Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-13-2020

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules). Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which you apparently buy pre-stained for your convenience.

Pic Note:

The only photos I ever seem to see of Detroit are of rotted out buildings and crumbling, decayed streets that look like something out of a third world hellhole. So it's nice to see something beautiful in Detroit for a change. Apparently, the grandeur of the library's entrance makes it a good place for staging engagement and wedding photo shoots. Senior pictures, too.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

( *Introverts nod sagely* )

Inside the Detroit Public Library Entrance

1619? 1620!

It's nice to see pushback on the progressive narrative, specifically, the New York Times' error-ridden '1619 Project'. So it is welcome to see the publication of 1620: A Critical Response to the 1619 Project by Peter Wood:

This book sums up what the critics have said and argues that the proper starting point for the American story is 1620, with the signing of the Mayflower Compact aboard ship before the Pilgrims set foot in the Massachusetts wilderness. A nation as complex as ours, of course, has many starting points, most notably the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the quintessential ideas of American self-government and ordered liberty grew from the deliberate actions of the Mayflower immigrants in 1620.

Schools across the country have already adopted the Times’ radical revision of history as part of their curricula. The stakes are high. Should children be taught that our nation is a four-hundred-year-old system of racist oppression? Or should they learn that what has always made America exceptional is our pursuit of liberty and justice for all?

While this defense of facts over a false narrative is necessary, I have to wonder what good it will actually do. When all is said and done, the author of the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, has her Pulitzer Prize and curricula based on the 1619 Project is being pumped out the schools all over the country. We always seem to be playing catch-up, always scrambling to answer the next set of lies that issues from the progressive hive. According to this review in NRO (don't worry, the link is to archive.is, not NRO):

The events of autumn notwithstanding, the 1619 Projects will still go out to the schools and will continue to serve as a rallying cry for the woke. Meanwhile, Peter Wood’s 1620 will stand as an essential statement for those who refuse to accept woke history and the culture it embodies. Wood’s takedown of the 1619 Project—both its substantive claims and its larger cultural ambitions—goes well beyond anything I can summarize here. His book will be contemplated by future historians as a record of the pushback against the cultural revolution of 2020.

This kind of praise reminds me of things like, for example, Scalia's "blistering" dissent in the Obergefell decision. I mean, it sounds great, it obviously needed to be written, but what did it actually accomplish? A lot of kids will get to read about 1619. Few, if any, will ever read Wood's book.

Yeah, I've been in a down mood all week. Why do you ask?

Wood has a previous, shorter, book that sounds interesting, Diversity Rules.

America’s traditional values of liberty and equality have recently been overshadowed by a new ideal: diversity...this hitchhiker on the Constitution has gained popularity since the 1970s. Diversity Rules covers what happened after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor bestowed the Supreme Court’s kiss of legitimacy on diversity in 2003. O’Connor opened the door to the promotion of identity politics, open borders, global citizenship, and the Green New Deal. More than a legal principle, diversity is a cultural edict that attempts to tell us who we are and how we should live. This ideal claims that group differences matter more than commonalities, personal freedom, and individual rights.

The phrase "hitchhiker on the Constitution" reminds me that somebody wrote an article saying something very much like this recently, that is, that when we adopted "affirmative action" as a legal concept, it basically amounted to a new Constitution, and the logic of this change has been working its way through our legal system and culture ever since. And danged if I can remember where I first read it. If I recall, CBD wrote a piece on it a few months back so maybe I should see if I can dig it up.

Kickstarter Project

Moron author Hans Shantz reminds me that Fenton Wood is trying to raise money to publish a dead-tree omnibus edition of his 5-part Yankee Republic series, a Young Adult techno-adventure. This series was originally published as five separate ebooks. This Kickstarter is for a paperback edition, 650 pages, offset printed, with new cover art and the complete text of all five books.

The first book in the series is Pirates of the Electromagnetic Waves, the plot for which goes something like this:

A young radio engineer travels across an alt-history America, encountering primeval gods, mythical beasts, and tall tales come to life, in a quest to build a radio transmitter that can reach the stars.

It all starts in the mountain town of Porterville. Twelve-year-old Philo starts a pirate radio station with his friends, and learns that the world is a stranger place than he ever imagined. The Ancient Marauder, the Bright and Terrible Birds, the Mishipeshu, and other creatures of myth and legend populate this enchanting mixture of science and fantasy,

It's an old-school adventure with traditional values and down-to-earth heroes, free of the nihilism and propaganda of modern fiction. The Kindle edition is only 99 cents, if you want a taste for what the series is like.

The Kickstarter page for this project contains more information.

Who Dis:

(Last week's 'who dis' was (or were) Fay Emerson and John Garfield.)

Moron Recommendations

92 I continued my religious readings:

Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison. Originally published in 1930, this was an examination of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The author stated that he had originally planned a book refuting the Resurrection but instead became a believer. While the author was a member of the Church of England, this book seems to be applicable to all Christian denominations. A couple of interesting points Morison makes is that early Christians did not make the burial crypt of Jesus Christ a pilgrimage destination (no reason to: it was empty) and if the Resurrection had not happened why were the Apostles prepared to be martyrs for a hoax? He also spends considerable space to refuting various arguments against the Resurrection. Rating = 4.5/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at December 06, 2020 09:39 AM (pJWtt)

Who Moved the Stone? is a Christian classic, and the Kindle edition is only 99 cents. Also, a free, online version is available. The title is a question he could find no plausible "natural" answer for, so he decided that Jesus' resurrection was real, and changed his beliefs accordingly.

There are other books of this nature, that is, when the author sets out to write one thing, but then becomes convinced of the opposite and ends up writing a totally different book. Perhaps you know of such a book. The one that I can recall is Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case by Allan Weinstein. Similar to Morison, "Weinstein had started out with the belief that Hiss had been wrongfully convicted, and, with his aim of showing that Hiss was innocent, Weinstein was given access to Hiss and Hiss�s supporters and to their internal and confidential documents. A consideration of all the evidence turned Weinstein from a Hiss defender to a historian who was convinced that Hiss had done what he was accused of doing." (from an Amazon reviewer). And there was great weeping and gnashing of teeth among the lefties because they thought Weinstein was going to totally exonerate Hiss. Subsequent disclosures such a the Venona decrypts confirm Weinstein's research. And, to rub it further into the left's face, Weinstein's book has become pretty much the definitive work on the Alger Hiss case. Although there are still a tattered remant of True Believers still around. Some years ago, I stumbled across a web page managed by one of Hiss' kids that attempted to show that his father was innocent and every piece of evidence of his guilt was a lie.

And the Kindle version, which is labelled an "eTextbook" (not sure what that means), is only $5.99.

Oh, and getting back to Who Moved the Stone? Retired Buckeye Cop noted that the sentence structure may sound a bit different to our ears as it was written nearly 100 years ago. Fortunately there is an updated (2017) edition which might help a bit with that. And the price of the Kindle edition is < $4.

___________

'Ette commenter Catherine writes:

My friend DL Sayles has written an inspirational Christmas book called The Church Christmas Tree. It's written more for adults than the children's mystery I recommended before, but I plan on having my teen girls read it. It chronicles reconciling the Christmas of your dreams with the one your life can handle.

The perfect Christmas seems to be unattainable:

As a Catholic mother and wife, Dottie is trying to find balance during the Christmas season. Despite her valiant effort, all her attempts at a perfect Christmas keep falling short of expectation. The budget is never enough...It isn’t until every well-planned, expected thing goes wrong that Dottie realizes that from the unexpected things can come right. It all starts with a chance meeting at the church Christmas tree, where a heart-felt mother trying to do the best for her family, hilariously stumbles out of the dumpster fire of the holiday season and into the ashes of the perfect Christmas.

The Kindle version is $3.99.

___________

32 I've gone wandering in my reading this week - I was working on a chapter of the current WIP set in WWII-era Brisbane ... and remembered a Nevil Schute book set in post-war Australia and England: The Far Country. Got it off the shelves for a re-read - the author was really dragged down by conditions in post-war England, it seems. Grey, dreary, depressing, poor, and rationed everything. In contrast, Australia seemed bright, generous, wealthy. He also got some slams in against the National Health Service, which must go very much against the current British zeitgeist. They did a miniseries of it with Michael York about twenty years ago, which - go figure - can't be found anywhere, now.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at November 08, 2020 09:11 AM (xnmPy)

I think post-WWII London was a bit dreary and depressing. Not only were they repairing and rebuilding war-damaged buildings, war-time rationing wasn't lifted until the early 1950s. That's a long time. Anyway, The Far Country has been OOP for years. But the good news is that a Kindle version is now available for 99 cents. So I guess it's not really out of print after all, just the dead tree edition.

___________

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 08:54 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Who Dis Mia Farrow

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2020 08:54 AM (PiwSw)

2 Woo Hoo!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2020 08:55 AM (PiwSw)

3 OK, I'll go back and call the others...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2020 08:56 AM (PiwSw)

4 Merry Christmas all you book lovers. Currently working on a re-read of the Harry Potter series.

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 08:57 AM (mpXpK)

5 I am surprised that Detroit library has not been trashed or burned down.

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 08:58 AM (mpXpK)

6 Who dis?....ask Jackie Mason.

Posted by: BignJames at December 13, 2020 08:59 AM (AwYPR)

7 I would've never guessed that first pic was of the Motor City Book Repository.

Posted by: Fortcoins at December 13, 2020 09:01 AM (nV60k)

8 I would normally say Pick up and read but I have nothing new so won't

Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2020 09:01 AM (Cxk7w)

9 MIa Farrow

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:01 AM (ONvIw)

10 >>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.

'Continent,' by Jim Crace. How many copies of that slender short fiction collection have I bought and given away over the years? Who can say. It's a "you've got to read this, I think you'll really like it" book.

Posted by: Zod at December 13, 2020 09:02 AM (xK9An)

11 5 I am surprised that Detroit library has not been trashed or burned down.
Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 08:58 AM (mpXpK)

Oddly, some of the most impressive structures in Detroit are intact and in use.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:02 AM (ONvIw)

12 1 Who Dis Mia Farrow
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2020 08:54 AM (PiwSw)

That was quick!

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:04 AM (ONvIw)

13 >>>We always seem to be playing catch-up, always scrambling to answer the next set of lies that issues from the progressive hive.

A hundred years from now--even a lot sooner!--it won't matter. That 1619 person is a representative of a part of society that was shifting the historical focus; it'll shift to and fro; her work is something to push back against; it's all good.

Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 09:04 AM (6WbUY)

14 The phrase "hitchhiker on the Constitution" reminds me that somebody
wrote an article saying something very much like this recently, that is,
that when we adopted "affirmative action" as a legal concept, it
basically amounted to a new Constitution, and the logic of this change
has been working its way through our legal system and culture ever
since. And danged if I can remember where I first read it. If I recall,
CBD wrote a piece on it a few months back so maybe I should see if I can
dig it up.

Affirmative action is actually an invention of liberal judges. It is unconstitutional and against the civil rights act of 1964. But the deep State has always been run by liberals

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 09:04 AM (mpXpK)

15 Mia Farrow!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 09:04 AM (rpbg1)

16 Booken morgen horden

Posted by: vmom - Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 09:05 AM (nUhF0)

17 I had to take a double take this morning.
The entrance to the Detroit library is incredible.
Really surprised it hasn't been vandalized or the cancel culture creeps haven't demanded it be taken down.

Posted by: redridinghood at December 13, 2020 09:05 AM (NpAcC)

18 Mia, daughter of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan).

Was briefly married to Frank Sinatra, in one of the oddest Hollywood marriages.

Perfectly cast as Rosemary, wife of the Spawn.

And then there was Woody ...

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:06 AM (9TdxA)

19 I'm sorry that you're in a down mood, OM, but your weekly book thread is something a lot of us look forward to reading each week. I hope it boosts your spirits a little if you think about how your writing lifts others up. All the best.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at December 13, 2020 09:07 AM (d9Cw3)

20 Nice Lieberry! Take him to Detroit! Nooooooooo!

Those pants. I must have a dozen for sale. Skid marks cost ya extra.

The Who Dis was a hottie.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 13, 2020 09:07 AM (R/m4+)

21 4 Merry Christmas all you book lovers. Currently working on a re-read of the Harry Potter series.

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 08:57 AM (mpXpK)

Ooof! Condolences, Vic.

Posted by: Balrog of Morgoth at December 13, 2020 09:07 AM (CLteG)

22
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (l0zPW)

23 Still slogging thru the Moon is a Harsh Bitch

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (JFO2v)

24 "Oddly, some of the most impressive structures in Detroit are intact and in use."

It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)

25 I'm currently reading 1620. Wood is President of the National Association if Scholars, and does have a wide circle of influence among conservative academia. I like 1620 so far and will incorporate elements into my daughter's homeschooling. That really is what good it will do, never having the forced reach of 1619 but providing ammo for our Long March back into the institutions.

Posted by: motionview at December 13, 2020 09:09 AM (pYQR/)

26 I read Jackdaws by Ken Follett, which was recommended here a few weeks ago. This is a fast-paced action story about a team of women formed in 1944 to parachute into Nazi occupied France to blow up a communications center just before D-Day. A well-written plausible story.

On the Kindle, I read the excellent The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn by Frank Kelso. This is a coming of age story of a 13-year old boy who survives the slaughter of his family by the Comanche by hiding in a hollowed out tree. After two days of surviving on nothing but water, he is saved by two muleteers. They take him in and begin teaching him lessons to survive on the prairie and lessons for success in life. After a year on the trail, they leave him with a band of Cheyenne to live with them for six months. More lessons are learned and Nigel, known as Black Wolf, thrives and becomes a man. He also learns a new perspective, which is different from the white man.

This would be an excellent YA Book, especially for boys. The lessons Nigel learns are just as pertinent in today's world. The story continues with the second book in The Apprentice series, North in the Spring.

Posted by: Zoltan at December 13, 2020 09:11 AM (qb8uZ)

27 Well I'm still engrossed in Solzhenitsyn. Warning to the West was a great collection of speeches, and the man doesn't pull his punches. It's a relatively quick read and scary good, but instead of the West being under the spell of the USSR, we are selling ourselves to China.

I moved on to Between Two Millstones, which is focused on his life in the West. It's not one of his better works, but I still enjoy it. I am waiting for August 1914 to arrive.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

28 Oregon Muse

Just don't look up current photos of Detroit's Mark Twain Library. Could be the perfect setting for a dystopia.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:14 AM (0dt4f)

29 For the Christmas season once again read Frederick Forsyth's The Shepard.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:16 AM (0dt4f)

30 Peter Wood was on Prager this past week, he was saying his organisation has thousands of members, I take it any can join but said most (90%) were academics. But he has had many who said they would join but are literally afraid for their positions if found out they joined the organization.

Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2020 09:17 AM (Cxk7w)

31 It's as if Brutalist architecture is treated brutally.

Posted by: Jamaica NYC at December 13, 2020 09:17 AM (4vNgL)

32 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

A rotten day yesterday. Had my first run-in with a Karen.

There's a little breakfast place down the road from me. I went in yesterday morning as I always do, mask held up to my face (I'm not going to strap the silly thing on).

As soon as I got to my table, a fully masked-up Karen at another table jumped up and went swearing into the kitchen, bitching about "assholes who won'twear masks" and "I'm not staying when people like that re fucking allowed in" and so on.

So I left. I'm pretty sure the owner (whom I know) knew exactly why and it will be interesting to see if she and my usual waitress have anything to say the next time I go in.

Sorry. I have nowhere else to vent. Book thoughts in a minute.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 09:17 AM (2JVJo)

33 So, despite being a Moron for quite a few years, I'm unsure on Sunday morning protocol. Does the Emergency Morning Thread (that's how my brain processes "EMT") remain active during the book thread?

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 09:18 AM (KAi1n)

34 It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)

When I was a kid Detroit was a wonderful place. I never lived in the actual city limits even then, but I loved going downtown to shop and to go to events at the Fisher Theater (still in use) or Cobo Hall. Temple Israel is now a church, but is still in existence. Fox Theatre lives on.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:20 AM (ONvIw)

35 Mia, daughter of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan).

Was briefly married to Frank Sinatra, in one of the oddest Hollywood marriages.

Perfectly cast as Rosemary, wife of the Spawn.

And then there was Woody ...
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:06 AM (9TdxA)

I thought she was pretty good in Woody's movies and then the weirdness started. I was only a kid when she married Sinatra so I didn't know what to make of it since The Chairman was someone my parents generation mostly listened to.

My father used to absolutely loathe Woody's standup routines on the Tonight Show, so much so I wanted to tell him to chill and that it just wasn't something that appealed to him.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 09:21 AM (y7DUB)

36 I've gotten quite a bit of reading done in the last few weeks. This is part of my effort to remain sane. To that end, I'm staying off-line as much as possible.

Having gone from Ford Madox Ford to Evelyn Waugh, I decided to get back into Joseph Conrad - a friend and literary collaborator of Ford.

I read a lot of Conrad 20+ years ago, so it's been interesting revisiting him from the perspective of middle age.

I think I talked about Lord Jim some weeks ago, but since then I've tackled "Typhoon," "The N- of the Narcissus," and most recently "Heart of Darkness."

"Typhoon" and "Narcissus" are very similar in that they show voyages into the teeth of dire peril. However, "Typhoon" is written in the third person and has a lightly comic - almost droll - take on the crew. It's clear from the get-go that the blockhead captain is responsible for their brush with disaster. Still, it's a gripping tale with some humorous asides.

"Narcissus" is much more serious and also immersive. Part of this comes from the-first person narrative, which brings immediacy to everything going on. It's of course utterly non-PC being both racist and sexist, but it explores both topics, particularly the question of interracial romantic relationships in Edwardian England. Better than I remembered.

"Heart of Darkness" has also aged well. I thought it dragged when I was younger, but I appreciate the depth of detail more. I recently re-watched "Apocalypse Now" and among the film's many flaws is its failure to use the most famous line from the book: "Mistah Kurtz - he dead!"

It's like doing a production of Hamlet and leaving out "To be or not to be." Coppola was clearly out of his mind.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

37 Halfway thru She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper. Pretty fast paced and crisp writing so far. See if that and the plot holds up for the whole book. So far, the dad is just out of prison and grabs his daughter before the hit man does. Lots of dead bodies so far and dad is far from a saint.

Posted by: Charlotte at December 13, 2020 09:22 AM (6Lsms)

38 5 I am surprised that Detroit library has not been trashed or burned down.
Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 08:58 AM (mpXpK)

I think Detroit started a program of civic improvement projects a few years back and this may be one of the results.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 13, 2020 09:22 AM (VrRiR)

39 Mornin', all,

I'm currently reading a historical novel called Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten, her first. It's the first-person narration of Catherine (not the Great), the last wife of Peter the Great of Russia. It begins with her serfdom days in what was then Livonia near the Baltic Sea, and proceeds with adventures that lead (so far) to her meeting Peter himself. A very good, immediate read; you're really there with her. There are unpleasant and violent men, but it was a violent time, and some of the female characters are pretty unpleasant too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 09:22 AM (rpbg1)

40 Okay, all you Moron genealogists this is a very special PSA.

DPAA has hit a wall on identifying men killed aboard USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor. They are looking for any relatives to get DNA from.

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=108202

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:23 AM (0dt4f)

41 Mia, daughter of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan).

Was briefly married to Frank Sinatra, in one of the oddest Hollywood marriages.

"I always said he'd end up in bed with a boy"

Ava Gardner- one of Sinatra's exes

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:23 AM (arJlL)

42 When I was a kid Detroit was a wonderful place. I
never lived in the actual city limits even then, but I loved going
downtown to shop and to go to events at the Fisher Theater (still in
use) or Cobo Hall. Temple Israel is now a church, but is still in
existence. Fox Theatre lives on.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:20 AM (ONvIw)

---
I saw the last tour of Yul Brynner's "The King and I" at the Masonic Temple and the re-release of the remastered "Lawrence of Arabia" at the Fox when it reopened.

The Art Museum was always cool, as was the Science Center. Detroit's collapse was always highly localized.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)

43 33 So, despite being a Moron for quite a few years, I'm unsure on Sunday morning protocol. Does the Emergency Morning Thread (that's how my brain processes "EMT") remain active during the book thread?
Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 09:18 AM (KAi1n)

For those who post to or read it, yes.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at December 13, 2020 09:24 AM (8C7+r)

44 It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)

---
Churchill noted that the British standard of living would not reach Roman levels until the mid-19th Century.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:25 AM (cfSRQ)

45 I am reading/studying Total Resistance by Major H. Von Dach. Tis a detailed and illustrated guide to effective guerrilla warfare and underground operations. Grim.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at December 13, 2020 09:26 AM (+X43N)

46 The Detroit Library was designed by Cass Gilbert who also designed the US Supreme Court building.

Posted by: Don at December 13, 2020 09:26 AM (mwDnq)

47 Iron Mike - thanks!

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 09:26 AM (KAi1n)

48 As soon as I got to my table, a fully masked-up Karen at another table jumped up and went swearing into the kitchen, bitching about "assholes who won'twear masks" and "I'm not staying when people like that re fucking allowed in" and so on.

So the insanity of wearing a mask in a place where you put food in your mouth eludes her?

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 09:26 AM (y7DUB)

49 28 Oregon Muse
Just don't look up current photos of Detroit's Mark Twain Library. Could be the perfect setting for a dystopia.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:14 AM (0dt4f)

Oh, I've shown photos of the trashed-out Mark Twain Library on the book thread couple three years ago. Very heartbreaking to see. That's why I was happy when an 'ette sent me photos of the new library, so I could show something positive about Detroit.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 13, 2020 09:27 AM (VrRiR)

50 I'm currently reading a historical novel called Tsarina
by Ellen Alpsten, her first. It's the first-person narration of
Catherine (not the Great), the last wife of Peter the Great of Russia.
It begins with her serfdom days in what was then Livonia near the Baltic
Sea, and proceeds with adventures that lead (so far) to her meeting
Peter himself. A very good, immediate read; you're really there with
her. There are unpleasant and violent men, but it was a violent time,
and some of the female characters are pretty unpleasant too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 09:22 AM (rpbg1)

---
Amazon had a Russian-made docudrama about Sophia (last of the Byzantine Princesses), and there was a scene where the Russians ask the Spanish if they need help suppressing the Protestants.

"Why are you making it so hard?" the Russians say. "Just kill everyone in the area."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)

51 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes.

A rotten day yesterday. Had my first run-in with a Karen.
. . .
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020

*
*

I keep expecting that, but so far none of the sheep here have lifted their narrow little heads to bleat about me. I had occasion to go into Whole Foods in the 'burbs yesterday, and the girl at the door inspected my doctor's letter and said, "Thanks for having an actual sign." Perhaps there are other free spirits around who are refusing to wear the face diaper.

On the other hand, I headed out to my barber yesterday morning only to find that he and his business partner (both over 65) have "had contact" (!) with someone who apparently either tested positive for the General Tso's Sicken, or developed symptoms. So I've had to reschedule for next week. The astonishing thing is that they've both been in business for 40+ years, and must have been "in contact" with people with the flu and other infections in the past, including in recent years. But the WooHoo Hysteria means the State might well close them down if they don't hide in their attics.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 09:29 AM (rpbg1)

52 I lived in Detroit from 57-63, 2-8 years old. Good memories. Thank G-d we moved before the riots.

Posted by: Don at December 13, 2020 09:30 AM (mwDnq)

53 I read 'The Splendid and the Vile' by Erik Larson, a birthday present from my sister. She'd previously given me his book 'In the Garden of Beasts', about the experiences of the US Ambassador to Nazi German in the 1930s. This book is about the year of the Blitz, focussing on Churchill and his immediate circle.

I'd describe it as an OK book of history by someone who's more a popularizer than a scholar. It's good to have an easy-to-understand account of history, but I think most readers here would find it a bit barebones. The best parts are where he crosscuts from events in England to Goebbels' diaries, giving us a look at how differently things were interpreted because of the propaganda blinkers each side was wearing. A whole book of THAT would be interesting. The Germans were really mystified by the actions of the British - why weren't they surrendering? What was keeping them going? Couldn't they recognize the reality of their own defeat?

One thing I didn't like, though, was a habit the author has of including irrelevant little "slice of life" vignettes, drawn from sources like contemporary diaries. So we get some pointless anecdote about a girl who's scared by the bombing and decides to lose her virginity to her boyfriend, only to notice that he has a crooked wiener, which makes her laugh. I guess it's a way of saying "Life goes on, and always finds a way!" but it can't possibly compare with Churchill's thoughts and actions.

In the same vein, he also focusses on the misadventures of side characters, like Churchill's son and daughter, and his private secretary. So we keep taking holidays from the war action to follow the romantic ups and downs of these young people. Larson did this in the 'Garden of Beasts' book too; he seems to have a need to say, "These great men all had screwed-up kids," as if that could interest us as much as what the main actors are doing.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:30 AM (ZzfrF)

54 This kind of praise reminds me of things like, for example, Scalia's "blistering" dissent in the Obergefell decision. I mean, it sounds great, it obviously needed to be written, but what did it actually accomplish? A lot of kids will get to read about 1619. Few, if any, will ever read Wood's book.
__________

What did Burke's Reflections accomplish? In his lifetime, not much.

