Sunday Morning Book Thread 06-21-2020

Queen's College Library, Oxford University

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), micks, wops, dagos, beaners, hebes, icebacks, limeys and other Deplorable-Americans. 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 the pants worn by these guys, who look like a bevy of bridesmaids at Anderson Cooper's wedding.

Pic Note:

So who is the queen that Queen's College memorializes? Elizabeth I? Mary?

Nope. An earlier queen:

“Hall of the Queen’s Scholars at Oxford” was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield, a chaplain in the household of Queen Philippa, who named it in her honour.

That date is not a typo. Oxford University has been around for a long time. Philippa was the wife of King Edward III and they had thirteen(!) children.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

“Although Bellerophon defeated the female band of Amazons, he in turn was defeated by the Xanthian women, who lifted their skirts and used the APOTROPAIC power of their genitals to drive him away from their city.” -- from “Centaurs and Amazons” by Page duBois

APOTROPAIC: adjective; supposedly having the power to avert evil influences or bad luck.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 31, 2020 09:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

( *types tasteless and peurile hoohah joke* )

( *deletes tasteless and peurile hoohah joke* )

Sigh. And I had a photo from some feminist gathering to go with it, too. You should count yourselves lucky that we're all so refined and tasteful on the book thread.

Notes From the Underground

An important question posted in last week's book thread:

174 With the current PC purges going on, any suggestions on preserving eBooks from Kindle or other devices?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at June 14, 2020 10:12 AM (0ReGO)

I've never liked "the cloud". It has always seemed to me to be so antithetical to the whole PC revolution. Because, in case we've forgotten, PC stands for "personal computer" with emphasis on the personal: My computer, my programs, my data. Back in the early days, due to technological limitations, computing was a bunch of dumb terminals wired to a giant central mainframe kept locked away in an air-conditioned room. All of your work, all of your data, was ultimately controlled by someone else, not you.

And that's why the PC revolution was so, well, revolutionary. It decentralized and redistributed computing power and resources downward to greater numbers of users.

So, in my view, "cloud computing" and subscription-based applications is a giant step backwards.

I was rudely awakened two three years ago when I picked up my device and it informed me that Amazon had pushed out "an important update" to one of my Kindle books. I guess it was some the minor edits in the text, but I also noticed that a free chapter of a subsequent book that I had been meaning to read was now gone.

I thought, hmmmm, if they can do that, they can make any changes they want, whenever they want, and I can do nothing about it. Because that's probably written to the terms of the agreement for using their platform.

So, what to do?

You'll need to make or acquire backup copies of your purchased books to store in a safe place, preferably offline.

Whatever device you own, you're going to have to learn to "side-load" it. Meaning, transfer ebook files to it (usually via a USB cable) without going through Amazon or B&N. In order to do that, you need to find out where exactly ebooks are stored on your device. You'll have to familiarize yourself with its folder structure so you know where to look. A bit of sleuthing around using Bing or Google should be helpful. Then you can plug your device into your laptop or desktop PC and I don't know how it works in the Mac world, but in Windows 10, you'll be able to open the device in Explorer and navigate to where the ebook files are stored.

Anything you purchase from Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook) or Google (Google Play) you need to consider a loss. At any time, whatever you've purchase can be modified or deleted by the vendor, and there's not much you can do about it, because they're a lot larger and a lot more powerful than you. So do not think that whatever books you buy from those vendors will always be available to you.

What makes this a bit tricky at that most Kindle, Nook, and Google play ebook files are stored on your device encased in a layer of DRM (digital rights management) code that serve as anti-piracy protection for the vendor. A couple of years ago, I changed the credit card I was using for Amazon purchases and suddenly I had to re-download the Kindle book I was reading. This suggests that your credit card info gets encrypted into the DRM layer of the ebooks you buy.

So you can look for books without DRM. Baen's books are DRM-free as are some small percentage of Kindle books. And check Gutenberg.org and archive.org if it's an older book.

I've also used bittorrent to acquire archival copies of books I have already purchased, so I don't have fool with the DRM issues. And I store nothing permanently on "the cloud". All of my archival copies are stored on a 6TB drive in a non-standard folder. That is, the folder is not named "Documents" or "My Documents" or "My Books". If I really wanted to be safe, I'd unplug the drive when I wasn't using it, but I'm too lazy.

If I want to read one of my ebooks, I generally use Google Plsy. It can handle pdf and ePub files, and I just sign in to https://play.google.com/books/ebooks and it's very easy to upload books. Since I didn't purchase the book from Google, it technically doesn't know I own it, although I suppose it can see it if some Google tech does some snooping. The Google Play app on my Android device works very well for me, it will see the new book and automatically download it for reading. When I've finished the book, I delete it. And my archival copy is not involved at all.

So that is my general method for dealing with internet snoops and ebook censors. I know it's not airtight, but it works for me OK. I'd be interested to hear how you morons protect your ebooks from the crybully mob.

Who Dis:

(Last week's 'who dis' was author Margaret Mitchell)

Homesteading: Still A Thing

This is a Kickstarter project for a book that teaches the basics of how to be more self-sufficient:

I'm Travis Corcoran. For 20 years I lived in the big city and worked at tech companies. My heat and water came from city utilities. My food came from the supermarket.

Seven years ago I moved to a farm in the countryside. I still work for tech companies (remotely), but now I heat my house with firewood from my forest. I grow my own fruits and vegetables. I make my own bacon, from pigs I raise and butcher.

Good for potential preppers or even if you just want to live off the grid a little bit. Much more information on the Kickstarter page.

Moron Recommendations

56 Finished Stella Gibbons excellent Gothic comedy romance - Cold Comfort Farm, and reading Eccentric Lives and Peculiar Notions, recommended on the thread a few weeks back. Interesting and entertaining.
Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at June 14, 2020 09:27 AM (FXjhj)

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Giggonsgets a lot of rave reviews:

"Quite simply one of the funniest satirical novels of the last century." �Nancy Pearl, NPR's Morning Edition

The deliriously entertaining Cold Comfort Farm is "very probably the funniest book ever written" (The Sunday Times, London), a hilarious parody of D. H. Lawrence's and Thomas Hardy's earthy, melodramatic novels.

In Gibbons's classic tale, a resourceful young heroine finds herself in the gloomy, overwrought world of a Hardy or Bronte novel and proceeds to organize everyone out of their romantic tragedies into the pleasures of normal life. Flora Poste, orphaned at 19, chooses to live with relatives at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex, where cows are named Feckless, Aimless, Pointless, and Graceless, and the proprietors, the dour Starkadder family, are tyrannized by Flora's mysterious aunt, who controls the household from a locked room. Flora's confident and clever management of an alarming cast of eccentrics is only half the pleasure of this novel. The other half is Gibbons's wicked sendup of romantic cliches, from the mad woman in the attic to the druidical peasants with their West Country accents and mystical herbs.

And the Kindle edition is only $1.99.

___________

I noticed that the price for the Harry Harrison science fiction novel Deathworld has been permanently set to be $0 on Amazon. So I checked Gutenberg and yes, it appears to be in the public domain. Also Planet of the Damned, but not the sequel, Planet of No Return. In fact, most of his other books are not. The Stainless Steel Rat (1961) is not in PD even though it came out one year before PotD (1962), which is. Did whoever is in charge of Harrison's estate forget to renew some copyrights? I don't know. I must admit I am thoroughly confused by the copyright laws that governs these things.

___________

78 I just got Killers of the Flower Moon. True story about how Osage Indians were systematically murdered after oil was found on their Oklahoma reservation. Start of the FBI.
To be a Scorsese movie next year.

Posted by: Ignoramus at June 14, 2020 09:36 AM (9TdxA)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI sounds like an SJW wet dream: Minority victims! Racism! Big Oil! Corrupt white guys! J. Edgar Hoover! Perhaps it is, but the facts still remain: in the 1920s, the Osage tribe was stilling on some very lucrative oil lands. They grew very wealthy:

In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.

And then what happens sounds like it came right out of a noir crime thriller:

Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances...In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals.

Scorsese's film adaptation (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), is scheduled for a 2021 release.

___________

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 08:50 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Hello, my fellow librosexuals!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

2 Currently re-reading the Belgeraid series by David Eddings. I did have the 2nd series but I can't find it on any of my 3 'Kindles'. It must have been on my old original Kindle that I gave my SIL from AZ. Too bad you can't buy it here because of a copyright dispute among Edding's heirs. You can buy it from Amazon UK though, but not if you are an American.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:01 AM (mpXpK)

3 hiya

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:01 AM (arJlL)

4 Rita? Took me a second, with the blonde hair.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:02 AM (Dc2NZ)

5 Even if it's the pants worn by these guys, who look like a bevy of bridesmaids at Anderson Cooper's wedding.

They appear to be a little light in the Nike's.......

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:03 AM (arJlL)

6 booken morgen horden!

Happy Father's Day to Oregon Muse and all you dads, step-dads, and father-figures hanging around here

including President Trump ..m
and President George Washington, father of our great nation!

Posted by: vmom 2020 at June 21, 2020 09:03 AM (WwTwF)

7 Got in early to fool me I see.
Tolle Lege

Halfway through Dennis Prager's The Rational Bible Genesis. Just haven't got to it in a couple days but will today.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 09:04 AM (6f16T)

8 Has anyone read As Easy as A.B.C, by Rudyard Kipling? It's a science fiction piece which seem, at least at this stage, fairly relevant to current circumstances.
The people of Chicago are rioting and demanding stricter governance from an unelected international board governing air travel.

Non-lethal weapons are used to put down the disturbances, historical relics are paved over, privacy and its invasion by media and government are large concerns, etc.

Interesting, and I'm only a few pages in.

Also still reading Don Quixote.

Posted by: .87c at June 21, 2020 09:04 AM (ERRWb)

9 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (Zz0t1)

10 Now those are pointy elbows

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (eKTVr)

11 Making it through 2 Miami Jones books (A J Stewart). I think #13 in the series. I guess these guys sometimes write a book and then divide into 2.

These are fun books. Not thinking required. However I have my large print copy of CSL Mere Christianity sitting there staring at me.

As for Father Day it is another day that reminds me I failed spectacularly.

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (JFO2v)

12 Currently re-reading the Belgeraid series by David
Eddings. I did have the 2nd series but I can't find it on any of my 3
'Kindles'. It must have been on my old original Kindle that I gave my
SIL from AZ. Too bad you can't buy it here because of a copyright
dispute among Edding's heirs. You can buy it from Amazon UK though, but
not if you are an American.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:01 AM (mpXpK)

---
I found it underwhelming. Not bad, but not particularly good.

It seemed to me that he drew a fantasy map for the first series, and resolved to visit all of it.

Second series got a new map, which also got visited. Sort of an anti-Tolkien, insofar as we never actually "see" Umbar, or Dol Guldur, etc.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (cfSRQ)

13 There is a good chance that ceiling is done in plaster casts.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (6f16T)

14 Print.....is dead.

Posted by: Egon Spengler at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (Zz0t1)

15 Without the lady in pink (two subjects?! kind of distracting), that would be an amazing painting.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (8DRUP)

16 I really enjoyed Kevin Wilson’s novels “The Family Fang” and “Nothing To See Here”, so I pounced on “Perfect Little World” and it did not disappoint. If there is a theme in his stories it’s about unusual upbringings and the children’s attempts to navigate the world as normal adults.

In “Perfect Little World”, Doctor Preston Grind, a famous child psychologist who was himself the subject in his loving parents’ unorthodox (and unintentionally cruel) child-rearing experiments, has created the Infinite Family Project. For ten years, ten children will be raised communally by all the parents in a big beautiful compound, observed by Grind and his team. It’s a Utopian setting with all their needs taken care of, funded by Grind’s eccentric benefactress.

The last member to be selected is Izzy Poole, a high school senior who got pregnant by her unstable art teacher. She is an intelligent girl but has few prospects for being able to bring up her child, so she reluctantly agrees to be part of the experiment.

The first few years go remarkably well, but there is trouble in paradise, like the inevitable infidelities and the parents’ natural tendency to favor their own children.

But it’s a very funny story too. I liked Wilson’s droll description of one father: “Link was perhaps the most easygoing member of the project, a man who radiated drum circles and All Things Considered and pot brownies.”

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

17 'Morning, all!

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:06 AM (AEYD6)

18 The two gals are studying a picture book of sex positions. The one laying back is lamenting that alas, as neither of them are sporting wedding tackle, that it is back to 69 and scissoring.

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 09:07 AM (JFO2v)

19 Not sure who 'dis' is, but she's got the popular '60's ski jump tits.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:07 AM (Zz0t1)

20 12 I found it underwhelming. Not bad, but not particularly good.

It seemed to me that he drew a fantasy map for the first series, and resolved to visit all of it.

Second
series got a new map, which also got visited. Sort of an anti-Tolkien,
insofar as we never actually "see" Umbar, or Dol Guldur, etc.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:05 AM (cfSRQ)

I wasn't real happy with it as it did seem like it was the same as the first series, just rehashed.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:07 AM (mpXpK)

21 ( *types tasteless and peurile hoohah joke* )

( *deletes tasteless and peurile hoohah joke* )
---
This is a safe space, OM.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:08 AM (Dc2NZ)

22 19
Not sure who 'dis' is, but she's got the popular '60's ski jump tits.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:07 AM (Zz0t1)

I called them "bullet bras".

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

23 Hello, my fellow librosexuals!

"As he unfastened her brassiere with his muscular, hairy, MANLY hands, she caressed his turgid love wand......"

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:09 AM (arJlL)

24
G'morning! Reading instruction manual for our 130 mm roller to find its parts list and whether they sell replacement pieces.

The screw that holds the crank handle snapped in two last week and, luckily, I was able to extract the threaded section left inside the shaft surprisingly easily. It looks like I'll be hitting up local hardware stores to obtain a new one.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 21, 2020 09:09 AM (pNxlR)

25 Yep, Rita Hayworth!

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:09 AM (ONvIw)

26 Lots of book news for this week.

Finished "Franco," which was pretty good. It kind of tailed off at the end, but so did Francisco. The man had a very lingering death, hence the SNL jokes.

Also read "Between the Bullet and the Lie," by Cecil Eby. It's a history of the Abraham Lincoln *Battalion* of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

On a previous thread, lots of people referred to the Lincoln "Brigade," but that is incorrect. It is understandable that people thought it was real, because the Comintern spread the myth personally, creating a Friends of the Lincoln Brigade organization and writing books about it.

But it was never more than a battalion. The effort was to make it look like more Americans were volunteering than actually did.

Anyhow, Eby's book is blistering, very cynical (on all sides) but particularly harsh on the Commies. Which they deserve.

Eby wrote a number of books on The Spanish Civil War, but most are out of print and not that easy to find.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)

27 Lana Turner?

Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 09:11 AM (X/Pw5)

28 Print.....is dead.
Posted by: Egon Spengler

So are you, buddy !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:11 AM (arJlL)

29
Is that a fainting couch?

Was the young'un with the scroll reading aloud the negative reviews of "Ghostbusters 2016"?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 21, 2020 09:11 AM (pNxlR)

30
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at June 21, 2020 09:12 AM (UIcPT)

31 Anyone get Rush's children's books series?
Want to get my niece's daughter the series for Christmas and not sure where can just get tje whole thing knowing another is coming out around October.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 09:13 AM (6f16T)

32 Been reading a book Dr. Mrs. T. found and thought I'd like: A Game of Birds and Wolves by . . . some guy. It's upstairs and I don't want to Google it. Anyway, it's about the Royal Navy's use of wargame simulations to plan convoy defense against U-Boats during the most dangerous period in 1941-42.

It's an interesting subject, and the book is well-researched. I do find myself grumbling a bit at the author's constant attempts to turn the Wrens (Women's RN auxiliaries) into some kind of "Hidden Figures" heroic-but-oppressed victims because the Navy made them stay in England doing vital staff and clerical work instead of going off on ships to be drowned, burned, or shot. Sigh.

For that and some overly-clever attempts at non-sequential narration I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:13 AM (AEYD6)

33 Lana Turner?
Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 09:11 AM (X/Pw5)

That's not fair for us younger commuters.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:13 AM (xarPm)

34 Commuters=commenters

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:15 AM (xarPm)

35 Nice Lieberry at Oxford. *Jazz Hands*

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, with book repair tape in case anyone needs any at June 21, 2020 09:16 AM (PiwSw)

36 I just got Killers of the Flower Moon. True story about how Osage Indians were systematically murdered after oil was found on their Oklahoma reservation.

-
In Joseph Heller's novel Catch 22 there is a parody of this. I had no idea it was based on the truth.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:16 AM (+y/Ru)

37 Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:09 AM (arJlL)

Jeez, JT. It's 6:15 and I just woke up. Too early for smut. LOL.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (qrX0b)

38 Not technically bookish, but I stumbled upon these old Disney cartoons called “Mars and Beyond” (1957):

1. Man and the Sky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS8t2h5C4lA
2. Mars in Popular Culture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iH65556-bI
3. The History of Life on Earth and the Solar System - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq_yZvbCw5E
4. Mars From Earth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHVrY4B7uzY (Astronomer E.C. Slipher sounds like a Midwestern coot from MST3K)
5. Life on Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfX6z9Z4sAk deliciously disturbing!
6. Travel to Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYyOnz76NU Bonus: Space Nazis!

“Trip Around the Moon”, with Werner von Braun (“I aimed for the Moon but hit London instead!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjs3nBfyIwM

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

39
I called them "bullet bras".
Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

Reminiscent of the late 50's Cadillac bumper.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (Zz0t1)

40 Where is everybody? Usually you post a comment and by the time you look at it it's 100 comments down.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (xarPm)

41 I am enjoying the Mistborn, it's a different take on the Fantasy Hero, The Hero loses and the bad guy wins and reins for a Thousand years. Ash covers the world and the way magic works is different as well.

I would Highly recommend THE RECKONERS series by the same author, Anybody with a superpower is evil and regular humans kill them

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at June 21, 2020 09:18 AM (dKiJG)

42 That's not fair for us younger commuters.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:13 AM (xarPm)

Younger than 29?.....kids these days....

Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 09:18 AM (X/Pw5)

43 I read "Killers of the Flower Moon" and heard the author speak at a literary do here in San Antonio a couple of years ago - and I can also recommend it, highly. It was a quite horrible series of murders, and I believe some of the killers were never identified. The most horrible aspect though - was that the man who was responsible for the murders of one wealthy Osage family - was the white husband of one of the women, the father of two children with her. Imagine; deliberately marrying with the notion of controlling wealth and coldly murdering your inlaws to maintain that control. It's a perfectly chilling read.

And I have always loved Cold Comfort Farm - and the movie/miniseries made of it in 1995 is every bit as funny: Kate Beckensale, Eileen Atkins, Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen and Rufus Sewell all have star turns in it. Not to be missed if you love the book.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 21, 2020 09:18 AM (xnmPy)

44 It was probably just one guy who conspired to kill specific Osage Indians to get to their inheritance. He and his co-conspirators were caught and convicted IIRC.

Posted by: Can't resist temptation at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (2DOZq)

45 Jeez, JT. It's 6:15 and I just woke up. Too early for smut. LOL.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (qrX0b)
---
Nobody expects the Otter Inquisition!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (Dc2NZ)

46 After the recommendation of Killers of the Flower Moon on last week's thread, I checked out the ebook from my library. It's an interesting historical read chronicling the discovery of oil on Osage land, background on some of the earlier oil barons, the unsolved (so far) murders of the Osage tribe, and the early Texas Rangers who went to work for a very young J Edgar Hoover to solve the murders.

What I especially like are the many accompanying photographs and portraits in the book. They bring these settings and characters to life in a way words cannot.

Posted by: One of the quiet ones at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (2GPSc)

47 40 Where is everybody? Usually you post a comment and by the time you look at it it's 100 comments down.
Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (xarPm)

Fathers are waiting on that biannual BJ.

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (JFO2v)

48 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants.....what the hell is wrong with people?

The Who Dis is some golfing broad looking for new techniques on how to putt from the rough.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (Z+IKu)

49 39 Reminiscent of the late 50's Cadillac bumper.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (Zz0t1)

Yep

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 09:20 AM (mpXpK)

50 In writing news...

The first draft of Long Live Death is done.

Boom. Six weeks from conception to first draft. Not bad.

My test reader is taking a look and now I'm making maps, doing the index and stuff.

Nothing particular to add other than it's crazy just how many lies are still treated a verified fact. Here's today's mythbuster: Texaco funded Franco because Big Oil is all about the fascism.

False.

While it is true that Nationalist Spain was given a line of credit for oil imports from Texaco, that is because Texaco was the pre-war supplier to *all of Spain.*

When the July 18 Rising happened there was a lot of confusion and the Republic turned to the Soviets for everything, including oil.

The Nationalists made a deal with Texaco to keep the regular deliveries coming in the ports they controlled.

The League of Nations imposed an arms embargo on Spain, but oil, trucks, food - all that was unaffected.

The US - like just about everyone else - sold to both sides because it was confusing and we wanted to stay out of it.

The sad thing is that only one source clarified that bit - the rest took it as a given that Big Oil was soooo reactionary they couldn't wait to fight some Commies somewhere.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:20 AM (cfSRQ)

51 I finished an Anne Perry book, Shoulder the Sky, but sadly it wasn't not a stand alone, so I may have to read on.

I liked her character analysis, and I suspect some of it came from her circumstances as a murderer herself. Fortunately she does not excuse crime. I liked it and it was a cheap purchase.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:20 AM (ONvIw)

52 my daughter has always been known as "Robert Post Child" LOL

Posted by: Qmark at June 21, 2020 09:20 AM (DFHLf)

53 Now reading The Edge of Anarchy by Jack Kelly. It is the story of the Pullman strike of 1893. The author is certainly on the side of labor, but it is generally an accurate history. It is also instructive to see riots from 130 years ago; at least they had valid complaints and didn't attack sculptures of founding fathers, unlike the Maoists of today.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at June 21, 2020 09:21 AM (XUyTm)

54 slightly OT: for you iPhone users, go to Settings - Privacy - Health. You will now see a new setting: COVID-19 Exposure Logging. Act accordingly.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, with book repair tape in case anyone needs any at June 21, 2020 09:21 AM (PiwSw)

55 The Who Dis....I don't get the point(s).
The woman in the peach dress in the painting appears to have a heart wounded with a monotonous languor.

At a moron's recommendation, I read Lost Country Life: How English Country Folk Lived, Worked, Threshed, Thatched, Rolled fleece, Milled corn, Brewed mead.... by Dorothy Hartley. I've always been interested in how people actually DID things before the advent of modern machinery and tools. IOW, if you were plopped down in a field in England, would you have the foggiest notion how to acquire life's necessaries, much less prosper and raise a family? (Hint: no) The book is a bit encyclopedic at times, but it has to be, because there was so much one had to know.

The SJWs will be bitterly disappointed, because contrary to their image of the white European as rapacious and wasteful, compared to, say, American Indians, these people were incredibly hardworking, and used every single speck of animal and plant material they could to make things they needed. Nothing was wasted, because they couldn't afford to. Still, one gets the impression they enjoyed life, with holidays and socializing at fairs.

All in all, it's a fascinating peek into a vanished world. Highly recommended.

Posted by: pep at June 21, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

56 Fathers are waiting on that biannual BJ.
Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 09:19 AM (JFO2v)

When is the other one? Christmas? Birthday? Steak and BJ Day?

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:22 AM (qrX0b)

57 Anyway, still working as a librarian I love the old and ornate libraries however, the real business is online.

What we have to ensure is that new publications are not only deplatformed but not changed to conform to the current minute orthodoxy.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:22 AM (xarPm)

58 Homesteading: Still A Thing

This is what my parents did, moving from the comforts of Philly suburbs to hacking a farm out of the woods of New Hampshire. The key, as he notes but doesn't emphasize, is to remain employed.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:23 AM (8DRUP)

59 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

Observations:

That those men are wearing those pants and onsies comes as no surprise to me, considering where I grew up. Which is all I will say about that.

The painting of the two women reading looks like an Alma-Tadema painting..

I don't know "who dis," but there's something familiar about the jawline. I want to say "Eve Arden," but I know I am wrong.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:24 AM (2JVJo)

60 also Horde recommended Schantz's' "Hidden Truth" great read on Cloud ebooks copyright action novel..

Posted by: Qmark at June 21, 2020 09:24 AM (DFHLf)

61 My latest reading is related to grandson's summer plans. I bought some kiddie art books and one not so kiddie, that we can use for a long term project. They like art and I think a long project will help them take a view that not everything good can be immediately attained.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:24 AM (ONvIw)

62 BTW, I want that globe in the library. I would kill for that globe. Maybe not you people, but.....ah, hell, you people too.

Posted by: pep at June 21, 2020 09:24 AM (v16oJ)

63 And I have always loved Cold Comfort Farm - and the
movie/miniseries made of it in 1995 is every bit as funny: Kate
Beckensale, Eileen Atkins, Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, Ian McKellen and
Rufus Sewell all have star turns in it. Not to be missed if you love the
book.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at June 21, 2020 09:18 AM (xnmPy)

---
It is very funny. Love the film, never read the book.

"I saw something nasty in the woodshed."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:24 AM (cfSRQ)

64 Correction: not only are new publications NOT deplatformed.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:25 AM (xarPm)

65 This may sound a little petty, but right now I have no interest in Killers of the Flower Moon. Evil white oil guys murdering innocent Indians? That's the plot of pretty much every TV show, movie, novel, comic, TV ad, podcast, YouTube video, stage play, puppet show, and street-corner mime performance nowadays.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:25 AM (AEYD6)

66 Thanks to those of you who recommended Rocket Boys (Homer Hickam Jr.) a week or two ago. Been enjoying the heck out of that in audiobook form, while working jigsaw puzzles. Not finished yet and will be sorry when it's over.

Posted by: skywch at June 21, 2020 09:26 AM (Y/Ps0)

67 " ... women, who lifted their skirts ..."

Given that all* of the 'ettes are wearing pants, we can remain calm.

* except one. You know who you are.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at June 21, 2020 09:26 AM (DMUuz)

68 Jeez, JT. It's 6:15 and I just woke up. Too early for smut. LOL.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (qrX0b)

It's never too early for smut. Too hot, perhaps, not too early.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (2JVJo)

69 This week I finished Mamelukes, the (sadly) last book in the Janissaries series by the late Jerry Pournelle. Unlike The Pursuit of the Pankera, the "new" Heinlein book that also recently came out, this one was almost completely finished at the time of the author's death (which I already knew from following Dr. Pournelle's website). It shows. Without spoilers, it brings the series to a satisfying close, while still leaving an opening for future books. The Pournelle family employed David Weber (also a fine author) to do the final polish, and he seems to have done an excellent job. The book reads like Pournelle, not Weber.

While I only recommend TPOTP for Heinlein completists (of whom I am one), anyone who enjoyed previous entries in Pournelle's Janissaries series will likely enjoy Mamelukes.

For those who aren't familiar with the books, the background scenario is this:

Aliens have been kidnapping groups of humans who no one will miss (mostly doomed soldiers) for millennia and taking them to a planet called Tran, there to grow a plant that is the source of a drug much desired by the aliens. Whenever the humans on Tran start to get "uppity", the aliens bomb them back to the Stone age.

Tran has a wide variety of cultures... Roman Empire, Venetian Empire, highlander clans, etc. After a bombing, these tend to quickly recover the type of civilization they had before, but never get a chance to advance much beyond it (because of the bombing).

The first book in the series introduces a team of CIA mercenaries that the aliens grab out of an operation in Africa, after they've been abandoned by the CIA to maintain plausible deniability. They arrive on Tran with some modern weaponry. Adventure ensues.

Mamelukes is book four. The first three books are now available in an omnibus edition called "Lord of Janissaries", which is available on Kindle for $8.99 or in paper for $15.00. Not bad for three complete novels. I recommend reading these before tackling Mamelukes.

Mamelukes itself is $9.99 for Kindle or $18.99 in hardcover. No paperback edition yet.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (hKLpI)

70 Calibri will also let you manage and read ebooks

Posted by: vmom 2020 at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (WwTwF)

71 Who Dis: 1958 Edsel

Posted by: Muldoon at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (Fc5rx)

72 To understand current US situation, you have to read Michail Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog" . There is Russian mini-series available on You tube also(read case a movie is better then book), but I am not sure If variant with English subtitles is available.

Posted by: redmonkey at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (KL1FG)

73 Manage Kindle Library outside Amazon's system?

calibre. An opensource suite of e-book software.
Epubor Ultimate Convertor.

