Sunday Morning Book Thread 07-16-2017

Brooklyn, New York Brownstone Row House Library

(Pic stolen from here.)

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, where men are men, all the 'ettes are gorgeous, safe spaces are underneath your house and are used as protection against actual dangers, like natural disasters, or Literally Hitler, and special snowflakes do not last. And unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants, which I don't know why they even exist, but supposedly you can get them for $60 at Nordstrom's.

Well, That's A Relief

You've all seen pictures of medieval chastity belts, right?

Well, apparently, they never existed:

When one considers the evidence for medieval chastity belts, as Classen did in his book The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process, it becomes apparent pretty quickly that there’s not much of it. First of all, there aren’t actually all that many pictures or accounts of the use of chastity belts, and even fewer physical specimens. And the few book-length works on the topic rely heavily on each other, and all cite the same few examples.

Here's the book: The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process:

"In this tour-de-force, Classen explodes the myth of the medieval chastity belt, but he also does more. He reveals how the myth came into existence and how it grew over time. In doing so, he has written a witty and fascinating piece of intellectual and social history which transcends the boundary between the medieval and modern and is exemplary in its scholarship and balance."

But, but, patriarchy!

Of course, this is no longer true. Chastity belts do exist, but only as modern inventions. And incidentally, this includes male versions as well. You can buy them on Amazon, for Pete's sake. No, I'm not going to provide links. This is strictly a GAYOR (Google At Your Own Risk) thing.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

DEPECULATION is the act of pilfering or embezzling public funds.

Usage: the progressive theory of taxation makes it scarcely distinguishable from depeculation.

Stranger Things

A Chicago research library is seeking help transcribing some magical manuscripts. What could *possibly* go wrong?

The Newberry Library in Chicago is home to some 80,000 documents pertaining to religion during the early modern period, a time of sweeping social, political, and cultural change spanning the late Middle Ages to the start of the Industrial Revolution. Among the library’s collection of rare Bibles and Christian devotional texts are a series of manuscripts that would have scandalized the religious establishment. These texts deal with magic—from casting charms to conjuring spirits—and the Newberry is asking for help translating and transcribing them.

Aargh. Magic manuscripts. Conjuring spirits. Cursed knowledge. Don't these guys ever watch horror movies?

(Above Pic Is The Newberry Library Before It Was Sucked Into An Interdimensional Vortex Because Some Ignorant Fool Started Messing With Things Best Left Alone. Just Before He Was Eaten By A Cacodemon.)

(h/t Mark Huffman for this)

Well, Isn't This Special?

Apparently, working in the Obama White House was great if you wanted to grab a little mish:

A new memoir documents a Barack Obama White House in which a fratty speech writing team smoked, drank, told "dick jokes," and used their jobs to sleep with women.

David Litt, a former Obama speech writer, will release Thanks Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years in September, the Daily Mail reports.

What, Obama staff memebers using the perks of their positions to indulge themselves at taxpayer expense? Where was Anderson Cooper? Where was Jake Tapper? Where was Geraldo Rivera?

He also discusses how romance was "almost painfully easy" for a White House staffer. At least one aide used his position to sleep with a "blonde D.C. newscaster," although Litt does not specify who. The aide regularly boasted about his conquest to his coworkers.

Whaa-? I thought all of this sort of groping and grabbing and bedding hotties was invented by Donald Trump! I'm absolutely flabbergasted.

The White House that Litt describes might be characterized as "fratty." He writes how the all-male, all-white, all-under-40 speech writing team drank, smoked, called each other "bro," and followed along with college basketball mostly to please Obama.

Aaaaaah! You can just *smell* the diversity!

When Litt was first hired by the WH, he was 24 years old. I have socks older than him.

I have no idea if any of this is going to turn out to be true. But you can be sure that the MSM will do its best to ignore or bury this book when it's released.

Moron Recommendations

Moron bensdad00 recommends an old book, Island gateway: The way of life of Ellis island, which he calls

An insightful overview of the American immigrant experience. Illustrated with fictional yet representative tales from 1846, 1910 and 1940 and interspersing those examples with a history of both US immigration and US alien policy, this book is a must read for anyone confused by modern education and media about the history of our so called 'melting pot'.

This 64-page book appears to be long out of print, but used copies are available on Amazon for as low as $2.75.

___________

Long-time moron Skandia Recluse has been doing some reading on modern-day Africa's "wars of liberation" and sent me some recommendations. The first is Koevoet! Experiencing South Africa's Deadly Bush War by Jim Hooper

Koevoet! has been an global bestseller since its release over 20 years ago. This new edition goes far beyond the original in capturing the courage, fear and intensity of South Africa's deadly bush war. Never before had an outsider been given unrestricted access to Koevoet, the elite South West African Police counterinsurgency unit...Author Jim Hooper spent a total of five months embedded with the semi-secret and predominantly black 'Ops K', which climaxed with one of the most vicious and determined infiltrations ever mounted by the communist-backed South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).

Skandia says:

...I found myself re-examining a strongly held conclusion that a robust and effective counter-insurgent operation would be sufficient to suppress a rebellion. That conclusion was then set aside, and a new conclusion was adopted; it is not a military problem, it is a political problem. Further reading re-established the first thought and added the second; it is a political and military problem. Winning on the battlefield is not enough. The anti-communists keep losing the propaganda war, the culture war, and the elections.

Heh. Kind of like here. No matter how many Republicans we elect, our country continues to slide down the path of cultural decay. I'm seeing stuff that I'd never thought I'd see in my lifetime. Like doctors pushing puberty-blocking drugs and HRT on children over and against the wishes of their parents because they think they're "trans". And here in Oregon, hearing radio ads for weed.

It's depressing.

Anyway, Koevoet! is available on Kindle for the low, low price of $2.51.

Skandia also recommends Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists by Peter Baxter

Selous Scouts: Rhodesian Counter-Insurgency Specialists by Peter Baxter:

Formed in 1973 by the legendary Lieutenant-Colonel Ron Reid-Daly at the behest of Rhodesian military supremo General Peter Walls, the Selous Scouts were to write their name into the annals of military history as one of the finest counterinsurgency units of all time, through their innovative pseudo-guerrilla tactics, brilliant reconnaissance operations into Zambia and Botswana and daring flying-column raids into Mozambique.

This short book (80 pages) includes details of the Nyadzonya/Pungwe raid Atrocity (Rhodesia's version of the My Lai Massacre).

Skandia remarks:

Winning on the field of battle is not enough when world opinion forces you to accept the results of 'free' elections that turns your country over to your enemies. (Which prompts the thought, if the US falls to the anti-capitalist, where do we go to find sanctuary?)

I remember Ronaldus Magnus once made a speech that said something similar. It went something like, "The United States has always been a beacon of hope and deliverance to the rest of the world. We are the country you could flee to if your own country failed. But if the USA falls, what then? There is no place left to go to."

Second look at Texit?

Mr. Recluse sent in some other recommendations, but I'll save them for a subsequent book thread.

___________

Don't forget the AoSHQ reading group on Goodreads. It's meant to support horde writers and to talk about the great books that come up on the book thread. It's called AoSHQ Moron Horde and the link to it is here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde.

___________

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: OregonMuse at 09:01 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Finally free, only to be imprisoned in blue boxes.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:02 AM (QGoUX)

2 Gray, grayer, grayest

Posted by: phillaicheaux at July 16, 2017 09:04 AM (PXthU)

3 oops

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 09:04 AM (5n8Qj)

4 bluebell would be a good candidate for decoding the magical manuscripts.

Posted by: Weasel at July 16, 2017 09:06 AM (Sfs6o)

5 Tolle lege

I'm looking for a detailed D-Day book on Omaha beach in a probably fruitless effort to learn about the Engineer battalions. Anyone have a suggestion?

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 09:06 AM (9g/6M)

6 This week picked up and started a copy of C.S. Forester's 'The General'. So far, an interesting read.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 16, 2017 09:07 AM (OdK9v)

7 Regarding the need for translators for the books of magick: Proto-Indo-European, Atlantean, R'lyehian?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:07 AM (QGoUX)

8 I know a guy in Dunwich that would like to apply for that translator job!

Posted by: Zombie H P Lovecraft! at July 16, 2017 09:07 AM (gwPgz)

9 That's better! I frequently lurk and wanted say that the open book thread is probably my favorite recurring AOSHQ feature, largely because I stink at cooking, gardening, and chess, but I do know how to read...

Posted by: phillaicheaux at July 16, 2017 09:08 AM (PXthU)

10 I saw the gray, then it vanished when I clicked on the "Access Comments" link....it's....it's...MAGIC!!! Will I next see everything twice on AoSHQ pages???

Posted by: Gref at July 16, 2017 09:08 AM (AMIL/)

11 10 I saw the gray, then it vanished when I clicked on the "Access Comments" link....it's....it's...MAGIC!!! Will I next see everything twice on AoSHQ pages???
Posted by: Gref at July 16, 2017 09:08 AM (AMIL/)
---
They always say reading opens up a magic portal to the imagination, but at AoSHQ we take that literally.

Bring sandwiches and a change of underwear.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:11 AM (QGoUX)

12 Still reading Milo's Dangerous.

Not bad.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 16, 2017 09:11 AM (J+eG2)

13 Still reading Milo's Dangerous.

Not bad.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 16, 2017 09:11 AM (J+eG2)

Is there any substance there, or is it just froth?

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 16, 2017 09:13 AM (gwPgz)

14 Oh yeah, books.

Idly reading “Kashmir: Described by Sir Francis Younghusband, painted by Major E. Molyneux” (1909)

My own father described the Vale of Kashmir as the most lush and fragrant place he had ever visited. It’s 5600 feet above sea level, 84 miles long, and about 20-35 miles wide. It is at the same latitude as Fez, Damascus, and South Carolina.

There are valleys within these mountains that have a subtropical climate and are home to unique orchids found only here. In the spring there are masses of yellow crocuses and bluebells. Imagine a tranquil meadow of flowers set against the overwhelming backdrop of the Himalayas.

http://www.naresh.org.in/orchids-of-sikkim-himalayas.html

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:14 AM (QGoUX)

15 "Is there any substance there, or is it just froth?"

A mixture of self promotion and substance.

And he does strike a fair balance between the two.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 16, 2017 09:14 AM (J+eG2)

16 Good morning Fellow Book Threadists.

I love that photo of the brownstone library. Such luxury and grace in Brooklyn! It makes me think of the Nero Wolfe stories.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 09:15 AM (V+03K)

17 @14
Sounds like Shangri-la.

Posted by: pep at July 16, 2017 09:15 AM (LAe3v)

18 Skip,
Here is some Omaha Beach/US Army Engineers info.

http://tinyurl.com/y78bgwsp

I never saw this material until I searched the topic for you - thanks for giving me the opportunity to learn new stuff! I've never seen or heard of a complete book on the subject. This material at the US Army history site may be the best there is.

Posted by: Gref at July 16, 2017 09:16 AM (AMIL/)

19 Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 16, 2017 09:14 AM (J+eG2)

Thanks, I might just have to put that in my ever growing stack of recommended books!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 16, 2017 09:16 AM (gwPgz)

20 Good morning, y'all!

I finished Can You Forgive Her? last week, and I stand by my earlier assertion that Trollope was getting paid by the word and it shows. No matter. The story had a happy ending, though I'd be interested to find out what happened to George Vavasour once he got where he was going.

I also finished a re read of The Count of Monte Cristo, by Dumas. It's one of my favorite books. I love the count's confidence. And, yes, some of the coincidences are contrived, but that just reinforces the belief that the count is so rich, he can make anything happen.

I'm off to exercise horses, but I'm dying to know what everyone's been reading. I'll check back later.