But I share the feelings. Just remember, feelings are part of our material nature, not immaterial like the intellect. Yes, they matter. But they are not the fundamental human feature. We are essentially a rational animal, though Swift's revision "capable of reason" is perhaps more to the point.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:30 AM (7X3UV)

55 I bet the shitters in the Detroit liebarry are luxurious.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 13, 2020 09:30 AM (89T5c)

56 hiya

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:31 AM (arJlL)

57 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 09:17 AM (2JVJo)

I'm assuming you left cuz you know the owner.

A friend?

Otherwise, there really was no reason for you to leave, and many ways to handle the Karen,

unless you thought she was a stone-cold nut job, then, yeah, discretion is the better part of valor cuz you're just trying to get some waffles and maple syrup. Not fist fight a crazy person.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 09:32 AM (dWwl8)

58 My mom went to Fordson High in Dearborn:

https://tinyurl.com/y3ncehb8

A mighty fortress!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 09:32 AM (Dc2NZ)

59 I bet the shitters in the Detroit liebarry are luxurious.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory a

They must have pay urinals wherever the pants pic guy is.

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (arJlL)

60 51: I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during dinner.

I detest her and her crap. She does not limit it to wuflu but likes to catch people putting their garbage out too early. Sad old bitch

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (ONvIw)

61 So thanks for the recommendation of Who Moved the Stone? Just grabbed it for my Kindle.

And now - I think I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I was reading Thomas Horan's The Myth of the Zodiac Killer. It's actually a three (short) book series bundled into one tome.

This might be TL/DR:

Horan lays out the case that "Zodiac" as a single killer never existed. What he believes is that the first two murders (of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen) were drug-related; tha-t Faraday had confronted a pusher in his school and was threatening to go to the police. He also believes the next two murders (Darlene Ferrin and Mike Mageau) were also drug-related and committed by the same pusher (named "Big Red"), because Ferrin was either an informant or suspected to be one.

Why were those four murders not solved? Because, says Horan, Vallejo's PD in 1968-69 was riddled with corruption and connections to the drug trade and a real investigation would have exposed too many people with too much to lose.

And here's where the Zodiac letters come in - Horan believes they were written by a SF Chronicle reporter (I forget the name) who was trying, in an oblique way, to get the murders out into the public consciousness and force an investigation. Horan says this reporter was "outed" at an interdepartmental Zodiac task force and told to stop writing or he would be jailed, if not worse.

As for the killings of Cecelia Shepard at Lake Berryessa and the murder of cabbie Paul Stine, Horan believes the first was the work of a park ranger who had access to the murder site and the latter killing the work of a short-order cook who was already a suspect in several previous can heists.

To my lay mind, it's a pretty impressive case, backed up by multiple links to Horan's website, where all of the official files are put up for anyone to read and make their own deductions.

What Horan doesn't do is make a convincing case as to why Robert Graysmith took over forging "Zodiac" letters or why he spent years framing Arthur Leigh Allen as the killer. An interesting book and a new way of looking at the case.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

62 Another: Hooker's Laws begins:

"THOUGH for no other cause, yet for this; that posterity may know we have not loosely through silence permitted things to pass away as in a dream"

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (7X3UV)

63
I am still reading "Reamde" by Neil Stephenson and enjoying it. I've got about one third of the book left to read.

My reading time has been crimped by classes that I took last weekend on constructing rings and how best to photograph jewelry. I'm also researching mathematical spirals - Fibonacci and Theodorus - with an idea of using them to create intarsia pieces from rock and mineral slabs. Intarsia, in this case, is "painting by rock".

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 13, 2020 09:34 AM (pNxlR)

64 At one time Detroit was the most modern city in the world, and one of the most beautiful.

Leftism: not even once.

I'm still rereading all of my Jerry Pournelle (and friends) CoDominium series novels.

Appropriate for these times we find ourselves in. But where will we find a worthy Emperor?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:34 AM (6dXV7)

65 I detest her and her crap. She does not limit it to wuflu but likes to catch people putting their garbage out too early. Sad old bitch
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (ONvIw)

Hahaha......you should get a couple of garbage cans from down the road and leave them in front of her place at night after the day of pick up.

Take pictures and report her.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 13, 2020 09:35 AM (R/m4+)

66 Girl who had sex with Frank Sinatra and Satan. Can see why Woodie was so insecure.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:35 AM (7X3UV)

67 There are other books of this nature, that is, when the author sets out to write one thing, but then becomes convinced of the opposite and ends up writing a totally different book. Perhaps you know of such a book.

**********

Indeed, I myself experienced this phenomenon. When I sat down to write my third book I intended to produce a comprehensive treatise on the Fall of Man and epistemology, but it ended up going in a completely direction, and it became "Muldoon's Library of Limericks, Vol. 1"

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 09:37 AM (m45I2)

68 My mom went to Fordson High in Dearborn:

A mighty fortress!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet
Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 09:32 AM (Dc2NZ)

---
Many years ago I noticed that American school buildings went through three design phases once they got beyond one-room schoolhouses.

The Fortress. Lots of brick, masonry, big windows (for the cannon). This ran up until after WW II.

The Greenhouse. Vast expanses of glass, open floor plans, flat roofs, single story. All that glass led too...

The Prison. Huge blank brick/concrete expanses with narrow wire-laced windows. Multi-floor, controlled entry/exit points.

Of late they seem to be doing Prisons but with brighter colors and windows in select areas (but only where the population is sufficiently affluent not to break them).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:37 AM (cfSRQ)

69 I'm currently reading Freaky Deaky by Elmore Leonard who lived in Detroit and some of his novels are set there.

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:37 AM (arJlL)

70 Girl who had sex with Frank Sinatra and Satan. Can see why Woodie was so insecure.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:35 AM (7X3UV)

Woody probably banged as many chicks as Sinatra, and -

more than Satan.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 09:38 AM (dWwl8)

71 Girl who had sex with Frank Sinatra and Satan. Can see why Woodie was so insecure.
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:35 AM (7X3UV)

Let me understand. You got Frank Sinatra, Woody Allen and Satan.

Frank Sinatra has sex with Woody Allen, so who is having sex with Satan?

Something's missing!

Posted by: Frank Costanza at December 13, 2020 09:38 AM (R/m4+)

72 > Girl who had sex with Frank Sinatra and Satan. Can see why Woodie was so insecure.

Yeah, those have to be tough acts to follow.

I've never understood why Woody a) got so much high-quality trim in the first place and b) threw it all away for a girl who wasn't up to his previous standards. I guess she's like his Yoko Ono or something? No accounting for taste.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:39 AM (6dXV7)

73 33 So, despite being a Moron for quite a few years, I'm unsure on Sunday morning protocol. Does the Emergency Morning Thread (that's how my brain processes "EMT") remain active during the book thread?

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 09:18 AM (KAi1n)

I don't know, generally the top thread is the active thread.

But the book thread seems to remain active throughout the day. I check back occasionally and there are new posts throughout the day. Not a lot, mind you, but I've seen late comments posted even during the evening hours.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 13, 2020 09:39 AM (VrRiR)

74 There are other books of this nature, that is, when the author sets out to write one thing, but then becomes convinced of the opposite and ends up writing a totally different book.
________

That actually describes Gordon's Rules of the Game, about Jutland. But I've said enough about that book.

Slightly related is Difficulties, a correspondence between Mgr Ronald Knox and Arnold Lunn, the former defending, the latter attacking, the Catholic Church. Knox ended up converting Lunn. It CAN happen.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:39 AM (7X3UV)

75 Churchill noted that the British standard of living would not reach Roman levels until the mid-19th Century.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:25 AM (cfSRQ)
I remember reading about an archeological dig that found a largely-preserved Roman villa in Britain. It was really state-of-the-art, with pipes for hot steam running under the floor, so they had heated floors! Another thing they found was remains of burnt areas on the floors, yet it was clear that the villa had not been destroyed by fire, it was basically intact. I think they carbon-dated the charred remnants and found they came from about 500 AD, less than 100 years after the Romans left Britain. They concluded that they were campfires. People had been reduced to huddling around campfires in what a few generations before had been a luxury villa with heated floors. That's how fast civilization can withdraw.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (ZzfrF)

76 I'm assuming you left cuz you know the owner.

I do. I made an excuse about leaving because I didn't know who the Karen was (might be a relative or an employee on their day off) and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

However, my usual waitress gave me an "I know why you're going" look, so perhaps she spoke to the owner. Anyway, I'm going back on Saturday morning, so if there's an after-action report, I'll let you know.

And now the latest Kung Flu insanity from Masshole guv Chaaaaaalie Baker - if you are in a bar or restaurant, you must wear your mask unless you have an actual beverage or meal in front of you. If you don't - if you're waiting for it - mask on. So no more going to my local Irish pub for me.

I bet someone 20 dollars that the lockdowns and masks would still be in place six months from now. It'll be the easiest 20 I've ever made.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (2JVJo)

77 Detroit used to be beautiful and amazing, with stunning architecture and buildings of this sort all over downtown. It was called the Paris of the West. It was the leading cultural center of the USA. Stupid racism and leftist policies destroyed it and have kept it destroyed for forty years. Every decade or so its supposedly rebounding or having a renaissance, and still the city keeps dying. Now there's bears wandering the streets, and the architecture is crumbling to dust.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (KZzsI)

78 I'm about halfway through The Bridge on the Drina and I think it captures, in its own unique way (it's written fairly dryly and the translator doesn't have the greatest command of the english language, ie. he makes up words), the general tone of life in Bosnia. It's very much an East meets West place where the Serbs and the muz live in a sort of distrustful equilibrium that is periodically roiled by something or other. They even kind of like each other but are always aware that can turn to shit instantly. The part I just finished had the Austrians taking over and starting to modernize things, which the locals are united against even though they knew most of it was shithole status, it was their shithole.

Like I said, it explains the Balkans pretty effectively.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

79 The Detroit Public Library was started in 1842. This particular building opened its doors in 1921. Remember, before Democrat rule, Detroit was one of the richest cities in the world. The Detroit Institute of Art is an absolute treasure. One of the great museum of the country.

Posted by: Terentia at December 13, 2020 09:41 AM (cFbkR)

80 Morning! On Wednesday we will have 5 more weeks of Trumpmas remaining!

Posted by: Pratchettfan at December 13, 2020 09:42 AM (C/KmL)

81 I've never understood why Woody a) got so much
high-quality trim in the first place and b) threw it all away for a girl
who wasn't up to his previous standards. I guess she's like his Yoko
Ono or something? No accounting for taste.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:39 AM (6dXV7)

---
He could make the women stars.

What won Best Picture in 1977? It wasn't "Star Wars," it was...

"Annie Hall."

Hollywood was always about casting couches. #MeToo was about women who felt they didn't get full payment for services rendered.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:42 AM (cfSRQ)

82 For the Christmas season once again read Frederick Forsyth's The Shepard.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:16 AM (0dt4f)

Great story...maybe too short.

Posted by: BignJames at December 13, 2020 09:42 AM (AwYPR)

83 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at December 13, 2020 09:42 AM (7EjX1)

84 > Now there's bears wandering the streets, and the architecture is crumbling to dust.

I believe there are entire neighborhoods that have just been left to revert back to wilderness. No streetlights, no utilities, no road repairs...

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:42 AM (6dXV7)

85 American resistance during war time

They Fought Alone by John Keats recounts how a LtCol named Wendell Fertig became the leader of a 35,000 man American/Filipino guerilla army on the island of Mindanao until liberation.

One of the odd tid-bits that I recall from this book is how they converted curtain rods into bullets. And it is pretty damning on how the US after liberation ignored the local leaders that had stayed behind to fight.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y6hsy7zb

Fertig and his army are mentioned in another book - The Rescue by Steven Trent Smith that recounts how an American submarine USS Crevalle rescued 40 American civilians who had been in hiding since 1942 along with taking aboard a copy of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Plan Z for the final battle with the American fleet.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/yx8jkpa6

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (0dt4f)

86 Schlichter's admonition that his fiction should serve as a warning and not a roadmap fell on deaf ears. So of course, his next book will be "The Split".

Posted by: John Farter, Jet-Powered Jumper of Mars at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (7xpq6)

87 64 At one time Detroit was the most modern city in the world, and one of the most beautiful.

Leftism: not even once.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:34 AM (6dXV7)

A lefty relative of mine assures me that Detroit's glory was due to the unions making everyone prosperous. The decline is imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to leftism.

Posted by: President-elect Emmie at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (ofYez)

88 Good morning all - working this week on the last chapter of the WWII novel - which should be done about mid-January, and prepping for Christmas! The Daughter Unit and I put out the exterior lights earlier in the week, and spent yesterday rearranging the garage so that we could bring in the pre-lighted Christmas tree. We only put a few ornaments on it, as the biggest of the dogs has a nasty habit of chewing anything he can get his jaws around.
A lot of our neighbors seem to have gone all-out with decorating for Christmas - a bit of defiance, I think: "Dammit, we WILL have a Merry Christmas! in spite of the Commie Corona Crud!"

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 13, 2020 09:44 AM (xnmPy)

89 No streetlights, no utilities, no road repairs...

"Not a single luxury"

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:44 AM (arJlL)

90 I remember reading about an archeological dig that
found a largely-preserved Roman villa in Britain. It was really
state-of-the-art, with pipes for hot steam running under the floor, so
they had heated floors! Another thing they found was remains of burnt
areas on the floors, yet it was clear that the villa had not been
destroyed by fire, it was basically intact. I think they carbon-dated
the charred remnants and found they came from about 500 AD, less than
100 years after the Romans left Britain. They concluded that they were
campfires. People had been reduced to huddling around campfires in what a
few generations before had been a luxury villa with heated floors.
That's how fast civilization can withdraw.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (ZzfrF)

---
Yes, I probably saw the same thing. It was on an estate and the owner wanted to put in a barn or outbuilding or something and whoops! There was a Roman villa in the back 40!

People assume progress is automatic and civilization is self-sustaining.

Both assumptions are false, as we are about to find out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:44 AM (cfSRQ)

91 > He could make the women stars.

True to some degree, I'm sure, but Farrow was *already* a star when Woody started banging her.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:44 AM (6dXV7)

92 @69..."Freaky Deaky" is great. Maybe the best novel about the 60s/70s "counterculture". Leonard was great at social commentary with a light but serious touch, all revealed through his characters within relatively standard genre conventions. Not for nothing was he the "Dickens of Detroit".

Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (evxBY)

93 Yesterday I picked up, and have almost finished, Murder on the Orient Express. Though I've seen the movie, I had never actually read the book. (Which in my copy is "on the Calais Express, BTW, the original American title, apparently.)

It reminds me of my problem with Poirot: I cannot see any personality there. Christie tries, but it just comes down to some stock mannerisms, which to me seem spliced together. There is no man underneath. And when I get to it, every male in Christie, that I've encountered, seems like that - one dimensional. She does better with women. Which is why I prefer Marple.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (7X3UV)

94 Thanks for the recommendation for "Rescue", Anna. My library has it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

95 19 I'm sorry that you're in a down mood, OM, but your weekly book thread is something a lot of us look forward to reading each week. I hope it boosts your spirits a little if you think about how your writing lifts others up. All the best.
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at December 13, 2020 09:07 AM (d9Cw3)

This. You're very much appreciated, OM.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (HabA/)

96 The last time I was in Detroit was the mid-1980s. It looked like a bombed out pile of shit then. It's hard to imagine a beautiful structure like that library still exists.

Posted by: JTB at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

97 A lefty relative of mine assures me that Detroit's glory was due to the unions making everyone prosperous. The decline is imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to leftism.
Posted by: President-elect Emmie at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (ofYez)

Ha. The unions helped drive the auto industry out of Detroit and out of the US. That killed Detroit more than the riots, IMO.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (ONvIw)

98 I've been listening to That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis and just now listened to the chapter where Merlin Ambrosius puts the curse of Babel on a banquet at Belbury.
It's laugh out loud funny when the faux intellectuals of N.I.C.E. begin speaking gibberish.

I find myself wondering when eyes will be opened to fact the media, the thing left and many intellectual elites are speaking gibberish.

Posted by: Northernlurker, still lurking after all these years at December 13, 2020 09:46 AM (lgiXo)

99 Preparing for Christmas I'm reading Terry Pratchett. I forgot how much I enjoyed Night Watch. Time traveler tries to catch a murderer, establish law and order, and keep his younger self alive without affecting the future tooooo much. A sweet and contemplative read overall.

Then I opened The Last Continent and I'm still not getting it.

Trying to decide the next few rereads until Hogswatch.

Posted by: mustbequantum at December 13, 2020 09:46 AM (MIKMs)

100 Hiya JTB !

Regards to the Missus !

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:46 AM (arJlL)

101
The decline is imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to leftism.
Posted by: President-elect Emmie at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (ofYez)

-----------

How long was commie Coleman Young mayor? And how did Detroit fare during his tenure?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 09:46 AM (mht8P)

102 > The decline is imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to leftism.

Sure. It was just coincidence that they picked Detroit to stand in for Mogadishu in Blackhawk Down. Heh.

If these people had any connection whatsoever to reality, they wouldn't be leftists.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (6dXV7)

103 Everyone, I expect, has seen Krugman's prediction of economic boom times under our Minimum Leader. So brace yourself for bread lines.

With Krugman, I have to paraphrase from Brideshead, "The economy is booming spiritually, but we are too sinful to see it."

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (7X3UV)

104 I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a
daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a
local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during
dinner.

When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (ZzfrF)

105 Novel writing is kind of like any cultural business in the modern world, where the corrupt and miserable left control things so completely and have ruined it so totally that one feels filthy just by associating with it. Good works won't get published so you have to go solo to attempt to reach the public.

Often the right is abjured to go out and get involved in areas like this: get into publishing, get into being an agent, change things from within! After all, that's how the left did it, they infected and destroyed cultural icon after business titan one after another until they're termites through the entire culture.

But Christians have long faced the same dilemma that conservatives do in a political sense. Not only do we not particularly savor getting involved in certain kinds of work, but the work atmosphere and colleagues at the job are so corrosive and filthy that it is impossible to come away unstained.

Christians have talked about doing this for centuries, particularly Calvinists: get involved in these businesses and fix them from within. And God love us, many have tried. Most either fail horribly or become compromised and corrupted in the process.

And the rest simply have no real impact. This is a sinful world, and while we are called to fight, we're kind of told that its a losing battle in the Bible, and God will some day wrap it all up in its packaging and throw it in the incinerator.

In the same way, conservatives have tried to be involved and change things, but how much impact have we had? How many have simply been corrupted and compromised?

Its a tough hill to climb when you look at the arc of history.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (KZzsI)

106 Mrs. Frank Sinatra.

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (zr5Kq)

107 60 51: I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during dinner.

I detest her and her crap. She does not limit it to wuflu but likes to catch people putting their garbage out too early. Sad old bitch
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (ONvIw)

Your neighborhood scold.

Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (EbSTN)

108
A lefty relative of mine assures me that
Detroit's glory was due to the unions making everyone prosperous. The
decline is imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to
leftism.

Posted by: President-elect Emmie at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (ofYez)

---
Your relative isn't entirely wrong.

Unions forced wages higher and ensured a pathway to prosperity for people better suited to manual labor.

The unions got bloated and corrupt, but a bigger factor was the decision (starting in the 80s) to export all our manufacturing jobs to places with cheap/slave labor.

We then opened the gates for illegal immigration to add further downward pressure on wages.

Tell your relative that labor unions will NEVER be strong unless the southern border is sealed AND tariffs prevent cheap foreign imports.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (cfSRQ)

109 Arrg those pants are fine matey arrg.

Posted by: Yellowpants at December 13, 2020 09:49 AM (4X+F7)

110 Detroit used to be beautiful and amazing, with stunning architecture and buildings of this sort all over downtown. It was called the Paris of the West. It was the leading cultural center of the USA. Stupid racism and leftist policies destroyed it and have kept it destroyed for forty years. Every decade or so its supposedly rebounding or having a renaissance, and still the city keeps dying. Now there's bears wandering the streets, and the architecture is crumbling to dust.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (KZzsI)

It's incredible how much land is just like open fields with an occasional house like an oasis.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 09:49 AM (y7DUB)

111 > Its a tough hill to climb when you look at the arc of history.

Well, if one peeks ahead to the end of the Bible, it's clear which side wins in the end.

So... keep that thought in mind.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 09:49 AM (6dXV7)

112 BignJames

That is one of the things I enjoy about The Shepard as it is a quick engrossing read without getting bogged down.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:50 AM (0dt4f)

113 I finally finished Ron Chernow's doorstop, The House of Morgan. It's about the evolution of the the Morgan banking dynasty from J.P.'s father in the mid 1800s, through J.P. himself, and down to modern times (modern ending in 1987, when the book was published).

I really looked forward to reading the book, and it was very interesting from the point of view of describing the evolution of the banking system from genteel, "relationship" banking practiced by Morgan and based on trust and selecting clients of the right, sort down to the modern cutthroat behemoths. Lest one put an unrealistic gloss on it, much of the start of the Morgans was financing railroads, largely with British money, and lots of Europeans viewed Americans as shady and untrustworthy. There was good reason for that skepticism, since many of them lost fortunes by betting on us. The situation changed over the late 19th and early 20th century, with American capital displacing the Brits from their accustomed position of international top dog. To my surprise, Morgan's financing of Edison and subsequent takeover of GE gets almost no mention.

For awhile, the Morgan bank was the pinnacle of respectability for any company, and in fact, they had to court Morgan to take them on as clients. Morgan's reputation was so high that they often functioned as a quasi State Dept., arranging to bail out countries in default, and even organizing the logistics for the WWI military. Morgan hired only ivy league types, and then made them rich. That changed with the flood of available money after WWI and especially after WWII, when alternative methods of finance made the old white shoe Morgan style untenable. New hires were still Ivy types, but they began to hire more broadly, to include Jews, Irish, and others who once would have had no chance.

Unfortunately, the book ends in 1987, which is a shame, because we know that many of the firms discussed earlier are no longer around, having died in the 2008 crash. It would have been interesting to see how Chernow described what happened. He's clearly a big government liberal, but not a crazy one. I would rate this book a bit behind his superb bio of Hamilton, but still worth a read.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 09:50 AM (v16oJ)

114 I believe there are entire neighborhoods that have just been left to revert back to wilderness. No streetlights, no utilities, no road repairs...

Yeah its like a patchwork quilt, with areas that are still functional and then sections that are simply not city any longer. They aren't country. They're just ruins of a past civilization, going to seed. But you can still find guns int he gutter and there are still homeless people and drug deals in the doll houses.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:50 AM (KZzsI)

115 Any recommendations for the best book about the November 8, 1965 Operation Hump in Vietnam?

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 09:51 AM (H8QX8)

116 @78...many moons ago, a wise man once recommended "Bridge on the Drina" to me after I mentioned I was reading Robert Kaplan's "Balkan Ghosts". "Kaplan's OK. It'll get you through a dinner party in DC. But if you're really interested...", he said.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 09:51 AM (evxBY)

117 Some of the non-religious books I've read over the last couple weeks:

Combat Beneath the Sea by Major Willy_charles Brou. Published in 1957, this is the English translation of the French language book by the author, a Belgian Army officer. It is an early study of the manned torpedo and miniature submarine operations during WWII. No bibliography, but most of the hard-data is obviously from British sources. An unusual approach is that chapters covering the Italians, Germans and Japanese are narrated in a semi-novelized form: the author apparently had just rudimentary outlines of the Axis operations, so had to pad the page-count. Even-handed in his approach to the Axis, it is a lack-luster introduction to the subject. Rating = 3.5/5.

The Battle of the Torpedo Boats by Bryan Copper. Published in 1970, it is a study of the motor torpedo boat / motor gun boat operations during WWII. Told primarily from a British perspective, the book also discusses the American, German and Italian boat operations; the Japanese apparently never developed comparable boats. The operations usually took place at night and were the naval equivalent of a knife-fight, employing machineguns and 20mm auto-cannon from 400 yards to ramming. No bibliography but a decent introduction to the subject: rating = 4.0/5.0

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. First published as Utopia 14 in 1952, re-released under the new title in 1966, it is a novel of a future post-war America in which society is divided between the elite engineers and bureaucrats, and the serfs ("employed" either in the Army or a huge civil repair force) directed by the super-computer EPICAC. While I found some of the concepts intriguing -- Vonnegut predicted the over-valuing of credentials (a minor character has a Doctorate in Realty) and the under-valuing of skilled labor -- the cynicism was over-powering for me. I got about half-way through and skipped to the last few pages: SPOILER, the bad guys win. Reinforced my dislike for Vonnegut's writing, his horrific experiences during WWII obviously affected him deeply; he's just not to my taste in fiction. Rating = 2.0/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at December 13, 2020 09:51 AM (pJWtt)

118 I'm sorry that you're in a down mood, OM, but your weekly book thread is something a lot of us look forward to reading each week. I hope it boosts your spirits a little if you think about how your writing lifts others up. All the best.
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at December 13, 2020 09:07 AM (d9Cw3)

This. You're very much appreciated, OM.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V

I'll second BOTH posts !

Hiya Bawk !

Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:52 AM (arJlL)

119 41 Mia, daughter of Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan).

Was briefly married to Frank Sinatra, in one of the oddest Hollywood marriages.

