Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-15-2015: Season Of The Witch [OregonMuse]

"Dammit, Fitting Into These Pantsuits Is Getting Harder Every Year"

Good morning to all of you morons and moronettes and bartenders everywhere and all the ships at sea. Welcome to AoSHQ's stately, prestigious, and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread. The only AoSHQ thread that is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Or kilts. Kilts are OK, too. But not tutus. Unless you're a girl.

Book Quote

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

–Jorge Luis Borges

Did Zeifman Fire Hillary! For Unethical Behavior?

Jerry Zeifman was the attorney who served as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings back in the early 70s, and in that position, he was Hillary! Rodham's immediate supervisor.

So, hid he fire her?

Snopes says he didn't. He says he did. But it's actually others who make the claim. Zeifman did write a book about Hillary!, though, though. Hillary's Pursuit of Power, so you can get an idea just how much he really doesn't like her.

And he really doesn't:

"[S]he was a liar," Zeifman said in an interview last week. "She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality."

So the upshot appears to be that Hillary! was let go with all of the other lawyers in a general layoff at the end of the impeachment brouhaha, but Zeifman then refused to recommend her for future positions. He saw her for what she was.

And that's kind of frightening, considering she was only 27.

And of course, I have to mention the late Christopher Hitchens' short, 100 page, vitriolic screamer about Hillary!'s priapic husband, No One Left to Lie To: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton. Because you know, because if Hillary! claws her way back into the White House, Billy Jeff will be right there, too, and won't that just be a kick in the head?

Remember that back in 2008, Hillary! and her supporters firmly believed that the Democratic nomination was rightfully hers, only Obama came along and stole it from her. That's their narrative. What actually happened was that Obama's gang of Alinskyite thugs out-Alinskyed Hillary's! gang of Alinskyite thugs. There used to be a site, one that I've lost track of now, where Hillary's! followers kept track, and I think I remember it being a chronologically-arranged timeline, of all the dirty, dirty tactics Obama used against Hillary! to take the 2008 nomination from her, and, I must admit, listening to them crying their bitter tears was actually quite amusing. And so is this: Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas by Edward Klein:

It's mostly about three elections: that of 2008, where Barack Obama came from behind to knock off front-runner Hillary Clinton for the nomination, with charges and countercharges of race-card-playing in the South Carolina primary; 2012, where Bill Clinton made a whizbang nominating speech for someone he can't stand and Hillary drank the Kool-Aid in agreeing to lie about Benghazi - 'it was a spontaneous riot caused by a video' - to seal Obama's reelection; and the 2016 election, where Obama promised Clinton he'd support Hillary in exchange for their carrying his water, then reneged on it.

This is one of those fights where you want both sides to lose.

None Dare Call It Hate

Actually, this time it isn't. Probably. What happened was that

Barron’s Educational Series Inc., a private publisher of materials to help students prepare for standardized tests, included in its Barron’s AP European History, 7th Edition, a graphic that lumps conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with the Ku Klux Klan as "those who want things like they used to be," and is linked with an arrow to the words "reactionary/fascist."

After the Daily Caller noticed the chart, Barron's responded by apologizing to Justice Thomas, cancelling all shipments of the title in question and destroying the rest of their remaining stock.

Barron's blamed the mistake on a formatting error when they reduced a large graphic down to a single page.

You can see the offensive compressed-down-into-one-page diagram here, and it's kind of lame and over-simplified, with other parts to it that are extremely problematic.

I think it's commendable that Barron's put their money where the mouth is and took the financial hit on the remaining stock. And they didn't offer up one of those "we're sorry if you were offended" non-apology apologies or claim that the graphic was "taken out of context". But it would have been interesting if they had published the original, larger chart, before it was compressed, for the rest of us to understand how such an egregious error could have been made. I mean, why Clarence Thomas? Other than a brief, en passant reference to Robespierre, he is the only historical figure named on that chart. But why? Aren't the others of greater historical significance that might be more appropriate?

Terry Pratchett 1948-2015

The early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which Sir Terry referred to as "an embuggerance", finally caught up with him:

The announcement came in typically irreverent manner on the author’s Twitter feed, with a series of tweets beginning in the voice of his character, Death: "AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER."

There are a number of Pratchett quotes in the readers' comments to the obituary and most are pretty good, but this is the one i think is peculiarly appropriate for us:

"I'm sure we can all pull together, sir." Lord Vetinari raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I do hope not, I really do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions." He smiled. "It's the only way to make progress."

(From The Truth)

Although, on second glance, this does seem to be out of character. I mean, it's a fun quote and all, but what's a supreme autocrat like Vetinari^* doing extolling the virtues of human freedom? Methinks Pratchett thought up a great line and ran with it, a foolish consistency being, as we know, the hobgoblin of little minds.

The entire city of Ankh-Morpork is in mourning. R. I. P.

___________

*One of the Discworld books mentions that Vetinari firmly believed in the principle of one man, one vote. He was the man, and he had the vote.

Cheap Books of Note

There's been some pretty good deals via Bookbub this week.

I've never read any of the Nero Wolfe whodunits, but my understanding is that Wolfe never leaves his apartment, he has his assistant Archie Goodwin running around doing things for him while he hangs out in his orchid garden, solving the crimes in his head.

But how did they ever meet?

Archie Meets Nero Wolfe By Robert Goldsborough, $1.99 until March 31st, explores this question:

Archie Goodwin comes to New York City hoping for a bit of excitement. In his third week working as a night watchman, he stops two burglars in their tracks - with a pair of hot lead slugs. Dismissed from his job for being "trigger-happy," he parlays his newfound notoriety into a job as a detective’s assistant, helping honest sleuth Del Bascom solve cases like the Morningside Piano Heist, the Rive Gauche Art Gallery Swindle, and the Sumner-Hayes Burglary. But it’s the kidnapping of Tommie Williamson, the son of a New York hotel magnate, that introduces Goodwin to the man who will change his life.

Also, Cryptonomicon By Neal Stephenson, $1.99 until March 23rd. Probably needs no introduction on this thread.

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young By Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, $1.99 until March 31st. This is "a firsthand account of real American heroes in the midst of the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, the first major ground battle of the Vietnam War"

Books By Morons

Moronette Sabrina Chase has a new novel out, Jinxers, which, she says, is

...a YA fantasy with a plucky street kid who finds himself suddenly transported from his freezing city to the Sands of Araby (OK, a desert world). He has many adventures hiding out from the Bad Guys, rescuing a secret agent from a fort, convincing his local friend not to kill anyone with her sword, and climbing things. Oh, and figuring out his magical abilities so he can go back to his own world again and rescue *other* people.

And here's the fun part:

I was motivated to write this after hearing many complaints in the Book Thread of how there were no good kids books that would interest boys. I hope this book will help address that lack.

See that? The Horde™ gets results. What could be better than that?

In her e-mail to me, Ms. Chase was even kind enough to include her secret recipe for successful YA novel writing, which I'm happy to pass along:

Mature themes are scarce (a little violence and peril), social justice roundly ignored, and when in doubt, I added more adventure.

You can the results for yourself. Jinxers is available on Kindle for only $2.99. So what are you waiting for? Send her your money.

___________

Author Herb Borkland emailed me earlier this week because he wants to let you all know that his novel Dog$ has been published in paperback. It is his sixth novel and, as he says, "they tell me I finally got it right."

[A] disgraced former Congressman named Gavin Prestaen and three small-businessmen stumble on jihadists bio-militarizing 500 stolen dogs...As the attack clock counts down, paralyzing political correctness costs lives, while an ambitious rogue FBI agent decides Prestaen himself is the terrorist mastermind. So, saving the Nation’s Capital is now up to four unprepared citizen vigilantes.

Also available on Amazon.

___________

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

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

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1
From AOL Puffington, this made me laugh:

"Chief of staff Denis McDonough sent a strongly-worded letter to Congress leaders Saturday night regarding nuke talks with Iran."

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:01 AM (CMkNk)

2 Blood feud it may be yet she took the Secretary of State job and Bubba helped reassure a public losing confidence to get him re elected.The Democrat party has a way of keeping their eyes on the prize.

Posted by: steevy at March 15, 2015 09:02 AM (KETbL)

3 2 Blood feud it may be yet she took the Secretary of State job and Bubba helped reassure a public losing confidence to get him re elected.The Democrat party has a way of keeping their eyes on the prize.
Posted by: steevy at March 15, 2015 09:02 AM (KETbL)

If anything, the Democrats are more leftist by orders of magnitude than even 10 years ago. The Clintons are past their expiration date. Bill was at least affable and able to bamboozle the public. Hilary is a grating, cloying, irritating bitch.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:05 AM (CMkNk)

4 Now rumor has it that Valerie Jarrett was the one who leaked the Hillary e-mail server story to the NY Times.
This should be fun.

Posted by: Hamilton at March 15, 2015 09:06 AM (tR8og)

5 Speaking of Watergate, a good read is Silent Coup . Written in the early 90's. It tells you the side about the agenda and unreported actions of those people who brought down Nixon.

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:08 AM (U8pol)

6 LOL, currently re-reading Lucifer's Hammer on the Kindle. Got tired of the Honor Harrington stuff at the 5th book. That's the trouble with re-reading long series that have more than 3 or 4 books.

What ever happened to trilogies?

And I think I will take a pass on Hillery books. I am all Scankled out.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:09 AM (wlDny)

7 Any new books out by Putin lately?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 15, 2015 09:10 AM (j3OmN)

8 Despite Nixon birthing the EPA, detente with the Commies and for fucking up Watergate (he should have apologized straight away), he save Israel in 1973, against the advice of even Kissinger.

For that alone I will always sing his praises.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:11 AM (CMkNk)

9 Met Pratchett once.

Really got the impression that he liked to be adored.

Posted by: Zap Rowsdower at March 15, 2015 09:12 AM (MMC8r)

10 Wow, Oregon, that is a lot of work. The Horde thanks you.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:13 AM (0FSuD)

11 The commenters on Maureen Dowdy's Hillary hit piece in the NYT are, like, so over her entitled attitude and sooo longing for the refreshing sincerity of a Warren/Sanders ticket. Is it finally time to deploy the American Royal Baby?

Posted by: Ohiogal at March 15, 2015 09:14 AM (XJ3nY)

12 Rereading Twain's "The Innocents Abroad". Everything we see today in Italy, Turkey and the Mid East he saw 150 years ago. Except the bedouins have modern guns now.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at March 15, 2015 09:15 AM (iKXzz)

13 Hillary's House of Cards?

Posted by: Zap Rowsdower at March 15, 2015 09:16 AM (MMC8r)

14 Holy shit that stuff on the Hillabeast is scary scary shit.

Hard to make that stuff up. Interesting Snopes, a democrat front, won't confirm it.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (0FSuD)

15 Despite Nixon birthing the EPA, detente with the Commies and for fucking up Watergate (he should have apologized straight away), he save Israel in 1973, against the advice of even Kissinger.