Posted by: Ray Gunn at June 21, 2020 09:28 AM (Cj7ov)

74 Some time back, Amazon "sold" kindle versions of 1984 and Animal Farm. Turns out they didn't have the rights, so they reached out electronically and deleted those books from everyone's Kindle. In fairness, they did refund the $, but from that point on I've refused to "buy" kindle books. I pay for paper.

And I'm in an envious position for someone who loves to read: my pile of books is growing faster than I can read them!

Posted by: yyymale at June 21, 2020 09:29 AM (bIj/Z)

75 The SJWs will be bitterly disappointed, because
contrary to their image of the white European as rapacious and wasteful,
compared to, say, American Indians, these people were incredibly
hardworking, and used every single speck of animal and plant material
they could to make things they needed. Nothing was wasted, because they
couldn't afford to. Still, one gets the impression they enjoyed life,
with holidays and socializing at fairs.

All in all, it's a fascinating peek into a vanished world. Highly recommended.

Posted by: pep at June 21, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

---
One of the reasons Marxism took off was because industrialization broke up the old estates. People in the country rarely went hungry, but in the cities, there was no space for a personal garden, so the population was dependent on wages to buy stuff brought in.

Country children helped with farm chores, but in the city that was gone, so they went to the factories as well.

Ironically, the Marxists (then and now) speak of the estates as terrible places of exploitation, but they were much more humane than what came after.

And of course now everyone wants to outsource making things to Third World sweatshops and ChiCom convict laborers. Because it's more humane or something.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)

76 Thanks to those of you who recommended Rocket Boys (Homer Hickam Jr.) a week or two ago.

---

The movie version of the story is called October Sky and is also quite good.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at June 21, 2020 09:29 AM (XUyTm)

77 > Reminiscent of the late 50's Cadillac bumper.

Known as "Dagmars", after a well-endowed actress of the time.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:30 AM (hKLpI)

78 Read "Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom" by
Thomas E. Ricks. Highly recommend this book, specially now in current situation

Posted by: redmonkey at June 21, 2020 09:30 AM (KL1FG)

79 It seems that a lot of the Sci-fi shorts from Analog/Astounding, Worlds of If and a few others were put in copyright and not renewed by the publisher. A lot of the Science Fiction great novels were first pushed out as shorts and multi-month series and then when rewritten and published as books, the copyright was created anew, so Gutenberg is a fabulous way of looking up those books in a different form.

Some authors were more assidious about it than others. Erick Frank Russell apparently has nothing in public domain, for all that he started writing in 1935.
All of H. Beam Piper's work outside of the Lord Kalvan books appear to be in public domain.

I think it is wondeful because I love that period is Sci-Fi, and it is hard, otherwise, to find Randall Garrett and impossible to find anything by Murray Yaco

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 09:31 AM (WyVLE)

80 When is the other one? Christmas? Birthday? Steak and BJ Day?
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:22 AM (qrX0b)

pick 1

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 09:31 AM (JFO2v)

81 1 Hello, my fellow librosexuals!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

===

Oh, my.

Posted by: Bibliophiles at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (EZebt)

82 At a moron's recommendation, I read Lost Country Life: How English Country Folk Lived, Worked, Threshed, Thatched, Rolled fleece, Milled corn, Brewed mead.... by Dorothy Hartley. I've always been interested in how people actually DID things before the advent of modern machinery and tools. IOW, if you were plopped down in a field in England, would you have the foggiest notion how to acquire life's necessaries, much less prosper and raise a family? (Hint: no) The book is a bit encyclopedic at times, but it has to be, because there was so much one had to know.

I'm going to have to look that up.

In a similar vein, did you ever hear of The 1900 House? The BBC renovated a house to its 1900 setting and sent a family to live there for three months, working and living just as they would in 1900. Needless to say, it did not work out as idyllically as the family thought it would. You can catch the series on YouTube, though the quality is bad, but there was also an accompanying book:

https://tinyurl.com/y7qzxgfe

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (2JVJo)

83 Started Book 3 of Thucydides in year 4 of the war. The author seems to have more insight into some skirmishes than others. One of those is the island of Lesbos because everyone likes lesbians, right? Anyway they're located pretty far away from Athens and Sparta and pretty much wanted to be left alone. In fact they told Athens to fuck off and the Athenians said we're not letting you leave and blockaded Mytilene, who somehow sent an envoy to Sparta to say we're tired of those assholes and want to throw our lot in with you. This seems to be a recurring theme. Anyway this part had more enjoyable detail than something happened here and there.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (y7DUB)

84 And of course now everyone wants to outsource making things to Third World sweatshops and ChiCom convict laborers. Because it's more humane or something.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)

We need a manufacturing base for our supply like safety and to employ people in decent jobs. This time out we need to kick the asses of the academic types who belittle them and call them "shop rats" and assume they're stupid, and there was a lot of that in the universities.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (ONvIw)

85 It's a mystery to anyone how to conserve your Amazon books so they don't get "revoked" as at least one has in the past? Not to mention how to read them on a non-Kindle device?

Me, I prefer the Boox platform, but it's pretty pricey.

Posted by: Snidely Whiplash at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (dVp8a)

86 I finished Winston Groom's El Paso this week. It's just OK. But I did note a literary situation that I doubt even the Germans have a word for. The plot concerns the kidnapping of a railroad baron's grandchildren by Pancho Villa and his efforts to free them. One of the major characters is Tom Mix, future Hollywood cowboy star, who rides with Villa and guards the children.

I became curious as to whether Mix had ridden with Villa in real life. Well, no he didn't but in 1982 Clifford Irving published a novel, Tom Mix and Pancho Villa, in which, you guessed it, Tim Mix rode with Pancho Villa. So here we have the beginnings of a literary tradition in which two real people are portrayed as having a relationship which never actually existed.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (+y/Ru)

87 > All of H. Beam Piper's work outside of the Lord Kalvan books appear to be in public domain.

Piper sadly killed himself, and apparently intentionally left his literary estate in limbo to spite an ex-wife.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:33 AM (hKLpI)

88 Some time back, Amazon "sold" kindle versions of 1984 and Animal Farm. Turns out they didn't have the rights, so they reached out electronically and deleted those books from everyone's Kindle. In fairness, they did refund the $, but from that point on I've refused to "buy" kindle books. I pay for paper.

George Orwell has been dead for 70 years. I have no compunction about 'stealing' books like that rather than line the pockets of people who continue to claim ownership of it when the actual creator died a lifetime ago.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 09:34 AM (oVJmc)

89 Za ZA Gabour?

Posted by: NZFrank with a M2 at June 21, 2020 09:34 AM (3tbc8)

90 I prefer paper books. They cannot be revoked and don't rely on batteries.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (XUyTm)

91 Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:09 AM (arJlL)

Jeez, JT. It's 6:15 and I just woke up. Too early for smut. LOL.
Posted by: Jordan61

That's LITERATURE !

its from the REALLY Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Be thankful I didn't mention the "Tapockita tapockita "part,

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (arJlL)

92 In a similar vein, did you ever hear of The 1900 House? The BBC
renovated a house to its 1900 setting and sent a family to live there
for three months, working and living just as they would in 1900.
Needless to say, it did not work out as idyllically as the family
thought it would.

I vaguely remember seeing it, but can't remember much about it other than that there was a lot of whining about how hard it was to do everything.

I love the 21st Century.

Posted by: pep at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (v16oJ)

93 83
Started Book 3 of Thucydides in year 4 of the war. The author seems to
have more insight into some skirmishes than others. One of those is the
island of Lesbos because everyone likes lesbians, right?

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (y7DUB)

---
Depends. Were they busty?

Asking for Ace.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (cfSRQ)

94 You know what bothers me the most about the popular culture today is that we automatically assume that a Hollywood movie is going to be anti-American?

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (xarPm)

95 > Depends. Were they busty?

They probably all looked like Michael Dukakis in drag.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (hKLpI)

96 For my 50th birthday, one of my buddies gave me 12 old copies of "Analog" magazine, covering the year 1978. The short stories are hot and cold (some good, some godawful) but the real gem is the Editorial at the beginning of each issue and the letters to the editor. Now, for most of 1978, Ben Bova was the editor and man, was he a curmudgeon, he really goes off on all kinds of things (his critique of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars is savage and funny as hell). Bova is definitely a Moron, even if he doesn't know it (He is still alive, at the ripe old age of 87). All in all, I'm really enjoying this short look in the past that is increasingly looking like a foreign country.

So stock up on old physical issues of Analog, SF, OMNI, whatever you can get your hands on, because this stuff is definitely going into the Memory Hole when the ANTIFA crowd gets their way...

Posted by: Pave Low John at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (+KIcz)

97 90
I prefer paper books. They cannot be revoked

Wrong!

Posted by: Man with a match at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (v16oJ)

98 My other reading this past week was a book about cooking -- not a cookbook -- called _How to Taste_, by Becky Selengut. The author's a professional chef, and the book's about how flavors work with and against each other, to give you a better sense of why dishes taste good or less-than-good. It's pretty interesting.

The author's almost certainly a blue-haired lesbian lefty, but she doesn't make a huge deal about it in the book and her job is one of the few where competence still matters more than identity, so I'll give her a pass.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (AEYD6)

99 Piper sadly killed himself, and apparently intentionally left his literary estate in limbo to spite an ex-wife.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:33 AM (hKLpI)
-----
Jerry Pournelle was Piper's literary executor.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (1jlUc)

100 > They cannot be revoked

They burn. And they're a lot harder to hide than computer files.

So... there's that.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:37 AM (hKLpI)

101 90 I prefer paper books. They cannot be revoked and don't rely on batteries.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at June 21, 2020 09:35 AM (XUyTm)

But they are vulnerable in other ways...

Posted by: Guy Montag at June 21, 2020 09:37 AM (PiwSw)

102 Read "Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom" by
Thomas E. Ricks. Highly recommend this book, specially now in current situation
Posted by: redmonkey

Swamp ghost.

https://bit.ly/3fW2FX5

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (+y/Ru)

103 > Jerry Pournelle was Piper's literary executor.

Well, he claimed to be, based on a letter from Piper, but I don't think it was ever formally litigated.

Certainly it is the case that most of Piper's copyrights were never renewed, so if Jerry was indeed in that position, he failed in his duties.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (hKLpI)

104 73 Manage Kindle Library outside Amazon's system?

calibre. An opensource suite of e-book software.
Epubor Ultimate Convertor.
Posted by: Ray Gunn at June 21, 2020 09:28 AM (Cj7ov)
---------
The really cool thing about calibre is, it has a plug-in that strips the DRM from Kindle book. Calibre also allows for converting formats between the various e-book file types.

Posted by: Tennessee Jed at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (alrWI)

105 In other news:

Got called back to work on Thursday. Insisted that I would no longer work full-time, but am going to have to for a while, since we are still short one person. Now that hospitals and doctors' offices are opening back up, the amount of work is immense, but I continue to state I will quit if I don't get back to P/T.

First draft of my new Theda Bara novel is done, and now am in the first series of rewrites. It's going very slowly because of the heat sapping all of my energy and also because of the rewriting and retrofitting I am going to have to do as I go along, which depresses and overwhelms me.

On the other hand, over the weekend I received a surprise e-mail from one of the Moronettes asking me if I was OK, which was a very sweet, kind thing to do and to which I must respond.

Your NYT propaganda headline for the day:

"Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (2JVJo)

106 95
> Depends. Were they busty?

They probably all looked like Michael Dukakis in drag.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:36 AM (hKLpI)

---
Interesting that other translations use the term "Lesbosians" to describe the island's inhabitants.

Thucydides is a good read, one I've gone through a couple of times. Back in the day, the Melian Dialogue was required reading for all International Relations majors.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (cfSRQ)

107 Mornin', folk,

I am currently reading Philip Roth's The Plot Against America (2004), a tome I heard about here. The concept is that the author, Roth himself, grows up in Newark in an alternate world where Charles Lindbergh is elected president in 1940, immediately signs peace pacts with Germany and Japan, keeps the U.S. resolutely out of the world war, and then begins bit by bit to institute an anti-Semitic, pro-Fascist program against the Jews.

I'm not sure what I think of it so far. It's a very novel-y novel, in which the 8-to-9-year-old narrator tells us in careful detail about his family and where they live and their lives, and only then how Lindbergh's election and policies begin to erode their freedoms. (No doubt Roth wrote this during the second term of Dubya to scare people into voting against "racist" Repub policies in the future.)

The kicker is that if you were to switch the parties in the novel from R to D, and insert the name "Obama" or "Hillary Clinton" in place of "Lindbergh," the novel becomes a roadmap of the kind of policies the Ds would like to institute now. In the novel, the press is described several times as "right-wing" and is all in for Lindbergh (flip the party to D. Sound familiar?), with the exception of Walter Winchell. Winchell speaks in fiery terms against Lindbergh, and gets himself fired for it. Lindbergh and his wife invite von Ribbentrop to the White House and the press thinks nothing of it. Et cetera.

I'm not a big Roth fan, and unless he rings in some surprises on us here, I don't think I'll become one. But the novel is readable, to say the least.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:39 AM (rpbg1)

108 PC = Personal Computer = VERY important. The so-called "cloud" is a new iteration of mainframe computing. You do not own or have full control over anything in the cloud. You're at the mercy of whoever owns the servers your data is on, including and especially their security. You'll never know if someone else is rummaging thru your data, whether it's the cloud provider, a scammer, or the NSA. You're at the mercy of their license servers. Chromebooks? In addition to allowing Google to look at your every keystroke, you're also at the mercy of your Internet connection.

Make mine personal, please, with a side of offline storage.

Posted by: yyymale at June 21, 2020 09:39 AM (bIj/Z)

109 I met Harry Harrison at WorldCon in '06 (before it became a TOTAL intersectionality parade like today). Got some sigs and talked about Make Room, Make Room. Basis for Soylent Green with Charlton Heston. He agreed that although it was much different than the book it was still a good movie.
Being a *tiny* bit snarky (I was much younger than my current 29 years) I looked at my watch and said "They need to hurry up, though. They only have sixteen years to have a major Malthusian collapse."
He said "What do I know? I said it would happen in '99."
Nice guy, sorry to see him go.
On copyrights, one of the champs was Edgar Rice Burroughs. He set up a literary corporation for his name and works very early on in his career and ERB Inc. runs his estate with a VERY firm hand.

Posted by: Captain Comic at June 21, 2020 09:39 AM (vtnKo)

110 Given that all* of the 'ettes are wearing pants, we can remain calm.

* except one. You know who you are.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at June 21, 2020 09:26 AM (DMUuz)

I guess that'd be we moronettes that are dressed in a skirt for Mass . . .

Posted by: Catherine at June 21, 2020 09:40 AM (xCB6Z)

111 > Interesting that other translations use the term "Lesbosians" to describe the island's inhabitants.

Similar to the way that SF and even some science publications tend to use "Venusian" rather than the (correct) "Venereal".

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:40 AM (hKLpI)

112 They burn. And they're a lot harder to hide than computer files.

So... there's that.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:37 AM (hKLpI)

---
Right, so name something you can't destroy once you have physical possession of it.

With the digital, you can wipe out a collection with a keystroke thousands of miles away. At least make the book-burners work for it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:40 AM (cfSRQ)

113 I know...Let's sign a treaty with a very short shelf life.

Ace is very experienced with shelves.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (pB6Gt)

114 Posted by: Guy Montag at June 21, 2020 09:37 AM (PiwSw)

A reference people won't understand once they burn all the books.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (oVJmc)

115 I became curious as to whether Mix had ridden with Villa in real life. Well, no he didn't but in 1982 Clifford Irving published a novel, Tom Mix and Pancho Villa, in which, you guessed it, Tim Mix rode with Pancho Villa. So here we have the beginnings of a literary tradition in which two real people are portrayed as having a relationship which never actually existed.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (+y/Ru)

Bruce Willis played Mix in the underrated 1988 mystery Sunset, with James Garner as Wyatt Earp:

https://tinyurl.com/yatc8ge7

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (2JVJo)

116 72 To understand current US situation, you have to read Michail Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog" . There is Russian mini-series available on You tube also(read case a movie is better then book), but I am not sure If variant with English subtitles is available.
Posted by: redmonkey at June 21, 2020 09:27 AM (KL1FG)
---
Polygraph Polygraphovich! I read that one as a teen, I should reread it to see how it relates to the Current Unpleasantness.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (Dc2NZ)

117 I guess that'd be we moronettes that are dressed in a skirt for Mass . . .
Posted by: Catherine

Say one for me, if ya don't mind....

How's your garden ?

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (arJlL)

118 > With the digital, you can wipe out a collection with a keystroke thousands of miles away.

That's what backup copies are for, dude.

You can't back up a paper copy without a xerox machine and a whole shitload of dimes.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (hKLpI)

119 Back in the day, the Melian Dialogue was required reading for all International Relations majors.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (cfSRQ)
-------
MY CONDENSED VERSION OF THE MELIAN DIALOGUE

Melians: We have many excellent reasons why we should remain independent.

Athenians: Might makes right.

Melians: ...

Melians: Crap.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (1jlUc)

120 If you're having trouble placing today's WhoDis, picture her with red hair slowly removing a long black opera glove.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

121 Jimmy Stewart portrayed a career FBI agent in The FBI Story. It followed his entire career from the early days of the agency. There was a phase of his career where he was sent to Oklahoma to help investigate the Osage oil killings. Much as described above.

Posted by: Muldoon at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (Fc5rx)

122 At a moron's recommendation, I read Lost Country Life: How English Country Folk Lived, Worked, Threshed, Thatched, Rolled fleece, Milled corn, Brewed mead.... by Dorothy Hartley. I've always been interested in how people actually DID things before the advent of modern machinery and tools. IOW, if you were plopped down in a field in England, would you have the foggiest notion how to acquire life's necessaries, much less prosper and raise a family? (Hint: no) The book is a bit encyclopedic at times, but it has to be, because there was so much one had to know.

The "Foxfire" series of books...Eliott Wiggington? came out in the early '70's....a "how to" of Appalachian Culture...encyclopedic?....I think the series is 12 books.

Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (X/Pw5)

123 32 Been reading a book Dr. Mrs. T. found and thought I'd like: A Game of Birds and Wolves by . . . some guy. It's upstairs and I don't want to Google it. Anyway, it's about the Royal Navy's use of wargame simulations to plan convoy defense against U-Boats during the most dangerous period in 1941-42.
......
Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:13 AM (AEYD6)
__________

Sounds interesting. On my maybe list.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (ZbwAu)

124 I remember 1900 House. If I recall it was part of a whole series of related shows. There was a Frontier House in which the people had to live like pioneers in 1880s Montana, and not only feed themselves but generate income to buy stuff. And I think there was a "Country House" or something similar where they lived in a Victorian mansion circa 1914.

All of them, to my mind, focused far too much on the soap opera "reality show" aspects of the relationships of the people involved, and not enough on the fascinating details of how people did stuff.

One of the best people in the Victorian (okay, Edwardian) mansion show was the chef, a modern French chef who got TOTALLY immersed in cooking with period techniques and equipment. He was having the time of his life -- and so naturally the TV people paid far more attention to one of the women working as a housemaid, who didn't like being a housemaid.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (AEYD6)

125 Copyright law is actually very simple. What is ours is ours forever, what is yours will be ours eventually.

Posted by: Your friendly neighborhood Disney Lawyers at June 21, 2020 09:43 AM (pYQR/)

126 0 If you're having trouble placing today's WhoDis, picture her with red hair slowly removing a long black opera glove.

******

Ah! Dr. Rachel Levine!

Posted by: Muldoon at June 21, 2020 09:44 AM (Fc5rx)

127 That's what backup copies are for, dude.

You can't back up a paper copy without a xerox machine and a whole shitload of dimes.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:42 AM (hKLpI)

---
And you have them saved on something that also can't be destroyed?

This is a truly silly discussion.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:44 AM (cfSRQ)

128 I met Harry Harrison at WorldCon in '06 (before it became a TOTAL intersectionality parade like today). Got some sigs and talked about Make Room, Make Room. Basis for Soylent Green with Charlton Heston. He agreed that although it was much different than the book it was still a good movie.
Being a *tiny* bit snarky (I was much younger than my current 29 years) I looked at my watch and said "They need to hurry up, though. They only have sixteen years to have a major Malthusian collapse."
He said "What do I know? I said it would happen in '99."
Nice guy, sorry to see him go.
. . .
Posted by: Captain Comic at June 21, 2020

*
*

I read Harrison's Deathworld and its two sequels back in the '70s. The second book, originally called The Ethical Engineer, is often funny, and makes some good points about the real world.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:44 AM (rpbg1)

129 I missed out on the movie thread so this is the nearest I find to comment on Hollywood and popular culture.

The 70s were the beginning of the era when American values started to be eroded and everything else promoted. So here we are, nobody knows today what it means to be American.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:44 AM (xarPm)

130 > The "Foxfire" series of books...Eliott Wiggington? came out in the early '70's....a "how to" of Appalachian Culture...encyclopedic?....I think the series is 12 books.

I used to love those books. Couldn't quite see them the same way after it turned out that Wigginton was a big ol' pedo who molested a 10 year old boy.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:45 AM (hKLpI)

131 Oh I did buy a few extra copies of "A Grief Observed" to send out to some people. I still value it above a lot of other grief material as it's so personal. People relate better to it than they do to clinical babble and "studies show".

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:45 AM (ONvIw)

132 "The Cloud" is an op.

Posted by: klaftern at June 21, 2020 09:45 AM (RuIsu)

133
Globals warming,and take the Trash Out Oxford docent. The who dis chick is looking for a book on BOOB re-balancing,she leans to the Left.

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 09:45 AM (5IHGB)

134 > And you have them saved on something that also can't be destroyed?

I have archive disks in multiple offsite locations.

I'll bet you haven't done that with your paper books.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:46 AM (hKLpI)

135 Hi all, sorry to go OT, but I need some emergency counsel from a big-brained BBQ 'ron or 'ette:
My wife makes fantastic slow-cooker pulled pork. My idea is to fire up the smoker, and hit it w/apple wood smoke for an hour or so before slow cooking, then proceed as usual. The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
Please let me know if this sounds like a good workflow.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (7Fj9P)

136 Your NYT propaganda headline for the day:

"Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (2JVJo)
---
OMG this is real. FFS!

They had to decide between this headline and "Massive Trump Rally Endangers Lives", but the former made him seem weaker, so they went with that one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

137 We are the modern Americans....Moving west....Goodbye.

That's modern west and it's going to hurt.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (pB6Gt)

138 @79 "Ender's Game" was originally a short story in a 1977 edition of Analog, which then got expanded into a novel in 1985 (and later made into a crap movie starring Harrison Ford in 2013).

As I mentioned above, I have all the 1978 issues of Analog and now I want to dig through them and see which short stories got upgraded later....

Posted by: Pave Low John at June 21, 2020 09:48 AM (+KIcz)

139 OMG this is real. FFS!

They had to decide between this headline and "Massive Trump Rally Endangers Lives", but the former made him seem weaker, so they went with that one.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

Oh, it's real. I wouldn't lie to you, Eris.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:48 AM (2JVJo)

140 > My idea is to fire up the smoker, and hit it w/apple wood smoke for an hour or so before slow cooking, then proceed as usual.

Should be fine, but do take care not to get the smoke stream get too hot.... cool smoke is the way to go here.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:49 AM (hKLpI)

141 The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.

And Jordan called MY poat smut !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:49 AM (arJlL)

142 They had to decide between this headline and "Massive Trump Rally
Endangers Lives", but the former made him seem weaker, so they went with
that one.

Also they already had their marching orders from AOC.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 21, 2020 09:49 AM (6XLoz)

143 I have archive disks in multiple offsite locations.

I'll bet you haven't done that with your paper books.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:46 AM (hKLpI)

---
If it comes down to it, why do you think they'd just take the disks and spare you?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:49 AM (cfSRQ)

144 I just got Killers of the Flower Moon. True story
about how Osage Indians were systematically murdered after oil was found
on their Oklahoma reservation.

-

In Joseph Heller's novel Catch 22 there is a parody of this. I had no idea it was based on the truth.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:16 AM (+y/Ru)

===========================
Warner Bros.'s film, "The FBI Story", with Jimmy Stewart as the lead, devoted some time to this case.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (Pqytn)

145 well Clifford Irving started his career with a fake bio of howard hughes and then advanced to be an aviation expert for the daily basilisk, but it's a forrest gump type pairing,

I read James swallow's nomad, which gave me some notions about my novella, which follows a similar premise, the title refers to a mixed special ops team, which is pursuing a new terrorist group, and the protagonist well remember mission impossibles opening, just more explody,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (hMlTh)

146 Went 52 hours without electricity the other week, does that count as living in 1900?
If so that was enough for me

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (6f16T)

147 > If it comes down to it, why do you think they'd just take the disks and spare you?

Now you're just spinning.

It's a lot easier to bug out with a box of DVDs than it is to bug out with a paper library.

It's just a fact.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (hKLpI)

148 Your NYT propaganda headline for the day:

"Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (2JVJo)

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

And this is why Trump keeps designating them as Fake News, because they are.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:51 AM (xarPm)

149
Not seeing ANY QUEENS in that Library,were they taking a double first! in the stacks ???

............. or a double fist at All Holes College !?

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 09:51 AM (5IHGB)

150 146 Went 52 hours without electricity the other week, does that count as living in 1900?
If so that was enough for me
Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (6f16T)

After Hurricane Sandy, I got a generac. I wanted to minimize the no power experience.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

151 > It's a lot easier to bug out with a box of DVDs than it is to bug out with a paper library.

It's also a lot easier to HIDE a box of DVDs than it is to hide a paper library.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:51 AM (hKLpI)

152 "Ender's Game" was originally a short story in a
1977 edition of Analog, which then got expanded into a novel in 1985
(and later made into a crap movie starring Harrison Ford in 2013).

As I mentioned above, I have all the 1978 issues of Analog and now
I want to dig through them and see which short stories got upgraded
later....

Posted by: Pave Low John at June 21, 2020 09:48 AM (+KIcz)

---
Interesting how many short stories became books became movies that should have stayed short stories.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:52 AM (cfSRQ)

153 As I mentioned above, I have all the 1978 issues of Analog and now I want to dig through them and see which short stories got upgraded later....
Posted by: Pave Low John at June 21, 2020 09:48 AM (+KIcz)
-----
Just went to the basement to check my 1978 Analogs, and, yes, June 1978 has Randall Garrett's hilarious parody "Backstage Lensman". Highly recommended for anyone who knows and loves the Lensman series.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 09:52 AM (1jlUc)

154 I've had to stop reading the book thread on some weeks because I have NO self-control - I read some of the fellow Moron's reviews and I just can't stop myself buying the book. This when I have two entire bookshelves full of UNREAD books here at home. And then I read today OregonMuse's warning about eBooks, which I'm taking to heart. Oh, well - I'm going to have buy Cold Comfort Farm in "real book" form... and just add it to the stack. Hans G. Schantz, when is your next book coming out?

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at June 21, 2020 09:52 AM (1qlYG)

155 117 I guess that'd be we moronettes that are dressed in a skirt for Mass . . .
Posted by: Catherine

Say one for me, if ya don't mind....

How's your garden ?
Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:41 AM (arJlL)

Will do.

Surviving so far. I did have to replace two tomato plants, but currently NW MO is giving me alternating rain and sunshine with plenty of humidity.

And, to be on topic, I'm reading Elizabeth Lev's How Catholic Art Saved the Church. She runs an art tour in Rome that I've heard is superb. The details about how the church worked with artisans to teach the Faith are both interesting and instructive. Highly recommended, and I'm not even finished.

Posted by: Catherine at June 21, 2020 09:52 AM (xCB6Z)

156 First draft of my new Theda Bara novel is done, and now am in the first series of rewrites. It's going very slowly because of the heat sapping all of my energy and also because of the rewriting and retrofitting I am going to have to do as I go along, which depresses and overwhelms me.

. . . .
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020

*
*

MPPPP, don't you have a window unit air conditioner at least? Those can be bought at Sears, if you still have a Sears, or at Walmart for fairly cheap now.

One of the two markets to which I submitted stories last week has acknowledged they received my submission. So far so good. They are both paying markets, the second one better than this one, but whatever I can manage is better than nuthin'.

Writing groups always advise to let a project sit for a while before you come back to it. That's not always easy to do. Either you're excited about the story and want to whip it into shape, or you need to market it posthaste.