"I always said he'd end up in bed with a boy"

Ava Gardner- one of Sinatra's exes
Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:23 AM (arJlL)
_________

And no one would possibly mistake Ava for a boy, not even nowadays.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:52 AM (7X3UV)

120 The thing is, Woody Allen could make women a star... but not a very big star. He didn't make them into Hepburn or even Monroe. He made them into Mariel Hemingway and Mia Farrow level. Kinda midlevel, got a few parts, people know their name stars.

His capacity to make careers was pretty limited.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:52 AM (KZzsI)

121 Anyway, after I finish my Solzhenitsyn binge I am going to be looking for other anti-Socialist writers. I am considering The God that Failed (as it IS a religion/cult), any one familiar?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:52 AM (ONvIw)

122 Dayum Elmore made some movies!

Mr. Majestyk (with Charles Bronson)
Valdez Is Coming (with Burt Lancaster)
52 Pick-Up (with Roy Scheider)
Stick (with Burt Reynolds)
The Moonshine War (with Alan Alda)
Last Stand at Saber River (with Tom Selleck)
Gold Coast (with David Caruso)
Glitz (with Jimmy Smits)
Cat Chaser (with Peter Weller)
Out of Sight (George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez)
Touch (with Christopher Walken)
Pronto (with Peter Falk)
Be Cool (with John Travolta)
Killshot (Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke).
Get Shorty (with John Travolta)
Freaky Deaky (with Christian Slater)
Life of Crime (with Jennifer Aniston) (based on The Switch)

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (JFO2v)

123 Yesterday evening I received a used copy of -

Paddy Chayefsky's "Altered States" from amazon.

I've always admired his screenwriting but have never read his one and only novel.

And since it's supposed to rain all day, I should get pretty deep into it today.

As a sidenote: I have to say I'm pleased as hell with the book seller. This "very good" book is exactly as described. It's pretty much immaculate.

Definitely looking for their name in my future used book safaris.

I love the movie "Altered States" and understand it's different from the book, is it should be fun after reading it to plug into "Altered States", the movie for a little wild-ass Ken Russel action.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (dWwl8)

124
Strange to say for this devotee of classical music, but I'm reading Peter Guralnick's two-volume biography of Elvis Presley Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, an amazing and tragic story.

So what would have happened if Elvis never met Colonel Tom Parker? I think the arc of his life would have taken a different path, but nevertheless it would end with him dying on a toilet at 42.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (mht8P)

125 44 It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)

---
Churchill noted that the British standard of living would not reach Roman levels until the mid-19th Century.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:25 AM (cfSRQ)
________

Probably did in the 12th & 13th, but WSC didn't know that. Contrary to the narrative he was taught.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (7X3UV)

126 I have dispatched my "masks required everywhere" Stormtroopers to Chez Poppins

Posted by: Governor Charlie "Draco" Baker at December 13, 2020 09:54 AM (UGKMd)

127 I haven't gotten a lot read lately. I overdid quite a bit the last few weeks and spent most of the time resting and doing nothing productive. I did start reading Lone Star Sons who is by someone here, I believe and am enjoying it.

I read a Michael Innes mystery called The Gay Phoenix about a strange shipwrecked pair of brothers and stolen identity, but the book was remarkably free of crime or detection and it feels like Innes just got stuck wanting to write books about his favorite character (Sir John Appleby) but didn't have plots for him so he just shows up in random stories.

They are well written, because Innes is a very gifted author, but they feel aimless and forced.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:55 AM (KZzsI)

128 Detroit used to be beautiful and amazing, with
stunning architecture and buildings of this sort all over downtown. It
was called the Paris of the West. It was the leading cultural center of
the USA. Stupid racism and leftist policies destroyed it and have kept
it destroyed for forty years. Every decade or so its supposedly
rebounding or having a renaissance, and still the city keeps dying. Now
there's bears wandering the streets, and the architecture is crumbling
to dust.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:40 AM (KZzsI)

And now it has more in common with Beirut the "Paris of the Middle East". Of course with the flood of "refugees" Paris itself is heading towards Detroit status.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 09:55 AM (ag8Q5)

129
Ha. The unions helped drive the auto industry out of Detroit and out of the US. That killed Detroit more than the riots, IMO.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (ONvIw)

---
No. This is a false narrative. I, too once believed it, but can we now admit that "Free Trade" was always about exporting jobs so that the elites got richer while everyone else went broke?

What good does a cheaper car/TV/ipad do me if I have to pay double taxes in order to provide welfare for workers who can't find jobs?

Come visit Lansing and look at the huge vacant lots where Fisher Body and the Lansing Assembly plant once stood. Is everyone better off with those jobs gone? Those factories took with them the nearby taverns, shops, schools and churches.

The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

130 Mrs. Frank Sinatra.
Posted by: runner

One of several......

"Make yourself at home, Frank; hit somebody !"

- Don Rickles

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (arJlL)

131 You know who was anti-illegal immigration? Caesar Chavez.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (KAi1n)

132 I think the arc of his life would have taken a different path, but nevertheless it would end with him dying on a toilet at 42.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (mht8P)

I dont want to know when I am dying just where!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (JFO2v)

133 Dayum Elmore made some movies!

Yeah but most of them did his writing little justice. They did a bunch of his westerns as movies but the only one that really stands out is Hombre. It wasn't really until Get Shorty that someone finally did a Leonard movie that felt like his books and worked.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (KZzsI)

134 I love the movie "Altered States" and understand it's different from the book, is it should be fun after reading it to plug into "Altered States", the movie for a little wild-ass Ken Russel action.
Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (dWwl

I agree. Unusual movie, ultimately about addiction and the ordeal of holding on to one's humanity. Chayefsky, the last liberal artist.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (H8QX8)

135 24 "Oddly, some of the most impressive structures in Detroit are intact and in use."

It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)
________

It's odd that the Britons were uniquely bad at keeping what they inherited. There were Roman baths still operating in Paris at least into the 14th C.

And, much as I'd like to believe it, I don't think you can blame it on the Sassanachs. The actual Britons did that.

One related point came up a few years back. DNA testing showed that the English are mostly Britons; the Saxon strain is much smaller than had been thought. That is something else WSC was mistake about, but to be fair, on that, the version he believed was still dominant in my college days.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (7X3UV)

136 A lefty relative of mine assures me that Detroit's
glory was due to the unions making everyone prosperous. The decline is
imaginary and if it exists, it due to lack of devotion to leftism.

Posted by: President-elect Emmie at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (ofYez)

Yes and the Soviet Union was a land of plenty and prosperity too comrade.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (ag8Q5)

137 When viewing great civic architecture in decayed, modern cities the contrast is not so much the loss of technique, but the loss of civilizational confidence.

Posted by: Zek at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (w/5KC)

138 You are welcome Eris, it is a fascinating up close look of an obscure corner of the war.

Speaking of obscure posted this on the ONT

B-17E 41-9112 "The Dreamboat" of Project Reed.
https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/

2020/02/26/b-17e-41-9112-dreamboat/

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (0dt4f)

139
Tell your relative that labor unions will NEVER be strong unless the southern border is sealed AND tariffs prevent cheap foreign imports.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (cfSRQ)

I'd go further with China, China, China. The rise of outsourcing there, killed off a lot of work in Latin America. Our corporate people were always on the look out for cheap labor, but closed China is better than other places, because it keeps the secret. Do you recall how Kathy Lee was excoriated for sweatshops in Honduras? Nobody seems to get good pics of those in China, so they stay open and Richie Rich wins like crazy.

I read about FB being sued. This will fail with Biden as he is putting FB people into high positions. This is sheer fascism coming down on us

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:58 AM (ONvIw)

140 I detest her and her crap. She does not limit it to wuflu but likes to catch people putting their garbage out too early. Sad old bitch
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (ONvIw)

Your neighborhood scold.
Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (EbSTN)

take picture of her

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 09:58 AM (zr5Kq)

141 @122...most Elmore Leonard movies stink, unfortunately. "Get Shorty" was good, "Jackie Brown" too. But otherwise, slim pickings. Leonard said as much, Hollywood doesn't get the right tone. He also more or less said he doesn't give a what Hollywood does with his books, as long as the checks cash.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (evxBY)

142 My father used to absolutely loathe Woody's standup
routines on the Tonight Show, so much so I wanted to tell him to chill
and that it just wasn't something that appealed to him.

Posted by: Captain Hate
When I was a teen, I though Allen was hysterically funny. Now, I find him absolutely unwatchable, even the old stuff I once thought was good. I suppose one's tastes change over time.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (v16oJ)

143 Strange to say for this devotee of classical music, but I'm reading Peter Guralnick's two-volume biography of Elvis Presley Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love, an amazing and tragic story.

So what would have happened if Elvis never met Colonel Tom Parker? I think the arc of his life would have taken a different path, but nevertheless it would end with him dying on a toilet at 42.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (mht8P)

I have that. Careless Love is especially frustrating, as so many people come into Elvis' life trying to help him, but between the phony Colonel (a true bastard) and the Memphis Mafia, no-one can get him back to his roots.

You find yourself saying, "just die, Elvis," because his life is such a pointless mess.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (2JVJo)

144 When viewing great civic architecture in decayed, modern cities the contrast is not so much the loss of technique, but the loss of civilizational confidence.

Yeah we know HOW to do it all still, we just lack the drive or interest to do so.

Which is why instead of making beautiful buildings, architects are busy making bizarre ones. Instead of making people go "wow that's beautiful" people look at it and go "how did they do that, and why?"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (KZzsI)

145 Ted Cruz said "I've said screw the Chinese communists but I had no idea how closely Swalwell was listening."

Posted by: xa4 at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (xkudx)

146 Probably did in the 12th 13th, but WSC didn't know that. Contrary to the narrative he was taught.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (7X3UV)

---
On what basis? Did they have hot/cold running water, indoor plumbing, public baths, well-paved and maintained roads?

I get your point that there were arts and sciences, but Medieval Britain was still very insular and divided. The Roman province was far more affluent.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

147
Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

So, pure greed and favorable legislation?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:00 AM (ONvIw)

148 He also more or less said he doesn't give a what Hollywood does with his books, as long as the checks cash.

That pretty much has to be your attitude. You have to stay true to your work in your work and hope that whatever the hell the vomit out pushes more people to your true labors.

And sometimes it does. People picked up and read Clancy novels after seeing Red October.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:01 AM (KZzsI)

149 Reading a sky news story that about 2 M westerners and 79k western companies very tight with Xi and CCP. Database was cracked in Sept this year.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 10:01 AM (JFO2v)

150 I never understood the veneration of Woody Allen.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 13, 2020 10:01 AM (89T5c)

151 Did they have hot/cold running water, indoor plumbing, public baths, well-paved and maintained roads?

a functioning mail system? A currency that worked across a vast empire? Trade from China to Norway? Civilization never really hit a true "dark ages" but there was a serious regression in technology and culture.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:02 AM (KZzsI)

152 145 Ted Cruz said "I've said screw the Chinese communists but I had no idea how closely Swalwell was listening."
Posted by: xa4 at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (xkudx)

Adorable Ted, now make the bigger case, and if you can't do it in court, do it in front of C span or elsewhere. Biden will sweep this away, so you better get off your ass now

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:02 AM (ONvIw)

153 When I was a teen, I though Allen was hysterically
funny. Now, I find him absolutely unwatchable, even the old stuff I once
thought was good. I suppose one's tastes change over time.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (v16oJ)

---
I tried to watch "Annie Hall" because I was curious to see what bested Star Wars.

Couldn't get through it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

154 Biggest problem with Krugman is: He has not yet achieved Peak Wrong. That is the trophy he covets.

Posted by: klaftern at December 13, 2020 10:03 AM (RuIsu)

155 150 I never understood the veneration of Woody Allen.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 13, 2020 10:01 AM (89T5c)

It's a NYC thing, IMO

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:03 AM (ONvIw)

156 It reminds me of my problem with Poirot: I cannot see any personality there. Christie tries, but it just comes down to some stock mannerisms, which to me seem spliced together. There is no man underneath. And when I get to it, every male in Christie, that I've encountered, seems like that - one dimensional. She does better with women. Which is why I prefer Marple.
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020

*
*

It's kind of the nature of the classical mystery. Christie was like that, and the early work of Ellery Queen. The characters are close to being stock types, and are worked as the plot demands. The plot, the cleverness of the game between writer and reader, is the important thing.

John Dickson Carr was a little better (they all got better as time went on). In some cases in Carr the plot is driven by the emotional reactions and the personalities of people involved, including the murderer.

I've never been a big fan of Christie or of Poirot anyway, and have always disliked Orient Express. They filmed it in the '70s, and again recently. Darned if I can understand why when something as vivid as Queen's The Siamese Twin Mystery or the novelette "The Lamp of God" is there for the taking. Maybe because the large cast of stock types in OE allows big-name casting? I dunno.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:03 AM (rpbg1)

157 Happy Lucia Day! The day that Swedes can legitimately light their hair on fire. To see i m a g e s, Bing "Carl Larsson Lucia Day." I stopped sticking candles on my daughter's head years ago. Maybe I should try it on Granddaughter the Oldest. Anyway - Skal!

Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020 10:03 AM (gm3d+)

158 Woody's old standup is pretty good but it wasn't until I saw a bio of Bob Hope that I finally got it. That was Woody's entire schtick, he was a Jew Bob Hope. Some of his early stuff is almost exact rip off of Hope bits. Same attitude about himself, same sort of "I'm a likable bumbling loser" persona. He just wove it through a stereotypical New York Jew pattern.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:04 AM (KZzsI)

159 When I was a teen, I though Allen was hysterically funny. Now, I find him absolutely unwatchable, even the old stuff I once thought was good. I suppose one's tastes change over time.
Posted by: pep

That and we grow up.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 13, 2020 10:04 AM (Rvt88)

160 The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

And must have illegal immigration for nice yards and new roofs. Dems always when in power think back to the plantation days when they in charge.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 10:05 AM (JFO2v)

161 151
Did they have hot/cold running water, indoor plumbing, public baths, well-paved and maintained roads?

a functioning mail system? A currency that worked across a vast
empire? Trade from China to Norway? Civilization never really hit a
true "dark ages" but there was a serious regression in technology and
culture.

I attribute the decline to the development of British "cooking".

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:05 AM (v16oJ)

162 For those who have followed some of the saga, I have a couple of excerpts from this week in 1944 out of The EZ Dog Diary, my dad's daily journal of his his time in Europe during WWII. I'll split them up.

First, from tomorrow, December 14, 1944, as the third pincer nears entry into Germany from the southwest. :

Dec 14
What a day! Our troops all along the line moved within a stone's throw of Der Vaterland. 45 Div took Lembach. 103 Div took Climbach and the high ground to the east. 14 Armd got to the edges of Schleithal and Salmbach, while the 79 Div moved the closest to Germany by reaching the south edge of Scheibenhard, just 200 yds from the border.
No rain today to speak of though the skies were cloudy for most of the day.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 10:05 AM (m45I2)

163 I know everyone has said Who dis is Mia Farrow, but I initially thought it Michelle Pfeiffer.

Posted by: dantesed at December 13, 2020 10:05 AM (88xKn)

164 Skal, and happy Lucia Day , grammie winger !

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:05 AM (zr5Kq)

165 Thanks for the signal boost, OregonMuse. And I'll second the recommendations for Nevil Shure. Most Secret and No Highway in the Sky are my favorites.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at December 13, 2020 10:06 AM (6hzPX)

166 *rummages fridge for meatballs and lingonberries

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:06 AM (zr5Kq)

167 That is a gorgeous picture. If someone had asked me to imagine Detroit's library sight unseen, I would have pictured something grim and Soviet.

The main library in Dallas is efficient and modern. Ugly.

Posted by: Michael the Texan at December 13, 2020 10:06 AM (9IdCK)

168 Thank you runner! I have some hair candles if you want to borrow.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020 10:06 AM (gm3d+)

169 Some of his early stuff is almost exact rip off of Hope bits.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:04 AM (KZzsI)

Good observation.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (H8QX8)

170 So, pure greed and favorable legislation?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:00 AM (ONvIw)

---
Pretty much, all clothed in Free Market propaganda.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (cfSRQ)

171 104 I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a
daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a
local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during
dinner.

When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (ZzfrF)
________

There's a great scene in a Rockford where Hector Alizondo says something like that to some proto-Karens. Asking about what "your kids are putting in their mouths while you're running yours."

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (7X3UV)

172
*polite cough*

I think the American auto industry in the 70s and 80s follows a path like that of British industries so devastatingly portrayed by Corelli Barnett.

Face it, most American cars produced in the early 70s were junk. The Japanese entered the market with well-designed, reliable cars and took away the Big 3's share. Automotive management and the unions did not or would not change their ways quickly enough to reduce costs and improve productivity. Apocalypse followed.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (mht8P)

173 Someone mentioned (by description, not by title) Alan Dean Foster's "Damned Trilogy". Got the Kindle edition and am in the third book as I convalesce.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (8C7+r)

174 I used to not understand why Orient Express kept being remade into film format over and over. Its been filmed what, six or eight times, plus TV adaptations?

But then I realized its a vanity project for actors. Each one gets to play a distinct wretched person and show off their alleged chops. See how I play this character, aren't I great? Finally a role I can get my teeth into.

They're lining up to do it again so they can get their shot at it.

Its an interesting story from the perspective of "Agatha Christie does something nobody else had before" with the plot. But objectively its not that great a read, much like MOST of the Poirot stories.

I find them much more engaging as TV shows, and David Suchet did a wonderful job giving Poirot more of a personality than a stock ~~Frenchman~~ Belgian.

Mille tonnerre!

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:08 AM (KZzsI)

175 Thank you runner! I have some hair candles if you want to borrow.
Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020 10:06 AM (gm3d+)

oh, thank you ! one can never have enough pyrotechnics these days...

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:08 AM (zr5Kq)

176 And must have illegal immigration for nice yards and new roofs. Dems always when in power think back to the plantation days when they in charge.
=====
And nothing terrifies them more than a bunch of dockworkers from Poland (or anywhere else) realizing their true value to the politicians.

Posted by: mustbequantum at December 13, 2020 10:08 AM (MIKMs)

177 So anyone familiar with "The God that Failed"? It's not on Kindle so I'll have to look elsewhere, so I am wondering if it is a good purchase?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:08 AM (ONvIw)

178 . . . When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020

*
*

There's a short story by Shirley Jackson that features exactly that. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:09 AM (rpbg1)

179 re Woody Allen, imo his two best movies are "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Match Point". In both, the protaganist commits a monstrous crime and gets away with it. Points for honesty, Woody.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 10:09 AM (evxBY)

180 My father, who sold stainless steel to the auto industry for decades, said it was the arrogance of management and the greediness of the unions which killed the auto industry in Detroit.

Posted by: Don at December 13, 2020 10:09 AM (mwDnq)

181 The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

There's a line between well-paid, and grossly over-paid in a way that destroys companies, which the unions stampeded over at ludicrous speed in the 80s. Not all of the economic theories of the right are false.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:10 AM (KZzsI)

182 One related point came up a few years back. DNA testing showed that the English are mostly Britons; the Saxon strain is much smaller than had been thought. That is something else WSC was mistake about, but to be fair, on that, the version he believed was still dominant in my college days.
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:57 AM (7X3UV)

I suspect that the genetic distribution came about because Saxon men came over without too many women, and they had children by the Britonic women they captured, while killing the men. (like the Spaniards did in Mexico) But culture is indicated by language, and it's notable that the romanized brittonic language died out everywhere except Wales, which is where those escaping from the Anglo Saxon takeoever fled to.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (V2Yro)

183 I've been slowly wending my way through A War Like No Other by VDH thanks to an excellent recommendation by NaClyDog iirc after I complained that Thucydides narration sometimes confused me about just what the fuck was going on. So I get to this point where the Athenians were sailing to Corcyra when a storm knocks them off course and they shelter in this little out of the way inlet behind enemy lines called Pylos which I think was uninhabited. While they were waiting the storm out they decided to build a small fort there to be pests to the Spartans, who were currently fucking around in Attica. So word gets to the Spartans and they evacuate Attica to clear out the pests in what they thought would be an easy operation. Except the Athenians were wedged in so effectively they easily resisted any effort to budge them and created massive losses of ships and lives for the Spartans, who were so freaked out they tried to negotiate an armistice about which the Athenians were in no mood to not bend them over.

This sounded real familiar with what confused me in Thucydides and when I checked, that was exactly when I started reading the VDH book so I'll be reading them in tandem from this point on.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (y7DUB)

184 The biggest problem with Krugman? You folks are listening to the wrong Krugman. Murray not Paul.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (KAi1n)

185 BEG! For Pep or any moron to put me some knowledge. I want to research the social and Military rankings and structures during the Raj. Can anyone point me to a book, an essay, or just a comprehensive list?

Posted by: Mongerel at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (nbNrv)

186 And the second exerpt, from the following day:

Dec 15 1944
We're in!! [Margin note: (Four months to the day from the landing)] VI Corps units -- three of them pushed into Germany within an hours time today. 103 Div was first at 1305, the the 45 Div at 1345 and the 79 Div at 1400. 14 Armd Div was close but not over. We may have been the last to get in but we are the most favorably located for a telling blow now. Only time will tell.
The 8" gun roared into Karlsruhe today and G-2 picked up the report that a run was made on the bank. The Germans realize now that the war has come home.
Hq moved to Soultz today. Paul, Charlie and I managed a room in a private home. Nice! I have a bed with sheets after a fashion. I was talking to the lady of the place this afternoon. She was stripping the swastika from a red German flag, preparatory to making a tri-color to fly from her house.
Weather was cold today with varying cloudy and bright periods. No rain.

I added the bold emphasis to illustrate that flags can be fickle, and regimes can fall.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (m45I2)

187 My favorite Woody Allen movie is Bullets over Broadway, in large part because he's not in it. Also, its before Chaz Palminteri started to take himself too seriously.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (KZzsI)

188 Happy Lucia Day! The day that Swedes can legitimately light their hair on fire. To see i m a g e s, Bing "Carl Larsson Lucia Day." I stopped sticking candles on my daughter's head years ago. Maybe I should try it on Granddaughter the Oldest. Anyway - Skal!
Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020

*
*

Some years ago I attended a nighttime St. Lucia service at the local Norwegian Seamen's Church (now defunct, I think). Beautiful.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (rpbg1)

189 Some of his early stuff is almost exact rip off of Hope bits.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:04 AM (KZzsI)

Good observation.
Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (H8QX

A lot of people don't know that "Woody Allen" starred in a comic strip, Inside Woody Allen, which ran from 1976-1984:

https://tinyurl.com/yyvfsyok

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (2JVJo)

190 Ha. The unions helped drive the auto industry out of Detroit and out of the US. That killed Detroit more than the riots, IMO.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:45 AM (ONvIw)

---
No. This is a false narrative. I, too once believed it, but can we now admit that "Free Trade" was always about exporting jobs so that the elites got richer while everyone else went broke?

What good does a cheaper car/TV/ipad do me if I have to pay double taxes in order to provide welfare for workers who can't find jobs?

Come visit Lansing and look at the huge vacant lots where Fisher Body and the Lansing Assembly plant once stood. Is everyone better off with those jobs gone? Those factories took with them the nearby taverns, shops, schools and churches.

The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

Well, to be fair, union workers proved themselves to be such screaming assholes (example: leaving Coke bottles on purpose inside car doors for yucks),

that any sympathy/empathy about their lost jobs and livelihoods evaporated.

That being said, I truly believe that Trump's greatest success lie ahead in his second term (please, God!), and that is -

the resolution or diminution of the welfare state/Great Society by returning industrial jobs to America for everyone, EVERYONE!!!!, to share in the promise of America regardless of race, creed, color, or background.

But, now we're facing the worst iteration of the same old leftist Maoist crapola.

If Trump pulls this out, he needs to hire me as his speechwriter.

Pleasant surprise after pleasant surprise is good but sometimes, you need to explain the road map and goals clearly to people.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (dWwl8)

191 179 re Woody Allen, imo his two best movies are "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Match Point". In both, the protaganist commits a monstrous crime and gets away with it. Points for honesty, Woody.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 10:09 AM (evxBY)

I think all of Woody Allen's best movies are really confessions.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (V2Yro)

192 Beautiful.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (rpbg1)

It really is.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (gm3d+)

193 Face it, most American cars produced in the early 70s were junk. The
Japanese entered the market with well-designed, reliable cars and took
away the Big 3's share. Automotive management and the unions did not or
would not change their ways quickly enough to reduce costs and improve
productivity. Apocalypse followed.
180
My father, who sold stainless steel to the auto industry for decades,
said it was the arrogance of management and the greediness of the unions
which killed the auto industry in Detroit.
There's a line between well-paid, and grossly over-paid in a way that
destroys companies, which the unions stampeded over at ludicrous speed
in the 80s. Not all of the economic theories of the right are false.

Agree with all of you. My uncle, a brilliant automotive engineer, loathed Detroit and all its works, but reserved his bitterest condemnation for the unions.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (v16oJ)

194 154 Biggest problem with Krugman is: He has not yet achieved Peak Wrong. That is the trophy he covets.
Posted by: klaftern at December 13, 2020 10:03 AM (RuIsu)

Like Peak Oil ha! Peak Wrong=Stupiderer

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (JFO2v)

195 > The rise of outsourcing there, killed off a lot of work in Latin America.

