Support




Contact
Ace:
aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
CBD:
cbd.aoshq at gee mail.com
Buck:
buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
joe mannix:
mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum:
petmorons at gee mail.com
Powered by
Movable Type





Sunday Morning Book Thread 05-20-2018

Library of Jake Holenhead.jpg 04 525.jpg
Library of Jake Holenhead


Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes. Oh, and we've got a new category of readers, escaped oafs and oafettes. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, and publishing by people who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these hideous-looking pants, which look like an explosion in a hippie factory.


Pic Note

Jake tells me:

Hope this photo size isn't too large. I took photos of the individual shelves then stitched them together. It drives me nuts to see someone's personal library and not able to read the book titles.

I know the library pic looks tiny, but click on it, and you'll see how yuuuge, classy, and luxurious it is. You can, indeed, read every title on Jake's shelves.


It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Something that is BOMBYLIOUS is buzzing like a bee.

Usage: Muhammad Ali bombyliously defeated George Foreman.

Bonus:

A MUCK-ROBIN is a child who deliberately enjoys annoying or disturbing adults.

Yes, but isn't that a description of pretty much every child?

RIP Tom Wolfe

Another great one gone:

Tom Wolfe, an innovative journalist and novelist whose technicolor, wildly punctuated prose brought to life the worlds of California surfers, car customizers, astronauts and Manhattan’s moneyed status-seekers in works like “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby,” “The Right Stuff” and “Bonfire of the Vanities,” died on Monday in a Manhattan hospital. He was 88.

The link is to the NY Times obit, which gives a pretty good overview of his life. Breitbart has a TL;DNR version.

I think my favorite Wolfe book is The Right Stuff, his chronicle of the early days of the U.S. space program. But if you're going to read that, I recommend you first read Wolfe's essay 'The Truest Sport: Jousting with Sam and Charlie' which appeared in his collection Mauve Gloves & Madman, Cutter & Vine. It's a sort of a precursor essay that touches on the same themes as 'The Right Stuff'.

Mrs. Muse liked From Bauhaus to Our House, which explained how a progressive/socialistic world view really messes up architecture. The example photos that show the ugly new buildings are worth the price of the book.


Whither the 2018 Nobel Literature Prize?

Cancelled:

Riven by infighting and resignations following allegations of sexual misconduct, financial malpractice and repeated leaks, the Swedish Academy has said no Nobel prize for literature will be awarded this year.

To compensate, they're going to give out two in 2019. Or, so they say.

Here is what the fuss is about:

At the root of the institution’s unprecedented crisis are a raft of wide-ranging allegations against Jean-Claude Arnault, a photographer and leading cultural figure in Sweden, who is married to Katarina Frostenson, an academy member and author.

Last November, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published detailed allegations by 18 women accusing Arnault of sexual harassment and physical abuse over a period of more than 20 years, in France and Sweden and including at properties owned by the academy.

Not that any of you care. But I must admit to partaking of some schadenfreude flavored pudding in our customary manner when I first heard about this squabble. Another progressive instition is rotting merrily away from the inside and the rot has now become visibly apparent.

And speaking of sensitivity readers, here's another article about content-policing, only this time pointed an authors who say things you don't like or do things that are morally reprehensible. But wouldn't that have to include pretty much every author who has ever lived? My favorite example of this kind of thing is Ayn Rand, who always wrote in glowing terms of the absolute necessity of human freedom and expression, but in real life, the inbred little group that coalesced around her was run like a totalitarian gulag, complete with ritual denunciations, show trials and excommmunications. Rand made Stalin look like Tiny Tim.

I especially liked this response to the WaPo article:

I came to California to work at a teaching and retreat center where many famous people from many disciplines would come to teach. I had left a short term job in upstate NY at a similar facility. Spending time around many well known scientists, authors, spiritual leaders, etc., I realized that quite a few were pretty unpleasant to hang around. Though their teaching and writing may be brilliant, they often were pretty mean in interpersonal relationships. What surprised me the most was that many of the people that were teaching about one form of relationship improvement or another were the worst offenders. It was then that I realized one must not expect the creator to live up to the ideals in the creation. Perhaps it's the demons that haunt their personalities that inspires their brilliance in all but their own lives.

Hence the dictum: never meet your heroes, you're bound to be disappointed.


Moron Recommendation

'Ette LindaF wants me to tell you about a good independent book store:

That city is about 30 minutes away from Charlotte, NC.

The store is The BooKnack, 742 North Anderson Road, Rock Hill, SC

They have a good deal with bringing in old books - they issue credits, which you can use to buy their used books at greatly reduced price (not valid on new book, though). They have a killer Mystery section, good for Thrillers (Lee Child et al), and even have audio books for sale. They carry a lot of independent authors, particularly the locals. VERY supportive of those independent of the mainstream publishers.

It doesn't appear to have a web page.

She also tells me she has published an update for modern readers of The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. It’s on Smashwords, Readers Choice pricing - zero to whatever. She wrote it in response to a comment on one of your threads.

Available at this link.

___________

OldSailors Poet informed me that he has read a book he calls a "total moronesque masterpiece":

A conservative author I hold in great prominence has chosen to use a pen name because she fears retribution over the way she humiliates the SJW movement. It is called, "The Narrative". It is very funny and very well written.


Votermom has also read it. From her review:

This book fearlessly mocks and ridicules the Left, and yet the remarkable thing is that it manages not to be angry. I feel like the author had a lot of fun writing this, and does not view her character with contempt, but rather with compassion. I actually found myself rooting for Majedah to be redeemed.

This book made me snort my coffee with laughter, made me stay up too late reading, made me nod my head in agreement with it's description of the Left. All in all this novel a satirical glitter-bomb masterpiece.

However:

97 Just started reading the satirical novel The Narrative by Deplora Boule at the recommendation of the Bookhorde blog. I'm finding it a bit heavy-handed, but thoroughly funny political humor from the "right" perspective.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at May 13, 2018 09:47 AM (1pQvR)

So it sounds like the worst thing you can say about this book is that it preaches to the choir. Which is OK, since we're the choir.

Here is the Amazon blurb:

Majedah is gifted with good looks, an elite journalism degree, and uncanny reporter senses that tingle when news is about to break. Plucky and ambitious, she’s determined to climb to the top of the broadcast world and land a job at global media giant News 24/7.

A story with a flawless narrative catapults Majedah to national prominence—and a position as a pool reporter at News 24/7’s swanky Manhattan headquarters. With one eye on the coveted primetime feminist anchor slot and the other on a past love she can’t quite forget, Majedah uses her impeccable social justice credentials to keep climbing. When she’s pigeonholed as the media expert on an unlikely presidential candidate, will Majedah break the biggest scoop of the century? Or will the scoop break her?

The Narrative by "Deplora Boule" is available on Kindle for $4.99.


___________

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 09:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Bookish.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 08:50 AM (nBBdT)

2 Hello, my fellow librosexuals!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 08:50 AM (qJtVm)

3 Like a Hammer.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 08:51 AM (qJtVm)

4 Still working on three books. The last vol. of Churchill, 'Turing', and 'Black Rednecks and White Liberals'.

The latter is proving very interesting. Sowell is always spot on.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 08:53 AM (nBBdT)

5 Good morning, Horde.

Posted by: Cowboyneal - the other Jewish carpenter at May 20, 2018 08:54 AM (DyZyb)

6 Oregon Muse,

Thanks for posting my library pic.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 08:54 AM (9UFns)

7 My favorite Wolfe book is From Bauhaus to Our House. Best part was the chapter on Corbusier's housing project for "the Workers"; he demanded that the proles keep blinds fully open, half mast, or completely down to maintain the visual integrity of the modern monsterpiece.

"Corbu" himself lived in a big beautiful traditional house, of course.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (qJtVm)

8 Is that a painting of Liz Warren on the bookshelf?

Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (SiINZ)

9 Something that is BOMBYLIOUS is buzzing like a bee.

Also, it's in that one Sister Nancy song.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (y87Qq)

10 Jake - The knife constitutes probable cause. Expect an unannounced visit visit by Mueller.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (w1zJX)

11 Oh, and needless to say, The Workers strung their laundry on lines and the place reeked of cabbage and kitsch in short order.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 08:58 AM (qJtVm)

12 My favorite Wolfe book is From Bauhaus to Our House. Best part was the chapter on Corbusier's housing project for "the Workers"; he demanded that the proles keep blinds fully open, half mast, or completely down to maintain the visual integrity of the modern monsterpiece.
-----------

Interestingly, Jimmy Carter demanded that all curtains or blinds at the WH be coordinated.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 08:59 AM (w1zJX)

13 When I go to Dropbox the photo is tiny and I can't expand it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:00 AM (qJtVm)

14 I finished Kleinkrieg edited by Charles D. Melson. The book mainly contains two German booklets that examines guerilla warfare. Interesting look at counter-insurgency from a different viewpoint marred by some typographical errors and awkward translation. Rating = 4.5/5. (The WWII German booklet "Fighting the Bandit War" included the reminder for the target audience [German troops] to not immediately execute the bandits but interrogate them before sending them to the Secret Field Police).

I read The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. This was the source material for the Keven Costner movie, Open Range. A owner of a freegrazing cattle herd and his cowboys encounter a violent and theiving ranch owner. The novel is a bit of a pot-boiler and differs from the movie but I enjoyed it. Rating = 4/5.

I also read Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem; the novel got mentioned on the Book Thread some time ago. The novel looks at the fall of the Roman Empire through the eyes of the commander of the XXth Legion defending the Rhine in 400AD. The novel is mostly about the Roman commander's attempts to keep the barbarians at bay through subsidies and intrigues. The final climactic battle finds the 6000 Legionaires, auxiliaries and Roman volunteers against 250,000 barbarians is quite intense. Well done novel but the shift in narration from first person to third person in the Epilogue is a bit jarring and I wish Breem had been a bit clearer in what message he was trying convey at the very end. Still a very interesting novel. Rating = 4.5/5.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 09:01 AM (5Yee7)

15 Very nice library, Jake. I would like to post photos of my bookcases, but most of them are in my bedroom,and I don't know if I want to post photos of my bedroom. Maybe I'll try to cut & paste pics of just the book cases like you did.

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 09:01 AM (ANIFC)

16 Just got the kindle edition of "The Narrative." I need a good laugh.

Posted by: JAS at May 20, 2018 09:02 AM (ii30j)

17 Is that a painting of Liz Warren on the bookshelf?
Posted by: TheQuietMan at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (SiINZ)

It's a Charles Russell painting of a real indian gal I copyed from the web. Not that fake one from Mass.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:02 AM (9UFns)

18 Nice library. Of course I think he needs at least one more bookshelf now since some of the books don't have a home.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 20, 2018 09:03 AM (J70i0)

19 Nice library, but where are the PH, DMG and MM?

Posted by: Blacksheep at May 20, 2018 09:03 AM (N+OGf)

20 Oh, I already told my Tom Wolfe story, but it wasn't in the vaunted book thread so I shall tell it again with pants on.

When Bonfire of the Vanities came out I was at a downtown Manhattan grad school and one of my best friends lived uptown in an Opus Dei house with mostly students from the school up there. He invited me to come have dinner and share a talk with Tom Wolfe.

It was like a fraternity house for Good Boys, with stained glass windows and a resident monk to watch over them. The food was excellent.

And then Wolfe talked and took questions from a room of twenty, maybe thirty people. I had read the book and some others, but I had nothing as smart to ask as all of the Columbia Opus Dei kids. They asked about the religious significance of the word Vanity, which turned out to be wholly intentional on Wolfe's part.

So I sat back and looked at the white linen suit and noted that he also wore silk socks.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 09:03 AM (fuK7c)

21 Tolle Legs
Reading Patrick O'Brien's Treason Harbour and moving through it much faster than last few.

Posted by: Skip at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (aC6Sd)

22 I read SPQR IX: The Princess and the Pirates by John Maddox. Decius Caecillus Metellus is sent to Cyprus to rid the Eastern Mediterranean of pirates. There he meets the young Cleopatra. The Roman ruler of the island is murdered, and Decius must put his pirate hunting on hold until he solves the crime. Mystery, island history, world trade, and piracy are all connected.
I also read Call Each River Jordan by Owen Parry. This is the third book in the Abel Jones series. Major Jones is sent by President Lincoln to the western front in southwestern Tennessee to investigate the murder of forty Negro slaves. He arrives just in time to participate in the bloody battle of Shiloh. Parry's battlefield scenes are excellent.
To complete the investigation, he is given a letter from General Grant and a white flag of truce to cross the Confederate lines. General Beauregard of the Confederacy wants to solve the crime too and assigns Jones a young lieutenant to act as a guide. Parry writes excellent descriptions of northern Mississippi and its economy at the time.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (RKP6T)

23 "Interestingly, Jimmy Carter demanded that all curtains or blinds at the WH be coordinated."
If "pride" is thinking only of how you think of yourself, and "vanity" is thinking only of what others think of you, Jimmy Carter is indeed vain.

Posted by: JAS at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (ii30j)

24 During my travels in my AO I found "Siege at Jadotville".

It is the story of the men of A Company, 35th Irish Infantry Battalion, who instead of surrendering when cut off and surrounded in the Congo, decided to hold their ground and fight in 1961.

They fought for 6 days until all ammo and rations ran out, inflicting over a thousand casualties and not losing a man.

They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (EoRCO)

25 When I go to Dropbox the photo is tiny and I can't expand it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:00 AM (qJtVm)

Keep clicking the plus sign. It should make it bigger.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (9UFns)

26 We were discussing White Russians at work, as one is wont to do – the Tsarist kind, not the cocktail beloved of The Dude – and I brought up that irrepressible imp Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. My history buff friend was unaware of his existence, and when I pulled up his inevitable Wiki page he said the same two things I said years ago: 1) How did this magnificent freak ever manage to fly below my radar, and 2) Why has no movie been made about him? The answer I think is that the truth is insufficiently believable:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg

A man so violent that he was thought by the Mongols to be a physical embodiment of the God of War.

I believe he has been reincarnated in the more benevolent form of our very own Slavic superman Uncle Palp, what with his love of armored cars and “cavalry people”.

I felt it high time I reread Palmer’s excellent “The Bloody White Baron”. I also thought I’d go to another source, Polish writer, explorer, and Commie-hater Ferdynand Ossendowski, who joined the Baron in his escapades and wrote about it in “Beasts, Men and Gods” (published in 1921 and a best-seller). I found it for FREE on Amazon for the Kindle. Lots of wonderful descriptions of the hard-bitten, hell-for-leather Mongol way:

“Prince Chultun Beyle gave us a very good guide – an old Mongol named Tzeren. Shortly before he had been sent as a special envoy to Peking with very important dispatches and this incomparable horseman had made the journey between Uliassutai and Peking, that is 1,800 miles, in nine days, incredible as that may seem. He prepared himself for the journey by binding all his abdomen and chest, legs, arms, and neck with strong cotton bandages to protect himself from the wracks and strains of such a period in the saddle. In his cap he bore three eagle feathers as a token that he had received orders to fly like a bird. He made the distance between stations at full gallop, stopping only long enough to have the horses and guards changed before he was off again. At every third station, without leaving his saddle, he received a cup of hot green tea with salt and continued his race southward. After seventeen or eighteen hours of such riding he stopped for the night, devoured a leg of mutton, and slept. Thus he ate once a day and five times a day had tea; and so he traveled for nine days!”

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:05 AM (qJtVm)

27 Add me to the list of fans for "From Bauhaus to Our House." Before I read it, I only knew that I hated modern architecture with the passion of a thousand burning suns. After I read it, I knew why.
Speaking of architecture and houses, this week I have been overseeing the construction of a covered patio/screened porch for the resident cats to luxuriate in at the back of my house. I am committed to painting it over the weekend, so the carpenters can come tomorrow and tack on the hardware cloth which will make it permanently cat-proof. So not much chance to read anything substantial, except for Sharon McCrumb's romp, "Zombies of the Death Sun" - a hilarious murder mystery set at a science fiction convention.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 20, 2018 09:05 AM (xnmPy)

28 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Nice library, Jake. I am also a fan of C.J. Box.

And I found the cat in the picture!

Posted by: April at May 20, 2018 09:05 AM (e8PP1)

29 I can say that Wolf's The Right Stuff literally changed my life. It woke me up to the possibilities of life and to overcome the mental box I had put myself in. It was also a rollicking good time. I re read it every so often.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 20, 2018 09:06 AM (+Tibp)

30 Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 08:57 AM (w1zJX)

The Gurkha knife and I will be here waiting for him.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:07 AM (9UFns)

31 During my travels in my AO I found "Siege at Jadotville".



It is the story of the men of A Company, 35th Irish Infantry
Battalion, who instead of surrendering when cut off and surrounded in
the Congo, decided to hold their ground and fight in 1961.



They fought for 6 days until all ammo and rations ran out, inflicting over a thousand casualties and not losing a man.



They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first.



Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (EoRCO)

I saw the movie. My guess is the book is better.

Posted by: Quint at May 20, 2018 09:07 AM (n13/j)

32 I started reading "Gibraltar" by Mr. & Mrs. Adkins this week. It's about the longest siege in British history, and the longest engagement of the American Revolution - the great siege of Gibraltar, when Spain laid siege to the British garrison at Gibraltar from 1779-1783. It's a very good read.

SPOILER ALERT:

The British kept Gibraltar but lost America.

