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Sunday Morning Book Thread 11-25-2018

Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve.jpgBibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris



Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, and everybody who's holding your beer. 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 pants, which have the worst case of VPL (visible panty line) you'll ever see.


It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

A BIBLIOPHAGIST is a devourer of books.

Usage: I was diagnosed with bibliophagy at a young age and the doctor said the bad news was that it was incurable and would only get worse. I said, "so what's the bad news you were talking about?"

bibliophagy.jpgDream of the Bibliophagist


Throwback

Last week's book pic sparked some discussion, including this:

As mentioned earlier, the image is found online with the caption "The cemetery of forgotten books." Searching for more on that led to an article on a Spanish author named Carlos Ruiz Zafon who's writing the fourth in a "Cemetery of forgotten books" series.

That UK Independent article headline is "Writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón says technophile society will stunt young minds" and he's turned down numerous offers to have his books turned into Hollywood films despite living in L.A. part of the year:
https://preview.tinyurl.com/yd3ecn9h
Sounds like he'd fit right in here ...

Posted by: ShainS - Kavanaugh Shitshow Survivor at November 18, 2018 12:21 PM (WqPYg)

Reading this reminded me of another throwback character, Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson who refused to allow C&H merchandise to be licensed (so if you've ever seen a C&H t-shirt or sticker or poster, or the like, it's pirate merchandise), and thus forfeiting millions of dollars of annual income. I've got to admire the guy, I don't think I could withstand that sort of temptation.

Anyway, I've never heard of this Zafón fellow, probably because he has never permitted his books have never been made into movies or TV series:

Best-selling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón says young people are “being turned into compliant customers” of big technology companies rather than citizens and says that artists must work harder than ever to capture the imagination.

The writer of The Shadow of the Wind, which has sold almost 1.7 million copies in the UK and 20 million worldwide, says he has a “disturbing vision” of the future where “the only thing people stand in line for is to buy an iPhone, and not to listen to Mozart”.

Ruiz Zafón also revealed that he has turned down numerous offers to turn his Cemetery of Forgotten Books series into Hollywood films, despite being based part of the year in Los Angeles.

The first of Zafón's 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books' series is The Shadow of the Wind:

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in what he finds in the “cemetery of lost books,” a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

Zafón argues that "nothing tells a story with the richness, wonder and complexity that a novel does, if it is done right." Unless the author is Philip K. Dick, in which case the movie version will always be better.

___________


Moron Recommendation

Moron author A.H. Lloyd recommends the auobiographical Radical Son: A Generational Oddysey by David Horowitz. This is not a new book. In fact, it was written over 20 years ago, but Lloyd says,

...one thing I think is critical to emphasize is that everything we are seeing about the left going nuts was known to Horowitz and pointed out in 1997 when he published the book. It's all in there, even the recent Never Trump meltdown.

Horowitz first showed that

...the left was NEVER about racial integration from the get-go, that was just a stalking horse to distract attention from the Soviet Union's own atrocities. Any time a critic pointed out the Gulag, leftists could say "Jim Crow" and it was treated as a wash.

And not just this issue. They don't really care about minority rights, women's rights, gay rights, tranny rights, global warming, ending 'rape culture', etc. in themselves, but only as a club they can use to wield against their political enemies (normal Americans) and to attain power for themselves and their allies. Once I understood this, everything they did became obvious.

___________

Also, for non-fiction, try Naill Ferguson's Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power. As even-handed as you can get today.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 18, 2018 01:02 PM (hyuyC)

Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power by Niall Ferguson, a British historian who

boldly recasts the British Empire as one of the world's greatest modernizing forces. An important new work of synthesis and revision, Empire argues that the world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain's Age of Empire. The spread of capitalism, the communications revolution, the notion of humanitarianism, and the institutions of parliamentary democracy -- all these can be traced back to the extraordinary expansion of Britain's economy, population, and culture from the seventeenth century until the mid-twentieth.

I don't know if Niall gets into this, but I would guess that the main reason for all of this wonderfulness was because it was an empire built and maintained by Christian white guys. Not that everything they did was right, or just, or even fair, far from it, but compared with earlier empires, it was remarkably beneficial. i.e. earlier empires made slaves out of their enemies, but the British rulers abolished slavery within their borders. The chief problem with western civilization is that there needs to be more of it.


[Update] Sorry, I left this one out:

Books By Morons

Moron author Francis Porretto has just released the sequel to Innocents, an exporation of both the good and the unspeakable evil that come from genetic engineering and zygotic microsurgery.

Experiences continues these topics:

A neurophysiologist develops a technique for altering human desires...

A college strictly for futanari finds its protective obscurity threatened...

A romance novelist becomes the emotional target of a young transwoman...

A young American genius unknowingly courts a futanari from distant China...

A Japanese sex slaver whose business was destroyed by an American security company seeks vengeance...

Once again, Father Raymond Altomare, pastor of Onteora County, has his hands full.

The first novel is NC-17 and this new one appears to be even more so. Not for the faint of heart. Note: If you don't know what 'futanari' is, you'd best not bing it. Especially not images.

Apologies to Francis for originally leaving this out.


What I'm Reading

Started reading Ship of Fools by Tucker Carlson, as recommended by numerous morons. Subtitled 'How a Selfish Ruling Class Is Bringing America to the Brink of Revolution', the main theme appears to be that the elites of the two main political parties, which used to be in opposition to each other, have gradually merged into one solid entity. This should come us no surprise to us, as ace has been hammering on this point with great gusto for months now.

This comment, pulled from my "Best AoSHQ Comments" file I keep on my hard drive, is pitch perfect in this regard:

There's a club. We're not members. They make the decisions. We live with the decisions that are made. It's as if they are an incestuous nest of rat-spiders who spin a web, and we're all caught in it.

Posted by: grammie winger, watching the fig tree at October 23, 2015 09:03 AM (dFi94)

You know who's also not a member of the Incestuous Rat-Spider Club? Donald Trump.


___________

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, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

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

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Finished the re-read of the the WEB Griffin Marine series. Have started the David Weber Empire from the Ashes re-read. All these re-reads while waiting on some of the newer books to drop below $10/copy.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 08:59 AM (mpXpK)

2 now that's a library. Too bad they have to pay $7/gal for gas to get there.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:00 AM (mpXpK)

3 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a good week of reading. Maybe interesting discussions about books with Thanksgiving visitations.

Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 09:00 AM (758Rh)

4 Oh good grief, a "People of Walmart" pant picture?

What's next? Hillary in spandex?

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:01 AM (WEBkv)

5 Good morning book-readers!

Didn't get as much writing in as I wanted to, but the weekend ain't over yet!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:01 AM (cfSRQ)

6 Working on CS Lewis Space series! 1st one is pretty good!

Posted by: rhennigantx at November 25, 2018 09:01 AM (JFO2v)

7 That second pic looks a lot like Green Apple used bookstore on Clement St.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:02 AM (EZebt)

8 Tolle Lege
Finished the last bookof Thomas Carlyle History of Frederick the Great, think it took 3 years stopping and starting.
And not leaving the time period started Last of the Mohicans, mostly to see how the movie and book are different. Well into it and there are more characters in the book and events are not the same .

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:03 AM (6VrXf)

9 A bibliophagist is someone who eats books?

Posted by: Schuyler Saxon at November 25, 2018 09:03 AM (hrcfq)

10 Borrowed Feynman's "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" and "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations (From the Beaten Track)" from dad while I was visiting. I haven't started them yet - haven't read any Feynman - but I've only heard good things about his stuff.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (t+qrx)

11 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

12 Yay book thread!


If a discotheque has a disco ball, what does a does a bibliotheque have?

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:05 AM (XZ3Gp)

13 Unless the author is Philip K. Dick, in which case the movie version will always be better.


I have one book by him I downloaded for free from Gutenberg. Just could not get into it and I gave up on it.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:05 AM (mpXpK)

14 If I was a real glutton for punishment would start Edward Gibbon's History of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, its only 6 volumes

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:05 AM (6VrXf)

15
Well, it's getting pretty hungry out, what with the freezing rain and sub-optimal travel plans. So I've got to go cook some books.

Posted by: Schuyler Saxon at November 25, 2018 09:06 AM (hrcfq)

16 Regarding Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame, there was an article in the sidebar (maybe?) about him a while back and of his love/hate relationship with Charles Schultz, the Peanuts artist.

Basically, Watterson is crazy. He wanted to be a big shot like Schultz, but wanted total control of the space he could use and what he drew, but still expected to be paid. He equated financial success with selling out.

Schultz on the other hand saw comics as an enterprise and by merchandizing the hell out of Peanuts, he was sharing the wealth and providing lots of jobs to people who otherwise wouldn't have them. Interesting contrast.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:07 AM (cfSRQ)

17 One of my favorite stories of British rule in India (which I always felt was a good microcosm of British rule) was the one where the natives wanted to observe their custom of burning the still living wife to death with her deceased husband and the British governor told them to go ahead, after which he would observe the British custom of hanging, for murder, the people who burned the wife to death.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:08 AM (WEBkv)

18 11
What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like
museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

Before I got my Kindle I used to go to my local library at least once a week. Now I haven't been there in more than 3 years.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

19 11 I admit I almost never go to the local library as it has long since become a place where you find a handful of current bestsellers, some reference material, lots of children's books (at least they have that) and scores of computers. Most people who use it, use it remotely, and borrow e-books.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:09 AM (U7k5w)

20 Still working on the audio version of "War and Peace".

Review- Damn this is a long book.

Posted by: weirdflunky at November 25, 2018 09:10 AM (r5k3Z)

21 Someone recommended Shelby Foote's Civil War narrative in a non-book thread, so I got the first volume and started reading it.

I thought I had Christmas solved, because Mommy likes history but she doesn't have a head for battle formations, she likes to read about the personalities. That's this. So, yay, I'll get a hard copy for Mommy.

I asked her over Thanksgiving and she's already read it. Sigh.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 09:10 AM (fuK7c)

22 14
If I was a real glutton for punishment would start Edward Gibbon's
History of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, its only 6 volumes

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:05 AM (6VrXf)

---
It's actually pretty good. I haven't finished it, but I enjoyed a lot of it. The worst parts are where Gibbon goes off on his "dastardly Papists wrecked the Empire" rants.

Because otherwise empires last forever. Right? Just look at all the other non-Christian ones that...er...didn't last, either.

I'm on volume 4. I'll pick it up after I finish re-reading LotR.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:10 AM (cfSRQ)

23 If one wants to compare the difference in colonies founded by the British vs others all one has to do is compare the US and Canada to all those third world shit-holes in Central and South America.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:11 AM (mpXpK)

24 I have practically abandoned my kindle in favor of the library. I have a couple of books checked out pretty much all the time.

However, I use the computer to browse them (usually via AOSHQ book thread, mind you) and put them on hold.

Interestingly, the computer allows me to get books my local library doesn't have, thanks to interlibrary loaning.

Posted by: April at November 25, 2018 09:11 AM (OX9vb)

25 17: But now they'd be condemned for forcing their culture on the indigenous people of color. And the indigenous people of color are of course free to take whatever they want from Western culture (which is for everybody, goddammit) with no fear of being labeled appropriators.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (U7k5w)

26 11
What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like
museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

---
They are going electronic as well. At ours, you get a login and can read books for free on e-readers for a set period of time.

They also have dvds for free week-long checkout and music as well.

Less actual books, more of a meeting space/community center now.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

27 >>>Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris

THERE'S something that the French have given us.
Also, today, car-b-ques.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 09:13 AM (bAsK/)

28 I note that in the excerpt about Niall Ferguson's book that the spread of the English language itself is not listed among the Empire's positive legacies. I wonder if he discusses this.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:14 AM (EZebt)

29 I worked in local library, it is a vital component of the community. Opened up a new world to me after being office bound for a long time.

Posted by: kallisto at November 25, 2018 09:15 AM (3FOeT)

30 Oh, just to clarify.

While the local library has all sorts of things for "free", that actually equates to 1 mill of your property tax.

So I try to go there from time to time, simply because I'm paying for it anyway.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:15 AM (cfSRQ)

31 regarding colonialism:

My father's only enduring political dictum was:

No country colonized by Spain has ever amounted to shit.

Posted by: retropox at November 25, 2018 09:15 AM (8yJxD)

32 Nice bibliotheque.

The French do everything wrong, though. At a Librarie you have to pay for the books and you don't bring them back.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 09:15 AM (fuK7c)

33 When I still lived in the city, I visited the main Columbus library a lot, because it's beautiful. It's a pretty busy library, always lots of people there, and massive selection of actual books.

Here in my current small town, not so much selection, but I'm delighted that it's still pretty active. Always people in there reading papers and browsing books when I'm there.

Posted by: April at November 25, 2018 09:16 AM (OX9vb)

34 25
17: But now they'd be condemned for forcing their culture on the
indigenous people of color. And the indigenous people of color are of
course free to take whatever they want from Western culture (which is
for everybody, goddammit) with no fear of being labeled appropriators.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (U7k5w)

---
The British preferred indirect rule, which is why so many former possessions still have traditional kings or chiefs.

The French in particular did away with all that, trying to make everyone into little Frenchmen.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:16 AM (cfSRQ)

35 2 now that's a library. Too bad they have to pay $7/gal for gas to get there.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:00 AM (mpXpK)

heh

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 09:16 AM (bAsK/)

36 If I want to read something that isn't free on kindle, I buy a hardcopy on Amazon, Ebay or Abes. The chance that the area libraries will have it is remote as they are all going computerized as fast as possible. I am not sure what university libraries are up to in this area, but when my husband retired he offered a good chunk of his collection to various academic libraries who told him to throw it out as they have everything online. Sort of sad.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:17 AM (U7k5w)

37 That photo at the top is spectacular. What a shame it's surrounded by French people.

As to this weeks word, I thought it would be illustrated with books stored in a fridge. (Yes, I can be odd, probably from consuming books.)

Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 09:17 AM (758Rh)

38 Too much cooking, not enough reading this week.

Though of course that did mean I got to read some cookbooks. I've noticed that cookbooks fall into three general types. The first are the ones that are just recipes, and get worn out and grease-spotted because you use the hell out of them. Joy of Cooking, Picayune Creole Cookbook, et cetera. "Real" cookbooks.

The second type are books which are more accurately books about food, with recipes. They go into the history of dishes, or include personal reminiscences about where the author first had this dish. Sometimes the cooking instructions are badly-written because the author was writing a book, not testing recipes.

And the final type are the aspirational cookbooks. They have gorgeous color photos, very wide margins, vague prose, and adequate recipes the reader probably won't try. Coffee-table cookbooks.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (KqziQ)

39 The only library I've been in lately, as in many years,is the library at my kids school.
I'm reading the Bible, ESV. In Numbers right now. Leviticus was tough with all the laws and Numbers is just as mind numbing.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (kufk0)

40 Kinda sorta related to the Fall of the Roman Empire: yesterday I was listening to a history podcast by a priest from the St. Louis area who has been doing podcasts on Church history for quite a few years.

In this episode, which was about the end of the Roman Empire, he said something that has stuck with me: every civilization has to answer three questions: what is worth paying for (with taxes), what is worth fighting for, and what is worth dying for. If the answer to any one or all of these questions is "nothing," your civilization is doomed. The episode is called "Roman Ruins" and you should be able to find it here:

http://michaeljohnwitt.com/medieval/index.html

Posted by: Secret Square at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (9WuX0)

41 Oddysey -->Odyssey
Because Odysseus was not Odd.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (bAsK/)

42 37: Looks very empty. I suspect it will be used to house migrants.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (U7k5w)

43 Pants on, pinkies up, people. This is the Book Thread!

Got an early present for myself, “Go Team Venture!: The Art and Making of the Venture Bros” by Jackson Publick, Doc Hammer, and Ken Plume. It's huge and luxurious.

“The Venture Bros” is, as Patton Oswalt says in the foreword, “My two favorite things – pop culture deep cuts and messy family dynamics – mashed together like two brakeless manure trucks colliding on a desert highway.”

Jackson Publick (AKA Chris McCulloch), a cartoonist and animator, was inspired by an old Tom Swift book an older coworker had. Fans of the 50's/60's Tom Swift, Boy Genius (son of 30's Dad Genius Tom Senior) will recognize the pie-eyed optimism and faith in Big Science. This is what the other acknowledged inspiration, Johnny Quest, itself ripped off. Publick based the look of the environment on an architectural book, New York 1960.

Publick worked for the comics outfit Monkeysuit along with Ben "The Tick" Edlund, which made one of my favorite animated shorts of a movie that never was, "Rex Steele, Nazi Smasher":

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


Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (kQs4Y)

44 The library "in town" (not to be confused with the one in the nearest village) has a Friends of the Library book sale once / month. I used to routinely spend $40-50 at it. And then some unknown political stuff happened with the board and the guy who loved old books resigned. Now they no longer accept donations published more than 15 years ago. Such a shame. It's a college town and the library of the old dead professors would be donated and they were full of fascinating stuff. Don't even bother going any more. Their loss.

Posted by: Marica at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (uTnGt)

45 wondering what a audio version of War and Peace would be like.

Posted by: weirdflunky at November 25, 2018 09:10 AM
What medium is it on? CD, On line?

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (6VrXf)

46 Good morning!

Let's smile and be happy and strike fear in the heart of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (hyuyC)

47 36
If I want to read something that isn't free on kindle, I buy a hardcopy
on Amazon, Ebay or Abes. The chance that the area libraries will have it
is remote as they are all going computerized as fast as possible. I am
not sure what university libraries are up to in this area, but when my
husband retired he offered a good chunk of his collection to various
academic libraries who told him to throw it out as they have everything
online. Sort of sad.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:17 AM (U7k5w)

---
Our library still has books and you can request a book if they don't have it.

I used to drop in weekly when my kids had a class nearby and it was easier than driving home and back. That was where I discovered Evelyn Waugh because they have a lot of his work.

Of course now I've bought my own copies and my kids' schedule has changed, but I still sometimes go online and reserve a dvd for pickup.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

48 The Crucible Of Command (William C. Davis) was recommended here a month or so ago and I am still deep into it. It is a joint biography of Grant and Lee that is a fascinating look at their differences and similarities. Very fine read.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, boom! at November 25, 2018 09:21 AM (Z216Q)

49 I read a book many of you have read, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. There is nothing like a good story, populated with interesting characters, set in a mystical locale and time, and full of descriptive detail to transport the reader away from everyday life.

Posted by: Zoltan at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (fQijm)

50 Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:19 AM (6VrXf)

Librivox

Posted by: weirdflunky at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (r5k3Z)

51 39 The only library I've been in lately, as in many years,is the library at my kids school.
I'm reading the Bible, ESV. In Numbers right now. Leviticus was tough with all the laws and Numbers is just as mind numbing.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (kufk0)
-------------------------

Just wait until you get to Kings. Those books are incredible.

However, there will be some confusion unless you remember there was a northern and southern Kingdom. Northern kingdom was Israel and the southern kingdom was Judah.

I don't recall, off hand, what caused the split but, once one realizes it exists, it explains a lot.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (WEBkv)

52 6 ... I've read Lewis' space trilogy several times. Aside from being good stories, I like his description of the nature of outer space and what it actually is.

Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 09:24 AM (758Rh)

53 49
I read a book many of you have read, The Eye of the World by Robert
Jordan. There is nothing like a good story, populated with interesting
characters, set in a mystical locale and time, and full of descriptive
detail to transport the reader away from everyday life.


Posted by: Zoltan at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (fQijm)

That was a great book and initially a good series. Too bad he could not stop the series after 3 or 4 books. He ran it into the ground. Too many characters and sub-plots.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:25 AM (mpXpK)

54 26 11
What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like
museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

---
They are going electronic as well. At ours, you get a login and can read books for free on e-readers for a set period of time.

They also have dvds for free week-long checkout and music as well.