There is an ancient legend that all animals are born looking exactly the same, a shapeless lump, and their mother must lick them into the proper shape for their species. Sounds like you're in that situation.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:52 AM (rpbg1)

157 They had to decide between this headline and
"Massive Trump Rally Endangers Lives", but the former made him seem
weaker, so they went with that one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (Dc2NZ)

============================
The thing to remember is that their target isn't Trump - it is Trump supporters.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 09:53 AM (Pqytn)

158 Ben Bova was the editor and man, was he a curmudgeon
---
Didn't he edit (or write in) OMNI Magazine?

I miss OMNI (the earlier stuff before it morphed into Tsoukalos-friendly material).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

159 Hello, my fellow librosexuals!
======================
I identify as bibliosexual.
My pronouns are: Proust, Twain and Hemingway.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:54 AM (7Fj9P)

160 The UN announces it's support for Antifa and condemns the US's attempt to squash their right to peacefully protest.

You find me a peaceful protest that includes Antifa and I'll STILL not take your concerns under advisement.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:54 AM (Zz0t1)

161 If you're having trouble placing today's WhoDis, picture her with red hair slowly removing a long black opera glove.

-
Natasha Fatale?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:54 AM (+y/Ru)

162 Just went to the basement to check my 1978 Analogs, and, yes, June 1978 has Randall Garrett's hilarious parody "Backstage Lensman". Highly recommended for anyone who knows and loves the Lensman series.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020

*
*

In Galaxy or If, Garret published a hilarious and yet exciting short in which the human hero is captured by aliens and placed on a super-lie detector that will instantly detect any untruth. So he tells them the exact truth, and outmaneuvers them. I'll see if I can find the title.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:54 AM (rpbg1)

163 I'm currently reading a Kindle First Reads book, called The Bone Jar. Pretty good so far. Lately I'm mostly playing games on my son's Steam account, he has a series called The Room and one called House of Da Vinci; they are all puzzle-type games and a lot of fun.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (qrX0b)

164 Today's libraries' predicament makes me very sad. These institutions got a lot of federal funds on the premise that they need them to conserve the popular culture yet here they are destroying not only the popular culture but history as well,
.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (xarPm)

165 Natasha Fatale?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 09:54 AM (+y/Ru)

Put the blame on Mame. Gilda as a blonde.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (ONvIw)

166 One might say, my novella is padded out in the beginning with the backstory of the protagonists, across multiple generations, somewhat like charles stross first laundry tale,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (hMlTh)

167 Will do.

Thank you.

I'll add you to my prayer list as well.

Enjoy your day !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (arJlL)

168 Im pretty sure reading is racist. So please delete this post.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 09:56 AM (r3Ami)

169 The NYT (and the entire Left, including our trolls) are about suppressing enthusiasm for Trump.

Their only chance is driving down turnout for Trump.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 09:56 AM (oVJmc)

170 The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
---
D-Day is underway!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:56 AM (Dc2NZ)

171 >>>"Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

And I drank my covfefe with one hand this morning.

Posted by: Pablo Cruz at June 21, 2020 09:55 AM (sM75W)

==================================
While Joe sits in a basement with his babysitters. How long has it been since Joe even held a press conference? 80 days?

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 09:56 AM (Pqytn)

172 "Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Under attack from the worldwide Plandemic and the nationwide Antifa operation, Field Marshall Trump pulls off a yuge rally? That's some fizzle.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (ZS2+d)

173 In Galaxy or If, Garret published a hilarious and yet exciting short in which the human hero is captured by aliens and placed on a super-lie detector that will instantly detect any untruth. So he tells them the exact truth, and outmaneuvers them. I'll see if I can find the title.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020

*
*

Found it: "Teh Best Policy," described on Wiki: "A smart Earthling is abducted by a reconnaissance group of hostile aliens, but convinces them that Earthlings are a far more advanced and superior race, so they end up sending humble ambassadors instead of conquering the planet. The catch is these aliens have a perfect truth detector, so the hero has to phrase his every comment very carefully so that he can pull off such a huge lie while being literally honest."

An utter delight.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (rpbg1)

174 We're over a 100, so Willowed:

Favre: "I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar," Favre said. "And, we regard him as a hero. So, I'd assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well."

Ummmm....let me think.

No fucking way.

Tillman fought FOR this country.

Krappernick fights AGAINST it.

Big difference, dickhead.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (Zz0t1)

175 D-Day is underway!

LOL !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (arJlL)

176 Now you're just spinning.

It's a lot easier to bug out with a box of DVDs than it is to bug out with a paper library.

It's just a fact.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:50 AM (hKLpI)

---
No, I was curious as to the whole "books burn" thing was coming from. Most things are vulnerable to heat, including disks, so harping on it didn't make sense. It seemed like an argument over which was more rare, Unobtanium or Kryptonite.

Good luck with your plan, I guess.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (cfSRQ)

177 141 The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.

And Jordan called MY poat smut !
Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 09:49 AM (arJlL)

HAHAHA

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (qrX0b)

178 If you're having trouble placing today's WhoDis, picture her with red hair slowly removing a long black opera glove.

Jessica Rabbit?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:58 AM (2JVJo)

179 > "Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Meanwhile, Biden's latest "event" attracted an audience of 600.

But Biden is totes winning, y'all.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:58 AM (hKLpI)

180 The way you get around fake ticket requests is charge $5 for a ticket and a cc. That eliminates 90% of the teenage fake ticket requests.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 09:58 AM (r3Ami)

181
I awhile ago to slowly back-up my Kindle with good hardback copies of favorite books when I can find them.

Also, same dealio for books which seem to have been passed by and forgotten by the e-world.

F'rinstance, yesterday I ordered a hardback copy of

"The Beast of the Haitian Hills" by Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin (published I think around 1946)

which appeared to be in very good shape for an excellent (ie. relatively cheap price)

"TBotHH" is considered to be the first modern novel to come out of Haiti.

It's a pretty wonderful story mostly concerning a grocer, Morin, as he tries to muddle his way through Haitian society, seductions, the trials of modern life in conflict with Haitian superstition and vodou, the gods and lots, zombies, and his own romantic image of the Haitian countryside where he would like to live.

Wild occurrences clash with mundane reality and psychological/personal conflict.

If this sounds like something, you might like to read, too bad, old chum, it's been forgotten by time!

Or rather, the only reasonable way you can get it is through an old TIME printing available on Amazon, etc.

The TIME printing is a classy paperback with a thick cardboard cover and what must be acid-free paper cuz it still looks good.

It was part of a modern classics series they did around 1954 or so.

Check it out.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (ysqzb)

182 Any problems with minx.cc domain? I haven't been able to access site from newsreader since last night. Thought you were under DOS attack.

Posted by: cpurick at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (7YrFp)

183 Should be fine, but do take care not to get the smoke stream get too hot.... cool smoke is the way to go here.
=============================
I've got an R2D2 smoker, that has a water bath between the coals and smoke; I'll be sure to keep it topped off.
Thanks!

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (7Fj9P)

184 If you're having trouble placing today's WhoDis, picture her with red hair slowly removing a long black opera glove.

Jessica Rabbit?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020

*
*

Our mystery guest, with red hair, was the direct ancestor of Jessica!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (rpbg1)

185 The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
-----
The lark's on the wing, the snail's on the thorn...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (1jlUc)

186 The catch is these aliens have a perfect truth detector, so the hero has to phrase his every comment very carefully so that he can pull off such a huge lie while being literally honest.

An utter delight.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (rpbg1)

Depends on the meaning of "is". I think I've seen this.

Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 09:59 AM (X/Pw5)

187 "Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Under attack from the worldwide Plandemic and the nationwide Antifa operation, Field Marshall Trump pulls off a yuge rally? That's some fizzle.
Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (ZS2+d)

Ok, so Ocrazio-Cotits is boasting that her sheeple registered for tickets to the rally with no intention to show up in another Dem effort to squash your Constitutional rights and lowered the attendance at the Trump rally. The media is reporting that it fizzled because there were empty seats.

My question is, how many people were outside the rally, not the leftist paid mob, but actual Trump supporters? That will tell a LOT on who's full of shit here.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:00 AM (Zz0t1)

188 > Most things are vulnerable to heat, including disks, so harping on it didn't make sense.

It's a hell of a lot easier to make backup copies of disks than it is to make backup copies of books.

That is the point. Which I stated early on, and which you continue to ignore.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:00 AM (hKLpI)

189 The catch is these aliens have a perfect truth detector, so the hero has to phrase his every comment very carefully so that he can pull off such a huge lie while being literally honest.

An utter delight.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (rpbg1)

Depends on the meaning of "is". I think I've seen this.
Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020

*
*

You've read the story -- or has there been a TV adaptation? It's too short for an Outer Limits, old or new, but it would have made a great Twilight Zone at 30 minutes.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:01 AM (rpbg1)

190 Ben Bova.
I read Ben Dova.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (7Fj9P)

191
Favre: "I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar," Favre said. "And, we regard him as a hero. So, I'd assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well."

That's fucking stupid, even for a jock.

Kaepernick didn't sacrifice anything, much less his life.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (oVJmc)

192 I've had to stop reading the book thread on some weeks because I have NO self-control - I read some of the fellow Moron's reviews and I just can't stop myself buying the book.

-----------------+

What scares me more is that after shelling our money we may momentarily get the book we won't and within minutes not only lose the book but be designated as wrong and lose everything we hold dear including out livelihood.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (xarPm)

193
Meanwhile, Biden's latest "event" attracted an audience of 600.

But Biden is totes winning, y'all.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 09:58 AM (hKLpI)

---
It's really strange what's going on with the Dems. They make fake new, put a lot of effort into it, and then *believe it themselves*.

It's like the fake polling. They skew the numbers, tilt the sample because they want to demoralize Trump's people and convince the fence-sitters to vote for the clear winner.

And then they base campaign strategy on it, and start talking about them as authoritative.

I can't wrap my head around that level of stupidity.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

194 Omni went all ancient aliens, sigh, when you consider that the black bloc is a multinational multigenerational arm of marxist elements, it makes perfect sense that the un would support them, don't call them antifa, because its using their language,

their warmup was toppling the weimar republic and the reigning social democrats, they were stalin's flying squads,
they tried against mussolini (who was a former socialist)
so was oswald mosley, with little luck, gramsci while in prison, conjurred up the strategy that was taken up by alinski in the states,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 10:03 AM (hMlTh)

195 Oh, wait; the second short story market did acknowledge receipt. So they're neck and neck.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:03 AM (rpbg1)

196
That's fucking stupid, even for a jock.

Kaepernick didn't sacrifice anything, much less his life.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (oVJmc)

Seems his opioid addiction damaged his brain relatively severely.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:03 AM (Zz0t1)

197 Who dis' sure looks like a blonde Rita Hayworth when she was making "The Lady from Shanghai". IIRC, the new hair color wasn't a hit....

Morning, all! Now, off to get ready for mass.....

Posted by: misslurk'ette at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (GDpRb)

198 You've read the story -- or has there been a TV adaptation?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:01 AM (rpbg1)

No....I was alluding to Bill Clinton....Mr. Honesty.

Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (X/Pw5)

199 Posted by: Pablo Cruz at June 21, 2020 10:00 AM (sM75W)

Hi, helpful new guy.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (oVJmc)

200 135 Hi all, sorry to go OT, but I need some emergency counsel from a big-brained BBQ 'ron or 'ette:
My wife makes fantastic slow-cooker pulled pork. My idea is to fire up the smoker, and hit it w/apple wood smoke for an hour or so before slow cooking, then proceed as usual. The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
Please let me know if this sounds like a good workflow.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (7Fj9P)

====

You will need QA testers...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, with book repair tape in case anyone needs any at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (PiwSw)

201 Kim Novak. I'd recognize those tits anywhere.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (XxJt1)

202 About 2 years ago we dropped Amazon and closed our accounts (we each had one.) Then started with Barnes & Noble.

Now, at the start of this week, they totally effed up our order, sending an email which made no sense, saying my wife's half had been declined. The bank said "BS, it went through."

After hours trying to get through (and getting cut off the first time I did), I got chat support, which itself took 30 min. Bottom line: they ended up sending another email saying "Oopsie, our bad." And then offered minimal compensation. I told them where to go.

On the bright side, I removed our card #, and since they charged only 1/2 the order, we may at least break even. Maybe, it showed up. They claim they sent the other half, but that hasn't, and I no longer trust them.

I do use Thrift Books. I wonder whom else to try.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:05 AM (ZbwAu)

203 85
It's a mystery to anyone how to conserve your Amazon books so they don't
get "revoked" as at least one has in the past? Not to mention how to
read them on a non-Kindle device?

Me, I prefer the Boox platform, but it's pretty pricey.

Posted by: Snidely Whiplash at June 21, 2020 09:32 AM (dVp8a)

If you have an older Kindle or a Samsung with a Kindle app you can store them on your computer and reload them if you lose them or they get corrupted. My new Kindle Fire 10 though will not allow you to manually load any books though. They have to be downloaded from Amazon to the Fire directly..

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 10:05 AM (mpXpK)

204
It's like the fake polling. They skew the numbers, tilt the sample because they want to demoralize Trump's people and convince the fence-sitters to vote for the clear winner.

And then they base campaign strategy on it, and start talking about them as authoritative.

I can't wrap my head around that level of stupidity.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

It's pretty simple. They're hedging ALL of their bets on the fact that they honestly and truly believe that Americans are stupid and not paying attention.

The more they falsify the data and show that Trump has no chance, the sheep will follow and either not vote or vote Biden.

It's all they have.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:05 AM (Zz0t1)

205 Morning all, thanks OM!

Finished Heart of Darkness this week (it would NEVER be published these days), and started Dracula (haven't read it in decades).

Biggest news (for me, anyway): publisher sent me a contract to co-publish my book, will probably sign it this week, then begin the editing and pre-publication process. Looking like a January release date. woo! of my many mid-age 'projects'... this one looks like it might actually happen! very exciting.

Posted by: goatexchange at June 21, 2020 10:06 AM (iUjXP)

206 > I can't wrap my head around that level of stupidity.

Me, I'm amazed at how fast the pravda changed from "OMG MASSIVE TRUMP RALLY! COVID WILL KILL US ALL!" to "OMG NO ONE ATTENDED THE TRUMP RALLY!"

I'd get dizzy changing the "truth" that fast, but then I'm not a communist.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:06 AM (hKLpI)

207 186 The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
-----
The lark's on the wing, the snail's on the thorn...
--------

The fog is getting thicker...

Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 21, 2020 10:06 AM (vuisn)

208 You've read the story -- or has there been a TV adaptation?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:01 AM (rpbg1)

No....I was alluding to Bill Clinton....Mr. Honesty.
Posted by: BignJames at June 21, 2020

*
*

Clinton would have been 11 years old when this story appeared in '57. I doubt he ever read anything he wasn't required to read for school or didn't need to impress a girl, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:07 AM (rpbg1)

209 Favre: "I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar," Favre said. "And, we regard him as a hero. So, I'd assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well."

That's fucking stupid, even for a jock.

-
I never noticed him playing football without a helmet.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 10:07 AM (+y/Ru)

210 88
George Orwell has been dead for 70 years. I
have no compunction about 'stealing' books like that rather than line
the pockets of people who continue to claim ownership of it when the
actual creator died a lifetime ago.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 09:34 AM (oVJmc)

Thanks to Mickey Mouse the US had the worst copyright laws in the world.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 10:07 AM (mpXpK)

211 Kim Novak. I'd recognize those tits anywhere.
Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (XxJt1)

Sad. Yet another hollywood vanity that fell victim to HORRIBLE plastic surgery.

Just age gracefully, ladies. Making yourself look like a Muppet is NOT a good idea.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:07 AM (Zz0t1)

212 It's like the fake polling. They skew the numbers, tilt the sample
because they want to demoralize Trump's people and convince the
fence-sitters to vote for the clear winner.

And then they base campaign strategy on it, and start talking about them as authoritative.

Same reason they've acted so weird since 2016. They believed their own hype, and Trump getting elected didn't convince them otherwise, so they're constantly hunting for other reasons he won.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 21, 2020 10:07 AM (6XLoz)

213
It's a hell of a lot easier to make backup copies of disks than it is to make backup copies of books.

That is the point. Which I stated early on, and which you continue to ignore.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:00 AM (hKLpI)

---
No, I'm not ignoring it, it simply wasn't clear to me that your intent was to be the Johnny Appleseed of knowledge after the Collapse.

As I said, good luck with your plan.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 10:08 AM (cfSRQ)

214 rub is on the butt

Is there a newsletter?

Posted by: Sandra Flook at June 21, 2020 10:08 AM (EgshT)

215 -------

The fog is getting thicker...
Posted by: Dr. Varno at June 21, 2020 10:06 AM (vuisn)

And Leon's getting LAARRRGGGEEERRRRR.......

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (Zz0t1)

216 *adds "Killers of the Flower Moon" to reading list*

I'm never going to make it all the way through Oklahoma history. This state is rich in stories.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (XxJt1)

217 Boys, boys, no need to fight!

Posted by: SMOD/Yellowstone Caldera 2020 at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

218 Just finished Max Brooks, Devolution, A firsthand account of the great Rainier Sasquatch Massacre. A fun quick read from the author of World War Z with some good shots at modern day Rousseau adherents. 5/5

Posted by: motionview at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (pYQR/)

219 Posted by: goatexchange at June 21, 2020 10:06 AM (iUjXP)

Congratulations!

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (2JVJo)

220 25% of all US Kung flu deaths were in nursing homes. But remember Cuomo is a national treasure, per MSM.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (r3Ami)

221 so think of them like hydra or spectre, even though the latter was for profit as well as ideology, the second generation arose in the 60s of course, lke dragon's teeth, in germany with the baader, the brigatte in italy, the ira out of ireland, the eta in spain, they sought foreign sponsors, east germany, czechoslovakia, libya, cuba,) but that was their direct action arm,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 10:10 AM (hMlTh)

222 I don't know if this will preserve some Kindle books but one of my Kindles, an older one, recently maxed out its storage. I turned off the wi-fi connection hoping that Amazon won't be able to effect it in any way.

Once the device dies for any reason, I assume all bets are off. This is why I get the books most important to me in dead tree versions.

Posted by: JTB at June 21, 2020 10:10 AM (7EjX1)

223 "...the great Rainier Sasquatch Massacre"

WUT?

Posted by: SMOD/Yellowstone Caldera 2020 at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

224 Rita Hayworth??? Blonde?

That was sneaky, OM.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (XxJt1)

225 The Donks are practitioners of truth origami; they can fold it to resemble anything.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (+y/Ru)

226 Off, fiery sock of death!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

227 Hi all, sorry to go OT, but I need some emergency counsel from a big-brained BBQ 'ron or 'ette:
My wife makes fantastic slow-cooker pulled pork. My idea is to fire up the smoker, and hit it w/apple wood smoke for an hour or so before slow cooking, then proceed as usual. The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
Please let me know if this sounds like a good workflow.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (7Fj9P)

Not a pro, but I would go longer on the smoke at a low temp. Give it a chance to really penetrate the meat. Fat must be trimmed, tho, as it will block the smoke and since you're going shorter on the smoker, it won't render.

Wrap and finish as normal.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (Zz0t1)

228 Whos dis does remind me of a 50s car

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (6f16T)

229 "Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Under attack from the worldwide Plandemic and the nationwide Antifa operation, Field Marshall Trump pulls off a yuge rally? That's some fizzle.
Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (ZS2+d)

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

At this point I don't think that the media darlings even know what they are reporting on. The Trump voters are not even in their universe.

Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (xarPm)

230 Seems his opioid addiction damaged his brain relatively severely.
Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:03 AM (Zz0t1)

Favre has always been as dumb as a brick but very adept at finding otherwise smart people to put up with him, including the career interception record by a not small margin. The Jenn Sterger episode wasn't an outlying point.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:12 AM (y7DUB)

231 Hi all, sorry to go OT, but I need some emergency counsel from a big-brained BBQ 'ron or 'ette:
My wife makes fantastic slow-cooker pulled pork. My idea is to fire up the smoker, and hit it w/apple wood smoke for an hour or so before slow cooking, then proceed as usual. The fire is lit in the smoker, rub is on the butt.
Please let me know if this sounds like a good workflow.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 09:47 AM (7Fj9P)

Why not just do the whole cook in the smoker? Not to dis your wife, I'm sure hers is delicious.

Anyway, if you're going to go that route, I'd leave it in the smoker for 2 hours or so till the bark forms. To each their own. It'll be good either way.

Posted by: BigZesty at June 21, 2020 10:12 AM (QE0Lf)

232 25% of all US Kung flu deaths were in nursing homes. But remember Cuomo is a national treasure, per MSM.
Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:09 AM (r3Ami)

I heard the number was higher. Closer to 40%, but don't remember where I saw that. I think that number included prisons, tho.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:12 AM (Zz0t1)

233 Regarding the paper vs digital debate, there was a funny Twitter thread last week where some NYT woman was arguing that books and writing are white, and we should go back to telling stories orally like Africans. So paper or e-books, you're still racist.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 21, 2020 10:12 AM (6XLoz)

234 4 Rita? Took me a second, with the blonde hair.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:02 AM (Dc2NZ)

You are correct, ma'am!

And I thought her blonde hair would throw everyone off the scent. Apparently, I was mistaken.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:13 AM (qlVRg)

235 When all the Chinese EMP's go off, the paper books will still function as intended

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at June 21, 2020 10:13 AM (eKTVr)

236 Vic is right. Steamboat Willie is scheduled to go into public domain in the next two years, guarantee the Disney lawyers sue everyone who tries to use the material. They cannot stop it, but they will make it very, very expensive.

Posted by: motionview at June 21, 2020 10:13 AM (pYQR/)

237 Edward III and Philippa had 13 children but not one of them inherited the throne. How could that be?

Also, through his mother Sophie Marceau, Edward III was the grandson of Phillip IV, the king of France, and when Phillip died without a direct male heir, Edward claimed the French throne for himself. He styled himself as King of both England and France.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:13 AM (wPVhA)

238 Anyway, if you're going to go that route, I'd leave it in the smoker for 2 hours or so till the bark forms. To each their own. It'll be good either way.
Posted by: BigZesty at June 21, 2020 10:12 AM (QE0Lf)

Paging CBD, CBD please report to the book thread for cooking advice.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 10:14 AM (ONvIw)

239 > My new Kindle Fire 10 though will not allow you to manually load any books though.

It doesn't show up as a "drive" if you connect it to your computer with a USB cable?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:14 AM (hKLpI)

240 We are looking at moving. That's going to be a pain. But I've got to get out of Richmond, and VA for that matter. Looking at NC, which seems about where VA was c. 2000. Presumably they won't have turned completely to s**t during our lifetimes. And if it does, I'll be in Bidenland, so it won't matter.

There was a (now lost?) post here suggesting a "compromise" on DC statehood, making the new state include the NOVA counties. It missed the other half - include Pr George and Montgomery counties in MD, as well. Then we'd have 2 Commie senators from the District, 2 sound ones from VA, and MD in play (Baltimore would still be a problem.)

And yes, the number of books is sobering. But then, we'll just have the movers do almost all the packing. I'll stick with paper. Can still read when the power is off.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:15 AM (ZbwAu)

241
I decided awhile ago to slowly back-up...

Starting the day with a stroke is no way to start the day, son.

-"Saying of Pappy naturalfake", Vol.34, pg.376

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (ysqzb)

242 When all the Chinese EMP's go off, the paper books will still function as intended
Recent-ish testing on that indicates that a lot of digital stuff will still work too, especially if there's enough advance notice to power it down first. In particular, modern cars mostly will drive fine after getting hit, which was somewhat surprising.

Posted by: Ian S. at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (6XLoz)

243 Kim Novak. I'd recognize those tits anywhere.
Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:04 AM (XxJt1)

Sorry, it's not Kim.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (qlVRg)

244 231 "Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."

Under attack from the worldwide Plandemic and the nationwide Antifa operation, Field Marshall Trump pulls off a yuge rally? That's some fizzle.
Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 09:57 AM (ZS2+d)

-----------

How have Joe Biden's monster rallies been going off? I heard he's renting out entire conference rooms at Best Westerns to accommodate the massive crowds.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (wPVhA)

245 > As I said, good luck with your plan.

Good luck with your plan to carry 10,000 pounds of paper books on your back when the shit hits the fan.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (hKLpI)

246 242: That Throckmorton guy did it, but the dems want 2 new Senators, so I see the compromise as impossible.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 10:17 AM (ONvIw)

247 226 Rita Hayworth??? Blonde?

That was sneaky, OM.
Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:11 AM (XxJt1)
_______

If it's Rita (and I'm not sure) it must have been during filming of Lady From Shanghai.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:17 AM (ZbwAu)

248 ...the great Rainier Sasquatch Massacre"

WUT?

The Rainier volcano eruption beats you out in 2020 SMOD/Yellowstone Caldera. Maybe 2024.

Posted by: motionview at June 21, 2020 10:17 AM (pYQR/)

249 Not a book but my Bible gateway read today is Psalm 91.

Perfect for our times.

Posted by: Jade Sea at June 21, 2020 10:17 AM (E2CHS)

250 so think of them like hydra or spectre, even though the latter was for profit as well as ideology . . .
Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020

*
*

Hydra? SPECTRE? Upstarts, both of them.

Posted by: Thrush Supreme Council at June 21, 2020 10:18 AM (rpbg1)

251 Edward III and Philippa had 13 children but not one of them inherited the throne. How could that be?
------
Edward the Black Prince died in his forties, a year before his father. Prmogeniture dictated that the next in line was the Prince's son, who would become Richard II.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 10:19 AM (1jlUc)

252 239 Edward III and Philippa had 13 children but not one of them inherited the throne. How could that be?

Also, through his mother Sophie Marceau, Edward III was the grandson of Phillip IV, the king of France, and when Phillip died without a direct male heir, Edward claimed the French throne for himself. He styled himself as King of both England and France.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:13 AM (wPVhA)
________

They did not relinquish that claim until the Peace of Amiens. That was 1802.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:19 AM (ZbwAu)

253 And yes, the number of books is sobering. But then, we'll just have the movers do almost all the packing. I'll stick with paper. Can still read when the power is off.
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:15 AM (ZbwAu)
---
I moved last fall and the packing was an ordeal, but the pain fades and the joy of having a personal library remains. Especially when Plandemic hit and the libraries were closed!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 10:20 AM (Dc2NZ)

254 I can tell you why the Trump rally fizzled. Some idiot decided to use the sign up list to text bomb everyone who signed up, begging for money.

I signed up for a rally. I did not sign up to have my pocket picked. Those text messages...five in one day at the height...turned me off. I can't be the only one.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:20 AM (XxJt1)

255 Both ladies in the Greek-style painting have very nice hind paws.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 10:20 AM (rpbg1)

256 Georgia house passes bill to allow each county to vote on defunding the police. If anyone wants to visit Atlanta, you have a few weeks until it I razed to the ground.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:20 AM (r3Ami)

257 Speaking of Cold Comfort Farm, "I saw something nasty in the woodshed!" has become a family in-joke. Really, that book has so many good bits, like the juvenile jazz band, the precursor-hippies, Mr. Mybug, and the bra collector. Too funny, and the movie was indeed well done.

In fact, I loved it so much I put an Easter Egg from the book in The Long Way Home (SmilyEmojiWhenPixyPaysOffGraphicsHamsters)
And if you liked CCF, may I recommend Enchanted April? The movie is probably better than the book in this case, and there is less manic silliness but it is still funny. Featuring the importance of understanding the Italian word for "explode", and how to correctly apologize to a baroness you meet whilst only wearing a towel because the (Italian) hot water heater...exploded during your bath....

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at June 21, 2020 10:21 AM (exg7Q)

258 So is that Rita?

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:21 AM (XxJt1)

259 but the dems want 2 new Senators, so I see the compromise as impossible.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 10:17 AM (ONvIw)

Lol

That's not how this works.

Posted by: Pelosi at June 21, 2020 10:21 AM (jZZUS)

260 None of Edward 3's kids inherited because he outlived his heir ("The Black Prince") and the crown went to his grandson.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 21, 2020 10:22 AM (AEYD6)

261 Edward the Black Prince died in his forties, a year before his father. Prmogeniture dictated that the next in line was the Prince's son, who would become Richard II.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, of the sloop John B. at June 21, 2020 10:19 AM (1jlUc)

---------

You are correct, sir! Collect your winnings at the cashier's cage near the exit.

Another Edward III fun fact: Every English monarch since Edward III is his direct descendant, including the current one Elizabeth II.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:22 AM (wPVhA)

262
Good luck with your plan to carry 10,000 pounds of paper books on your back when the shit hits the fan.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:16 AM (hKLpI)

---
I confess that in my thoughts about shit hitting the fan, I had not contemplated leisure time reading material.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 10:22 AM (cfSRQ)

263 I'm here.
About to start the packing process myself. Did you use movers? I just started with clothes and already feeling overwhelmed.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:23 AM (QzF6i)

264 I decided long ago books I will more likely read again I want in book, a mostly one time can be ebook

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (6f16T)

265 A Biden rally couldn't fill Joe's Pancake House.

The media IS the Enemy of the People.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (Zz0t1)

266 Happy Sunday Morning!

I recommend Travis Corcoran's Kickstarter for his How-to-Homestead Guide. He's done it and he's a meticulous teacher who lays things out in well-thought-out recipes, like the talented programmer he is. I visited his farm and helped him and some friends butcher a hog last year. I'm looking forward to have a copy of all the processes and wisdom he's collected in seven years of homesteading all written down in one place.

