Sunday Morning Book Thread - 2-9-2025 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

HT: Biden's Dog

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (you were warned...). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...or these pants...(GO TEAM!)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, start prepping Super Bowl snacks, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Biden's Dog sent me a link to this story about the construction of Obama's Presidential Library. Apparently, one of the subcontractors is suing the firm managing the project because the supervising firm is not satisfied with the quality of the concrete the subcontractor is using. The Chicago-based subcontractor wants $40 million, claiming racism and discrimination. It's a perfect example of the Chicago grift in action. The subcontractor is inexperienced with this type of project and is cutting corners, probably skimming a bit off the top as well. It's the Obama presidency in a nutshell.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PAPER

++++++++++

A WRINKLE IN TIME V. THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH

The YouTuber above attempts to compare two classics of childhood literature against each other to determine which one is "better." I thought his approach was interesting, as he tries to find objective criteria for comparison but also allows for subjective criteria at the end as a tie-breaker. I remember reading and enjoying both books when I was a child. But I think he makes a good point about how our knowledge and experience as adults can color our perceptions of quality over time. I doubt I would enjoy either book now the same way I did when I was a child, simply because I would not be able to capture that same sense of wonder and excitement. Ah, well...such is life...

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I'm reading Rutherford's Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations (1913), about all the often simple, and always clever, experiments happening during what was maybe the most exciting era of physics history. Back then, unlike now, the vanguard of theoretical and empirical physics research was still understandable by the educated layman (but usually found only in foreign language journals in university libraries,) and the lab apparatus was often relatively inexpensive. Here it is gathered in one book, in 700 pages of clearly written English.
Posted by: gp F'n Loves Science! at February 02, 2025 09:02 AM (P3fKr)

Comment: Science is awesome. The internet is incredible. Combine the two and you get a massive treasure trove of scientific knowledge. We get a snapshot of history and science by flipping through Ernst Rutherford's book. Pretty cool.

+++++

The latest novel in the Nora Kelly series by Preston and Child is Dead Mountain. Nora Kelly is an archaeologist in New Mexico. She receives a call from her friend, FBI agent in training Corrine Swanson, on a cold case gone hot.
Fifteen years ago, nine grad students were on a winter mountain trip in the area, when something unusual happened. During a blizzard, the hikers cut through the back of their tent and ran, most not even bothering to put on boots. Six frozen bodies were found within a few hundred yards of the tent, and three had remained missing until some teens recently stumbled upon the skeletons of two more, in an Indian burial cave.
The campsite happened to be near a classified military base, which eventually leads the women's investigation into a completely different direction while they search for the last victim. Interestingly, this story has its roots in actual events that occurred in Russia and the US.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 02, 2025 09:25 AM (rfDMn)

Comment: Nora Kelly is a side character from the Agent Pendergast novels written by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. She's a forensic anthropologist/archaeologist who often helps Agent Pendergast with his own unusual cases. Now she's moved out west and has been given her own series of novels. She often teams up with the young FBI agent Corrie Swanson, Agent Pendergast's protege.

+++++

I combined text, maps and illustrations from three public domain books and here is the result:
The Shirley Letters from the California Gold Fields 1851-1852 by Dame Shirley
The PDF version was generated online from my edited epub file.
Posted by: 13times at February 02, 2025 11:51 AM (sZZcM)

Comment: History is awesome. Have I said that the internet is incredible? Combine the two and now we can all take a trip deep into the past to witness first-hand accounts of life 170+ years ago.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

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

WHAT I'VE BEEN ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

Sons of the Forgotten Warrior Book 6 - Heart of the Mountain by Larry Correia -- I can now confirm that the dedication page in this book reads, "To George R. R. Martin. See? It's not that hard." I still find this hilarious.

Star Wars - Crucible by Troy Denning -- I don't recall if this is the LAST adventure of Luke, Han, and Leia, but it might as well be. I read it on my Kindle app a few years ago and it seemed like a fitting end to their story, as they are several decades older now.

Return of the Crimson Guard: A Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont -- This is a 1,000+ page doorstopper of novel that re-introduces the reader to the Crimson Guard, sworn enemies of the Malazan Empire. It takes place shortly after Lasseen has seized control of the Empire after deposing Kellanved.

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Balance Point by Kathy Tyers

In book 6 of The New Jedi Order (out of 19) the Yuuzhan Vong are making a play for one of the Core worlds, deep in New Republic territory. Duro is being resettled by refugees, who hope to restore the inhospitable planet to its former glory, reversing decades of ecological damage. Han, Leia, and their children all converge on Duro, ostensibly to help with resettling refugees, but soon get caught up in a conspiracy from within that stretches the highest echelons of the New Republic government.

"Contrived coincidence" is alive and well in the Star Wars universe as three disparate groups of Solos and Skywalkers all converge on Duro without realizing the other groups are also there. Eventually, they do team up to work together, but Duro is now lost in the hands of the enemy thanks to an infiltrator thought long dead. In universe, all of the contrived coincidences can be explained away as "the will of the Force." Still, it does seem like there's an awful lot of "luck" whenever the Solos or Skywalkers are around where they just happen to find each other in the same part of a giant galaxy.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Edge of Victory I - Conquest by Greg Keyes

In book 7, the Yuuzhan Vong are consolidating their hold on the worlds they've already conquered. They also extend a "truce" of sorts to the New Republic. No more conquest for a while if the New Republic will surrender the Jedi into Yuuzhan Vong custody. The Yuuzhan Vong have also discovered Yavin 4, the site of the Jedi academy, where dozens of young Jedi-in-training are in hiding, under the protection of a handful of Jedi Knights and a Jedi Master. Unfortunately, they are not strong enough to slow down the Yuuzhan Vong, who are able to capture a fourteen-year-old Jedi female for their vile experiments. Now sixteen-year-old Anakin Solo must risk everything to save young Tahiri, as he now realizes that she is destined to be his soulmate.

I found this story interesting as we get some background details about the Yuuzhan Vong and their culture. They are true fanatics when it comes to technology, viewing ALL forms of technology as an abomination and those who use it as infidels. They hate technology as much as Gazans hate Jews. In fact, they view artificially created fire as "the first abomination" as all technology ultimately comes from fire. Anakin also makes a startling discovery when he is able to harvest a living crystal and embed it as the focusing device for his broken lightsaber. Now, he, out of all Jedi has developed an awareness of the Yuuzhan Vong, who are otherwise immune to the Force.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Edge of Victory II - Rebirth by Greg Keyes

Han, Leia, and their elder son Jacen turn to piracy/privateering in an attempt to slow down the Yuuzhan Vong's conquest of the galaxy. Far too many smugglers and criminals are supplying the Yuuzhan Vong with war materiél. Meanwhile, Anakin and his girlfriend Tahiri team up with Corran Horn to warn the world of Yag'Duhl of an impending attack by the Yuuzhan Vong, even as infiltrators on that world seek to undermine its defenses. Luke Skywalker prepares for the birth of his son, though Mara suffers a resurgence of the Yuuzhan Vong-created disease that threatens her life as well as the life of her unborn child.

Star Wars - New Jedi Order - Star by Star by Troy Denning

The Yuuzhan Vong have engineered a terrifying weapon that blends the life of their galaxy with a creature within the Star Wars galaxy. Trained to seek out and destroy Jedi, they are unstoppable killing machines, taking out many Jedi before the New Republic and the New Jedi Order are able to form a counterstrategy. Now, a handful of young Jedi Knights surrender themselves to the tender mercies of the Yuuzhan Vong so that they can track down and destroy the source of the Jedi scourge.

This is approximately the midpoint of the full story arc of The New Jedi Order. Up until now, the New Republic has been fighting a retreating battle against the Yuuzhan Vong. Now they are starting to regroup and form counterattacks, as the New Republic is able to find a few weaknesses and exploit them.

The government as a whole is pretty useless, as one might expect. Various factions still want to find a way to coexist with an enemy that sees them as heretical vermin to be exterminated. Idiots.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 2-2-2025 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.

Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Squirrels residing in south-central Missouri get a tax break for supporting the Kansas City Chiefs, according to the state constitution.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 This week I read Edward Ashton's first two books in his "Mickey 7" series: "Mickey 7" and "Antimatter Blues". The story follows a man who volunteered to be an interstellar colony ship's "expendable". This person's brain pattern and physical pattern are scanned, and when a dangerous situation occurs that requires someone to sacrifice themselves to solve (say walking into a high radiation situation to fix something) then that's the job of an expendable. Earlier colony efforts learned that robots and drones can fail and the entire colony (or ship designed to create a colony) can fail, and thus the expendable program was created.

The expendable person uploads their current brain pattern at various points during the colony's mission to keep current, and if they have to die, a new body is grown for them, and their mind/consciousness is restored from the most recent backup.

As you can guess, Mickey is up to his 7th iteration when we join the story in the first book, and it takes a look back at how and why he volunteered for this, his first iterations, and then gets into the main story; too late the colony discovers that the indigenous lifeforms are actually intelligent. Now what?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:00 AM (O7YUW)

2 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at February 09, 2025 09:00 AM (fwDg9)

3 Top 5?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:00 AM (omVj0)

4 I did not read this week.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 09:01 AM (gbOdA)

5 Readers might want to sign up for Ranconteur Press's e-mails. You can get short stories on occasion. Read a couple this week. They're classics in the genres.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:01 AM (0eaVi)

6 @5/OrangeEnt: That's a great idea, thanks!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:02 AM (O7YUW)

7 Ozero library? What the heck did he actually do that would require more than an old trailer?

Looks like it's going to be Mike's you know what.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:03 AM (0eaVi)

8 Finished my Aunt's book last Sunday evening
Following Jesus His Way
It's a Christian devotional following Bible verses what Jesus says one needs to do to follow him.
The book is free to download, a book version isn't out yet.
Go to
https://muchmorefruit.com/

Click on book and read away.

Posted by: Skip at February 09, 2025 09:04 AM (fwDg9)

9 The Obama library has to be one of the ugliest structures ever conceived. Perhaps the subcontractor was riffing in an attempt to improve it, figuring "how much worse could I do?".

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:04 AM (xCA6C)

10 THAT'S Obama's library?

What a brutalist monstrosity. It's a perfect metaphor for the man.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 09, 2025 09:05 AM (RIvkX)

11 It's the Svalbard Book Depository. In case of nuclear war we will still have copies of "Slave Bimbos of Gore" and "VW Maintenance for the Compleat Idiot".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 09:05 AM (kpS4V)

12 i was going to finish star-by-star, but allie wants to use my book for a pillow instead.

i love cats!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:05 AM (BpYfr)

13 Looks like a prison.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:06 AM (X7ZQ5)

14 C'mon! Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas ought to get a break, too!

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 09:06 AM (p/isN)

15 Not reading anything new now, want to look into the 1825 Decembrists, and saw a book in pre-order to come out next month but looking again 2 times it hasn't come up on my Kindle App. So wait until then to see if it does.

Posted by: Skip at February 09, 2025 09:06 AM (fwDg9)

16 Just as winter prepares to take one last slap at us, I get "Winter Kills" out of my life. Ugh, what a slog. To call this story convoluted is to be too kind.

"(Richard) Condon has never been better!" screams the blurb on the front cover. Thanks for the warning.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 09:06 AM (p/isN)

17 are you sure thats a library. It looks more like Berlin is building another flak tower.

Posted by: Time for a new nick. Certified dangerous radical and Trump cultist!Ketchup goes on hotdogs! at February 09, 2025 09:07 AM (89Sog)

18 Building looks like a Soviet nightmare

Posted by: Skip at February 09, 2025 09:07 AM (fwDg9)

19 Good Sunday morning, horde.

LOL at the Geology bookshelf!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 09:07 AM (OX9vb)

20 Thanks to whoever mentioned Preston and Child's "The Ice Limit", about a billionaire's mission to secure the world's biggest meteorite buried in a tiny island south of Tierra del Fuego and bring it back via ship for his museum.

Of course, things go horribly awry, as they are wont to do.

This is my first P&C story and it's like the perfect airport novel. And I mean that as a compliment.

I then read "Beyond the Ice Limit", which picks up a few years after the events of "The Ice Limit". Guess what --- that was no meteor! This outing was less man vs nature and more humans vs the unnatural. Not as well written as the previous novel, but lots of SF paranoia and claustrophobia.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 09:07 AM (kpS4V)

21 So much better than the sequel trilogy yes a monstrosity out of the wurst dystopia and why is it taking 8 years

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at February 09, 2025 09:08 AM (dJR17)

22 That's the ugliest looking building I've ever seen.

Posted by: dantesed at February 09, 2025 09:08 AM (Oy/m2)

23 Morning, Book Folken,

I'm currently deep into Anne Tyler's 2016 Vinegar Girl. As usual with Tyler, it's low-key stuff, but enjoyable drama and humor set in then-modern Baltimore or its suburbs. Twenty-nine-year-old Kate Battista has never been married; as she herself thinks later, she was "a thorny child, a sullen teenager, a failure as a college student." She's funny and honest. Her father is a researcher in immunology, and wants very much to keep his new assistant from Russia, whose visa is about to expire. So he suggests that Kate "marry" the assistant Pyotr -- a marriage only on paper, to fool Immigration so Pyotr can stay. She's reluctant, natch, but agrees for various emotional reasons. Bit by bit Tyler is showing us how she comes to approve of, and maybe even like, Pyotr (who is a good and likeable guy).

It's a retelling, Tyler says, of The Taming of the Shrew, but to me it's without those kind of fireworks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM (omVj0)

24 Reading two books this week, during the brief intervals when I haven't been coughing or sneezing.

Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain's Lost Cities and Vanished Villages, by Matthew Greene. It's . . . okay. I wanted to like it more, because it's about something really cool: abandoned or destroyed towns in the UK. The author is a journalist, and you can tell because he describes stuff and keeps going on about climate change.

The other is a very weird book called _The Manuscript Recovered from Saragossa_ by Count Jan Potocki. It's a kind of 18th century Arabian Nights style story set in Spain. Lots of people telling stories, and stories-within-stories, occasionally nested three or four deep. It's strange and fun and I recommend it.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM (78a2H)

25 I didn't read Wrinkle in Time because mom and dad foolishly let me buy an English version of Mao's Little Red Book instead. Big mistake.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM (RIvkX)

26 That's the ugliest looking building I've ever seen.
Posted by: dantesed at February 09, 2025

***
The darn thing looks crooked. Which is also typical of the Jugears Maladministration.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:10 AM (omVj0)

27 I like the Nora Kelly books, but Corrie Swanson is almost as annoying a character in these books as Constance Green is in the Pendergast books.

Posted by: huerfano at February 09, 2025 09:11 AM (n2swS)

28 *sigh*

only 30 pages to go and allie shows no signs of moving off my book...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (BpYfr)

29 This week I finished Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, which is about a priest trying to survive in the era of the Cristero War in Mexico. Greene's writing is superb, and he provides detail exactly where it is needed, but leaves out names or places. For example, the main character, the "whiskey priest" is never named. Many characters are like this, and the state in Mexico is never specified. I like this style of writing, because it remains fixated on the action rather than lengthy asides to flesh out backgrounds that really don't matter.

Too much of modern storytelling wastes time cramming all these useless, boring details in the story. I much prefer Greene's style.