Posted by: right wing yankee at July 16, 2017 09:17 AM (26lkV)

21 That book on chastity belt myth busting sounds interesting and I expect to read it eventually. But the price is rather high at the moment. For those who must have it now, be advised that Amazon only has eight copies left. Before you panic, however, they assure you that more are on the way. Phew!

There's only one review so far but the blurbs are very positive.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 09:19 AM (V+03K)

22 So that's why Obama speeches were bundles of cliches ("Let me be clear!") and straw men. ("Some say we should first the poor out of cannons for our amusement rather than provide them with quality health care.") His speech writers were spoiled brat millennials.

Posted by: V the K at July 16, 2017 09:20 AM (UKVPl)

23 Also reading the newest from everybody’s favorite cranky uncle, Mark Levin, Rediscovering Americanism. So far very good, as his always are. The first chapter discusses the concept, delineated in many state Declarations of Rights, that people are by nature free and independent with the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, acquire and protect property, and pursue and obtain happiness and safety.

Those “self-evident truths” were a reference to the foundational principle of Natural Law, the God-given absolute right to live freely. “In addition Locke pointed out that natural law, not man-made law, is the origin and compass of human morality. ‘Without natural law there would be neither virtue nor vice, neither the reward of goodness nor the punishment of evil; there is no fault, no guilt, were there is no law. Everything would have to depend on human will, and, since there would be nothing to demand dutiful action, it seems that man would not be bound to do anything but what utility or pleasure might recommend, or what a blind and lawless impulse might happen to fasten on…. For the nature of “good” and “evil” is eternal and certain, and their value cannot be determined either by the public ordinances of men or by any private opinion.’”

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:20 AM (QGoUX)

24 Ready to translate. Have own chainsaw and broomstick in case of emergencies.

Posted by: Ash at July 16, 2017 09:20 AM (YxJTi)

25 DEPECULATION is the act of pilfering or embezzling public funds.

Nah. It's the opposite of Gainzzz. When your pec's become sorry sagging lumps of flesh.

OreganoMuse, you need to lay off the methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.

Posted by: Slippery Slope Salesman at July 16, 2017 09:21 AM (EgwCt)

26 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I have mostly been reading about Ford and Chrysler products this week, as I'm two weeks in to a new job in car sales.

I swear I'm going to read something interesting this week.

Posted by: April at July 16, 2017 09:23 AM (e8PP1)

27 Hi, all!

I just time traveled so I could read Comey's book. Quite the read -- a lot of inconsistencies, and it raises a few questions about the author -- but by and large, CNN was right about Trump.

I could jump forward again to see if The Donald(rightly) gets impeached, but that'll take more coffee. I'll put on another pot.

Posted by: FireHorse at November 30, 2018 which for your time continuum is at July 16, 2017 09:23 AM (zkGZ8)

28 Recently read Pynchon's _Gravity's Rainbow_. Not impressed.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 16, 2017 09:24 AM (KqziQ)

29 This week I read SPQR V: Saturnalia by John Maddox Roberts. This is the continuation of the Decius Metellus series. This book is set in Rome in 59 B. C. and gets Decius involved in witches, an ancient religion, and poisoning as a political tool. As usual, a good story with plenty of wry humor.

On the Kindle, I read Greenmantle, the second in the Richard Hannay series, by John Buchan. The book was first published in 1919. In this book, Hannay has recovered from his wounds received at the German front, and instead of being sent back to his unit, the British Foreign Office sends him and three others behind German lines. They eventually end up in Turkey to thwart the German plans in the Middle East. A jolly good potboiler story.

I also read News of the World by Paulette Jiles. Recommended here a few weeks ago, this is a well-written story of 71 year old Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a Confederate veteran, who makes his living in the aftermath of the war by riding from town to town to read the news to the town folk. In Wichita Falls he is offered a fifty dollar gold piece to deliver a ten year old girl back to her relatives near San Antonio. She was a former captive of the Kiowas. I especially liked Jiles's descriptions of the countryside and towns and their history long the journey.

Posted by: Zoltan at July 16, 2017 09:24 AM (go62B)

30 For the nature of "good" and "evil" is eternal and certain, and their value cannot be determined either by the public ordinances of men or by any private opinion.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:20 AM (QGoUX)

I'm pretty sure this is racist.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 09:24 AM (5n8Qj)

31 Life is too lousy to be reading short books.

Posted by: Insomniac at July 16, 2017 09:26 AM (0mRoj)

32 28 Recently read Pynchon's _Gravity's Rainbow_. Not impressed.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 16, 2017 09:24 AM (KqziQ)
====

I started on that twice and couldn't keep with it. Got to page 75 or so. Thanks for your effort and review - I won't try that one again.

Posted by: Gref at July 16, 2017 09:26 AM (AMIL/)

33 I'm pretty sure this is racist.
---
It's always safe to proceed from this assumption.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:27 AM (QGoUX)

34 Finally finished Thomas Perry's Dead Aim. I'm a rabid fan, but this one was quite a slog, although the premise was interesting: a "self-defense" training camp where the ultra rich sometimes go on the "ultimate" hunt against their enemies.

Next up, The Hangman's Daughter or the Portable Curmudgeon -- both Horde recommendations.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:29 AM (b4HRt)

35 23 ... All Hail Eris,
Dammit! Now I have to add the Levin book to the list to buy and dig around to find my copy of Locke. As if I didn't have enough to do! (Grumble)

Seriously, I'm glad you mentioned it. Haven't read John Locke in years. And it may connect with some philosophical reading I'm in the middle of.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 09:29 AM (V+03K)

36 Civil War Infantry Tactics by Earl J. Hess. The book title is a bit misleading but it is an interesting little book on how infantry units moved and changed formations in battle rather than dealing with tactical decision-making. He makes a good argument that the relatively close-order linear formations were necessary due to the limitations of the rifle musket. If you have an in-depth interest in the American Civil War, this is a good book to acquire: rating = 5/5.

Currently working through a stack of the "1632" series of books I got for cheap --

1634: The Galileo Affair by Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis. Some skullduggery in Venice that generally kept my interest. The book treats Pope Urban's decision to have Galileo tried for heresy very respectfully and makes the argument that Galileo got himself in trouble by being a general a$$hole to everyone for years. Rating = 4/5.

Grantville Gazette II[/] edited by Eric Flint. This anthology blew chunks and I didn't find any stories that interested me. Rating = 0/5.

Grantville Gazette III edited by Eric Flint. This anthology had some stories I really liked. "Pastor Kastenmayer's Revenge" by Virginia DeMarce is an amusing story in which Pastor Kastenmayer realizes that God has transplanted the unreligious heathens (i.e., don't already belong to a church) from West Virginia so that they may be brought into the Lutheran faith and his means of accomplishing this are the unmarried girls in his flock. "Hell Fighters" by Wood Hughes is about a Benedictine monk sent to Grantsville to determine if the town had been sent by God or the Devil; powerful ending in which the Benedictine monk realizes that the town had been sent from the future to teach the Benedictine Order how to be fire fighters. "Flint's Lock" is an interesting little monograph on how the American Civil War era P53 Enfield muzzle loading rifle was adapted to serve on the "1632" battlefield. Rating = 3.5/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:29 AM (5Yee7)

37 You all must click on the link provided under the brownstone library pic -- absolutely gorgeous interiors.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:30 AM (QGoUX)

38 The Great Siege: Malta 1565

So far pretty good. The Knights of St John or the Hospitaller Knights. The Turks want to wipe out the Knights on Malta then use Malta as a stepping stone for a invasion of Scilly and then Italy. The Knights are very brave, and I can't imagine wearing full armor in that heat. What surprised me is that people defect or "Go renegade" to the other side.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 16, 2017 09:31 AM (dKiJG)

39 Oh, and OM, try to stay positive. There are a few tomes like The Fourth Turning and Pendulum that describe the 40-year cycles every country goes through. We're at the crest of one of the rotten ones and beginning the descent back to what we were during the Reagan years.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:33 AM (b4HRt)

40 I managed to post my reading on the previous thread, but in my defense, I just this minute poured my first cup of coffee.

I am reading "Bible Basics for Catholics" which is mildly annoying as it seems quite patronizing in some ways. The Bible is explained as a series of covenants between God and his chosen people. It's interesting if you can ignore the author's condescension. But then, it's not like people still learn how to sound out words or actually look them up in the dictionary.

And I am still reading the first Bosch novel. It's my bedtime book so it's slow going.

Mostly I've been knitting and I watch TV while doing that. I've met one person who said she could read while knitting, but she freely admitted it was Harlequin romance stuff that didn't require great powers of concentration.

Posted by: Tonestaple at July 16, 2017 09:33 AM (QqILu)

41 Dammit! Now I have to add the Levin book to the list to buy and dig around to find my copy of Locke. As if I didn't have enough to do! (Grumble)
----
Me too! And by "brush up", I mean actually read his "Second Treatise of Government". I just found it for 99 cents (Kindle) at Amazon.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:34 AM (QGoUX)

42 An interesting week at Chez Hayes ... the hot water heater went bust, and leaked water all over the garage floor. So - had to begin sorting out all that was stored in there about three weeks ahead of time. (Much of what is there is my daughters' stuff.) And - a whole day spent waiting for the plumber and installer to do a new one. Which they did in a day, so the hot water did flow where it should. But - sigh. It turns out the old hot water heater was original to the house, which meant that it was more than thirty years old. The plumber said it was miraculous that it had lasted so long...
We're working up our fall market schedule now - we'll be at the Boerne Market Days in October, and at Dickens on Main the weekend after Thanksgiving, with my books and my daughter's origami earrings - plus another couple of local craft fairs and shows. And -
at the Giddings Word Wrangler in September. It's a lovely community celebration of books and Texas authors. Eventually we will have an event just about every weekend from September until early December. Last year, we didn't even unpack the Montero for three months.

Still reading Connie Willis' "To Say Nothing of the Dog".

Of my own books, for some reason "Sunset and Steel Rails" is trending on Kindle. I have no idea of why. Maybe it is a book club choice somewhere.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 16, 2017 09:34 AM (xnmPy)

43 oops forgot close a tag

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:35 AM (5Yee7)

44 18 -haven't looked at this site in a little while but I do scour the Internet.
My FiL was a D-Day combat engineer, and have some idea of what they did on D-Day.

Still pegging along on Frederick the Great, just past the point of his writting the Anti-Machiavel

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 09:36 AM (9g/6M)

45 Wikileaks released a new dump of emails between the DNC and CNN. Both Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper worked with the DNC to formulate questions to ask Republicans (DJT for Blitzer, Ted Cruz for Tapper).

Posted by: Ian S. at July 16, 2017 09:37 AM (5dOnv)

46 I started on that twice and couldn't keep with it. Got to page 75 or so. Thanks for your effort and review - I won't try that one again.
Posted by: Gref at July 16, 2017 09:26 AM (AMIL/)

I don't think I made it to page 25 of "Gravity's Rainbow."

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V sez the Brewers are NO.1 in the NL Central for the first half of the season at July 16, 2017 09:39 AM (P8951)

47 I'm looking for a detailed D-Day book on Omaha beach in a probably fruitless effort to learn about the Engineer battalions. Anyone have a suggestion?

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 09:06 AM (9g/6M)

Maybe Cross-Channel Attack originally published by the U.S. Army's Center for Military History back in the 1950s? Whitman Publishing reprints are available pretty cheap. It's in my "to be read" file so I don't know if it's exactly what you're looking for.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:39 AM (5Yee7)

48 I guess in Medieval times they didn't have the Iron Madien or the rack or the wheel or the pear of anguish, etc etc etc. because there are't many original devices around today.

They may or may not have had chasity belts but I'd put my money on that there were and it wasn't just a religious fable.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 16, 2017 09:41 AM (IDPbH)

49 The article about the chastity belts was interesting. It's almost like medieval people satirized themselves. It started as a metaphor/joke, but the people of that time period seem so barbaric to modern sensibilities that we could easily see them really doing something like that.