This week, I finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, a good summary for people who'd like to learn more about the basis of the Christian faith and how it impacts daily life.

I'm also reading a pre-publication copy of Fenton Wood's The Earth - A Machine to Speak. It's a fitting conclusion to his remarkable young-adult techno-adventure series, Yankee Republic. It's part alternate history, part mythology, and this final installment pulls everything together in a very satisfying way. It should be released in a few weeks.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (FXjhj)

267 Your precious ebooks are susceptible to electromagnetic pulses and solar flares.

Posted by: Crunch at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (l7WNH)

268 266 I decided long ago books I will more likely read again I want in book, a mostly one time can be ebook
Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (6f16T)

I just go with cheap, myself.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

269
There's SOMETHING aboot Brett Favre.......it's mainly Dick Pics and overacting with Cameron Diaz. ???

Brettfavre means dumb in 17 languages..............

DON'T AXE ME ABOUT BEN ROETHLESBURGER !!

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:25 AM (5IHGB)

270 Sharon, you're packing clothes? The movers told me to leave them in the drawers when I moved here.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:25 AM (XxJt1)

271 I got an old Paperwhite kindle at a thrift store for $6. Since I wiped it, the wireless stays off. Anything on it gets sideloaded.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:25 AM (oVJmc)

272

DON'T AXE ME ABOUT BEN ROETHLESBURGER !!
Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:25 AM (5IHGB)

IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE YOU SPELLED MY NAME WRONG.

Posted by: BEN ROTHLISBERGER at June 21, 2020 10:26 AM (Zz0t1)

273 31 ... "Anyone get Rush's children's books series?"

Skip, I read the first two in the series out of curiosity. I thought they were charming and as far as I could tell they were simple but accurate. We suggested it to our niece and her husband for their little boy.

Posted by: JTB at June 21, 2020 10:26 AM (7EjX1)

274 About to start the packing process myself. Did you use movers? I just started with clothes and already feeling overwhelmed.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:23 AM (QzF6i)

If you can afford it, I vote yes. I have moved 10 times in the last 30 years, the last two times without movers. Next time, we are definitely hiring movers.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:27 AM (qrX0b)

275 You know that WaPo doxxing piece about a random who wore black face to a Halloween party in 2018? It written by someone named Lyric Prince. You can correlate the start of the destruction of the country perfectly, I believe with the increase in retarded names like this.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:27 AM (r3Ami)

276 If you're a Baldacci fan, his newest book Walk the Wire is $4.99 for the Kindle edition on Amazon today.

Posted by: One of the quiet ones at June 21, 2020 10:27 AM (2GPSc)

277 Im pretty sure reading is racist. So please delete this post.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 09:56 AM (r3Ami)

The Book and Art threads are supposed to be a refuge from this kind of shit. Please don't do that.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (gd9RK)

278 Just got a book I requested from my library system many months ago. Library is now sort of open. You make an appointment to pick up the book and they leave it on a table in a paper bag.The book is The Initiate. I know one of you wrote it. I just don;t remember who. Want to fess up?

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (QzF6i)

279 On the bright side, I removed our card #, and since
they charged only 1/2 the order, we may at least break even. Maybe, it
showed up. They claim they sent the other half, but that hasn't, and I
no longer trust them.

I do use Thrift Books. I wonder whom else to try.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:05 AM (ZbwAu)

In the US, try abebooks.com. a huge worldwide used and new books booksellers site, which includes Thrift Books. A lot of sellers with free shipping (unlike Alibris.com).
Also, bookdepository.com in the UK, which is only new books, but has a lot of recent US publications in paperback form at paperback prices. As far as I can tell, these are the paperback export versions one can buy inside security at Heathrow. (Few fliers want to lug a hardcover on a plane).
I've gotten the latest Lee Child, David Baldacci, (yes, those two are getting tired), Daniel Silva, Mick Herron, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Robert Galbraith a/k/a/ J.K. Rowling, and others in paperback when Amazon was only selling the hardback edition. Free international shipping, too.

Posted by: Wethal at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (ZzVCK)

280 "Trip Around the Moon", with Werner von Braun ("I aimed for the Moon but hit London instead!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjs3nBfyIwM
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at June 21, 2020 09:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

That's pretty ghoulish. I am reminded of that Tom Lehrer song about von Braun:

"The windows and cripples in old London Town
Owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun."

and

"'The rockets go up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department' says Werner von Braun."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (qlVRg)

281 If you can afford it, I vote yes. I have moved 10 times in the last 30 years, the last two times without movers. Next time, we are definitely hiring movers.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:27 AM (qrX0b)

I haven't moved in 40 years, but when I do, it's movers and someone to clear out the unwanted furniture.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (ONvIw)

282 Last time I moved I threw out about as much as I moved. Rule was if I hadnt used it in over a year, off to the dump it went. Very liberating.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (r3Ami)

283 point taken, they ridiculed claire sterlings terror network because the soviets couldn't possibly do that, arnaud de borgrave's the spike illustrated how it might work in practice,
how an administration like the clinton's could be ridden with soviet agents like podesta and mort halperin, the latter ended up at the american progress peanut gallery of soros,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (hMlTh)

284 I'm most of the way through Taras Bulba, Gogol's longest story other than Dead Souls. This is kind of an atypical work of his, influenced by the likes of Walter Scott, probably as a way to make money to support living in Saint Petersburg and other places his wanderlust took him. In some ways he was a real lowlife by mortgaging his parents' property out from under them but not as bad as Dostoyevsky gambling away everything while his children died of malnutrition. Anyway the story is about a Cossack father and his two sons fighting the Poles; one of whom, Andrei, falls for some polack trim and switches side before being killed by his father.

Anyway it's not a bad historical accounting of a specific slice in time but Nabokov hated it. To Vlad's credit, even though he and his family went through hard times I can't find anything that compromised his relationship with his muse. The closest he came was making money by writing about Gogol. And he truly believed the US was a paradise of opportunity for a writer.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (y7DUB)

285 Are the smilies back?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (qlVRg)

286 Yes!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (qlVRg)

287 My Brother In Law got the entire series of Rush's books for my son.

How soon will it be that Johnny Treiman is on the banned list.

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at June 21, 2020 10:30 AM (dKiJG)

288 I've never used a moving service
Which is probably why I hate moving

Posted by: vmom 2020 at June 21, 2020 10:30 AM (WwTwF)

289 Finally finished 'The Buried Goddess Saga' by Brett C Bruno. It was one of those 99 cent indy e-book trilogies. And it was my summer-reading-in-the-park book from last year. But summer ended before I could finish the book, and winter is too cold to read outside, so it didn't get finished until now.

First book was enjoyable. Pretty standard high-fantasy fare. Books 2 and 3 were less enjoyable. They suffered from the usual problems of splitting up the cast and sending them each on their own side-quest. And in this case, the side quests just barely connected back to the main plot of the book, and half of them ended up being sequel bait for the rest of the series.

Well, time to find another summer-reading book. Hopefully I don't have to start and then abandon too many ebooks before finding one that hooks me...

Posted by: Castle Guy at June 21, 2020 10:30 AM (Lhaco)

290 256 I can tell you why the Trump rally fizzled. Some idiot decided to use the sign up list to text bomb everyone who signed up, begging for money.

---------

I get a lot of those too. (I've made some contributions.) I'm glad to see them. It means that Trump's organization is aggressively raising money. I never heard from *spit* Romney or *spit* McCain even though I made contributions to both *spit*

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:31 AM (wPVhA)

291
Tha 2 chix in the Roman bath sans Agua are cute ...Diaphenous Daphne in Pink is real axed and Doris is looking at maps for nearby Aqua Ducks................call me when it's pastuerized cuties...it's shrinkage I tells ya..................

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:31 AM (5IHGB)

292 This week I listened to the Audible version of Silence by Shosuku Endo.
Set in the 1640s, during a period of intense persecution against Japanese Christians, this was one of the most intensely powerful books I've listened to or read in a very long time.
Told from the perspective of Jesuit missionary priest Father Rodrigo as he watches his flock get destroyed the grimness is unrelenting but the book was heartwrenching.
The introduction is by Martin Scorsese, who also directed a film based on the book.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at June 21, 2020 10:31 AM (Uu+Jp)

293 Good morning and Happy Father's Day to the Horde! I'm late to the party here, but I have a rule about paper vs. electronic format for books. I'm fine with downloading most fiction or other "interesting but not important" books with my Kindle app. For books that I wouldn't want to see thrown down the memory hole, I get a physical copy. Examples: Gulag Archipelago; various translations of the Bible; 1984 and Brave New World.

Posted by: PabloD at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (r/iuN)

294 241 It doesn't show up as a "drive" if you connect it to your computer with a USB cable?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia (kneels to no one on this Earth) at June 21, 2020 10:14 AM (hKLpI)

It shows up as "Fire" and it has all the sub-directries. But I tried manually inserting a .mobi file in every director on it and it refused to recognize it. I never had that problem with my older Kindle or my Samsungs.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (mpXpK)

295 Moving is charged by weight. If you want to save some money move small heavy things yourself and hire movers for big things. Example couches and beds, movers. Boxes of stuff, yourself. And so forth.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (r3Ami)

296 291 I've never used a moving service
Which is probably why I hate moving
Posted by: vmom 2020 at June 21, 2020 10:30 AM (WwTwF)

Moving still sucks, even WITH movers. It just sucks a little less.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (qrX0b)

297 260 So is that Rita?

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:21 AM (XxJt1)

Indeed.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (qlVRg)

298 Saw Trump rally did have 4 mil viewers

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (6f16T)

299 I decided last week to stop lurking in shame at the the book thread because my reading had been limited to military sf and/or heaving bosoms.

So I am pleased to report that this week I am, umm, 30% through *On That Bombshell* by Richard Porter: a moron recommendation regarding *Grand Tour* (BBC long running car show). Fun.

Posted by: sinmi at June 21, 2020 10:33 AM (A5IVt)

300 Cicero. I finally resigned myself to getting those text messages, as part of the campaign. But the hectoring tone..."You haven't contributed yet" was a real turnoff.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XxJt1)

301 I once had an employer pay for moving me cross country. It was full service, ie they packed ,moved and unpacked for you at the new place. Cost a fortune and Id never pay it myself. But man was it nice. It was like a I waved a magic wand and everything from the old house magically arrived at the new house.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (r3Ami)

302 Reading the latest Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko novel. Smith is running on fumes this time.

Posted by: vivi at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (11H2y)

303 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

304

I saw Taras Bulba open for Dead Souls at Mass today.

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (5IHGB)

305 Moving is charged by weight.

I want to move, but I can't just now.

Most furniture I can deal with, save for things like washing machines or radiators or the piano. I would have the movers take my books; I've moved once, when I had many fewer books than I have now, and it was awful.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:35 AM (2JVJo)

306 302 I decided last week to stop lurking in shame at the the book thread because my reading had been limited to military sf and/or heaving bosoms.
.
Posted by: sinmi at June 21, 2020 10:33 AM (A5IVt)

ain't nuttin wrong wit milSF or bosoms!
#AllBooksMatter

Posted by: vmom 2020 at June 21, 2020 10:35 AM (WwTwF)

307 277 About to start the packing process myself. Did you use movers? I just started with clothes and already feeling overwhelmed.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:23 AM (QzF6i)

If you can afford it, I vote yes. I have moved 10 times in the last 30 years, the last two times without movers. Next time, we are definitely hiring movers.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:27 AM (qrX0b)
_________

We're going to. One other reason to move is that Richmond homes are overpriced compared to NC, so we'll have a chunk of change in the bank, even paying for the movers.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (ZbwAu)

308 299 Moving still sucks, even WITH movers. It just sucks a little less.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:32 AM (qrX0b)

Try moving from GA to NY in a Maverick Grabber.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (mpXpK)

309 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

The Epoch Times had an interview with him a few weeks ago. He is apparently a devout Christian.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (2JVJo)

310 Troll's here. Anyone got a cracker to toss to it?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (wPVhA)

311 "Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday he will not take up President Trump's
nomination for a new U.S. attorney for Manhattan unless New York's
Democratic senators sign off."

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (TLxpZ)

312 Everybody's smelled the troll by now, right?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:37 AM (oVJmc)

313 Posted by: Pablo Cruz at June 21, 2020 10:35 AM (sM75W)

Your nic sucked and so do you.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:37 AM (2JVJo)

314 282
Posted by: Wethal at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (ZzVCK)
________

Abebooks is now owned by Amazon, so screw 'em. I have used Book Depository.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:38 AM (ZbwAu)

315 QMark - Thanks for the kind words about The Hidden Truth.

CarolinaGirl - My next book Fields & Energy: How Electromagnetism and Quantum Mechanics Work should be done this year. Then I'll finally have a chance to finish up A Hell of an Engineer, Book 4 of The Hidden Truth.

I appreciate the news about Harry Harrison's Deathworld. Excellent series and if it's free, it's well worth getting.

Also, I second all the recommendations for the excellent 1995 movie, Cold Comfort Farm. It's interesting how the movie is so true to the novel, although a few characters from the book were dropped or merged.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at June 21, 2020 10:38 AM (FXjhj)

316 315
"Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday he will not take up President Trump's

nomination for a new U.S. attorney for Manhattan unless New York's

Democratic senators sign off."

Posted by: Brian in New Orleans at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (TLxpZ)

He has always been a DIABLO asshoe.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 10:38 AM (mpXpK)

317 And now that the troll is here, it's time for me to go and try to enjoy one day without thinking of how fucked up America is.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:38 AM (2JVJo)

318 How fast can you destroy your fanbase? Brett Favre is about to find out.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at June 21, 2020 10:38 AM (dNzKv)

319 Pablo, honey, did you wash your ass?

Posted by: The Jerky Boys at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (EgshT)

320 306 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

That's...that's a lot of books. Just saying.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (qrX0b)

321 Not a pro, but I would go longer on the smoke at a low temp. Give it a chance to really penetrate the meat. Fat must be trimmed, tho, as it will block the smoke and since you're going shorter on the smoker, it won't render.

Wrap and finish as normal.
================
Too late on the fat. Mrs. Robin and I have been in a pitched battle about cutting the fat off of meat prior to cooking. Especially on the slow-cooker pp recipe. My thought is that since the slow cooker recipe is wet, lots of ketchup, vinegar and onion, it will have plenty of time, 6hrs, to render down. We have never overdone a piece of pork this way, so I *hope* this will be ok.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (7Fj9P)

322 How many people were at the Biden rally?

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (dNzKv)

323 Creeper, not taking my bedroom furniture. Mainly because it is a california king waterbed and very heavy pine dresser. Already consigned my dining and living room furniture. I have been here for 27 years and accumulated lots of framed posters and pictures from places where we traveled and have a tons of photo albums and stuff from my kids that I don;t want to part with.
I have been culling clothes and kitchen stuff but I love to cook so have stuff I refuse to part with.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (QzF6i)

324 Have a good one, MP4!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, with book repair tape in case anyone needs any at June 21, 2020 10:40 AM (PiwSw)

325 there are a lot of homesteader YouTubers ... and it is a cool concept I'd love to see grow. A good thing is, these people have gone through a transition, and can demonstrate how they overcame problems, how they learned efficient ways to do important tasks. (e.g. a plucker tool for "harvesting" chickens, a whole setup to make that process quick).

A homesteader book would be good ... seven years may not be enough experience to be sold as expertise, except those years may have been supplemented with YouTube education on every subject. When it comes to ag, the universities may still have some things to offer, like spray programs for fruits and vegies, or small business models from Cornell. County Agents are also helpful ... (better than the Green Acres character .. ha)

Working offline may not be easy for most, but many that made a couple million via the stock market bonanza could deploy some funny money into their piece of USA countryside, and build out their own farm/estate. It can be very rewarding, and could perhaps rebuild rural communities.

Posted by: illiniwek at June 21, 2020 10:40 AM (Cus5s)

326 I absolutely love the pictures of the various libraries in these threads. Dark stained wood, old carpets, obscure and interesting objects, leather chairs and more books than you can read in several years-that's where I want to be. I bet it smells fantastic in there.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 10:41 AM (Wm5SB)

327 302 I decided last week to stop lurking in shame at the the book thread because my reading had been limited to military sf and/or heaving bosoms.
--
Those are pretty much founding pillars of HQ thought.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 10:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

328 Just to avoid confusion, especially if the Banhammer drops:

PabloD: long-time lurker and occasional commenter.

Pablo Cruz: new troll.

Two entirely separate entities.

Posted by: PabloD at June 21, 2020 10:42 AM (r/iuN)

329 I bought Muldoon's "To Save Us All from Ruin" last week. It's going slowly. The book is so well-written...so perfectly edited...that I don't ever want to reach the end. So I read five pages and force myself to put it down. At this rate I might be able to stretch it out till August.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:42 AM (XxJt1)

330 The Epoch Times had an interview with [Dean Koontz] a few weeks ago. He is apparently a devout Christian.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 10:36 AM (2JVJo)

I Did Not Know That.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:43 AM (qlVRg)

331 Anyway the story is about a Cossack father and his two sons fighting the Poles; one of whom, Andrei, falls for some polack trim and switches side before being killed by his father."

I never could believe that Yul Brynner had a pansy ass twink of a son like Tony Curtis. He shoulda been like Sheriff Buford T. Justice:
"Son, when we get home I'm gonna smack yo' mama in the mouth."
"Why's that daddy, why's that?"
"Because they's NO WAY you are any son of mine!!!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 10:43 AM (V2Yro)

332 Saw Trump rally did have 4 mil viewers
Posted by: Skip

Geez, what a flop. We can now confirm that we were expecting 8 million.

Posted by: Xi NN at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (n/x6m)

333
I don't know if this will preserve some Kindle books but one of my Kindles, an older one, recently maxed out its storage. I turned off the wi-fi connection hoping that Amazon won't be able to effect it in any way.

I have what likely is one of the first version Kindles. It used "Whisper-something-or-another" networking to deliver purchased items to it. That network no longer exists, apparently, so I can no longer load material on it via wifi or any other networking means. I can use SIMM cards (or whatever they're called) though.

Suffice it to say, I have never used my Kindle that much.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (pNxlR)

334 I was just looking at the calibre site and clicked on the history tab. The guy who developed it is named . . . Kovid.

Also, hi sinmi!

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (/669Q)

335 If you don't own a book or recording in physical form you don't own it, whatever you may have thought.

In particular, ink-on-paper is one of the most durable formats known, especially when there are multiple copies of a work (thanks to printing), deposited in multiple locations.

Word to the wise...

Posted by: PubliusII at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (NCsa7)

336 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob

I was convinced that he had sold his soul to be able to publish so much but then in his non-fiction tribute to his dog, A Big Little Life, he let the cat out of the bag. It was through hard work and regular hours. How disapponting!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (+y/Ru)

337 "Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday he will not take up President Trump's
nomination for a new U.S. attorney for Manhattan unless New York's
====================
Apparently this guy US Attorney was the proverbial finger in the dyke on the Epstein pedo crap. He was refusing to investigate, wouldn't interview Bonnie Prince Andrew, and let Epstein's killers walk away. He was protecting the Clintons and, I'm sure a shit-ton of other politiratti. Mz. Lindsey being one of them.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (7Fj9P)

338 I don't have confirmation, but apparently protestors were blocking the entrances or roads to the arena.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at June 21, 2020 10:45 AM (dNzKv)

339 I've been reading "Lost Country Life: How English Country Folk Lived, Worked, Threshed, Thatched, Rolled fleece, Milled corn, Brewed mead" the last few weeks. I find it fascinating and highly recommend it.

Posted by: JTB at June 21, 2020 10:45 AM (7EjX1)

340 336 Saw Trump rally did have 4 mil viewers
Posted by: Skip

Geez, what a flop. We can now confirm that we were expecting 8 million.
Posted by: Xi NN at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (n/x6m)

"Sources say..."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:45 AM (qlVRg)

341 306 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

On a giant pile of money that would make Smaug blush. I read he just sold one of his houses in California for $50,000,000.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 10:45 AM (Wm5SB)

342 287 I'm most of the way through Taras Bulba, Gogol's longest story other than Dead Souls.
.....
Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (y7DUB)
______

I've never read either, but my wife has, as has a friend who is into Russia. Frankly, I don't care for Russia, given what little I know, and only Chekhov appeals to me (very short, for a Russkie.)

I was just talking to him, and that came up. One point he made is that it seems clear from Dead Souls that, in Russia, "serfs" could be bought and sold. Now, that simply wasn't true in the West; despite what people say, they were not property, period. So I asked him in what sense they were serfs and not slaves. He couldn't say.

In general, it seems that almost all Americans get their notions of serfdom from Russian practice. Which means that everything they believe on the subject is BS. But that is generally true of the Middle Ages. My very first college class, the opening of the first lecture was "Everything you think you know about the Middle Ages is false."

He was right.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:46 AM (ZbwAu)

343 Pablo Cruz: new troll.
==================
Guh-reat. Another 2 named poll-troll.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:46 AM (7Fj9P)

344 Those descendants of Edward III and Queen Philippa had a wild time fighting each other around a century later!

Posted by: Isophorone at June 21, 2020 10:47 AM (Nrz1h)

345 Sharon, with minimal furniture it should be an easy move. Hope you have half a dozen strong male friends.

No, females don't move. They pack. Males move.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:47 AM (XxJt1)

346
326 How many people were at the Biden rally?
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (dNzKv)

... and, right there, the argument ended.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at June 21, 2020 10:47 AM (pNxlR)

347 How many people were at the Biden rally?

Billions of people prevented from seeing Biden because only twenty seats were available.

Posted by: The NYT at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (Ypqc1)

348 Trump's Rally managed to draw 4.2 million viewers on YouTube, and nearly 20,000 people live, while two virulently racist domestic terrorist groups are running wild in every major US city, including Tulsa. Oh, and then there's that WuFlu issue. And despite 90+ percent of the media slobbing Biden's twig and berries, the rat-bastard couldn't fill a Denny's. The only thing the Trump campaign screwed up was not anticipating how many people are genuinely concerned about their personal safety. I don't believe for a second that a significant number of domestic terrorists organized online to drive up the number of ticket requests. Nope, normal people are scared to show up anywhere near any US metropolitan area today. And how can you blame them?

Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (m5Tlg)

349 I was convinced that he had sold his soul to be able to publish so much but then in his non-fiction tribute to his dog, A Big Little Life, he let the cat out of the bag. It was through hard work and regular hours. How disapponting!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 10:44 AM (+y/Ru)

I remember an interview with Mickey Spillane about how he wrote so much. He said "I get up each day, I sit down and I spend 8 - 10 hours each day typing. I do take off most weekends."

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (V2Yro)

350 Those descendants of Edward III and Queen Philippa had a wild time fighting each other around a century later!
Posted by: Isophorone at June 21, 2020 10:47 AM (Nrz1h)

---------

The guy has two English wars to his credit, the Hundred Years War and the War of the Roses.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (wPVhA)

351 148 Your NYT propaganda headline for the day:

"Trump's Tulsa Rally Fizzles As Seats Go Empty."
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at June 21, 2020 09:38 AM (2JVJo)

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

And this is why Trump keeps designating them as Fake News, because they are.
Posted by: Decaf at June 21, 2020 09:51 AM (xarPm)
------------------------------------------------------------------

This wasn't fake news.

Trump and Parcale set the expectations with their bragging about one million sign ups.

The crowd ended up being a paltry 6000 with tons of empty seats in one of the reddest parts of the US.

AOC and her minions totally punked the President of the United States and his re-election campaign and they did it even as they talked about doing this very thing all week long on TikTok.

Brad Parscale should be fired today. AOC is a mule-faced annoying hag but she earned that gloating tweet.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden sits at home on his sofa laughing his ass off as he goes up another couple of points in the polls because of this disaster.

Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (HgasB)

352 Read the first section of Proust's Cities of the Plain, where young Marcel witnesses a homosexual encounter between de Charlus and a tailor friend of the family's servant. This begins a long disquisition on homosexuality which would be regarded as a hate crime today in the key of REEEEEEEE! Anyway it was entertaining including how dense Marcel had been previously about figuring out what de Charlus was all about. Of course after this he looks for homo tendencies in everyone.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:49 AM (y7DUB)

353 I bought Muldoon's "To Save Us All from Ruin" last week. S
Posted by: creeper

I saw the Dino De Laurentiis movie Anzio starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk the other day. What a piece of crap!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 10:49 AM (+y/Ru)

354 That IS Rita Hayworth. Her profile is unmistakable.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 10:50 AM (zr5Kq)

355 I don't have confirmation, but apparently protestors were blocking the entrances or roads to the arena.

Remember people being attacked by the DemoNazis leave Trump rallies in 2016? Surely I'm not the only one who remembers that.

Having the National Guard outside to clear the thugs away should restore some confidence in people to turn out for the next ones.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:50 AM (oVJmc)

356 332 Just to avoid confusion, especially if the Banhammer drops:
PabloD: long-time lurker and occasional commenter.

Pablo Cruz: new troll.

Two entirely separate entities.

Posted by: PabloD at June 21, 2020 10:42 AM (r/iuN)

And do not forget the Paolo, who is in a class by himself.

Or so Pablo Cruz' mother told me last night.

Posted by: the Paolo at June 21, 2020 10:50 AM (qlVRg)

357
You can't beat 6a.m to 6 p.m Koonts.........unless ya have a big stick.................

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:50 AM (5IHGB)

358 Travis Corcoran Is a very good author. He wrote

The Powers of the Earth

And

Causes of Separation

Both of which chronicle the founding of an independent colony on the moon after a low cost antigravity device is discovered. The US has gone full democrat totalitarian and are NOT happy that there are folks not under their control thriving under a libertarian culture.

The one thing I found doubtful is Travis s dedication to his libertarian ideals. To the point where a group of Mormons are made to be somewhat the bad guy for not wanting a gambling/prostitution hall in their tunnel.

I found it ironic that Travis himself had a problem with neighbor in NH who built an ugly barn that was not at proper setback or code and the local town refused to do anything about it

I like Travis, some of his opinions, and I have some sympathy for libertarianism. But all too often it turns into a Shiite show. I very much enjoyed lurking on Travis twitter but he s made it private now (too many attacks from the left) and I won t join just to read him.

Again, irony. It s the rights libertarianism that has encouraged the cancel culture that caused him to block his twitter feed.

Anyway. Try his two other books. They are free for kindle unlimited subscribers and moderately priced - 6 bucks - for non subscribers.

He had two connected short stories too.

Staking a Claim

And

The Team.

Both are too short for the price -3 bucks- but are worthwhile for unlimited. The Team really should be expanded (it is a somewhat prequel to his novels that describes the nasty US of the future and shows the rescue of Uplifted Intelligent Dogs). He needs to show the world of the future and pull in his other hero (who himself is a standing for Travis ). Maybe now that his homesteading Kickstarter is done.

Staking a Claim shows the discovery of a pure vein of gold on the moon and an attempt to steal it. I had to drop my disbelief as the geologist who discovers it goes to the claim office with no way to identify the exact location. Please. I have known many geologists - even academics - and identifying location is a key to every field visit and they ALL do field work. It s part of their undergraduate work The novelette depends on this plot twist and falls apart without it. Indeed, with the earth hanging in the sky and stars all around And exact clocks it wouldn t be hard to have software that gives you exact lunar positions If Travis Rewrote the character and caused some suit malfunctions it might work better. But it was well written. Again, he is an excellent writer.

Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 10:51 AM (l2vZg)

359 Oh, look, the troll changed his nick again.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:51 AM (oVJmc)

360 How come nobody on Downton Abbey works masks in 1919? The left keeps posting pics of people wearing masks during the Spanish Flu. DA was also famously praised for being super accurate with the depiction of life in that era. Yet not a single mask to be seen during the flu story line. Almost as if it is all bullshit or something.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:51 AM (r3Ami)

361 And this is the time on Sprockets when I delete my response to the trolls before I post it... and dance!

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (Wm5SB)

362 Meanwhile, Joe Biden sits at home on his sofa laughing his ass off as he goes up another couple of points in the polls because of this disaster.

Actually, it's because a leather sofa and it sounds funny when I fart. Geronimo!