For that alone I will always sing his praises.
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:11 AM (CMkNk)

Yup, he's OK in my book. Not that he'd be on the top of my list for Passover Dinner, but hey so he's bit of an anti-semite, there are a lot of Jews I am not so crazy about also

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (nzKvP)

16 GAH! My eyes!!! Take it down! Make it stop!

Posted by: Count de Monet at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (JO9+V)

17 Holy shit that stuff on the Hillabeast is scary scary shit.

Hard to make that stuff up. Interesting Snopes, a democrat front, won't confirm it.
Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (0FSuD)

It's an old, recycled story.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:18 AM (nzKvP)

18 Everyone is still in bed in my house except me and the cats.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:19 AM (nzKvP)

19 I was planning to take a short nap before heading off to church but that picture of Hillary has made that impossible. It's also ruined my breakfast. So thanks, I guess.

Posted by: Northernlurker at March 15, 2015 09:19 AM (XohZJ)

20 Finished Muscle by Sam Fussell. Interesting read but he leaves it short at the end. If you want into the psyche of a wannebe bodybuilder, this will get you there. Lots of angst about his fears of getting his butt kicked on the streets of NYC leading to his lifting habit. Most of what you thought about 'roids and bodybuilding gets confirmed.

Adding it to Tyler Hamilton book, The Secret Race, and the doping scandals from baseball and running, I'm being to believe there's no such thing as a clean athlete.

PS. OM - Thanks for the rec on Pale Moon. It's the only browser I've tried that's AOSHQ compatible for the comments section. Nice to be able to link and format text.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at March 15, 2015 09:20 AM (/A5gb)

21 @11

Where is The old hot ginger Dowd's column. Link please, I have NY Slime account, so I can see it. (I steal it from my Yankee mother in law that does not use a computer)

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:21 AM (0FSuD)

22 Take it back on the links. Looks like they stripped out when I hit published.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at March 15, 2015 09:21 AM (/A5gb)

23 18
Everyone is still in bed in my house except me and the cats and the places smells like lobster

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:19 AM (nzKvP)

You are so busted! ha ha

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:22 AM (0FSuD)

24 I'm reading Hell or Richmond by Ralph Peters. It's about the Wilderness Campaign in 1864. Pretty good read so far.

I love Lucifer's Hammer, Vic. I always considered that to be one of an unofficial trilogy of the best books that Niven and Pournelle ever put out: Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's eye, and Inferno. Unrelated, but just their best.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 15, 2015 09:23 AM (rXB/r)

25 OMG, OregonMuse! Did you run out of library photos?

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 09:23 AM (sdi6R)

26 Vic, I loved "Lucifer's Hammer". Not much has changed since he wrote that.

Just started ""The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia", a collection of essays by Roger Kimball.

Flipping through, I found this exchange:

Chesterton to the wraithlike GB Shaw: To look at you, anyone would think a famine had struck England.
Shaw to the corpulent Chesterton: To look at you, anyone would think you had caused it!

For fun, reading another Kris Longknife Sci-Fi.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 09:24 AM (KH1sk)

27 Any new books out by Putin lately?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 15, 2015 09:10 AM (j3OmN)

Rumor has it that he and Generalissimo Francisco Franco are co-authoring a new series.

Posted by: Emmett Milbarge at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM (nFdGS)

28 Can't believe I'm linking a MoDo piece. link in my name.

Posted by: Ohiogal at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM (XJ3nY)

29 Any suggestions as what to do with old or not needed tablets?

They are so cheap now, I order one and then realize I have no use for it.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM (0FSuD)

30 15 Yup, he's OK in my book. Not that he'd be on the top of my list for Passover Dinner, but hey so he's bit of an anti-semite, there are a lot of Jews I am not so crazy about also
Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (nzKvP)

I saw a documentary of Israel (the thrust of it being how miraculous it is and the miracles that sustained it) and supposedly when Nixon was a child, his mother read him Bible stories and told him that one day he would help save the Jews. And in October of '73, he remembered what his mother had said and he thought "now I know why I'm president and I must do whatever I can to save the Jews."

And when he sent them the arms shipment, it was Kissinger who objected.

G-d works in mysterious ways.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:26 AM (CMkNk)

31 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:11 AM (CMkNk)

Nixon's detente efforts one of the reason's the Pentagon was spying on Nixon which was just part of the extensive web that was Watergate.

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:26 AM (U8pol)

32 ne of the Discworld books mentions that Vetinari firmly believed in the
principle of one man, one vote. He was the man, and he had the vote.

I felt that Vetinari was smart enough to realize that he might only have one idea too.
What is amazing is that Vetinari was a tyrant, with all the powers and possibility of abuse of station, and his main goal was to keep the individuals in society safe for life, property and appropriate amount of liberty, with the understanding that to maintain this he had to be pragmatically evil in that particular way that an individual empowered to compel others must be.

I don't know if Pratchett was secretly a Misesian, I wonder if Vetinari was.

Pratchett was incredibly well read, and I never realized it until I started broadening out my reading. I swear I have run across his sources in English writings back to Mandeville's Travells and McKay's Irrational Behaviour of Crowds, and through his mining o f information technology theory and the life of Islambard Kingdom Brunel....
Pretty interesting sources for someone doing Fantasy.

Truly a curious man

Posted by: Kindltot at March 15, 2015 09:27 AM (t//F+)

33 That chart: "Sams Cullotes"? And most Republicans are conservatives? The guide should have been pulped for incompetence, quite aside from the Clarence Thomas = KKK thing.

Posted by: RNB at March 15, 2015 09:27 AM (1/fQ0)

34 Any suggestions as what to do with old or not needed tablets?

Bathroom readers?

Posted by: Count de Monet at March 15, 2015 09:27 AM (JO9+V)

35 29 Any suggestions as what to do with old or not needed tablets?

They are so cheap now, I order one and then realize I have no use for it.
Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM (0FSuD)

Moses says "smash them."

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:27 AM (CMkNk)

36 I always considered that to be one of an unofficial trilogy of the best books that Niven and Pournelle ever put out: Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's eye, and Inferno. Unrelated, but just their best.
Posted by: Sharkman at March 15, 2015 09:23 AM (rXB/r)
---
Sharkman, I would pair Niven, Pournelle and Flynn's "Fallen Angels" with "Lucifer's Hammer". I loved the Dante's Inferno duology as well.

Sometimes I hate this thread. It makes me want to put down whatever I'm reading and reread something else!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 09:28 AM (KH1sk)

37 31 Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:11 AM (CMkNk)

Nixon's detente efforts one of the reason's the Pentagon was spying on Nixon which was just part of the extensive web that was Watergate.
Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:26 AM (U8pol)

Ach, so.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:28 AM (CMkNk)

38 Can't say I know for certain which website in particular OB is thinking about that kept a running tab on dirty shit the Obamites actually and supposedly pulled on HillBillary in 2008 (the entire leftwebosphere phalanx splintered for months over that scrag squabble), but it COULD be the one OB's thinking of was this www.theleftcoaster.com. It's still around and the main pussy poster in that war went by the name eriposte, who's still there. eriposte appears to specialize in months-long deeply footnoted Russian doll type posts that never forgot or left out the slightest hurty.

Anyway, the website is still there, eriposte is still there, and most importantly the ARCHIVE of that Clintons versus Obama war is still there. Someone should go mine it, because there's bound to be lots of backfire against the Clintons.

Posted by: Wax the Gunter Flog at March 15, 2015 09:28 AM (lqeGC)

39 Thanks, OM. I grew up on Nero Wolfe. My family passed his books around and I always found his stories fun. "Archie Meets Nero Wolfe" is available from my library and I placed a hold.

The A&E television channel did a series of shows based on the Wolfe character that were fun. Oddly, they used a stock company of actors so that the same actor would turn up in different minor parts in different episodes. On video.
***
I'm almost through Marc Goldman's "Future Crimes." This is, by far, the best non-fiction book on cyber security and cyber crime I've ever read. Much more inclusive than Krebs while being much more accessible than Schneier.

It gives a person the info to consider the cost/benefit aspects of mobile phones, "Internet of Things", smart appliances, etc. Not luddite, not polyanna, just the facts.

Posted by: doug at March 15, 2015 09:29 AM (9K5Rk)

40 I've just started "Death in the City of Light" by David King. Last year I read "The Monster of Florence" based on Ace's recommendation, and this is another true serial killer story. It's about Marcel Petiot, a French doctor who during the Nazi Occupation of Paris set up a scam, luring desperate French Jews trying to escape France with the promise that he ran an underground railway that could get them to South America (for a price, of course). They paid him a lot of money, and brought their valuables with them, then he murdered them, stole their stuff, dismembered their bodies and cremated them in the furnace in the cellar of his house. Just horrible. His story was made into a movie called "Docteur Petiot" with Michel Serrault as the killer doctor - also very creepy, and I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at March 15, 2015 09:30 AM (VBbCO)

41 Also from the Barron's AP exam guide:

Leftist: Those who want to requlate banks and corporations.
Right Wing: The Tea Party.

How about instead:
Rightist: Those who want to hold the Government to a high level of responsibility regarding taxing and spending.

Posted by: big al at March 15, 2015 09:30 AM (3MNCs)

42 @28

Holy Shit. That was a BITCH slapping. This line cuts to the quick.

The ill-advised gluttony of an American feminist icon wallowing in regressive Middle Eastern States payola.

Had to type it, damn pixy

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:30 AM (0FSuD)

43 I have to admit Hillary got screwed in the primaries. How do you win all top eight electoral states and lose the Primary?

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:31 AM (U8pol)

44 We Were Soldiers Once... and Young By Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, $1.99 until March 31st. This is "a firsthand account of real American heroes in the midst of the Battle of Ia Drang Valley, the first major ground battle of the Vietnam War"

=======================

I may have to get that. I have the movie which is outstanding

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:32 AM (wlDny)

45 Yup, he's OK in my book. Not that he'd be on the top
of my list for Passover Dinner, but hey so he's bit of an anti-semite,
there are a lot of Jews I am not so crazy about also

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:17 AM (nzKvP)

The one's that don't eat lobster? Sorry, I am having too much fun.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:33 AM (0FSuD)

46 Is there any way to actually verify Ed Klein's claims? I've heard him being interviewed and somehow I don't trust him.

Posted by: chique d'afrique (the artist formerly known as african chick) at March 15, 2015 09:33 AM (shFKH)

47 4
Now rumor has it that Valerie Jarrett was the one who leaked the Hillary e-mail server story to the NY Times.

This should be fun.

Posted by: Hamilton at March 15, 2015 09:06 AM (tR8og)

Not rumor; see post 13 in previous thread that is a non-book thread.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:35 AM (wlDny)

48 Finished Ocean at the End of the Lane. Meh. I think Neil Gaiman's style is starting to wear thin. Now reading Champlain's Dream by David Hackett Fischer. Very good so far but it makes me want to read about Henry IV.