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 09:07 AM (ANIFC)

33 They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (EoRCO)


Let us know what you think of it. AMZN Prime, I think, popped the movie on my recommendations list, but I haven't seen nor read it.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 09:08 AM (y87Qq)

34 ''I also read Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem; the novel got mentioned on the Book Thread some time ago. The novel looks at the fall of the Roman Empire ''

Just coming to the end of "The History of Rome"' podcast myself. Surprisingly, though I know perfectly well what's coming, I'm depressed beyond words. What a lousy way for a once great empire to end. It basically killed itself.

Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:08 AM (jm1YL)

35 Loved the book Bonfire of the Vanities but hated the movie well except for Melanie Griffin saying my panties are damp

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:09 AM (JFO2v)

36 From Bauhaus to Our House

I like The Fountainhead by Rand on how politics causes architecture to be bad.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:10 AM (JFO2v)

37 I got the Jordan Peterson book to prep for the book club ace is going to totally do...... I may actually read it too. My problem is I spend too much time reading comments to actually read many books. My last book was OSP's Amy Lynn: Hatchet. I actually read it too!!

Posted by: lin-duh at May 20, 2018 09:10 AM (kufk0)

38 Tuesday at 8 pm on PBS: The Great American Read-------100 best-loved books.

Here's the list:
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/

You can vote on your favorites

Posted by: Semi-engaged Scroller at May 20, 2018 09:10 AM (RfnqA)

39 I saw the movie. My guess is the book is better.
Posted by: Quint

I saw the movie on Netflix. Surprisingly, the surviving soldiers were considered somewhat cowardly (according to the movie) by the Irish and have only recently begun to be appreciated.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 20, 2018 09:10 AM (+Tibp)

40 Let us know what you think of it. AMZN Prime, I think, popped the movie on my recommendations list, but I haven't seen nor read it.
Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 09:08 AM (y87Qq)

Yup....so far in the foreword the author states that the movie is pretty much spot on as far as he is concerned, taking pains to get the story straight and not "hollywerid" it.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:11 AM (EoRCO)

41
Good morning, you animals well-read, bookish people who read well and bookishly!


Hence the dictum: never meet your heroes, you're bound to be disappointed.

Several years ago, I was at a Rangers' game with a friend who's the world's biggest Jimmy Buffet fan.

Somewhere around the 1st inning, I noticed that Jimmy Buffet and his entire band were sitting on our same row about fifteen seats away.

I asked him, "Hey, is that Jimmy Buffet over there?"

He looked and said, "Yeah! It is!"

So, I said, "Man, go over and say hello. You're his biggest fan."

And he said, "No."

"Why not?"

"Well...he might be a dick. And then I'd have to hate his music. I don't want to do that."

I laughed at the time, but his reasoning has stuck with me.

I've never has the opportunity to meet one of my "heroes". So, I can't test out his theory.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 20, 2018 09:11 AM (9q7Dl)

42 They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first."

Good call, but the flick is pretty good - esp some period correct hardware (spoiler alert - some isn't, but hey. Only on a smart military blog...)

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 09:12 AM (7LY+6)

43 ugh.

Try again.

Good morning, you animals well-read, bookish people who read well and bookishly!


Hence the dictum: never meet your heroes, you're bound to be disappointed.

Several years ago, I was at a Rangers' game with a friend who's the world's biggest Jimmy Buffet fan.

Somewhere around the 1st inning, I noticed that Jimmy Buffet and his entire band were sitting on our same row about fifteen seats away.

I asked him, "Hey, is that Jimmy Buffet over there?"

He looked and said, "Yeah! It is!"

So, I said, "Man, go over and say hello. You're his biggest fan."

And he said, "No."

"Why not?"

"Well...he might be a dick. And then I'd have to hate his music. I don't want to do that."

I laughed at the time, but his reasoning has stuck with me.

I've never has the opportunity to meet one of my "heroes". So, I can't test out his theory.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 20, 2018 09:12 AM (9q7Dl)

44 There should be an action figure of Tom Wolfe in his ice cream suit.

I like how he was drawn for The Simpsons:

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Tom_Wolfe_(character)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:13 AM (qJtVm)

45 I like The Fountainhead by Rand on how politics causes architecture to be bad.


Oh, I can't help but think of that book every time I see the Boston Customs House. You know how she hated the mixing of unrelated architectural styles?

Greek temple at the bottom, neoclassical up the tower, and WTF at the top.

bit.ly

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 09:14 AM (fuK7c)

46 I had to google CJ Box. I have never heard of him. Looks like the books could be worth a shot.

Posted by: Molly k. at May 20, 2018 09:14 AM (IR0iM)

47 Gotta run, BBL y'all...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 20, 2018 09:15 AM (7LY+6)

48 Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, USAF passed away. I saw him four years ago, sharp as a tack, at the Eisenhower Museum. He drove from Mississippi to be there.

He was there to answer question on his book on the First Air Commandoes, Project 9: Birth of the Air Commandos by Dennis Okerstrom and Dick Cole. I have that signed book in my library.

That trip to Salina, my wingman's and my sharp, our on-point questions, and his vibrant answers to the "how do you feel" questions of the insipid educators present is a bright and happy memory.

He was much more that Doolittle's copilot.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:15 AM (hyuyC)

49 What surprised me the most was that many of the people that were teaching about one form of relationship improvement or another were the worst offenders.

Exhibit A: NXIVM.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at May 20, 2018 09:15 AM (du45m)

50 He's on a roll this morning!

@realDonaldTrump

Things are really getting ridiculous. The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) @nytimes has done a long & boring story indicating that the World's most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!

....At what point does this soon to be $20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and two people who have worked for Obama for 8 years, STOP! They have found no Collussion with Russia, No Obstruction, but they aren't looking at the corruption...

...in the Hillary Clinton Campaign where she deleted 33,000 Emails, got $145,000,000 while Secretary of State, paid McCabes wife $700,000 (and got off the FBI hook along with Terry M) and so much more. Republicans and real Americans should start getting tough on this Scam.

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 09:15 AM (Enq6K)

51 ''I also read Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem; the novel got mentioned on the Book Thread some time ago. The novel looks at the fall of the Roman Empire ''

Just coming to the end of "The History of Rome"' podcast myself. Surprisingly, though I know perfectly well what's coming, I'm depressed beyond words. What a lousy way for a once great empire to end. It basically killed itself.
Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:08 AM (jm1YL)


Breem deals with that, too. The Roman towns are crumbling and the civil government doesn't want to support the legion. Armor and weapons shipped to the legion do not always meet regulations.

The novel is a bit depressing (we know it'g going to end badly for the Romans) but the legion is faithful to protecting civilization until death. I think Breem was trying to say that sometimes all you can do is go down fighting.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 09:16 AM (5Yee7)

52 I’ve been enjoying (if that is the correct word) the grim arctic series “The Terror” on AMC. I went to my 1870’s-ish book “Thrilling Adventures in the Arctic Regions” from The Youth’s Library of Wonder and Adventure for more tales of ruin (Sidebar: This little volume written for Victorian tykes and tweeners is at a much higher literary level than most modern books for adults.) The majority of anecdotes about the search for the Northwest Passage seem to end in being iced in for a season, abandoning one’s ship as it is crushed in the vicelike grip of the ice, drifting on an ice floe when the icepack suddenly cracks, mutiny or near mutiny, scurvy, and occasionally cannibalism.

My favorite line, as regards a most primitive group found on Greenland: “To this tribe, the ugliest of the Esquimaux race, Captain Ross gave the name of Arctic Highlanders.”

In keeping with this frigid theme I’m also reading Matthew Iden’s The Winter Over about suspicious goings on at the South Polar scientific station Shackleton. Strange things are afoot just as the main body of scientists from the summer group are leaving and the skeleton crew is left to overwinter during six months of night. Aliens, vampires, psychokillers… isn’t that always the time they let their freak flag fly?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:16 AM (qJtVm)

53 Oh sorry...meant to put that on the EMT.

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 09:17 AM (Enq6K)

54 Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 09:01 AM
Posted by: April at May 20, 2018 09:05 AM
Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 20, 2018 09:03 AM

Thanks, Thanks, and Thanks.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:17 AM (9UFns)

55 @43

I was wondering what deep moronesque meaning there was to the original post. Glad you cleared it up because my brain isn't ready for deep thought this morning.

Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:17 AM (jm1YL)

56 This week I read the first book in the Rivers of London series: "Midnight Riot" (this is the US title). Enjoyed it. It's a mystery in the urban fantasy genre about a new constable who finds he has magical powers and apprentices with Detective Inspector Thomas Nightingale, last of the occult detectives. Lots of humor and it's rather fun.

Posted by: Dr Alice at May 20, 2018 09:18 AM (W+MBL)

57 Nice library, but where are the PH, DMG and MM?
Posted by: Blacksheep at May 20, 2018 09:03 AM (N+OGf)

You mean my Navy manuals? I have MMs. Don't know what the other 2 are.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:19 AM (9UFns)

58 It is going to be very interesting in the next few years how people (media) will react to their well spoken halfblack Pres being an evil, corrupt, and treasonous semi-dictator.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:19 AM (JFO2v)

59 What a fantastic library.

So many good books to read, Jake Holenhead!

So when we all stop being 29, and retire, Horde Library road trips and MoMeets?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:20 AM (hyuyC)

60 Posted by: Semi-engaged Scroller at May 20, 2018 09:10 AM (RfnqA)

I see that The Little Prince is on that list. I have picked that up and started it no less than a dozen times in my life, beginning about 40 years ago when I was in high school. I have never found it engaging enough to get more than a few pages in.

What am I missing?

Posted by: April at May 20, 2018 09:20 AM (e8PP1)

61 "I started reading "Gibraltar" by Mr. & Mrs. Adkins this week. It's about the longest siege in British history, and the longest engagement of the American Revolution - the great siege of Gibraltar, when Spain laid siege to the British garrison at Gibraltar from 1779-1783. It's a very good read. "

Years ago, I had a chance to take an undocumented tour inside the rock, given by a member of the SAS.

The Great Siege was covered very well.

As well as the adaptations made for World War Two.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:20 AM (EyPfd)

62
And then Wolfe talked and took questions from a room of twenty, maybe thirty people. I had read the book and some others, but I had nothing as smart to ask as all of the Columbia Opus Dei kids. They asked about the religious significance of the word Vanity, which turned out to be wholly intentional on Wolfe's part.
---

Wasn't there some callback to Savanarola's burning of the vanities (clothing, fancy fripperies, etc.)?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:21 AM (qJtVm)

63 Eris. Mark Twain looked better in an Ice-cream suit.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 09:21 AM (2K6fY)

64 @57 - just messing with you. Those are gaming books, well known only by those with no life.

Seriously, nice library.

Posted by: Blacksheep at May 20, 2018 09:22 AM (N+OGf)

65 YAY BOOKTHREAD!
And SUNSHINE!

thanks for mentioning the Narrative, OM.

I have two more Moron books to rec today

one is a thick epic fantasy by AM Stirling, a lurker

and the other is a FREE philosophical ebook that ibguy published of his late friend's writings.

link in nic

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 09:22 AM (hMwEB)

66 @60
Nothing. I felt the same way.

Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:22 AM (jm1YL)

67 Though their teaching and writing may be brilliant, they often were pretty mean in interpersonal relationships.

Had an English teacher in HS who loved Ayn Rand and was definitely one of those "lover of the arts" types. She was a good teacher. Of course her personal life was a mess. She was having an affair with the neighbor's husband. Meanwhile her husband was carrying on with the wife.

BTW, this is why all great art is developed when there it has some limits. I'm not talking overbearing censorship. I mean some sort of moral restrictions that force artists to get inventive. Otherwise you have what you see now which is simply who can shock and offend the most. This is why some of Hollywood's best movies came out during the Hayes code period.

Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (J70i0)

68 Years ago, I had a chance to take an undocumented tour inside the rock, given by a member of the SAS.



The Great Siege was covered very well.



As well as the adaptations made for World War Two.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:20 AM (EyPfd)
I only got the regular tour. But I did see some monkeys.

Posted by: Quint at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (n13/j)

69 Jake - awesome library - i'd take it in a heartbeat, over all those pretty museum-libraries we're supposed to revere but not use. I also appreciate your 'have to see the titles' approach - i hope everyone henceforth follows your example.

it's also the first time i have seen a bookshelf with a book i am in. Hehehe.


exceptionally well done - thank you!

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (e7ZJU)

70 Nice library, Jake. I am also a fan of C.J. Box.

Seconded !

Posted by: JT at May 20, 2018 09:24 AM (BvUjA)

71 "You mean my Navy manuals? I have MMs. Don't know what the other 2 are."

Have you ever seen/completed 'Tools and their uses'?

As interesting as BT 3&2

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (EyPfd)

72 BTW, this is why all great art is developed when there it has some limits. I'm not talking overbearing censorship. I mean some sort of moral restrictions that force artists to get inventive. Otherwise you have what you see now which is simply who can shock and offend the most. This is why some of Hollywood's best movies came out during the Hayes code period.
Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (J70i0)

I thought Howard Stern was funnier over the air than on satellite.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (JFO2v)

73 Richard Pipes also passed away. He helped Reagan win the Cold War and was deeply knowledgeable about the real history of Communism.

His book A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (1995) should be taught in every high school, every journalism class and to every *** Studies majors. Maybe they will go on to some of hos other great books.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (hyuyC)

74 I had to google CJ Box. I have never heard of him. Looks like the books could be worth a shot.


Posted by: Molly k.


His books are excellent !

Posted by: JT at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (BvUjA)

75 Hello and goodbye.

Gotta go to a yard sale.

Have a great week everyone !

Posted by: JT at May 20, 2018 09:27 AM (BvUjA)

76 if you are a *** studies major, change majors.

Posted by: Quint at May 20, 2018 09:27 AM (n13/j)

77 Jake, ya did good with your stitching. Technically, it's quite nicely done, and that's not an easy one to pull off. Even with Photoshop's 'stack as layers' feature, there are still other tech-y things to deal with. Congratulations for such an excellent and clean execution of your bookshelf. Well done.

Posted by: Dr_No at May 20, 2018 09:27 AM (imDUY)

78 "A man so violent that he was thought by the Mongols to be a physical embodiment of the God of War."

His book A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (1995)

Thanks Ya'll.....I have been looking for material on the Russian Civil War.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:28 AM (EoRCO)

79 it's also the first time i have seen a bookshelf with a book i am in. Hehehe.
Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (e7ZJU)

Which book, or are you pulling legs.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (9UFns)

80 I assume there are some Morons who speak Hebrew because some have lived in Israel or maybe still do. The reason I mention that is I read an essay by Cynthia Ozick who talked about the dearth of people who don't speak or understand it in the US, including herself, which wasn't always the case particularly in the early 20th century. She initially started off talking about a literary gathering at some famous Y in Manhattan between a Christian writer and a jooo talking about the King James translation of psalms, as well as most of the Old Testament, being one step away from the source language which is so evocative in mystical matters as to be kind of a problem in terms of a true understanding of a book that is kind of important to a lot of us.

She then went on to discuss a book about Hebrew poets in the US, all of whom have relocated to Israel, that concentrated on their work in the original as well as serviceable translations and commentary. I like Ozick as a writer and was confused with where she was going with this when she revealed that one of the poets was her uncle, who she liked a lot and was very supportive of her writing career, and here she was getting some insight into what was the major thrust of his life that she'd previously only hazily knew about.

Anyway it was a very effective piece that got across to me what a strangely unique language Hebrew is.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (y7DUB)

81 C.J. Box appears to write stories like Ben Rehder and his Blanco Cty stories.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (JFO2v)

82 Spending time around many well known scientists, authors, spiritual leaders, etc., I realized that quite a few were pretty unpleasant to hang around.

-
I suspect that a part of it is that they are constantly surrounded by vicious sycophants who want constantly flatter hoping for endorsement, recognition, or promotion for themselves that creates a self defense mechanism of nastiness. As that great philosopher Jerry Lewis said, I don't know the secret of success but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone. They lead a lives of excess reputation, temptation and victimization. Every word or decision is criticized by people who praise them to get something from them. That leads to hubris, suspicion and spite.

I'm not excusing their vile conduct, only stating that they have challenges we mere mortals lack.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (+y/Ru)

83 Hence the dictum: never meet your heroes, you're bound to be disappointed."

This tends to confirm the idea that, for anyone to rise to the top levels of their particular profession, they must have strong (but controllable) psychopathic tendencies in their personality.
It would be an explanation as to why psychopathic tendencies still remain in the human gene pool. To be an uncontrolled psychopath is to be a monster who must be caged and destroyed; but to be a carefully controlled psychopath makes one the Head of the University Department, or CEO of a major corporation.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (V2Yro)

84 Ah, I finally got Jake's picture to expand. Nice collection! Lots of Naval Institute Press volumes, I see. You were a squid? Bubblehead?

Ooh, and lots of Burroughs! I have the same Barsoom editions and wish I still owned all my Moon, Venus, and Pellucidar books.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:32 AM (qJtVm)

85 Have you ever seen/completed 'Tools and their uses'?
As interesting as BT 3&2
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (EyPfd)

Probably in MM 'A' School as it seems familiar. And I would kill for the BT 3/2 manuals.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:33 AM (9UFns)

86 ''Wasn't there some callback to Savanarola's burning of the vanities (clothing, fancy fripperies, etc.)?''

The artist, Botticelli, was one of Savanarola's followers. He tossed in a bunch of his own paintings into that bonfire.

Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:33 AM (jm1YL)

87 "Oh....uhhhh..just one more thing...."

Insomniac- if you're out there or in here or up a tree........

Hiya.