Less actual books, more of a meeting space/community center now.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)


You should ask them their justification for that. Especially if it is a tax funded public library.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 09:25 AM (di1hb)

55 50 I would need a real computer again to burn it onto CD,

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:26 AM (6VrXf)

56


What will happen to libraries?


Muslims will burn them all down if the Progressives don't do it. Can't be having anyone opposed to the New Marxism.

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You will become a member of the Soros Borg Collective.

Greetings, literate fappers and fappees.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at November 25, 2018 09:26 AM (HaL55)

57 Mrs928 and I listened to an audiobooks copy of The Shadow of the Wind while traveling. It was fascinatingly twisty.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at November 25, 2018 09:27 AM (yQpMk)

58
48
The Crucible Of Command (William C. Davis) was recommended here a month
or so ago and I am still deep into it. It is a joint biography of Grant
and Lee that is a fascinating look at their differences and
similarities. Very fine read.

Posted by: Huck Follywood, boom! at November 25, 2018 09:21 AM (Z216Q)

---
Something that only occurred to me recently is how much common doctrine shaped the Civil War. In other conflicts, you have opposing military systems and traditions, which can make it hard to know what the opponent will do, but in our civil war, people were classmates so they knew each other very well.

Or not. Everyone knew about Lee, no one knew about Grant. I think that was one of his advantages.

It's also interesting to see how the Union set up command and control vs the CSA. Lee preferred larger operational and tactical elements while the Union initially went with more articulated formations. The problem was that these rarely could be brought to bear.

Grant's reorganization was a recognition of this.

Also interesting is the way Sherman kept his forces unbalanced by having the three "armies" consist of three, two and one corps.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)

59 O.M., thank you for the shout out.

"I don't know if Niall gets into this, but I would guess that the main reason for all of this wonderfulness was because it was an empire built and maintained by Christian white guys."

Yes, this is one of the themes of the book. How the force of Christianity and Christian moralists were part of the reinforcing rods of Empire. IIRC, there is a specific chapter on missionaries.

He delves into fascinating details on how slavery was eradicated (outside of the Arab center) by a combination of the Royal Navy as force, and Christianity as moral guidance.

The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 by Paul Johnson also covers this. To a lesser extent Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s by Paul Johnson covers what happens when that strong moral force is missing.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 09:28 AM (hyuyC)

60 NaCly Dog,
I see you survived the great snow of November 24! 2018.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:29 AM (kufk0)

61 You should ask them their justification for that. Especially if it is a tax funded public library.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 09:25 AM (di1hb)

---
I'm assuming they get so many licenses and can only keep them for so long. I mean, you get the book for a finite period of time. I don't use the service, so I may be wrong on how it works.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)

62 Thanks for the tip on Kings Blake. Since this is my first time reading the Bible through context helps...a lot.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:31 AM (kufk0)

63 Unless the author is Philip K. Dick, in which case the movie version will always be better...


Now, now...

Here are 3 excellent novels by PKD that would be extremely hard to film unless you tossed away the story (see: "Blade Runner"/Don Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and "The Man in the High Castle"):


"UBIK" -

PKD wrote a screenplay of UBIK commissioned by Hollywood and they still called it quits.

"The Three Stigmata of Eldritch Palmer"

"Now Wait for Last Year"

BONUS!

Possibly, "The Martian Time Slip" fits in this group.


One thing PKD does that I love in his novels is that he often throws you into the middle of an ongoing story and trusts you as a reader to figure out what's going on.

Bu-u-u-u-ut, that's a hard thing to do in movies.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 25, 2018 09:31 AM (CRRq9)

64 Before I got my Kindle I used to go to my local library at least once a week. Now I haven't been there in more than 3 years.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

===

Our libraries are for shooting up, anonymous sex, and bathing in the toilet.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:32 AM (EZebt)

65 >>>...one thing I think is critical to emphasize is that everything we are seeing about the left going nuts was known to Horowitz and pointed out in 1997 when he published the book.

Heck, if you watch the Young Ones sitcom from 1982, Rik Mayall basically documents all the main characteristics of the modern left with his character. It's not even a caricature any more.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 09:33 AM (/qEW2)

66 I have read the first three books in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's Cemetary of Lost Books series, and highly recommend them.

Posted by: NCC at November 25, 2018 09:33 AM (D9Xe8)

67 Our libraries are for shooting up, anonymous sex, and bathing in the toilet.



Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:32 AM (EZebt)

---
You write that like it's a bad thing...

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

68 If library ebooks could be checked out indefinitely, libraries would essentially be buying one copy and then copying and distributing it for free. Violation of copyright law, there.

Posted by: Grey Fox at November 25, 2018 09:34 AM (bZ7mE)

69 We had a vagrant at my old library in Honolulu who wore a full tuxedo. Now that's classy hoboin'.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:34 AM (kQs4Y)

70 [Our libraries are for shooting up, anonymous sex, and bathing in the toilet. ]

And providing taxpayer-funded jobs for people who got Masters Degrees in Library Science.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at November 25, 2018 09:35 AM (0Bhw5)

71 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?
Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)


I use the local branch somewhat regularly, around once a month. I get things via ILL from other branches to pick up there, but I don't just browse like I might have decades ago.

As far as libraries finding a purpose, that's the subject of about 60% by volume of presentations at library conferences. There are different kinds, the small branches of regional library systems will have sessions for kids and adult ed skills classes and may get more in-person patrons in that few hours than they get for the rest of the month. Huge university research libraries provide some services that most people - even patrons who visit them - may never even consider. They're repositories for government documents. They're places where professors and TAs send classes to learn how to locate and vet sources for research - which is often the only worthwhile skill someone might get out of that class. They provide a safe, warm, dry place to contain librarians who would otherwise be ravaging the countryside. And they get loads of endowments from rich alumni to keep collections that would otherwise end up scattered in private collections or rotting in boxes in garages. The library I used to work at has more science fiction first editions and comics in any one place than anywhere else on earth*, a collection of early computer gaming systems with games that you can reserve and play on the original systems, almost every issue of the Chicago Tribune going back to the late 1800s, and a lot of other esoterica in all sorts of wacky categories.

* I may have completely made this up, but there's a ton of SF/comics first editions, and they're all in the vault so it's not obvious how massive the collection is:

http://stoatnet.org/vault.html

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:35 AM (t+qrx)

72 Our libraries are for shooting up, anonymous sex, and bathing in the toilet.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:32 AM

Not totally unlike Obama's version of America

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:35 AM (6VrXf)

73 61 You should ask them their justification for that. Especially if it is a tax funded public library.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 09:25 AM (di1hb)

---
I'm assuming they get so many licenses and can only keep them for so long. I mean, you get the book for a finite period of time. I don't use the service, so I may be wrong on how it works.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)


Thank you. I had not considered licensing considerations.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 09:35 AM (di1hb)

74 When I was a kid (this was in the Panama Canal Zone in the '60s and early '70s) I thought the local library was a sacred and secretive place where the librarians hardly ever had to shush anybody. I loved it. In the '90s when I was a father I found the library in Maryland to be a disappointingly noisy place where the librarians not only failed to shush anyone, they were the worst offenders, just chatting with each other like careless clerks in the grocery store. Now I'm old and a couple months ago I went to our library in this rural Alabama county and I asked if they had Dandelion Wine or anything by Ray Bradbury. The librarian didn't know who Ray Bradbury was. (She was my age.) Hardly anybody goes there except to use the public computers for internet access. I'm hoping my experiences aren't the norm.

Posted by: River Cat at November 25, 2018 09:36 AM (OiuRD)

75 Phillip K. Dick is the story of interesting ideas that never really get fleshed out properly.

What if the police had precognition?
What if there were artificial people?
What if the rulers were chosen by lottery?
What if time ran backwards?

Blade Runner, Minority Report, Paycheck, and I think there's a couple others of his that have been filmed.
All interesting ideas, but he'd get wrapped up in psychics and hot chicks and it would all kinda turn into a mess.

And being a glutton for punishment? Gulag Archipelago. Unabridged, all three volumes. You will learn and learn and lose your faith in humanity, but it is well worth it.

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 09:36 AM (7PLM4)

76 I visit the local public library and make extensive use of inter-library loan. I got, among many other books, The Collapse of Complex Societies by Tainter from the public library via ILL.

I used to use the local university library for research as part of my start-up, but it has been gutted by for almost a year as part of fire recovery.

In addition, I peruse their cast-off book, and am a member of their library society, which allows me to be a Sooner in the annual Book and CD sale (AKA the Running of the Bulls). I also donate, for a tax write-off, books that are not worthy of a permanent home on my shelves.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 09:37 AM (hyuyC)

77 Our libraries are for shooting up, anonymous sex, and bathing in the toilet.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at November 25, 2018 09:32 AM (EZebt)

You usually have to pay extra for that

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 09:37 AM (7PLM4)

78 Hogmartin, that is so neat! I like that there is a repository for first editions of SF novels (I mean besides my ratty bookshelves).

Have you played old games on a Commodore 64?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (kQs4Y)