Everyone have a great week.

Posted by: Achilles at March 15, 2015 09:35 AM (TpeIH)

49 Secretary of State John Kerry compared himself to Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and other great historical luminaries for having the courage and tenacity to tackle the most heinous enemy plaguing mankind climate change.

Weasel Zippers

G-D what a dumb fuck

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:35 AM (nzKvP)

50 Hi everybody. I've made good progress the last couple of weeks on my latest writing project.

A piece of historical fiction with the working title of Seamus Muldoon, An Accidental Hero, the story traces the lives of three brothers (farm boys from Colorado) during the three years following Pearl Harbor. One is an army enlistee, one is a young field artillery officer and the youngest brother, Seamus, is rejected by the Army due to flat feet. Destiny eventually leads the three men to the battlefields of Italy where they must collaborate using an experimental and controversial new weapons system to neutralize the German Army's infamous Anzio Annie rail gun. Can a little Muldoon ingenuity (with an assist from a remarkable hamster named Houdini) help the Allies break out of the stalemate at the Anzio beachhead?

I'm having fun.

Posted by: Muldoon, a solid man at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (NeFrd)

51 Re-reading The Secret Ways by Alistair MacLean. Great escapism.

Posted by: Count de Monet at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (JO9+V)

52 8
Despite Nixon birthing the EPA, detente with the Commies and for fucking
up Watergate (he should have apologized straight away), he save Israel
in 1973, against the advice of even Kissinger.

For that alone I will always sing his praises.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at March 15, 2015 09:11 AM (CMkNk)

Well he didn't birth it but he sure as hell delivered the baby and nominated the worst asshole in the universe to head it.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (wlDny)

53 I picked up a new Swiss Army knife recently and while researching the style I came across an unexpected book. "The Swiss Army Knife Owner's Manual" by Michael Young. He has written what has to be the ultimate reference on these things. He has the history of the two companies that made them, a brief but thorough history of Switzerland, and more than most people would need to know about the knives, their upkeep and their uses. Somehow he makes all of this entertaining while providing the facts. I always liked SAKs and this book is a treat for folks like me.

I bought it through Amazon but the author sells it from home. Worth the 20 bucks.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (FvdPb)

54 I read Final Battle, the sixth and final book in the space opera by Michail R. Hicks. Written in two trilogies: The Lost War trilogy (First Contact, Legend of the Sword, Dead Soul) and The Redemption Trilogy ( Empire, Confederation, Final Battle); it tells the story of the 100-year war set in the far future between Humans and Kreelans. Kreelans are dominated by blue-skinned female warriors who have a spirit bond with eachother and with their empress. They have managed to destroy every sentient species they have encountered until the time they have human contact.

I liked the story and writing very much. For an hour or two each day it provided an interesting, fun escape from the world of lying about e-mails, spinning Iranian centrifuges, etc.

One thing I found interesting about the writing of this space opera is that Hicks wrote The Redemption Trilogy first, beginning in the middle of the war. He then went back and wrote a trilogy prequel.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (eLZwy)

55 Thanks for the tip on Fallen Angels, AHE. I just read the description it looks very interesting.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 15, 2015 09:38 AM (rXB/r)

56
Except the bedouins have modern guns now.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at March 15, 2015 09:15 AM (iKXzz)

Interesting side note. The Afghans were for generations renowned for their long-range marksmanship, first with the traditional jezhail flintlocks and later with Lee-Enfields acquired from the Limeys.

However, at the time of the Soviet invasion in 1979, the country was suddenly flooded with AK47s and mountains of ammo. By the end of the occupation 9 years later, the Afghans had largely turned into typical third world spray-and-pray fighters, hosing down the countryside with magazine after magazine of 7.62x39, only hitting their targets through luck.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 15, 2015 09:38 AM (ynQIy)

57 I drifted away from Pratchett back in the early 2000s. Anyone have opinions about his works after "The Fifth Elephant?"

Posted by: Glen at March 15, 2015 09:38 AM (1x4u/)

58 After Nixon got the 1960 election stolen from him he sort of went nuts aka paranoid.

Sad, he was a smart and honorable man, unlike Gore who really did not win, but fought for months.

Always wanted the love from the East Coast crowd and never got it.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:40 AM (0FSuD)

59 24 I love Lucifer's Hammer, Vic. I always considered
that to be one of an unofficial trilogy of the best books that Niven and
Pournelle ever put out: Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's eye, and
Inferno. Unrelated, but just their best.

Posted by: Sharkman at March 15, 2015 09:23 AM (rXB/r)

I think I tried Mote but didn't like it, but I do love Lucifer's Hammer.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:40 AM (wlDny)

60 Looking for a book recommendation: does anyone know any good books on how to build mobiles? My son is autistic, but he has an uncanny knack for constructing weird Rube Goldberg contraptions that are perfectly balanced, often with running water making them go. I think he might be good at making mobiles, so I'm looking for a how-to book. Not the simple little baby mobiles you hang over a crib, but the complex Calder-style ones.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at March 15, 2015 09:40 AM (VBbCO)

61 Book thread!!!!
*covers book thread with embarrassing hugs and smoochies*

Posted by: @votermom at March 15, 2015 09:41 AM (cbfNE)

62 Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 09:37 AM (eLZwy)

You look like you would be a fan of the book , Armor by John Steakley.

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:42 AM (U8pol)

63 Any suggestions as what to do with old or not needed tablets?

We set one up for a radio in the garage, just add speaker!

Posted by: FCF at March 15, 2015 09:42 AM (kejii)

64 29
Any suggestions as what to do with old or not needed tablets?

They are so cheap now, I order one and then realize I have no use for it.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM (0FSuD)

If you don't have any relative who wants it, give it to the local good will store or the Salvation Army

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:42 AM (wlDny)

65 49
G-D what a dumb fuck

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:35 AM (nzKvP)

I was just thinking of an alt-history in which Kerry won the Presidency in 2004 and named Obama as Secretary of State. Hard to tell which would be worse.

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 09:43 AM (sdi6R)

66 @53

Thanks for the tip. I have a lot of Swiss Army Knives, my favorite is the Ranger. It has a lot of stuff, but is not to big. Carry it everyday.

http://tinyurl.com/n7ejesd

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 09:43 AM (0FSuD)

67 36 Sharkman, I would pair Niven, Pournelle and Flynn's
"Fallen Angels" with "Lucifer's Hammer". I loved the Dante's Inferno
duology as well.

Sometimes I hate this thread. It makes me want to put down whatever I'm reading and reread something else!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 09:28 AM (KH1sk)

I liked Fallen Angels as well.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:45 AM (wlDny)

68 Hebrew Hammer Al Rosen, former Cleveland Indians third baseman, dies at 91
Rosen won the 1953 American League Most Valuable Player award, the last time an Indians player has been named the years MVP.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 15, 2015 09:46 AM (nzKvP)

69 Operation Chaos. It's ok to soften her up but don't mortally wound her. I see tears of idealistic bespectacled east coast college girls flowing election night.

Posted by: Anthropology Guy at March 15, 2015 09:47 AM (lPdaT)

70 Met Pratchett once.
Really got the impression that he liked to be adored.

Yeah, I didn't want to mention this in the obit, but in the book thread some time ago, another moron related that he also met him and his report was that Pratchett seemed to be a bit too full of himself.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 09:48 AM (PAmqR)

71 43
I have to admit Hillary got screwed in the primaries. How do you win all top eight electoral states and lose the Primary?

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:31 AM (U8pol)

She won every "primary State" and Lost all the "Caucus States". That and the Democrat "special electors" allowed the Party to override vote and put the Choom in place. It was an early showing that there was alarge part of the Party that hated her.

And BTW, the Republican Party has similar "special electors" as well.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 09:48 AM (wlDny)

72 If you are a Nero Wolfe fan, and you should be, you will enjoy "Archie Meets Nero Wolfe" that OM mentioned in the post. Goldsborough did an great job capturing the characters style and the flow of the original stories. He has written a number of other Nero Wolfe books and the two I've read are good.

I hope you folks discover the original Nero Wolfe stories. They are just plain fun. Rex Stout wrote them over the course of several decades and they reflect the changes in society while keeping the mysteries challenging. Besides, any author who can use the word 'thaumaturge' in dialogue deserves respect.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 09:50 AM (FvdPb)

73 Meant to delete the words Operation Chaos in the comment. That doesn't apply and didn't work.

Posted by: Anthropology Guy at March 15, 2015 09:50 AM (lPdaT)

74 Good morning! I am reading the Harry Potter series with the kids. Rowling's writing shows that she was heavily influenced by C.S. Lewis. Has she ever acknowledged this?

Posted by: jmel at March 15, 2015 09:51 AM (cfFqn)

75 G-D what a dumb fuck

John Kerry is an embarrassment to public life.

So Obama is president and he needs to pick a Secretary of State, and so the best he can do is Cankles and then John Kerry? Really? Is that the best they can do?

Is the Democrat bench really that weak?

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 09:53 AM (PAmqR)

76 I am finishing up Pandora's Planet by Christopher Anvil.
I lucked into an original school library hardback, but Baen re-issued it with additional stories from the same universe.

Anvil was a classic liberal on the level of H Beam Piper, and actually was published in Analog side-by-side with him, was a prolific short story writer and gut-wrenchingly funny, especially for those of us who have had to dance with bureaucracy and reports and petty stupidity in the face of failure.

Anvil has the tendency to make his main characters face petty bureaucratic wrangling, and then take up the tools to correct it and apply them with glee, like someone playing whack-a-mole with an 8 lb maul.
Some of the issues he wrote about in the late 60's are very relevant today, especially abdication of responsibility, the corrosive effects of bureaucratic empire building, and the erosion of the goals of liberty.

Baen has published most of his shorts and all of his novels. They are all worth reading.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 15, 2015 09:54 AM (t//F+)

77 I'm currently reading "Alphabetical" (mentioned here a week or two ago), and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of English.

Well, in between working on my Skyrim fanfic, Yssha's Tale -- which can be found in the Elder Scrolls section of Fanfiction.net, if anyone's interested.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 15, 2015 09:54 AM (wDTzS)

78
You look like you would be a fan of the book , Armor by John Steakley.

Posted by: Night Darkness Spending Time at March 15, 2015 09:42 AM (U8pol)
Thanks for the suggestion. It looks very interesting to me.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 09:54 AM (eLZwy)

79 " sooo longing for the refreshing sincerity of a Warren/Sanders ticket."

I heard almost those exact words from an urban douchebag not a week ago.

Scary effing times.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 15, 2015 09:59 AM (OCcU9)

80 The second book I read this week was The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwell. This is the eighth work in the author's Saxon Tales series and moves the story forward of the founding of England to the early tenth century. I think Cornwell is one of the best writers of historical fiction. Reading this book, I learned a little about the times and its peoples, but mostly I enjoyed a good story excellently written.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 10:00 AM (eLZwy)

81 Barron's says Democrats want "small gradual change"? What the...what the...!

I taught SAT prep and told the kids, hey, it's totally liberal, but you are just writing an essay for the grade. But this is just egregious. Awful. Indoctrination.