Posted by: JT at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (BvUjA)

88 "And I would kill for the BT 3/2 manuals."

I may still have a copy in the attic.

I'll look the next time I'm up there.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (EyPfd)

89 I finished "A Mind for Murder" about the Unabomber. It was interesting. I'm not sure that he spends enough time on the Harvard experiments. It does show how corrupt the CIA has always been.

Currently reading "All Flesh is Grass". It probably won't be of interest unless you are interested in pasture grazing.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (Lqy/e)

90 studies major, change majors

If you are in college and studying degree that has the word study in it your are being sold down the river. Even back in K12 Social Studies was a bullshit subject. It was created to make all civilizations and religions great and equal.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (JFO2v)

91 Nice library. I'm glad I'm not the only one with a time/life series of books, or 2....or 3.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (9Om/r)

92 Oh, Oh! I see several books my first ship is in. I'm a quarter of a pixel high on the starboard bridge wing.
So don't look in the index.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:35 AM (hyuyC)

93 Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 08:54 AM (9UFns)

I love the kukri!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 20, 2018 09:36 AM (wYseH)

94 nice bookshelves, Jake

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 09:36 AM (hMwEB)

95 73 Richard Pipes also passed away. He helped Reagan win the Cold War and was deeply knowledgeable about the real history of Communism.

His book A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (1995) should be taught in every high school, every journalism class and to every *** Studies majors. Maybe they will go on to some of hos other great books.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (hyuyC)

RIP, Mr. Pipes. His full size history of the Russian Revolution is excellent.

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 09:37 AM (ANIFC)

96 Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 09:04 AM (EoRCO)

I watched Siege of Jadotville a few months ago (Netflix?)
I thought it was interesting, glad the soldiers finally got some recognition

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 09:38 AM (hMwEB)

97 Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (hyuyC)
--------

Sad! He was an island of reason in a sea of yammering loonies.

I first encountered his writing in "Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From". International Jooooory, UFOs, CIA drug pushers, JFK....

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:39 AM (qJtVm)

98 What's the BT manual, not recognising the abbreviation?

Posted by: Oedipus at May 20, 2018 09:39 AM (dk2uH)

99 You were a squid? Bubblehead?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:32 AM (qJtVm)

Yes, and yes. And a f***ingnuc.

The ERB books I've never read are his Tarzan ones. Which might be goofy since that is what he's most famous for.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:40 AM (9UFns)

100 Damn, I like that time/life series on the seafarers. It has pirates

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 09:40 AM (9Om/r)

101
Regarding Jadotville, did the film and book note that the only reason the Irish had to fight was because the UN had taken sides with the commies in the internal Congo conflict and pushed them forward into an area with heavy Katangan sentiment without support?

Not that the Katangans and their mercenaries were saints, but the UN mandate for their peacekeepers in Congo had strictly prohibited taking sides, at least until the commies started whining because they didn't have enough strength to take back Katanga.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 20, 2018 09:40 AM (eXA4G)

102 What's the BT manual, not recognising the abbreviation?
Posted by: Oedipus at May 20, 2018 09:39 AM (dk2uH)

Boiler Technician

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:42 AM (9UFns)

103 If you are in college and studying degree that has the word study in it your are being sold down the river. "

Same goes for the word "science" - if that word has to be included, it usually isn't there.

Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, etc., - no need to add the word "science" there, because everyone already knows. On the other hand "Social Science" is just "Social Studies" with the Pretension level cranked up to eleventy.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:42 AM (V2Yro)

104 Nice library Jake! I see a few old friends on those shelves. The Horde has now inspired me to return to Wolfe, especially Bauhaus. Good Morning to all

Posted by: Winston at May 20, 2018 09:42 AM (wgCUV)

105 The artist, Botticelli, was one of Savanarola's followers. He tossed in a bunch of his own paintings into that bonfire.
Posted by: Tuna at May 20, 2018 09:33 AM (jm1YL)
------

Nooooooo! I love Botticelli!

Nothing wrong with tasteful neo-pagan semi-nudity!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:43 AM (qJtVm)

106 The ERB books I've never read are his Tarzan ones. Which might be goofy since that is what he's most famous for.
Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 09:40 AM (9UFns)
----
Me neither *shrugs*

Give me planetary romances any day of the year (even if there are 687 of them).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:45 AM (qJtVm)

107 Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From

I need to read this. Interesting that many conservative conspiracies turn out to be true: Gun control means confiscation, Iran deal was treason and illegal, IRS targets conservatives and that many progressive conspiracies: Russian collusion, 911 insider job, AIDS created to destroy blacks become more UNTRUE every passing day.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:45 AM (JFO2v)

108 Same goes for the word "science" - if that word has to be included, it usually isn't there.
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:42 AM (V2Yro)


*pouts*

Posted by: CSE majors everywhere at May 20, 2018 09:45 AM (y87Qq)

109 the World's most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing

-
You know what's ironic? Hillary is engaged in a witch hunt.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 09:45 AM (+y/Ru)

110 Regarding talking with musicians, I go to clubs where pretty esoteric improv is played and most, not all, are interested in talking to the minuscule subset of people who like what they do. Life on the road is pretty lonely and most are interested in answering any insightful questions about their work. Some don't but they usually aren't dicks about it.

Regarding Buffet, he's famous enough that he knows a gazillion people like his music and would probably resent even an informed comment on his work when he's with his buds trying to enjoy a hockey game.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 09:46 AM (y7DUB)

111 When I was much younger, I really got into ERB's Barsoom books. The movie versions that have been attempted have all been great disappointments, and it's a shame, since there's plenty of good material there.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:46 AM (V2Yro)

112 On the other hand "Social Science" is just "Social Studies" with the Pretension level cranked up to eleventy.
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:42 AM (V2Yro)

Justice=all people equal under law
Social Justice=no people equal under law

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 09:47 AM (JFO2v)

113 speaking of conspiracies, the movie Siege of Jadotville goes with the theory that UN Sec Gen Dag Hammarskjöld was assassinated.

(they've never officially ruled on the cause of the plane crash, so it is likely)

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 09:47 AM (hMwEB)

114 I see that The Little Prince is on that list. I have picked that up and started it no less than a dozen times in my life, beginning about 40 years ago when I was in high school. I have never found it engaging enough to get more than a few pages in.

What am I missing?

-
I donno. I had to read it in the original French and still saw nothing but shallowness. And this despite having great admiration for the author.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 09:49 AM (+y/Ru)

115 [They have a good deal with bringing in old books - they issue credits, which you can use to buy their used books at greatly reduced price ]

Bookstore in our neck of the woods has the same deal. But they have a website. I'm spending time and money there because we decided to keep two bookcases that we were going to sell as part of our renovations.

https://www.murphysusedbooks.com

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at May 20, 2018 09:50 AM (UKVPl)

116 Oh oh, also finished "Amy Lynn, Hatchet". Love this series and think it cries out to be made into movies.

Can't wait for the next one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:52 AM (qJtVm)

117 Regarding Buffet, he's famous enough that he knows a
gazillion people like his music and would probably resent even an
informed comment on his work when he's with his buds trying to enjoy a
hockey game.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 09:46 AM (y7DUB)


I have plenty of informed comments on his work.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 09:52 AM (9Om/r)

118 The Metric System will kick your ass every time.

Posted by: Fritz at May 20, 2018 09:52 AM (J7XgW)

119 We're fortunate that a benevolent Ace allows the posting of shelf pictures.

Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 09:53 AM (MVjcR)

120 Turbines!

Posted by: Daisy Cutter at May 20, 2018 09:53 AM (sM+h7)

121 All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

I have all of E.R. Burroughs books except for his plays. Most are paperbacks from my youth. They were quite formative to a wee lad, when my father started developing my book habit.

The Moon Men is one of his best written books, with two interlinked short stories. Beyond 30 and the Outlaw of Torn made an impact to expand my horizons as a lad. As did Tarzan and the Ant Men, a planetary romance all in Africa.

But Dejah Thoris! "I still live."

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 09:54 AM (hyuyC)

122 [ I see that The Little Prince is on that list. I have picked that up and started it no less than a dozen times in my life, beginning about 40 years ago when I was in high school. I have never found it engaging enough to get more than a few pages in.

What am I missing?]

What sticks I my mind is the rose. How TLP thought we was unique, but then he discovered there were millions of roses. And he weeps for the loss of something e thought was special.

I don't think there's much more depth than that. It's just a cute little story about the loss of childish innocence.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at May 20, 2018 09:54 AM (UKVPl)

123 Back from the grocery store just in time for the book thread. I had ben re-reading the Honor Harrington series most of this week but got burned out on it by the 5th book. Decided to give it a rest for a while. I have moved on to David Eddings' Belgerad series now.


Also speaking of book shelves, wifey has embarked on a major house cleaning project. Had all our shelves removed and carried out. While doing this we have sorted through and took all the books we had on our e-book readers and took them to the library to make more room.


Now we have to load the rest along with all the movies back.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 20, 2018 09:55 AM (mpXpK)

124 114 I see that The Little Prince is on that list. I have picked that up and started it no less than a dozen times in my life, beginning about 40 years ago when I was in high school. I have never found it engaging enough to get more than a few pages in.

What am I missing? "

It's like playboy used to be - you don't go for the text, you go for the pictures.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:56 AM (V2Yro)

125 I suspect that a part of it is that they are constantly surrounded by vicious sycophants who want constantly flatter hoping for endorsement, recognition, or promotion for themselves that creates a self defense mechanism of nastiness.

-
This tends to confirm the idea that, for anyone to rise to the top levels of their particular profession, they must have strong (but controllable) psychopathic tendencies in their personality.

-
My post at 82 and Tom Servo's at 83 presents the classic the-chicken-or-the-egg controversy.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 09:56 AM (+y/Ru)

126 Screw it. I'm rewatching The Siege of Jadotville right now on Netflix. You guys have whetted by appetite.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 20, 2018 09:56 AM (+Tibp)

127 "And I would kill for the BT 3/2 manuals."

I may still have a copy in the attic.

I'll look the next time I'm up there.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 09:34 AM (EyPfd)

I have the HT 3&2 and HT 1&C. Also my original BMRs. Sorry, no BT's. Although in my last book I included a BT turned SEAL. Call sign Steamer.

Posted by: Oldsailors poet at May 20, 2018 09:56 AM (B/6hj)

128 Thank You OM for including "The Narrative" in this weeks Moron Recommendations. Oh yeah, It's really heavy handed, but also, entertaining.

Posted by: Oldsailors poet at May 20, 2018 09:57 AM (B/6hj)

129 Regarding Buffet, he's famous enough that he knows a
gazillion people like his music and would probably resent even an informed comment on his work when he's with his buds trying to enjoy a hockey game.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 09:46 AM (y7DUB)

I have plenty of informed comments on his work.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 09:52 AM (9Om/r)


Same here. And a couple plotter-printed graphs. Some peer-reviewed, cross-referenced papers with footnotes and citations.

Posted by: CSE majors everywhere at May 20, 2018 09:58 AM (y87Qq)

130 sock derp

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 09:58 AM (y87Qq)

131 I read The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. This was the source material for the Keven Costner movie, Open Range.
A owner of a freegrazing cattle herd and his cowboys encounter a
violent and theiving ranch owner. The novel is a bit of a pot-boiler and
differs from the movie but I enjoyed it. Rating = 4/5.



Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 09:01 AM (5Yee7)



One of my favorite westerns.



Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 20, 2018 09:58 AM (mpXpK)

132 I don't think there's much more depth than that. It's just a cute little story about the loss of childish innocence."

And written by an adult who still remembered what it felt like to be innocent, just before he flew off to be killed in the war.

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 20, 2018 09:59 AM (V2Yro)

133 OSP, I see you're working on the next Amy Lynn. Is she going to train the next generation?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:59 AM (qJtVm)

134 We're fortunate that a benevolent Ace allows the posting of shelf pictures.
Posted by: Weasel at May 20, 2018 09:53 AM (MVjcR)


It's good that he did that. A real good thing!

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 10:00 AM (y87Qq)

135 I assume there are some Morons who speak Hebrew because some have lived in Israel or maybe still do. The reason I mention that is I read an essay by Cynthia Ozick who talked about the dearth of people who don't speak or understand it in the US, including herself,

-
My 22 year old daughter whose boyfriend is an aspiring opera singer took her to a performance of Stabat Mater in Aramaic which, much to my surprise, she loved. She usually listens to the same music I listened to at her age.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:01 AM (+y/Ru)

136 Oh oh, also finished "Amy Lynn, Hatchet". Love this series and think it cries out to be made into movies.

Can't wait for the next one.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:52 AM (qJtVm)

Thank you, Just started number six tentatively titled Rock Star. No, Amy doesn't learn to shred on a strat, an Arianna Grande/Miley Cyrus type character decides to visit Mecca with a couple of young princes from the house of Saud. Hillarity does not ensue.

Posted by: Oldsailors poet at May 20, 2018 10:01 AM (B/6hj)

137 She usually listens to the same music I listened to at her age.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler

I was with my 23 year old last week and was surprised by his playlist. It could have been my playlist except for a dearth of Stones, Dwight Yoakum and Los Lobos.

Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 20, 2018 10:02 AM (+Tibp)

138 I've been a reader here for years (and mostly on weekdays, so I'm usually too late to comment on the book thread anyway), but never felt compelled to comment, but with Ace calling for plugs/links to works by readers as an alternative to mainstream garbage last week, I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's the back cover blurb for my apolitical, pulp-fantasy adventure, To Walk a Road of Ruin. It can be found at:
https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Road-Ruin-AJ-Vanorden/dp/1480076988

Saga, a vagabond gunfighter from Samarkand, and the rogue scholar
Richter have spent their lives in search of fortune and dodging the
consequences of their actions. When they accidentally unleash an ancient
evil while robbing the wrong tomb, the pair find themselves in more
trouble than they can handle. Alongside the aged thief Grail and the
reticent knight Ialae, whose ties to the Church may yet set the Saga and
Richter at each others throats, they must stay one step ahead of an
Inquisition that would see them all in chains and try save their world
from the undead horror their rival Kage now serves. Now they must find
it in themselves to leave the path of least resistance to walk a road of
ruin.

Posted by: Andrew VanOrden at May 20, 2018 10:03 AM (ARdZH)

139 OSP, I see you're working on the next Amy Lynn. Is she going to train the next generation?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:59 AM (qJtVm)

That book is a book or two away. I already have the character and the Title. That book will be called, Kia.

Posted by: Oldsailors poet at May 20, 2018 10:04 AM (B/6hj)

140 I have no idea how I came into possession of the book "Tuning The Rig" by Harvey Oxenhorn, but since it was about sailing, whales, and the Arctic, I figured I couldn't go wrong. A recent and unexpected interlude in hospital gave me the time to read the whole thing and I would recommend it to the Horde.
It is a multi-dimensional book and is a bit of a "coming of age" book (for an older individual that sets out to do something different), a discourse on sailing a barkentine laid down in 1908, tracking whale populations, ecological interaction and destruction, and the various interactions of a captain and crew.
One part that seemed to be a horde like scenario was when the author/crewman asked the captain for a personal favor, and after reflection, the captain said an unequivocal no. The author said that after dealing with so many sleazy lying weasels in academia and the publishing industry in his previous live, it was a actually refreshing to get a straight answer for a change.
I also appreciated his revelation of finally understanding the ship's engineer "She saw the world as a bunch of Tinker-toys and was always trying to figure out a better way to understand and rearragne them!"

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:07 AM (n9EOP)

141 Amy Lynn Into the Fire is on my next to read pile

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 10:07 AM (hMwEB)

142 I read The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. This was the source material for the Keven Costner movie, Open Range....

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 09:01 AM (5Yee7)


One of my favorite westerns.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at May 20, 2018 09:58 AM (mpXpK)


I liked it quite a bit. I'd never read any of his novels before. I'm going to look for some other novels by him. It appears he has written quite a few Westerns; not my genre as a teenager, but I have been trying to expand my range of fiction reading now that I'm 29.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 10:07 AM (5Yee7)

143 >>>Posted by: Andrew VanOrden at May 20, 2018 10:03 AM (ARdZH)<<<
You've been sucked in and there is no escape.


Posted by: Fritz at May 20, 2018 10:11 AM (J7XgW)

144 Good morning bookies.

Staying at my Mom's again. Woke up late, showered, started coffee, fetched the paper off the front porch, perused its contents whilst sipping my first cup. Got to the Opinions and Editorials - and, after reading that, felt like I needed a shower again. And not just because my hands felt like they'd been handling something nasty.

There's a regular letter-to-the-editor writer whose complaints read like our fake friend from Brattleboro except long-winded. I was going to take last week's and fisk it, but it was too exhausting to contemplate. tl:dr = Impeach fordy-fie.

Oh, yeah... books.

So the Parade supplement is about "Summer's Hot Books." Cover photo of... Mary Steenburgen, Hanoi Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Diane Keaton. The article includes their childhood and current book faves, also those of Oprah, Emma, and Reese among others.

Because there's no better recommendations for literature than a gaggle of bubble-headed leftist twit actresses and a traitor.

"Harry Potter alum Emma Watson leads a monthly feminist book cub, Our Shared Shelf, which shines a light on books that deal with gender equality." Uh-huh. Unfiltered light, I'm sure.

* starts checking Mom's bookshelf for some Twain or O Henry or Shakespeare or anything from a previous century... *

Posted by: mindful webworker as if life just went on at May 20, 2018 10:13 AM (ECLlc)

145 Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line

-
Thanks for straightening us out there, Chuckie

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:15 AM (+y/Ru)

146 * bemoans the lack of coloring books or connect-the-dots in Classic Western Literature *

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:17 AM (qE08n)

147 >>>Hence the dictum: never meet your heroes, you're bound to be disappointed.