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (dYmWY)

363 Biden hasn't filled senior leadership positions in key battleground states.

But he is working on his transition team.

Posted by: Last Days of the Republic. at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (jZZUS)

364 A Dr Smith troll!

Posted by: Heart of Darkness at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (nFRLh)

365 That is a very fine library. The pic is somewhat impaired - the pile of student laundry on the floor.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (zr5Kq)

366
I'd have to read 6a.m to 6p.m to READ ALL HIS BOOKS...call him Library Koonts....but ya doesn't have to call him Shirley ?

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:53 AM (5IHGB)

367 Creeper, actually that's my biggest problem. First of all, how to empty the waterbed and then how to get rid of furniture that probably no one wants. My sons have actually offered to come and rent a truck if I don;t have much furniture and it looks like that'sthe case. Have a pretty queen bed in the spare bedroom I might take and a few chairs and side tables, lamps. I am alos not looking forward to making the drive from MA to DC. Haven't done it since the kids's college days.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:53 AM (QzF6i)

368 352 Trump's Rally managed to draw 4.2 million viewers on YouTube, and nearly 20,000 people live, while two virulently racist domestic terrorist groups are running wild in every major US city, including Tulsa. Oh, and then there's that WuFlu issue. And despite 90+ percent of the media slobbing Biden's twig and berries, the rat-bastard couldn't fill a Denny's. The only thing the Trump campaign screwed up was not anticipating how many people are genuinely concerned about their personal safety. I don't believe for a second that a significant number of domestic terrorists organized online to drive up the number of ticket requests. Nope, normal people are scared to show up anywhere near any US metropolitan area today. And how can you blame them?
Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 10:48 AM (m5Tlg)
-================================

LOL, it wasn't domestic terrorists!!!!

It was a bunch of kids. Literally, kids. Seems like lots of K-pop group fans.

And it was no secret. They talked the entire week about what they were doing and the Trump campaign didn't run a single check of who was actually signing up

Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 10:54 AM (HgasB)

369 Fucking trolls! Get out of the Book Thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 10:54 AM (Dc2NZ)

370 Okies are going soft. I've been watching them through the Kung Flu hoax and the BLM crap. They're still wearing masks and social-distancing. They're not condemning the riots. This does not bode well.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 10:55 AM (XxJt1)

371

I remembers the 100 years Whore.......Stamina was her name.

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 10:55 AM (5IHGB)

372 for whatever reasons, and there are several, only a few thousand people showed up to the rally after a week of people talking about 1 million ticket requests. Its embarrassing. Tomorrow nobody will remember this and probably not one vote will change because of it. But FFS just admit it was a big let down.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 10:55 AM (r3Ami)

373 367 Biden hasn't filled senior leadership positions in key battleground states.

But he is working on his transition team.
Posted by: Last Days of the Republic. at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (jZZUS)

Transition to assisted living? seems prudent. I approve.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 10:55 AM (Wm5SB)

374 368 A Dr Smith troll!
Posted by: Heart of Darkness at June 21, 2020 10:52 AM (nFRLh)
---
He's a bubble-headed boobie!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 10:55 AM (Dc2NZ)

375 Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 10:54 AM (HgasB)

---------

Okay, you win. I'm a discouraged voter who won't bother to make it to the polls. Now go fuck yourself.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (wPVhA)

376 Essentially, AOC and the NYT have challenged Trump to have bigger rallies.

I know who I'm betting on.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (8DRUP)

377 Does OM not have banhammer rights?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (oVJmc)

378 In general, it seems that almost all Americans get their notions of serfdom from Russian practice. Which means that everything they believe on the subject is BS. But that is generally true of the Middle Ages. My very first college class, the opening of the first lecture was "Everything you think you know about the Middle Ages is false."

He was right.
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 10:46 AM (ZbwAu)

That's an astute point and is bolstered by the fact that Russia is so geographically huge that it will have an outsized impact on how we conceptually think of things. Plus they were always at odds with their neighbors, either officially or otherwise.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (y7DUB)

379 Btw if Biden wins I do not support a peaceful transition of power.

The new standard is set and we must follow it.

Posted by: Last Days of the Republic. at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (jZZUS)

380 345 306 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

On a giant pile of money that would make Smaug blush. I read he just sold one of his houses in California for $50,000,000.
Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 10:45 AM (Wm5SB)

Devoted his latest book is fantastic. It is a very very different story that is fun, heartwarming, yet mysterious. And with Kindle Unlimited the audio is included.

Posted by: rhennigantx at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (JFO2v)

381 It feels very odd to have my smoker thumping away, and be drinking coffee.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:57 AM (7Fj9P)

382

Hi Marxist. How many people showed up for your demented boy's rally? Less than 70. How many people watched Trump's rally on YouTube? 4.2 million. Where's the proof that anything you and AOC are claiming about your terrorist friends applying for tickets in significant numbers? Nowhere. And given that your domestic terrorist friends are roaming throughout every city in the country, including Tulsa, I'm frankly amazed thousands of folks showed up at all. The only mistake Trump's campaign made was underestimating the fear normal Americans have of greasy filth like yourself.

Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 10:57 AM (m5Tlg)

383 some of the Trump rally "low" numbers may have been same as in elections ... people thought it would be so crowded they didn't go out of their way to attend. There may have been some legit fear as well, with the curfew and National Guard ... and still some after effects of virus fear.

7000 ... not bad. More would be better ... or maybe large riots in the streets is the way to campaign? "Vote Joe ... Friend to China, Friend to BLM" ... no jobs for you, and they will burn your closed business.

Posted by: illiniwek at June 21, 2020 10:57 AM (Cus5s)

384 Now, that simply wasn't true in the West; despite what people say, they were not property, period. So I asked him in what sense they were serfs and not slaves. He couldn't say."

They weren't property, but there was an attempt made to tie them to the land; meaning that if some other lord took over the estate, the serfs were bound to stay in place. In England, this took place *after* the Black Death terror in the mid 1300's. There were huge labor shortages everywhere and the great estates had difficulty functioning, so they attempted to use Law to fix people in place. However, it didn't last long, it was still too easy for people to move into the regrowing cities and join the merchant class. And the cities had no love for, nor desire to help, the landed gentry.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 10:58 AM (V2Yro)

385 Biden hasn't filled senior leadership positions in key battleground states.

But I did just fill my pants. Oops...

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 10:58 AM (BvZkh)

386 Queen Philippa was my multiple great grandmother.

Her first born was The Black Prince.

Michael Jones wrote the book, The Black Prince - England's Greatest Medieval Warrior, $14.99 for the Kindle edition.

Posted by: MachiasPrivateer at June 21, 2020 10:59 AM (EMi53)

387 That arena looked pretty full to me and I also saw a twitter feed talking about an entrance being blocked by BLM. I would also assume that the capacity is people in seats and there were a lot of people standing on the floor so a few empty seats in the upper tiers is kind of meaningless.

Still remember seeing a Hillary rally where they had to close off half the arena with a blue cloth barrier so it looked full.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:59 AM (QzF6i)

388
7000 ... not bad. More would be better ... or maybe large riots in the streets is the way to campaign? "Vote Joe ... Friend to China, Friend to BLM" ... no jobs for you, and they will burn your closed business.
Posted by: illiniwek at June 21, 2020 10:57 AM (Cus5s)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Not bad, lol?

In Tulsa, OK?

The only reason Trump went there was to get enormous turnout to launch his re-election campaign

And he walks out to a half-empty arena!

Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 11:00 AM (HgasB)

389 (HgasB)
----------

Okay, I have to laugh at that hash.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:01 AM (/669Q)

390 376....

So when a candidate receives what amounts to billions in free media advertising, skewed push-polls by the dozens favoring his campaign, and get-out-jail free cards for everything from forced rape to interference in foreign affairs to get your corrupt kid off the hook, should said candidate be embarrassed that he couldn't attract more than 70 people to a political rally?

Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 11:02 AM (m5Tlg)

391 Okay, I have to laugh at that hash.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:01 AM (/669Q)

Ha, I just spotted it too, and was about to comment.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:02 AM (qrX0b)

392 Can we get rid of faggy trolls and their faggy gobbledegook ? They are interrupting my intellectual meditations. As a much as people trying to have a conversation with them.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:02 AM (zr5Kq)

393 So who is the queen that Queen's College memorializes? Elizabeth I? Mary?
--------

As a general question, of course, it depends upon the 'Queen's College' in question. That's not the instant case, but I wonder how many there are? A lot, I expect.

Queen's College in Charlotte was so named as to honor Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg. As is the city (Charlotte) and the county (Mecklenburg).

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (1vynn)

394 382
That's an astute point and is bolstered by the fact that Russia is so geographically huge that it will have an outsized impact on how we conceptually think of things. Plus they were always at odds with their neighbors, either officially or otherwise.
Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (y7DUB)
___________

Another book I've been rereading is Regine Pernoud's Those Terrible Middle Ages. It's a refutation of the standard view. She says that in Eastern Europe "serfdom" came late, and wasn't really serfdom. The trouble is that I don't think her very reliable when she gets outside France. But I do know, from other sources, that serfdom revived in a more oppressive form there, and relatively late, when it was dead or dying in the West.

Russia itself is only semi-European, anyway. It's the only place I've heard of where "Throne and Altar" and ethnic nationalism were allied from the start. In the West that wasn't true - they were opposed movements.

There's a reason Patton called them "Mongols."

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (ZbwAu)

395 if tik tok kids punked the Trump campaigns easily he needs to do serious house cleaning

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (r3Ami)

396 391 That arena looked pretty full to me and I also saw a twitter feed talking about an entrance being blocked by BLM. I would also assume that the capacity is people in seats and there were a lot of people standing on the floor so a few empty seats in the upper tiers is kind of meaningless.

Still remember seeing a Hillary rally where they had to close off half the arena with a blue cloth barrier so it looked full.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:59 AM (QzF6i)
-================================

For God's sake...

The capacity for the rally was around 13,000, which includes people on the floor and in the seats.

The attendance was 6200.

This had nothing to do with the entrances, lol. AOC and a bunch of teenage girls atom bombed that rally and caused it to end up a PR disaster and make Trump and Parcale laughingstocks.

Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (HgasB)

397 The best part of AOC is that she will get gerrymandered out of Congress by her own party. That's gonna be popcorn worthy.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 11:04 AM (Wm5SB)

398 In case you were wondering, no advance tickets to Trump's rally were sent out. I signed up within two hours if the announcement and the response did not include tickets. People claiming to have received them are lying through their teeth. It was always first come, first seated.

I'm not sure why they even bothered with pre-registration. It sure backfired on them. Time to take another look at your campaign staff, Mr. President.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 11:04 AM (XxJt1)

399 PC = Personal Computer = VERY important. The so-called "cloud" is a new iteration of mainframe computing. You do not own or have full control over anything in the cloud. You're at the mercy of whoever owns the servers your data is on, including and especially their security. You'll never know if someone else is rummaging thru your data, whether it's the cloud provider, a scammer, or the NSA. You're at the mercy of their license servers. Chromebooks? In addition to allowing Google to look at your every keystroke, you're also at the mercy of your Internet connection.

Make mine personal, please, with a side of offline storage.
Posted by: yyymale at June 21, 2020 09:39 AM

Look, the cloud thing is stuff done "as a service" and it's done that way because it's convenient for the user, that is, you. You don't put data "in the cloud" because you want to control it, you put data in "the cloud" because you want to be able to access it conveniently from wherever there's an Internet connection, and most people have several Internet connections no matter where they go.

I have two cloud servers and they're in the cloud because otherwise providing multihomed Internet service to them would prohibitively expensive. (Thousands of dollars per month rather than thirty-five.) The data on them is important and is backed up and the stuff I really want to keep is on a physical device in my possession.

I get what you're saying about control, but the reason that cloud computing is taking over is because it's convenient and inexpensive for the user, not because some mysterious and malevolent overlord has decreed it to be necessary.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at June 21, 2020 11:04 AM (edlKR)

400 Oklahoma not exactly a tourist destination and sparsely populated. Let's see how many turn out for a rally in Florida. Isn;t that the next rally spot?Also, streaming viewers get just as much uplift as those in person, Especially as you can enjoy an adult beverage at the same time.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (QzF6i)

401 381 Does OM not have banhammer rights?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (oVJmc)

I do, but it's funny to watch this bobble-headed booby flailing about and flinging his flop sweat all over the place.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (qlVRg)

402 Here's what may have happened to you, Mr. Muse,, if a reader complains about quality issues, Amazon will notify the author of them, and if the author doesn't fix, Amazon will actually suppress the book. (Take it down)

This happened to me, once--some random reader complained about punctuation (since my books have a lot of run-on sentences) and even though the book was 2 years old and still making them money, Amazon took it down. :0
I gently explained that this seemed dumb, and they apologized and put it back up, but it shows you that a lot of what they do is automated, and not subject to human common sense.
So authors, just be aware.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (AwPyG)

403 Why even have ticket requests for a free event? Make it first come first served.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (r3Ami)

404 394 376....

So when a candidate receives what amounts to billions in free media advertising, skewed push-polls by the dozens favoring his campaign, and get-out-jail free cards for everything from forced rape to interference in foreign affairs to get your corrupt kid off the hook, should said candidate be embarrassed that he couldn't attract more than 70 people to a political rally?
Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 11:02 AM (m5Tlg)
=================================

If he was in a tough race and campaigning mattered, yeah.

If, like Biden, the candidate is 10 pts ahead and expanding his lead every week by doing nothing? Nope, they could not care less.

Posted by: ZacharySmith at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (HgasB)

405 C'mon, Zach, who's the real candidate? You know it, I know it, and pretty much the whole world knows it that you're losing hard with Joe Biden in there.

When's the switch happen? Do you go with someone detestable like Hillary to try to delay her indictment, or did you pick someone from the phonebook and hope that they don't have a record?

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (dYmWY)

406
Creeper, actually that's my biggest problem. First of all, how to empty
the waterbed and then how to get rid of furniture that probably no one
wants. My sons have actually offered to come and rent a truck if I don;t
have much furniture and it looks like that'sthe case. Have a pretty
queen bed in the spare bedroom I might take and a few chairs and side
tables, lamps. I am alos not looking forward to making the drive from MA
to DC. Haven't done it since the kids's college days.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 10:53 AM (QzF6i)

==========================
Emptying the waterbed shouldn't be a problem. All you need is a waterbed fill and drain kit (amazon), a standard garden hose, and a wet-dry vacuum cleaner or some other vacuum system for initiating the water flow from the mattress through the hose. Make sure the drainage end of the hose is below the mattress level. Attache the wet-dry hose to end of the drainage end of the garden hose long enough to pull the mattress water through the hose. Once the water starts flowing, you can disengage the wet-dry vac and let gravity do the rest. Count on a couple of hours to drain, depending on the size of the mattress.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (Pqytn)

407 Morning, Horde.

Mrs IMG had "a procedure" on her kidney this morning. I'm told she has a stent and that it went well. That's all I know about that part, as the Doc I spoke with is a cardiologist. She had low BP, so they are giving her meds to boost that and she's being monitored in the cardiac ICU. Also, her liver enzymes are elevated.

So, more docs getting involved. I'm told they should have a clearer picture by the end of today.

Once she is back in her room, I can go visit (visitors are restricted to day of and day after procedures).

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (xX1Pc)

408 Let's see how many turn out for a rally in Florida. Isn;t that the next rally spot?

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (QzF6i)

Is that where the next one is? Any FL Morons have a couch I can crash on?

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (qrX0b)

409 Great having Hans Schantz as a moron!

Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (l2vZg)

410 Very stupid people are attracted to me but they serve the cause well.

Posted by: Zombie Karl Marx at June 21, 2020 11:07 AM (EgshT)

411 I do, but it's funny to watch this bobble-headed booby flailing about and flinging his flop sweat all over the place.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (qlVRg)

---------

That's rough, OM. Poor guy was sailing along thinking that this was some of his best work ever, and now you've ruined it for him.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:07 AM (wPVhA)

412 Books...I'm reading books, not trolls.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:07 AM (1vynn)

413 Emptying the waterbed shouldn't be a problem. All you need is a waterbed fill and drain kit (amazon), a standard garden hose, and a wet-dry vacuum cleaner or some other vacuum system for initiating the water flow from the mattress through the hose. Make sure the drainage end of the hose is below the mattress level. Attache the wet-dry hose to end of the drainage end of the garden hose long enough to pull the mattress water through the hose. Once the water starts flowing, you can disengage the wet-dry vac and let gravity do the rest. Count on a couple of hours to drain, depending on the size of the mattress.
Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (Pqytn)

Or, you could enlist the help of ZacharySmith, troll extraordinaire. I bet he could suck that mattress water through the hose, tout suite!

Posted by: One of the quiet ones at June 21, 2020 11:08 AM (2GPSc)

414 (HgasB)
----------

Okay, I have to laugh at that hash.

Posted by: bluebell

The Great HgasB by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:08 AM (+y/Ru)

415 "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

- Grouch Marx, who could've originated Marxism, but chose not to, so he left that to another guy with the same name.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Who can fight the beast? Revelation 13:4 at June 21, 2020 11:08 AM (HaL55)

416 I do, but it's funny to watch this bobble-headed booby flailing about and flinging his flop sweat all over the place.

lol!! Pure poetry right there!

Posted by: Jewells45 at June 21, 2020 11:08 AM (dUJdY)

417 IMG - Prayers.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:09 AM (l0Lgi)

418 392....

The reason Trump went to Tulsa is because it's not completely chock full of racist savages like you laying waste to everything capable of incineration. That said, you rat bastards did manage to have the mayor not lift the local curfew until the eleventh hour, and showed up with enough numbers to bar entry into certain gates flanking the arena. As I said previously, the only mistake Campaign Trump made was underestimating the fear you fiends have imbibed into the normal American psychology. That won't happen again.

Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 11:09 AM (m5Tlg)

419 Look at ZachoffSmith's hash: HgasB. He's a Hot air B-lister. He's like Pia Isadora, he fucked his way to the middle!

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 11:09 AM (7Fj9P)

420 Continued prayers Iron Mike.

Posted by: Jewells45 at June 21, 2020 11:09 AM (dUJdY)

421 Mrs IMG had "a procedure" on her kidney this morning. I'm told she has a stent and that it went well. That's all I know about that part, as the Doc I spoke with is a cardiologist. She had low BP, so they are giving her meds to boost that and she's being monitored in the cardiac ICU. Also, her liver enzymes are elevated.

So, more docs getting involved. I'm told they should have a clearer picture by the end of today.

Once she is back in her room, I can go visit (visitors are restricted to day of and day after procedures).
Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (xX1Pc)

Thanks for the update. Continuing prayers for her health.

Posted by: One of the quiet ones at June 21, 2020 11:10 AM (2GPSc)

422 Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 11:09 AM (m5Tlg)

---------

I read it twice and I still can't figure out what side this guy is on.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:10 AM (wPVhA)

423 Once she is back in her room, I can go visit (visitors are restricted to day of and day after procedures).
Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (xX1Pc)

Hang in there IMG. We're praying for you both. Don't let the process grind you down and don't get ahead of yourself worrying about problems that don't exist yet and may never exist.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 11:10 AM (Wm5SB)

424 409...

You keep believing those polls filth. Just like you did in 2016.

Posted by: PacosMojo at June 21, 2020 11:11 AM (m5Tlg)

425 OK, due to popular demand, I just dosed the thread with a shot of Troll-B-Gone. Let's see if it works.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:11 AM (qlVRg)

426 IMG, I'm sending a basketful of healing thoughts to Mrs. IMG. Please keep us posted.

Posted by: creeper at June 21, 2020 11:11 AM (XxJt1)

427 Russia itself is only semi-European, anyway. It's the only place I've heard of where "Throne and Altar" and ethnic nationalism were allied from the start. In the West that wasn't true - they were opposed movements.

There's a reason Patton called them "Mongols."
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (ZbwAu)

The constant threat from the east warped their culture from the start. It meant that only a heavily militarized and tightly controlled society could survive, and those are authoritarian by their nature.

Because it was protected by the Channel, a place like England could get away with having a chaotic society with multiple centers of power, which all had to negotiate with each other for control.

Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (V2Yro)

428 “Hall of the Queen’s Scholars at Oxford” was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield, a chaplain in the household of Queen Philippa, who named it in her honour.

-

You know, that might be an interesting place to research the invention of slavery by the United States.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Only black lives matter. They say so in What We Believe. at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (Vjz25)

429 Good grief, really?

Nuke this clown, please.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (hku12)

430 The Stainless Steel Rat versus the Copyright Office?

That could be a fun romp.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (ObWxz)

431 Sounds like Mrs. IMG is getting the medical help she needs. Prayers up for you both, Iron Mike.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Who can fight the beast? Revelation 13:4 at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (HaL55)

432 Toddler, 3 teens among 9 dead, 56 shot in Chicago violence on Father's Day weekend

Send in the social workers

Posted by: TheQuietMan at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (Ty/7D)

433 The best part of AOC is that she will get gerrymandered out of Congress by her own party. That's gonna be popcorn worthy.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Low Glycemic Souls at June 21, 2020 11:04 AM

That will not happen.

Posted by: Last Days of the Republic. at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (jZZUS)

434 I called them "bullet bras".

Posted by: Vic

The "Bird-dog Bra". Turns Setters into Pointers.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (Qio/u)

435 381
Does OM not have banhammer rights?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at June 21, 2020 10:56 AM (oVJmc)

It is my understaning that the COBs can delete posts but only Ace can ban somebody.

Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (mpXpK)

436 OK, due to popular demand, I just dosed the thread with a shot of Troll-B-Gone.

thanks.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (zr5Kq)

437 I can't quite understand why the Covid thing has affected my efficient use of my time, but it has. Curiously, I haven't been reading as much as I normally do. Reporting what I am reading would be the same report I have made for three weeks.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (l0Lgi)

438 Trump just days ago: "We've never had an empty seat, and we certainly won't in Oklahoma."

Reality: THOUSANDS of empty seats.

Posted by: Postal Carrier at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (e5l6J)

439 Look, fat. When my fellow drooling basement dwellers come here, they really bring it!

Posted by: Gropin' Uncle Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 11:14 AM (EgshT)

440 OM ---> sM75W

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:14 AM (zr5Kq)

441 "'The rockets go up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department' says Werner von Braun."
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 10:28 AM (qlVRg)

In his defense, von Braun was arrested by the Gestapo late in the war for saying that the bombardment rockets were just a step they had to take, but the real goal was Mars. Gen. Dornberger had to negotiate with the SS and with Speer to get him back, since Himmler mostly wanted part of their budget and control over the program.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:14 AM (WyVLE)

442 I'm reading "A Stillness at Appomattox" by Bruce Catton. I figure it will be banned soon, so haste makes waste.

I got the original edition for $5.00 at a vintage mall. There are lots of them in this area where individuals rent out booth space in a larger structure. My favorite one used to be the roller skating rink that I went to every weekend as a kid. It's in a USAF base town, so there are tons of good history offerings, military history in particular. I also got a copy of The Forsyte Saga for about $3.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (qe5CM)

443 Searching for "Trump Rally" on Bing.
First page results: "Democrats Rip Trump for dangerous mass gathering despite Covid spikes", "Fact Checking Trump Tulsa Rally" "Atlanta Mayor Calls Trump Rally an Embarassment; Not What We Need Right Now" etc etc etc.

Posted by: xnycpeasant at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (lcQJG)

444 We are letting the trolls kill the book thread so I am going to stop feeding them.
Back to books. I read the new Nora Roberts book, Hideaway this week. I have always thought she was a clever writer as she seems to always know a lot about her characters professions. I felt she researched the way her character would behave and it felt real. Well, Hideaway was incredibly boring, predictable and I kept skipping ahead to just finish it.
I realized why I like Artemis's books so much. Her characters are quirky and unpredictable and the stories twist and turn so you don;t want to skip anything. I like Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series for the same reasons. I've read some of Slaughter's other novels and don;t like them as much. Very dark and bloody.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (QzF6i)

445 it is using a VPN to roll through. can we doxx it ?

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (zr5Kq)

446 I demand a higher quality trool.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (ObWxz)

447 I have a good Rush Limbaugh story.

I bought a couple of his books for my son, who really was amused by the big headed Rush on the covers (Rush s head is really unnaturally large).

My son said it reminded him of the Fat King on the Schoolhouse Rock Shot Heard Around the World. I sent a note to Rush about that and he sent a nice thank you note and a set of his Audio Books (to date) and a stuffed Liberty. My son was thrilled.

God help Rush defeat his cancer. His loss would be a disaster for this nation. No one else comes close to him (Mark Steyn is his only acceptable sit in).

Maybe Tucker has the brass to take his place. Certainly not that simpering Ben whatsisname or the idiot Hannity.

Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (l2vZg)

448
That will not happen.
Posted by: Last Days of the Republic
-------

The more radical, and outspoken a Dem is, the more they will be protected, both by The Party, and the fellow-traveling media.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (9Fwwf)

449 There's a reason Patton called them "Mongols."
Posted by: Eeyore

I mentioned Groom's El Paso above. Patton is a character in the book, a young lieutenant aide to Black Jack Pershing during the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa, which is true. He is also presented as a bad ass which is also true.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (+y/Ru)

450 Trump had empty seats and it was dangerous for people to attend.

Square that circle.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Only black lives matter. They say so in What We Believe. at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (Vjz25)

451 401

Where do people come up with this? AOC is Not going anywhere. She will most likely be a VP candidate for a Dem ticket in 2028 or 2032.

Posted by: Hotgas VIP Member at June 21, 2020 11:16 AM (r3Ami)

452 Too late on the fat. Mrs. Robin and I have been in a
pitched battle about cutting the fat off of meat prior to cooking.
Especially on the slow-cooker pp recipe. My thought is that since the
slow cooker recipe is wet, lots of ketchup, vinegar and onion, it will
have plenty of time, 6hrs, to render down. We have never overdone a
piece of pork this way, so I *hope* this will be ok.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at June 21, 2020 10:39 AM (7Fj9P)

=========================
If you are doing a BBQ slow cook, trimming the fat is mandatory if you are applying a dry rub. The rub will just flow away with the melted fat and never touch the meat. A rub on top of a fat layer is wasted rub.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:16 AM (Pqytn)

453 Russia itself is only semi-European, anyway. It's the only place I've heard of where "Throne and Altar" and ethnic nationalism were allied from the start. In the West that wasn't true - they were opposed movements.

There's a reason Patton called them "Mongols."
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:03 AM (ZbwAu)

The reason the European part is stressed is as much as it is was Peter the Great building up Saint Petersburg after seeing his parents slaughtered in the Kremlin. It's an overwhelmingly Asian country.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 11:16 AM (y7DUB)

454 Since no one seem to be talking about books, here's my two cents.
I think the dems are trying to energize their own base. The object of almost everything they do is to try to convey an impression that Trump is not as popular as he (obviously) is.

It's not going to fool the Trump supporters, it will only fire them up more. so I think they're desperately trying to create a narrative for their own disheartened voters.
And they give tickets to mine information and see if there's anyone on a "no fly" list, so to speak.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:16 AM (AwPyG)

455 Haven't read anything but AoS threads this past week. In view of the events of the past week, I've been despondent. Didn't even feel like picking up any of my numerous books.

I just realized: If I stay in this mood, the terrorists win. And that also will show my profession of faith in God's promises to be pretty weak.

No! I will not have it!

I've been fortunate. A lot better life than most of you, it seems. So why am I whining because everything isn't to my liking?

I will work on the TBR list. I will read at my chosen pace, not rushing to finish a book just because mortality is weighing more on my mind. That takes the fun out of reading.

And if I don't finish everything before I expire or am forced to leave my house -- well, that's life.

******

I have several Stainless Steel Rat books on the list. They may not be public domain, but they're in my private domain. I prefer tangible books anyway.

SSR isn't near the top of the list, but that could change.

Posted by: Weak Geek at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (u/nim)

456 I also got a copy of The Forsyte Saga for about $3.
Posted by: Moonbeam
------------

Is that the complete (3 book?) series? Quite a deal.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (9Fwwf)

457 I can't quite understand why the Covid thing has affected my efficient use of my time, but it has. Curiously, I haven't been reading as much as I normally do. Reporting what I am reading would be the same report I have made for three weeks.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (l0Lgi)

Same here. I decided to pick it up a notch, but find myself unwilling to pick up books that go too far into the past.

So I finished Michael Malice's "The New Right," and would highly recommend it to everyone. Written in a breezy, pleasant style, it's not a comprehensive review of the fringe right, but it's a good starter read.