As to the plot, it is nominally about the whiskey priest trying to avoid capture and certain death, but this is the device used to frame a discussion of morality, redemption, sin, corruption and political fanatics trying to create a paradise on earth.

Thus, the whiskey priest is juxtaposed against the lieutenant who is hunting him, a calm, cool Marxist who despises the Church and dreams of an age where pure reason leads humanity. (cont)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (ZOv7s)

30 OrangeEnt: That's a great idea, thanks!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:02 AM (O7YUW)

G&R, I think you have to do it through their substack. I don't remember how I got on their e-mail list.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (0eaVi)

31 I stumbled across The Ice Limit in a bookstore several years ago, and it looked interesting. I think I just finished reading my thirtieth book by Preston and Child.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (X7ZQ5)

32 I'm reading Rutherford's Radioactive Substances and Their Radiations (1913), about all the often simple, and always clever, experiments happening during what was maybe the most exciting era of physics history.

Right alone those lines, somewhere in the house is a copy of Glenn Seaborg's "The Plutonium Story: The Journals of Professor Glenn T. Seaborg 1939-1946" lying about that I need to finish. Got about halfway through and then life got in the way.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at February 09, 2025 09:13 AM (/HDaX)

33 Bit by bit Tyler is showing us how she comes to approve of, and maybe even like, Pyotr (who is a good and likeable guy).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM (omVj0)

Putin put you up to this, didn't he, Wolfus??!!

No Russian can ever be a good and likeable guy!!!!!!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:16 AM (0eaVi)

34 Also on my new books pile is another Anne Tyler, French Braid, and two Dean Koontz novels. I've been reading so many comments about his stuff that I picked up Lightning, which I think I read many years ago, and The Mask from 1981.

Also the Western The Bad Lands by Oakley Hall; and something (horror?) called The Graveyard Apartment, by a Japanese author named Mariko Koike. Translated to English, it has a solid first line:

"When they got up that first morning, the little white finch was dead."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:16 AM (omVj0)

35 I loved "A Wrinkle in Time", which I read at some point sub-5th grade.

I tried some of her other books but was not as entranced.

At that time, I read almost no fiction at all, as I was fascinated by natural science, astronomy, mythology, and archeology.

But, I loved AWiT in the same way I loved reading all those Tom Swift books.

Being a Boy Scientific Genius appeared to be The Best Life of All!!!

As DOGE is more or less proving right now.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 09:17 AM (iJfKG)

36 The darn thing looks crooked. Which is also typical of the Jugears Maladministration.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:10 AM (omVj0)

That's perfect! We can name it Big Mike's Bent Carrot.

(sorry, Bulg)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:18 AM (0eaVi)

37 Putin put you up to this, didn't he, Wolfus??!!

No Russian can ever be a good and likeable guy!!!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025

***
Hey, we had Illya Kuryakin in the Sixties!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:18 AM (omVj0)

38 I'm no structional engineer or anything but to me the Obama Lie-barry looks designed to fall down.

Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 09:18 AM (xcIvR)

39 only 30 pages to go and allie shows no signs of moving off my book...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (BpYfr)

Go run your can opener, Perf.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:19 AM (0eaVi)

40 (cont) We all know how that plays out, but when the book was written, Marxist was still a vital, terrifying force, and Greene pulls no punches in noting the Church's failures to deal with poverty and corrupt clergy.

It's a page-turner to be sure, and there's a character who seemed closely patterned on Smeagol/Gollum, which would of course be impossible. He's a lean mestizo, with only two yellow canine teeth, projecting like fangs, and his manner is exactly like Gollum at his worst, fawning, flattering, totally insincere. I believe this was published in 1940, so Tolkien could have read it.

Anyway, it has lots of plot twists and I admit that I was more analyzing it than immersing myself in it, looking at its craftsmanship, but even so, the ending was a welcome surprise. Good stuff.

I also understand why Greene has such an exalted reputation in Catholic circles. (cont)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:19 AM (ZOv7s)

41 Presidential Library?

Or the World's Biggest Butt Plug to commemorate the Biggest Asshole Ever to Be Preezy?

You make the call!

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 09:19 AM (iJfKG)

42 The ex-Mrs. Wolfus No. 1 was a fan of A Wrinkle in Time, and had me read it. I thought it was okay, but I recall nothing about it. Heinlein's juveniles were much more my speed, and still are. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is still dynamite stuff.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:20 AM (omVj0)

43 Booken Morgen Horden

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 09, 2025 09:20 AM (0JWOm)

44 If I had to save one copy from a fire, I'd pick Phantom Tollbooth over Wrinkle in Time. I say that even though I'm a huge science fiction fan.

Why?

This is entirely subjective, mind: Wrinkle in Time isn't really science fiction. It's a fantasy which throws in some sciencey jargon. Intertwined with its Christian themes is a vague hippy-dippy opposition to technology, which I consider antithetical to science fiction.

Plus it takes the easy shots, not hard ones. Ooh, isn't suburban conformity bad? Whoa, man! Not something like Soviet totalitarianism, no, no. That would get the book panned by the good liberals at the Times Literary Supplement. No, gotta criticize all those middle-class people who want homes of their own.

Bah.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 09:20 AM (78a2H)

45 Morning, Perfessor.

Howdy, Horde.

Not a lot of reading this week -- been spending too much time looking at the news, which has been mostly marvelous, and switching out the cat's food every other nanosecond trying to coax her to get back to her usual eating habits (the goofy little fuzzbutt).

Picked through a few of Robert Bloch's short stories, and there's a volume of Ira Levin's plays in the TBR pile for later in the week.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 09:20 AM (q3u5l)

46 The discussion of maps last week sent me to my library shelves to revisit an interesting book I picked up a few years ago. The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey ostensibly tells the story of Gilbert Bland Jr., an antiques dealer who is one of the most prolific map thieves in American history, and the tale of his downfall.

Bland would visit libraries and archives, and surreptitiously steal antique maps by cutting them from old atlases in library collections, for later sale to collectors. Interspersed throughout the book, Harvey recounts the value of maps through history, the surprising collectibility of historic maps, and the wide variety of questionable characters in the world of maps.

Maps were vital national secrets during the age of exploration and were treated as such, with commensurate punishments for theft. As the world became known, the early maps then became objects of art, with the more accurate or desirable ones trading like classic cars. Auction houses have recorded million dollar sales of the best. This is an interesting book that covers the wide scope that is the world of historic maps, for those that treasure these illustrations of the world.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:21 AM (X7ZQ5)

47 @10/San Franpsycho: "THAT'S Obama's library?

What a brutalist monstrosity. It's a perfect metaphor for the man."

Here's hoping the communist ethos that Obama so strongly embraces is also used in the building of that tower of ego. In a couple of years time, the foundation will leak and tilt, causing the whole building to have to be condemned and torn down; another metaphor for the man's legacy.

May it come to pass.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:21 AM (O7YUW)

48 In Trump's Presidential Library I hope there will be a Hall of Skulls and Scalps

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 09, 2025 09:23 AM (0JWOm)

49 No shelving system is without fault?

Ace's will not stand for that.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 09:24 AM (a3Q+t)

50 Hey, we had Illya Kuryakin in the Sixties!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:18 AM (omVj0)

It just means he's been at it for a long time!!!!!1

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:24 AM (0eaVi)

51 Too much of modern storytelling wastes time cramming all these useless, boring details in the story. I much prefer Greene's style.

Greene himself divided his novels into two types:

1) His serious novels

2) His "entertainments"

P&G is pretty clearly Greene in his entertainment mode.

His serious novels tend to move at a slower pace.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 09:24 AM (iJfKG)

52 Presidential Library?

Or the World's Biggest Butt Plug to commemorate the Biggest Asshole Ever to Be Preezy?

Challenge...accepted!

Posted by: Barry O at February 09, 2025 09:25 AM (xCA6C)

53 Morning, Perfesser, and Horde. Found an interesting book at a yard sale yesterday. Title is: The Blue And Gray, A History of the Conflicts During Lee's Invasion And Battle of Gettysburg. "Being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate Officers condensed and arranged for popular reading, by Prof. J. Warren Gilbert. copyright 1922. Full of illustrations and a fold-out map.

Appears to be something sold at the museum or visitors center, back in the day.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at February 09, 2025 09:26 AM (8zz6B)

54 Yes specialized maps owned by the bulgarians were the first set of secrets brokered by makarios the zahiroff character in amblers first

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at February 09, 2025 09:26 AM (dJR17)

55 Geology shelving comic: "On the one hand I'm amused at the joke. On the other hand, I'm a librarian and this shelving is horrifying."

AceCorp and Acme have joined forces to bring you this new exciting line of shelving!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:26 AM (O7YUW)

56 Will that library house the dreams of his father?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 09:27 AM (a3Q+t)

57 I've gotten used to seeing the central concrete cores of high rises under construction, they're all ugly. Checked out the images of completed vision of the site. Wow, will indeed be a hideous building. This concrete monstrosity is the exterior, and the propaganda that's shown overlaid in places appears to be BS.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 09, 2025 09:27 AM (L1omb)

58 Good morning
Pretty dreary here right now but my phone Weather the sun will come out this morning.
Had to put the Sanderson book Wimd and Truth down for a bit. 600 pages in and needed to read something else.
Read another Parker novel Potshot which finds Spenser trying to clear a wife of murder when she and the deceased were the only ones in the house.
It was okay but the satisfying part was actually finishing it in 2 days after weeks of Sanderson.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (t/2Uw)

59 So, where will Trump put his library? Across the street from Mar-a-Lago? Right in Manhattan?

"It's gonna be beautiful. The biggest, most amazing presidential library in the world. We're gonna have a steakhouse, air-conditioned parking garages, we're gonna have an olympic heated pool and a par-seven golf course. People are gonna love it. They really will."

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (78a2H)

60 In Trump's Presidential Library I hope there will be a Hall of Skulls and Scalps

Obligatory: On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood!

Posted by: Barry O at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (xCA6C)

61 @49/Duncanthrax: Horde mind strikes again.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (O7YUW)

62 I remember reading "A Wrinkle in Time" as a kid and the creepiness of that perfect, lockstep community with every house in endless duplication.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (kpS4V)

63 there has been a recent kerfluffle about some woke indy sf award body cancelling a book because the author is rightwing - the kicker is the author never entered the book for consideration

Theft of Fire by Devin Eriksen

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at February 09, 2025 09:28 AM (0JWOm)

64 (cont) The trend today is for overtly Christian work to be segregated from the mainstream, and as a result it also has something of a "just so" reputation for being cute, cozy, and safe.

In Greene's day, that line didn't exist, and religion often informed characters and the storyline. The Power and the Glory is about how God moves invisibly, almost imperceptibly in the world. Yes, there are brave martyrs, but also people just trying to get along. The whiskey priest is no hero, a sinner who admits his fall from grace. One of the subplots is him trying to find someone to absolve him. (I won't ruin the surprise of listing his sins.)

Yet he is also a priest, and as he evades the revolutionaries and police, he lives in remote villages where people have waited years to receive the sacrament.

He's not doing so heroically, though. He's trying to escape and when people take him in, they essentially wear him down with requests, and at one point he's exhausted and starts weeping because he just wants to sleep and they won't let him, the whole village demands confession and when he breaks down, they whisper that he is weeping with joy because he is so holy. (cont)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:29 AM (ZOv7s)

65 Loved both Phantom and Wrinkle, but I prefer Phantom, maybe because I read it when I was little. Anyone remember the movie they made of this? I rented it from Blockbuster when my kids were little and they loved it. It got my son interested enough to read the book (wrong way 'round I know) and to this day it remains a favorite.

Posted by: bluebell at February 09, 2025 09:29 AM (79pEw)

66 Just meant as your Morning Smile and not meant to politicize the Book Thread.

Elon links the best DOGE cartoon ever.

https://tinyurl.com/rkj3k62t
cartoon

Posted by: andycanuck (5LoD7) at February 09, 2025 09:30 AM (5LoD7)

67 only 30 pages to go and allie shows no signs of moving off my book...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:12 AM (BpYfr)

Go run your can opener, Perf.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:19 AM (0eaVi)
---
Success!

I used Jasmine as a diversion...That spooked Allie off my book and I just finished it...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:30 AM (BpYfr)

68 Plus it takes the easy shots, not hard ones. Ooh, isn't suburban conformity bad? Whoa, man! Not something like Soviet totalitarianism, no, no. That would get the book panned by the good liberals at the Times Literary Supplement. No, gotta criticize all those middle-class people who want homes of their own.

Bah.
Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 09:20 AM (78a2H)

That's one reason I hate that Seeger song. Was the songwriter a commie? Maybe. Look, those ticky tacky houses were something that allowed lower income families to own a home. Sure, they were cookie cutter and cheap to make, but they never stayed the same. After a few years, they'd no longer look the same. I think it was just a screed against people wanting a place of their own and not wanting to be packed like sardines in some cold water walk up.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:30 AM (0eaVi)

69 Brutalist idiocy with a side order of corruption and incompetency.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at February 09, 2025 09:30 AM (bss/y)

70 Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at February 09, 2025 09:31 AM (kTd/k)

71 I'm currently deep into Anne Tyler's 2016 Vinegar Girl. ... Bit by bit Tyler is showing us how she comes to approve of, and maybe even like, Pyotr (who is a good and likeable guy).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM

So, when Vinegar Girl first kisses Pyotr, does she pucker up?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 09:31 AM (a3Q+t)

72 where will Trump put his library?

Aboard an orbiting space station.

Those who can't afford tickets will be able to carry out research online.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 09:31 AM (p/isN)

73 Eris, thanks to you I just finished the eleventh Flavia de Luce book. I was very surprised at the mid-book plot twist and not sure I like it.

He definitely left room for more books, but I think Alan Bradley is 86 so he better get cracking if he wants to tie all this up.

Posted by: bluebell at February 09, 2025 09:32 AM (79pEw)

74 Checked out the images of completed vision of the site. Wow, will indeed be a hideous building. This concrete monstrosity is the exterior, and the propaganda that's shown overlaid in places appears to be BS.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike

Assuming that it doesn't collapse. The structure is full of cracks, and a lawsuit is underway with the DEI contractor that improperly poured the concrete.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:32 AM (X7ZQ5)

75 I'll be candid. Another reason I've never liked Wrinkle all that much is that it's one of those books that middle-school teachers who don't like SF recommend to students who do like SF.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 09:32 AM (78a2H)

76 After a few years, they'd no longer look the same. I think it was just a screed against people wanting a place of their own and not wanting to be packed like sardines in some cold water walk up.

It's classic social positioning. "I'm better than those people, who are mindless drones with ticky tacky little houses."

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:32 AM (xCA6C)

77 Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?

Ego, mostly. Also lies.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:32 AM (xCA6C)

78 Thanks for the dandy Book Thread, Perfessor!

Love the geology book shelf cartoon. Perfect illustration!

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 09, 2025 09:33 AM (rxCpr)

79 (cont) Greene uses episodes like this to illustrate that saints and martyrs often had to be pushed into glory, reminding us that Christ asked the cup to be taken away. So on the one hand, there's a bit of irony (and humor), but also a serious discussion of how our flaws and weakness are not necessarily an insurmountable barrier to doing good works and fulfilling God's will.