Posted by: Aunt Luna at July 16, 2017 09:41 AM (Zd2ZF)

50 It turns out the old hot water heater was original to the house, which meant that it was more than thirty years old.

Sgt. Mom, your new one will last 5-10 years. Because, progress.

Posted by: Emmie at July 16, 2017 09:41 AM (ZapPq)

51 Started reading _American Phoenix_ by Jane Hampton Cook. It's the story of John Quincy and Louisa Adams, largely drawn from their letters, focuses on their time in Russia. Downloaded it for my mother, who enjoyed it very much. I, however, am finding it a hard go. The writing is amateurish and the structure is confusing. I think she's trying to write in the style of a novel, jumping around in time and trying to build suspense. Or something. I'll finish it because of the subject matter, but it's going to be a slog. The writer is a conservative, so it makes me a little sad that I can't recommend this book.

Posted by: Miss Sippi at July 16, 2017 09:43 AM (5fPhA)

52 I do remember seeing pictures of some godawful metal devices used by the Victorians to keep boys from fapping. The thing is what if the kid needed to pee? Pretty difficult to keep a male from touching himself.

Many Victorians were horrified by fapping and so would have considered the 'rons a disgusting bunch...

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V sez the Brewers are NO.1 in the NL Central for the first half of the season at July 16, 2017 09:44 AM (P8951)

53 Read/skimmed through a new acquisition a couple days ago titled "True to the Cause of Liberty," by Oscar and Catherine Gilbert. It is effectively a unit history, or as least as much of one as you could get, of the 2nd Spartans, a militia unit from the Spartanburg area of SC, during the American Revolution. Doesn't have an overarching thesis, which makes it difficult to critique in the normal way one critiques a history monograph, but as a narrative history it is very well written and documented. I think roughly 20 percent of the main content is quotations from original sources. A couple of interesting points: I have read numerous sources that the Revolution in the South took on many aspects of vendetta, with people hunting down and killing particular members of the opposite side because those people had killed their family members or friends, but this is the first book that actually details any of those incidents. One of the authors is a former Marine artilleryman, and the analysis of terrain at King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Blackstocks, particularly line of sight issues, is quite good and different from what I've seen elsewhere. They also include a quick sketch of Scots-Irish Presbyterian history that makes it pretty clear why the Presbyterians in particular had issues with both the English government and the Colonial government in Charleston, and a brief history of the SC backcountry that helps put the fighting of 1780-1 in perspective. It is also apparent that the war did not end with Cornwallis' surrender, nor did the killing end with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

A minor problem is that neither are really conversant with the difference between a musket and a rifle (the pictures of weapons, labelled by and credited to the USMC, are astoundingly inaccurate, too!) - the sheer number of rifles mentioned in the original accounts is quite interesting to a Kentucky rifle enthisiast such as myself, and is interesting on all kinds of levels.

Posted by: Grey Fox at July 16, 2017 09:44 AM (bZ7mE)

54 So Trumps job approval is now 36% in new ABC/Wash Post poll. The lowest number ever at the 6 month mark.

Dems retake congress easily at this rate.

Posted by: Gumby at July 16, 2017 09:45 AM (dz5Nj)

55 Sgt. Mom, your new one will last 5-10 years. Because, progress.
Posted by: Emmie at July 16, 2017 09:41 AM (ZapPq)

Just like refrigerators. We had to buy a new one a couple of months ago, and the salesman specifically told us that it wouldn't last 25 years like our old one did, thanks to environmental regulations.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 09:46 AM (5n8Qj)

56 A superb Book Thread, OM! More than worthy of changing out of chaps into pants.

And here in Oregon, hearing radio ads for weed.

(*inhaling sound*) (pause) "Dude. That is some righteous sh*t. Dope McFiend's Emporium, 123 Rose St., where the woke folk come to toke."

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 16, 2017 09:46 AM (M5nbT)

57 I'm sure those polls are totes accurate, dumby.

Keep hope alive, libtard!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V sez the Brewers are NO.1 in the NL Central for the first half of the season at July 16, 2017 09:47 AM (P8951)

58 Classen explodes the myth of the medieval chastity belt,

******

Raise the Portcullis - a limerick

Those knights of yore couldn't be trusted
After wenches and damsels they lusted
But when Lance-a-lot got merry
And a maid gave up her cherry
'Twas not just the myth that got busted!

Posted by: Muldoon at July 16, 2017 09:47 AM (wPiJc)

59 The link to all those old world houses and rooms is intense. All that insane woodwork gives me a frigging chub. Perfect timing too, I'm planning to redo the fireplace, got all the materials, just haven't quite locked in the design. That link gave me some serious ideas.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 09:47 AM (aMlLZ)

60 Gumby: it's July 2016. A lot can happen before November 2018.

Why are you bringing this up now, by the way? This is the book thread. Surely as a long-time reader of this blog you must know this isn't a serious political discussion thread.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 16, 2017 09:47 AM (KqziQ)

61 54; stick to rocket surgery, gumby.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at July 16, 2017 09:48 AM (KP5rU)

62 "Why are you bringing this up now, by the way?"

Because he's a troll?

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V sez the Brewers are NO.1 in the NL Central for the first half of the season at July 16, 2017 09:48 AM (P8951)

63 Gonna be an early night for Pokey.

Posted by: Insomniac at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (0mRoj)

64 O/T - but this is shocking and needs to be tweeted to *itch McConnell and his RINO bunch: Hobby Lobby Just Announced Plan to Close All Stores (because of Obama-induced religious persecution).

I thought they won in the SCOTUS?

http://bit.ly/2ttLPWU

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (b4HRt)

65 Re chastity belts: people are always ascribing weird stuff to the Middle Ages that either never existed or was actually a Renaissance thing.

People also tend to forget that "The Middle Ages" covers about a thousand years of history and a continent - just because something happened in one place at one point doesn't make it typical of the whole.

Posted by: Grey Fox at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (bZ7mE)

66 One of the too many items we got on Amazon Prime day was one of the more complete Swiss Army knives, the Champion. I've been in a hands on mood recently which includes whittling and the SAK kind of fed into that. (I'm not good enough to qualify for wood carving. That suggests talent.) But I can lose track of time doing a ball in a cage or simple figurine whittling. It is pleasantly engrossing.

So I've been thumbing through several books on the subject.

Classic Whittling by Rick Wiebe.

The Swiss Army Knife Book (63 outdoor projects) by Felix Immler. This is a great book if you camp with youngsters in the woods or just the backyard.

The Swiss Army Knife Whittling Book by Chris Lubkemann. Any of Lubkemann's books on whittling are excellent.

The Swiss Army Knife Owner's Manual by Michael Young. If you had any questions about the knives, their uses or even how Swiss history led to the company, it's in this book. And Young is a sprightly, fun writer.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (V+03K)

67 Perfect timing too, I'm planning to redo the fireplace, got all the materials, just haven't quite locked in the design. That link gave me some serious ideas.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 09:47 AM (aMlLZ)

Picture books for that sort of inspiration are great. I found a photo of a MacIntosh Craftsman mantle that I promptly stole when I was remodeling my livingroom.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (5Yee7)

68 Isn't it funny how these new appliances that break down faster and need to be replaced by yet more manufactured goods (which require fossil fuels for manufacture and transportation) are "green"?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:51 AM (QGoUX)

69 No, gumby can't be a troll. He's obviously a long-time reader of this blog, who is very concerned that we have to know the latest anti-Trump poll results even if they're off-topic.

If he was a troll, that would imply he's a miserable human being with nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than spew hate and venom at strangers. And that would be a terribly sad thing.

Posted by: Trimegistus at July 16, 2017 09:52 AM (KqziQ)

70 The book thread recommendation for the slow adult.

Gumby , a children's primer.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 16, 2017 09:53 AM (IDPbH)

71 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:51 AM (QGoUX)

I think I was the only one who didn't know that the "Energy Star" designation was a product of the Bush Sr. Admin to reward cronies with govt preference!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:53 AM (b4HRt)

72 Your weekly Clark Ashton Smith, from “The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan”:

Avoosl Wuthoqquan began to feel a frantic terror amid the intolerable irony of his plight. He cried out; and as if in answer, there came a loud, unctuous, evil chuckle from the cavern behind him. Twisting his fat neck with painful effort, so that he could peer over his shoulder, he saw a most peculiar entity that was crouching on a sort of shelf above the pit of jewels. The entity was wholly and outrageously unhuman; and neither did it resemble any species of animal, or any known god or demon of Hyperborea. Its aspect was not such as to lessen the alarm of the moneylender; for it was very large and pale and squat, with a toad-like face and a swollen, squidgy body and numerous cuttlefish limbs or appendages. It lay flat on the shelf, with its chinless head and long slit-like mouth overhanging the pit, and its cold, lidless eyes peering obliquely at Avoosl Wuthoqquan. The usurer was not reassured when it began to speak in a thick and loathsome voice, like the molten tallow of corpses dripping from a wizard’s kettle.

“Ho! What have we here?” it said. “By the black altar of Tsathoggua, ‘tis a fat moneylender, wallowing in my jewels like a lost pig in a quagmire!”

Grinning sardonically, and showing the cloven tip of a fat white tongue, the singular entity slid from the shelf with boneless ease; and spreading its flat body on the pool of gems, into which it hardly sank, it slithered forward to a position from which it could reach the frantic usurer with its octopus-like members. It dragged him free with a single motion of incredible celerity. Then, without pause or preamble or further comment, in a leisurely and methodical fashion, it began to devour him.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:54 AM (QGoUX)

73 Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:53 AM (b4HRt)
---
Nope, you were not the only one.

*spits*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:55 AM (QGoUX)

74 The chastity belt reminded me of a museum in Germany where they said the Iron Maiden with spikes was a later invention, that an enclosure without spikes was used for shaming ne'er-do-wells but that no one was actually executed with one.

Finished Starship Grifters by Robert Kroese and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bought Rambling Wreck by Hans Schantz but haven't started it yet.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 09:56 AM (THS4q)

75 @72

That's a lot of words to describe Michael Moore.

Posted by: pep at July 16, 2017 09:57 AM (LAe3v)

76 Iron Maiden? Excellent!

Posted by: Ted Theodore Logan at July 16, 2017 09:58 AM (0mRoj)

77 Isn't it funny how these new appliances that break down faster and need to be replaced by yet more manufactured goods (which require fossil fuels for manufacture and transportation) are "green"?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:51 AM (QGoUX)

Kind of like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World involved a future in which the World Controllers bred genetically modified people in order to consume manufactured goods.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:58 AM (5Yee7)

78 Having not read either the book about chastity belts or the Snopes article from the ONT about our "betters" being completely wrong about what Trump said, I suspect there is a connection there in terms of a group telling themselves something (untrue) was true until it became impossible for them to acknowledge actual truth. That Popular Delusions book is in my queue but I'm almost afraid to read it because it sounds like the subject is very timely.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 10:00 AM (rp9xB)

79 the progressive theory of taxation makes it scarcely distinguishable from depeculation

and will result in making both you and the nation impecunious.

Ahhh, now all tied up in a nice little root word ouroboros bow.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 10:02 AM (9q7Dl)

80 Picture books for that sort of inspiration are great. I found a photo of a MacIntosh Craftsman mantle that I promptly stole when I was remodeling my livingroom.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:50 AM (5Yee7)

Yeah I was hitting the books like they owed me money, lol. I've been trying to start this project for 2 years. Every time I'm in lowes or home depot I look through the maple and pull out any wild flamed planks. The material stash is getting a little big, so I need to start this thing. I wanted it done for Christmas.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:02 AM (aMlLZ)

81 Kind of like Aldous Huxley's Brave New World involved a future in which the World Controllers bred genetically modified people in order to consume manufactured goods.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop
________

I need more soma to wrap my head around that.