79 That photo at the top is spectacular. What a shame it's surrounded by French people.
Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 09:17 AM
~~~~~

You know what's even worse? The books are all written in French. What a waste.

Posted by: IrishEi at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (NtglE)

80 62 Thanks for the tip on Kings Blake. Since this is my first time reading the Bible through context helps...a lot.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:31 AM (kufk0)
--------------

You're more than welcome.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (WEBkv)

81 58 Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)


Lee's biggest problem was he had a monkey on his back named Jefferson Davis who tried to micromanage his strategy.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (mpXpK)

82 Someone asked last week if the book version of "From Here to Eternity" was any good.

Over Thanksgiving I asked my dad, since he's pretty widely read.

He said that the book was lurid and badly written. He said that back in more restrictive times, books could do well because they dealt with taboo topics or "went there" but in fact were otherwise hack jobs.

I've no interest in the book because I like the actors in the movie too much. I have a sense that without Montgomery Clift's acting, I'd regard Prew as just a stubborn twit who makes bad life decisions.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:39 AM (cfSRQ)

83 47: We have an interlibrary loan service, but it too is increasingly electronic and you have to worry about their time frames. Even if their are no "holds" on the book, it will vanish in two weeks. This is usually okay, but not always. My husband uses this system pretty often. There are hardcopies available in the county system, but what is listed as available, may not actually be there. They can get it from other state libraries, but this takes a week or two. I suspect that is typical

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:39 AM (U7k5w)

84 Little known fact is the United States banned the importation of slaves before Great Britain did. Of course Great Britain also banned slavery at the same time which the United States did not, just the importation of more slaves.

Posted by: Helen Keller at November 25, 2018 09:39 AM (2DOZq)

85 I found a book at the library - it's a new James Bond novel by mumble mumble with original material from Ian Fleming.
A prequel I think. Next on my list.

Thinking of trying to read Crazy Rich Asians - just watched the movie and it was quite fun. Very Pride & Prejudice.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:40 AM (XZ3Gp)

86 Of the long list of entities on my property tax bill, the $42.07 to the libraries is the money best spent. I'm there once or twice a week. The Kindle just gets used in bed or in waiting rooms.

Posted by: Zoltan at November 25, 2018 09:40 AM (fQijm)

87 Re: public libraries

I never check out physical library books but I check out ebooks at least once a week, usually more often. (I just checked out Niall Ferguson's Empire based on the recommendation.) Since we no longer live in Austin--nearest branch library is 25 miles away--I pay for the privilege of having a library card there. It's the same price as Kindle Unlimited with far better coverage. Very convenient and it's helped me cut down substantially on what I was spending on books.

On rare occasions, I do go into the physical library and it's always very busy. Mostly children and retirees, but they have a lot of meetings and events, too, so some libraries are still very healthy, I'm glad to see.

Posted by: Art Rondolet of Malmsey at November 25, 2018 09:41 AM (S+f+m)

88 How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?
Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

I borrow a lot of books online at the library, rather than buy.
I could not support my reading habit otherwise.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:42 AM (XZ3Gp)

89 Speaking of the British Empire, last week some Moron was asking about books regarding Britain creating and maintaining the empire. I haven't read this but I came across this book this week and it seemed to fit the bill:

Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor.

https://amzn.to/2DVQdYg

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 09:42 AM (+y/Ru)

90 Lee's biggest problem was he had a monkey on his back named Jefferson Davis who tried to micromanage his strategy.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (mpXpK)
------------------

That, and the South didn't have the resources to sustain an army in the field for years.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:43 AM (WEBkv)

91 I use my libraries all the time, and they are ALWAYS hopping. They have separate rooms for community activities so it keeps the noise down. Some chatting, usually teens doing homework. No hobo hangouts. Lots of quiet nooks for reading or post-coital shooting up.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:43 AM (kQs4Y)

92 48: I bought a used copy of this and it's working its way through the family. It's very well written

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:43 AM (U7k5w)

93 Lee's biggest problem was he had a monkey on his back named Jefferson Davis who tried to micromanage his strategy.


Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (mpXpK)
---
For him personally, perhaps.

But it's interesting how the CSA is generally assumed to have had great leaders when in fact outside Virginia, it consistently was out-maneuvered.

Arguably the most important southern leader was Floyd, who as Buchanan's Secretary of War ordered huge amounts of weapons sent to southern armories. Without it, the war would have ended in months.

People back then knew it, too. Grant wanted to kill him.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:44 AM (cfSRQ)

94 As soon as our city/county government gets in a financial bind they start threatening to shut down the libraries and buses. The politicians don't give a crap about libraries, except for using them as a tool. Most of our local government officials can barely write or speak intelligibly.

Posted by: freaked at November 25, 2018 09:44 AM (UdKB7)

95 I'm still pushing through War and Peace. Up to Book Six now. The main romance plot is finally underway, and one of the characters has been saved from a dissolute life by Freemasonry.

Tolstoy's a cynical old cuss, though. Even after the character gets morally refurbished and resolves to better the lives of his serfs, it's pretty clear that corruption, inefficiency, ignorance, and his own naivete are going to scuttle the project.

Posted by: Trimegistus at November 25, 2018 09:44 AM (KqziQ)

96 [You will learn and lose your faith in humanity...]


Already gone.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at November 25, 2018 09:44 AM (0Bhw5)

97 Leviticus was tough with all the laws and Numbers is just as mind numbing.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (kufk0)

Of course. You're reading as-built blueprints in text format.

"...And you shall maketh then two rods, each being two and one half cubits in length and each shall be the width of two olive pits, try, laid end on end; 24 and you shall lathe each rod until it be dry and smooth to the touch, as this pleases the LORD; and you shall coat each rod in gold leaf; and you shall bake at 375 for thirty five minutes; 25 and you shall maketh a box, measuring one and one quarter cubits and it shall be made of olive wood, dried and seasoned; 26 and each board shall be scraped dry and smooth, so as to please the LORD;..."

I feel sorry for Moses. "Huh? Sorry, Lord, I dozed off there. What was that middle part? The olive wood?"

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 09:45 AM (7PLM4)

98 Half way through Paul Johnson's Modern Times, his history of the 20th Century Quite good. Upcoming chapter is "America's suicide attempt" about the 1970s

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 09:45 AM (1UZdv)

99 Hogmartin, that is so neat! I like that there is a repository for first editions of SF novels (I mean besides my ratty bookshelves).

Have you played old games on a Commodore 64?
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:38 AM (kQs4Y)


It really frustrates new patrons because they'll look for a fairly common Bradbury or Heinlein or something and it'll be in the catalog with 'LIBRARY USE ONLY - NON-CIRCULATING' on the record, and they can't place a hold. And it's a book that you can buy across Grand River Avenue for $4! But they're first editions, and you CAN read them, you just have to go to the reading room and have someone bring it out to you.

I haven't played any of the games at the library. But that's another service they provide - not just the content and media, but the means to actually retrieve it. A stack of 5 1/4" disks is no good unless there's a room where people are preserving the last systems that can still read them.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:45 AM (t+qrx)

100 Just finished A Place Called Hope by Moron Author Daniel Humphries. Enjoyable reading with a hard turn toward the military response to the zombie plague and evolution and a good follow up to the first book, which I loved. It actually had a believable premise on how/why a zombie plague could occur. I'll move Book 3 up in my to-read list.

Daniel , if you're here, one nitpick from a former Army Aviator: you have some basic mistakes in helicopter design and function. Most readers won't know or care, but ...
E.g., Black Hawk/Sea Hawk is a twin engine helicopter so loss of an oil line is not fatal to continued flight unless heavily loaded (been there, done that). Also, a pilot does not "gun the engine" for a rapid departure. He may "pull pitch" hard, increasing the pitch of the blades by raising the collective lever, but engine rpms stay in a narrow range.
Yeah, yeah, everyone's a critic. I couldn't write a book to save my soul. But if you ever want a beta version review, I'm here.

Posted by: RI Red at November 25, 2018 09:46 AM (THrM3)

101 Good morning, all! We're getting ready for the last market event of the season, Christmas on the Square on Saturday in Goliad, Texas. (Goliad is one of the main models for Luna City's Town Square.) I've been in the Author Corral every year for ... five or six years now.
So reading-wise, I started "The Mask of Duplicity" the first book in the Jacobite Chronicles, by Julia Brannan. Someone here in the book thread mentioned it a couple of weeks ago, and it sounded interesting ... well, it is, but there are occasional jarring "presentisms" and some sexual violence, which is a bit jarring. I'll keep on slogging through, as it is somewhat interesting, although I am reminded of Heyer's "Cotillion" leavened with elements of "The Scarlet Pimpernel."
Distracted by a Vine advance copy for review: Queen Victoria - Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow, by Lucy Worsley. It's an examination of 24 days throughout her life (including one about her parents' marriage) and so far is readable and interesting.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at November 25, 2018 09:46 AM (xnmPy)

102 You oughta do the whole smorgasbord of options, Hogmartin. Read a first edition with white cotton gloves, mash buttons on the Eniac...

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:47 AM (kQs4Y)

103 What if the police had precognition?

-
This new proposal that your social media be examined before you can buy a gun strikes me as a little Minority Report-ish.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 09:47 AM (+y/Ru)

104 Vanya,
Ha! Exactly.... I mean I don't even know what a cubit is!

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:48 AM (kufk0)

105 lin-duh

Snow is swirling all around us, with heavy winds. Too early to tall. At least I have leftovers.

I feel fortunate that our transceiver is not knocked out of alignment yet. When that happened in the past, it could take up to a week to be reconnected to the internet.

And now I have to go get the paper, at the end of a long driveway. The swaying of prairie grass (bluestems and other grasses) make the wind more apparent.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 09:48 AM (hyuyC)

106 was inspired by an old Tom Swift book


Holy Cow! I loved the Tom Swift series when a wee lad.

I must've read every one of them at that time.

They were definitely optimistic, and the idea of a single scientist/inventor making a huge difference for the betterment of the world seemed a real possibility with the last century or so as an example.

Plus, they weren't so far out that they seemed impossible for a boy genius to invent.

Probably, the Space Program kinda ruined the basic set-up for the series as they had to compete with reality and got more and more "out there".

As a young reader, I thought if I was going to read pure SF, I'd read real SF.

and thus ended my Tom Swift stage.


While I like the Venture Bros, I don't really believe Tom Swift served as any real basis for the show.

Definitely, "Johnny Quest" and the Marvel Universe with a big dose of modern cynicism.

"Johnny Quest" wasn't really Tom Swift at all.

JQ was a lunkhead who got himself into cool adventures courtesy of his genius Dad (very much the Venture Bros set-up)

While TS was an inventor and boy genius, who provided new inventions and got into cool adventures mostly from lunkheads or rivals trying to steal or cripple his inventions.

Not really the same thing at all.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 25, 2018 09:48 AM (CRRq9)

107 Our downtown library used to be a wonderful place to visit, with a very fine cafe on the top floor. I would deliberately schedule my errands to take me by there at lunch. Then someone decided that, yes, it was unfair to ask the homeless to leave after some period of time, and so they began to stay all day to use the facilities and for the air conditioning. Then, it was decided that it would be against some sort of freedoms if we did not allow pr0n to be viewed, which led to people pleasuring themselves while sitting at the library tables. On my last visit this was going on in numerous locations. Granted, it has been some years now since I have been, so maybe saner heads have prevailed, however I've been told that our local branch is worse. The lovely cafe on the top floor closed down.

Posted by: Deborah at November 25, 2018 09:49 AM (YkUJb)

108 99 Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:45 AM (t+qrx)


They have to do that because those books become so valuable if they keep them in the stacks someone will steal them. I checked the library's catalog here and found they had a copy of a South Carolina history first published in the late 1800s. Went down to get it and it was missing. I checked with the librarian and she said it had not been moved to the back rooms and should have been there, so it was obviously stolen.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:49 AM (mpXpK)

109 94
As soon as our city/county government gets in a financial bind they
start threatening to shut down the libraries and buses. The politicians
don't give a crap about libraries, except for using them as a tool. Most
of our local government officials can barely write or speak
intelligibly.

Posted by: freaked at November 25, 2018 09:44 AM (UdKB7)

---
They tried that gambit where I lived. The librarians turned the table by putting together a ballot proposal making library funding independent of local government. They get one mill, plus donations.

During the pre-election discussions, people began to ask why we couldn't do that with other services and thereby eliminate the usual ransom game.

Elected officials hated it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:50 AM (cfSRQ)

110 Forgot to mention that my.local library is an Andrew Carnegie library, with a lot of the original architecture intact. Small but lovely. Would hate to lose it.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:51 AM (XZ3Gp)

111 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like
museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

---
They are going electronic as well. At ours, you get a login and can read books for free on e-readers for a set period of time.

They also have dvds for free week-long checkout and music as well.

Less actual books, more of a meeting space/community center now.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)


Exactly. In the big cities they give seminars to classes of illegals to teach them how to game the system. Or classes for gay parents, etc. I wouldn't mind seeing them all being shut down. They're approaching the same area of relevancy as Blockbuster or snail mail.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 09:51 AM (/qEW2)

112 A little off topic but just watched the little video from the sidebar. My only question is "How he do dat on an iPhone 5s?'' Amazing. The boys are adorable.

Posted by: Tuna at November 25, 2018 09:51 AM (jm1YL)

113 I was explaining Kurt Vonnegut to the Igno-daughter as trippy, but only Oh Wow marijuana trippy, compared to Philip K Dick LSD trippy.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 09:53 AM (1UZdv)

114 Re-read Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". I love this book. Never gets old.

Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 09:53 AM (p0nVR)

115 Bandersnatch, I also jumped at the Shelby Foote Civil War recommendation. I'm part way in to Vol. 1, but I keep pulling up battle maps on other sites to cross reference the written descriptions.
I had no idea how many engagements took place. Most people think Bull Run (times two), Sherman to Atlanta, Gettysburg and Appomattox.
Only off by the thousands.

Posted by: RI Red at November 25, 2018 09:54 AM (THrM3)

116 110
Forgot to mention that my.local library is an Andrew Carnegie library,
with a lot of the original architecture intact. Small but lovely. Would
hate to lose it.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:51 AM (XZ3Gp)

The original public library in my old hometown was a Carnegie Library. It is still there and they have turned it into a city museum. The new library is much bigger and "modern" but it doesn't have the class the old one had.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:54 AM (mpXpK)

117 They have to do that because those books become so
valuable if they keep them in the stacks someone will steal them. I
checked the library's catalog here and found they had a copy of a South
Carolina history first published in the late 1800s. Went down to get it
and it was missing. I checked with the librarian and she said it had not
been moved to the back rooms and should have been there, so it was
obviously stolen.


Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:49 AM (mpXpK)

---
Michigan State has a special collection with lots of neat stuff. Huge comic collection as well. Restricted access of course, check your bag, sit at the table, only a piece of paper and a pencil allowed.

They also keep Lovecraft down there - not because he was rare, but because the theft rate was out of control.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)

118
I've been reading "Myths And Legends of Our Land" 1896 Charles Skinner. Got it free from Sacred-texts dot com. It's a collection of stories, legends, and folklore from Early America. Indian stories, tall tales, and such.

Did you know that Pokepsie means "safe pleasant harbor" in Mohegan?

Posted by: freaked at November 25, 2018 09:54 AM (UdKB7)

119 114
Re-read Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". I love this book. Never gets old.

Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 09:53 AM (p0nVR)

Yeah, too bad the movie butchered it.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (mpXpK)

120 "the main theme appears to be that the elites of the two main political parties, which used to be in opposition to each other, have gradually merged into one solid entity. This should come us no surprise to us, as ace has been hammering on this point with great gusto for months now."

I've been banging on this for years. It's The Borg: the unholy alliance of BigGov, Media, Academia and certain co-opted industries.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (1UZdv)

121

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

- Groucho Marx

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (HaL55)

122 95 There are a few accounts that belonging to Freemasonry saved losing opponents in battle in European battles in that era.

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (6VrXf)

123 I don't recall, off hand, what caused the split but, once one realizes it exists, it explains a lot.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (WEBkv)

Longbow/crossbow

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (wYseH)

124 You oughta do the whole smorgasbord of options, Hogmartin. Read a first edition with white cotton gloves, mash buttons on the Eniac...
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 09:47 AM (kQs4Y)


No ENIAC, but there's an Edison cylinder player. Come visit and check it out yourself! You just need a proof of Michigan residence (properly pronouncing Dowagiac or Ypsilanti is sufficient) and you can get a community ID. Here, go nuts:

https://lib.msu.edu/comics/
https://lib.msu.edu/branches/dmc/
http://magic.msu.edu/screens/rovi_game1.html

Library use only, though!
https://stoatnet.org/datfloppy.jpg

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (t+qrx)

125 now that's a library. Too bad they have to pay $7/gal for gas to get there.

-
Low gas prices just encourage the lower classes to move about needlessly.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 09:57 AM (+y/Ru)

126 I also jumped at the Shelby Foote Civil War recommendation. I'm part way in to Vol. 1, but I keep pulling up battle maps on other sites to cross reference the written descriptions.


I've barely started it. We've had a nice introduction to Jeff Davis and now we're meeting young Lincoln.

It is a huge disadvantage of Kindle reading that you can't put your thumb in at the page you're reading and flip over to the maps section to orient yourself.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 09:57 AM (fuK7c)

127 As soon as our city/county government gets in a financial bind they
start threatening to shut down the libraries and buses
-----
Let them shut down the buses. Austin just bought an all electric bus for 1.5 million US dollars. A regular diesel only cost $700,000. I have a friend that works for them and says that they generate less than 30% of their budget from fares. We, the taxpayers, make up the rest. Ironically,the actual tax payers are the ones least likely to use the bus.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:58 AM (kufk0)

128 They also keep Lovecraft down there - not because he was rare, but because the theft rate was out of control.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)


Yes, that's why we always told patrons it was all in the subterranean vault.

The theft rate, you see. Very much, with the theft.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (t+qrx)

129 Then, it was decided that it would be against some
sort of freedoms if we did not allow pr0n to be viewed, which led to
people pleasuring themselves while sitting at the library tables.

Posted by: Deborah at November 25, 2018 09:49 AM (YkUJb)

Ah...the ersatz freedoms of the Left.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (wYseH)

130 117: Michigan State, as in East Lansing? I used to work at that library when I was an undergrad, pre e-readers

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (U7k5w)

131 Did you know that Pokepsie means "safe pleasant harbor" in Mohegan?


No, but I know that Satuit (Scituate) means "cold brook" in Wampanoag.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (fuK7c)

132 11... I visit our library at least once a week. I make full use of their electronic features but nothing replaces browsing the shelves and displays. The branches stay pretty busy.

Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (758Rh)

133 No ENIAC, but there's an Edison cylinder player.
Come visit and check it out yourself! You just need a proof of Michigan
residence (properly pronouncing Dowagiac or Ypsilanti is sufficient) and
you can get a community ID.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (t+qrx)

---
That only gets you into the library. To get full access you need to know how to pronounce:

Charlotte
Lake Orion


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:00 AM (cfSRQ)

134 Ciao! Gotta get ready for church.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 10:00 AM (kufk0)

135 'Let them shut down the buses.'

You have never heard such an outcry when they threaten that.
The poor poor people won't be able to get to the library.

Posted by: freaked at November 25, 2018 10:01 AM (UdKB7)

136 Longbow/crossbow
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (wYseH)
---------------------

No, probably a real controversy: NL no DH versus AL DH.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:01 AM (WEBkv)

137 Michigan State, as in East Lansing? I used to work at that library when I was an undergrad, pre e-readers

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (U7k5w)
---
Micro-fiche. I did research on the Spanish Civil War and had to read back issues of periodicals by scrolling through those screens.

Something else my kids know nothing about.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

138 You have never heard such an outcry when they threaten that.
The poor poor people won't be able to get to the library.
----
How will they get to their jobs...cleaning houses and watching your kids.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 10:02 AM (kufk0)

139 No, but I know that Satuit (Scituate) means "cold brook" in Wampanoag.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (fuK7c)

Do you know what "Red Sox" means in Wampanoag?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (wYseH)

140 I don't recall, off hand, what caused the split but, once one realizes it exists, it explains a lot.
Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (WEBkv)


Rehoboam (Solomon's heir) was a tyrant, which enabled Jeroboam to set up a kingdom in the north, for those who wanted an alternative. Problem was, he reintroduced golden calves into worship. That never goes well.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (/qEW2)

141 Ciao! Gotta get ready for church.


Today's trivium: for five (5) Horde Points, whence "ciao"?

No cheating.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (fuK7c)

142
"King David's Spaceship" by Jerry Pournelle - $5 for the Kindle.

I think this is very early in the Falkenberg Legion story line; sort of a prototype of the idea.

It took me a couple of tries to get into the story. I'm suffering a bit of ADD; anything longer than half-a-page and I get bored.

After an internal collapse of the Human Empire, Colony worlds are isolated until the remnants of the Empire begin to reacquire those colonies.

This is a story of one such colony world trying to improve it chances of being accepted back into the Empire at a higher level of independence than just another reconquest.

Once I was focused in on the story, it kept me entertained for the day it took me to read it.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (hrcfq)

143 You have never heard such an outcry when they threaten that.
The poor poor people won't be able to get to the library.
Posted by: freaked at November 25, 2018 10:01 AM (UdKB7)
--------------

Of course, large city politicians will never admit that buses are a great way for thugs, lowlifes and gang members to travel around the city.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (WEBkv)

144 I have practically abandoned my kindle in favor of the library. I have a couple of books checked out pretty much all the time.

However, I use the computer to browse them (usually via AOSHQ book thread, mind you) and put them on hold.

Interestingly, the computer allows me to get books my local library doesn't have, thanks to interlibrary loaning.

Posted by: April at November 25, 2018 09:11 AM (OX9vb)


