PM (U7V4u)

356 as the old saying goes, if you want to see who loves you most, the gf or the dog, lock them in a car trunk for an hour and see which one is the most happy when you open it.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (V2Yro)

Once of the best movie lines EVAH?

Hitman: shut up or I'll put you back in the trunk.

Posted by: Don Q at December 29, 2019 12:06 PM (NgKpN)

357 Work, work, work.

Here's a Dirty Job Mike Rowe never covered:

https://bit.ly/2Qu3wTB

I bet this is not the drain he's working on today.

Posted by: t-bird at December 29, 2019 12:07 PM (Wd55D)

358 Two takeaways from the 10 best selling books of the decade:

1) The top three are all Fifty Shades. For a bunch of supposedly
woke feminists, women sure are fantasizing a lot about submitting
completely to a manly rich guy.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM

The could probably grab'em by the mish.

Posted by: NOT THAT GUY at December 29, 2019 12:08 PM (FZsOX)

359
Once of the best movie lines EVAH?
Hitman: shut up or I'll put you back in the trunk.
Posted by: Don Q

Hah! That and the ball gag line.

I'm off to beer lunch!

Posted by: Gooshy at December 29, 2019 12:08 PM (U7V4u)

360 Well to be fair, men can be creepily clingy and controlling. But what's creepier is that if I didn't know better, women subconsciously like it or it wouldn't occur so much.

Posted by: Easy Andy at December 29, 2019 12:09 PM (2DOZq)

361 Once of the best movie lines EVAH?

Hitman: shut up or I'll put you back in the trunk.
Posted by: Don Q at December 29, 2019 12:06 PM (NgKpN)

Speaking of, I watched the Bill Hader show (it's an HBO thing), "Barry."

I thought it would be a light-hearted hoot... it has Henry Winkler as a major character, for pete's sake. But it's not! It's a comedy of sorts, but it goes to dark places.

I think I'd recommend it, but the violence is pretty intense.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 12:09 PM (hku12)

362 Mmmm.

So apparently Jim Jones jokes are socially unacceptable because the punch line is too long.

(I stole that)

Posted by: Kindltot at December 29, 2019 12:12 PM (1glZx)

363 I am also a big fan of The Spike. It is a "Roman a clef", a novel with a key, and all the fictional characters have real-life counterparts. They were fictionalized to avoid libel lawsuits.

This is one of those books I really need to read.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 11:52 AM (RfT6O)

I think I have worked out nearly the entire "key" of who the real-life villains were. Let me know if you want a copy. It runs to several pages, so it is too long to post here.

The New York Times, Walter Mondale, Senator Frank Church and the Institute for Policy Studies are basically implicated as Soviet agents.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 12:13 PM (UGKMd)

364 Two takeaways from the 10 best selling books of the decade:

1) The top three are all Fifty Shades. For a bunch of supposedly
woke feminists, women sure are fantasizing a lot about submitting
completely to a manly rich guy.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 09:22 AM

The could probably grab'em by the mish.

Posted by: NOT THAT GUY at December 29, 2019 12:08 PM (FZsOX)

And this would have to be a candidate for picture of the decade (sorta NSFW):

https://preview.tinyurl.com/rhfnahy

Posted by: BurtTC at December 29, 2019 12:14 PM (hku12)

365 It's called a "challenge". Let the women think they've reeled in a shark and turned it into a cuddlebear.

Yeah women definitely seem to want to "fix" men, make them into their ideal image. He's cute but terrible fashion sense, and I can fix him!

Saw a cartoon once, guy with a girl. She tells him how to dress, cut his hair, behave with her etc. At the end she dumps him because he's boring and is with some slovenly tatooed jerk she can fix again.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 29, 2019 12:02 PM (KZzsI)

Not exactly.

They're not trying to "fix" their guy so much as trying to lock them down exclusively.

And make them a better provider for their offspring.

A very manly and/or wealthy guy is, as a mate, always in danger of being seduced away.

I'm sure all the guys here have noticed that when they have a girlfriend, especially a really good looking girlfriend,

all of a sudden there's a ton of women making it known that they have an interest in you.

Where were they three months ago when it seemed you couldn't buy a date?

Anywho, that's women's main competition and some are more adept at locking down their males than others.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 29, 2019 12:14 PM (XGA+D)

366 So apparently Jim Jones jokes are socially unacceptable because the punch line is too long.

Heh. A chapter of my fraternity at another school used to have a party every year called "Jim Jones Jungle Juice Jubilee". IIRC the administration forced them to rename it to something boring about a decade ago.

Posted by: Bert G at December 29, 2019 12:14 PM (OMsf+)

367 Unless the attention comes from an introverted but extremely good looking millionaire who needs the unconditional love and devotion of a woman to overcome his deep inward pain.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 11:28 AM (V2Yro)

Billionaires. They all want dark, mysterious billionaires now. Millionaires no longer cut it. Kind of like Bernie railing against billionaires at about the time he became a millionaire.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 12:15 PM (RfT6O)

368 Greetings:

One to avoid, "Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Womem fo ISIS". Unless, of course, to have a need to read the writing of a very skillful, not to mention deceitful, Islamic propagandist.