Posted by: PJ at March 15, 2015 10:01 AM (cHuNI)

82 I am really going to miss Terry Pratchett. He wrote a lot of memorable characters, and I'm curious -- do the rest of you have a favorite, or maybe a most-disliked character?

For me, I'd say favorite is Granny Weatherwax, and most-disliked is that stupid mage (can't remember his name) who ran around with the Luggage.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 15, 2015 10:06 AM (wDTzS)

83 "...Bernard Cornwell..."

Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 10:00 AM (eLZwy)

He really is something. Everything I have read has been a pleasure. Not a great writer, but a skilled and interesting one.

[Agincourt was a great read, if you haven't hit that one already.]

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 15, 2015 10:07 AM (Zu3d9)

84 That political spectrum graphic is offensive on so many levels.

Liberal: Those in favor of small gradual change...Most Democrats

Conservative: Those against change...Most Republicans

That explains how Obama won on a platform of "change", without ever articulating just what he meant by it. Those stupid Republicans think we should still be riding around in horse-drawn buggies, because they're against "change".

And don't get me started about putting Fascism on the far right. It was an outgrowth of Socialism, so it properly belongs on the far left.

This is what they're teaching in AP History? God help us all.

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 10:08 AM (sdi6R)

85 Good morning! I am reading the Harry Potter series with the kids. Rowling's writing shows that she was heavily influenced by C.S. Lewis. Has she ever acknowledged this?
Posted by: jmel at March 15, 2015 09:51 AM (cfFqn)

Dunno, but I saw a Daily Show clip where she was on and, because she was on the dole when she wrote and the series has made so much money, she and Jon Stewart were offering this as proof of how awesomely effective socialism is.

I don't *think* they were joking.

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at March 15, 2015 10:09 AM (7RXcs)

86 "How do you win all top eight electoral states and lose the Primary?"

Easy. Voting rules. Superdelegates. Funny bizness.

Watch to see lots of this in '16, on both sides. Remember all the rule changes at the R convention back in '12 ? Watch aghast as Walker wins all the primaries and Jeb gets nominated anyway.

*cues up Nelson Muntz*

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 15, 2015 10:09 AM (OCcU9)

87 Like it makes any damned difference.

Fort Sumter was a good idea.

Posted by: Dan Patterson at March 15, 2015 10:10 AM (x5/Qc)

88 BTW, Nero Wolfe had a whole townhouse on West 35th Street, not an apartment. The whole top floor was dedicated to growing orchids. A huge restaurant-quality kitchen on the bottom floor. Multiple guest bedrooms where clients could hide from police. And an office that could call together a dozen suspects for the unmasking of the murderer.

Posted by: Little Miss Spellcheck at March 15, 2015 10:10 AM (4pyhg)

89 This will have to hurt the young morons that still fcuk

http://tinyurl.com/kz9yzpr

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:12 AM (0FSuD)

90 Left: for fairness and justice and decency and puppies

Right: for greed, lynchings and poisonous spiders

'bout right?

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at March 15, 2015 10:13 AM (7RXcs)

91
What I have to recommend is not a read, but a listen. I have started listening to podcasts of the "Have Gun Will Travel" radio series and am thoroughly enjoying it.

First, a caveat. There were two podcasts of this series available: one under the Old Time Radio banner and the other not (in my old time radio store, this latter had a picture of Richard Boone for the "cover"). Avoid the former like the plague -- the sound quality was lower, it appeared to be incomplete and, worst of all, it had all the ads removed, particularly cigarette ads because the editor's mangina got caught up in his twisted knickers.

As for the latter, it retained all ads that were aired on the broadcasts over CBS Radio and to hear them is a real pleasure. On-air judgmental and moral pronouncements were not forbidden back in the late 50s / early 60s and it is a breath of fresh air to hear them again on what was a public medium.

The radio series itself came after the television series had started, so many of the stories were taken from the television scripts with some modifications. Gene Roddenberry was the author of many of the first stories, BTW.

John Dehner played Paladin. His voice sounded familiar to me, but I could not put a face to it until I looked him up on imdb.com.

These are well worth listening to, particularly for noting the great contrasts between 60 years ago and today.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 10:14 AM (bWFHa)

92 90 Left: for fairness and justice and decency and puppies

Right: for greed, lynchings and poisonous spiders

'bout right?
Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at March 15, 2015 10:13 AM (7RXcs)

You get an A+!

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 10:16 AM (sdi6R)

93 Huge Rex Stout fan and was talking about the A and E TV series with the Old Man just yesterday. It was nicely done and it was certainly unfortunate that the cable network decided to kill the series prematurely.

For those of you unfamiliar with him, Rex Stout was one of the founding members of the Baker Street Irregulars. It started as a drinking/lunch club with the hook that the members play the literary game in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson were real people. The BSI now has scion societies all across the world even publishes a magazine.

Nero Wolfe was based on Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock's smarter brother) who never left his residence except to go to the Diogenes Club. Rex Stout wanted to look at how a corpulent detective that rarely left his house would solve mysteries. I have the entire series and they are fun reads.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 15, 2015 10:18 AM (8+0sF)

94 Reading Huxley's Brave New World again, it's a great reference manual

Posted by: Valerie Jarret (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) at March 15, 2015 10:20 AM (5dmRF)

95 I don't feel discriminated against by the Vagina Monologues. I have a vagina, in my mind. I AM a real woman. Deal with it.

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 10:20 AM (cIoI4)

96 I want to thank the ette who rec'd How to Writte Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. Our county lib system has exactly one copy. I am thinking of getting my own copy.

Posted by: @votermom at March 15, 2015 10:20 AM (cbfNE)

97 I found a 1950 copy of the Bluejacket's manual and under "Your career in the Navy", it said the Navy offers "A clean, wholesome, and honorable position in life". The word "wholesome" elicited peals of raucous laughter from squid coworkers.

The rating specialty marks (i.e., cogs, chippin' hammer, keys, bolt and quill, etc) haven't changed, but I wonder if new ones have been added recently. I saw a very steampunky "airship" distinguishing mark that needs to be reintroduced if it isn't currently in use.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 10:20 AM (KH1sk)

98 That Hillary pic should probably be below the fold.

Posted by: steevy at March 15, 2015 10:21 AM (KETbL)

99 @86 >Watch to see lots of this in '16, on both sides

Commonwealth of Virginia RINOs debating whether to have a presidential primary or convention for 2016.

At least I had the pleasure of helping to primary out super-weasel Eric Cantor in VA-7.

Limbaugh says being in Washington corrupts
even the well intentioned. I think he is right. Dave Brat is OK, so far. (But Cantor was OK for a while.)
***
Book question -- Anyone reading Charles C. W. Cooke's "The Conservatarian Manifesto"? Some reviews suggest that Cooke is less libertarian on size of government than he is Federalist. If the states want big govt, OK by him. Libertarian on social issues.

Posted by: doug at March 15, 2015 10:21 AM (9K5Rk)

100 These are well worth listening to, particularly for noting the great contrasts between 60 years ago and today.

Do you have a link?

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:21 AM (PAmqR)

101 My only problem with Hillary is that she's too rough when giving face. You can tell by those teeth.

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 10:22 AM (cIoI4)

102 97
I found a 1950 copy of the Bluejacket's manual and under "Your career in
the Navy", it said the Navy offers "A clean, wholesome, and honorable
position in life". The word "wholesome" elicited peals of raucous
laughter from squid coworkers.

My 50's Boy Scout Field Handbook warms about the uncleanliness of masturbation.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:22 AM (0FSuD)

103 I think the Have Gun Will Travel radio show came after the tv show.

Posted by: steevy at March 15, 2015 10:23 AM (KETbL)

104 I am really going to miss Terry Pratchett. He wrote a lot of memorable characters, and I'm curious -- do the rest of you have a favorite, or maybe a most-disliked character?

My favorite is Carrot.

Also, I like the way he developed Vimes over the years from drunken souse to devoted family man.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:24 AM (PAmqR)

105 My Mom was a big Nero Wolf fan, and Agatha Christie.

Back in the day, I read a few Ellery Queen novels.

If I'm going to read fiction, I'll go more towards Murakami or Kundera.

Posted by: shibumi who is awaiting SMOD at March 15, 2015 10:26 AM (qomUz)

106 Gowdy on Meet The Press

They have lit him so he looks like Palpitine

Posted by: ThunderB, PinUpWhoreBabyMachine at March 15, 2015 10:27 AM (zOTsN)

107 Warns, not warms, ha ha

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:28 AM (0FSuD)

108 66. Nip Sip, Thanks for the link to the Ranger SAK. I looked at that one but went with the Swisschamp. The pliers are more effective than I would have thought. A bit large for pocket carry but okay for cargo pants or a belt sheath. Unless I had to dress out big game, I think the Swisschamp and a good belt ax would be an excellent survival combination.

I've been using a Tinker for EDC but plan to get the Super Tinker soon. I want the scissors and that little hook device.

BTW, the book has a chapter on improvised uses, including using the knife as a mini-crossbow. The author does have his fun.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 10:28 AM (FvdPb)

109 My vagina is so strong, that if you stuck your hand in, you would not be able to pull it back out, if I decided to clench. I've apprehended several sex offenders that way.

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 10:29 AM (XrHO0)

110 Niven and Pournelle

Lucifer's Hammer

The in God's Eye

Footfall
And by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling

Go Tell the Spartans
and
Prince of Sparta

The founding of Sparta, the downfall of the CoDo and the rise of the first Empire of Man. These two books run along the same timeline as the Falkenberg's Legion stories.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative.... waiting for spring at March 15, 2015 10:29 AM (+1T7c)

111 I liked Granny Weatherwax for a lot of reasons, but initially because she was the template my step-mother and all my step-sisters were built to.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (t//F+)

112 Eric Greitens has a new book called "Resilience." This book sounds interesting to me. I enjoyed Greitens' "The Heart and the Fist". Anyone reading "Resilience?"

From ericgreitens dot com slash books --

"You cannot 'bounce back' from hardship. You can only move through it. There is a path through pain to wisdom, through suffering to strength, and through fear to courage -- if we have the virtue of resillience."

There is a ~30 minute podcast with the author on the "Art of Manliness" web site.

Posted by: doug at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (9K5Rk)

113 Nip, I don't remember that but I remember it explaining that wet dreams happen and aren't your fault.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (iKXzz)

114 So ValJar was the one who leaked the email story. It was a hit.

Posted by: Lauren at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (MYCIw)

115 "86
"How do you win all top eight electoral states and lose the Primary?"

Easy. Voting rules. Superdelegates. Funny bizness.