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 109 A.F. 10:14 AM which you still think of as at July 16, 2017 10:03 AM (zkGZ8)

82 funny how these new appliances that break down faster and need to be replaced by yet more manufactured goods (which require fossil fuels for manufacture and transportation) are "green"?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:51 AM (QGoUX)
I had a repairman fixing my Dishwasher and he was saying that they are changing the regs on the heating element so the water won't get has hot, but Obama was in office then. Thanks to this site I bought some Phosphate to add to my dishwasher and the dishes are clean.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 16, 2017 10:04 AM (dKiJG)

83 Finished Starship Grifters by Robert Kroese and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 09:56 AM (THS4q)

Let me guess, the obamas take over a star ship?

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:05 AM (aMlLZ)

84 I finished Can You Forgive Her? last week,
and I stand by my earlier assertion that Trollope was getting paid by
the word and it shows. No matter. The story had a happy ending, though
I'd be interested to find out what happened to George Vavasour once he
got where he was going.

Posted by: right wing yankee at July 16, 2017 09:17 AM (26lkV)
____________________I always maintained Michener was paid by the word, always started books with "In the beginning . . . " and went 200 pages past the end.
Reading Attkisson's Smear. She does a great job of research and then tying the themes together. No secret that we get lied to daily - she points out how and why. Interesting read.

Posted by: Long Running Fool at July 16, 2017 10:05 AM (+JV0f)

85 Since I am still amused by my proto-engineer youngest daughter wearing her Iron Maiden tshirt to a road work class where she was the only woman (didn't anyone else get the joke but me?), my dad used to joke about a giant key that he used as a keyring as his key to his daughters' chastity belts.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 16, 2017 10:06 AM (MIKMs)

86 You've all seen pictures of medieval chastity belts, right?

Well, apparently, they never existed:

In any case, there's an easier way.

Posted by: Mahmoud Mohammed Muhammad, FGM enthusiast at July 16, 2017 10:06 AM (/qEW2)

87 I need more soma to wrap my head around that.
Posted by: FireHorse

You're in luck!

Posted by: Washington State, Colorado, Nevada, etc. at July 16, 2017 10:08 AM (5YBu8)

88 So I suppose this means the chastity helmet was a myth too.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at July 16, 2017 10:09 AM (PXj2C)

89
I'll give you a Chasity Belt!

Bang! Zoom! Straight to the Moon!

Posted by: Ralph Kramden, Medieval Specialist and Bus Driver at July 16, 2017 10:09 AM (9q7Dl)

90 "The Liberators: My Life in the Soviet Army" by Viktor Suvorov is a terrific book that, sadly, appears to be out of print. It is hilarious and appalling, and gives a pretty good picture of why the Soviet Union collapsed. I just ordered a used copy from Amazon so I could read it again.

Posted by: Toad-O at July 16, 2017 10:11 AM (cct0t)

91 The chastity belt hasn't been built that can hold me!!!

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at July 16, 2017 10:12 AM (oVJmc)

92 Hobby Lobby closing:

According to Snopes it is a false story, based on a false story from a few years ago.

Posted by: French Jeton at July 16, 2017 10:13 AM (WMvHw)

93 I believe Chastity Belts now identify as Chaz Belts.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at July 16, 2017 10:13 AM (oVJmc)

94 I finished Lou Antonelli's Another Girl, Another Planet this week. Think of it as an Asimovian robot mystery set in a Heinleinian alternate reality. Highly recommended!

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at July 16, 2017 10:15 AM (NhF/Q)

95 Many thanks to whoever mentioned Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (iirc). Bought it and quickly went cover-to-cover. It was like a collection of short stories by Alistair Maclean. A lot of fun to read.

After I was done, though, I was left with a desire to get a little of the agents' training. Not enough desire to join the CIA, however.

Posted by: t-bird @ MSY at July 16, 2017 10:15 AM (lIj7A)

96 Maybe in a 1000 years they will say that it was a myth that man used to pull babies out of pregnant women with tongs and crush their heads.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 16, 2017 10:16 AM (IDPbH)

97 Bravo, Peebles.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 10:17 AM (QGoUX)

98 I think I was the only one who didn't know that the "Energy Star" designation was a product of the Bush Sr. Admin to reward cronies with govt preference!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 09:53 AM (b4HRt)

I've been meaning to do a post on the information you sent me about the Energy Star scam. One of these days...

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 10:17 AM (5n8Qj)

99 good morning horde!

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:18 AM (hMwEB)

100 The White House that Litt describes might be characterized as "fratty." He writes how the all-male, all-white, all-under-40 speech writing team drank, smoked, called each other "bro," and followed along with college basketball mostly to please Obama.

What disgusts me about this is not so much the hypocrisy. It's that people would actively support an administration that wants to destroy them. I guess they were in it for the women, fine. But I'm sure that if they were under 40, they could have met women *without* having to be Obama spinmeister cocksuckers.

And this is like the GOPe. People who sell out civilization simply for personal convenience. That treason is what's disgusting.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 16, 2017 10:18 AM (/qEW2)

101 This week I read two of Shaun Attwood's first person books, "Hard Time", and "Prison Time".

Attwood was a drug dealer who apparently was a big player in the Arizona rave and Ecstacy scene. He was unlucky enough to get caught and ensnared in the AZ criminal justice and corrections system.

His hair raising stay in Joe Arpaio's jails and prisons is the stuff of nightmares. He began a prison blog by writing with golf pencils sharpened on his cell door.

I am about as hard line as it gets with respect to the criminal justice system, but these books are eye opening for sure.

Not for the faint hearted. However, if a several page, detailed, first person account of self castration with a razor by someone who wanted to be a woman doesn't produce a reaction from you, you'll probably breeze right through.

Posted by: RM at July 16, 2017 10:20 AM (U3LtS)

102 I guess they were in it for the women, fine. But I'm sure that if they
were under 40, they could have met women *without* having to be Obama
spinmeister c***suckers.

I think you overestimate their appeal.

Posted by: pep at July 16, 2017 10:20 AM (LAe3v)

103 Good Morning Book Horde!

I started the week off reading "Rescue Warriors" by David Helvarg, which is a history of the U.S. Coast Guard. I stopped reading after a day. I was hoping for good information about the Coast Guard in the World Wars and Vietnam, but he gives scant attention to those eras, instead focusing more on their rescue work in the 20th century. OK< not was I was hoping for, but I stopped reading because the author kept jumping back & forth in the narrative timeline, and would change voice between history & his own first person experiences with the CG. I didn't like that at all, and I didn't like how he kept focusing on his left-wing pet causes like climate change & racism (he even notes when nooses were allegedly found on someone's bunk!). So can anyone recommend good books on the military operations of the CG?

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 10:22 AM (ANIFC)

104 Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 16, 2017 09:34 AM (xnmPy)

We are actively working on getting a lease now for a storefront. When we have that I'll let you know so hopefully we can get a book signing for you next spring or so.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 10:22 AM (rp9xB)

105 Hey goodreads groupies - I nominated Meditations by MA for a group read - please vote coz I would love to hear all ya'll thoughts. I'm fascinated by Marcus Aurelius.

also couple of good looking books looking for votes for the horde-written category wink weink nudge nudge

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:22 AM (hMwEB)

106 I mentioned last week that I've started reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius. It was then I realized I don't know much (okay, almost nothing) about Stoicism. Fortunately, the Modern Library edition, translated by Gregory Hays has an good intro to the matter and a list of the names Aurelius mentions in his writing.

I'm only through Book 2 because I keep seeing connections between a 2,000 year old list of personal observations by an aging Roman Emperor and today. These mental excursions and wanderings take time, ya know.

Also, I found a book on the shelves I forgot I had: "A Guide to the Good Life (the ancient art of stoic joy)" by William B. Irvine. I'm leery of many self-help books, if that's what this is, but hope for more background on Stoicism and its applicability.

BTW, I now have three translations of Meditations and sometimes compare them for a specific passage. They are all in the same ball park but differ in stress and interpretation.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 10:23 AM (V+03K)

107 Posted by: RM at July 16, 2017 10:20 AM (U3LtS)

You can watch the shows Hard Time and Lock Up and see what you've read. They don't sugar coated.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 16, 2017 10:24 AM (IDPbH)

108 I finished Charlaine Harris ' Midnight trilogy. She's such a lefty prog now, sigh.
I really liked her earlier mysteries.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:24 AM (hMwEB)

109 When I was growing up one of my Neighbors was a Grand Master in Midievel fighting. Seeing his students fight in full armor was fun. I remember every Friday we would go over and watch his students go at it and they went at it.

There is no way a woman could do it, any book or movie that has a woman fighting in armor just make me laugh and takes me out of it.

Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (dKiJG)

110 good morning horde!

Posted by: votermom

It won't be good until the swamp is drained. Don't mellow my harsh.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (/qEW2)

111 Umm, the photo of the Brooklyn Brownstone library is gorgeous. For a Midwesterner with a preconceived notion of what Brooklyn is like, does it make sense that the photo shows that the home is located on a large yard with trees as evidenced out the window?

Posted by: Jen the original at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (mnB4H)

112 Let me guess, the obamas take over a star ship?
Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:05 AM (aMlLZ)

Nah, too busy with Muslim outreach.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (THS4q)

113 Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 09:39 AM

Found it on Kindle so I'm going to read it, thanks

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (9g/6M)

114 JTB I definitely need you in the group read. Vote?

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:26 AM (hMwEB)

115 38 The Great Siege: Malta 1565

So far pretty good. The Knights of St John or the Hospitaller Knights. The Turks want to wipe out the Knights on Malta then use Malta as a stepping stone for a invasion of Scilly and then Italy. The Knights are very brave, and I can't imagine wearing full armor in that heat. What surprised me is that people defect or "Go renegade" to the other side.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 16, 2017 09:31 AM (dKiJG)

SPOILER ALERT - the Siege of Malta ended with an Ottman defeat on September 11th, just like the Siege of Vienna on September 11th, 1683.

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 10:26 AM (ANIFC)

116 It won't be good until the swamp is drained. Don't mellow my harsh.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (/qEW2)

*hands Steve some bacon*

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:26 AM (hMwEB)

117 I saw the Spinmeister C***suckers open for Meat Beat Manifesto at Fubar.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 10:27 AM (QGoUX)

118 111 Umm, the photo of the Brooklyn Brownstone library is gorgeous. For a Midwesterner with a preconceived notion of what Brooklyn is like, does it make sense that the photo shows that the home is located on a large yard with trees as evidenced out the window?
Posted by: Jen the original at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (mnB4H)

You never heard of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?"

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 10:27 AM (ANIFC)

119 I read "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor--Thank you to whoever recommended that.

An interesting concept he talks about is that we have a limited amount of "willpower," or mental energy we can use each day. As he explains it, I think that's true.

I wonder how that ties with the talk around here about fasting?

Like, as you use your willpower to fast, are you sapping your ability to do some other self-improvement?

Posted by: RoyalOil at July 16, 2017 10:28 AM (W1XyZ)

120 JTB I passed by my tiny local library and grabbed a book by Epictetus.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:28 AM (hMwEB)

121 Hey Gumby,

I shouldn't feed trolls, but...you might fare a little better if you visit a midweek political post here and actually put up a comment with some type of cogent argument for your point of view.

At least that will probably garner a little more respect than reiterating a Democrat talking point or meme on the Sunday book thread.

Posted by: RM at July 16, 2017 10:29 AM (U3LtS)

122 Medieval Castle For Wayward Girls - a limerick

Storm the castle boys, but repent in haste
For our damsels must not be debased!
Now the truth is emergin'
All the girls here are virgins
Though the good looking ones? They are chased!