I use the library more than ever. They keep expanding the scope of the inter-library loan network in my state. It used to be that seven regions within the state each had separate networks. Now all the libraries in the entire state are in the same inter-library loan network. Checking availability and requesting books is all done online and the books are delivered and returned to my local library.

If a particular book isn't in a library in the entire state, my local library will request it from out of state via inter-library loan. If there are more than two copies in libraries throughout the US, they will generally get it. This is particularly good for pricey and hard to find titles.

I keep a list of books I am interested in reading in goodreads and request a few at a time from my computer. A few days later, I return the last batch and pick up the new batch at my local library. It could hardly be easier.

Posted by: cool breeze at November 25, 2018 10:04 AM (UGKMd)

145 Yes, that's why we always told patrons it was all in the subterranean vault.



The theft rate, you see. Very much, with the theft.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (t+qrx)

---
Well, that and the Dungeons and Dragons games in the steam tunnels.

Lots of joy in EL last night, btw. Not because of Rutgers, but the Skunk Bear schadenfreude was delicious.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:04 AM (cfSRQ)

146 Do you know what "Red Sox" means in Wampanoag?


Yes, it means "world champions again, unlike NY".

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:04 AM (fuK7c)

147 127 Let them shut down the buses. Austin just bought an
all electric bus for 1.5 million US dollars. A regular diesel only cost
$700,000. I have a friend that works for them and says that they
generate less than 30% of their budget from fares. We, the taxpayers,
make up the rest. Ironically,the actual tax payers are the ones least
likely to use the bus.

Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:58 AM (kufk0)

All city owned mass transit is a racket. Columbia here used to have a city bus system that was privately owned. fares were 50 cents. The blacks complained of the high price so the city "nationalized" the bus system. The bus system shortly went bankrupt even though they raised the fares to $1.00. I don't even know if they are still in service or not. And the "city" here got a federally subsidized bus system. I have never seen more than one person sitting in them. Normally they drive around empty. If they would service the surrounding area bringing people into and out of the city they would get a lot more business, but they won't do that.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 10:04 AM (mpXpK)

148 137: Good old microfiche. I worked in the circulation department and largely did requests for the medical schools in the Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan sector.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:05 AM (U7k5w)

149 Michigan State, as in East Lansing? I used to work at that library when I was an undergrad, pre e-readers
Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 09:59 AM (U7k5w)


On the banks of the Red Cedar.

https://stoatnet.org/libfount.jpg
(~2MB)

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 10:05 AM (t+qrx)

150 Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:58 AM (kufk0)

I'm a little curious why a diesel bus would cost 700 large, considering most of it is sheet metal, safety glass and bench seats bolted down in an otherwise empty space.

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 10:05 AM (7PLM4)

151 Yes, it means "world champions again, unlike NY".

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:04 AM (fuK7c)

Close!

The correct translation is: "Man who violates donkey."

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 10:06 AM (wYseH)

152 I remember microfiche. Oy.

Posted by: Insomniac at November 25, 2018 10:07 AM (NWiLs)

153 Rehoboam (Solomon's heir) was a tyrant, which enabled Jeroboam to set up a kingdom in the north, for those who wanted an alternative. Problem was, he reintroduced golden calves into worship. That never goes well.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 10:03 AM (/qEW2)
---------------

And the Horde comes through again

Cool, thanks for the reminder.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:07 AM (WEBkv)

154 150
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:58 AM (kufk0)



I'm a little curious why a diesel bus would cost 700 large,
considering most of it is sheet metal, safety glass and bench seats
bolted down in an otherwise empty space.

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 10:05 AM (7PLM4)

---
Because that's what the customers will pay. After all, it's not their money!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:07 AM (cfSRQ)

155 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?
Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

-----------

I use the library frequently, especially to check out e-books. If something looks interesting on the book thread, I go online & see if it's there. I avoid buying books to cut back on clutter & to save money, so use the library a lot.

Just finished Gary Paulsen's "Father Water, Mother Woods: Essays on Fishing & Hunting in the North Woods" about his childhood adventures in Minnesota. My kids have read his books in school for years, but I knew nothing about him. Paulsen had an interesting, if difficult, life. Really enjoyed the book and will pick up his autobiography "Guts" from the library this week.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:07 AM (XXNQ+)

156 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like
museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

---
They are going electronic as well. At ours, you get a login and can read books for free on e-readers for a set period of time.

They also have dvds for free week-long checkout and music as well.

Less actual books, more of a meeting space/community center now.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

The Philadelphia Free Library loans musical instruments. You want to learn how to play the oboe? You can check out an oboe & have at it.

Posted by: josephistan at November 25, 2018 10:08 AM (Izzlo)

157 Good news is that the Bibliotheque will soon have a lot of vacant space since when the muz take over completely, there will only be a need for one book.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at November 25, 2018 10:09 AM (f3oO4)

158 The Philadelphia Free Library loans musical instruments. You want to learn how to play the oboe? You can check out an oboe & have at it.


I heard an NPR thing years ago about a library, it might have been Philadelphia, that lent all kinds of things.

Like fishing rods. Do you want to learn to fish? Check out a rod and reel.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (fuK7c)

159 149: And so it is, a library on the Red Cedar. I used to study in what was known as the "grad stacks" as that area was quieter. When I worked there, I had keys to even more desolate areas of the place.

A lot of volumes moved to Special Collections during that time due to theft. Sometimes the volumes were left but the illustrations were removed for sale. I still get angry seeing illustrations for sale as I connect it with this theft.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (U7k5w)

160 https://stoatnet.org/libfount.jpg
----
See, nobody would suspect a hermetically sealed, lead-lined oubliette filled with original Lovecrafts at this modern glass structure, and yet...

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (kQs4Y)

161 "Yes, it means "world champions again, unlike NY"."

There you go again, picking on a bunch of love-able overachievers from the small market Bronx.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (1UZdv)

162 The correct translation is: "Man who violates donkey."

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 10:06 AM (wYseH)
--------------------

????

I'm going to let that batting practice fastball down the heart of the plate go right on by.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (WEBkv)

163 152 I remember microfiche. Oy.
Posted by: Insomniac at November 25, 2018 10:07 AM (NWiLs)

--------------

Oh, yes. I also spent hours doing research with the hard copy of the "Reader's Guide to Periodic Literature". Filling out forms and waiting for the librarians to bring the actual magazine or newspaper issues from storage.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (XXNQ+)

164 149: It is a beautiful place, nice gardens nearby. I used to walk to the Union building for lunch.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:13 AM (U7k5w)

165 It is a huge disadvantage of Kindle reading that you can't put your thumb in at the page you're reading and flip over to the maps section to orient yourself.

-
I'm big on dinosaurs so I bought Dinosaurs Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual Guide for Kindle Fire. It has many illustrations and is formatted to be used in landscape mode. There are many buttons you can push to see galleries of other similar dinosaurs or whatever. It is an easy way for the reader/viewer to access a large amount of visual material.


https://amzn.to/2zqnDKJ

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:14 AM (+y/Ru)

166 Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:56 AM (t+qrx)

Funny, Amazon no longer carries replacement needles for my Edison cylinder player.

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at November 25, 2018 10:14 AM (f3oO4)

167 121

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."

- Groucho Marx
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (HaL55)

Excellent.
Also, nice hash.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:15 AM (bAsK/)

168 It is a beautiful place, nice gardens nearby. I used to walk to the Union building for lunch.
Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:13 AM (U7k5w)


Mom and I used to browse around in the Beal Garden when they'd visit, back when I used to work there. I love how the campus is full of little hidden things like that.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 10:16 AM (t+qrx)

169 A couple if weeks ago Weasel mentioned learning to whittle. Reminded me I hadn't done whittling or chup carving in a while. Part of this week's reading was about chip carving techniques. Forgot how much fun it can be.

Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 10:16 AM (Jvlg0)

170 On books: Finished reading "The Stranger Beside Me" and it's astounding how many people Bundy fooled. It was also fascinating how Ms. Rule didn't want to believe the Ted she knew was capable of the murders he committed.

Ms. Rule, I thought, did a good job of taking me through her initial disbelief to finally accepting Ted Bundy was a monster.

Side note: Also, the detective Bundy finally confessed all to was unwilling, initially, to talk about everything he was told because it was so disturbing.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:18 AM (WEBkv)

171 157: Just like here in the US, many younger Europeans have forsaken their culture and heritage and have become total diversity pawns. It has a few advantages of course as you can find nice things on ebay.de, ebay.fr, and ebay.uk for very little in some cases. A porcelain collector recommended I look there to expand my collection of small silver pieces, and I have taken full advantage of their disdain for their heritage.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:18 AM (U7k5w)

172 Leviticus was tough with all the laws and Numbers is just as mind numbing.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:18 AM (kufk0

Mind-numbing in spots, but it does have a talking donkey.

Try finding a Jewish calendar and read through the first five books (Torah) in small weekly portions. You'll be amazed at how rich each segment is.

Posted by: Alifa at November 25, 2018 10:18 AM (50jTM)

173 yeah, read the book is good advice, but "see the movie" is so easy and has special effects. Plus as with the news, the NPCs need Hollywood to interpret the author's true commie intent, and to add some other PC flavor, lest they get confused. /s

The FakeNewsMedia spins real news of course, or buries it. imo InstitutionalReligion also spins the Bible for its parishioners all too frequently. In my experience the vast majority of church goers are not Bible readers. "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed" ... maybe applies not only to the Bible, but to the constitution, and to the book behind the movie.

And lets add in those manuals for how to operate that machinery you just bought ... when all else fails, read the instructions.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 10:19 AM (Cus5s)

174 168: Yes! Luckily I may have an excuse to visit EL more often as my nephew's older boy is seriously considering MSU.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:19 AM (U7k5w)

175 170 On books: Finished reading "The Stranger Beside Me" and it's astounding how many people Bundy fooled. It was also fascinating how Ms. Rule didn't want to believe the Ted she knew was capable of the murders he committed.

Ms. Rule, I thought, did a good job of taking me through her initial disbelief to finally accepting Ted Bundy was a monster.

Side note: Also, the detective Bundy finally confessed all to was unwilling, initially, to talk about everything he was told because it was so disturbing.
Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:18 AM (WEBkv)

Did you see the movie Deliberate Stranger? It has stuck with me forever, and has been a useful warning. I think the title is brilliant.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:19 AM (bAsK/)

176 If there was never a United States , I can't imagine what the world would look like today. The divine foundation upon which the United States was founded allowed for so many changes of how the world previously worked .

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 10:20 AM (2DOZq)

177 Funny, Amazon no longer carries replacement needles for my Edison cylinder player.
Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at November 25, 2018 10:14 AM (f3oO4)


It's all lasers now.

Really, they're nondestructive and you only get so many playback cycles out of a hundred year old wax cylinder.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 10:21 AM (t+qrx)

178 Re-read Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". I love this book. Never gets old.

Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 09:53 AM (p0nVR)
---

Yeah, too bad the movie butchered it.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (mpXpK)


---

Thank you. Drives me nuts to hear people go on about what a good movie that is.

Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 10:21 AM (p0nVR)

179 Yes, that's why we always told patrons it was all in the subterranean vault.

-
There was a story in the news a few days ago about a massive tunnel complex found beneath a Florida city which they believed was used to smuggle Chinese prostitutes in during the 19th century.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (+y/Ru)

180 Bandersnatch - Like your mom, I also enjoy history books that don't involve too much battle detail. This past summer I read "Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America" by Walter Borneman and it was a very excellent choice about a man that I knew little about. The book focused mostly on Polk's relationships with Andrew Jackson, John Calhoun, Martin Van Buren and other politicians of the era and their maneuvering and infighting. I found it quite interesting. Might be a good one for your mom.

Posted by: cfo mom at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (RfzVr)

181 On books: Finished reading "The Stranger Beside Me" and it's astounding how many people Bundy fooled. It was also fascinating how Ms. Rule didn't want to believe the Ted she knew was capable of the murders he committed.


Isn't that what everyone says after the discovery of man's evil?

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (2DOZq)

182 Found it! Tunnel system found under Tampa.

https://fxn.ws/2DCIhdz

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:23 AM (+y/Ru)

183 Might be a good one for your mom.

Posted by: cfo mom at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (RfzVr)



Oh, thank you!

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:23 AM (fuK7c)

184 127 Ironically,the actual tax payers are the ones least likely to use the bus.
Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:58 AM (kufk0)

Double-edged sword, that. I dislike that public transportation is mostly tax-supported. On the other hand, it does provide affordable transportation to people who might not be able to get to work otherwise, so I think it's an overall benefit.

Certainly, most of the ridership I've experienced has been people going to work, so they are likely taxpayers.

Might be different where you are.

Posted by: April at November 25, 2018 10:23 AM (OX9vb)

185 A stack of 5 1/4" disks is no good unless there's a room where people are preserving the last systems that can still read them.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 09:45 AM (t+qrx)


Back in the day, I was thinking about establishing a data preservation corporation, maintaining old disk drives, multi-platter drives, tape readers, etc. But alas, for me, like so many things it came to naught!

Posted by: Comrade Hrothgar at November 25, 2018 10:24 AM (f3oO4)

186 179 There was a story in the news a few days ago about a massive tunnel complex found beneath a Florida city which they believed was used to smuggle Chinese prostitutes in during the 19th century.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (+y/Ru)

https://preview.tinyurl.com/ycr6sbqd

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:24 AM (bAsK/)

187 Bandersnatch - Like your mom, I also enjoy...
Posted by: cfo mom at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (RfzVr)


I almost choked on my coffee until I realized that this comment was going to turn out completely innocent.

Book thread keepin' it classy.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 10:24 AM (t+qrx)

188 Did you see the movie Deliberate Stranger? It has stuck with me forever, and has been a useful warning. I think the title is brilliant.
Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:19 AM (bAsK/)

---------------

No, I've not seen it, though, if it's the one with Mark Harmon as Bundy, I've heard tell Mr. Harmon does a great job of portraying Bundy, to the point it's very creepy.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:24 AM (WEBkv)

189 I am almost done with "Militant Normals" by Kurt Schlicter.

It's a great read, and spot on.

Oh, yeah, and those who caught my story about the car crash on the way home from a gig last night, I still have no idea what that was all about. A commenter wrote that maybe I wasn't the first on the scene, and that could be true. I was the first one to call it in. Weirdest thing, I approached the crash thinking maybe someone was inside the car that needed help. Nobody home.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:25 AM (w7KSn)

190 In currency there's the concept of "demat" (dematerialization). We just need to accept that this is where books are headed as well.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 10:27 AM (/qEW2)

191 I'm always amazed at the number of child molestors with positions involving children that have the same MO , where the parents or community don't get the blaring signals that something may not be just right.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 10:27 AM (2DOZq)

192 188 Did you see the movie Deliberate Stranger? It has stuck with me forever, and has been a useful warning. I think the title is brilliant.
Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:19 AM (bAsK/)

---------------

No, I've not seen it, though, if it's the one with Mark Harmon as Bundy, I've heard tell Mr. Harmon does a great job of portraying Bundy, to the point it's very creepy.
Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:24 AM (WEBkv)

It is. And it is.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:28 AM (bAsK/)

193 I keep telling myself that I need to go to the used book store a few towns away and today might be the day. No rain, no community festivals or craft fairs to slow the roads. I've been wanting to just browse a bookstore, and that one is more peaceful and library like than the BN which is a zoo this time of year

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:28 AM (U7k5w)

194 189 Oh, yeah, and those who caught my story about the car crash on the way home from a gig last night, I still have no idea what that was all about. A commenter wrote that maybe I wasn't the first on the scene, and that could be true. I was the first one to call it in. Weirdest thing, I approached the crash thinking maybe someone was inside the car that needed help. Nobody home.
Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:25 AM (w7KSn)

NAVYBRAT! Thanks for the update. We were all over it! The big topic of the Breakfast Crew.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:29 AM (bAsK/)

195 "Radical Son", also a great book.
I got to meet Mr. Horowitz at a book signing.
I think he is not doing so well right now, health-wise.
Radical Son did one thing very well, it put to the lie the stories that there really was no communist infiltration of our society, at all levels.

Horowitz was raised to be one of those very infiltrators.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:29 AM (w7KSn)

196 While in a state of turkey-induced stupor, I watched a musical about P. T. Barnum which made me think I should read a real biography about him. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (qc+VF)

197 I borrow a lot of books online at the library, rather than buy.
I could not support my reading habit otherwise.
Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 09:42 AM (XZ3Gp)


I use the library almost exclusively except for a few books I want to keep around for the long haul, like historical atlases because it bugs the fuck out of me when Gibbon uses archaic names and I don't know where the action is. With Amazon and Half Price Books I probably could afford my reading habits but it would cut into my CD and craft beer purchases.

Finished Waugh's "A Handful of Dust" and the library book I was reading had two alternative endings. The original ending was cribbed from an existing short story he'd published earlier, called something like "The Man Who Read Dickens", which was like a creepy Roald Dahl short story or one of Paul Bowles less weird ones. Anyway it was about Tony Last wanting to get away from everything by going exploring for some lost city in the jungles of Brazil. The guy was going with was a fly by the seat of his pants bumbler who kept depending on these unreliable natives to go along with them and they're all in the NFW mode. There's no part of the story that you don't think that things will go really pear shaped and, sure as shit, the natives desert them and the previous explorer dies like a fucking idiot in a waterfall while Tony has a massive case of some tropical illness. He finally stumbles across some white guy living in the middle of nowhere who nurses him back to health. The guy comes from old money but pretty much rejected everything and never learned how to read but has a massive library that he tries to save from the ants, worms and humidity. So he gets Last to read to him every day, always Dickens, just like some black guy did for him previously. He acts like he'll help Last get back to civilization but after a while you figure out that just isn't happening and ultimately misleads a rescue party into thinking he's dead and buried.

That was the original ending and you can understand Waugh wanting to just be done with these thoroughly disgusting dickweeds and cocksuckers that he created as quickly as possible. The trouble was that when he serialized the whole book the publisher got pissed that he was using material they'd already paid for so he had to scurry around for another, far less satisfying, ending where Tony and Brenda get back together (against all odds), he knocks her up and then surreptitiously keeps the London flat so he can cockhound around. It was a slapdash kind of thing that pretty much typified everything else about the book.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

198


UCSB has a large Edison cylinder archive.

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (HaL55)

199 Isn't that what everyone says after the discovery of man's evil?
Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM (2DOZq)
---------------

Well, I think I'd have trouble accepting that someone I worked with and hung out with was capable of the brutal crimes Bundy committed.

I admit, man's heart is dark, but, Bundy really took things to another level.

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (WEBkv)

200 I almost choked on my coffee until I realized that this comment was going to turn out completely innocent.


Dude. Even *I* didn't go there.

Anyway, thanks cfo mom. I just ordered a used copy ($50 for new!). It won't be the whole Christmas present by how much harm can an $8 book do?

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:31 AM (fuK7c)

201 Submitted without commentary:

Mother Falls From Border Fence, Impaled By Rebar During Illegal Crossing With Kids

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:31 AM (+y/Ru)

202 I heard an NPR thing years ago about a library, it might have been Philadelphia, that lent all kinds of things.

Like fishing rods. Do you want to learn to fish? Check out a rod and reel.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:11 AM (fuK7c)


The local library system and the University library both have adopted a kind of makerspace thing too, sign up to use the 3d printers or scanners or check out a breadboard and multimeter, vinyl cutter, acrylic etcher, etc. The other side of that is the "library of things" concept where you check out musical instruments like josephistan mentioned and also all kinds of things that are cost-prohibitive to buy to use once but that make sense as a community property, like FLIR thermal imagers to find leaky hot/cold spots in your home or cat.

https://stoatnet.org/thermokitty.jpg

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 10:32 AM (t+qrx)

203 201 Mother Falls From Border Fence, Impaled By Rebar During Illegal Crossing With Kids
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:31 AM (+y/Ru)

She's talking.

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y9wj33j6

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 10:33 AM (bAsK/)

204 11 What will happen to libraries? Will they become more or less like museums? How many Morons regularly use a library vs a computer?

Posted by: BignJames at November 25, 2018 09:04 AM (cxHbL)

Our main library that I enjoyed studying in and browsing is now basically a homeless shelter. You do not want to get caught on the elevator with a denizen of the streets. Ripe.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (+6jVU)

205 201: I am sick of these illegals, this one was of course taken to a US hospital. Mission accomplished.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (U7k5w)

206 Side note on Bundy: shortly after he escaped custody in CO, cops were combing the area, and set up checkpoints to search vehicles. My buddy's dad only realized this after he got on the road with a trunkload of weed.

He pulled off onto a lonely side road, parked the car, and hiked out. When he came back it was gone.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (5aX2M)

207 Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (WEBkv)

Same story. Overly charming. Able to talk himself out of trouble. Overstating resume. Full of excuses.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (2DOZq)

208 The discussion of microfiche and Reader's Guide takes me back. Probably the best job I ever had was as a summer research assistant for a law prof. He was editing a series of letters and most of my research consisted of looking up sources for names and events referred to in letters from the 1930s-1960s. So all summer I went to libraries all over campus using every index and abstract known to man to find contemporary newspaper articles, etc.

For an introvert, bibiophile, history buff it was pretty much heaven on earth.