Watch to see lots of this in '16, on both sides. Remember all the
rule changes at the R convention back in '12 ? Watch aghast as Walker
wins all the primaries and Jeb gets nominated anyway.

*cues up Nelson Muntz*

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 15, 2015 10:09 AM (OCcU9)"

So who are the third party candidates for 2016?

Posted by: Obnoxious A-Hole at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (KDbAT)

116 #2

Because it would have been far worse for her prospects if Obama were a one-termer and she had to be up against opposition incumbent.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (IdCqF)

117 My favorite Pournelle book was King David's Spaceship

Posted by: Kindltot at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (t//F+)

118 @108

I have a champ, just too big for me to carry. I like the magnifying glass.

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (0FSuD)

119 This is one of those fights where you want both sides to lose.

I want both sides to succeed in destroying the other.

Posted by: t-bird at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (FcR7P)

120 For those of you unfamiliar with him, Rex Stout was one of the founding members of the Baker Street Irregulars. It started as a drinking/lunch club with the hook that the members play the literary game in which Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson were real people. The BSI now has scion societies all across the world even publishes a magazine.

I'm convinced that 2,000 years from now, historians will be debating whether Sherlock Holmes was a real person.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (PAmqR)

121 Gowdy was awesome, killer on meet the press. Very very smart

Posted by: ThunderB, PinUpWhoreBabyMachine at March 15, 2015 10:32 AM (zOTsN)

122 Oh, and she's supporting either O'Malley or Fauxcahantus.

Everything we suspected was true.

Posted by: Lauren at March 15, 2015 10:33 AM (MYCIw)

123 Vetinari believes in the concept of democracy but he doesn't believe the species that comprise Ankh-Morpork are equipped for it. In much the same way he can smile upon using your nose as a manipulatory member if you are an elephant.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 10:33 AM (IdCqF)

124 My favorite Pournelle book was King David's Spaceship
Posted by: Kindltot

That occurs at the same time as "The Mote in God's Eye"; at the end of the story, the Navy ship gets called away by a "crisis" in the Coal Sack sector.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative.... waiting for spring at March 15, 2015 10:33 AM (+1T7c)

125 For once, Wiki is useful

Navy rating badges and Insignia

http://tinyurl.com/qfpop

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 15, 2015 10:33 AM (j3OmN)

126 113
Nip, I don't remember that but I remember it explaining that wet dreams happen and aren't your fault.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (iKXzz)

Yes, Page 464. Also mentions don't try to cheat nature, aka, beat off.

God, we are old!

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:34 AM (0FSuD)

127 So I added two books to my "Started and never to be finished" list at LibraryThing:

"The Global War on Morris" written by a Dem congresscritter from New York, Steve Israel. If I had realized that, I would not have wasted my time. Secret message: everything is Dick Cheney's fault, and Karl Rove is lurking in every corner. I'm sure it got around to "Bush is a doofus" eventually, but I didn't last more than about five pages, if that.

"The Narcissist Next Door" sounded like a promising idea since it's a topic I find interesting. Unfortunately, the author is a leftist idiot. His first example of a narcissist is Ted Cruz because of that filibuster Cruz pulled last year. His second example was some Republican back-bencher who voted "for the government shutdown" because he didn't think Republicans were getting the respect they were due.

At that point, I hit Eject on my CD player and gave up. As I said in my review at the library, this fool has the biggest narcissist in US History sitting in the Oval Office, and he can't see it for his political blinders: someone who actually meets an awful lot of the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder and this clown can't see it at all.

In better news, I am reading my second book in the Bird series of murder mysteries by Donna Andrews. I listened to "We'll always have Parrots" and I am reading an earlier one called "Murder with Peacocks." So far, these are quite enjoyable light reading.

And, at the recommendation of my confessor, I have started, just barely, The Confessions of St. Augustine. Everyone always says "St. AuGUStin" but I'm from Florida so I keep dropping "St. AUgusteen" everywhere. I get strange looks with that one.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 15, 2015 10:35 AM (4muK/)

128 The way Obama secured the nomination from Hillary was a combination of suerpdelegates and the fact that he won all the caucas states by bussing in out of towners. It was a system just waiting to be rigged, and he rigged it.

Posted by: Lauren at March 15, 2015 10:36 AM (MYCIw)

129 "113
Nip, I don't remember that but I remember it explaining that wet dreams happen and aren't your fault.

Posted by: Mr. Dave at March 15, 2015 10:30 AM (iKXzz)"

What nonsense. Of course they are your fault. These things would never happen if your mind were not filled with impure thoughts and dirty lust, you vile little worm.

Posted by: Sister Assumpta Marie at March 15, 2015 10:36 AM (KDbAT)

130 @125

Yeah and there is a Naval corpsman!

Posted by: Injuin Blackfoot Barry at March 15, 2015 10:37 AM (0FSuD)

131 I'm not sure who I'd like to punch more: the Gawd-awfully fugly bitch shown at the top of the article, or the offensively stupid bastard who had the incredibly poor taste to place a picture of that Gawd-awfully fugly bitch there. Because its impossible to unsee something you've already seen, at the very least the stupid bastard deserves a vigorous belaboring about the head and shoulders with a bottle of brain bleach.

Posted by: mac at March 15, 2015 10:37 AM (a3fHY)

132 100 These are well worth listening to, particularly for noting the great contrasts between 60 years ago and today.

Do you have a link?
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:21 AM (PAmqR)

As I said, I am listening to these via podcast through my iPhone, but they are available without going through that channel, too.

Here is a link to the series with ads intact that I recommended.

http://tinyurl.com/ny2ws7p

Here is a link to the "edit out the nasty unhealthful ads" Old Time Radio version, which I do not recommend.

http://tinyurl.com/cyhvsr6

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 10:39 AM (bWFHa)

133
24.
I'm reading Hell or Richmond by Ralph Peters. It's about the Wilderness Campaign in 1864. Pretty good read so far.

Recently read Cain @ Gettysburg - great book - may be better than Killer Angels

Posted by: Surfcaster at March 15, 2015 10:40 AM (qm7R8)

134 I'm convinced that 2,000 years from now, historians will be debating whether Sherlock Holmes was a real person.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:31 AM (PAmqR)

Yes, you're probably correct. I've had several magazine articles published myself and Doyle was frequently linking Holmes and Watson to reality. Just as a little example, Watson came back from Afghanistan on the troopship Orontes and I had friend go through the London Times (it's online and searchable) and found a reference to the Orontes for the right date.

Doyle lost track of the internal logic of the series and that's part of the appeal of the Sherlockian hobby: make sense of the internal inconsistencies and hints in the series.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 15, 2015 10:40 AM (8+0sF)

135
And BTW, the Republican Party has similar "special electors" as well.
Posted by: Vic

Boy, remember waning days of the 2012 primaries around here, when it looked like Romney might need those Supers to drag him over the finish line to a first ballot majority?

The party hacks suddenly found a profound new respect for the idea of self-perpetuating party bosses. First, they insisted the Republican didn't have Supers. Then they fell back to admitting they existed, but insisted they were profoundly different from the Democrats version. Then they were finally reduced to screaming at people that the wrong sorts of people were ruing the GOP and they needed to just STFU and Win With Mitt.

Such fun.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 15, 2015 10:41 AM (kdS6q)

136 I keep my penis and balls in the freezer. Once a year I bring them out, and mock them and spit upon them, to assert my empowerment over those horrid things which have enslaved and degraded me for most of my life. So nice to be free!

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 10:42 AM (XrHO0)

137 Last week someone recommended-

"Island 731" by Jeremy Robinson

as an Airport Book(TM).

So, as I had to travel hither and yon for work this week, I picked it up.

"Island 731" is another "Jurassic Park"-type clone in much the same way that "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" is a clone of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Crichton wrote whip-smart books that took cutting edge science and (for the most part) spun out believeable plots with pancake-thin characters who had interesting things to say.

"Island 731" is the story of an ecological do-gooder crew exploring the floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean who are marooned upon a mysterious island that was once a base for the WWII Japanese biological/medical war crime unit, 731.

And, wouldn't you know it, the hijinks on that island kept ensuing even after the war ended.

With the blessing of the US military!!!!111!!!

Okay, so the good news:

Jeremy Robinson can write a popcorn book really well.

He keeps the plot moving without straining. Is able to end almost every single chapter with a cliff-hanger that makes you want to keep reading. His prose is clean, his descriptions crisp.

In short, he's everything you want in a popcorn book writer. You will read this book to the end.

On the Crichton scale he falters-

His science isn't.

His characters are Communion-wafer thin- the stalwart hero, the wise-cracking sidekick, the damsel in distress, and she is a damsel in distress, only as per modern popcorn convention, she's a bit bit of an SJW pill and a scold.

His dangerous chimera critters are fun for the most part with a few imagination fails. But, buddy, if you've ever wanted your crocodiles to have squid tentacles-
this is the book for you.

His villains.....meh. Pretty much mustache twirlers.

But again, the author writes airport/popcorn books really well.

You will read to the end.

So, if you want the equivalent of a bowl of Sugar Smacks floating in Coca Cola and to shut out the real world for a while,

Check out "Island 731".

Posted by: naturalfake at March 15, 2015 10:44 AM (KUa85)

138
Dunno, but I saw a Daily Show clip where she was on
and, because she was on the dole when she wrote and the series has made
so much money, she and Jon Stewart were offering this as proof of how
awesomely effective socialism is.

I don't *think* they were joking.

Posted by: ghost of hallelujah at March 15, 2015 10:09 AM (7RXcs)

Well, the dole and the big honkin' literary grant she received at the beginning of her writing career. I'm sure she glossed over that, didn't fit the narrative.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 15, 2015 10:44 AM (ynQIy)

139 @134 >Doyle lost track of the internal logic of the series and that's part of the appeal of the Sherlockian hobby: make sense of the internal inconsistencies and hints in the series.

The BBC's "Sherlock" has had quite a bit of fun with the hobbyists and their theories. Gatiss and Moffat are pretty good writers, although the Dr Who fans might disagree.

Posted by: doug at March 15, 2015 10:46 AM (9K5Rk)

140 Oh so Hillary was a lying conniving bitch when she was younger; this can't possibly be true she's the smartest woman in America and she really cares about her subjects, oops sorry I meant to say her fellow citizens.

Posted by: ADK46er at March 15, 2015 10:46 AM (gtYqw)

141 #85

What they left out was that she quit a perfectly good job and went on welfare so she could write full time. Must be nice. She is one individual in whose defense I would not object to absurd taxation levels.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 10:47 AM (IdCqF)

142 Well folks. its 63F outside and sunny. Gonna go finish a few items of yard work and then hot the porch rocker.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 15, 2015 10:47 AM (wlDny)

143 Another vote for the Nero Wolfe series that was on A and E. Classy sets, great acting from the ensemble cast and followed the books pretty closely. Cancelled by those a..holes at A and E after just two seasons. (Wonder if it is the same bunch of idiots who cancelled Longmire?)