Posted by: Muldoon at July 16, 2017 10:29 AM (wPiJc)

123 You never heard of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?"
Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 10:27 AM (ANIFC)

Yes, LOL.
I guess I didn't picture Brooklyn homes as having expansive lawns with no neighbors. I thought that was the Hamptons.

Posted by: Jen the original at July 16, 2017 10:29 AM (mnB4H)

124 Posted by: Aunt Luna at July 16, 2017 09:41 AM (Zd2ZF)

I wonder how much that will happen in the future. It happens *now* where you see a progressive use something as "evidence" against Trump, Milo, (insert well known anti-Statist of choice here) and all you can do is look at them because it's *obvious* that the statement at issue was made jokingly.

Another example is that someone at the HQ, and possibly on a book thread, said that Schroedinger had been being sarcastic with his comment about the cat. I think that makes sense but don't know if there's any way to know for sure. What *is* known is that decades, not centuries, later the stupid cat conundrum is treated as a serious piece of not just philosophy but science.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 10:31 AM (rp9xB)

125 I had a repairman fixing my Dishwasher and he was saying that they are changing the regs on the heating element so the water won't get has hot, but Obama was in office then. Thanks to this site I bought some Phosphate to add to my dishwasher and the dishes are clean.
Posted by: Patrick From Ohio at July 16, 2017 10:04 AM (dKiJG)

we have a new dishwasher which I love but it struggles to dry the dishes. Anything plastic stay wet.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:32 AM (hMwEB)

126 So after discarding "Rescue Warriors" I started reading "The Siege of Sidney Street" by Donald Rumblelow. It's about the Anarchist (i.e. Communist) attacks in London in the early 20th century (committed by foreigners let in by Britain's misguided humanitarian immigration policy), which culminated in the police and the Army (led by Home Secretary Winston Churchill) attacking a Communist stronghold on Sidney Street. So far, quite good.

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 10:33 AM (ANIFC)

127 "You can watch the shows Hard Time and Lock Up and see what you've read. They don't sugar coated."

As they say, "They ain't nothing nice, dawg."

Posted by: RM at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM (U3LtS)

128 I mentioned last week that I've started reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius.

Posted by: JTB
________

I had an old copy that I bought used decades ago. The book is lost and its contents mostly forgotten.

Your post is about the third time in a month that "Meditations" has come to my attention. I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

Thanks for the reminder, JTB!

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 109 A.F. 10:14 AM which you still think of as at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM (zkGZ8)

129 Since I am still amused by my proto-engineer youngest daughter wearing her Iron Maiden tshirt to a road work class where she was the only woman (didn't anyone else get the joke but me?) ...
Posted by: mustbequantum at July 16, 2017 10:06 AM (MIKMs)

Funny but true. My engineering college was definitely not a "babe-rich" environment.

Which reminds me of an engineering joke: A pre-occupied engineering student is walking to the library to study when a beautiful co-ed comes riding up on a bicycle, stops, takes off her clothes and tells him "You can have anything you want." A few days later, one of our engineering student's buddies sees him riding a new bicycle. The buddy asks the student where the bike came from and the hero of our story tells him. The buddy replies, "Good choice, you don't have time for a girlfriend, anyway."

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM (5Yee7)

130 I want to live in the library on the top pic.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM (hMwEB)

131 Umm, the photo of the Brooklyn Brownstone library is gorgeous. For a Midwesterner with a preconceived notion of what Brooklyn is like, does it make sense that the photo shows that the home is located on a large yard with trees as evidenced out the window?

Posted by: Jen the original at July 16, 2017 10:25 AM (mnB4H)

I'm an hour from crooklyn, and even I didn't think there was a single lawn mower in that town.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM (aMlLZ)

132 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 10:31 AM (rp9xB)

It may have been sarcasm but it was his opening salvo on his criticism of the conservative wisdom of the day regard to quantum mechanics.

Posted by: Jack Sock at July 16, 2017 10:35 AM (IDPbH)

133 Firehorse I am pretty sure there are free ebook versions of Meditations on the interwebs. I will do a search and blog it but I have to wait until the laptop is available...

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:37 AM (hMwEB)

134 If the previous thread hasn't twitched in an hour, and there is no next thread, and the book thread is over 100 comments, does this become the current open thread?

No? Oh. Special rules for the book thread?

Curse your Literati Privilege!

Howdy, Hordey, anyway.

Posted by: mindful webworker - between threads at July 16, 2017 10:38 AM (wwx67)

135 I read a short story in the 7th grade library 40+ years ago. Automation had run wild, and the "poor" were forced to accept and use all the manufactured goods, while the wealthy could live relatively spartan lives. The protagonist's grandparents and in laws were able to accept large appliances to help him empty his house a bit. In the end, he reprogrammed his robot servants to use all his stuff 24 hours per day and wear it out.

Posted by: Joe at July 16, 2017 10:40 AM (0m0zi)

136 They're always after me lucky charms.

Posted by: Newberry Leprechaun at July 16, 2017 10:41 AM (IqV8l)

137 we have a new dishwasher which I love but it struggles to dry the dishes. Anything plastic stay wet.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:32 AM (hMwEB)

Did you ever try opening the door right after the dishwasher shuts off? It seems to help.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:42 AM (aMlLZ)

138 "Dems retake congress easily at this rate."

lol

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 10:42 AM (n1dE4)

139 Thanks, votermom! Gutenberg.org actually has several versions available.

(Temporal sock off.)

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 2017 10:43 AM (zkGZ8)

140 Did you ever try opening the door right after the dishwasher shuts off? It seems to help.

==

I do when I run it early enough that it ends when I'm still awake.

I don't trust delayed start because hubby & kids are liable to accidentally open it before it starts and mess with the settings

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:44 AM (hMwEB)

141 I am an engineer. My freshman year, the university got an award for the best women to men ratio in engineering in a public school from the Society of Women Engineers or something similar. It was 1 to 6. The quote back then for the dating scene was, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 10:45 AM (THS4q)

142 Re the speechwriter bros - it's not age so much as character. Peter Robinson was 30 when he wrote the tear down this wall speech for Reagan.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 16, 2017 10:46 AM (2yngH)

143 In self-publishing news, my proof copy arrived at my house a few days ago. My wife is reading it and marking things to be adjusted or considered. For instance, the author name on the spine doesn't contrast well enough and is a little hard to read, reuse of a word in two consecutive paragraphs, etc.

Probably authorized for sale by September. I've started a mailing list of people I know who would like to be informed.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 10:48 AM (n1dE4)

144 30 For the nature of "good" and "evil" is eternal and certain, and their value cannot be determined either by the public ordinances of men or by any private opinion.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 09:20 AM (QGoUX)

I'm pretty sure this is racist.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 09:24 AM (5n8Qj)

It was written by a Dead White Male, so yeah.

Posted by: rickl at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (sdi6R)

145
"Dems retake congress easily at this rate."

Six of one. Seven of nine.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (IqV8l)

146 "Dems retake congress easily at this rate."

lol

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 10:42 AM (n1dE4)

Heh. Reminds me of the 'tard that kept posting prior to the NOV 2010 elections that the economic recovery was going to kick in any moment now and the Republicans were going to loose more seats in the U.S. Congress. Oops, didn't work out that way (not that most of the Republicans have covered themselves with glory subsequently) but Obama and the other Marxists have pushed the Democrats so far Left that they are becoming radioactive to the LIV "normies."

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (5Yee7)

147 we have a new dishwasher which I love but it struggles to dry the dishes. Anything plastic stay wet.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:32 AM (hMwEB)

We have an older model Bosch dishwasher and we have the same problem with the plastic containers we put in not drying. So maybe it's not due to modern regulatory requirements.

Don't know what would be causing the problem, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (5n8Qj)

148 Automation had run wild, and the "poor" were forced to accept and use
all the manufactured goods, while the wealthy could live relatively
spartan lives.
=====

That is something I really miss about the 'olden days' -- when those millionaires were neighbors, along with the garbageman and the hairdresser, and the hysterical consumerism wasn't as prevalent. The old-time money people I used to know lived frugally, not stupidly so, but with an appreciation for historical privilege. Small town Midwestern.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 16, 2017 10:51 AM (MIKMs)

149 "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."

1:6 seems about right for my engineering college, too. And it tended to not be the college where the pretty girls went.

Freshmen representation was better, but they all dropped out to do something easier. Or ran off to get married, or something.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 10:51 AM (n1dE4)

150 114 ... Hi votermom,

Just added my vote for Meditations. A discussion of how people relate to it, both academically and personally, should be fascinating.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 10:51 AM (V+03K)

151 Polliwog at #104 - Lovely! I'll be looking forward to it!

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at July 16, 2017 10:53 AM (xnmPy)

152 "And it tended to not be the college where the pretty girls went."

Ouch.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 10:56 AM (THS4q)

153 We have an older model Bosch dishwasher and we have the same problem with the plastic containers we put in not drying. So maybe it's not due to modern regulatory requirements.

Don't know what would be causing the problem, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (5n8Qj)

Lack of thermal mass: plastic cools-down fast so it doesn't transfer enough energy for the water molecules to change to the gaseous state.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at July 16, 2017 10:56 AM (5Yee7)

154 *hands Steve some bacon*

Posted by: votermom

Thanks. I need a bacon infusion from time to time. That is my comfort food.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at July 16, 2017 10:57 AM (/qEW2)

155 120 ... "JTB I passed by my tiny local library and grabbed a book by Epictetus."

Thought I had one of his books but I can't find it on the shelves (or piled in boxes). Easy enough to remedy the situation. Glad you mentioned his writings.

Posted by: JTB at July 16, 2017 10:58 AM (V+03K)

156 1:6 seems about right for my engineering college, too. And it tended to not be the college where the pretty girls went.
Freshmen representation was better, but they all dropped out to do something easier. Or ran off to get married, or something.
=====

Daughter is at a 1:5, but I think the washout rate is the same for male/female. It just shows up by the end curriculum more starkly.

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 16, 2017 10:59 AM (MIKMs)

157 Ha. Comey's book will eschew sordid gutter details and instead be a collection of Meditations on how his finely attuned ethics, informed by his hair shirt religiosity, guided him through dark nights of the political soul.

Working title: A Mann for All Political Seasons

Or .... Saint Jimmy Drama

Posted by: Ignoramus at July 16, 2017 11:00 AM (pV/54)

158 @152 - he did say tended.

Posted by: blaster at July 16, 2017 11:01 AM (jHrzU)

159 147
We have an older model Bosch dishwasher and we have the same problem with the plastic containers we put in not drying. So maybe it's not due to modern regulatory requirements.

Don't know what would be causing the problem, though.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader at July 16, 2017 10:49 AM (5n8Qj)

I don't have a dishwasher. I wash my dishes by hand and put them in the dishrack to dry.

The plastic containers take longer. I figure it's because of all the nooks and crannies trapping the water. When I put away the pots and pans and plates, I shake the remaining water out of the plastic containers and put them back in the rack for a while longer.

Posted by: rickl at July 16, 2017 11:01 AM (sdi6R)

160 26 I have mostly been reading about Ford and Chrysler products this week, as I'm two weeks in to a new job in car sales.

I swear I'm going to read something interesting this week.
Posted by: April
---
Congrats on the new gig April!

Posted by: Tonypete at July 16, 2017 11:03 AM (tr2D7)

161 OOC, how do you make a link in your name? I've never bothered to find that out.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 11:04 AM (n1dE4)

162 160 26 I have mostly been reading about Ford and Chrysler products this week, as I'm two weeks in to a new job in car sales.

I swear I'm going to read something interesting this week.
Posted by: April
---
Congrats on the new gig April!
Posted by: Tonypete at July 16, 2017 11:03 AM (tr2D7)

May you have better luck than I did as a car salesman.