Anyhow, highly recommend. Lot of wit and humor, quite similar to Evelyn Waugh, who was his close contemporary.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:33 AM (ZOv7s)

80 Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?
----

Graft?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 09:33 AM (kpS4V)

81 Willowed, after my tidbit that Taylor Swift showed up at a garage sale here in town:

Tay Tay at a garage sale? Prolly shopping for a new boyfriend.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025

***
Potential boyfriend material is thin on the ground down here.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:34 AM (omVj0)

82 I'm currently deep into Anne Tyler's 2016 Vinegar Girl. ... Bit by bit Tyler is showing us how she comes to approve of, and maybe even like, Pyotr (who is a good and likeable guy).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM

So, when Vinegar Girl first kisses Pyotr, does she pucker up?
Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 09:31 AM (a3Q+t)

She finds herself in a pickle.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 09:34 AM (iJfKG)

83 A Wrinkle in Time: I remember that story from when I was a child, and that exact cover (back when the rainbow hadn't been co-opted for and by corruption.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 09:34 AM (O7YUW)

84 Aboard an orbiting space station.
-------
Paid for by CBS!

Posted by: andycanuck (5LoD7) at February 09, 2025 09:34 AM (5LoD7)

85 Among all the other amazing and beautiful features of the DJT presidential library, I'll enjoy that millions, possibly billions of its funding will have come from his enemies, some of whom have already bent their knees in supplication.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at February 09, 2025 09:35 AM (L1omb)

86 That picture - looks like a prison.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:35 AM (dCygh)

87 Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?

Empty shelves.

Posted by: dantesed at February 09, 2025 09:36 AM (Oy/m2)

88 I'll be candid. Another reason I've never liked Wrinkle all that much is that it's one of those books that middle-school teachers who don't like SF recommend to students who do like SF.
Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025

***
Yeah, that's my dim memory of my impression of it. The kind of thing Scholastic Books would have had in their catalog back then, and probably did.

You want to introduce a middle-schooler to SF, start with almost any Heinlein, plus Larry Niven's Ringworld.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:36 AM (omVj0)

89
Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?

Gobs of cash

Gallons of tongue baths

Dumpsters full of hagiographies

Who said you could ask, citizen?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:37 AM (xG4kz)

90 Started on The Odyssey this week (the Richard Lattimore translation). This is my second reading and it's going much better than the first time. Maybe it's Lattimore, my first time through was an older translation (I don't remember whose). Also into the last of the Len Deighton's Harry Palmer Quartet, The Billion Dollar Brain. So far I think this will be the one I enjoy the most.

Posted by: who knew at February 09, 2025 09:37 AM (+ViXu)

91 I am -again-reading "The Power of Prayer" by E.M Bounds ( 1835-1913) He was a pastor. attorney and lawyer. He had an interesting life:

E.M. Bounds did not support slavery. But, because he was a pastor at a congregation in the recently formed Methodist Episcopal Church South, his name was included in a list of 250 names who were to take an oath of allegiance and post a $500 bond. Edward saw no reason for a U.S. Citizen to take such an oath, he was morally opposed to the Union raising funds in this way, and he didn't have the $500.[5] Bounds and the others on the list were arrested in 1861 by Union troops, and Bounds was charged as a Confederate sympathizer. He was held with other non-combatants in a Federal prison in St. Louis for a year and a half. He was then transferred to Memphis and released in a prisoner exchange between the Union and the Confederacy.[4]

He was a very powerful writer.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 09, 2025 09:38 AM (5mX1p)

92 Don't particular care fo the Sci-Fi / Fantasy genre but the Sci-fi book, Armor by John Steakley is one of my all-time favorite books.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 09, 2025 09:38 AM (IOGah)

93 I'm currently deep into Anne Tyler's 2016 Vinegar Girl. ... Bit by bit Tyler is showing us how she comes to approve of, and maybe even like, Pyotr (who is a good and likeable guy).
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:09 AM

So, when Vinegar Girl first kisses Pyotr, does she pucker up?
Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025

***
The story hasn't gotten to that point yet, so I dunno. It's Pyotr who affectionately calls her "vinegar girl" in an early scene. She's described as attractive enough, with long black hair to her waist. Sort of like a long-haired, young Suzanne Pleshette, is the way I picture her.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:38 AM (omVj0)

94 You want to introduce a middle-schooler to SF, start with almost any Heinlein, plus Larry Niven's Ringworld.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:36 AM (omVj0)
---
Ray Bradbury is also a good place to start.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:38 AM (BpYfr)

95 I saw a film strip version of A Wrinkle in Time.

BEEP

Teacher: ....

Students: CHANGE THE SLIDE!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:39 AM (ZOv7s)

96 If terrorists were to bring that building down, I would have mixed feelings if there were any innocent people harmed.

Otherwise, I would be delighted to see that eyesore removed from the skyline.

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at February 09, 2025 09:39 AM (0fz25)

97 Bounds became a chaplain in the Confederate States Army and after the war returned to the pastorate.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 09, 2025 09:39 AM (5mX1p)

98 In a couple of years time, the foundation will leak and tilt, causing the whole building to have to be condemned and torn down

But before that happens, all the right people will have gotten their cut of the grift and gone on to something else so no one will care.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 09, 2025 09:40 AM (/y8xj)

99 Forgive my ignorance but what goes into a presidential library?
Posted by: Northernlurker

Normally, exhibits related to events that occurred during the resident's term, and papers that are declassified.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:40 AM (NpiX9)

100 I didn't read " A Wrinkle in Time " series until I was in college and loved those books.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 09, 2025 09:41 AM (5mX1p)

101 If terrorists were to bring that building down, I would have mixed feelings if there were any innocent people harmed.

Otherwise, I would be delighted to see that eyesore removed from the skyline.

If they were trying to mock and humiliate Obama with their library design, I don't think they could have done a better job.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:41 AM (xCA6C)

102
Hideous, contrived and non-functional -- an exact match to the grifter whose name it will bear.

The food truck parked outside that will sell tasty doggie comestibles will be a huge hit, however.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:42 AM (xG4kz)

103 I'm continuing with LOTR. (Shocking, I know.) The journey just gets better and better each year.

In line with Perfessor's point in the post, I believe that books we read in youth can be enhanced in our later years. LOTR, The Hobbit, Lewis' Space Trilogy and others fit that for me. Even if the childlike wonder is less the depths of meaning, writing and word play is more enjoyable. (George MacDonald is an exception. The wonder of his fantasy still grabs me along with my adult admiration for the writing quality.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 09:42 AM (yTvNw)

104 Kind of funny how the first Graham Greene book I bought was Coffee with the General, about the Panama Canal treaty. Maybe I need to reread it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:42 AM (ZOv7s)

105 Surprised the Obama library doesn't resemble a mosque. Or does it?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 09, 2025 09:42 AM (IOGah)

106 46 The discussion of maps last week sent me to my library shelves to revisit an interesting book I picked up a few years ago. The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey ostensibly tells the story of Gilbert Bland Jr., an antiques dealer who is one of the most prolific map thieves in American history, and the tale of his downfall.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:21 AM (X7ZQ5)

Ooh, fascinating! That just went in the library hold queue.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 09:42 AM (OX9vb)

107 You just knew that that library would be designed in the brutalist Soviet style.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 09:44 AM (jJ5X4)

108 I see a few posters have read A Wrinkle in Time and The Phantom Tollbooth, but I don't think I ever heard of them when I was that age.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:45 AM (0eaVi)

109 The other thing I note about Tyler, at least at this late point in her career, is that she often uses little stylistic tricks that, when I used them in stories, earned me criticism from my former writing group. She uses the occasional parenthetical remark, an observation by her viewpoint character Kate, for instance.

In another scene, Tyler moves from her usual simple past tense to a quick mental flashback by Kate, using the "had" construction here and there, the past perfect. My group members were confused by past perfect. And then, when Kate returns to her present, Tyler says her father "was saying" something. In other words, when her attention came back from her memory, her father was in the middle of speaking. This seems to me a sensible deal, but my former colleagues kept wanting me to shift it to plain old "said."

I guess my writing choices, in some cases at least, are in good company.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)

110 Started Red Rising by Pierce Brown, a recommendation from my son. The story starts out in an underground city on Mars. It is a highly stratified society with each social level designated with a color. The reds are the pretty low, tasked with digging up Helium3 necessary for terraforming the surface above. There is much grumbling about how they are being treated as slaves but saying anything publicly is a quick death sentence. It starts out a bit depressing until a big reveal changes everything. I keep seeing parallels to where we are today especially when they talk about Demokracy.
Brown does a good job creating his alternate universe and characters are well drawn. It is pure SciFi although he doesn't spend a lot of time on the "science" part. Maybe that's why my son called it a Space Opera.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 09, 2025 09:46 AM (t/2Uw)

111 I read somewhere that there won't be any physical copies of Big O's papers in the library just digital copies.

Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 09:46 AM (xcIvR)

112 I've been reading one author who very effectively uses parallel stories in her novels. The "main" story will include two tangential characters in present/recent time, such as men who met during their service in WW2, became close friends and remained so for life. Their back story unwinds in the background (slowly revealing present behavior and relationships as it goes along) as their involvement in the main story unwinds as well. The back story is revealed quite effectively through the use of flashbacks. This author will have several of these back stories weaving around the main story and does so quite effectively. Several times I have wanted to just begin one story and follow it through to the end, ignoring the other weaved-in stories, but so far have managed to restrain myself and simply read the book as written.

I'm sure there's a name for this technique, but if I learned it in Lit class, I have totally forgotten it.

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 09, 2025 09:46 AM (rxCpr)

113 You want to introduce a middle-schooler to SF, start with almost any Heinlein, plus Larry Niven's Ringworld.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025
---
Ray Bradbury is also a good place to start.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025

***
True. I read some of The Martian Chronicles short stories at that age and liked them. A couple of his horror stories, too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:47 AM (omVj0)

114 If they were trying to mock and humiliate Obama with their library design, I don't think they could have done a better job.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:41 AM (xCA6C)

*********

Indeed. Those architects must have disliked Barry.

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at February 09, 2025 09:47 AM (0fz25)

115 Here is an image of how the architects envisioned the Obama library. It's still ridiculous, but not as bad as it is turning out to be.

https://tinyurl.com/bdeuh3nw

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:48 AM (xCA6C)

116
I read somewhere that there won't be any physical copies of Big O's papers in the library just digital copies.
Posted by: Reforger

So they'll be "evolving", just as he purports to be.

God Emperor of Runes

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:48 AM (xG4kz)

117 . . . This author will have several of these back stories weaving around the main story and does so quite effectively. Several times I have wanted to just begin one story and follow it through to the end, ignoring the other weaved-in stories, but so far have managed to restrain myself and simply read the book as written.

I'm sure there's a name for this technique, but if I learned it in Lit class, I have totally forgotten it.
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 09, 2025

***
"Interweaving"? I have no idea, though if someone knows the real term, I might recognize it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:48 AM (omVj0)

118 Are we doing the 100 comments on this thread, or no off-topic comments?

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:49 AM (xCA6C)

119 allie has returned to her spot on my desk.

joke's on her as i don't have any open books she can use as pillow.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 09, 2025 09:49 AM (BpYfr)

120 I'm still fascinated by the Mercator Map projection since for my first 40 years I had the original stuck in my head.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at February 09, 2025 09:49 AM (IOGah)

121 I keep seeing references to A Wrinkle in Time, and L'Engle, but read it so long ago I barely remember much about it. Might be time to try it again. I never read The Phantom Tollbooth as a kid but the reading the word play and its creativity as a senior citizen appeals now in ways I probably would have missed as a grade schooler.

I put Kipling's Just So Stories, Lewis Carroll, and Treasure Island in that 'even better as an adult' category.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 09:50 AM (yTvNw)

122 The Phantom Tollbooth and James and the Giant Peach were read to my class during library period. That was a thing - go to the school library, listen to a chapter, and then find a book to check out. Mine always came from the military history section.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 09:50 AM (ZOv7s)

123 Just one small point: the Obama center is *not* a library. The papers from Obama's presidency will remain in the national archives; and no papers means no library. What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.

Posted by: Nemo at February 09, 2025 09:50 AM (S6ArX)

124 @90 --

There might be five of Deighton's "nameless agent" books. I haven't read it, but "An Expensive Place to Die" has the same first-person storytelling.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 09:51 AM (p/isN)

125 Those pants are fine. I would use them to wipe up an oil spill in the shop.

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 09:51 AM (vFG9F)

126 Barky's library is very Soviet looking.

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 09:52 AM (vFG9F)

127 Mornin' Readin' Horde!

I'm back to reading the semi-foreign _Urban Planning: An Introduction_, the dismal _Planning in the USA_ by Cullingworth & Caves, and _Classic Readings in Urban Planning_.

I'll be at these works for another 4-5 weeks.

See y'all then!

Posted by: SPinRH_F-16 at February 09, 2025 09:52 AM (5CEo8)

128 Yes there were two after billionaire brain

Posted by: Miguel cervantes at February 09, 2025 09:52 AM (dJR17)

129 Just one small point: the Obama center is *not* a library. The papers from Obama's presidency will remain in the national archives; and no papers means no library. What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.

I wonder if they'll demand a kowtow before entering.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:53 AM (xCA6C)

130 I listen to a lot of audiobooks when I am working around the house or driving in the car, usually light stuff like classic British mysteries (anything that requires concentration I need to read with my eyes, not my ears).

I have discovered that there are many channels on YouTube that have stories by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, etc. Some are old BBC radio productions, some are read by well-known people like Hugh Fraser, some are read by the YouTube channel owner, and unfortunately some are read by AI (avoid those, they are boring).

One good channel is Great Radio Drama. And once you listen to one, YouTube will offer up others. I'm sure there are plenty of channels with other genres as well, but I enjoy trying to figure things out while I'm washing dishes or folding laundry.

Posted by: bluebell at February 09, 2025 09:53 AM (79pEw)

131 Phantom Tollbooth is a new title on me. Never heard of Norman Juster, though Wiki says the illustrations were by Jules Feiffer, whom I have heard of.

You gotta remember, I read very few of the "classic young people's" books as a kid. I went from Roy Rogers TV tie-in novels to James Bond (the action scenes mostly) and then to Hitchcock anthologies, followed by Rex Stout and Ellery Queen. I never read Wind in the Willows or a lot of the "classic" youth stories. Always I wanted to read grownup stories with actual grownups having adventures. I identified with adults more than I did with other kids.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:54 AM (omVj0)

132
Just one small point: the Obama center is *not* a library. The papers from Obama's presidency will remain in the national archives; and no papers means no library. What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.
Posted by: Nemo

You are saying, then, that commemorative urinal cakes with his haughty visage on them will be sold in the center's store?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:54 AM (xG4kz)

133 I guess my writing choices, in some cases at least, are in good company.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:45 AM (omVj0)

A lot of us like your writing choices.