Jeb is a disappointment in person.

Posted by: Bill Kristol at May 20, 2018 10:17 AM (/qEW2)

148 Quick question for the self-publishers: what platforms do you use OTHER than Create Space or Kindle Direct Publishing? We're looking for alternatives to CS and KDP because it's our understanding that CS isn't long for this world.

Posted by: Secret Square at May 20, 2018 10:18 AM (9WuX0)

149 I had to google CJ Box. I have never heard of him. Looks like the books could be worth a shot.
Posted by: Molly k.
His books are excellent !
Posted by: JT at May 20, 2018 09:25 AM (BvUjA)


I may have to revisit CJ Box, got one of his books a while back based on the Book Thread recommendation but just could not get into it since his name keeps coming up here!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:18 AM (n9EOP)

150 145 Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line

-
Thanks for straightening us out there, Chuckie

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:15 AM (+y/Ru)


Oh THAT'S the red line? Not planting an informant in the opposition's campaign? Not getting a FISA warrant based on BS?

No, identifying the informant is the red line?!

You be crazy Chuckie.

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 10:18 AM (Enq6K)

151 145 Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line

-
Thanks for straightening us out there, Chuckie
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:15 AM (+y/Ru)

private server
deleted emails
IRS harrassment
Bengahzi
DACA
Sanctuary Cities
IRAN payoff
145 mil to Crime Foundation

If anyone know what is legal it is not you!

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:18 AM (JFO2v)

152 Chuck U Schumer Not showing up at Embassy opening! Did you have the cramps?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:20 AM (JFO2v)

153 Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line



-

Thanks for straightening us out there, Chuckie

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:15 AM (+y/Ru)

You're too kind. The right response here is die with cancer in your cock chuck.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:20 AM (9Om/r)

154 My favorite Wolfe book is From Bauhaus to Our House. Best part was the chapter on Corbusier's housing project for "the Workers"; he demanded that the proles keep blinds fully open, half mast, or completely down to maintain the visual integrity of the modern monsterpiece.

I hired an interior designer (they HATE "decorator") for a consultation about 30 years ago and she said the same thing! She had the same advice for curtains.

Come to think of it, she had a favorite bromide about the wealthy moneyed families of Richmond and their 100-year-old draperies. "How do you think old money gets to be old? They don't spend anything." This made her bitter because she couldn't earn commissions on sales! Of course, she was a professor of interior design at the local university.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 10:20 AM (b4HRt)

155 >>Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line

Someone sounds scared.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (/tuJf)

156 Can any book lacking pages that pop-up or little tabs you pull to make objects move really be considered "classic" ?

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (qE08n)

157 155 >>Chuck Schumer Tells GOP To Beware: Pursuit Of FBI Informant's Identity Comes Close To Crossing Legal Line

Someone sounds scared.
Posted by: JackStraw at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (/tuJf)

Chuck U why not host a couple of MS in your house?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:22 AM (JFO2v)

158 156 Can any book lacking pages that pop-up or little tabs you pull to make objects move really be considered "classic" ?
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (qE08n)

or can color

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:22 AM (JFO2v)

159 Can any book lacking pages that pop-up or little tabs you pull to make objects move really be considered "classic" ?

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (qE08n)


Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:24 AM (9Om/r)

160 >>>"Harry Potter alum Emma Watson leads a monthly feminist book cub,
Our Shared Shelf, which shines a light on books that deal with gender
equality." Uh-huh. Unfiltered light, I'm sure.
<<<
Emma should be immediately extracted from the world of filth she chooses to live in and given about 16 children to care for, - one every nine months.
Emma, we really appreciate what you have to say and respect your opinion, but here's another child for you to birth.

Posted by: Fritz at May 20, 2018 10:25 AM (J7XgW)

161 Speaking of sieges, I wish there was a book on the Siege of Montevideo during the Uruguay Civil War in the 1840s. The war drew in neighboring powers, and even Britain & France. It was also where Garibaldi's "Red Shirts" first saw action before moving on to Italy

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 10:25 AM (ANIFC)

162 Go Dog Go > Big Fish Little Fish

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 10:25 AM (e7ZJU)

163 Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:24 AM (9Om/r)

My kids loved that book when they were little. Pretty sure I can recite the whole damn thing.

"Do you like my party hat?"

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 10:26 AM (Enq6K)

164 Little Black Sambo was a classic!

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:27 AM (JFO2v)

165 "...a monthly feminist book cub, Our Shared Shelf,"


Did they invite ace?

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 10:27 AM (Enq6K)

166 Go Dog Go > Big Fish Little Fish > Rainbow Fish

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:27 AM (+y/Ru)

167 Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol



Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:24 AM (9Om/r)



My kids loved that book when they were little. Pretty sure I can recite the whole damn thing.



"Do you like my party hat?"

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 10:26 AM (Enq6K)

Only at the end does he like the hat. lol
Seriously, that book taught me to read, and it had cars.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:28 AM (9Om/r)

168 On Netflix, '1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines' - another mostly-unknown siege action. Spanish troops trying to hold on against rebels. What *might* strike you is how utterly incompetent both sides were.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 20, 2018 10:28 AM (e7ZJU)

169 Secret Square @ #148, I have an account as a publisher at Lightning Source, Intl - which has established a print and distribution service geared towards indy writers at Ingram Spark. I've guided some writers into using Ingram Spark; the requirements there are very similar to LSI. For e-books, I like Draft 3 Digital, over Smashwords.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 20, 2018 10:28 AM (xnmPy)

170 156 Can any book lacking pages that pop-up or little tabs you pull to make objects move really be considered "classic" ?
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:21 AM (qE08n)

or can color

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:22 AM (JFO2v)


I especially liked the updated Dickens "Tale of Two Cities Coloring Book (with the popup appendix)". The popup guillotine was really great!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:29 AM (n9EOP)

171 Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol


I don't remember it, though the cover art looks familiar.

What took me back was that I'd totally forgotten the imprint: "I can read it all by myself".

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 10:29 AM (fuK7c)

172 Very nice library Jake!

About halfway through Noble House by James Clavell and am reminded about how good of a writer he is, but that he needed a better editor.

Picked up a book called The Cleaner by Paul Cleave, a mystery that won a few awards a few years back in New Zealand. It was an OK book and was set in Christchurch (but really could have been set anywhere, the setting was not much of a character). It is about a janitor for the police force who also murders people (hence the name of the book). I am not opposed to bad guys being the book's narrator, but am wondering what I am missing of how this won an award.

Posted by: Charlotte at May 20, 2018 10:30 AM (vDuQz)

173 Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol





I don't remember it, though the cover art looks familiar.



What took me back was that I'd totally forgotten the imprint: "I can read it all by myself".

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 10:29 AM (fuK7c)

The book is still in print. I saw one a few years ago when the wife bought a small pile of books for a friend's kid. I saw it in the pile and freaked. I will have a copy. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:31 AM (9Om/r)

174 Mentioning ERB brings back memories of my youth when I read the entire "Doc Savage" series and then "The Avenger." From there, "The Shadow."

That ERB was read goes without saying.

Clear delineation between good and evil and evil got killed in the end while manly men did manly deeds.

A buddy of mine and I thought nothing of spending part of an afternoon reading then grabbing the rifles and heading out to shoot ground squirrels.


Posted by: Blake - used bridge salesman at May 20, 2018 10:32 AM (WEBkv)

175 I especially liked the updated Dickens "Tale of Two Cities Coloring Book (with the popup appendix)". The popup guillotine was really great!
Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:29 AM (n9EOP)

My Highway of Death, Desert Storm coloring book took about every RED crayon in the classroom to finish.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:32 AM (JFO2v)

176 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 09:05 AM (qJtVm)

The only copy I can find for Kindle is now $6.50. Am I just not looking hard enough?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (rp9xB)

177 Getting back into Jack Reacher. I skipped back and read A Wanted Man, which was a quite pleasant read. Then I jumped forward and read The Midnight Line. People on good reads were complaining that Lee Child is getting burned out and the writing is suffering. I don't think that's true. He doesn't write action as compellingly as he once did. But the slow careful moments are as good as ever. Jack Reacher is a very thoughtful and deliberate character, even if he doesn't come across that way. It's the quiet moments that really shine in these books. A quiet meal in a small town diner.

Posted by: Max Power at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (QCc6B)

178 I wanna' do a pop-up history book on Vietnam ... for the children.

Pull a tap - and the gooks slide over into the wire.

Lift a flap - claymore kills 'em all

Turn the page - pop up of the squad's favorie whore house back in Saigon

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (qE08n)

179 Pull a tap - and the gooks slide over into the wire.
Page Title: Charlie in the Wire

Lift a flap - claymore kills 'em all
Page Title: Pink Mist

Turn the page - pop up of the squad's favorie whore house back in Saigon
Love You Long Time Joe
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (qE08n)

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 20, 2018 10:36 AM (JFO2v)

180 The only copy I can find for Kindle is now $6.50. Am I just not looking hard enough?
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (rp9xB)
---

Try this link:

https://tinyurl.com/yck2my28

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 10:41 AM (qJtVm)

181 BTW, this is why all great art is developed when there it has some limits. I'm not talking overbearing censorship. I mean some sort of moral restrictions that force artists to get inventive. Otherwise you have what you see now which is simply who can shock and offend the most. This is why some of Hollywood's best movies came out during the Hayes code period.
Posted by: WOPR - Nationalist at May 20, 2018 09:23 AM (J70i0)



I watched a movie recently, which I won't name. Suffice it to say, it was violent, and the story was grippingly told, even though most of it wasn't terribly original.

The trick, if there was one, was having a hero who was unexpected, and that watching that hero deal with the situations, seeing it from that person's eyes, it was refreshing.

So then... we come to the end of the movie, and there is literally a plot point that is hanging there. If you're watching the movie, you know what it is, and I'm wondering how they are going to resolve it. I guess the filmmakers chickened out at the last minute, or they decided what they needed to do... was have our hero not make it. In the end.

For me, that is the WORST thing about modern movies. The hero spends 90 minutes (or more) dealing with all sorts of things that no one should have to do, and filmmaker think their brilliant twist is to have that person NOT survive, not be rewarded for the struggle. And that to me, is the moral failing of modern movies. It's such an insidious message, and it gets absorbed by audiences, over and over and over again. All those movies before, that would reward the hero in the end, those are considered quaint. Because no, let's not have any of it mean anything.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 10:41 AM (cY3LT)

182 Semi-engaged Scroller: Tuesday at 8 pm on PBS: The Great American Read-------100 best-loved [American] books.
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/books/#/


Surprised to find I had read between a dozen and fifteen (quick scan) of those books! I guess I used to read some.

Posted by: mindful webworker after the incident at May 20, 2018 10:42 AM (ECLlc)

183 Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (qE08n)

I want to see the page where you pull the tab and Kerry throws his medals across the White House fence!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:44 AM (n9EOP)

184 Bloody Royals.

Do they realize now that they have been infiltrated by some common Americaner who will bring down the monarchy like Fat Elvis with a plate of biscuits and gravy? I'm all shook up!

Posted by: Fritz at May 20, 2018 10:44 AM (J7XgW)

185 Oh, and that interior designer was a Richmond, VA, native, just like the "Bonfire" author.

But, anyhoo, since I'm finally present for an actual book thread, I'll contribute book recs. I recently finished "Love Does" by Bob Goff in preparation for his current bestseller, "Everybody, Always."

Highly, highly recommended. He begins Love Does with the story of how he intended to be a high-school dropout who spends his life rock climbing out West and working menial jobs to have food. A guy just a few years older (and wiser) went with him at the last minute when Goff dropped by his house to say goodbye.

Naturally, reality struck and no one at Yosemite was hiring (this was in the early '80s) and Bob had next to no money to even buy food while he searched for work (interspersed with rock climbing). Luckily, he had the friend who never judged but was encouraging, saying things like, "If anyone could do this, it would be you."

The friend's attitude of "being there for people" instead of just talking about it, resonated with Goff, who became a Christian, a lawyer (even though his business cards say "helper") and a man with an "office" at Disneyland's Tom Sawyer Island. It's free! He meets all his appointments there.

It's a slim little book and well worth your time.

What stuck with me was Goff's way of looking at Christianity, esp. Bible study. He said as soon as he left one, he had forgotten everything, which made him question the usefulness of group study as opposed to reading on his own.

He theorized that if our goal is to follow Jesus, we shouldn't just talk about him, we should DO what he did -- be there for each other. I'm paraphrasing Goff when he wrote, "I love and adore my kids, but I don't study books about them; I spend time WITH them, doing things they like to do."

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 10:45 AM (b4HRt)

186 I want to see the page where you pull the tab and Kerry throws his medals across the White House fence!

*cough*

Not his own medals.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 10:45 AM (fuK7c)

187 PBS: The Great American Read-------100 best-loved [American] books.

-
I see that the list includes that immortal classic 50 Shades of Grey.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:47 AM (+y/Ru)

188 Pertaining to nothing ...

... Hannah Storm. Almost 56. Still a One.

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:48 AM (qE08n)

189 Do they realize now that they have been infiltrated by some common Americaner who will bring down the monarchy like Fat Elvis with a plate of biscuits and gravy? I'm all shook up!

-
Britain starting to overtake USA in obesity rate...

Go Britain!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 20, 2018 10:48 AM (+y/Ru)

190 Go Dog Go is a classic in my world. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:24 AM (9Om/r)

My kids loved that book when they were little. Pretty sure I can recite the whole damn thing.

"Do you like my party hat?"

Posted by: Tami at May 20, 2018 10:26 AM (Enq6K)

Only at the end does he like the hat. lol
Seriously, that book taught me to read, and it had cars.
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 20, 2018 10:28 AM (9Om/r)


Yes, one of the books that taught my daughter to read. And it taught me, women are needy, so if you want to snag one, you have to compliment her on her style... but not right away!

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 10:50 AM (cY3LT)

191 I get books as presents and then never get around to reading them.

But I just read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough while on a plane and liked it. Learned stuff I didn't know. The Brothers were methodical and took years to first learn how to fly gliders as if they were birds, before they slapped a motor in. They were huge hits in France, before they were in the US, despite the French bewilderment with two odd fellows who didn't drink, norfolk.

Not enough credit to aluminum becoming commonplace, instead of more costly than gold, which was critical to solving the problem of lift.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 10:51 AM (pV/54)

192 Posted by: Max Power at May 20, 2018 10:33 AM (QCc6B)

My cut on Lee Child is that some Jack Reacher books are indeed better than others, but the "worst" of them is still pretty darn good.

I also liked "No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories".

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:52 AM (n9EOP)

193 I'm reading Winning Bigly by Scott Adams. Very good! And then I'm starting on Sowells' A Conflict of Visions. Getting to the heart of the matters!

Posted by: PJ at May 20, 2018 10:52 AM (qlTN9)

194 I want to see the page where you pull the tab and Kerry throws his medals across the White House fence!

*cough*

Not his own medals.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 10:45 AM (fuK7c)


My bad!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:54 AM (n9EOP)

195 All daleks are armed. And they have zero shooting sprees amongst themselves, and no one wants to attack them. I think they have a wise policy.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 10:54 AM (/qEW2)

196 The best advice I've ever heard concerning the gap between authors and their writings is, "Trust the tale, not the teller." Which is why I still listen to Bill Cosby's comedy albums and to Richard Wagner's music, and read books by Hemingway and Fitzgerald and other people whom I would never want to associate with in everyday life: because it's the tale that matters, not the teller.
There's an old heresy in Catholicism called "Donatism", which asserts that the sacraments are legitimate only if performed a virtuous priest. It's easy to see how destructive this is to church life: after all, who among is is virtuous enough to celebrate the Mass? Worse, once personal virtue becomes the measurement of one's worth, it's easy to fall into the temptation to "out-virtue" one's opponents - and that quickly degenerates into a heretic hunt. France's Reign of Terror, the Salem witch trials, and China's Cultural Revolution are classic examples; and we're seeing this in Left circles today. No, an author's personal life has nothing to do with the quality of his work.

As for books this week, I'm reading "Moby Dick". It's the first time I've cracked its cover in over 50 years - I had to read it in high school, and haven't touched it since. It's a slow read, what with Melville's convoluted prose and his innumerable digressions; but it richly rewards a patient reader.

Posted by: Brown Line at May 20, 2018 10:55 AM (S6ArX)

197 138 I've been a reader here for years (and mostly on weekdays, so I'm usually too late to comment on the book thread anyway), but never felt compelled to comment, but with Ace calling for plugs/links to works by readers as an alternative to mainstream garbage last week, I thought I'd give it a go.

Posted by: Andrew VanOrden at May 20, 2018 10:03 AM (ARdZH)


Thank you for delurking, I will re-mention your book in next Sunday's thread.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 10:55 AM (jlKn3)

198 OregonMuse can make you, and he can break you.

Never forget that!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 10:56 AM (qJtVm)

199 There's an old heresy in Catholicism called "Donatism", which asserts that the sacraments are legitimate only if performed by a virtuous priest.
...
Posted by: Brown Line at May 20, 2018 10:55 AM (S6ArX)


But what an appealing heresy.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 10:58 AM (n9EOP)

200 In ScoggDog's Vietnam War for Kids ... there's a marvelous picture of a fighter-jet on page 5. Pull the tab and it crashes.