The factories in the place the ancestral Borgias came from decamped first to Mexico, then to China.

So the Mexicans got screwed, too.

I'm not sure where they'll go next. Africa, probably. China is certainly trying major land grabs in Africa.

The thing is, they don't really need the unskilled African laborers, and they don't much like anyone who isn't Chinese, anyway.

Frankly, I believe that they just aren't planning for the Africans to be there, if you know what I mean.

I was just reading that the median home value in Chaldean Town in Detroit is $5,200. No, there aren't any missing zeros. That's just wild.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (6dXV7)

196 Face it, most American cars produced in the early 70s were junk. The Japanese entered the market with well-designed, reliable cars and took away the Big 3's share. Automotive management and the unions did not or would not change their ways quickly enough to reduce costs and improve productivity. Apocalypse followed.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

I bought my first 'foreign' new car in the late 70s - a Civic. It had a few problems but, Honda reached out proactively and made me better than whole. The fords, and their dealerships, that I had experienced previously hated me and shat upon me every chance they got. I never went back.

The Hondas were worth the huge annoyance of not being allowed to park them in the company parking lots. (Steel cos.)

Posted by: Tonypete at December 13, 2020 10:13 AM (Rvt88)

197 I'm here.

I took a look at:the library and my first thought was, Where are the books?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 13, 2020 10:14 AM (sd8p8)

198 146 Probably did in the 12th 13th, but WSC didn't know that. Contrary to the narrative he was taught.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 09:53 AM (7X3UV)

---
On what basis? Did they have hot/cold running water, indoor plumbing, public baths, well-paved and maintained roads?

I get your point that there were arts and sciences, but Medieval Britain was still very insular and divided. The Roman province was far more affluent.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)
_________

Nutrition is the big item. They were better fed. More affluent at the level of food and clothing. And there were some big technical advances. Industry was actually further advanced. They were well ahead in use of water and wind power, for instance.

This is something that has come out in the last century, and documented by many historians.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:14 AM (7X3UV)

199 10 Dec 1950

USS Cape Esperance CVE-88 docked in Tokyo with a cargo that would change the air war over Korea. Loaded on deck were F-86A Sabres of the 4th Fighter Wing.

12 Dec 1950

F-80C of the 80th FBS piloted by Lt. Evan Rosencrans was flying top cover as other F-80s bombed the Sinuiju airfield which was just south of the Yalu River. Some MiG-15s from Antung decided to scuffle with the Americans. Rosencrans scored multiple hits on the No.4 MiG-15 and several months later was credited with a kill. Post war analysis reduced the claim to damaged.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 10:14 AM (0dt4f)

200 What I don't get is that Woody Allen got his big start in movies with What's Up Tiger Lily, a painfully unfunny and miserable re-dialog of an old Japanese film. The only good part is the gratuitous striptease at the end by China Lee.

Its like how the Broken Lizard guys got their start with Puddle Cruiser which is... not funny at all.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:15 AM (KZzsI)

201 There are other books of this nature, that is, when the author sets out to write one thing, but then becomes convinced of the opposite and ends up writing a totally different book.
________

In Science fiction, the most famous example is the short story The Cold Equations. The author kept trying to save the girl, but the editor knew it would be a much better story if she died.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:15 AM (u82oZ)

202 > it was the arrogance of management and the greediness of the unions

I think your father was right. Plenty of blame to go around.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 13, 2020 10:15 AM (6dXV7)

203 I continue with LOTR, enjoying every word. Given my mood this week I desperately need the kind of immersion it offers. Lighter reading doesn't always keep my attention through the rage.

Odd though it may seem, CS Lewis' "Preface to Paradise Lost" keeps my attention. It is so well written and has so many valuable citations and insights I get lost in it. Churchill's "Painting as a Pastime" does the same.

Posted by: JTB at December 13, 2020 10:15 AM (7EjX1)

204 BEG! For Pep or any moron to put me some knowledge. I want to research the social and Military rankings and structures during the Raj. Can anyone point me to a book, an essay, or just a comprehensive list?
Posted by: Mongerel at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (nbNrv)
------
Byron Farwell's "Armies of the Raj" might be a good starting point.

Posted by: That guy who always thinks it's beginning at December 13, 2020 10:16 AM (Uhu8A)

205 There's one Woody Allen movie I like ("Midnight in Paris"). Otherwise, the only thing that comes to mind when I think "Woody Allen" is falling asleep in class while "Hannah and Her Sisters" was being shown.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 10:16 AM (KAi1n)

206 "Scalia's "blistering" dissent in the Obergefell decision. I mean, it sounds great, it obviously needed to be written, but what did it actually accomplish?"

A: His demise by pillow at a Texas dude ranch.

Gorsuch & Co. created a new federal definition of man and woman. That fun hasn't even started.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at December 13, 2020 10:16 AM (Ndje9)

207
If Trump pulls this out, he needs to hire me as his speechwriter.

Pleasant surprise after pleasant surprise is good but sometimes, you need to explain the road map and goals clearly to people.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (dWwl

The concept of "meeting production" was not useful. When I was at MSU a friend was all about the Labor and Industrial Relations program and trimming some of these bits of nonsense. I recall being told about workers who sat around playing cards after they met their quota (with an acceptable amount of error). That drove down productivity, I would think.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:17 AM (ONvIw)

208 185
BEG! For Pep or any moron to put me some knowledge. I want to research
the social and Military rankings and structures during the Raj. Can
anyone point me to a book, an essay, or just a comprehensive list?

It's not exclusively about the Raj, but I think you'd like Mr. Kipling's Army, by Byron Farwell. In addition to the ranks, you get lots of info about the demographics and everyday life of common British soldiers, aka Tommy Atkins.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:17 AM (v16oJ)

209 Didn't we start the Korean non-declared war with P-51 Mustangs? (That's what was in theater.)

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (KAi1n)

210 197 I'm here.

I took a look at:the library and my first thought was, Where are the books?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 13, 2020 10:14 AM (sd8p

These are the entrance and one of the reading rooms

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (ONvIw)

211 Gorsuch & Co. created a new federal definition of man and woman. That fun hasn't even started.

==

Also established that THE STATE will define what family is. Nothing wrong with that...

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (zr5Kq)

212 There are other books of this nature, that is, when the author sets out to write one thing, but then becomes convinced of the opposite and ends up writing a totally different book.

I think Sobel's The Case for Christ was that kind of book. Hardcore atheist who dug into the Bible to disprove it and found himself being changed, against his will, kicking and screaming.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (KZzsI)

213 No Highway is quite good. I started it for the engineering but completed it for the characters. The movie is good too, Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich

Posted by: .87c at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (V7sMu)

214 Well, I started reading Nero Wolfe mysteries, starting with "Too Many Cooks" and now I'm hooked. They are like crack cocaine - I read 3 more this week and I rejoice that Rex Stout wrote 71 of them. I know grammie winger didn't like the one she started and I can understand how someone might dislike the characters - it took me a little while to warm up to Nero although I liked Archie right away, but then I have a weakness for good looking smart-alecs. Archie's sense of humor saves him from being a jerk and makes the books fun to read.

I said last week that in Sherlock Holmes novels, it's always 1895. Well, that's not exactly the case with Nero Wolfe mysteries, but it is interesting that whether the story was published in 1938 or 1954 (and Stout makes reference to current events), you simply accept that none of the main characters ever age - Wolfe is eternally 58, Archie remains 32 or so and lucky Lily Rowan never develops any wrinkles or gray hair either.

BTW, back in 1959, they did a pilot for a Nero Wolfe TV series -and a very young Bill Shatner played Archie Goodwin. I think they did a good job considering fitting a Nero Wolfe mystery into a half hour show is pretty ridiculous But Shatner was, I think, a great choice for Archie - Shatner's looks (and man, was he a looker) and likable cockiness fit Archie perfectly and I also liked the guy who played Wolfe. God knows why it wasn't picked up, it's still smarter TV than 90 percent of what actually gets on the air, but perhaps that was a blessing for disguise for Shatner. I doubt he would have been chosen to play Kirk 7 years later if he had become associated with the Archie Goodwin character. At any rate, I enjoyed watching it:

https://tinyurl.com/yxlx6l8x

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:18 AM (HabA/)

215 this is one of my "top 10 books i've ever read" (which probably has about 20 items; i've never actually generated the list) but it's a bit off the general list of books recommended here.

The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald Weinberg. Subtitled "A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully". It's written in the form of "laws" (think Murphy). Like Ronda's Revelation -- it's not a crisis, it's the end of an illusion.

I've recommended it to lots of people but nobody else seems to appreciate it as much as i do since mostly they don't read it.

Other serious reading this week: Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland and The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner. A review of Dominion by Tim Keller is here and summarizes the book pretty well. GoG was interesting but somewhat irritating to me. His humor didn't seem to mesh with his subject very well. Also, why and how he made his selections of genius clusters (my term, not his) is never explained, though some are hard to argue with.

Posted by: yara at December 13, 2020 10:19 AM (rde8g)

216 It's almost time to get out my copy of "A Christmas Cantata" by Mark Schweizer. It is one of his Liturgical Mystery series but is a bit different. Reading it each December, and sometimes in July, has become one of my few traditions. If you need an uplift (and a few laughs and tears) it is a great short read.

Posted by: JTB at December 13, 2020 10:19 AM (7EjX1)

217 185 BEG! For Pep or any moron to put me some knowledge. I want to research the social and Military rankings and structures during the Raj. Can anyone point me to a book, an essay, or just a comprehensive list?
Posted by: Mongerel at December 13, 2020 10:11 AM (nbNrv)
_________

It's a bit informal and definitely non-scholarly, but Byron Farwell's Mr Kipling's Army is a very fun read.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:19 AM (7X3UV)

218 No Highway in the Sky

Jimmy Stewart and an airliner. All about structural failure. cf de Havilland Comet.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 10:19 AM (0dt4f)

219 If Trump pulls this out, he needs to hire me as his speechwriter.

Trump will go away and come back stronger, bigger, better.

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:19 AM (zr5Kq)

220 His demise by pillow at a Texas dude ranch.

Which death of a major conservative in the last ten years strikes you as not being suspicious or extremely convenient? Walter Williams, all of them?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:20 AM (KZzsI)

221 many moons ago, a wise man once recommended "Bridge on the Drina" to me after I mentioned I was reading Robert Kaplan's "Balkan Ghosts". "Kaplan's OK. It'll get you through a dinner party in DC. But if you're really interested...", he said.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 09:51 AM (evxBY)

Smart guy. I'd never heard of it and I'm a ravenous consumer of Eastern European samizdat type fiction but this is really its own category. Danilo Kis was a Serb but he mostly wrote about commie oppression.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:20 AM (y7DUB)

222 140 I detest her and her crap. She does not limit it to wuflu but likes to catch people putting their garbage out too early. Sad old bitch
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 09:33 AM (ONvIw)

Your neighborhood scold.
Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (EbSTN)

take picture of her
Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 09:58 AM (zr5Kq)

Is she the sort of person who turns off her lights on Halloween? Some people like that just have nothing to do.

Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 10:20 AM (EbSTN)

223 Gorsuch & Co. created a new federal definition of man and woman. That fun hasn't even started.
Posted by: The Gipper Lives at December 13, 2020 10:16 AM (Ndje9)

Will Trump's triumvirate of appointees come to be known as the three stooges? One fallout of the recent ruling was my disgust for them, affirming my first instincts.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:21 AM (H8QX8)

224 Neville Shute is another really good mostly forgotten author, I agree. They made a bunch of his stuff into films too, and he was kind of the master of airplane films after being involved in designing very early ones.

I saw No Highway In The Sky as a youngster on Channel 12 TV, just liked it because Jimmy Stewart. I haven't ever read the book, though.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:21 AM (KZzsI)

225 Woody's old standup is pretty good but it wasn't until I saw a bio of Bob Hope that I finally got it. That was Woody's entire schtick, he was a Jew Bob Hope. Some of his early stuff is almost exact rip off of Hope bits. Same attitude about himself, same sort of "I'm a likable bumbling loser" persona. He just wove it through a stereotypical New York Jew pattern.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:04 AM (KZzsI)

Actually, Woody's made the same point several times.

At least, in his early days. He really admired Bob Hope, the young comic actor.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 10:21 AM (dWwl8)

226 37 Halfway thru She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper."

It occurs to me that a best selling title for a Japanese period piece could be "She Rides Shogun." Maybe skip the book, just do the movie.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 10:21 AM (V2Yro)

227 "Good morning! Sunday morning!"

A lovely snow is falling steadily here at Mom's house. So, naturally, the electricity is out. No coffee!!!!!

Oh, wait, before I could send this, the 'lectric is back. Yay. Snow just got lovelier. Mmmm..... coffee.

Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison sounds neat. And better consequence than the sad Bible believer - can't recall his name and I'm not at home to check my bookshelf - Fundamentalist who started researching the history of scripture and lost his faith.
___
A slightly-related panel from my comic "Jerusalem Report."
https://bit.ly/what-about-the-stone

Posted by: mindful webworker
Christmas Pleasant
at December 13, 2020 10:22 AM (wmyHK)

228 Face it, most American cars produced in the early 70s were junk. The Japanese entered the market with well-designed, reliable cars and took away the Big 3's share. Automotive management and the unions did not or would not change their ways quickly enough to reduce costs and improve productivity. Apocalypse followed.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

You can't dismiss the oil embargo.

Posted by: BignJames at December 13, 2020 10:22 AM (AwYPR)

229 At least, in his early days. He really admired Bob Hope, the young comic actor.

Yeah, its too bad Bob Hope is so much more likable a guy. Although apparently not an easy person to be around in his personal life. He was so locked into that persona once he worked it up that he was that way 24/7 and was a huge womanizer.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:23 AM (KZzsI)

230 Which death of a major conservative in the last ten years strikes you as not being suspicious or extremely convenient?

For the longest time I thought Breitbart's death was suspicious. It came soon after his visit and interview with Ayers. But then over and over and over - "no foul play". Bad health and intense lifestyle. Burning the candle at both ends, so to speak.

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:23 AM (zr5Kq)

231 Robert Kaplan's "Balkan Ghosts". "Kaplan's OK. It'll get you through a dinner party in DC. But if you're really interested...", he said.
Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 09:51 AM (evxBY)

Kaplan's essay "Media and Medievalism" is one of the best and most original things I've ever read on the media.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:23 AM (H8QX8)

232 I'm surprised in addressing the decline of Detroit nobody's mentioned Coleman Young locating a Cadillac plant right in the middle of a stable Polish neighborhood, uprooting a large block of solid citizens.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:23 AM (y7DUB)

233 I had to take a double take this morning.
The entrance to the Detroit library is incredible.
Really surprised it hasn't been vandalized or the cancel culture creeps haven't demanded it be taken down.
Posted by: redridinghood at December 13, 2020 09:05 AM

There is a plethora of preservationists in Detroit. The Detroit Institute of Arts is another jewel kept bright by volunteers and shrewd use of funds during the lean years.

A lot of credit should go to the late David Adamani, president of Wayne State University. He kept tuition low and fees almost non-existent, which attracted commuter students from the suburbs. Instead of building new, he directed renovation of the original Wayne Building - which is another jewel.

For a long while, you could literally see the influence of the museum district and WSU as you exited off I-75, traveled past the burnt out buildings on Brush Street, and then traveled on Warren Avenue into an oasis ... and right back out again on the west side.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at December 13, 2020 10:24 AM (/+bwe)

234 nobody's mentioned Coleman Young locating a Cadillac plant right in the middle of a stable Polish neighborhood, uprooting a large block of solid citizens.

"They was all honky bastards anyway, who needs em?"
--Hizzonor

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:24 AM (KZzsI)

235 Your neighborhood scold.
Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 09:48 AM (EbSTN)

take picture of her
Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 09:58 AM (zr5Kq)

Is she the sort of person who turns off her lights on Halloween? Some people like that just have nothing to do.
Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 10:20 AM (EbSTN)"

There was a local lawyer who ripped off one of his clients. The client snuck by one night and used weed killer to spell out "FUCK YOU" in big letters on his front lawn. The best part was that he did it in winter, and it didn't show up until the spring when things started to green up.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 10:24 AM (V2Yro)

236 I hate to say this, because I hate what it says about our society, and really everything about such tactics, but I fear it's time for us all to embrace the strategies of Cancel Culture and Karening.

In so far as I can control it, there will be no liberals in my life. Period. I hate that. But I see no alternative in this cowardly new world.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:24 AM (7X3UV)

237 171 104 I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a
daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a
local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during
dinner.

When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (ZzfrF)
________

There's a great scene in a Rockford where Hector Alizondo says something like that to some proto-Karens. Asking about what "your kids are putting in their mouths while you're running yours."
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (7X3UV)

heh

Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 10:25 AM (EbSTN)

238 Well, I started reading Nero Wolfe mysteries, starting with "Too Many Cooks" and now I'm hooked. They are like crack cocaine - I read 3 more this week and I rejoice that Rex Stout wrote 71 of them. I know grammie winger didn't like the one she started and I can understand how someone might dislike the characters - it took me a little while to warm up to Nero although I liked Archie right away, but then I have a weakness for good looking smart-alecs. Archie's sense of humor saves him from being a jerk and makes the books fun to read.

I said last week that in Sherlock Holmes novels, it's always 1895. Well, that's not exactly the case with Nero Wolfe mysteries, but it is interesting that whether the story was published in 1938 or 1954 (and Stout makes reference to current events), you simply accept that none of the main characters ever age - Wolfe is eternally 58, Archie remains 32 or so and lucky Lily Rowan never develops any wrinkles or gray hair either.

BTW, back in 1959, they did a pilot for a Nero Wolfe TV series -and a very young Bill Shatner played Archie Goodwin. I think they did a good job considering fitting a Nero Wolfe mystery into a half hour show is pretty ridiculous But Shatner was, I think, a great choice for Archie - Shatner's looks (and man, was he a looker) and likable cockiness fit Archie perfectly and I also liked the guy who played Wolfe. . . . At any rate, I enjoyed watching it:

https://tinyurl.com/yxlx6l8x

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020

*
*

Donna, you're absolutely right on all of this, and I envy you the electric charge of discovering these books for the first time. I still re-read several of them every year, even when I remember who the murderer is.

Re: aging, at the very start Archie tells us some details such as that, as of 1934, he'd been working for Wolfe since 1927. But very soon it became obvious to Stout, I think, that he had a potential long-running series on his hands, and so wisely eschewed having them age.

As for the NW pilot from 1959, yes, Shatner was perfect as Archie (except for that stupid Tyrolean hat they had him wear!). It was fairly good for an original half hour. It features two elements straight from the books: Wolfe maneuvers the group into hiring him to find out which of them is the murderer; and then at the end, Archie makes it clear to Wolfe that he, Archie, has seen through Wolfe's stratagems.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:25 AM (rpbg1)

239 There was a local lawyer who ripped off one of his clients. The client snuck by one night and used weed killer to spell out "FUCK YOU" in big letters on his front lawn. The best part was that he did it in winter, and it didn't show up until the spring when things started to green up.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 10:24 AM (V2Yro)

What a lovely story.

Posted by: runner at December 13, 2020 10:25 AM (zr5Kq)

240 Mia Farrow, huh? What's she reading, "How To Tell If Your Husband Is Fondling Your Children"?

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (hku12)

241 It seems that Mr. Farwell has a following here.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (v16oJ)

242 Three of you responded with the same recommendation. Heartfelt thanks!

Posted by: Mongerel at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (nbNrv)

243 Got's to go. Have a good day, Horde.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (7X3UV)

244 pep

Byron Farwell in both of those great books, does not have a table of ranks (which differed depending on which Regiment you were in).

Mr. Kipling's Army is one of my all time favorites, as is Queen Victoria's Little Wars.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (u82oZ)

245 I said last week that in Sherlock Holmes novels, it's always 1895. Well, that's not exactly the case with Nero Wolfe mysteries

Its not really true about Holmes, either, but I get the point and its pretty solid. That's part of the charm. But the last one is Holmes helping the British Government uncover spies right before WWI and the tone is quite different.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:26 AM (KZzsI)

246 Hiya Grammie !

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 10:27 AM (arJlL)

247 Yeah! I have something to add to the Book thread!

I read "Out of the Silent Planet" this week. I had no clue what it was about or even that is was science fiction.

I loved it. I love C S Lewis' writing style. I loved being transported to another world. What a great distraction. And I found myself so peaceful and happy when I finished.

Posted by: nurse ratched at December 13, 2020 10:27 AM (U2p+3)

248 Neville Shute is another really good mostly forgotten author, I agree. They made a bunch of his stuff into films too, and he was kind of the master of airplane films after being involved in designing very early ones.

I saw No Highway In The Sky as a youngster on Channel 12 TV, just liked it because Jimmy Stewart. I haven't ever read the book, though.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020

*
*

I read one of his later novels which classifies as science fiction, a kind of alternate history of what is to the lead character the future -- different from our history. I'll look to see what the title was.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:28 AM (rpbg1)

249 I'm currently reading 1620. Wood is President of the National Association if Scholars, and does have a wide circle of influence among conservative academia. I like 1620 so far and will incorporate elements into my daughter's homeschooling. That really is what good it will do, never having the forced reach of 1619 but providing ammo for our Long March back into the institutions.
Posted by: motionview at December 13, 2020 09:09 AM (pYQR/)

It's difficult to effectively emphasize how enraged I am that supposedly smart people can allow a brainless cunt agitator to hijack a historical narrative.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:29 AM (y7DUB)

250 I loved it. I love C S Lewis' writing style. I loved being transported to another world. What a great distraction. And I found myself so peaceful and happy when I finished.
Posted by: nurse ratched

No woodpeckers !

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 10:29 AM (arJlL)

251 The F-80 was the plane of wonder for the USAF at the start of hostilities. The embryonic South Korean Air Force had some F-51D Mustangs that Major Dean Hess USAF would take to combat.

Then the North Koreans kept driving south over running airfields in the process. So the F-80s retreated to Japan and found they lacked the endurance to stay over target for any length of time.

Two things then happened.
1. Every available Mustang on inventory was seemingly made ready for war and shipped to Korea. Many F-80 units then converted back to the F-51D Mustang.
2. Misawa AB created what is called the Misawa tank for the F-80 to carry on the wingtips. They elongated the tanks by welding in a plug between the front and rear parts of a normal tank. So each tank now had more fuel.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 10:29 AM (0dt4f)

252 244
pep

Byron Farwell in both of those great books, does not have a table of
ranks (which differed depending on which Regiment you were in).

Mr. Kipling's Army is one of my all time favorites, as is Queen Victoria's Little Wars.

Posted by: NaCly Dog

Does he not? My mistake, then. I'll try to remember where I read it.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:29 AM (v16oJ)

253 I've been stalled on my book reading. Have to finish the book on RFK's murder. It's a dry read, in that she's laying out facts, tying stuff together as she goes.

I guess it's got to be done that way, but boy is it boring.

Once I'm done with this one, I'll move on to more recent stuff, along the same lines, which is basically the evidence we have for the vast conspiracy of the Elite, in one manner or another, to control our lives.

Fun stuff.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:29 AM (hku12)

254 The folks who run Detroit will replace those icky Christianist paintings with community-created folk art, featuring heroic portraits of Kwame Kilpatrick and Rashida Tlaib.

They just haven't gotten around to it yet-- too busy counting votes in Wayne County. Had to work the midnight shift.

Posted by: mnw at December 13, 2020 10:30 AM (Cssks)

255 Yeah, its too bad Bob Hope is so much more likable a guy. Although apparently not an easy person to be around in his personal life. He was so locked into that persona once he worked it up that he was that way 24/7 and was a huge womanizer.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:23 AM (KZzsI)

Did you ever read the bio, Hope by Richard Zoglin? An interesting look at ol' Ski-Nose's career. And no, he wasn't a very pleasant person, but his (and Crosby's) workload during USO tours was staggering.

And as it turns out, Hope never liked Crosby ("he was always a son of a bitch").

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:30 AM (2JVJo)

256 but it is interesting that whether the story was published in 1938 or 1954 (and Stout makes reference to current events), you simply accept that none of the main characters ever age - Wolfe is eternally 58, Archie remains 32 or so and lucky Lily Rowan never develops any wrinkles or gray hair either.

Loren D Estleman wrote an essay about this dilemma for authors of long-running series that was very interesting. His detective Amos Walker's first case was in 1980 and every novel is period appropriate as time goes on. The man would be in his 70s at this point, he was a Vietnam War vet.

Estleman says there are a few ways to handle this, such as Sue Grafton's approach where she just locked her character into the mid-80s and that's forever when the books were set (she also said she deeply regretted the easily marketable hook of the letter books). Others tried to have their characters age, but then they rapidly get too old. Spenser is still out there a big hulking tough guy beating people up and he started in 1973. It gets kind of silly after a while.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:31 AM (KZzsI)

257 Hiya JT!

Posted by: grammie winger at December 13, 2020 10:31 AM (gm3d+)

258 And as it turns out, Hope never liked Crosby ("he was always a son of a bitch").

Yeah I don't think anyone liked Crosby except his agents. The guy had immense talent and charm but was apparently a real bastard.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (KZzsI)

259 slept in
walked doggeh
now time for covfefe and the SMBT

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (nUhF0)

260 AMA

More than 40 states have reported increases in opioid-related mortality as well as ongoing concerns for
those with a mental illness or substance use disorder

you wanted SAFETY
you would settle for MASK
you got DRUG DEATHS

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (JFO2v)

261 85 Fertig and his army are mentioned in another book - The Rescue by Steven Trent Smith that recounts how an American submarine USS Crevalle
rescued 40 American civilians who had been in hiding since 1942 along
with taking aboard a copy of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Plan Z for the
final battle with the American fleet.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/yx8jkpa6

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 09:43 AM (0dt4f)

He is also covered in an entire book by W.E.B. Griffin in Behind The Lines (Book 7) of the corps series.