Posted by: Your Friends At ALH at February 09, 2025 09:55 AM (0eaVi)

134 Perfessor, my furry thugs are both sitting by the screen door, looking out and hoping to spot actual squirrels or to seize on any hapless gecko that finds its way in.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (omVj0)

135 The plans for the runner-up to Obama's shrine were recently released. They'd been around for awhile, so it was not a big expense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_tcaPp1aCQ

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (xCA6C)

136 I read somewhere that there won't be any physical copies of Big O's papers in the library just digital copies.

In other words, the whole thing could exist on a cloud server for $20/month.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (/y8xj)

137 I guess my writing choices, in some cases at least, are in good company.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025
*
A lot of us like your writing choices.
Posted by: Your Friends At ALH at February 09, 2025

***
Thanks, ALH.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (omVj0)

138 THAT'S Obama's library?

What a brutalist monstrosity. It's a perfect metaphor for ~~the man~~ Moochelle.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 09, 2025 09:05 AM (RIvkX)
-

FIFY

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (ZTT+3)

139 Still working my way through 'Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy'. It is quite an undertaking, the documentation is extensive. What is astounding is the extent to which the Democrat machine used exactly the same ad hominem techniques to paint McCarthy as a bad guy as they are using today against those who would expose the level of corruption within the government.

On the fiction side this week, I read 'Shepherd of the Hills', Harold Bell Wright. It is a vintage novel (1907) and one of what I call my Appalachian Collection. A tolerable novel, a bit of a romance, as many novels of that era are.

Though the story takes place in the Ozarks, the setting and characters exactly parallel the regionalist nature here. What I enjoy about such is that since the books were written at the turn of the century, the plots/characters necessairily offer a window into that period here. In some places, it hasn't changed much.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 09, 2025 09:57 AM (XeU6L)

140 Jumped back into reading Dr. Jon Lieff's "The Secret Language of Cells," which shows the insane intricacies of human biological systems, proves that we are "irreducibly complex" organisms that cannot possibly have "evolved" in any fashion postulated by the strict materialist Darwinists, and which also shows sentience at the cellular level. Great stuff.

Also about to start "Alien Clay," by Adrian Tchaikovsky, one of my favorite hard science fiction writers.

Posted by: Sharkman at February 09, 2025 09:58 AM (/RHNq)

141 Morning, all.

21 degrees and 6 inches of snow here at Stately Poppins Manor. I hate winter.

Now to read the thread.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 09:58 AM (Q0kLU)

142 Good to know there are more Harry Palmer books. I'm reading a kindle collection called "The Harry Palmer Quartet" so I just assumed it included the full series.

Posted by: who knew at February 09, 2025 09:58 AM (+ViXu)

143 What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.

Which makes the fact that it's crumbling in real time even more apt.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 09, 2025 09:59 AM (/y8xj)

144 "Interweaving"? I have no idea, though if someone knows the real term, I might recognize it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:48 AM (omVj0)

Bad writing technique? At least, that seems to be the opinion of a few writing teacher YTers.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 09:59 AM (0eaVi)

145 Regarding the Star Wars novels: The Yuuzhan Vong storyline should have been the next trilogy especially since the three core actors were the right age.

But then, Katherine Kennedy came along with a case of "vision."

Posted by: NR Pax at February 09, 2025 09:59 AM (lXCUP)

146 Jumped back into reading Dr. Jon Lieff's "The Secret Language of Cells," which shows the insane intricacies of human biological systems, proves that we are "irreducibly complex" organisms that cannot possibly have "evolved" in any fashion postulated by the strict materialist Darwinists, and which also shows sentience at the cellular level. Great stuff.

I got part way through it, but found it extremely tedious. Every cell is the most amazing thing ever. Perhaps I'll give it another try.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:59 AM (xCA6C)

147 Thanks for the feedback on the front covers a few weeks ago. Any thoughts on the back covers?

https://tinyurl.com/m56faxt8

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 10:00 AM (9yUzE)

148
For those with the Criterion Channel...

There's a new movie about author Flannery O'Connor in her early writer stage as she was on the edge of (very minor) success.

The movie's very good with lots of major actors dipping in for a cameo.

It concerns her slow losing battle with lupus (which killed her father) and lack of success that force her to go home. Any reader of FC knows her concerns with God and deep faith and how she expressed this is a very idiosyncratic fashion. A few of her short stories are thrown into the mix to illuminate her writing and how they connect with her life.

Check it out. Esp if a fan of FC.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 10:00 AM (iJfKG)

149 Just one small point: the Obama center is *not* a library. The papers from Obama's presidency will remain in the national archives; and no papers means no library. What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.
Posted by: Nemo at February 09, 2025 09:50 AM (S6ArX)

That's why it's shaped like that.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (0eaVi)

150
Not reading at the moment, but revisiting my notes from classes that I had taken to type them up and thereby reduce the accursed clutter that plagues us here.

Today's topics are patination, metallurgy, color vision, and chasing and repoussage.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (xG4kz)

151 Oh, and listening to Shawn Ryan's recent podcast with Lindy Li, the former Democrat political strategist who is blowing the whistle on Biden's white house and Kamala's ridiculous campaign.

She names who was running the country instead of Biden. Pretty engaging stuff:

https://tinyurl.com/Lindy-Li-WTF-Biden

Posted by: Sharkman at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (/RHNq)

152 Name 1 thing specifically not stored or archived by the Bary Sotero Library and Monument:
A. Books
B. Video and Multi-media histories
C. Archives of the 44th Presidents Terms
D. Big Mikes Writing and Film Works

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (gbOdA)

153 Re Obama's library. Souless, and without any hint of redeeming character...which is not a surprise.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (XeU6L)

154 I liked Phantom Tollbooth because it was so bizarre. I do remember the movie too, and Tock the dog with a clock in him.

I seems there is a consensus on the dogeater's brutalist building. It's a ruin before it's even done.

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 10:01 AM (vFG9F)

155 Thought I read somewhere that the Obama 'library' would also serve as some kind of community center. If so, it'll probably deteriorate even faster. And I can't imagine the building in those pictures being much of a draw for anyone who doesn't have to be there.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 10:02 AM (q3u5l)

156 The campsite happened to be near a classified military base, which eventually leads the women's investigation into a completely different direction while they search for the last victim. Interestingly, this story has its roots in actual events that occurred in Russia and the US.

That sounds like a cross between the Dyatlov Pass Incident (which, IMO, has been solved) and the deaths of the Yuba County Five (which has not).

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (Q0kLU)

157 Today's topics are patination, metallurgy, color vision, and chasing and repoussage.

Patination would be very interesting. Real chemistry leading to real beauty.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (xCA6C)

158 Nice pic of the Obamanation. Ugly Leftist Brutalism at its finest.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (JkO4W)

159 I was primed to pick up Warhammer novels when I realized every single sci-fi has become too much of a hug-box to be the best setting for good stories.

In 1977 it was unclear to Lucas that it was a series rather than an anthology. He might have made a second movie with no reoccuring characters, no jedi, and maybe no empire. A big universe teeming with life.

The series did suffer for not taking a break from the people in Vader's immediate circle.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (lhenN)

160 Thought I read somewhere that the Obama 'library' would also serve as some kind of community center. If so, it'll probably deteriorate even faster. And I can't imagine the building in those pictures being much of a draw for anyone who doesn't have to be there.

How would they squeeze basketball courts in there?

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (xCA6C)

161
Thought I read somewhere that the Obama 'library' would also serve as some kind of community center.

Midnight basketball and drug dealing FTW!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 10:04 AM (xG4kz)

162 Oops.

Forgot the movie tittle.

It's "Wildcat".

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 10:04 AM (xDo91)

163 I'm sure there are plenty of channels with other genres as well, but I enjoy trying to figure things out while I'm washing dishes or folding laundry.
Posted by: bluebell at February 09, 2025 09:53 AM (79pEw)

Agreed, audiobooks are great accompaniment to doing chores.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:05 AM (OX9vb)

164 Still trekking through "The Two Towers". Gandalf and team have freed King Theoden from the insidious influence of Grima Wormtongue.

Amazing to me how much more I'm gleaning from this reread. Knowing the story so well, I can focus on the rich language.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 10:05 AM (kpS4V)

165 Thanks, ALH.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 09:56 AM (omVj0)

(snif)

Maybe you'll come around again... some day.

Posted by: Your Friends At ALH at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (0eaVi)

166 That sounds like a cross between the Dyatlov Pass Incident (which, IMO, has been solved) and the deaths of the Yuba County Five (which has not).
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM

My first thoughts, also.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (Wnv9h)

167 A very interesting Bhussein Towers story is that the land is part of an original land grant that must be used for parks and opens spaces such a playing fields and public access.
It seems they commission actually took part of that land (with no compensation) and gave it to the Bhussein Foundation.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (gbOdA)

168 Last I heard/ read is Barky's papers, totalling into the millions are in a unsecured warehouse in Chicago.

Posted by: Skip at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (fwDg9)

169 Thought I read somewhere that the Obama 'library' would also serve as some kind of community center. If so, it'll probably deteriorate even faster. And I can't imagine the building in those pictures being much of a draw for anyone who doesn't have to be there.
*
How would they squeeze basketball courts in there?
Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025

***
The parking lot after hours doubles as a midnight basketball court.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (omVj0)

170 No answer on the 100 comment rule, so here goes:
The judicial resistance has begun. The Trump administration will ultimately win most of these legal battles—they’re lawyered up well this time—but the establishment won’t give up without a fight.

LAWFARE: In an egregious and unconstitutional assault on executive authority, Judge Paul Engelmayer has unilaterally forbidden all of Trump's political appointees—including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—from accessing Treasury Department data. This ruling, concocted without legal precedent or constitutional justification, is nothing short of judicial sabotage. Worse, it was issued ex parte—meaning Trump administration lawyers weren’t given notice, weren’t allowed to argue, and weren’t even in the room. Only Democrat attorneys general were heard, ensuring a predetermined outcome.

Engelmayer’s order is legally indefensible. He cites no statutory basis because none exists. He offers no constitutional rationale because the Constitution directly contradicts him. Instead, he fabricates a fiction: that the duly appointed Treasury Secretary is nothing more than a ceremonial figurehead, akin to a powerless...

https://tinyurl.com/3kmww7c8

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:06 AM (xCA6C)

171 The series did suffer for not taking a break from the people in Vader's immediate circle.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (lhenN)
----

I would love a movie that was just a fun caper with no Death Stars and no legacy issues. It's a wide universe! Let's see it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 10:08 AM (kpS4V)

172 The best reading of A Princess of Mars is on youtube IIRC. There are many version, but most try to make him sound like an Antebellum gentleman of leisure.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 09, 2025 10:09 AM (lhenN)

173
Last I heard/ read is Barky's papers, totalling into the millions are in a unsecured warehouse in Chicago.
Posted by: Skip

There's an entire wing dedicated to notes that he passed in school.

The funny thing is, they all read, "I love me. Do you love me?"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 10:09 AM (xG4kz)

174 You are saying, then, that commemorative urinal cakes with his haughty visage on them will be sold in the center's store?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:54 AM

I would buy one of those, depending on the scent, of course.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (a3Q+t)

175 A note about "The Phantom Tollbooth":

"Some at Random House considered the book's vocabulary too difficult: at the time, educators advised against children's literature containing words the target audience did not already know, fearing the unfamiliar would discourage young learners."

I think I read this when I was about 10. The thinking of "educators" at the time was what the book was about. Not thinking.

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (vFG9F)

176 >I would love a movie that was just a fun caper with no Death Stars and no legacy issues. It's a wide universe! Let's see it!

You could edit Vader out of Rogue One very easily. The original script was written in 1980 and it has that vibe that was lost.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (lhenN)

177 Amazing to me how much more I'm gleaning from this reread. Knowing the story so well, I can focus on the rich language.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
---------

I often find this to be the case when I re-read books, there is often a great deal to be absorbed that wasn't the first time through. Sometimes, it is as though I never really read it the first time.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (XeU6L)

178 They'll have plenty of room for basketball courts, and I suppose bathhouses too, in that building if they're not storing much in the way of documents. But I could be wrong -- bb courts, community meeting rooms, etc, would crowd out the exhibits of photos and paintings and statues and endless-loop videos of the wonders that are the Obamas. And we can't have that, now, can we?

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (q3u5l)

179 "...Various factions still want to find a way to coexist with an enemy that sees them as heretical vermin to be exterminated. Idiots."

Now do Israel.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 10:12 AM (dg+HA)

180 I am finishing up The Dead Lands by Benjamin Percy.

The story is interesting enough that I want to know how it ends, but I have a lot of problems with this book.

First, it's written in present tense, which annoys me. More importantly, 150 years after an apocalyptic event, people still have access to drugs like morphine and some others I've forgotten. And leftover tequila. These are people that send scavenging parties outside of their walled city, but after 150 years, I'm pretty sure they'd have found it all.

And what little water there is, is being hoarded by a corrupt mayor. The people seem to be resigned to the fact that they're going to just dry up and die. Why, in 150 years, have they not packed it all up and headed to a coastal region where there is water? I mean, they have books, and maps, and they know it's there. Come on, man.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:12 AM (OX9vb)

181 That sounds like a cross between the Dyatlov Pass Incident (which, IMO, has been solved) and the deaths of the Yuba County Five (which has not).
Posted by: Mary Poppins

You are correct, and add in an accidental nuclear bomb drop in the eastern US. One of the authors was working on a documentary about Dyatlov when 2022 happened.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:13 AM (IFCm1)

182 Thanks for the feedback on the front covers a few weeks ago. Any thoughts on the back covers?

https://tinyurl.com/m56faxt8
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 10:00 AM (9yUzE)

Oh man! Talking back covers, I thought we'd get to see her butt.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:13 AM (0eaVi)

183
My hope is that the next executive order Trump issues will be for the complete banning of all "Star Wars" books, movies, critiques along with involved actors, producers, directors, and crew down to key grips, and the distraction of all toys, posters, and memorabilia.

Mention of this "franchise" should be treated as hate speech.

Posted by: Auspex at February 09, 2025 10:14 AM (j4U/Z)

184 When I take a break from LOTR I find myself picking up issues of hobby magazines: whittling/wood carving and fly tying. It makes a nice change from the purely intellectual enjoyment of LOTR and the rabbit holes that keep appearing. Dealing with hand crafts keeps some balance in life.

I do have to resist the urge to keep going to George MacDonald fantasies. Their writing quality and the power of his imagination is a constant distraction, although a good one.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 10:14 AM (yTvNw)

185 When I was a child, I liked to read Treasure Island, the Alice books, Poe and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Yes, I was a strange one. I also read Venus in Furs and A Man With A Maid before I was quite able to understand the particular sex acts and kinks described therein.

I could never get into Wind In The Willows or Watership Down. I did enjoy Tollbooth (I have a copy somewhere. Probably the most depressing "children's" story I ever read was The Mouse And His Child

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:14 AM (Q0kLU)

186 You will be able to go to Barky's library and listen to all his collected speeches and then step outside and easily find someone to shoot you.

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 10:15 AM (vFG9F)

187 Question:
I loved Larry Correia's dedication as I hate GRRM and you all talk about him a lot and he is on X and is a Conservative so decided to see if I could get the first book in the series from the library as I have never ready anything of his. The entire library system in my county and the one in MA that still lets me borrow doesn't have a single Correia book.
Why do you think that is?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 09, 2025 10:15 AM (t/2Uw)

188 Engelmayer’s order is legally indefensible. He cites no statutory basis because none exists. He offers no constitutional rationale because the Constitution directly contradicts him. Instead, he fabricates a fiction: that the duly appointed Treasury Secretary is nothing more than a ceremonial figurehead, akin to a powerless...

Posted by: Archimedes

Trump has the authority to ignore it.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:16 AM (IFCm1)

189 Thinking of ordering "The History of the Kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth...translated by Lewis Thorpe....ie: Arthur, Merlin et al...anyone read some such?