I got the DVDs for the series, something I rarely do, but the shows are that good.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 10:48 AM (FvdPb)

144 I missed the coffee thread below-

if you want a really nice cup of coffee, one that you can drink every single morning without tiring of it:

Check out

"Santo Domingo Coffee".

You can buy it on Amazon.

It's great stuff. Nothing fancy. Just flavorful.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 15, 2015 10:49 AM (KUa85)

145 "106 Gowdy on Meet The Press
They have lit him so he looks like Palpitine"

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Posted by: pep at March 15, 2015 10:50 AM (4nR9/)

146 When I'm dressed as a geisha, all the Japanese men fawn over me. This gives me hope that I can pass as a woman. That, and the fact that when I hear the Bee Gees sing "More Than A Woman", I feel like they're singing about me!

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 10:51 AM (XrHO0)

147
The "Ella West" episode of the Paladin series has two of the types of ads that you'd never her today -- one for CBS Radio and the other along the line of a PSA.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 10:51 AM (bWFHa)

148 That chart: "Sams Cullotes"? And most Republicans are conservatives? The guide should have been pulped for incompetence, quite aside from the Clarence Thomas = KKK thing.
'Girondists' is also misspelled and it should have been 'Emigres'... masculine plural.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 15, 2015 10:52 AM (kivUY)

149 Oh my God, Barney Frank now has a beard? Why is ANYONE interviewing his fat ghey ass?

Posted by: Nip Sip at March 15, 2015 10:53 AM (0FSuD)

150 I'm not sure who I'd like to punch more: the Gawd-awfully fugly bitch shown at the top of the article, or the offensively stupid bastard who had the incredibly poor taste to place a picture of that Gawd-awfully fugly bitch there. Because its impossible to unsee something you've already seen, at the very least the stupid bastard deserves a vigorous belaboring about the head and shoulders with a bottle of brain bleach.

Well, I'm certainly glad you enjoyed it.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:53 AM (PAmqR)

151 Navy rating badges and Insignia

http://tinyurl.com/qfpop
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 15, 2015 10:33 AM (j3OmN)
---
Thanks VIA. I figured in the age of mass comms and cyber-whatnot there would be some new insignia. What was even more interesting was what has been phased out (lithographer, torpedoman's mate, draftsman, postal clerk).

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 10:54 AM (KH1sk)

152 Read Jinxers last Sunday. A fun read that I can hand to any of my kids with no worries.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 15, 2015 10:54 AM (GDulk)

153 127, I've read all but the two latest Donna Andrews 'bird' books and they are fun. It helps a bit to read them in order as the characters' development influences the plots. My favorite is "Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos". There are sections that had me gasping with laughter.

I met Donna Andrews a couple of times at Malice Domestic. A very nice lady.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 10:55 AM (FvdPb)

154 Perhaps the worst book ever written. Not only is it offensive, the history in the description is idiotically wrong and, of course, the prog condescension reeks.

http://tinyurl.com/mkr567v

Posted by: The Great White Snark at March 15, 2015 10:57 AM (LImiJ)

155 Has anyone here done the volunteer reading for LibriVox? I'm trying to get Eldest Kidlet interested in doing so as here community project since she was frequently complimented on here reading aloud while in public school.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 15, 2015 10:57 AM (GDulk)

156 Here is a link to the series with ads intact that I recommended.

Thank you.

I also found this one:

http://www.podcastchart.com/podcasts/have-gun-will-travel

I wonder which one it is.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:58 AM (PAmqR)

157 Nothing much for me - aside from adding more illustrations to an ongoing huge project, and spending most of Saturday at a library-sponsored book-fest in Boerne ... at which, alas, neither I or very many of the other authors sold much (since it is only the second time they have done this) but I did get to meet or meet again some of the local authors who write historical fiction, or just plain historical of a local sort. I was sitting across from Jeff Morgenthaler, who has a splendid single-volume history of the German settlers in the Hill Country - German Settlement of the Texas Hill Country, which covered in straight history pretty much the same territory that I covered in fiction in the Adelsverein Trilogy. We were at the next table to Jack Lyndon Thomas, who turned out to be a Vietnam vet who wrote a number of novels based on that experience. He and my daughter hit it off based on their mutual combat zone experiences. His latest book is The Monsoon Killed the Tiger - a prize in my book for intriguing title.
Sabrina's advice for writing an adventure to appeal to teen boys is spot on, BTW. I did the same in Lone Star Sons.

Posted by: Sgt Mom at March 15, 2015 10:58 AM (95iDF)

158 Anyone who hasn`t read Amy Lynn by Old Sailors Poet should. Myself not yet, finally remembered to tell Mama to get it on her kindle. She fell asleep after reading and woke up reading to finish it. Said it was one of the most enjoyable books she had ever read. (she reads a lot, loved Vince Flynn).

Posted by: rightlysouthern(aim low boys,they still in wagon ruts) at March 15, 2015 10:59 AM (eO8qj)

159 Posted by: The Great White Snark at March 15, 2015 10:57 AM (LImiJ)

Looks like they used Google Translate for the blurb.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 15, 2015 10:59 AM (GDulk)

160 One thing I liked about the Discworld series was how the star of one book could be a supporting player in another. This would be very difficult to do in a film or TV production and many authors couldn't manage it within their own world.

That, and his credit for the first Discworld game:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199467/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 11:00 AM (IdCqF)

161 So, if you want the equivalent of a bowl of Sugar Smacks floating in Coca Cola and to shut out the real world for a while,

Check out "Island 731".

Posted by: naturalfake at March 15, 2015 10:44 AM (KUa85)
---
Naturalfake, I wrote that when I was only a few chapters into it. It began as fast-paced, rip-snortin' trash, but by the middle it had descended to sub-par Crichton retread, and by the time it checked off the inevitable "the U.S. govt is behind it" box I read it only to satisfy my completist impulses.

So I apologize.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 11:01 AM (KH1sk)

162 Oh my God, Barney Frank now has a beard? Why is ANYONE interviewing his fat ghey ass?

Because Frank is what passes for an "elder statesman" in the Democrat Party.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 11:01 AM (PAmqR)

163 Oh my God, Barney Frank now has a beard?

It's a bit late for that.

Posted by: Zap Rowsdower at March 15, 2015 11:01 AM (MMC8r)

164
154 Perhaps the worst book ever written. Not only is it offensive, the history in the description is idiotically wrong and, of course, the prog condescension reeks.

http://tinyurl.com/mkr567v
Posted by: The Great White Snark at March 15, 2015 10:57 AM (LImiJ)

And the great educator spelled "parody" as "paraody" to boot

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 11:02 AM (bWFHa)

165 Re: Lucifer's Hammer - Niven and Pournelle are working on a another called "Lucifer's Anvil". My understanding is that it's in the same vein as Hammer but not a sequel or direct follow-up.

I have also heard that they are doing the third book in the Inferno series.

(Pournelle appears a couple times a year on the This Week in Twit podacst. He was on a couple weeks ago attempting to explain that Net Neutrality was a bad idea. He didn't make much headway.)

Posted by: chad at March 15, 2015 11:03 AM (gYowz)

166 From 142: "Well folks. its 63F outside and sunny. Gonna go finish a few items of yard work and then hot (sic) the porch rocker. "

No such luck here. It's 26 degrees and dropping (it was 33 degrees at 8:00 AM) and now it's snowing. Just can't wait to do some more shoveling.

Posted by: ADK46er at March 15, 2015 11:03 AM (gtYqw)

167 The reason the MSM and the liberal Democratic base are not lining up behind Hillary is that she is not liberal enough for them. They want Fauxcahantus. After all, once you have a communist as President, you want to keep one in that position.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 15, 2015 11:04 AM (eLZwy)

168 Perhaps the worst book ever written. Not only is it offensive, the history in the description is idiotically wrong and, of course, the prog condescension reeks.

It has a two typos on the cover.

IN THE TITLE.

Posted by: Zap Rowsdower at March 15, 2015 11:04 AM (MMC8r)

169 #55

If you get the Kindle or Nook versions, I made those.

My horn NEEDED tooting.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 11:04 AM (IdCqF)

170
156 Here is a link to the series with ads intact that I recommended.

Thank you.

I also found this one:

http://www.podcastchart.com/podcasts/have-gun-will-travel

I wonder which one it is.
Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 10:58 AM (PAmqR)

Good catch! That link appears to be the exact one to which I am listening. It is quirky in that the episodes appear in inverse chronological order.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 11:05 AM (bWFHa)

171
Oh my God, Barney Frank now has a beard?
Posted by: Nip Sip

I will follow him, follow him, wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep, keep me away
Away from my love

Posted by: Andrew "I Luvs 'em Hairy" Sullivan - Blogger Emeritus

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 15, 2015 11:05 AM (kdS6q)

172 My horn NEEDED tooting.
Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 11:04 AM (IdCqF)
---
5...4...3...2...1...

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 11:06 AM (KH1sk)

173 Can't believe nobody hopped on that. Everyone must be on the new thread.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 11:09 AM (KH1sk)

174 If you elect me in 2016, I will be your first transgendered, lesbian president. A twofer! I will restore American power by seducing all the world's leaders, although I won't tell the male ones that I'm gay. I'm looking forward to Andrea Merkel, in particular.

Posted by: Brucella Vagenner at March 15, 2015 11:10 AM (XrHO0)

175 Well the US government really did let a lot of Japanese scientists slide for warcrimes so they could continue there research for us.Particuarly their biological warfare experiments.

Posted by: steevy at March 15, 2015 11:10 AM (KETbL)

176 #165

'Anvil' has been in limbo for a long time and is probably not going to happen. At the time, Jerry was recovering from brain cancer and his recent stroke has not made things any better. But it isn't impossible. Right now, he, Larry, and Steve Barnes are working on a new Avalon story. Larry is younger than Jerry but no spring chicken himself, so I expect a lot of the labor is falling on Steve.

In a side note, does anyone have a set of Survive magazine from the late 70s / early 80s? I'm trying to gather up all of Jerry works for collecting as e-books. I just handed in the last of the There Will Be War series for Vox Day's company to publish anew. So now I'm looking for other stuff that has been long out of print.

Posted by: Epobirs at March 15, 2015 11:11 AM (IdCqF)

177
Perhaps the worst book ever written.
Posted by: The Great White Snark

With the recent flood of self-published books, especially of women's "stroke books", one of the things I've been keeping track of are the comically awful pen names.

"Trixie Stilletto", author of 'Hot Rubber' is high on the list.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 15, 2015 11:12 AM (kdS6q)

178 Speaking of Harry Potter, the fanfic novel, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, has been completed. This work has been in progress since 2010. The premise is what if Harry Potter's Aunt Petunia, instead of marrying Dursley had instead been able to attract and marry a better quality of man, namely the eminent
Professor Michael Verres-Evans. Harry, instead of being raised in a home where he is despised and barely tolerated, is raised in a home where he is loved. And, the good professor is one who believes, and instills in Harry, a love for the scientific method.