Posted by: Vic at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (mpXpK)

262 Detroit Library sounds like an oxymoron.

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (2DOZq)

263 I'm not sure where they'll go next. Africa, probably. China is certainly trying major land grabs in Africa.

China is buying huge tracts of land in every single country.

They're calling it something like their "Roads and Lines Initiative".

It's straight-up, stone-cold Imperialism. *crickets from the Left*

Australia recently had a big political fight over what and where the Chinese could buy and had to fight there own state governors to do so.

They've bought so much strategically important land in Japan that the Japanese are probably going to have to fight a war just to get rid of them.

Won't happen though. their new PM is said to be a Chinese puppet.

Sound familiar?

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 10:33 AM (dWwl8)

264 Back from the swap meet. There were gubs, lots of them. I saw a MAC 1935S pistol for $400. That is a rare piece.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 13, 2020 10:33 AM (mzC78)

265 I said last week that in Sherlock Holmes novels, it's always 1895. Well, that's not exactly the case with Nero Wolfe mysteries

I cancelled my years-long subscription to BBC History Magazine not just because of its Trump Derangement Syndrome, but because every damned issue for the last year has had to have center spreads about "forgotten women of history" and "forgotten minorities of history" as well as a yuge slathering of hate-whitey self-abasement.

The sub has yet to run out, so issues keep showing up at Stately Poppins Manor. In the newest, what do I see a blurb for? A TV show about the adventures of Enola Holmes - Sherlock's younger sister!

FTS.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (2JVJo)

266 Spenser is still out there a big hulking tough guy beating people up and he started in 1973. It gets kind of silly after a while.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Spenser was a Korean War vet.

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (arJlL)

267 The folks who run Detroit will replace those icky Christianist paintings with community-created folk art, featuring heroic portraits of Kwame Kilpatrick and Rashida Tlaib.

Is Kwame still in prison? Although most of the enemedia smells like ass the Freep did a good job of pointing out how Kwame and his whore wife were surely complicit in the murder of a working girl.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (y7DUB)

268 @231...Kaplan's role as an "explainer" to America's managerial class turns me off a bit. His "An Empire Wilderness" in the late 90s was unflinching, and prescient, but it got a lot of criticism from all the "right" people. IIRC, he even backed off it publicly, saying "you can't get 'em all right", then turned into a reliable supporter for imperial adventure.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (evxBY)

269 "Armies of the Raj" has a brief table of Indian Army ranks and badges.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (Uhu8A)

270 Enola Holmes?

Wow, that right there is an A-bomb of a name.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 10:35 AM (0dt4f)

271 What I don't get is that Woody Allen got his big
start in movies with What's Up Tiger Lily, a painfully unfunny and
miserable re-dialog of an old Japanese film. The only good part is the
gratuitous striptease at the end by China Lee.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:15 AM (KZzsI)--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spartan dog!

Posted by: Biden's Dog at December 13, 2020 10:35 AM (cBl9R)

272 Pirates of the Electromagnetic Waves was a fun read ... haven't got around to reading the rest of the series, yet, but someday ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez, we are being gaslighted 24/365 TRUMP WON! at December 13, 2020 10:35 AM (/On2j)

273 260 AMA

More than 40 states have reported increases in opioid-related mortality as well as ongoing concerns for
those with a mental illness or substance use disorder

you wanted SAFETY
you would settle for MASK
you got DRUG DEATHS

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 13, 2020 10:32 AM (JFO2v)

A beneficial side effect from the viewpoint of our fascist rulers, no doubt.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (nakwk)

274 University of Detroit and Wayne State University also still exist.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (ONvIw)

275 The Nevil Shute "SF" novel I mentioned is In the Wet. Wiki has this to describe it:

"In the Wet (1953) An Anglican priest tells the story of an Australian aviator. This embraces a drug-induced flash forward to Britain in the 1980s. The novel criticises British socialism and anti-monarchist democratic sentiment."

Since he published it in 1953, everything in the flash-forward was imagining the future, so that portion of it is SF. It's not really an SF novel like Shute' On the Beach, though.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (rpbg1)

276 Morning all

Another step closer to socialism

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (85Gof)

277 I have a neighborhood Karen who walks around snapping pictures on a
daily basis. For Thanksgiving, some people parked and walked from a
local business to avoid her BS, and kept the drapes closed during
dinner.

When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (ZzfrF)
________

There's a great scene in a Rockford where Hector Alizondo says something like that to some proto-Karens. Asking about what "your kids are putting in their mouths while you're running yours."
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020 10:07 AM (7X3UV)

heh
Posted by: m at December 13, 2020 10:25 AM (EbSTN)

When society breaks down just a bit further, people like this will end up dead, and nobody will talk about it. They'll find her at home, gruesome death, and nobody in the neighborhood will say anything about what they saw, heard, or did.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:37 AM (hku12)

278 Detroit Library sounds like an oxymoron.
Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020

*
*

Try "New Orleans Cultural Center."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:37 AM (rpbg1)

279 Which death of a major conservative in the last ten years strikes you as not being suspicious or extremely convenient? Walter Williams, all of them? Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Certainly Andrew Breitbart's death was sketchy. And, though not conservative, Seth Rich was clearly rubbed out by the Clinton Crime Family.

But the assassination was of the Reagan Conservative and Tea Party movements by Mitch, Paula Ryan, Chinese money and Big Tech. That's how you're getting Four More Years.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at December 13, 2020 10:38 AM (Ndje9)

280 I'm continuing with "Retief's Ransom." I meant to binge through the Retief stories in publication order, which so far has meant switching among three different collections. However, this novel is included in the collection "Retief Unbound," and as I have read all the short stories in that, I said why not and moved into the novel. I'm enjoying it.

Retief is on a planet whose inhabitants are composed of free-standing body parts that join together for mutual benefit. None of the results looks alike, and they can continue to swap out parts if desired. Also, they all hate each other, and mob violence is a way of life. Alliances change on a whim. Will Retief be able to bring peace to this lot? Well, this is Retief ...

A word about Retief covers -- most of them are lousy. I've checked the various editions at the used-book store, and I have found only a few that by themselves would induce me to pick up the book.

(Compared to the Ellery Queen editions of the '60s and '70s, however, the Retief covers are works of genius. Those covers are the worst. To paraphrase Sam Levinson, the subject of the book matters not, every book has a girl on the cover and no cover on the girl.)

***********

I may cut back on AoS thread perusal, reading only the essays, and increase book reading. Much less stress. As much as I love Moron insights and humor, a lot of vent posting just seems to be spinning our wheels.

Lord, give us strength to get through the coming dark times.

Posted by: Weak Geek just won't write short at December 13, 2020 10:38 AM (83ScS)

281 Oh, I see - it seems "Enola Holmes" is a series of teen mysteries. Again, FTS.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:38 AM (2JVJo)

282 Morning, Captain !

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 10:38 AM (arJlL)

283 Spenser was a Korean War vet.

Yeah, after a while Parker stopped bringing that up. Amos Walker doesn't talk about being a Viet vet any more these days either. It locks them too much into a specific time and hence age. Parker should have written a last Spenser book, where he dies heroically saving the lives of a lot of people, and Susan falls feet first into a meat grinder.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:38 AM (KZzsI)

284 The only good part is the gratuitous striptease at the end by China Lee.

Outstanding pre porn spank material. Second only to Sophia Loren's at the end of "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow".

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:39 AM (y7DUB)

285 100 ... "Hiya JTB !

Regards to the Missus !"

Good morning JT. Same back at you.

Posted by: JTB at December 13, 2020 10:39 AM (7EjX1)

286 To atone for my error, here is a place to address a few of the specific ranks:
https://tinyurl.com/y5fcnyck
Wiki and other sources have lots on this.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:39 AM (v16oJ)

287 I tried the county library catalog for The God that Failed, and failed to find it. Off to Thrift books

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:39 AM (ONvIw)

288 You might want to SEE a history lesson by reading a LOOKING AT THE PICTURES in Sebasti�o Salgado's book, Kuwait. It mainly shows the devastation caused by Saddam Hussein in Kuwait in 1991.

But is has some great pictures of the oil soaked heroes who put out the oil well heroes. They make Charles Schultz's Pigpen look clean. But they did God's work.

See pic 5 for proof.

https://monovisions.com/sebastiao-salgado-kuwait/

Artsy dot com also has a Sebasti�o Salgado page

Posted by: MachiasPrivateer at December 13, 2020 10:40 AM (EMi53)

289 China is buying huge tracts of land in every single country.

They're calling it something like their "Roads and Lines Initiative".

It's straight-up, stone-cold Imperialism. *crickets from the Left*

Australia recently had a big political fight over what and where the Chinese could buy and had to fight there own state governors to do so.

They've bought so much strategically important land in Japan that the Japanese are probably going to have to fight a war just to get rid of them.

Won't happen though. their new PM is said to be a Chinese puppet.

Sound familiar?
Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 10:33 AM (dWwl

The one that blows my mind is how much land they own in western states here. Cattle ranches.

Yay.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:40 AM (hku12)

290 A lot of people don't know that "Woody Allen" starred in a comic strip, Inside Woody Allen, which ran from 1976-1984:

https://tinyurl.com/yyvfsyok
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:12 AM (2JVJo)
--

Best idea was Machiavelli's Pizza Parlor.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 10:40 AM (Dc2NZ)

291 Second only to Sophia Loren's at the end of "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow".

The story is that Allen, married to Lee at the time, had promised her a role in his film, and this is what he gave her.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:40 AM (KZzsI)

292 Wolfus Aurelius

In the Wet by Nevil Shute. Has a great alternative multiple voting system which appeals.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:41 AM (u82oZ)

293 Andrew Breitbart had a congenital heart problem. He was advised by doctors to dial down his lifestyle. He thought it was more important to live the way he lived. He was a great guy, a true mensch, a Viking, and a man of the people as we see in Trump.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:41 AM (H8QX8)

294 OK, folks, since I don't want this to be another Sunday where I reach the end of the day and feel it's been utterly wasted, I am going to make a cup of tea, put on some Vivaldi* and read the afternoon away.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

*I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:41 AM (2JVJo)

295 The earlier works, Brush Retief and Floss Retief, weren't as popular.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (nakwk)

296 It was fairly good for an original half hour. It features two elements straight from the books: Wolfe maneuvers the group into hiring him to find out which of them is the murderer; and then at the end, Archie makes it clear to Wolfe that he, Archie, has seen through Wolfe's stratagems.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:25 AM (rpbg1)

Of course, Wolfe would never discuss business over breakfast and speak with his mouth full the way he does in the pilot, but hey, he only had a half hour to solve a murder, he didn't have time to sit around with his eyes shut and drink beer...

My great concern is sleep loss since, of course, Stout is a master at setting the reader up for "just one more chapter, and then I'll go to bed...." 2 hours later, you'll still saying, "just one more chapter..."

Besides the unused pilot, can you recommend a Nero Wolfe TV series or movie? I saw on You Tube that they exist, but I don't want to watch them yet because I want to read the books first. I'm not sure I like the idea of William Conrad as Nero...Orson Welles might have been good. Conrad just seems too American and I think there should be at least a hint of foreignness about Wolfe.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (HabA/)

297 Enjoy the reading MPPPP

That is one of the things been doing since my hospital visit. Besides sleeping.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (0dt4f)

298 Currently working on a re-read of the Harry Potter series.--
Have to ask 'Why?'.

Posted by: FrodoB-
Yep, I stole it at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (dQF3z)

299 When society breaks down just a bit further, people like this will end up dead, and nobody will talk about it. They'll find her at home, gruesome death, and nobody in the neighborhood will say anything about what they saw, heard, or did.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:37 AM (hku12)

I'm hoping she will just move. Everyone hates her now, so after her precious covid, she will be more formally ostracized

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (ONvIw)

300 The story is that Allen, married to Lee at the time, had promised her a role in his film, and this is what he gave her.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:40 AM (KZzsI)

That's a pretty funny story. Shocking the marriage didn't last...

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:42 AM (y7DUB)

301 Who Moved the Stone title reminded me of a much heralded book I've never read Who Moved My Cheese.

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020 10:43 AM (2DOZq)

302 I actually finished read___ a book earlier this week!
After months of beung unable to.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Just had to push through chapter 1.
It's very strange, specially at first, as an unknown protagonist describes the world as being a huge maze of building or building full of statues that keeps getting flooded.
You start to get wth is going on midway.

It's a very thoughtful, and I would venture spiritual, book, and I like it.
Also so very removed from current events that it was a relief.

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 10:43 AM (nUhF0)

303 I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory."

HIs music is beautiful but there are composers who orchestras and conductors don't like to do because of the kind of work it involves. Not that its hard, but that its repetitive and precise.

For the casual listener, the Brandenburg Concertos are simply beautiful but for the woeful viola player who has to learn and play deedle deedle deedle for 3 hours, its kind of tedious.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:43 AM (KZzsI)

304 (Compared to the Ellery Queen editions of the '60s and '70s, however, the Retief covers are works of genius. Those covers are the worst. To paraphrase Sam Levinson, the subject of the book matters not, every book has a girl on the cover and no cover on the girl.) . . .

***********

Posted by: Weak Geek just won't write short at December 13, 2020

*
*

Oh, the girls are clothed. They just bear no relation to anything in the novel.

The old paperback covers of EQ, such as the 1940s edition of The New Adventures of Ellery Queen, are worse. One features a girl in a negligee; another, Egyptian Cross Mystery, features a lovely painting of a girl sunbathing. A decent outfit by today's standards, but still, nothing to do with the story. It must have been tough to illustrate a novel about an intellectual detective. I supposed they could have painted an actual dramatic scene from the actual story . . . but attractive girls on covers sell better. (Or used to.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:44 AM (rpbg1)

305 Good morning, horde.

I just finished the new short story, "April Fool", by JL Curtis, known as Old NFO in the blogging world, it's a good read, and has more than a passing resemblance to the near future.

https://tinyurl.com/y295nlgc
Have a great day, and stay safe.

Posted by: Grog at December 13, 2020 10:44 AM (weXmt)

306 *I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory."

MPPP - if you're still here, please explain that comment. I assume it means he's repetitive, but if so, he's extremely good at it.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:44 AM (v16oJ)

307 When she's out doing her nosy walkabout, who's home watching the store at her place? It might be an opportunity to head over and cut down all her rose bushes while she's out supervising the neighbourhood. If it happens a few times, she may decide it's better to stay home and not leave her own shit unattended.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 13, 2020 09:47 AM (ZzfrF)

Use Roundup to draw a hammer and sickle on her lawn.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (mzC78)

308 I am a Nevil Shute completest. Love his writing.

But No Highway has some cringeworthy spots.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (u82oZ)

309 277 When society breaks down just a bit further, people like this will end up dead, and nobody will talk about it. They'll find her at home, gruesome death, and nobody in the neighborhood will say anything about what they saw, heard, or did.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:37 AM (hku12)

Ah, so there'll be at least *some* upside to the dystopian nightmare we're likely heading into next year. Glass half-full and all that.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (DTX3h)

310 267 Hate

Kwame, the self-described "first hip hop mayor," is outta the can & back in the free world!

Let freedom ring.

Posted by: mnw at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (Cssks)

311 yara

I have given out lists of my formative books, the ones that advanced my thinking, to many people. Silence.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:47 AM (u82oZ)

312 Covid sure took the heat off of the Muslim terrorists. Or did it just slow them down?

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020 10:47 AM (2DOZq)

313 Covid sure took the heat off of the Muslim terrorists. Or did it just slow them down?

They've been pretty quiet in the US since Trump took office. I mean they burned Notre Dame etc in Europe but in the US not so much.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:48 AM (KZzsI)

314 The case for Christ book is a perfect example of someone writing something to refute the concept and then ultimately ending up believing it

Posted by: Tailgunnersam at December 13, 2020 10:48 AM (tvFbt)

315 Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 10:47 AM (u82oZ)

You and dozens of other posters. Information received even if not acknowledged.

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020 10:49 AM (2DOZq)

316 huh where'd that underline come from
weird

oh I have an anti Karen story
remember I debated then finally decided to write "thank you happy thanksgiving" notes for neighbors who had trump signs?
On my walk today I noticed thar one house I'd dropped a note off had moved their trump sign from a semi-hidden spot near the garage to a prominent spot on the front yard.
That made me happy.

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 10:49 AM (nUhF0)

317 Besides the unused pilot, can you recommend a Nero Wolfe TV series or movie? I saw on You Tube that they exist, but I don't want to watch them yet because I want to read the books first. I'm not sure I like the idea of William Conrad as Nero...Orson Welles might have been good. Conrad just seems too American and I think there should be at least a hint of foreignness about Wolfe.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020

*
*

True about Conrad, except that he had that superb voice, and Archie may have commented in one story about how Wolfe used his voice as an instrument. The 1981 series with Conrad adapted several of the books or novelettes, but it missed the mark -- casting Lee Horsley as Archie, for example.

The best job was the A & E series of the early 2000s with Timothy Hutton, Jim's son, as Archie and a character actor named Maury Chaykin as Wolfe. Faithful to the original stories, using Stout's own dialog and Archie-narration, they're set in a kind of mythical 1948-1955 period. The sets, the cars, the clothes, and the casting all put you back in that period and make you believe.

Best of all, most of them are free on YooToob.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:50 AM (rpbg1)

318 On the third volume of The Gulag Archipelago. Prescient writings for The Burning Times we are now entering.

Also reading The Secret Language of Cells by Dr. Jon Lieff. Puts the lie to Darwinism and the idea that there is no Creator, though the author didn't intend that. My reading is that there is near-sentience at the molecular level of biology, which is also not something that the author says. If you read the book you may detect what I am talking about:

https://tinyurl.com/Dr-Lieff-Secret-Lang-Cells

The simplest biological processes are so complicated they couldn't have arisen randomly or from less complicated systems. No without direction and not in the 13.4 billion years the Universe is supposed to have existed.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 10:50 AM (1YlHz)

319 Yay I found a cheap copy on Thrift Books!

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:51 AM (ONvIw)

320 "The best job was the A & E series of the early 2000s with Timothy Hutton, Jim's son, as Archie and a character actor named Maury Chaykin as Wolfe. "

Yes, I enjoyed that.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 10:51 AM (H8QX8)

321 Kwame, the self-described "first hip hop mayor," is outta the can & back in the free world!

Let freedom ring.
Posted by: mnw at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (Cssks)

The last I heard I thought he had time added to his sentence for getting caught trying to bribe someone. Did Gaylord pardon that piece of shit?

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 13, 2020 10:51 AM (y7DUB)

322 Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at December 13, 2020 10:34 AM (2JVJo)

The original works are still there to be enjoyed and are not (yet) subject to PC revisionism.

I have never liked the idea of lesser writers continuing on with a famous character after the author who created him or her died. I hated that "Scarlett" sequel to Gone With the Wind and I don't think much of "The 7 Percent Solution" either.

They are attempts to cash in on iconic and beloved characters and they always betray the era they were written in. The authors can't help but drag in something PC - maybe not Nicholas Meyers, but other "updates" generally do, especially those written in recent decades. Pfui, as Nero Wolfe would say. I have no intention of reading any of the Nero Wolfe novels written by other authors.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:52 AM (HabA/)

323 There is a passable Nero Wolf radio series out there from old time radio which is fun. Its not really Nero Wolf stories, but they do the characters pretty well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:52 AM (KZzsI)

324 Use Roundup to draw a hammer and sickle on her lawn.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (mzC7

She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

325 We will soon look back on the era of lurid book covers as a golden age of illustration. We are currently in a Book Cover Desert -- bland, unimaginative, photoshopped, extruded, processed book product.

The New Yorker has a good article on this phenomenon:

"Two irreversible trends are at fault here, neither of which can be altered by even a really persuasive essay. One is that the illustrated book cover, like painted movie posters or newspaper comics, is pretty much dead. Fonts, stock photos, and Photoshop are cheaper than commissioning illustrations. With the imminence of Kindles and e-readers, this is all moot anyway; soon enough, book covers, like album covers before them—like albums themselves, or sheet music for popular songs, or dance cards—will be a quaint, old-timey thing you have to explain to the uninterested young, and there’ll be one fewer excuse to strike up conversations with pretty strangers on the subway."

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-book-cover

Genre fiction still appeals to its readers with imaginative covers. I like this kind of pandering.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

326 When society breaks down just a bit further, people like this will end up dead, and nobody will talk about it. They'll find her at home, gruesome death, and nobody in the neighborhood will say anything about what they saw, heard, or did.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:37 AM (hku12)

Ah, so there'll be at least *some* upside to the dystopian nightmare we're likely heading into next year. Glass half-full and all that.
Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (DTX3h)

Two edged sword, literally and figuratively. Justice meted out by people who feel free to make up their own minds what that is. Some will be right... many will be wrong.

History has many examples of this. Obviously.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (hku12)

327 The simplest biological processes are so complicated they couldn't have arisen randomly or from less complicated systems. No without direction and not in the 13.4 billion years the Universe is supposed to have existed.

Yeah, kind of like the "opposite intended result" book, but not really, the more I learned about science, biology, and chemistry, the more I became theist. Its just not possible all this came about through random chance and time. Not enough time possible.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (KZzsI)

328 Oh, and Donna, in regard to Nero Wolfe on film, there were two 1930s movies made, adapting the first two novels. Edward Arnold made a good Wolfe, from what I saw, but Lionel Stander was horribly miscast as Archie. (You know him as the much older actor playing Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers' butler in Hart to Hart.)

Hollywood seems to insist that Archie talk like a native Noo Yawker (even Tim Hutton does it a little), even though Archie states more than once in the saga that he is from Ohio and so would sound more Midwestern than Brooklyn!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:54 AM (rpbg1)

329 313 Covid sure took the heat off of the Muslim terrorists. Or did it just slow them down?

They've been pretty quiet in the US since Trump took office. I mean they burned Notre Dame etc in Europe but in the US not so much.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:48 AM (KZzsI)

The terrorists know they will get a free pass in this country under the regime of the totalitarians, now at the gate.

Posted by: Ladyl at December 13, 2020 10:54 AM (TdMsT)

330 Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 10:50 AM (1YlHz)

My simplistic layman observation is that there are over a million different species on earth maybe over 8 million. I assume a great number would have evolved in the exact same environment. That puts a crimp in the theory of evolution.

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me at December 13, 2020 10:55 AM (2DOZq)

331 I went into a grocery store this week and was at the checkout line before I realized I had forgotten my mask. I told the clerk that I had forgotten and she said, "Oh, no big deal. I'm just so sick of this."

The store was fairly busy and not one person said anything to me or even, as far as I know, gave me a dirty look.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:55 AM (HabA/)

332 This just popped up on my Youtube feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6tyTrFAj4

Watch the exchange that occurs in the first minute or so. If you want to skip the rest of it (the whole thing is only 4 minutes), that's fine.

I know some people don't care for Michael Malice, but he's right about college perfessers.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:56 AM (hku12)

333 With the imminence of Kindles and e-readers, this is all moot anyway; soon enough, book covers, like album covers before them--like albums themselves, or sheet music for popular songs, or dance cards--will be a quaint, old-timey thing you have to explain to the uninterested young, and there'll be one fewer excuse to strike up conversations with pretty strangers on the subway.

They are right and it breaks my heart. A good book cover is wonderful, just like a good movie poster or a good album cover. Album cover art was once an amazing source of stunning new and fresh artwork. Now its cheap tiny images on the streaming site, not even CD covers.

Most kindle books don't even HAVE the cover in the Kindle book. You just get the little picture for the link to touch and start reading.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:56 AM (KZzsI)

334 The terrorists know they will get a free pass in this country under the regime of the totalitarians, now at the gate.
Posted by: Ladyl at December 13, 2020 10:54 AM (TdMsT)

Especially since the root of all terror is global warming, white privilege, and American bullying

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 10:56 AM (85Gof)

335 you wanted SAFETY
you would settle for MASK
you got DRUG DEATHS

Months ago I did a rough calculation that Covid would shorten the average American lifespan by about ten days. I got 20 days for Opioid ODs.

At the time I assumed Covid caused an average lifespan loss of 20 years; I used 50 for Opioid ODs. Covid may actually be less than a year.

Not all Opioid ODs are forgettable junkies, if that's how you think.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 10:56 AM (9TdxA)

336 I tossed this in last week's thread late, so will mention it again:

Possum Living by Dolly Freed

She wrote it when she was 18. Her dad was an interesting character and they decided to live an unconvential life. Dolly went on to get her GED, go to college and become a NASA engineer. The book is dated in places but there are still some good ideas for living under the radar of the bureaucrats.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (YynYJ)

337 The terrorists know they will get a free pass in this country under the regime of the totalitarians, now at the gate.