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:06 AM (ANIFC)

163 Thanks, blaster. (((squishy hugs)))

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 11:06 AM (THS4q)

164 "@152 - he did say tended."

There was one girl ahead of me in the mechanical or aerospace program who was a knockout. Beautiful. But also unique. And obviously sick of being ogled by nerds all day.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 11:06 AM (n1dE4)

165 My problem is we have an old dishwasher, and it runs like crap on modern soaps in this area due to phosphate restrictions. So I have to buy detergents when I'm traveling.

Posted by: Jean at July 16, 2017 11:07 AM (vCj+j)

166 135, Joe, "The Midas Plague" by Frederick Pohl. I think of it every time someone starts talking about robots putting everyone out of work.

Posted by: Tonestaple at July 16, 2017 11:07 AM (QqILu)

167 sick of being ogled by nerds all day.

------

Boy, if I had a nickle for every time I heard that...

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:07 AM (ANIFC)

168 Had an almost awful experience this week.

Looking for something to read as a break from Morison's history of the Navy in WWII (interesting read, jut a bit long to read straight through), I picked a copy of The Yellow Room by Mary Roberts Rinehart out of a box I had in storage for a while.

The paperback book, printed in 1945, had a cracked binding and lots of loose pages,. so i was careful as I read it. Deep into the intrigue, I finished page 176. . . . only to find the next page in my copy was 235. And a LOT happened in those 60 pages.

Luckily, there was a copy I could "borrow" from archive.org.

Posted by: Just John at July 16, 2017 11:08 AM (Zhmao)

169 Greetings, O Book Thread! Some Marcus Aurelius guy says you should live every day as if it is your last, so you should ignore the lawn and read a good book. Pretty sure that's what he means, anyway.

The writing life is...not good at the moment. Writing computer hard drive developed bit rot and is now at the doctor's getting fixed. Backup laptop #1 power cord failed, replacement on the way. This is thwarting my plans. BUT! A ray of sunshine. A very funny guy who goes by the internet handle Lawdog has *finally* published the first book of his stories in law enforcement. http://tinyurl.com/yd9z8ptp (Amazon link) Forward by Larry Correia, so you know it's good.

This guy is side-splitting hilarious. The story of how he made use of a (very)Pink Gorilla Suit pursuant to collaring some meth cooks--who apparently had been sampling their wares a bit too much--is worth the price of admission all by itself. We are promised more books soon featuring stories of his youth in Africa (including a pissed-off honey badger!)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at July 16, 2017 11:10 AM (hnzFp)

170 @rfh weird to run into IRL people among the horde.

You should post the ratio in your particular field.

Posted by: blaster at July 16, 2017 11:11 AM (jHrzU)

171 we have a new dishwasher which I love but it struggles to dry the dishes. Anything plastic stay wet.

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:32 AM (hMwEB)

Did you ever try opening the door right after the dishwasher shuts off? It seems to help.
Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at July 16, 2017 10:42 AM (aMlLZ)

We had to replace our excellent (but LOUD) Whirlpool at 15 years of age because the spindles on the top rack were rusting. Got a new one and it constantly stinks -- even though there's nothing in the filter. There's always standing water left in the bottom. The young guy (who could be a Moron) said they're all built that way and to just crack the door a little (but that just lets the stink pervade the kitchen). Aaaarrrrggh.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 11:13 AM (b4HRt)

172 150 yay!

thanks!
now you too, Firehorse

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 11:13 AM (hMwEB)

173 Thanks, Tonypete. Hoping to be successful at this, and hoping it doesn't suck.

Posted by: April at July 16, 2017 11:14 AM (e8PP1)

174 Oregon, it is a Bosch!
Hubby picked it based on reliability.
I like it a lot except for the drying issue.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 11:15 AM (hMwEB)

175 So does Newbury have Toth's Scroll of Life in its collection? That would explain some things about the voters.

Siriusly, Tanya is undercover and had found out some of the books and texts just might be magical. In a castle, Schloss, that also just might be haunted.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:16 AM (Wja0c)

176 SandyCheeks our DW had an unpleasant "metal/industrial" smell in the first week but it's dissipated now.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 11:17 AM (hMwEB)

177 whoo-hoo, made another sale of Pinch of Larceny yesterday. Now that is motivation to keep writing.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:20 AM (Wja0c)

178 There are two (lovely) women on my IT app dev team that have their Chem Eng degrees. Both of them landed very high paying positions right out of school but after working in a chem plant/refinery in tiny town along the river USA, they got sick of being way out their element as to level of education. No guys to date or see socially, in their opinion.

So, sought jobs with IT nerds in the big city. They make about half of what they once did and are much happier.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 16, 2017 11:20 AM (tr2D7)

179 Re: magical texts. I still have a few years to go before I'm "supposed" to be able to study kabbalah, but I intend to. Need to learn more Hebrew, though. Much more.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 11:21 AM (n1dE4)

180 Aaaaaand, there I was all nostalgic for Midwestern sensibility and Powerline Blog had a review:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/07/from-warm-center-to-ragged-edge.php

Posted by: mustbequantum at July 16, 2017 11:21 AM (MIKMs)

181 Read The Devil Knows You're Dead (Scudder #11), where Scudder investigates the mysterious death of a neighbor who gets whacked walking the streets late at night. Very well written with good characters, mystery is OK, enjoyed it.

Read When Worlds Collide by Wylie and Balmer, a sci-fi apocalyptic tale of planets entering the solar system and crashing into the Earth. Written in 1932 so a bit old-fashioned, has interesting characters and an exciting story. Plan to read the sequel After Worlds Collide to see how things end up.

Read the short story The Yanthus Print Job: A Pepper Melange Novella by Robert Kroese, a funny tale of crime where Pepper, a bartender on a poor planet, deeply in debt to the mob looks for a way out. Fun short book, precedes the Starship Grifters story.

Posted by: waelse1 at July 16, 2017 11:22 AM (MWs2X)

182 JTB's vote was enough to push Meditations by Marcus Aurelius into discussion in the horde goodreads group. It will go into "no spoilers" discussion in August and "spoilers allowed" discussion in September. I may post the discussion thread soon for discussion of the best translation/annotation to read.

Anyone interested in participating in the discussion should join the horde goodreads group, if they haven't already.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 11:23 AM (TKf/P)

183
Dishwasher issue: I have a late model Samsung -- middle of the road cost-wise ~ 500-600 dollars. At end of cycle it 'kicks' the door open a couple inches and lets out all the steam. A blower continues for around another 15 minutes. The plastic, along with everything else, comes out warm and dry.

My old dishwasher the plastic stayed wet for hours, even overnight. Not a problem anymore. The top end Bosch models don't have this door opening capability. The Samsung is the only one I know of that does.

Posted by: Slippery Slope Salesman at July 16, 2017 11:23 AM (EgwCt)

184 Pork belly prices are up 80% in the last 6 months
Thanks Obama

Posted by: Jared at July 16, 2017 11:25 AM (xSPMF)

185 Not like I need more books to read, but I think I'll bump Meditations up the list. I tried to read it a few years ago and didn't get much out of it. Maybe it'll go better this time.

Posted by: right wing yankee at July 16, 2017 11:26 AM (26lkV)

186 Reading the comments on Gravity's Rainbow, it was probably the most disappointing book I've ever read. I had read all this effusive praise for it and when I started it was like a turd sent from the seventies. Very trite while striving to be pretentious. I really hated wasting a lot of time on it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at July 16, 2017 11:27 AM (y7DUB)

187 Anna @ 177- Congratulations! Selling stuff is such a great feeling, right up there with actually finishing a story.

Posted by: right wing yankee at July 16, 2017 11:28 AM (26lkV)

188 Sounds like someone's dishwasher has been reading magical texts and needs an exorcism if its emitting smoke/steam. Or just a mechanic.

The Haunted Dishwasher - a horror novel of suburbia. It was just another normal day in the quite neighborhood tucked away in a little side canyon that the town managed to forget more often than not. Which suited Elvis just fine, him and Jim Morrison enjoyed the anonymity along with meeting the ladies of the bridge club. Until they got a new dishwasher...

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:28 AM (Wja0c)

189 cool breeze I just invited a conservative author I know via FB who is into Meditations, you may see his request come up. His name is Dale.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 11:29 AM (hMwEB)

190 The plastic containers take longer. I figure it's because of all the nooks and crannies trapping the water. When I put away the pots and pans and plates, I shake the remaining water out of the plastic containers and put them back in the rack for a while longer.
Posted by: rickl at July 16, 2017 11:01 AM (sdi6R)

Some plastics just take longer to dry. Put the in the dish rack or on a towel (or one of those drying mats) with something under one edge to let air circulate.

Posted by: Fox2! at July 16, 2017 11:30 AM (brIR5)

191 SandyCheeks, next time you're at the grocery store, look for LemiShine. You'll find it right next to the dishwasher detergents. Run that through your (empty) dishwasher and see if that helps with the smell.

Posted by: bluebell at July 16, 2017 11:30 AM (sBOL1)

192 "whoo-hoo, made another sale of Pinch of Larceny yesterday. Now that is motivation to keep writing."

Soon... soon...

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 11:31 AM (n1dE4)

193 SandyCheeks, next time you're at the grocery store, look for LemiShine. You'll find it right next to the dishwasher detergents. Run that through your (empty) dishwasher and see if that helps with the smell.

Posted by: bluebell at July 16, 2017 11:30 AM (sBOL1)

Thanks for the suggestion. I occasionally resort to half a packet of Kool-Aid or some white vinegar after a few days of that standing water. It's fine at the very end of the wash/dry cycle. It's just after it stands a few days waiting to get full again.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 11:34 AM (b4HRt)

194 Just added my vote for Meditations. A discussion of how people relate to it, both academically and personally, should be fascinating.

Posted by: JTB
________

Clicked on Book 2 and read "Remember how long thou hast already put off these things, and how often a certain day and hour as it were, having been set unto thee by the gods, thou hast neglected it." Story of my life, more or less.

(By the way, whatever happened to the monthly Reading Threads?)

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 2017 11:34 AM (zkGZ8)

195 Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:37 AM (hMwEB)

Standardebooks.org has Meditations for free. They take Gutenberg books and clean them up I think.

Posted by: waelse1 at July 16, 2017 11:34 AM (MWs2X)

196 SandyCheeks, it doesn't seem right to me that so much water would stand in the bottom of your dishwasher like that. I don't have any in mine. That seems kind of odd.

I know what your dishwasher repair guy said, but have you tried looking a bit online to see if that's normal?

Posted by: bluebell at July 16, 2017 11:35 AM (sBOL1)

197 And obviously sick of being ogled by nerds all day.
Posted by: Apostate

*****

Engineerette's Lament - a limerick

This situation's just for the birds
My frustration level just has no words
Though this may sound superficial
Let's go ahead, make it official-
"I don't like being ogled by nerds!"

Posted by: Muldoon at July 16, 2017 11:35 AM (wPiJc)

198 "That is something I really miss about the 'olden days' -- when those millionaires were neighbors, along with the garbageman and the hairdresser, and the hysterical consumerism wasn't as prevalent. The old-time money people I used to know lived frugally, not stupidly so, but with an appreciation for historical privilege. Small town Midwestern."

This struck a chord. I was lucky enough to have attended a private high school, also attended by kids and descendants of several "Forbes 400" families from the area. They DID live in beautiful homes established by older generations, but they all did it very "quietly". The kids did NOT have expensive cars - none of them - and were uniformly extremely unassuming and down to earth. Being aware of their historical privilege is a good way to put it.

Then, the kids drove a several year old Olds Cutlass hand me down or some other kind of beater. Now, the school parking areas are occupied by baby Bimmers and Audis. The girls get designer prom dresses that are worn once only.

Then, if one wanted to ski, it was generally a several hour road trip in an overheated car jammed with equipment. Now, it isn't unusual for the kiddies to catch a ride in someone's private jet to the ski town.