Of note, Malice considers himself an anarchist, and if that turns people off, he's not really inserting himself too much in the book. He attempts to be objective, and it's worth also noting, just because the PEOPLE in the new right are fringe, it doesn't necessarily mean their beliefs and ideas are.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (hku12)

458 Tons of trolls this AM. Almost like it is planned.

Posted by: Tofer732 at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (1MG6t)

459 388 Now, that simply wasn't true in the West; despite what people say, they were not property, period. So I asked him in what sense they were serfs and not slaves. He couldn't say."

They weren't property, but there was an attempt made to tie them to the land; meaning that if some other lord took over the estate, the serfs were bound to stay in place. In England, this took place *after* the Black Death terror in the mid 1300's. There were huge labor shortages everywhere and the great estates had difficulty functioning, so they attempted to use Law to fix people in place. However, it didn't last long, it was still too easy for people to move into the regrowing cities and join the merchant class. And the cities had no love for, nor desire to help, the landed gentry.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 10:58 AM (V2Yro)
______

They were tied to the land; that was an essential feature of serfdom. But really, so was the liege. Real property was usually not "owned" in the sense we use it. You had "use" but not "abuse". You couldn't leave it to whomever you wished. But what there was, serfs could own just as well as anyone else. There is a deed in which two French women, both serfs, used a house they owned to buy their freedom. And remember, too, that being tied to the land meant you couldn't be evicted.

They did not owe all their labor to the liege, but only certain days of the week. The rest was theirs. (That's not all that different than ours, relative to the IRS.) They had more freedom to marry whom they wanted than the aristocracy. (And, BTW, prima nocte is pure fiction, too.) And had a legal right to a share of the harvest.

Your example, though, is very late. Serfdom was in decline well before the 14th C. Hell, in Normandy there were no serfs left when John lost it.

Also, don't confuse the merchant and manufacturing classes. They were different. It's another malign influence of Marx on our thought. He lumped everyone he wished to as "bourgeois". And the Whig historians helped out, even trying to define the landed gentry as "bourgeois." There's glory for you.

The real problem is that we look at it from our perspective, and certainly it was less free than we are (or were?). But if you look at it from the other end, the rise of serfdom in place of slavery was a great advance of freedom. And slavery, outside Iberia, was extremely rare in the Medieval West.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (ZbwAu)

460 In his defense, von Braun was arrested by the Gestapo late in the war for saying that the bombardment rockets were just a step they had to take, but the real goal was Mars. Gen. Dornberger had to negotiate with the SS and with Speer to get him back, since Himmler mostly wanted part of their budget and control over the program.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:14 AM (WyVLE)

----------

The 1960 biopic of von Braun is called I Aim For The Stars. Some wag subtitled it, "But Sometimes I Hit London."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (wPVhA)

461 bluebell <3

Posted by: sinmi at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (A5IVt)

462
Oh, FFS.

Stop feeding the troll.

If the Dims really thought they were winning, the trolls wouldn't be here.

Mocking Trump? What else you got?

How about giving us reasons to vote for Senile Joe?

No?

No reason?

Yep, I thought so.

So-o-o-o-o, see you in November, sunshine. Then we'll see what's what.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (ysqzb)

463 Digital books becoming unavailable..,

Talk about carbon neutral book burning.

Posted by: Anna Puma at June 21, 2020 11:18 AM (ObWxz)

464 Haven't read anything but AoS threads this past week. In view of the events of the past week, I've been despondent. Didn't even feel like picking up any of my numerous books.
---------

See 443. That's likely my problem too.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:18 AM (9Fwwf)

465 You know, when Trump is elected to a second term, the economy might get so great that a semi functional grievance studies graduate might be able to get a job that doesn't involve shoveling fertilizer.

I mean, how does one dress up poll troll on a resume?

April '20 -Nov '20 -Poo flinging Fuckwit responsible for self contradictory kindergarten level appeals to please, please, please!! don't beat Biden like his name was Mondale.

Posted by: That Fruity Thornbirds Guy at June 21, 2020 11:18 AM (Wm5SB)

466 The more radical, and outspoken a Dem is, the more they will be protected, both by The Party, and the fellow-traveling media.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (9Fwwf)

Yep.

She's the mainstream of the Dem party right now.

Plus she had a huge base following. They will never target her.

The only chance to get rid of her is during Tuesday's primary.

Posted by: Last Days of the Republic. at June 21, 2020 11:18 AM (jZZUS)

467 I demand a higher quality trool.
Posted by: Anna Puma

He's assumed the identity of a 60's comedy villain. May I suggest that C.H.A.O.S. would also be a good.choice?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:18 AM (+y/Ru)

468 Haha! We depressed turnout in a rally five months before the election- We Win!! It's just like when we depressed the stock market (to levels still above any of Obama's, sadly) in March, eight months before the election, and employment levels in May.

Sure, everything is on its way back to record levels, and we expended all of our ammunition, but...

Posted by: The Dems at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (n/x6m)

469
Does the Library serve Wings?

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (5IHGB)

470 I also got a copy of The Forsyte Saga for about $3.
Posted by: Moonbeam
------------

Is that the complete (3 book?) series? Quite a deal.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (9Fwwf)

That's about how much I paid for mine...used book sale. Still think 1968 (?) adaptation is the best thing that TV produced.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (zr5Kq)

471 Does the Library serve Wings?

Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (5IHGB)

Just McCartney. Not the rest of the band

Posted by: TheQuietMan at June 21, 2020 11:20 AM (Ty/7D)

472 I'm thinking these "apotropiac" powers are uber strong with hillary. She lifts her skirt and she can drive away a fucking planet.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at June 21, 2020 11:20 AM (9Om/r)

473 In his defense, von Braun was arrested by the Gestapo late in the war for saying that the bombardment rockets were just a step they had to take, but the real goal was Mars. Gen. Dornberger had to negotiate with the SS and with Speer to get him back, since Himmler mostly wanted part of their budget and control over the program.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:14 AM (WyVLE)

I should've mentioned that Lehrer was (and probably still is) a prog dickhead who HATED the 1960s space program.

I used to think he was funny, but when I listen to his songs on youtube, they just ooze smug.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (qlVRg)

474 Iron Mike, coming out of lurkdom to suggest that sepsis be ruled out. Some of the symptoms are nausea, low blood pressure, and confusion. I was hospitalized for a kidney stone that required surgical removal and stent. Sepsis was diagnosed the day after I was admitted. (It was missed in the ER.) Prayers for your wife.

Posted by: MoKim at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (Wfghn)

475 Does the Library serve Wings?
Posted by: saf at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (5IHGB)

----------

Not a chance. They would serve The Beatles though.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (wPVhA)

476 water through the hose. Once the water starts flowing, you can disengage
the wet-dry vac and let gravity do the rest. Count on a couple of hours
to drain, depending on the size of the mattress.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:06 AM (Pqytn)

Thank you. I have a drain kit. Never thought to use a wet dry vac to start the process. That is always the hardest part except for getting the stillheavy mattress outof hte house. Even with all the water out, the sodden sponge type thing inside is still sodden and heavy. Last time we tossed it out a window. I have slept on a waterbed for 40+ years and only had to do this 3 times but always had hubby around to do it.
Sigh....lots of things to get used to. Change is life.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (QzF6i)

477 That's about how much I paid for mine...used book sale. Still think 1968 (?) adaptation is the best thing that TV produced.
Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:19 AM (zr5Kq)

I did not care for the more recent incarnation on TV

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (ONvIw)

478 I'm reading "A Stillness at Appomattox" by Bruce Catton. I figure it will be banned soon, so haste makes waste.

I got the original edition for $5.00 at a vintage mall. There are lots of them in this area where individuals rent out booth space in a larger structure. My favorite one used to be the roller skating rink that I went to every weekend as a kid. It's in a USAF base town, so there are tons of good history offerings, military history in particular. I also got a copy of The Forsyte Saga for about $3.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:15 AM (qe5CM)

I don't believe I have that one. I am not sure which ones I found, but back in the day when one had to look in these places called "bookstores" to find books, so many titles were just not around.

Oh yes, you could ask the clerk to order it for you, and I did that several times, but man is that a tiresome thing.

That world... I won't say it was worse, because good grief how could it be worse than this, but it sure is different to be able to basically go online and find almost every book one could possibly want.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (hku12)

479 Name field test

Posted by: Moron Robbie checks Black Lives Matter website for Father's Day message at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (Vjz25)

480 I did not care for the more recent incarnation on TV
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (ONvIw)

it was offal

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (zr5Kq)

481 Troll phase one: "Trump rallies will be virulent deadly COVID incubators. Everyone in the rally will be infected. This is why governors should ban the rallies!!!!!"
Troll phase two: "Trump rallies are hateful and filled with hateful people!!!"
Troll phase three: "Protest the Trump rallies!!" "National Guard activated!!"

Troll phase four: "Only a few thousand showed up!" (In a venue that only holds 13,000)
And now, for a few words from Joe Biden's basement ...

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (Pqytn)

482 Ugh. Too late with the Band on the Run joke.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (wPVhA)

483 May I suggest that C.H.A.O.S.

-
Oh! I misspelled it! Should be KAOS. There goes my whole 60s TV cred!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (+y/Ru)

484 are smiles back ?

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (zr5Kq)

485 YES!!

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (zr5Kq)

486 It is my understaning that the COBs can delete posts but only Ace can ban somebody.
Posted by: Vic at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (mpXpK)

I've seen CBD ban people, at least temporarily.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (qrX0b)

487 462- Is that the complete (3 book?) series? Quite a deal.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM

It's all three books in one. Might have been $5 but no more than that.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (qe5CM)

488
That's about how much I paid for mine...used book sale. Still think 1968 (?) adaptation is the best thing that TV produced.
Posted by: runner
------

I keep meaning to acquire the early version. The late version sucked...really sucked.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (AytXr)

489 I urge you to continue not attending my rallies. It's safer that way.

Posted by: Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (ZS2+d)

490
it was offal
Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (zr5Kq)

Miscast Irene

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (ONvIw)

491 I'd vote for hiring movers. I've used them 4 times and it all depends on the crew they assign. Two moves were wonderful, two were poor. But even with a crappy crew, it beats carrying all your own boxes and furniture.

Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (SfO/T)

492 Currently reading "Campaigning with Grant" by Gen. Horace Porter. Let me quote what happened to a reporter who falsely wrote that Gen. Meade had advised a retreat across the Rapidan on the 2nd night of the Battle of the Widerness:

>.The newspaper correspondent who had been the author of this slander was seized and placed on a horse, with large placards hung upon his breast and back bearing the inscription, ''Libeler of the Press, '' and drummed out of camp<, I laughed and laughed.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (gLRfa)

493 Miscast Irene
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (ONvIw)

was she ever ! married to showrunner or producer or something...

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:24 AM (zr5Kq)

494 May I suggest that C.H.A.O.S.

Oh! I misspelled it! Should be KAOS. There goes my whole 60s TV cred!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:22 AM (+y/Ru)

Missed it by that much

Posted by: TheQuietMan at June 21, 2020 11:24 AM (Ty/7D)

495 495 I urge you to continue not attending my rallies. It's safer that way.
Posted by: Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (ZS2+d)

---------

In lieu of rallies the Biden campaign is distributing newsletters in shopping center parking lots.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (wPVhA)

496 No, females don't move.
Posted by: creeper

NOPE !

I am NOT touching THAT one !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (arJlL)

497 484- Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM

It won the Pulitzer. There were several more Catton books in this person's stall. I am going back this week to look for more.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (qe5CM)

498 499: It really spoiled it. You could not feel empathy for her Irene

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (ONvIw)

499 I can't quite understand why the Covid thing has affected my efficient use of my time, but it has. Curiously, I haven't been reading as much as I normally do. Reporting what I am reading would be the same report I have made for three weeks.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:13 AM (l0Lgi)
-------

I'm the same. I have become incredibly inefficient. Er, not that I was incredibly efficient to begin with, but still. I wander around, picking up things and putting them down again and getting nothing done.

But after Hoplite Housewife was talking about Saki last book thread, or maybe the one before, I borrowed his complete works from the library on Kindle and that is my bedtime reading, which I am really enjoying.

Also, watching that Wow Art Youtube channel has a soothing effect as I watch a talented artist paint like I never could, to the accompaniment of soft piano music.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (/669Q)

500 I keep meaning to acquire the early version. The late version sucked...really sucked.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (AytXr)

I think it is still on Amazon. Ends with "Modern Comedy". They never produced" The End of the Chapter." As you probably know.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:26 AM (zr5Kq)

501
NOPE !

I am NOT touching THAT one !
Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (arJlL)

ICWYDT

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:26 AM (ONvIw)

502 In lieu of rallies the Biden campaign is distributing newsletters in shopping center parking lots.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (wPVhA)
--------

I do not wish to subscribe.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:26 AM (/669Q)

503 Currently reading "Campaigning with Grant" by Gen. Horace Porter. Let me quote what happened to a reporter who falsely wrote that Gen. Meade had advised a retreat across the Rapidan on the 2nd night of the Battle of the Widerness:

>.The newspaper correspondent who had been the author of this slander was seized and placed on a horse, with large placards hung upon his breast and back bearing the inscription, ''Libeler of the Press, '' and drummed out of camp
Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:23 AM (gLRfa)

Old ways are best.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:27 AM (zr5Kq)

504 Poo-Flinging Fuckwit -- my new favorite insult.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

505 Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:26 AM (/669Q)

---------

Good morning bluebell!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:27 AM (wPVhA)

506 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written. I am always amazed at how he can create the most evil characters. The guy works 6 day s a week form 6 am to 6 pm and more in the worlds he creates. How does he sleep and not have nightmares?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob

Mebbe he's a cannibal too.

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM (arJlL)

507 Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM

It won the Pulitzer. There were several more Catton books in this person's stall. I am going back this week to look for more.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (qe5CM)

I can't remember how many books were in that series, maybe just like, 3?

Anyhoo yeah, I found a copy of the big picture book his name is attached to. I assume he wrote the text and someone else compiled the photos and pics.

I found it in a new bookstore, probably close to 30 years ago, and remember spending way more than I could afford on the thing.

Not even sure where it is now.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM (hku12)

508 ''Tons of trolls this AM. Almost like it is planned.''

The upside is that they might gain enlightenment if the read the posts....nah, probably not.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM (gLRfa)

509 I like it when the enemy is all wrapped up in what President Trump is doing.

Shows he not only lives rent free in their heads, but also that they have no life until their momma comes to change their nappy.

Trump/Pence 2020....Vote early and often!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM (Z+IKu)

510 I completely spaced this out. I have intended to invite my beloved Horde to church:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ERdj_aifYhg

Posted by: Emmie at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (WvzEP)

511 Toddler, 3 teens among 9 dead, 56 shot in Chicago violence on Father's Day weekend

Send in the social workers
Posted by: TheQuietMan

#BlackLivesMatter!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (+y/Ru)

512 Good morning bluebell!
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:27 AM (wPVhA)
--------

Good morning, Cicero! Happy Father's Day to you and to all the Horde dads.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (/669Q)

513 512: Some people find nightmares inspiring and interesting. They complain if they don't have them.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (ONvIw)

514 I should've mentioned that Lehrer was (and probably still is) a prog dickhead who HATED the 1960s space program.

I used to think he was funny, but when I listen to his songs on youtube, they just ooze smug.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (qlVRg)

Out of curiosity I took one of his dogshit cds out from the library. I don't think I made it through one song. I thought of scratching it up with a pin to make it slightly more worthless than it was but that just ran against everything I believe. Looking at the goofball caps he wears it was obvious losing his hair early bugged him so that's entertaining.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (y7DUB)

515 Thank you. I have a drain kit. Never thought to use a
wet dry vac to start the process. That is always the hardest part
except for getting the stillheavy mattress outof hte house. Even with
all the water out, the sodden sponge type thing inside is still sodden
and heavy. Last time we tossed it out a window. I have slept on a
waterbed for 40+ years and only had to do this 3 times but always had
hubby around to do it.
Sigh....lots of things to get used to. Change is life.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:21 AM (QzF6i)

==============================
The wet-dry vac makes it easy. After I start the vac, I just use my hands to hold the contact between the vac hose and the garden hose (as a seal) until the mattress water exits the hose. Then I turn off the vac. I minimize the remaining water in the mattress by slowly rolling up one end of the mattress before the draining ends. Or you can start the rolling process after the first drain ends and repeat with the wet-dry vac.

Posted by: mrp at June 21, 2020 11:30 AM (Pqytn)

516 516 The service is already in progress, but no one will know you are arriving late.

Posted by: Emmie at June 21, 2020 11:30 AM (WvzEP)

517 Tons of trolls this AM. Almost like it is planned.

I promised them the stink finger and a bottle of shampoo. Works every time, fat.

Posted by: Gropin' Uncle Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 11:30 AM (EgshT)

518
Mebbe he's a cannibal too.
Posted by: JT
-------

'You are what you eat', they say. Perhaps Koontz dines on hyperactive OCD folk.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:30 AM (vOGqy)

519 Some people find nightmares inspiring and interesting. They complain if they don't have them.
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (ONvIw)
-------

I hate nightmares. Fortunately, I don't have them often.

But I have been dreaming a lot lately, which I don't like because I don't sleep well and wake up exhausted. My dreams are always me trying to get somewhere and I never do, or something similar. It sounds weird, but this is what happens to me during pollen season.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:31 AM (/669Q)

520 Fucking trolls! Get out of the Book Thread!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage

You're beautiful when you're angry...

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:31 AM (arJlL)

521 But I have been dreaming a lot lately, which I don't like because I don't sleep well and wake up exhausted. My dreams are always me trying to get somewhere and I never do, or something similar. It sounds weird, but this is what happens to me during pollen season.
Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:31 AM (/669Q)

Do you take antihistamines?

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

522 Rita Hayworth??? Blonde?

I'm glad that was just a phase.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (OFJlJ)

523 If you're looking for a pre-Alexa Kindle Fire HDX, goodwill online has a brand new one up for auction, currently at $23.

3rd Gen, 32G

https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/95733010

Posted by: One of the quiet ones at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (2GPSc)

524 Do you take antihistamines?
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

---------

Now things start to get personal.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (wPVhA)

525 516 I completely spaced this out. I have intended to invite my beloved Horde to church:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ERdj_aifYhg
Posted by: Emmie at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (WvzEP)

Thank you for your gracious invitation, Emmie. I am fortunate that my state has opened up enough so that my church is able to actually hold our worship service, which I'll be going to soon.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (qlVRg)

526 @512
I think Dean Koontz is one of the only people in the world to get his "based on a novel by" taken off a movie based on how the movie people changed his intent. They were making one of his characters (Frankenstein, maybe?) a misogynist, and we wasn't having it.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (AwPyG)

527 It feels very odd to have my smoker thumping away, and be drinking coffee.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin

Is there something alive in there ?

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (arJlL)

528 Now things start to get personal.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (wPVhA)

They affect sleep and dreams

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (ONvIw)

529 I'd rather blow my nose than have antihistamine dreams. The craziest most disorganized dreams I ever had.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:34 AM (ONvIw)

530 533 It feels very odd to have my smoker thumping away, and be drinking coffee.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin

Is there something alive in there ?
Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (arJlL)

Fresh hobo!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (Dc2NZ)

531 Do you take antihistamines?
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (ONvIw)
--------

Sometimes, but not that often because I don't get the headaches and sinus business like I used to. If I haven't taken them for a while, then take them, I can get a good sleep. But if I take them every day, it doesn't do as well for me.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (/669Q)

532
Do you take antihistamines?

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (ONvIw)

You bastard!!!!!111!!!!111!!@!Q

No congestion, No peace!!!!

Posted by: #HistaminesMatter at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (ysqzb)

533 I now need reading glasses.

Getting old sucks ass.

Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (6PEI4)

534 Re The Plot Against America: another dystopian book that works with the political polarity reversed is The Iron Heel by Jack London. It is set in the then near future of 1912 and depicts a socialist revolution against an "Oligarchy" that controls the government, media (i.e. newspapers) and big corporations. Just one example: it depicts the female protagonist's father, a professor at Berkeley, being fired because he wrote a book that the administration considered too radical. Today, of course, he'd be canned for not being radical enough.

Posted by: Secret Square at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (9WuX0)

535 I am of the observation a Cob can drop the banhammer, my evidence is the ONT's are notorious for them.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (6f16T)

536 I think Bluebell should switch to opium. Fabulous dreams!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (Dc2NZ)

537 538: I laughed.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (ONvIw)

538
The Stainless Steel Rat versus the Copyright Office?
That could be a fun romp.
=====

This is the Year of the Rat, after all.

Posted by: mustbequantum at June 21, 2020 11:36 AM (MIKMs)

539 I completely spaced this out. I have intended to invite my beloved Horde to church:
------

I came here after finishing our Zoom Sunday School Class meeting. Good to see the faces all together.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:36 AM (DMQdU)

540 519 512: Some people find nightmares inspiring and interesting. They complain if they don't have them.
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (ONvIw)

I don't have nightmares. Not really dreams, either, just a bunch of confused, incoherent images. My "dreams" are the psychological equivalent of the residue that accumulates at the bottom of your dishwasher.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:36 AM (qlVRg)

541 Eris, I don't want any dreams. They tire me out!

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:36 AM (/669Q)

542 Some people find nightmares inspiring and interesting. They complain if they don't have them.
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:29 AM (ONvIw)
-------

I hate nightmares. Fortunately, I don't have them often.

But I have been dreaming a lot lately, which I don't like because I don't sleep well and wake up exhausted. My dreams are always me trying to get somewhere and I never do, or something similar. It sounds weird, but this is what happens to me during pollen season.
Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:31 AM (/669Q)

I've never heard anyone with PTSD say anything about nightmares, other than how ruinous they are to their lives.

Living with a brain that will betray you when you lay down to rest... anyone who does not know that experience cannot imagine how horrible that must be.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:37 AM (hku12)

543 I'm so sorry that some of you are still not able to go back to church. That's awful. I thought my state would be one of the very last, but I have been back at Mass since 5/29. And very grateful.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (/669Q)

544 FWIW, computer evolution consistently moves in a cyclical fashion. Centralized, then distributed, then some GAINZZZ are made and we start doing thin clients again against centralized compute, then that gets pushed out locally, rinse, repeat.

Communications technologies follow a sort of spiral pattern, if you picture two axes with one being analog/digital, the other being synchronous/asynchronous. So speech is an analog/asynchronous form of communication, type is a digital/asynch, then you get to semaphore, cans on a wire, telegraph, modems, DS-1, WDM, etc.

And also, I don't like "cloud" anything, unless YOU own the cloud. But that's a me thing.

Posted by: Andy_in_Colorado at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (CBrao)

545 Just finished reading "His Name is One" by Jeff Benner. Subtitle is: "An Hebraic Look At The Ancient Hebrew Meanings of the Names of God in the Bible."

The Hebrew alphabet was originally composed of pictogram which had specific meanings (a single letter meant "tent" and was drawn to look something like one, for example). Each letter thus had a concrete meaning, rather than just a sound like English's letters. So words are comprised of letters each having a concrete meaning that combined, give the word its true meaning.

These true meanings are lost in translation because Greek and Latin and English aren't pictogram based languages. So nearly all of God's names as found in the Bible have much more concrete meanings that we understand. It's hard for me to describe but very interesting to me.

I guess as an example, Yeshua is Jesus' name in Hebrew. It is derived from a root word consisting of two letters, the first is "sharp" and the second meaning "watching". The root word means "shepherd" because a shepherd closely watches his flock. With a couple more letters added Yeshua eventually means "deliver" or "save".

As I said, hard for me to describe. The author does a great job. Me, not so much.

Posted by: Sharkman at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (Qio/u)

546 Thanks for the advice this morning.Going to grab a second cup of coffee and try and figure out how to beat the heat without being able to go swimming. Slip n slide? Kiddie pool? Any excuse to put on a bathing suit.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (QzF6i)

547 Hopefully I made it at a decent hour this time.

These times cause me to continue reading Frank Dikotter's "The Cultural Revolution: A People's History".
With the words "SWEEP AWAY THE MONSTERS AND DEMONS!!!" in the People's Daily and on the radio, the Cultural Revolution kicked off on 1 June 1966. This happened more or less because Red China had reached an impasse with communism and there was an entire generation by that point that knew nothing but Red China. Mao also wanted to show he still counted for something after the disaster of the Great Leap Forward. So what better way to do it than to encourage the youth to destroy the old ways in China, to the point of erasing the reminders of its past, and go forth from there? After all, as the Helmsman said, "It is on a blank page that the most beautiful poems are written." China essentially closed for business for the next three years.

The great thing about the book is that Mr. Dikotter writes from the ground level, with sources from participants in the Cultural Revolution. You get to see their ups and downs, and the horrors from their level, as well as the view from the top. (IIRC this is the third book on Red China written by Mr. Dikotter.
I have yet to read the others though.

Along with this I have found myself wading through "The Black Book of Communism" again, especially its section on China. And yes, both are quite eerie given the times we live in.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (ejsiI)

548 I am of the observation a Cob can drop the banhammer, my evidence is the ONT's are notorious for them.
Posted by: Skip
--------

I was impressed the other night when Weird Dave bombed the entire thread. Pales, of course, in comparison to Pixy nuking the entire site.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (ELgVT)

549 539 I now need reading glasses.

Getting old sucks ass.
Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:35 AM (6PEI4)

I've had reading glasses for a few years now. I got multifocal contacts and didn't need the glasses for a while, but now I'm back to needing them again.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (qrX0b)

550 Are you there, Boulder Terlit Hobo? We miss you.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (Dc2NZ)

551 Good for you, Sharon. At my age I look for any excuse NOT to put on a bathing suit.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (/669Q)

552 I think Dean Koontz is one of the only people in the world to get his "based on a novel by" taken off a movie based on how the movie people changed his intent. They were making one of his characters (Frankenstein, maybe?) a misogynist, and we wasn't having it.
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (AwPyG)

Dean Koontz wrote Frankenstein?

Shelley you can't be serious!

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (hku12)

553 553 Thanks for the advice this morning.Going to grab a second cup of coffee and try and figure out how to beat the heat without being able to go swimming. Slip n slide? Kiddie pool? Any excuse to put on a bathing suit.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:38 AM (QzF6i)

I fill up a bird bath and then sit in it.

Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (6PEI4)

554 549: not talking PTSD. Lots of other people have them.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (ONvIw)

555 Any excuse to put on a bathing suit.
Posted by: sharon
----------

Go with the classic. Play in the sprinkler.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (ELgVT)

556 I've got the munchies something fierce. I already ate breakfast and it's 3 1/2 hours until lunch. *sigh*

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (qrX0b)

557 I am re-reading The Travels by Marco Polo - which is more of a travelogue than anything, interesting but not riveting.

I am also dipping into P.G. Wodehouse's Lord Emsworth, which is a anthology of early stories, including a number of Golf stories.

I also opened up The Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn, and realized that even though it won Prometheus prize in 1990, it should have been re-written. Wonderful concept, amazing view of future technology from 1990, not enough focus on the concept of potholes on the road to a managed future or human (cussed) action. And clunky writing.

I will agree that the black swan concept comes after the book was written, but sheesh, the writing is not great. Fallen Angels, the winner from 1991 was more readable.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (WyVLE)

558 Sharon how about a lawn sprinkler?

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (6f16T)

559
I've had reading glasses for a few years now. I got multifocal contacts and didn't need the glasses for a while, but now I'm back to needing them again.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (qrX0b)

Did you like the multifocal contacts? They were an option I passed on.

Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (6PEI4)

560 505...
But after Hoplite Housewife was talking about Saki last book thread, or maybe the one before, I borrowed his complete works from the library on Kindle and that is my bedtime reading, which I am really enjoying.
...

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:25 AM (/669Q)
_______

The Toys of Peace for the pacifists, and The Gala Program for the feminists.

And The Chaplet for food pron.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (ZbwAu)

561 561 549: not talking PTSD. Lots of other people have them.
Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (ONvIw)

Obviously.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (hku12)

562 @559
Heh!
A 5 book series by Koontz. Really good!

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (AwPyG)

563 I am also dipping into P.G. Wodehouse's Lord Emsworth,
-------

Was he the one with the pig? 'Empress'?

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (ELgVT)

564 Just started "Days of Rage" by Bryan Burrough about the Weather Underground, Black Panthers, and assorted literal bomb-throwers of the late 60s and early 70s. Fitting for the times we're living in. What an extraordinary awful group of people. But they were insufferably self-important (and based on his recent interviews) and still are today. Just like our current crop of revolutionaries. Mindless, historically ignorant, and dangerous is no way to go through live.

Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (SfO/T)

565 Go with the classic. Play in the sprinkler.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (ELgVT)
That made me giggle.(:

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (QzF6i)

566 Recently read Stanislaw Lem's "The Cyberiad". For a book written in Polish, it has a lot of wordplay that apparently works great in English. I wonder if he did the translation himself or had someone else do it? Either way, pretty impressive.