Yes I expect a major US attack some time next year. Also more mass shootings which kind of went away under Trump as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (KZzsI)

338 I pledged $100 for the Yankee Republic books on Kickstarter. Gets me five copies. I'll keep one fir my kids and am going to donate the rest to the libraries here. It would be nice to get some conservative YA books out there in the public. Might do some good. Certainly more chance of reaching a couple people than donating to GOPe.

Posted by: Rob at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (I0fwM)

339 The authors can't help but drag in something PC - maybe not Nicholas Meyers, but other "updates" generally do, especially those written in recent decades.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V a

hear hear!
hate the sanctimony that always bleeds through, intentionally or not

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (nUhF0)

340 Use Roundup to draw a hammer and sickle on her lawn.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 13, 2020 10:46 AM (mzC7

She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

Rolling blackouts! Coming to a state near you.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (hku12)

341 The simplest biological processes are so complicated
they couldn't have arisen randomly or from less complicated systems. No
without direction and not in the 13.4 billion years the Universe is
supposed to have existed.

Posted by: Sharkman
The book sounds very promising. The improbability of life's complexity arising spontaneously was the main thesis of Stephen Meyer's "Darwin's Doubt", which I highly recommend. I don't endorse all of his claims, but it is certainly engaging food for thought.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (v16oJ)

342 Thank you, OM, for the Book Thread. Love reading opinions on lots of varieties of books, the lovely picture of the library of the week, and, absolutely, no one scolding, for a contrarian idea, which is nice. Much appreciated.

Posted by: EveR at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (DsGxB)

343 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 10:50 AM (rpbg1)

Thanks for the tips! You too, Christopher!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:58 AM (HabA/)

344 She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

of course she does
what a Frau Blucher

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 10:58 AM (nUhF0)

345 Morning all

Another step closer to socialism
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (85Gof)

They have plans on skipping that part.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 13, 2020 10:59 AM (89T5c)

346 Morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 10:59 AM (axyOa)

347 went into a grocery store this week and was at the checkout line before I realized I had forgotten my mask. I told the clerk that I had forgotten and she said, "Oh, no big deal. I'm just so sick of this."

The store was fairly busy and not one person said anything to me or even, as far as I know, gave me a dirty look.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020

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*

There was a line outside the Walmart I go to this morning. Turned out they were just warning everybody that they do not have, and will not have until January, the PlayStation 5 everybody wants.

I said to the guy ahead of me in the line, "What is this all about?"

He mutters (through his mask), "More bullsh*t."

I wanted to ask, "Then why not take off that face diaper and be a free man?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 11:01 AM (rpbg1)

348 Morning all

Another step closer to socialism
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 10:36 AM (85Gof)

They have plans on skipping that part.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at December 13, 2020 10:59 AM (89T5c)

Sigh, yeah I fear that also.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 11:02 AM (85Gof)

349 I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory.

"Wagner's music is better than it sounds." --Bill Nye

Posted by: cool breeze at December 13, 2020 11:02 AM (UGKMd)

350 I wish I understood the psychological device that makes a toy the "must have" Christmas toy everyone goes crazy to get. Most of the time its some stupid regrettable crap you look back on a year later and cannot figure out why you got one, especially at that price.

I paid that much for a hideous doll?

It would be nice to tap into and sell some books with.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

351 Man plans,
G-d laughs.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 11:02 AM (0dt4f)

352 Detroit had some BEAUTIFUL buildings:

The Fisher Building, the Masonic (saved by Kid Rock), the Fox Theater, Detroit Institute of Art, Orchestra Hall, the Detroit Opera House (ugly as hell on the exterior, though.) A few Wayne State Buildings...

Detroit was a very beautiful city. When I lived in Ann Arbor in the 1990's, I thought one way to restore Detroit was to focused on "bridging" the beautiful buildings. I wouldn't have gotten down the old Hudson building to build Comerica park -- I'd've built it across the interstate to bridge the Fox Theater and the Masonic Temple. And tried to find someone to develop the Hudson building. (The ultimate built Little Caesars Arena there.)

A number of the buildings that were amazingly beautiful are probably to the point where they are to far gone to save. :-(

Posted by: Lee at December 13, 2020 11:03 AM (sSlGJ)

353 OT: Insty links a Roger Kimball article in The Spectator which references AOSHQ and the repeal of the Republic.
https://tinyurl.com/yytctrmw

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 11:03 AM (v16oJ)

354 Months ago I did a rough calculation that Covid would shorten the average American lifespan by about ten days. I got 20 days for Opioid ODs.

At the time I assumed Covid caused an average lifespan loss of 20 years; I used 50 for Opioid ODs. Covid may actually be less than a year.

Not all Opioid ODs are forgettable junkies, if that's how you think.
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 10:56 AM (9TdxA)

I've known quite a few people who have died from overdoses. I can certainly understand why many people would look at them and decide they were awful people.

Every single one of them though, had people who loved them, whose lives were devastated by it. And every single one of them, the ones I've known, had horrific trauma histories.

The addiction followed the trauma, and in MOST cases, the substance used was how they were self-treating, and the treatment world was and is woefully ill equipped to treat the individual.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:03 AM (hku12)

355 Ya know it is rather refreshing not watching any news anymore

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 11:03 AM (85Gof)

356 Greetings, O Book Thread may-you-read-forever!
I've been reading my Daily Stoic. Something tells me I will have plenty of opportunities to apply Stoic principles to my life Real Soon Now.
At least I have an escape route of writing fiction where the only things to worry about are evil magicians kidnapping your friends. So much more relaxing

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at December 13, 2020 11:04 AM (BSV0x)

357 I was in the doc's examining room. She had COVID and so have I, yet we both had on masks. It's insane.

Posted by: EveR at December 13, 2020 11:04 AM (DsGxB)

358 It would be nice to tap into and sell some books with.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

buzz
if the book gets discussed on a sunday tv show " everyone " rushes out to get a copy

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:04 AM (nUhF0)

359 At least I have an escape route of writing fiction where the only things to worry about are evil magicians kidnapping your friends

Yeah I escape into writing as well. Maybe that's cowardly but it helps me deal with the world.

if the book gets discussed on a sunday tv show " everyone " rushes out to get a copy

Well that's not gonna happen with my stuff. Its too white, or something.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:05 AM (KZzsI)

360 331 I went into a grocery store this week and was at the checkout line before I realized I had forgotten my mask. I told the clerk that I had forgotten and she said, "Oh, no big deal. I'm just so sick of this."

The store was fairly busy and not one person said anything to me or even, as far as I know, gave me a dirty look.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020 10:55 AM (HabA/)

Hey Donna&&&&&V! I don't wear a mask at the store and have yet to get any flak for it. Interestingly enough, a couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the employees at the checkout line who was actually made sick by having to wear a mask. Had an underlying condition that was aggravated by being required to wear a mask at work that led to bronchitis and being laid up for a week. Go figure.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:06 AM (nakwk)

361 My great concern is sleep loss since, of course, Stout is a master at setting the reader up for "just one more chapter, and then I'll go to bed...." 2 hours later, you'll still saying, "just one more chapter..."

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 13, 2020

*
*

And yet the odd thing is that Stout does not always set his surprises at the end of a chapter. The surprise development, and there are always twists and turns within a Wolfe story no matter the length, can often come near the beginning of a chapter or the midpoint.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 11:06 AM (rpbg1)

362 Laugh of the day:

The palestinian authority is getting all it's vaccines from the ruskies...LOL...any moron here want to go in on a business with me selling western vaccines to the palis? we could make a fortune

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 13, 2020 11:06 AM (85Gof)

363 People are busy trying to make masks cute and hip. You can buy sweaters with a combined mask of the same type of material! You can get personalized masks with cute sayings and images!

Get intercoursed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:07 AM (KZzsI)

364 a girl a year younger than KTE, from her HS, died from.an OD last year
she had been in rehab, her fb / insta was full of hopeful stuff
I think she was trying, then fell off the wagon and probably used a bad batch of whatever
it broke my heart coz even if she wasnt close to KTE, I remember most of those kids as kids in school trips and activities

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (nUhF0)

365
I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory.

I once came up with a list of the Mozart Effect - a debunked theory that says your child will be more intelligent listening to Mozart - extended to other composers.

Liszt Effect: child speaks rapidly and extravagantly but never says anything interesting.

Bruckner Effect: child speaks very slowly and with long silences, repeating himself often. Gains reputation for profundity.

Wagner Effect: child becomes a megalomaniac. May marry his sister.

Mahler Effect: child screams at great length and volume that he's dying.

Shostakovich Effect: child becomes nervous when his parents discuss sending him to camp.

Vivaldi Effect: child says the same thing 600 different ways.

Ives Effect: child says 600 things simultaneously.

Glass Effect: child says the same thing 600 times in a row.

Schoenberg Effect: child never uses the same word until all the words in his vocabulary are used up.

Stockhausen Effect: child babbles nonsense. All his friends think he's cool.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (mht8P)

366 I don't wear a mask at the store and have yet to get any flak for it. Interestingly enough, a couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the employees at the checkout line who was actually made sick by having to wear a mask. Had an underlying condition that was aggravated by being required to wear a mask at work that led to bronchitis and being laid up for a week. Go figure.
Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020

*
*

I wave my doctor's letter at them if need be, but by now WM and the local grocery chain I prefer don't worry me at all. It's places like Best Buy, who would let me into the store but told me no one would wait on me or check me out unless I wore a face bra, that infuriate me.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 11:09 AM (rpbg1)

367 Well that's not gonna happen with my stuff. Its too white, or something.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:05 AM (KZzsI)

it's not your stuff that's too whiten- it's you
you're not a checkbox minority
frucking gatekeepers

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:10 AM (nUhF0)

368 Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (mht8P)

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (nUhF0)

369 Need covfefe

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (nakwk)

370 General Enlisted ranks in the Victorian Army

Sergeant-Major
Quarter-Master Sergeant
Colour Sergeant
Sergeant
Corporal
Private

Except Royal Artillery uses Bombardier and Gunner, and Royal Engineers used Sapper. Other variants are out there.

Officer rank depended if Cavalry, Guards, etc.

Field Marshal
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier General
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenants
Coronets or Ensigns or Subalterns or Sub Lieutenant

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (u82oZ)

371 I once came up with a list of the Mozart Effect - a debunked theory that says your child will be more intelligent listening to Mozart - extended to other composers.

Liszt Effect: child speaks rapidly and extravagantly but never says anything interesting.

Bruckner Effect: child speaks very slowly and with long silences, repeating himself often. Gains reputation for profundity.

Wagner Effect: child becomes a megalomaniac. May marry his sister.

Mahler Effect: child screams at great length and volume that he's dying. . . .

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020

*
*

You should extend that to authors -- the Hammett Effect, the Hemingway Effect, etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (rpbg1)

372 Want to hear a true horror story about retail?

We have reduced bringing the food home to 'look at the new gee-gaw I got!'

But here is the story.

Inoffensive looking white woman who is a bit soft around all the edges with teen son in tow along with a sob story about cancer. She asks if we have the new XBox in the store. I tell her no. She then says but online it says you do. I reply you have to order it online and pick it up. So next volley about how she can't order online and could I please get her one. I tell her I can't or I get fired.

Should be end of story right? Wrong. She now wants to speak to management. So I go 'Yes wait a minute.' Find management and tell her the whole story. So she goes out to deal with customer and I go do something else.

Later I get the rest of the story. The lady wanting the XBox lied and said that I was going to get an XBox for her.

*pfagh!*

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (0dt4f)

373 As an author I'm worried which will come first and destroy my career, such as it is:

1) People just stop reading anything longer than a tweet
2) Self publishing is destroyed because it allows freedom of expression containing opinions or topics which have been declared Forbidden

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:11 AM (KZzsI)

374 "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

- Groucho Marx, photon enthusiast

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #WASTF at December 13, 2020 11:12 AM (HaL55)

375 a girl a year younger than KTE, from her HS, died from.an OD last year
she had been in rehab, her fb / insta was full of hopeful stuff
I think she was trying, then fell off the wagon and probably used a bad batch of whatever
it broke my heart coz even if she wasnt close to KTE, I remember most of those kids as kids in school trips and activities
Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (nUhF0)

Yep, it's heartbreaking. It's also very dangerous to send people to rehab, only to have them "get clean," and then go back out there and have to face that stuff again. Death often happens because the person doesn't realize the extent to which they had developed a tolerance, and the weeks or months of being "clean" caused that tolerance to go back down to levels where, when they go back to using what they did before, it's now a fatal dose.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:12 AM (hku12)

376 Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (mht8P)

That was awesome.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 13, 2020 11:12 AM (PiwSw)

377 She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

If you do it while she's out on walkabout, so what? Wear a Covid mask, and something over your eyes, too. And a hoodie.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 13, 2020 11:12 AM (mzC78)

378 Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 13, 2020 11:08 AM (mht8P)
------
I don't care who you are, that's pretty funny right there.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at December 13, 2020 11:13 AM (Uhu8A)

379 I once came up with a list of the Mozart Effect - a debunked theory that says your child will be more intelligent listening to Mozart - extended to other composers.

I wonder what the Mendelssohn effect would be?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:13 AM (KZzsI)

380 Go Army! Beat Air Force!

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:14 AM (m45I2)

381 Hadrian the Seventh

Bravo, good Sir. Bravo!

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:15 AM (u82oZ)

382 "Literature is doomed if liberty of thought perishes."
--George Orwell

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:15 AM (KZzsI)

383 I think one of the reasons some authors tend to lecture people is they make the fatal mistake of thinking readers are interested in them as opposed to interested in the story.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:16 AM (AwPyG)

384 I once came up with a list of the Mozart Effect - a debunked theory
that says your child will be more intelligent listening to Mozart -
extended to other composers.
You neglected the Rachmaninoff Effect: your kid randomly pounds as many keys as physically possible in a given time, and calls it music.

Posted by: pep at December 13, 2020 11:16 AM (v16oJ)

385 She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

Rolling blackouts! Coming to a state near you.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 10:57 AM (hku12)

Early morning, just after dawn. That way lights are no biggie.. Wear a plague doctor outfit, with the beak mask. That should make for a fun video!

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 11:16 AM (V2Yro)

386 Muldoon

Here, Here.

Go Army, Beat Air Force is a cry the Navy, Marine Corps, NOAA, Coast Guard, and the Public Heath Service can all get behind.

Space Force is out to launch about that game.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:17 AM (u82oZ)

387 I think one of the reasons some authors tend to lecture people is they make the fatal mistake of thinking readers are interested in them as opposed to interested in the story.

I agree. It also compels them to inject themselves into the story as a character, who then pontificates their viewpoints. Its tedious and obvious, every time. I am a boring and worthless person, nobody wants to read about me, so I'm nowhere in my books.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:18 AM (KZzsI)

388 @373
See, I have just the opposite opinion. Self-publishing destroyed traditional publishing for that very reason--authors were allowed to write to the audience they wanted, and not the audience the NY industry wanted.
The numbers bear this out.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:18 AM (AwPyG)

389 authors were allowed to write to the audience they wanted, and not the audience the NY industry wanted.

All the more reason to shut down or effectively destroy self-publishing. So far it has kind of flown under the radar, but big tech will eventually buy it out and destroy it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:19 AM (KZzsI)

390
Wow! This is HUGE:

https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6215946537001

Leaked document naming and detailing CCP members in the US Business and Gov't and other countries around the world.

Read today what will be totally ignored and round-filed by Our Betters tomorrow!

Via Insty.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 13, 2020 11:20 AM (dWwl8)

391 And I'll give my usual word of advice to aspiring authors who want to break through--look for places where on-line readers gather in your genre to discuss books, and start giving books away until enough people are hooked.
Then start charging.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:21 AM (AwPyG)

392

Leftists attack Trump supporters at rallies yesterday. MFM headines: Violence breaks out at Trump rallies.

The implication being the Trump supporters started it. Which is as true as the BLM riots being mostly peaceful.

The North Korean media is more honest than the American MFM.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 11:21 AM (k2ASk)

393 Early morning, just after dawn. That way lights are no biggie.. Wear a plague doctor outfit, with the beak mask. That should make for a fun video!
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 13, 2020 11:16 AM (V2Yro)

The jury will laugh at me and send me to a psych hospital? No thanks

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:22 AM (ONvIw)

394 One more thought then I have to go: self publishing is incredibly vulnerable because it relies so heavily on online sites who will distribute, sell, and present your work. And they are very few. At any moment, Amazon might decide that only certain kindle books by certain approved authors are allowed to be sold on their platform for moral reasons.

At any moment, the Chinese POD industry (and yes, its all in China) can just shut off the spigot for authors that publish the Wrong Sort Of Thing.

Being an author who associates with Bad People or thinks Bad Things could be locked out with just a few small moves.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 13, 2020 11:22 AM (KZzsI)

395 artemis & Christopher R Taylor

This enforcement of loyalty to a dogma vice allowing different viewpoints is a prime mechanism of societal decay. Humanity is poorer for not having colour, only the official beige, black, or grey thoughts.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:22 AM (u82oZ)

396 Muldoon

Here, Here.

Go Army, Beat Air Force is a cry the Navy, Marine Corps, NOAA, Coast Guard, and the Public Heath Service can all get behind.

Space Force is out to launch about that game.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:17 AM (u82oZ)

Beat them at what? When I was a football fan, I wasn't going to waste my time and energy on service academy grabass.

Having served as an enlisted man, what kind of allegiance was I supposed to have to a bunch of douchebags who were going to become officers? The same guys who, for those currently in the service, will conduct trainings on how to be more sensitive to the transjenners.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:22 AM (hku12)

397 @390
Yeah, I've pivoted from thinking that Trump's end-around was the Texas case (which seemed so promising!) to thinking that Trump's end around is the DNI report on foreign election interference in an election that is due 12/18.
Over the weekend the usual twitter people (the good anonymous ones) starting dropping a bunch of pictures showing governors meeting with the Chinese bad guys. It's amazing-there are a lot, and they're basically in all the states with smartmatic machines.
The poor fellow who was mad at me for mixing-up Idaho and Iowa will have to take it back--his governor is also on the list.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:25 AM (AwPyG)

398 Leaked document naming and detailing CCP members in the US Business and Gov't and other countries around the world.

Less exciting detail, they talk about the doc, but don't actually provide a link to it.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com lives again at December 13, 2020 11:25 AM (SchxB)

399 1) People just stop reading anything longer than a tweet
2) Self publishing is destroyed because it allows freedom of expression containing opinions or topics which have been declared Forbidden
***

Number one not likely anytime soon. Number two is very real and imminent possibility under the next regime, a result produced quietly through control of major platforms by Big Tech and perhaps abetted by hate speech legislation and activist pressure.

Posted by: Ordinary American at December 13, 2020 11:28 AM (H8QX8)

400 "They elongated the tanks by welding in a plug between the front and rear parts of a normal tank. So each tank now had more fuel.
Posted by: Anna Puma "

Do you know how much fuel thst added? How did that affect flight characteristics?

Posted by: f'd at December 13, 2020 11:28 AM (M8AKX)

401 Leftists attack Trump supporters at rallies yesterday. MFM headines: Violence breaks out at Trump rallies.

The implication being the Trump supporters started it. Which is as true as the BLM riots being mostly peaceful.

The North Korean media is more honest than the American MFM.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 11:21 AM (k2ASk)

All of this stuff plays out in the vacuum created by corporate media, so when people gather, when various people manage to get through the wall of silence, talking about an election being stolen, when Trump himself says "I won," it all sounds like the ravings of lunatics, to the majority of Americans (and others around the world), who only hear the narrative created by Big Tech and the corporate media.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:28 AM (hku12)

402 BurtTC

I get you.
I served with Naval Academy football players. I went to a few Navy football games as a lad, once having the entire family in pea-coats at the Army-Navy game in Philly.

But in the Service and now, don't care for football at the Academies. I can see the corruption of the officer corps from trying to get gifted football players from the hood just to win games.

One of the best officers I knew, off of Beirut, said this was a picnic compared with playing Notre Dame on a Sunday with a differential equations and thermodynamics exams on Monday. So he had that perspective.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:29 AM (u82oZ)

403 Two unusual things about this year's Army v. Air Farce game.

1. It will be played after the Army-Navy game, which I don't think has ever been the case.

2. It will be played at Michie Stadium, meaning Army gets homefield advantage for both of its tilts for the Commander in Chief trophy.

After a 20 year drought, Woo Poo U has won the C-I-C trophy two of the last three years and could make it three out of four with a win on Saturday.

Usmay Rah Rah!

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:29 AM (m45I2)

404 324 She has surveillance cameras and lights that trigger if your nearby. Alas

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 10:53 AM (ONvIw)

Shoot the cameras and lights out with an ICA19 Silverballer.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at December 13, 2020 11:31 AM (DTX3h)

405 Dec 14
What a day! Our troops all along the line moved within a stone's throw of Der Vaterland. 45 Div took Lembach. 103 Div took Climbach and the high ground to the east. 14 Armd got to the edges of Schleithal and Salmbach, while the 79 Div moved the closest to Germany by reaching the south edge of Scheibenhard, just 200 yds from the border.
No rain today to speak of though the skies were cloudy for most of the day.

-
Two days later, the Battle of the Bulge.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 13, 2020 11:32 AM (+y/Ru)

406 Looked it up myself. Misawa tank added about 100 gallons each.

Posted by: f'd at December 13, 2020 11:33 AM (M8AKX)

407 404 Damn, why didn't I think of this?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:33 AM (ONvIw)

408 BurtTC

I get you.
I served with Naval Academy football players. I went to a few Navy football games as a lad, once having the entire family in pea-coats at the Army-Navy game in Philly.

But in the Service and now, don't care for football at the Academies. I can see the corruption of the officer corps from trying to get gifted football players from the hood just to win games.

One of the best officers I knew, off of Beirut, said this was a picnic compared with playing Notre Dame on a Sunday with a differential equations and thermodynamics exams on Monday. So he had that perspective.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:29 AM (u82oZ)

One of my COs went to West Point on an athletic scholarship... not football. I was proud to serve under him, and was sad to see him go, as he moved on to bigger and better things.

Another guy was a football player. I'm not sure he knew how to read. He basically had no contact with the enlisted men. None. We'd see him every now and then, but for the most part he was a ghost. A very dark ghost.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:35 AM (hku12)

409 The Misawa tanks increased the capacity of each tip tank to 265 gallons and thus two tanks increased the endurance of the F-80C by an hour.

It might have over-stressed the wing tips but the risk was felt justified by increasing loiter time over Korea from maybe 15 minutes to possibly over an hour.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 13, 2020 11:35 AM (0dt4f)

410 Re: indie writers and getting shut down

I have a more hopeful opinion. Sure, the big retailers *can* put their heavy thumb on the scale. They haven't yet and even if they do, there are lots of ways to work around it. Ever hear of Larry Correia? Swims in a pile of money Correia? He got started by self-printing his Monster Hunter International book and selling it by consignment at gun shops. Gumroad isn't famous (yet) but all they care about is providing the book platform. I even sold my books direct from my website for a while. Certainly doable.

The real secret is the big movers, like Amazon, love money more than PC noise. And they get money by giving customers what they want. Indie books are making Amazon MORE money, in part because the legacy publishers raise their prices so high readers can afford fewer books. More units out the door for indies = more addicted readers

I'd certainly have a plan for a situation where we have to go all samizdat for good stories, but we aren't there yet.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at December 13, 2020 11:36 AM (BSV0x)

411 Wow.. after 12 years I've figured out why my windows look like crap, getting ever worse year by year. I thought they weren't installed properly. Oh no.... the dumb shit previous owner put cellophane over them on the inside! I just discovered this morning.

Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:37 AM (nxdel)

412 @394
I love you, Christopher (in a platonic sort of way) but again I think you have it exactly backwards.

My own story is a testament; the powers-that-be in NY are very much it's-my-way-or-the-highway. This used to work when they were the gatekeepers, and people didn't have an alternative choice.

Now the voracious readers have bypassed NY completely, the first chance they got. (And the sales numbers show this)

There are more self-published sci fi and romance sold on Amazon than in traditional publishing, and by a lot. Why is that? Because those readers don't care what the traditional publishers think, they care what other readers recommend and now there's a way to get recommendations that aren't part of a publisher's marketing effort. (Note that this blog does the same thing)

Amazon does publish 83% of ebooks, but if they disappeared overnight, you can set up your own shop--all you need is internet access.
The reason I like the Amazon platform is they will start advertising and marketing your books (for free) if they think they will make some $$. (they get 30% of ebook sales; the authors gets 70%.)

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:37 AM (AwPyG)

413 "For Pep or any moron to put me some knowledge. I want to research the social and Military rankings and structures during the Raj. Can anyone point me to a book, an essay, or just a comprehensive list?"

Could you be a bit more specific?

For example, what period-East India Company or direct British rule?

Are you interested in British and Company social and military rankings and structures, or do you want something about Indian ranks?

For Indian military ranks, someone has already provided a pretty good source, albeit for Indian officers while the source mentions Viceroy Commissioned Officials it omits Indian Commissioned Officers and, later, King's Indian Commissioned Officers.