Page 6 shows a beautiful caged songbird. Lift the flap ... and its John McCain !!!

All the kids love it !!!

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:59 AM (FxM6p)

201
There's an old heresy in Catholicism called "Donatism"

Mmmmmmmmm, donutism!

Posted by: Homer Simpson at May 20, 2018 10:59 AM (IqV8l)

202 'Morning everybody. In the midst of a pretty good take on the Apollo 8 mission. It's Rocket Men by Robert Kurson. I think I've read almost everything ever written about the "golden years" of our space program but somehow this one escaped me. For me it's mostly a rehash of things I already knew but for whatever reason, I can never quite get enough of the accounts of our once-bold forays into the unknown. Space...the final frontier.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 20, 2018 10:59 AM (Tyii7)

203 Hop on Pop is a classic. Taught both chillrens to read.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 20, 2018 11:00 AM (89T5c)

204 As for books this week, I'm reading "Moby Dick". It's the first time I've cracked its cover in over 50 years - I had to read it in high school, and haven't touched it since. It's a slow read, what with Melville's convoluted prose and his innumerable digressions; but it richly rewards a patient reader.

I like "trust the tale, not the teller". It's a nice synopsis of what I usually try to say as separate the work from the artist or somesuch.

I love Moby Dick, especially the digressions. My favorite is where he calls a whale a fish. 'I know it's warm blooded, I know it breathes air, I know it gives birth to live young whom it nurses. But it lives its life swimming in the ocean so goddammit it's a fish'.

Roughly paraphrased.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:01 AM (fuK7c)

205 Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 09:30 AM (y7DUB)

You'd love listening to Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Look up his YouTube videos talking about the Tower of Babel. Absolutely mind blowing. He tells the story and the significance of the words and the "stones vs bricks" and mortar in the Hebrew translations. These two videos are from Glenn Beck's days at FOX.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 11:01 AM (b4HRt)

206 "In the midst of a pretty good take on the Apollo 8 mission. It's Rocket Men by Robert Kurson. "

Apollo 8 was a bigger advance than Apollo 11, IMHO.

Travel into space to another celestial body and a safe return. The first Earthrise seen by Man, and a Christmas reading from Genesis. And a hopeful coda to end 1968, one of the worst years in our history.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:04 AM (pV/54)

207 Travel into space to another celestial body and a safe return. The first Earthrise seen by Man, and a Christmas reading from Genesis. And a hopeful coda to end 1968, one of the worst years in our history.


That.

The fact that it was Christmas made it seem Providential.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:06 AM (fuK7c)

208 Mentioning ERB brings back memories of my youth ...

Clear delineation between good and evil and evil got killed in the end while manly men did manly deeds.

Posted by: Blake - used bridge salesman at May 20, 2018 10:32 AM (WEBkv)


I also read all of the ERB books. Generally formulaic, but fun. Mentioning Tarzan reminds of one of the stories in which he discovers a lost city of Crusaders deep inside Darkest Africa. As a kid, I was thinking, "Hey, that's cool. Black descendants of Crusaders." As an adult, I'm thinking ERB glossed-over the whole schtupping of nubile native wenches thing. That must have pretty daring when he wrote that novel; fast-forward to 2018 and we don't really give a negative reaction to interracial couples (except for the SJW and Lefties that just use race to divide and conquer) here in the U.S.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 11:06 AM (5Yee7)

209 But I just read The Wright Brothers by David McCullough while on a plane and liked it. Learned stuff I didn't know. The Brothers were methodical and took years to first learn how to fly gliders as if they were birds, before they slapped a motor in. They were huge hits in France, before they were in the US, despite the French bewilderment with two odd fellows who didn't drink, norfolk.

Not enough credit to aluminum becoming commonplace, instead of more costly than gold, which was critical to solving the problem of lift.
Posted by: Ignoramus

I grew up in Dayton, and my Grandmother actually knew the Wright Brothers pretty well (for being a little girl in the early part of the 20th century).
They have a recreation of the Bicycle shop in a local park (the original ended up in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI), and yes, you can learn all about how methodical they were.

This book was written by a local writer (Dayton), and I think you would like it if you want to learn more. You can get it on Amazon.
I sometimes find McCullough ponderous.

https://tinyurl.com/y9cl9zka

"12 Seconds to the Moon", by the late Roz Young, who was a feature writer for the Dayton Daily News for years (my Mother knew her too).

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at May 20, 2018 11:07 AM (S6Pax)

210 The best advice I've ever heard concerning the gap between authors and their writings is, "Trust the tale, not the teller." Which is why I still listen to Bill Cosby's comedy albums and to Richard Wagner's music, and read books by Hemingway and Fitzgerald and other people whom I would never want to associate with in everyday life: because it's the tale that matters, not the teller.
There's an old heresy in Catholicism called "Donatism", which asserts that the sacraments are legitimate only if performed a virtuous priest. It's easy to see how destructive this is to church life: after all, who among is is virtuous enough to celebrate the Mass? Worse, once personal virtue becomes the measurement of one's worth, it's easy to fall into the temptation to "out-virtue" one's opponents - and that quickly degenerates into a heretic hunt. France's Reign of Terror, the Salem witch trials, and China's Cultural Revolution are classic examples; and we're seeing this in Left circles today. No, an author's personal life has nothing to do with the quality of his work.

As for books this week, I'm reading "Moby Dick". It's the first time I've cracked its cover in over 50 years - I had to read it in high school, and haven't touched it since. It's a slow read, what with Melville's convoluted prose and his innumerable digressions; but it richly rewards a patient reader.

Posted by: Brown Line at May 20, 2018 10:55 AM (S6ArX)


I would argue, there is enough beauty in this world, that it ought to be possible to draw one's lines around the artists whose sins one will tolerate, and those you won't.

Wagner for example, I could see how someone might choose to appreciate his music, while others will decide their lives are just fine without him, because he crosses a line for them.

And at some point, like it or not, but the ugliness of the person does seep into their output. Sometimes it takes a while, but eventually it does. It causes all sorts of distortion to come to their work, and once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:07 AM (cY3LT)

211 "trust the tale, not the teller".

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:01 AM (fuK7c)

Are you talking about me?

Posted by: Ernest Hemingway at May 20, 2018 11:08 AM (wYseH)

212 Apollo 8 was a bigger advance than Apollo 11, IMHO.

Apollo 13 was pretty impressive too. In terms of ad hoc solutions to an impossible problem.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:08 AM (6FqZa)

213 There is no better description of Al Sharpton and the shake-down culture of 1980's New York than Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities". I can remember reading it at the time and thinking - you're not supposed to say that out loud (I was young(er) and dumb(er) and had internalized a bit of PC self-censorship). Between this book and The American Spectator I realized it was OK to say out loud the incorrect things I was thinking. Then I saw the Spectator publish a column by Brit Hume, who was the ABC White House correspondent, and really realized it was possible to be an intellectual and not be of-the-Left.

Posted by: motionview at May 20, 2018 11:08 AM (pYQR/)

214 Read John Dies at the End, This Book is Full of Spiders and What the Hell Did I Just Read, a series by David Wong.

Very funny, unique and scary monster story that had more laugh out loud moments for me than any series I can remember.

I am hoping that there will be another in the series because the third book ended abruptly, in my opinion.

The author has another book called Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits that I have just started. Not as funny as his JDatE but it is interesting and well-written.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 20, 2018 11:10 AM (+BKF+)

215 The fact that it was Christmas made it seem Providential.
Posted by: Bandersnatch

I spent four days sleeping on the couch and watching it on TV around the clock. It was one of the fondest memories I have of my youth. I had just turned 13 that week.
It was almost magical that Apollo 8 circled the Moon on Christmas Eve.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at May 20, 2018 11:11 AM (S6Pax)

216 Looks like Morison's Naval History series down in the left corner. My spines aren't quite so readable. I'm at Volume 14.

Posted by: Still John at May 20, 2018 11:11 AM (odQdP)

217 "Mmm. Bacony!"

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:12 AM (6FqZa)

218 One of the best books of the Apollo missions is 'For All Mankind' by Harry Hurt III.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 11:13 AM (9UFns)

219 Sharkman, agree. I actually guffawed out loud. But there is an undercurrent of sadness too, as the trio struggles with real life issues in their decaying rust belt town.

The Loser as Hero.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 11:13 AM (qJtVm)

220 Apollo 8 was a bigger advance than Apollo 11, IMHO.

Agreed. So many unknowns and risks. The odds that the mission would succeed were initially calculated at something like 56%. Yikes.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 20, 2018 11:13 AM (Tyii7)

221 "I grew up in Dayton, and my Grandmother actually knew the Wright Brothers pretty well "

That was another reveal in the book. Dayton, not Kitty Hawk, was the true birthplace of aviation.

The Brothers searched for a place with strong prevailing winds, high bluffs to launch from, and soft sand to crash on and picked remote Kitty Hawk. The first flights there were more short wind-aided glides than machine-driven flight.

The Brothers packed up what they knew and perfected true aviation back in the Dayton area where they were soon flying for over an hour (until the gas ran out).

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:13 AM (pV/54)

222 In ScoggDog's Vietnam War for Kids ... there's a marvelous picture of a fighter-jet on page 5. Pull the tab and it crashes.

Page 6 shows a beautiful caged songbird. Lift the flap ... and its John McCain !!!

All the kids love it !!!
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 10:59 AM (FxM6p)


David Foster Wallace wrote a piece on McCain, for the 2000 Presidential campaign. I'm reading it now, in his book, a collection of essays called "Consider the Lobster."

The way Wallace tells it, McCain's experience was much more horrific than I had previously imagined, and his actions much more heroic. The problem is, I don't believe the story. Not yet. I will have to finish this piece, then go find how and if it was hyperbolized by his campaign, and scooped up by a naive reporter.

Wallace, by the way, is a wonderful writer. Or I should say, he was. I picked up this book on the recommendation of somebody (not here), even though Wallace killed himself some years after it was published.

Which is another interesting question: How can one interpret the truth of someone's writing, when you know eventually he decides to chuck it all, and check out early?

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:14 AM (cY3LT)

223 I was with my 23 year old last week and was surprised by his playlist. It could have been my playlist except for a dearth of Stones, Dwight Yoakum and Los Lobos.
Posted by: Blutarski-esque 0.0 at May 20, 2018 10:02 AM (+Tibp)


Youngest Muse boy (age 26) is a big Led Zeppelin fan. I told him "Son, you do realize that this is the music your dad listened to in college, right?" But that didn't seem to bother him.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 11:14 AM (jlKn3)

224 I did finish The Narrative by Deplora Boule. It was a funny take on the world of media - worth checking out. Also this week, I read Peter Grant's excellent military science fiction tale, Stones of Silence, and Mike Cernovich's self-help masterpiece, Gorilla Mindset. I recommend both.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at May 20, 2018 11:15 AM (1pQvR)

225 I went to the Amazon link for "The Narrative" and discovered the author's page but there is no picture of the author.

Surely a picture of Hillary would be a suitable placeholder.

Posted by: Off the reservation at May 20, 2018 11:16 AM (vWMNq)

226 And they have zero shooting sprees amongst themselves,

They have several wars among themselves and revolutions for and against Davros.

Posted by: DaveA at May 20, 2018 11:16 AM (FhXTo)

227 That was another reveal in the book. Dayton, not Kitty Hawk, was the true birthplace of aviation.

....

The Brothers packed up what they knew and perfected true aviation back in the Dayton area where they were soon flying for over an hour (until the gas ran out).
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:13 AM (pV/54)


Didn't that area later become Wright Field? Now we have Wright-Patterson AFB: they still fly aircraft here but WPAFB is more of a technological development and test base than serving as a base for aircraft operations.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at May 20, 2018 11:18 AM (5Yee7)

228 I spent four days sleeping on the couch and watching it on TV around the clock. It was one of the fondest memories I have of my youth. I had just turned 13 that week.
It was almost magical that Apollo 8 circled the Moon on Christmas Eve.



I was eight almost nine. It was totally magical. Christmas, the Bible, and we saw the Earth rise for the first time.

We had gone from things before I could remember: we sent a man up and down in space, we sent a man up and all the way around and down in space;

to things I could remember: we sent two men up in space, we sent two men up and let one of them walk around in space;

to we blew up three guys in practice, that was sad;

to we sent three guys up in space and practiced docking with a thing that could land on the moon; then to going around the moon;

then to landing on the freaking moon; then to bringing golf carts to the freaking moon.

I thought I was growing up in an era of infinite progress and then we got bored and started sending up mass transit vehicles to low earth orbit.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:19 AM (fuK7c)

229 "What surprised me the most was that many of the people that were teaching about one form of relationship improvement or another were the worst offenders. "


This paradox in its many variations is wonderfully shot through the works of Walker Percy, both in his fiction, and his non-fiction look at the impossible fix of mankind, "Lost in the Cosmos." I would point especially to his novel "The Last Gentleman" (the forgotten great American bildungsroman written after his National Book Award winning "The Moviegoer) in which the suicidal Dr. Sutter Vaught describes himself as "the last sincere American -- overtly lewd and covertly cheerful," contrasting himself with the leftist intellectuals of Cambridge and Berkeley who pretend to be interested in women as people but are really only sniffing around their crotches like dogs.

Posted by: Dan Smoot's Apprentice at May 20, 2018 11:20 AM (H8QX8)

230 " There is no better description of Al Sharpton and the shake-down culture of 1980's New York than Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities". "

If you parse the timeline, Wolfe invented the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton's rise. The book started years before as a Dickens-like serialization in Rolling Stone. Life copies art.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:21 AM (pV/54)

231 Belated greetings! My dishwasher had a malfunction just after I saw the thread go up. Hopefully technical advice will arrive shortly.
My reading this past week was "Children of Hurin," by Tolkien. I read it when it first came out and sort of shrugged it off because I knew the story and had picked through the fragments in the other Middle Earth books published by Christopher T.
However, this second reading is really opening me up to how incredibly dark it is. In fact, a lot of the detailed work on Beleriand is downright bleak. We know it was written during the Great War when Tolkien's friends were getting killed and the war itself seemed to be without hope. (Remember, the Allies were basically losing until they won.)
Some might say the Valar coming out of the West is a metaphor for the Americans saving everyone's bacon, but at the very least Tolkien's writing carries a sense of doom and foreboding completely absent in Lord of the Rings. The Edain and Eldar fight because they must, but what hope is there? They're fighting a demi-god with demons and dragons. For a while it looked like they could pull it off, but by the time this book starts, everything is turning to crap. If the Brogallach was the Somme, the Nirnaeth was Passchendale - slaughter and disaster without any glory at all.
My other project is regaining some of my German reading ability, so I've decided the best (and easiest) was to do it is read a book in German. Took me almost an hour to translate the back blurb, but I'm sure things will speed up.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 20, 2018 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)

232 Good morning Horde of the Literati.

So yesterday picked up at the Trail of Honor a biography of Lt. Col Richard 'Dick' Cole, last Doolittle Raider, Hump pilot, and an Air Commando. Hardcover and signed by the 102 year old gentleman himself. Title is Dick Cole's War by Dennis R. Okerstrom. University of Missouri Press. 2015.

And I was reading chapter 1 I had to stop myself from chucking the book because the author had to interject things. Writing about Dayton has to mention the town gave birth to one of the first recognized African American poets named Dunbar. Then a page later Dunbar is mentioned again in passing because the Dayton paper carried a mention of a Colored Baby contest being cancelled. Followed by the author later saying Dayton was like every other place in the US racist.

On page 40 we get to a doozy of a paragraph which starts with - From the attack on Pearl Harbor until the end of the war, Americans engaged in an unremitting campaign of racism directed against the Japanese.. Then he talks about how cartoons and art depict the Japs with buck teeth and thick glasses or as snakes and spiders. Someone has bought into the HBO series on the Pacific War narrative. Depicting the Japanese that way pre-dates Pearl Harbor and ignores the contemporaneous caricature depictions of Nazis and Fascists. Not content with calling the US racist in treatment of the Japanese Okestrom trots out the internment of Japanese-Americans while failing to mention Canada did the same thing or what Wilson did in the Great War.

If these areas were excised from the book, no one would notice and the book would still be an excellent account. Gotten through Part One which is Cole's early life, cadet training, assignment to the 17th Bombardment Group (Medium), training, and the Doolittle Raid. Next part is how Cole was one of the early pilots to fly supplies from India to Kunming while flying over the most hazardous piece of real estate ever - the Hump.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 11:22 AM (MMrzc)

233 If you parse the timeline, Wolfe invented the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton's rise. The book started years before as a Dickens-like serialization in Rolling Stone. Life copies art.


Explain the parsing, please. I lived in Manhattan when Bonfires came out and the Rev. Bacon was immediately recognizable as Sharpton.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:22 AM (fuK7c)

234 Speaking of sieges, I wish there was a book on the
Siege of Montevideo during the Uruguay Civil War in the 1840s. The war
drew in neighboring powers, and even Britain France. It was also
where Garibaldi's "Red Shirts" first saw action before moving on to
Italy

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 10:25 AM (ANIFC)

Alexandre Dumas wrote an historical fiction called The New Troy which is about Montevideo and from what I can glean focuses on the siege of Montevideo.
Dumas also wrote Memoirs of Garibaldi, and a book on Garibaldi in Sicily and Naples called On Board the Emma, if you want to be complete
The majority of the versions I can find are in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese . . . which is frustrating.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:23 AM (2K6fY)

235 Wolfe invented the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton's rise.

I did not realize that, thanks. Perhaps Big Al read Bonfire as a how-to manual, as the Left is currently doing with 1984.