What effect does these changes to Harry's upbringing have on his character and his interactions with the students and professors at Hogwarts? More than a little!

I'm not normally fan of fanfic, but I tried this one out on a recommendation from one of the bloggers over at Volokh. I am very happy I did.

http://hpmor.com/

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at March 15, 2015 11:13 AM (IN7k+)

179 127
Everyone always says "St. AuGUStin" but I'm from Florida so I keep dropping "St. AUgusteen" everywhere.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 15, 2015 10:35 AM (4muK/)

Bob Dylan is from Minnesota, but he agrees with your pronunciation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45lFy9EZ22U

That's from 1967. 1967, people, when everyone and their brother was playing psychedelic acid rock, that's what ol' Bob was up to. He had everybody scratching their heads trying to figure him out.

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 11:13 AM (sdi6R)

180 "Oh my God, Barney Frank now has a beard?"

So he went with the Carpet look, did he?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at March 15, 2015 11:14 AM (j3OmN)

181 LDC, you just ruined the song "I will follow him" ... I use to love that song and that little Peggy March was so adorable I may or may not have had dreams about her.

Posted by: ADK46er at March 15, 2015 11:14 AM (gtYqw)

182 Well the US government really did let a lot of Japanese scientists slide for warcrimes so they could continue there research for us.Particuarly their biological warfare experiments.

That and also when the Cold War got revved up in the 50s, the Truman administration suddenly realized that it would be good if Japan could be our ally in that part of the world, so the war crimes trials, never very popular in Japan, were quietly discontinued.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 11:15 AM (PAmqR)

183

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 11:15 AM (bWFHa)

184 155 Has anyone here done the volunteer reading for LibriVox?

--

What is this?

Posted by: @votermom at March 15, 2015 11:16 AM (cbfNE)

185 @176 Maybe I misheard what he said when he was on TWiT but I thought he said that they were working on Anvil again. He was doing the plotting and Niven was doing the writing. It wouldn't be hard to know more about it than I do.

Posted by: chad at March 15, 2015 11:17 AM (gYowz)

186
"Trixie Stilletto", author of 'Hot Rubber' is high on the list.
Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 15, 2015 11:12 AM (kdS6q)

Trixie Stilletto? Distant cousin of "Tricksy Hobbitses", perhaps?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 15, 2015 11:18 AM (bWFHa)

187 Read The Last Town (Wayward Pines #3) by Blake Crouch. Pretty good book with a lot of action, though a fair amount of jumping around in time. Good violent scifi thriller.

Listened to The Diamond Age, Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson. Not a tour-de-force like Snow Crash, it was fine but confusing. Frequently crazy action, made me wonder if Nell was brain-damaged and hallucinating. Probably not one of his top works.

Sorry to hear about Pratchett, so far only read Discworld #1 but hope to continue with them soon.

Have been reading Conservatarian Manifesto by Charles Cooke and enjoying it so far. He defines conservatarians as conservatives who believe in freedom but don't go as far as libertarians, and feel the politicians are just listening to businessmen with deep pockets and not listening to them.

Or something like that. A party of such people would be leagues better than what we've got.

Posted by: waelse1 at March 15, 2015 11:18 AM (x+P8L)

188 I'm considering destroying a book which goes against my nature. But in going through some of my mom's collection of pre-school books to give to people who have reading tots I found one called the rainbow fish. Horrid bit of commie tripe about a fish giving away his pretty rainbow scales and going from being haughty and lonely to happy with all the friends bought by giving away his scales.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 15, 2015 11:19 AM (7w/kf)

189 All Hail Eris

No problem.

The guy can write. Even if his talent is wasted.

And I did read to the end even if I kinda hated myself for it.

So, self inflicted injuries all around.

I've wanted to find a new Crichton but so far I havent

Posted by: naturalfake at March 15, 2015 11:21 AM (0cMkb)

190
And this is real. These actually exist: I swears:

Mandoline Creme - Monster Hunter Conquest Books

Yielding to Dragons
Yielding to the Rat Clan
Yielding to the Giant Slug

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 15, 2015 11:21 AM (kdS6q)

191 YAY BOOK THREAD!
Up to my ears in work, but my students have had some interesting reading assignments--last week included Luther's Letter on Translating the New Testament (which is a hoot because it's true; I've had clients like the critics he describes), Foxe's Book of Martyrs on Thomas Cranmer, and Pilgrim's Progress. On deck: Shakespeare, Herbert, Donne, and Milton.

One of the Donne selections might be encouraging to Morons in hard times: a sermon Donne preached in 1626 on Psalm 63:7, "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice." You can find it here (take out the spaces): http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ compoundobject/collection/JohnDonne/ id/3221/rec/117

On the writing front, I did manage to squeeze in a tiny bit of progress on the next Loyal Valley book--the beginning of the scene where Daniel meets his lady-love. I think my fellow 'ettes will approve.

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 15, 2015 11:22 AM (iuQS7)

192 Too good not to quote, H/T lucianne.com --

Matt Taibbi in that journal of the vast right-wing conspiracy, "Rolling Stone" -- "Hillary Clinton Is Turning Into Richard Nixon and Bill Belichick"

Posted by: doug at March 15, 2015 11:23 AM (9K5Rk)

193 @182

Well that's mostly true.

The U.S. govt wanted their data esp on biological warfare.

It wasn't like they set them up for human experimentation

Scientists from Germany also got a pass

As you say the Cold War re prioritized things

But you'd have to read "island 731" to see what I mean

Posted by: naturalfake at March 15, 2015 11:28 AM (0cMkb)

194 There are two kinds of people in the world. Rainbow Fish people and Little Red Hen people.

Posted by: The Great White Snark at March 15, 2015 11:29 AM (TWAUl)

195 There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who say there are two kinds of people, and those who don't.

Posted by: rickl at March 15, 2015 11:33 AM (sdi6R)

196 Posted by: @votermom at March 15, 2015 11:16 AM (cbfNE)\

A site that has volunteer readers read and record public domain works (either the whole book or sharing chapters) so that they can be listened to without the high expense of standard audio books.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 15, 2015 11:34 AM (GDulk)

197 naturalfake .. If you haven't read Chrichton's "The Great Train Robbery" give it a try. It's my favorite of his books. Not science-based but an historical novel and he really brings that Victorian England culture to life. The film with Sean Connery was also excellent but the book was better.

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 11:35 AM (FvdPb)

198 There are two kinds of people in the world those that sleep with their dogs and those that don't admit that they sleep with their dogs.

Posted by: ADK46er at March 15, 2015 11:36 AM (gtYqw)

199 There are 10 kinds of people in this word, those who know binary numbers, and those who don't.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 11:37 AM (PAmqR)

200 200!

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 11:38 AM (PAmqR)

201 PaleRider, If that book is only half as bad as described, please don't pass it on. BBQ season is coming and someone must need to start a fire. Sounds like it should have been called "It Takes A Poverty-Stricken Village".

Posted by: JTB at March 15, 2015 11:40 AM (FvdPb)

202 G. K. Chesterton had a ton of "two kinds of people" quotes, but this one's my favorite: "There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it and those who accept dogmas and don't know it."

Posted by: Elisabeth G. Wolfe at March 15, 2015 11:41 AM (iuQS7)

203 188, I called "The Rainbow Fish" a nasty bit of commie propaganda in my review on the library website. I hope I also pointed out that friends you have to bribe to be your friends really aren't your friends.

As to Bawny Fwank, my dears, he has a memoir out, or to be released shortly. To my very great astonishment, there were only 7 holds on 4 copies at the Seattle Public Library. (Perhaps NPR hasn't told them to read the book yet.) Anyway, because someone in a group I belong to on Facebook asked, I had to reserve it to find out if the book even mentions his running a prostitute ring out of his home. I doubt if I will do more than search the index and skim a little, but I'll be sure to let you know.

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 15, 2015 11:42 AM (4muK/)

204 My library review of "The Rainbow Fish"

On a weekly book thread I frequent, somebody mentioned something called "The Rainbow Fish" and called it commie trash. Boy is it ever. Pretty fish has sparkly scales. Other fishes are jealous and punish Rainbow Fish with social isolation until/unless he hands out single sparkly scales to all the other fish. Then they are nice to him again. Apparently this is supposed to teach some moral lesson about sharing but what it really teaches is "bullying pays."

Posted by: Tonestaple at March 15, 2015 11:44 AM (4muK/)

205 G. K. Chesterton had a ton of "two kinds of people" quotes, but this one's my favorite: "There are only two kinds of people, those who accept dogmas and know it and those who accept dogmas and don't know it."

Yes, that's a good 'un.

Posted by: OregonMuse at March 15, 2015 11:46 AM (PAmqR)

206 Pretty fish has sparkly scales. Other fishes are jealous and punish Rainbow Fish with social isolation until/unless he hands out single sparkly scales to all the other fish. Then they are nice to him again. Apparently this is supposed to teach some moral lesson about sharing but what it really teaches is "bullying pays."

Yeah, so?

Posted by: The SJW Howling Mob at March 15, 2015 11:49 AM (PAmqR)

207 Greetings:

I would like to recommend "The Orientalist" by Tom Reiss. It's a biography of Lev Nussimbaum, a writer who lived in Russia, Germany, France, etc., in the early twentieth century, helter-skeltering through all those upheavals and apparently producing some books of significant repute.

Beside all the minutia that makes individual histories interesting, the book seems to provide ample evidence of just how confused and potentially dangerous that eastern Europe/Asia fault-line has been, is, and will continue to be.

As a personal observation as a recovering printer, the book is the most beautifully typeset (in Garamond and Granjon) book that I have come across in ages including having actually footnotes in the body of the book and listing source citations in the back curing that modern propensity to lump the two together. The book even had a colophon.
Typographic bliss.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 15, 2015 11:51 AM (yMbU8)

208 Currently reading "Vision in Silver", the third entry in Anne Bishop's "the Others" fantasy series. A moron recommendation started me on this series a couple of years ago and now I'm hooked. The author has created a fascinating alternate version of Earth where humans are definitely not the top of the food chain. Great fun.

Posted by: Tuna at March 15, 2015 11:56 AM (JSovD)

209 "Seven and a half hours of mild, unexhausting labor, and then the soma ration and games and unrestricted copulation and the feelies. What more can they ask for?" ---Mustapha Mond in Huxley's "Brave New World"

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 12:05 PM (KH1sk)

210 154
Perhaps the worst book ever written. Not only is it offensive, the
history in the description is idiotically wrong and, of course, the prog
condescension reeks.

And there's a typo in the title; a sure sign of quality literature.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 15, 2015 12:14 PM (o78gS)

211 "Seven and a half hours of mild, unexhausting labor, and then the soma
ration and games and unrestricted copulation and the feelies. What more
can they ask for?" ---Mustapha Mond in Huxley's "Brave New World"

This sounds like the life led by plenty of millenials....