And Indian social rankings can get even more complicated. The Brits probably had some sort of rank list for Indian rulers and officials, but I have no idea where to find it. And without such a list and with roughly 600 Indian princely states it can be difficult to determine who would rank higher: one of many Rajas or Maharajas, the Akhund of Swat, or the Peshwa (an appointed bureaucrat, but later the effective and hereditary leader of the Maratha Confederacy-kind of like the Mayor of the Palace in the Merovingian Dynasty).

For years the Brits published a Civil and Military list identifying British officials in India by rank, location of posting and date of posting, but it runs to thousands of names and was published twice a year.

For a rough social history of the rulers of British India back to the 17th century through independence you could do worse than Philip Mason's "The Men Who Rules India."

If you have some more specific questions, I might be able to make more directed suggestions.

Posted by: Lawdawg at December 13, 2020 11:38 AM (6K2vl)

414 411 Wow.. after 12 years I've figured out why my windows look like crap, getting ever worse year by year. I thought they weren't installed properly. Oh no.... the dumb shit previous owner put cellophane over them on the inside! I just discovered this morning.
Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:37 AM (nxdel)

Took you 12 years to notice this...?

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:38 AM (nakwk)

415 Sabrina and I are on the same page.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:38 AM (AwPyG)

416 Two days later, the Battle of the Bulge.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks,

*******

Yep. He references it in the diary, coinciding with a sudden lull in his sector with very little activity from the other side. He doesn't provide any details though, as the command was concerned enough that they put a damper on news from the Ardennes salient. As a junior staff officer with VI Corps, I think my dad was privy to information that was disseminated at the Corps level but not available to most troops of the line.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:38 AM (m45I2)

417 Hardback or softcover ?

Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at December 13, 2020 11:39 AM (QUOVv)

418 Go Army! Beat Air Force!
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020

Go PAC -12. Go home!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 11:39 AM (axyOa)

419 417 Hardback or softcover ?
Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at December 13, 2020 11:39 AM (QUOVv)

Hardwood or carpet?

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:39 AM (nakwk)

420 Leaked document naming and detailing CCP members in the US Business and Gov't and other countries around the world.

Read today what will be totally ignored and round-filed by Our Betters tomorrow!

How terribly interesting. The operative word in the previous sentence is "terribly."

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #WASTF at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (HaL55)

421 Later I get the rest of the story. The lady wanting the XBox lied and said that I was going to get an XBox for her.

*pfagh!*
Posted by: Anna Puma

I bet she lied about the cancer too.

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (nUhF0)

422 422 Later I get the rest of the story. The lady wanting the XBox lied and said that I was going to get an XBox for her.

*pfagh!*
Posted by: Anna Puma

I bet she lied about the cancer too.
Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (nUhF0)

Probably wasn't even her son.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (nakwk)

423 @403
The Qanon peeps were all atwitter because one of the army players had a Qanon reference for his name.

Don't tell the powers-that-be!

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (AwPyG)

424 BurtTC

I get you.

I served with Naval Academy football players. I went to a few Navy
football games as a lad, once having the entire family in pea-coats at
the Army-Navy game in Philly.

But in the Service and now, don't care for football at the
Academies. I can see the corruption of the officer corps from trying to
get gifted football players from the hood just to win games.

One of the best officers I knew, off of Beirut, said this was a
picnic compared with playing Notre Dame on a Sunday with a differential
equations and thermodynamics exams on Monday. So he had that
perspective.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:29 AM (u82oZ)

One of my COs went to West Point on an athletic scholarship... not
football. I was proud to serve under him, and was sad to see him go, as
he moved on to bigger and better things.

Another guy was a football player. I'm not sure he knew how to
read. He basically had no contact with the enlisted men. None. We'd
see him every now and then, but for the most part he was a ghost. A
very dark ghost.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:35 AM

---

We got an Academy guy in our unit once while I was stationed in Germany. He was such a dick when he was on Duty one night a few months after he got there a bunch of guys snuck up behind him and tossed a blanket over his head, shoved him in a wall locker and tossed him out the window.

He was gone a few days after that and never came back. The CO did a quick investigation and that was that.

No idea what ever happened to that guy.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at December 13, 2020 11:41 AM (JUOKG)

425 New Kindle fire this morning. Last one started to reboot and never came back.

Finished, Kenneth L Roberts' Arundel, Rabble in Arms, and only a few pages left in Oliver Wiswell.

Re: lawn fertilizer. A couple of years before I attend college, the fraternity I joined did the over fertilizer trick. However, it was on a huge scale. See, the university of Montana is literally at the base of Mount Sentinel. One winter night some members trudged up the mountain with bags of fertilizer and spread it out in the fraternity's Greek letters. For the next 10 years you could see the bright green letters on the mountain.

Posted by: Beartooth at December 13, 2020 11:41 AM (Ezr0J)

426 All of this stuff plays out in the vacuum created by
corporate media, so when people gather, when various people manage to
get through the wall of silence, talking about an election being stolen,
when Trump himself says "I won," it all sounds like the ravings of
lunatics, to the majority of Americans (and others around the world),
who only hear the narrative created by Big Tech and the corporate media.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:28 AM (hku12)

Trump was 100% correct when he called the MFM the enemy of the people.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 11:41 AM (VTDjq)

427 Muldoon

Here, Here.

Go Army, Beat Air Force is a cry the Navy, Marine Corps, NOAA, Coast Guard, and the Public Heath Service can all get behind.

Space Force is out to launch about that game.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:17 AM

I thought the Space Force game was just a satellite event?

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 11:42 AM (axyOa)

428 @420
I'm wondering if this was why the MSM was suddenly covering Biden's corruption.
You get the impression there's a lot coming out.
Timeline:
Trump's 2018 EO
Pompeo says at the Governor's luncheon in the summer "we know many of you are canoodling with the CCP, so you'd better step back"
Election shows "knowingly" element of the crime

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:43 AM (AwPyG)

429 I love you, Christopher (in a platonic sort of way) but again I think you have it exactly backwards.

My own story is a testament; the powers-that-be in NY are very much it's-my-way-or-the-highway. This used to work when they were the gatekeepers, and people didn't have an alternative choice.

Now the voracious readers have bypassed NY completely, the first chance they got. (And the sales numbers show this)

There are more self-published sci fi and romance sold on Amazon than in traditional publishing, and by a lot. Why is that? Because those readers don't care what the traditional publishers think, they care what other readers recommend and now there's a way to get recommendations that aren't part of a publisher's marketing effort. (Note that this blog does the same thing)

Amazon does publish 83% of ebooks, but if they disappeared overnight, you can set up your own shop--all you need is internet access.
The reason I like the Amazon platform is they will start advertising and marketing your books (for free) if they think they will make some $$. (they get 30% of ebook sales; the authors gets 70%.)
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:37 AM (AwPyG)

Are you familiar with Tucker Max?

He runs a company that basically exists to help authors self-publish. I heard him talk once, seems like a real straight shooter.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:43 AM (hku12)

430 I wave my doctor's letter at them if need be, but by now WM and the local grocery chain I prefer don't worry me at all. It's places like Best Buy, who would let me into the store but told me no one would wait on me or check me out unless I wore a face bra, that infuriate me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at December 13, 2020 11:09 AM (rpbg1)

Load up your cart with ice cream and butter.

Posted by: Justsayin' at December 13, 2020 11:45 AM (Fs5vw)

431 I'm in late, so maybe this has been mentioned: "The Case for Christ' is a similar discovery book. The author was a career detective, and investigated the miracle of Christ from a skeptics view.
He came away a believer.
This book has gotten quite a bit of gaudy attention, but the core of it remains intriguing.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 13, 2020 11:46 AM (7Fj9P)

432 Took me six years to notice there was a drawer next to the stove.

Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at December 13, 2020 11:46 AM (YynYJ)

433
I will never be a best-selling author.

I am the sort of person who wouldn't want to sell a book to the sort of person who might want to read the sort of book written by the sort of person I am.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (m45I2)

434 Took me six years to notice there was a drawer next to the stove.

LOL!

Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (nxdel)

435 Got you all beat, bought toilet bowl cleaner today, 1st I saw in store in months.

Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (Cxk7w)

436 Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:35 AM

---

We got an Academy guy in our unit once while I was stationed in Germany. He was such a dick when he was on Duty one night a few months after he got there a bunch of guys snuck up behind him and tossed a blanket over his head, shoved him in a wall locker and tossed him out the window.

He was gone a few days after that and never came back. The CO did a quick investigation and that was that.

No idea what ever happened to that guy.
Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at December 13, 2020 11:41 AM (JUOKG)

Hmmm, we never did anything that drastic. For the most part lieutenants were perceived by the rank and file as harmless idiots.

We did have a CO, who was a legacy officer, in that his father was still service as a full bird, and apparently he had grandfathers and uncles and whatnot, who were covered in honor and glory.

Not this douchebag though. Who seemed to consider it his main purpose to bust enlisted men for petty infractions. He'd rip somebody's rank off their shoulders for the dumbest things, and when someone got busted for weed as a result of a piss test (which were frequent), he'd have them hauled off in chains.

Not even remotely joking, if we'd ever gone to combat, he'd have been fragged by his men, first day.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:48 AM (hku12)

437 Dec 14
What a day! Our troops all along the line moved within a stone's throw of Der Vaterland. 45 Div took Lembach. 103 Div took Climbach and the high ground to the east. 14 Armd got to the edges of Schleithal and Salmbach, while the 79 Div moved the closest to Germany by reaching the south edge of Scheibenhard, just 200 yds from the border.
No rain today to speak of though the skies were cloudy for most of the day.

Have really enjoyed reading these diary entries.
Thanxs!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 11:48 AM (axyOa)

438 Insom.. as I said I really thought the install wasn't done properly and these were double pane windows. I only noticed this morning dusting I saw a tiny portion on the bottom that looked funny. I looked closely and it was cellephane beginning to peel. It's possible the installer left them there idk.

Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (nxdel)

439 "Hardwood or carpet?"

Monitor or Merrimack?

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (uxUoN)

440 I will never be a best-selling author.

I am the sort of person who wouldn't want to sell a book to the sort of person who might want to read the sort of book written by the sort of person I am.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (m45I2)

If you get money rolling in, you won't care who buys it.

I have semi considered writing a fictional account of one of my more spectacular cases, except I'd swap out a character or two for lesbians or something. LOL

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

441 The Army - Space Force just doesn't have the same gravity as Army - Navy.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:50 AM (m45I2)

442 [edit, D*** spell check] Viceroy Commissioned Officers, not Officials.

BTW, for the Victorian British Army I believe Brigadier General was an appointment, not a rank-I believe lance corporal was also an appointment and not a rank.

Posted by: Lawdawg at December 13, 2020 11:50 AM (6K2vl)

443 I will never be a best-selling author.

I am the sort of person who wouldn't want to sell a book to the sort of person who might want to read the sort of book written by the sort of person I am.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (m45I2)

Heh. Ok, Groucho.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:50 AM (hku12)

444 >>>Pompeo says at the Governor's luncheon in the summer "we know many of you are canoodling with the CCP, so you'd better step back"
Election shows "knowingly" element of the crime
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:43 AM (AwPyG)

Here's, a bit of Pompeo at the more recent Georgia Tech speech:

https://tinyurl.com/y32g5wwu

Posted by: Braenyard at December 13, 2020 11:50 AM (CZm2G)

445 @429
I will check it out, but authors should be wary of third party companies who promise to "get you published", especially those who promise to "get your book sold in a book store"
Publishing your book is EASY and free. (As in, costs nothing. I pay for a cover artist, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to--there's plenty of free covers out there)
Amazon's publisher is kdp.com, and they have step-by-step explanations on line about how to do it. Or do a search, if you are confused about something.
But as always, it all depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to sell books in a bookstore, there's nothing wrong with that goal, just understand that you aren't going to make much money. My print sales are 10% of kindle sales.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:51 AM (AwPyG)

446 Took me six years to notice there was a drawer next to the stove.
Posted by: Notsothoreau - look forward at December 13, 2020 11:46 AM (YynYJ)

Have live in this house longer than any other and I STILL open the wrong cupboard door to put the salad plates away.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 11:52 AM (axyOa)

447 If you get money rolling in, you won't care who buys it.

I have semi considered writing a fictional account of one of my more spectacular cases, except I'd swap out a character or two for lesbians or something. LOL
Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

Does anybody get rich selling fiction anymore?

I mean, unless you write children's stories, or kinky sex romps, I don't really know any single writer of "serious" fiction who is both revered and sells shedloads these days.

Maybe they exist, but I'm guessing if they do they've been at it for decades.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:52 AM (hku12)

448 444 >>>Pompeo says at the Governor's luncheon in the summer "we know many of you are canoodling with the CCP, so you'd better step back"
Election shows "knowingly" element of the crime
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:43 AM (AwPyG)

My most evil step father was a Georgia Tech grad and used to sing Ramblin Wreck too often

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:52 AM (ONvIw)

449 Here are the Brits, yesterday, waking up to the mass infiltration of CCP in business, industry Rolls Royce, pharmaceuticals (Astra Zenica), and banking:

https://tinyurl.com/y5lgdd4g

Posted by: Braenyard at December 13, 2020 11:53 AM (CZm2G)

450 At the time I assumed Covid caused an average lifespan loss of 20 years; I used 50 for Opioid ODs. Covid may actually be less than a year.

Not all Opioid ODs are forgettable junkies, if that's how you think.

Posted by: Ignoramus

The average lifespan of an American is LOWER than the average lifespan of an alleged CoVid victim.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 11:53 AM (1YlHz)

451 @443
But the glory of the internet is now you can find your clan, out there.
I have a friend who writes "mermaid romance" and has a robust following.
Note that Goodreads.com has book groups, of every shape and size. I belong to Thrillers and Mysteries, and there are over 20,000 members.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:53 AM (AwPyG)

452 Got you all beat, bought toilet bowl cleaner today, 1st I saw in store in months.
Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (Cxk7w)

Better to rent.
Try Home Despot parking lot.
Ask Juan if wife is available for a couple of hours.

Posted by: Burnt Toast at December 13, 2020 11:53 AM (/Dgcm)

453 Lawdawg

Thanks. I'm much better with Navy ranks. A lot less churn on those over the years.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 11:54 AM (u82oZ)

454 438 Insom.. as I said I really thought the install wasn't done properly and these were double pane windows. I only noticed this morning dusting I saw a tiny portion on the bottom that looked funny. I looked closely and it was cellephane beginning to peel. It's possible the installer left them there idk.
Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (nxdel)

You do know that I am lovingly and in good humor busting your chops, right?

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:54 AM (nakwk)

455 Does anybody get rich selling fiction anymore?

I mean, unless you write children's stories, or kinky sex romps, I don't really know any single writer of "serious" fiction who is both revered and sells shedloads these days.

Maybe they exist, but I'm guessing if they do they've been at it for decades.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:52 AM (hku12)

I would aim it at the YA/teen market as I was stuck with the Adolescent Unit at that time.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:54 AM (ONvIw)

456 I think Rambin' Wreck is a good fight song.
My favorite is Rocky Top

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:55 AM (AwPyG)

457 Here's a SkyNews AU report on thousands of CCP infiltrators:

https://tinyurl.com/yy3t5936

Posted by: Braenyard at December 13, 2020 11:55 AM (CZm2G)

458 456 I think Rambin' Wreck is a good fight song.
My favorite is Rocky Top
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:55 AM (AwPyG)

Yeah, but the stepfather was a bastard, so it brings back only unpleasantness.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (ONvIw)

459 I'm in late, so maybe this has been mentioned: "The Case for Christ' is a similar discovery book. The author was a career detective, and investigated the miracle of Christ from a skeptics view.
He came away a believer.
This book has gotten quite a bit of gaudy attention, but the core of it remains intriguing.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 13, 2020 11:46 AM (7Fj9P)

I read that years ago, the author did a good job of laying out the case. But my favorite work of apologetics remains Mere Christianity.

Posted by: Gaelic Girl's Irish Democracy at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (5FCda)

460 445 @429
I will check it out, but authors should be wary of third party companies who promise to "get you published", especially those who promise to "get your book sold in a book store"
Publishing your book is EASY and free. (As in, costs nothing. I pay for a cover artist, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to--there's plenty of free covers out there)
Amazon's publisher is kdp.com, and they have step-by-step explanations on line about how to do it. Or do a search, if you are confused about something.
But as always, it all depends on what your goal is. If your goal is to sell books in a bookstore, there's nothing wrong with that goal, just understand that you aren't going to make much money. My print sales are 10% of kindle sales.
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:51 AM (AwPyG)

I'm sure there are charlatans out there, and I think Tucker Max has a lot of right leaning authors who swear by him. He seems to have set up his company precisely because of the charlatans (including mainstream publishing).

So for anyone who is already doing it, you might not need someone like him, but someone starting out, apparently he has as his main goal to get the author to reap as much as possible from the sale.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (hku12)

461 Got you all beat, bought toilet bowl cleaner today, 1st I saw in store in months.
Posted by: Skip at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (Cxk7w)

Mrs D just smiles.
"I got you dear."

Sigh

Posted by: Diogenes at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (axyOa)

462 This isn't defined as being a recent imaging of the Detroit library, but it's still a surprising image. (1) It hasn't been burned down - yet; and (2) there aren't many books viewable ... but there are big-screen T&Vs. On the 'politically correct / Holy COHHHH-vid!' side, it appears to already be set up for (ahem) 'social distancing' ...

Posted by: Dr_No at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (mu5GU)

463
Leftists attack Trump supporters at rallies yesterday. MFM headines: Violence breaks out at Trump rallies.

The implication being the Trump supporters started it. Which is as true as the BLM riots being mostly peaceful.

The North Korean media is more honest than the American MFM.
Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 13, 2020 11:21 AM (k2ASk

I really don't care what the MFM says. And I also think future pro-Trump events should be armed.

Tired of being the one that has to be nice. It's time to water that sacred tree. Chants and words ain't cutting it anymore.

Posted by: Justsayin' at December 13, 2020 11:58 AM (Fs5vw)

464 I am the sort of person who wouldn't want to sell a book to the sort of person who might want to read the sort of book written by the sort of person I am.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (m45I2)

===

What, wut?

Posted by: Groucho Marx at December 13, 2020 11:58 AM (EZebt)

465 @455
If your goal is the make money, you can set your mind to it.
The romance genre is the best selling genre by far, and the best selling subgenre in the business is romantic suspense, where there are parallel plots--the suspense plot and the romance plot.
What's the set up? ER nurse on vacation is swept up in dire events, and has to team up with disgraced Navy Seal to save the world.
Something like that. The readers can't buy enough of that stuff.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

466 I believe it was the conductor Daniel Barenboim who once said that "you can go insane listening to Vivaldi. It's like working in a sewing machine factory.

-
Back in undergrad, the music library had a large number of Vivaldi albums with scores. I used to toke up, get an album, and follow the score. That's right. I was a wild and crazy guy.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 13, 2020 11:58 AM (+y/Ru)

467 462 This isn't defined as being a recent imaging of the Detroit library, but it's still a surprising image. (1) It hasn't been burned down - yet; and (2) there aren't many books viewable ... but there are big-screen T&Vs. On the 'politically correct / Holy COHHHH-vid!' side, it appears to already be set up for (ahem) 'social distancing' ...
Posted by: Dr_No at December 13, 2020 11:57 AM (mu5GU)

Adam Strohm Hall 2012.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 11:59 AM (ONvIw)

468 438 Jewells, I didn't know about the peel off stuff on tablet, phone, and other electronic screens until I saw an episode of Big Bang Theory, and I seldom watch it.

Posted by: bill in arkansas at December 13, 2020 12:00 PM (I58tH)

469 I know Insomniac. I feel stupid anyway lol!

Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (nxdel)

470 Tired of being the one that has to be nice. It's time to water that sacred tree. Chants and words ain't cutting it anymore.
Posted by: Justsayin'

**********

Um, can't. They have security cameras and motion sensor lights on their lawn.

/s

Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (m45I2)

471 CBD HAS A NOOD

Posted by: Skip, the guy who says NOOD at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (Cxk7w)

472 The book sounds very promising. The improbability of life's complexity arising spontaneously was the main thesis of Stephen Meyer's "Darwin's Doubt", which I highly recommend. I don't endorse all of his claims, but it is certainly engaging food for thought.

Posted by: pep

Yep. Dr. Meyer actually started with his Signature in the Cell, which was great. He has Return of the God Hypothesis coming out soon, I think.

Michael Behe is also excellent on the subject, with Darwin's Black Box, The Edge of Evolution and Darwin Devolves.

I highly recommend all of these books.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (1YlHz)

473 Contemplating new add-ons to my nic. Haven't decided on any yet.

Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (nakwk)

474 Um, can't. They have security cameras and motion sensor lights on their lawn.

/s
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (m45I2)

You do it then.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (ONvIw)

475 I have semi considered writing a fictional account of one of my more spectacular cases, except I'd swap out a character or two for lesbians or something. LOL
Posted by: CN

The Case of the Lipstick Lesbian Slut.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (+y/Ru)

476 I am the sort of person who wouldn't want to sell a book to the sort of person who might want to read the sort of book written by the sort of person I am.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:47 AM (m45I2)

*hi-5!*

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 12:02 PM (nUhF0)

477 475 I have semi considered writing a fictional account of one of my more spectacular cases, except I'd swap out a character or two for lesbians or something. LOL
Posted by: CN

The Case of the Lipstick Lesbian Slut.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (+y/Ru)

The only lesbians I ever worked with were total bulls

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 12:02 PM (ONvIw)

478 The Case of the Lipstick Lesbian Slut.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 13, 2020 12:01 PM (+y/Ru)

Great title, but wrong case.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 12:03 PM (ONvIw)

479 @455
I mentioned a few months ago Jonathon Yanez, who started writing sci-fi fantasy and posted free novellas on his website until he acquired a following.

Now he sells his books for profit, and is making right around $20,000/month.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 12:03 PM (AwPyG)

480 your goal is the make money, you can set your mind to it.
The romance genre is the best selling genre by far, and the best selling subgenre in the business is romantic suspense, where there are parallel plots--the suspense plot and the romance plot.
What's the set up? ER nurse on vacation is swept up in dire events, and has to team up with disgraced Navy Seal to save the world.
Something like that. The readers can't buy enough of that stuff.
Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

Concur. My wife can't get enough of these type of books. Then she has to tell me about them. I feel like Archie Bunker when he shoots himself in the head with his finger while Edith babbles on next to him.

Posted by: Beartooth at December 13, 2020 12:03 PM (Ezr0J)

481 Here's a SkyNews AU report on thousands of CCP infiltrators:

https://tinyurl.com/yy3t5936
Posted by: Braenyard at December 13, 2020 11:55 AM (CZm2G)

That's been the big news this morning. The actual list has been posted - but it's going to take a lot of work to get through it. I think they said that there's 52k Americans on the list.

Suddenly, a lot of dots are connected if this thing is correct. From the 2018 EO to the EO for federal executions to even Ratcliffe w/Trump yesterday at Army/Navy game.

Posted by: clutch cargo Now 100% Lubricant Free at December 13, 2020 12:04 PM (L8ADy)

482 Who rolled away the stone?

God does many things for symbolism to help us understand, apparently. "Clearly" the resurrected Christ Jesus did not need the stone moved ... just as I'd guess he does not have a permanent wound in his side. That was done for the benefit of doubting Thomas. The new spiritual bodies are beyond our comprehension ... Jesus ate with the disciples in the upper room (iirc) ... yet was able to appear then vanish from their sight.

So all these cooking tips I learn here, maybe I can finally apply them later, with no worries about keto?

Posted by: illiniwek at December 13, 2020 12:05 PM (Cus5s)

483 if the book gets discussed on a sunday tv show " everyone " rushes out to get a copy

Well that's not gonna happen with my stuff. Its too white, or something.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Life Unworthy would make a Hell of a movie.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 12:05 PM (1YlHz)

484 @475
David Putnam is a former Sheriff, and he uses his cases in his stories. He says he has to edit a lot of them because they are so unbelievable.

Bruce Robert Coffin was a former cop in Maine.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 12:05 PM (AwPyG)

485
Life Unworthy would make a Hell of a movie.
Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 12:05 PM (1YlHz)

I have been toying with buying this, as I think the premise is great.

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 12:06 PM (ONvIw)

486 @481
This would comport with the twitter people, who seems to think there are over 100,000 sealed indictments where usually the PACER system shows 2000 or so

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 12:07 PM (AwPyG)

487 When you buy an indie book on Kindle, does the writer get all your info?

Posted by: CN at December 13, 2020 12:08 PM (ONvIw)

488 Mia Farrow?

And the 1610 project wasn't full of errors. That is a stone cold, on purpose bunch of propaganda. Meant to allow certain agitators to be able to point to something on line that reinforces their lies and fake intellectualism.

That's all the crap put out by the Critical Race Theorists is and ever was; propaganda and lies meant to cause dissension and division.

If Africa had a recorded history and the records survived then we could look to that for some more neutral information but there isn't so all we have is what was written by those who definitely had an agenda.

That doesn't make their perceptions wrong, just suspect and that lets people like the clown at the NYT that invented the 1629 project. (and she does look like a clown).

Meantime liberal whites want to be forgiven by blacks for what I don't know. And they want everyone else to feel guilty so that when THEY are forgiven they can brag about it to their unwoke neighbors. (I can't imagine liberals having unwoke friends. Not anymore.)