I'm overwhelmed by my compassion and so sorry for how I have sinned against these folks.

Posted by: 11B40 at December 29, 2019 12:16 PM (evgyj)

369 all of a sudden there's a ton of women making it known that they have an interest in you.

Where were they three months ago when it seemed you couldn't buy a date?

Anywho, that's women's main competition and some are more adept at locking down their males than others.
Posted by: naturalfake at December 29, 2019 12:14 PM (XGA+D)

a wedding ring is an aphrodisiac for many. It means at least one member of the sisterhood has tried you out and given you a seal of approval.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 29, 2019 12:16 PM (V2Yro)

370 2nd BOOK NOOD

Posted by: Skip at December 29, 2019 12:17 PM (ZCEU2)

371 I think I have worked out nearly the entire "key" of who the real-life villains were. Let me know if you want a copy. It runs to several pages, so it is too long to post here.

Yes, I am interested. Please send it to me, if you have an e-copy,

The New York Times, Walter Mondale, Senator Frank Church and the Institute for Policy Studies are basically implicated as Soviet agents.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 12:13 PM (UGKMd)

Harsh, but fair.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 12:17 PM (RfT6O)

372 #258 Thanks Oggi. Colonel Quicksot is great fun for a reader with a healthy sense of humor. There are many interesting ironies connected to it. One is that when I wrote it, the idea that certain forces would want to level Stone Mountain was over-the-top hyperbole. Not so now.

I don't expect to see it at the top of the next decade's best sellers, however.

Thanks to OregonMuse for mentioning it.

Posted by: Hieronymus Poe at December 29, 2019 12:19 PM (76dsu)

373 241 Biden Says He'll Nominate Obama to SCOTUS

-
He's flailing.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:14 AM (+y/Ru)

And STILL Obama isn't backing Biden.

Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 12:19 PM (55d/e)

374 Billionaires. They all want dark, mysterious billionaires now.

Are Indonesian Rupees acceptable? (14,000 to the dollar)

Posted by: t-bird at December 29, 2019 12:23 PM (Wd55D)

375 Biden Says He'll Nominate Obama to SCOTUS

-
He's flailing.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 29, 2019 11:14 AM (+y/Ru)

And STILL Obama isn't backing Biden.
Posted by: m at December 29, 2019 12:19 PM (55d/e)

I seriously doubt Obama wants to be on the SC anyway.

He's a lazy, ESPN-watching mofo and now he's got the best job in the world.

Picking the pockets of progtards worldwide for giving the same lame-ass speech that somebody else wrote.

Rinse, repeat, slack-off.

The only threat to that is that he was so stup-id as to get involved in overthrowing the election of a duly elected President.

The smart move would've been going around the country giving more speeches to the immature, low IQ, tantrum-throwing retards who comprise the Democrat Party.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 29, 2019 12:28 PM (XGA+D)

376 Heh. A chapter of my fraternity at another school used to have a party every year called "Jim Jones Jungle Juice Jubilee". IIRC the administration forced them to rename it to something boring about a decade ago.
Posted by: Bert G at December 29, 2019 12:14 PM

Try "Peoples Temple Flavor Aid". Tell them its like "Live Aid" or "Band Aid"

Posted by: Chuck C at December 29, 2019 12:29 PM (r6GXX)

377 Saw in Barnes and Noble last week, a whole section entitled "I heart Barack Obama". This included calendars of "Obama Smiles", with a different picture of Obama smiling every month. They also had "Michelle Smiles".

Totally not a cult

Posted by: Toad-O at December 29, 2019 12:30 PM (cct0t)

378 I think I have worked out nearly the entire "key" of who the real-life villains were. Let me know if you want a copy. It runs to several pages, so it is too long to post here.

Yes, I am interested. Please send it to me, if you have an e-copy,

The New York Times, Walter Mondale, Senator Frank Church and the Institute for Policy Studies are basically implicated as Soviet agents.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 12:13 PM (UGKMd)

Harsh, but fair.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Austere Religious Scholar at December 29, 2019 12:17 PM (RfT6O)

My key is posted at goodreads in the discussion section for The Spike (scroll down below the reviews), if anyone want to take a look.

Please join the discussion if you think I got anyone wrong. Especially if you have deduced one of the few I haven't been able to figure out: Michel Renard, Marcel Rosse, Dr. Theophile Marchand or Leroy Schein.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 29, 2019 12:31 PM (UGKMd)

379 377- every time I"m in B&N, I cover up the anti-trump titles with pro-trump books.

Posted by: vivi at December 29, 2019 12:35 PM (11H2y)

380 Until next week and next year, Book People !

Posted by: JT at December 29, 2019 12:51 PM (arJlL)

381 Was pretty excited to pick up a copy of Red Right Hand by Chris Holm, since The Killing Kind was so very good. Very much a letdown - it was a decent book, but not to the level of The Killing Kind.

Posted by: Charlotte at December 29, 2019 01:25 PM (Aj6Tl)

382
A 60-something yr old guy just walking down the street in Boston the other night was beaten and kicked and stomped by kids. It's on video.

Posted by: Soothsayer, very senile at December 29, 2019 03:05 PM (O/zHC)

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