Posted by: BignJames at February 09, 2025 10:18 AM (Yj6Os)

190 129 Just one small point: the Obama center is *not* a library. The papers from Obama's presidency will remain in the national archives; and no papers means no library. What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.

I wonder if they'll demand a kowtow before entering.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 09:53 AM (xCA6C)

I'm ready:

"Salami, salami, Baloney!"

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 09, 2025 10:20 AM (PiwSw)

191 And as far as reading goes, I have not been able to wrap my mind around anything for a few weeks. I'm in a motiveless funk, which usually happens around this time of year, but (as I may have mentioned), I also have no interest in writing; I am surrounded by movie magazines and books about 1920s Hollywood, and yet I can't work up the energy to do more than scribble down an idea or two.

Normally I'd go book shopping to cheer me up, but lately I am only entertained by the shopping. When I come home with an armful of books, the depression just crushes my soul again.

I hate winter.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:20 AM (Q0kLU)

192 You are saying, then, that commemorative urinal cakes with his haughty visage on them will be sold in the center's store?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM), imprison, imprison, imprison! at February 09, 2025 09:54 AM

I would buy one of those, depending on the scent, of course.
Posted by: Duncanthrax
------

I think that Obama Chia Pets are still available. Ah, yes, at Amazon: http://tiny.cc/4de9001

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 09, 2025 10:20 AM (XeU6L)

193 "Salami, salami, Baloney!"

Wow, I haven't seen that since I was a kid.

https://tinyurl.com/mr46ym7e

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:22 AM (xCA6C)

194
My hope is that the next executive order Trump issues will be for the complete banning of all "Star Wars" books, movies, critiques along with involved actors, producers, directors, and crew down to key grips, and the distraction of all toys, posters, and memorabilia.

Mention of this "franchise" should be treated as hate speech.

Posted by: Auspex at February 09, 2025 10:14 AM

Endorsed.

now do LoTR

Posted by: AltonJackson at February 09, 2025 10:22 AM (tljrc)

195 What is being built is, in truth, a *shrine* to Obama.
Posted by: Nemo at February 09, 2025 09:50 AM (S6ArX)

It will probably be used as an event center for commie receptions and fundraising parties and the like.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:23 AM (OX9vb)

196 The entire library system in my county and the one in MA that still lets me borrow doesn't have a single Correia book.
Why do you think that is?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 09, 2025 10:15 AM (t/2Uw)

The Haverhill library carries only Grunge by Correira and John Ringo.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:24 AM (Q0kLU)

197 I am reading Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen. It is a fun sci-fi read. I discovered this author through an article published in the Daily Wire. Apparently Erickson was canceled by the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC) for the usual BS. The beautiful part is that multiple authors pulled themselves from the competition after the cancellation, basically saying they did not wish to be a part of cancel culture. Look up the article on the daily wire. It is uplifting. I investigated all the authors who stood up for Eriksen and bought a few of their books.

Posted by: Tourist at February 09, 2025 10:26 AM (kD1KW)

198 I would buy one of those, depending on the scent, of course.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (a3Q+t)

You already know what it smells like.

Posted by: Reggie at February 09, 2025 10:27 AM (0eaVi)

199 I wonder if they'll demand a kowtow before entering.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025
*
I'm ready:

"Salami, salami, Baloney!"
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 09, 2025

***
"That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 10:27 AM (omVj0)

200 Okay, I'm going to actually sign off today as opposed to ghosting last week (grandkids and then Mass pulled me away).

Thanks again, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 09, 2025 10:28 AM (ZOv7s)

201
I think that Obama Chia Pets are still available. Ah, yes, at Amazon: http://tiny.cc/4de9001
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at February 09, 2025

***
Grow some catnip for my cats to get high!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 10:28 AM (omVj0)

202 The artist rendering of the B.O. shrine looks to have an arrangement of indecipherable text at one of the upper corners. I think it may be the only known record of his college transcripts.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 10:28 AM (dg+HA)

203 "Some at Random House considered the book's vocabulary too difficult: at the time, educators advised against children's literature containing words the target audience did not already know, fearing the unfamiliar would discourage young learners."

Posted by: fd at February 09, 2025 10:11 AM (vFG9F)

It would be interesting to know what Bennett Cerf thought about that.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:29 AM (0eaVi)

204 Think I'll hunker down with my cat and "Two Towers".

Thanks, Perf and Hordelings!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at February 09, 2025 10:29 AM (kpS4V)

205 a friend sent me a link to an auction for two books on Proxibid.com since he knows I like to can and preserve.

"U.S. ARMY BOOKS: RADIATION PRESERVATION OF FOOD"

One edition from 1958, and the second one from 1964, and sponsored by US Atomic Energy Commission and the US Army Natick Laboratories

It seems a good deal for just ten bucks, I just need to find a decent gamma source and I am set!

Posted by: Kindltot at February 09, 2025 10:30 AM (D7oie)

206 "Some at Random House considered the book's vocabulary too difficult: at the time, educators advised against children's literature containing words the target audience did not already know, fearing the unfamiliar would discourage young learners."

How exactly did they envision young readers would expand their vocabularies?

Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:31 AM (xCA6C)

207 Thinking of ordering "The History of the Kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth...translated by Lewis Thorpe....ie: Arthur, Merlin et al...anyone read some such?
Posted by: BignJames

Somewhere in my shelves I have a great book, The Black Prince, about the great warrior, and The Historical King Arthur about the true leader that inspired the legend.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:31 AM (894dR)

208 @147/Victor Tango Kilo: "Thanks for the feedback on the front covers a few weeks ago. Any thoughts on the back covers?"

I like them, and I'm intrigued. I think I want to read this story when it comes out.

2nd cover with Midnight Morrigan: intelligent -> intelligence

Also: I found your comment from a few weeks ago with the links to the front covers (was trying to find out what the title was as well as take a look at the cover art) but it looks like the is.gd shortcut links you provided have expired. Could you re-link those?

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 10:34 AM (O7YUW)

209 I hate winter.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:20 AM (Q0kLU)

If your job's not keeping you there, why not move to warmer climes?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:34 AM (0eaVi)

210 Oh, and last week I finished a re-read of Ruth Rendell's serial killer novel The Rottweiler. Dramatic and effective, with a solid portrait of modern Britain. She began writing in 1964, but her works moved with the times; she was not writing about 1960s London once that decade passed.

I don't know if any of her non-series novels have ever been filmed, but this would be a good one.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 10:36 AM (omVj0)

211 Wow, I haven't seen that since I was a kid.

https://tinyurl.com/mr46ym7e
Posted by: Archimedes at February 09, 2025 10:22 AM (xCA6C)

Popeye, I'm assuming. You know why I'm assuming? As soon as I opened the link, it popped up, then immediately blanked out the page. Hm.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:36 AM (0eaVi)

212 The first of those back covers: "The Hardy Boys discover Red Bull."

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (dg+HA)

213 That sounds like a cross between the Dyatlov Pass Incident (which, IMO, has been solved)...
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (Q0kLU)

It has? I did not know that.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (OX9vb)

214 I loved A Wrinkle in Time as a child and bought a copy for my granddaughter but keep meaning to read it first. Now I wonder how it will hold up. I got a copy of the Phantom Toll Booth because she was reading it and loved it. Maybe I was just in the wrong type of mood but I found it annoying. I'll have to pick it up again at some point,

I'm currently reading The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos in which the country priest writes about his thoughts, his parishioners, his colleagues. The original copyright is 1937, I believe, which may be why I sometimes find it a bit of a slog. It assumes knowledge of the time and customs that I just don't know. I keep picking it up, so it must agree with me on some level.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (wR7Ow)

215 I see on IMDb that a number of Ruth Rendell novels and even short stories have been adapted to film or TV as far back as 1976.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (omVj0)

216 >My hope is that the next executive order Trump issues will be for the complete banning of all "Star Wars" books, movies

>now do LoTR

mandatory

Posted by: BourbonChicken at February 09, 2025 10:39 AM (lhenN)

217 "An embodiment of hope", that place? Hope for what? The despair of the entire nation?

Worst president, all 3 terms.

Posted by: Long night... darkness lifted. at February 09, 2025 10:39 AM (2NXcZ)

218 Which franchise has been treated worse?

Star Wars by Disney?

or

Star Trek by Bad Robot

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 10:39 AM (9yUzE)

219
The Obama 'library' Dunham cum n' dump and Barry's Law School Experience exhibits will be closed at opening and probably permanently for airbrushing.

Posted by: Auspex at February 09, 2025 10:40 AM (j4U/Z)

220 Thinking of ordering "The History of the Kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth...translated by Lewis Thorpe....ie: Arthur, Merlin et al...anyone read some such?
Posted by: BignJames

Somewhere in my shelves I have a great book, The Black Prince, about the great warrior, and The Historical King Arthur about the true leader that inspired the legend.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:31 AM (894dR)

I made a quick check of my shelves - I don't have Geoffrey (though I do have Bede's Ecclesiastical History). Of what I have, I would recommend Elizabeth Jenkins' The Mystery of King Arthur or (if you have a couple of months to spare) the magisterial The Age of Arthur by John Morris.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:40 AM (Q0kLU)

221 Rendell --

There've been a number of her books, series and non-series, done for British television and I think they might be available for viewing on Amazon either Prime or channels like Acorn or BritBox. Her novel A Judgment in Stone was filmed by Chabrol if memory serves under the title La Ceremonie and it's well worth a look.

Haven't read Rendell in a while -- another one I should revisit.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 10:41 AM (q3u5l)

222 If your job's not keeping you there, why not move to warmer climes?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 10:34 AM (0eaVi)

My job can be done anywhere. I am stuck here because of family commitments.

I don't care to say any more than that.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:41 AM (Q0kLU)

223 That event that occurred in the USSR (60's?) is how i learned of the term Karman vortex street. When reading the blurb up top about nora kelly, i immediately thought of it.

Posted by: SFGoth at February 09, 2025 10:42 AM (KAi1n)

224 WRT King Arthur, I forgot to mention Dorsey Armstrong, a professor of Arthurian studies, whose lectures can be found on YouTube.

You can also download her Great Courses lecture series King Arthur: History and Legend for free on Audible.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:43 AM (Q0kLU)

225 The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward is a book I read last week. I found it on a list of the best horror of 2021 or 2022. It's about Ted, who has a pre-teen daughter who isn't allowed outside and who wants to kill him, and a cat that reads the Bible. Ted also has a new neighbor whose sister disappeared years before and she believes Ted took her. She wants revenge.

It sounds horrifying but isn't really horror. It's more a psychological mystery and I liked it very much.

Posted by: huerfano at February 09, 2025 10:43 AM (n2swS)

226 JEF actually refers to it not as a presidential library as with all the others, but a "presidential center."

Prissy fag has to be different.

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:44 AM (Y1sOo)

227 Also into the last of the Len Deighton's Harry Palmer Quartet, The Billion Dollar Brain. So far I think this will be the one I enjoy the most.
Posted by: who knew at February 09, 2025 09:37 AM (+ViXu)

I have just started Mexico Set by Len Deighton, and it is surprising how much all the characters dislike each other for being on the same side, more or less.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 09, 2025 10:44 AM (D7oie)

228 That sounds like a cross between the Dyatlov Pass Incident (which, IMO, has been solved)...
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:03 AM (Q0kLU)

It has? I did not know that.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (OX9vb)

As I said, IMO. The theory is that a very rare wind effect combined with the hikers' bad choice of camp allowed a giant slab of snow to slice off a nearby slope and bury them. Of the ones who got out, cold and animals took care of them.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:46 AM (Q0kLU)

229 Bhussein Tower Choom Room WTF

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 10:46 AM (gbOdA)

230 JEF actually refers to it not as a presidential library as with all the others, but a "presidential center."

Prissy fag has to be different.

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:44 AM (Y1sOo)

Obama outhouse has a nice ring to it.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at February 09, 2025 10:47 AM (VwHCD)

231 I hear the Bhussein Tower dining experience does not have much Dog on the menu.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 10:47 AM (gbOdA)

232 Executive Chef at BHussein Towers must wear life vest when working around or near H2O.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (gbOdA)

233 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (u82oZ)

234 The Obama library has to be one of the ugliest structures ever conceived.

-
How appropriate!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (L/fGl)

235 I'm currently reading The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos in which the country priest writes about his thoughts, his parishioners, his colleagues. The original copyright is 1937, I believe, which may be why I sometimes find it a bit of a slog. It assumes knowledge of the time and customs that I just don't know. I keep picking it up, so it must agree with me on some level.
Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 09, 2025 10:38 AM (wR7Ow)

You might like Everybody Calls Me Father by "Father X." It's about the author's first parish and the people he meets there. No actual time is given, but the book does take place before and during WW2. I discovered it by chance years ago and love to dip into it every now and then.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (Q0kLU)

236 As I said, IMO. The theory is that a very rare wind effect combined with the hikers' bad choice of camp allowed a giant slab of snow to slice off a nearby slope and bury them. Of the ones who got out, cold and animals took care of them.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:46 AM (Q0kLU)

Thanks, that's interesting, and is logical. As opposed to all of the other theories, which are titillating, but not reasonable.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (OX9vb)

237 This isn't book related, but we're plus 100, so whatevs.

One of my favorite, poignant little episodes from the collapse of the Soviet Union was when the protesting mob rented a German crane and used it to tear down the Dzierzinsky statue in front of the Lubyanka, while the KGB cowered in their offices inside it.

Later, when the mob dispersed, those cockroaches scurried out and hauled the fallen statue away to prevent further depredations of their old hero - but not before scrawling "we're sorry, Iron Feliks - we failed you" on the plinth.

We do everything a bit differently in America. Still, watching that worker in the Genie quietly strip the lettering from the USAID building while its Union attorneys futilely gained a temporary injunction against its dissolution in a nearby courthouse gave me a similar vibe.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 09, 2025 10:50 AM (BI5O2)

238
Back from my White Supremacist Christian Nationalist shindig.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 09, 2025 10:51 AM (dxSpM)

239 All you fancy reading types talking about Obummer's library falling down and not one of you thought about this?
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Posted by: Idaho Spudboy at February 09, 2025 10:51 AM (eSLO+)

240 good morning Perfessor, Horde

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 09, 2025 10:52 AM (JV0WH)

241 Not reading anything new now, want to look into the 1825 Decembrists, and saw a book in pre-order to come out next month but looking again 2 times it hasn't come up on my Kindle App. So wait until then to see if it does.
Posted by: Skip

There is a theory that the theme of War and Peace is the causes of the Decembrists' demonstration.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 10:52 AM (L/fGl)

242 Somewhere in my shelves I have a great book, The Black Prince, about the great warrior, and The Historical King Arthur about the true leader that inspired the legend.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:31 AM (894dR)

----------

Since King Arthur's remit was holding back the Germanic invasion of Britain, he would have either been a Roman holdover or a native Celtic warlord.

I read a book many years ago whose author hypothesized the basis of the legend as a Roman general whose name I can't recall. The story would only make sense if Germanic invaders began arriving in force in the early 5th century, at or about the time of the Roman big-out from Brittania.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (JkO4W)

243 Full name:

The Obama Presidential Center
A Global Center for..(wait for it)...Change

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (Y1sOo)

244 OK, it's almost 11. If I suit up and head outside now, I can probably clear away all the snow in time to get blind drunk and watch the Puppy Bowl.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (Q0kLU)

245 Thanks for the video about the history of paper. I recall back in the late 80s a co-worker liked to point out that if an enemy wanted to bring all activity in the US to a sudden stop, just bomb all the paper mills.