Posted by: Art Rondolet of Malmsey at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (S+f+m)

209
I saw Impaled By Rebar open for Men At Work at the Cow Palace in '84.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 25, 2018 10:35 AM (CRRq9)

210 That was the original ending and you can understand
Waugh wanting to just be done with these thoroughly disgusting dickweeds
and cocksuckers that he created as quickly as possible. The trouble
was that when he serialized the whole book the publisher got pissed that
he was using material they'd already paid for so he had to scurry
around for another, far less satisfying, ending where Tony and Brenda
get back together (against all odds), he knocks her up and then
surreptitiously keeps the London flat so he can cockhound around. It
was a slapdash kind of thing that pretty much typified everything else
about the book.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 10:30 AM (y7DUB)

---
Waugh's "Smart Set" books were really just amusing fare, cranked out to pay the bills. That's why "Brideshead" was such a sensation. He was now a serious writer.

I think "Scoop" and "Black Mischief" are much better examples of his early work. "Decline and Fall" is actually really funny, particularly the insults heaped upon the Welsh.

"Handful of Dust" may be in my collection, but only because it was in anthology that had something else I wanted. No idea why people keep making movies about it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:36 AM (cfSRQ)

211 And speaking of Waugh, time to go to mass!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:36 AM (cfSRQ)

212 Another gift of McCain is the light rail. Bankrupted many many small businesses and now they want to expand it. Giant sucking sound for money. The businesss are fighting it. Another riding homeless shelter and rip off. No one pays.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at November 25, 2018 10:36 AM (+6jVU)

213 Moneyball. Fun, interesting read...but math.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at November 25, 2018 10:37 AM (+6jVU)

214 208: I enjoyed my library work too. There was the occasional crappy assignment, but all in all I had a good time, was paid relatively well, and got a nice insurance plan as I was a real employee not a work/study employee.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 10:37 AM (U7k5w)

215 Ahem. The first draft of Soul Code is now FINISHED. Finally. *wheeze, cough*. Third book in the Argonauts of Space series, or "how computer geeks save the galaxy."

Now for a quick once-over before sending it to the beta readers and the cover artist. Editor gets it in February. Woohoo!

So, any good books out there?

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at November 25, 2018 10:37 AM (6CK26)

216 Well, thanks for the thread. Hope to be back, but, must head to church.

Later all and have a great week!

Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 10:39 AM (WEBkv)

217 Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 10:36 AM (cfSRQ)

I've really appreciated your commentary on Waugh.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 10:40 AM (y7DUB)

218

Back in the day, I was thinking about establishing a data preservation
corporation, maintaining old disk drives, multi-platter drives, tape
readers, etc. But alas, for me, like so many things it came to naught!


I used to work at a data-conversion company back before the turn of the century. They had several large format cameras and digital scanners for the film. I ran a blueprint scanner that could scan a J-sized print. It was a dinosaur back then and got sold.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at November 25, 2018 10:40 AM (HaL55)

219 Ms. Sabrina Chase, please to be asking if you will remind us when Soul Code is available. The first two books were very entertaining. Thank you.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 10:42 AM (hrcfq)

220 I am almost done with "Militant Normals" by Kurt Schlicter.

It's a great read, and spot on.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:25 AM (w7KSn)


I also finished Militant Normals this week and loved it. It is 280 pages of Kurt Schlichter's trademark snark. If you like it at 280 characters on Twitter, you'll love it at 280 pages in the book. At its worst it's good, at its best it's weapons grade.

It is enjoyable enough when he is skewering the Left, but when he starts harpooning Capt. Billy Kristol and Conservative, Inc. - "Ahoy, matey!" Few are spared.

Schlichter thanks Ace in the acknowledgements with the words "I got plenty of support from my friends... Glenn Reynolds, Salena Zito, Ace, and Kenny Calhoun. They all provided some great suggestions, by which I mean I often borrowed ideas and concepts from them. Shamelessly."

Posted by: cool breeze at November 25, 2018 10:43 AM (UGKMd)

221 I've gotten back to Dostoevsky, and am now delving into "Notes From the Underground."

Unlike the prior works of short fiction, this one is a meandering, stream of consciousness sort of thing. He's talking to to the reader. It's not really presented as "fiction," but as a narrator telling his thoughts.

I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:44 AM (cY3LT)

222 I was explaining Kurt Vonnegut to the Igno-daughter as trippy, but only Oh Wow marijuana trippy, compared to Philip K Dick LSD trippy.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 09:53 AM (1UZdv)

I met his Grandson at a comedy night at Mohegan Sun, looks just like him!....carry on.

Posted by: KWDreaming at November 25, 2018 10:45 AM (76SY5)

223 I am almost done with "Militant Normals" by Kurt Schlicter.

It's a great read, and spot on.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:25 AM (w7KSn)

I also finished Militant Normals this week and loved it. It is 280 pages of Kurt Schlichter's trademark snark. If you like it at 280 characters on Twitter, you'll love it at 280 pages in the book. At its worst it's good, at its best it's weapons grade.

It is enjoyable enough when he is skewering the Left, but when he starts harpooning Capt. Billy Kristol and Conservative, Inc. - "Ahoy, matey!" Few are spared.

Schlichter thanks Ace in the acknowledgements with the words "I got plenty of support from my friends... Glenn Reynolds, Salena Zito, Ace, and Kenny Calhoun. They all provided some great suggestions, by which I mean I often borrowed ideas and concepts from them. Shamelessly."
Posted by: cool breeze at November 25, 2018 10:43 AM (UGKMd)


Hmmm, I skipped the acknowledgements. We often say "I wonder if so and so is a 'moron,'" and I think maybe he's saying he is.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:46 AM (cY3LT)

224 I'm pretty sure one of the emanations from the Constitution bestows Instantaneous RetroActive Luxury Package United States of America Full Ride Citizenship on anybody injured on U.S. border fences. Works for owies, works for decapitation, too.

Posted by: klaftern at November 25, 2018 10:47 AM (RuIsu)

225 I recently discovered a couple of interesting Civil War dime novels that were written and published DURING the war: "The Border Spy" and "The Prisoner of the Mill," both purportedly written by a "Lt. Col. Hazeltine" (probably a pseudonym). They both concern the abortive Union campaign to secure control of SW Missouri in 1861. What's neat about them is the way they combine accurate historical details and info about the way both armies operated, with a very Victorian plot line involving a Yankee dude's young and beautiful sister and a Snidely Whiplash- class villain (a Rebel, of course). You can find them at Project Gutenberg.

Posted by: Secret Square at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (9WuX0)

226 Finished reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy lasy week. His second novel, I believe it to be his best.

Started one of my favorite novels, A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin and am thoroughly enjoying it. Helprin is a master story-teller who writes in such beautiful language. Can't put it down.

Hello Book Nerds!!!

Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (2eKoI)

227 221 I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.

----------------

If there's no test at the end of it, getting the gist is absolutely fine. If it's pleasure reading and you're working too hard, it's no longer pleasure reading.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (XXNQ+)

228 I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.


My favorite scene from the Big Chill:

Sam Weber: [Sam enters a room where Nick is up late watching TV] What's this?

Nick: I'm not sure.

Sam Weber: What's it about?

Nick: I don't know.

Sam Weber: [Sam shakes his head, pats Nick on the shoulder, then sits in a nearby chair] Who's that?

Nick: I think the guy in the hat did something terrible.

[shot of TV shows a man being thrown through the glass window of a door; all the people on the TV screen are wearing hats]

Sam Weber: Like what?

Nick: You're so analytical! Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you."

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (fuK7c)

229 Anyone else think that the photo of the GI's with the book lady looks like it was posed?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 25, 2018 10:50 AM (fDU8w)

230 As far as books go: remember Kyle Harper, 'The Fate of Rome'? There's a long, critical review here:
https://tinyurl.com/y84apmwm

One of the authors is John Haldon, who is an expert on the climate(s) of the Roman Empire.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 25, 2018 10:50 AM (ykYG2)

231 229 Anyone else think that the photo of the GI's with the book lady looks like it was posed?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 25, 2018 10:50 AM (fDU8w)

----------------

I thought the same thing.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:51 AM (XXNQ+)

232 Lots being made about the climate change report. Nothing is dumber, scientifically, then CAGW, but it's back.

Here's a sample: "Since 1900, global average sea level has risen by about 7-8 inches (about 16-21 cm)."

Nothing about how the oceans have been rising at an average rate of 4 feet a century since the end of the last ice age. The effects of the Earth getting warmer are still ongoing. It's why glaciers are still melting. All of this at a slowing rate.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 10:51 AM (1UZdv)

233 Yeah, too bad the movie butchered it.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (mpXpK)
---
Thank you. Drives me nuts to hear people go on about what a good movie that is.
Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 10:21 AM (p0nVR)


Oh, thanks for bringing this painful experience up. Grrrrrr! Why don't you just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice in it?

I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.

Somebody needs to do the movie again, only do it right.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:52 AM (7+qNl)

234 226 Finished reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy lasy week. His second novel, I believe it to be his best.

Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (2eKoI)


That's the Clancy novel everyone hates. Except, apparently, you and I. Everyone else thinks it's too long and boring, but I thought it was a great read.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:55 AM (7+qNl)

235 (231) Re-imagine the same photo for today, applying all of the new rules.

Posted by: klaftern at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (RuIsu)

236 I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.

Just do what everybody else does and fast forward to the exploding bugs and gratuitous nudity.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (qc+VF)

237 There was a story in the news a few days ago about a massive tunnel complex found beneath a Florida city which they believed was used to smuggle Chinese prostitutes in during the 19th century.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 10:22 AM


Must be a really long tunnel.

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (YTxkQ)

238
Something that only occurred to me recently is how much common doctrine shaped the Civil War. In other conflicts, you have opposing military systems and traditions, which can make it hard to know what the opponent will do, but in our civil war, people were classmates so they knew each other very well.

Or not. Everyone knew about Lee, no one knew about Grant. I think that was one of his advantages.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)





It's a common idea to call the American Civil War the first modern war. Yet the war was largely fought using the tactics and strategies of the Napoleonic era, with some incremental improvements based on new technology like the railroads and telegraph. Ironically, the new weapons were largely inconsequential in the outcome of the war.

I'm coming around to the idea that what really makes the Civil War the first modern war is Grant, specifically in that he radically changed how the Union Army fought, starting in the Overland Campaign. Unlike virtually every other campaign in military history, Overland was pretty much one long, 3 month battle, rather than 2 weeks of marching followed by 2 days of battle followed by 2 weeks of marching....

Plus, every Union defeat was followed not by retreat, but by a Union advance to attack Lee from a different direction, or on different ground. And most interestingly, Grant lost virtually EVERY battle during the Overland Campaign, only winning a couple of minor skirmishes, yet Overland basically crushed any hope for the Confederates. That's a truly radical departure from past military practice.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (TVVeW)

239 ""I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be
absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to
read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?



This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will
be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've
already gone past.""



I developed that habit while reading lord of the rings and was assaulted by 1000 pages of how the little dust clouds from pebbles rolling in the dirt appear in the sun. I haven't read a large book since. I used to read all the time, not after that.


Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (9Om/r)

240 twas a day when carlson's thesis, that there's no difference between the two parties of the ruling elites, was a feature of class war analysis of the left. one difference from then and now is the disintegration of civic institutions that bound society together.

his thesis is one part of the picture.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (Pg+x7)

241 Nothing about how the oceans have been rising at an average rate of 4 feet a century since the end of the last ice age. The effects of the Earth getting warmer are still ongoing. It's why glaciers are still melting. All of this at a slowing rate.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 10:51 AM (1UZdv)


Don't worry. As soon as the UN-funded brainiacs finish seeding the atmosphere was sunlight-dimming chemicals, as reported on CNN last week, everything will be just fine.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (7+qNl)

242 227 221 I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.

----------------

If there's no test at the end of it, getting the gist is absolutely fine. If it's pleasure reading and you're working too hard, it's no longer pleasure reading.
Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:48 AM (XXNQ+)


Well, it's Dostoevsky, so I'm not sure "pleasure reading" is the right way to process it.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (cY3LT)

243 206 Side note on Bundy: shortly after he escaped custody in CO, cops were combing the area, and set up checkpoints to search vehicles. My buddy's dad only realized this after he got on the road with a trunkload of weed.

He pulled off onto a lonely side road, parked the car, and hiked out. When he came back it was gone.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM (5aX2M)
---
Bundy stole your dad's weed?! That bastard!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 10:58 AM (kQs4Y)

244 Yeah, too bad the movie butchered it.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 09:55 AM (mpXpK)
---
Thank you. Drives me nuts to hear people go on about what a good movie that is.
Posted by: Darth Randall at November 25, 2018 10:21 AM (p0nVR)

Oh, thanks for bringing this painful experience up. Grrrrrr! Why don't you just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice in it?

I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.

Somebody needs to do the movie again, only do it right.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:52 AM (7+qNl)


*Raises hand*


That would be me.

Never read the book, have no interest in doing so.

Loved the movie. Have watched "most" of the sequels, and don't mind them at all.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (cY3LT)

245 After I finish Militant Normals I have another book in the queue.

"Cult City" by Daniel Flynn.

All about SF during Jim Jones and Harvey Milk.
In an interview with the author, he described Harvey Milk as a Goldwater Republican, which sounds plausible.
Goldwater was the only one even broaching the subject of gays in the military at the time.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (w7KSn)

246 I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:44 AM (cY3LT)


Dostoyevsky was kind of a lowlife who was in debt a lot because of his gambling and wrote quickly to pay off the armbreakers. Nabokov absolutely despised his work but I think a lot of that was class driven; not to mention that his uncle led a military firing squad that fired blanks at him to completely mindfuck him.

So I wouldn't sweat not getting all the rambling detail.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (y7DUB)

247 242 Well, it's Dostoevsky, so I'm not sure "pleasure reading" is the right way to process it.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (cY3LT)
-----------------

LOL! Good point. Even less reason to try and absorb everything.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (XXNQ+)

248 I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.
-------------------
Just do what everybody else does and fast forward to the exploding bugs and gratuitous nudity.
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (qc+VF)


I don't know why Denise Richards thinks she's so special, and doesn't need to get nekkid in a shower with everyone else.

That part I hated.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:01 AM (cY3LT)

249 I don't know the book, but I liked Starship Troopers as dumb entertainment. I'm told that Paul Verhoeven was trying to ridicule the Right, but he failed. He made a schlocky B movie with cool bugs. My biggest criticism is that he didn't have Denise Richards show her tits.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:01 AM (1UZdv)

250 241: I detest the UN for many reasons, but the sun dimming shit is truly stupid. What happens after a real dimming event happens, like a volcanic eruption, if they realize their stupidity? It is, however, more likely another method of decreasing "evil national sovereignty" so they can get their hands on national treasuries and industries. We need to get rid of these parasites

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (U7k5w)

251 It's a common idea to call the American Civil War the first modern war. Yet the war was largely fought using the tactics and strategies of the Napoleonic era ...
--

I thought it was the US Civil War that discredited the doctrine of frontal assault against a fortified position, yet that is exactly what WWI was.

It was the German Blitzkrieg that brought the concept of maneuver around fortified positions that was so revolutionary.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (hrcfq)

252 219 Gor Don Peeples please to be asking if you will remind us when Soul Code is available

Never fear, the Book Thread will get constant updates! Authors are like crossfit nuts. You don't have to ask, they'll tell you!

(probably a month after I get the edits back. Best guess is late March/early April)

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (6CK26)

253 That's the Clancy novel everyone hates. Except, apparently, you and I. Everyone else thinks it's too long and boring, but I thought it was a great read.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:55 AM (7+qNl)


See, I LIKED the parts that read like a turn-by-turn commentary on a tabletop game of Harpoon. It's the parts that had people talking and doing what Clancy and Bond assume ispeople stuff that were eye-gouging.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (t+qrx)

254
I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.

Somebody needs to do the movie again, only do it right.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:52 AM (7+qNl)






Yeah, but the first time I saw the film was in a SoCal theater filled with snooty SoCal commies who spent the first 1/3 of the film snorting at the political stuff, and by the end they actually cheered when the brain bug was captured.

Only to have the cheers cut off immediately when Doogie Howser comes out in the black leather SS uniform, and the commies realize that Verhoeven snookered them into cheering for the Nazis.

The dazed expressions on everyone's faces when they walked out were priceless. As bad as the adaptation is, I'll always cherish that moment.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (TVVeW)

255 247 242 Well, it's Dostoevsky, so I'm not sure "pleasure reading" is the right way to process it.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:57 AM (cY3LT)
-----------------

LOL! Good point. Even less reason to try and absorb everything.
Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (XXNQ+)


It's just disconcerting, to be reading him ramble on about how life is full of petty revenges and pointless desires, and to find my mind drifting to that leftover sandwich in the fridge, or the paperwork I will walk into at work on Monday.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:03 AM (cY3LT)

256 "I thought it was the US Civil War that discredited the doctrine of frontal assault against a fortified position..."

Sun Tzu advised against it hundreds of years ago, in his book "The Art of War".

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 11:05 AM (w7KSn)

257 Ou est la bibliotheque et pourquoi le mademoiselle blanc @ ?

Posted by: saf at November 25, 2018 11:05 AM (5IHGB)

258 Denise Richards was fleet. She wasn't with the ground pounders.

Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 25, 2018 11:06 AM (ykYG2)

259 Like people in Fleet don't take showers.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:08 AM (1UZdv)

260 I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:44 AM (cY3LT)

Dostoyevsky was kind of a lowlife who was in debt a lot because of his gambling and wrote quickly to pay off the armbreakers. Nabokov absolutely despised his work but I think a lot of that was class driven; not to mention that his uncle led a military firing squad that fired blanks at him to completely mindfuck him.

So I wouldn't sweat not getting all the rambling detail.
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (y7DUB)


Thanks, that helps. The short stories I've read before this though, there's detail and subtlety that, dare I say it, is as sublime as anything I've ever read.

The tone of this is so different. It's rather heartless. A smug voice, condescending and critical, without terribly deep or interesting opinions.

I am wondering if that's the point. That the narrator is not to be taken seriously as a narrator, but that we're going to see a "big reveal" at some point about what a useless twit this guy is.

In which case, I think I have to pay attention. Even if I don't want to! Or I'll miss the big bang.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:09 AM (cY3LT)

261 Ou est la bibliotheque et pourquoi le mademoiselle blanc @ ?


Un homme est blanc.

Une demoiselle est blanche.

Posted by: La Societe Ace pour la Preservation de la Langue Francaise at November 25, 2018 11:09 AM (fuK7c)

262 Side note on Bundy: shortly after he escaped custody in CO, cops were combing the area, and set up checkpoints to search vehicles. My buddy's dad only realized this after he got on the road with a trunkload of weed.

He pulled off onto a lonely side road, parked the car, and hiked out. When he came back it was gone.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 10:34 AM


Is that the story he told his partners?

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:09 AM (YTxkQ)

263 he didn't have Denise Richards show her tits.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:01 AM (1UZdv)

Don't worry, she made up for that omission in lots of places...

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 11:10 AM (wYseH)

264 I don't recall, off hand, what caused the split but, once one realizes it exists, it explains a lot.
Posted by: Blake - tis the season for grinching at November 25, 2018 09:23 AM (WEBkv)

Essentially, Jerusalem.

Israel wanted to keep the traditional "high places" as centers of worship and sacrifice. Judah insisted that the only place for sacrifice was Jerusalem. Guess which one Jerusalem was in?

Posted by: Fox2! at November 25, 2018 11:11 AM (MwFQu)

265 I highly recommend Wild Things, where Denise Richards does show her tits in a threeway with Neve Campbell. Wonderful cameo by Bill Murray

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:12 AM (1UZdv)

266 I've been pointing out for years that t if it were not for the Brits and colonization India would still be a billion diseased starving peasants instead of 700 million semi-starving peasants and 300 million fairly well to do folks and a world power.

Posted by: West at November 25, 2018 11:13 AM (aqtOq)

267 "I don't know why Denise Richards thinks she's so special, and doesn't need to get nekkid in a shower with everyone else. That part I hated."

Great minds thinking alike.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:14 AM (1UZdv)

268
I thought it was the US Civil War that discredited the doctrine of frontal assault against a fortified position, yet that is exactly what WWI was.

It was the German Blitzkrieg that brought the concept of maneuver around fortified positions that was so revolutionary.
Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (hrcfq)







If anyone in Europe had the wit to actually learn the lessons of the Civil War.... But they didn't, and I suspect that a big part of that was chauvinism (von Moltke was particularly dismissive that mere Americans would have anything to teach their European betters about war).

So the Euros did the massed frontal assault thing again and again in the wars before WWI, with the Prussians and the French, the Russians and the Turks, the Russians and the Japanese etc. But in all three cases, massed frontal assaults still worked, if with staggering casualties. The defensive weapons were still lagging behind the power of the assault, until WWI.

I was actually referring more to the relentless pace of the campaign, not letting up the pressure, and giving no chance for Lee to catch his breath.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:14 AM (TVVeW)

269 Un homme est blanc. / Une demoiselle est blanche.

Bien! ensuite, fais-le en arabe algerien et en berbere du Rif.

Posted by: Emmanuel "Teacher's Pet" Macron at November 25, 2018 11:14 AM (ykYG2)

270 Denise Richards was fleet. She wasn't with the ground pounders.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 25, 2018 11:06 AM (ykYG2)

259 Like people in Fleet don't take showers.
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:08 AM (1UZdv)


It's just bad casting then. I mean, I can accept Denise Richards as a brilliant military mind, but if she's not going to take her top off, then just cast somebody else.

Like Tilda Swinton, who always takes her top off. Whether we want her to or not.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:14 AM (cY3LT)

271 Must be a really long tunnel.
Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 10:56 AM (YTxkQ)

Not long but really really deep.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:15 AM (2DOZq)