Posted by: jakee308 at December 13, 2020 12:12 PM (YOHxA)

489 Stockhausen Effect: child babbles nonsense. All his friends think he's cool.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

That's a funny list.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 12:14 PM (1YlHz)

490 @487
No. Which is why, if you are an author, try to get an email list started, so you can keep your readers informed of new books.

And the beauty of the amazon platform is they will happily send out notifications to anyone who's bought one of your previous books, since they are hoping to make some money on it themselves.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 12:15 PM (AwPyG)

491 @487
When you buy a kindle book on amazon there's really no difference between a self-published book and a industry-published book. Sometimes you have to really look to figure out which it is.

Posted by: artemis at December 13, 2020 12:16 PM (AwPyG)

492 393- It would be awesome if all the scold's neighbors erected signs visible from her house that said she was an asshole.

Posted by: vivi at December 13, 2020 12:16 PM (USW1s)

493 Wow, those war/horror stories about looeys. I was average officer as a looey except I tried to be the platoon leader my sergeants would appreciate having. Hell, I originally enlisted with no intent to become an officer, so it wasn't like I felt superior to any of them as people. And I wanted to do a good job for my own sake. I wasn't being rated for my ability to piss off my NCOs; I was being rated for my ability to accomplish my mission.

Being in the Signal Corps, that was easy! My last summer camp with the NG unit I was with during law school, hotter than shit on Cape Cod (though it was technically the cape, being right across the bridge from the mainland), I get back to my platoon out in the woods (commander's conference or something) and they've got a BBQ going, Sega Genesis, fridge.... (Mind you, we always brought appliances to the field -- we had 5kw generators for crying out loud, we had to do *something* with all that extra power. My first year in that unit I was in BN HQ which had a refrigerated truck with all kinds of power outlets. It was a nice play to be in July. Anyway, this looey was *just* commissioned and he'd never been in a signal unit before. His razor ran out of juice halfway through but he didn't bring his power cord because, wow, there're a lot outlets here. I wish I'd known.... I couldn't laugh toooo hard.)

But this is our big, annual summer camp/2 weeks and the brass is taking it seriously, so I go up to the E-5 who's tending grill and I let loose with an "ummm...?" "Sir, the infantry battalion we're supporting is talking to their higher headquarters just fine. Oh and we invited their NCOs over to BBQ." (In other words, everything's fine.) "Ok." Really, there wasn't anything else for us to do once the shot was up and running. The cool thing about being in a forward signal platoon was? *Everybody* left us the fuck alone. The whole fucking exercise would come to a crashing halt if anybody got a bug up their ass because the signal guys were playing Sega Genesis '95. Infantry and artillery officers like being able to pick up field phones and make reliable and accurate calls. You can't order a combat pizza without us! So I made the rounds to see everybody and whatnot (and where were the rest of my NCOs?). There's one. "Sergeant X, where are all the NCOs?" We're in the woods for a week so there should be tents. Where are the tents? "Sir! Is the shot up and running?" "Yes...." "Then you don't need to know we are." "Sergeant X, don't get me in trouble...." (I'm gonna be in such big trouble....) "No Sir!" The shot worked fine the whole week and I never got in trouble.

postscript: During the exercise I met a chopper pilot who was cool enough to fly some of my lower enlisted around (the NCOs were in the woods drinkin' while the E-2's to E-4's were doing all the work). I went on one of the flights and brought some water balloons - we bombed one our company's other platoons. I think I was an ok looey.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 13, 2020 12:22 PM (KAi1n)

494 I have been toying with buying this, as I think the premise is great.

Posted by: CN

It was excellent.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 13, 2020 12:27 PM (1YlHz)

495 351@annapuma,
Man plans,G-d laughs.*********************************************Truth

Posted by: Grog at December 13, 2020 12:29 PM (weXmt)

496 If that's the case, 2020 was the year laughed so hard He wet his pants and milk shot out of His nose.

Posted by: vivi at December 13, 2020 12:31 PM (USW1s)

497 Oh, I found another series for my guest room bookshelf: the Space Raptor Butt Trilogy by Chuck Tingle

https://tinyurl.com/yxtugl8g

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 12:31 PM (Dc2NZ)

498 this thread is more peaceful than the vax wars one

Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 12:32 PM (nUhF0)

499 >>> 498 this thread is more peaceful than the vax wars one
Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 12:32 PM (nUhF0)

Oh is THAT what the new thread is about? Maybe I'll stick around here for a bit longer...

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at December 13, 2020 12:33 PM (02b6n)

500 441 The Army - Space Force just doesn't have the same gravity as Army - Navy.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 13, 2020 11:50 AM (m45I2)
---

Air Force vs. Space Force will be the next big rivalry.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 13, 2020 12:34 PM (Dc2NZ)

501 Posted by: Jewells45TRUMPWON! at December 13, 2020 11:49 AM (nxdel)

You do know that I am lovingly and in good humor busting your chops, right?
Posted by: Insomniac at December 13, 2020 11:54 AM (nakwk)

Sometimes love is a tire iron...

It's all about perspective.

Posted by: browndog at December 13, 2020 12:35 PM (BgMrQ)

502 Who Moved the Stone title reminded me of a much heralded book I've never read Who Moved My Cheese.

Posted by: Mr. Meeseek, Look at me

And, who could forget "Who Cut the Cheese " ?

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 12:36 PM (arJlL)

503 2/3 of the way through Tocqueville's "The Old Regime and the French Revolution. I'm in Part Three. Chapter one was how the intellectuals took the lead in society which has some relevance to our current situation. Next up is Chapter 3 "How the desire for reforms took precedence over the desire for freedom" which I expect to be even more relevant to today. On the bright side, we seem to have a stronger opposition to the radicals than existed in 18th century France. Not to say it doesn't feel like the opposition is losing now. Still, I cling to a faint hope that the crazies don't win.

Posted by: Who knew at December 13, 2020 12:36 PM (SfO/T)

504 #453

No worries NaCly Dog; according to Wiki, the Brits had Brigadier General as a substantive rank in early 18th Century and after 1920s. I just remembered reading somewhere (maybe Farwell) that during the Raj it wasn't a rank but was an appointment, for example for a specific campaign-Wiki's not always reliable, but from what I've read it's mostly accurate here.

Oh, and IIRC, there was some sort of issue about officer ranks in the Guards vs. the rest of the army; and there might also have been some sort of special regimental precedence tradition whereby some regiments used archaic ranks or didn't use certain ranks based on some obscure tradition.

My knowledge of Royal Navy ranks comes mostly from Hornblower (C.S. Forester was a historian with some good Brit naval histories during Nappy period in eastern seas), but I can never remember the color (red, white and blue) precedence for admirals.

Posted by: Lawdawg at December 13, 2020 12:47 PM (6K2vl)

505 Sometimes love is a tire iron...

It's all about perspective.
Posted by: browndog at December 13, 2020 12:35 PM (BgMrQ)

Love is a battlefield.

Posted by: Pat Benatar at December 13, 2020 12:48 PM (PiwSw)

506 Later I get the rest of the story. The lady wanting the XBox lied and said that I was going to get an XBox for her.

*pfagh!*
Posted by: Anna Puma

I bet she lied about the cancer too.
Posted by: vmom Trump Won! at December 13, 2020 11:40 AM (nUhF0)

Probably wasn't even her son.
Posted by: Insomniac

And, she prolly had a schlong.

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 12:49 PM (arJlL)

507 It's also like oxygen.

Posted by: Sweet at December 13, 2020 12:49 PM (KAi1n)

508 You need to showcase the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario if you haven't already.

Posted by: ray arcade at December 13, 2020 12:50 PM (gXhQk)

509 CBD HAS A NOOD

EI-EI-O

Posted by: JT at December 13, 2020 12:51 PM (arJlL)

510 The Detroit Public Library and the DIA (Detroit Institute of the Arts) next door are beautiful buildings. A peek into what a wonderful and grand city Detroit was before the crazy Democrats took over and destroyed the city.

Posted by: pchuck at December 13, 2020 01:00 PM (6wB8G)

511 Muldoon: Thanks for all the diary excerpts. They are great

Posted by: Who knew at December 13, 2020 01:00 PM (SfO/T)

512 Another beautiful library is the Iowa State Law Library at the state capitol in Des Moines. If you haven't showcased it yet.

Posted by: pchuck at December 13, 2020 01:01 PM (6wB8G)

513 Where might one peruse the DB listing the CHYna whores? Did I just zoom (ha ha) right past it in the linked articles, or is it not available yet? Curious to see if there are any names I recognize outside the fake nooz...

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at December 13, 2020 01:07 PM (02b6n)

514 It would, of course, be impossible to construct anything remotely comparable to that in Detroit today.

Posted by: Vlad the impaler, whittling away like mad at December 13, 2020 01:07 PM (d6mdH)

515 Lawdawg

I just remembered reading somewhere (maybe Farwell) that during the Raj it wasn't a rank but was an appointment, for example for a specific campaign

Correct.

Lots of crazy in their rank structure. There is a case in the Battle of Mons in WWI where a permanent Major was a substantive Brigadier, and ordered his own Colonel of the Regiment to take a specific defensive stance for the battalion over the Colonel's objections. Which went badly.

Reforms were made after that.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 01:15 PM (u82oZ)

516 I know, late to the party - was Christmas shopping with the Daughter Unit - and only now spotted the comments about indy publishing. It's really liberating for authors who (for whatever reason, a disfavored genre, lack-a-wokeitude, or not being a member of a favored minority, or just plain old writing startlingly original stuff) didn't find favor with the NY-based Literary Industrial Complex. One can buy an ISBN for a print book from Bowker, and sign up with Ingram Spark, which will provide print versions of the book through the Ingram distribution network - including to Amazon, etc. Go to Draft2Digital for ebooks in various formats. Have editors, Beta-readers, connect with a cover artist or someone with a background in graphics design. Pay them money, if possible. Network with local bookshops, readers' groups, and things like the AOSHQ book thread. There is a whole world out there full of readers who aren't much interested in over-priced and derivative so-called "best sellers" on offer from the Literary Industrial Complex. I'm not swimming in a pool of money like Larry Correia - but I do get by, and I have twenty books out there, as of last count.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 13, 2020 01:47 PM (xnmPy)

517 : Sgt. Mom

Thank you for the info. And may your books catch the new zeitgeist.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at December 13, 2020 01:53 PM (u82oZ)

518 418: Re: indie writers and getting shut down

Sabrina: "The real secret is the big movers, like Amazon, love money more than PC noise."

I used to think that was true about the TV and newspapers too.

Posted by: yara at December 13, 2020 02:05 PM (rde8g)

519 When Mia Farrow married Frank Sinatra (it lasted 1966-6

, Ava Gardner, a former Mrs. Sinatra, said, "I always knew Frank would end up in bed with a boy."

Posted by: PubliusII at December 13, 2020 02:20 PM (NCsa7)

520 ""Oddly, some of the most impressive structures in Detroit are intact and in use."

It's like the Britons of the Dark Ages looking at the grandeur of Roman remains and saying "where the fuck did this come from?"
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 13, 2020 09:08 AM (9TdxA)"

J. R. R. Tolkien pointed out that in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Roman remains (roads, walls, etc.) were regularly referred to "...the ancient work of giants...". The Anglo-Saxon word for giant was "ent". Which, of course, Tolkien used as a name when he invented his ancient race of tree like creatures. Interestingly, in early drafts of LOTR the character Treebeard was both a more traditional sort of giant and a bad guy who held Gandalf captive.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at December 13, 2020 02:21 PM (iGJz0)

521 Late to the thread but appreciate the recommendation for Who Moved the Stone.

Ive started reading some Longmire mysteries by Craig Johnson. There are about 10 or so and so far, I like what I've read very much. I think anyone who likes the show will enjoy the books.
They remind me of the Susan Grafton /Kinsey Milhone mysteries - they have recurring characters and a consistent "world" but bring something new to each story.

Posted by: Pres. Elect LASue at December 13, 2020 03:49 PM (Ed8Zd)

522 Sgt Mom,

Here is The Far Country with Michael York:www youtube com/watch?v=v5GbYNVL0kc

Posted by: setnaffa at December 13, 2020 05:10 PM (eaJqd)

523 The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 13, 2020 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

Mr. Lloyd, I must admit that you are entirely correct in your assessment of capitalism with regards to the hollowing out of labor.

For far too long, corporations used conservatives' justified revulsion at Labor's corruption and excesses to turn us against the America worker. With our aid, they shifted away from American labor and towards cheaper foreign labor.

Once they were successful in destroying our jobs base, Big Tech's pincer maneuver to shut those openings off from any efforts in 'retraining' finished the job.

While conservatives were focused on fighting that battle to cut our own throats, progressives moved on from controlling labor to controlling corporations - hence the situation we find ourselves in right now.

We need to take the opportunity that Trump gave us by making the GOP the populist party to take control of Labor. Their base already aligns with us; we just need to install new leadership.

This is definitely a subject worth discussing further.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at December 13, 2020 05:54 PM (iDBt2)

524 463 "I really don't care what the MFM says. And I also think future pro-Trump events should be armed.

Tired of being the one that has to be nice. It's time to water that sacred tree. Chants and words ain't cutting it anymore."

While I sympathize with the sentiment, the problem is that anyone who tries to defend themselves with guns in a blue hellhole is going to end up like Kyle Rittenhouse. At the very least, you're going to need to organize a network of lawyers and money-raising, and both of those are going to become increasingly more difficult as time goes by. It may be unavoidable in Washington, because it is the capital and you've got to show up there at least sometimes, but I'm not sure it's worth it in other cities.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 10:57 PM (zmIA8)

525 449 "Here are the Brits, yesterday, waking up to the mass infiltration of CCP in business, industry Rolls Royce, pharmaceuticals (Astra Zenica), and banking:

https://tinyurl.com/y5lgdd4g"

Yeah, one good thing about the scamdemic is that it has opened a lot of people's eyes to the deceitfulness and lust for power of the CCP.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 10:59 PM (zmIA8)

526 317 "The 1981 series with Conrad adapted several of the books or novelettes, but it missed the mark -- casting Lee Horsley as Archie, for example."

I actually liked that one, but in fairness, I was 10 and haven't seen it since. Might have to check out the more recent one sometime.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 11:04 PM (zmIA8)

527 280 "I'm continuing with "Retief's Ransom." I meant to binge through the Retief stories in publication order, which so far has meant switching among three different collections. However, this novel is included in the collection "Retief Unbound," and as I have read all the short stories in that, I said why not and moved into the novel. I'm enjoying it."

I love the early Retief's, but I must warn you that you've just about reached the point at which the series goes sharply downhill. Laumer had a stroke in the early '70's and was just not the same afterwards. For example, I'm pretty sure you've reached the point where he introduced the gag with the catalog of facial expressions. That's amusing early on, when it's used in small doses, but in some of the later books, there are literally entire chapters devoted to the meetings between the bureaucrats and their grimacing at each other, and it gets really old. Even the action gets interminable; there's a lot of parts where things go on for forty pages that would have taken two or three in the early stories. Furthermore, the aliens become increasingly ridiculous as time goes on, which negates one of the key points of the early part of the series, namely that Retief is the only person in the CDT who actually cares about what the aliens Terra is meddling with think and want, and who bothers to learn about their culture and becomes friends with them. Finally, there is one novel, "Return for Retief," which was not finished by Laumer, and which, at least in its first edition, was actually published without any warning that this is the case; you slog through 340 pages and the thing just ends abruptly. Given that there's still no end in sight for the story at that point, it may have been a blessing, but it was still incredibly unethical for the publisher to do that. In general, I didn't enjoy the novels (even the earlier ones, which are definitely better than the later ones) as much as the short stories. While I haven't read any of Laumer's other novels, I have heard good things about them, so my theory is that the Retief concept simply didn't work as well with longer stories for whatever reason. If there was a conservative network or production company out there that wouldn't fall prey to wokeness, I'd love to see someone make a series out of the short stories.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 11:35 PM (zmIA8)

528 527 Correction, the unfinished novel is "Reward for Retief." My bad.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 11:37 PM (zmIA8)

529 265 "The sub has yet to run out, so issues keep showing up at Stately Poppins Manor. In the newest, what do I see a blurb for? A TV show about the adventures of Enola Holmes - Sherlock's younger sister!"

I will say that I read the first book of a series by Brittany Cavallaro about Charlotte Holmes* and Jamie Watson, who are the great x3(?)-grandchildren of the original Holmes and Watson, and thought it was pretty good. One of the nice parts is that Charlotte is not perfect; she has much the same sort of Aspergery behaviors and social interaction issues that Sherlock did, and an even worse drug habit. Another interesting conceit is that the Moriarty line has also continued, and the two families are still enemies (although with some interesting twists.) There is, of course, sexual tension, and it will be interesting to see in the later books if it continues to be handled realistically, but the first one was definitely pretty good.

*--I discovered while writing this post that there is another series, called Lady Sherlock and written by Sherry Thomas, that also has a Charlotte Holmes: in this case, the stories are set in Victorian London, and she's the real Holmes, with Sherlock being the alias she uses. I haven't read any of those, and probably won't. At any rate, this should not be confused with the Cavallaro series.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 11:49 PM (zmIA8)

530 228 "You can't dismiss the oil embargo."

True, but the Big 3 failed to adopt to the new times, and, in fact, never really have; they're really starting to get out of plain cars (at least conventional ones, anyway) because making gas-efficient cars just isn't profitable enough to interest them.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 13, 2020 11:57 PM (zmIA8)

531 196 "I bought my first 'foreign' new car in the late 70s - a Civic. It had a few problems but, Honda reached out proactively and made me better than whole. The fords, and their dealerships, that I had experienced previously hated me and shat upon me every chance they got. I never went back."

My family had a similar experience around 1980 when I was 8 or 9--we tried to buy a Citation, but my folks didn't like the colors or packages that the dealer had in the lot, so we requested a special order from the plant. It kept getting pushed back and pushed back with no clear explanation of what was going on, and finally my folks said screw it, cancelled the order, and got a Civic instead. They haven't bought American since, and neither have I.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 14, 2020 12:02 AM (zmIA8)

532 156 "It reminds me of my problem with Poirot: I cannot see any personality there. Christie tries, but it just comes down to some stock mannerisms, which to me seem spliced together. There is no man underneath. And when I get to it, every male in Christie, that I've encountered, seems like that - one dimensional. She does better with women. Which is why I prefer Marple.
Posted by: Eeyore at December 13, 2020

*
*

It's kind of the nature of the classical mystery. Christie was like that, and the early work of Ellery Queen. The characters are close to being stock types, and are worked as the plot demands. The plot, the cleverness of the game between writer and reader, is the important thing.

John Dickson Carr was a little better (they all got better as time went on). In some cases in Carr the plot is driven by the emotional reactions and the personalities of people involved, including the murderer.

I've never been a big fan of Christie or of Poirot anyway, and have always disliked Orient Express. They filmed it in the '70s, and again recently. Darned if I can understand why when something as vivid as Queen's The Siamese Twin Mystery or the novelette "The Lamp of God" is there for the taking. Maybe because the large cast of stock types in OE allows big-name casting? I dunno."

See, I really have to disagree with much of this. One of the things that puts Christie on top for me is precisely that she does take the time to make the one-off characters in each mystery more than just stock types; they are real people, with real motivations. I recently read After the Funeral (AKA Funerals are Fatal), and the various suspects are very well drawn, the eventual culprit chillingly so. She does a particularly good job of this in the later novels. Also, while Christie's growing distaste for writing Poirot stories is well known, she does make him an honorable character ("I do not approve of murder!") who is very perceptive about people and their personalities, and for all of the talk about her being a very conservative Englishperson, she portrays his Catholicism respectfully, and one of the major points of the stories is precisely that English people tend to underestimate him because of his foreignness. (She also offers (again, particularly in the later novels) a lot of subtle commentary on the changes taking place in Britain during her lifetime.)

As far as MOTOE goes, it is overrated, but in the same way as the Mona Lisa is; while it's not the greatest work ever as many seem to think it is, it is still a great work. In fairness, it probably doesn't have the effect nowadays that it did at when first published because the twist at the end is no longer as special as it once was. However, it does create an interesting group of characters and a compelling backstory, and it presents an interesting and somewhat surprising insight into Poirot's character in his decision to let justice be done by extra-legal means. I do agree that it's probably been filmed one too many times; beyond the fact that it's Christie and what others have said about lending itself to a star-studded cast, one thing that I think attracts people is that it gives you the opportunity to present a movie full of old-time luxury, while at the same time requiring a relatively small shooting budget (about 90% of the book takes place in two train cars; even if you include the prologue in Iraq and Istanbul, you still only need to have about four or five sets and a couple of exteriors for the whole thing.)

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 14, 2020 12:46 AM (zmIA8)

533 129 "No. This is a false narrative. I, too once believed it, but can we now admit that "Free Trade" was always about exporting jobs so that the elites got richer while everyone else went broke?

What good does a cheaper car/TV/ipad do me if I have to pay double taxes in order to provide welfare for workers who can't find jobs?

Come visit Lansing and look at the huge vacant lots where Fisher Body and the Lansing Assembly plant once stood. Is everyone better off with those jobs gone? Those factories took with them the nearby taverns, shops, schools and churches.

The corporatists have been lying to us for decades, getting conservatives to believe that having well-paid workers was a crime against the Free Market.

Why it was outrageous that we paid workers $30 an hour to turn screws when Mexicans could do it for $1! We can't let those lazy workers make that kind of money, can we?!

Efficiency *demands* that we scour the globe to find the cheapest labor, cheapest materials, cheapest everything to maximize sacred holy profit.

How many of us bought into that? I did, but I see things differently now."

Three points:

1.) Free trade does work pretty well when it's done with countries that have broadly similar cultures and economic systems and which do not see life as a zero-sum game. Unfortunately, China does not share any of those things with us, and many of the other developing countries do not share some or all of them with us as well; extending free trade to these countries as broadly as we have has been a mistake.
2.) That being said, automobiles was one of the industries that was protected by tariffs for quite a while longer than others, and the Japanese still ate Detroit's lunch, so I don't think we can blame trade so much for that. Of course, the Japanese car makers also have a lot of plants over here now, which provide us with good jobs, so that also has worked out better than in a lot of other sectors of the economy.
3.) Free trade or no, the cities would be dying anyway. The 19th century urban landform came about because you had very large businesses that needed lots of workers, and the relatively slow and centralized modes of transportation that were available required all of those workers, as well as all of the ancillary businesses and institutions needed to serve them, to be crammed into small areas within short distances of their places of employment. The advent of the car and of new forms of communication, as well as the changes in the makeup of the economy, have rendered that landform obsolete. It is no longer necessary, and even when the cities were functioning well, they produced a lot of undesirable problems which either don't exist in the suburbs or are much more manageable. Old-style cities have therefore been declining since 1930, and have been rapidly declining since about 1960; free trade probably accelerated that process in many places, but it would be happening anyway. They have persisted as long as they have only because of inertia and the preferences of a relatively small, but unusually affluent group of people (who, ironically, are now bringing about the final stage of that decline by ruining the remaining parts of the cities that were desirable places to live and work.) While in many ways, I still love cities, overall their destruction is a inevitable development which is greatly to be desired, and it would behoove those of us who believe in freedom to point this out and start taking the lead in figuring out what the new spaces that people will live, work, socialize, and play in will be.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 14, 2020 01:16 AM (zmIA8)

534 77 "Detroit used to be beautiful and amazing, with stunning architecture and buildings of this sort all over downtown. It was called the Paris of the West. It was the leading cultural center of the USA. Stupid racism and leftist policies destroyed it and have kept it destroyed for forty years. Every decade or so its supposedly rebounding or having a renaissance, and still the city keeps dying. Now there's bears wandering the streets, and the architecture is crumbling to dust."

While I'm certain that Detroit at its zenith was a spectacular place (I have seen The Ruins of Detroit website, for one thing), at the risk of offending southeastern Michiganders, I have to question the idea that it was the leading cultural center in the country. My guess is that one of the reasons that it has become one of the first cities to really completely fall apart is precisely that its heyday was so short that it didn't have time to develop the kinds of culture that other cities with more staying power have. Much of Detroit was basically thrown up during the 20's (it must have been amazing to be living there and see the city rising before your eyes), and it was already declining in the early 60's, even before the riots put it into freefall. For example, while I'm sure the DIA is a nice museum, it doesn't have anything like the kind of rep that the Met or the Art Institute in Chicago or the Philly Museum of Art or even the Getty or the Huntingdon in LA have, and unlike most of those cities, it's basically the only art museum of consequence there. It doesn't have a lot of other museums either, nor has it ever had particularly thriving art, theatre, or literary scenes or a great orchestra. (There was, of course, a fantastic pop music scene, but that could easily move away when the city started to go to hell.) It has neither a large nor particularly prestigious set of colleges (having UM an hour away didn't help, but still. . .), and of the older Northeastern/Midwestern cities, it has probably the least interesting physical location (it's a pity it wasn't on Lake Erie or Huron, or even St. Clair.) Other cities that have also fallen to similar levels (Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis) have similar problems. This is not to dispute the incompetence of the city government and its malevolence in fostering racial division, but it's likely that even if the government was competent and virtuous, Detroit would still be having major problems.

Posted by: Joe Smith at December 14, 2020 01:58 AM (zmIA8)

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