I've always found it interesting that in Paul's second letter to Timothy he writes this:

"When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments."

Note the word "especially." Writing media was probably precious and expensive in the first century. Were it not for those parchments we wouldn't have the New Testament today. The words written on those parchments changed billions of lives.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (dg+HA)

246 Back from my White Supremacist Christian Nationalist shindig.

---------

Double Nazi salutes all around then?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:54 AM (JkO4W)

247 I read a book many years ago whose author hypothesized the basis of the legend as a Roman general whose name I can't recall. The story would only make sense if Germanic invaders began arriving in force in the early 5th century, at or about the time of the Roman big-out from Brittania.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (JkO4W)

Ambrosius Aurelianus?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:54 AM (Q0kLU)

248 Not watching the woke-a-palooza Super Bowl

That'll show 'em.

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:55 AM (Y1sOo)

249 All my work is overseen by a strict and demanding editor.

https://tinyurl.com/5xx6p6bd

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 10:56 AM (9yUzE)

250 Ambrosius Aurelianus?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:54 AM (Q0kLU)

---------

The breadth of knowledge of the Horde mind never ceases to amaze.

Yes, I think that was it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:57 AM (JkO4W)

251 With a little elbow grease, that library would make a good prison for communists.

Posted by: callsign claymore at February 09, 2025 10:57 AM (JV0WH)

252 Back from my White Supremacist Christian Nationalist shindig.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 09, 2025 10:51 AM (dxSpM)

Bake sale after church?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 09, 2025 10:57 AM (mWSu4)

253 That'll show 'em.
Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:55 AM (Y1sOo)

Eh, it may not show them. But they won't be showing me anything, either. I'm now on year ten of my NFL boycott. It will never end. The NFL may outlive me, or not, but it's unlikely if I'd know, either way.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 09, 2025 10:57 AM (BI5O2)

254 Read The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven.

Some of the short stories were familiar to me from other collections. Mostly good tales of knowledge verses decay. The Roger Zelazny one was new, and good.

Basically, The power behind magic is a non-renewable resource. Kinda like the 1970 energy crisis in fantasy. Roger Zelazny postulates that the heavens are the real source of magic power, and meteorites slowly replenish the earth, if used wisely by a small number of sorcerers.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 09, 2025 10:58 AM (u82oZ)

255 Mention above of a writer's book bounced from consideration for some award (and the absence of Correia from some libraries, and comments re cancellation from time to time) reminded me of the late great mystery/suspense writer Stanley Ellin. He'd contracted to deliver a suspense novel dealing with racial themes, and when he delivered it his publisher (Random House IIRC) rejected it. It took a while, but it finally got released by Otto Penzler's then fairly new Mysterious Press. I think Ellin said in a later interview that he started hearing about some of the editorial meetings, in which people were saying that they might have been able to do the book if it hadn't been written by a white writer. The book is The Dark Fantastic, and it's a doozy.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 10:58 AM (q3u5l)

256 Finished snow blowing. My driveway, two neighbors driveways, couple hundred yards of sidewalks. Once I get the damn thing to run there's no stopping me.
Thankfully, snow got wet and heavy and the damn thing died.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 09, 2025 10:58 AM (8Ij8z)

257 Aurelianus?
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:54 AM (Q0kLU)

Lucius Artorius Castus, 4th century Roman general in Britain. Fighting as things fell apart.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 09, 2025 10:58 AM (LERtE)

258 I read a book many years ago whose author hypothesized the basis of the legend as a Roman general whose name I can't recall. The story would only make sense if Germanic invaders began arriving in force in the early 5th century, at or about the time of the Roman big-out from Brittania.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (JkO4W)

We now know there was no large scale "war" between Bretons/Anglo Saxons...guy must have been a John Kerry ancestor.

Posted by: BignJames at February 09, 2025 10:59 AM (Yj6Os)

259 THAT'S Obama's library?

What a brutalist monstrosity. It's a perfect metaphor for the man.
Posted by: San Franpsych

Reminds me of the Nazi flak towers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?
v=6jgvkzD8d3k&pp=ygULRmxhayB0b3dlcnM%3D

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:00 AM (L/fGl)

260 Have a great week in reading. May you be blessed with health and warmth.

Got cold weather preps (the NWS is a bunch of lying liars that lies when they forecast a normal winter). Also have chores for big game preps. My wife thinks Mahomes is a cutie, and wants to watch the tight ends.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 09, 2025 11:01 AM (u82oZ)

261 Somewhere in my shelves I have a great book, The Black Prince, about the great warrior, and The Historical King Arthur about the true leader that inspired the legend.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 10:31 AM (894dR)

I don't think Edward the Black Prince was the influence for Arthur at all. His dad tried to emulate Arthur with the creation of the Knight of the Garter.
I like Edwards wife Joan of Kent. She had quite the life.
I'm reading The Last Knight by Norman Cantor right now. It's about Edwards younger brother John of Gaunt.

Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 11:01 AM (xcIvR)

262 I haven't kept up with the National Felons League in a few years.
What team will Tom Brady defeat today?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 11:01 AM (dg+HA)

263 Quarter Twenty said " ...I recall back in the late 80s a co-worker liked to point out that if an enemy wanted to bring all activity in the US to a sudden stop, just bomb all the paper mills." I grew up in Green Bay, the Fox River valley is built on paper and pretty much every town has at least one mill. Green Bay has three big ones, including one that manufactures Charmin. My dad always said if there was a nuclear war, Green Bay would be hit first because the Russians know the US Army doesn't go anywhere without toilet paper.

Posted by: who knew at February 09, 2025 11:02 AM (+ViXu)

264 I have a big black cat on my lap, so it'll be hard for me to type for a while.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 09, 2025 11:02 AM (omVj0)

265 Good writeup about Dyatlov Pass:
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4108

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 11:02 AM (78a2H)

266 I no longer give a hoot about the Superbowl or pro sports in general. But I hope the Chiefs win today just because they are Jewells' favorite team.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 11:02 AM (yTvNw)

267 Is there some kind of sportsball thing happening today?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 09, 2025 11:03 AM (PiwSw)

268 don't think Edward the Black Prince was the influence for Arthur at all. His dad tried to emulate Arthur with the creation of the Knight of the Garter.

---------

The Black Prince was Edward III's eldest son. Hadn't Chretien de Troyes already written about the Arthur legend by then?

Too lazy to google it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:04 AM (JkO4W)

269 You might like Everybody Calls Me Father by "Father X." It's about the author's first parish and the people he meets there. No actual time is given, but the book does take place before and during WW2. I discovered it by chance years ago and love to dip into it every now and then.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:49 AM (Q0kLU)

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to add it to my To Be Read list.

Posted by: KatieFloyd at February 09, 2025 11:04 AM (Ej2Uk)

270 Snow blowing? Always keep extra lip balm available.

Posted by: Old Lady Emhoff at February 09, 2025 11:04 AM (dg+HA)

271 Is there some kind of sportsball thing happening today?

I thought it was a bird thing? Something about a superb owl?

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 11:05 AM (9yUzE)

272 Or maybe I'll post on the NFL's X account a short video of me turning off the broadcast just when the Strong Black Woman starts to sing the Black National Anthem.

Surely, that won't be removed by whomever runs that account.

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 11:06 AM (Y1sOo)

273 Eh, it may not show them. But they won't be showing me anything, either. I'm now on year ten of my NFL boycott. It will never end. The NFL may outlive me, or not, but it's unlikely if I'd know, either way.

I live in the AO of one of the participating teams. My only interest in the game is to see President Trump show up, and his rousing welcome.
For the non-football fans…during the game is the best time to go food shopping. The aisles are emoty of shoppers

Posted by: kallisto at February 09, 2025 11:06 AM (PQ53j)

274 Before this turns into Longbow vs. Crossbow (the Real Genius Story), no one here made the claim that the Black Prince was the inspiration for King Arthur.

The OP mentioned two completely different books. One book was The Black Prince. The other book was The Historical King Arthur.

This is what I get for drinking coffee before reading the book thread!

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:07 AM (Q9Zma)

275 Fifteen years ago, nine grad students were on a winter mountain trip in the area, when something unusual happened. During a blizzard, the hikers cut through the back of their tent and ran, most not even bothering to put on boots. Six frozen bodies were found within a few hundred yards of the tent, and three had remained missing until some teens recently stumbled upon the skeletons of two more, in an Indian burial cave.

-
Sounds inspired by the Russian Dyatlov Pass incident.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:07 AM (L/fGl)

276 John of Gaunt was the richest man in England for most of his life.

FUN FACT: Every monarch of England from Henry IV onward is a direct descendant of John of Gaunt.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:08 AM (JkO4W)

277 Too lazy to google it.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:04 AM (JkO4W)

Me too. I'm not really interested in Aurthur as I am the Hundred Year War.

Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 11:08 AM (xcIvR)

278 John of Gaunt was never called an asshole.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 11:09 AM (78a2H)

279 Who is John Gaunt?
No, that's not it...

Posted by: Ayn Rand at February 09, 2025 11:09 AM (dg+HA)

280 Edward the Black Prince lived a couple hundred years after Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Welsh monk who wrote about Arthur. But Edward probably represents the first push by the English Monarchy to identify itself with Arthur, as an ideal.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 09, 2025 11:09 AM (LERtE)

281 Someone posted this video of "Ask America With Edgar" talking with left leaning white women on the street https://tinyurl.com/4nj3bd5y

and this one interaction really just gets to the meat of the problem in blue area. The interviewer points out DC has been a very very blue area for a long time and crime is out of control. He then asks, "How much worse does it have to get people people vote [for the other party]?" and the woman he is talking to has not answer.

And I capture this because I have repeatedly seen this myself with left leaning LIVs. They'll agree their Democrat rep/government/whatever is corrupt, they'll agree they lie, they'll agree thinks just keep getting worse but if you suggest then the obvious answer is to vote for the other party they will stop agreeing and point out that means voting for (gasp) a Republican!

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:10 AM (t0Rmr)

282 Henry VII's eldest son and heir apparent was named Arthur. It didn't work out well for him as he died before his dad did.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:11 AM (JkO4W)

283 Which franchise has been treated worse?

Star Wars by Disney?

or

Star Trek by Bad Robot
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 10:39 AM (9yUzE)

Star Wars by Disney for sure. Because it was all done and conceived in malice.

Star Trek by Bad Robot was just pure incompetence by folks who really didn't understand the IP.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 11:12 AM (iJfKG)

284 Library looks to be what I imagine the Dark Sith temple to look like.

Posted by: stu-mick-o-sucks at February 09, 2025 11:12 AM (DsA2n)

285 John of Gaunt was never called an asshole.

He was a fag, and all retarded.

Posted by: John of Gaunt's friends at February 09, 2025 11:12 AM (xCA6C)

286
Oh, and back from a constitutional with the dynamic and lovely Mrs naturalfake.

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 11:13 AM (iJfKG)

287 Full name:

The Obama Presidential Center
A Global Center for..(wait for it)...Change
Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (Y1sOo)

... and Lavender Club.

F(inished)IFY

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 11:13 AM (0eaVi)

288 274 Before this turns into Longbow vs. Crossbow (the Real Genius Story), no one here made the claim that the Black Prince was the inspiration for King Arthur.

The OP mentioned two completely different books. One book was The Black Prince. The other book was The Historical King Arthur.

This is what I get for drinking coffee before reading the book thread!
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:07 AM (Q9Zma)

Oops. Guess I read it wrong.

Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 11:13 AM (xcIvR)

289 Library looks to be what I imagine the Dark Sith temple to look like.
Posted by: stu-mick-o-sucks at February 09, 2025 11:12 AM (DsA2n)

---------

Arrogant, crushing and oppressive. It suits Barky perfectly.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:13 AM (JkO4W)

290 282 Henry VII's eldest son and heir apparent was named Arthur. It didn't work out well for him as he died before his dad did.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:11 AM (JkO4W)

There have been several Arthur’s in the line of succession over the centuries, but none of them ever lived long enough to take the throne. Odd, to say the least.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 09, 2025 11:14 AM (LERtE)

291 Best I can tell Arthur was kind of a strange dude. Wore a crown, claimed to be king of the Britons, and ran around the countryside followed by a serf clapping together coconut shells.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 11:15 AM (dg+HA)

292 I recall with fondness Lefty Twitter losing their collective mind when Kari Lake refused to stand during the singing of the BNA at the Super Bowl in Glendale a couple of years ago.

I'm hoping someone of influence does the same thing this year, just to watch Lefty heads explode again.

Posted by: one hour sober at February 09, 2025 11:15 AM (Y1sOo)

293 Fifteen years ago, nine grad students were on a winter mountain trip in the area, when something unusual happened. During a blizzard, the hikers cut through the back of their tent and ran, most not even bothering to put on boots. Six frozen bodies were found within a few hundred yards of the tent, and three had remained missing until some teens recently stumbled upon the skeletons of two more, in an Indian burial cave.

Shouldn't have packed the Yeti thermoses.

Posted by: stu-mick-o-sucks at February 09, 2025 11:15 AM (DsA2n)

294 291 Best I can tell Arthur was kind of a strange dude. Wore a crown, claimed to be king of the Britons, and ran around the countryside followed by a serf clapping together coconut shells.

---------

Patsy, whose name has ascended into Legend.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:16 AM (JkO4W)

295 Global Center for Change, eh?

I'd have figured it would have been a Global Center for Hope and Change, or maybe a Global Center for Fundamental Transformation.

Maybe they just didn't want to pay to put all those extra letters on the signage...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 11:16 AM (q3u5l)

296 Good writeup about Dyatlov Pass:
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4108

Thanks for posting this it was an interesting read, and the author brings up a good point you can go look at the area now yourself thanks to google maps.

One question I have in this area though - why do people hike in the winter? I like hiking plenty...doing it while risking hypothermia is not me thing though...

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:17 AM (t0Rmr)

297 Global Center for Change, eh?

I'd have figured it would have been a Global Center for Hope and Change, or maybe a Global Center for Fundamental Transformation.

Maybe they just didn't want to pay to put all those extra letters on the signage...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 11:16 AM (q3u5l)

The Global Center Now Defunded By DOGE"

Posted by: naturalfake at February 09, 2025 11:17 AM (iJfKG)

298 You might consider Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle or The Sirens of Titan to introduce a middle school boy to science fiction. I loved them at that age, not so much as I aged.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:18 AM (L/fGl)

299 "The Global Center Now Defunded by DOGE"

Oh, I like that one. They should go with that.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 11:18 AM (q3u5l)

300 Given the absolute dumpster fire “our” government has turned into, perhaps strange women laying about distributing swords isn’t such a bad idea for a basis of government. Worth a try anyhow

Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:19 AM (QVTZe)

301 300 Given the absolute dumpster fire “our” government has turned into, perhaps strange women laying about distributing swords isn’t such a bad idea for a basis of government. Worth a try anyhow
Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:19 AM (QVTZe)

A true anarcho-syndicalist commune has never been tried!