272 Hhmmm Amazon Prime has 'Wild Thing.' Almost enough to take a leap and try the 30 day Prime thing.

The movie has good reviews.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:15 AM (hrcfq)

273 "I was actually referring more to the relentless pace of the campaign, not letting up the pressure, and giving no chance for Lee to catch his breath."

You mean Grant got inside Lee's OODA loop.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:16 AM (1UZdv)

274 I highly recommend Wild Things, where Denise Richards does show her tits in a threeway with Neve Campbell. Wonderful cameo by Bill Murray
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:12 AM (1UZdv)


I guess it bears rewatching, but I seem to recall there was some hinting at nudity, without any actual, you know, showing of the goods.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:16 AM (cY3LT)

275 le snort!

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 11:17 AM (fuK7c)

276 Lee should have read Sun Tzu before he ordered Pickett to charge.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 11:18 AM (w7KSn)

277
270 Denise Richards was fleet. She wasn't with the ground pounders.
Posted by: boulder terlit hobo at November 25, 2018 11:06 AM (ykYG2)

259 Like people in Fleet don't take showers.
Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:08 AM (1UZdv)


It's just bad casting then. I mean, I can accept Denise Richards as a brilliant military mind, but if she's not going to take her top off, then just cast somebody else.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:14 AM (cY3LT)








Or Denise Richards as a hawt busty nuclear physicist. Riiiiiight. I mean, even though it was in a goofy James Bond flick, dammit have her show her tits.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:18 AM (TVVeW)

278 Wild things is a girl power movie that has enough in it to appeal to guys. Namely tits.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:19 AM (2DOZq)

279 Hhmmm Amazon Prime has 'Wild Thing.' Almost enough to take a leap and try the 30 day Prime thing.

The movie has good reviews.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:15 AM (hrcfq)


It's absolute trash, but wonderfully entertaining trash.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:19 AM (cY3LT)

280 Wild Things has a clever plot, with lots of twists. The reveals are at the end. Good cast, too. And tits

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:19 AM (1UZdv)

281 but I seem to recall there was some hinting at nudity, without any actual, you know, showing of the goods.
--
I'm beginning to suspect that nude shower scenes in modern Hollywood movies the subject isn't actually nude, judging from the way the images are framed. Topless maybe, but shadowed out, blocked, or cropped from the scene.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:20 AM (hrcfq)

282 I prefer Bound to Wild Things.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:20 AM (2DOZq)

283 There is no evidence that sea levels have risen dramatically since the end of the ice age and the retreat of the glaciers. Some sea levels according to the gages have gone up, others have gone down. And in the cases where they have gone up they have been attributed to things other than atmospheric temperature. The whole sea level rise sky is falling is just another lie vomited out by the warmies. If the sea levels were actually rising Holland would no longer exist and most of Texas would be flooded by now.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:21 AM (mpXpK)

284 OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor

What made Red Storm Rising so good was Larry Bond and his innovative use of his Harpoon game system in the novel.

Clancy was a real estate developer without the needed cynical eye at military operations and people. I understand the need to have few characters in a novel, but modern military operations in the 1980s had a completely different command structure than depicted.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:22 AM (hyuyC)

285 "If the sea levels were actually rising Holland would no longer exist and most of Texas would be flooded by now."

And liberals would have stopped buying ocean front property.

Posted by: navybrat, sometime commentater at November 25, 2018 11:22 AM (w7KSn)

286 My recommended book for today is The Profession by Steven Pressfield.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:23 AM (2DOZq)

287 As someone who has witnessed the sheeple line up for a $99 40in TV, Zafon is right.

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at November 25, 2018 11:24 AM (a18RV)

288 I prefer Bound to Wild Things.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:20 AM (2DOZq)

And you would be correct.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 11:24 AM (wYseH)

289 OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor

Still, Red Storm Rising is my favorite book by Clancy, and I have a first edition Hunt for Red October signed by him.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:24 AM (hyuyC)

290 In the original scenes in Starship Troopers they did do a sex scene with Denise Richards where she showed her tits. But that entire scene was cut from the theatrical release of the film.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:25 AM (mpXpK)

291 but I seem to recall there was some hinting at nudity, without any actual, you know, showing of the goods.
--
I'm beginning to suspect that nude shower scenes in modern Hollywood movies the subject isn't actually nude, judging from the way the images are framed. Topless maybe, but shadowed out, blocked, or cropped from the scene.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:20 AM (hrcfq)


I saw an interesting cut (pun intended) of the shower scene in Psycho. Apparently at the time audiences would have sworn they were seeing, not just nudity, but the actual stab wounds.

The film shows neither!

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:25 AM (cY3LT)

292 as someone who has followed the book thread's discussion of denise richards' breasts, zafon is wrong.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at November 25, 2018 11:26 AM (Pg+x7)

293 266: Overall I like people from India and they seem immune to "cultural appropriation" bullshit. They are always happy to sell food, fabric, clothing, etc to whoever wants it and I have never had a stupid remark thrown at me for wearing a piece of Indian apparel.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:26 AM (U7k5w)

294 I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that
normal? .... I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've
already gone past.Posted by: BurtTC

yeah, I read to try to pull out "the message" and tend to avoid the rest (tedious argument on why they are right, or fluffy personal narrative). When I try to read something like Reinhold Niebuhr (no, not on Comey's suggestion ... ha) ... I find myself processing a couple sentences as my eyes keep reading. weird.


Grasping the full context is no doubt useful, but "my mission" is to put all things into a "unified theory of everything", and I suppose I use the Bible as the foundation for that effort. Getting to root causes may start with "sinful man", but understanding how that has played out in forming governments and shadow governments/mafias, can lead the mind astray from the seeming needless details of some histories.


That may be one of my (many) shortcomings, idk. But I see the author's view as a refining contribution to my constructing of life's puzzles ... or some such. I just want his unique insights applied to his situation, not the rest so much. focused drifting with intent can be better than just grinding through the mundane, imo.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 11:26 AM (Cus5s)

295 Clancy was a real estate developer without the needed cynical eye at military operations and people. ...
Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:22 AM


So Clancy was Billy Joel's real estate novelist.

Loved everything by Clancy up to Rainbow Six.
(spoiler)
Liked the nutso environmentalists getting it in the end, but that book read like a video game transcript.

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:27 AM (YTxkQ)

296 Sea levels have risen by over 400 feet since the end of the last Ice Age. From where I write, I would have been under a mile of ice. Where do you think that water went.

This effect is still going on, but at a much slower rate. So yes, the oceans are rising. But it's got nothing to do with man.

It's down to seven inches a century, but is used as evidence of CAGW. Anyone with half a brain studying this knows better. But they're fucking liars

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:28 AM (1UZdv)

297 Sigh. I need to increase my word power.

Posted by: Little Lupe at November 25, 2018 11:28 AM (Tyii7)

298 There is no evidence that sea levels have risen dramatically since the end of the ice age and the retreat of the glaciers. Some sea levels according to the gages have gone up, others have gone down. And in the cases where they have gone up they have been attributed to things other than atmospheric temperature. The whole sea level rise sky is falling is just another lie vomited out by the warmies. If the sea levels were actually rising Holland would no longer exist and most of Texas would be flooded by now.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:21 AM (mpXpK)

Well, sea levels did rise dramatically between peak ice, and the end of the continental glaciers. But that all happened before there were humans capable of understanding the events, or recording them.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 25, 2018 11:28 AM (fDU8w)

299 Wild things is a girl power movie that has enough in it to appeal to guys. Namely tits.
Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:19 AM (2DOZq)


I don't think Matt Dillon gets enough credit as an actor. I don't know anyone who has more completely captured the meathead pretty boy persona than he.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:29 AM (cY3LT)

300 I thought I didn't know who Denise Richards was. Then I realized she's White She Devil in "Undercover Brother." Very funny movie.

Posted by: Art Rondolet of Malmsey at November 25, 2018 11:29 AM (S+f+m)

301 Posted by: La Societe Ace pour la Preservation de la Langue Francaise at November 25, 2018 11:09 AM (fuK7c)

this is so parfait

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:30 AM (bAsK/)

302 Loved the movie. Have watched "most" of the sequels, and don't mind them at all.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 10:59 AM (cY3LT)

Troopers was bad enough. The sequels got cheesier and cheesier. The third one was pure drek.

Posted by: Fox2! at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (MwFQu)

303 @BillKristol:

When the Trump presidency crumbles before a primary challenge in 2020, I'll think back to these lines from King John:
"Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy,
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)

304
Loved everything by Clancy up to Rainbow Six.
(spoiler)
Liked the nutso environmentalists getting it in the end, but that book read like a video game transcript.

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:27 AM (YTxkQ)







That was about the time he started farming out the writing of his books, if memory serves. There's a definite difference in the writing style starting with Rainbow Six, and not an improvement. Not that he was a great wordsmith, his actual writing was wooden. The plotting and his gift for putting together really cool single scenes are the high points.

But yeah, the ending of RS with the enviroweenies getting their comeuppance rocked.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:33 AM (TVVeW)

305 AoP, what about Doggerland in the UK

Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at November 25, 2018 11:33 AM (a18RV)

306 303: That bastard should choke on a filet mignon

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:33 AM (U7k5w)

307 white she devil - that was richards? ahhhhh.

Posted by: musical jolly chimp at November 25, 2018 11:34 AM (Pg+x7)

308 290 In the original scenes in Starship Troopers they did do a sex scene with Denise Richards where she showed her tits. But that entire scene was cut from the theatrical release of the film.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:25 AM (mpXpK)

Did that make the Directors Cut?

Posted by: Fox2! at November 25, 2018 11:35 AM (MwFQu)

309 Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)

So Kristol seems himself, and other GOPe anti Trumpers, as Nobles?

Explains much.

Posted by: Don Q. at November 25, 2018 11:35 AM (NgKpN)

310
Is that the story he told his partners?
Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:09 AM (YTxkQ)

Nah. It was his own deal. He was still pissed decades later about it. He thinks the cops stole it.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:35 AM (5aX2M)

311 Matt Dillon is a great meathead in Something About Mary.

It's a must see. It's a RomCom from a guy's point of view, and just as fanciful.

Yes, the hot chick will pick me over all others because my heart is true. Right!

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:36 AM (1UZdv)

312 I'm coming around to the idea that what really makes the Civil War the first modern war is Grant, specifically in that he radically changed how the Union Army fought, starting in the Overland Campaign. Unlike virtually every other campaign in military history, Overland was pretty much one long, 3 month battle, rather than 2 weeks of marching followed by 2 days of battle followed by 2 weeks of marching....

Plus, every Union defeat was followed not by retreat, but by a Union advance to attack Lee from a different direction, or on different ground. And most interestingly, Grant lost virtually EVERY battle during the Overland Campaign, only winning a couple of minor skirmishes, yet Overland basically crushed any hope for the Confederates. That's a truly radical departure from past military practice.

-
There was a discussion a few days ago about the Israelis fighting only until Hamas or whatever other Palesimian group wants a cease fire. Grant is the antithesis of that position.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 11:36 AM (+y/Ru)

313 Reading about the impact of global warming on turkey dinner reminds me of an article I wrote for New England Magazine about the Turkey King of Pelham, Mass. He said always buy fresh, because freezing and thawing makes them dry and stringy. I would think raising them in some third world shithole, freezing and transporting would have the same result.

Posted by: Regular joe at November 25, 2018 11:36 AM (7PllL)

314 There was a discussion a few days ago about the Israelis fighting only until Hamas or whatever other Palesimian group wants a cease fire. Grant is the antithesis of that position.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 11:36 AM (+y/Ru)

You fight till your enemy begs you to take your foot off his neck, then you keep it there just a but longer to be sure

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:37 AM (Fh8wK)

315 Off to do some things around the house, have a great day everybody.

Posted by: hogmartin at November 25, 2018 11:38 AM (t+qrx)

316 Sea levels have risen by over 400 feet since the end of the last Ice Age. From where I write, I would have been under a mile of ice. Where do you think that water went.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:28 AM


And that pressure of that weight of ice -- and ice is incredibly heavy* -- pushed down on the plate, lifting another area up higher. It's taking century after century but that lifted plate is gradually lowering itself.

But the snake-oil salesmen have people believing the oceans are rising in that lifted area.

And they call *us* deplorable?

* At the bottom of that ice the pressure would be equivalent to 176 atmospheric pressures. Or twice the pressure on the planet Venus.

Posted by: Gradually, Then Suddenly at November 25, 2018 11:38 AM (e7O7B)

317 Well, sea levels did rise dramatically between peak ice, and the end of the continental glaciers. But that all happened before there were humans capable of understanding the events, or recording them.

-
Duhhhh. Republicans.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (+y/Ru)

318 Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 11:26 AM (Cus5s)

That's a nice description, illiniwek.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (bAsK/)

319 Calvin & Hobbes have given so many people so much enjoyment over the years..

I just never understood why Watterson would not want people to have some of the same joy when drinking out of a C&H coffee mug, for instance.. or looking at the dates on a C&H calendar?

or, a child lovingly sleeping with a Hobbes doll?

I've seen some Hobbes dolls knockoffs.. Blecchh!

If I were Watterson, I would license a select few items just to be able control quality!

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (438dO)

320 Just finished reading LOTR again. I haven't read it as many times as Christopher Lee yet, but he had more time. Also reading a paperback by Robert Silverberg and considering my options for Christmas.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (Nk3Dy)

321 There was talk of rebooting "Starship Troopers" to actually use the novel as the source material, even though it is considered "controversial".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (kQs4Y)

322 Chuck C

Yes. I should have said Clancy was a real estate agent, not developer.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:40 AM (hyuyC)

323 AoP, what about Doggerland in the UK
Posted by: Anna Puma (HQCaR) at November 25, 2018 11:33 AM (a18RV)

I am sure there were a lot of human-populated places in the world that were flooded out as the continental ice sheets melted, and sea levels rose. Probably gave rise to some of the Great Flood stories. But no written records dating back that far.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at November 25, 2018 11:40 AM (fDU8w)

324
Or Denise Richards as a hawt busty nuclear physicist. Riiiiiight. I mean, even though it was in a goofy James Bond flick, dammit have her show her tits.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:18 AM (TVVeW)


Didn't she parody that character in "Undercover Brother"?

Posted by: josephistan at November 25, 2018 11:41 AM (Izzlo)

325 That may be one of my (many) shortcomings, idk. But I see the author's view as a refining contribution to my constructing of life's puzzles ... or some such. I just want his unique insights applied to his situation, not the rest so much. focused drifting with intent can be better than just grinding through the mundane, imo.
Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 11:26 AM (Cus5s)


I want to focus my point specifically on Dostoevsky, and not on my own reading habits/interests.

This book, which is a collection of his short stories, the list of stories is this:

1. White Nights
2. The Honest Thief
3. The Christmas Tree and a Wedding
4. The Peasant Marey
5. Notes From the Underground


Now, anyone who has read his works before knows, one of these things is not like the others.

The first four are truly, short stories. Deep, rich, powerful stories, where the words on the page (or Kindle) are MEANT to be absorbed, slowly. Because so much is present in what gets said and what does not get said. These are the works of a master. I cannot say highly enough how worthwhile it is to take one's time with each of these stories. It's not going to take a lot of time.

Then we get to Notes.

Huh? What the hell did I step into? It's like somebody plunked down into the middle of this, something written by someone else, with a different style, a different voice, a different purpose.

I suspect it's going to land somewhere, but that's my dilemma. Do I just breeze through until I get there? Will I miss what was going on if I do?

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:41 AM (cY3LT)

326 Gor Don Peeples, King David's Spaceship was Pournelle's take on H. Beam Piper's Terro-Human history, where the Empire of Man arose after the collapse of the Federation following the System States war, mostly by conquering and absorbing the independent Sword world successor states, and contacting and absorbing isolated systems that had forgotten or were incapable of interstellar flight.

He later turned it into a backstory for the Mote in God's Eye series that he wrote with Larry Niven.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 25, 2018 11:41 AM (mUa7G)

327 251
It was the German Blitzkrieg that brought the concept of maneuver around fortified positions that was so revolutionary.
Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (hrcfq)


This is the distilled answer taught for a long time. It is imprecise and actually rather false.

WW I saw the birth and validation of modern combined arms maneuver warfare (Brusilov in the east and later Rommel in the west). Everything that followed was incremental advances from new tech.

The interwar period saw several nations develop doctrine regarding mechanized and armored deep battle using combined arms. The various nations had their own spins on this, of course.



Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 11:41 AM (di1hb)

328 303 @BillKristol:

He can't even be parodied. He is a parody of himself.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:42 AM (bAsK/)

329 But yeah, the ending of Rainbow Six with the enviroweenies getting their comeuppance rocked.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:33 AM


But getting there sucked. From memoryspoilers)

nutso eviro: Hey, ex-KGB guy who is our security chief, We Won! Let me tell you our whole evil plan.
(tells whole evil plan to kill off 99.44% of the world's population to ex-KGB guy who didn't sign up for this part)

ex-KGB guy: Congratulations on your success against the evil capitalists and hooray for Mother Gaia. Say, that's a nice gun you have on your belt. May I see it?

nutso enviro: Sure thing dude! (hands over gun)

ex-KGB guy: Thanks!

(bang!)

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:42 AM (YTxkQ)

330 AGW is like Crack. Try it, kid. Go ahead. Mmmmm.

Posted by: klaftern at November 25, 2018 11:42 AM (RuIsu)

331 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

332 So Kristol seems himself, and other GOPe anti Trumpers, as Nobles?

Explains much.
Posted by: Don Q. at November 25, 2018 11:35 AM (NgKpN)

Quote from 1996 WaPo article:

"In the last couple of weeks, there's been too much pseudo-populism, almost too much concern and attention for, quote, the people -- that is, the people's will, their prejudices and their foolish opinions. And in a certain sense, we're all paying the price for that now. After all, we conservatives are on the side of the lords and barons...

...there will always be an Establishment in a system like ours. The task is to make it a decent Establishment, and not just pretend that the voice of the people is always right. We at the Weekly Standard are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants. I may need to get myself pitchfork insurance."

He's always been this way.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (5aX2M)

333 I hope Kasich runs. Trump needs a punching bag in the primaries.

We'll have 20 clowns running for the Democrat nod. Hillary could actually do well off name recognition alone.

Posted by: Ignoramus at November 25, 2018 11:45 AM (1UZdv)

334 295 Clancy was a real estate developer without the needed cynical eye at military operations and people. ...
Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:22 AM


I thought Clancy was an insurance salesman. Before he started writing full time, I mean.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:45 AM (7+qNl)

335 268
I thought it was the US Civil War that discredited the doctrine of frontal assault against a fortified position, yet that is exactly what WWI was.

It was the German Blitzkrieg that brought the concept of maneuver around fortified positions that was so revolutionary.
Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:02 AM (hrcfq)







If anyone in Europe had the wit to actually learn the lessons of the Civil War.... But they didn't, and I suspect that a big part of that was chauvinism (von Moltke was particularly dismissive that mere Americans would have anything to teach their European betters about war).

So the Euros did the massed frontal assault thing again and again in the wars before WWI, with the Prussians and the French, the Russians and the Turks, the Russians and the Japanese etc. But in all three cases, massed frontal assaults still worked, if with staggering casualties. The defensive weapons were still lagging behind the power of the assault, until WWI.

I was actually referring more to the relentless pace of the campaign, not letting up the pressure, and giving no chance for Lee to catch his breath.
===========
CPT Charles has repeatedly stated to my satisfaction that the Prussians were impressed by the Union's use of railroads to provide speedy transport of men and material to the areas where they were needed. The Prussians also noted the use of massed artillery (especially the rifled pieces) and the use of balloons to spot for the big guns. As CPT Charles has said, look at how the Prussian army fought the Franco-Russian War, and you can see whether Prussia or France learned more from the American Civil War.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:46 AM (Nk3Dy)

336 Chuck C

Yes. I should have said Clancy was a real estate agent, not developer.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:40 AM


Wasn't trying to nitpick you. I knew he did something in real estate. And it Billy Joel was part of the content in Friday's ONT. And I hoped it was funny.

Posted by: Chuck C at November 25, 2018 11:46 AM (YTxkQ)

337 If I were Watterson, I would license a select few items just to be able control quality!
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at November 25, 2018 11:39 AM (438dO)

His position on commercialization of Calvin & Hobbes reminds me of Socialists living large in a capitalist world and bitching about everything. No self awareness. Watterson is free to do what he wants though. Unfortunately it took away some of the joy I got from C&H now that I see it partially through Watterson's eyes.

Posted by: Lancelot Link Secret Agent Chimp at November 25, 2018 11:46 AM (2DOZq)

338 This book, which is a collection of his short stories, the list of stories is this:


I went to see if this were perhaps free on Kindle. It is. I went to download it.

Apparently I already did back in September. I need more time to read.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 11:46 AM (fuK7c)

339 Somebody recommended, maybe right here at AoSHQ's Book Thread, the book, "The Strange Case of Dr. Couney - How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies" by Dawn Raffel.

Wow, that's all I can say, wow. Dr. Couney probably wasn't even a doctor, but he pioneered the use of incubators, and oxygen, and feeding preemie babies though the nose with drops of milk. He operated a sideshow attraction, at Coney Island, and Atlantic City, and many of the World's Fairs in the United States up until the late 1930's.

He saved thousands of babies the medical establishment did not want to save (his days of showmanship overlapped with eugenics and those weakiing babies weren't worth saving dontcha know).

It's a fast and fascinating read, thanks to whoever recommended it!!

Posted by: Boots at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (e9omi)

340 Did that make the Directors Cut?

Posted by: Fox2! at November 25, 2018 11:35 AM (MwFQu)

I don't know, but I have seen it on the Net.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (mpXpK)

341 He's always been this way.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (5aX2M)

Wow, what a bastard. How did we not notice he was filthy scum for so long?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (uquGJ)

342 Kindltot at November 25, 2018 11:41 AM

Thank you for that correction.
Not sure where I picked up my mistaken impression. I was looking for a list of the Falkenberg Stories and 'King David's Starship' was suggested.