Posted by: JoeF. at March 15, 2015 12:26 PM (RtRGV)

212 I saw Soma open up for The Feelies in NJ in 1980....

Posted by: JoeF. at March 15, 2015 12:27 PM (RtRGV)

213 If the general public had any idea how low down and dirty the Obamas were, they would not sleep well knowing these very same people were at the helm of the most powerful nation on earth. If Hilary were to be elected, the American people would also be shocked at the level of low down dirty tactics that these guys use. The public will never know about it, however. One has to wonder why the media, whose job is supposed to be that of Watchdog, has refused to report all of this garbage. Why is the media so invested in these corruptocrats?

Posted by: Mistress Overdone at March 15, 2015 12:31 PM (2/oBD)

214 The Nero Wolfe books are delightful. I am re-reading the novels currently, skipping only two that I like less (The Silent Speaker and A Family Affair). Stout's writing is clear and straightforward, and you can read them as "fun reads" for sure. On rereading, though, you notice other things -- the delightful qualities of the language used; the subtle humor; the reassuring nature of the environment of Wolfe's house; the crisp distinctions between how Wolfe lives and expresses himself. and how Archie Goodwin does, and how much fun it is to watch them interact. Few books reward repeated re-reading like the Wolfe books.

Posted by: Splunge at March 15, 2015 12:33 PM (qyomX)

215 Snopes is politically biased; I got into it once with them over using Code Pink as a source in preference over Austin Bay re: the Iraq war. Really? They took a pack of shrieking pinko harridans over a military scholar who was actually serving in the theater of operations? I went back and reviewed their other political stories, and sure enough that bias was consistent.

Posted by: Grad School Fool at March 15, 2015 12:34 PM (A9KzJ)

216 28 Can't believe I'm linking a MoDo piece. link in my name.
Posted by: Ohiogal at March 15, 2015 09:25 AM

Thanks for the link It's great fun to see the hyena pack of the Left go after Hillary. This famous longtime columnist for the most prestigious newspaper of the Left doesn't really write very well, though, does she? Kept tripping over awkward language instead of just reading.

Posted by: Splunge at March 15, 2015 12:35 PM (qyomX)

217 213--the Media is well aware of how "down and dirty" both the Clinton and Obama machines are, but even if they didn't agree with most of the political goals of both--which they certainly do-there is no way they are ever going to report anything that will allow Republicans/conservatives to win any election.
The Party always comes first.....

Posted by: JoeF. at March 15, 2015 12:40 PM (RtRGV)

218
Thanks for the link It's great fun to see the hyena pack of the Left go after Hillary. This famous longtime columnist for the most prestigious newspaper of the Left doesn't really write very well, though, does she? Kept tripping over awkward language instead of just reading.

Coutnerpoint that to the Kevin WIlliamson piece in the sidebar.

Posted by: Zap Rowsdower at March 15, 2015 12:44 PM (MMC8r)

219 I used to hold out hope that once Obama was safely out of office, most of the things we'd heard about Obama--whether he really was a foreign exchange student, or was listed on his passport (or some other document) as a Muslim, etc,--would come out into the sunlight.
But I know that the media will see to it that these stories remain hidden. Imagine that? A media that sees to it that STORIES remain hidden.

Again, they will never allow conservatives to say "See? We were right about this asshole all along...."

Posted by: JoeF. at March 15, 2015 12:45 PM (RtRGV)

220 Re 213: I would suggest that Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) from the House Of Cards was suppose to be a Hillary Clinton like person but Robin is way too attractive to be playing Hillary and she's also not ruthless enough.

Posted by: ADK46er at March 15, 2015 12:46 PM (gtYqw)

221 Thanks for the comments on the Rainbow Fish tripe. I paged thru it was like WTF? If a fish gives away its scales it dies --and I know, kids books not real life, but the whole premise that having some nice feature will make you a snob unless you find a way to 'spread the wealth around' and its OK for the mob to snub you for having something they don't even if its just an accident of birth, until/unless you find a way to share with them. Utter crapola.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 15, 2015 01:30 PM (7w/kf)

222 I tried reading Pratchett a couple of times and just could not get into his style of writing. I usually like Neil Gaiman, but hated Good Omens (probably because Terry Pratchett was the co-author). I did like the Ocean at the End of the Lane. It's really just a novella, but the story stayed with me for a long time. I'm reading The Magician's Land, the sequel to The Magicians. Not as strong an opening as The Magicians, but I'm waiting to see where it takes me before I pass judgment.

Posted by: Rana at March 15, 2015 01:48 PM (uFm1t)

223 Really enjoying Kimball's "Fortunes of Permanence". Something thought-provoking in every paragraph, dammit. It's my day off, nobody said there'd be thinking involved!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at March 15, 2015 02:17 PM (KH1sk)

224 The made up quote by Death is lame.

Terry would've done better. Death was always REAL but slightly off from what was expected.

But I suppose no one gave much thought to it beforehand.

What's the odds he took his life?

They say he didn't but then they would wouldn't they?

He became a proponent of assisted suicide and wanted to die in his own time and place. And he did. Seems a bit to timely for me. I don't care if he did, more power to him but by keeping it secret, they've cast doubt on something he believed in.

And note, they say He didn't partake of assisted suicide not that he didn't commit suicide.

Ah well. A genius has flown thru the window, lit up the hall and left it a little darker as it exits the other side.

My way of framing Terry's meeting with Death would've been one of having arrived before the Master of Ceremonies. (perhaps even having to do a Rite of AshKente) Impatiently tapping his toe and chastizing Death for his tardiness. Death of course would have a pithy retort as they walked off into the desert as Terry faded away. Finis.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 15, 2015 02:27 PM (zRby/)

225 =15 squared

Posted by: big al at March 15, 2015 02:30 PM (3MNCs)

226 BTW; this is what part of life is at this age for older folks.

People we've known for years (perhaps from babyhood) disappearing around us. Leaving us to continue on.

It gets lonely and a bit bleak at times of reflection.

If you have family go hug them.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 15, 2015 02:34 PM (zRby/)

227 Fact: Bill Clinton was interviewed and hired to teach at the University of New Haven by the Watergate eavesdropper Alfred Baldwin. In May 1972 both Clinton and Baldwin leave New Haven, CT for Washington DC to work on the McGovern and Nixon campaigns.

Baldwin is tasked by ex-CIA/FBI agent James McCord to listen in on the tapped phone of Spencer Oliver. The conversations he overhears are "primarily sexual" and "explicitly intimate". Various books have connected the Spencer Oliver phone line with a callgirl operation run by a mob-connected Madame Heidi Rikan and a DC lawyer/pimp Young Democrats of America activist named Phil Bailley. Heidi is also the roommate of John Dean's future wife Maureen Biner.

Bill Clinton's background in Hot Springs involves extensive ties to brothels, prostitutes and Madames. In May 1972, Clinton was assigned by Rick Stearns and Gary Hart of the McGovern campaign to handle Wilbur Mills.

What a coincidence. Wilbur Mills has been recently revealed to have been overheard on the Watergate phone line. Along with various other persons very closely connected to the corrupt young perv Bill Clinton.

Another coincidence? The corrupt young perv's top aide in 1972 for the Texans for McGovern campaign ends up ghost-writing John Dean's book Blind Ambition and the perv's live-in girlfriend is somehow appointed to work on the Impeachment Committee despite her direct link to a major player in the Watergate break-in.

By the way, it is very curious that Zeifman was a friend of John Dean since their swinging staffer days on Capitol Hill starting around 1966. John Dean wrote the foreward to Zeifman's book Lost Honor and appeared with Zeifman on various media outlets to promote the book.

Posted by: Mr. Curious at March 15, 2015 03:23 PM (jLStj)

228 Snopes says he didn't. He says he did.

Of course Snopes he didn't. Because the site is run by lying leftist hacks interested in a) debunking Bigfoot sightings and b) pumping Dem candidates, but mostly pumping Dem candidates.

Posted by: Physics Geek at March 15, 2015 03:40 PM (llWHs)

229 Been trying some of the old guard of sci-fi. Just finished A.E. Van Vogt's "Discord in Scarlet". The short story that is supposedly some of the inspiration for the movie "Alien". I enjoyed it.
The similarities between the story and movie- an alien gets on board a space ship and lays eggs in people to propagate his species.Other than that, they are quite different.

Posted by: Darth Randall at March 15, 2015 04:12 PM (6n332)

230 "Discord in Scarlet" is part of "Voyage of the Space Beagle". Not only is DiS an inspiration for Alien, the whole book is an inspiration for Star Trek! Recommended.

Also highly recommend Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. Highly amusing to read and in some ways even more enjoyable re-reading.

-- Bad News

Posted by: Bad News Quillan at March 15, 2015 06:13 PM (iVwSD)

231 Vetinari's rule has a counterpart in Heinlein's 'constitutional tyranny' (one of his books, I forget which). In both cases, the goal of liberty is entirely divorced from the mere process of democracy.

Posted by: PersonFromPorlock at March 15, 2015 06:21 PM (U4QC6)

232 Forgot to mention "Demon in the Freezer": the story of the eradication of smallpox. Nixon played a key part in this amazing story. Never like the guy, but gotta give him respect for his part in this.

-- Bad News

Posted by: Bad News Quillan at March 15, 2015 06:32 PM (iVwSD)

233 The only science fiction , I re - reread is H. Beam Piper's work ( the non - fuzzy stuff )

Posted by: Drpullit at March 15, 2015 07:35 PM (m7lgq)

234 Read a good short story this week called "Tuesdays With Molakesh the Destroyer" by Megan Grey. You can read it online at firesidefiction.com

Posted by: BornLib at March 15, 2015 10:05 PM (zpNwC)

235 155 Has anyone here done the volunteer reading for LibriVox? I'm trying to get Eldest Kidlet interested in doing so as here community project since she was frequently complimented on here reading aloud while in public school.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 15, 2015 10:57 AM (GDulk)

I have. I've done some short poetry and a chapter in a collaborative project. They have a "Newbie Guide to Recording" on their site to help get started. I used Audacity as my recording and encoding software after a not too bad learning curve.

Posted by: BornLib at March 15, 2015 10:22 PM (zpNwC)

236 158 Anyone who hasn`t read Amy Lynn by Old Sailors Poet should. Myself not yet, finally remembered to tell Mama to get it on her kindle. She fell asleep after reading and woke up reading to finish it. Said it was one of the most enjoyable books she had ever read. (she reads a lot, loved Vince Flynn).
Posted by: rightlysouthern(aim low boys,they still in wagon ruts) at March 15, 2015 10:59 AM (eO8qj)

It's published under the pen name Jack July and I LOVED it!

I'm looking forward to his second novel coming out eventually.

Posted by: BornLib at March 15, 2015 10:36 PM (zpNwC)

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