Posted by: motionview at May 20, 2018 11:24 AM (pYQR/)

236 Akron was the center of American zeppelin, uh, airship construction too:

https://slaterzurz.com/history-blimps-akron-ohio/

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 11:25 AM (qJtVm)

237 I like Jake's library. Props for the kukri too.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:25 AM (xJa6I)

238 Anyone know an interesting book on Chinee history? Keep in mind I'm ADHD and ya know, other mental stuff.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:26 AM (aljs9)

239
197 Thank you for delurking, I will re-mention your book in next Sunday's thread.


Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 10:55 AM (jlKn3)
Awesome - I certainly didn't expect that, so thank you so much.

Posted by: Andrew VanOrden at May 20, 2018 11:27 AM (ARdZH)

240 Some might say the Valar coming out of the West is a metaphor for the Americans saving everyone's bacon,

There's a lot of that in Tolkien.

An even closer American analogy is Numenor, when Ar-Pharazon jumped in to save Middle Earth from Sauron (he already had the Ring at the time, but looked prettier then). Ar-Pharazon then recruited Sauron as his closest advisor.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:31 AM (6FqZa)

241
Is there a name for the skeletomuscular disorder of the neck caused by holding the head sideways to read titles on book spines?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 20, 2018 11:31 AM (dFHx2)

242 Whoosh. I just had a zeppelin post disappear.

Time for lunch, I guess.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:31 AM (fuK7c)

243 Bonfire started in Rolling Stone in 1984, which predated Sharpton being a public figure known to whites in Manhattan. He wasn't the first black shakedown artist. Jesse Jackson spawned a lot of wannabees.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:32 AM (pV/54)

244 " Whoosh. I just had a zeppelin post disappear. "

Oh the humanity!

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:32 AM (6FqZa)

245 Akron was the center of American zeppelin, uh, airship construction too:
https://slaterzurz.com/history-blimps-akron-ohio/
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 11:25 AM (qJtVm)

Yup....The USS Akron was an airship aircraft carrier.

Video of it is somewhere on the Interwebs...tiny fighters it carried.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 11:33 AM (EoRCO)

246 Keep in mind I'm ADHD and ya know, other mental stuff.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:26 AM (aljs9)


Kuru?

Asking for a quickie primer on the history of China is kind of like asking for a wee sip of the firehose. Any particular eras or subjects that interest you?

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 11:33 AM (y87Qq)

247 In the documentary "The Last Man on the Moon" with Eugene 'Gene' Cernan (who was my favorite astronaut) there's a lot of neat stuff about the space program. Cernan said NASA was so fearful that he and his Apollo 10 crew would try to land on the moon, they came within about 10 miles, that they didn't give them enough fuel to land and take off. If they had Cernan might have tried it.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 11:33 AM (9UFns)

248 If you are an escaped oaf, what does that say about those pursuing you?

Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM (0tfLf)

249 During my travels in my AO I found "Siege at Jadotville".

They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy


The movie is well worth a watch.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM (+BKF+)

250
Rating on Jake's library: super-excellent.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM (dFHx2)

251
Yup....The USS Akron was an airship aircraft carrier.

Video of it is somewhere on the Interwebs...tiny fighters it carried.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy


Midget wrestlers?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM (IqV8l)

252 ...
Some might say the Valar coming out of the West is a metaphor for the Americans saving everyone's bacon, but at the very least Tolkien's writing carries a sense of doom and foreboding completely absent in Lord of the Rings.

...
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 20, 2018 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)


I mentioned this the other day, Tolkien was famous for saying how much he despised allegory. And yet it's all over his work! Perhaps not intentionally, but it's kinda sad and funny how he was so adamantly opposed to the concept.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:35 AM (cY3LT)

253 I read 'A Man of Destiny' by local moron A. H. Lloyd.

It does have it's Star Wars prequel heritage, all right. But it also reminded me of Jeffrey Archer's 'First Among Equals'. Lots of Parliamentary politics. I happen to like that, so it worked for me.

The prose is simple with only a few typographical errors, about the same proportion as traditionally published books (like the latest Nero Wolfe novel I read, it had about the same number of typos in it). American English spelling but it feels very English rather than American.

The protagonist is the Palpatine stand-in, Darius Maxim. Honestly, I have a hard time seeing him as the 'bad guy', at least in this first book. The Commonwealth is incompetent and supine. He certainly doesn't have any George Lucas obvious evil tags.

Adam Flyte may be the Vader stand in, but feels more like a young Han Solo. The Jedi stand ins, the Ordos Militaris*, feel a bit like the Bene Gesserit of Dune, without the breeding program thankfully.

If you want a re-telling of the Star Wars Prequels with a Brit flavour, I recommend it. It's certainly better than any of a number of self-published novels I've read.

*Ironically, I wrote a short story of that same name. I need to re-submit that to some more markets.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:35 AM (xJa6I)

254 The Nobel Prizes for Peace and Literature have become a political plum. Only the right thinkers will win. I'm still waiting for the first black to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theory that "Fizziks be racisss.

What is a "spiritual leader", by the way? Is it some new ager with a multi-million dollar Swiss Bank Account that leads his flock to "look within". Or is it a Eastern guru with a multi-million dollar Swiss Bank Account that exhorts his followers to "become one with the Universe". Or is it a Christian pastor with a multi-million dollar Swiss Bank Account that looks like he's on crack in the pulpit, begging his sheep to "come to Jesus"? Or is it a Muslim Imam with a multi-million dollar Swiss Bank Account that promises the believers they will have 72 virgins in heaven if they just blow themselves up for Mohammed? Or is it a humanist or atheist with a multi-million dollar Swiss Bank Account that just wants everyone to "be cool"? Or all of the above? I'm just asking for a friend.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 20, 2018 11:36 AM (9BLnV)

255 Notorious BFD

I hear you. I read a book on the manufacturer of the Saturn V 2nd stage!

I still think Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys by Michael Collins is the best of many books on the era.

The Last Man On the Moon by Eugene Cernan and Don Davis is also very worthy.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 11:36 AM (hyuyC)

256 Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:25 AM
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM

Thanks and Thanks.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 11:37 AM (9UFns)

257 Bonfire started in Rolling Stone in 1984, which predated Sharpton being a public figure known to whites in Manhattan. He wasn't the first black shakedown artist. Jesse Jackson spawned a lot of wannabees.


OK, Bonfire the novel came out in 1987. Sharpton was already well enough known to be immediately recognizable.

I can't date my first acquaintance with the Rev. Al, but 1984 was not too far earlier than '87.

Also, Wolfe had written Radical Chic in the sixties. He was in tune with the race hustle and its practitioners. Maybe when he started serializing it in Rolling Stone it wasn't a popularly known reference, but it was definitely a charicature of Sharpton.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:37 AM (fuK7c)

258 Anyone know an interesting book on Chinee history?
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:26 AM (aljs9)


I'm guessing Jay Leno has an autobio out there.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:37 AM (cY3LT)

259
What is a "spiritual leader", by the way?

Think of Joel Osteen without the ethical sense.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 20, 2018 11:38 AM (dFHx2)

260 Midget wrestlers?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at May 20, 2018 11:34 AM (IqV8l)

Dwarfs.....much tougher and they are used to be thrown around.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 11:38 AM (EoRCO)

261 "Rand made Stalin look like Tiny Tim."

Nasty as she may have been in her personal life, I sincerely doubt she had any of her circle liquidated. Much less did she kill 100 million people.

Posted by: Lawrence Person at May 20, 2018 11:39 AM (zPalU)

262 Or all of the above? I'm just asking for a friend.
Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 20, 2018 11:36 AM (9BLnV)


Man, you must really hate the Swiss.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:40 AM (cY3LT)

263 240 Some might say the Valar coming out of the West is a metaphor for the Americans saving everyone's bacon,

There's a lot of that in Tolkien.

An even closer American analogy is Numenor, when Ar-Pharazon jumped in to save Middle Earth from Sauron (he already had the Ring at the time, but looked prettier then). Ar-Pharazon then recruited Sauron as his closest advisor.
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:31 AM (6FqZa)

And the great eagles - the symbol of America - coming in to save Sam & Frodo after the destruction of Mt. Doom.

Posted by: josephistan at May 20, 2018 11:40 AM (ANIFC)

264 Nice library Jake.
I wish I had thought of stitching together the different shelves into one photo. I had to leave out an entire wall.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 20, 2018 11:41 AM (0tfLf)

265 Eventually the Nobel prizes will devolve into the board giving prizes to their friends, families, business partners, and people willing to do kickbacks.


Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:41 AM (2K6fY)

266 Oregon Muse,

Thanks again, and at the risk of sounding whiney you didn't post the important part of my e-mail to you with the photo.

"Last year when I sold my apartment and became a renter my new place did not have book shelves, so I stacked my books on the floor and on other things. As an experienced practitioner of the art of procrastination it took me a while, almost a year, but I finally bought shelves for most of my books. The funny thing is I miss my organised floor shelf. It didn't look pretty, but it was functional."

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at May 20, 2018 11:41 AM (9UFns)

267 I always thought the party in the tree at the end of "Go Dog Go" was a bit implausible. It never occurred to me back then though that dogs driving cars was also somewhat out of the ordinary.

Posted by: f'd at May 20, 2018 11:42 AM (UdKB7)

268 "Rand made Stalin look like Tiny Tim."
-----------------------------------------------
Nasty as she may have been in her personal life, I sincerely doubt she had any of her circle liquidated. Much less did she kill 100 million people.
Posted by: Lawrence Person at May 20, 2018 11:39 AM (zPalU)



IT'S FUNNY CUZ IT'S A TWIST ON THE CLASSIC COMPARISON PEOPLE MAKE WHEN THEY SAY STALIN (OR HILTER OR MAO) MAKES SOMEONE ELSE LOOK LIKE A RELATIVE INNOCENT... LIKE TINY TIM.

Posted by: Ben Rothlessburger at May 20, 2018 11:43 AM (cY3LT)

269 Years ago I read Dune and Dune Messiah and then realized I'd have to read all of them in one go. So the stars finally came together this summer, and I'm currently on Dune Messiah, and will follow it up with Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune.

Posted by: Jim S. at May 20, 2018 11:43 AM (ynUnH)

270 I see that someone mentioned Pipe's passing away.
Does anyone suggest other good authors or books that concern Russian history?

Posted by: bananaDream at May 20, 2018 11:44 AM (yRBj9)

271 >>>There's an old heresy in Catholicism called "Donatism", which asserts that the sacraments are legitimate only if performed a virtuous priest.

That predated the protestant/catholic divide. Augustine settled it with "ex opera operato". There are no "sacraments" in the Bible strictly speaking. The only two acts mandated are baptism and communion, and nothing is said about an impeccable cleric being necessary to preside over the ceremonies. The whole thing was nothingburger.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 11:44 AM (/qEW2)

272 Kuru?

Asking for a quickie primer on the history of China is kind of like asking for a wee sip of the firehose. Any particular eras or subjects that interest you?

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 11:33 AM (y87Qq)

Thank you. i thought that as soon as I posted the comment. This dynasty, that dynasty....

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:45 AM (aljs9)

273 Good morning, Book Threaders.

Running on my WinXP hard drive, stuffed into the eMachine. It booted up reluctantly, I guess due to many hardware differences. And using Firefox browser. But it works, so that tells me the problem with my main computer is in the hard disk controller. The Win7 HD wouldn't boot at all, though, but maybe it cannot handle the architecture of the emachine.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 20, 2018 11:46 AM (dOgJt)

274 That predated the protestant/catholic divide. Augustine settled it with "ex opera operato". There are no "sacraments" in the Bible strictly speaking. The only two acts mandated are baptism and communion, and nothing is said about an impeccable cleric being necessary to preside over the ceremonies. The whole thing was nothingburger.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at May 20, 2018 11:44 AM (/qEW2)


I had an argument with a priest over the question of whether one could be truly forgiven for a sin, if one asks for it directly of God, without the intercession of a priest.

He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Eh, yeah. No.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

275 OK, Bonfire the novel came out in 1987. Sharpton was already well enough known to be immediately recognizable.

I can't date my first acquaintance with the Rev. Al, but 1984 was not too far earlier than '87.

Also, Wolfe had written Radical Chic in the sixties. He was in tune with the race hustle and its practitioners. Maybe when he started serializing it in Rolling Stone it wasn't a popularly known reference, but it was definitely a charicature of Sharpton.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 11:37 AM (fuK7c)

Anyone who had access to NYC tabloids or local news stations--the five boroughs, NJ , Conn. --- knew who Al Sharpton was by at least 1983.
When the Tawana Brawley hoax exploded in 1987, he was already well-known.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (7uYFy)

276 I had an argument with a priest over the question of
whether one could be truly forgiven for a sin, if one asks for it
directly of God, without the intercession of a priest.



He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.



Eh, yeah. No.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)


You realize this is the basis for the Reformation.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (2K6fY)

277 "Siege at Jadotville".
--------------
Annnnnd there goes my resolve to *not* order any books this week.

Dang it.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (cp1if)

278 IT'S FUNNY CUZ IT'S A TWIST ON THE CLASSIC COMPARISON PEOPLE MAKE WHEN THEY SAY STALIN (OR HILTER OR MAO) MAKES SOMEONE ELSE LOOK LIKE A RELATIVE INNOCENT... LIKE TINY TIM.

Posted by: Ben Rothlessburger at May 20, 2018 11:43 AM (cY3LT)

Actually Tiny Tim killed many millions of people who offed themselves rather than listen to that song that shall go unmentioned. True story. So the point is mute. And deaf too.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (aljs9)

279 Giant eagles saving the US? Carl Macek and Merian C. Cooper.

https://www.amazon.com/War-Eagles-Inspired-Original-Creator/dp/1932431748

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (MMrzc)

280 Adam Flyte may be the Vader stand in, but feels more like a young Han Solo.

So Anakin isn't an annoying immature whiner in this one, but looks more like someone Obi-wan wouldn't want to feed to a rancor?

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (6FqZa)

281 #21: Saw the film. It is quite good.

Posted by: The Man from Athens at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (QMwOT)

282 He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)


Rare is the lawyer that tells you to save your money and just go to Legal Zoom instead.

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (FxM6p)

283 What is a "spiritual leader", by the way?
-----------

Well, duh. Jesse Jackson.

Posted by: Bill Clinton at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (cp1if)

284 Meant #24

Posted by: The Man from Athens at May 20, 2018 11:51 AM (QMwOT)

285 You'd love listening to Rabbi Daniel Lapin. Look up his YouTube videos talking about the Tower of Babel. Absolutely mind blowing. He tells the story and the significance of the words and the "stones vs bricks" and mortar in the Hebrew translations. These two videos are from Glenn Beck's days at FOX.
Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 11:01 AM (b4HRt)


Thanks for pointing that out. I've found a four parter called Tower of Power which will become evident when I start watching if it's what you're referring to and, if not I can muck around and find it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 11:51 AM (y7DUB)

286 280 Adam Flyte may be the Vader stand in, but feels more like a young Han Solo.

So Anakin isn't an annoying immature whiner in this one, but looks more like someone Obi-wan wouldn't want to feed to a rancor?
Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (6FqZa)

IF Adam Flyte is supposed to be Anakin, no he's not annoying. He's kinda cool. But doesn't like being told what to do. Total moron material. He's not a child in any way.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:52 AM (xJa6I)

287 Mike Hammer heh

Here is a book that is tempting me after I blew up my budget buying that autographed book from Dick Cole.

Turn the Tigers Loose about night combat missions over Korea. Ghost written by Frederick Pohl.
https://preview.tinyurl.com/yd9qhsas

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 11:53 AM (MMrzc)

288 For me, that is the WORST thing about modern movies. The hero spends 90 minutes (or more) dealing with all sorts of things that no one should have to do, and filmmaker think their brilliant twist is to have that person NOT survive, not be rewarded for the struggle. ...

Sands of Iwo Jima. Stryker is killed during the assault on Mt Surabachi. From behind. By a Japanese soldier hiding in a spider hole. After leading his troops across the Pacific, and with victory in sight.

Posted by: Fox2! at May 20, 2018 11:53 AM (brIR5)

289 Running on my WinXP hard drive, stuffed into the eMachine. It booted up reluctantly, I guess due to many hardware differences. And using Firefox browser. But it works, so that tells me the problem with my main computer is in the hard disk controller. The Win7 HD wouldn't boot at all, though, but maybe it cannot handle the architecture of the emachine.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon
-------------

Sundry drivers different/missing?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 11:53 AM (cp1if)

290 269 Years ago I read Dune and Dune Messiah and then realized I'd have to read all of them in one go. So the stars finally came together this summer, and I'm currently on Dune Messiah, and will follow it up with Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune.
Posted by: Jim S. at May 20, 2018 11:43 AM (ynUnH)

As one who has walked that road...

STOP after Children of Dune. For the love of all that is good.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (xJa6I)

291 "OK, Bonfire the novel came out in 1987. Sharpton was already well enough known to be immediately recognizable."

When Wolfe was creating the Reverend Bacon, Sharpton wasn't well known. He wasn't well known among whites in 1987 unless you were from John Gotti land in Howard Beach Queens.

Most of the minor characters in Bonfire were inspired by real-life not-famous people.

I doubt that Wolfe could foresee that Sharpton would become a national figure by fomenting riots and then getting a NBC show. Life is stranger than fiction.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (pV/54)

292
You realize this is the basis for the Reformation.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (2K6fY)

I think the sale of indulgences and the overall corrupt nature of the papacy at that time---I say this as a Catholic: the Church needed some (small "r") reforming at that time---had more to do with it.