Like a darker Dr. Seuss world.

Posted by: MadRocketSci at June 21, 2020 11:43 AM (+G8SK)

567 568: Although some people feel they ate deserved for survivor's guilt.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:43 AM (ONvIw)

568 324 306 Ive decided to read everything Dean Koontz has written.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at June 21, 2020 10:34 AM (XEfKE)

That's...that's a lot of books. Just saying.
Posted by: Jordan61

After the first four or five of them, you've read everything he's written. Beyond that, they're all just repeats with different titles and character names.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 11:43 AM (VcFUs)

569 Did you like the multifocal contacts? They were an option I passed on.
Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (6PEI4)

They're okay. I'm on the computer all day for work, and they do help with that and long vision. I just wish they were better with my reading. Oh well, I just keep a bunch of dollar store cheaters in various locations.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (qrX0b)

570 But I have been dreaming a lot lately, which I don't like because I don't sleep well and wake up exhausted. My dreams are always me trying to get somewhere and I never do, or something similar

**********

My nightmares saw me being stuck in school, at the end of the year, without ever attending classes, with finals coming up and in danger of flunking out and not graduating. They happened so often I sometimes woke up and had to go check my box of old stuff for my degrees just to make sure I really graduated.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (+dsLj)

571 513- I can't remember how many books were in that series, maybe just like, 3?
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM

I think so. The thing I like about these vintage shops is that the selection is not overwhelming and you can immediately tell where the sellers' interests lie. Some are selling cookbooks, some travel, etc. You can move past the things you're not interested in pretty quickly.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (qe5CM)

572
OT: This is weird I just saw people selling empty bottles of Octomore whisky on ebay.

WTF?

Who'd buy an empty bottle? What, to try and fill it with fake stuff and pass it off as the real thing?

What kind of person would do that?

...

Oh, right.

Biden voters.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (ysqzb)

573 Where are my Marxist-in-training minions? Oh, I bet mom hollered down that the Spaghettios are ready.

Posted by: Gropin' Uncle Joe Biden at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (EgshT)

574 And The Chaplet for food pron.
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (ZbwAu)
----------

I am on the first book in the compendium, The Unbearable Bassington. Very enjoyable.

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (/669Q)

575 I've had reading glasses for a few years now. I got multifocal contacts and didn't need the glasses for a while, but now I'm back to needing them again.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (qrX0b)

Did you like the multifocal contacts? They were an option I passed on.
Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (6PEI4)

Multifocal lenses don't do anything as well as glasses, except making it possible to not have to switch back and forth between reading glasses and regular, or twisting one's head and neck around to get the right spot on progression lens glasses.

I keep saying I can't wait to get cataracts, so I can get my actual lenses corrected, and not have to rely on these lousy eyewear options.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM (hku12)

576 Just started "Days of Rage" by Bryan Burrough about the Weather Underground, Black Panthers, and assorted literal bomb-throwers of the late 60s and early 70s. Fitting for the times we're living in. What an extraordinary awful group of people. But they were insufferably self-important (and based on his recent interviews) and still are today. Just like our current crop of revolutionaries. Mindless, historically ignorant, and dangerous is no way to go through live.
Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (SfO/T)

really ? Kidding of course. All a f'ing nuisance.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM (zr5Kq)

577 Okay, figured it out. I'll pretend to be watering the plants but make sure I get really wet in the process. I'll wear bathing suit with a pair of shorts so no one will notice that the water is actually more on me than the plants.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM (QzF6i)

578 I also opened up The Country of the Blind by Michael Flynn, and realized that even though it won Prometheus prize in 1990, it should have been re-written. Wonderful concept, amazing view of future technology from 1990, not enough focus on the concept of potholes on the road to a managed future or human (cussed) action. And clunky writing.

I will agree that the black swan concept comes after the book was written, but sheesh, the writing is not great. Fallen Angels, the winner from 1991 was more readable.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (WyVLE)
---
Whoa, haven't read In The Country of the Blind since it came out. I remember really liking it at the time; it blew my wee mind. I wonder if I'd enjoy it now. Flynn has written some terrific stuff (Fallen Angels, the Starfire series).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

579 The constant threat from the east warped their culture from the start. It meant that only a heavily militarized and tightly controlled society could survive, and those are authoritarian by their nature.

Because it was protected by the Channel, a place like England could get away with having a chaotic society with multiple centers of power, which all had to negotiate with each other for control.
Posted by: Tom Servo at June 21, 2020 11:12 AM (V2Yro)

You can't forget the geography of Russia either: flat. You can pretty much head from Amsterdam to Anadyr and not hit mountains. (I know what you are thinking: what about the Urals? Please. They are barely mountains. They are not an insurmountable obstacle to an invading army. Therefore the Russians from their earliest times had to learn how to survive there, and that meant becoming the most violent, meanest S.O.B.s on the block.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM (ejsiI)

580 After the first four or five of them, you've read everything he's written. Beyond that, they're all just repeats with different titles and character names.
Posted by: BifBewalski
-----------

See: John Grisham

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:46 AM (DMQdU)

581 After the first four or five of them, you've read everything he's written. Beyond that, they're all just repeats with different titles and character names.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 11:43 AM (VcFUs)

-

This is good advice.

Posted by: Moron Robbie checks Black Lives Matter website for Father's Day message at June 21, 2020 11:46 AM (Vjz25)

582 528 Rita Hayworth??? Blonde?

I'm glad that was just a phase.
Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 11:32 AM (OFJlJ)

She looked great blonde. She was Rita Hayworth.

Posted by: Reggie1971 at June 21, 2020 11:46 AM (996BY)

583 I can't remember how many books were in that series, maybe just like, 3?
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:28 AM

I think so. The thing I like about these vintage shops is that the selection is not overwhelming and you can immediately tell where the sellers' interests lie. Some are selling cookbooks, some travel, etc. You can move past the things you're not interested in pretty quickly.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (qe5CM)

Last time I was in a used bookstore was the Friday before the lockdown went into effect.

I am not even sure if the local stores are still in business.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:46 AM (hku12)

584 I read Cold Comfort Farm ages ago. The thing I remember most is that you assume the story to be set in perhaps 1890 or so, although this is never made explicit beyond an obvious lack of gas or electric heating and lighting. You kind of make that assumption.

But then there is a scene where the heroine slips secretly out of the house to the telephone box, which has never been alluded to before, further down the lane. There she has a video call with her brother who is commanding an armoured car platoon in India.

There is never any further reference to this in the story, and it's quite a peculiar little insertion, especially given that it is technology that was not available when the author was writing the book. The very earliest experiments with TV were just on the way.

Posted by: Bobo at June 21, 2020 11:47 AM (Qj0zP)

585 @577
This is apparently a very common nightmare, which is interesting because it seems so specific. My 80 year old father was still having it.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:47 AM (AwPyG)

586 555 I am of the observation a Cob can drop the banhammer, my evidence is the ONT's are notorious for them.
Posted by: Skip
--------

I was impressed the other night when Weird Dave bombed the entire thread. Pales, of course, in comparison to Pixy nuking the entire site.
Posted by: Mike Hammer

I wasn't there, hand to God. It wasn't me. I kept my eeyore personality out of the ONT that night.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 11:47 AM (VcFUs)

587 Rally #1 after a long lay off due to the Chinese virus: The president looked and sounded wonderful, self deprecating humor on full display, the crowd was having a great time and looked absolutely thrilled to see him in person. He didn't look worried or disturbed so I'll take my cue from him. I figure they'll find a way to outsmart the likes of AOC. She should have kept her incredibly large mouth shut. BTW the story about WestPoint and subsequent call to Mrs Trump to ask if she thought his speech was good was very funny. He was excited when she told him he was trending #1 until she told him why he was trending #1. Really nothing can deflate this man.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:47 AM (gLRfa)

588 Fallen Angels, the winner from 1991 was more readable.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 11:40 AM (WyVLE)
---
Whoa, haven't read In The Country of the Blind since it came out. I remember really liking it at the time; it blew my wee mind. I wonder if I'd enjoy it now. Flynn has written some terrific stuff (Fallen Angels, the Starfire series).
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020

*
*

The SF novel by Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, and Flynn? Good stuff as I recall. It's hard to believe that a novel with 3 authors could avoid being a mishmash, but it does, and so does The Legacy of Heorot by Pournelle, Niven, and Steven Barnes. I recommend that one highly.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 11:48 AM (rpbg1)

589 My nightmares saw me being stuck in school, at the end of the year, without ever attending classes, with finals coming up...

------

That is a remarkably common dream. I've talked to any number of people who have/had similar, including myself.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:48 AM (DMQdU)

590 I'm reading Ink and Bone and it's basically exploring that cloud concept except if instead of cloud based controlled by Google and Amazon, all the world's literature is controlled by magic through an ominous central library (at Alexandria, of course)

I'm not far enough in to attest to it's overall quality or conclusions, but it's an interesting concept and the characters are reasonably compelling so far.

Posted by: Agent 355 at June 21, 2020 11:48 AM (Qqq4N)

591 566
I've had reading glasses for a few years now. I got multifocal contacts and didn't need the glasses for a while, but now I'm back to needing them again.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (qrX0b)

Did you like the multifocal contacts? They were an option I passed on.
Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM

I got the multifocal contacts last year after wearing glasses with progressive lenses for several years. The reading is only so-so but at least I am back to wearing contacts again. It's hard to read small print or when there's not a lot of contrast between the color of the text and the background (like white writing on a pink background).

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:49 AM (qe5CM)

592 But then there is a scene where the heroine slips secretly out of the house to the telephone box, which has never been alluded to before, further down the lane. There she has a video call with her brother who is commanding an armoured car platoon in India.

There is never any further reference to this in the story, and it's quite a peculiar little insertion, especially given that it is technology that was not available when the author was writing the book. The very earliest experiments with TV were just on the way.
Posted by: Bobo at June 21, 2020

*
*

Wait. Cold Comfort Farm is an SF novel?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 11:50 AM (rpbg1)

593 This is apparently a very common nightmare, which is interesting because it seems so specific. My 80 year old father was still having it.

************

Interesting, it happened a lot years ago when I was in a dead end job and felt like my life was going nowhere.

Thankfully I'm in a much better place today where I'm now.... in a dead end job with my life going nowhere.

.....

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (+dsLj)

594 569 @559
Heh!
A 5 book series by Koontz. Really good!
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:42 AM (AwPyG)

I guess it's like Dracula... more like community property now, rather than one person's.

People were talking about one hit wonders last week, I think. Did Mary Shelley write anything other than Frankenstein?

Or for that matter, did she REALLY write it? I have not kept up with the myth, but I think there are suggestions it wasn't really her.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (hku12)

595 Travis Corcoran Of kickstart, farming, he has BLM hashtag on his site
Very disappointed

Posted by: Gonzotx at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (eQh3B)

596 A friend wants to know, if a moron wanted to anonymously publish a book that eviscerates the progressives but without it being traced to them, how would one go about such a thing?

Posted by: Your mom at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (Qqq4N)

597 "Multifocal lenses don't do anything as well as glasses, except making it possible to not have to switch back and forth between reading glasses and regular, or twisting one's head and neck around to get the right spot on progression lens glasses.

I keep saying I can't wait to get cataracts, so I can get my actual lenses corrected, and not have to rely on these lousy eyewear options. "

I'm with you on hoping for cataracts. I used bifocal contacts for about three years and then they stopped working for me and I was back to needing cheaters. My eye doc suggested going the mon-vision route (one contact for distance the other for reading) and it works great. She said some people had trouble adapting to them but it was seamless for me. So I'd recommend trying that before the bifocal contacts.

Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (SfO/T)

598 @594
did you get the impression, when he was telling the West Point story, that the west point brass were trying to set him up for exactly what happened?
I thought that was what he was implying.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (AwPyG)

599 That is a remarkably common dream. I've talked to any number of people who have/had similar, including myself.

***

Another case for ending public schools. It's become the Freddu Krueger of our education system!

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 11:52 AM (+dsLj)

600 557 Are you there, Boulder Terlit Hobo? We miss you.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:39 AM (Dc2NZ)

Yes, I've wondered where bht had gotten to these days.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:52 AM (qlVRg)

601 What was the West Point story? I tuned in late.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

602 The Legacy of Heorot by Pournelle, Niven, and Steven Barnes. I recommend that one highly.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Seconded. When you finish that, get your hands on Larry Nivens' short stories 'Tales of Known Space'. These are where he worked out his universe, and supporting characters.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (VcFUs)

603 582- I keep saying I can't wait to get cataracts, so I can get my actual lenses corrected, and not have to rely on these lousy eyewear options.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM

Hah- I saw my eye doctor just before he retired and he had just had cataract surgery. He couldn't stop raving about it. He said your vision goes back to perfect.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (qe5CM)

604 I should get reading glasses, I bought 1 set but too strong. Should put them in the truck as blueprints are often in mico print.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (6f16T)

605 @600
Is that you, ace?

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (AwPyG)

606 If I remember a dream or a nightmare upon waking, it can sometimes springboard into a short story. I may have to tweak it all remarkably, so that if I'd written the dream down right away, and you compared that with the finished story, there's not much resemblance. But I never turn down inspiration.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (rpbg1)

607 My eye doc suggested going the mon-vision route (one contact for distance the other for reading) and it works great. She said some people had trouble adapting to them but it was seamless for me.
Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM (SfO/T)

I tried that before the multifocals and it didn't work for me at all, unfortunately.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:54 AM (qrX0b)

608 My nightmares saw me being stuck in school, at the end of the year, without ever attending classes, with finals coming up...

------

That is a remarkably common dream. I've talked to any number of people who have/had similar, including myself.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:48 AM (DMQdU)

And I'm guessing those people who did F off their way through school never have this kind of dream.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:54 AM (hku12)

609 What was the West Point story? I tuned in late.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
-------

Musical, with a lot of dancing...wait...maybe I have this wrong.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:54 AM (9Fwwf)

610 Well been a hell of a father's day already

Root Canal on wife. A pretty much virginal tooth is fractured. Sigh. On a normal patient that would be an extraction and implant. But on her it will be a Root Canal, Post and Crown. And then cross your fingers

And out last cat is on his last days I fear.

oh, but fuck the left

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (85Gof)

611 Yes, I've wondered where bht had gotten to these days.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:52 AM (qlVRg)

He was on the ONT last night. He seems to be all-in on Kung Flu and how it's going to kill us all.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (qrX0b)

612 And I'm guessing those people who did F off their way through school never have this kind of dream.
Posted by: BurtTC
--------

Yeah, not a problem for 'Studies' majors.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (9Fwwf)

613 My nightmares saw me being stuck in school, at the end of the year, without ever attending classes, with finals coming up and in danger of flunking out and not graduating. They happened so often I sometimes woke up and had to go check my box of old stuff for my degrees just to make sure I really graduated.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (+dsLj)

I think these kind of "school" dreams are quite common. "Egads, the final is coming up and I haven't been to class all quarter! Oh NOOOOOOO!"

I still have school dreams occasionally, and I graduated over 30 years ago.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (qlVRg)

614 I keep saying I can't wait to get cataracts, so I can get my actual lenses corrected, and not have to rely on these lousy eyewear options.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:45 AM

Hah- I saw my eye doctor just before he retired and he had just had cataract surgery. He couldn't stop raving about it. He said your vision goes back to perfect.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (qe5CM)

Apparently it doesn't work that way for everybody, but I keep clicking my heels together... waiting and hoping.

Also, it would seem everyone develops cataracts at some point in their lives... except those who don't live long enough to get them. So whether they hit at 70 or 80 or later, you just have to hold on that long.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (hku12)

615
I used to have a recurring nightmare. I mean, I understood why I was having it and all.

But, nonetheless, there it was every couple of weeks.

It was so-o-o-o-o boring cuz it was the same thing every single time.

Even while I was dreaming, I became aware that I was dreaming, and thought "Not this fucking shit again." then would wake up.

I decided to tell my brain it was boring the hell outta me and to stop it.

And it did.

I really like my flying dreams. They're so clear and realistic. Lots of fun!

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (ysqzb)

616 The Legacy of Heorot by Pournelle, Niven, and Steven Barnes. I recommend that one highly.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Seconded. When you finish that, get your hands on Larry Nivens' short stories 'Tales of Known Space'. These are where he worked out his universe, and supporting characters.
Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020

*
*

Oh, man, I've been a Known Space junkie (Ringworld, the short stories in Neutron Star) for a long time. Legacy of Heorot is not part of that universe -- for one thing, there is no faster-than-light drive for their colony ship -- but it's fascinating in its own right.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (rpbg1)

617 604- My eye doc suggested going the mon-vision route (one contact for distance the other for reading) and it works great. She said some people had trouble adapting to them but it was seamless for me. So I'd recommend trying that before the bifocal contacts.
Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM

I tried the mono vision for a few years, which is how I ended up wearing my progressive glasses all the time. It did not work for me for some reasons. The multifocal lenses have worked better for me. Both are worth a shot.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (qe5CM)

618 A dream thread would be interesting I think some time

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (6f16T)

619 I think these kind of "school" dreams are quite common. "Egads, the final is coming up and I haven't been to class all quarter! Oh NOOOOOOO!"

LOL, I have that dream all the time

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (85Gof)

620 And I'm guessing those people who did F off their way through school never have this kind of dream.
Posted by: BurtTC
--------

Yeah, not a problem for 'Studies' majors.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (9Fwwf)

No, their nightmares are visions of people who don't look or act like them, enjoying their lives.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:57 AM (hku12)

621 581 And The Chaplet for food pron.
Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:41 AM (ZbwAu)
----------

I am on the first book in the compendium, The Unbearable Bassington. Very enjoyable.
Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:44 AM (/669Q)
________

One of only 2 novels. The other is When William Came, one of the then in vogue German invasion stories. Wodehouse parodied them in The Swoop.

Saki really hits is stride in the 2nd vol of stories, "Reginald in Russia". The title story is the old sort, but after that you see him reach his peak style. And that lasted until he died. "The Bag", "The Strategist", and "Gabriel-Ernest" are very much the sort one thinks of when speaking of Saki.

Posted by: Eeyore at June 21, 2020 11:57 AM (ZbwAu)

622 603 A friend wants to know, if a moron wanted to anonymously publish a book that eviscerates the progressives but without it being traced to them, how would one go about such a thing?
Posted by: Your mom

Create an LLc., then use that to create another one offshore that doesn't allow access to the owners. Use that one to create a 3rd here in the states. Use anonymous names for everything except the 1st one. Set up banking accounts that allow anonymous fund transfers for each LLC in the region of the LLC hq.

Finally use the last LLC with a fake nom de plum to publish your truth to power masterpiece.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 11:57 AM (VcFUs)

623 600::I still have it, and I'm retired. My worst dream is having a patient turn into a hairless horse and then shooting him.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 11:57 AM (ONvIw)

624 ''I read Cold Comfort Farm ages ago''

I've never read it but will have to now. I've seen the Kate Beckinsale version several times but those of us old enough may remember the first televised version on Masterpiece Theater starring Alastair Sim as Amos Starkadder. It was very funny.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (gLRfa)

625 Library thread tl;dr
Has anyone pushed the point about how lack of ID and leftists abusing the system denied people the ability to hear the politician of their choice in Tulsa?
Seems like free ammo for voter iD requirements in the very near future.

Posted by: Downcast at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (urMqe)

626 621- Also, it would seem everyone develops cataracts at some point in their lives... except those who don't live long enough to get them. So whether they hit at 70 or 80 or later, you just have to hold on that long.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM

He told me I had one (not serious yet) and when I expressed shock, he said "Relax, everyone gets them if they live long enough!"

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (qe5CM)

627 Apparently it doesn't work that way for everybody, but I keep clicking my heels together... waiting and hoping.

Also, it would seem everyone develops cataracts at some point in their lives... except those who don't live long enough to get them. So whether they hit at 70 or 80 or later, you just have to hold on that long.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (hku12)

Depends a lot on where you live.

If you live in Texas with the more direct sunlight, for instance, you're getting cataracts.

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (ysqzb)

628 Trump was invited to the west point graduation (which had been delayed for 6 weeks) and he made repeated references to the fact it was a sunny day, there was no canopy, he was asked to salute 600 times, and then he was asked to walk down a steep ramp from the stage to congratulate the graduates. The ramp had no handrails, and he was wearing leather soles, so he walked very carefully. The next day the media exploded with how trump had Parkinson's disease and looked weak.
I thought when he was joking around at the rally, and telling the story about how awful the media was, he implied pretty heavily that the the lack of a canopy and the steep ramp with no handrails was a set-up.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

629 618 Yes, I've wondered where bht had gotten to these days.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:52 AM (qlVRg)

He was on the ONT last night. He seems to be all-in on Kung Flu and how it's going to kill us all.
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (qrX0b)

Oh and he also posted #nevertrump, so...

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (qrX0b)

630 Who'd buy an empty bottle? What, to try and fill it with fake stuff and pass it off as the real thing?

What kind of person would do that?

...

Oh, right.

Biden voters.

Posted by: naturalfake

Probably Molotov Cocktail Kits.

Did the listing say "some assembly required"?

Posted by: Sharkman at June 21, 2020 11:59 AM (Qio/u)

631 NGU - Hang tough sailor. I would say 'manhugs', but you Nav guys tend to be clingy. ;-)

Really sorry to hear about the cat. Mike Hammer's Cat not doing well either.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:59 AM (pbStR)

632 What was the West Point story? I tuned in late.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 11:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

Eris, media made a lot of noise about Trump's walk down some gangway at West Point. Started to spread deza about his health, "unsteady walk". He talked about it in his very animated fashion.

Posted by: runner at June 21, 2020 12:00 PM (zr5Kq)

633 He mentioned he got pretty sunburnt, too.
That sounds mighty unusual for a graduation speech, especially for where it was.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:00 PM (AwPyG)

634

Anyone remember the Leibowitz Project, where we all archive and seal and store one book for postSHTF?

Posted by: French Anteater at June 21, 2020 12:01 PM (d6DSt)

635 My eye doc suggested going the mon-vision route (one contact for distance the other for reading) and it works great. She said some people had trouble adapting to them but it was seamless for me. So I'd recommend trying that before the bifocal contacts.
Posted by: Who knew at June 21, 2020 11:51 AM

I tried the mono vision for a few years, which is how I ended up wearing my progressive glasses all the time. It did not work for me for some reasons. The multifocal lenses have worked better for me. Both are worth a shot.
Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 11:56 AM (qe5CM)

My current contacts are the monovision lenses, and I don't think they're better for me than the multivision. But they do "work" in that my eyes have adjusted.

Or they did. I haven't worn my contacts since the lockdown started. I work from home now, don't drive very often, and don't have multi computer screens to look at... or really, deal with too many humans face to face.

Glasses are not ideal for the physical strain, but for the vision correction, vastly better for me than any type of contact lens.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:01 PM (hku12)

636 I should get reading glasses, I bought 1 set but too strong. Should put them in the truck as blueprints are often in mico print.
Posted by: Skip

Ya can't go wrong at the Dollar Store !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 12:01 PM (arJlL)

637 @630
gah!

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:02 PM (AwPyG)

638 He was on the ONT last night. He seems to be all-in on Kung Flu and how it's going to kill us all.

******************

Are you sure it wasn't a troll? Lately I've been seeing them touching the monikers of long time commenters in their no no squares.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:02 PM (+dsLj)

639 Before I woke up this AM, I dreamt I was back in the Navy.

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 12:02 PM (arJlL)

640 Prayers up for you and yourn, Captain !

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 12:03 PM (arJlL)

641 he implied pretty heavily that the the lack of a canopy and the steep ramp with no handrails was a set-up.
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

I don't think he implied that all. Just telling a funny story about the ramp and the media.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 12:03 PM (85Gof)

642 Are you sure it wasn't a troll? Lately I've been seeing them touching the monikers of long time commenters in their no no squares.
Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:02 PM (+dsLj)

Could be. Other 'rons were responding to him like it was him, though.

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 12:03 PM (qrX0b)

643 ''LOL, I have that dream all the time''

You too? Mine always involves Philosophy 101 which, in fact, I cut most of the quarter. It was at 8:00 in the morning, winter quarter and boring as hell. I studied for the final using the Encyclopedia Americana. Got a B so success! I've always figured I have that dream because I secretly feel guilty about wasting my parents tuition money by not attending class. It will haunt me til the day I die. LOL

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:03 PM (gLRfa)

644 The only school dream I've ever had was the one where you realize halfway through the day that you showed up naked, yet somehow didn't know up to that point.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (KZzsI)

645 I still have school dreams occasionally, and I graduated over 30 years ago.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:55 AM (qlVRg)
--
But DID you?!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (Dc2NZ)

646 Before I woke up this AM, I dreamt I was back in the Navy.
Posted by: JT
--------

Now that there is a nightmare.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (pbStR)

647 And yeah, Oxford predates the Mayan civilization.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (KZzsI)

648 Really sorry to hear about the cat. Mike Hammer's Cat not doing well either.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 11:59 AM (pbStR)

Yeah. Sidd has been living on borrowed time for a year now. But he is still comfortable I think, if not particularly conscious this morning.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (85Gof)

649 634- Depends a lot on where you live.

If you live in Texas with the more direct sunlight, for instance, you're getting cataracts.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM

Interesting- I never wear sunglasses. Maybe that's why I am starting to get one. Also, for the first time ever, my doctor told me I have dry eyes last summer.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (qe5CM)

650 The secrete of firsts is knowing when a thread is coming, CBD will be along any minute.
But I'm heading out and not taking my tablet.

Posted by: Skip at June 21, 2020 12:05 PM (6f16T)

651 Before I woke up this AM, I dreamt I was back in the Navy.
Posted by: JT
--------

Now that there is a nightmare.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (pbStR)

well i get that, but my check every 2 weeks is kinda nice

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 12:05 PM (85Gof)

652 ''I read Cold Comfort Farm ages ago''

I've never read it but will have to now. I've seen the Kate Beckinsale version several times but those of us old enough may remember the first televised version on Masterpiece Theater starring Alastair Sim as Amos Starkadder. It was very funny.
Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (gLRfa)

Beckinsale is one of those actresses who very obviously had surgery at a fairly young age, and she went from an adorably cute young woman, to va va voom.

I don't think it was an improvement.

In this movie, she's about as adorably cute as is humanly possible.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:05 PM (hku12)

653 It s the rights libertarianism that has encouraged the cancel culture that caused him to block his twitter feed.
Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 10:51 AM (l2vZg)

This is part of why my stint into libertarianism in the early '00's was short-lived. The more lib lit you read, the more you pick up that all of it is predicated on "then then people would then just behave rationally." The philosophy tries to put so much distance between itself and socialism/communism, but like all "isms" they rely on everyone complying with a set of rules.

Posted by: parsimony at June 21, 2020 12:06 PM (X1xq4)

654 Cold Comfort Farm was a very enjoyable book and it's the type of humor that usually doesn't appeal to me.

Has anyone read The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond? My older daughter is sending it to me and I was wondering what the Horde thought.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 12:06 PM (y7DUB)

655 Of note, Malice considers himself an anarchist, and
if that turns people off, he's not really inserting himself too much in
the book. He attempts to be objective, and it's worth also noting, just
because the PEOPLE in the new right are fringe, it doesn't necessarily
mean their beliefs and ideas are.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (hku12)

I think he considers himself a anarcho-capitalist who doesn't know much about capital. Among other things, he is an Ayn Rand fanboi, interned for Cato Institute, and none of that seems to have impaired him.

The New Right is a good sweep of the new right, but not an in depth view of any of it. However, it is a good jumping off place for those people who think they are up against those glue-sniffing Nazis who want to take the US back for LaRouche.

Malice has a weekly podcast called Your Welcome, a nightly online show called Nightshade, a biweekly or so You Tube interview program called Come Hang With Malice, (last one he talked with Mencius Moldbug) and his Twitter feed.

In the darkest part of the night, I think that should Rush retire, because one day he will no matter what, I would hear that Malice took his place at the EIB, just to hear heads explode across the land.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:06 PM (WyVLE)

656 646 Before I woke up this AM, I dreamt I was back in the Navy.
Posted by: JT

Mine are having me back in a Patriot battery under Scud attack and the damned radar is broken again. I have the part and am installing while the Scud is inbound. Usually wake up there.

PTSD for 30%, FTW.

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 12:07 PM (VcFUs)

657 I finally met someone who had a confirmed case of Chinese Lung AIDS. Recovered, done.

Only 320M people to go.