Posted by: Dennis the Peasant at February 09, 2025 11:21 AM (PiwSw)

302 300 Given the absolute dumpster fire “our” government has turned into, perhaps strange women laying about distributing swords isn’t such a bad idea for a basis of government. Worth a try anyhow

----------

Having seen what "democracy" looks like in a regime of universal suffrage, divinely-ordained monarchy doesn't look so bad.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:21 AM (JkO4W)

303 Global Center To Stop The Rise Of The Oceans.

Posted by: This was the moment at February 09, 2025 11:21 AM (dg+HA)

304 Star Wars by Disney?

I have to thank George Lucas here a bit honestly. When his 3 prequels came out I was so excited to see another star wars movie. And after I saw the Phantom Menace I was...not.

So when Disney make theirs I decided to give it a try. The Force Awakens was...bad. It didn't suffer from the stupid obvious failures of the prequels but...it was just a really bad film.

And Rogue One was...ok. It was completely derivative of the original 3 movies but ok. But based on what I saw with the prequels and the trend of these movies I just tuned the rest of the star wars movies out

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:21 AM (t0Rmr)

305 Best I can tell Arthur was kind of a strange dude. Wore a crown, claimed to be king of the Britons, and ran around the countryside followed by a serf clapping together coconut shells.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at February 09, 2025 11:15 AM (dg+HA)

Best of all, he didn't have shit all over him.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at February 09, 2025 11:22 AM (bDNzX)

306 Arrogant, crushing and oppressive. It suits Barky perfectly.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43)

At first glance I thought it was part of a service gantry for rocket launches.

Posted by: Tuna at February 09, 2025 11:22 AM (oaGWv)

307 18-1

Depends on the location. Dry air, microclimates, intense sunlight makes winter hiking much more comfortable than might be supposed. Don’t misunderstand there are some sketchy moments, but camping (and skiing) in the winter is quite enjoyable.

Also consider all the wally worlders are absent. No bugs, no humidity. No fees (enforcement is …. well. Nobody cares.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:23 AM (QVTZe)

308 Also consider all the wally worlders are absent. No bugs, no humidity. No fees (enforcement is …. well. Nobody cares.
Posted by: Common Tater

Also, bears are hibernating.

Posted by: Tuna at February 09, 2025 11:25 AM (oaGWv)

309 Double Nazi salutes all around then?

-
In celebutard news, I see Kanye West has now proclaimed himself a Nazi and spoke highly of Big Adolph.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:28 AM (L/fGl)

310 Students of history have heard the “Have you no decency, Senator?” rebuke to McCarthy. But almost nobody knows what sparked the exchange.

He had the audacity to push back against vile outrageous and false attacks. I think they called him a kiddie fucker or something similar. Sound familiar? It should. That’s just not Cricket!

Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:29 AM (QVTZe)

311 I used to take my sons winter camping in Rocky Mt. Park. It was a blast. Very few people, plenty of wildlife, especially elk. We also did some snowshoeing.

Alas, the kids are grown, and my bride considers roughing it to being at a Super 8 motel.

Posted by: Pug Mahon at February 09, 2025 11:30 AM (bDNzX)

312 In celebutard news, I see Kanye West has now proclaimed himself a Nazi and spoke highly of Big Adolph.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:28 AM (L/fGl)

---------

The guy is certifiable, but I read his comments more as, "look at me, I'm such a badass that I can say those things that are forbidden, like Hitler was a good dude" rather than "I really dig National Socialism."

To his credit though, that wife of his is built.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:31 AM (JkO4W)

313 OT:

It's taken 15 years, but I have finally had to dip into my strategic cotter pin reserve.

It was intensely satisfying for some strange reason.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at February 09, 2025 11:32 AM (XV/Pl)

314 Trying to read Heinlein's "Stranger in a strange land" and it's a struggle. Also trying to read Keith Laumer's Retief series. Again, it's a struggle. Anybody else have a problem with genre 'classics'?

Posted by: Stacy0311 at February 09, 2025 11:32 AM (wwlYu)

315 One cotter pin a month ought to be enough for anybody.

Posted by: Karen McMansion at February 09, 2025 11:34 AM (dg+HA)

316 In celebutard news, I see Kanye West has now proclaimed himself a Nazi and spoke highly of Big Adolph.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our

Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:28 AM (L/fGl)
-

Ain't it good to know that
You've got a friend!

https://tinyurl.com/5n99nam4

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 09, 2025 11:34 AM (ZTT+3)

317 It's taken 15 years, but I have finally had to dip into my strategic cotter pin reserve.

It was intensely satisfying for some strange reason.

A couple of weeks ago I had to get a cable out of my "ancient computer cables bin". It was...euphoric. Of course I've had the bin for many many years and this is the first time I'm gone into it...

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:35 AM (t0Rmr)

318 And I capture this because I have repeatedly seen this myself with left leaning LIVs. They'll agree their Democrat rep/government/whatever is corrupt, they'll agree they lie, they'll agree thinks just keep getting worse but if you suggest then the obvious answer is to vote for the other party they will stop agreeing and point out that means voting for (gasp) a Republican!
Posted by: 18-1

Can't fix stupid.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at February 09, 2025 11:35 AM (dR6yv)

319 I used to winter hike the Whites, and my daughter still does. Far more comfortable in some ways, and far less crowded.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 09, 2025 11:36 AM (4780s)

320 Internet Archive is a darn good place to find out of print books. The best way to search archive.org book titles is to use your favorite browser search engine. I use https://www.qwant.com/

archive.org; The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 11:36 AM (ofpPn)

321 Trying to read Heinlein's "Stranger in a strange land" and it's a struggle. Also trying to read Keith Laumer's Retief series. Again, it's a struggle. Anybody else have a problem with genre 'classics'?

Stranger is an odd book for Heinlein fans that like most of his other works. If you read it, Starship Troopers, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in succession I don't think most people could err, grok, that they were all by the same author

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:37 AM (t0Rmr)

322 This is not quite a book, but it is an incredible read. One of the DOGE boys, supposedly.

hoboes.com/eko

Springfield, Ohio, potholes that plagued residents for twelve years actually disappeared overnight. Rural Tennessee, where children can finally connect to high-speed internet their parents were promised decades ago. In Michigan, people truly drink clean water while bureaucrats' memos about studying the problem' gather dust.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:37 AM (Q9Zma)

323 OT:

It's taken 15 years, but I have finally had to dip into my strategic cotter pin reserve.

It was intensely satisfying for some strange reason.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

Sounds like you had a solution for a first world problem.

Posted by: Tuna at February 09, 2025 11:37 AM (oaGWv)

324 refused to stand during the singing of the BNA at the Super Bowl

The Signifying Monkey?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle for festive little hats at February 09, 2025 11:38 AM (l91rK)

325 I watched The Spaceman and while I enjoyed it, it had some issues. So I read the differences from the book and see my issues mostly relate to the changes Netflix made from the book (of course!)

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:38 AM (t0Rmr)

326 about "The Phantom Tollbooth":
"Some at Random House considered the book's vocabulary too difficult: at the time, educators advised against children's literature containing words the target audience did not already know, fearing the unfamiliar would discourage young learners."

I read it age 9 or maybe 10. I agree the vocabulary was unfamiliar ("doldrums", "row"/"din", so on). But that was its point, to teach.
I'm guessing that Random House was staffed with retards and Karens who didn't know and/or didn't want kids to learn stuff on their own.

Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:38 AM (gKWVE)

327
Bake sale after church?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 09, 2025 10:57 AM (mWSu4)

_________

No, but the pastor informed us that we have reached our pledge goal for the construction of a new church building with three times the capacity of our present chapel.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 09, 2025 11:39 AM (dxSpM)

328 The interviewer points out DC has been a very very blue area for a long time and crime is out of control. He then asks, "How much worse does it have to get people people vote [for the other party]?" and the woman he is talking to has not answer.

-----

That's only half the picture. Every American voter has been seduced, betrayed, and left for dead by his fake Party. The Republicans aren't any more likely to get fed up and vote Democrat than vice versa.

Virtually all voters are left speechless by that line of questioning, because they never had a good answer and never will.

Sone will give the only correct answer, and say "you're half right. I'll just quit voting until this regime is dead and gone." But that's a vanishing few.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 09, 2025 11:40 AM (BI5O2)

329 Springfield, Ohio, potholes that plagued residents for twelve years actually disappeared overnight. Rural Tennessee, where children can finally connect to high-speed internet their parents were promised decades ago. In Michigan, people truly drink clean water while bureaucrats' memos about studying the problem' gather dust.

The issue was never that the government couldn't fix the various problems that have been accruing since the 60s or even that it needed more money. The issue is they didn't want to. Every dollar spent actually fixing a problem is not only one less dollar to pay yourself

Posted by: 18-1 at February 09, 2025 11:40 AM (t0Rmr)

330 I finished Anthony Horowitz' latest in his Hawthorne and Horowitz murder mystery series, Close to Death this week. An imperfect (if permanent) solution by an imperfect detective. Speaking of weird ass buildings, the book mentions this flower shaped hotel in Macao. Number 7 in this list of 9 weird ass Macao buildings. (My url shortener appears to not be working today.)

https://macaonews.org/life/9
-ambitious-buildings-that-transformed
-the-macaos-skyline/

Posted by: Anonosaurus Rex, Now Is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious Summer By This Son of [New] York at February 09, 2025 11:41 AM (L/fGl)

331 Internet Archive is a darn good place to find out of print books.

Gutenberg is getting good for public-domain stuff in science fiction, where the story was published in magazines like "Analog". You do have to be aware that sometimes the editors took too heavy a hand in forcing the author's vision into the magazine's vision. Or if the author himself matured and improved the original (Frank Herbert, "Dune World" / "Prophet of Dune" v. the book "Dune").

Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:42 AM (gKWVE)

332 No, but the pastor informed us that we have reached our pledge goal for the construction of a new church building with three times the capacity of our present chapel.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 09, 2025 11:39 AM (dxSpM)

Why not just find some Episcopal church for sale? It's easier to buy than build. Besides, the Episcopals have no use for a church these days.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 11:42 AM (0eaVi)

333 @314/Stacy0311: "Anybody else have a problem with genre 'classics'?"

Yup, I could never get into Asimov's Foundation trilogy.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 11:43 AM (O7YUW)

334 Anybody else have a problem with genre 'classics'?
Posted by: Stacy0311 at February 09, 2025 11:32 AM (wwlYu)

Yes. Some of those old books don’t age well.

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 11:45 AM (XhzIO)

335 The Obama Presidential Center
A Global Center for..(wait for it)...Change
Posted by: one hour sober
*************
Looks Soviet.

Posted by: Cosda at February 09, 2025 11:45 AM (am1I4)

336 90 I think Lattimore is my favorite translation of The Odyssey :thumbsup:

For myself, im currently reading Titus Groan, book 1 of the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake. About 20% in, and I honestly have no idea what I think of it so far. A little weird and not much has really happened, mostly setting up its cast of strange characters at the time of the birth of the title character. Hopefully stuff starts happening pretty quickly here.

I've also been listening to the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos on Audible, just started book 6 I think. SciFi, humanity trying to fight off the incursion of a race of giant aliens, first on extra-solar colony worlds, and now trying to protect Earth after Mars was taken over. Pretty entertaining light listening fare. The main character losing his rifle must be becoming some sort of running joke, though its not played as one.

Posted by: tintex at February 09, 2025 11:46 AM (sBl13)

337 I'm guessing that Random House was staffed with retards and Karens who didn't know and/or didn't want kids to learn stuff on their own.
Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:38 AM (gKWVE)

--------

I remember reading a book called Monkey Island as a beginning reader. I got through the entire thing reading the word "island," which I had never seen, as "izz-land." (Hey, that's what it looks like!)

The book made a lot more sense once my mom told me the word was pronounced "aye-land."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 11:46 AM (JkO4W)

338 Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:42 AM (gKWVE)

Yes. And check out https://standardebooks.org/

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 11:46 AM (XhzIO)

339 Yup, I could never get into Asimov's Foundation trilogy.

Foundation is very much a product of its time. All books require that you to at least pretend to buy into the mindset of the book, and that’s especially true of science fiction. But Foundation comes from the Bureaucrats-Are-Gods mindset of the institutional left that was about to run into the twin brick walls of the conservative movement and the counterculture movement at the same time, neither of which were happy to give their lives over to the administrative state.

It’s an absolutely fascinating piece of history; but you have to be weirder than normal to enjoy reading it for the sake of reading it.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:46 AM (Q9Zma)

340 Doc Smith's Lensman series is crap. It's hard to believe Triplanetary came out 1948 after the bulk of Asimov's Foundation, Robot, and Nightfall stories.

Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:47 AM (gKWVE)

341 314 ... "Trying to read Heinlein's "Stranger in a strange land" and it's a struggle. Also trying to read Keith Laumer's Retief series. Again, it's a struggle. Anybody else have a problem with genre 'classics'?"

What was edgy and outrageous in 1960 for Stranger isn't so much anymore. I still enjoy the Jubal Harshaw character and appreciate Heinlein's take on Rodin's art but that's about all.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 11:47 AM (yTvNw)

342
Why not just find some Episcopal church for sale? It's easier to buy than build. Besides, the Episcopals have no use for a church these days.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 11:42 AM (0eaVi)

__________

Too difficult to exorcize.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 09, 2025 11:48 AM (dxSpM)

343 Problems revisiting genre classics?

Oh, yeah. Books that I devoured when I was in high school and college (and even well into middle age) don't tempt me any more or don't satisfy when I try re-reading them. That includes a number of Heinlein titles as well as Asimov, Clarke, and even some Zelazny and Ellison. And it's not even a "How could I have liked this?" thing (usually) -- it seems to be more like "No, not again" even though I like what I'm reading. I assume it's just me getting up there in years (75 and climbing faster than I care to think about).

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 11:48 AM (q3u5l)

344 I recall the Claymation “Davey and Goliath”, Davey was set to win the go kart race - but alas, he forgot to secure a wheel with a cotter pin, and the wheel fell off.

It was a great television show for kids. Back when Lutherans weren’t trafficking illegal aliens to destabilize America and bankrupt communities

Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:48 AM (QVTZe)

345 Yup, I could never get into Asimov's Foundation trilogy.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

I thought the first book was a detective/mystery story. Not hard at all. As Razorfist is fond of saying, the first 'genre' books weren't 'genre'. They were a mix of everything. 'Genre' was a marketing concept from the 1960's.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 09, 2025 11:49 AM (mlg/3)

346 I thought the Foundation stories held up okay until the Second Foundation started putting its thumb on the scale. Which is about when Asimov got sick of the series and dropped it.
"Dune" reads as a pointed critique of that latter side of "Foundation": Bene Gesserit as the Second Foundation, Muaddib as the Mule . . .

Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:50 AM (gKWVE)

347 Also, The Count of Monte Cristo is a slog. Whew, 90 chapters to describe a revenge tale. Crap almighty.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 09, 2025 11:52 AM (mlg/3)

348 Well, off to ignore the Superb Owl and to deal with other annoying aspects of so-called reality.

Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.

Have a good one, gang.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 09, 2025 11:52 AM (q3u5l)

349 It was a great television show for kids. Back when Lutherans weren’t trafficking illegal aliens to destabilize America and bankrupt communities
Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:48 AM (QVTZe)

Didn't Davey have a talking dog?