Mote in God's Eye never appealed to me, and I remember very little from it. Same with 'The Man in the High Castle.' Read it, don't remember any of it, erased from memory.

Posted by: Gor Don Peeples at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (hrcfq)

343 303 @BillKristol:

When the Trump presidency crumbles before a primary challenge in 2020, I'll think back to these lines from King John:
"Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy,
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)

I think we shouldn't give him any air.
(muffle muffle muffle mmph gak)

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (bAsK/)

344 341: I don't know about you, but I never really followed WaPo. I would not have seen it and it could not be tweeted in 1996

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:49 AM (U7k5w)

345 331 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

heh

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:49 AM (bAsK/)

346 I thought Clancy was an insurance salesman. Before he started writing full time, I mean.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:45 AM


"Insurance-selling novelist" wouldn't match the meter

Posted by: Billy Joel at November 25, 2018 11:49 AM (YTxkQ)

347
331 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)







I'm considering just cashing the check for playing Center Field for the Yankees.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:50 AM (TVVeW)

348 King David's Spaceship by Pournelle was originally published as a three part series in Analog in '71-'72. The backstory of the human race slowly recovering lost empire was later ('74) fleshed out in The Mote In God's Eye by Pournelle and Niven. Which is a fantastic read.

Niven and Pournelle later collaborated on Lucifer's Hammer and Inferno, both terrific, among many other books.

RIP Jerry Pournelle.

Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 11:51 AM (Kge8X)

349 321 There was talk of rebooting "Starship Troopers" to actually use the novel as the source material, even though it is considered "controversial".
====================
I would love to see that happen, but Hollywood will need a purge first. The current mindset in Hollywood shrinks from Heinlein's themes, albeit hypothetical. It's too bad, because the creative tech to properly show the powered suits is finally in use. But gung-ho fighting by men of all ethnic groups against intelligent born-socialist arthropods to defend Earth and so earn the right to be a full citizen would get laughed out of every studio in Hollywood right now.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:51 AM (Nk3Dy)

350 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

I'm seriously considering going out on a date with Kate Upton.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (NFEMn)

351 "The second type are books which are more accurately books about food,
with recipes. They go into the history of dishes, or include personal
reminiscences about where the author first had this dish. Sometimes the
cooking instructions are badly-written because the author was writing a
book, not testing recipes."
I have a cookbook called "The Old World Kitchen: The Rich Tradition of European Peasant Cooking" which contains old folk recipes from all over Europe. Included are old accounts from travelers' journals, which recount watching peasant women drying pasta in Southern Italy, or being served goulash in a Hungarian farmhouse The recipes themselves are pretty unfussy as they are based on what was available at any given time. It's a fascinating read. The French recipes are especially interesting. Chefs created haute cuisine by taking the simple recipes of peasants (like coq au vin) and gussied them up by adding costly ingredients.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (d6Ksn)

352 350 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

I'm seriously considering going out on a date with Kate Upton.
Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (NFEMn)

Why not do all three?

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (bAsK/)

353 This book, which is a collection of his short stories, the list of stories is this:

------------------------
I went to see if this were perhaps free on Kindle. It is. I went to download it.

Apparently I already did back in September. I need more time to read.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 11:46 AM (fuK7c)


Heh... and apparently the Magarshack translation is the way to go. So that's nice.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (cY3LT)

354 [ John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020]

John McCain Syndrome: The delusional that the liberals cheering for you actually want you to win and aren't just trolling the Republican President.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at November 25, 2018 11:53 AM (jn7FC)

355
John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

I'm seriously considering going out on a date with Kate Upton.
Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (NFEMn)






Well, she does have a thing for baseball players...

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:53 AM (TVVeW)

356 229 Anyone else think that the photo of the GI's with the book lady looks like it was posed?

Probably kinda was, bet the situation went as you think then a photographer stepped in and orchestrated it. Take a look at most of Soviet photos during WWII, even supposed battle photos are fake.

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 11:53 AM (6VrXf)

357 Speaking of reading and writing: UCLA prof protested for microaggressions against black students. His crime; grammar and spelling correction!
https://tinyurl.com/yagdwmn7

Posted by: keena at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (QS3Sf)

358 303 @BillKristol:

When the Trump presidency crumbles before a primary challenge in 2020, I'll think back to these lines from King John:
"Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy,
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)

I think we shouldn't give him any air.
(muffle muffle muffle mmph gak)
Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:47 AM (bAsK/)

Man, this guy is full of himself. What a dick. What has he ever done except run a shitty magazine?

Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (NFEMn)

359 Stormin Norman spent weeks telling us on TV how they would do a frontal assault, avoid the landmines, etc. Then he did the massive end run.


Of course we bombed them so bad they were crying and begging to surrender on those "front lines", and when we did engage their tanks we killed them all quickly from a distance, iirc. They just were no match ... so maybe not the best example.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (Cus5s)

360 Good morning Hordemates!

Posted by: Diogenes at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (0tfLf)

361 I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)

I'm seriously considering going out on a date with Kate Upton.
Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 11:52 AM (NFEMn)






Well, she does have a thing for baseball players...
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at November 25, 2018 11:53 AM (TVVeW)

LOL Touche

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (Fh8wK)

362 Unknown new thread.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (hyuyC)

363 Did the thread go away? I'm at this URL

http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=378265

and there are no comments, no post, just (Jump to top of page) and this box I'm typing in.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (bAsK/)

364 Posted by: JTB at November 25, 2018 10:16 AM

Wood carving is fun, have a idea for a project for years and haven't tackled it.

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (6VrXf)

365 What just happened?

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (y7DUB)

366 313 Reading about the impact of global warming on turkey dinner reminds me of an article I wrote for New England Magazine about the Turkey King of Pelham, Mass. He said always buy fresh, because freezing and thawing makes them dry and stringy. I would think raising them in some third world shithole, freezing and transporting would have the same result.

Posted by: Regular joe at November 25, 2018 11:36 AM (7PllL)
--------------------------------

Yes, we did that this year and it was amazing! Guests who didn't even know it was fresh commented on how juicy, flavorful, and unusual it was compared to what they have come to expect from turkey (dry and stringy).

And I did absolutely nothing to it to juice it up, I poured some olive oil on the skin prior to roasting in a 325 F oven for a couple of hours, uncovered.

Posted by: Boots at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (e9omi)

367 Weird! It's ba-a-a-ck.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (bAsK/)

368 331 John Katshit: Im Very Seriously Considering Running For President in 2020

I'm considering playing Center Field for the Yankees.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:43 AM (Fh8wK)


Not if you're a Yankees fan, you won't. I want to play right field for the Cardinals, but as a slow, old white guy, it would be a disaster for the team. They'd lose 140 games.

Which is the point.

Katsick isn't running for President. He's not trying to win anything, he wants to lose the Presidency for Don Trump.

He should be treated as the enemy.

So yeah, I think instead of the Cardinals, I shall seek to play right field for the Cubs. Or Royals. I'm fine with either, but it would be harder to make the Royals worse than they already are.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:57 AM (cY3LT)

369 362 Unknown new thread.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:54 AM (hyuyC)


The old thread should be back. I had to add the 'Books by Morons' section that I had completely left out.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:57 AM (7+qNl)

370 Just a little hiccup in the space/time continuum.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (+y/Ru)

371 It's important to keep history alive, known and relevant, especially while it's still living history, especially with the Shoah.

Posted by: geewhiz at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (fjSw0)

372 365 What just happened?
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (y7DUB


Thread update. More content.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (7+qNl)

373 Maybe the wonkiness heralds the imminent arrival of a new post.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (bAsK/)

374 Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:57 AM (cY3LT)

Well I am White, and kinda old I guess but not so slow.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (Fh8wK)

375 333 I hope Kasich runs. Trump needs a punching bag in the primaries.

We'll have 20 clowns running for the Democrat nod. Hillary could actually do well off name recognition alone.
====
Kasich wouldn't last three months against Trump. Every conservative Republican in Ohio hates him for being a NerverTrumper squish. He is the poster boy for the GOPE big-state weenie image.

The Hildabeast won't last long either. The challenge against Pelosi, no matter how brief, was a warning served up by the Dem-Socialists against the Establishment. Any of their candidates who runs to the right of Bernie Sanders will face Leftist protests and social media sniping. A lot of young and ethnic Democrats stayed home in 2016 rather than vote for her, which is why Trump flipped a couple of states he normally shouldn't have despite his best efforts.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (Nk3Dy)

376 372 365 What just happened?
Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 11:56 AM (y7DUB

Thread update. More content.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (7+qNl)

Thanks, OM.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (bAsK/)

377 m

Happened to me. could not post, and most recent thread was Sunday's EMT.

Pixy Misa, you are our only hope!

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (hyuyC)

378 370 Just a little hiccup in the space/time continuum.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (+y/Ru)


I updated the thread with a bit more content.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (7+qNl)

379 Gee who crashed the thread?

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (mpXpK)

380 The little movie short in the side bar is cute. Boys will be boys.

Posted by: Infidel at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (PF4TZ)

381 A friend of the family avidly participates in one of those "read stories to inmates and people on parole" groups and is pushing me for money. I am very inclined to say no as I do not believe that "exposing them to literature" takes the place of jobs or job training. And I find that the criminal types I see at my job would like nothing better than to escape work. Any thoughts?

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (U7k5w)

382 Not seeing a new thread

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (6VrXf)

383 @233 I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.
--------------------

I heard from someone (I *think* it was Mike Pondsmith, on the off-chance that anyone here knows who he is) that Verhoeven originally wrote the script as a non-licensed thing. Then others read it and noted that it had some elements in common with the novel. So he purchased the license to increase the marketability.

Posted by: junior at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (4baPt)

384 Speaking of reading and writing: UCLA prof protested for microaggressions against black students. His crime; grammar and spelling correction!

-
B fukking spellling n gramer!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (+y/Ru)

385 Thanks, OM. Whew.

Dodged the end of a space-time continuum again.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (hyuyC)

386 Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:57 AM (cY3LT)

Well I am White, and kinda old I guess but not so slow.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (Fh8wK)


How's your throwing arm? See, that's the one thing I think I still got. So right field, not center.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (cY3LT)

387 That's the Clancy novel everyone hates. Except, apparently, you and I. Everyone else thinks it's too long and boring, but I thought it was a great read.

Posted by: OregonMuse.


Let us count the ways of its superiority:

1. No Jack Ryan;

2. It's World War III!;

3. The good guys suffer as much as the bad guys;

4. No Jack Ryan;

5. Every branch of the various militaries are involved;

6. No Jack Ryan;

7. A very good description of modern (as of 1986) warfare's intricacies and how tactics/strategies overlap and effect each other;

8. Well-developed, well-written main characters;

9. No Jack Ryan.

Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 12:01 PM (Kge8X)

388 How's your throwing arm? See, that's the one thing I think I still got. So right field, not center.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (cY3LT)

Well ya got me there...I used to have a rocket but I hurt my shoulder a while back and it's weak..Sigh. So maybe First Base?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 12:01 PM (Fh8wK)

389 Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (Nk3Dy)

All jokes aside, will she be vertical enough to even be dragged through the primaries in 2020?

Posted by: Vanya at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (7PLM4)

390 Kasich wouldn't last three months against Trump. Every conservative Republican in Ohio hates him for being a NerverTrumper squish. He is the poster boy for the GOPE big-state weenie image.

I'm wondering where that fuckhead plans on setting his carpet bags down because what you said about Ohio is true.

Posted by: Captain Hate at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (y7DUB)

391 With that, going to enjoy the snow show. The blizzard is full force, with the heavy snow in the future.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (hyuyC)

392 Everyone else thinks it's too long and boring, but I thought it was a great read.


Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 10:55 AM (7+qNl)

I thought RSR was a superb book.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (wYseH)

393 388 How's your throwing arm? See, that's the one thing I think I still got. So right field, not center.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (cY3LT)

Well ya got me there...I used to have a rocket but I hurt my shoulder a while back and it's weak..Sigh. So maybe First Base?
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 12:01 PM (Fh8wK)

This might not impress Kate Upton very much.

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (bAsK/)

394 382 Not seeing a new thread
Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (6VrXf)


There isn't one. Not at this time, anyway.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (7+qNl)

395 You can catch a thread that looks like a nood during a update, comments made when blank often show up on the later thread.
I know, done it often.

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (6VrXf)

396 A friend of the family avidly participates in one of those "read stories to inmates and people on parole" groups and is pushing me for money. I am very inclined to say no as I do not believe that "exposing them to literature" takes the place of jobs or job training. And I find that the criminal types I see at my job would like nothing better than to escape work. Any thoughts?
Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (U7k5w)


Why are they being read to?

Might be more useful to teach them to read themselves, if they don't already know how.

Teach a man to fish, that type of thing.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:03 PM (cY3LT)

397 343 303 @BillKristol:

When the Trump presidency crumbles before a primary challenge in 2020, I'll think back to these lines from King John:
"Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy,
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)

I think we shouldn't give him any air.
(muffle muffle muffle mmph gak)
=============
Bill Kristol would not be one of the Barons at Runnymeade. He would be one of King John the Only's toadies, praising the king's strong hands-on government. Or, more likely, he would have been one of the weathercock Norman barons who defected to the King of France, rather than put up with the demands of another strong Plantagenet king.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:03 PM (Nk3Dy)

398 387 That's the Clancy novel everyone hates. Except, apparently, you and I. Everyone else thinks it's too long and boring, but I thought it was a great read.

Posted by: OregonMuse.


Let us count the ways of its superiority:

1. No Jack Ryan;

2. It's World War III!;

3. The good guys suffer as much as the bad guys;

4. No Jack Ryan;

5. Every branch of the various militaries are involved;

6. No Jack Ryan;

7. A very good description of modern (as of 1986) warfare's intricacies and how tactics/strategies overlap and effect each other;

8. Well-developed, well-written main characters;

9. No Jack Ryan.
Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 12:01 PM (Kge8X)


Yeah, but it's missing Portagee.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at November 25, 2018 12:03 PM (di1hb)

399 Kaschich will run as a third party spoiler. No expectation to win, just to throw it for the democrat

Posted by: josephistan at November 25, 2018 12:04 PM (Izzlo)

400 400!

Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 12:04 PM (bAsK/)

401 Someone upthread asked about the book version of From Here To Eternity. It was a lot more violent and of course graphically sexual. IIRC there were allusions to homosexuality as well. I would read it again but skip over the violence like when Maggio goes to the brig.

Posted by: kallisto at November 25, 2018 12:05 PM (UsFoH)

402 How's your throwing arm? See, that's the one thing I think I still got. So right field, not center.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (cY3LT)

Well ya got me there...I used to have a rocket but I hurt my shoulder a while back and it's weak..Sigh. So maybe First Base?
Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 12:01 PM (Fh8wK)


Mickey Rivers manned center for the Yanks when they were winning a couple WS, and with his arm he couldn't bounce a ball to the mound if he was standing right behind second base.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:05 PM (cY3LT)

403 396: Because volunteers have to volunteer? I suspect they would otherwise not choose Eudora Welty and other lady writers that the volunteers feel will inspire them to overcome.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:05 PM (U7k5w)

404 When the Trump presidency crumbles before a primary challenge in 2020, I'll think back to these lines from King John:

"Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone

To offer service to your enemy,

And wild amazement hurries up and down

The little number of your doubtful friends."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 11:31 AM (5aX2M)


This is not a very successful limerick. He's messed up his rhyme scheme.

Posted by: Kindltot at November 25, 2018 12:06 PM (mUa7G)

405 383 @233 I HATE Paul Verhoeven with an undying hatred for taking Heinlein's novel and twisting it into a Nazi pretzel. Every time I think about that movie, I turn into a spitting, cussing rage monkey. I can't stand it.
--------------------

I heard from someone (I *think* it was Mike Pondsmith, on the off-chance that anyone here knows who he is) that Verhoeven originally wrote the script as a non-licensed thing. Then others read it and noted that it had some elements in common with the novel. So he purchased the license to increase the marketability.
---------------
I would believe that, especially since Pondsmith lives in PRCA and has known some creative people of many talents and backgrounds.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:06 PM (Nk3Dy)

406 395 You can catch a thread that looks like a nood during a update, comments made when blank often show up on the later thread.
I know, done it often.
Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (6VrXf)


What happens is that I update the thread and then accidentally save it in 'Draft' mode. Doing that should yank the thread entirely from view, but what you get is a weird blank thread with no comments. It all gets fixed when I say 'oops' and switch to 'Publish' before hitting the 'save' button.

This has been this Sunday's edition of 'Behind the Scenes at AoSHQ: More than just empty beer bottles and greasy pizza boxes.'

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:06 PM (7+qNl)

407 I thought Red Storm Rising was about Alexandria Ojos Locos campaign.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 12:07 PM (+y/Ru)

408 Hiya, Horde, This week I finished Jackrabbit Smile, a Hap and Leonard book by Joe R. Lansdale. As usual, great dialogue and an interesting mystery, but (spoiler alert) a depressing epilogue.

I started Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To, by Anthony DeStefano, which had 144 five-star reviews on Amazon. If that 144 wasn't a sign, nothing was! It's outstanding and gives you quite a lot to think about. Most reviewers said they read a chapter a day as a devotional.

BBL, have to make dinner.

Happy reading!

Posted by: SandyCheeks at November 25, 2018 12:07 PM (tGSHk)

409 396: On a side note the indefatigable Rabbi Sharpton has decided that Maimonides was wrong about teaching a man a trade. As long as he has "good self esteem" there is no reason not to sponge off the taxpayers and stay on the dole.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:07 PM (U7k5w)

410 OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor

You are right and I am wrong. Clancy was an insurance salesman, not a real estate agent.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at November 25, 2018 12:07 PM (hyuyC)

411 His crime; grammar and spelling correction!


"Trying to correct the mistakes of a minority student is now took as racism and not to mention students also launched a protest against the professor."


This must be some double-reverse snark or something that doesn't work. The article is illiterate.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at November 25, 2018 12:07 PM (fuK7c)

412 389 Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 11:58 AM (Nk3Dy)

All jokes aside, will she be vertical enough to even be dragged through the primaries in 2020?
====
There is that, too. The woman is one bad day apart from a televised funeral, and the past two years have not been kind. Trump looks more vital and energetic.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:08 PM (Nk3Dy)

413 "I suspect it's going to land somewhere, but that's
my dilemma. Do I just breeze through until I get there? Will I miss
what was going on if I do?" Posted by: BurtTC
I see ... well you are more disciplined than I am. I'd probably not even try to stay with it.

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 12:08 PM (Cus5s)

414 Peter F. Hamilton - Night Without Stars

My stack to read soon:
Art of War (Again- been awhile)
Arabian Nights (Also been awhile)
Navigators of Dune
Lords of the Sith

Posted by: Cluebat at November 25, 2018 12:08 PM (rx32i)

415 If anyone in Europe had the wit to actually learn the lessons of the Civil War.... But they didn't

There were actually some Brits who did, notably Roberts. Unfortunately, he was too old, having come out of retirement for the Boer War, and died in 1914. Even more unfortunately, Kitchener, though his 2nd in command in the Boer War (later overall commander) didn't get it at all. He was just a butcher.

I don't recall the name of the battle, but Roberts got sick (remember he was old) and Kitchener took over, immediately started frontal assaults. Roberts took a train back to stop that shit.

Bobs is an underrated and undeservedly forgotten general.

Posted by: Eeyore, fomerly George LeS at November 25, 2018 12:10 PM (VaN/j)

416 6 Working on CS Lewis Space series! 1st one is pretty good!
Posted by: rhennigantx at November 25, 2018 09:01 AM (JFO2v)


I first read them back in the 70s. The second book, Perelandra, is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

The third book in the series seemed a bit far-fetched when I first read it, but now seems like prophecy. Lewis is spot on in describing the mainstream media as a tool of evil.

Posted by: Michael the Texan at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (nvMvs)

417 403 396: Because volunteers have to volunteer? I suspect they would otherwise not choose Eudora Welty and other lady writers that the volunteers feel will inspire them to overcome.
Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:05 PM (U7k5w)


Once upon a time, my job used to take me into prisons.

They like to have some control over who gets in (and more importantly, who they allow out at the end of the day), so prisons tend to do a little orientation.

I've sat through a few of these, along with volunteers who were going into help with reading and writing and rithmatic. That sort of thing. Often these were little old ladies, but some of them were not so old.

One thing they would emphasize over and over and over and over and over and over again: Don't have sex with the prisoners. Don't do them any favors, don't bring in contraband, don't take anything out for them. And don't have sex with them!

Just don't. Have sex. With them.

With as much as they emphasized the point, my little pea brain got to thinking... gee, maybe some of these volunteers were coming in and, you know, having sex with the prisoners.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (cY3LT)

418 Bullshitsky. It was the American Civil War that taught American Generals to NEVER try frontal assaults on heavily defended positions. Flank the enemy, Flank the enemy. Rinse and repeat.

Posted by: JAS at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (3HNOQ)

419 390 Kasich wouldn't last three months against Trump. Every conservative Republican in Ohio hates him for being a NerverTrumper squish. He is the poster boy for the GOPE big-state weenie image.