Posted by: Moron Robbie checks Black Lives Matter website for Father's Day message at June 21, 2020 12:07 PM (Vjz25)

658 Pablo Cruz is one of our old trolls....

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 21, 2020 12:07 PM (dLLD6)

659 Before I woke up this AM, I dreamt I was back in the Navy.
Posted by: JT
--------

Now that there is a nightmare.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 12:04 PM (pbStR)

Heh, it sure would be.

I fairly often have "back in the Army" dreams, and the weird part is that it incorporates much of the more recent me in there, and in the dream I'm thinking, among other things, I should have some more rank on me by now.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:08 PM (hku12)

660 Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

Thanks Artemis.

I remember how pumped the cadets were for Trump at the first Army/Navy game he attended.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Literate Savage at June 21, 2020 12:08 PM (Dc2NZ)

661 This is part of why my stint into libertarianism in the early '00's was short-lived. The more lib lit you read, the more you pick up that all of it is predicated on "then then people would then just behave rationally."

***************

My short stint into libertarianism made me think all libertarians wanted to do was smoke weed, bash Rush, open borders and end social security.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:08 PM (+dsLj)

662 Just starting Classical English Rhetoric by Ward Farnsworth. Ward is a friend and an excellent writer. His love of language is contagious and he writes about it in a scholarly yet personal way. For chess lovers, he also has three wonderful chess books filled with lessons, strategies, and challenges.

Posted by: LASue at June 21, 2020 12:09 PM (Ed8Zd)

663 He mentioned he got pretty sunburnt, too.
That sounds mighty unusual for a graduation speech, especially for where it was.
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:00 PM (AwPyG)

*snort*

Posted by: BourbonChicken at June 21, 2020 12:09 PM (LxTcq)

664 who dis..... Ginger Rogers?

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at June 21, 2020 12:09 PM (YdyjY)

665 open borders and end social security.

******************

That should be support open borders and end social security.

Weirdos.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:09 PM (+dsLj)

666 I think he considers himself a anarcho-capitalist
who doesn't know much about capital.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:06 PM (WyVLE)

That's a fair description.

He was blathering some ignorant shit on Twitter a few years ago and I called him on it...gently. He blocked me.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 21, 2020 12:10 PM (dLLD6)

667 Beckinsale is one of those actresses who very obviously had surgery at a fairly young age, and she went from an adorably cute young woman, to va va voom.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:05 PM (hku12)

Heh. Hubs has the hots for Kate Beckinsale, big time. One day I was watching Brokedown Palace and I said, "hey there's your girlfriend". And he said, "who? That BOY?"

Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 12:10 PM (qrX0b)

668 Trump was prepared to back Israeli strike on Iran, Bolton says
Putin doubted Israel could take military action against Tehran; Kushner blocked Netanyahu's calls to Trump on Iran.

Jerusalem Post

Now THIS kinda stuff should be classified and bolton has a lot of nerve publishing private discussions with a President about such sensitive information

Posted by: Nevergiveup at June 21, 2020 12:10 PM (85Gof)

669 I think Malice, interestingly enough, is one of the foremost experts on North Korea, although I can't remember why.
He's the one who explained that part of the problem is the leader has to be descended from the Kim Jong family--it's a dynasty situation.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (AwPyG)

670 point taken, they ridiculed claire sterlings terror
network because the soviets couldn't possibly do that, arnaud de
borgrave's the spike illustrated how it might work in practice,
how an administration like the clinton's could be ridden with soviet
agents like podesta and mort halperin, the latter ended up at the
american progress peanut gallery of soros,

Posted by: gaius martius at June 21, 2020 10:29 AM (hMlTh)

Arnaud de Borchgrave's The Spike is a Roman a clef, a novel with a key. It is not a matter of "how it might work". It is essentially factual, but the names were changed to avoid libel lawsuits. I have figured out most of the actual names that correspond to the characters.

Posted by: cool breeze at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (UGKMd)

671 671 who dis..... Ginger Rogers?
Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at June 21, 2020 12:09 PM (YdyjY)

Sorry, no, see #25 for the correct answer.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (qlVRg)

672 Depends a lot on where you live.

If you live in Texas with the more direct sunlight, for instance, you're getting cataracts.
Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 11:58 AM (ysqzb)

Raised up north, but moving to Texas, my brother had lens replacement in both eyes at age 27, only living in Texas for 13 years, due to severe cataracts.

I've been in Texas for almost 40 years and still do not have them.

I find your science, questionable.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (Zz0t1)

673 Pablo Cruz is one of our old trolls....
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at June 21, 2020 12:07 PM (dLLD6)
--------

Whatcha gonna do when he says goodbye?

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (/669Q)

674 Mike Hammer, yes, it is at Blandings Castle. Lots happens there in a lot of stories

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:12 PM (WyVLE)

675 644 @630
gah!
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:02 PM (AwPyG)

You may laugh.

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 12:12 PM (ONvIw)

676 I do, but it's funny to watch this bobble-headed booby flailing about and flinging his flop sweat all over the place.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:05 AM (qlVRg)

I love this thread, and I fully respect your ownership of it. Speaking for myself, the trolls destroy the mood here, one of the few places of true solace I have in this world. I think everyone here understands how hard it is to find a book club that isn't chock full of lefties. And generally the more courteous on the thread are here to talk books, not current events. I have a reminder set in my phone to drop everything and check in on this thread Sunday mornings.

I wouldn't mind a quicker trigger finger on clearing the trolls out.

Posted by: parsimony at June 21, 2020 12:12 PM (X1xq4)

677 But I'm heading out and not taking my tablet.
Posted by: Skip
-------

"The secret to a long life is knowing when it's time to go" - Michelle Shocked

A bit of advice that has served me well when visiting sundry dives. I would add that knowing where the back door is helps a lot.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 12:13 PM (DMQdU)

678 Of note, Malice considers himself an anarchist, and
if that turns people off, he's not really inserting himself too much in
the book. He attempts to be objective, and it's worth also noting, just
because the PEOPLE in the new right are fringe, it doesn't necessarily
mean their beliefs and ideas are.
Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 11:17 AM (hku12)

I think he considers himself a anarcho-capitalist who doesn't know much about capital. Among other things, he is an Ayn Rand fanboi, interned for Cato Institute, and none of that seems to have impaired him.

The New Right is a good sweep of the new right, but not an in depth view of any of it. However, it is a good jumping off place for those people who think they are up against those glue-sniffing Nazis who want to take the US back for LaRouche.

Malice has a weekly podcast called Your Welcome, a nightly online show called Nightshade, a biweekly or so You Tube interview program called Come Hang With Malice, (last one he talked with Mencius Moldbug) and his Twitter feed.

In the darkest part of the night, I think that should Rush retire, because one day he will no matter what, I would hear that Malice took his place at the EIB, just to hear heads explode across the land.
Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:06 PM (WyVLE)

I think Malice might do it, because he has a wickedness about him...

As for Rand fanboi... I guess. I mean, he clearly loves her, but is quite quick to point out how and where he sees her as being wrong.

There are clearly gaps in his knowledge, and I don't even remotely agree with him on some things, but his attitude is flawless, in that he's not going to let the bastards get him down, and he's all about continuing to learn and grow.

I'm going to read his North Korea book soon. It may become more topical very quickly, and anytime there IS something happening with the Norks, Malice is about as reliable to a source as one is going to find, on putting these events in perspective.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:13 PM (hku12)

679 I finally met someone who had a confirmed case of Chinese Lung AIDS. Recovered, done.

Only 320M people to go.
Posted by: Moron Robbie checks Black Lives Matter website for Father's Day message at June 21, 2020 12:07 PM (Vjz25)

I have a friend that tested positive after a couple days of severe headaches, then lung tightness. Went to the ER on a Thursday night and was released the following Tuesday. He's a few weeks out from release and says he still has some trouble breathing, but other than that, he's fine.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:13 PM (Zz0t1)

680 A nap sounds really good right now

Posted by: jsg at June 21, 2020 12:13 PM (A/+hW)

681 @677
Seconded.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:14 PM (AwPyG)

682
My short stint into libertarianism made me think all libertarians wanted to do was smoke weed, bash Rush, open borders and end social security.
Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:08 PM (+dsLj)

Here's a good explanation of libertarians and the Libertarian Party from an old comment I've saved:

50 There are really two entirely distinct Libertarian parties, that just happen to use the same name and mailing address.

The first is the Guns Libertarian Party, which believes in the Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers, local autonomy, limited government, private enterprise, and personal freedom.

The second is the Weed Libertarian Party, which believes in legalized weed, polyamory, and maybe internet porn.

The last couple of election cycles have revealed the depressing truth that a lot of people we thought were Guns Libertarians were actually Weed Libertarians.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 15, 2016 09:38 AM (1PfmS)

Succinct.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:14 PM (qlVRg)

683 I think everyone here understands how hard it is to find a book club that isn't chock full of lefties

******************

The left are such a plague that they even ban people from sewing clubs unless you have the right "ideology." Everyone has to take sides now.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:14 PM (+dsLj)

684 I was vicariously associated with some cataract research. I won't discuss the details, but there can not be a claim that 'No animals were harmed'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (DMQdU)

685 I love this thread, and I fully respect your ownership of it. Speaking for myself, the trolls destroy the mood here, one of the few places of true solace I have in this world. I think everyone here understands how hard it is to find a book club that isn't chock full of lefties. And generally the more courteous on the thread are here to talk books, not current events. I have a reminder set in my phone to drop everything and check in on this thread Sunday mornings.

I wouldn't mind a quicker trigger finger on clearing the trolls out.
Posted by: parsimony

Remember....a fart killed The Sex Thread.....

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (arJlL)

686 Has anyone pushed the point about how lack of ID and leftists abusing the system denied people the ability to hear the politician of their choice in Tulsa?

Xi NN would have been blaring "disenfranchisement" if someone had taken up two parking spots at a Biden rally.

Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (n/x6m)

687
Whatcha gonna do when he says goodbye?

Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (/669Q)

PA blo PA blo, whatchagonnado? Whatchagonnado when ya leave the blog.

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (Zz0t1)

688 ''I have a friend that tested positive after a couple days of severe headaches, then lung tightness. ''

Work teammate's son-in-law had it. Isolated at home. Fever lasted 3 days. Better now just incredibly tired.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (gLRfa)

689 The second is the Weed Libertarian Party, which believes in legalized weed, polyamory, and maybe internet porn.

*****************

That must be the class that bellow about how the government has too much control over our lives, and then vote for democrats.

Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:16 PM (+dsLj)

690 I'm going to read his North Korea book soon. It may become more topical very quickly, and anytime there IS something happening with the Norks, Malice is about as reliable to a source as one is going to find, on putting these events in perspective.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:13 PM (hku12)

Do you think he's better than Dennis Rodman?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:16 PM (qlVRg)

691 Gonzotx re BLM Mark on Travis Kickstarter site.

It s part of Travis libertarianism. He is totally pro mask (I am too btw but I wont make anyone else wear one - but from a fluid dynamics and probability pint of view I think they work - please - Im not trying to start a new flame thread here).

I think he has been attacked and he wants to have a successful kickstarter. So he closed his twitter account to non registered users and puts up the eat mr last symbol.

Travis has a long history. He was swatted when he lived in Massachusetts and lost his guns for an offhand comment about wiping out DC or something to that effect. He moved to NH to get away from the insanity. But I dont think putting the symbol up there will help him. It only will alienate potential supporters. But his libertarianism wont allow him to understand that.

As I said, smart guy. But the libertarianism leaves you blind to who your real enemies are.

Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 12:16 PM (l2vZg)

692 I think Malice, interestingly enough, is one of the foremost experts on North Korea, although I can't remember why.
He's the one who explained that part of the problem is the leader has to be descended from the Kim Jong family--it's a dynasty situation.
Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (AwPyG)

The book he wrote is called "Dear Reader," and I don't know how long he stayed there, but he did go to North Korea for a time so he could write it. Still has contacts here in the states with people who still have contacts over there.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:16 PM (hku12)

693 CBD is nood

Posted by: BifBewalski - sinis est culus at June 21, 2020 12:17 PM (VcFUs)

694 Xi NN would have been blaring "disenfranchisement" if someone had taken up two parking spots at a Biden rally.
Posted by: t-bird at June 21, 2020 12:15 PM (n/x6m)

( *scribbles notes* )

Posted by: Stacey 'Tank' Abrams at June 21, 2020 12:17 PM (qlVRg)

695 I think most dreams, no matter how complex they seem, really boil down to one word or phrase that describes your current anxiety.

Many years ago, when I had been living in the same town (Wash DC) and in the same job for 10 years, I began to have dreams that involved being in a car that for some reason could not get me to my destination. One recurring dream in particular involved being on a bridge that would end before getting to the other side. Another crazy one involved being in a car that suddenly had no engine and all of tires were flat. I remember waking up from that one and saying to myself "you're stuck, you need to move". So within a few months, I found a new job and moved to San Francisco. Never had those dreams again.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 12:18 PM (qe5CM)

696 Holy crap, we might get 700 comments today. That's got to be a book thread record.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:18 PM (qlVRg)

697 And so, as the sun sets in the west, we must say goodbye to our book thread friends...

Posted by: 1950's Travelogue at June 21, 2020 12:19 PM (AytXr)

698 Reading glasses. Get some good ones if you want, but get a bunch of drug store cheapies for dangerous work. And a few stronger ones for close-up stuff.
Sitting on a $7 pair because you didn't see them is not going to ruin your day. And those string things. Get lots of those, too. Try different types. And cleaning supplies, for home and away. Stash spares everywhere. Everywhere.

Posted by: klaftern at June 21, 2020 12:19 PM (RuIsu)

699 700

Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:19 PM (Zz0t1)

700 Holy crap, we might get 700 comments today. That's got to be a book thread record.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:18 PM (qlVRg)

Okay

Posted by: JT at June 21, 2020 12:20 PM (arJlL)

701
I find your science, questionable.
Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:11 PM (Zz0t1)

Talk to my Ophthalmologist about that.

But, as always genetics and personal habits (wearing sunglasses vs not), work into the mix.

Plus, "lip shaving" is more common in Texas and the south in general because again of more sun-related cancers caused by more direct sunlight.

It's science, baby!

Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 12:20 PM (ysqzb)

702 696: yes, my hairless horse dream had a strong base in reality

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 12:21 PM (ONvIw)

703 ''I think everyone here understands how hard it is to find a book club that isn't chock full of lefties ''

Say it again.

Can't find a better book club than this one. I've gotten so many wonderful recommendations here I've lost count.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:21 PM (gLRfa)

704 Beckinsale is one of those actresses who very obviously had surgery at a fairly young age, and she went from an adorably cute young woman, to va va voom.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:05 PM (hku12)

Heh. Hubs has the hots for Kate Beckinsale, big time. One day I was watching Brokedown Palace and I said, "hey there's your girlfriend". And he said, "who? That BOY?"
Posted by: Jordan61 at June 21, 2020 12:10 PM (qrX0b)

Hah! Apparently he likes the sculpted and chiseled edges and the big bongos.

Posted by: BurtTC at June 21, 2020 12:21 PM (hku12)

705 @703
Gotta say that the hairless horse dream is more than a little creepy

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:22 PM (AwPyG)

706 I love this thread, and I fully respect your ownership of it. Speaking for myself, the trolls destroy the mood here, one of the few places of true solace I have in this world. I think everyone here understands how hard it is to find a book club that isn't chock full of lefties. And generally the more courteous on the thread are here to talk books, not current events. I have a reminder set in my phone to drop everything and check in on this thread Sunday mornings.

I wouldn't mind a quicker trigger finger on clearing the trolls out.

Posted by: parsimony at June 21, 2020 12:12 PM (X1xq4)

Thank you, you raise a good point about the "mood" here. I will try to be quicker on the draw next time.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 12:22 PM (qlVRg)

707 702- Plus, "lip shaving" is more common in Texas and the south in general because again of more sun-related cancers caused by more direct sunlight.
It's science, baby!
Posted by: naturalfake at June 21, 2020 12:20 PM

Happened to a sun-worshipping friend of mine who lived in Vegas an Tucson.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 12:22 PM (qe5CM)

708 ''Do you think he's better than Dennis Rodman?''

LOL

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:23 PM (gLRfa)

709 If you are a Known Space fan (and who isnt?) you should try the Fleet of Worlds Series by Edward Lerner and Larry Niven. Does an awesome job of closing out the series.

What happened to the Ringworld? And the puppeteers? And the Protectors? And Louis Wu?

Well worth it.

Posted by: Loki at June 21, 2020 12:23 PM (l2vZg)

710
700 700
Posted by: Sponge - China is asshoe! at June 21, 2020 12:19 PM

you should start a club...

Posted by: AltonJackson at June 21, 2020 12:23 PM (LMjBy)

711 @709
True story: the Worm once hit on my daughter in a restaurant. She was 13

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:24 PM (AwPyG)

712 The anonymous argument linked in the sidebar in regards to BLM, academia, history, what's happening: the bulk of the comments there are why I believe nothing will get better.

The comments, at a conservative site mind you, are dominated by leftists who are, in real time, creating, trying out their counter arguments. This seems to be common at most conservative sites, this being the exception. I commend the cobs.

The leftist's arguments are:

1) the author says he is black, I do not believe that one point, therefore the rest is to be disregarded.

2) If author would simply reveal himself then we could hunt him and cancel him then we can disregard his argument.

3) the arguments have been designated as thought crimes and therefore can be disregarded.

It's as useful to argue with an enemy's war propaganda as it is to reason with a leftist.

Posted by: banana Dream at June 21, 2020 12:24 PM (l6b3d)

713

"Who dis" is obviously Madonna's mom.

Posted by: Frankly at June 21, 2020 12:25 PM (fxr25)

714 706 Naked colt syndrome is a genetic defect. Trying to rule out a medical reason for psychosis, we found that the patient had a genetic defect that would eventually kill him. Finding it wasn't shooting him, but it did cause a great big depression. Not knowing would maybe have led to a happier couple of years

Posted by: CN at June 21, 2020 12:25 PM (ONvIw)

715 ''700 700
Posted by: Sponge''

You are one lucky SOB Sponge.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:25 PM (gLRfa)

716 Just back from mass. Anything good while I was gone?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 12:27 PM (cfSRQ)

717 Recently read Stanislaw Lem's "The Cyberiad". For a
book written in Polish, it has a lot of wordplay that apparently works
great in English. I wonder if he did the translation himself or had
someone else do it? Either way, pretty impressive.

Like a darker Dr. Seuss world.
Posted by: MadRocketSci at June 21, 2020 11:43 AM (+G8SK)

Lem is a very interesting writer. I read The Cyberiad in HS, and yes, you hit it on the nose, it is a very dark Dr. Seuss world.

I was never sure how focused he was on presenting mathematical ideals or social concepts in story form though, or how much he was just commenting on every day life. The pirate who kidnapped the two protagonists for knowledge, and they created a device to harvest information from Brownian motion, without context to it, and allowed the two to escape as the pirate was buried in an avalanche of unrelated facts; the existential threat that was conquered by use of bureaucracy and a Zinc-plated spoon; the espionage agency that was destroyed by being sent regular notes without hidden meanings . . .

I will keep my eye out for other books of his, I remember MS Found in a Bathtub, which is about a diary found in the ruins of a US intelligence agency by archeologists, which discusses the attempts of a man who wandered by mistake into the heart of an underground agency headquarters, tried to escape, where everyone there assumes he is a spy and are trying to get him to flip, turn or incriminate himself, without themselves being suspected of flipping, turning or inadvertently incriminating themselves to their colleagues as well.
It, like Solaris, meant nothing to me when I was 16.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:27 PM (WyVLE)

718 @715
That is a sad story! But still a little creepy, like the elephant man.

Posted by: artemis at June 21, 2020 12:28 PM (AwPyG)

719 ''True story: the Worm once hit on my daughter in a restaurant. She was 13''

Nasty. That would be enough to give any parent nightmares.

Posted by: Tuna at June 21, 2020 12:30 PM (gLRfa)

720 713
The anonymous argument linked in the sidebar in regards to BLM,
academia, history, what's happening: the bulk of the comments there are
why I believe nothing will get better.

The comments, at a conservative site mind you, are dominated by
leftists who are, in real time, creating, trying out their counter
arguments. This seems to be common at most conservative sites, this
being the exception. I commend the cobs.

Posted by: banana Dream at June 21, 2020 12:24 PM (l6b3d)

---
Meh, the left is almost entirely astroturf, which helps them in some ways, but hurts them in more.

As we're seeing with the lockdown, total twitter dominance doesn't equal actual compliance in the real world.

And Antifa ensured that a ton of normally apolitical types skeptical of guns are now nervously arming against the threat they present.
Another win for the Super-Smart Guys.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 12:31 PM (cfSRQ)

721 My short stint into libertarianism made me think all
libertarians wanted to do was smoke weed, bash Rush, open borders and
end social security.
Posted by: Two Weeks From Ending My Fast Before I Kill Everyone at June 21, 2020 12:08 PM (+dsLj)

You know, this is a complaint about a lot of the non LP libertarians, and is why there is a question as to what the term means. So much focus on smoking weed and no taxes, while not so much interest on how to keep people from butchering their neighbors while simultaneously assuring liberty.

Even Ann Coulter bitches about this. Ann Freaking Coulter hit a point that Weld never bothered to address.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:35 PM (WyVLE)

722
Amazon owns the Abebooks site..... so if you cut off Amazon due to their lefty politics, you most likely won't want to use Abebooks....

Sadly Barnes and Noble's website sucks compared to Amazon....and their prices for books and dvds are way too high as well....which is odd, since they buy in bulk so should have competitive prices comparable to Amazon... SAD.

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at June 21, 2020 12:38 PM (YdyjY)

723 ou know, this is a complaint about a lot of the non
LP libertarians, and is why there is a question as to what the term
means. So much focus on smoking weed and no taxes, while not so much
interest on how to keep people from butchering their neighbors while
simultaneously assuring liberty.

Even Ann Coulter bitches about this. Ann Freaking Coulter hit a point that Weld never bothered to address.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 12:35 PM (WyVLE)

---
In my research on 1930s Spain, I became acquainted with Libertarian Communism, also known as Anarchism.

I lot of the Reason types are down with it, they just don't know or won't admit it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 12:40 PM (cfSRQ)

724 519- My dreams are always me trying to get somewhere and I never do, or something similar. It sounds weird, but this is what happens to me during pollen season.
Posted by: bluebell at June 21, 2020 11:31 AM

Bluebell, see me at #696 if you're checking back in.

Posted by: Moonbeam at June 21, 2020 12:43 PM (qe5CM)

725 Currently listening to the audiobook All I Ever Wanted by Kathy Valentine. She is the bassist for The Go Gos and her book is a memoir of her life thus far. Oh my goodness, she had a horrible childhood! Thank goodness she fell in love with the guitar in her teens which gave her a focus her life badly needed. I am enjoying the inside look at the West Coast 1980s music scene.

I went to Half Price Books for the first time since the Sino Bioweapon Flu was unleashed. I picked up Ben Mezrich's Busting Vegas. It will be my fifth Mezrich read. I like his stuff. He writes about interesting events and topics. Have a good week everyone!

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg at June 21, 2020 12:47 PM (s7uYf)

726 BTW, did anyone bring up Waugh? I'm thinking his take on the General Strike is somewhat applicable at the moment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 12:51 PM (cfSRQ)

727 The sidebar letter is excellent. We watched the Larry Elder documentary Uncle Tom last night, really aligns with the letter.
As someone who has been cancelled and who frankly is hiding in the closet in order to work, the fear the letter writer expresses is real.

Posted by: motionview at June 21, 2020 12:52 PM (pYQR/)

728
lol..... ok Rita Hayworth... that's a tough angle to try and identify a hottie....a man can get distracted and stuff...

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at June 21, 2020 12:53 PM (YdyjY)

729
Last!!

grrrrr....book thread dead.....

Posted by: Some Guy in Wisconsin at June 21, 2020 01:00 PM (YdyjY)

730 Lastier!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Michigangsta at June 21, 2020 01:03 PM (Dc2NZ)

731 In my research on 1930s Spain, I became acquainted with Libertarian Communism, also known as Anarchism.
I lot of the Reason types are down with it, they just don't know or won't admit it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at June 21, 2020 12:40 PM (cfSRQ)

I was going to ask you about that since I knew you were researching it: were the Spanish Anarchists actually Italian style anarcho-syndicalists? I know the militias that marched out to the trenches were based on union membership, I remember the disparaging comments about troops with rifles and no bolts in their blue serge overalls.

I wasn't sure if they classed themselves as anarcho-socialists that looked to the Italian origins, or anarcho-syndicalists in reality.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 01:03 PM (WyVLE)

732 I'm not a big Roth fan, and unless he rings in some surprises on us here, I don't think I'll become one. But the novel is readable, to say the least.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at June 21, 2020 09:39 AM (rpbg1)

He's written some very good books and was the public face of Penguin's Writers from the Other Europe which brought to attention in this country literature from behind the iron curtain. But as a person he was a miserable piece of shit.

Posted by: Captain Hate at June 21, 2020 01:09 PM (y7DUB)

733 A.H. Lloyd, the Anarchists in Catalonia were the ones that acted like Anarcho-Syndicalists in that the worker collectives were confronting the directors of the manufacturing and mining companies to put themselves into the management of the establishments on the basis of the workers being as important as the raw material or capital investment.

There were some communities that were controlled by anarchists, mostly rural, where there was a similar approach to the ownership of land and production, either taking land, or occupying it when the land owners fled, and a few of those, under economic pressure, became communes in truth with everything controlled "for fairness" by a central committee - basically a local option communism, with a refusal to listen to Barcelona or the republican government.
Jesus Huerta de Soto mentions a book about one where the local committees declared that nudism must be the way to make sure of equal distribution of goods, and this in a Spanish winter.

I suspect Libertarian is a word like "organic" in that it is pretty plastic as to meaning, unless it is nailed down by statute or custom.

Posted by: Kindltot at June 21, 2020 01:12 PM (WyVLE)

734 Dear Reader is good if you understand, that Malice took the official North Korean news Bio's etc and turned it into a Biography.

The Ending is that everyone is a slave/prisoner and you can make fun of these things about the Kims but THEY have to believe it or off to the camps you go.

Also Nikes and IPhones are made with slave labor

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at June 21, 2020 01:16 PM (dKiJG)

735 Rita Hayworth.

Posted by: RobertM at June 21, 2020 01:37 PM (lEqw+)

736 I am fortunate that my state has opened up enough so that my church is able to actually hold our worship service, which I'll be going to soon.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at June 21, 2020 11:33 AM (qlVRg)

That's great news, OM!

Posted by: Emmie at June 21, 2020 01:37 PM (n4zS2)

737 I d like to think old fashioned conservatism is the answer but it seems that free speech for all was just a way to help destroy religion and culture, and now that the left is in power free speech is no longer allowed.

Hard to know how to set up a society that allows speech that is free and protects freedom of association.

Unless we explicitly allow civil suits with teeth against doxers and others who try to smash your free speech, and absolutely demand freedom of association. I just do not know...

Posted by: Ocean storms at June 21, 2020 03:07 PM (l2vZg)

738 Wolfus Aurelius @592 "Wait. Cold Comfort Farm is an SF novel?"

I would say rather that it has some SF elements in it. In the author's note at the beginning she describes it as taking place in the near future (it was published in the early 1930s). On the technology front, video phones are common, as are private air planes. Also, one of the secondary characters is described as a veteran of the savage "Anglo-Nicaraguan Wars of '46."

In any case, it is a classic comedy with a wonderful set of characters.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at June 21, 2020 04:27 PM (9AOND)

739 652 Beckinsale in Cold Comfort Farm is "...about as adorably cute as is humanly possible."

Amen. She is adorable and dewy. Plus the rest of the cast is filled with marvelous scenery-chewing over-actors, including the wonderful Freddie Jones, Ian McKellen, Rufus Sewell, et al.

Posted by: Steve in Greensboro at June 21, 2020 07:22 PM (Su9Le)

740 So, two choices. (Not necessarily mutually exclusive.)

1) Bellerophon was a poofdah.

2) The Xanthian ladies' ladybits were somehow seriously and disturbingly abnormal. An overaccumulation of Xanthian Gum, perhaps?

Posted by: rocketride at June 21, 2020 11:25 PM (devKg)

741 #8

My favorite of all of Kipling's poems (MacDonough's Song) is part of that story.

(I really hate the 'flat' reply structure of this blog.)

Posted by: rocketride at June 21, 2020 11:29 PM (devKg)

742 #96
And we can't even count on the Hugo awards as indicative of 'good reads' any more. The woke zombies pretty much vote-bomb a slate of turgid progtard sludge into victory.

Posted by: rocketride at June 21, 2020 11:56 PM (devKg)

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