Their parents are of the newer wealth strain that live in gaudy MacMansions. The kids are appear to be primarily another way for the parents to display their success.

Posted by: RM at July 16, 2017 11:36 AM (U3LtS)

199 Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 11:23 AM (TKf/P)

Spoilers? In a philosophy book?

Posted by: waelse1 at July 16, 2017 11:37 AM (MWs2X)

200 Right Wing Yankee how are things going with your book and writing?

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:39 AM (Wja0c)

201 That whole "help with the magic books" seems like a lose-lose situation.

Chance you'll find the formula to create gold out of nothing? Pretty sure the answer is 0%.

Chance you'll bring home a demon/ghost/ other and/or become possessed? Higher than 0%

And, when said demon/ghost/other ruins you life, you're screwed. You can't even sue, because it's effing Chicago.

Posted by: shibumi at July 16, 2017 11:40 AM (aT+Bx)

202
Dishwashers intentionally don't completely drain at the end of the cycle to protect and prolong the seals. What they'll do at beginning of wash cycle is *then* dump the old water out.

There really shouldn't be any perceptible smell from the water remaining in the bottom at end of cycle. But a cup of vinegar should neutralize anything in the remaining water for a couple days.

Maybe running the dishwasher empty a couple times with an additional couple of cups of vinegar will throughly clean it out. Old dishwashers sometimes get funkiness growing in areas you can not easily see, like under the racks.

Posted by: Slippery Slope Salesman at July 16, 2017 11:40 AM (EgwCt)

203 Shibumi, so you mean the demon/ghost will run for political office in Chicago? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:41 AM (Wja0c)

204 Anyone interested in participating in the discussion should join the horde goodreads group, if they haven't already.

Posted by: cool breeze
________

Just signed up!

(First message: "You have no friends in the AoSHQ Moron Horde group." I'll try not to read too much into that.)

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 2017 11:41 AM (zkGZ8)

205 Currently working through a stack of the "1632" series of books I got for cheap

I was ignoring these but started thru a few months back. Now I'm ordering them out of the library every week.

There's a horrible what-if for Dueling Banjos in Ring of Fire III

Posted by: DaveA at July 16, 2017 11:42 AM (FhXTo)

206 186 Reading the comments on Gravity's Rainbow, it was probably the most disappointing book I've ever read. I had read all this effusive praise for it and when I started it was like a turd sent from the seventies. Very trite while striving to be pretentious. I really hated wasting a lot of time on it.

Pynchon is the Rothko of the written word. You're not supposed to "get it," just appreciate it's brilliance because all of Your Betters do. And keep your corn-eating, Walmart-shopping mouth shut lest you be found out.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at July 16, 2017 11:42 AM (7oUUT)

207 203 Shibumi, so you mean the demon/ghost will run for political office in Chicago? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:41 AM (Wja0c)

Yeah, it would be an improvement.

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:43 AM (ANIFC)

208 There is a new Ring of Fire book coming out, plop a cruise ship back in time when Alexander the Great just died and Ptolemy is trying to consolidate power in Egypt.

But I grew tired of the whole 1632 set-up and quit reading them.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 11:44 AM (Wja0c)

209 You should post the ratio in your particular field.

Posted by: blaster at July 16, 2017 11:11 AM (jHrzU)

In my lab, 1 to 4. Unfortunately, a lot of those are quota hires. I made a Ph.D. cry when I asked her what her dissertation was about. She couldn't answer. (I'm such a meanie.)

Across the industry, probably 1 to 8. I would say 1997 was the last time I had to deal with any real male chauvinism, but I'm still outnumbered. I've thought about getting the sign for my office that says "Sexual harassment will not be reported. It will, however, be graded."

To put this back on topic, I wrote a chapter for a book on aerospace materials. There are 28 people writing and editing this book, three (including me) are women.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 11:46 AM (THS4q)

210 Shibumi, so you mean the demon/ghost will run for political office in Chicago? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?
--

Well, actually I meant that if the library is owned by the city of Chicago (not actually sure to be honest) that they have no money, so suing them will be a waste of money.

Also, I'm not sure that demons/ghosts can run for political office.

However... I am totally OK with asking if those currently involved in politics are possessed by greedy, incompetent lesser demons.

Chicago area Morons: Has anyone gone to a city council meeting or city hall with holy water to see what happens?

/The Power of Christ Compels You!!!!

Posted by: shibumi at July 16, 2017 11:47 AM (aT+Bx)

211 "I made a Ph.D. cry when I asked her what her dissertation was about. She couldn't answer. (I'm such a meanie.)"

How... how is that possible? Technical dissertations are supposed to be soul-crushing, horrific ordeals in which the author learns every minute aspect of the subject there is to know. It should be burned into her soul!

Hell, I can still remember most of my law review article and explain it to strangers, and that was less difficult than a dissertation.

Posted by: Apostate at July 16, 2017 11:50 AM (n1dE4)

212 Not quite getting all the hate for "Gravity's Rainbow", since you can tell the sort of book it will be within the first ten pages.

Though I read it in college, so if I read it now I might not be quite as impressed as I was.

I have to admire Pynchon in that he was doing his own thing his way. And succeeded with it.

Truly original writer who spawned a lot, a lot of bad imitators.

Don De Lillo probably wrote the best "Gravity's Rainbow"-manque titled "Ratner's Star".

I think "GR"s greatest weakness is that the plot(such as it is) and action (ditto) is resolved thematically,

which is to say not really resolved at all.

It's a little bit like a physicist writing a long novel who as his conclusion/climax breaks the 4th wall and says."Welp, never mind all this nonsense anyway cuz it's all part of the chaos and entropy of the universe and ain't those subatomic particles the bee knees. That's where the real story is, buck o!
FIN.

But, you know, Pynchon spent 900 pages telling you what was coming.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 11:52 AM (9q7Dl)

213 RE: depeculation, it's only a misdemeanor in Oregon if you're under the influence of narcotics!

/hoarding oxycodone/meth: a good thing for use when committing future crimes

Posted by: shibumi at July 16, 2017 11:52 AM (aT+Bx)

214 Nood, is so inclined.

Posted by: HH at July 16, 2017 11:53 AM (mIJBI)

215 For what it's worth Pynchon's best novel is "V".

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (9q7Dl)

216 FFS. Andrea Mitchell, certified Blue Check Better than Us, tweeted about the 100th Anniversary of World War II.

http://tinyurl.com/y9jaqmjm

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (ANIFC)

217 215 For what it's worth Pynchon's best novel is "V".

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (9q7Dl)

I loved the miniseries!

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:55 AM (ANIFC)

218 FFS. Andrea Mitchell, certified Blue Check Better than Us, tweeted about the 100th Anniversary of World War II.

http://tinyurl.com/y9jaqmjm
Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (ANIFC)

Hah! Brilliant!

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Gentleman Drunkard at July 16, 2017 11:57 AM (I8zsv)

219 "...it was like a turd sent from the seventies. "

Posted by: Captain Hate at July 16, 2017 11:27 AM (y7DUB)
----

I keep laughing, imagining a time portal opening up and a fung-KAY 70's turd drifting in through the temporal rift, baby.

Kind of like how I felt watching Soylent Green last night.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 12:02 PM (QGoUX)

220 217 215 For what it's worth Pynchon's best novel is "V".

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (9q7Dl)

I loved the miniseries!

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:55 AM (ANIFC)

Yeah, I was hoping that Pynchon would write a trilogy about the adventures of "V"'s greatest character, The Lizard Queen!

Cuz everyone loves them some trilogies!

Maybe she could've hooked up with Jim Morrison.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 16, 2017 12:02 PM (9q7Dl)

221 Glad to see the chastity belt article, but it won't do much good. 90% of what people think they know about the Middle Ages is pure bullshit, and serious historians have been tearing down the myths for ages. But it never seems to sink in. The myths seem very precious to people. But literally everything - law, culture, politics, technology, whatever you choose - it's ALL misrepresented in the classrooms. It used to be that Medieval History classes would set you straight; I doubt that is true today (at least, not reliably) given the SJW slant on everything.

So far as the Obama WH canoodling, maybe Geraldo and Jake were right there, grabbing pussy with the rest. (Somehow I suspect Anderson Cooper was at least innocent of THAT.)

Posted by: George LeS at July 16, 2017 12:02 PM (+TcCF)

222 On books: I've been rereading van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries. It does tend to remind me that it's not just Western Civ that the left hates. When they took over China, well, the Cultural Revolution was the Mark I version of what we see on college campuses. Of course they kept the authoritarian side, but destroyed the traditionalism and legalism.

Nice guys, those Commies.Very multicultural.

Posted by: George LeS at July 16, 2017 12:06 PM (+TcCF)

223 (First message: "You have no friends in the AoSHQ Moron Horde group." I'll try not to read too much into that.)

==

he he he he

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 12:06 PM (hMwEB)

224 Here's soemthing fun that's book related.

Did you know that's a book called "Baron Trumps Marvelous Underground Journey" that was published in 1893?

Just search the title.

It's real.

Posted by: shibumi at July 16, 2017 12:06 PM (aT+Bx)

225 A lot of SciFi went the way of the Malthusian future where we all ended up like the third world, rich people with everything living behind fences, the rest of the world scratching for a living in an overcrowded crumbling world.

Soylent Green was based on a book by Harry Harrison from the 50s, I would say that a lot of Pohl's Gateway series was like that.

Posted by: blaster at July 16, 2017 12:07 PM (jHrzU)

226 waelse1, thanks, great link!

Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 12:08 PM (hMwEB)

227 All Hail Eris, a funky tie-dyed Emoji turd tripping on Acid?

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 12:10 PM (Wja0c)

228 I am not going to click on that WWII anniversary link, I value my IQ too much.

Yeah the first Gateway book, gah what a depressing reality. Willing to take a possible death ride just to have a chance at a better future.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at July 16, 2017 12:12 PM (Wja0c)

229 Did you know that's a book called "Baron Trumps Marvelous Underground Journey" that was published in 1893?
---
You know who else believed in the Hollow Earth Theory?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 12:14 PM (QGoUX)

230 Anna, you just know that emoji is already out there.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 16, 2017 12:16 PM (QGoUX)

231 I want to live in the library on the top pic.
Posted by: votermom pimping great books! at July 16, 2017 10:34 AM

I'm with you but only if it comes with a wine cellar

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 12:24 PM (9g/6M)

232 Votermom,

I picked up the Daily Stoic for my stepson. I'm on the mailing list too. I find it a nice introduction to the Stoic philosophy.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 16, 2017 12:24 PM (Lqy/e)

233 Anna - Got through all those Normandy pictures, going to pass it along to my wargame site.
Took a few hours

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 12:26 PM (9g/6M)

234 Spoilers? In a philosophy book?

Posted by: waelse1 at July 16, 2017 11:37 AM (MWs2X)

Funny, but it seemed like it deserved an attempt at an example:

The Communist Manifesto (spoiler) - No, nobody is ever going to "get communism right this time". It will just make millions more miserable, or dead.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 12:36 PM (TKf/P)

235 Spoilers? In a philosophy book?

Posted by: waelse1
________

The New Testament has "Revelation" and my church entices me back every week by not telling me how it all ends.

Posted by: FireHorse at July 16, 2017 12:43 PM (zkGZ8)

236 Anyone interested in participating in the discussion should join the horde goodreads group, if they haven't already.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 11:23 AM (TKf/P)

I could not seem to find a link, but would be interested!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 16, 2017 12:45 PM (gwPgz)

237 I'm headed out to do some errands & will check out a new used book store that opened up near me.

Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 12:46 PM (ANIFC)

238 Goodreads wants a name and email address. Gonna be inundated with bs by joining?

Posted by: weirdflunky at July 16, 2017 12:50 PM (TVLwH)

239 I am only reading light, summer fiction right now. Nothing worth mentioning.

We did have to replace an 18 month old refrigerator a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't that attached to it. It was French door style and didn't hold very much. We replaced it with a bare bones, old school refrigerator. If I am only going to get 5 years out of appliances, I am not spending big dollars. The appliance guy told me to stay away from Samsung refrigerators, but if I had my heart set on one, buy the extended warranty.