As for Lutherans and illegals, it's all USAID, right down to the Africans in Ireland. Our government is (was) an ugly thing.

Posted by: Long night... darkness lifted. at February 09, 2025 11:53 AM (2NXcZ)

350 Also, The Count of Monte Cristo is a slog. Whew, 90 chapters to describe a revenge tale. Crap almighty.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at February 09, 2025 11:52 AM (mlg/3)

All that for a sandwich??

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 11:53 AM (0eaVi)

351 Since King Arthur's remit was holding back the Germanic invasion of Britain, he would have either been a Roman holdover or a native Celtic warlord.

I read a book many years ago whose author hypothesized the basis of the legend as a Roman general whose name I can't recall. The story would only make sense if Germanic invaders began arriving in force in the early 5th century, at or about the time of the Roman big-out from Brittania.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at February 09, 2025 10:53 AM (JkO4W)

English archaeologists have found Roman skeletal remains that are from Eastern Europe, and may be Sarmatian.

Parke Godwin wrote the Firelord series as a retelling of the Arthurian legend, Arthur spent some good time fighting in Gaul as well.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 09, 2025 11:54 AM (D7oie)

352 Free Nightfall audiobook. Excellent.

https://escapepod.org/2007/04/05/ep100-nightfall/

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 11:56 AM (NNsrR)

353 Victor Tango Kilo: If you're still here, please see my question at the end of comment #208.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 11:57 AM (O7YUW)

354 Most people today would regard the Foundation trilogy as a nightmare, even a horror, premise: a benevolent dictatorship that can rewrite memories and motivations for your own good, and manipulate you into false insights, dangerous conspiracy, and even a deadly galactic war, for their view of how history should flow. Like all right-thinking people, Asimov felt that population control, the world government necessary to implement it, and the high taxes on the middle class necessary to fund it, were required to save humanity. Superior men working through the foundations of society to control lesser men for their own good wasn’t science fiction for him. The stated purpose of the Foundation is to create “the mental framework of a ready-made ruling class.” And, more importantly, to create a society that will not “resent a ruling class of psychologists” and so will not “fight against it.”

There were bits of wisdom in Foundation, however.

The fall of Empire, gentlemen, is a massive thing, however, and not easily fought. It is dictated by a rising bureaucracy, a receding initiative, a freezing of caste, a damming of curiosity…

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:57 AM (Q9Zma)

355 Yeah, ELCA used to be fairly normal. Go to church, get a sermon on a bible passage, talk about Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, and all those prophets dead and gone. Today, it’s some purple haired fairy blaming my lawnmower for the Gulf War and destroying the Erf.

Weirdly, attendance is down, they have to sell real estate, gets turned into a mosque by all those sparks of divinity they imported.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:57 AM (QVTZe)

356 When I first moved to the Godforsaken North my wife asked a friend why she did cross-country skiing. Her response was that you've got to do something for half the year.

I avoid winter sports because I have winter chores to do.

Posted by: Trimegistus at February 09, 2025 11:58 AM (78a2H)

357 @338/13times: "... check out https://standardebooks.org/ "

Thank you for this!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 09, 2025 11:59 AM (O7YUW)

358 Well, it's that sad time of day, again. The end of the Book Thread. Thanks, Perfessor.

*Norrin, I saw your late comment last week. Keep working at it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 09, 2025 11:59 AM (0eaVi)

359 Weirdly, attendance is down, they have to sell real estate, gets turned into a mosque by all those sparks of divinity they imported.
Posted by: Common Tater at February 09, 2025 11:57 AM (QVTZe)

They're into Gaza, of course. Bad things happen when XX takes the religious reins.

Posted by: Long night... darkness lifted. at February 09, 2025 12:00 PM (2NXcZ)

360 Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at February 09, 2025 11:57 AM (Q9Zma)

Also the Seldon Plan allowed Terminus to fall under, in succession: an incompetent priesthood, a plutocracy, and then a hereditary tyranny (before the Mule ruined everything). But it was all Part Of The Plan, so good(?).

Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 12:00 PM (gKWVE)

361 Can both teams loose?
ICE needs to be at every illegal protest; bag them by the dozen.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at February 09, 2025 12:01 PM (QAX8p)

362 Did Ace do the shelving?

Posted by: The Man from Athens at February 09, 2025 12:01 PM (QAX8p)

363 Nood.

Posted by: Nazdar at February 09, 2025 12:02 PM (NcvvS)

364 Arrogant, crushing and oppressive. It suits Barky perfectly.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43)

At first glance I thought it was part of a service gantry for rocket launches.
Posted by: Tuna at February 09, 2025 11:22 AM (oaGWv)

Honestly, I just learned of something in Berlin called the Schwerbelastungskörper (Heavy Load-Bearing Body)

that was set up as a test to see if the soggy Berlin soil could withstand the sort of giant monumental construction that Adolf and Speer were planning on building

Obamba center for global adoration looks sort of like that

Schwerbelastungskörper. A nice description of what it looks like.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 09, 2025 12:03 PM (D7oie)

365 346 I thought the Foundation stories held up okay until the Second Foundation started putting its thumb on the scale. Which is about when Asimov got sick of the series and dropped it.

interesting that you say that, as there are four more books after that one...

given that the last one was written in '93 and i was married by then, i suspect i haven't read that one. pretty sure i read the penultimate one, but that was long enough ago that the only thing i remember is a passing remark about how each planet has its own smell.

Posted by: anachronda at February 09, 2025 12:03 PM (edU/H)

366 Read the Gormanghast trilogy when it came out. Have kept the paperbacks for what, fifty years now?
Just to prove I made it through that deck if it ever comes up.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 09, 2025 12:05 PM (4780s)

367 Looks like a SuperMax. Needs to fit a lot of people.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at February 09, 2025 12:05 PM (QAX8p)

368 Has anyone read the Frontiersman by Allan Eckert? Mel Gibson mentioned it on a podcast (rogan?) and the only copies I can find are on Ebay and going for $150 and up!

Posted by: LASue at February 09, 2025 12:07 PM (lCppi)

369 Doc Smith's Lensman series is crap. It's hard to believe Triplanetary came out 1948 after the bulk of Asimov's Foundation, Robot, and Nightfall stories.
Posted by: gKWVE at February 09, 2025 11:47 AM (gKWVE)

Science fiction was originally a product of the technocracy movement, with "learned leaders" managing society, like the vision of Wilson.
That passed, because most people just want a cracking yarn, and then because most of that stuff was pretty bad, the market demanded better writing.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 09, 2025 12:09 PM (D7oie)

370 Greetings!

"A couple of weeks ago I had to get a cable out of my "ancient computer cables bin". It was...euphoric."

I have an old SCSI connector. I can't bring myself to discard it, it is so robust compared to contemporary connectors.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at February 09, 2025 12:11 PM (c6hLR)

371 The Frontiersman by Allan Eckert. Three borrowable books at archive.org

https://tinyurl.com/mvvyfs9z

I’ve read 2/3 of the 750ish page first book. It’s the American odyssey. No one is the bad guy, everyone is the bad guy.

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 12:19 PM (UFmk/)

372 Why not just find some Episcopal church for sale?

I think the one I bought used to be Presbyterian.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 12:20 PM (9yUzE)

373 Also: I found your comment from a few weeks ago with the links to the front covers (was trying to find out what the title was as well as take a look at the cover art) but it looks like the is.gd shortcut links you provided have expired. Could you re-link those?

Yeah, is.gd is pretty unpredictable

Cover B.

https://tinyurl.com/yz96h9mt

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 12:28 PM (9yUzE)

374
Cover A.

https://tinyurl.com/4vhanw7c

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 12:28 PM (9yUzE)

375 >>> 187 Question:
I loved Larry Correia's dedication as I hate GRRM and you all talk about him a lot and he is on X and is a Conservative so decided to see if I could get the first book in the series from the library as I have never ready anything of his. The entire library system in my county and the one in MA that still lets me borrow doesn't have a single Correia book.
Why do you think that is?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 09, 2025 10:15 AM (t/2Uw)

Short answer, he's an eeevul gub-loving rayciss misogynist etc etc. He has the smartass nickname "International Lord of Hate" for various reasons.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at February 09, 2025 12:29 PM (Vqx30)

376 The Frontiersman by Allan Eckbert.

I hope Mel makes a movie based on it. It’s not as gory as Gibson makes it out to be. Lots of scalping. Some disembowelments. Indian culture is as complicated as Settler culture. All stand on pride; losing face is serious business.

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 12:35 PM (ZWo5R)

377 374>>> followed.

Posted by: 13times at February 09, 2025 12:38 PM (ZWo5R)

378 Followed back, I think.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at February 09, 2025 12:43 PM (9yUzE)

379 368 ... "Has anyone read the Frontiersman by Allan Eckert? Mel Gibson mentioned it on a podcast (rogan?) and the only copies I can find are on Ebay and going for $150 and up!"

I've read the series and enjoyed it. Check with a local used book store if there is one in your area. That's where I got my copies. I have no idea why the prices are so high online.

Posted by: JTB at February 09, 2025 12:48 PM (yTvNw)

380 Vmom at post 63 and Tourist at post 197 have referenced the ongoing "kerfluffle" concerning Devon Eriksen's indy sci-fi novel and the woke judges of the competition.

https://tinyurl.com/bdhrmu4t

That is the link to the Daily Wire story.

Many indy author's have withdrawn or made public statements concerning free speech.

Perfessor, this may might be worth discussing in more detail in next week's Book Thread.

All the authors who supported Devon have seen incredible spikes in sales.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at February 09, 2025 12:57 PM (SWA0S)

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Posted by: News Proxy at February 09, 2025 12:57 PM (ca57r)

382 Checked out the images of completed vision of the site. Wow, will indeed be a hideous building. This concrete monstrosity is the exterior, and the propaganda that's shown overlaid in places appears to be BS.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike

Paint it various dusky shades of gray and top off with big red flaming ring.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at February 09, 2025 12:59 PM (/lPRQ)

383 hate winter.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at February 09, 2025 10:20 AM (Q0kLU)

Dear heart, I am certain this has been recommended to you multiple times, but have you tried the SAD lamos and Vutamin D3 supplements?

Posted by: Tammy-al Thor at February 09, 2025 01:14 PM (Vvh2V)

384 @141 --

MP4, good to see you here. I hadn't seen your nic for a few weeks and had become concerned.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 01:28 PM (p/isN)

385 Posted by: Reforger at February 09, 2025 11:01 AM (xcIvR)

One of my favorite historical figures.

Posted by: Tammy-al Thor at February 09, 2025 01:36 PM (Vvh2V)

386 Lamps, not lamos!

Posted by: Tammy-al Thor at February 09, 2025 01:39 PM (Vvh2V)

387 Re: Commemt #68 about "ticky-tacky houses"

According to local legend, the song was inspired by the homes built along the Southern Hills area of San Francisco as well as those built in Daly City. Malvina Reynolds wrote the song; Pete Seeger first recorded it.

Jokes on them--I grew up in one of those "ticky-tacky" houses and we would sing the song whenever we headed home and the houses came into sight. We were kind of proud our houses were famous.

Posted by: March Hare at February 09, 2025 02:10 PM (jfX+U)

388 I remember reading Stranger in a Strange Land as a senior in high school and enjoying it. It's possible I wouldn't care for it as much 25+ years later, but idk. Read The Count of Montr Cristo as a freshman, and I'm absolutely sure I would still love it, however. Been considering rereading it for a bit now, and probably will sometime this year.

Posted by: tintex at February 09, 2025 02:19 PM (KaCLm)

389 I don't think Edward the Black Prince was the influence for Arthur at all. His dad tried to emulate Arthur with the creation of the Knight of the Garter.
I like Edwards wife Joan of Kent. She had quite the life.
I'm reading The Last Knight by Norman Cantor right now. It's about Edwards younger brother John of Gaunt.
Posted by: Reforger

Yes, I know. Those are just two good books about great warriors in England from ancient history.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 09, 2025 02:31 PM (r/B4U)

390 Dad had a hay baler that broke cotter pins as if they were on schedule.

One day it snapped three. He had to go to town to get #4.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 09, 2025 02:33 PM (p/isN)

391 A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorites. I keep a copy on my bedside bookcase and it is one of those books that I consider a good comfort re-read.

Personally, I think it holds up well rereading as an adult. There are thematic elements and lines that went over my head when I first read it as a kid, and only got later when rereading it as an adult and parent.

(I hated the Disney live-action movie from a few years ago, though I watched it hoping to see a good adaptation. I'm fine with changing some things up to adapt a work for screen -- I don't expect a film to slavishly follow a book, being it's own medium --but that film made a ton of unnecessary changes while also somehow managing to entirely miss all the themes.)

Posted by: Bitblt at February 09, 2025 03:08 PM (a6Ysq)

392 Time for the football reading game. I read two sentences between plays with each sentence covering at least a line, three sentences if there is a penalty, injury or time out, and read during the commercials.

Posted by: Norrin Radd, sojourner of the spaceways at February 09, 2025 04:18 PM (tRYqg)

393 "Doc Smith's Lensman series is crap. It's hard to believe Triplanetary came out 1948"

Yep, particularly when you consider that "Triplanetary" was first published as a serial in Amazing Stories magazine in 1934, some 14 years earlier. Lots of science fiction novels of the 30s, 40s and 50s were first published as magazine serials ("Starship Troopers," for example, was originally a 2-part serial in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction under the title "Starship Soldier" and was then expanded and rewritten a bit for the novel version), sometimes many years earlier. Sometimes the serials were significantly revised for publication as novels, sometimes not.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at February 09, 2025 04:50 PM (uk4V/)

394 "Science fiction was originally a product of the technocracy movement, with 'learned leaders' managing society, like the vision of Wilson."

Yeah, science fiction from the 30s through at the least the 70s (when I stopped reading most of the current stuff) incorporated and reflected popular ideas then current in educated society and particularly in the subsection that was the science fiction writer and fan community. For example there were stories, as you say, about management of societies (sometimes the authors approved, sometimes not) through control of information or the development of scientific propaganda to control what people thought and how they acted. Heinlein wrote a few of these (his theocracy stories and novel for example), and you can see some of this in Asimov's Foundation series and some Jack Vance ("The Languages of Pao"). I think Heinlein's main source was Korzebski's theory of general semantics, and he encouraged interest among his friends in Korzebski's theories.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at February 09, 2025 05:06 PM (uk4V/)

395 I downloaded the "Radioactivity" book and will be definitely reading it shortly. I like reading when I wake up at 1 or 2 am for about an hour or so. I find a good fiction book like Brandon Sanderson's Yumi or Tress of the Emerald Sea are riveting when there are no interruptions - What? How did it get to be 4 am already. I also love non-fiction and tend to gravitate toward geology books. The USGS website https://pubs.usgs.gov/ is a treasure trove of manuscripts. I generally go to the "advanced" box and select "publication type" then "book" or "report" to screen out the insane number of citations with just an abstract or citation. Papers on volcano activity - Yellowstone or Camip flegri calderas; earthquakes as in San Francisco, etc. can provide excellent reading as an alternative to fiction.

Posted by: Diana Pool at February 10, 2025 07:40 AM (voj/R)

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Posted by: jeans at February 10, 2025 07:17 PM (g/rWk)

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Posted by: Quora Ads at February 13, 2025 01:55 AM (jTZtD)

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