Of course, with Henry VIII, all it took was the Pope refusing an annulment. The Anglican Church was Catholic in all but name.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (7uYFy)

293 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 10:41 AM (qJtVm)

Thanks, got it. Interesting that the free version wasn't showing up on the Kindle storefront.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (phT8I)

294 So, votermom mentioned the book about science & religion being free, which was in my price range. Clicked to VM's page, clicked through to Lulu page, then they want me to join up and give an email for the free PDF.

And there I stopped.

Posted by: mindful webworker almost read something last week at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (ECLlc)

295 STOP after Children of Dune. For the love of all that is good.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (xJa6I)


Listen to the man. He knows things.

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 11:55 AM (FxM6p)

296 294 yeah, its Lulu

I have an extra email I use for signing up for stuff that I never check

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (hMwEB)

297 Welp, gotta go for a few hours.

But I did see Deadpool 2 last night. It was funny but also kinda annoying. And it really turned the gay up.
Cable was well-done.
Kid was annoying too.

I'd call it a renter.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (xJa6I)

298 Just finished Amor Towles's "Rules of Civility," and was greatly entertained.

Set in late-Depression-era New York City, a very bright twenty-something woman, daughter of Russian immigrants, raised in a two-room coldwater flat in Brooklyn, rises into old-wealth society, but her stepping-stone guy turns out to be a gigolo.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (UUD++)

299 Sands of Iwo Jima. Stryker is killed during the assault on Mt Surabachi. From behind. By a Japanese soldier hiding in a spider hole. After leading his troops across the Pacific, and with victory in sight.
Posted by: Fox2!
---------------

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Tom Hanks, in Saving Pvt. Ryan at May 20, 2018 11:56 AM (Zdm89)

300
Eh, yeah. No.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

You realize this is the basis for the Reformation.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (2K6fY)
----
This has the potential to make the Civil War/War of Northern Aggression battles or, dare I say it, shag/hardwood wars, seem like the Carolina BBQ Skirmishes.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (qJtVm)

301
When Wolfe was creating the Reverend Bacon, Sharpton wasn't well known. He wasn't well known among whites in 1987 unless you were from John Gotti land in Howard Beach Queens.

Most of the minor characters in Bonfire were inspired by real-life not-famous people.

I doubt that Wolfe could foresee that Sharpton would become a national figure by fomenting riots and then getting a NBC show. Life is stranger than fiction.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (pV/54)

As I said, he was well-known enough in the tri-state area. I can't remember exactly what it was that brought him to prominence, but by the time Bpnfire was being serialized in Rolling Stone, everyone in NYC/NJ/Conn. knew who he was....

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (7uYFy)

302 By the end of the third Dune book you will want to be eaten by the sand worms to stop the pain.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (MMrzc)

303 Mark Edwards - Thanks! Glad you liked it. Things speed up with each successive book.
Back to Tolkien - he hated allegory but he admitted his stuff was very *applicable.* And so it is.
So while he vocally rejected using Middle Earth as a proxy for our own, he freely admitted that much of what he wrote applied to the world we live in.
My point is that the mood in Hurin is very similar to other books from that time. One by one the Elvish realms are collapsing and there isn't any real hope, but they still rise up whenever there's a chance things can turn around. Turin's curse is also theologically complex. He's clearly ruled by the sin of pride, and it consumes and destroys everything he does.
Note also that all the women who love him meet a bad end. What does that say?

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (cfSRQ)

304 IF Adam Flyte is supposed to be Anakin, no he's not annoying. He's kinda cool. But doesn't like being told what to do. Total moron material. He's not a child in any way.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:52 AM (xJa6I)


When I read that book, I thought that Adam Flyte was kind of a Han Solo stand-in.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (jlKn3)

305 I think the sale of indulgences and the overall corrupt nature of the papacy at that time
----------

One can still buy an indulgence, if one knows the right people.

Posted by: Zombie Marc Rich at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (Zdm89)

306 All Hail Eris #198: OregonMuse can make you, and he can break you.
Never forget that!


Can't imagine what you mean.

Posted by: mindful webworker, broken and defeated at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (ECLlc)

307 Sundry drivers different/missing?

Posted by: Mike Hammer at May 20, 2018 11:53 AM (cp1if)

Most likely. The eMachine has a Pentium 4 processor. I don't really want to mess with the drivers on the Win7 disk, as it is my primary work drive. I think I have a new, unused, motherboard comparable to that in the dead machine. If I can find that, i will install it, and try the Win7 drive in there.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (dOgJt)

308 I had an argument with a priest over the question of
whether one could be truly forgiven for a sin, if one asks for it
directly of God, without the intercession of a priest.



He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Eh, yeah. No.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

You realize this is the basis for the Reformation.
Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 11:49 AM (2K6fY)


Part of it, sure. My understanding, after having studied the subject, was that the sacraments, as administered by priests, were a means, but not the only means.

My belief is that his narrow view is NOT the doctrine of the Church.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (cY3LT)

309 Sands of Iwo Jima. Stryker is killed during the assault on Mt Surabachi. From behind. By a Japanese soldier hiding in a spider hole. After leading his troops across the Pacific, and with victory in sight.
Posted by: Fox2!
---------------

GySgt. John Basilone.

MOH at Guadalcanal and was killed at Iwo Jima.

A true hero.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (EoRCO)

310 Thank you. i thought that as soon as I posted the comment. This dynasty, that dynasty....
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at May 20, 2018 11:45 AM (aljs9)


Plus, the names are a nightmare. First, the dynasties each have around three different names, none of which seem related at all unless you read Chinese ideograms, which I don't. And if you do, the ideograms from, say, the first millennium BC don't look very much like the later ones. Then each ruler has an unfamiliar name, and like any dynastic reign worth reading about, none of the individual names tell you anything about which dynasty they were a part of. Finally, if you don't know the geography, none of the provinces mean anything, which means wars are things that might as well be happening in made-up places. It's fascinating stuff, but holy crap they don't make it easy.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:00 PM (y87Qq)

311 302 By the end of the third Dune book you will want to be eaten by the sand worms to stop the pain.
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (MMrzc)


Read Dune years ago. Liked it. Have no desire to read any of the others in the series. I think it's better that way.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 12:00 PM (jlKn3)

312 He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

Maybe a big part of that is just verbally articulating --that is 'confessing'--your sins to another human, one that is bound to keep his mouth shut.

How is it confessing if you don't come right out and say what it is you've done that needs forgiveness?

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (7uYFy)

313 "When the Tawana Brawley hoax exploded in 1987, he was already well-known."

The Brawley hoax promoted Sharpton's name. Tawana made her claims in November 1987. It was a 1988 story.

Wolfe wrote up the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton got his fame. It's a credit to Wolfe.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (pV/54)

314 As one who has walked that road...



STOP after Children of Dune. For the love of all that is good.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (xJa6I)

Herbert is kind of interesting because his writing early on is pretty awful. The parody version ("Doon") captures it perfectly.

He then gets better at writing but has increasingly less interesting stuff to say. I read the "second trilogy" while deployed to Germany and it certainly helped me to get sleep!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (cfSRQ)

315 Iwo Jima was like the Somme, a meat grinder but on a smaller scale.

Of the six who raised the second flag, three were killed on the island.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (MMrzc)

316 198 OregonMuse can make you, and he can break you.

Never forget that!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 10:56 AM (qJtVm)

Specially with his new bionic skeleton!!!

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (hMwEB)

317 306 All Hail Eris #198: OregonMuse can make you, and he can break you.
Never forget that!

Can't imagine what you mean.
Posted by: mindful webworker, broken and defeated at May 20, 2018 11:59 AM (ECLlc)


She means that if you don't kowtow to my every whim, I will say bad things about you on the internets.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (jlKn3)

318 Which Dune is it in which Atreideeznuts turns into a giant sand worm?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (qJtVm)

319 Wasn't Al Sharpton involved in some kind of racism hustle against a Jewish store that got people killed? It was before Tawana and her story.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:04 PM (MMrzc)

320 Youngest Muse boy (age 26) is a big Led Zeppelin fan. I told him "Son, you do realize that this is the music your dad listened to in college, right?" But that didn't seem to bother him.

Boy the Bilderberg listens to a lot of 80's stuff. It occurred to me that that would be like me listening to Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. Which... I do!

(Also, taking this opportunity to add close tags to my nic on the *ahem* "advice" of naturalfake.)

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at May 20, 2018 12:05 PM (7oUUT)

321 318 Which Dune is it in which Atreideeznuts turns into a giant sand worm?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (qJtVm)


I believe he evolves into The Eternal Sand Carp in Timewasters of Dune.

Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 12:05 PM (FxM6p)

322 If you've read a lot of Tom Wolfe you can understand exactly what's driving the mounting insanity in America right now. It's all driven by status.

Back in the bad old days, there was only one scale of status, the one that ran from slum-dweller to one of the people who got invited to Mrs. Astor's parties. Everyone was along the same axis and moving up mostly meant getting more wealth and adopting the habits and manners of the next rung up the ladder.

But post-WWII there's so much wealth in America that it's meaningless as a badge of status. The old scale exploded into dozens -- hundreds -- of separate little status pyramids. The post-1968 leftists did a very good job of building their own pyramid, based on being even more exquisitely attuned to "injustices," into the one that included academia, media, and politics.

That's why they're so vicious, both on offense and defense. On offense, they have to show their higher status, which means there must be witches to hunt and heretics to burn.

And on defense, they're even worse, because an attack on a liberal's position in the hierarchy of exquisite sensitivity is also an attack on the entire hierarchy itself. If being a good liberal isn't a badge of status, that means their entire psychological and social reward system is a con game or a delusion. I think they may literally die before admitting that.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (zOGzb)

323 He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

Rare is the lawyer that tells you to save your money and just go to Legal Zoom instead.
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 11:50 AM (FxM6p)


Well said.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (cY3LT)

324 When the Tawana Brawley hoax exploded in 1987, he was already well-known."

The Brawley hoax promoted Sharpton's name. Tawana made her claims in November 1987. It was a 1988 story.

Wolfe wrote up the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton got his fame. It's a credit to Wolfe.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (pV/54)

Yes, if you are talking "nationwide." Brawley wasn't just a local story. So by the time that story broke, Bonfire had already been written. I'm simply saying that those of us in the area KNEW who Sharpton was before Bonfire and certainly before Brawley....

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (7uYFy)

325 "For me, that is the WORST thing about modern movies. The hero spends 90 minutes (or more) dealing with all sorts of things that no one should have to do, and filmmaker think their brilliant twist is to have that person NOT survive, not be rewarded for the struggle. And that to me, is the moral failing of modern movies. It's such an insidious message, and it gets absorbed by audiences, over and over and over again."

I think, "and it all worked out and they lived happily ever after just like you wanted" is worse.

Posted by: Apostate at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (7d/38)

326 Which Dune is it in which Atreideeznuts turns into a giant sand worm?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:02 PM (qJtVm)
I read Dune, and the one that followed it, none of the rest. It was an interesting story, but too much magic, and not enough hard SF. And the whole premise of the Butlerian jihad was goofy.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (dOgJt)

327 Wasn't Al Sharpton involved in some kind of racism hustle against a Jewish store that got people killed? It was before Tawana and her story.
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:04 PM (MMrzc)


https://tinyurl.com/bo9cok6

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (y87Qq)

328 "Wasn't Al Sharpton involved in some kind of racism hustle against a Jewish store that got people killed? It was before Tawana and her story."

Al's Freddie's Fashion Mart riot was in 1995.

Al's Crown Heights Riot was in 1991.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (pV/54)

329 When I read that book, I thought that Adam Flyte was kind of a Han Solo stand-in.


Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 11:57 AM (jlKn3)

Okay, no spoilers here, but while the characters were inspired by the prequels, they don't line up neatly.

So yes, Adam Flyte has a big destiny before him (remember what Justin says in the epilogue?).

But no one is exactly who you expect them to be. Maxim Darius was tremendously fun to write and he's based on one of my mentors - who is a great guy.
I'm reliably told that Book 2 is much better in terms of pacing and action, so please stick with it. One of my friends (who is a fighter pilot) read it and he particularly enjoyed Adam going through OCS.
Since no one asked: My favorite character is... Jermah Macro. Hilariously fun to write. No one even close to him in Star Wars.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (cfSRQ)

330 I listened to an audio version of Ishigura's Never Let Me Go.
Very creepy. As the story unfolds rather slowly, I thought at first it was just the National Health on steroids. It soon became clear that this was an dystopia/ethics/sci fi story, very excellently written, unfortunately rather sad, and definitely the sort to stay in your mind as you find out more about scientific advances in cloning.

Today I discovered a discussion of the film based on the book, a podcast via Ricochet, posted by Titus Techera at
https://ricochet.com/519038/acf-middlebrow-11-never-let-go/

Think I'll get back to World War II reading: I finally got Victor Davis Hanson's Second World Wars.


Posted by: Alifa at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (c+Rmq)

331 Bernard Lewis passed away yesterday. He was a profoundly great historian of Islam and the Middle East.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 20, 2018 12:07 PM (+BKF+)

332 I believe he evolves into The Eternal Sand Carp in Timewasters of Dune.
Posted by: ScoggDog at May 20, 2018 12:05 PM (FxM6p)


"Timewasters of Dune". I laffed. Very well played, sir.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader & Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair Magazine at May 20, 2018 12:08 PM (jlKn3)

333 He said the priest was a necessary instrument for the sinner to receive grace.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:47 AM (cY3LT)

Maybe a big part of that is just verbally articulating --that is 'confessing'--your sins to another human, one that is bound to keep his mouth shut.

How is it confessing if you don't come right out and say what it is you've done that needs forgiveness?
Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:01 PM (7uYFy)


Well that would be a benefit of having a confessor. Which isn't the same thing as saying one MUST have a confessor, that God isn't going to listen to you unless you do.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:08 PM (cY3LT)

334 Which Dune is it in which Atreideeznuts turns into a giant sand worm?

==

iirc book 3, God Emperor of Dune

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 12:08 PM (hMwEB)

335
"But the absolute drivel written about a place in which I lived for two years was astounding. Dates were wrong, events were reported badly, or ignored or made up from whole cloth."
------

This has the ring of truth to me:

"Resident complains not fit for habitability. Live boa constrictor, fire, dried blood on her door, food and burning matches thrown at dinner, person wandering through halls brandishing a whip and striking the walls with it."

This is you, isn't it CBD? In bondage leathers with a boa coiled around you, cracking a cat-o-nine-tails at the Squares.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:09 PM (qJtVm)

336 322---well put.

I would add that pre-WW2, a majority of people were interested in just eating and having a roof over their --heads--surviving--to worry much about "status."

Now even those on the--or near the--bottom rung worry about "status"--the right car, spinners, sneakers, phones.
It's amazing.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:10 PM (7uYFy)

337 270 bananaDream

1) The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (1966) by James Billington.

2) Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy MacLean.

3) Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Montefiore.

4) The Liberators by Viktor Suvorov.

This should start you off right.

There is one more, by a reporter who interviewed Stalin, liked him a lot, and then spent more time in Russia. He became greatly disillusioned, and wrote how Communism stifled Russia. He examined the 50th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Very lucid.

It's somewhere in the house. Somewhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 12:10 PM (hyuyC)

338 I think the sale of indulgences and the overall
corrupt nature of the papacy at that time---I say this as a Catholic:
the Church needed some (small "r") reforming at that time---had more to
do with it.



Of course, with Henry VIII, all it took was the Pope refusing an annulment. The Anglican Church was Catholic in all but name.
Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 11:54 AM (7uYFy)


Without the need to go through a priest or the hierarchy for absolution for sin the sale of indulgences would have been as momentous as a Wednesday night Bingo game at the Baptist church.
Without that power gained from being the connection to God the hierarchy would have had no leverage to control politics the way the Pope did.

I admit these things were a festering boil that had to be lanced, and the principal reason they were fought as hard as they were was because the princes and kings saw a benefit to themselves, but the basis of it all was whether forgiveness could be attained by one opening ones soul to God or through the agency of a priest or hierarchy.


Posted by: Kindltot at May 20, 2018 12:10 PM (2K6fY)

339 Eris, a latex cat-girl with a cat -o-nine-tails? Nyah!

And John Ringo starts scribbling notes.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:11 PM (MMrzc)

340 Whoops, wrong thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (qJtVm)

341 Wasn't Al Sharpton involved in some kind of racism hustle against a Jewish store that got people killed? It was before Tawana and her story.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:04 PM (MMrzc)


Freddie's Fashion Mart, IIRC!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (n9EOP)

342 114: I much preferred Wind Sand and Stars

Posted by: CN at May 20, 2018 12:12 PM (5gaNQ)

343 Of course, with Henry VIII, all it took was the Pope refusing an annulment. The Anglican Church was Catholic in all but name.

Henry continued burning "Lutherans." I don't think the real slide from "schism" into "heresy" occurred until Elizabeth.

Posted by: Fox2! at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (brIR5)

344 This started with my writing "If you parse the timeline, Wolfe invented the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton's rise."

Which is true. And Wolfe was prescient. He wasn't just writing a caricature of an already famous guy. He was skewering a local race hustler who was gaining power by manipulating the media, who went along willingly.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (pV/54)

345 Sharpton came to prominence with the Bernard Goetz subway vigilante episode. That was in 1984.

I had to look it up.

But even before that, he was known as an activist, a preacher and amember of James Brown's entourage....