Posted by: Quirky bookworm at July 16, 2017 12:54 PM (gppsv)

240 I could not seem to find a link, but would be interested!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 16, 2017 12:45 PM (gwPgz)

The link is hotlinked at the bottom of OregonMuse's main post every Sunday:

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/175335-aoshq-moron-horde

You will need to create an account at goodreads (free) and request to join the group, which is private to keep away trolls.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 12:55 PM (TKf/P)

241 238 Goodreads wants a name and email address. Gonna be inundated with bs by joining?
Posted by: weirdflunky at July 16, 2017 12:50 PM (TVLwH)

I use a secondary email. You can turn notifications off.
Amazon owns goodreads now so they will probably data mine your goodreads acct too.

HROTHGAR, I emailed you a link

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 12:56 PM (hMwEB)

242 Goodreads wants a name and email address. Gonna be inundated with bs by joining?

Posted by: weirdflunky at July 16, 2017 12:50 PM (TVLwH)

You can use a pseudonym and a disposable email address to sign up and change them later if you get more comfortable with goodreads. By default, you will get some emails encouraging you to read and buy books, but I think you can change the settings to get little or nothing. Goodreads is now owned by amazon, so they have the information, but I don't see them sharing it with spammers.

Posted by: cool breeze at July 16, 2017 01:02 PM (TKf/P)

243 "Thanks for the suggestion. I occasionally resort to half a packet of Kool-Aid or some white vinegar after a few days of that standing water. It's fine at the very end of the wash/dry cycle. It's just after it stands a few days waiting to get full again."

I absolutely swear by Cascade dishwasher packets with Chlorox bleach. Cleans the dishes great but more importantly keeps the dishwasher sparkly clean and smelling great.

Posted by: Tuna at July 16, 2017 01:04 PM (jm1YL)

244 Myth making procedures are well known and over used. Bill Clinton didn't create all the myths he wanted. But he tried hard. BTU tax and more. Some big historical ones claimed on the internet but I won't kill my credibility by mentioning them. The biggies are more believable after all the attacks on President Trump. Everyone in the world would be well clothed, housed and fed if half the effort was spent on those tasks as is spent in trying to convince people of unbelievable things. Hilary Clinton is honest and competent. (giggle giggle).

Posted by: Mudd at July 16, 2017 01:10 PM (WAzyc)

245 Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 12:56 PM (hMwEB)

Thanks I am working on my application!

Posted by: Hrothgar at July 16, 2017 01:12 PM (gwPgz)

246
210 Shibumi, so you mean the demon/ghost will run for political office in Chicago? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?
--

Well, actually I meant that if the library is owned by the city of Chicago (not actually sure to be honest) that they have no money, so suing them will be a waste of money.

Also, I'm not sure that demons/ghosts can run for political office.

However... I am totally OK with asking if those currently involved in politics are possessed by greedy, incompetent lesser demons.

Chicago area Morons: Has anyone gone to a city council meeting or city hall with holy water to see what happens?

/The Power of Christ Compels You!!!!
Posted by: shibumi at July 16, 2017 11:47 AM (aT+Bx)

Interesting if we could get this particular use of religion into court and have separation of church and state go to war with free exercise of religion.

Posted by: Headless Body of Agnew at July 16, 2017 01:14 PM (e1mEI)

247 "So far as the Obama WH canoodling"

They either lied or had to come up with something worth putting out for. They left those details out when bragging to the peanut gallery.

DC is full of prostitutes. First the payment, then the sex.

Posted by: Mudd at July 16, 2017 01:16 PM (WAzyc)

248 216 FFS. Andrea Mitchell, certified Blue Check Better than Us, tweeted about the 100th Anniversary of World War II.

http://tinyurl.com/y9jaqmjm
Posted by: josephistan at July 16, 2017 11:54 AM (ANIFC)

I have to give her the benefit of the doubt on that. Her finger may have twitched slightly when she hit the "I" key. It happens to me too. I often type "herre" when I mean "here".

Posted by: rickl at July 16, 2017 01:46 PM (sdi6R)

249 Reading The Reagan Diaries, Volume I. They're delightful and informative, and I can't believe I never knew they existed until 2 days ago.

Posted by: Bookaday at July 16, 2017 01:46 PM (2qDS0)

250 I absolutely swear by Cascade dishwasher packets with Chlorox bleach. Cleans the dishes great but more importantly keeps the dishwasher sparkly clean and smelling great.
Posted by: Tuna at July 16, 2017 01:04 PM (jm1YL)

Ack! I didn't know about those. The owner's manual says not to use straight bleach because stainless steel interior (don't ask me), but I imagine those tablets don't have enough to wreck the finish but enough to kill the stank germs. Thanks!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 01:56 PM (b4HRt)

251 "How... how is that possible? Technical dissertations are supposed to be
soul-crushing, horrific ordeals in which the author learns every minute
aspect of the subject there is to know. It should be burned into her
soul!"

Apostate, precisely. She went away and came back with a printout of her abstract from the university website. I recognized the polymer she had been "working" on and asked some questions. She started crying again and left. It was pretty obvious that someone else did the work for her. I avoid her as much as possible.

I don't know what she thought was going to happen in a city where 1 out of every 13 people has a STEM degree. I know any number of Ph.D's who just happen to have a copy of their dissertation handy and will bore *you* to tears, not cry about it.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 01:58 PM (THS4q)

252 No idea how this got to be a dishwasher thread but we sometimes use those packets and seem to work well

Posted by: Skip at July 16, 2017 01:59 PM (9g/6M)

253 I remember a movie where the see-through bubbles were in the butt. 70s or 80s I think.

Posted by: Old grey Marist at July 16, 2017 02:00 PM (bHQqf)

254 Since pseudonyms have come up, I have a question for the Horde. I have never had a FB account and don't esp. want one. However, I'm taking an online calligraphy course and the instructor has a special FB page set up for those enrolled and will be doing live updates and posting class submissions.

Would it be worth a FB account or not? Also, I've read online accounts of people who set up fake names and fake info.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 02:00 PM (b4HRt)

255
I read "Dragon Teeth", the latest posthumous novel by Michael Crichton.

Good read, as are all his books.

Posted by: Frankly at July 16, 2017 02:07 PM (rlrhq)

256 I'm looking for a detailed D-Day book on Omaha beach in a probably fruitless effort to learn about the Engineer battalions. Anyone have a suggestion?
Posted by: Skip
------------

See the bibliography at : http://tinyurl.com/y9quaew6

May be of help.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 16, 2017 02:12 PM (OdK9v)

257 Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 01:58 PM (THS4q)

Makes me wonder if she's one of those that lied about her qualifications. I don't even have an undergrad degree, but John was ABD (it was partially written when things changed and he could either start over or get a job and he chose the job) so I've seen the process. Even I could tell from what you wrote that there was no way she did the work at all.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 02:13 PM (rp9xB)

258
We did have to replace an 18 month old refrigerator a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't that attached to it. It was French door style and didn't hold very much. We replaced it with a bare bones, old school refrigerator. If I am only going to get 5 years out of appliances, I am not spending big dollars. The appliance guy told me to stay away from Samsung refrigerators, but if I had my heart set on one, buy the extended warranty.
Posted by: Quirky bookworm
------------

*looks at 18 year old Kenmore*
*knocks on wood*

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at July 16, 2017 02:16 PM (OdK9v)

259 Polliwog, she's listed on the university website as a Ph.D. grad. That same university has been on probation, nearly lost accreditation.

Here's another clue. While we're not in a "publish or perish" organization, it's generally expected that every engineer and scientist publish at least one technical paper a year. I have three so far this year, not counting the book. She has never published anything in eight years. Her name is on a poster that was presented at a conference in 2012, and I think that was only the boss being nice or trying to be encouraging.

Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 02:31 PM (THS4q)

260 am only reading light, summer fiction right now. Nothing worth mentioning.

We did have to replace an 18 month old refrigerator a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't that attached to it. It was French door style and didn't hold very much. We replaced it with a bare bones, old school refrigerator. If I am only going to get 5 years out of appliances, I am not spending big dollars. The appliance guy told me to stay away from Samsung refrigerators, but if I had my heart set on one, buy the extended warranty.
Posted by: Quirky bookworm at July 16, 2017 12:54

Buying 2 used washers from an appliance guy yesterday, I saw one of those high dollar Samsung dryers there. He went on an epic rant about Samsung front loading washers and dryers. Apparently, he is not a fan.

Posted by: Redclay at July 16, 2017 03:15 PM (uN3AW)

261 Posted by: roamingfirehydrant at July 16, 2017 02:31 PM (THS4q)

Wow. Hope that you aren't in a field where she can poison or blow someone up accidentally. Wonder if that university should be investigated for fraud.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 16, 2017 03:33 PM (rp9xB)

262 Speaking of magical manuscripts. I just finished "The Delirium Brief", the latest in the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross. It's excellent.

Briefly, the premise is that magic is real and is associated with higher mathematics. The Laundry is the nickname for the extremely secret civil service/spy organization tasked with "defending the earth from the scum of the multiverse." There's a lot of humor here as well as hard scifi and some political commentary. The author is liberal, but these books are just too good to ignore for that reason. Highly recommended. Oh, you should start with the first one if you decide to read them: "The Atrocity Archives."

Posted by: Dr Alice at July 16, 2017 03:53 PM (8MIs2)

263 Would it be worth a FB account or not? Also, I've read online accounts of people who set up fake names and fake info.
Posted by: SandyCheeks at July 16, 2017 02:00 PM (b4HRt)

You can set up a fake fb account. Use a plausible name, maybe a fake photo.

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at July 16, 2017 04:35 PM (hMwEB)

264 Here I am, closing the thread again. Had a HORRID Saturday night at work -- we were overbooked so we had to walk a family of 7 to another hotel, on a night when there were no vacant hotel rooms anywhere within a 20-mile radius. Not a fun sutuation, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. So I've been resting, sleeping, and watching movies all day, enjoying my day of rest.

Oh, what have I been reading? After three months, I finally finished Patrick Henry Reardon's book The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth About the Humanity of Christ. I started as Lenten reading, but it proved to be such a weighty book I continued to read a section at a time as a (more or less) daily devotional. Reardon really knows how to squeeze all the meaning out of a passage of scripture, showing how Christ's humanity was necessary in saving humanity. This makes a good companion volume to David Limbaugh's book about the divinity of Jesus, mentioned here a few months ago.

Also finished G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday, a challenging but not difficult read. I had to read the last chapter twice, but still didn't completely understand it. Anyhow, it's worth picking up again at some future date -- I had fun reading it!

On the subject of larger appliances: I've had this old General Electric refrigerator in my apartment since I moved in over 30 years ago. I knew at the time it was old, but I didn't know how old until I was watching the 1942 movie The Talk of the Town with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Ronald Colman. It's exactly the same refrigerator that's in Arthur's kitchen! Wow! 75 years old and still running! And all I have to do is defrost the freezer once in a while . . .

Posted by: DynamiteDan at July 17, 2017 03:01 AM (zkcRM)

265 Muldoon, I love your poetry, but sometimes it just doesn't scan well.

----------

Engineerette's Lament - a limerick

This scenario's just for the birds!
My frustration is way beyond words!
Though it sounds superficial,
Let's make it official:
"I hate being ogled by nerds!"

FIFY

Posted by: DynamiteDan at July 17, 2017 03:10 AM (zkcRM)

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