I'm wondering where that fuckhead plans on setting his carpet bags down because what you said about Ohio is true.
======
I won't say Kasich will have 0% support, but outside of the biggest cities the Republicans will turn out against him. He can place well in New England, but once the primaries move to the Midwest and South he will get stomped, especially if Trump weathers 2019-20 in good form. I say he will be dead meat long before California could save him.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:12 PM (Nk3Dy)

420 396 A friend of the family avidly participates in one of those "read stories to inmates and people on parole" groups and is pushing me for money. I am very inclined to say no as I do not believe that "exposing them to literature" takes the place of jobs or job training. And I find that the criminal types I see at my job would like nothing better than to escape work. Any thoughts?
Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 11:59 AM (U7k5w)

Why are they being read to?


Good question.

Might be more useful to teach them to read themselves, if they don't
already know how.

Teach a man to fish, that type of thing.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:03 PM (cY3LT)


This sounds like classic liberal do-goodism to me. That is, there will be no benefits, and what will happen is the exact opposite of the liberals thought would happen.

Educate a criminal and all you get is a smarter criminal. Is that what we want?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:12 PM (7+qNl)

421 This might not impress Kate Upton very much.
Posted by: m at November 25, 2018 12:02 PM (bAsK/)

Neither would my bank account

Posted by: Nevergiveup at November 25, 2018 12:12 PM (Fh8wK)

422
g'early afternoon, 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at November 25, 2018 12:13 PM (KCxzN)

423 Re: last week's word of the day (pussivanting): ineffectual fussing or meddling.

Looked this up in the old man's OED and the etymology is cool.

It comes from the word pursuivant, a low ranking agent of the Crown. Specifically, Edward IV's pursuivants who were sent to seize weapons from the Cornish, only to give up after they returned with their ears sliced off. This is the cool story of the word pussivanting.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at November 25, 2018 12:13 PM (5aX2M)

424 81 A friend of the family avidly participates in one of those "read stories to inmates and people on parole" groups and is pushing me for money. I am very inclined to say no as I do not believe that "exposing them to literature" takes the place of jobs or job training. And I find that the criminal types I see at my job would like nothing better than to escape work. Any thoughts?
========
I would give them a little support. Most criminals are criminals because they have little or no education, and never got the inspiration for self-betterment and seeing a better world that comes from good reading. If you want to stipulate that Scripture and some conservative political philosophy gets included on the reading list, do so!

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:14 PM (Nk3Dy)

425 "I suspect it's going to land somewhere, but that's
my dilemma. Do I just breeze through until I get there? Will I miss
what was going on if I do?" Posted by: BurtTC


I see ... well you are more disciplined than I am. I'd probably not even try to stay with it.
Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 12:08 PM (Cus5s)


I cannot highly enough recommend the first few stories in that collection. If you read them first, you will understand why I want to stick with this one.

And it's one of his most celebrated, famous works. It has to have something going for it. I just haven't figured it out yet.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:15 PM (cY3LT)

426 Yes. I should have said Clancy was a real estate agent, not developer.

Posted by: NaCly Dog


Insurance salesman.

Posted by: Sharkman at November 25, 2018 12:15 PM (Kge8X)

427 The second book, Perelandra, is one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

It is. The floating islands' description is staggering. Also Ransom's trek down the mountain after coming from beneath the earth. (The streamer plants section.) Lewis could pull the stops out in his descriptions. See also the last chapters of Dawn Treader.

That Hideous Strength is the forgotten dystopia, but just as significant as the more famous ones.

Posted by: Eeyore, fomerly George LeS at November 25, 2018 12:15 PM (VaN/j)

428 Both sides had foreign observers during the American Civil war, as Gen William Sherman did later in European wars. The Gettysburg movie uses a British observer as a character.

Posted by: Skip at November 25, 2018 12:15 PM (6VrXf)

429 417: She, and I for that matter, would probably qualify as little old ladies. The family friend, however, really doesn't accept that prisoners and parolees have sociopathic tendencies and sees them as victims of circumstances. I would never get involved in spending non-work time with these people and she has only asked for donations. Seems like money down the drain.

As for the sex part, some men and women are truly flattered by anyone who tells them how irresistible they are, and sociopaths tend to be excellent liars.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:16 PM (U7k5w)

430 One of the most disturbing things about Bundy is that he fathered a child - a daughter - while on Death Row. Apparently guards were bribed to look the other way when his girlfriend came visiting. That was in the early 80's. Assuming she's a decent person, how the hell do you come to grips with the fact that your father was an incredibly evil sadist? How do you tell your friends and boyfriends? Do you tell them, or keep your family secret to yourself and make up some story?

The daughter of another incredibly evil sadist - Stalin, who murdered many more people than Bundy - lived in a small town in Wisconsin for years and passed away just a few years ago. She kept to herself and was under no illusions about her father. It must have been a strange thing to see Stalin's daughter pushing a grocery cart down the aisle at the local supermarket.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at November 25, 2018 12:17 PM (d6Ksn)

431 If anyone in Europe had the wit to actually learn the lessons of the Civil War.... But they didn't
-----------------------------------
There were actually some Brits who did, notably Roberts. Unfortunately, he was too old, having come out of retirement for the Boer War, and died in 1914. Even more unfortunately, Kitchener, though his 2nd in command in the Boer War (later overall commander) didn't get it at all. He was just a butcher.

I don't recall the name of the battle, but Roberts got sick (remember he was old) and Kitchener took over, immediately started frontal assaults. Roberts took a train back to stop that shit.

Bobs is an underrated and undeservedly forgotten general.
Posted by: Eeyore, fomerly George LeS at November 25, 2018 12:10 PM (VaN/j)


That was the first thing I thought of, when this discussion started around Euros not learning the lessons of the American Civil War. The Brits during the Boer War.

Thanks for filling in some detail here.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:18 PM (cY3LT)

432 There is a used book store in a nearby town that you might be taking your life in hand going in. I know the owner tries, but his shelves are leaning this way and that. We are talking about 6 to 8 foot rows of book shelves loaded with books, paper backs, etc. He keeps getting in boxes and boxes of books all the time. And what is surprising he knows about where every book is, if you can find it. He does have a system, only he knows what it is. Prices are good.

Posted by: Colin at November 25, 2018 12:18 PM (Z5grj)

433 File under "No Shit". A trans woman has regrets:

My New Vagina Won't Make Me Happy

Caveat lector: link to NYT.

https://nyti.ms/2AjNYd9

"I feel demonstrably worse since I started on hormones. One reason is that, absent the levies of the closet, years of repressed longing for the girlhood I never had have flooded my consciousness. I am a marshland of regret. Another reason is that I take estrogen - effectively, delayed-release sadness, a little aquamarine pill that more or less guarantees a good weep within six to eight hours."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

434 So he purchased the license to increase the marketability.
Posted by: junior at November 25, 2018 12:00 PM (4baPt)

I hope Ginny stuck it to him good for the license.

Posted by: Fox2! at November 25, 2018 12:18 PM (MwFQu)

435 nood

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 12:19 PM (mpXpK)

436 on that frontal assault thing ... from one view, the real wars now are PsyOp, where the enemy infiltrates from within, and basically the culture agrees with a stand down or surrender.


This has sorta already happened in Western Europe. Trump broke the narrative after Obama revealed their "fundamentally transform America" invasion.


From the PsyOp mindset, the DNC and FBI DeepState "insurance policy" and Mueller ascending to the throne ... (with the media/Hollywood armies in coordinated assault) .... that IS their frontal assault. An obvious affront to the American Patriot. Cloward-Piven was the long term bombardment to soften us up ... now they are using the Judiciary, the Special High Priest Counsel, and 10,000 maniac moles entrenched within for a "frontal assault" to end us. (add in border invasion, GOPe sellouts, anitfa/BLM actual assaults, etc.)

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 12:19 PM (Cus5s)

437 Educate a criminal and all you get is a smarter criminal. Is that what we want?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:12 PM (7+qNl)

Vocational skills would be better really

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 12:20 PM (XZ3Gp)

438 With as much as they emphasized the point, my little pea brain got to thinking... gee, maybe some of these volunteers were coming in and, you know, having sex with the prisoners.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (cY3LT)


I've worked with a few cons and ex-cons in my time and discovered that cons are- well, they're cons. Con artists. They will say anything and do anything to get what appears to be an advantage to them. When they actually tell you the truth, it's just another form of a lie to get something.

I hate to say this, but I think most of them should be just taken out and shot. They will never amount to anything other than being petty criminals and a burden on the social welfare agencies. I don't know what the solution to our prison problem is, but we've created a permanent underclass that we need to feed and house and provide medical care for. And it appears to be getting worse, not better.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:20 PM (7+qNl)

439 With as much as they emphasized the point, my little pea brain got to thinking... gee, maybe some of these volunteers were coming in and, you know, having sex with the prisoners.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (cY3LT)

Considering that lots of inmates get plenty of "fan" mail from twisted chicks, I'm not the least bit surprised. In fact, I bet many of these women join that group for the opportunity to have sex with inmates.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 12:20 PM (NFEMn)

440 Posted by: Eeyore, fomerly George LeS at November 25, 2018 12:10 PM (VaN/j)

Speaking of the Boer war, I've been listening to Rider Haggard's Allen Quartermaine books in rotation with a bunch of other compilations. The "Complete works of..." has now gotten through those (which I generally enjoyed) and Oh. My. God. I *hate* all the characters and the plots are grinding stupidity of betrayal and poor character. I keep hoping it gets better, but life is seriously too short to do more than listen to the first 5 and last 2 chapters.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at November 25, 2018 12:20 PM (uquGJ)

441 436: Ohio dodged a bullet with DeWine. Cordray was a big proponent of Cloward Piven at MSU

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:21 PM (U7k5w)

442 399 Kaschich will run as a third party spoiler. No expectation to win, just to throw it for the democrat
=======
Hmm, would the NeverTrumpers be that petty? Yeah, they might be that petty. Instead of Bull Moose it would be, well, a different sort of Bull.

However, Sanders and Trump, both political outsiders, joined the major parties in 2016 in order to get face time and financial/structural support. The MSM has determinedly ignored or buried third party candidates, and that was BEFORE they became open shills for the Democrats. I'd say in 2020 the MSM will be in full "Death to Orange Man!!!" mode, Trump will be poking them with a stick to make sure the attention stays on him, and a lot of challengers will wither away for lack of notice.

Posted by: exdem13 at November 25, 2018 12:21 PM (Nk3Dy)

443 Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:03 PM (cY3LT)

This sounds like classic liberal do-goodism to me. That is, there will be no benefits, and what will happen is the exact opposite of the liberals thought would happen.

Educate a criminal and all you get is a smarter criminal. Is that what we want?
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:12 PM (7+qNl)


I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with teaching inmates and parolees, job skills and other skills to help them better themselves.

It's not a stretch to say that if you give them more education, they might acquire the wisdom that goes along with it.

What else are we going to do? If they are going to get out, we want them to have SOME incentive to not go back to criminal behavior. Unless you're going to keep them locked up forever. In which case...

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:22 PM (cY3LT)

444 So yeah, I think instead of the Cardinals, I shall
seek to play right field for the Cubs. Or Royals. I'm fine with
either, but it would be harder to make the Royals worse than they
already are.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 11:57 AM (cY3LT)

The Royals have hired Matheny as a "special advisor." If I were a Royals fan, I would not be pleased.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&V at November 25, 2018 12:23 PM (d6Ksn)

445 438: I can't tell her that, but I basically share your opinion. And for those who want to change, even theoretically want this, vocational training and a 40 hour work week will help more than short stories, a little discussion and an art therapy project.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:23 PM (U7k5w)

446 I hope Kasich runs. Trump needs a punching bag in the primaries.

We'll have 20 clowns running for the Democrat nod. Hillary could actually do well off name recognition alone.



The Dems always do whatever worked before, so-

expect whoever the Dim candidate is to run to the right of Trump on most issues-

just like Oblabla did with McCain

-and trust the hard left to believe he/she's running right just to fool the Deplorables.


That would be hard for Hillary to do, since she's a known quantity. Though old, man-hating, fymynyst white women might get her over the hump.

Somebody like Bug-Eyes Mc Choppers or Beta is a much better bet. Especially, with all the laudatory MSM boot-licking they'll get.

Posted by: naturalfake at November 25, 2018 12:23 PM (CRRq9)

447 443: This story reading group has nothing to do with job skills, it's "exposure to literature" and is only open to those who can read.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:25 PM (U7k5w)

448 With as much as they emphasized the point, my little pea brain got to thinking... gee, maybe some of these volunteers were coming in and, you know, having sex with the prisoners.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:11 PM (cY3LT)

I've worked with a few cons and ex-cons in my time and discovered that cons are- well, they're cons. Con artists. They will say anything and do anything to get what appears to be an advantage to them. When they actually tell you the truth, it's just another form of a lie to get something.

I hate to say this, but I think most of them should be just taken out and shot. They will never amount to anything other than being petty criminals and a burden on the social welfare agencies. I don't know what the solution to our prison problem is, but we've created a permanent underclass that we need to feed and house and provide medical care for. And it appears to be getting worse, not better.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:20 PM (7+qNl)


There's a short term view and a long term view, and they are not the same.

One thing we know, if you are dealing with people who are recently released from prison, there's a period of adaptation that has to happen. They learn how to adapt to the prison setting, and then when they get out, they have to figure out how to operate out here.

The con game is a skillset that is VERY useful in prison.

I have seen folks who, with intense work and motivation, overcome the urge to be cons their whole lives, and learn to be citizens again.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:26 PM (cY3LT)

449 If Kasich runs in 2020 for the express purpose of stopping Trump--and actually succeeds in throwing the election to the Democrats, 50% of the electorate is going to be pissed off like we've never seen before. And when the Democrat starts systematically dismantling Trump's legacy--to the glee of the media--that's when the shit's going to hit the fan.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 12:26 PM (NFEMn)

450 Learned some very interesting stuff about libraries in this thread.

"At the Philly free lib you can learn to play with the hobo"

another fella says "post coitus there is shooting up"

they allow guns @ his place...SWEET !! do they require "SILENCERS" I shot the head librarian but not the deputy.....

Posted by: saf at November 25, 2018 12:27 PM (5IHGB)

451 It's not a stretch to say that if you give them more education, they might acquire the wisdom that goes along with it.


Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:22 PM (cY3LT)

I too used to think that education imparted wisdom.
Then I saw the what had happened to our universities.

Posted by: votermom pimping NEW Moron-authored books! at November 25, 2018 12:27 PM (XZ3Gp)

452 I have seen folks who, with intense work and motivation, overcome the urge to be cons their whole lives, and learn to be citizens again.
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:26 PM (cY3LT)

Yes, but they got to be young and not set in their ways.

Posted by: JoeF. at November 25, 2018 12:28 PM (NFEMn)

453 It's not a stretch to say that if you give them more education, they might acquire the wisdom that goes along with it.

I've rarely seen this actually work in practice.

What else are we going to do? If they are going to get out, we want them to have SOME incentive to not go back to criminal behavior. Unless you're going to keep them locked up forever. In which case...
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:22 PM (cY3LT)


I know, I know.

Cons don't want to work hard. That's why they con. They need to be taught the value of getting up early, going to work, putting in a full day's work, taking responsibility, etc. And, from what I've seen, 99% of them simply do not want to do this and, in fact, refuse to do so.

So I don't know what the answers are. All I know is that I've seen everything you describe tried, and it fails almost all of the time.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:28 PM (7+qNl)

454 One thing they would emphasize over and over and over and over and over and over again: Don't have sex with the prisoners.

-
I watched a true crime documentary yesterday. A woman hired a hit man to kill her husband's side squeeze. She used her sister as a go between. Sister met the hit man and fell in love and married him. Sister and hit man then blackmail mail of color her sister who hired him. But soon the bloom was off the rose. Hit man threatened to kill his new bride and she blew the whistle to the cops.

Moral: Don't marry a hit man or, if you're a hit man, don't marry your client.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 12:29 PM (+y/Ru)

455 453: We need more manufacturing jobs for this purpose, they need to be too tired to drug and steal, and to pleased with the money to want to waste it or lose the income.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:30 PM (U7k5w)

456 453: IOW "Bernice bobs her hair" will not get us there.

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:32 PM (U7k5w)

457 One thing they would emphasize over and over and over and over and over and over again: Don't have sex with the prisoners.

-
I watched a true crime documentary yesterday. A woman hired a hit man to kill her husband's side squeeze. She used her sister as a go between. Sister met the hit man and fell in love and married him. Sister and hit man then blackmail mail of color her sister who hired him. But soon the bloom was off the rose. Hit man threatened to kill his new bride and she blew the whistle to the cops.

Moral: Don't marry a hit man or, if you're a hit man, don't marry your client.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at November 25, 2018 12:29 PM (+y/Ru)


Hah! Other moral: If you find yourself living this life, ask God for a do-over.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:39 PM (cY3LT)

458 What else are we going to do? If they are going to get out, we want them to have SOME incentive to not go back to criminal behavior. Unless you're going to keep them locked up forever. In which case...
Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:22 PM (cY3LT)

I know, I know.

Cons don't want to work hard. That's why they con. They need to be taught the value of getting up early, going to work, putting in a full day's work, taking responsibility, etc. And, from what I've seen, 99% of them simply do not want to do this and, in fact, refuse to do so.

So I don't know what the answers are. All I know is that I've seen everything you describe tried, and it fails almost all of the time.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at November 25, 2018 12:28 PM (7+qNl)


I've seen the success rate as higher than you seem to be seeing it.

I'm nobody's fool either. When it fails, I don't find myself so invested in the outcome that I let it bother me too much.

Was there something I could have done better? Maybe. So I try to learn from that. But for the most part, I see failure as a choice of the part of the failee. I shrug, and move on to the next one.

Posted by: BurtTC at November 25, 2018 12:41 PM (cY3LT)

459 "Dostoevsky, and am now delving into "Notes From the Underground."Posted by: BurtT

thanks for the advise. I got it on Kindle for 99 cents from Amazon ... and the audible for another $1.99 ... such a deal. Certainly many patriots feel like they could use some "notes from the underground".

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 12:45 PM (Cus5s)

460 Well, I'm back.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 12:51 PM (cfSRQ)

461 Light thread this week.

Usually there's still some chatter until one. Oh well...

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 12:56 PM (cfSRQ)

462 460: Welcome back

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 12:57 PM (U7k5w)

463 Posted by: lin-duh at November 25, 2018 09:18

I read the entire bible as a teen. I set my goal to read at least a few verses every day. IIRC it took me a year and maybe 3 months. As it's been almost 50 yrs you've given me the idea I should do it again. Maybe that will be my New Yrs resolution.

Posted by: Farmer at November 25, 2018 12:58 PM (yJ1e6)

464 463: Sounds like a good one. My current literature resolution was to plow through some of the Dos Passos works I have at home. I actually liked reading parts of his travelogue as it was in the post WWI eastern Europe and was not overly flattering of the Turks and "refugees"

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 01:02 PM (U7k5w)

465 "I too used to think that education imparted wisdom.
Then I saw the what had happened to our universities.Posted by voterMom

except our universities were invaded by a foreign power ... the Soviets. (and other outsiders, and some evil "mafias" within).

Nature of (even the learned patriotic) man can be a problem, but imo it was the PsyOp warfare of others that marched through our institutions, more than the BadMan just meandering off on his own. Reagan called out the evil empire, but that was after the bad cats were out of the bag.


The learning from the horde is what can save us?

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 01:08 PM (Cus5s)

466 "Educate a criminal and all you get is a smarter criminal. Is that what we want? Posted by: OregonMuse.

they educate each other on the inside (to be jihadists or better crooks) ... at the least we should issue them all dope so they stay high and lethargic, and feed them tofu, and take away the weight machines?


Prison is big business, and a breeding ground (university) for future criminal gang members. Some in power perhaps see that chaos useful for the overthrow of "The West".

Posted by: illiniwek at November 25, 2018 01:14 PM (Cus5s)

467 Why does it cost money to volunteer to read to someone? Doesn't make sense.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at November 25, 2018 01:27 PM (/qEW2)

468 I have read all of Ruis Zafon's books and they are beautifully written, lyrical, and haunting. Found the first one while wandering the shelves of my local library. And yes, DO judge the book by its cover - easiest way to tell if the author/publisher really wants you to read it.

Posted by: judy at November 25, 2018 01:34 PM (K0xSf)

469 Oh, and regarding WW I tactics, it didn't matter if the generals studied the Civil War or not, because they had no room to maneuver.[i/]

If Lee had been able to build a continuous front from the Shenandoah to the Chesapeake, Grant wouldn't have been able to turn the flank, no matter how much he wanted to.

That's what happened in 1914. The armies were now too big for the theater. The German plan of turning the wing failed and then came the "March to the Sea" where they kept extending towards the channel. And then they were stuck.

But being ill-read on war had nothing to do with it.


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 01:35 PM (cfSRQ)

470 Oops.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at November 25, 2018 01:47 PM (cfSRQ)

471 467: She wants donations for the "offices" they need, LOL, and probably administrative salaries

Posted by: CN at November 25, 2018 01:52 PM (U7k5w)

472 In March of 1970 I was the "king record salesman" in Dublin, GA. The the draft came along.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 02:29 PM (mpXpK)

473 oops, wrong damn thread

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at November 25, 2018 02:30 PM (mpXpK)

474 Dream of the Bibliophagist

I had such a dream. Except the books weren't that messy. But they were also on the ceiling. I thought outloud, "how do they stay up there?" A little dude who pops up in dreams appeared in the doorway and said, "They're not really books. They're glued up there, and they're a bitch to dust." Then he disappeared.

And ever since then when I see a lawyer speaking in front of his law library on expensive shelves in neat rows behind him I think the books are all actually cigar boxes containing drug paraphernalia, sex toys, guns and ammo, PEZ collections, candy, alcohol etc.

Posted by: boure at November 25, 2018 06:42 PM (KXQr+)

475 "I find myself drifting, as I'm reading. Is that normal? Do I need to be absorbing all the words, with rapt attention, or is it permissible to read this thing, and just sorta get the gist of it as I'm going?

This is a real question I'm asking. If anyone has the answer, I will be grateful. I dread having to go back and reread the parts I've already gone past."


I sometimes find that I have glazed through some pages without paying any attention. Meh, I don't care. Don't be hard on yourself about reading. The author didn't keep your attention!

Posted by: microcosme at November 26, 2018 10:24 AM (B+xWY)

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