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (7uYFy)

346 "For me, that is the WORST thing about modern movies. The hero spends 90 minutes (or more) dealing with all sorts of things that no one should have to do, and filmmaker think their brilliant twist is to have that person NOT survive, not be rewarded for the struggle. And that to me, is the moral failing of modern movies. It's such an insidious message, and it gets absorbed by audiences, over and over and over again."
---------------------------------------
I think, "and it all worked out and they lived happily ever after just like you wanted" is worse.
Posted by: Apostate at May 20, 2018 12:06 PM (7d/3


There's a lot of space between "happily ever after," and the hero having a purpose for what they are doing, where the struggle is shown to have been worth the effort.

As others have introduced, the hero who martyrs himself for something greater is just as complete and moral, as the hero getting to survive the struggle.

What I don't appreciate is the story where the hero does everything the right way, and in the end, either the bad guy wins or everybody loses or the hero is shown to be just as bad as the bad guy, and therefore worse.

It strikes me as lazy and cheap, and pretty much negates the purpose of telling the story in the first place.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (cY3LT)

347 I liked the Fat Al Sharpton better than the thin Al Sharpton.

He fit the role better that way. And his Conway Twitty hairdo.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (EoRCO)

348 Henry continued burning "Lutherans." I don't think the real slide from "schism" into "heresy" occurred until Elizabeth.
Posted by: Fox2! at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (brIR5)

Yes. But by that time, intrigue with Catholic Spain and France forced a complete and final schism.

Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (7uYFy)

349 RIP Bernard Lewis

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 12:17 PM (6FqZa)

350 If you did a "Tom Wolfe" parody on Obama in 2004 to 2007, you'd be prescient. That's what Wolfe did with Sharpton. And that was my point

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:19 PM (pV/54)

351 I wonder if Larry Correia got reimbursed for the plane tickets by Origins after they disinvited him.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:19 PM (MMrzc)

352 BurtTC, I think it's all part of the idea that your fortune is dependent on luck and largesse, not hard work or moral rectitude. That's why ultimately nothing matters.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:20 PM (qJtVm)

353 Man, you must really hate the Swiss.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 11:40 AM (cY3LT)

Well, that's where I've got my multi-million dollar bank account. Sure, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein have some decent banks, but if you want your banking with cocoa, Switzerland is THE place!

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 20, 2018 12:22 PM (9BLnV)

354 Whoops, wrong thread!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes



I was wondering about that. I was thinking it could have been a portrait of Eris, except that the blood had had time to dry.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (fuK7c)

355 I just put God Emperor of Dune on my library request list. I need something freaky to read.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (qJtVm)

356 What I don't appreciate is the story where the hero does everything the right way, and in the end, either the bad guy wins or everybody loses or the hero is shown to be just as bad as the bad guy, and therefore worse.

It strikes me as lazy and cheap, and pretty much negates the purpose of telling the story in the first place.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 20, 2018 12:14 PM (cY3LT)

Not if your story's purpose is to slap the audience upside the head.

Posted by: Anonymous White Male at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (9BLnV)

357 I was wondering about that. I was thinking it could have been a portrait of Eris, except that the blood had had time to dry.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (fuK7c)
---
I am SO vanilla. For realz!

Bander, was there a Trump simulacrum in Bonfire? It's been ages since I read it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (qJtVm)

358 Something freaky to read? How about write. As in lift out of the later Dune books Alia of the Knife getting jiggy with Duncan Idaho.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:25 PM (MMrzc)

359 I just put God Emperor of Dune on my library request list. I need something freaky to read.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (qJtVm)


OMG you know what you shouldn't do? Put your hand on a hot stove. You shouldn't do that, you'd regret it.

Seriously, avoid touching hot stoves.

Just forget I brought it up.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:27 PM (y87Qq)

360 This started with my writing "If you parse the timeline, Wolfe invented the Reverend Bacon before Sharpton's rise."

Which is true. And Wolfe was prescient. He wasn't just writing a caricature of an already famous guy. He was skewering a local race hustler who was gaining power by manipulating the media, who went along willingly.



Well, there's no horse quite so much beating as a dead horse.

What I read you to say was that the Rev. Al's public persona came after the Rev. Bacon's, and that it was life imitating art.

What people who lived in the NYC media market are saying is nah brah, we knew him.

His national breakthrough was probably Tawana Brawley in 87/88, but we in the local market were already saturated with his James Brown hair and his MLK medallion and his John Gotti trackstuit and his "I make the Rev. Jackson look eloquent" diatribes.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 12:29 PM (fuK7c)

361 Bander, was there a Trump simulacrum in Bonfire? It's been ages since I read it.


Somebody asked about that in a thread this week. I haven't read it since back then.

It seems like there must have been, but I can't bring it to mind.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 20, 2018 12:32 PM (fuK7c)

362 Hogmartin, some things are so bad they bend time and space itself and become awesome in the true sense.

Picture me, reading it, being pulled through a hallucinatory vortex of light like Bowman in 2001, silently screaming.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:32 PM (qJtVm)

363 One of the scenes in Bonfire is how the Rev Bacon gets a bunch of his followers onto a bus with a Happy Meal and then takes them to a protest site, where all 30 are strategically positioned AND NBC AND ABC AND CBS FRAME THE SHOT TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THEY WERE IN THE HUNDREDS.

And how the Rev Bacon uses the media to jack up the settlement payment in which he's going to get a cut.

Things like this were the big reveal of Bonfire, and things you couldn't say in polite company.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 20, 2018 12:37 PM (pV/54)

364 355 I just put God Emperor of Dune on my library request list. I need something freaky to read.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:23 PM (qJtVm)

Ehhhhhhhh

Posted by: @votermom @vm pimping great books usually free or sale at May 20, 2018 12:39 PM (hMwEB)

365 Hogmartin, some things are so bad they bend time and space itself and become awesome in the true sense.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:32 PM (qJtVm)


Yes, but sometimes things that aren't good just aren't very good at all. It might seem like eating a big bowl of aquarium gravel would be a cool way to freak out the normies, but actually eating aquarium gravel is probably not pleasant. Plus you end up pooping colorful bits of gravel for days.

Basically I'm suggesting that you avoid pooping gravel. Not sure how that happened, but here we are.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM (y87Qq)

366 hey there, citizen @votermom, did you find an answer to your Roger Moore question?

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (y87Qq)

367 Things like this were the big reveal of Bonfire, and things you couldn't say in polite company.
---
Or when you made the book into a film.

Age, race, and ethnicity were key elements of the story, as they would be for describing the strata of society in New York City with its constant churn of people.

Wolfe is our Thackeray and lampoons everybody mercilessly, but film is very literal and you can't say those things. Somebody might take offense.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (qJtVm)

368 :/

The fate of the super-powered, non-heroic, main character in my little, unpolished, self-webpublished Invulnerable story (linked in nic) is ... wait... never mind.

Posted by: mindful webworker, squelched, broken and defeated at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (ECLlc)

369 "Ehhhhhhhh..."

"...pooping colorful bits of gravel..."
--------

Well now I *have* to read it!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:44 PM (qJtVm)

370 God Emperor of Dune is no Ka-Boom.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at May 20, 2018 12:49 PM (MMrzc)

371 Basically I'm suggesting that you avoid pooping gravel. Not sure how that happened, but here we are.

Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:40 PM (y87Qq)


Gawd, I do love this place. Where else on The Internet are you going to find that?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at May 20, 2018 12:50 PM (7oUUT)

372 Where else on The Internet are you going to find that?
---

Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of places on the internet where you'll find that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:53 PM (qJtVm)

373 When I review GEOD I will of course steal Hogmartin's wonderful word painting (a Pollock, I'm guessing).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 12:55 PM (qJtVm)

374 AHE, Somewhere there is a guy wanting those jpgs! No me, but somewhere.

Stay safe, my very special muse: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. A Horde needs your leadership.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 20, 2018 12:57 PM (hyuyC)

375 I'm currently reading The Art of Communicating, recommended here, and The Skinny Rules, by Bob Harper, who was the coach of America's Biggest Loser contestants. I don't watch much TV, so I didn't know who he was. It didn't help to learn that this guy who preached on the optimal diet recently suffered a heart attack, a la Jim Fixx!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 12:57 PM (b4HRt)

376 As that great philosopher Jerry Lewis said, I don't know the secret of success but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone.

I've also seen that attributed to the great philosopher Bill Cosby (before his fall, of course). LOL

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 01:06 PM (b4HRt)

377 I don't know the secret of success but the secret to failure is trying to roofie everyone.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 01:09 PM (qJtVm)

378 And I was reading chapter 1 I had to stop myself from chucking the book because the author had to interject things. Writing about Dayton has to mention the town gave birth to one of the first recognized African American poets named Dunbar. Then a page later Dunbar is mentioned again in passing because the Dayton paper carried a mention of a Colored Baby contest being cancelled. Followed by the author later saying Dayton was like every other place in the US racist.


Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR)

The Paul Lawrence Dunbar connection. Dunbar was a young teenager in Dayton, and guess who were his older friends? Orville and Wilbur Wright. The Wright brothers, among other things, published a neighborhood paper in their late teenage years, and that was the first place that Dunbar's poems (he was 13 or 14 at the time) were ever published.

Yeah, those nasty white racists.
All the time, 24-7-365.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at May 20, 2018 01:11 PM (S6Pax)

379 Reading William H. Lovejoy's "Delta Blue." Last night I watched Wilbur Smith's "Dark of the Sun."

First thing I noticed on Jake's bookshelf was the Kukri knife. Mine is not near as nice, but it cost less than a couple bucks from a teenage street vendor in Kathmandu.

I helped with a conference when I was a grad student. Had all the top people from the field. After one afternoon session everyone adjourned to the faculty club. One prof from Ohio State sat with us grad students. A group of professors were engaged in an intense and heated discussion at a nearby table. He gave us some great advice. "Don't ever take yourself as seriously as those guys."

Posted by: Raven One at May 20, 2018 01:14 PM (qSnW8)

380 >>>Running on my WinXP hard drive, stuffed into the eMachine. It booted up
reluctantly, I guess due to many hardware differences. And using Firefox
browser. But it works, so that tells me the problem with my main
computer is in the hard disk controller.<<<
Here again we have temporal anomalies that suggest that Ace needs to develop a tighter filter for his questionable time travel activities.

Posted by: Fritz at May 20, 2018 01:17 PM (J7XgW)

381 Heh, Fritz!

Powering down. I installed another MB in the old machine, actually the previous one; it's the "new" one that seems to have cacked out. I will shut this one down, and try the the other machine again.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 20, 2018 01:23 PM (dOgJt)

382 Is there a name for the skeletomuscular disorder of the neck caused by holding the head sideways to read titles on book spines?


Something related to the compassionate head tilt? The literary head tilt syndrome?
//


BTW Also loved Rules of Civility. I wish we would all follow Washington's rules today!

Posted by: PJ at May 20, 2018 01:25 PM (qlTN9)

383 Bandersnatch: great story re: Wolfe. I have read other Tom Wolfe books on the strength of Bonfire. He had a great ear for dialogue. I think the swearing in that book is a dead on perfect rendering of the patois.

Posted by: TheThirdPhase at May 20, 2018 01:26 PM (blPpW)

384 Henry continued burning "Lutherans." I don't think the real slide from "schism" into "heresy" occurred until Elizabeth.
Posted by: Fox2! at May 20, 2018 12:13 PM (brIR5)

Yes. But by that time, intrigue with Catholic Spain and France forced a complete and final schism.
Posted by: JoeF. at May 20, 2018 12:16 PM (7uYFy)


It's not like the Jesuits weren't plotting against her constantly.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 01:42 PM (y7DUB)

385 I don't know the secret of success but the secret to failure is trying to roofie everyone.

Who needs roofies? I've had math professors who could knock out a whole auditorium.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 20, 2018 01:49 PM (6FqZa)

386 joining the moron book group at goodreads. Last book read was "life with Father" by Clarence Day Jr. Then "Three to get Deadly" by Janet Ivanovich. This is why I am a vapid dunderhead. I fill my brain with tripe. Working on a short collection of Solzhenitsyn's addresses. Maybe the morons' suggestions will improve my choice of reads.

Posted by: NiteDoctor at May 20, 2018 01:53 PM (rOloX)

387 Thanks for pointing that out. I've found a four parter called Tower of Power which will become evident when I start watching if it's what you're referring to and, if not I can muck around and find it.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 20, 2018 11:51 AM (y7DUB)

The one you found probably covers it. I typed in Rabbi Lapin tells Glenn Beck about the Tower of Babel and a few of the episodes came up. I think it was in three or four parts. One of them was titled "Bricks or Stones," which was quite the revelation since the rabbi said that it prefigured socialism, where all the bricks are uniform and same -- much like citizens in a socialist society -- and that stones were unique, like God intended humans. The mortar in the tower of Babel represented material possessions.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 20, 2018 01:54 PM (b4HRt)

388 I think, "and it all worked out and they lived happily ever after just like you wanted" is worse.
Posted by: Apostate
--------------

From the foreword of Ivanhoe:

...the author may, in passing, observe, that he thinks a character of a highly virtuous and lofty stamp, is degraded rather than exalted by an attempt to reward virtue with temporal prosperity. Such is not the recompense which Providence has deemed worthy of suffering merit, and it is a dangerous and fatal doctrine to teach young persons, the most common readers of romance, that rectitude of conduct and of principle are either naturally allied with, or adequately rewarded by, the gratification of our passions, or attainment of our wishes. In a
word, if a virtuous and self-denied character is dismissed with temporal wealth, greatness, rank, or the indulgence of such a rashly formed or
ill assorted passion as that of Rebecca for Ivanhoe, the reader will be apt to say, verily Virtue has had its reward. But a glance on the great picture of life will show, that the duties of self-denial, and the sacrifice of passion to principle, are seldom thus remunerated; and that the internal consciousness of their high-minded discharge of duty, produces on their own reflections a more adequate recompense, in the
form of that peace which the world cannot give or take away.

Posted by: Sir Walter Scott at May 20, 2018 02:26 PM (nBBdT)

389 249
During my travels in my AO I found "Siege at Jadotville".



They made a movie about it but I am going to read the book first.



Posted by: Hairyback Guy





The movie is well worth a watch.

So I am going to have to do this in reverse. Seen the movie on Netflix, which was good, but not great. Now to read the book...

Posted by: Charlotte at May 20, 2018 04:01 PM (vDuQz)

390 Has this been linked yet? A very good article from City Journal on Tom Wolfe's California.

https://www.city-journal.org/html/tom-wolfe%E2%80%99s-california-13514.html

“Practically every style recorded in art history is the result of the same thing—a lot of attention to form plus the money to make monuments to it,” Wolfe wrote in the introduction to his first book. “But throughout history, everywhere this kind of thing took place, China, Egypt, France under the Bourbons, every place, it has been something the aristocracy was responsible for. What has happened in the United States since World War II, however, has broken that pattern. The war created money. It made massive infusions of money into every level of society. Suddenly classes of people whose styles of life had been practically invisible had the money to build monuments to their own styles.”

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 20, 2018 04:35 PM (qJtVm)

391 366 hey there, citizen @votermom, did you find an answer to your Roger Moore question?
Posted by: hogmartin at May 20, 2018 12:43 PM (y87Qq)

no not really

watching Flash Gordon now, coz Tim Dalton

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at May 20, 2018 05:14 PM (hMwEB)

392 Lot of books I would like reading. Between the S.E. Morison collection, the Roscoe books is one of my favorites by Hornfischer, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

Posted by: f6f at May 20, 2018 05:36 PM (xD7Ps)

393 @388 --

So in short. Sir Walter argues that Virtue Is Its Own Reward.

Somebody way earlier disagreed, if you believe the theory that the ending of the Book of Job was tacked on by a second person who thought the initial book was depressing.

And much later, several someones thought the opposite by continually dumping more troubles on Spider-Man.

Surely there can be a happy medium?

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 20, 2018 05:42 PM (a4DII)

394 Re Roger Moore --

Skip his Bonds and watch "ffolkes."

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 20, 2018 05:48 PM (a4DII)

395 Thanks for all the Russian history reading suggestions.
About a month ago I decided to learn a new language. I took spanish in high school but sucked at it and that was decades ago. I could of chosen another latin language but decided on Russian because it sounds so alien. So I've been investing alot of time into slowly learning the language, typing in Cyrillic, having my mouth make weird guttural spitting noises (kh, shch, ts, zh, etc..)
I wanted to have some historical context while I learn so I've started reading "A Concise History of the Russian Revolution" and wondered where to go from there.

Posted by: bananaDream at May 20, 2018 06:14 PM (yRBj9)

396 The passing of Tom Wolfe has left me deeply torn. I feel a deep urge to re-read his novels and nonfiction. But I also have five new books in my absolutely-must-read stack. It's really cutting into my TV viewing time.Speaking of which, lots of Wolfe's video appearances are available on YouTube, which can be seen on a real TV if you have a streaming device or are a Comcast subscriber.What few of his fans know is that he wanted to be a professional baseball player and even had a pitching tryout with the then-New York Giants in the early '50s. Luckily for us, they didn't sign him.

Posted by: Outside Adjitator at May 20, 2018 06:15 PM (pXthv)

(Jump to top of page)






Processing 0.04, elapsed 0.0557 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0195 seconds, 405 records returned.
Page size 265 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.



MuNuvians
MeeNuvians
Polls! Polls! Polls!

Real Clear Politics
Gallup
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
News/Chat